Wednesday 2 July 2014

Journey from Piece to Peace

It's been a while I have been thinking about the journey of our individual lives - the various courses it takes, the people we meet, the life we lead, the decisions we take so on and so forth. This article is about the journey of our life or rather the journey of a soul from its immortal phase to being a mortal being. 

Every life takes birth when it feels restless due to sense of incompleteness. The journey evolves the soul to realize the completeness and rest in peace. Each life may appear quite different. Yet it is always about journey from piece to peace. Every life journey enriches us with evolved set of virtues viz; patience, unconditional love, humility, gratitude etc that can take number of life times for the soul to internalize before it finally rests in peace.  

AkAshAt patitam tOyam, yathA gachachhati sAgaram .... i.e. like every drop of water that falls from the sky, ultimately ends up in the ocean. This saying also points to a fact that every moment of our life we are progressing towards deeper and greater sense of completeness. 

 
Why is the need to talk about it?
The need is to ensure that we undertake the journey with unwavering faith, sincere studiousness and blissful balance. This is important for making our journey more enjoyable, more enriching and more effective in this lifetime. This article is just a gentle remainder to sensitize the soul towards its own nature which is evolving to the next level of its own DNA spiral.

What are the simple tips one can practice for having a great journey and greater destination? 
To simplify our understanding of the tips, let us visualize an analogy … journey of a rain drop moving towards the sea. AkAshAt patitam tOyam, yathA gachachhati sAgaram - like every drop of water that falls from the sky, ultimately ends up in the ocean.
  1. Self Acceptance: Unconditional, non judgmental, realistic, detailed and decisive. Let us learn self acceptance through our analogy of rain water drop. The first step the drop takes is to identify itself as independent unit of H2O similarly the first step we need to take is to identify ourselves as an independent human being. Unconditional, whether it stays with cloud or not. We are we, whether others support us or not. Non judgmental about where it is going to fall (lotus, pearl oyster or mud ) about whether we succeed or fail. Realistic, Realizing it has a miniscule mass with limited capacity to make a difference. Realizing we are just one human being with limited life span to make a difference. Detailed understanding its own characteristic such as fluidity, ability to merge, mould and natural tendency to move towards slope to re-establish equality. Understanding our own characteristic such as adaptability, ability to team up, transform and natural tendency to move towards where we would be valued more to re-establish equanimity. Decisive to explore its own identity independently even at the cost of falling down. To explore our own individuality even at the cost of alienation.
  2. Breathing: Exhaling all the used up energy and pent up emotions, releasing and just letting it go and inhaling freshness full of new possibilities and untapped potential. Exhaling all the used up energy and pent up emotions, releasing and just letting it go - the drop lets itself go without having to know what would happen to it in advance. Similarly we need to move with the flow of life in here and now. Without having to know what will happen to us in advance. Inhaling freshness full of new possibilities and untapped potential. A drop has unlimited possibilities to which it gives a fresh attempt. We too have untapped potential which call for fresh expressions. 
  3. Focus, on forgiveness (self and others), goodness, lifelong learning and new virtues imbibed for future. Just like the drop which imbibes a new color and characteristic of what it mingles with. 
  4. Apply, the evolved way of life consistently. A drop mingles with the river it continues to flow with until the river merges into the sea. 
  5. Celebrate, every success (for self and others). The drop continues to apply the oceanic movement even after reaching the sea as current or wave, celebrating the success of reaching the sea by self and others.
Humility is the precondition for bliss. Bliss is the precondition for peace. Yes we are just a piece in the totality of the complete universe. Yet, we deserve to feel the peace of completeness within us. The way to feel this completeness starts through humility, accepting ourselves as small piece/particle of the universe. The lightness gifted by this humility helps us feel the bliss of being. The blissful being naturally evolves towards the higher self. Witnessing this enriching journey in our inner world offers us peace. The journey goes on, the life moves on even after realizing the peace just like water cycle in nature wherein a droplet from the ocean again steams up to form a cloud. The beauty is what appears to be cyclical is actually evolving higher and higher like DNA spiral. When we experience this happening in our life that is when our inner peace becomes sustainable in every stage of life - whether we are steaming up or pouring down, going with the flow or just waving around.

Happy to share this life cycle at peace with you
A drop of humanity,

Shilpa Savant