Lt Col RK Langar
Various factors contribute towards completion of any task which we undertake. Out of these one factor which is common and most important for completion of our task or our duty is our own will power. Will power is defined as a positive and creative function of mind which impels, propels and enables a person to complete a chosen moral task despite all obstacles coming his way. Will power simply means ‘I will do it’. Will power can also be defined as our capability to avoid an amoral act however tempting it may be. Our problem of life is our inability to do things which are right and at the same time our inability to resist from things which are wrong. This is an aspect of an ordinary human nature which slides down easily because to raise oneself to perform a moral act requires through understanding and self effort. Some time we perform wrong acts on the plea that whole society is doing so. Such a tendency is due to our weak will power due to which we easily get influenced by the will of the majority. We forget that to accept that majority is always right is a wrong belief. Obedience of social laws and our code of conduct should be perfect for developing our will power.
Will power should be taken to mean that we are internally strong and complete from inside and are in a position to negotiate successfully all difficulties that we may face for completing the task in hand. This also means we are self disciplined with a strong self control. We trust and respect our selves to complete a righteous action. Will power is also comparable with a strong determination and ‘I will do it’ attitude. We also understand that the task we are undertaking is for the well being of all including ourselves. Man is an image of God as our soul or Atma is a fraction of God. By virtue of this we possess within ourselves God’s all accomplishing power of will which we have to discover within ourselves by practicing yoga and by studying scriptures specially Bhagavad Gita. Then we realize that our will power is directly related to our spiritual strength. Will power is also related to our intellect or pure thought process. Our intellect which gives us discriminating ability is a divine gift to human beings which should control our mind and outgoing senses to act wisely.
Our will and Gods will
As we grow spiritually or as we raise our level of consciousness to a higher level we realize that though we have a free will power but we should never proclaim that ‘ I am the doer’ even though we say ‘ I will do it’. When our intellect is guided by spiritual wisdom, then we can attune our will to divine will. The power in us is God’s power and we must coincide our will to God’s will. A spiritually elevate person knows that even he has a free will to do what he wants to do, he must merge his will to God’s will. His belief system would be ‘Thy will be done not mine’. But what exactly is God’s will. To know what’s God will is the secret of Divine life. In simple words God’s will is that every human being must adhere to righteousness and truthfulness in all his undertaking in thoughts, and deeds. Whenever we are in doubt as to what should be done and what should not be done or what is a moral act or what is an immoral act we should listen to Lord Krishna’s advice which He gave to Arjuna in Bhagavad Gita. Lord Krishna says in the Gita that let scriptures be the authority in ascertaining what ought to be done and what ought not to be done. By following this advice of Lord Krishna we become an instrument in God’s hand s and get rid of our false ego. We then work for the welfare of human kind as copartners of God.
How to develop will power
A person can develop his will power in the following manner. His mind and intellect should be one pointed while performing his task so that he fully concentrates on the work in hand. He should develop a stable and balanced mind to enable him to face any adversity that may arise. He should conserve his energy by abstaining from unproductive pursuits and by avoiding evil tendencies. He should direct his good will even to those who are not good to him. This could be attained by practicing higher values of life which would make his inside beautiful and perfect which would not disturbed by outer conditions. He should let go all negativity from within. He should accept people and outer conditions are they are since he has no power either to change any person or outer conditions. He should never complain against outer conditions, since by doing so he would be wasting his time and energy. He should realize that the world is a relative place where every situation has some limitations. He should attain flexibility which allows him to work under undesirable or unfavorable conditions without disturbing his inner poise and equilibrium. Thus we see that man can develop his will power by working in the right direction. Such a person would be an asset to the society.
Conclusion
We must understand that by virtue of inner self being a fraction of God(which is our soul or Atma), the power that we have in us in God’s power which should not be wasted in useless activities. It is God’s will that we should use this power righteously without worrying about the future or regretting about the past. Both these tendencies waste our energy and we weaken our will power. We should always stay in the present and perform our duties keeping in view that our work should be beneficial for all. This is the correct use of our will power.
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