Month: November 2021

Swami ji said…

“Each one of us is unique in our own way. A fascinating combination of strengths and weaknesses makes us what we are! At times, our weaknesses might outnumber our strengths. It is just not possible for any of us to be perfect. We do have some flaws, some blemishes…”हम सब में कुछ कमज़ोरियां होती हैं!” A few of us could be short-tempered; some quick to speak lies; some highly irresponsible. It is possible that some of us might say… ‘Nothing is majorly wrong in this, as we are bound to be different, and, we are the way we are!’ – and while that is true, the problem begins when we get so habituated to living a life with these imperfect traits, that, we fail to detect anything wrong in them, and, continue to live merrily; completely oblivious to the detrimental and negative effect such weaknesses might trigger, not only, in us, but also, on others.”

“The journey of our lives becomes so comfortable and well-oiled, while living with our weaknesses, that rather than making any attempt to work on ourselves, we continue to wear our weaknesses like a second skin, afraid of parting with them, unsure of the new ‘us’ that would emerge. It is only we, who can overwhelm and overcome ‘them’ with a fresh mind and a new approach, once we decide to take them on. This situation is akin to – ‘an enemy teaching us better than a friend’ – when a never seen before determination and resolve to fight our weaknesses changes us for the better.”

“The purpose of life, in some ways, is to struggle against our shortcomings. It is the battle we wage against our bad habits, bad thinking or poor behaviour that is our true examination. While we all seem to think that we are struggling against the world, against unknown external forces; in truth, our only struggle is with ourselves.”

“If one cannot quit smoking – it is not the fault of other smokers or cigarette makers – it is quite simply his own fault. If one cannot stop playing games on the phones or laptops – it is not the game maker’s fault, but, one’s own. ‘Maya’ is what makes us think that it is the ‘external’ that defines us. We are convinced that even our weaknesses seem to be a result of our circumstances. Very rarely do we reflect and look within, to see, if, we have ever endeavoured to improve ourselves. Just like we cherish and cheer champions who overcome great physical obstacles, we too must cheer ourselves when we fight against our own weaknesses. ‘See yourself as a hero in the war against your weaknesses!’ Every time you struggle – be it trying to wake up early, not eating that extra sweet, not drinking that extra coffee – remember that you are being watched by God. Remember that ‘He’ too is cheering for you and wants you to win!”

” Once we accept the gauntlet thrown mockingly at us by our ‘weaknesses’, we must make it our top most priority to free ourselves from the clutches of these merciless weaknesses, and, find the strength to evict them from within us at the earliest. These deep rooted weaknesses appear to laugh at us, smug at the thought, that it could be next to impossible for us to put up a fight against them. We must remain unperturbed and instead motivate and inspire ourselves to believe that if we sincerely try to, per say, give up our arrogance, unsympathetic attitude and unbearable temperament ; the chances of us winning the tussle are highly likely…’अपनी ‘कमजोरियों’ को अपने ऊपर हावी मत होने दो। दृढ ‘निश्चय’ और संकल्प से हम इन कमजोरियों से मुक्ति पा सकते हैं। अपने आप को इतना कमजोर मत समझो कि तुम इन से हार मान जाओगे।”

“History is filled with stories of sinners turning into great good men. Men and women – considered hopelessly lost to their vices – transformed their characters, thoughts and mind to become wonderful beings. People after tremendous personal upheaval and struggle have emerged as new individuals.”

” Similarly, we too must endeavour to overcome our weaknesses – even, if, at times, it seems useless, pointless, much like a lost cause; for only, then, can we be truly worthy of God’s grace. This internal struggle against our own weaknesses is our true spiritual path – for we – made in God’s likeness – should try to be more like Him – strong, and, successfully fight our weaknesses.

Swami ji said…

” It is on the wheels of ‘trust’ that the world moves. Even in the Stone Age, humans had formed groups, trusting that they would look out for each other and provide for one another.Today, many of us go to work with the faith and belief, that , at the end of the month we will be rewarded for our labour. It is nothing else but ‘trust’; trust among people that enables society to flourish. If, we humans had not learnt to trust one another, we would not have evolved. We would have continued to live in a world filled with the constant fear of the unknown, wary of each other. We would have had no recourse, but, to always assume the worst in everything and everyone around us. Civilizations would never have come into being. The significance of ‘trust’ as a building block of our daily lives should not be overlooked.”

” But, then, at a personal level, how much do we all truly appreciate the value of ‘trust’? Do we ever consider how ‘trustworthy’ we really are in the eyes of others? Do we keep our word? Do we keep the promises that we make to them ? Do people really trust us when we tell them that we won’t let them down? These are difficult questions, but, it is important that we ask ourselves these questions, as, it is only by knowing how ‘trustworthy’ we are, that, we will ever understand what our true worth is, in the eyes of other people. It is not our wealth, social status or beauty that truly wins people over, but, rather, it is the faith and trust that they have in us and they know that irrespective of the personal upheaval that we could be going through, we will cast aside all our problems, and , rise to stand by them – be with them, during their time of duress and need. It is this ‘trust’ factor that people value in each other. This is the level of faith and belief that others should have in us.The very thought of letting down people who pin their hopes on us is in itself sacrilegious. Even an enemy that holds true to his vow of destruction and death is feared and respected more, than, one who makes false, empty threats.”

” ‘Trust’ is an intrinsic, simple, natural emotion. But, we give a convoluted twist to it, by not living up to the ‘words’ said by us that raise expectations in others. Promises are easier to make, but, a lot harder to keep. Many a times, we are not able to keep promises we make to ourselves. Sometimes, we wake up later than we had planned to. Sometimes, we eat more sweets than we had decided to. Sometimes, we skip our daily prayers. On other days we don’t go for the regular exercise that we had pledged to take up.These promises, though seemingly inconsequential, are a test of our own strength. If, we fulfil these, it gives us the confidence to keep promises made to others. But, if , we make it a habit to skip these, we also find it easy to skip the promises made to others.This is how one loses credibility in one’s own eyes. We need to remember that – “जिस प्रकार ‘श्वास’ हमारे शरीर को चलाता है, उसी प्रकार ‘विश्वास’ हमारे ‘सम्बंन्धो’ को चलाता है।”

” While we conveniently give ourselves a ‘pass’ every time we don’t keep a promise – we rarely ever give one to others. We never forgive others for their unkept promises. Even The Almighty is not spared by us. In challenging times, we even suspect Him of having forgotten His ‘promise’ to take care of us.Yet, we, rarely ever strive to meet the standards, that we expect of God Himself, when it comes to keeping our promises. We forget that He too might expect us – His children to abide by His Teachings – to be kind and considerate to others; to remember Him regularly; to work hard and be honest. Yet, He is patient with us. It is crucial for us to ensure that God too has faith in us – His creations,and, can say confidently that He trusts us to do the right things. Remember – ‘ ‘विश्वास’ खोना बहुत आसान है,परन्तु कमाना बहुत मुश्किल।’

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Swami ji said…

” ‘Sudama’, (सुदामा), was Shri Krishna’s best friend on Earth. However, according to the descriptions in the holy texts, ‘Sudama’ comes across as quite an ordinary person; like most of us. He is often portrayed as someone who was scared, lacked conviction and confidence in himself, and needed Shri Krishna’s help from time to time. Most of us, today, would not hold such a person in high esteem, as, we give greater importance to confidence, sharpness, quick thinking – qualities, quite opposite from the impression that we get of Sudama, through the various stories that depict him.”

” ‘But then why did God befriend him? Why did God wash Sudama’s feet with his own tears?’God did so, because, He, surely saw something ‘more’ in Sudama, than ordinary mortals like us could ever see. Shri Krishna, of course, did not form an ‘impression’ of Sudama in their first meeting. Even when ‘Sudama’ did not share his food with Shri Krishna, in the forest , Shri Krishna did not assess or judge him and say that he was greedy or bad. He accepted Sudama’s apology and never thought about it again. Clearly, Shri Krishna understood that Sudama – like any other human being – would err. The fact that Shri Krishna befriended ‘Sudama’ indicates that ‘He’ saw ‘simplicity’ and ‘purity’ in ‘Sudama’ – which was not visible to others ; and, wrongly misinterpreted as ‘meekness’ instead.”

” We too make this mistake very often. Without really ‘knowing’ a person; without trying to understand what could make others around us behave and react in a particular way; what makes them the way they are ; we , instead, tend to judge them and categorise them as good or bad; lazy or active , and , more often than not, our first impression of others, is proved to be wrong, when we get to know, and, understand them better.”

“Sometimes, on seeing a person behave harshly or angrily in a certain situation, we immediately believe that such a person must be a foul natured individual , and, unfortunately our ego , too , instigates us to wish ill upon them. In some other situations, we assume and brand a person as being arrogant or haughty, if , we are ignored or sidelined by him in a social setting. Our mind frames up ‘characters’ of people we do not know well enough , and, then, leads us to behave in an obnoxiously opinionated manner with them, based on some ‘untrue facts’.”

” In the age of social media where we all project ‘impressions’ of ourselves to one another, through photos and videos, we are all the more guilty of mis-labeling others without even knowing them. This behaviour only accentuates distrust, loneliness and misunderstanding in society.”

” The story of Lord Vishnu’s ‘Vamana’ avatar signifies, how we can lose everything that we possess, by simply judging others by their appearance.
The Asur King, Bali, was unable to see anything beyond the diminutive form of Lord Vishnu’s, ‘Vamana’ avatar. Bali was convinced that ‘Vamana’, being small in size, would barely be able to cover any land in the ‘three’ paces that were to be taken by Him. Had he perhaps looked deeper, more closely; investigated into ‘who’, the ‘Vamana’ standing before him really was, he would not have considered him to be ‘small’ and insignificant. And, while it was Lord Vishnu’s foot, that physically pushed Bali into the ground, it was Bali’s ‘false impressions’ and ‘wrong judgement’ that had truly sent him back to ‘paatal lok’.

” Thus, we, too, must be wary of making such erroneous assumptions about others, by judging them all the time. It is quite possible that he who is sent by God to be our friend, is mistakenly shunned away by us as an enemy due to our poor judgment and lack of understanding him. Remember, when we develop the habit of ‘understanding’ people rather than ‘judging’ them, only then will we experience – peace and love, in all our relationships.”

Swami ji said…

” World over, many festivals are marked by the lighting of lamps and दिया. The lighting of lamps signifies the dispelling of darkness and gloom; the victory of good over evil; the emergence of hope and other good omen. If we are observant, we will most certainly see the manner in which the light of even a single small lamp can dispel thick darkness. For those on the spiritual path, the ‘lamp’ is a source of inspiration, as it tells the seekers, that, if they strive determinedly to light the ‘lamp’ within them, the darkness that pervades their inner being can be removed layer by layer, and, they will inevitably be blessed with His Grace and ‘darshan’ at the moment considered most appropriate by Him. We just need to be aware of illuminating our inner ‘self’ with the light of this lamp.”

“The festival of Diwali is also a narration of two beings – in some ways very similar – who struggled with their own ‘spiritual’ lamps. At one end Shri Hanuman, and, at the other end Ravan. Both, Shri Hanuman and Ravan, were born into families of great repute. Both, were well versed with Vedas. Both were mighty warriors and had godly strength. Why then did their stories run in opposite directions?”

” Shri Hanuman did not just light the ‘spiritual’ lamp within him, He turned it into a blazing bright sun of devotion and love for Shri Ram. He single mindedly focussed on nothing else, but, His Lord, Shri Ram. He attributed every success and victory of His; His strength to the Grace of Shri Ram. Nowhere do we hear Shri Hanuman singing his own praises, admiring his own power. He had the power to destroy Lanka and Ravan on His own; and, yet, despite the disrespect and pain thar He suffered at the hands of Ravan, He never let His ego take over Him. He simply kept to His role of a ‘messenger’, and did only what Shri Ram instructed Him to do. While living in the forest with Shri Ram, He was happy and at peace.”

” Ravan on the other hand, let his ‘ego’, his अहंकार douse even the last embers of spirituality that may have been present in him. His mind was covered in layers of such darkness, that despite being in God’s presence, he could not feel and sense ‘it’ till the end. For him everything was about himself, so much so, that he could even turn against his own well meaning brother. Living in a palace, with untold riches at his disposal, he was always wary and circumspect about everything and everyone.”

“There is a ‘Ravan’ and ‘Hanuman’ within each one of us.The ‘Ravan’ in us takes offence at the smallest of misspoken words ; never forgives mistaken actions and never forgets old quarrels. He cannot see beyond himself and his wants. He is around, especially, when there are no troubles in life and all is going well; just the way he wants them to be. The ‘Hanuman’ within us, on the other hand, emerges when we face times of despair and sorrow – and He makes us feel strong and confident by reminding us of His belief that there is nothing to worry about aa long as Shri ‘Ram’ is with us. He is always smiling and happy as He understands that ‘To err is to be human’. He is always humble – be it in victory or defeat – success or failure.”

” Let us bring out the ‘Hanuman’ in us. Let us live a life in gratitude of God forever. Let us cleanse our ‘within’ ; our inner being ; our Real ‘self’ by taking His name and remembering Him always. We have cleaned our homes of the cobwebs ; let us now clean our minds of all thoughts negative. We have brightened others with gifts of savoury sweets and new clothes; let us now remove the ‘darkness’ within us and bring out the brightness, sweetness of simplicity and quiet beauty of our ‘Atman’. Just like the ‘diyas’ that shine through out our homes – let His light in us , also , shine through us – by radiating happiness, positivity and good vibes to one and all around us.”