Be aware of the 7 ways that lead to downfall

Once a Brahmin called Anartha went to Gauthama Buddha and asked him what brings about the downfall of a person. He pointed out that Gauthama Buddha always preached about the good deeds that one should do, but he wanted to know about the bad deeds that could lead to one’s downfall.

Gauthama Buddha told him the following:

The first is to sleep until the sun rises. If a person sleeps till late he will be late for everything and it would make him a go-slow person. In other words, if one does not get up early in the morning, one could await one’s downfall.

As a routine, Gauthama Buddha started His day at 4 in the morning. With His divine eyes called “Maha Karuna’’(Great Compassion) He saw who should receive help from Him on that particular day. Throughout His 45 years of preaching as the Buddha, He practised this great service. He helped the deserving and made them happy.

The second bad habit was laziness, Gauthama Buddha said. A lazy person would always say that it was too early to start work, too cold to start work or too hot to start work etc. Hence to be lazy is be a loser.

The third is anger. Anger means having no tolerance. If one gets angry over the slightest thing that means one becomes a short sighted person. Anger would bring a person a lot of enemies. If one intends to be an unsuccessful person one should become angry at the slightest provocation. People do not like to associate with angry people. One becomes unpopular if easily angered.

The fourth factor is not doing things to completion. Not completing the work undertaken is not a good sign. Some people start a task and quit half way. They give various reasons for stopping such ventures. In the Buddha’s opinion this is a sign of one’s downfall.

The fifth is to go to far off places by oneself. According to the Buddha one should not travel to distant places alone; one should be accompanied by at least by one person as you cannot say what calamity would occur on the way or at one’s final place of destination.

The sixth is sexual misbehaviour. As Buddhists we are supposed to abstain from sexual misconduct. A person’s downfall is inevitable if one indulges in such misdeeds. A person can get ill by associating with unwanted partners. A man has to be content with his wife and a woman has to be content with her husband. An unmarried man or woman has to lead a life of celibacy.

The seventh factor is gambling. Perhaps you may be aware of the treasury owner’s son in ancient India who had 80 crore Kahavanu (currency of that era )with him. During the Buddha’s period this man along with his wife gambled away the 80 crore he had inherited from his parents.

One should be aware of these seven factors that could lead to one’s downfall. It is up to us to either embrace them or reject them.

May we choose to lead a pious life as we commemorate Navam full moon day on Thursday.