A strange Foreword

(This foreword to Spiritual Learning from Life written by Shri RK Mittal, which we had been sharing since a few months, was written by Shri. T. P. Tewary, Former Chief Secretary, Uttar Pradesh and later Lt. Governor, Pondicherry. The copy of the second edition of this book is available at Kabir Peace Mission, Lucknow. Contact: Tel: 0522-2309147, E-mail: kabirpeacemission@yahoo.co.in)

Someone has said that it is not great sorrow, disease or death which clouds over the sunshine of life but the little daily dyings. Therefore, if we properly handle our seemingly ordinary activities we would not only be winning the battle of this life but also that of the hereafter.

The narratives contained in the present collection of Shri R.K. Mittal relate to the everyday occurrences. He possesses the enviable faculties of keen observation, dispassionate analysis and clear expression. He has understood the mathematics of life and is able to cull the fundamental truths and lessons from the unfolding events and human behaviour.

The present achievement is not the first of its kind. He cultivated the quality of positive thinking as a basic ingredient of his sadhana and, as a result, was able to compile the Dictionary of Positive Thoughts. An optimist endeavours while a pessimist loses a battle before it begins. Shri Mittal has equipped himself well to derive positive lessons from life and has been able to place some of them before the seekers through his Positive Learning from Life. These two brilliant collections are now supplemented by the present one. It is note worthy that Shri Mittal’s observations are not only replete with practical wisdom but also bear the imprint of the Indian philosophy and way of life.

Fearlessness is a great virtue, but it can cause injury to oneself or injustice to others if it is not tempered with equipoise, kindness, forgiveness and humility. In chapter XVI of the Bhagavad Gita, divine virtues have been enumerated in the first three shlokas. Fearlessness comes first and humility comes at the other end. In between there are 24 other virtues. Shri Mittal has rightly come to the conclusion that fearlessness has to be cultivated along with compassion, justice, kindness, forgiveness, etc. In another chapter, he sees a silver lining in poverty also. It reminds me of a saint’s wish: ‘Once we know ourselves — the mathematics of life — its alpha and omega — will reveal itself’. When Shri Mittal says that one should live like an asymptote, he is in fact reminding us that we should live in this world in a dispassionate manner, following Anaskta Karmayoga and all the time remember the ultimate destination of the Self meeting the Universal Self. In the essay on the dialing code of God he again tells us that it is by overcoming ego, greed, passion and anger that one qualifies oneself for liberation and the realization of the Supreme Being.

Shri Mittal’s background of science, particularly Mathematics, and Engineering, lends greater authority to his spiritual observations. I am confident that their study will prove most rewarding and beneficial. 

Rakesh Mittal IAS