Unquestioning and abiding faith in the Lord and vigorous practice in meditation are advocated by Lord Krishna himself as effective antidotes to the daytoday problems faced by the average human being.

It is to be inferred from this that the conditioning of the mind which occurs as a result of such austere practices as meditation suitably equips the practitioner to tackle the host of problems and challenges that he has to face in his day to day life. As would be evident to any discerning human,problems are seen and treated as such only when they are perceived to be so in one's imagination.Perceived problems cease to be so when one does not fear a loss of his or her material posession in whatever form due to such perception.Hence,problems originate more in one's minds and fall within the ambit of one's imagination than being real in existence.For example,one in possession of considerable amount of wealth and immovable properties still may not feel secure and hence perceives a problem of inadequacy of wealth and hence constantly keeps chasing a mirage which is to secure himself with 'enough'. Little do such people realise nor do they have the wisdom to realise that a minimal effort on their part to inculcate true faith in the Almighty in letter and spirit by means of complete devotion, would secure them fully and psychologically. The value of penance in this context not only by means of meditation,but also as demonstrated in one's life style and practice is understood fully by the devout.

Thiruvalluvar in the chapter on 'PENANCE' highlights the importance of subjecting oneself to strict discipline and character that would qualify for the term PENANCE.Such men,Thiruvalluvar says would have the indomitable energy to put up with one's own insurnountable difficulties ,even while taking care not to cause harm to others.

One may not agree with the viewpoint of Thiruvalluvar who says that only those familiar with austere practices and has had initiation in some form or the other in his or her earlier births would be able to continue with such practices.Even as one disagrees with Thiruvalluvar on this due to perhaps one's own rational beliefs,nevertheless it is indeed a fact that even making attempts to subject oneself to some sort of religious discipline calls for divine blessing and a natural inclination.

The moral and spiritual powers acquired by such of those ascetics with years of rigorous religious discipline and total devotion to God is infinitely superior to the physical and material power.It would be within the power of such ascetics to completely and effortlessly subjugate the evil doer even while rewarding the noble intentioned with great glory.

The term PENANCE does not automatically imply any impossibility of austere religious practice even when one is married and engaged in marital life.Religious discipline and devotion to God also would denote a strict adherence to one's duty in whatever capacity he is engaged in and that would include one's life as a married individual.Penance in the form of strict adherence to one's duty and obligations would confer the desirable benefits upon the individual.

All those who are duty conscious and adhere strictly and religiously to one's own duties in this world are all deemed to be in penance.All the others are considered to proceed in the destructive path.

The one committed to deep penance would get better and better in terms of ascetic virtues, by the voluntary and willing suffering he inflicts upon himself in the form of a pleasurable pain.

The ascetic who is able to gain control over his own soul and his own destiny would be revered and worshipped by all the others. The extent of spiritual powers thus attained by such souls would enable them to deal even with YAMA DHARMA RAJA on equal terms.

These words may be taken to mean the spiritual strength gained by such individuals by the grace of God.For such men,the inevitable death would not mean anything significant in their consciousness,warranting any emotional disturbance.