If you know the elements of an Opportunity you can convert most of the happenings in your life into an Opportunity. You would not have to wait for one to walk your way! So Go Ahead & convert even your adversities into an Opportunity! God Bless!

The first necessity of hearing the inner voice as I said in my last post is to be in action. To be in any purposeful action you have to believe first, that what you want to accomplish is “Possible”. And you have to know that it’s possible “Now”. This would start the flow of action, and before you become even aware you would find yourself “in flow”. In this “flow” you would be in sync with your real you & would hear your inner voice.

When you live in noise of the outside world you would find difficult to be “in flow”. The only flow that one gets into in the noise of the world is “the noisy flow”! This noisy flow creates an envelope around your real you, and you start living in a shell, closed from the real world – the world with unlimited possibilities. In that noise you live to conform to the “opinion of others”, and you are engaged in the “world given to you as per others choice”. In other words when you live in noise you do not live the life as per your choice. As “fire is covered by smoke” same way your inner voice gets covered by the noise.

So have awareness of “Possible Now” and you would find yourself connected to your Inner Voice!

Let’s start from your body. Your body has got a voice. When you over eat or starve, it tells you that you are doing injustice to your body. Noise here is the taste that you get & the tongue that can’t simply resist the temptation of over -eating or eating unhealthy foods.

Second let’s take your mind. Whenever you are led into unwholesome thoughts, your voice tells you that you are going in the wrong direction. Here noise is greed, lust & anger that drowns the voice.

Third let’s take your emotions. Whenever you are affected-positive or negative- by what people tell you, your voice would tell you what is right. Here the noise is what others say about you. Right your own script. Right your own program. Do not let others opinion or sayings about you affect you.

Forth let’s take your spiritual side. Everyone would profess the path that he is following to be the only best path. It’s up to you to discover the real purpose of life, to follow or to discover yourself the ultimate truth. Noise here is dogmatism & sectarianism. Noise would also come from people who would try to compare the science with spirituality. Do not try to compare the Einstein & Gautam Buddha as to who did greater good to the world. Both Scientist & Spiritual seeker is trying to discover the same ultimate truth, the ways of overcoming the limitations of nature. Only the method is different- scientist is doing that by analysing the external world whereas spiritual man is doing that by analysing the internal nature.  Science would be incomplete without spiritual seeking & spiritual seeking is incomplete without science. No matter how many gadgets you keep, it would not bring you peace & happiness. Peace & happiness requires that you have conquered your inner nature. Again empty stomach or starving in some forest does not bring peace or enlightenment. You need science to provide that comfort, that connectedness, that quest to conquer the limitations of the external world including your own body.

So in any situation just try to listen to your voice. Focus on your Voice, Cut- Off the noise. And it would unmistakable guide you. It’s your inner compass that has been given to you since your birth. As Srimad Bahgvat Gita says: “Whose happiness is within, whose relaxation is within, whose light is within, that Yogi alone, becoming Brahman gains absolute freedom”-Ch V Verse 24.

And this Voice would speak to you Only when you are in action. By wandering in Himalayas or Forests, by Meditation or Worship or reading books you would not find it. Everything else will just help by the way, may give at best the hint, it’s Only when you are in Action that you will hear your Voice.

To my mind its lack of spiritual values that creates such a void in the life of even highly successful people.  My suggestion is simple—look into your foundation—your thoughts—those are the ones responsible for who you are, how you feel and what you would be in future.  The first need anywhere is to satisfy physical need, next comes mental needs, next to that comes spiritual needs. When physical & mental need is satisfied, spiritual need must be attended to if the person wants to live a balanced life.  It’s said that one must eat healthy, exercise well, relax etc.  I add to this my suggestion that every day you ‘eat’ some ‘positive thoughts’ early in the morning.

Its true that life’s changing situation makes it difficult to keep a check on your thoughts. But your own thoughts are the first, most important element in your life and can be controlled.  It’s difficult but possible.  Practice is needed. I have seen people who in the freshness of their life are full of energy, but in the later part of their life they blame everything else for their situation, become cynical in nature and lose their belief in everything that is good. My suggestion is – in case you find the mud, become lotus flower there. In the beginning it would do well if you keep good company. Choose something that inspires you, where you find positivity. Keep that symbol, that word, or that picture in mind.

Among the positive and inspiring thoughts I have found the ones by Swami Vivekananda inspiring. As  Jawaharlal Nehru said ‘ I do not know how many of the younger generation read the speeches and writings of Swami Vivekananda. But I can tell you that many of my generation were very powerfully influenced by him, and I think, that it would do a great deal of good to the present generation if they also went through Swami Vivekananda’s writings and speeches, and they would learn much from them…If you read Swami Vivekananda’s writings and speeches, the curious thing you would find is that they are not old…He gave us something which brings us, if I may use the word a certain pride in our inheritance…What Swamiji has written and said is of interest and must interest us and is likely to influence us for a long time to come…Directly or indirectly he has powerfully influenced the India of today. And I think that our younger generation will take advantage of this foundation of wisdom, of spirit and fire that flows through Swami Vivekananda’.  I attest to what Mr. Nehru said, as I remember; when I used to read Swami Vivekananda’s book during my college days, it was as inspiring as I read it today.  You can read these positive thoughts from a variety of sources, the central point to understand is that ‘everything is in flux, no two moments remain the same’ and to know that you are ever free not bounded to either the body, or work, or anything whatsoever. To know that this very moment is eternity; and that you can reach as much height or growth as you want. There is nothing that can limit you. Your thoughts are the only factor that acts as limit to your growth.

May all beings be Happy,
May all beings be free from grief,
May all realize what is auspicious,
May none be afflicted with sorrow!

Happiness & Prosperity to all!

Scriptures have also praised maturity. You find the word ‘Viveka’ in scriptures which means a person who can discriminate between what is right and what is wrong. ‘Viveka’ has not got any correlation with age, or with white hairs, or with his marital status. Then again you have people who are learned in books – scholars – who speak very well. So even speech, which can be modified without having actual correlation with realization of truth, can be misleading.

This ‘Viveka’ is there in a child too, its said that like smoke hides fire, like dust can hide a mirror, so this discrimination is hidden in a person through ignorance. This ignorance starts with attachment to worldly things, attachment grows into longing, from longing anger comes -which is nothing but a desire obstructed, from anger comes delusion -where person will mistake a snake for a rope and a rope for a snake, from delusion comes loss of memory of all the lessons that the person has learned in his life, and from loss of memory comes ruin of discrimination. Most of the tension, violence, stress comes from this lack of discrimination, lack of ‘viveka’, lack of true maturity.  

So who has got ‘Viveka’’? The person who is equipoise, who is same in cold and heat, in pleasure and pain, whose senses are under restraint, and is free from attraction and aversion. The person who can withstand those strong emotions in him, and like a refinery can convert those incoming emotions, those incoming currents in him in daily life into useful output that can bring peace & prosperity. There is an important story about Socrates here. When Socrates, who used to think much ahead of his times, was given poison to drink all his disciples started crying. Socrates immediately counseled his disciples ‘Be silent, let me die with peace’ and very peacefully he proceeded to drink that poison. Socrates who had got ‘viveka’ was given poison to drink, as the democracy he lived in had converted in mobocracy & with popular opinion he was given poison to drink without looking into the truth that he spoke about. His disciple Plato later on carried his work and displayed same ‘viveka’ which Socrates did. Swami Vivekananda -the name derives from ‘Viveka’ as he truly displayed all the qualities of a person who has got true discrimination, has got true ’Viveka’, true maturity.

The second type of person is spontaneous. Till he starts for his journey you are unsure where is he going. Generally sadhus, sanyassis come in this category. ‘Sadhus’ never plan their tour. You would see a sadhu sleeping and suddenly he wakes up and starts marching towards railway station to go to Varanasi or Vrindavan. Planning is of the nature of ‘action’ and spontaneity is of the nature of ‘illumination’. So which one of these is the right path for a person living in the world? I would say neither of these.

The best path would be ‘plan to be spontaneous’. That is, plan but do not be too rigid. Review your plans from time to time and have the flexibility to correct to take advantage of changed situation, opportunities etc. Spontaneity should bring that light in your planning. If you read the history of ‘Google’ and other great companies you would find its ‘spontaneity element that was allowed in the planning’ that has brought much success to the organization. The same approach holds in life too.

If you look into our history you would see leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel, Rajendra Prasad, Dr Radhakrishnana, Bal Gangadhar Tilak where basically the persons who were kingly outside but sage within. They can be called ‘Rajarshi’ that is ‘Raj’ plus ‘Rishi’. So when power is in hands of a ‘rajarshi’ then the country prospers and there is peace all around, when the same power goes in the hands of people who have just the first part ‘Raja’ and not ‘Rishi’ then the misuse of power comes.

Our education system plays a lot of role in making of these ‘Rajarshis’. Value based education is what is needed to get ‘rajarshis’ again in plenty in our country. When people used to go to meet leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Abhram Lincoln etc they used to feel themselves dignified. These days if you go to meet your leaders you would feel that you are so small and he is so big. That’s the litmus test. When you go to a person who holds power and you are made to feel small know that the person is likely to misuse his power.  And when you meet him and you feel dignified, he does not try to reduce you to nothing then know that person is likely to use his power. As Shakespeare says in his drama ‘Measure for Measure’ ‘Dressed in a little brief authority, people misbehave like apes’. You would see when a powerful person- raja type- gets transfer orders; formerly people who used to stand up in his presence never even bother to see who has come.

Power, degrees, designation and money is like wine if not digested by the holder. He rambles under its influence and becomes source of misery to masses except a select few who revel in his stupor to serve their own interest. Its only ‘spiritual power’ or value based thinking in the person that can give him the power to digest. There are three kinds of power – muscle power, mental power and self-power or ‘atma-bal’ as referred in our scriptures. The self-power which provides the energy to digest the worldly things & its perks is far superior to the first two powers. Sri Ramakrishna tells about an old brahmana who used to come to him and talk to him freely. One day he came and accosted Sri Ramakrishna in a very sarcastic and supercilious way: ‘Hello! O Priest ! How are you? Hearing this Sri Ramakrishna told his companion, ‘He seems to have come across some money. That is why I find a change in him today!’

There is also a very important parable of Sri Ramakrishna on this subject: ‘One day a frog, jumping about in garden, came across a rupee, a shining rupee. The frog took that rupee, looked at it, felt it very fine, took it to its hole, and kept it there; but from that day it became a different frog. “I have one rupee with me ! I am that much rich.” So, another day, an elephant passed by the hole of that frog; and this frog came out angrily; “What business has this elephant to pass by my hole?” Saying so, it went and gave a few kicks to that elephant, went back, and gazed at the rupee in its hole. The elephant never knew that that frog existed in the world at all; but the frog was satisfied: “I have expressed my sense of power and dominance”. This is undigested power.

We would have to bring that education system which emphasizes value and not just information. We would have to bring this point home that value comes before profit. And we would have to teach our children that value comes before all – money, power, degrees, designation and perks.

The work of a master is just to show you the path, to indicate you ‘that is the way’, to work as a suggestion. While imparting knowledge he also transmits some of his spiritual powers to you which in secular knowledge you can call ‘inspiration’. Rest of the work is yours. Scriptures say a master is one who is selfless, has renunciation, discrimination, dispassion, has realized the truth, is knower of the self and knows the spirit of scriptures. A master or ‘Guru’ is one whose conduct is above reproach, is pure and free from sins. Lastly he must not have any selfish motive in giving instructions to disciples. A master is one who takes away your misery and not the one who takes away your wealth. I have heard many discourses where you have various entry fees: for asking question this fee, for learning and getting that mantra this fee, and all. This is nothing but scholarly information being traded for a fee. The participants are told that their money is going to be used for charity. The excuse given cannot justify the trade. Spiritual instruction is not a business undertaking. Similarly you have people who are getting the ‘throne’ of ‘guru’ simply on the basis of him being son of the founder of the sect and so he inherits the throne. Blind following by people of these gurus makes a situation where ‘blind followed by blind both fall in ditch’.

You have qualification for a disciple too. The disciple should be earnest and not merely a curiosity satisfaction seeker. Disciple must be pure in character, humble, and should have the spirit of service. Three types of disciples approach a ‘guru’ – the first one says I have heard that God exists I want to know the truth of it, second says I have heard that by knowing God I can become happy so tell me about God, third says I do not believe in God you prove me that God exists. The first disciple has the nature of illumination and scriptures call them wise, second disciple is of the nature of action and wants to benefit in this world or the next by going to heaven and all, third disciple is of the nature of darkness, arrogance, haughty where he has already reached his conclusion in which case ‘guru’ cannot help.

Here comes a question, ‘We are not competent enough to judge a master who is much above us. We are not free from doubts and difficulties. Our minds are not clear’. The answer is to try to judge as far as you can the pure motive of the person you want to accept as ‘Guru’. See for yourself whether he can act as an ideal before you. What is needed is earnestness in you and the ‘Guru’ would definitely come if you are sincere.