23 October, 2011

Peace of Mind: A Birthright



      Like love, peace is to be felt.  I may tell you what peace is in many words, but you will not understand those words until you yourself have felt peace in the heart within.

       There is truly one way of achieving peace of mind.  And that is the way of Self-realization.  Once you realize yourself, there is no more tension, no more stress.  You abide in a state of tranquility and peace.  You may not be able to achieve it overnight.  It is a process through which you have to move.

       Therefore, one very easy way of attaining peace of mind is to sit in silence  everyday for 10 or 15 minutes and explain to yourself this one thing -- that whatever happens, happens according to the will of God.

       Why is it that we lose our peace of mind?  Because our wishes, our desires are crossed.  I want a particular thing to be done in a particular manner, if it has happened in an opposite manner, my  peace is disturbed.

       A girl met me this afternoon.  She said, "I don't want my child to cry but the child keeps on crying all the time.  That disturbs my peace."  Then I asked her, "Were you a child at any time?"  She said, "Of course, I was child only 20 years ago."  I asked, "Did you ever cry?"  Of course I cried," came the reply.  Then I asked, "Why don't you permit your child to cry?  You cried and you don't permit your child to cry!"

       We must understand, that whatever happens, happens according to the Will of God.  This, which has happened contrary to my wishes, contrary to my desires, has happened according to God's will.  There must be some good in it for me.

Accept His Will

       Explains this to your mind everyday, "O mind, why is that you lose your peace?  You lose your peace, because your wishes are not fulfilled.  But above your wishes is the Will of God.  Accept His Will and you will never lose your peace."

       You will get peace of mind, if you give your own "piece" to others.  The great saint, Tulsidas says that keep on giving.  When you have learnt to give, you have learnt to live all right.  Then peace automatically wakes up in the heart within.  It s only because we are so selfish that our peace is disturbed.  Peace is our original nature.  We are built of peace.

       What is that has disbursed our peace?  Sordid selfishness.  We have to overcome this selfishness, only then can we return to our original state.  Each one of us is sat-cit-anandaAnanda is the joy, the bliss that no ending knows.  We have only to get back to our original state.

       Anandam is your birthright as children of God.  Each one of you is a son or a daughter of God.  And God is the source of Ananda.  He is an unending source of bliss.  The moment I realize that I am child of God, nothing is going to affect me.  In order to live a life of bliss, all we have to do is to transcend the phenomenal, transcend what is happening around us.

       You must have seen on several occasions when your mind is terribly disturbed and you go and do a little painting, you find that you have become peaceful suddenly.  Why?  Because you forgot yourself in this creative work.  Likewise, when we move out of ourselves and give joy to those who are in need of joy, we forget ourselves.

       All we need to do is to forget ourselves and peace will be ours.  When we forget this outer self, we draw close to the real, the inner Self, which is peace.

       God loves each one of us with a love that is immeasurable.  He has given us the most perfect machine -- the human body -- and the most perfect computer -- the human brain.  Let us not forget that every breath is valuable and must be spend in worthwhile pursuits.  Let us set aside a portion of our daily food for a hungry one -- a man, bird. an animal.  Let us speak the truth, kindly and softly and do all we can, to help as many as we can, to lift the load on the rough road of life.  That is the way to peace.

Source: From the Lecture of Dada J.P. Vaswani.

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