Churning of Milk to Butter for better

 Why churning is placed so much importance in our spiritual lessons.

Definitely churning is related to purification through life battles and struggles which is stepping stone for spiritual growth.

The more one goes through challenging/ difficult situations, the more it is known that a window is opening up for proving one's virtues right and capabilities to the optimum level. Instead most of the lesser awakened souls fails the testing time and fall back upon vices and wrong deeds and earn bad Karma to incur. 

Let us take the analogy of milk and butter.

We all know how easy is to manipulate the purity of milk by adding water as the dilution of milk is not visible by naked eyes. But on the contrary, if it is duly checked then the mischief can be caught.

 However in most cases our simplicity is threatened without prior notice, and we are taken aback by the sudden attack on our integrity or purity. What i mean to say is that if one does not work on being upright, there will be innumerable instances of loosing our character under the pressure of fraudulent attempts by outside factors or sometimes our own inner weak moments can instigate if left unguarded without knowledge and awareness. 

On the other hand, butter is extracted from milk in such a Churning process with lots of patience and time that the result is worth it. This time milk is converted into butter and now if one adds water now, they can't cheat like before. The butter of its own properties becomes lighter and floats on the surface defying the fraud to happen. 

Similarly, when a person goes through all odds of life, still maintains his purity with steadfastness to life principles, then a spiritual transformation happens helping his soul to evolve and ultimately the person benefits in every way including his spiritual growth, forbearance power, compassion, truthfulness and so on .  He becomes lighter like a butter with no stress, anger or any deformities of thought process can bring him down to bottom rather he floats on the top with lightheartedness by nature. He gets rid of all vices he does not need through this churning  process and reduces the risk of contaminating his mind and soul.

Actively inactive while inactively active

Actively inactive while inactively active

Today morning as I was washing my face I realized in order to get right temperature of water, I need to adjust both hot and cold water taps to set it right. While I need to increase the hot water and some where to reduce cold water or vice versa. Suddenly it struck me though they are both opposites in nature but both are required to maintain the required result. I can resonate this principle to my understanding of Action and its opposite inaction. How sometimes inaction helps us to bring a balance and get optimum result rather that just by action alone. For example in some cases, reacting to certain action or remark, it is wise to keep quiet and let the situation under control rather than explode it with your heavy words. 

In event of some social activity which you don't believe or agree, it is wise to boycott such activity. Which is again opposite of action but not joining an event is also an action like boycott. Prohibiting someone to act in an evil manner is again an action in the form of not allowing to act. 

In nut shell to come to an equilibrium state there is always an ongoing adjustment between two extremes to maintain balance. With this knowledge there is clarity as to what level of adjustments are required to be made from both ends specially how much action and how much not to act is recommended.

Coulourful stains of people

             Its so common to come across a varied range of people with different taste, style and even maturity level. It is but obvious that each one of us are unique in our own way and tend to develop qualities from the surrounding more often including our own inclinations towards certain trait. However, many of us are not able to accept people as they are. Often,  we can't stop judging people to our level of expectations and the reality strikes us hard with disappointment and instead of accepting the truth we react with harsh rejection from our side. Its an unfortunate state. 

            Let us take an analogy of  handful of clothes meant for laundry. What do we do first? We sort out the laundry as per the color, darker clothes separated from white or light colored clothes. Why is it necessary?  Otherwise the deep color of some clothes may damage pure white clothes while washing. So it is safe enough to separate for avoiding damage. 

          Likewise, it is advisable to pure simple kind of person to avoid  dark shaded people who are mostly into ulterior motives and are not sensitive enough to others. There is nothing about rejecting or being judgemental here. Its a matter of being cautious and sane enough to be careful before any overpowering personality causes damage by tarnishing simplicity  of pure person. Not that it is practical but can be followed to some extent avoiding many mishaps. On the contrary, pure simple person can hardly damage complex people as they neither have the motive to overpower others nor they have the quality to downgrade. Only essential characteristics of such person of pure heart is to uplift others. Just like a white cloth can hardly damage a colored cloth. 

                My philosophy in life is to dodge such characters instead of complaining about them. All kind of people exist in this world with their good and bad effects. The wisdom lies in avoiding such ill spirited people with compassion and forgiveness as well as equal acceptance of their existence. Its a matter of time that their characteristics will soon evolve to higher standards. One needs to exhibit more patience and love to acknowledge their being along with the knack of keeping oneself at a safe distance not to be stained by their dark influence.

Effortlessness

                    Any kind of work needs some efforts to accomplish a given task. Its a matter of fact, that the more efficient one becomes through skill or practice, the more it is easier for the person to accomplish the task. However, if we talk about effortlessness, what is that state and how is it possible to reach that state.

                    Let's take the example of our body parts, like legs help us to walk and our entire body gets transported from one place to another. The left leg never complains to right leg that I am working harder than you. Obviously, there is no comparison cause there is no question of separate identity. Its whole being and different body parts do their part for the overall performance or existence of the individual.  Likewise when we feel hungry, our hands reach out to plate and place it in mouth, the mouth eats well and stomach digests. Ultimately the feeling of being fed comes once the stomach is full and there is satisfaction of taste and hunger pangs are vanquished. All this simple exercise is to set up the experience of oneness amongst various body parts that leads to no conflict of claiming which role was more important than the other. They are all inclusive and none can do part from each other such is the biological system.

                    Similarly in nature, if we observe how the whole ecological system is functional on its own at its root level. There is rain, sunshine, climatic changes, water bodies, sea, river, snow, forest, vegetation, wild life, everything is in natural flow of existence. There is so much harmony and balance. There does not seem to be any efforts in original state. For obvious reason that it is all natural. There is Oneness.... absence of separate identity does not give scope for crisis. 

                    Now, lets come to our world, man's made world. The world we know with human interference, has come to the extent of extinction in terms of loosing many species who have been hunted for vested interest, or due to industrial or climatic hazards created by human's so called scientific advancements. Where did it begin? The moment this thought of  separateness came to our mind, the feeling of being the superior most species, humans have done the blunder of mistaking himself as the creator and committing the crime of commanding  over earth as a ruthless ruler. 

                    Again, lets take an example from our day to day life. A person working in office may get frustrated due to the fact that the job done by him is not recognized/ appreciated by his boss or given due respect. It may demoralize him from giving his best which in turn can reduce his work efficiency. Every time he feels he has to put extra efforts to finish his work. Reason being unhappiness, lack of moral support or unnecessary stress in absence of recognition. On the other hand, if the same person is encouraged with words of appreciation by his boss even for the slightest improvements, then he gets boosted up to give his very best next time. The best part is that now he does not even feel the pressure of work on the contrary, he is super excited doing his work. What a transformation from efforts to effortlessness with the shift of energy. This principle can be reflected in case of students and teachers or household environment. 

                    Coming back to self appraisal we experience the same kind of lift in spirits as and when the enthusiasm is boosted by whatever means. For some, self care can be daunting as it is often mistaken as an effort. For once, if we assume that it is not us who is massaging the face, but we are being pampered by someone else, then we start enjoying the massage. What was the significant change here, the focus has shifted from me doing massage to enjoying the massage. Exactly same way once we drop doer ship, we start relaxing and the real rest happens! The ego always interrupts smooth flow. We have seen in office atmosphere, the ego is clamoring for attention or recognition. The moment we drop ego that "I" am doing this work, and focus our attention to I am enjoying this work unconditionally, the shift happens from efforts to effortlessness. The flow sets in..... the harmony is maintained and hence no conflict, no strain.

                   So separateness is the culprit of all crimes. Working in unison is the key to wholesomeness without discrimination & comparison. Each one of us are gifted and contribute our part to the society or Universe at large by being truthful to our existence. The essence lies in realization of letting oneself in the flow of existence without guilt or doubt. It comes with knowledge of strength in Unity. Everything becomes effortless in its original state or natural state.

Downloading Wishful thinking

 

                   Everything is right here in this Universe. All our dreams and wishes are also part of the Universe as its a reflection of our thoughts.  Have you ever wondered why mystics have strong intuitive powers. How come, some yogis are able to manifest their thoughts at their will . 

                          To make it more analytical and comprehensive, let us take the analogy of Computer. We all are familiar with hard drive, data base, software, internet, Web etc. Suppose we are looking for a meaning of a word. We will first look into the files saved if it is available there. Then the next step will be to explore the net and pretty soon we get the information. How simple it is, isn't it? 

                         Well, the process looks pretty easy but if any of the supporting devices like modem, web data or facility like internet or electricity is missing, then the process comes to a halt. We don't get the result. Its a conditional arrangement. 

                        Similarly our individual memory capacity is limited just like files saved, The database has a limited file size depending upon the capacity of hard disk in terms of space it can hold. Now the question comes what about accessing the infinite information available out there in the world. It is possible with modern technology of internet and web access. 

                             Proceeding towards subtler individual capacity to manifest what one desires or deserves. Here comes the role of having dreams come true. Or able to get a perfect solution to given life challenging situations beyond our control. 

                                        We all know prayers or luck plays a vital role to get the desired result. To be precise, can we wonder how it works? Lets take both these aspects separately. 

                                Prayers begin with surrender to Divine first then seeking what we desire with humbleness and worship. What happens in Surrender - the lower mind Me is surrendered or given up, allowing Higher mind Divinity to shine in us and show us the path in light of wisdom and blessings. Blessing or Grace or Kripa is that which facilitates the process. Being able to access Divine wisdom through prayers is just like accessing Web through internet and downloading the required information is like receiving blessings. which in turn means allowing or letting things fall in place. We say its taken care of.  Faith is the electricity as well as the modem which makes the internet functional. Faith can be upgraded with more (Sadhana) devotion, worship, penance (tapasya). It is as good as speeding up the Internet or the entire process of allowing our wishes to be fulfilled or getting solutions to our problems. 

                                    Next we come to Good luck .  What does it mean to have a favorable situation to your credit. How often can we activate luck or is there any chance at all, to have our say in luck. After all, luck is something very few people are lucky at. Going deeper we find luck is nothing but our deepest desire getting manifested through Magic of Universe. It is the thought we create so intensely wishing to be true that over a period of time, our persistent believing on them & affirmations with visualisation seeing the dream already coming true allows us to intensify such wishful thought to such extent that we transcend the limits of impossibility and further help us gearing our speed to tap onto unlimited potential of universal possibilities! It is rightly said, "Consistent efforts and wishful thinking can bring about a transformation so powerful that the whole Universe conspires for it to happen. It is the law of Universal attraction. Our thoughts do get manifested provided certain preparedness is there on our part. Its only a matter of time that our dreams can get manifested. All we need to have patience and faith of believing our dreams.

                 

 

Shopping list in Life

 

            Whenever we go on shopping, we need to take a shopping list to avoid last minute missing out buying things we need. Once we have prepared the list of items we need, the temptation to buy unnecessary things can be avoided. In fact, there are so much distractions out there while shopping specially with discounted offer price, that there is a strong tendency to divert our attention from what is required to be bought to more pleasing things but how much useful it can be is a question mark. The time is also limited so out of time constraint also we end up buying in a hurry without giving justice to our money spent.

                Now, lets come to real life situation when analyzed in this context,  we realize the same happens with our life purpose and achievements in terms of experiences as well. Suppose we don't have any goals or ambitions to pursue in life and allow our life to drift  in any direction the way events happening in our life or people coming in our life influence us to the extent that we end up following their ideals or wishes forgetting about our own. The main criteria of living a fulfilled life is knowing yourself, having the clarity of what our inner self truly stands for , our true wishes we dream to be manifested. All these self contemplation in the light of wisdom can add to our vision of living a great fulfilling life. We can start with sketching the road map of our journey with conviction and commitment. We need to access tools to sharpen our skills. Setting on this journey objectively we need to expand our intellect with knowledge and tapping onto possible resources & potential. Just imagine without a clear goal how can we proceed with objectivity making sure that we are progressing in our life. Without setting benchmarks how are we to gauge our success. Worldly ambitions like career, family,wealth are those which are set by the society and not us as an individual. There is a set pattern being followed for greater interest of the community as a whole. But apart from these, what we normally miss out is that our individual soul requirement is completely independent of such worldly things. This is the dilemma! While tempting life situations or influential people overpowering your life are like distractions or offer price to sway you from your path of inner call. The well prepared shopping list  stands for your objective goals in life considering what you value most & what is your inner requirement. Here money stands for time which is limited and deserves to be spent wisely with due caution.

            We all know we have a limited life span and with every year passing we are nearing our end time. The moment we realize this imminent truth, there is an instant awakening! Awakening of not further letting time go in vain, wasting on mundane worldly pursuits rather waking up to this reality of honoring life for what it is meant to be. Life is precious which is good enough reason to not let it go waste and making the best of it offering the best of oneself.