When there is so much love, you take total responsibility for any misunderstanding. For a moment you may express dismay on the surface. But when you do not feel that dismay in your heart, you arrive at a perfect understanding. You are in a state where all problems and all differences slide away and only love shines through.

Usually we are stuck in our differences because we have lost sight of ourselves. In the name of love we try to manipulate and control the other person. It is natural that when we love someone, we want them to be perfect.

You can never see the holes in the ground from the top of a hill. From an airplane, the earth looks so smooth. So also from a state of elevated consciousness, you do not see the pitfalls in others. But if you come to the ground you always see the holes. When you want to fill the holes, you have to see them. You cannot build a home being airbourne. You cannot till the land without looking at the holes, filling them, removing the pebbles.
That is why when you love someone, when you are close to them you find faults in them.But finding faults destroys love and instead of helping to fill the holes, we run away. When you love someone and see their faults,stay with them and help them fill the holes. This is Wisdom.

-Teachings by His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shanker

Thoughts from my Spiritual Diary-4

God in His Infinite mercy gives to us His joy, His inspiration, a blessed life, True Wisdom, immense happiness and a True understanding of His mysterious ways through all the various experiences and events which He sends our way. But the glory of God is only revealed in the quietness of the soul, in the intensity of the inner effort of our minds to commune with Him. It is there that we find the Truth- we find Him.
Outside delusions are always very strong.The world goes on with its endless complexities and false cravings.The more we concentrate outside, the less we come to realize the inner glory of the everlasting bliss of Spirit. Our environment keeps us so engrossed in worldly thoughts of power, lust for money, jet speeding careers, convenient selfish relationships, and boosting our ego-centric self images that we live in complete delusion.
Yet underlying all life is the silent voice of God. Ever calling to us through various religions, through the teachings of our Prophets and revered Saints ( pbut ), through Sacred scriptures written in indelible ink, through our conscience, and through all things that are marvellous and that makes life worth living.
The best way to be unendingly happy is to be conscious of our Father who knows what we need rather than what we desire.

It is impossible to deceive Him because He is sitting right behind our thoughts and knows what we seek.We are here today,tomorrow we are gone just as mere shadows in a cosmic dream.But behind the unreality of these fleeting pictures is the immortal reality of the Supreme.

Lets not concentrate upon ephemeral worldly goals and lustful material attachments. Such fanaticism takes us away from our Lord and our eternal Self in Him. As human beings lets cast away ignorance, every worthless thought of greed and desire, our man-made limitations and penetrate in the hearts of all creatures with the piercing arrow of Love.
Instead:
Lets burn in the passion to seek- His kingdom. Lets unite in the oneness with God and celebrate His teachings. Lets bring forth the ONE essence of all our religions and bask in His Glorius Light as His loving children.
May we all someday celebrate His Realization in us-

in eternity,

in immortality

and in unceasing bliss!!!

Thoughts from my Spiritual Diary-3

One of the prime lessons that I have learnt over these past 7 years is that – GIVING IS RECEIVING.

In every sense of the word, I needed to give all that I already have in my being in order to claim them from others. Virtues of unconditional Love, Mercy, Kindness, Empathy,
Compasssion, Peace and Gratitude. The mystics have always said that these are parts of your very nature, they belong to your original self.

All that I was before comprised of a very limited and a defined set of my so-called qualities. I only gave abundant love when I received love, offered kindness when I was shown kindness, compassion overruled me only when it was gifted (not that I didn’t have a heart and wasn’t a softie) but it was only very conditional. I often expected Love to come my way from all sides with goodies that could make me a contented soul, with promises to make me smile eternally, with an assurance that I always have whatever I desire. But, does love come with conditions?

No sweetheart, love is Unconditional and is extremely giving. It is above your desires, your liking and your happiness and it is about putting others first- their joy, their smile and their desires. It permeates radiance wherever it flows and for all His Creations. It spells magic in the eyes of its beholder. It’s a rose whose fragrance shall never die. I know the first step towards Him would be to emulate His highest virtue- Unconditional Love, which He has for all of us. So for my parents, my brother, my grandparents, my best friend (all of them which make up my little world) and for all those wandering souls like me and also the entire human race, I have started loving you all unconditionally. I haven’t fully achieved my goal but I have tried to be a little more loving, a little more compassionate and a little more tolerant than before, and all of these without expecting any return gifts! This shift of my own nature did win a few hearts and blessed me with bliss I cannot describe in words, because it was in giving that I received :-)

The journey is still on and I am searching for more friends to make this life a true celebration. Would you join me?!!

Discourse on Good Will

-From the Metta Sutta,part of the Sutta Nipata,a collection of dialogues with The Buddha; is said to be among the oldest parts of the Pali-Buddhist Canon.
(Translation by Stephen Rupenthal)

May all beings be filled with joy and peace.
May all beings everywhere,
The strong and the weak,
The great and the small,
The mean and the powerful,
The short and the long,
The subtle and the gross:

May all beings everywhere,
Seen and unseen,
Dwelling far off or nearby,
Being or waiting to become:
May all be filled with everlasting joy.

Let no one deceive another,
Let no one anywhere despise another.
Let no one out of anger or resentment
Wish suffering on anyone at all.

Just as a mother with her own life
Protects her child, her only child, from harm,
So within yourself let grow
A boundless love for all creatures.

Let your love flow outward through the universe,
To its height, its depth, its broad extent,
A limitless love, without hatred or enmity.

Then, as you stand or walk,
Sit or lie down,
As long as you are awake,
Strive for this with a one-pointed mind;
Your life will bring Heaven to earth.

This piece of writing that appears so simple and lucid took my entire attention the first time I read it. I feel that if it had to be one sincere prayer we offered for all humanity it would be exactly as above.

Thoughts from my Spiritual Diary-2

Over the years, as every sunrise brightened my day for a new beginning and as every sunset gave me a chance to bury my hurts, I have seen myself grow in soul and spirit. Every offering of life, whether pleasant or unpleasant came with innumerable lessons only to enrich my being. Only now I realize that they were an essential pre-destined series of events which had to be unfolded for me so perfectly. Only now I know that they happened to make me who I am today. These eyes remained the same, only new perceptions were born. People and loved ones retained their importance, only the love and understanding grew mature and deepened my sense of attachment with them. Circumstances are still the same but my Love for Spirituality has grown stronger. Problems and sorrows might never leave my side but I now have a stronger pact with God to help me deal with it. I refuse to resist everything that doesn’t fit my will and I now choose to surrender myself to His will. It has taken me years to come to terms with this but I guess He has a time for everything. All lessons will be taught. His clock is never late; it always strikes on the right time. If I have one thing which I take complete pride in, which I truly call my own achievement, which happens to be my trophy from God over these wonderful years, it would be FAITH- All-pervading, stubborn and unending.

That’s my Spiritual Gift from Him :-)

To emphasize what I have posted on my previous blog, I would like to quote a beautiful passage from the Bhagwad Gita, India’s oldest and best known Sacred Scripture of Hinduism which to me is extremely inspiring and contains the parameters of becoming a true lover of The Supreme One.

To all our seeking souls, The Lord Krishna says-

“That one I love who is incapable of ill-will,
And returns love for hatred.
Living beyond the reach of the ego (I and mine)
And of pleasure and pain, full of mercy,
Contented, Self-controlled, firm in faith,
With all their heart and all their mind given to me-
With such people I am in love.

Not agitating the world or by it agitated,
They stand above the sway of elation,
Competition and fear, accepting life
Good and bad as it comes. They are pure,
Efficient, detached, ready to meet every demand
I make on them as a humble instrument of my work

They are dear to me who run not after the pleasant
Or away from the painful, grieve not
Over the past, lust not today,
But let things come and go as they happen.

Who serve both friends and foe with equal love,
Not buoyed up by praise or cast down by blame,
Alike in heat and cold, triumph and disaster, pain and pleasure,
Free from selfish attachments and self-will,
Ever full, in harmony everywhere,
Firm in faith – such as these are dear to me

But dearest to me are those who seek me
In faith and love as life’s eternal goal
They go beyond death to immortality….”

The most important lessons of life have been taught to me in my weakest and darkest moments. I have heard that you don’t choose SPIRITUALITY; it chooses you – to guide you, to teach you, to protect you, to bless you, to transform you, to pick you in its arms when you are crying and make you smile again by gifting you His mercy and compassion.

Let me quote this extremely beautiful piece of writing by Thomas A. Kempis–

“He that is not prepared to suffer all things and to stand to the will of His beloved, is not worthy to be called a lover of God. A lover ought to embrace willingly all that is hard and distasteful for the sake of his beloved and not to turn away from him for any contrary accidents”

So are we true lovers of God?

Thoughts from my Spiritual Diary-1

Ever since I came into existence, these two eyes have witnessed glimpses of the supreme ruler’s glory - His gifts of a kaleidoscope of emotions (joy and sorrow, tears and smiles), success and failure, highs and lows, blessings and blessings in disguise (in mysterious forms which I failed to comprehend initially), triumphs and disasters, humans in the form of angels and humans cloaked in the devil’s attire, humanity which stirred my soul and deceit which shattered my existence. The one thing that dawned upon me was that both these contrasting facets of the two Ps – Pain and Pleasure were from His goody bag that I call His gifts. It took me many years to realise this truth and I wish to etch it on my soul.