Spiritual wisdom, hope seen as keys to happiness

Q: How can we keep thinking good when so much bad is happening?

Arvind Khetia, engineer and a Hindu, Kansas City, Mo.

The human mind has always been preoccupied with the "effects" of past actions and not the "causes" that produced these effects. If one looks behind these events, one will recognize that we are simply reaping the fruits of what was sown earlier. The present economic and environmental crises are prime examples. According to the universal law of karma, every event is a result of an unending chain of cause and effect. Understanding this compels one to stand on rational ground, realizing that instead of fearing God's punishment for bad actions, one is convinced that all wrong actions will be the cause of one's own suffering.

It is this awareness that prepares one to respond to bad times ... and helps one to accept the inevitable. Therefore, the belief in the law of karma provides an incentive for ethical behavior. Swami Vivekananda correctly observed that, "Thank God for giving us this world as a moral gymnasium, to help our spiritual development." The secret of happiness is explained in the Bhagavad-Gita as practicing the disciplined detachment from the results of one's actions and becoming free.

According to Vedanta, when one attains spiritual wisdom, one transcends good and bad and lives with the mind in equanimity.

Rushdy El-Ghussein, former president of the Islamic Society of Greater Kansas City:

As Muslims, we strive to please the Almighty God. God is good and will not accept anything unless it is pure and good. Regardless of the situation, goals do not justify the means. I cannot steal to donate and I cannot lie to escape a difficult situation.

God is the source of hope and glad tidings. The difficulties and hardships of this life should not discourage a true believer because he or she realizes that God is in control. God is patient and knowledgeable. His generosity and mercy allow us to recover from the mistakes, mischief and bad deeds that we commit.

The woes of the world will not discourage a true believer but will give more hope and optimism that God has power over all things. Besides this, a believer realizes that this life of ours is temporary and short and the real life is the life of the hereafter. True believers will work with others to spread hope and glad tidings. They contribute to the removal of evil from this world and encourage righteousness. Pleasing God will not be achieved by being desperate or doing nothing but by reaching out to others and doing our best, knowing that everything comes back to God in the end.