Perspective
It is said that, “Don’t change your view but try to change your viewpoint”. It is a general human tendency that without having complete and proper information about a person, we try to make prejudices about him. This causes our deception and the doors of happiness that could be gained from the person get closed.
Let us enjoy the following story related to above thoughts. Once a wise man was transferred to the holy place of Pandharpur. On shifting there, he used to meet a saint, who used to visit the holy place very often. The saint once said to the wise man, “How lucky you are. People spend lots of money to reach Pandharpur and offer their prayers to Lord Vitthala and you are so lucky that you reside in Pandharpur and can easily get the sight of Lord every day”. The saint further asked, “Do you go to the temple everyday?” To this the man replied, “No, I do not visit the temple. The reason is that I do not find Lord Vitthala’s idol beautiful and attractive and the erudite present outside the temple also irritates me a lot”. The saint left by saying, “Oh! That’s fine”.
During the second meeting, the man himself told the saint that on every eleventh day of lunar fortnight, he goes to the temple. The saint felt happy for the man. In the third meeting, the man said that he goes to the temple every fortnight and in the fourth meeting he aid, “I have applied in my office that I should not be transferred from Pandharpur”. To this the saint said, “That is really great news”. But how did this change happen? I think following might be the reasons:
1) Lord Vitthala’s idol has become attractive and beautiful.
2) The erudite might have stopped irritating you.
The man said, “No, not at all. But the fact is, I have changed, my perspective has changed”.
Many times we try to analyze people from their behavior and try to slander about them. But have we ever tried to think that:
1) Why do they behave like this?
2) What might be the reason behind their misbehavior?
3) Have we tried to understand their financial and mental position?
4) Have we ever tried to find out the reason behind their anger and annoyance?
If an employee regularly comes late in the office, then the boss never tries to find the reason for his late coming but he positively puts a late mark. If there appears a sudden change in the behavior of our teenage children, then instead of misunderstanding them we should try to get closer to them and try to find out the reason by entering in a healthy conversation with them.
Our perspective towards a person is mostly based on some prejudices. We are only able to find errors in them. But we should never forget that we also have much negativity in us. Each and every individual have some good and bad qualities. We should try to in cultivate their good qualities and neglect their bad qualities. There are very strong chances in between a couple to end up in quarreling, if they keep on pointing each other’s mistake. Instead, they should understand each other to avoid being a matter of entertainment for the neighbors.
We should not wait for the changes to happen in the situation or in the people’s behavior, but we should change ourself. If our thoughts are pure, then we will not be able to see any error in others. But how can we bring such a tremendous change in ourself?
Well, following five things should be essentially followed to change ourself:
1) Association with good company.
2) Chanting God’s name.
3) Reading good books
4) Meditation
5) Contemplation.
Let us focus on one more example:
We all have seen the Jack Fruit. It has a very uneven shape and rough skin. It is thorny from outside and not at all attractive. But when it starts ripening, its sweet smell fascinates us and the taste of its kernel is truly awesome. This shows that outward appearance is not sufficient to judge a thing.
Perspective can definitely be changed by keeping good company. In the Ramayana, it is described that, when Sita was in Ashokwana, she used to constantly chant the name of Lord Rama. All the animals and birds in her surrounding used to sit around her to listen the chanting. Thus the glory of God’s name is endless and only this can help us to change our mind and lead a happy life. Instead of changing the world, we should try to prevent us from deteriorating.
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