23 April 11th, 2021 Sunday Morning Youth Session: Truth and Non-violence

In this Sunday Morning Youth session, Pujya Swamiji talks about truth and non-violence as important values to inculcate in our life.  Pujya Swamiji points out that in life what is important is to travel in the right direction, and for that we need to make right choices. These values guide us to make the right choices and thus stay on track. Pujya Swamiji provides here the basis for understanding and interpreting what truth and non-violence is in a given situation.  The two aspects: Truth as in speaking truth and non-violence at the physical level are essentially unfolded and how to understand and interpret these aspects in our life is elaborately discussed.  It is pointed out that speaking truth includes speaking pleasantly meaning being sensitive about the feelings of other people, respecting their feelings, refraining from doing something that will hurt their feelings, and speaking only if needed, meaning if it would be beneficial to the other person, or for the greater good.  Speaking truth requires strength and not hurting others requires sensitivity on our part.  Thus speaking truth makes us both a strong and sensitive person, and helps us understand and accommodate others in our life.  Observing our own self and looking at the events in our life, whether or not we bend the truth in certain circumstances, would help us understand the subtleness of truth in our life.  In the latter part, Pujya Swamiji elaborates on non-violence at physical level, how consumption and possession are a mark of violence, because it deprives the others of their food.  Thus consuming and possessing just what we need, not over-consuming for our pleasure or enjoyment, is a value whereby we can be sensitive to the needs of other fellow beings and creatures, and address scarcity of resources by a simple act of minimizing our consumption and possession. Om!