Transmutation

The luminous river of energy consciousness flows and occasionally finds a murky pebble of emotional pain in its path. As and when the loving consciousness holds it in compassionate attention, the pebble melts into the river in an ecstasy and the energy that was once trapped in it is released and rejoins the flow. The river flows gently, pristine, unperturbed. Some pebbles lie very deep within, unseen. Circumstances arise in our life to bring these pain pebbles to the surface where they can be seen and transformed. The unsurrendered mind sees such situations as painful and unwanted intrusions into its peaceful life. But the surrendered mind smiles wisely n enjoys the ecstasy. It knows that The One has a perfect plan. The surrendered soul is like an innocent child who trusts her mother so completely that nothing disturbs her peace. She plays, sleeps n dreams contently in the lap of Reality.

Islam promotes peace

There are certain universal ideals like truth, justice and compassion that most closed systems of beliefs subscribe to. Initially, most such systems emerge with the intention of remaining open and relevant and during this stage of purity can transcend barriers of time, space and human diversity and unify people in a genuine search for Truth.  Unfortunately, over time, these systems ossify into fixed structures that demand absolute loyalty and reject free thinking although they do retain seeds of truth that inspire the genuine seeker. Consequently, in the form it exists today, there is no single creed that fits all, be it Islam or any other.

People fashion their beliefs in the crucible of their life experiences and hence each person may be considered to be guided by a unique set of principles. It is human nature to believe that one's own ideology should be adopted by everyone else because it is superior. This fallacy affects all irrespective of whether they label themselves atheists, Muslims or environmentalists. So it is not surprising that a monstrosity such as Islamic State has come up that wants to impose their 'Islam' on the world. What is dangerous however is the fact that they have been allowed to single handedly appropriate the sacred symbols and terminology of Islam first through their violence and second through the eagerness to paint all Muslims with the same brush. The idea that 'Islam breeds terrorism' needs to be effaced by a powerful counter-idea that 'Islam promotes peace." It is in the interest of all peace-loving individuals that profess their faith to be Islam to envision, propagate and live this idea.

Virtual reality

We are consciousness-energy that proceeds from the One Absolute Eternal Source. As we accumulate life experience, we build neural connections in the brain that signify this information. One such important cognitive structure is the self concept, a neural network that holds all data on the self. The consciousness-energy then gets attached to this self concept and mistakenly identifies with it. This is the cause of all suffering. On self inquiry (who am I?), this is understood. The attachment to the ego structure is dropped in this moment of awakening which comes only by grace. Thereafter through compassionate witnessing, the ego structures melt away at a rate proportional to the extent of surrender in the individual to the One Truth. Thus there is end of suffering.

Lessons from nature

Over the course of my recent comic travails with gardening, I chanced upon the fact that when replanting seedlings, avoidance of root shock is essential to ensure a timely harvest. It seems that just as hostile stimuli like sudden grief can arrest the entire life of a human being, plants too respond to alien environments with shock and suspension of growth.

Challenging situations like death, divorce, emotional abuse, transfer etc. usurp much of our life force and soon we find ourselves unable to move forward. For years, people get stuck; yet even in this time, important lessons are learnt. If during such a turbulent period, a person receives timely support and care from loved ones, the duration of stasis may be curtailed significantly. So also, a plant will recover its growth rapidly if its roots are given a dip in a growth enhancer.

So if you find yourself in a pickle (as you will if you are human), reach out to someone - be it a compassionate friend or a benevolent higher power. It makes life that much easier. 

The I-story

Words in themselves cannot hurt, even the basest of them. It is the story in our head that gives that power to them. We have the power to change that story. We have the power to be happy and free. But first, we have to know the story.

From the time we are born, we are weaving the story of our lives - "I am Indian. I am intelligent. I hate rice. I am unloved, blah, blah, blah..."

Inwardly, the story takes the appearance of a person which we may call the "little me." This is the ego of the Eastern spiritual traditions. As you can clearly see, it is just a collection of thoughts running in loop. But boy, does this program have us hooked 24 x 7!!

The story is not just our primary entertainment, it is also the window through which we view the world. If we cannot identify the bumps, cracks and colors that adorn this window pane, we buy into a corrupt vision of reality. It is therefore very important to examine our story.

So have you inspected your "story?" How do you go about doing that? What prevents you from taking a closer look?

Real vs. Unreal

In the face of great emotional pain and ego death, what helps me hold on is the remembrance of these beautiful words from the Bhagavad Gita -"What is Real is never lost and what is lost is never Real."

We dont know who we are. Due to our life experiences, we gather a set of thoughts in our head (eg: I am Thehseen. I like biryani, etc.). These thoughts act like an inner person (ego) and we believe this is who we are. Then we get attached to the ego and we start defending our ego and that is suffering. So life and consciousness (with infinite possibilities) taking form of a body gets limited into the box called ego. Ego is just a bunch of thoughts, remember.

In our daily lives of egos interacting with egos, (my way versus your way), there is always emotional pain because egos get bruised. Then we cry and "suffer." And say "Oh my poor life. What is to become of me!!" Who is this me? You dont even know who you are!! You misidentify with ego and then cry when that is being taken away from you!! Can you see the absurdity of it?!

You think you can think your way out of it? No!! All thinking is more ego. You hav to be very still. Earnestly self observe. Stay in the NOW. Gently bring your attention into the physical sensations of body and breath to anchor yourself. Let everyone and everything be as they are. Surrender to life. And maybe by God's grace, you wil one day become aware of the gap between thoughts. And then these gaps may widen. Wisdom and love will flow from the stillness that resides in these gaps.

Every moment, you r you. Yet you never know you. You can never be an object that you can know. You are the subject. You can only know who you are not. You can never lose you (that which is Real can never be lost). You lose many things you know (what was lost was never Real).

So every time someone comes along and tries to make fun of your way and tries to impose their way over you, rejoice. Your ego has the chance to melt a little so that the Real in all splendor can shine more and more. How grateful we should be to these great teachers who appear in our life to release our inner awesomeness from the prison box of the ego.....

Relinquishing resistance

Whatever choice we make, we must do it wholeheartedly.

There are only two kinds of people in this world - ones who are open to love versus ones who need love desperately. Those who need love are always afraid. Their heart has closed due to fear and so love does not flow freely. When we see such a person, we must open our heart even more and allow a big wave of compassion to flow through our heart to them. Where there is love and light, darkness and fear naturally are absent. Love is not something that we shower on people depending on their merits or how they behave toward us. Love flows effortlessly when our hearts are open.

Our hearts are open when we are surrendered to God, peaceful in our faith that God will take care of us no matter how bad a situation may look. From that faith, we lean back and relax. There is no need to think too much. Rest in the moment because the only power in this world is taking care of us. Allow Him to. Then our heart wil remain open and through that gap, love will flow freely. Allow everyone to be who they chose to be.... Relax.....