Destiny - a dumping ground for all failures and setbacks ?

Whenever things don’t work out, people often blame their Destiny. How true is it?

How often do we think about destiny when things work out well ? – Hardly. How often do we take refuge in destiny when things go sour ? – Mostly. Now do you observe a distinct pattern of thinking here ? We need to understand that this PATTERN has nothing to do with destiny being there or not. And you have complete freedom in shifting this pattern. When things go sour, this pattern “automatically” sways toward taking refuge in destiny, without any conscious intervention from your side. Your will is not required to do this. This sway toward making destiny a scapegoat for all setbacks, is what the mind, conditioned by an unconscious past, is programmed to do.

There is pain in each of us hidden in the form of our unconscious past. This unconscious past is what conditions the mind. It is this pain that finds expression in the form of anger, hatred and jealousy. The seeds of anger, hatred and jealousy are all within us. The external situation or person is just a trigger that sprouts the seed. This pain needs to be processed to free the mind which can result in the clarity happening. And what it takes to process this pain is also inbuilt within us. This is where your free will plays a crucial role, in turning the sway from “automated responses” to situations in life, to conscious ones. The whole purpose of one’s life (or the spiritual journey) is to ventilate this unconscious past thru our inbuilt mechanism, which frees you from your sense of limitedness.

Destiny is not anti-growth. Destiny gives you a field of some good, some bad and some ugly events so that you can observe, learn, filter and glean wisdom from these experiences. Mere experiences in life need not automatically translate into wisdom. I can live to be ninety and may have achieved and experienced a lot in life and still may not have gleaned enough wisdom from my experiences. This field is required to jolt us out of our reverie of getting lost in personalizing these experiences. Are you the experience or the one who is experiencing ? Are you the situation or the dealer of the situation ? If I’m sure that I’m not the experience but the dealer of the situation, then can I not use my will consciously, to deflect the “automatic response” which would have swayed me from getting drowned in the experience to – looking at the situation as apart from me and observing it. Then being human, after giving my self some amount of space and time to compose my self after the setback, (If I continue to see my self as the dealer of the situation and not once again get "drowned" in the experience) can I not detach (objectify) my self from the experience in due course of time ? Mind you detachment does not mean negating the experience. It means I played a role in that experience but now I’m above (transcended) that experience. I have let-go of that experience and moved on. Letting-go again, does not mean forgetting that experience. It means I have developed enough strength and wisdom to not let it affect me anymore. Now, I’m able to see life with more depth on a bigger canvas and this gives me a breather and some space to move on to the next milestone with awareness.

As you continue to expand your vision of life, You’ll be surprised to see how help comes your way in so many different ways. Much later, you will also see that this help had always been there even before you realized it, only you were so blinded living in the projected world of your mind, that you had not raised your frequency or vision to be able to see the help available around you. You see that you can now objectify not only the bad experiences of life but also the good ones. You can see that even a good experience is just an experience in which you played a role. If the “goodness” of that experience was absolute then why doesn’t it last ? The “goodness” is also as relative as the bad experience. In fact now one can deduce that the degree of “goodness” or “badness” that one goes thru after an experience, is proportionate to the degree of attachment one had to that experience. And this degree varies from person to person and from one experience to another. Hence you find two people who may love and respect each other very much, at complete variance in their responses to the same event.

This kind of conscious analysis with awareness, can become a very powerful tool leading you toward the ultimate Truth. So it is important to understand that if you truly desire to know your self and understand the purpose of life, you need to invest in some amount of time, effort, patience, trust and courage. And if you’re ready to do this you need not worry about what destiny has in store for you. If you dare to do your homework of objectifying (see yourself as apart from the experiences) all experiences of life, let destiny do its job, you do your’s. Both sub-serve each other. Remember, the most important person in life is YOU.

Love and Wishes,

Rekha

Myriad symptoms of the same disease

Can you throw some light on Why one reacts ? How does one overcome it ?

There are more than one way to look at this problem. Let’s refer to these ways as frequencies. The most common frequency with which we look at problems like hurt, pain, anger, jealousy, setbacks, guilt and despair is – “why did this happen to me ? What wrong have I done to deserve this ?”. Let’s say this is the default frequency which we’re all born with. We need to understand that there are other frequencies too available from which to look at a problem. All these other frequencies are higher (more powerful) than the default frequency. A higher frequency can give a complete twist to how I perceive THE SAME problem, in a way that I don’t feel threatened by it.

Let’s take hurt. Someone hurts you. Now this becomes a thorn in your flesh. Just by someone passing a comment, why does my world go upside down ? A problem is a problem only when I perceive myself as far smaller than the problem. And as long as I perceive myself as smaller than the problem, I feel threatened. I feel pushed into a fight or flight situation. So in order to reduce the threat, I throw caution to the winds and run after acquiring things so that I can feel big, slyly converting luxuries into necessities, investing a good amount of time, energy and money, possibly compromising health and other values. Finally when I do acquire these “add-ons” (sometimes one may fail to acquire too) I feel BIG, full and complete and there’s happiness. Mind you, this happiness is not the unlimited happiness which is not dependent on the external situation, but limited to counter the hurt that was inflicted on me and to fill in the gap of - the big problem minus the small me. Now I’m happy because I perceive myself as, bigger than the problem.

Well, how long does it last ? Till my neighbor buys a bigger car and brags about it. I feel deflated. Now we know that only an inflated thing can deflate. Which means the big-ness I felt after acquiring the add-ons, was not real but hyped. Now I’m jealous of my neighbor. But while interacting with my neighbor I put up a façade of well being and suffer some amount of guilt too because I know I should not be jealous. Secretly I’m seeking a solution to this problem of jealousy because once again I perceive myself as small and insignificant. In desperation I repeat THE SAME MISTAKE of seeking add-ons to make myself feel bigger and complete thru inflating.

The default frequency blocks my vision from understanding and realizing the powerful potential within me. This block divides me. The fundamental damage that this division does is that I “lose” (seemingly, not really) a grip over my own powerful self. As I grow up, I’m searching for a solid anchor outside of me in the external world. Beginning with my parents as a solid anchor, as I grow, I realize they’re fallible. Once again I feel alienated. In my desperation for another anchor, I hook on to an uncle or an aunt, or a neighbor, or teacher for a while. No sooner I find they too are fallible, I seek a partner who can give me “unconditional love”. When this too dashes my hopes, then slowly I shift my seeking into higher qualifications, bigger house, money, other material possessions, fame, power etc. – not realizing that the only solid infallible anchor is within me, but this block is hiding this fact. This is the disease.

Another offshoot of this block (which divides me) is that, I look at hurt, jealousy, despair, anger etc. as water-tight compartments. So I seek solutions for each separately, thinking that once this problem is solved I won’t have any other problem. I don’t realize that these are all myriad SYMPTOMS of the same DISEASE and that instead of running around in the external world for treating the symptoms, I need to look within to crack thru the disease. But for this I need to raise my frequency to a higher level. One can spend an entire lifetime or even hundreds of them remaining in the default frequency without ever realizing their higher potential.

Initially, what I need to do is – accept quick fixes (whatever suits you best) to treat these symptoms for a while but simultaneously and with awareness learn to loosen the grip of the default frequency by questioning – is hurt/ pain/ anger/ jealousy the only responses available to a stimulus, or IS THERE another possible way to look at the situation ? Is it possible that all my life I may JUST MAY have been wrong in my assumptions about myself ? For the first time you are seeking answers by looking inward. This is what I call the “pause” mode. Mind you when you ask yourself this question for the first time and dare to respond DIFFERNTLY, the whole world – your relatives, friends, colleagues and of course not to forget the powerful default frequency itself will all have daggers drawn telling you you are “crazy”, “stupid” and all kinds of negatives. The default frequency on its part will remind you of past hurt, how you’ve been treated unfairly or just dangling another attractive carrot – why all this ? Because you’ve dared to swim against the tide.

The only thing that can sustain you is a strong will. But to keep the will strong you need to accept that there is something about you that you still DON’T KNOW and your urge to know must be strong too. If your will is strong and the urge to know yourself is strong and you continue to take your responsibilities in life, as “THE ALCHEMIST” says, the universe conspires to bring in people, forces and circumstances in your life which will help you travel to the next milestone.

Love and wishes,
Rekha

Is a proxy program running your life ?

If your stress levels at work, home and with relationships are consistent, and if your conflicts with the one person who brings out the beast in you, have a consistent tenor and pitch for over some years, then chances are, you are programmed. You are not really responding, rather a program that’s got deeply etched into your system is running automatically and you are identifying yourself with this program. In fact most of the times when you catch yourself reacting typically for a given situation time and again like a stuck record, these are not at all your natural responses, but they’re one of any number of programs that surreptitiously got into your system and are operating as proxies.

Our intellect has been used overtime in practically all the areas of our lives , except the one purpose for what it was really meant for. Not knowing this purpose, creates a loophole for more virus programs to enter into our system. As one great author said, if you’re living a life “as though you’ll never die and die as though you’ve never lived”, then rest assured that almost your entire life is run by these proxy programs and you’ve not realized your true potential yet. That you’re not aware of these duplicate virus programs remote-controlling your life, is what the wise call, “ignorance” or “sleeping with your eyes wide open”.

How do you kill this virus ? The best vaccine to kill it is, simply recognizing its presence. But the biggest obstruction in recognizing its presence, is your staunch refusal to believe that you could be fooled so completely by something which is a non-resident program. What makes it tough for the vaccine to kill this virus is, your genuine stamp that nothing is wrong with your thinking. This creates a “no entry” for the vaccine to operate, no matter how brilliant. The second big obstruction is that, this virus program is polymorphic (changes its form to suit different situations) making its detection fool-proof in keeping you fooled. The moment you start feeling its presence and try to stop feeding it thru your own set of vaccines, it immediately “senses” your awareness of its presence and simply changes its code to camouflage its presence to fit into your vaccine program, giving you a look and feel as though your vaccine is now working and you’re rid of the virus. It lies dormant for a while bidding its time and you actually experience some peace and a raised awareness of your self – well, for how long ? just till the next provocation when you explode, exposing the fragility of your vaccine.

All our attempts in the functional world , no matter how well intended and genuine, in terms of attending spiritual discourses or doing different forms of yogic practices to realize the truth and attain freedom from our limitedness, may take us close to recognizing the presence of this virus, but its polymorphic design is so powerful that the moment it recognizes a threat to its existence it simply converts these vaccine programs as “ReadMe.txt” files rather than “.exe” executable files. Meaning, this knowledge has to be lived, only then are you actually treating the disease and not just the symptoms and letting the execution of the vaccine program happen, which can result in the cloud moving away from your vision or culmination or flowering of all that you listened from the masters. But just how the virus ingeniously tricks us, is by making us believe that simply doing physical, mental or energy practices and maintaining the body well or listening to discourses even by great masters, it lets us “feel good” for some time and simply keeps this knowledge in memory making us intellectualize the whole thing and fooling us into believing that as long as this knowledge is in memory you’ve realized the truth or are almost there. Well, how long does this “realization” last ? Till the next setback or “why me” attack.

This knowledge needs to be internalized and lived, only then can transformation happen. The virus simply brings in changes and fools you into believing that these are transformations. And the greatest laboratory to practice, is facing what life brings, head on without running away from it, responding to the good, bad and the ugly situations while examining your responses minutely. But our pattern of thinking has become so conditioned (across lifetimes), that the need to shift our thinking or orientation to a higher frequency and the fact that the power to do it is within us – is obscured. This is the cloud. It is crucial that to examine your response you need to observe your response which is possible only if you witness your mind. Only when you do this, the fact that you can respond differently to a typical situation might come as a surprise. This realization that “I can respond differently”, throws open a wider range to choose from and this gives space and brings in maturity because this “different response” is your response and this is possible only when you’re fully in the present looking at reality (without any past programs running simultaneously) , and in doing so you’re actually disabling the automated proxy program from deciding for you. This maturity is the very door to objectify the external which in turn brings in strength, and courage because now you know that the good, bad and ugly situations are not me but external to me and I simply need to respond to them in the best way I can with whatever resources I have and leave the result alone. Leaving the result alone is a readiness to “accept the hidden variables of life and what I cannot change”. The more we practice this with awareness, the more we’re looking at the world the way it is (reality) and not the way we want it to be (past conditioning or future worries or fantasies).

All virus programs which have been remote-controlling your life, live and thrive only in a conditioned mind, hence they’re called non-resident programs. The more I look at the world the way it is, the more I respond out of a clarity and not react from past hurt or insecurity and the more I free my mind of its conditioning, the more I’m in charge of my life and the more my happiness does not depend on external situations.

Love and Wishes,

Rekha

That which is inherent is the guiding force

You cannot separate sweetness from sugar because the attribute sweetness, is inherent to sugar. And any quality that is inherent is always a constant. Which means at no point of time can sugar suddenly become less sweet than at other times. Its sweetness is consistent at ALL times. Which means the quality of sweetness is natural to sugar.

Now imagine out of greed for more sweetness, man adulterates this sugar. Of course the result is no more sweet, in fact it is less sweet. But in due course, the people who tried this experiment passed away leaving the “unfinished” task to their next generation. The next generation being bolder and aggressive try adding several other ingredients to sugar to make it “more sweet”. Now the sweetness is even lesser than the result after the first experiment.

Millions of generations later, sugar got so adulterated that a very feeble and highly cosmetic strain of sweetness which is like a dot compared to the original sweetness of sugar, is accepted as the ultimate taste of sweetness simply because almost nowhere else can more sweetness be found even across continents and generations. In fact, now man is more busy handling the insecurity and frustration arising out of his inability to hang on to this elusive cosmetic sweetness, than finding its source.

He is investing all he has i.e., working round the clock to a feverish pitch to earn more money, invest well so that he earns even more, doesn’t matter if other basic needs like health, a quality family life, pursuing a hobby etc. are compromised because more money can get a lot more things which he might need in future (he is very sure of living well for many more years) – and all this for ultimately what ? - so that he can get more sweetness and which stays constant. The last nail in the coffin is that, his experimental cauldron of specialized sophisticated research to find more sweetness have led him to add all kinds of ingredients under the sun into the cauldron, except the very source of sweetness - sugar itself. After millions of generations, man’s desperation for sweetness, has blinded him to its very source - sugar. His vision has become myopic towards sugar. He is not even aware that he suffers from myopia. This is what the masters mean by ignorance.

Indeed, there have been a handful of people in each of these generations who found themselves also running like their million other brethren, panting and puffing but realized that this cannot be. So many before me too have failed this experiment so why should I too race towards imminent failure ? I may not know the source of the sweetness but I can clearly see what experiments the majority are trying, are bound to fail. So let me at least pause.

This pause needed a lot of courage, determination, a high self-esteem and trust. This path being unknown in the functional world, fear was inevitable. Living in a highly scientific and technologically advanced society where the derivation of any finding had to be proved through experiments and research papers, here they were scratching at the doors beyond mind’s known realm – a complete inner journey hitherto unknown to them, which was impossible to prove.

Thus, having paused, having dropped from the race, they gradually realized that even a mere pause itself, has given a different texture to the very fabric of their minds. They found themselves more at peace. In due course of time when the restlessness and the cacophony in the mind dropped, it threw open some windows which brought in fresh profound thoughts and insights which were life-sustaining. Though they did not understand the source of this newly found peace and strength, they simply continued to let go because they seemed to be in sync with some unseen order. Some unknown source seemed to be “taking care” of them while swimming against the tide.

The newly found peace was so welcome that in due course of time they just forgot about running after the sweetness and stayed put by simply doing what needs to be done for every moment in their lives be it family, job, or relationships, without pandering to endless desires and piling on any “extra baggage” no matter how tempting and no matter how much they were criticized by their brethren as “no ambition”, “how dull”, “not in tune with times” etc.

One fine day they slipped into a state engulfed by a sweetness, just as sweet as the original sugar. Soon they realized that this sweetness and its consistency are inherent to sugar and had always BEEN THERE and that they didn’t need to add anything to it, rather they had to simply drop the adulterations. Nature’s built-in mechanism took care to have all the guiding forces inherent and they didn’t have to look for them outside. They also realized that these guiding forces had all the time been nudging them towards their ultimate destination. But they were so subtle that they could be perceived only when the cacophony in their minds dropped. And they remained rooted in that sweetness.

Love and wishes,

Rekha

Blind by choice

Have we come on this earth simply to eat, sleep reproduce and die ? If that were so then there are several living beings who’re doing that job far more efficiently and without fuss. Most of man’s misery , is a result of being endowed with the faculty of choice. Animals don’t have this faculty. Hence they eat, sleep, reproduce and die with their sanity intact and in complete synchronization with nature. They don’t seem to suffer a “why me” syndrome when they don’t get something they want. They simply accept what they cannot change without judging and move on with grace. They don’t pander to endless desires or brood over their past but live fully in the present whether defending themselves or making a kill for survival, or just enjoying nature at the same time alert that death may be lurking round the corner anytime.

At an ignorant level, a consistent awareness of the self is the only way one can realize ultimately, about the impermanence of the body and the immortal self residing within. Once this level is reached, albeit with a lot of fear, trepidation and ALONE on this path, from here on a different kind of learning begins. This new learning begins with a feeling of being boundless, fearless and connected with the whole, hitherto unknown. It is not that you work logically to attain this. You simply “slip into” this new realm and then realize you have always been boundless and connected with the whole. It was just that for a brief period you were covered with too much of rubble and gave into the cacophony around you. From here on it is IMPOSSIBLE to think in terms of i-me-myself. Whatever you do is always in terms of the whole even though you may be functioning at an individual level. That is why you observe all enlightened beings speak of universal love, forgiveness and giving. Mother Earth has enough resources to feed, clothe and shelter its creation. It is ironical that man has the dubious distinction of being the most intelligent animal on Earth and also the only one responsible for its systematic destruction. “Systematic” because most of the destruction is happening in the name of goodness and or because the rich want to become richer without an understanding of what is really “rich”.

But with the mind operating overtime in giving sanctity to the duplicate self and in complete control of the superimposition, this master key that is self-awareness, is lost in the delusion.

In a way animals are lucky that having been denied the faculty of choice they’ve saved themselves the ills of man’s delusion of not using this choice to realize his dormant potential within, to transcend the remote-controlling mind and get liberated, but rather choosing to become a victim of his identification with the mind. So this faculty of choice endowed on man can be a boon or a bane depending on how he uses it. And on that, man is given complete freedom irrespective of what events he faces in life. In fact more the setbacks more are the indicators to “jump” out of his “slumber”. What’s more, if he continues to miss out the hints to “wake up” from his “sleep”, there’s no telling how many times he’ll be thrown back into existence with the SAME mind and conditioning but in different forms.

On the other hand, animals are not as lucky as humans to avail of this choice of being liberated. They still have to evolve to being humans. But paradoxically if man chooses to be blinded about his powerful potential then his life his worse than an animal’s. At least in their ignorance, animals are blissful.

Love and wishes,
Rekha

Tune in to Nature’s frequency

Just as we can tune in to different frequencies through the radio, catering to different tastes, even in life we have frequencies we can tune into. If the availability and choice of these frequencies is not recognized, then life remains tuned in at a default frequency, set at birth, which is programmed to keep dangling carrots at you and make you run after them, mostly wasting life’s vital energies for what it was not meant, every time convincing you that this is the last and the ultimate carrot. Like what James Cohen has said, “ …. …. You live a life like you’ll never die and die like you’ve never lived”.

The important thing to understand is that you can customize the default setting of this frequency. The most powerful frequency on Earth, (let’s call this “content” frequency), which if tuned to, suddenly sets you FREE … … … Free of the roller coaster rides of ups and downs in life, sets you out of the cage, re-connects you CONSCIOUSLY to another dimension which is boundless and all encompassing. Just with this connection the physical dimension of life becomes clear. The “I” stands unmasked. Anyone can tune in to this frequency anytime. It’s a matter of will and trust.

There are only two obstacles one needs to overcome to match this frequency. Firstly, all the other frequencies (let’s call these “form” frequencies), are outwardly so much more beautiful, attractive, technologically advanced, catering to quick fixing problems in peoples’ lives, that most people are not even aware of this powerful “content” frequency, which seems ancient in comparison. The “form” frequencies have fantastic forms and the programs they belt out are produced, designed and directed by people who’re entirely driven and mesmerized by forms.

Secondly, the “content” frequency can be caught only when one is thoroughly fed up of the form frequencies and realize their limitation of being impermanent. One must get so fed up and sick of the forms that the mind now goes thru a sanitization process (antahkarna shuddhi). It must become absolutely devoid of the form frequency. So much so that even if there’s a trace of any (hope of permanent happiness from) form, the content frequency will be missed, because it is so subtle. Only when your mind is 100% sterilized against “forms”, you are for the first time knocking at doors and not walls. There is a slight “gap” or neutral gear when you reach this point. No sooner this happens, you’re simply sucked into the gravitational pull by the “content” frequency without any intervention from your side. You simply “slip” into a gear which is absolutely bliss.


Once you’re tuned to the “content” frequency, you’ll realize it is life sustaining and let’s you live in sync with nature and gives advise for the asking , profound messages which have a direct impact on the quality of your life. Now when you look back at your “association” with the “form” frequency, you’ll realize you never had even an iota of an idea of what this life on Earth was really meant for.

When you’re tuned in to the “form” frequency, your energies run on diesel where as you don’t need any energy to remain tuned in to the “content” frequency because it is omnipresent and is all the time available 24 X 7 online, if only you wish to match with it, and your life’s radio is your mind.

Love and wishes,

Rekha

Games the mind plays

You spend an entire lifetime pandering to endless desires which, actually is a need to unite with your own self. The very reason of feeling restless and a sense of incompleteness even after satisfying hundreds of desires is BECAUSE liberation is already known and tasted before, and you unknowingly yearn to re-unite with that state.

The fact that this self is already liberated, fearless of death of the body, detached and completely insulated from the ups and downs of life, is full of joy and completely in charge of your life and centered in even the most tough situations of life – is obscured. The medium for this blurred vision is the (conditioned) mind. This powerful self is completely remote-controlled by the mind. That I’m completely eclipsed by the mind I’m not aware of and when I identify myself with it (the mind), I live a life like “the tail wagging the dog”. A wonderful possibility missed. If one does not crack through this physical dimension and realize this truth about one’s self, one may end up passing any number of lifetimes living like an accidental person.

Just like when there’s a boot virus in a computer, every time the machine is booted the virus takes charge and does its own thing completely obscuring the normal operation of the machine. Only when the machine is shut down the virus cannot operate but nor can the other uninfected software.

Similarly, in your conscious state the mind is completely in charge of your life. It channels most of your thought processes to the future or to past experiences. Its main objective is to jerk you out of the present by keeping you very busy not just all the time but overtime right thru your entire conscious state. So that even when you wake up, you’re already in a “pending” mode to do things and you start the day with some guilt and haste. Even momentarily if you’re in the present i.e., when this liberated self is in control of the mind, it (the mind) immediately senses a threat and propels you to the future by reminding you of a dozen things that are “still pending”, dangles a carrot for some new desire, deluding you that you truly “deserve” it or just anything that can suck you out of the present. This liberated self has been covered with too many chains hooked to your heart for far too long (several lifetimes) and you’re so tied down with this weight that you simply unknowingly follow your mind completely unaware that you’re identifying your self with this mind and giving it a genuine stamp.

When you’re asleep or unconscious, is the only time when the mind is not there but nor is your wakeful self, which is required to realize this truth about your self. And the moment you wake up, the conditioned mind takes over just like the boot virus and you continue to live a “duplicate” life completely oblivious of your true potential.

Momentarily at times the liberated self does take charge when you’re creative, empathic, introspective, joyful and at such times you’re totally satisfied with the simple needs of life. But these moments get drowned by the overpowering mind which reminds you of an unfulfilled desire and drugging you into a state of feeling incomplete without satisfying that desire and what’s worse is you actually believe you’ll feel complete only after satisfying this desire, without realizing you’re simply pandering to endless desires sprung by the mind.

You can never beat the mind at logic. In fact the boot virus in a computer is far better than games played by the mind because at least if the boot virus had not been there you know what the uninfected program is supposed to do which is why you recognize the existence of a virus. But in case of the mind, we’re born with it. So if we were consciously aware of our liberated selves and in charge of our lives and completely in control of the mind, how drastically different our lives would have been, is completely obscured. And we continue playing games unknowingly.

Love and wishes,

Rekha

Are you leading your life or being led ?

Are you leading your life or being led ? If you’re not sure of the answer let’s see what really “leading” or “being led” means. Just like let's say a painter is given a 3 X 3 feet of canvas and some water colors and a brush to paint. As to what he paints, how he paints, what color combinations he uses - he has complete freedom.

Now there are two aspects here. If he refuses to paint or does not bring out his painting potential to the hilt because he does not like the brush or thinks the canvas is too small or he does not like water colors and would have preferred some superior type of paint … … … well, he is trying to change what he cannot. This is choosing not to see the reality of the situation. As long as he does not bring his potential to the peak with what he already has, but first waits for what he doesn’t have and decides to paint only after he gets what he wants – well, he has missed his mark. This leads to a wide range of choices which seem more attractive quick fixes, bolstering the ego. The ego thrives on sympathy. He becomes a sitting duck to be led by events, forces, people and circumstances because there is no conscious decision to first use whatever is given and tap one’s potential to the highest level possible even with the seeming inadequacies. Desiring and acquiring without deserving first, stifles inner growth. It’s also an under-estimation of the value of what is already given.

On the other hand if he accepts what he cannot change (takes time, courage and a high self esteem to do this) and does his best with the given equipment, functional responsibilities of life are taken care of, thereby bringing his potential to the hilt with what he already has, thereby fully preparing himself to deserve what he desires next. This is leading your life. There’s a certain inner power that comes from accepting what you cannot change. In the very acceptance is a U (inner) -turn which is absolutely essential to move on to higher realms of life. In the very acceptance of what I cannot change is the courage to face a slammed door with a bleeding heart without knowing that another door from behind has opened silently. The moving inward temporarily might seem like a defeat but, it is growth of a profound nature. You cannot solve every problem in life. What cannot be solved needs to be transcended. That is, rising above the problem. Just like if you want to shoot an arrow very far, the bow string has to be pulled in the opposite direction as deep as possible. This needs a vision. An ability to see beyond the problem. This creates a distance between me and the problem. I stop identifying myself with the problem. I simply respond with what needs to be done and leave the result alone. This is objectivity. One of the gateways to liberation.

Just like when you see disorder anywhere, it presupposes the knowledge of what is order. If you didn’t know order, you would never know disorder. It is possible to be an excellent organizer of keeping your home and garden in order and even attain professional excellence but still be stressful, insecure and even miserable. That’s because of gross neglect of the inner self.

Personal leadership leads to intelligent living. In intelligent living there are no choices. Which means if you wish to lead your life there’s only one way. If one looks at life like a complex maze, the one way to freedom out of this maze is intelligent living. . How do I know this way ? Every moment or event in our lives be it good, not so good especially a setback, leaves behind a mark, a clue, a stamp. Salvaging this clue from the ruins of a failure becomes the fuel for growth to the next step in life. This is leading your life toward intelligent living. This clue which becomes a beacon of light in the moment of darkness is something one generally misses because one thinks one knows one’s self and one’s life very well which is the fundamental error in one’s perception.

Intelligent living, while taking care of one’s functional responsibilities precludes an acknowledgement of some power or force that’s operating the hidden variables of life when things do not go the way you planned. Refusal to accept and get into sync with the new situation arising out of your failed plan, arises from ignorance of the hidden variables operating in life. This leads to stagnation of growth and what’s worse is that you could be led by people who’re more ignorant about life than you.

If you want to lead your life you need to dare to say “I don’t know who I am but I’m willing to learn” and start harnessing your mind consciously all the time, because the eyes see what the mind thinks.

--Rekha