Gratitude

This year 2020 was not so easy for many of us in different aspects of life. Everything is a teacher and it’s up-to us to look at a glass as half full or half empty. Remember God has a plan and time for everything.

Keep faith, at times we may become weak and start worrying but revert back to faith at the earliest. But despite all struggles gratitude seems to be the guiding light in our journey. The wait could be long but can be made beautiful with attitude of gratitude. My key take from this year is gratitude, what is yours?

Sharing my favorite hymn which makes sense always and all the more this year.

In His time,

He makes all things beautiful in His time,

Lord please show me everyday

As your teaching me your way,

That you do just what you say,

In your time.

In your time,

You make all things beautiful in your time,

Lord my life to you I bring,

With its winter and its spring,

May i fathom everything,

In your time.

There’s a time,

Both for sowing and for reaping there’s a time,

Time for loosing, time for gain,

Time for joy and time for pain,

Every purpose under heaven has a time.

There are times, there are days,

Weeks and months we cannot understand God’s ways,

If for years we fail to scan,

what is His eternal plan,

We will remember that He can, All the time.

Self love to universal love and enlightenment

 As charity begins at home, love begins with the self. There is a big difference between self-love and selfishness and is mostly misunderstood.

Self-love is taking care of ourselves in all dimensions the physical health, mental health, emotional health, material wellness, and spiritual health.

How do we take care?

First and foremost having an awareness(1) of what we are.Acceptance(2) of what we are are, the idea of what we have to become, and spending time for the transformation(Action 3) from what is to what should be. Continuing the process of awareness, acceptance, and action; i.e (Adapting as a lifestyle 4).

Most of the problems start from lack of awareness, so we should make it a habit to monitor ourselves 360 degrees.

Sometimes we get a sudden awakening and awareness then we may feel bad about what we are currently. But hold on practice self-acceptance. You can’t change what was but you can always act in the ‘now’. Wherever you are, whatever you have become, there will always be someone better than you, someone wiser, happier, more peaceful, more successful, more balanced, more successful, richer, prettier, smarter, more famous, healthier than what you are. Learn to be inspired(1 a)by them and improve yourself not feel jealous(-1) and feel low about yourself. You are God’s beautiful creation, accept yourself as you are, if you don’t accept yourself who else will. Remember jealousy is a pitfall that may drain us of what we have.

Having created the awareness of what is and what is to be, the next important step is to be determined as well as take the required action(3) towards what we are supposed to become. Don’t give room for (-2)laziness, strengthen your willpower (3a), and achieve your goal. There is no use of wisdom, knowledge, awareness, or idea unless put into action. Laziness and lack of will is a pitfall that may drain us of what we have.

By following the above we may succeed but if we don’t continue to follow we may again lose it all and may have to restart all over again. Be it in any field succeeding once is good but excellence lies in continuous maintenance of it. For that, we need to adapt(4) the principles of awareness, acceptance, action continuously in our day to day life.

If we can apply the above continuously we have learned and applied the principles of self-love. When we feel we have succeeded in something we can surely feel good about ourselves but not proud(-3)or egoistic(-4)Now we may see our fellow people in different stages of consciousness and struggling with different things. It’s our duty to help(5)them out. Don’t talk as if you have achieved everything without any efforts or failures, tell people it’s ok to make mistakes or fail but they can always begin from now and improve. Don’t be selfish(-5) and secretive about your success process, share the tips with others, and help them shine too. Remember, pride, ego and selfishness are greater pitfalls and draining points which will make us restart all over again. Also don’t be afraid of losing, because of sharing your ideas or knowledge or time or possessions with others. No one ever loses anything by sharing. In fact what we share with other multiples(6). 

You are a shining star and this universe is always beautiful with millions of stars shining collectively. Shine and let others shine. You have applied the principles of self-love when you shine, you have applied the principles of universal love when you let another person shine. Love and light is the only thing which now exists within and outside. Imagine how beautiful such a universe would be, that in fact is heaven. That in-fact seems to me as a journey from self-love to universal love and enlightenment. 

Continue shining and helping others shine always, forever, eternally. Pay attention and do not get into the trap of energy leakage points. In the entire process surrender(1*) to God acts as a catalyst.

Let's pray that we all shine eternally.

Appreciation and power of words

Believing in our self is a gift, having another person who believes in us is a blessing!It’s a wonder to think of the effect of appreciation in people’s life. Why does some people get better after marriage or grow in certain organizations or school and some others loose their confidence after joining a job/school  or after getting married? The key difference maker is Appreciation!

People who are doing normally suddenly turn out to be so confident because they are surrounded by someone who loves, respects and appreciates them.Same way people who were once very confident and enthusiastic can even turn out to become dull and depressed when they are  surrounded by someone who keeps on doubting and criticizing them.

In the Solomon Islands of Africa, there is a custom which the tribal people follow. Whenever they want to cut down a very large tree, the villagers gather around the tree and keep criticizing it. They do this for around one month and then the tree falls down and dies by itself. Such is the power of words in our subconscious mind. 

Of course it’s maturity to decide what to take in and what to ignore from whatever comes from outside. But it’s not so easy to always practice it. When people are fighting a million battle we do not know about, it becomes our duty to speak kindly, motivate and appreciate one another.Never speak a demotivating word to anyone, we never know what impact it can cause in their self belief or subconscious mind.

Charity begins at home. Let’s learn to appreciate ourselves, our family ,friends, relatives, co workers, support staffs and all people we come across.

Never ever utter any word or comment which may affect another person. Kind words are sweet to speak and sweet to listen. Always appreciate and never criticize.

Let’s appreciate others and make them more happy and confident.Ancient tamil poet Thiruvalluvar says 

இனிய உளவாக இன்னாத கூறல்

கனிஇருப்பக் காய்கவர்ந் தற்று

When there are sweet words to speak, using harsh words is like eating a raw vegetable when fruit is available.

Balance-Constant Remembrance

 I was always thinking that balance means balancing the different aspects of life like house,kids,job, health, spirituality etc. ,used to wonder how to give time and attention for everything since everything is so demanding. 

But then understood that it’s not so complex at all. All the different aspects of life comes under the outer or action plane.The instincts and inspiration comes from within.This is the inner plane. So basically we need to balance between these two planes. Our instincts and inspiration from the inner plane should manifest into action in the outer dimension. But what comes in middle of these two? Our mind. It produces thoughts, counter thoughts and deviates the flow between the inner and outer plane.That is why it is said that we need to balance the mind. 

What is the simplest and powerful technique to balance our mind? Fix the mind towards something which is the subtlest and lightest. Fix the mind towards God. Remember God. Constant Remembrance, when we constantly practice this automatically the flow won’t be disturbed and balance between inner and outer planes will be achieved.

So we move from idea of multiplicity(multiple aspects of life) to trinity and when our mind is in constant remembrance we move from trinity to unity/whole.Inner, mind and outer are all in sync. That  stage is the real goal of human life. May God grace us the taste of that state.

Life situations and detachment

 Staying positive is easy when all is well. But everybody’s life is not the same. Also our own life is not the same all the time.Events and things are not always to our liking  or the way we want it to be.In life we also witness that good people also suffer, it’s only to make them all the more detached.Life tests some people by not giving and life tests some people by giving surplus.

Acceptance helps to deal with everything. But how to practice acceptance? We need to understand that life offers us situations for our higher purpose and not always as we want.Our higher purpose is evolution and expansion of consciousness. So anything which is holding us down and deviating us in our journey nature removes it like removing weeds.

Our greatest pain comes from our deepest attachment whether we know it consciously or not. When there is a blockage in a pipe and we are expecting water to flow free, does it matter if stone is causing the hinderance or gold is causing the hinderance. Blockage of any kind has to be removed for the free flow. So too in our life though we classify things as good and bad any kind of attachment is a blockage in our spiritual path.

Somehow luckily nature wants one thing for all of us: evolution. Every attachment is a extra bag we are carrying while we are walking. Of course  undoubtedly our journey would be easy when we walk without luggage.When we are not willing to voluntarily get rid of attachments life offers multi various situations for us to get rid of attachments. The more we cling on to our attachments the more pain the situation brings to us.

Many great saints say that we (our soul at the time of birth)choose the environment which we want. The environment suitable for our evolution.

Let’s always remember that nature gives situations for us to stay detached for our own higher good. We can live in acceptance if we always remind ourselves that we should not get lost in the worldly things but do our duty in God’s Remembrance.We can’t try to detach ourselves from the innumerable things clinging on our mind, the positive and easiest approach is to attach ourselves to God, gradually the other things fall away from our mind.

Lessons from people around

Everything around us teaches us lessons in infinite ways. It's only up to us to grasp the lesson and apply it in our own life.

My husband’s grandmother aged 89 passed away today morning. I know her for a decade now and her life conveys some important lessons.

She had always totally dedicated her life for her husband. Ever since I met her, I have seen her taking care of her husband and performing everything for him just the way a mother takes care of a small kid. Though she  herself was 75 plus when her husband lost his eyesight, yet she discharged her duty with utmost dedication and love without cribbing, complaining or any kind of regrets. 

Many people may do their duty but only few do it so heartfully.

She is a very strong willed person and a ’doer’. A typical karma yogi. Such souls for sure heavily burn their karma with their hard work.

Her husband passed away three years back and ever sine then she slowly started falling sick and gradually became bed ridden. My father in law took great care of his mother during her last days. She was always physically over doing domestic activities for her family all through her life and in the last one or two years everyone had to repay her. This was another great lesson of karma. Whatever we get from another person we need to return it back.

Rest in peace granny. May we be as strong willed, duty minded  and hardworking as you. Bless us all.

Best thing we can give others

Whatever we give others, nature gives us more and more of it. Ofcourse at different situations a person needs different things like domestic help, financial help, technical help, motivation and word of encouragement,sharing ideas or knowledge or life learnings or reviews or references.

 But what is the best thing we can give others?

Love and prayer! 

Helping hand is ofcourse greater than praying lips but prayer offered for others from depth of heart never goes unanswered. It will create a positive effect in their life as well as ours.

There are two things heartfulness prescribes related to this.Every day at 9pm wherever you are ,pray for all people across the world that real love and devotion is growing among all.This is called Universal Prayer.

The other technique recently prescribed is every whenever you are free ,wherever you are think that all things around  you ( inclding the people,birds,walls and ceiling)are absorbed in Godly remembrance.This thought immediately creates a good atmosphere around and more importantly we get into the condition.

Sharing a poem on Universal prayer which i wrote in 2009.

“How ignorant i was to search my happimess elsewhere

Until He taught me that the storehouse of it is within me.

Vibrating in resonance with His hymn 

and rejoicing in His Love amd Light,

How my soul is just dancing with delight!

How i wish everybody feel this way,

But small as i am who will believe in what i say,

All i can do is only pray,

That both the known and unknown forever in His Remembrance  stay.”

Peace

Life is a basket of good and bad, we at the human level can’t always understand the reason behind all the happenings and events of life. Weather everything happens as per the planetary positions or God's choice or if we the creator of destiny. Maybe life is based on destiny or maybe it's based on free will or the choices we make or maybe its a combination of both. 

There are times when hard work produces desired outcomes, there are times when hardwork does not materialize into success and there are times when we get things without working very hard. Even within our lifetime, we get a taste of all the three situations there is needless to ponder why two individuals who work the same way get different results. 

We don’t know much of nature’s intricacies and I don’t think we need to know everything, but we need to know what is required from us. Whatever is the situation do your best, don’t be hard on yourself or others. Don’t ponder on what went right or what went or wrong or what could have happened. Don’t keep thinking about words said or words unsaid. Just accept life situations as it is. Don’t try to analyze life both yours or that of others. The grass on the other side is always green. Accept people, accept situations, just accept everything while doing your best. Even if you are in the worst situation, never be deprived of Hope. Only hope keeps life going. Life is like a bubble game, half the bubble disappears after touching it and the other half disappears before touching it. 

When things are the way we like, accept and be grateful. When things happen contrary to our liking accept and be hopeful while still doing your best. Acceptance, gratitude, hope and giving one's best are the keys to eternal peace.

My favorite  hymn on peace

”Peace is flowing like a river,

Flowing out of you and me,

Flowing out into the desert

Setting all the captives free”

How wonderful if peace can set us free.

 Peace through moderation.Peace to all.

Share/Care/Count your blessings

Hearing a real story about a old man has made me very sad.This person is more than 65 years of age and has two daughters who are married.He has been working as a supervisor in a hostel and was earning around 6000 rupees Per month.From April there has been no salary since most people in the hostel have vacated and gone back to their native place and the owner himself is  Suffering from loss.Also this old man could not travel Since there is no  public transport. If he could travel to office everyday he can get something but due to transport issues he couldn’t go.

Both of his daughters are working and give him rupees 3000 and  rupees 2000 respectively. That is the maximum they can afford.That is the only source of income for him and his wife.Luckily he educated both his daughters and they are graduates.

Since I personally Know this family I felt really sad hearing this.The hostel owner is actually a businessman in Oman, I don’t think affording 6000 Rupees a month for his employee should be a big burden.

This has put me into lot of thinking.

Employers have to be considerate of their employees.Investing on child's education is really important.There is no point thinking that each person undergo their karma, we need to be empathetic and see what we can do to reach out to others.

Be a minimalist, how much ever we earn it’s not right to live life in an extravagant way. Be simple. Learn to share. What we earn is not for us alone. It should be like a ripple extending from ourselves, to our family, to extended family and to the whole society. Charity is our duty, not a choice. To set aside certain portion of our income for the needy is a must.

Always remember “ Anonymousity is sacred”.

I am reminded of the definition of communism from the tamil  movie Kathi. “ The next idli you eat after your hunger is over, does not belong to you”.

Count your blessings. If we have food to eat, a house to stay and a family to care for us we are indeed very lucky and blessed. Never complaint. Be Thankful.

Hymn:

“ When upon life billows you are tempest toast,

When you are discouraged thinking all his lost,

Count your many blessings name them one by one,

And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.

Count your blessings name them one by one,

Count your blessings see what God has done,

Count your blessings name them one by one,

And it will surprise you what the Lord has done”.

Synchronization between the inner and outer

 Have you wondered what “Reaching  God” means?

Yes it’s a blessing to visit a holy place or to see God in our dreams/ meditation. But that is not reaching God. Reaching God means imbibing Godly attributes like love,kindness, compassion, empathy etc.

Man cannot become God but his nature can become God like. Yes character formation is the highest morale and it seems to me like the most superior goal/ the end.

What kind of character we should aim at?

As human beings we are first of all expected to have a discrimination between good and bad. 

When we have good thoughts and feelings which does not materialize into action, it is incomplete.

Similarly a good deed if it’s not backed up by good thoughts and feelings it is incomplete too.

There is completion only when there is a perfect synchronization between the inner thoughts and feelings and the outer action.Once we establish this flow our work is done.

First of all we need to question if our thoughts and feelings are good, and if so are they transformed into right action, if not identify what are the blockages(eg: we may have good intentions but may be lazy to put them into action )and work on removing them.

Same way if deeds seem good but intentions are not good the blockage has to be identified and removed.

( eg: we may do something just out of compulsion or namesake without good feeling in the heart).

Once we remove our blockages there can be further test from nature in terms of new situations which will reveal to us part of ourselves unknown to us, slowly we should work on maintaining the equilibrium between our thoughts, words and actions even  while facing tests. Once we are able to achieve this balance/equilibrium between our inner and outer we are almost done. Such a character is a priceless jewel and indeed the real goal which we should target.This is the moderation we need to achieve.May God bless us all with wonderful character.

Why meditation

 Well I started meditating from age of 18 without really knowing why we need to meditate. By chance I came across a guru and was convinced by His teachings and I started my journey. It does give you wonderful experiences but why should anyone really meditate?With passage of time have learnt And still learning about the need for meditation in everybody’s life.

1. Meditation beautifies the place we live

Well we don’t really live in India/ Dubai/ Europe nor do we live in a villa/ a studio or an apartment.

Wherever we may be physically, we actually live in our thoughts and feelings. We dwell in our consciousness and continuous practice of meditation makes our consciousness pure and clean.

2. Learn to enjoy our own company 

Well we may be a group leader with a great social life or may be blessed with a bestie always by our side to discuss about everything. Well there is no harm in socializing, but still everyone should realize not always all the people can come with us in life. Sooner or later every human being will be confronted to situation where there may be alone.When we practice mediation regularly we will never feel lonely even if we are alone. It will teach us to enjoy our own company.

3. Meditation will give us attitude shift

There were times when I have not meditated due to hectic schedule.Sometimes this has prolonged to a greater span of time. Then when I take a break and restart meditation within a weeks time I could notice shift in attitude. Meditation converts irritation to empathy, anger to love, fear to faith, worry to Faith and anxiety to joy.

4. Not all is well all the time

When things go fine in life naturally we will be in high spirits but what about the times when things don’t go well. Even in those desperate moments meditation helps us to maintain calm.

5. Meditation is not a escapism from the duties of life

Yes meditation is a passive activity. But it’s not a escapism from our worldly duties. It gives energy to do our duties well.

6. Induces Acceptance 

Prolonged practice of meditation induces a feeling of acceptance in our heart. Life is always full of changes. When we accept, we are with the flow of nature and co operating  with the flow of life makes the journey easy for us.

7. Makes us open and removes shyness 

My guruji says that “shyness is a manifestation of ego”.With regular meditation practice, shyness melts away and a person becomes more open and courageous to reveal themselves or express their thoughts and feelings.Meditation gives a person the courage to accept their mistakes and always speak the truth.

8. Supports simplicity 

When we understand joy lies within, we no longer have interest in complex things.No more interest to go here and there or buy this and that to find joy.I would say simplicity and meditation are twins.It brings simplicity in our thoughts, attitude,words and lifestyle.

9. Meditation is a way of life but misunderstood as something to be done at old age

Most common misunderstanding about meditation is that it’s something to be done after retirement as it is something which is associated with liberation or higher goal of life and young age is the time to enjoy the material aspects of worldly existence. But I would say that meditation is a way of life not something to be done at end of life(first of all we never know how long) and secondly it helps us handle the ups and downs of life in a matured and brave manner.Suddenly we can’t learn to meditate when things go bad, we should keep learning/practicing  it all the time.

10. Meditation is not associated with any religion 

Whatever may be a our religious background, there is no barrier for meditation. It’s open to all human beings who are only “willing” to try.

These are only some hints about the benefits of  meditation.Meditation offers much more.I only pray that we all take some time to meditate everyday and to gradually live every moment in a state of meditation. May God bless us all in this pursuit.

Check out Heartsapp to connect to a Heartfulness meditation trainer. Visit www.heartfulness.org for getting more details about meditation.

Covid prayer for a better tomorrow

May kids go out and play happily,
May toddlers breathe fresh air,
May schools be energetic with all kids,
May traffic block all roads and people return back to work
May the malls, theatre's and restaurants get crowded like before,
May all people have jobs and there be no more pay cuts,
May people earn and people spend and money circulate among all,
May there be no starvation and no poverty,
May all the industries flourish back again,
May all people be healthy and happy,
May all the uncertainties end,
May life on earth get back to normal again,
May Mother Earth protect us all as she has always done,
My heart reaches out to all those who are directly or indirectly affected by the current situation
May we all pray for positive changes to happen,
Always remember the message from King Arthur’s farewell
“More things are Wrought by prayer than this world dreams of,
What are men better than sheep’s and goats if knowing God they lift not hands of prayers
Both for themselves and those who call them friends,
Therefore let thy voice rise like a fountain day and night “
What is prayer?
Hope, faith and positive thinking from depth of the heart.
Let’s do it more often than before for a better tomorrow
May peace be on earth!

Test

At times God tests us by giving things and at times He tests us by denying.
When something is given to us we need to see if there is no ownership, attachment and ego.

By not getting something we are tested on acceptance, faith and patience.
At times life goes on in so much uncertainty and one needs to learn to take things as it comes.

Reflections: Giving and receiving help

Many a times have witnessed that the help we need comes from unknown or unexpected people.probably we can’t help them back but this only teaches that we need to do our part in helping others for God would have made us an unknown source for the other person.
when we do our part we take part in God’s great plan when we resist we are only depriving ourselves a chance to live upto His expectations.Never feel tired with responsibilities irrespective of whether what you do is understood or appreciated because at the end of the day we are only doing it for God.

Also one should not feel shy or egoistic to receive help because God acts through humans.
When we receive help we need to surrender the gratitude to Him.
Let’s affirm “ I am open to give help and receive help and make life wonderful both for ourselves and others”.

Born again

On my birthday as I thank God for the gift of life,some reflections....
We are born physically once but born again and again a million times
We are born again when we try yet another time
We are born again when we have the flame of hope burning in us
We are born again when we don’t give up
We are born again when we take chances
We are born again when we choose to move on
We are born again when we embrace change
We are born again when we learn something new
We are born again when we make a new friend
We are born again when we hold on to truth
We are born again when we forgive
We are born again when we care
We are born again when we share
We are born again when we are inspired
We are born again when we inspire
We are born again when we continue to work after success
We are born again when we work harder after failure
We are born again when we laugh
We are born again at the end of our tears
We are born again when we pray
We are born again when we choose the path of Faith
We are born again when we surrender
Every moment is a new birth when we live in the Now!

Self reminders

Surrender
Total surrender
Just Be
Live in the now
Be thankful
Keep Faith
Hope for the best

Begin from Now!Now is all that exists!

At times days go on and on with unaccomplished goals or inability to apply will or the more we try more the hurdles, things just don’t seem to work in our favor, totally out of control and clueless.Its natural for everyone to face setbacks in the journey of life. It’s fine but just don’t give up. When we take one step, God takes 100 steps to help us. Act, focus on the now. What happened has happened, no one can change it. Now is all that exists, embrace the now and Begin afresh. This universe offers infinite ways to those who just begin.Surround yourself with people who motivate you and bring out the best in you. Remember it was the deaf frog which finally made it to the goal.A journey of thousand miles begins with a single step. Begin now, there is no better time than now and nothing is impossible as the word impossible itself says I’m POSSIBLE .

Work....

Work....
We work for ourselves and never for another person.
We are committed to ourselves and work with a sense of ownership and never need someone else to monitor us.
We make mistakes only when we work, and we learn only from mistakes, mistakes are inevitable, learn from them and move on and don’t feel shy.
Be open to comments, learn from them and improve from them don’t take it personal.Being able to get honest feedback is also a blessing.
Money is a by product of work and should not determine the quality of work.
There are so many people who work everyday without pay or appreciation so self motivation and commitment is the the only way to go on, don’t forget office goers alone are not the only ones working.
Commitment overrules both talent and luck so never give up.
No one can judge your work better than your own self so try to give the best you can and see if you are constantly improving.
When you are good at something and help someone without judging or disrespecting the other person that is the highest form of character!
Life does not give the same opportunity to everyone, so when you find a good chance make the most of it.
You don’t know something, it’s ok you didn’t get a chance to know, you can know it now!
Work when approached with the right attitude is salvation in itself !
Work without attachment! If it’s time to move on, just move on.
If it’s time to let go, let go graciously.
Do the best and leave the rest to God!
The higher understanding of work is that Work and rest is one and the same, everything is a teacher in its own way, at times you have to make up for the times of rest and at times you have to make up for the times of work and everything planned for you is In His Time.