
Die Alive
To the unenlightened, death comes but once a
lifetime. To those who have
chosen to become enlightened there are a
thousand chosen deaths before
it's time to leave the body and move on. This
kind of death is the releasing
off all our attachments, from false identity to
opinions, from people to
possessions. Cutting the subtle threads of
attachment frees the spirit from
fear, and when the time comes to move on, it's
like 'shooting the breeze'.
Dying alive is simply letting go of all you hold
fast to in your mind. It doesn't
actually mean losing anything, simply changing
your relationship with the
things in your life today. The greatest pleasure
for every soul is the result of
choosing the living death called detachment.
Why? Because attachment is
a form of slavery, and it all takes place in our
own minds. And the result of
detachment? Real freedom.
Stability
When we are faced with difficult situations, we
usually tend to have a
feeling that we have no resources or are not
able to make the best use
of the resources within for best results. Thus
we are not able to
experience real progress. On the other hand we
only tend to experience
a lot of negative feelings. When we learn the
art of being stable in
the most negative situations, we know how to use
the treasures that are
hidden within ourselves. Our mind is no longer
disturbed with waste or
negative thoughts and we find it easy to face
and learn from each and
every situation.
Self Responsibility(Cont.)
Because we have forgotten the principle of
karmic returns (discussed
yesterday), we have learned to avoid taking
responsibility for many of our
actions. We fail to see the impact of our
actions upon others and we fail to
see that the real meaning of responsibility is
'responding correctly'. Life can
be seen as a series of responses which we each
create in our interactions
with other people and events. As is the quality
of our ability to respond
(energy given), so will be the quality of the
return (energy received). The
Laws of Karma also serve to remind us that the
situations in our life, the
quality of our body, wealth, relationships etc.
and the type of person we are
today are the result of what we thought and did
yesterday, last month, last
year, perhaps in our last birth. Many people do
not like this idea or find it
difficult to accept because most of us have been
taught that our destiny lies
in someone else's hands or in the hands of fate
or luck, about which we can
do nothing. The Law of Karma or the Law of
Reciprocity teaches us that
there is no such thing as luck and that whatever
happens to us today is the
result of our positive or negative actions in
the past. If you spend a few
moments reflecting on events in your life,
without being judgmental, you
will begin to see connections between actions
and results, causes and
effects. When you see how all effects have their
causes, you will then be
convinced that this universal law is at work in
your life at all times.
Soul Sustenance
Different Shades Of Attachment To Opinions And
Ideas (cont.)
The attachment or detachment to one’s ideas not
only comes into play while
giving an idea or opinion, but even when
accepting or receiving or listening
to an idea from another person from the group.
The more the
attachment to one’s own ideas, the more will be
the tendency to
resist or reject the other’s idea. A particular
person, with the objective
or resisting or rejecting the idea:
* might try to do the same through different
means like putting
up a seemingly valid or even an invalid
objection to the idea in
front of the whole group which may seem very
reasonable to the group
and may be taken or accepted by the group or the
person objecting may try
to ensure that happens or
* he/she may quietly disassociate from the group
if the group
begins showing interest in the idea (sometimes
the influence of the position
of the person is such that this kind of
disassociation very easily manages to
reduce the energy of interest of the group in
the new idea) or also
* might present a new idea to the group, which
manages to divert
the attention of the group, etc.
Sometimes the person rejecting the idea is aware
of the fact that he/she is
rejecting the idea because of the inner
attachment to his ideas, but will not
admit it in front of others and sometimes he/she
might not even be slightly
aware of the fact; the attachment is too subtle
to realize. Others might
realize their attachment, but they might not
themselves. And if someone to
point out their inner attachment, they might
even react, because where
there is attachment, there is fear that the
other’s idea will be
accepted and yours will not. Attachment to one’s
ideas fills the
energy of ‘I am right’ in any situation.
Overcoming all sorts of
attachment to ones ideas is one of the foremost
steps that we can take to
bring about harmony in all types of
relationships.
Message for the day
To have tolerance means to be stable.
Expression:
When one is faced with defamation or insult,
tolerance gives
the power to be stable and cool. And so there is
the ability to smile even
when there is negativity that comes. Tolerance
means to see beyond the
insults because of being stable in the stage of
self-respect.
Experience:
When faced with criticism, if I am able to be
stable in my
stage of self-respect, I am able to learn from
every negative remark that
comes my way. I will never become defensive, but
will be able to see clearly
what new learning I could take.