Keep the inner lamp burning

HI FOLKS !

Today, I want to talk about keeping the Inner Lamp burning even as there are financial and/or personal storms raging outside.

Thats an important thing to remember, you know.

The storms always rage OUTSIDE. Things always happen OUTSIDE of us.

The markets crash.

Our stock loses its value.

A loved one decides he/she does not love us anymore and moves on.

We may lose our home , our car or boat.

The job looks very, very shaky and may be gone.

Dark, scary clouds on the horizon, aren't they ?

And very real too.

So what does one do ?

Understand that they are outside of you.

They will scare you and beat you down just as much as YOU let them do.

These are layers and layers of soot on the lamp which is still burning inside, giving light and warmth.

To begin with, remove the layer of despair.

It's not easy to accept responsibility for one's own actions.

WHY NOT ? is so very powerful a motivating factor !

We had wanted everything NOW, and it has not worked out.

Polish the lamp some more with a determination not to buckle under the pressure.

Time does not stand still, and this too shall pass.

You may be left poorer for a while but you will be richer with the experience of having survived through trying times.

These are times when one learns a number of lessons all together.

About oneself, one's character and integrity and quiet strength.

All of us have enough of it inside us, but we have never felt the need to test these qualities in us.

Now the Universe is doing it for us.

The funny part is, once the lessons are learnt, of acceptance and thrift and hard work and caring for Mother Earth and being humane and large-hearted, the situation outside may take its own time to change, but WE change, and INSIDE, where it matters.

After all, our thoughts and reactions and responses go along with us, wherever we go.

So it it is important to be both aware of what is happening to us inside and be as equanimous to it as possible.

INDIA will celebrate DIWALI next week, popularly known as the Festival Of Lights.

Its origin is in the epic Ramayana, which tells the story of Lord Rama, who killed the Demon king Ravana and came back to his kingdom in triumph after completing 14yrs in exile.

His subjects had not wanted him to leave at all, had waited for 14 long years, and guess what - ?

He was to reach very early in the morning, before day-break.

So the whole kingdom stayed up all night, decorated their homes with colours and festoons, burst crackers and lit thousands of lamps so that he would know the way !

That night, the one which was the last of 14 long years, was probably the blackest, slowest and the longest .

For his old mother, his brothers, his loved ones and his subjects.

But they had kept their inner lamp burning, even when things were very dark.

The demon king Ravana is depicted as someone with 10 heads.You could give these heads contemporary headings !- Greed, Self-Centredness, Indifference, Weakness, Anger, Carelessness, Sloth, Lust, Pride, Ego -



It was these that the man of strength and perseverance conquered, and there is a fighter in each one of us.

Tough times will come, will keep coming. If we practise staying calm and strong, then they won't be so trying.

Believe that you will come out of them and keep your Inner Lamp shining by polishing it just a little everyday.

WISH YOU ALL A GLOWING FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS.

Self - esteem

Hi folks- Hows Life been?

And how are you treating Life?!


Kate has sent some nice comments-Thanks !

And some topics. BIG Thanks! !

Lets look at Self-Esteem today.


Self-Esteem is what one thinks about oneself.

Esetem is regard, respect.

And Self is oneself.

It is knowing within oneself what one really is.

Truthfully.

One's strengths- For e.g. - I can work hard, I trust my own self enough to trust another person, I can resist self-sabotaging temptations, I can remain faithful, I can take care of my needs, I am dependable, I am careful about money- and so on.


Also, one's drawbacks- I need to work more on my sensitivity, I must get over the feeling of inadequacy, I should work harder, I cannot judge every person or situation based completely on my past negative experience- or somebody else's experience, and so on.

We do this often, many times without being aware of it.

These are definitely important inputs.
But there is another, very important one.

How much do YOU love yourself?
Its funny we never ask this question of ourselves and dont know how to answer it either.

There is a wonderful sentence - Before we say 'I love you', we must first learn to say the 'I'.

Who am I?

When I am not a brother, sister, parent, Boss, tycoon, banker, wife, husband,man, woman etc. Why do certain people or circumstances upset my equilibrium?

What makes me happy ?


Meditate over these and similar queries at random, casually, not as a matter of life and death!

But do.

Understand who and what you are and why you are the way you are.


Once you understand the 'Self' part, the Esteem wont be long in coming.

Or, to put it another way, dust the cobwebs of self-importance, expectations, illusions and fantasy from your True Self and it will shine through.

The problem with problems of self esteem is that we forget it has 'Self'.

One's Own View Of Oneself.

We hand over the reins to outsiders, to what others think of us.

It is important, true, but not to such an extent that we either behave in a way that we are not comfortable with, or worry over what others are thinking about us when we are being ourselves.

This is not a happy way to lead one's life.


The power of our own evaluation of ourselves must rest with us, all the time.

It should not be permanently coloured by our bad behaviour in the past, especially if we learnt from it and made amends.

In case we have not, as yet, it is time to sit down and be honest with oneself, do so and move on.

Lack of self-esteem arises from not spending quality time with oneself, with being too bothered about what the world would say.

When one starts to understand oneself, one will also learn to detach oneself and correct the sharp edges of one's behaviour.Reflect on your patterns. Recognise them and break off the negative influences.

There will always be people and situations which impact us negatively and one could be unaware of this too.

Flowing clean water gets muddied when one throws a handful of mud in it, but it shakes it off and is clean after a distance.

Thats true of SELF-ESTEEM too.

Understand that you are Beings Of Light, of Energy, each one of us, and just BE one.

BYE FOR NOW-

Suicide - a big nooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Hi folks !

An important topic for today.

Suicide.

Hmmn.

Ending your own life.

Who would do it ?
Someonewho does not know what life is about.

So what IS life about?

Have you had these questions too?

Even while not being suicidal ?

I did, all the time, and it set me off on this wonderful quest-

WHAT is the aim of my life ? What IS the aim of my life ? What is the AIM of my life?
WHY am I living ?

You get the drift.

Casual, fleeting questions meandering in - or weighing down when angry or hurt by turn of events.

Suicide is one topic where ignorance is NOT bliss, even if many take recourse to it convinced that it IS so.

It isn't.

Like we had done once before,

Lets start at the very beginning.
A very good place to start.

We had been a part of the Universal Energy before each one of us chose to separate and get into the cycle of life and death to experience the joy of Creation for ourselves.

It was our own considered choice.

Along the way, as we became humans and journeyd upwards to being better and better, we collected a lot of mental impurities which we then needed to peel away for the brilliance within to shine.

After each lifetime, we review what we have done, and choose the next one setting certain targets for ourselves.

As the urge to purify ourselves is primal, there are times when we set difficult targets for ourselves.

Situations leading to thoughts of ending one's life come when we do not recognise the earlier smaller tests that come our way and react habitually-out of impatience or anger or ego.

Such a reaction may give us a sense of satisfaction, but it is temporary.

It may hurt the other person but it harms us many times more.

Taking one's life does not solve anything because nothing 'finishes'.

There is no endless sleep or forgiveness, no understanding Lord or God or Saint with open arms to lead you to whatever you have imagined or are sure of.

You yourself had chosen those difficult situations because once upon a time not many decades ago, when you were in your spiritual form, you were sure that you would overcome those difficulties.

Now, in a physical body with a bit of a narrowed outlook, you can't cast away the body you have chosen to learn those lessons to ascend spiritually.

Having left the body, the first thing you will realize is that NOW you can't change anything, and your options to choose the next birth are also limited.

The feeling that dying is an end is a myth, a fantasy.

It messes up a lot of plans because you may have chosen a tough path to illuminate it for some others, and now they are left stranded.

Suicide is not allowed or considered as an option in a pre-birth plan or choice.

It is not Karma,because Karma is not punishment but merely the Law of Nature.

If you leave your work unfinished, you have to come back later in much tougher circumstances with the added pattern of running away from life.

It would get tougher with each failure.

The wonderful welcome that one reads about, the loving family waiting to receive, the golden glow, the spirit guides-it would be missing, because one has not raised one's consciousness to that level.

One finds oneself not only alive and conscious but also in a helpless state of limbo where one sees the consequences of one's action, it's negative effect on others, but unable to do anything about it.

When we leave this body, that is all we do.

Leave the body.

The same consciousness remains, the same characterthat we earned on earth by our behaviour.

It doesn't suddenly become Divine.

Sometimes, people who have come back from a near-death-experience after trying to commit suicide, have described how they were roundly scolded for this 'stupidity' and asked to be more giving and less self-centred.

Each of them changed.

Gave up abusing their body.

Reached out to strained relatives and friends.

Formed support-groups and became more patient and loving.

Whether the cause is an illness, a heart-break, looming financial crisis or loneliness.

The answer is in turning away from darkness towards light.

To opening our inner eyes to the light that is always present around us.

In learning to meditate and getting in touch with our breath, one at a time, so that we do not carry the burden of the past and future every moment.

In dusting the cobwebs from our strenght of mind and letting it shine through, sliver by sliver.

Be positive.

Trust yourself.

After all each of you are a unique Spiritual Being.

Think back to a tough test you gave when you were 5 or 6 years old.

You survived it, didn't you?

You will survive these difficult times too.

Love yourself.

And give unconditional love to others.

Don't think as to whether they deserve it or not.

Don't we receive such love sometimes?!

Just give.

It will work like the beam of light which will show you the way out of your heart's darkness.

Think, chew on this -

Choosing a teacher

Hi folks !



How have you been?!


I was away for a good 25 days, visiting some beautiful places and meeting lovely people, but its great to be back!


The last two posts were written and banked before I left and I published them at intervals, where a comp and internet were available, but I could not answer queries for lack of time, so let me do that now.



First of all, I was happy to read Mandar's detailed comment.

This kind of deep introspection is not easy at all, specially if there has been a major disappointment.

He had already started thinking on the right lines and the posts on Coincidences and Intuition just clarified things a bit more.

His positive attitude is sowing the right seeds for him!

I am happy for you Mandar, and thank you very much for sharing this with everybody.

More than the post, your experience will make people stop and think.


Regarding frauds on the path of spiritual realization,I have developed a few rules over the years.

They hold true for me, may not do so for others.

The path of Devotion, over a period of time, made me lazy, indifferent, insensitive and righteous because my god/saint was going to solve all my problems and apart from praying to him I did not have to do anything.

No need to introspect, change my behaviour, find alternatives, adjust or let go.

I did it faithfully for years and things remained the same for years.

The questions in my mind grew to an unbearable level, my natural curiosity took me on newer paths and I finally found the way.


The conclusions that I have come to hold true for me, may not do so for everyone.


To begin with, I am uncomfortable when I am asked to 'surrender'.

I like to have control over my thoughts and actions and I feel empowered when I take responsibility for my actions and do not make the same mistakes again.(I make new ones!).

I dislike surrendering to any individual because that again asks of me to suspend my thinking and reasoning.

The 'I' will go eventually, when I work it out, but till then, I need it to clear the garbage created by it.

I like to be shown the path, explained where it will eventually reach me and how to go about it.

I like to make the final choice of walking on it myself, by myself and without the distraction of any ritual.


That is why VIPASSANA works for me.

I am at peace with myself and the world, know my destination and there is no suspension of belief or responsibility.

You should have your own parameters for choosing a teacher or a path.

Decide what you want, meditate over it, be positive in your wish and the U niverse will make sure you meet your teacher.


Ranjana wanted to know how the Spirit Guides work, specially if one is not sensitive to their presence.


Well, they know that too!

And it is not at all a shortcoming to be unaware of such things.

It does not take away from a person's spirituality at all.

If one is walking the ethical path to the best of one's ability, doing a good turn to the best of one's ability and not harming any living being.

And everything is living - rivers, trees, animals, mother earth!

You see, that sure makes you SPIRITUAL!


Spirituality is actually a way of life.

Each one of us can remember atleast a few coincidences in our life.

Try to remember when exactly YOU thought of doing something which resulted in one.

You were in two minds and while thinking, a thought seemed to connect.

Thats your Spirit Guide squeezing his suggestion through!

You may feel you are not sensitive enough as some others who may have other sensibilities, but then, their guides may be comfortable with their ways of thinking and doing things.


Each one of us has a guide who knows us, our strenghths and weaknesses and he does not ditch us ever.

If, so far, you have generally gone through life following the above - mentioned pre-requisites of Spirituality, your guide is in contact with you!

Thank him for being there for you and keep an open mind about all the positive or ethically correct thoughts that 'pop' into your mind.

That's Him!


You will meet him/her when you leave your body, and have great time discussing how you had GOT IT certain times and muddled at others!


So long for now, folks!

Have a great day every day.