Self-control
I remember once watching a temple-car festival in Southern India. The car had been brought out of the temple and before it started on its slow journey through the streets of the village, the Brahmin priests were doing Puja before it. As I stood as an interested spectator in the crowd, an educated Brahmin entered into conversation with me and obligingly explained the symbolic meaning of the festival. The car, he said, symbolized the human body, the figure of God seated in the car signified the soul. In front of the car were two wooden horses represented as galloping and reins were attached to their mouths and were held in the hand of the image of God. These horses, he said, represented the human passions and the reins in the hand of God represented the necessity of restraining and guiding the passions by reason. The journey of the car through the village was an emblem of the progress of life, and the lesson was that throughout his life a man must control and guide his passions. !
This is a good parable of nature and the necessity of self-control. All men have passions-strong desires, urgent appetites, and powerful emotions. Some philosophies have taught that these are, in themselves, evil and must be suppressed and stamped out. But this is a mistake. These passions are the motive power, the driving force of life. Unrestrained and unguided, they will wreck a man’s life, but kept under control and guided in the right way, will lead to success. If we do not master them, they will master us and we will become slaves of our passion.
Self-control is not easy. The natural thing is to let one’s passions have their way. It requires strength and will to say no to them. But we can learn to discipline ourselves if we are in earnest about it and unless we do learn self-control. We cannot achieve success in any walk of life.
