Value: Self-honesty - April 2025
Fifth Week: Promise not to compromise
Self-honesty in spiritual terms means abiding by what is true. In the Mundaka Upanishad, truth is given a revered status: "सत्यमेव जयते नानृतं सत्येन पन्था विततो देवयानः" – "Truth alone prevails, not falsehood. By truth, the path is laid out, the Way of the Gods."
Lord Sri Rama honored His father's promise to Kaikeyi, fully aware that keeping this promise would safeguard His father's journey to the higher realms. He assured Sugreeva and Vibheeshana that He would restore peace in their respective territories and stood by His promise. Promptly, He returned to Ayodhya to keep the promise He had given to His beloved brother Bharat.
What is your promise to yourself? Only by upholding your own promises to yourself can you be truly eligible to make promises to others.
Maintain the quality of your performance without compromise.
Only the faithful listen to the words of God with devotion. Both the words and actions of humans are observed by the world. Thus, everyone watches our actions, as they reflect our integrity and the quality of our thoughts. Excellence in our own work is a journey toward perfection. The Bhagavad Gita teaches us that "योगः कर्मसुकौशलम्," meaning yoga is skillfulness in action.
Performance excellence depends on four essential factors: 1. Clarity of purpose, 2. Skill or knowledge, 3. Enthusiasm, and 4. Consistency of action until the goal is achieved. These four components are also necessary on the spiritual path.
Daily, submit to God what you have compromised
It is unrealistic to believe that we will never make mistakes. Simply feeling guilty does not correct those mistakes. Living a conscious life means learning from our errors and not repeating them. To achieve this, we should work on enhancing our resilience—the ability to bounce back and refocus on personal growth.
Seek the Lord's help to develop this resilience. In your daily prayers, surrender and ask for His forgiveness for your compromises related to external excellence and inner discipline. Do not look back, keep moving ahead. Pick up from where you left behind. Gather inner strength with His grace to do better than ever before.
