Shift The Focus To Duty-based Approach

 Shift The Focus To Duty-based Approach

From the books of Speaking Tree thru writer Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

(Maulana Wahiduddin Khan was an Islamic scholar and founder of Centre for Peace and Spirituality International)

In today's world, people are so engrossed in their day-to-day lives that they are only concerned with fulfilling their responsibilities. They have no time to think of helping others, forming good relations, building a better society, and developing their nation.

If we want to usher in real change in a nation, we must first change individual thinking and conduct so that citizens may develop patriotism and national character by thinking of  their country first. The national character of its citizens plays the most crucial role in building a nation. The national character of its citizens is essential in nation-building, just as the quality of bricks is vital in construction work. A house made of unfired bricks is unsafe because any calamity even a minor one, can bring it down. On the other hand, a building made of kiln fired bricks can be trusted to withstand onslaught of tempests and floods.

Similarly,citizens with character so tempered that they can be depended upon through thick and thin-like the kiln-fired bricks-build a nation in the long run. On the other hand, building a nation without laying a solid foundation in its individuals is like building sandcastles,which soon crumble away.

Trees show us how to develop character. A tree's roots are deeply embedded in the soil, its trunk rises, and its branches spread out high above. Through this, the tree shows how to usher in real change in a nation's citizens first consolidation and then expansion, where consolidation means to establish one's base in the ground firmly, expansion means to spread out everywhere. For example, if you want to successfully educate individuals for life, you must train young learners' minds on positive lines. Similarly, if you are going to run successful institutions, you first have to implement an ethical educational system to develop the foundation of our youth.

People who constantly complain and demand their rights from others gain nothing. Rights cannot be unilaterally demanded and enforced. Francis of Assisi rightly said, "It is in giving that we receive." When people carry out their duties, they will automatically receive their rights, albeit pragmatically Therefore, they should shift the focus of their efforts from the rights-based approach to the duty-based approach. This standard of ethics is straightforward and natural, and anyone can easily learn it. Becoming a good human being has nothing ambiguous about it. Its simple formula is: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Known as the golden rule of ethics, this is the highest principle of social ethics. This is a universal teaching found in almost every religion in one verse or another.

Every Country’s Citizens  should make excellence their goal, they should not accept any thing less than striving for excellence. In doing so, not only will they reach great heights of success, but they will also be able to reform society along constructive lines and make their country invincible. Actual results can be achieved only through long-term planning and unflagging, dedicated effort. The two great virtues indispensable in the struggle are patience and fortitude.

 Let us dedicate ourselves to the noble endeavour of advancing our nation by embracing the principle of their country first. This entails prioritising our nation's and its citizens' welfare and interests above all other considerations.

Desireless Performance Can Produce The Best Results

 Desireless Performance Can Produce The Best Results

from the books of Speaking Tree

People often question whether anybody can work sincerely and efficiently without desire. Sincerity becomes natural, and efficiency peaks when actions are no longer motivated by desires. Desire makes the mind cling to future gain or loss instead of the present task. It accompanies expectation, anxiety, and fear and affects attention and performance.

We are born with an insufficiency that makes us look for happiness externally. We are born with the delusion that something from the world will fulfil that lack and make us happy.

Has anybody ever become permanently happy by gaining anything from the world-money, power, companionship,fame or appreciation? Even the most overwhelming happiness lasts until the mind picks up some other lack or a fear of losing what we have gained. It is not the fulfilment of our desires that makes us happy It is the elimination of desires that truly makes us happy.

When a desire is fulfilled, the mind becomes 'desireless' for a while. It remains contented and peaceful until another desire for gaining something or fear of losing something agitates it again. It is the undisturbed state of the mind that makes us happy. It reveals for a while the placid joy that is always there within as a natural characteristic of our inmost identity, the Self. It is like seeing the bottom of the lake clearly when there are no waves or ripples. That is why we experience unprecedented joy or bliss in meditation, when the whole world is forgotten, and the mind is absorbed in its Source.

The day we realise that joy comes from within, it is a natural property of our Self, we understand that desires make us unhappy because they take us away from the Self. If joy lies within,why should we chase external objects that give us pleasure? If we do not expect happiness from the objective result of our work, what will be the motivation for work? The motivation for work will be just the objective result of the action, and not gaining happiness from the desired objective result.

Without desire, our mind will be naturally placid and fulfilled. We shall do whatever the circumstances need and what is within our capacity. No more shall we work expecting happiness. We will do whatever is to be done as an expression of joy, and such desireless performance can produce the best objective results.

Several activities are constantly going on in the universe. Earth revolves around the Sun, and the Moon revolves around Earth. Rivers flow. Plants grow. Flowers blossom-each with its own colour and beauty. Nowhere is there desire. When desires are diminished, we blossom like flowers in our natural behaviour, nature, spreading joy.