Thinking about It

We already are divine. We already have whatever it is we are looking for, but don't know it. We have forgotten as the mind is so busy thinking or doing a gazillion things. It's like when we go around looking for a missing pair of glasses or keys that we had on us this whole time. Ultimately, our spiritual journey is to just stop and remember our nature; that we have it all. Doing spiritual practices help us to quieten the mind and remove the obstructions keeping us being able to see what is already there.

Just like how food cannot cook without fire, we cannot transform without knowledge. Knowledge however, is not merely looking up, obtaining, and collecting information. Knowledge is imbibing that information. For instance, knowing why we are doing the spiritual practices we do lets us manage our energy and time so the actions serve their place and we don't get distracted. Understanding the importance of knowledge in our spiritual evolution ensures we get what is important right.

We often first prepare ourselves for things we want, be it our goals, a job, or a relationship. So naturally, when we are seeking the highest that we can as human beings, some preparation, aka tapas, is required. Self-effort to lift ourselves is tapas. To put in self-control to become less dependent on comforting objects of the world is tapas. To detach from the body to find, nurture, strengthen and abide by what is inside is tapas. Prepare at the level of body, speech or thought, and feel the difference.

Despite feeling like we can do anything we'd like to, all of us are still on the same quest to find freedom. We seek it from our emotions, like anger or hurt. We seek it from wanting things we know we can't have. We seek it from thought processes we think we can change but feel we cannot. Whether we realize it or not, we are seeking love, happiness and peace within ourselves. The clearer we are about what we are desiring, the more we benefit from this knowledge and the less distracted we get from our goal.

Most of us don't really know who we are. Even when asked to describe our personality, we get confused for we all feel we are one and the other, no matter how contradictory. We all also feel as if we're always trying to fix something. There's so much about our life we want to improve. But before going out and improving the world, we turn to this knowledge to understand our essence. We give it attention so that it creates impressions in our mind. Our mind holds that new form and as the mind changes, so do we.

Time is movement, and the second that you think is the present, is gone and lost the next. But being present doesn't mean staying still and focused. It's a gentle sense of being and truth where we actually slip out of the bondage of time. In eternal, there's fullness of experience; no divisions, no "me". And only our conscious effort put into understanding who we are and adjusting our thinking process will set us free.

It's human nature to get attached. But when we don't let go, when we continue to do when we should have stopped, our worldly joy becomes sorrow, fear, or anger. This mantra empowers us to be free from the limiting, free from the fear of change. May we enjoy deathlessness and changelessness. Then, there is only compassion, kindness, love, empathy, and ripeness of character. Everything happens with ease; we are not forcing anything. And the sweetness that we experience, we share with the world around us.

Each one of us has a unique bundle of things we fear, and in general, all of us fear death, rejection, or loss. So it does not matter how big we grow from the outside, for inside, we all have the same scared heart that governs our actions and thoughts. This mantra's sounds bring about nourishing vibrations within us that build courage so that we can outgrow this fear. Chanting this mantra may or may not solve our immediate problems, but it definitely gives us a far deeper strength that lets us face them.

Life's about seeing there is a greater force and that each one of us plays a part in the grand scheme of things. We don't have to live life like limited entities who only eat, drink, make money, struggle, feel unappreciated and die. Start by loving Shiva, and oneness won't seem so far off. When we worship that which creates, sustains, and destroys this creation, we lift ourselves to feel more like Shiva himself does. We can then work our way towards becoming one with Him and thus one with all of creation.

In Hinduism, heaven and hell exist both in this life and in the hereafter. Here, they are realms of consciousness that we experience in our own minds. We either daydream positive scenarios or replay negative reactions of our actions in our head. Just like Arjuna, we too, glorify our weaknesses or just want to escape. We too, lose clarity when faced with our attachments. However, when we accept we don't know and can no longer see clearly, our sorrow transforms. With surrender, we can detach and move forward.