Two important things for a healthy and happy life

Repression(Daman), Restrain(Nigrah) and Punishment(Tadan) alongwith nurturing of mind is equally important for a healthy life. Without these, people become interest-oriented and develop certain habits revolving around their interests. They started living their life only for certain tastes. Our mind often acts like a small child without any knowledge of propriety. We ought to reprimand it just like we chide and refrain a child to make it aware about right and wrong.  

Two things are very important in human life, these are repression (daman) and restrain (nigrah). People who don’t have these two things are always inclined towards interests. As a result, they develop certain habits and get prone to them. Such people live their life only for taste. In repression and restrain, we ought to censure, rebuke or resist ourselves just like we chide a small child for bad habits.

There are two likeable words for parents, nourishment and preservation (lalan-palan) but with these two words, there includes another word that is punishment (tadan) - to make aware and concious. While nurturing, if we don’t punish the child to make him concious and aware, the child will get spoiled. In the same way, it is needed to restrict our mind. Do we ever repress and restrain ourselves? Do we ever tell ourselves not to stride the respectable limits?

We must make ourselves concious and aware about the propriety, nobility and the code of conduct. Sometimes our mind behaves like a child, we ought to rebuke it, make it concious about the righteousness. There is a simple truth of life, who doesn’t have “Dharma”, he couldn’t have restrain in life.

From the excerpts of Swami Avdheshanand Giriji Maharaj.

Translated by Pranati Saikia.