Life is happening for us, for me

Until very recently, I thought human life was a sentence. As in a jail time and we have to endure it until the end of the life, whenever that might be. Waiting for the end to arrive while we suffer. We are brought here to go through all of our past and present accounts to pay off as many of the debts as possible. That was the mindset I had. It wasn’t all my life but since my challenging college/university days, that’s what I believed. 

Earlier this year, I got a cancer diagnosis and I realized things needed to change in the way my mind worked, in the way I thought. I started to seek all kinds of help from everywhere possible. A few amazing books, more readings, a lot of different types of therapies, some meditation and tons of affirmation cards (more on all those soon) later, I have realized that life is the most beautiful thing ever and I’m truly blessed to have gotten a chance to experience it and to be living it right now. 

A meditation session at work yesterday also confirmed the same. The meditation teacher said “Life is not happening at us. Life is happening for us. Life is on our side. It is not a trap. We are not helpless. We are in charge.” His session went on to describe life as our personal movie and we are the star as well as the director of that movie. Despite of all the struggles, conflicts, challenges, and uncertainty it brings, it is our ability to experience all those and feel the emotions and act with our most authentic selves is what makes it a beautiful movie, which would be quite boring otherwise. And that we have complete control over it about how to experience it. It is that movie that brings us opportunities, teachings and lessons that we wouldn’t have gotten if it were only a happy-go-lucky kind of "boring" movie. This philosophy resonates with me so deeply. I’m realizing how wrong I was in thinking about it as a punishment. With the new experiences I have had in last couple of months, I’m experiencing first hand that this life is truly my friend, my companion, a miraculous thing and so full of excitement! I just have to take time to experience it all and see it and feel it myself. I’m truly grateful to be alive!!!

Ho'oponopono - the Hawaiian forgiveness prayer

Recently, as in last week, I discovered this Hawaiian forgiveness prayer "Ho'oponopono" that one uses to forgive themselves. It is very simple to practice yet very powerful. It goes like this:

When we do this prayer, we are supposed to say all of these statements to our very own self as it is said that any and all healing happens within us first. Even when someone around you is unwell, you can heal them by doing this prayer for yourself. I was truly astonished when I first read it. I had to reread it to let that sink in. How do I heal others by healing myself? But it's true. Here's hoping I am able to do this as often and as much as possible. 🙏 

More about ho'oponopono here: https://www.wanttoknow.info/070701imsorryiloveyoujoevitale

રાજા રામ અને ભરતજી નો ભ્રાતૃપ્રેમ

કાકાએ આજે સરસ મજાનો રામાયણ નો પ્રસંગ યાદ અપાવી દીધો. શ્રી રામ, લક્ષ્મણ અને સિતાજી સાથે વન માં જઈ રહ્યા છે અને ભરતજીને આ વાતની ખબર પડે છે. 

ભરતજી તાબડતોબ શ્રી રામને મળવા જાય છે. ભાઈ પાસે પહોંચી ને ખૂબ મનાવે છે કે ઘરે પાછા ફરો અને રાજ પાઠ સંભાળો.

પિતા નો આદેશ એમ કેમ તોડી નંખાય? શ્રી રામ ભાઈ ભરતને ના પડે છે. ખૂબ કરગર્યા છતાં જ્યારે બંને ભાઈઓ માં સુલેહ નથી થતો ત્યારે શ્રી રામ જનક રાજા ને બોલાવે છે અને મદદ માંગે છે કે આ સમસ્યા નો હલ શું છે? જનક રાજા ખૂબ જ ધૈર્યવાન, વાત જાણી ને ભરતજીને પૂછે છે કે તમે ભાઈને શા માટે પાછા બોલાવો છો? ભરતજી કહે છે કે "આ રાજ્ય તો ભાઈનું છે અને હું રાજા થવાને અધિકારી નથી. મારી ઈચ્છા છે કે ભાઈ પાછા ફરે અને તેમનું રાજ્ય સાંભળે."

ત્યારે જનક રાજા ભરતજી ને કહે છે: જો આપણે કોઈક ને ચાહિયે અને તેમની પર માન રાખતા હોઈએ તો એવી અપેક્ષા ન રાખવી જોઈએ કે આપણે જે કહીયે તેવું તેઓ કરે. જેની પર પ્રેમ છે તે વ્યક્તિ ને શું ગમે છે? તેમને શું કરવું છે તે જાણવું જોઈએ અને તે કરવું જોઈએ. ભરતજી ને તત્કાલ વિચાર થાય છે કે જનક રાજા ખરી વાત કહે છે. ભાઈને પૂછે છે: "ભાઈ, (તમે) મને આજ્ઞા કરો, હું શું કરું." એવું નથી પૂછતાં કે તમારે શું કરવું છે? બસ, એમ જ પૂછે છે. હું શું કરું? આગળ શું થાય છે તે આપણને સૌને ખબર જ છે.

વાત એમ છે કે જયારે આપણે આપણા સ્વજનોની પાસે થી કઈક અપેક્ષા રાખીયે છીએ કે તેઓ કઈક વસ્તુ કરે કે અમુક પ્રકારનું વર્તન કે વ્યવહાર કરે, ત્યારે આપણે ખરેખર તેમને ગમે તેવું કરવા માંગીયે છીએ કે આપણને ગમે તેવું? વિચાર કરવા જેવું છે. ખાસ કરીને જયારે ઘરના લોકો ની વાત હોય - માં, બાપ, ભાઈ-ભાંડું, સંતાનો, વિ. જેની પર પ્રેમ છે તે વ્યક્તિ શું ચાહે છે? તેમની શું ઈચ્છા છે? તે પ્રમાણે કરીયે તો જ તે સાચો પ્રેમ છે. નહિતો બસ સ્વાર્થ જ છે, પ્રેમ નથી. પ્રેમ માં સમર્પણ છે, જતું કરવાની ભાવના છે અને બીજા ની ખુશી માં જ પોતાની ખુશી છે કારણકે બીજા ની ખુશી અને આનંદ નું મૂલ્ય પોતાના કરતા અનેક ગણું વધારે છે.

Only love & positive energy

Last few days have been life changing and there has been a lot of introspection going on because of everything that's happening in the world. It's been so busy, but that is resulting in putting right priorities on things in life. One of them is self-care and I am so grateful for today because I got to view this video and it has changed the way I think about every single thing around me, every person I interact with and everything I do, not just the water. What you give to the world is what you get in return and this is the prime example of it. What we sow is what we reap. Here is a note to self to give love and kindness and all that is positive only to all. May all be blessed with love and positive energy inside and outside.

 

Express your appreciation

Some of the recent incidents and examples in life have reminded me. If you appreciate something or someone, or someone's gesture, then let them know. Not only they will feel good, you'll feel great. Sometimes it is too late to let people know that they are appreciated, because they're not there any more. Telling myself to do this on regular basis and thanking God for reminding me of this. Here's a note to self to continue to remember and do this every day.

Notes from a lecture of Shri Kripaluji Maharaj

I got to overhear most of this audio lecture last week. I don’t quite remember all of it now, but from what I remember, I enjoyed listening to it and appreciated the thoughts quite a lot. So thought I’d note them down before I forget.

Ego is our worst enemy. Why to have ego in the first place? We are never the best, but still we feel we are. When complimenting each other, us humans use phrases like “eyes like a deer”, “tall as a giraffe”, “run like a leopard”, “faithful as a dog”, etc. Even when animals are better than humans in looks and many other characteristics as we can see in these comparisons, it is us who feel proud of ourselves. What if humans were blessed with those better characteristics? Where would we be then?!

There was this Sanskrit shlok/couplet that had a line "Be as tolerant as a tree". It took me back to the time when I went on vacation to Sequoia National Park. Looking at those hundreds of years old sequoia trees, made me think how long some of them have been standing there, standing tall, in freezing snow, in scorching heat, in stormy winds, in rains, one season after the other. Trees indeed are the most tolerant living things.

In one of the parts, Maharaj ji says he preferred when people scolded him than to when they praised him.

In this life:

...do what Lord Raam did in His life.

...do what Lord Krishna said in His life.

When you are angry...

... think of how much you are gaining or losing.