17 Apr 2008, 0000 hrs IST
,Swami Sukhabodhananda
| ||||||||||||||||||||
A man with eight doctorate degrees met a monk. He was proud of his achievement. The monk asked him: "Why have you been so foolish in life?" The man said, "But... you don’t understand! I have eight PhDs". The monk
said: "I have understood you; it is foolish to spend the best part of life reading instead of enjoying the birds, the stars and the moon".
One may have all the know-ledge but not clarity. One may know a lot and yet understand nothing. There is a difference between knowing and understanding.
Not knowing the difference between understanding and knowing leads to confusion. You have many centres: intellectual, emotional and physical. In each there is a mechanical and magnetic part. The mechanical part acts like a machine while the magnetic part acts with more awareness. You have to transform yourself. Your mechanical movements and thinking have to change. One’s mechanical likes and dislikes have to change, too. Mechanical emotions like jealousy and hatred have to be transformed. You can do this by bringing in more awareness.
There is no greater force than awareness. When one increases awareness, even poison can turn into medicine and with no awareness a medicine can become poison. A king dreamt that he was a beggar. In his dream his guru told him the truth that he was a king and not a beggar. Now was he to argue with his guru or just wake up?
Bring in more awareness and see the transformation of life. Even inert objects have life. With loving awareness treat any object and it will guide you mysteriously. Your intuition and purity have to increase to receive this message.
What are the differences between a pair of eyes and a camera? If capturing an image is the purpose of the eyes, then a camera will do. Eyes are meant to see beyond forms, like a sculptor sees an idol in a stone. So too, eyes are meant to see the divine. A rela-tionship is meant to see the truth.
There are differences in a rela-tionship. Give importance to your love and commitment, to your commonality, enjoy your relation-ship. Keep yourself relaxed.
Increase your awareness and love. Let there be choice. 'Should’ creates stress and limits you to only one option. Choose not to judge. It is not a demand but a wise choice.
The danger of judgment is that you stop seeing the object of judgment and you are more in your judgment. In life, you have to make judgments, but don’t be a victim of your judgments. Suppose, a thief enters your house, you have to judge him but then, be open to the possibility that he can change.
Assume, you meet him after 10 years, see if he has changed or not. Do you still judge from the memory that he had been a thief? If you do not have this awareness, you will not see the change in a person even if he has changed.
Like you avoid poisonous food, avoid negative emotions. Like how you are very alert when you see a poisonous snake, be very aware and alert of negative emotions. Let them come, don’t identify with them. Don’t participate.
They deplete your energy. They keep you asleep. They are harmful and heavy. They make your life complicated. We define our failure by somebody’s success. We feel jealous seeing someone successful.
If you go on comparing, life becomes miserable. If somebody is better than you, learn from them; enjoy others’ success. No one can have all good qualities. Someone will always be better than you at some level. Do not whip yourself with this comparison. Instead get inspired by someone’s success. Even if you compete with others, enjoy it. See the beauty all around.
http://spirituality.indiatimes.com
said: "I have understood you; it is foolish to spend the best part of life reading instead of enjoying the birds, the stars and the moon".
One may have all the know-ledge but not clarity. One may know a lot and yet understand nothing. There is a difference between knowing and understanding.
Not knowing the difference between understanding and knowing leads to confusion. You have many centres: intellectual, emotional and physical. In each there is a mechanical and magnetic part. The mechanical part acts like a machine while the magnetic part acts with more awareness. You have to transform yourself. Your mechanical movements and thinking have to change. One’s mechanical likes and dislikes have to change, too. Mechanical emotions like jealousy and hatred have to be transformed. You can do this by bringing in more awareness.
There is no greater force than awareness. When one increases awareness, even poison can turn into medicine and with no awareness a medicine can become poison. A king dreamt that he was a beggar. In his dream his guru told him the truth that he was a king and not a beggar. Now was he to argue with his guru or just wake up?
Bring in more awareness and see the transformation of life. Even inert objects have life. With loving awareness treat any object and it will guide you mysteriously. Your intuition and purity have to increase to receive this message.
What are the differences between a pair of eyes and a camera? If capturing an image is the purpose of the eyes, then a camera will do. Eyes are meant to see beyond forms, like a sculptor sees an idol in a stone. So too, eyes are meant to see the divine. A rela-tionship is meant to see the truth.
There are differences in a rela-tionship. Give importance to your love and commitment, to your commonality, enjoy your relation-ship. Keep yourself relaxed.
Increase your awareness and love. Let there be choice. 'Should’ creates stress and limits you to only one option. Choose not to judge. It is not a demand but a wise choice.
The danger of judgment is that you stop seeing the object of judgment and you are more in your judgment. In life, you have to make judgments, but don’t be a victim of your judgments. Suppose, a thief enters your house, you have to judge him but then, be open to the possibility that he can change.
Assume, you meet him after 10 years, see if he has changed or not. Do you still judge from the memory that he had been a thief? If you do not have this awareness, you will not see the change in a person even if he has changed.
Like you avoid poisonous food, avoid negative emotions. Like how you are very alert when you see a poisonous snake, be very aware and alert of negative emotions. Let them come, don’t identify with them. Don’t participate.
They deplete your energy. They keep you asleep. They are harmful and heavy. They make your life complicated. We define our failure by somebody’s success. We feel jealous seeing someone successful.
If you go on comparing, life becomes miserable. If somebody is better than you, learn from them; enjoy others’ success. No one can have all good qualities. Someone will always be better than you at some level. Do not whip yourself with this comparison. Instead get inspired by someone’s success. Even if you compete with others, enjoy it. See the beauty all around.
http://spirituality.indiatimes.com
No comments:
Post a Comment