The Three Lights on the Path

Reflection, realisation, and resolve—the timeless trinity through which humanity has always found its way from chaos to clarity

- By RAJYOGI BRAHMA KUMAR NIKUNJ JI

The great history of mankind offers a panoramic view of past and present events to our mind’s eye—a parade of similar and dissimilar yet significant occurrences unfolding in succession.

It provides a running commentary on the individuals who played their parts in these episodes and marks milestones along the path of time to indicate when these events took place.

These accounts of events were handed down to posterity in the form of oral traditions, pictographs, edicts, coins, and the written word. A study of these leads one to the conclusion that history is a record of changes that occurred in civilisations, nations, cities, states, and human settlements, or even among nomadic tribes. It is a continuous story of the rise and fall of certain men and women, as well as of communities, nations, or groups who were led by them during particular periods. These annals or chronicles of change show that certain men and women underwent great transformation in their lives by reflecting deeply on certain events and their causes, or on their outcomes, or on the futility of certain acts done by themselves and others before their times.

It was always the trio of deep reflection, realisation, and resolve that enabled them to rise to great moral and spiritual heights. This transformation, which began with them, later influenced large sections of mankind. From the long list of such persons, the ones about whom most of us have deep knowledge and respect are Saint Valmiki, Gautama Buddha, King Ashoka, Poet Tulsidas, and Mahatma Gandhi.