Each of us is a kaaranakartha...a conduit, a catalyst, an instrument…and so we only have one role...to be better instruments for divinity to work through us! And we can do that by working humbly, meaningfully, on whatever gives us unadulterated joy and by sharing all that we receive, thereby helping people around us to grow.
When you selflessly offer whatever you have – your art, your time, your wealth – to make the world a better place, there is nothing to achieve, nothing to prove, nothing to claim and nowhere to reach. Then all you are doing is giving, offering, whatever is flowing through you. Try being this way for a day or just for an hour perhaps. You will see how happy you are. You will realize that this is a beautiful place to be in. You will realize that you are a mere instrument for divinity to work through you. When you are in that place then none of the worldly measures matter to you…success, failure, reward, recognition, victory, defeat…nothing is relevant anymore. You are truly living then because you are giving!
Don’t get attached to a label called religion which society has stuck on you. After all, the Life-giving source – the breath that you and I take and what keeps us alive – is the same. Which is why, religion and rituals are totally avoidable. Yes, there’s a Higher Energy that governs all of us. It is both the creator and the destroyer. So, as part of celebrating yourself, if you want to go to some place to celebrate that Higher Energy (if you believe the Energy is location-specific) – Sabarimalai, Ajmer Sharif, Velankanni, Amritsar, Mecca, Vatican, wherever – simply go. But please don’t get waylaid by people who tell you that religion dictates or rituals demand this and that from you. Do what you feel like to enable your communion with divinity. Just be sure to be happy doing what you are doing. Nothing else – and no one else – really matters!
Religion is a human invention. It is a device with which a few people control the masses, employing fear and divisiveness. Allowing ourselves to be divided on the lines of religion is being outright stupid. Because judging and alienating – hating – another human being causes, above all, your own suffering.
Don’t feed your insecurities, your fears, your worries. Invest your time, attention, energy and resources only in your Happiness, in what makes you truly come alive. Remember, this is the only Life you have!
Life is always giving you messages. It is constantly sending you signs. It is inviting you to follow, to be led. If you have the humility and the stillness in you to listen to Life, you will find those messages seeping into you and those signs leading you onward to where you must and will eventually arrive!
It is only one Life that you have; just this one lifetime! So, please don’t postpone Happiness, don’t postpone living. Of course, you can’t avoid the lows, the crises, the tragedies. But you can learn to be happy despite the circumstances. You do that by accepting whatever comes your way and by letting go of debilitating emotions. Remember: only when you let go of something can you receive another…clinging on never helps…so, to receive grace and abundance…let go, let go, let go…of all that makes you unhappy and…simply flow with Life!
Yes, only when you embrace you fears, when you accept them, do you learn to face them, and that’s how you turn fearless. Happiness is living Life fearlessly, dangerously!
Conviction is an inside job. It is a very personal feeling. It is intuitive. You can’t explain it. Words will fail you. And it is your Bliss that fuels your conviction. Your Bliss will drive you to take decisions, make choices, convince people and it will draw you into its fold…into a beautiful, magical space where logic hardly matters or prevails!
When your Bliss comes calling, you have a huge responsibility: you must trust the process of Life! You have to let go of whatever you are clinging on to and go with the flow of Life. It may be scary, even unnerving, at times, but this is what makes Life fun. So, think of it as romance, celebrate its raw beauty, that sense of uncertainty…Remember, only an unscripted adventure can offer you this quality of inner peace and joy – pure and immersive!
Do you find your Bliss or does your Bliss find you? When you step out of the earning-a-living or economic circle of your Life, when you are willing to allow Life to lead you, your Bliss will come calling. It will come back, again and again, whenever you step out of the earning-a-living circle…until you embrace it, until you make your Bliss your Life! This is an irrefutable truth, this is how Life works!
There is no debate necessary about free will and destiny, about which one is more powerful and relevant. Actually, both are an integral part of your Life. Destiny is Life throwing situations at you. Free will is the choice you exercise in response. Consider this example. You are walking on the road on a rainy day and a motorist splashes muddy water on you while speeding past. Now, that’s a Life event, that’s destiny, happening to you, at a very trivial level. If you get angry, unhappy, frustrated and point your middle finger at the motorist, that’s free will. Or, after overcoming the shock, you shrug your shoulders before walking away quietly, that is free will too. So, in every situation in Life, destiny and free will interplay constantly. You can’t control Life, you can’t control destiny. And only one of your free will choices in a given situation can lead you to Happiness. Intelligent living is knowing what that choice is, and exercising it, every single time!
Do you find your Bliss or does your Bliss find you? When you step out of the earning-a-living or economic circle of your Life, when you are willing to allow Life to lead you, your Bliss will come calling. It will come back, again and again, whenever you step out of the earning-a-living circle…until you embrace it, until your make your Bliss your Life! This is an irrefutable truth, this is how Life works!
I have often seen this about Life…that when a door closes on you, when people reject you, when what you desperately want does not come to you despite your best efforts and prayers…all this happens only because you are meant to be walking through a different door, you are meant to be meeting other people and only because it is ordained that you receive something else, which you have not even imagined…that which is truly meant for you. So, don’t grieve when you don’t get what you want; what you want is immaterial…What Life believes you need is what you eventually, always, get!
Laser-sharp focus, discipline, deciding what not to do and what you will never do, besides choosing to do what you love doing, these are the tenets of intelligent living and hold the key to your being stress-free and happy!
When you follow your Bliss, magic happens. Life speaks through you and everything you do is art, everything you do touches people, and every offering of yours makes the world a better place.