This is an appointment with myself … when I spend a quality time with myself,… when I have no other agenda……nothing is waiting for me and I am not waiting for anything.
To be with me, who is
a simple conscious being. Right now I have no duties to perform. This time is
assigned just for myself…. when I have no duties to perform….meaning that
nobody has any demand upon me. I have no obligation to fulfill anybody's
demands…… because I am not so and so.
Right now I am a simple conscious person ….with no roles to
play.
During the day I do play variety of roles ….…a I’m father or mother, a spouse, a son or a
daughter, a brother or a sister, disciple or a guru… a householder or a
brahmachari,… a vanaprasta or a sanyasi
During the day I play variety of roles…. because that is my
duty. That is what is expected of me. There are certain norms… certain accepted
rules …which I have to follow throughout the day when I am interacting with the
world…..The world may be my family…. the world may be my friends…. the world
may be my co students…. The world maybe my co campers….The world may be the
Ganga, the Himalayas…..
I am a student….. a devotee…. A meditator….. a sevak….. I
play a variety of roles during the day when I am interacting with the world. And
it's quite proper.
Yet this is the time when I have dropped all the rules. When
I'm free from the compulsion of having to do a given thing. No compulsion, no
duty….. no demands to fulfil, no goals to achieve. Neither the world has any
demands on me, nor do I have any demands upon the world.
I have no demands because I accept everyone as they are. I
have no likes and dislikes. I have no preferences.
Everyone who is in my life is in order. Everyone, whether my
family, my friends, my roommates, my co students, my co-campers, the visitors…whoever
they are ….. I gracefully accept them as
they are.
I give the freedom to others to be what they are.
I do not judge other people. I understand that people are
what they are because that is how Ishwara has made them.
In general, people do not have the freedom to be different
from what they are.
When a dog barks at me, I don’t hate the dog, I don't feel
insulted because I know that is the nature of a dog. When I take a dip in the Ganges, it is very cold. I don't
complain because I know that is the nature of the water of the Ganga. The sun is
hot, I take precautions and develop a comfort with that. How I have learned to
develop a comfort with what I cannot change… I cannot change the temperature of
the Ganga water so I know how to relate to that. I cannot change the
temperature of the sun. I have developed a way of relating to that….
There are countless things around me with which I have to
relate and I'm comfortable when I accept them as they are, knowing that is the
nature.
Earth is what it is. Water is what it is. Air is what it is.
Fire is what it is. Space is what it is. That is how they are made.
I climb down the
stairs, I don't jump.
I respect everything as it is because I cannot change them.
So I develop a comfort with what I cannot change.
Similarly, other people who are in my life, just as I give freedom
to the nature to be what it is and I adjust, so also, I give freedom to other
human beings as they are.
I make no demands upon anyone. I give them freedom to be
what they are. I gracefully accept them as they are.
Even better, I lovingly accept other people as they are.
I remind myself that what I perceive is the outer costume. It
is a costume…. the body, mind and sense organs. That is where the virtues are.
That is where the vices are. Virtues are guna, vices are dosha …. The guna and
dosha they are all the attributes of the costume. I recognize a costume as a
costume.
Then I have the opportunity to recognize the person behind
the costume.
Everyone is a union of the person and the personality. What
I interact with is a personality. But when I give reality to the costume, when
I give reality to a personality, I overlook the person. I overlook the actor. I
overlook the fact that a person is a simple, loving, beautiful person. The
personality, the costume does not affect the person.
The same thing applies to me.
I am a simple, conscious person.
I'm the possessor of the body.
I'm the possessor of the organs of perception.
I use my organs of perception for perceiving, for
experiencing the world.
I use my organs of action for responding to the word, the
organ of speech, the hands, the legs. I use them to perform actions and to
respond.
I have a mind with which I know.
I have this beautiful personality, a wonderful costume that
is given to me.
I am the possessor of the costume……..
The costumes are many. The personalities are many. Yet the
person, the possessor of the costume, the ‘I’, is a simple conscious being.
I am a simple conscious being as everyone else is. I have a personality, a
costume as everyone else has.
The costumes are many. The personalities are many. The
person is ONE.
There is no duality at level of the conscious being. There
is no separateness in the person.
It is this simple, conscious person whom I love. It is this
simple, conscious person with whom I'm happy. If I have a problem, the problem
is with the costume.
I have no problem with myself… the person that I am. I have
no problem with others… the persons they are and I have no problem with myself,
the person that I am.
तरति
शोकम् आत्मवित् - tarati śokam
ātmavit
The knower of the
self …. I, who knows the self, is a simple, loving, beautiful, conscious
person. I have no problem with myself.
I'm comfortable with myself…. a simple, beautiful, loving
person …..and I'm happy to be what I am. When I recognize myself as a simple,
conscious, loving person, I'm comfortable with myself. I'm happy with myself.
That is the freedom where there is no grief… where there is
harmony… where there is comfort….. where there is contentment…..
The contented simple, free, loving person I am …. when all
demands are given up…..when all expectations are given up …… when all the roles
are dropped…. when I see myself as a simple, kind, loving, beautiful, conscious
person.
Cidananda rupah shivoham shivoham
Cidananda rupah shivoham shivoham
Cidananda rupah shivoham shivoham
Shivoham shivoham
….
…..
……..
Om Shantih shantih shantiH
