“Every action has an equal and opposite reaction” or so Newton said in his third law of motion. While it took him considerable efforts to prove it; the though that the same law was applicable to the equations of life never crossed his mind. So how indeed does this cycle of action and reaction work in our lives? That is a question that plagues the mind of the true seeker as he starts to self-introspect and question each of his actions in life. The question that necessarily pops up to the mind is this. Is my karmic act an act of action? Or an act of reaction? Am I acting? Or am I simply reacting?
While many people think that they are well balanced individuals; and that their actions are guided by no one else but themselves. However they fail to realize the fact that there are indeed subtle forces that act on the human mind to coerce it into a destructive spree of action and reaction. In simple words, many times, when you are acting out of impulse, when you are acting out of instinct, when you are acting out of emotion; you are not acting; you are simply reacting. You are simply reacting to some act that took place prior to that point in time; an act that left a considerable impact on your psyche.
So why is reacting so bad? One would ask. Well I would say that it is not necessarily bad; but it is an undesirable by-product of your thoughts. When you react out of impulse, you necessarily react in a hurry. Thus your reaction at times does not undergo much thought and discretion. You just give in to the instinctive need of providing a reaction. This happens owing to the fact that your ego cannot let itself be snubbed or belittled in any way. Your ego wants to come out of any situation as a winner. This holds for a fact not only in your case, but in the case of the millions of individuals who live in this world.
Thus every time you transact with any individual, both of you are determined to come out on the top. No one wants to be defeated In the war of words. Thus in the end, this incessant need to gratify the ego, becomes the only underlying motive of any interaction. Owing to this, the individual starts to lose his social credibility as others start percieving him as an ego-maniac.
Ultimately the thing that any seeker has to realize is that true spirituality always teaches him to be more and more productive and creative. Thus a true spiritualist does not give in to the mindless antics of the human ego. He does not seek gratification at every point in time. Thus owing to this, his reactions are well balanced and well-thought of. They are not tactless acts of vengence. Thus a true spiritualist, in the end always wins through in the journey of life; for in the end, people start to admire him and follow him out of sheer respect. In the end he inspires within others that same ideology which induces in them a balanced way of life.
In the end the true spiritualist knows his place in the world. Thus he needs no external validation to prove the same to his ego. He is always centered in his purpose and his goals. That makes him an exteremel affable personality. So the fact of the matter that we must realize from this story is that we must never ever be in a hurry to give a reaction. Our reactions must be well thought and calculated against all prevailing circumstances.
Anxiety is defined as a perpetual state of worry and nervousness. Many times in life, we get anxious for no particular reason at all. We fail to realize the fact that our anxiousness is only because of our heightened sentiment of fear and insecurity. Anxiety does not resolve anything. You can be as anxious as you want to be, but your sentiments won’t have any effect on the results. Yet anxiety is an undesirable trait, because when we become anxious we start becoming pessimist and we lose all hope and faith. Thus we fall into an endless stream of depression. How can we truly overcome this weakness? How can we truly rise from our perpetual state of nervousness? How can we truly conquer anxiety? Listen to the following audio snippet to find the answers…
Many times, as the spiritual seeker lives through his mundane life, he starts to feel that there exists a great disparity between the spiritual world and the mundane world. As he lives through his daily life, he starts to acclimatize with the worldly equations. All through this, the seeker also tries his best to see to it that his spiritual ideals and his spiritual goals are in no way compromised. However the real world is a hard place to live in; and if one has to thrive in it, one has to actively participate in life’s rat race. The seeker who wishes to strike a fine balance between his spiritual and worldly pursuits thus has to be extremely efficient at handling both aspects of life equally well.
In the real world, every individual is expected to put on a mask. Every individual is expected to be someone who he is not. Thus in a world that relentlessly admires illusions and admonishes reality, the spiritual seeker is faced with a tough task of balancing the facts against the myths. Where the spiritual path necessarily leads him to absolve his identity into the almighty, the worldly path expects him to vociferously defend his interests. Thus the seeker is caught in a paradox as he languishes amidst the diametrically opposite polarities of the spiritual and worldly way of life.
When the seeker tries to find the answers to the question that concerns his very existence in this perilous paradox, he comes to the conclusion that neither can he completely regard the worldly life to be illusory; nor can he let his spiritual motives be compromised. While living through the mundane life, the seeker learns one of life’s great lessons. He learns that the mundane world is not as illusory as it is made out to be in the spiritual dictums. He realizes that as long as he himself is a humble seeker, the relativity of this world will continue to affect him. He realizes that he cannot disregard the mundane world to be an illusion as long as he is living in it, because for him the illusion is just as real as he is. Thus through this realization, he learns to pro-actively lead his life in a way in which he can absolve his unrequited karmas through conscious acts.
The true spiritualist always leads an ideal way of life. He is aware of his worldly duties and responsibilities. He does not regard the spiritual path as a way of escaping them. On the contrary, his spiritual bearing helps him to fulfill his duties all the more diligently. The seeker always knows that even though the worldly life is not as illusory as it is made out to be, it is indeed pointless to run behind the many temptations that it showcases. The seeker is always aware of his objectives; and he only seeks to fulfill them through the opportunities that he gets. In the end, the seeker knows that he has a greater loftier purpose in his existence and thus always seeks ways in which he can truly get to a point where he could pursue his spiritual journey with no worldly interruptions. This is necessarily accomplished when the seeker is completely liberated from his worldly responsibilities; and he does not wish to willfully indulge in the temptations of worldly life.
After that point in his life, the master then takes over, as he leads the seeker further on in the journey that leads to the absolution of all his qualms; the journey that finally leads to the emancipation of the soul from the recursive cycle of misery, despair and regret that the human existence represents…
In the sixth chapter of the Satsang series, Rutugandha recounts the day when the master spoke of ways in which a seeker can lead the ideal lifestyle. The human life is often an intermingled journey that traverses both the spiritual and the mundane worlds. Many times the seeker can get deluded between the diametric polarities of these two factors. However there are some simple things that the seeker can implement in his life to make it all the more easier for him to walk on the spiritual path. In the following audio epistle Rutugandha elucidates on these points…
The spiritual journey is one that finally leads the seeker towards emancipation. It is a journey that ultimately leads the seeker beyond the recursive cycle of life and death; so he can finally be free from the perpetual sentiments of despair and regret that epitomize the human existence. While many know this fact to be true, few are indeed aware of the fact that spirituality does not promote escapism. Few are indeed aware of the fact that spirituality inherently teaches an individual to be exceedingly pro-active in his life. Thus this falsified perception of spirituality that is lodged into the minds of many people dissuades them from walking on this path. Conversely owing to this falsified common perception, many people come to this path only after encountering failure and rejection in all walks of life. Many people look to the spiritual activities as nothing but counseling sessions that in the end leave them with a happy and contented feeling. While the spiritual path proves to be exceedingly effective in instilling that sense of peace and contentment in these individuals, the fact remains that in the end, the spiritual path is not meant to do that.
The spiritual path is not a momentary fix that you can take as an aspirin when you come home with a headache. It is not something that you turn to owing to circumstances; it is something that you adopt after making a conscious choice. True spirituality is a way of life; it has to be. If you are to truly progress significantly on the spiritual path, you have to be devoted in it mind, body and soul. Only then will you end up making a substantial difference in your life and in the lives of those around yourself. Only after you walk the path with complete devotion and dedication in your heart, will you truly realize what it is really meant for.
The spiritual path is a ultimately a journey of evolution. Evolution itself is a vast and expansive subject that incorporates within itself every single thing in the world. Thus the spiritual path, being a path of evolution essentially encompassed every single thing in this world. As a seeker walks further ahead on the spiritual path, he realizes that there is indeed that can be truly separated from his spirituality. Ultimately he realizes that true spirituality provides him with a solution to all the problems that he faces in life. Ultimately he realizes that as he walks further ahead on the spiritual path, the path itself transforms him completely. He becomes more capable and more responsible in his life. This makes it all the more easier for him to dispense his worldly duties. He starts becoming more and more productive in life, which ensures that he is successful in all walks of life. He starts developing a wholesome and creative approach to life; which results in him deriving nothing but unhindered joy and ecstasy from it. The spiritual seeker slowly starts to lose his self-centered nature as he starts becoming more and more benevolent. This essentially means that he starts becoming an asset for the society.
With all these transformations that the spiritual path brings in an individual, he slowly starts becoming a perfectionist. Ultimately he becomes a source of inspiration for those around him; as he intuitively ignites the light of spiritual excellence within himself. Ultimately the spiritual path completely transforms an individual and ensures that he comes out of this worldly strife as a winner.
Adversity is a state of misfortune or affliction. In life, we are often faced with situations, wherein we truly believe that we can never ever win through. At times life takes us through a series of unfortunate events that we think inevitably end in disaster. At times we lamen our misofortune and times we curse our fates; yet we fail to realize that we have within ourselves, the power to conquer that adversity. We have within ourselves the courage to break any and all barriers that stand in the midst. How can we accomplish that? How can we truly conquer adversity? How can we win through in this war of life? Listen to the following audio snippet to find the answers…
The worldly life is a journey that is essentially characterized by its monotony. In the mundane world, we see that there are hardly any new vistas of opportunity and creativity for the individual to indulge in. Often we see that the human life ends up being naught but a recursive journey in itself. The human life gets slowly institutionalized and boxed in as man starts to look at life simply in the terms of weekdays and weekends. He work hard all the week just to get a few moments of respite and enjoyment in the weekends. This completely expunges any creativity that he has within himself; he loses the ability to re-invent himself; and consequently he starts to lose all joy in his life.
The aforementioned characteristics are classical symptoms of boredom. Boredom typically sets in owing to the overbearing monotony of the mundane world. Many times, when an individual is made to the same work much like a government mule, he truly feels that he is under-achieving not as a professional, but as an individual. We all yearn happiness and joy in our lives. Sadly, our jobs and our lifestyle is not equipped to provide us with the same; add to that the mounting stress-levels at the workplace and you have got yourself a real mess at your hands. So how can an individual get out of this stress-inducing lifestyle that instills naught but boredom in his heart?
The point that the individual has to realize over here is that he essentially needs to find new ways to reinvent himself. Our spirit expresses through ceativity; and when it is unable to find this expression in the workplace, it is reduced to shambles. Thus the essential thing to note is that an individual must always find new and innovative ways to stay creative in life; not for the sake of others, but simply for his own sake. The new-found creative expression would surely inject him with great joy and enthusiasm to go through life with a renewed sense of pleasure. When you find something of your own to indulge in, you won’t seek creative expression in the workplace; for that is essentially what most of us do. We seek a creative outlet in the workplace; and when we fail to get one, we get despondent and dejected. However the fact of the matter is that the workplace is not meant to give you a creative expression. Your work is simply a means of your livelyhood. Realize that and you will automatically start to look at it from a different perspective. Find a creative pursuit and then you will surely marvel at the wonders that it weaves in your lifestyle.
Write; Sing; Dance. Give an expression to your inner turmoil. Whenever you feel that the inner voice is raging against the prevailing circumstances, vent it out on a piece of paper. It will not only result in pacifying your sentiments, but it would also give you another perspective to look at yourself. Then afterwards when you would read, you would surely laugh at it. With time, this practice would ensure that you won’t have any undesirable undertones of dissatisfaction within yourself. You would be clean and fresh like the morning dew, ready to spring forth into each day with bounding joy in your heart…
The human life is a continuous struggle for enrichment. May it be personal achievement or professional success, we all in one way or the other yearn to enrich ourselves in this world. The spiritual path is a path that essentially leads the seeker to evolve through the multiple cycles of rebirth, enriching him in the process. However many people feel that the spiritual path teaches inaction. Many feel that spiritualists are nothing but perpetual losers, who turn to spirituality because they are incapable of doing anything else. This common perception is entirely in contradiction to the reality pertaining to true spirituality.
True spirituality always teaches a person new and innovative ways to continually remain pro-active in his life. A true spiritualist is always creative and productive, no matter where he goes in life. This is essentially owing to the great insight that his spiritual journey provides him into his own life. He is completely detached from all the usual disturbances and insecurities that accompany the human life; owing to the fact that he realizes the true worth of life in its entirety. Such an individual is thus completely centered and capable of completely utilizing all the resources that he has in his life. This enables him to always stay productive, no matter what the circumstances may be.
Producitivity is the single greatest trait that truly enriches and embellishes a person with all the good things in life; not just in life but in the life beyond it as well. This happens owing to the fact that it is only the pro-active person who can make the most efficient use of the resources that God gives him. The spiritual journey is not only a journey of the enrichment of the spirit; but it is also a journey that involves the complete absolution of human karma. To even facilitate such a great process of karmic dissolution, the human being himself needs to be pro-actively involved in the different facets of worldly life. Ultimately it is through his worldly persona, that his karmas are completely exhumed. To gain liberation from the worldly strife, a person has to first be a part of that worldly strife. Thus the individual is required to be pro-actively involved in life, whilst remaining completely detached from within. This stage is one that is surprisingly difficult to attain for a seeker. Even after he attains it, the seeker needs to remian in the same state for the rest of his life, pro-active detachment; what others may consider as an oxymoronic concept is a way of life for the advanced seeker.
Ultimately, one has to realize that the worth of one’s life is realized in the difference that he makes in the lives of those around him. Ultimately the true worth of a spiritualist can be gauged by the lives that are blessed through his work. For indeed that is the ultimate stage of spiritual evolution; to remain pro-actively involved in the strife of life, not for your own self; but for others. That is where true spirituality ultimately takes you. It gives an expression to your inner sense of benevolence through creativity and productivity that it instills in you…
Be creative…be productive and God shall always bless thee with his grace…
The common perception of any spiritual person is that he is non-productive. This delusional perception leads people to believe that spirituality essentially turns people into non-achievers. However this is not the case. In this chapter of the Satsang series, Rutugandha recalls the day when the master spoke of the importance of productivity in the spiritual journey of any seeker. How important is it indeed to stay productive in life? How can a seeker continually make an effort to stay pro-active in life? In the following audio snippet, the master answers all these questions and more…
In the maiden episode of the Conquer It series, we give a brief overview of what the series is all about. The oft-used cliché that life is a war finds a whole new meaning in this series of audio epistles. YES! Life indeed is a war, but most of the times, it is war that you wage against your own weaknesses; for in the end, your weaknesses keep you from achieving superlatively in all walks of life. How can one truly surmount these undesirable factors? How can one truly conquer his weaknesses? Listen to the following audio epistle to find the answer…
A Spiritual Revolution added to Articles. Embracing Reality added to Articles. Rebellion added to Articles. The State of Liberation added to Articles. Hypocrisy in Spirituality added to Articles. Pointless Spirituality added to Articles. Two Bytes of Life added to Articles. Change, Consistency & Success added to Articles.
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February 2, 2010 10:59 pm | 
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