Being Exemplary

Lord Rama’s life is detailed in the ancient Sanskrit epic, Ramayana. The history contains 24,000 verses, and fully describes the activities of Lord Rama and the lessons relevant for our lives today. The story is told in response to sage Valmiki’s question to Narada Muni: “Who is an ideal man?” Narada’s answer, a brief description of the life and qualities of Lord Rama, forms the basis for Valmiki’s much longer epic.

This beautiful teaching of being ideal and exemplary is central to the development of spirituality. When Srila Prabhupada was once asked, “How do you recognise a Vaisnava?” his answer was simple but profound: “A Vaisnava is a perfect gentleman.” Just as the Srimad-Bhagavatam is known as amala-purana, the spotless book, the true follower is known as amala-bhakta, the spotless devotee. One famous propagandist used to say that you can cheat some people for all time and you can cheat all people for some time, but you can’t cheat all people for all time. If one is lacking in integrity and character, sooner or later it will be exposed.

In the material world, people are remembered for what they do – their ground-breaking achievements, their high-ranking positions of responsibility and their impactful influence on the world. In spiritual circles, however, people are remembered for who they are. In some cases, the most outstanding spiritualists made a visible mark on the world and were famed for it, but in many cases they were quiet, simple, humble souls who went about their daily life with a deep sense of devotion, sensitivity and saintliness, their consciousness merged in transcendence. They were unassuming, and quite often went unnoticed.

The value system in spiritual circles is entirely different: it’s character over capability. The spotless and exemplary character of saintly personalities is an unending source of instruction and inspiration. They are never found to be duplicitous or superficial, but ever-preaching the highest ideals of human life and simultaneously walking the talk. A recent survey showed that over 70% of first- time attendants to a spiritual movement never return. Why? Primarily because they observe a huge gap between the ideals of the philosophy and the behaviour of its adherents. Thus, we may consider that being exemplary in conduct is a core aspect of any aspiring spiritualist’s life, and indeed a very special contribution to the world. Being exemplary is a service which is universal (everyone can do it), powerful (everyone will appreciate it), perpetual (can never be taken away by anyone) and flexible (can be done in any time, place or circumstance).