Jun 8, 2009, 08.00am IST
SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR.
You are what you are only between two storms. So how settled you are is determined by how less frequently storms arise in your life. When the storms arise, the breath becomes heavier, the body becomes unbearable and you are not at all aware of your mind. You are thrown off balance.
How to free yourself from the grip of storms? This is the only basic problem in this universe. The first thing is to become aware of it and stop regretting it. Like waves come and go, storms in your life too will subside. No one storm can be there for ever. One storm comes and subsides, another comes and subsides and it goes on. As the storm subsides, you experience that inner cool, soft, delicate aspect of yourself. In that space of calm, all the anxiety, fear, feverishness lose their grip on you and you become yourself again. Love dawns.
When you stop resisting the storms of life and start accepting them with open arms, they will subside on their own. That is the purpose of all spiritual practices or sadhana and meditation. When you realise that somebody really cares for you, you feel at rest and all fears and insecurities drop off.
You keep running away from small things - your feelings, sensations, desires ^ and this leads to more feverishness. Realise that like the ocean cannot be there without the waves, storms are inevitable in your life. Every storm touches you somewhere and makes you grow stronger. A storm pulls you out of your likes and dislikes and purifies you. So accept all that comes with both arms open. This is crucifixion. If you say you cannot take them, you are resisting and that leads to more storms in your life.
You are much bigger than all the waves and commotions. They all rise within you and they can in no way destroy you. So, let them be. Even when the storms come, you are still the same ocean, as deep as ever.
This realisation is the culmination of knowledge. When this knowledge dawns, you rise above events; you grow out of them. Everybody in the world goes through crisis, insecurities, confusions. It's like drowning in the ocean of life. But the person with the life jacket can survive even the worse turmoil. So keep your life jacket of knowledge handy. Being immortal means looking at your infinite nature. That is why the saying, "Die before your death."
Just observe yourself in a bigger perspective. In the ocean of your life, many waves are rising and dissolving. All the waves that you see are your own forms. It's like watching wrestling on television and imagining that both wrestlers are you. In life, you act in many forms, sometimes completely opposite. Every name and form that is given in this ocean is part of the consciousness.
Do not be in a hurry to get rid of the storms, be with them. Looking for perfection creates imperfection inside you. If you are peaceful, everything around you becomes peaceful. You are the centre of this universe. Wherever you go, you carry your own mind, and wherever you go, you will create your own storms. It may appear to be calm and quiet for sometime but the storm will surface sooner or later. Unless you realise this, nothing will hold. There is no other permanent solution. Don't resist the storms, instead see them as an amazing play of your personality.
(Excerpted from a commentary on the Ashtavakra Gita.)
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