Dear Acharyaji.. I had a question.
Must one feel grateful for being given this life? Must one be grateful for ones ancestors that were the reason for my birth? I can be grateful for so many things – my family, nature, basic needs etc.. but there appears to be a block in cultivating gratitude for my existence – I find no reason for my existence or non existence in the physical world.
– B. Ranga (USA)
Shivoham!
Beloved Ranga,
You began by saying “I have a question” but then You have asked questions after questions… (smiles). Many questions, though thoughtful do come from you even during my discourses on Kabir and Shiva Sutra that you attend. These continuous questions simply means you are living in your mind for only mind can keep us engaged in asking questions rather than living life as it is unfolding – right here.. right now. This also means you aren’t comfortable in your emotions.. thus can’t live through heart! To live through heart would mean to operate from that center and if one is not comfortable with oneself in there.. living in mind is the only escape but unfortunately mind is not a good servant unless controlled and dealt with sternly.
The best beginning is to attend to heart even if there is too much pain. This center is the source of life and can be healed. It can be restored to it’s original vibrant state so easily and almost effortlessly- It’s not a coincidence that it is called Anaahat, the un-struck or unhurt. Now.. what to do to heal it. To heal the emotional disturbances the only remedy is Love.
All love is expansion, all selfishness is contraction. Love is therefore the only law of life. He who loves lives, he who is selfish is dying. Therefore love for love’s sake, because it is the only law of life, just as you breathe to live.
The primary care for emotional healing is ‘love’ and intensive care is ‘love’. Heart needs relationships.. that are flowing.. love-based and non-toxic. So act on it.. but remember : Do not just discard or label a relationship as toxic without looking at your own contributions in making it so!
We reap what we sow. We are the makers of our own fate. The wind is blowing; those vessels whose sails are unfurled catch it, and go forward on their way, but those which have their sails furled do not catch the wind. Is that the fault of the wind? We make our own destiny.
“Must one feel grateful for being given this life? Must one be grateful for ones ancestors that were the reason for my birth?” you ask.
No sermons can make you do that. In fact you yourself have shown your wisdom when you use the phrase “cultivating gratitude for my existence”. How beautiful.. You are right! The attitude is not taught.. it is cultivated. It is about using life situations for continuous learning, attuning and using it to nurture our spiritual aspect. Why am I saying so? Because we all are essentially ‘spirit in the body’ rather ‘spirit expressing through the body’ or even better ‘body in the spirit’. You too! but..
You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. In a day, when you don’t come across any problems – you can be sure that you are travelling in a wrong path. The cheerful mind perseveres and the strong mind hews its way through a thousand difficulties.
Beloved Ranga, you have all the resources. The openness is the key to transformation. Letting go, forgiving others.. learning to do something all the time – if not for self then for others and preferably for others! With the mind coming in the way you may say I don’t think I have capacity to do that but that is not true.
All power is within you; you can do anything and everything. Believe in that, do not believe that you are weak; do not believe that you are half-crazy lunatics, as most of us do nowadays. You can do any thing and everything, without even the guidance of any one. Stand up and express the divinity within you.
Expressing the divinity in you is the purpose and sooner you recognize the better. I am here to help but only if you have courage to follow. Now, you may ask why have I replied to you in different colors. Well.. just the secret is – the black is my expression and the maroon-red is what SV said almost 125 years back. SV who? who else.. one and only Swami Vivekananda!
Pardon me for all this and don’t ask me now why I quoted Swami Vivekananda. (laughs)
Love and light
-Master AD
Its all about you! 