The Selfish coveting

Selfish coveting of the possessions of others, though never carried out into active cheating in the present, makes one a thief in a later earth-life, while hatred and revenge secretly cherished are the seeds from which the murderer springs. So again, unselfish loving yields as harvest the philanthropist and the saint; and every thought of compassion helps to build the tender and pitiful nature which belongs to one who is a friend to all creatures. Sage Vasishtha asks Rama to do Purushartha, or show the prowess of self-exertion. Do not yield to fatalism. It will induce inertia and laziness. Recognize the Great Powers of Thought. Exert. By right thinking make for yourself a great destiny. Prarabdha is Purushartha of last birth. You sow an action and reap a habit; a habit sown results in character. You sow a character and reap a destiny. Man is the master of his own destiny. You yourself make, by the power of your thought, your destiny. You can undo it if you like. All faculties, energies and powers are latent in you. Unfold them, and become free and great.

Thought—The Architect of Destiny

If the mind dwells continually upon one train of thought, a groove is formed into which the thought-force runs automatically and such a habit of thought survives death and since it belongs to the ego, is carried over to the subsequent earth-life as a thought-tendency and capacity. Every thought, it must be remembered, has got its own mental image. The essence of the various mental images formed in one particular physical life is being worked out in the mental plane. It constitutes the basis for the next physical life. Just as a new physical body is formed in every birth, so also a new mind and a new Buddhi are formed in every birth. Not easy is the act of explaining the detailed workings of thought and destiny. Every
Karma produces twofold effect, one on the individual mind and the other on the world. Man makes the circumstances of his future life by the effect of his actions upon others. Every action has a past which leads up to it; every action has a future which proceeds from it. An action implies a desire which prompted it and a thought which shaped it. Each thought is a link in an endless chain of causes and effects, each effect becoming a cause and each cause having been an effect; and each link in the endless chain is welded out of three components—desire, thought and activity. A desire stimulates a thought; a thought embodies itself as an act. Act constitutes the web of destiny.

Thoughts, World and the Timeless Reality

It is the mind that is the root cause of the tree of Samsara with its thousands of shoots, branches, tender leaves and fruits. If you annihilate thoughts, you can destroy the tree of Samsara at once. Destroy the thoughts as soon as they arise. The root will dry up through the annihilation of thoughts, and the tree of Samsara will wither soon. This demands considerable patience and perseverance. You will be bathed in the ocean of bliss when all thoughts are extirpated. This state is indescribable. You will have to feel it yourself. Just as the fire is absorbed into its source when the fuel is burnt out, so also, the mind is absorbed into its source, the Atman, when all Sankalpas or thoughts are annihilated. Then one attains Kaivalya, the experience of the Timeless Reality, the state of absolute independence.

The Statistics

Women represented 50.5% of the total population in Canada, as of July 2004, according to Statistics Canada. In the population 19 and under, there were more males than females in each age group. Overall, of the population from birth to age 19,
51.25% are male and 48.75% are female. Females represent a greater proportion of the older age groups, beginning at age 50. Girls born in Canada in 2001 could expect to live for 82 years, compared to 77 years for boys. The life expectancy at birth has increased steadily over the past two decades, and the gender gap has narrowed. A girl born in 1981 was expected to live for 79 years, compared to 72 years for a boy.

The Inequalities

One of the most thorough studies on this issue (Bouchard et al., 2003) points out that the apparent greater success of girls at school has yet to translate into social success for women. Providing in-depth data on inequities between men and women in the workforce, in terms of paid and unpaid labor and the on-going situation regarding
violence and poverty, this report notes: “The data confirm the major ongoing inequalities between men and women, and belie the position put forward by masculinists that equality has been achieved, or indeed that there has been a reversal of positions to the disadvantage of men.” There is no question that boys face particular challenges, and do less well than girls on some indicators. We strongly concur that boys’ issues need to be addressed.

Child Initiative

The little discussion that there was on the issue of self-esteem during adolescence seemed to suggest that it was normal (“Care must be taken to balance the expected decrease in children self-esteem and parental support, as children move into full puberty.” [Ibid., p. 36]) or that more focus should be directed towards boys (“How should policies and practices in schools and other institutions be amended to accommodate the stress of early adolescence and learning? How should support for boys be different from that provided to girls?” [Ibid., p. 33]) Some conference participants noted that the Canadian Girl Child Initiative was addressing girls’ issues, and that “very little attention has been paid to how boys’ gender roles affect their health and well being.”

The Gloomy Portrait

Girls are hospitalized because of suicide attempts almost three times as often as boys. Although the suicide death rate is higher for male youth compared to female youth in the general population, the suicide rate of Aboriginal girls (age 15 to 24) is higher than for males overall in the same age group in Canada (35 deaths per
100,000 population versus 24). Girls are much more likely than boys to be
assaulted, both physically and sexually, by family members. In fact, there is overwhelming research to suggest that violence against girls is widespread and endemic in Canada. Yet, despite this gloomy portrait of girls’ lives, there is a disturbing trend emerging in the literature that suggests we should worry more about boys. The National Research Conference, Investing in Children: Ideas for Action, was held in Ottawa in 1998, as researchers and academics were interpreting the first cycle of results from the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth. A major finding of this conference was that boys were at greater risk than girls:

The Sketchier

When girls arrive at school, they are more likely than boys to do well, especially at reading and writing. Although the research on gender differences among the pre-teen age group is sketchier, what exists suggests that girls enjoy school more than boys. Boys are more likely than girls to repeat a grade, and are more likely to be diagnosed with hyperactivity and attention deficit disorders. From birth, more boys than girls have a disability, until around age 15, when the percentage of young women with a disability becomes slightly higher than the rate among young men. Starting around grade six, a greater proportion of girls than boys begins to skip breakfast, and starts to diet or feel that they need to lose weight. Girls consistently report lower self-esteem than boys. The proportion of young people who feel “very happy” with their life declines steadily between grades six and 10, and at every age group, girls are less happy than boys. Girls are far more likely than boys to indicate dissatisfaction with their body, and to report loneliness. The prevalence of depressive disorders among girls aged 15 to 19 years old is twice as high as among boys in the same age group.