Sha Philosophy – Chapter33: HUMAN CONDUCT
HUMAN CONDUCT
Human conduct is of two ways. The first one is inherent . The second one appears in the form of behaviour he shows in his life. It may be either excellent or vile. Though the man exhibits vile behaviour, only in his absence it is discussed. However, in his presence his excellence is expressed. The human conduct is multi-dimensional and there are many things to learn. However, to learn it, man has to forget the present way of leading his life.
At the outset, the human birth is exalted and has voice to express its feelings in speech and has intelligence. In the form of unfolded wisdom ( knowledge ), he learns the way of behaviour by himself and exhibits it as conduct. But in reality man is engaging in many vile deeds. In his absence, his birth is considered in the view of the society to be extremely abject. The last birth for the soul in the series of 84 Lakhs ( 8.4 millions ) of multitudes of life forms is the human birth. The impressions of good and bad deeds performed for the sustenance in the series of those births during the course of their life, originate as the basis for the conduct, which is going to appear in human birth. This is transforming into the inherent nature of that human birth, which is further shaping into the conduct of human life. It comes out of the man as his behavioural attributes ( the way a person behaves towards other people ) and about which the others explicitly express. Then based on that conduct, the facts ( attributes ) of his behaviour transform into his character and become his natural traits, which will be clearly apparent to others. Under these circumstances, if we examine the human birth and state that, it is the exalted ( elevated in nature ) among all the 84 Lakhs ( 8.4 millions ) of multitudes of life forms, it will be a joke! The reason is, we can clearly and elaborately tell by observing its nature that, in which form of the creature that soul is, which is embodying in that human body. There are susceptible differences among the natures or the ways by which human beings conduct themselves. When we examine these differences, we can clearly understand not only the differences exist in their appearance but also the differences present in their excellent and abject behaviours. In this manner if the human behaviour is examined by relating it to his conduct of life, it will become apparent to others that, from which birth his soul has evolved into the present human birth and also they criticize him accordingly. In the light of the above, if we analyse, we can understand that, the human birth is the vilest and inferior among all other births.
To understand the human nature and conduct, critically examine some person specifically. Then, at every moment you can observe changes. Keeping such changes in view if we think leisurely, we can understand that, from which birth to which birth that soul is embodied and also the writings found in literature regarding the exaltation of human birth are in fact refutable. When we discuss about the human birth’s excellence and vileness, we can understand that, there is no other birth which is vilest than the human birth.
Whenever man starts criticizing the others, ahead of that, he should self-examine to realize his own inherent nature and conduct. By keeping the outcome of his self-examination in view, if he changes his nature and behaviour, his conduct of life will change and his birth will be considered to be the exalted by others. In the case of other creatures, those have embodied in a specific life form ( species ), show specific or inherent characteristics according to their species. But only in case of man, it is completely different, such inborn distinguishing qualities, those appear in other creatures, does not reflect in him. It is a fact that at every moment, changes occur in human nature until it transforms into conduct.
It became customary to say and write in literature that, the human birth is extremely exalted, it is superior to all other creatures because, the way of blossoming of the intelligence present in human being can become its inherent character and there is no other embodied life in this world that can excel it. However, when we examine the manner in which somebody leads his life as mentioned above, we can certainly ascertain its exaltation or the contemptibility. At the same time one can realize by himself that, in which way his conduct of life is trailing, to which thing his nature and behaviour can be compared. By means of such self-examination, the human birth will be able to ward off its wicked nature. But, man is unable to put this method into practice, because his conduct of life is based more on selfishness, when compared to all the other multitudes of creatures. The true nature of his selfishness is based on acquiring the things, which give him some benefit or advantage. Even though others think about it as vile deed, he won’t leave self-interest. This is the innate nature of man. As far as our knowledge goes or as far as we can think about the human being. Who is privileged with such an unfolded intellect, when transforms into an embodiment of selfishness and when he realizes it to be vile, makes a turnaround and conducts his life in the manner, which is praised by the intellect of other men and imbibes such a good behaviour into his innate nature, thereafter, that individual always endeavours to maintain his conduct to be the exalted. When a man can achieve such a control over the conduct of his life, his birth will remain permanently exalted in this world. To imbibe such a conduct, time and again, at every pace of your life, before acting or even before any word comes out of your mouth, first think and realize, what will be their ultimate result. Keeping the end result of your words and actions, examine whether your behaviour is going to be exalted or abject. Based on the result of such a cognitive process, one should consciously conduct their life.
When man is conducting his life with such a conduct, the power of delusion ( illusion ) induces many difficulties in his life and hinders his natural disposition to reach exaltation. If that man understands that, the phenomenon of hindrance, which he is facing, is the influence of the power of delusion, if he holds back there and remembers his Guru (Master ) , the Guru ( Master ) will propel his ( disciples ) conscience to come up with a justly inner voice, which guides his conduct. The Guru ( Master ), who has such a great virtue to propel the intellect of His disciple, is indeed a Master.
To learn human conduct or in other words to imbibe it into your own inherent nature; you should realize that, starting from man, every living being is existing in bodily form. Then examine to what extent the exaltation or vileness is present in their inherent natures. Understand the aspects in which they show exaltation in their conduct of life and absorb them into your inherent nature and conduct your life. As an evidence for your exaltation, your way of life, your conduct, shall transform the nature of the individuals, whosoever comes in contact with you ( interacts with you ) into humble. Such a splendid conduct of yours shows light to others in this world. The man-kind, which is exalted among the 84 Lakhs ( 8.4 millions )of multitudes of life forms, is negligence is hindering him, because he is subdued by his innate selfish nature, which never allows him to act against his self-interest.
It is esoterically presented in the form of text of mystical nature dealing with metaphysical questions in the Upanishads, by ancient Aryan sages, to understand how much contemptibility is present in the conduct of ones own life, which is governed by such self-interest. That is,
Yinnela cheppa valayu, tanne taanerungu koraku,
Tanakanyamga nunnadanta dabbara.
Meaning : Why should we tell so many things? Indeed to realize “I “ by myself, treat which is other than the inner sound of “ I”, as falsity.
The reason for this statement in Upanishads is, our ancient sages wanted to germinate this concept of “ self realization “ in human conduct. For this, the foremost practice is, to reflect deeply on the great subject, the inner voice known as “ I “ which is sounding within. To imbibe a conscientious behaviour in your conduct of life, you should start introspecting or self examining your own nature and behaviour. Ascertain time and again how much are they worldly or unworthy, for the inner voice ( conscience ) known to be “ I “, thereafter imbibe only those valuable things into your nature and conduct, leaving all the unworthy things. Since the “I “ is present in you in the form of inner voice ( conscience ), it will be possible for you to imbibe such righteous nature in your conduct with its guidance.
In other words, consider a thing, whether it is valuable to you or not, which is expressed by your conscience ( known to be the inner self ) and if it is valuable imbibe it into your conduct. In fact for this purpose only that inner voice ( conscience ) is emerging. Therefore it is right to follow such a conduct to lead your life in a conscientious way. That is to say; in accordance with your conscience or with a sense of right and wrong, conduct your life; otherwise your conduct is falsity.
This indeed is conduct and is very much essential for human beings.
