Criticism is a part of life

Anywhere you go you will get praise and then criticism. The nature of the mind is to praise when happy and criticize when unhappy. This is the way it is. As an artist one wants praise but as someone on the spiritual path it is equanimity one must strive for. How to get it? Sadhana and spiritual practice will only take you to a certain point. Beyond that it is only a willingness and courage to listen to the disrespectful and distasteful stuff that will make you centered. If criticism is for growth then listen assimilate and change. If not then simply smile, listen and move on! This is called applied knowledge. Just the other day I got to practice this. If I got shaken then the whole purpose of that test or lesson from Guruji would have been lost. One should not only listen, but one should also have the courage to stand up against injustice and correct people when required.

We are all on this path called life and living is determined by not how much fame or wealth we accumulate but rather how strong and settled we have become. A smile on the outside is just an outer shell but strength from within is the true light! Small incidents come and go, but it is the large ones that determine us as individuals. After handling the larger situations one starts to incorporate perfection in every facet of life.

Jai Gurudev

Do You Have the Time?

Was getting home with Smriti after watching an amazing movie called "Inception" and along the way we had a wonderful discussion regarding the concept of time which I thought would be apt for my first ever blog. In the movie the concept of time was shown to be more expanded as the dreamer got deeper and deeper into his or her own dream world or dream level. This brought about the question of what is "Time"? This is something that we have taken for granted but never really pondered on. What really is "Time"?

An ant experiences time differently from us. What takes almost years for them to cover in terms of distance, we can do so in weeks. What they experience in seconds, we experience in weeks. Thus time differs in terms of size and distance.

Sometimes even people with a lot of thoughts experience expanded time and people with less on their mind feel simply as if time flies by.

We came up with an interesting thought - The space between 2 objects, thoughts, entities, etc. gives us the experience of time. So the more the less the space, the more or less the experience of time.

In hindu philosophy we are taught that a day in the life of Lord Brahma (The Creator) has the same intensity or relevance as 4.32 billion years of human existence. This figure is then compounded exponentially for a day in the life of Lord Vishnu (The Sustainer) and then again for a day in the life of Lord Shiva (The Transformer). Then whats above & beyond that?!

What happens if you are everywhere are there is NO distance?!! Then there is no time! Time is dependent on space and if you are one with it then time does not arise. I guess that is why they say Enlightenment means being one with everything. I have noticed sometimes that during meditations with Guruji, time would just fly by or I would have an eternity of experiences in just a few minutes. Time does not seem to apply to the "Enlightened".

If there is only an experience of oneness then the concepts of Seva, Sadhana and Satsang become easier to understand. Being one with everyone and helping others, in the best way possible, is simply helping yourself. Seva then is simply a natural act. If the experience of oneness is so intense then closing one's eyes (sense organ) enhances that experience and meditation is then not an action but instead a part of your very nature. That would be the truest form of Sadhana. In Satsang, during the chanting, everybody would sing in unison glorifying the oneness that is. When a Master sings, he does need to think or put on a show, he knows that truth and simply expresses that which he already is!

I guess that a lot of people who meditate have had this experience too. It seems then that the ultimate goal of life is simply to expand one's consciousness to go beyond space and time.

This post in no way means any disrespect to the watch makers of the world! :)

And... do watch the movie!