Strength of Soul - Week 17

                                                          Week 17 - Day 1

When Napoleon was young, he had great dreams. He told his teacher that he will conquer the whole world when he grows up. When his teacher taught about a small place name St Helena, he said he is not interested in such small places and want to conquer all the big countries in the world. No matter what he dream't and achieved, but when death came, he died in a small island St. Helena.

For the soul to enter the spiritual life, there are four conditions to be met:

1. Faith: 
What is the difference between trust and faith? Trust means having confidence in someone and Faith means having devotion. Trust is something that can break easily and Faith is that which can never be broken. To enter the spiritual life, we need 100% faith. A man who chooses a girl who to the world might not be so good looking has his own logic in choosing her among others as he knows she is the one made for him. Similarly there is no logic required in spiritual life.

"Faith is when you have the strength to leave something that is in your hands to obtain something that is not in your hands!" 

We might be forward where mind is concerned but not where the heart is concerned. Meera, Surdas were all uneducated but were forward in the matters of heart. Without petrol a vehicle cannot run, without money a market cannot run and without faith and devotion, a religion cannot exist. When you consider advanced technology, is your eye on the latest gadget or the one who invented it? The Universal Truth is that anything in front of your eyes is weak and the invisible is strong. For eg, an elephant looks strong but the one who rides the elephant is stronger. But the strongest is his soul that guides his mind to ride the elephant. 

Do we have such faith in our lives? What we see is not always right, For eg, two parallel railway lines seem to meet to the naked eye but it never does! Are we masters of faith? - Lets think about it!

2. Interest: 

We are interested in sugarcane that is filled with juice and mangoes that are juicy, however what about the interest in taking care of our soul? God also does not like a soul without interest. It does not matter how many hours we spend in the temple, what matters is with how much interest do we meet God even if it is just for 2 minutes. 

Once Shree Hanumanji asked Shree Ram, " The whole world calls me your devotee but how do I know that I am your real devotee?"  Shree Ram said," Good question Hanuman! Remember you will know that you are my devotee if while narrating about me you become glad, your voice is filled with excitement and your eyes with tears." 

The people we consider urgent in our life are the one's we are interested in and not whom we consider important. 

3. Relation:

Are we ready to give God and our Guru the place that we have given to people in our lives with whom we have a relation? We treat people according to our relation with them. We call God as our mother, father, friend etc, but when the time for sacrifice comes, we take a back step. A man after his marriage tells his wife that this is our home and not my house because he knows his relation with his wife. Why don't we maintain such relation with God? 

4. Emotions: 

Whenever God has given us something, he has always given us the best and deserving but where are our emotions? Emotions come into play when we remember someone and when we like someone. 

Where are we in these four conditions? 

Kabirdas once said that he is going on a pilgrimage and anyone can join him on one condition. His condition was that only those people who are ready to burn their desires, their beliefs etc can come along with him.

Heart Beats

                                                                  Sunday Special

 Once in a place named Junagad, there was a deep well that anyone would faint by looking down. A father and son were there. The father for fun picked up the son, held his legs and put him upside down. The son was still smiling. The surprised father asked," Are you not scared of the depth?". The son replied," It is important who is holding me. My legs are in your hands. I am secure in your hands so where is the reason to be scared?"

Similarly in our life is there any such person with whom we feel secure and happy? Is there at least one such address of a person whom we would trust and surrender completely?

"We can spend our entire life with just one good person but sometimes it takes an entire life to find just one good person"

There can many Mind address as we can give our mind to anyone but there can be only one heart address. Have we ever tried to find such an address? Where our purity is safe, happiness is guaranteed and love grows, we can understand for sure that it is the right heart address. Even if one of these conditions do not match then we are at the wrong place! 

There are three things:

I CAN, I MUST and I WILL find the right heart address. To find the right address, we have to first disappoint our mind,
Where the conscious says NO, the mind wins and where the conscious says YES, the mind loses. 

The right heart address can be found under the following conditions:

HEART :

H - Help

E  - Encourage

A - Attach

R - Respect

T  -Train

1. The one who Helps:

From the time we are born did we ever think of the number of people who have helped us to reach where we are today? We are so weak that we could not have done it alone without anyone's help. We have taken a lot of favors but have done very little. During a fire, if a fire brigade does not help we would be burnt to death. How many people have we helped. We always believe that it is others duty to help us, however have we ever thanked them for their favors? We can always give our heart to the one who helps us.

"There is no single rich man in this world whose life can go on without anyone's help, and there is no single poor man in this world who cannot help others"

2. The one who Encourages:

In life when we were in a critical position, when we were disappointed and felt like committing suicide, the one encouraged us and gave us hope is again a right heart address. When a kid writes on a slate for the first time, his mother makes him sit on her lap, holds his hand and makes him write. She feels proud about it and gives the credit to her son for writing. She encourages her son to write. People who encourage us are definitely the right heart address. Do we remember such people who have encouraged us when we were depressed. A depressed man should never be left alone. At some point in our life, we would have definitely felt like committing suicide, but by God's grace we had not taken any action. In 24 hours, how many times do we say thank you and felt gratitude?

3. The one who has attached us to the Right Place and Person:

The person who has always attached us to the right place, person, books etc is again the right heart address. We have to thank such people who have done favors on us. We will see once we start giving our heart to others, we would make such good relations with everyone. We have to at least talk with our family that without their help, we would have been nothing. Often, a person who speaks a lot outside is silent at home. Lets learn to express our gratitude for others, 

4. The one who gives us Respect:

We can always give our heart to the one who respects us. We always wait for others to give us respect. Our ego often comes in between. Why does ego come while saying thank you. Remember, if we don't get along well with the gardener, don't become enemies with the garden! The one who leaves the garden is the one in for trouble. 

5. The one who Trains us:

Have we ever thanked those who have trained us, given us good education? We tend to easily forget such people who have trained us - our mother, father, teacher etc. Our lives go on because of the support from so many other lives. If we leave them, our life will get disturbed!

                                 "We don't live, others in this world keep us alive"

Beyond The Visible World - Week 16

                                                                    Day 1

Once a Millionaire was travelling with an expensive diamond worth Lakhs. On the way he stays in a place where there was only one room available. He was asked to share the room with another stranger. On looking at the stranger he felt that he was definitely a thief. The stranger goes out for sometime. The Millionaire then hides his expensive diamond under the strangers pillow. The stranger returns and in the night searched all the bags of the Millionaire for the diamond, however he was not able to find anything. In the morning he spoke to the Millionaire and said, " I am a notorious thief. I tried to search for the diamond that you had , however I could not find it". The Millionaire replied, "I had hidden the diamond under your pillow. You had searched all the places, however, you had not searched under your own pillow".

Similarly in life, God gives us happiness but we are not able to find it.  Do we want to become God or follow God's principles?

There are four things to keep in mind:

1. Knowledge (Gyan Khand):

"One's first step in wisdom is to question everything - and one's last is to come to terms with everything"

What is our mentality in the field of knowledge, wisdom or information? Have we ever thought who we are, where have we come from and where would we go? What are our efforts to obtain knowledge and wisdom?  
Like a building that needs its base, even we need knowledge. We speak to everyone differently depending on the relation we have with them, eg. mother, father, friend, relative. Without pain, we might get wealth, power and worldly luxuries, however without pain we cannot get honor or good character which will come along with us even after death. Along with wealth we need good character. Do we know where is the break in our life? Before leaving this world it is necessary to learn to leave the luxuries and everything we are attached to in this world.

2. Shame ( Lajja Khand):

"The only shame is to have none"

Once we gain wisdom and knowledge, shame will automatically come to us when we look into our past and look into ourselves and will know our true nature. The great Tulsidas even after writing "The Ramayana" said," There is no one as cruel as me in this world". After attaining so much knowledge do we have shame in us? When anyone praised us for our achievements, did we ever feel shame in our eyes? This shame will remove all pride in us.

3. Grace (Krupa Khand):

“It's not the law of religion nor the principles of morality that define our highways and pathways to God; only by the Grace of God are we led and drawn, to God. It is His grace that conquers a multitude of flaws and in that grace, there is only favor. Favor is not achieved; favor is received.” 

It is by God's grace that we can do anything in this world. There is nothing in our hands and it all by God's grace that good things happen. We consider ourselves weak and we cannot do anything without God. Why do we take blessings from elders before starting anything new? Because we know that blessing is very important in our life. When Tulsidas completed Ramayana, Lord Ram asked Tulsidas, " Now that you have written my story, what do you want from me?" Tulsidas replied, " Lord, please conquer my desires and please put an end to them". In spirituality, there is always a demand of Shame and Grace.

4. Religion( Dharm Khand):

"Rational arguments don't usually work on religious people. Otherwise, there wouldn't be religious people"

Do we know the definition of Religion? Religion or Dharm is nothing but the character of a thing. Eg: Fire's work is to burn. No argument is required in religion. When do we feel like arguing - when the stone falls down or when it goes up? We argue when it goes up as we know it is the religion of the stone to fall down and not go up. If we do not require encouragement to become religious and to leave sins, then we call it as religion. What is one good thing that we have done without any encouragement? We need to take medicines,  we take dose, but oxygen is just taken. In life, religion has to take the place of oxygen!