Day: September 14, 2024

Swami ji said…

” तुम ये नहीं कर सकोगे …” “तुम ये नहीं कर पाओगे…” “ये तुम्हारे बस की बात नहीं है…” These words, sometimes, said with genuine concern ; sometimes said – with the wisdom of experience, and, sometimes, said, with ill intent – always tend to hurt us. Hearing them – makes us lose our self-confidence and our sense of purpose. We feel defeated and belittled on hearing such disheartening
words – said to us in a disparaging manner!
We can all recall how discouraged we have felt on hearing these demotivating opinions about us. It feels as though the winds had been taken out of our sails. All the enthusiasm and ‘josh’ drains away from us – leaving us feeling deflated and dejected.

The worst part is that more often than not, these naysayers, feel free – as though it is their birth right – to give their unsolicited opinion about us – even when they know that we haven’t asked them for it. They say what they want to say – without giving a thought to the consequences that their critical words – could have on the person listening to them. Not realizing that their fear – inducing words – could cause a drastic shift in the direction in which one’s life could be going.

Even those on the spiritual path, can often find themselves hearing such disheartening comments about their spiritual endeavours. Be it even among friends, and, family – there is often someone, dissuading a spiritual seeker by saying things like – “There is no God…”, “All this talk about spirituality will get you nowhere in the world…”, “You are not good enough to find God…” and even – “How will ‘you’ ever be spiritual ? It’s just not possible!”So deeply affected are we by their pessimistic words – which unfortunately serve as major deterrents to us – that not for a moment do we try to understand – as to what is it exactly – that makes them say – what they had said to us. All those who dampen our enthusiasm by saying such things to us – ” वो सारे लोग जो कहते हैं कि – तुम ये नहीं कर सकते…या तुम वो नहीं कर पाओगे – हो सकता है कि वही लोग शायद डरते हैं कि तुम
वो कर के ही दिखाओगे…”
Could it be possible that they know much more about our abilities – than we ourselves do – and are out to make us deliberately feel useless and incapable?
We most certainly need to make a note of this – and rather than getting demotivated – we need to move ahead, urgently – with renewed determination.

In fact, we, ourselves are often guilty of this too. When we see others trying to do – that which we never dared to do, or , could not do – we often try to clip their wings by telling them that their endeavour will be a wasted effort and it would not be possible for them to succeed.This reaction is often borne out of jealousy, and, also out of a fear that – somehow , someone else’s success where we failed – will expose our shortcomings. But, we must not think in this way at all ! We must only share our concerns in a ‘matter of fact’ manner, and , not with the aim of scaring or dissuading someone. We must cheer those – who try to achieve that – which might seem impossible. We must find inspiration in the belief that they have in themselves. It is often in such cases that we start believing in ourselves too – a key ingredient in being successful in life.

The spiritual seeker too must have this belief in himself. No matter what his past was like ; whatever it was that he had done before ; what kind of company he had kept – there is nothing that can stop him from finding God – other than he – himself. In all likelihood , he might often be told that – he is not worthy enough ; deserving enough ; that he did not possess adequate intellect, or , the necessary mental or physical strength, or , that he was too poor , or , too pampered – to try to seek God. But , the spiritual seeker – must remain unaffected by the din around him and stay rooted to his decision – as he alone would know about his abilities ; about his inner strength, and , even, if , he begins his spiritual journey on a shaky ground – he cannot allow disenchantment to set in – but should continue to walk, with conviction, on the path chosen for him by God.