Showing posts with label Materialism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Materialism. Show all posts

Monday, March 29, 2010

Balance your desires to avoid suffering (1 of 2)

Good morning friends. There is a saying that … “Never be satisfied with what you have, always wish for more”. This is true. Don’t just be contented for what you have. You have to aim more and struggle a lot to be able to have your wishes come true. Materialism and consumerism assume that fulfilling desires and the enjoyment of pleasures are all that is required to make us happy and contented.

We should live happily because once the body is dead and is reduced to ashes; it can never come back to life.

One must enjoy life to the core. What is enjoyment? It is to eat delicious food, seeking the company of the beautiful and young, wearing good clothes and accessories, decorating oneself and experiencing instant gratification wherever possible. Indian tradition takes a holistic view of human nature. It argues that material aspects, may be for human existence, do not exhaust the whole of the personality of a human being. It recognizes that besides having physical needs and cravings, we have spiritual aspirations also. Why limit human aspiration to only the physical plane?

The spiritual goal alone differentiate the human being from other forms of life. A man does not aspire for just artha and kama or the economic and the emotional; he also wishes for dharma and moksha , the moral and the spiritual. So it’s not as though we only seek the ephemeral and fleeting, we are inclined also to look for what could be eternal and enduring.

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Contentment better than bliss

Good morning friends. I came across with an article. It's about contentment. How it is better than bliss. I nice article and I'm sure tha after reading it, even you will agree. I want to share it with you.
I believe spirituality is common to all religions, but religion is very often dealt with in a non-spiritual mindset .

I personally find short-term contentment better, so long live the desire for a new Gucci...if it’s what makes me happy! The equation between spirituality and materialism actually depends on one’s thought process.
If you buy something which makes you happy, you experience contentment. Bliss, however, exists on a much superior level. Donating huge sums of money to religious institutions does not make a person spiritual.
In a fast-paced world, it might be a short cut to nirvana, but most people indulge in charity to justify their ‘bad conscience’ hoping they’ve ‘washed away their sins’! That’s blasphemy.
The mind is like a wild fire with many thoughts running through it simultaneously. Whether a person donates his money for charity or splurges it on the latest Chanel outfit is purely his own decision. Spirituality can be analyzed according to actions, not words. Regarding the presence of God, He is omnipresent as He exists in the mind of every human being.
As a designer, I’ve come across innerwear with God’s images on them. Some of these attract attention. I believe, religious trinkets and symbols are always encouraged by the society. These include tattoos, amulets, bracelets, etc, with the exception of underwear. It’s usually not done as it hurts religious sentiments.
Being ‘here and now’ is about the body being united with the soul in time. Spirituality is the connection to everything, including oneself. -Hemant Sagar
timeslife@timesgroup.com