พระอาจารย์เล่าโอวาทหลวงพ่อว่าเราไม่อาจดีได้ด้วยตัวเองลำพัง ต้องอาศัยจักรพรรดิผู้เลี้ยงผู้รักษาคอยดูแล ชี้ว่าสัดส่วนของธรรมชาติ 3 ฝ่ายกำหนดความเป็นไปของชีวิต และการเลือกอาชีพที่สอดคล้องกับกุศลเป็นเรื่องสำคัญ เพราะมีเพียงกุศลเท่านั้นที่เกื้อกูลทั้งปัจจุบันและอนาคตPra Ajarn recounts Luang Phor's teaching that we cannot become good on our own — we rely on the wheel-turning force that nurtures and protects us. He notes that the proportion of the three natural forces shapes the course of life, and that choosing a livelihood aligned with the wholesome matters greatly, since only the wholesome supports both the present and the future.
Luang Phor once said that we cannot become good on our own — we must rely on a 'backstage.'
Being Born, We Rely on the Wheel-Turning Nurturer and Protector
When we come to be born, we rely on the wheel-turning force (chakraphat) to nurture and protect us, and in time it brings us to a community. But the three natural forces all try to steer us to live by their aims; steers us wrongly. Everything depends on the proportion of the three forces. Whoever has a large unwholesome proportion suffers more, especially when it is also that force's turn — then the sphere of demerit can set much karma onto the timeline of our life: health, illness, accidents, and all manner of obstacles, all bound up with that proportion.
Choosing a Livelihood Aligned With the Wholesome
The proportion of the natures is therefore crucial. Our practicing, doing good, and building merit and perfections all aim to increase proportion. When the wholesome has strength, it can guide, instruct, and grant us the freedom to choose the good. The unwholesome, by contrast, pressures and compels us to act as it wishes; the neutral merely invites us to watch films, play games, travel, or read books of no benefit. Livelihood is an important matter that relies on the wholesome system; without abiding in it, making a livelihood flourish is very hard.
Only the Wholesome Supports Both Present and Future
The unwholesome is never sincere with us, tending toward suffering and harm; the neutral, though it doesn't pile on, doesn't help either. Only the wholesome supports both the present and the future, this life and the next. In the present, the wheel-turning force gains more merit to manage things, making management easy, without having to spend merit patching up karma, illness, and protecting one's children. In the neutral system one lives off old merit; only abiding in the wholesome system supports both present and future.