Be Like Jesus - 22

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sacredness. The English word person has been derived from this. It means that

there is Divinity in everyone; there is Divine Spirit in everybody. The very

Self is called “persona.” On listening to the teaching of Jesus, the people of

Rome realized that Divinity was present in every human being in a hidden way.

Morality does not merely mean the observance of certain rules in the work-a-day

world. Morality means adherence to the straight and sacred path of right

conduct. It is the royal road to the acme of human achievement. Mutual regard,

equal mindedness and forbearance are basic qualities necessary for every human

being. Only the person with these three qualities can be regarded as a true

human being. It is essential that everyone should cultivate these three sacred

qualities. Therefore, develop your morality and character. Men are developing

their intellectual abilities, but are using their intelligence for wrong

purposes. Knowledge without right action is useless. Mere action without

knowledge is foolishness. Hence it is necessary to combine knowledge is

foolishness. Hence it is necessary to combine knowledge is with cultivation of

character. Along with intellectual acumen, you must have the right virtues.

Good behavior, good intellect, commitment to truth, devotion, discipline, sense

of duty – these are the six aims of education. You should never be satisfied

with mere bookish knowledge and superficial knowledge. You need to develop

general knowledge and discrimination knowledge also. Only then you will attain

practical knowledge, which is very essential. For examples, there is an age-old

practice among Christians to pray to God for forgiving their sins. In the

churches, it is the practice for devotees to confess their sins, make cash

offerings and obtain absolution from the pontiff or the priest. The belief in

redemption through repentance and offering to the Divine is prevalent in other

religions also. These practices, however, are based on the misconceptions about

the Divine. You should make an earnest enquiry into the nature of the Divine and

should try to get rid of superstitious beliefs that have no basis in

truth. Women have a great role to play in the moral regeneration of our

societies. They can tell the children the epic stories of sacrifice and

heroism, of saints who sought God and saw Him in truth, beauty and goodness

everywhere, of great men and women who delved into the secrets of universe and

the Law of all laws, which governs the microcosm and the macrocosm, in equal

measure. Tell them stories of those whom they can picture with admiration in

their minds. You have to teach children the equal validity of all faiths.

Teach them through

quotations from the Bible the ideals of Christianity. So, too, use the sacred

texts of Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Islam etc., to acquaint them with the ideals

held aloft by those faiths. Also tell them the stories contained in the

scriptures of all religions. Do not belittle any one religion or give

predominance to another. Lead the children along the joyous path of truth. Let

your faces ever shower smiles, springing from the bliss you earn from seeing

the happy faces of children. The destiny of a nation or community is

dependent on the moral fibre of the people. Their character must be deep-rooted

in faith and in truth. Without morals a community decays. Morality alone makes

or mars the community.

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