The biggest disservice that you can do to yourself is being a fake.
About 5000 years back there was a King in ancient India by the name of Paundraka who has convinced himself and some of his followers that he and not Vasudeva Krishna, was the real manifestation of the Supreme. Encouraged by foolish followers, he not only styled himself after Krishna, but apparently sent a messenger with seriously insulting messages for Lord Krishna. When Krishna came after him instead of taking shelter in the Lord's infinite Mercy, the dullard attacked Him. Of course, he lost his head in the bargain. Being a fake didn't turn out a good thing for him after all.
An Unfake Life is the biggest gift you can give yourself for such a life is devoid of any foundational falsehoods. Indeed such a life and outlook becomes the very basis of any progress, material or spiritual that you may want to make in life.
The three principles for an UNFAKE LIFE are the following:
- Be Genuine. Acceptance of ones own-self, weakness, warts and all is the first step towards improvement, towards progress.
- Unfake. If you catch yourself faking, just stop. Faking doesn't fool anyone else, it fools only yourself and that is never a good thing.
- Strive. If you want to attain something, liberation, a position, a skill, respect or trust, you have to strive to be really worthy of it and work at achieving it. This can happen only if you have applied the first two principles. Only if you accept your station today, would you be able to chart the path to where you want to go to and make the journey.
Accept that you are mostly likely your biggest challenge. The second are people who love you, because in their affection, they see you as something bigger. The third of course are people who have some axe to grind and fuel the illusion that you create around yourself.
Of course in your path to an UNFAKE LIFE,sometimes you will be misunderstood, questioned, made fun of. And while sometimes it may hurt you but if you keep true to the three principles provided above, you will emerge stronger.
Jai Shri Krishna.
See Also:
Krishna and the false Vasudeva: http://krsnabook.com/ch66.html
