To achieve individual peace

One can be truly happy and content, only when we are at peace with ourselves. That peace which comes from a freedom discovered in solitude.

~ Gurvinder Singh

                               

One may ask, 'How can one be in solitude when so much has to be done and achieved?'

Sure food and shelter has to be arranged, security ensured, Families particularly children and the elderly need to be cared for.  Development and learning have to be pursued, and a thousand other things need to done. bills have to be paid, So what?

We do what we must , but what if we are not there tomorrow? Surely, they will still get done, but by others. We hold ourselves in far greater importance than does the universe. 

                 

Imagine our individual lives as being drawn into a cyclone. 

Lives and things, problems and opportunities, work and responsibilities etc. A multitude of factors are constantly swirling around us, in this cyclone where peace eludes us.

We can choose to be in the swirl where everything is a noisy blur . Those living in the swirl seem to live exciting and extremely active lives, dodging, running from fears and towards wants. However being active merely for its own sake, achieves little, while nourishing the ego. We land up living mostly feelingless, flowerless and hence fruitless lives. 

We cannot escape this cyclone called life, so where can we find individual peace?

There is a place. We can choose to be at the centre of the cyclone where everything is peaceful and silent. Everything is clear and we do what we must, when we must without being attached to anyone or anything. Active only as and when needed. 

This may appear selfish but its not so, for  we act with awareness and meaning. In India we have a word for it called 'Sw-arth' coming from two Sanskrit words 'Swayam' for 'the self', and 'Arth' for  'meaning'. Translated it is 'meaning of one's existence'. 

Religion, politics, family, society, and rulers/government and now employers ordain the meaning of ourselves to us. Treating us all as identical. That is not desirable even if it were possible, but these forces have almost total domination over our existence. That is why individuals always rebel against these forces sometimes openly but usually clandestinely. The individual rarely discovers the meaning of his or her own life. 

When we learn to silence these forces by travelling within ourselves where each one of us is absolute master of his her life, we learn who and what we are, we discover our 'Swa-Arth'. Once we discover that meaning of oneself, freedom is natural.

This is why all great masters have always advocated silence, contemplation and finally meditation. Life goes on we live a meaningful existence, not in the uncontrollable swirling mess but in control and in total awareness right in the peaceful eye of the storm.

To live peacefully with the world its necessary for us to be at peace with ourselves.

This too shall pass

Moonlit Seascape, 1902 -Thomas Moran

One evening there was a storm on Lake Galilee. All the people on the boat caught in this storm feared for their lives as the howling winds tore the sails and rigging  and the waves mercilessly lashed against the sides threatening to wreck the creaking and helpless boat. All but one sleeping man were terrified. 

The man awoke and asked the terrified people to have faith and calm themselves. When they refused to be calmed he rose and walked to the side of the boat and spoke to the waves and the winds. "Peace. Be still" and miraculously the storm subsided.  The bad time had passed.
That man was Jesus Christ and he had been heard.  Though legend has it that this particular incident occurred more than 2000 years ago in the lives of those people, it happens even today in the lives of each one of us.

The boat is our being and the storm is what happens in our minds. We tremble and worry as some genuine and mostly imaginary concerns lash and threaten our very sanity and life.

Have faith, in yourself, and in creation and you will be alright. Let the great power sleeping within you awaken, address the storm and command it to be still. Almost always the storm listens, for we are the creators of the storm.

If the time to die has come then embrace death with peace and joy. If death it is not, then remember that whatever challenges we face and overcome that does not kill us only makes us stronger.  If you have gone through difficult times in the past and persevered, you know that this too shall pass. 

Some of us have gone through very difficult times and now laugh at the uselessness of our worry. Tough times never last but people with faith always do.