How to be selfish and lead a better life!

This article is about the benefits of being selfish, the right way.

Hello. I am Alkrie.

The last time we discussed about patriotism. In its background, I requested you to follow the traffic signal, even in the middle of the night.

Nobody follows them. What is it that I am going to achieve by following them is the question that flashes in most of our minds. This is our country, these are our people, the  laws are for our protection. If we do not respect ourselves, how can we expect other countries to respect our country?

Okay. Today's topic is "Being Selfish". Is being selfish right or not?

Nature teaches us to be selfish to be happy and well.

But, before that we need to clearly understand what it means to be "Selfish". To understand the meaning of being "Selfish", we need to understand how nature as a system, works.

The cosmos is a system. A perfect system created by one or a group of beings. This is a system, where each action, has a consequence. Based on the quality and quantum of the action, the consequence is determined. If, what we do is beneficial to others, the consequences are positive, in the course of time, otherwise they are not so.

When we take a loan from the bank, we have to repay, with interest. Similarly, when we deposit some amount in the bank, the bank gives us interest. When we pour nourishing water to the plant, it grows into a healthy and beneficial tree. Instead, if we pour hot water ... 

If the student concentrates, studies well, he scores high marks in the examinations. But, what happens if the student cuts classes and goes to the cinemas and whiles away precious time?

In nature, water evaporates in one place and condenses and rains in another place. This is the cycle of nature. This cycle continues indefinitely. Whatever we see in nature is an indicator for us on how we should live our life.

We see such examples everyday all around us.

So, if we behave "selfishly" as we understand it now, it is like cheating ourselves. You see in this system of nature we are also included. Whatever actions we do, the thoughts we think, affect others and ultimately us, in the long run.

We might have taken a one time insurance policy for 20 years and may have forgotten about it. But, eventually, once the policy is mature, the funds will reach us, automatically.

This is something that we need to understand.

The life that we live in this world is like an IPL match. There will be another match at the end of this match. Another season will start at the end of one season.

We will come back to play matches again and again. And, the performance of our earlier matches are taken into consideration for the consequent matches.

If we want a good placement in the next match, out present match statistics has to be good.

The murders, rapes, robberies and other anti-social activities are all considered when we are selected for our next matches. Even sweet and harsh words are considered. Every action of ours has a consequence. Good consequences for good actions. Bad consequences for bad actions. Evil consequences for evil actions.

One important thing to note is that here, the religion of the individual does not have any consideration on the consequences. Only the actions matter. Taking the life of another is murder, in any religion. If your religious leader is telling you otherwise, you are being cheated. Because, when we are born in this world, we have become a part of this system. Extreme actions warrant extreme consequences. Nature is always just, though it takes time.

Our ancients knew this secret. Which is why they insisted on being good and doing good things. Because, they knew that our life will not end with this match that we are playing.

Another important point to note is that in this system of nature, God does not come into the picture at all. We will discuss this topic of God later, since that is a controversial topic to many.

The moment we die, all that we earned is neutralized. We are back to zero. What is the benefit of earning so much?

Simply put, whatever actions of ours which are detrimental or harmful or disturbing others, are all bad. Let us avoid them.

All the learned and enlightened souls of the world have been telling us this, since long. We have not understood it properly, is the truth. We have not also been telling our children this universal truth.

Gandhi said "an eye for an eye will leave everyone blind".

"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing". This is from the Bible where it is attributed to Jesus. He truly believes and understands that there are consequences for our actions.

Here is a statement from Quran. When someone does something that hurts you, make a promise to yourself and to Allah that you will never do the same thing to anyone else.

Sages like Thirumoolar, Arunagirinathar, Pattinathaar have always advised us to "Be Still" or "Summa Iru" an open secret, which is only possible to follow after due diligence. Whatever happens to us, is always the consequence of our past actions. The secret is to not react to bad things happening to us, while at the same time, doing good things as far as possible, in this game of life, bettering our chances for our next games.

Let us re-learn to be correctly selfish. Let us also teach our next generations to be selfish, the right way.