成人快手

A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with journalist Vishva Samani, a Hindu centred in Vedanta, the philosophical teachings of the Upanishads.

Good morning. As my 4-year-old daughter wagged her finger and raised her tone at me for not looking carefully before accusing her of misplacing an item that was right in front of me 鈥� a verse from the sacred Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Geeta - came to mind.

yad yad 膩charati 艣hre峁�h峁環as tat tad evetaro jana岣�
sa yat pram膩峁嘺峁� kurute lokas tad anuvartate

It translates from Sanskrit as,

鈥榃hatever a great man does, that other men also imitate, whatever he sets up as the standard, that the people follow鈥�.

It highlights the psychological truth, that humans are essentially imitating animals. At first glance, this verse may appear more relevant to the nation鈥檚 political and religious leaders 鈥� from whom we expect exemplary behaviour - rather than to an exhausted mother trying to get her kids in bed by seven.

But children are a wonderful and sometimes not so wonderful mirror 鈥� especially in their very early years 鈥� out of the blue they speak back to you in a tone you may have 鈥� only just once - taken with them. If there鈥檚 anyone who will observe and call you out on a slight slip from your standards of integrity, a child in your care will happily offer their services.

And so the idea that, I, an ordinary everyday person am a 鈥榞reat man鈥� to someone holds true here. We cannot all be great leaders that inspire a movement. But nearly all of us can say that there is probably someone in the world who is watching us closely and possibly imitating the way we speak, act and react to the world around us.

So may we remember that whether we are business leaders, teachers, parents, grandparents or anything else, someone, somewhere, is probably being influenced by us and the example we set. Today let us pray that it鈥檚 the best we鈥檙e capable of.

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