Tell yourself…  “Do Not Panic.”

When in distress this is the very first thought that should emerge from your brain.
To you.

So, go ahead…and train the brain.
Get it ingrained.
As it helps.
A lot.

Half the battle is won once you assertively tell yourself. “Do Not Panic.”
Whatever be the situation.
Calmness gets restored.

The brain and its thinking machinery tend to get jumbled up when they find themselves in unusual circumstances.
When they get presented with situations that are not arranged in a logical way they are used to.
All logical thinking comes to a grinding halt.
And… you tend to panic!

Don’t.

You need to sustain logical thinking coupled to quick reactions to over come a disaster/emergency.

Thoughts precede action don’t they?
Hence, this command from you to your brain…makes it hold ground.
Stops it from going haywire.
Calmness gets restored by the by.
Makes the brain remain functional under adverse situations too.

When you say these magical words “Do Not Panic”
You get to regain control, and are back in the driver’s seat…it may not be the usual… calm drive, but a jerky murky one.
All said and done you get to getting the hold back on the situation on hand.

A deep breath, if not a few of them, also help, in remaining calm and cool.
Deep breathing under adverse circumstances is indeed a rejuvenating effort.

Once you are in control and not panicking, get down to conscious, regular deep breathing.
All your senses will thus get to get a good supply of oxygen and will work better.

As Combat Pilots, we are trained and mentored, to work through emergencies.
Any emergency that we would have in the air, has/had the potential of getting disastrous results, if, as a pilot one panics/panicked.

Hence, when we not only get to tape up the emergencies we also make it a habit to utter these words ” Do Not Panic” right at the very beginning of any emergency related procedure.

Since having stopped fighter flying decades ago, I have forgotten almost all the emergency procedures, but this beginning line “Do Not Panic” has been deeply embedded in my consciousness.

With my feet firmly placed on “terra firma” ever since I hung up my gloves…”Do Not Panic” …has helped me on several occasions when I have been in tight corners.
So also has deep breathing, as a sequential effort, after uttering “Do Not Panic”

Keeping the eyes closed for a few seconds…if the situation permits…once you are back in command along with deep breathing, helps you normalize the situation quickly.

Let’s take a very small but a common example, when matters could, did and do get worse, if one panics… i.e. when you have a power outage, all of a sudden,

We are ensconced in darkness…do we panic?

No we don’t…not any longer.

We know that either the UPS will take over or the captive power will.
If the two don’t…we will have to light a candle/lamp.
Don’t we get up and light a lamp/candle?
If neither happens?
Yes we do…without panicking.

The frequency of this action being staged, in day to day life, used to be more in the yester years when power outages were so common.
UPS and captive power generators were luxuries, then.
No more.
But, the sequence of events and actions that need to take place to dispel darkness, are by now so well taped up…to this generation too that
They don’t panic any more like their ancestors did.
They act and react calmly to this situation as and when it happens.
Had they panicked …instead…they would/will create a chaotic situation as their ancestors did.

Now…after a lapsed period of time, our body, systems, react calmly to this situation…as the sequence of what to do next, have/has to happen and will happen, are so well known, to the human mind as a mindset.

Similarly ,it is possible to train the mind to get over exigencies when they happen!
Provided that procedure is known to you.
And you have been over that procedure again and again and acted accordingly in a simulated environment.
Like Fighter Pilots all over the world do.

Since, we do not have all the procedures well written for all the emergencies that do happen in day-to-day life…at least the first line, of those, should have been written, and learnt as a procedure, should be by hearted by one and all.

It should get taped up in memories too.

That signature line is called:

“Do not Panic”

You won.t if you tape it up…and God willing, come out of the situation calmly too.

As well begun is half done.

–

Arun alias Axee  is an ex-combat pilot turned executive life coach. He is actively involved with Brian Tracy in a novel learning initiative, iLearningGlobal.biz/axee. Contact him at emarshalarun@gmail.com

The peace. The humility. The sheer devotion. Getting to Christ In The Desert was a pilgrimage that my cells thirsted for. It’s worth mentioning here that I considered being a nun when I was about six years old. Then I learned what celibacy was and heard that there was a lot of cleaning involved in convent life, and I asked Jesus for his forgiveness because I just knew I wasn’t going to make the cut. I decided I wanted my own variety show, like Cher. Religion, cabaret…it’s all a kind of intense theater of passion.

I arrived just in time for prayer. The monks sing their prayers. Glorious Gregorian chants echoed against the baked clay walls. My heart swelled. Tho’ the heavy sin-trip of the Psalm wasn’t lost on me, I was swept away by the beauty of it all. And I so needed to be swept away. When the chants concluded and the monks filed out behind the tabernacle, I was able to be alone in the chapel for a long, sweet time. I thought about hope – which I have a very cantankerous relationship with. And I thought about priorities of the most divine kind. My priorities have been bumping against each other for a while now – clanking around and grinding down my heart. The focus of my trip was to put my so called priorities on the altar. Smash few. Polish some. Reorganize them to sync with my soul.

“Above all, prayer holds the first place in the monk’s day and nothing must be preferred to this activity. Prayer involves coming into contact with divine life, in openness to the mystery of love which is written in our hearts.” The monks are encouraged to stop their chores if they feel inspired to pray. The passion to pray comes before work and all other tasks. The Brothers pray seven times in day in collective chanting and in solitude. Seven times a day.

So many mornings I have chosen email over meditation. I let deadlines rank over a stretch or a cuddle or a glass of water swallowed slowly and appreciated. I override the call to feel myself – the call to pray, or meditate, or be fully awake. Prayer comes in all forms and each one spoken brings grace to the day.

Thank you. Yes. Have mercy. Keep them safe. How lovely. Courage, please. I love you.

Our hearts are the altars. Ours days, when lived awake, are another chance to know the joys of what matters most. Attend first to the divine and the work at hand becomes art.

Tune in tomorrow for Part II of my monastery adventures…

so much depends upon

a red wheel barrow

glazed with rain water

beside the white chickens.

So much is because of you. The letters you’ve written and sent, the touches, the kisses, the parties. Every grain of advice, set of directions, every breakfast for guests. That quarter you tossed into a panhandler’s hat could have facilitated the call that turned it all around. Little kindnesses, grand gestures. The doing of your being imprinting place and time. Inevitably.

Consider everything you’ve ever been thanked for.
Every photo you’ve been in.
Every corner you’ve turned.
Every time you’ve signed your name.

Consider that you radiate. At all times. Consider that what you’re feeling right now is rippling outward into a field of is-ness that anyone can dip their oar into. You are felt. You are heard. You are seen. If you were not here, the world would be different. Because of your presence, the universe is expanding.

How does that feel to consider?

Someone asked me this week, “Have you forgiven so and so for such and such?”
And I did the puppy head tilt, “Huh?” This question throws me for a loop.
“Well…I don’t really feel like it’s my place to forgive them,” I replied.
It’s not that I condone bad behavior, it’s not that my heart doesn’t get pinched, and it’s not that I forget – ’cause I’m not the forgettin’ type, that’s for sure. But there’s something about “forgiveness” that seems, okay, forgive me, but…arrogant.

“I forgive you.” It rings of, “I bequeath to you…I permit you…I hereby knight thee…” It feels lording. A friend asked for my forgiveness once and I felt embarrassed, and intensely reluctant to add to her shame. I started laughing. “As if,” I said. “Duh, like, whatever, it’s done, over, let’s get on with things.”

I’m a Very Big Believer in accountability. I think the Truth and Reconciliation movement is a monumental leap in humanity’s evolution. The heart can transform the ghastly into the educational, and betrayal into blessings galore. Forgiveness is a lever to our divinity. BUT… Unexamined forgiveness is a distortion, just like “I love you,” can mean, “you fill my holes,” or, “you meet my requirements therefore I adore you.” Distorted forgiveness makes you right, which usually makes the other person wrong – the ego loves that equation. Even though your eyes are smiling while you’re saying “I forgive you,” there might be a little voice inside saying “Ha! gotchya.”

True forgiveness is…well I’m not entirely sure what true forgiveness is. I’ll let you know when I ascend to those heights of all knowingness, {in which case I’d be levitating and too blissed out to write little articles about self realization…} But I am wondering if enlightenment relies on the forgiveness formula. As The Course in Miracles puts it, “Forgiveness is unknown in Heaven, where the need for it would be inconceivable.” Duh. My sentiments exactly.

Instead, I met Fred, in the gift shop. “When you’re ready to pay for your candles and books you can just do it yourself on that table over there.” D-I-Y cashier style, there was a shoebox of cash and a stack of credit card slips … how civilized, I thought. “Gotchya. Cha-ching,” I answered to Fred. And his curiosity about what “cha-ching” meant started us talking, (remember, no TV in the monastery, no People Magazine…I was probably the biggest dose of pop culture they’d seen in them hills for a while.)

Fred was a fifty-something Hispanic guy originally from L.A. For eighteen years, he’s lived at the monastery as the custodian. “Eighteen years?! And you don’t feel the call to serve as a brother after all this time?” I asked. “No way. I serve by serving the brothers.”
“Wow. Well, way to go for making such an intense choice,” I said.
“Every day is a choice. Obligation…all those obligations…marriage, kids, the job…it’s all bullshit if it’s not a choice.”
He just swore in the monastery, I thought.
Fred continued. I was rapt. I set down my Frankincense and leaned in. His eyes sparkled.
“Say more,” I nudged.
“When I left my old life to come here I was so afraid.”
“Afraid of what?” I asked.
“Everything. I woke up two or three nights a week in a sweat, just afraid of life, of my choices. I was terrified to, you know, just live.”
“Terrified to live.” I repeated, nodding my head.
“And then four and a half years into it, I woke up and I was free. You know, free. Instead of always seeing just fifty feet in front of me there was a vista – I could see forever ahead of me.”

He slid his hand out to gesture to the expanse. I could see it. I could see his state of being and there was nothing impeding his delight. We both kind of giggled, nodding, communing.

“Fred,” I said, “That’s all I need to know. I thought I was coming for the monks. But you’re The Dude.”

“Why thank you then. I’m happy to be the dude for you today.”

You know that the teacher appears when you’re ready. Sometimes it’s a pop tune, or an ad on the bus, sometimes it’s the handy man. Keep your heart open and you’ll recognize the wisdom when it shows up…wearing overalls and fedora.

The peace. The humility. The sheer devotion. Getting to Christ In The Desert was a pilgrimage that my cells thirsted for. It’s worth mentioning here that I considered being a nun when I was about six years old. Then I learned what celibacy was and heard that there was a lot of cleaning involved in convent life, and I asked Jesus for his forgiveness because I just knew I wasn’t going to make the cut. I decided I wanted my own variety show, like Cher. Religion, cabaret…it’s all a kind of intense theater of passion.

I arrived just in time for prayer. The monks sing their prayers. Glorious Gregorian chants echoed against the baked clay walls. My heart swelled. Tho’ the heavy sin-trip of the Psalm wasn’t lost on me, I was swept away by the beauty of it all. And I so needed to be swept away. When the chants concluded and the monks filed out behind the tabernacle, I was able to be alone in the chapel for a long, sweet time. I thought about hope – which I have a very cantankerous relationship with. And I thought about priorities of the most divine kind. My priorities have been bumping against each other for a while now – clanking around and grinding down my heart. The focus of my trip was to put my so called priorities on the altar. Smash few. Polish some. Reorganize them to sync with my soul.

“Above all, prayer holds the first place in the monk’s day and nothing must be preferred to this activity. Prayer involves coming into contact with divine life, in openness to the mystery of love which is written in our hearts.” The monks are encouraged to stop their chores if they feel inspired to pray. The passion to pray comes before work and all other tasks. The Brothers pray seven times in day in collective chanting and in solitude. Seven times a day.

So many mornings I have chosen email over meditation. I let deadlines rank over a stretch or a cuddle or a glass of water swallowed slowly and appreciated. I override the call to feel myself – the call to pray, or meditate, or be fully awake. Prayer comes in all forms and each one spoken brings grace to the day.

Thank you. Yes. Have mercy. Keep them safe. How lovely. Courage, please. I love you.

Our hearts are the altars. Ours days, when lived awake, are another chance to know the joys of what matters most. Attend first to the divine and the work at hand becomes art.

Saraswati is my #1 Goddess. She rules what I dig most. I’m surprised she’s not up there with Kali and Aphrodite in mass popularity. Saraswati is regarded as the Goddess of knowledge and the arts. She represents consciousness and wisdom, is regarded as the goddess of sound and speech, and is revered as the dispeller of chaos and confusion. As she is the wife of Brahma, she is also seen as the co-creator of the universe. Her name means ‘the flowing’ or ‘the beautiful one’. Yeah baby.

My Saraswati story…
Years ago in Santa Fe, my friend Navjit and I went to a gathering for Guru Karunamayi. New Mexico is to gurus what New York is to rock stars – they all pass through eventually. So catching a Hindi lecture on a Friday night and then heading to the club was par for the course.

So there we were in our leather pants and Timberlands, gold eyeshadow and Betty Paige bangs…in lotus position. Karunamayi spoke of a love that carries all. The God Head Love that bears everything for its creation. “My children, my babies” she said in her high-happy Indian accent, “When you are angered, give your anger to Mama. Mama will carry it for you. When you do not know, give your confusion to Mama. Mama will carry it for you.”

When it came time to be blessed – the touch of her hand to my forehead – I went flush…turned to mush. It was confusing. I’m not wired for guru devotion or public displays of emotion. But I felt a sense of love emanating from Karunamayi that was expansive and warm. I felt forgiven, cradled, curious. When she touched me, tears fell from my eyes as if there was tap at the crown of my head that she gently twisted.

I left with one of her devotional chanting tapes – $8 bucks was the least I could do for having my head spun ’round. One chant burned itself into my memory and for years, even tho’ I never knew what it meant, I instinctively hummed it to myself. The chant would come into my mind before a speaking gig, or a big meeting; while on the acupuncture table or when I was sick. When my son was being born (at home) my mother accidentally flipped the stereo from “CD” to tape cassette (which hadn’t been played in years,) and there it was, the scratchy Karunamayi chant looping ’round for ten hours while I laboured:

Om Aim Srim Hrim Saraswati Devyai Namaha

I finally decided to look into the origins of the chant – for all I knew it could be a blessing for the fertility of camels. As it turns out, it is a devotion to Saraswati. My Sistah of speech. My Mama of the Arts. The Goddess of clear, calm strategy.

Goddesses always show up when you need them to.

Who’s your favourite goddess?

He looks calm yet at the same time feisty – as if he’s ready for anything – and has a great sense of humour. He’s not a man who stands on formality either. “Call me Jimmy,” he said as soon as I was introduced to him. 

We talked for a few moments before he began a presentation on Inner Mind Development. That sense of humour was evident the minute he began. “People ask me if I am a psychic,” he laughed. “I say, no, I’m a psycho.” When they ask if he is a mystic, he replies jokingly that he is a “mistake.”

Indeed he is a man who is hard to slot. His books cover topics ranging from Philippine faith healing to karma and reincarnation to intuition and, of course, inner mind development.

He believes the mind has limitless potential, but most of us limit ourselves through our own negative thinking. “Change the mindset – and all things change,” he said. We typically use only 10 per cent of brain capacity, he said. If we understand the brain better, we can use it more powerfully. 

It is clear that he’s a man driven by curiosity about things that aren’t easily explained. He follows a reasoned, scientific approach in his inquiries – and he likes to personally test all assertions about unexplained phenomena. To satisfy his curiosity, he has tried walking on fire and being hacked by a sword! He survived both and now believes he has found the explanation: anything is possible in an altered state of consciousness.

“Everything begins with the mind,” Jimmy said. The frequency of our brain waves can alter our physical reality. “If you slow down the brain waves – without falling asleep – you can do things you cannot normally do.” 

Participants in seminars at the Inner Mind Development Institute learn about right brain and left brain activities; and about alpha, beta, theta, and delta brainwaves. In the basic seminar they learn to effectively use both sides of the brain.

In the more advanced seminars, they learn how to consciously move between different states of consciousness.

 Normally, we are in the beta state, open to our five physical senses. Through meditation, we enter the alpha state, where we are not limited by time and space. If we can slow down the brainwaves even more, we enter the theta stage, where we can control pain, bleeding, burning etc. This is the state in which people undergo bloodless surgery or walk on fire. The deepest state of all is the delta stage, in which we are normally either asleep or unconscious. However, if we can stay awake in this state, we can levitate, or bend objects through mind power, according to Jimmy.

For more information, visit:
http://www.jaimelicauco.com/index.php

When things are that charmed, I always pay closer attention.

The creation of sand mandalas is a ritual in the impermanence of life. Incredibly complex patterns are painstakingly built by trinkling grains of coloured sand into their microscopic places. Mandalas can take many weeks to construct – not a grain out of place. And then….the mandala is swept into the wind, the sea, or smeared up into a pile of nothing but sacred sand and given to worshipers or carried to the river by procession.

All that work. Then poof! Since not many of us have worked in the medium of sand, try this metaphor on for size: imagine covering a 5 × 5 foot canvas working with only the teeny tiniest brush. You work round the clock for weeks, barely eating. Eyes stinging, hands cramped. The perfect masterpiece of meaningful complexity – worthy of the Louvre. Instead of a gallery show or collecting a commission, you take it out back and burn it.

Or, imagine building a successful company from just an idea; weaving a marriage together for years; growing a community; a garden; a belief system that guides your entire life — then letting it all go, just walking away. No leverage, no strings, no regrets.

Could you do it?

I think I could. I think I might.

I was in Kauai in the fall and read Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth between beaches. And this question of his became my walking, rambling, meditation. “What is my relationship….to LIFE?!” Daunting. Spectacular. Galvanizing. Perhaps my favourite question of all time.

It opened the floodgates of inquiry for me. I spiraled it backwards to look at my relationship to my man, my child, my families of blood and soul – my portals of connectivity and on good days, communion. What was the majority experience of me showing up in the world? How is it that I am vulnerable? What feels pure and steadfast within my cells? One question led to another. What do I bring forth from the well of my essential self, and what do I keep in reserve, locked, frightened, greedy, proud, and practical? When I engage with people what is my motive? How do I greet strangers and friends with whom I have history? What is my most regular waking thought? What is my favourite feeling? Who am I trying to impress? How do I stand in crisis? Where does my generosity stop? What gets to the core of my core?

I actually didn’t need to delve into the deep recesses of my psyche. It turned out to be a remarkably basic exercise – one that I bet you could find your own answer to by the end of today. It all got down to this simple sub-plot question: How am I with people?

I saw the pattern of truth emerge, a through-line to ALL of my interactions with people – with everyone, every one. Whether it is my lover-companion of ten years with whom I can be amazing or pathetic, or it’s the dude sliding my tea across the counter, there is a consistent energy and attitude that I bring to them. I can see the rhythm of it in my mind. It goes like this: I give off a honey-golden love warmth, an “I love you, we’re in this together” declaration. It’s pure and it’s innocent and is graciously global.

Then out comes this acuity, a kind of “I get you, I see you, and I’m very serious about it.” I’m not sure if it’s a natural intensity or if it’s a protective reaction that roots in fear, but often, my next level of vibe is either something along the subtle lines of “don’t f*** with me,” or “you do your thing, I’ll do mine, and all is well.”

When I looked at my relationship to the humans (and my dog counts as a human) that I relate to, it became clear that I am a planet of love with a hair-trigger drawbridge that closes without much warning. I am, and this was somewhat heartbreaking for me to realize…I am somewhat reserved with my love.

And thus, my relationship to life is: Big Love. True Smile. Tricky Lock.

It’s a long term relationship. My vows are a work in progress.

IGNORE EARLY SIGNS AT YOUR OWN PERIL. I was looking to hire an important player for one of my businesses and got set up with Start Up Guy.  Start Up Guy blew off our first scheduled meeting entirely. He stood me up and didn’t call for two days to reschedule (I’m not sure he even apologized to my assistant). But he was so seemingly qualified and connected that I chose to ignore the As-In-The-Beginning-Rule, and hired him anyway. Do I need to tell you how that middle and end went? Yep. In one way or another he continued to stand me up, until it all came down.

I met another person who, in our first meeting expressed how nervous she was about our differences and my acumen. I just smiled to be kind. We worked together for quite a while. She kept being nervous. I kept being polite. Until anxiety got the better of her, and my silence brought out the worst in me…and it all came down.
EASY DOES IT, AND DOES IT GOOD.

When I’m tempted to take short cuts or ignore early flags, I remind myself that the most fab, wonderful, sustaining experiences and relationships in my life all began incredibly easily. Spark! Yes! And Go!

Each one of my soul sisters was love and bad laughs at first site. I first met my husband at a birthday party and he talked to me about DH Lawrence and life. It was a slow burn of intrigue and candor and chemistry with just the right amount of awkward. Ten years later: same hot dynamic with varying degrees of awkward. My best clients began with amazing conversations in bars and at conferences. My worst clients began with sales pitches and grilling about how to save money. My best writing always begins with the first paragraph pouring out like electricity.

My most fruitful yeses were immediate.

Examine your first encounters and kick-offs. They may be a micro of the macro. You have oodles of critical information in the beginning if you’re paying very close attention. And if you don’t buy it from Buddha or me, then take it from Maya Angelou who says, “The first time someone shows themselves to you, believe them.” You know it, babe.

Sai Baba is a controversial swami. I have right-minded friends who have witnessed him work miracles – or magic tricks as many others suspect. He is said to work his powers to manifest rings and bird eggs and gemstones from his palm. And, I think, why not? Our human perspective of dimensionality is only emerging, but certainly some know how to pierce the veil. I believe that instant material manifestation is possible, so why not Sai Baba?

But in addition to being praised for his powers, Sai Baba has been accused of being a sexual predator and a conman. And yet, just like the week I sat in his temple, there are thousands upon thousands of people – from curious spectators like me, to life-long devotees, who travel far to sit at his feet. They stay for weeks, sometimes years. Huge sloping white temples, a free hospital built in his name (people journey from as far as New Jersey for open heart surgery at no cost) a Sathya Sai Baba university. The place is impressively massive.

I wore frangipani flowers in my hair. 
I got up at 4 am to stand in line and hear the chants. I’m embarrassed to say I even wore a bindi dot (which is kind of like going to Jamaica and getting corn row braids on holiday – it’s lame). I chanted. I prayed. I meditated.

But, I was just not feeling the love. It was confusing my expectations of bliss. Clearly, I was not going to be saved on my trip to India.

No eye contact is allowed within the ashram walls. Imagine a bustling village without anyone really looking at each other. Men and women are kept separate within the temple. There is a lineup of hundreds of men, and a separate line up of hundreds of women. The old Indian mamas who were in charge of steering the herds of attendees were gruff. One of them snapped at me for looking at a man….and I wasn’t even lookin’, I swear.
By day three in swami land I had a wicked craving for a pack of smokes and The Pogues.

The whole scene felt rather joyless to me. And arrogant. Westerners in their new tunics all proud to be pious for three weeks out of the year. Of course, there were sweet moments – mostly with children and street peddlers, and I met some wonderful souls who were traveling the world asking big questions. But on the whole, I’ve felt more zest for life at a diner in Oklahoma.

There is place for piety, celibacy has its merits, and austerity can be hugely growthful. I get it. I understand the spiritual development purpose that such restraints are meant to serve. But if you’re so caught up in your dogma that you can’t feel sincerity when it pulls on your sari, that you can’t even laugh out loud, then what’s the point of devotion?

It was my first devotee bummer. My bindi dot had melted. We were in the exotic plains of India, with bowls of marigolds to scoop and sacred cows wandering free – thousands of us – supposedly gathered in the name of love and peace. But from my angle, many Baba worshipers were just as goo-goo-eyed and uptight as any God-fearing brimstone Baptist.

Too bad. I was really hoping for something more…magical.

As soon as the sage came near the palace he said, “Wow, what a beautiful masterpiece. I feel like looking at the architecture all day.” The emperor later took him to the dining hall. The sage tasted the varieties of sweets, exotic cooked meat, and fruits and said “Yummy, can I have some more….”

Later the emperor took the sage to view dancing girls. The sage could not take his eyes off the girls. He adored their beauty and tapped his feet.

The emperor had been observing the sage all along. He was puzzled about the sage’s interest in these base worldly pursuits. So he confronted the sage, “You call yourself a sage. And you were popular for your renounced life and meaningful messages. But look how you are imbibing these pleasures…”

The sage looked at the emperor for some time and said, “Can you take me to the jungle where I came from?” The leader agreed and they set off on the journey. Soon they reached the border between the city and the jungle. The sage then tells the emperor, “Now, come with me into the jungle and let’s start living in the woods.”

The emperor begins to panic. He responds, “I cannot leave my palace, post, power, and luxury.”

The sage smiles and said, “That is the difference between you and me. I can renounce the worldly life anytime and return to a peaceful and happy living. But you cannot give up your status, glamour, and vices and live in the jungle.”

The emperor got the message. He touched the feet of the sage and the wise one walked into the woods in peace.

This story was selected and submitted by Anitha Jebaraj.

Studying his profile from time to time, I saw he was about 54, a sparse, almost ordinary man, but there was in his voice that indefinable tone, a persuasive softness, a tone calculated at once to awaken and to soothe, and in his eyes a twinkle, reflecting the state of a man who has found a treasure.

We talked of spiritual things from various viewpoints. Midway, he asked me what exactly I did for a living and I told him, “I’m in advertising.”

In response to my question about how he earned his livelihood, he smiled enigmatically and said, “The taxi is just an excuse to enable me to do something else, something worthwhile.”

When I probed deeper, he turned and gave me long, hard look, as if sizing me up. “I think you are a good man; and a good man can always do more good,” he observed laconically and then lapsed into silence.
Then suddenly, he asked, “What is your name?”

“Idris.” I replied.

“AlHamdulillah!” he exclaimed, and then said, “My other business, Idris, is Sadaqa”.

“Sadaqa? What’s Sadaqa business?” I ventured, although I wasn’t unaware of what Sadaqa meant. But Sadaqa— an occupation?

He smiled again, a serene smile and said softly, “You know my friend, in the world of mathematics, you can add, subtract, divide and multiply in precise quantities. You cannot increase what you have, by dividing it or giving it away. But, in the spiritual world, things work differently.

“The more you give of what you value, the richer and more prosperous you become. Whether you give of your wealth, or your time, or your love, your care or wisdom, you can never impoverish yourself by giving generously. The Almighty will recompense our generosity in multiples of a thousand [alfan alfa].”

I took a deep breath, trying to digest what he’d said.

He looked at me sharply, “Sounds unbelievable, but it’s true. What do we really own? It is how we spend what is entrusted to us.

“I gave a man in need a thousand dirhams,” he continued, “The next day, my brother called me from back home to say that our old house has been sold for a good profit of ten thousand dirhams. I helped build an orphanage, and the divisional court quashed a long running dispute against our farm.

“Incidents like these keep happening to me, in cash and in kind. And I keep on giving, going out of my way to search for lost souls whom I can help with whatever I can.”

He then quoted from the Holy Quran, “Who is he that will loan to Allah a beautiful loan, which Allah will double unto his credit and multiply many times?”

He then looked at me with a radiant smile, “My brother Idris, ‘Fee Sabeelillaah’ (spend in the way of Alláh) belongs to the world of the heart and the spirit, not to the world of mathematics.”

When we reached Dubai, I realized that I had learned a lot about life from this man, and asked him for his mobile number. He said, “We’ll meet again if it’s Allah’s wish. Until then, keep on giving. And, yes, remember, He will open the tap for you, all you have to do is to extend the pipeline.”

I have followed his advice and today, I am part of the great invisible pipeline.

It was three months later, when I stopped a taxi near the Dubai Museum. The man at the wheel was wearing a peak cap, his back hunched, his collar turned up, and his face hidden, while I had a kafiyyeh (scarf) wrapped around my face, for there was a sandstorm blowing.

“How much for Jumeirah Corniche?” This was during the time when no meter taxis were around in Dubai.

“Ten dirhams!” answered the driver.

“That’s not fair,” I said.

“What will you pay, then?” he retorted.

“Thirty,” I muttered matter-of-factly.

Without a moment’s hesitation he said, “Yalla—faddal!” (come on, get in!)
At Jumeirah corniche, I promptly paid him the thirty dirhams I promised and opened the door to step out.

“In a great hurry, Idris?” he asked.

The last few days I was feeling exhausted but I carried on my household duties because I have a house to run and many commitments to honour. In India we teach our daughters that the home revolves around them; women are the sun and our family are the planets.

All good daughters imbibe this in their everyday life and we believe that small discomforts like a headache or cold should not be allowed to slow us down. We continue with our chores ignoring our aches and ailments. I was ignoring my exhaustion and then I happen to talk to my friend who by chance narrated this story to me. Well this anecdote changed me as a person. Here is how it goes….

Sushma was known as one of the pillars of society in her neighbourhood and everyone looked up to her. She was usually there for everyone whatever the problem, offering wisdom, encouragement, support and love. This selfless and sensitive woman was like a rock of gold among grains of sand and her daughter Sumi always wanted to be like her mother, a woman who gave more to others than she ever asked in return.

At times Sumi would wonder what inspired her mother along her path of compassion. All of her life, people had taken so much love from her that she thought of her mom as a bottomless well of support from which everyone received a bucket full of devotion.

And then one day, to everyone’s shock and dismay, Sushma suffered a paralytic attack and she was bedridden for life. This once-strong and independent woman had to depend on others for even the basic needs of her life. She was surrounded by people she loved and everyone took good care of her but it hurt Sumi to see her mother in such a condition.

One day Sumi went to her Guruji and asked, “Why does my mom have to go through this? You ask everyone to be good and kind and my mom is kindest of them all. Why did this happen to her?. She prays, she helps others so why her?”

Guruji replied gently, “It’s all about balance in life – everything in this world depends on balance. If you break it, you have to pay for it. This is the law of nature.”

He continued to explain, “Your mom has been so selfless in giving that she forgot how to take. All of her life she always gave to others and took nothing in return. Her karma had to be balanced. You see you cannot keep on giving love and kindness; at times one should stop and accept it from others too.

“If you don’t allow yourself to receive, you break this law of nature and then a balancing effect comes into play. Now, your mom has to accept kindness, devotion and love from others because she is empty within. It is her turn to accept. Do you understand child? If you do, then give all your support and love to her to help balance her karma.”

I was shocked by this story. Is it true? Does this really happen? I am not sure if such a law of nature actually exists but it made me think; all our lives, we give so much to our family and don’t expect anything in return. Then we pass this trait on to our daughters.

Maybe it is about time we taught them about the real law of nature: give and take. If you love someone then be ready to accept love in return.

If the universe is governed by the immutable law of balance then it it will affect us in one way or another in every facet of our existence.

Therefore if we took time to observe and understand the dynamics of this basic natural law, then it might be possible to write our own equation of giving and receiving, instead of waiting for the cold hands of karma to dispense balance. But that is another Tickle for another time.

Over the years, that desire has led me to develop a system of getting personal with that greater power: we write to each other.

It’s not about multiple personalities or alternate realities. It’s about plugging in and tuning the dial. It’s about the collective subconscious and direct connection to the Source.

It’s worth a try, right?

My reasoning goes something like this: If I assume that I am part of the infinity that’s overseen and coordinated by a beneficent power greater than myself, then I am, in a sense, talking to a part of myself when I enter into conversation. (Stay with me here). In other words, there’s wisdom in me that is also beyond me, and by writing out conversations, I’ve found that something happens between the me that I live with every day (Me) and what I often think of as the Über-Manager, or the Universe. I call It “U” for short.

I am able to locate a rich, deep, astonishing vein of wisdom that invariably causes me to grow in the direction of health and hope. I write these conversations out by hand. The faster I write, the more I learn. The longer I write, the more I learn.

Here’s a short example, culled from my journals:

Me: What will help me today to be easier and more comfortable in my relationship with T?

U: Biggest things: restraint and acceptance. Plus, it’s been a while since you practiced your humour skills. And, as always and above all, focus exclusively on your own joy, even if that means thus choosing not to be around T.

Me: Sum it up, would you, for my easy remembering?

U: Court your own joy. Let him be as he is. Practice humour.
Me: Thank you. Thank you.

For many years, evolutionists have tried very hard, often resorting to imaginative concepts, conjecture and assumptions to prove their point.

Let us take a look at the basis of the evolution theory and let the logical thinking person decide if it is even remotely scientific! The theory postulates that billions of years ago, there was a Big Bang and non-living things over a long period of time became living things. Does that sound logical to you – that masses of unaccountable atoms of gases violently “kissed” each other in a Big Bang and non-living things turned into frogs, princes, princesses, kings and queens. It comes across more like a fairy tale than science!

Furthermore, the theory of evolution teaches this: Some 15 billion years ago (actually it ranges from 13.7 to 15 billion years), there was a Big Bang involving hydrogen and helium gases. After this Big Bang, for 400 million years or so, the agitated atoms of these gases expanded in all directions. Galaxies and planets began to form, and that was the beginning of the universe. The cooling period apparently took 200 million years. Then the earth was formed some 4.5 billion years ago.

At the beginning, there was no living thing on earth at all. Then some 3.8 billion years ago, a single living cell emerged and from that one cell, over a long period of time, millions of simple and complex species were generated. Antelopes evolved to become giraffes because of their constant stretching for leaves on tall trees. Bears became whales because they kept jumping into the water for food. Then some 56 million years ago, monkeys emerged and 21 million years later, apes evolved from monkeys and then humans came into the picture 1.64 million years ago.

Does that sound like science to you?

There are many unanswered questions for this theory:

Where did the gases come from?
How on earth do we know there was actually a Big Bang?
What scientific evidence is there to support this theory about a phenomenon which supposedly started billions of years ago?
If antelopes evolved into giraffes, bears into whales, monkeys to apes, apes to humans, why do we still have these animals in their own forms and none in the “intermediate” form? Do you see any half- ape, half- human walking around, apart from on the movie set?

Someone once illustrated it this way. He took a common ball point pen and started breaking it up into its parts – the body, the spring inside, the ink holder, etc. He then put all the parts into an empty box and started shaking the box. After some time, he asked the audience, “What do you think are the chances that, when I opened this box, you will see a perfectly assembled ball point pen?” You and I know the odds are almost nil; how much more unlikely that a perfectly formed human body or any other element of nature – a flower, tree or animal – came about from an accidental Big Bang?

To me, the theory of evolution is the greatest hoax in history and it’s time we stop teaching this fairy tale to our children as science.

Who is God?

If you ask me or any Christian about the origins of the universe, our answer will be, “God created it.” Then you may ask about the origins of God and the answer will be, “Nobody, because God is self-existing simply because He is God.”

Whether you agree with these answers or not is irrelevant, because the point is: the issue is now brought to a conclusion.

Let’s compare this to the evolution theory. If we ask, “How did the universe came into being?” the evolutionist may reply, “There was a Big Bang of the atoms from the hydrogen and helium gases.”

Then we ask, “Who created the hydrogen and helium?” and he may reply, “They were just there.”

But if we pursue the matter further and insist, “How could that be? You are supposed to get to the source or origin. Who created the gases?”

Then the evolutionist may have to say, “I guess they are also self-existing.”

Now we are all on the same level playing field. I believe that God is self-existing because he is God, but you believe that gases are self-existing. So really the choice presented to any seeker is whether it is more logical to believe that God is self-existing or gases are self-existing, whether God created all things or uncreated chemicals evolved into all beings.

The God that I believe in is the God of the Holy Bible. According to Genesis, the first book in the Bible, God spoke, “Let there be light,” and there was light. Now this light is not merely the sunlight which actually came about on the fourth day. This light is pure energy, the life force of God which came from His breath and spoken word. This is the fundamental creative force of all things and only the Bible gives this information. Without this energy force, nothing else can be created. And science supports this as it has been proven that every matter has energy.

The computer you are touching now is not what it appears to be. If you put it under the microscope, you will see numerous atoms rushing around at top speed, not visible to the naked eye. It is so filled with energy that if you can tap into its power, the energy that is locked in this piece of hardware in front of you, can drive a train for many miles. In fact, physicists have discovered that an atom is composed of more elementary subatomic particles (electrons, protons, neutrons, etc) and they are all impregnated with energy. Quantum physics has discovered that matter is 99.9999999% empty!

Our sight and hearing are made possible because of energy waves. These are light and sound waves that come into contact with our sensory faculties.

According to the Bible, it is in God that we move, and live, and have our being. All the energy comes from Him and even a strand of our hair contains energy.

Next, consider the logical process of creation. After light or pure energy was created, God created space. There is no other literature in the world where you can find the origin of space, except in the Bible.

I urge you to read the creation account in the first chapter of Genesis for yourself, and you will no doubt, concur that it is only logical to believe a personal God created everything. You will also conclude that it is indeed absurd to believe that this entire universe, in all its complexity, can come about by pure chance, all by itself and without a Designer!

Answered with help and permission from Pastor Rony Tan’s book on “Questions on Genesis.” www.lighthouse.org.sg

Allowing Evolution : Esther Speaks

You will, eventually, in your human experiences, witness the fall of your intellect.

One who has witnessed the Source within becomes open to shifting/ascending… thus choosing to live in a paradigm of freedom, abundance and endless wonderment.

This however will not be achieved in one go. The journey involves many transitions, and each transition can be considered as an individual paradigm which forms part of our Final Destination (Ascended Reality).

How will you know whether you are moving forward? Well, it is not that difficult – sudden creative flow, universal signs, synchronicity, realisation of abundance, deeper connection with the universe, fulfilment followed by futility, a sense of multiple personalities and willingness to rest long hours – is the closest analytical comparison to graduating from one paradigm and stepping onto the other.

Eventually, the frequency of the Shift will increase and this will allow you to anchor for longer hours/days/ weeks in your final destination (the paradigm of your Ascended Reality).

Transitions are very necessary, though they may seem exhausting. They allow you understand the language of the soul and your coherence with universal symphony. Each transition will bring about immense transformation in the nature of your personal reality and further refine your connection with the Source. Your soul will learn to speak fluently.

This is where Alchemy transpires. Your presence begins to attract like hearted souls. Your presence begins to transform and transmute existential pain, dilemma and confusion into more creative empowering forms of energy.

Always remember, your identity too is existential. Your light, your connection with the Source, your merit is regardless of what seems to define you as a person or a personality. So even if you feel overpowered by past mistakes, dilemma or confusion yourself – know that immense transformation is in progress. Rest well. Keep your self well hydrated (drink pure water), grab hold of the one closest to your heart (be it your soulmate, master or a friend). Usually this happens when you are stepping onto another rung of the ascension ladder.

So what is the new paradigm? What is the new framework for intelligence?

The basic foundation of this framework, is allowance. Allow your thoughts to purify, your inner conflicts to resolve themselves. You will soon anchor out of your dilemmas and into a paradigm of endless empowerment.

You will then engineer intelligence. You will then code your own genome!

An opportunity (relating to material world) comes one’s way in normal course without any effort or initiative.  One starts pursuing the opportunity and soon the door is closed.  What is the teaching in this?

The question refers to a pursuit that did not bring the desired result. Interestingly, the pursuit began when an opportunity one was not looking for on the conscious plane surfaced rather suddenly all by itself. It led to a certain involvement that eventually petered out into nothing. Naturally, the questioner is wondering as to why such a thing happened.

It is a very genuine query, which, I feel, everyone, specially a seeker, must contemplate. Here are the thoughts that arose within me out of my contemplation.

Why do things happen the way they happen?

In spirituality, there is an undisputed rule about life. Expected or otherwise, the things that happen to us in our in lives are those that we have sought for ourselves at the level of the mind, a repository of our karmas.

The sub-conscious mind and how it controls us

We are normally barely aware of what goes on the surface of the mind. Yet, the mind is very huge and can be compared to an iceberg. What lies below the surface is much more than what is visible. We normal refer to this hidden area, below the surface, as the subconscious mind. This area holds impressions of all kinds of unfinished businesses, through our present and earlier lifetimes. Though apparently dormant, these impressions are at work. They keep transmitting their signals and continue to attract those forces of nature that will bring life’s hidden agenda to fruition. This is how the subconscious mind determines our life, without giving us any hint of what it is doing. We are held hostage to what lies at the subliminal level of the mind.

We can acquire freedom from the machinations of these latent impressions in two ways alone – by not resisting change and by intelligent interference.

The choice of resisting  vs not-resisting the subconscious

The uninitiated or the ignorant have no option in the matter. They succumb to whatever the latent impressions bring up.  So, things and events materialize and fructify in the normal course. This eventually starts lightening the carried forward baggage of the sub-conscious mind.

However, those who are initiated have two options. The first option is of intelligent interference. So, one chooses not to invite or fight any particular latent impressions. He does not bother about any opportunity, pursued successfully or otherwise. He simply intensifies his sadhana so that he can burn latent impressions in the fire of yoga so that in-process karmas can be avoided. Such a person, when he has sufficiently evolved, reaches a state of choicelessness. Then he does not seek or shun anything. He simply witnesses what is happening. He has become Shiva himself.
 
Exploring the sub-conscious mind in meditation to make the transition from the unconscious to the conscious

The mind, below the surface, is the ‘chain’ that is holding us back from liberation. We are not aware of it primarily because we are mostly caught up on the surface. When we begin to meditate, we start this journey within. Then we begin to explore these hidden or deeper areas of the mind.
 
No wonder, each one of us, after he has started meditating, begins to discover new dimensions. Hidden possibilities, totally new traits, and fresh talents begin to sprout. In this journey, quite often, a meditator also starts noticing sprouting of even unsavoury things — anger, selfishness, cowardliness, depravity in sex, or some follies.

Self-exploration is like a massive churner that first sets loose and then churns out everything, precious or base. It allows all impressions to travel from the subconscious to the conscious areas of the mind.

When they come up in the field of vision of the conscious mind, one’s consciousness is coloured by them. Certain things may be very pleasing while others may be quite unpalatable. The key is to become a witness. If a person simply witnesses these impressions, they surface into the region of the conscious mind and are purged out.

Yet, it is part of the healing process, whereby the subconscious mind is being set free of all entanglements, hidden or otherwise. One starts becoming free.

Reacting to the sub-conscious mind

Here we must understand that in so far as its events are concerned, life is governed by a higher intelligence that a limited mind cannot probe. Here it must be understood that a limited mind is engaged with ‘BECOMING’, while the empty mind is established in ‘BEING’ (absorbed completely in pure awareness). Being is elusive. We touch this state each night in deep sleep but we don’t know it because our awareness is shut. Hence, to make the transition to ‘being’ we must first be fully established in ‘becoming’.

Futile pursuits (or even fruitful pursuits) are necessary tools used by life to educate us in our evolution. Sometimes, a futile pursuit may be sent into our lives to help us learn and inculcate the virtues of planning, focus, and execution. An improvement in these areas will help us when the next opportunity comes our way. In a way, this is to strengthen the ‘BECOMING’ in a positive way. Only when becoming is strengthened sufficiently, it will be possible for one to realize its futility.

Therefore, a futile pursuit may be sent into the life of a sufficiently evolved person to teach him about something still higher – the futility of all pursuits. This may engineer the final letting go – the leap into ‘BEING’. This may lead to complete surrender to the divine will, where one is living in perfect choicelessness. He does no do anything on his own. He merely participates in what is happening around him. 
 
Each one has to contemplate what the happenings in his or her life (including futile pursuits) are indicating to him.

For the sadhaka the choice is one of sadhana. This alone will take him across.

–

Brahmaprakash Gaur belongs to the Indian Revenue Service and is currently posted as Chief Commissioner of income-tax, Mumbai, India. He met his spiritual Master, Gurumayi Swami Chidvilasananda, in 1989 and has been meditating since then. Contact him at b_gaur@hotmail.com.

The world is our extended Self. If I want to get along with others, I must first learn to get along with myself. Now, to get along with myself, I have to know myself – or shall we say, I must know my Self? Most of us are ’strangers’ unto ourselves – how can one get along
with a ’stranger’?

In the scriptures of my motherland, India, we compare human beings with a chariot with 5 horses. The 5 sense-faculties (seeing, tasting, hearing, smelling and touching) are the 5 steeds, wayward and unruly, running amuck towards the sense-objects. To control them, we have a rein, which is our sensory mind. It is called the lower mind (manas) because its domain is just two-fold, “I like it” and “I don’t like it.” It is pleasure-driven, being sense-enslaved.

The rein is necessary but not enough. There must be an able charioteer to hold fast the reins. He is our higher mind – the reason, the discerning or discriminating faculty. It is called buddhi in Sanskrit. Its domain extends to deciding whether what is pleasant is also good, and whether the unpleasant things the lower (sensory) mind is rejecting could actually be good for us.

The creamy cake may look temptingly pleasant to the diabetic, but reason tells him it is bad. Early morning walks look so unpleasant, so unthinkable, but if you make it, you are empowered by discriminating reason, that which eventually benefits you. When anger comes on, you want to slap the other person, but reason tells you to hold.

Let us see what right behavior means at various levels of our being – physical, mental, emotional, intellectual & spiritual, etc.

Right behaviour for your body

Your body is not you. You have it, but you are not the body. Treat it like a good employer would treat his employee, giving it its rightful dues, but not pampering it. For example, when you want to eat, find out whether it’s your body’s genuine need (appetite) or your mind’s endless greed (desire). When the body feels tired, find out if it is actually fatigued from overwork or just being lazy, and so on. A Christian saint called his body ‘brother donkey.’ Indeed, the body is the animal in us, our dear beast of burden. Since our aim is to love all, we cannot ignore the body – especially since it is the soul’s vehicle. But we have to remember to treat it wisely – without cruelty, without indulgence.

Right behaviour for the mind

The mind indeed is a drunken, drugged and devil-possessed monkey, unless we learn to control it. The body is much simpler in comparison. We can dominate the body through will. But managing the mind monkey is not a game of just willpower. We need wisdom – a wisdom-guided will. For example, if you order the mind not to think any more a particular thought that it has been chattering about, it is unlikely to obey unless you know the subtle rules.

Why is it so difficult to control the mind? If you know the reason, you will know the cure. The reason is, the sensory mind has excess prana or life-force; it is hyperactive and restless by nature. The mind’s restless habits of thought and action get programmed or hard-wired in the brain, which is the seat of energy or life-force. The brain then drives further habit-driven or reactive actions.

My master, Paramahansa Yogananda, author of ‘Autobiography of a Yogi’ (www.yogananda.org) explains that the energy in the brain is spent in various bodily functions like blood circulation, breathing (movements of diaphragm), digestion, chemicalization, excretion etc., but that most of its energy is wasted in processing our useless or misguided thoughts, feelings and emotions that our big brother mind indulges in.

If somehow the mind’s excessive energy (energy is where the consciousness is), routed through the brain, can be regulated and harnessed, not only will the monkey-mind get quieter, there will be energy available for so many worthy tasks. So we have an energy crisis at micro-level too!

This taming of energy or life-force (prana) is called pranayama in yoga, which is a marvellous super-science for body-mind-soul harmony, but many in the West think yoga is just about some postures for bodily cure. Yoga is about mind technology, which then permits tapping the soul-resources.

We must raise our self-awareness that gives us valuable feedback about our conduct. We can then learn to be, as my master taught me, “calmly active & actively calm.” We can then work smart, not just hard, which even donkeys can do.

Emotions are ego in motion. They are not our highest faculty; even animals have emotions, but they have no guiding reason, no self-awareness and hence no self-control. They have no wisdom, which is much higher than reason.

The world is God’s materialized thought and we are made in His image, so our thoughts also have tremendous creative power. Thoughts shape our destiny, it is they that eventually become things. They create our outer and inner conditions. By yogic mind management, we can choose right thoughts and thereby create right conditions. The presently-popular law of attraction is based on this spiritual truth. Of course, past karma will remain a factor.

Questions are welcome from readers. It is a vast and interesting subject, that has power to transform humans, and through their optimization, it can optimize workplaces. Stephen Covey rightly says that the way we look at the problems IS the problem. We need to have holistic perceptions. Life’s highest truths are the simplest. There is too much of intellectual jargon in modern management. We need wisdom, we need values and we need self-management. You don’t need to manage people, just empower them to manage themselves.

–

Hans is a chemical engineer  who  worked in sales/marketing for 28 years.  Thereafter, for the last 8 years, he has been a motivational speaker, yoga coach and corporate trainer. In his personal life, he has been practicing yoga-meditation for close to 25 years.

The teaching sessions at the ashram went off quite smoothly. I grew in confidence. Within the next one year, I started introducing meditation to my office colleagues (at Mumbai, India). This brush with the energies of group meditations has been quite rewarding.

In 1991, my office had a group of 40 odd female staff members, pursuing spiritual practices. They had the same guru. Bound by this fellowship, they would get together in the office every day during lunch recess to study scriptures and to meditate. Once or twice, I joined their sessions and they did mine. Then the requirements of work took me away from Mumbai. The contact was severed.

I returned to Mumbai about a year back. One day, I happened to meet one of these ladies at the office. She filled me in on her group. The guru had passed away and was no longer there in the physical body to guide them. Several members of the group, including the one who led them, had retired from service. Some members had been transferred to work at offices in other locations within Mumbai. These developments had forced abandonment of the daily satsang. Yet, the group had largely remained cohesive. Those members, who could, met for four-five hours of practices one Saturday each month at some convenient place.

My contact with the group having been renewed, soon they invited me to lead them into meditation at a get-together they had organized within the office. It was nice to meet them. A few months later, once again they invited me in. This time, I encouraged them to speak about issues relevant to their sadhana. We dealt with several questions. How did they feel about their sadhana? Where did they think it was leading them? What issues they felt they had to work on? How to evaluate the inner work, carried on by the awakened energy? How to deal with the physical absence of the guru? And so on………

Very soon it became apparent what was a significant issue with many. They were being bogged down by unwarranted judgment about how little sadhana had done to them in helping them get rid of undesirable thoughts or habit patterns. Just because they were focused elsewhere in areas of want, they were overlooking the wonderful transformation that was all too evident in their lives and did indicate great progress through inner work.
In the course of discussion, I was the facilitator allowing them to change focus to look for and appreciate the positives. Gradually, the result was obvious. Their general demeanour began to change perceptibly. Faces began to lighten up more and more with hope and self-belief.  This discussion had consumed considerable time. So, I suggested that we had had a “discussion satsang” and we could call it a day.

However, the ladies weren’t ready to forego meditation. Looking for a swift way out, I thought I would give them a short visualization for healing and be done with it. I began giving instructions accordingly, beginning with a breath awareness induced limb by limb relaxation starting from toes upwards. I was half way through, when I began to feel a great build-up of energy within. It started taking hold of me. The instructions, I was giving thus far, had to stop.

A few seconds later, a suggestion for a different kind of concentration and meditation began to take shape within me. It was about meditation on the guru’s form (by identifying one’s body with that of the guru). Instructions began to form in my mind spontaneously. I went ahead with the flow and started articulating whatever came up.
It began with the awareness of the toes. There was silent repetition of the mantra “Om guru Om” with the suggestion that the toes were no longer ours but those of the guru. Limb by limb this visualization was carried forward with silent repetition of the mantra. Eventually, we reached the crown of the head.

Normally, I would have stopped at that and would have let the ladies meditate on the inner silence arising out of this identification with the guru’s form. But, this did not happen.

New instructions began to come forth. These were about visualization of a very private and intimate meeting with the guru, seated comfortably on a lovely chair in the cave of the heart. Everyone was taken through the steps of this process slowly – welcoming the guru, seating the guru in the chair, offering their most loving service to the guru, and sharing with the guru their innermost feelings and gratitude. Each one was asked to sit in silence and listen if the guru had any words of advice, instruction and benediction; and, let the words sink in.

Perhaps at this point the instructions stopped. We were in an office hall. There was some loud conversation outside. But, a pool of silence had engulfed all of us. We sat quietly, each one deeply absorbed in the company of the inner guru.

After a while, I began to guide every one into regaining consciousness of their bodies and the outside world. I looked at my watch. More than 45 minutes had passed since we started the meditation. Even after everyone had opened their eyes, a curtain of silence hung over us. No one was willing to speak. It took quite a while before we spoke out.

This experience was a strong reminder to me of how the inner guru guides from within. My ‘limited’ mind had conjured up a concept of the meditation I needed to give those ladies that day. Obviously, the inner guru thought otherwise. He acted decisively and with grace, compelling me to fall in line and change course. What eventually took place was hugely more enjoyable. The guru had used me as an instrument. What a splendid blow to any sense of doership that I might have had.

There was another teaching that came to me strongly from this experience. I had gone to these ladies as a ‘teacher’ – ‘somebody’ who would help them ‘receive’ ‘something’ but it their love for spiritual life, simplicity, purity and receptivity that largely engineered the experience that had befallen me.

And, lo and behold, the teacher became the taught.

Ladies! My heartfelt salutations to each one of you!!

This is the greatness of satsang. It allows one to discover his or her better part in the most inscrutable ways.

–

Brahmaprakash Gaur belongs to the Indian Revenue Service and is currently posted as Chief Commissioner of income-tax, Mumbai, India. He met his spiritual Master, Gurumayi Swami Chidvilasananda, in 1989 and has been meditating since then. Contact him at b_gaur@hotmail.com.

The receiver always connects and listens to you.
The two way transmission is always “strength 5″.
The receiver is never off the hook.
The receiver never drops the call.
You need to disconnect when you feel you are done.

You don’t need a service provider.
You don’t need to pay any rental.
The number is never, ever, engaged.

The number can be accessed individually as well as collectively.
The more the merrier.
The number is accessible from any part of the globe.
There is no conference facility, it’s a one to one connection.
There is no background noise, static, etc. that will disturb you, when you are connected.

The connection as well as the service come for free, for life, and is accessible 24*7.
When you dial you don’t here a ring.
You needn’t say “Hello” to connect.

You are never in a “Queue” and are always attended to.
Promptly.

The service provider listens/registers your thoughts and logs them as well.
You are not given any acknowledgment.
You are never forgotten.

While you dial and connect, all you need to ensure is that:
• You remain thankful.
• You transmit love.
• You seek help for your needs, and not your desires.
• You do so regularly, both in good times as well as bad times.
Those who do so…they reach out and stay connected to the almighty.
For perpetual bliss and happiness.

In the English language, He is called God.

G=7, 0=15, d=4.

–

Arun alias Axee is an ex-combat pilot turned executive life coach. He is actively involved with Brian Tracy in a novel learning initiative, iLearningGlobal.biz/axee. Contact him at emarshalarun@gmail.com.

You single? Yes. It is a long story filled with suitcases and international travels, me moving Monday and no one able to follow my route, me longing for love but me refusing commitment without even realizing it. Until that spring day when I decided to start pondering about it, one of those inner mechanical reactions no one can predict nor stop.

While living in Brooklyn, in 2006, I was recommended by a friend to buy a highly inspirational book called Oneness. It was filled with concepts I have heard and thought about before but it was following a line I was scared to delve into at that precise moment…depth of ourselves. Who are you when you take off your skin and other layers? How can we love someone else and still remain who we are, without unrealistic or selfish expectations? Way too much for a person who was about to pack and leave the country – alone. Or better said – with my cat. No time nor willingness to take the risk of discovering that my bags of certainties were actually filled with doubts.

I finally left and flew all the way to Barcelona to find myself more miserable than ever. I was alone, job was anything but satisfying, my cat was giving signs of depression and my last fling was horribly gone before it even started. One night, early spring 2007, I was fixing some shelves in my bedroom and that big blue book fell on the floor face up.

I am Oneness, open me, it was whispering. And so I did.

Now I am not going to write an accurate review of the book and its content but there is one specific concept that deserves a special position among the lessons learnt I feel like sharing.

Detachment

Detachment is a state in which a person overcomes his or her attachment to desire for things, people or concepts of the world and thus attains a heightened perspective. (Wikipedia)

So far, so good. But what does it mean to put this state into practice for someone who is not Buddhist nor affiliated to Hinduism? How can a normal, average, western mind comprehend the real meaning of this concept and apply it to everyday life? That was a challenge, I must say. It took me almost two years to reach my partial goal and at once my perspective is plenty clear to be put into writing.

My lesson starts with what I learnt from Taoism that preaches the concept of “knowing when to stop and feel content.” The idea of it was so not in line with my personality that the real struggle was firstly represented by the search for a space within myself where that rule could fit. I had to learn when and where to stop and, in doubt, I stopped. Period.

I stood still and gave a profound look at things from the outside. Maybe meditation could help some to learn how to visualize themselves on emptiness. I chose a cloud to sit on while mind-mapping my life piece after piece. I recompiled a list of broken relationships, where my need for love was obfuscated by the – not so detached – right to own and claim. This is mine and if it is mine now, it must be forever. Forever is a word that applies to one part of ourselves and one only. Our soul, this is our only forever-friend and we’d better understand this first, in order to enable it to share part of its path with someone else.

Matter-of-chance loneliness was another key aspect of my journey. Due to my relocation to Spain, I found myself longing for Love and – funnily – abandoned several times in just a few months. Why? Is it me? What am I doing wrong? Unfortunately, it would take me much more than a ‘tickle’ to describe the bitter feelings I experienced, the constant disappointment I was going through. But I believe that one conclusion counts for all.

I was needy inside while seeking for help outside. Does it give the idea? The walk towards detachment and personal development was tough, I must admit. I had to recognize mistakes hard to swallow. I was the one who claimed without giving, said without listening, enjoyed without caring, planned without living….I think I received love without loving, sometimes, but this is still a hard one to be accepted.

And then Today comes. Today is that day when I wake up and go to the kitchen to make my bitter-sweet morning coffee, with one eye still closed, but I am on auto, stumbling into the supermarket calendar. One drop of hot coffee hits my naked foot and I almost curse: Valentine’s Day. All right. Fine.

For the first time in my life, I feel I have something to say about it beyond “Oh, how nice when people are happily in love…” or “Yes, I am single. Thank you.” On the contrary, 2009 is for me the year of true, unconditional, generous, pure love. So here we go with the positive outcome of my two-year exploration in the depth of loneliness and detachment.

One day, mid-June 2008, I woke up to find my eyes brighter than usual and my mind clearer than expected. There was a new me waiting along with dawn. What had happened? Was I finally ready to share? That magical day brought me to book a flight to Japan and that was an initial statement of freedom and true love towards myself. I deserved a reward and the pain was finally and unexpectedly gone.

It took me a long time to understand the power of the process I started and I had to fly several times across the planet to put things into perspective. Some might call it awakening and some others could point at me as a self-destructive person that seeks for non-justified pain through a series of never-ending questions. But the truth is that since that day in mid-June, things changed. I am still single, not completely able to relate in a committed way to others, but I have cured my heart and I now consider myself able to feel and live that detached love Oneness was talking about. It is the love I give to my friends daily, those tiny lines I send them to remind them I care and think and embrace them with an open soul. More time I devote to my family, learning to share with them my fears, opening my – and their – eyes on my weird truths and listening to theirs. It is the random encounter with strangers I might never see again, when my heart starts pulsing faster and I feel there is no room for rationality. It is the surprise when I am given the second chance to meet them. And it is the awareness. I am aware of the constructive power of positive thoughts (why not?), wishful and yet proactive. Those hints that come to you when you are not actually looking for them – and I am sure we have all experienced the “not looking, finally found” game. Like that one day, while you are sipping a fruity drink on the other side of the world and someone smiles at you and you wonder why. Maybe it is your soul that smiled at him in the first place, showing its beauty in the nakedness of purity. If you know what I am talking about, than maybe you can enjoy a ride on your cloud, see things as birds do. The map of yourself might not be too tragic, after all!

I have never felt this loved before. My surroundings are filled with people that care for me and I do feel it every single day, along with the first ray of sun hitting my face – and my cat asking for breakfast.

This is a short and positive message to all of you, on a day mostly seen as negative by those that are still exploring the field in search for their half apple. Love, just like every other feeling, is a state, but a state of soul. Learning how to treat and feed it while educating our mind to stick to the principles of simplicity and detachment will lead us to that field where half apples grow wild. That will be the day when you stop exploring the world and turn in to yourself.

And no apple has ever been juicier.

Manifest plainness,
Embrace simplicity,
Reduce selfishness,
Have few desires.

Lao-tzu (604 BC – 531 BC)

–
Arianna lives with her cat, Nietzsche, and some friends in sunny Barcelona. She considers herself a wannabe writer in spite of her moody relationship with her unpublished novel. Life brought her to live in New York, Barcelona and who knows what is next.

Just about to turn thirty, I was given a rare opportunity to have a private audience with His Holiness The Dalai Lama. “Hey kid,” my boss said on the other end of the phone, “I think I’ve got us a meeting with the Dalai Lama – at his place in India. You in?”

I had no idea how I was going to swing three weeks in India, the flight from Seattle to New Delhi, Delhi to Bangalore and back. “Yeah, I’m in.” And like most things meant to be, the money showed up at the right time and I showed up in smelly Delhi with high expectations.

His Holiness is based, along with the exiled Central Tibetan Administration, in the high mountain region of Northern India in Dharamsala. It is essentially a little Tibet, teeming with refugee Tibetans and transported monks. And it’s a hell of a trek to get there. Planes, trains, and mini vans switch-backing up thin, cliff-side roads for hours.

Dalai Lama day

After being thoroughly frisked and passed through metal detectors, my five travel mates and I were ushered into a His Holiness’s meeting room furnished with stunning tankas and red mahogany trimmed sofas. We waited like groupies before the big show.

We were told we’d have precisely fifteen minutes to meet. And he was already fifteen minutes late. What if something more important came up? It would be understandable if he blew us off at the last minute. We weren’t diplomats or officials. We weren’t even Buddhists.
He burst in, robust and radiant, “Sohhh sorry! Sohhh sorry to keep you waiting.” {You’re the 14th reincarnation of the venerable Dalai Lama and you’re apologizing to this motley crew? I thought. Now that’s an entrance.}

Compassion, women + Gen X

We spoke of universal consciousness. Are there different consciousnesses on different planets or dimensions? “One, ultimately one consciousness, is what I think,” he replied. We spoke of current military actions and politics. We laughed. We mostly laughed in amazement at his bellowing belly laughs. I watched him like a hawk. I thought to myself, don’t be glamoured, Danielle. His greatness could be a projection from followers, a role he plays. And still, I felt a complete sense of clean, sincere, awesomeness. In my most humble estimation, this guy registered as The Real Thing.

The clock was ticking. One after the other, like school children in a row, he gestured for each person to ask their question. And then he skipped a beat. He abruptly turned to me. Penetrating gaze.  Fuzzy eyebrows raised. “You. You have a question, yes you.” It wasn’t my turn yet. It was Valentines’ Day. I really just wanted to say, “Sir, will you be my Valentine? I have a total crush on you.”

I said, “Uh, yes, well, my generation is at a crossroads where no other generation has been before. {Duh, that’s naturally true of every generation.} And I wondered, what message do you have for us Gen X’rs?”

“Ah yes, crossroads.” Nodding briskly. “Well, in the West, you have education, and this is good. And you have technology. And this is good. But, you do not educate your people in values. Values of the heart. Compassion. This you must do.”

“And you see, it does not matter whether you are Buddhist or Christian.” he went on. “Compassion lives in heart, beyond religion. Even me, Buddhist, I can say, you do not need Buddhism, just the compassion of the heart.”

“Women know this,” he went on. “Because, peace, peace is implicit in women. You put boys together, they make war. You put women together, they make peace. Women are the leaders of the future.” He spoke of Jimmy Carter as a leader with feminine-based principles, and Benazir Bhutto as a “very aggressive woman, but good leader…very good leader.” And he laughed. And laughed.

Almost an hour had gone by.

Seen and loved

Even though his secretary insisted we wrap, HH glanced around the room and said, “Okay?” as if to ask our permission to be excused. Quick photo op. Cameras flashing. More laughter.
And then the Dalai Lama did the most incredible thing. When I thought he was about to exit left and high tail it out of there, he moved toward the doorway entrance and waited patiently for each of us to file out. And then he hugged each one of us good-bye. Slowly. Firmly. Like your favourite grandparent hugs you – with thankfulness and deep care, like they have all the time in the world.

And when he pulled back from our Most Holy Bear Hug, he looked me in the eyes, as he did with each of us, and he smiled wide and nodded. And let me tell you, without an ounce of romanticism, being in his gaze was like having the milky way grinning down on me. I have only rarely in this lifetime felt so clearly seen, and so clearly loved. The simultaneity of recognition and acceptance was intoxicating.

And out we filed.

So how do you follow up a meeting with the Dalai Lama? With fries and Coke in a smokey cafe, of course. We debriefed in the glow. We were stoned on the experience. We dissected his political views and take on universality. And each one of us, in our own way, said, “How about that hug, eh?”

–

Danielle LaPorte founded www.whitehottruth.com, is lead author of the bestseller, Style Statement: Live By Your Own Design, and co-founder of www.carrieanddanielle.com. A former think tank exec, she helps entrepreneurs rock their careers with her signature Fire Starter Sessions. You can reach her at d@daniellelaporte.com.

Guided visualizations can be useful, but you have to be sharp-minded. Guided imagery can manufacture illusions of grandeur.

My choice: Tonglen meditation. “Tonglen” is Tibetan for sending and taking.

There are all kinds of reasons to meditate – which is why it’s good to have a few different techniques. Knowing WHY you’re meditating is a great place to begin. And maybe you don’t know why – that not-knowing is also a brilliant starting point. Whether it’s to calm down and ease anxiety, to peek into possible future scenarios, to heal, to hear the Truth – every form of inner exploration is an unfolding of your essence – some times by just a smidgen, sometimes by quantum leaps. Every route points to knowing the nature of reality.
I meditate to expand. There are all sorts of layers and interpretations to that. But the concept of expanding my heart, my mind, my consciousness captures what I long for most: communion, freedom, and creative empowerment. And that’s the experience that Tonglen gives me.

How to do Tonglen meditation

Breathe in suffering – yours, others, the world’s.
Breathe out compassion – for yourself, for others, for the world.

It’s not as easy as it sounds. It may shatter you. But wouldn’t that be grand? To be shattered? To be so immensely open that you’d feel the truth: that you’re really as selfless as Mother Theresa, as loyal as an ecstatic dog at the feet of the world, as powerfully creative as a cosmic super hero?

STEP 1

Breathe in suffering. The worst thing that ever happened to you. That sunk feeling. That thing you wish you could take back. Recapitulate it in breaths. The blackness, the sickness, the fibrous seething rage, the sticky-scratchy, inconsolable weight of it. Take in the unbearable-ness. You may want to escape. Press on. Go beyond the embrace. Inhale the pain in to your every cell. You won’t die. You’re going to expand. Keep breathing in the misery.
You’re on the verge of a miracle.

STEP 2

Now breathe out joy. Soothing golden warmth. Luminous flying birds of clarity. Electric rays of smiling karate chops. Feel your lungs as powerful creative engines of healing and righteousness. Pulsate rapture. Let happiness emerge from the fractures. Let scar tissue become bridges that lead to a festival of relief and dancing. See joy. Feel joy. Hear joy. Sing joy. Breathe love into every cell of the situation.

Now do it for other people’s suffering. Please. For that homeless man on the street, in winter. Cold and demoralized. Inhale his agony. Exhale comfort and transformation. The jobless folks with families to feed. Cancer patients fighting to live. People gone mad. Soldiers who kill and the families they destroy. Take in the wreckage. Turn it into light and give back compassion and tenderness.

When your heart is heavy, when you want to feel alive…
Acknowledge the dark. And take the light into your own hands.

–

Danielle LaPorte founded www.whitehottruth.com, is lead author of the bestseller, Style Statement: Live By Your Own Design, and co-founder of www.carrieanddanielle.com. A former think tank exec, she helps entrepreneurs rock their careers with her signature Fire Starter Sessions. You can reach her at d@daniellelaporte.com.

Feeling confused or “lost” is actually a signal that you are about to be given the opportunity to take a big leap forward in your spiritual growth. That is, you are being given the opportunity to become even more of your Authentic Self, living your life On Purpose, while experiencing more Joy and less struggle in your life.

Confusion is a red light that is telling you to STOP! LOOK! and LISTEN! It is telling you that you are reaching a crossroad, a place where a vital decision will be made. The decision you make at this crossroad will either move you forward or set you back, or as is the case with a railroad crossing where one does not heed the signals, you will get run over!

The gift of confusion is that it creates an opening for you to look at things in a new way. This confusion can be a catalyst to wake up to knowing more of who you are at a spiritual level.

(As an aside, it is good to remember that not making a decision, is the same as making a decision to stay with the status quo. The problem with that tactic is if you are not making a decision about what you want and taking action to claim it, the Universe will give you leftovers . . . cold leftovers . . . ugh!)

Here are 5 tips to move through confusion:

1. Acknowledge that the confusion is a good thing. It is a gift that is moving you closer to being your Authentic Self where you can experience more joy and less struggle in your life.

2. Make some quiet time to contemplate and formulate a rich and juicy high quality question that will lead you out of confusion and into greater understanding of who you are and what your purpose is. (“Why me?” is not a rich and juicy question.)

3. Carefully crafted high-quality questions produce enormously useful high-quality answers.

4. Rich and juicy high quality questions contain the following elements:

- They are focused on the solution, or desired outcome, not the problem. For example: “What actions can I take to bring peace and harmony to this situation?”

(An example of a not-so-high-quality/problem-oriented version would be: “Whose fault is this and what is the best punishment for that person?”)

- Rich and juicy high quality questions almost always start with “what” or “how” and are crafted around creating a desired outcome, as opposed to “why” questions, that are usually focused on examining what went wrong and trying to prevent it from happening again. (This sometimes falls into the category of locking the barn door after the horse has been stolen, or crying over spilled milk, if I may use a few well known clichés.)

- They are created with certainty that you will receive the answer, usually in the most delightful, and magical ways.

NOTE: Answers come from all kinds of sources: billboards, a song on the radio, an off-hand remark from a friend, dreams, personal insight/light bulb moments, and so on.

5. You must have a distraction-free quiet space in your life to recognize the answers when they come. Create quiet space by driving in silence once in a while instead of turning on the car radio. Occasionally find a quiet, secluded place for lunch instead of meeting friends in the company cafeteria. Take time for a soaking bath instead of a quick shower. You get the idea.

If you set your intention to create quiet space to hear answers, the Universe will provide you with practical options.

The best thing about confusion is its ability to move you forward. The danger is in getting stuck in it by not seeing it for the opportunity that it is for spiritual growth. Not opening your mind to seeing things in a new way will keep you going in circles until you get a bigger wake up call to get your attention.

The bigger the wake up call, the bigger the “ouch” it contains. It is so much less painful to pay attention early on!

Take these 5 tips to heart and put them into action. I guarantee your fog of confusion will lift and you will be on your way to living your life On Purpose, with more Joy and less struggle.

————————

Jennifer T. Grainger, B.Msc.,Spiritual Growth Coach & Mentor, Founder of http://www.SpiritualGrowthCommunity.com .For more tools to lift out of confusion, you are invited to a free subscription in the Spiritual Growth community. Sign up now and receive Jennifer’s guided meditation:”Sitting in the Stillness” to connect with your Divine Self for guidance, inspiration and expanded consciousness. Sign Up Now! http://www.SpiritualGrowthCommunity.com

Are we being true to ourselves and the universe which is organizing our lives around us? There is so much expectation from the universe but to receive we have to be in the club of givers without premeditated calculations of why & what.

When we give our youth, time and energy to family, relationships, work we do so with an intent which is very self-oriented at the core. No conditionals!

The joining of the club of givers requires, spontaneity, the opposite of the tendency to hoard, live with less and as far as possible with the minimum one can. At the same time sharing of goods, effort and time because somebody is genuinely in more need than you and could obviously put whatever you are parting with to better use. Finally the belief that the universe is there and will give what you need anyway.

Did you choose your name, parents, brothers, sisters, friends, teachers or even the place & date of birth? You accepted all these without preamble so what is bothering you now?

The best givers are intensely alive and very involved in life. When you drop the critical, calculating and the judgmental attitude, there is an aura of compassion which builds up around you. Then you can only give. I know many millionaires and I have been blessed by the help they gave me in cash, kind and personal time.
As an exercise study your life and see how many things are lying around you that are never used and list them out. Second step if you feel there are others who can use them and NEED them, would you be ready to pass them on?

This is living in the present. Things come and go. We are only caretakers or users for a while. Like a coin which changes hands hundreds and thousands of time in its life time. Yet the humans have been able to delude themselves into believing that things belong to them. These people close their doors so effectively that nothing goes out from them nor anything comes into them. What a waste of a lifetime – it is so sad; these people are doomed to repeat their lifecycles over and over.

So how does one open out to the universe; How to be a witness? How to grow out of the petty self? It is simple really. See the world with benevolent eyes. Don’t judge – observe as a third party, witness. And above all: don’t try to change the world. Identify yourself with beautiful things and surround yourself with them.

Learn about all the things that are negative in character, like noise, obnoxious materials, obnoxious emotions etc – anything that leaves a bad after-taste, shocks or frightens or as the environmentalists would say – polluting. Try to distance yourself from these. And then join the club of givers.

You’ll see things will start falling in place.

–

PK is a teacher of languages/communication, counsellor and a businessman active in 6 countries. He combines his knowledge of life with his education in management, applied psychology and occult psychology from his time in The Ashram in Pondicherry and assists aspiring managers to reach their next level. Please visit http://sites.google.com/site/pkcentreforchange/Home

The professor – whom I called Sir – was a lively person and so was I, full of life and vigour. We had a wonderful time together. I never remembered we had any heavy discussion on any ‘heavy’ topic. Anything philosophically significant if I remember was always in the form of a one-line question, formed carefully by me and a one-line answer, given spontaneously by him. He was always surprised by the depth of my question and I was always overwhelmed by the exactness of his answers, hitting the bull’s eye. Many times I and my Sir used to take lunch together and read ‘Mayalok’ or listen to ghazals or some classical music before he retired for his afternoon nap. Sometimes I used to go in evenings instead of morning and have a cup of tea with him. I used to fetch sweets prepared by my mother and he used to return a call of thank to my mother. Many times I used to bring dal makhni and malai kofta from a nearby restaurant for him or paan (betel leaf) as he used to love it. Sometimes I used to drive him to some park for evening walk. He would happily settle down on the back seat of my scooter. Some times, when we could not meet for many days, I used to sneak into his house (his door was always open when he was awake) and cover his eyes from behind and let him guess who was it and he used to express his joy with his warm welcoming hug. But why am I sharing these memories with you?

Because, for me, there is something special about his memories.

I met many professors, teachers, relatives, friends, persons in my life and many of them impressed me, taught me something or the other. But even today, when it is more than a year since he passed away, whenever I see his lively photo or ‘feel’ his presence I get wet eyes. One might say I am very emotional but I feel there is something more about his thoughts than an emotional attachment. Emotions are very unreliable facts and fluctuating realities though there might be a depth in the experience itself. But, in my relationship with Sir, there is a ‘life’ which touches me somewhere deep within.

We all have memories of many kinds but there is something radically different in some memories. The scope is as vast as universe. It might be a touch of new raindrops, or sight of a beautiful flower or anything from nature. It might be beholding a tiny existence on earth or watching stars or infinite space with a powerful telescope. It might be some impressive lines of a famous poem or an innocent remark of a child. It might be any experience with a long, deep relation or a few minutes meeting with a stranger. There is something special and magical about some moments in life. We never forget them, not because we memorized them strongly but they never fade away because they touched us so deep that they become part of our existence. Whenever we reflect on our ‘self’ we can feel the spark and spur from them.

Our life is of a given span. We live this time span full of progress and digress, success and failure, career and relations, earnings and spendings, outings and home stays, learnings and teachings, thirst and quench, agony and ecstasy, reading writers and thinkers, jokes and tragedies, reflecting and deflecting, etc but among all these activities there are the moments when you are touched by life. It might be anywhere and everywhere.

The BIG questions ‘What is life?’, ‘What is it all about?’, ‘Who are you?’, ‘Why are you?’, ‘What are you’, etc and all that is related to life can never be answered in any words. They are only ‘experienced’ by a person ‘living’ and, to comprehend them, you need to reflect on the moments which you lived ‘whole-heartedly’ because clues for the questions of life lie in the moments when you were ‘touched’ by life.

–
Rachana Sharma has Doctorate in Philosophy and Masters in Philosophy and Sanskrit. She has published articles in various philosophical journals such as Paramarsh (Pune University), Journal of Philosophical Research (New Delhi), and The Philosopher’s Index (Ohio University, USA).

But How?

To reach God: you need to communicate with him.
To communicate, you need to pray as you don’t get to him by any other way.
A prayer bereft of feelings of Love is like…a lake without water.
Love flourishes when it is propagated with humility.
Humility nourishes the mind…individually as well as collectively, when it is executed in a group by a set/sets of minds too.

That’s how it gets to happen, it can be safely concluded.

Then why the confusion?
Through thoughtless intrusion?
Why the intrusion of non loving negative thoughts into the human minds, mindsets?
They bring in negative energy…and no synergy with the creator.
Ultimately; they get us to sap our energy.

On introspection it dawned on me that such attacks are meant to happen.
By nature…and get to happen too…as they need to be zapped by the 4 problem solving tools we have at our disposal, 24*7.

As a solution, gift, from the almighty.
As an armor…to wear.
And to smear…on our consciousness.

In any part of the world and in any language one common feature does happen.
Humans communicate.
In whatever language they have developed over there over centuries.

But all over the world there is only one form of communication that can happen without any language, and that is:
Love.
Love is a feeling and needs no language to propagate or to happen.
Love is humbly reached, reaches, helps reach, binds, bonds,  finds, and helps find too.
Love is omnipotent.

Hence God must have chosen this medium to enable us to reach him.

Only those who are humble get to love and be loved too, as true love is encompassed only within the confines of humility.

To be humble one has to be more of a giver and less of a taker.
As the more you give the more you get to get.
Love begets Love.

When one gets to that stage one is on the path of spirituality.
Away from desires…wants, and closer to needs.
As God fulfills needs.
As you would have by default, by then, bridged the gap between him and you.
Whew!
What a lovely view.
From the spiritual pew…for all and not for few.
One begins to perceive and see the shape of a bridge.
Resting on the ridge.
Connecting.
Beckoning.

A bridge that spans its way to the almighty…A spiritual bridge.

Spirituality is the bridge between mankind and the almighty.
Spanning towards him invisibly, but firmly.

As bridges are built on pylons.
Pylons bear the loads and shape the bridge.
Visibly speaking.

The four main load bearing pylons of the invisible bridge that connects us, to our creator, are:
•    Prayer
•    Communication
•    Love
•    Humility

It’s this bridge that bridges the gap between the creator and the created.

Bridges are built on ridges or, over water bodies…as water is a force to reckon with.

Problems also are forces to reckon with.
Perpetual in nature.
They tend to revolve.
Hence they need to be bridged too…with a firm resolve.

To solve…evolve…and to stop the revolve.
Using the invisible bridge.

No wonder then, problems get to dissolve as they take the shape and state of water under the bridge, when one begins to walk/ stumble upon/trundle/scamper/run on, or begin to get to go, in some way or the other, towards, or on,this bridge.

The invisible bridge, on the ridge of problems, that leads to the almighty.

The connector…to the nectar.

–

Arun alias Axee  is an ex-combat pilot turned executive life coach. He is actively involved with Brian Tracy in a novel learning initiative, iLearningGlobal.biz/axee. Contact him at emarshalarun@gmail.com.