Through the ages, rishis have blessed us with invaluable scripts such as the Vedas, Upanishads, and Puranas. Among these, the Puranas have been more popular and favored. The teachings in the Puranas are evergreen and are applicable even today.

There are about 18 Mahapuranas and 18 Upapuranas. Adipurana beautifully describes the attributes of a successful man. Sweet speech is a characteristic that is non-challengeable. Such an ability has the power to move mountains. Many such great values have been described in the holy texts that should be incorporated in our daily lives. Among these, we will study an idea expressed in one of the holy texts and understand how it is applicable to us today.

When we remain ignorant towards the true value of the things, we land up blaming and insulting our Guru, our guides, friends, partners and everyone around us.

Sant Nivruttinath has very beautifully described this human tendency. He said, “A gem-expert has given us an extremely precious diamond. Are we going to throw it away thinking it is just a stone? No. This means that to recognize the difference between a diamond and a stone we need our intellect. Out of ignorance, don’t land up tying the diamond around a sheep’s neck.”

We need a discerning intelligent mind in order to understand the depth of this thought. An ignorant will blame the Guru, hence Nivrittinath says, “To a good disciple, his Guru is his Sadguru. For an ignorant, a Guru is just an ordinary man.”

Sadguru is the only ship that will take you across the ocean of birth and death. He will take you to the Divine, back to your Self. Let’s understand this a little more by looking at an example.

There was once a Sadguru who had two disciples. One was a true Guru devotee and the other had a casual attitude towards him.

Gurudev addresses the two disciples, “Your job is to go to the forest and bring firewood every day.”

The first disciple, a guru devotee performed his duties sincerely. The second one was lazy and wasted his time away. When the first disciple returned from the forest, the lazy disciple stole all the firewood and present it to the Guru. As a result, the first disciple would stand in front of his Guru totally helpless and his head held low. The Guru realized what was happening and so he whispered something in the first disciple’s ears.
The next day, the first disciple brought back firewood as usual. He left the firewood under his bed and went about doing his duties. The second disciple, as usual, came to steal the firewood. The moment he reached under the bed he saw scented flowers. He took them realizing too well that he was caught. With the same flowers he worshipped his Guru. The Guru had asked the first disciple to bring flowers instead of firewood to catch the act red-handed. The second disciple could not deny the act and fell at his Guru’s feet. He now truly understood that his progress depended on the Guru.

Let’s look at one more incident. There was once a philosopher. He would go town to town and impart knowledge to the people through his discourses. The backdrop of the stage where he would offer his discourses was lined with a white curtain. The curtain had a small black speck in a corner.

Before beginning his discourse, he would ask the audience, “Dear all, do you see the black speck on the curtain? I would like to hear a unanimous answer.”

The audience would loudly shout out, “Yes, we see the black speck.”

Then he would begin his talk. “This is such a big white curtain, yet you are unable to see it. You are, however, able to see the tiny black speck that’s in one corner. This means we need to get rid of our fault-finding behavior and only look at the positive. Only this will make us successful in life.” His views were acceptable to all and everyone would thank him for broadening their perspective on life.

In the Shrimad Bhagwatam, devarshi Narada gave invaluable advice to Dhruva. He said, “A person should look up to the people who are more talented than himself and be happy. He should be merciful towards those who are less fortunate than him and be friendly to those who share his talents. When we begin to live and breathe this, we become truly joyful.” Dhruva followed this advice throughout his life and was granted a prime seat in the cosmos. He became the source of happiness for all.

One will live his life in the true sense only when he brings positivity in every aspect. Don’t blame others. Wish everyone well. This thought should imbibe in our minds. This is the true essence of living. Let’s begin and make everyone around us joyful.