About 18 years back, a very troubled youth, I used to puff away cigarettes hoping my sorrows would blow away in the smoke. For my regular cutting chai, I lit up my cigarette and walked to my favourite spot in the usual small tea shop, near my home next to a local mosque, this time obsessed with a great sense of worry for my loved ones.
As I sat trying to ‘puff’ it out, the namaz at the mosque was over and behind me came and sat a maulvi (or was it a fakir?) along with a supposedly very disturbed person accompanying him. I was sipping the tea from one hand with the smoke in the other, deep in my concern I then heard the loud words of the Maulvi in Hindi, advising the person with him, “Why are you worried about your family so much?” I was surprised. It was as though the noisy tea shop suddenly fell silent, as my ears now had fine-tuned to his voice.
The voice continued, “Foolish are you even worry about their future. It is Allah Taala who takes care of everyone. Your misery comes from your feeling that you are taking care of your family and you are responsible for their lives. You worry about what will happen to them after you? Nothing will happen. Life will continue. The world will shed tears for you for a few days and very soon life will move on. Who you worry about will still continue living. God, who was already taking care of them, will continue taking care of them… and you thought you were taking care of them? Even if you are today taking care of them, feeding them, and looking after their needs, remember… It is He who is doing that, but through you. If you are not there, there will be other mediums through which will be provided. Look around.. There are millions who have lost the bread earner in the family, little children who are orphaned after birth or in tender age, women who are widowed. Does life stop with that? Only the foolish think that everything will go wrong if they are not around. Weed out this foolish thought and leave things to Him! He will take care of them as well as you.” The voice stopped.
I turned back and saw him getting up to leave, his face seeming glad as he looked at the other person’s contended face, but missing to see my equally contended face, who had just recieved the Lord’s words through this gentleman. All I could do at that moment was to allow the feeling of deep gratitude overcome me listening to this great timely truth. I left the tea shop in peace.
Just as my Master once reminded in a shivir, “Jisne chugga diya voh dana bhi dega” (The one who has given the beak will also give the grain). This Moslem brother spake the same. The Bible also speaketh of the same and so does all religion. An Universal Truth.
Nothing do you or me do, everything just happens the way it has to happen. We just have a choice to do or not to do, that’s all. Please be well reminded that the world is not dependent on your choice. Whatever has to happen will happen anyways, irrespective of your choice or decision or action. If you observe carefully in total awareness, you will note how insignificant we are. We only believe that we are very significant. We worry, “What will happen after we are gone?” What has happened when you were here? When you were not born the life was as wonderful and sustaining as it was when you were born and you lived. When you go also life around will continue to exist and be wonderful in its own way. Where is the contribution of your significance? We only feel we have done something great or not done anything. Both come only with the sense of doership. It is only a cherished thought and a feeling in your mind that you have done something here or not done something. Nature does everything. It just happened through you, just because you were willing to be used by nature to do that task. If you would not have done it, never think that the world would have been deprived by even an ounce of it. If you wouldn’t have done it, someone else would have. Nature finds instruments.
Sense of doership is the cause for such thoughts and feelings that become soon the cause of all misery. If you give up the sense of doership and watch how you have fallen into a puzzle that is making use of your presence for life to go on. For nature you are just another tiny cell in its.infinite existence, while every tiny cell thinks himself or herself to be so great. Think about it. From the time we wake up till we go to sleep, how important and seriously we take our presence to be. For each human only he or she exists and that existence is thoe utmost priority, whereas in reality each is nothing more than a speck of dust. So what can happen if you are there or not there. Nature or god doesn’t care for merits or demerits. It has no particular interest in choosing only the best people for best things. That is simply a notion in our heads, come to us from a conditioning that has made us believe this. Know that, if you choose good, you will become the instrument for good things and if you choose bad, nature will automatically choose you for the bad. Good and bad are the dualities in nature that keeps the dual nature intact of bhuloka (earth). Both are parts of nature and the cosmos. However, through awareness, if you raise yourself up, for not just the good, but beyond the dual, without wanting to touch either good or bad, is when the dropping of doership begins happening. You are neither with good nor bad, you are just a witness of both. You will then begin noticing how insignificant you are. In noticing this, is the bliss of awareness that introduces you to your true identity – pure awareness – eternal consciousness – supreme bliss. Practice awareness to realise your true self, so that you can rise above all attachments and sense of doership.
The Nirvana Shatakam explains this true state of who you are:
Mano Buddhy Ahankara Chittani Naaham
Nacha Shrotra Jihve Na Cha Ghrana Netre
Nacha Vyoma Bhoomir Na Tejo Na Vayuh
Chidananda Rupah Shivoham Shivoham
Chidananda Rupah Shivoham Shivoham
Na Cha Prana Sangyo Na Vai Pancha Vayu
Na Vaa Sapta dhatur Na Vaa Pancha Koshah
Na Vak Pani Padam Na Chopastha Payu
Chidananda Rupah Shivoham! Shivoham!
Na Me Dvesha Ragau Na Me Lobha Mohau
Mado Naiva Me Naiva Maatsarya Bhavah
Na Dharmo Na Chartho Na Kamo Na Mokshah
Chidananda Rupah Shivoham! Shivoham!!
Na Punyam Na Papam Na Saukhyam Na Dukham
Na Mantro Na Teertham Na Veda Na Yajnaha
Aham Bhojanam Naiva Bhojyam Na Bhokta
Chidananda Rupah Shivoham! Shivoham!
Na Me Mrityu Shanka Na Me Jati Bhedah
Pita Naiva Me Naiva Mata Na Janma
Na Bandhur Na Mitram Gurur Naiva Shishyah
Chidananda Rupah Shivoham! Shivoham!
Aham Nirvikalpo Nirakaara Roopah
Vibhut Vyachya Sarvatra Sarvendriyanaam
Na Cha Sangatam Naiva Muktir Na Meya
Chidananda Rupah Shivoham! Shivoham!
I am not the mind, the intellect, the ego or the memory.
I am not the ears, the skin, the nose or the eyes.
I am not space, not earth, not fire, water or wind.
I am the form of consciousness and bliss.
I am the eternal Shiva.
I am not the breath, nor the five elements.
I am not matter, nor the five sheaths of consciousness,
nor am I the speech, the hands, or the feet.
I am the form of consciousness and bliss.
I am the eternal Shiva.
There is no like or dislike in me, no greed or delusion.
I know not pride or jealousy.
I have no duty, no desire for wealth, lust or liberation.
I am the form of consciousness and bliss.
I am the eternal Shiva.
No virtue or vice, no pleasure or pain.
I need no mantras, no pilgrimage, no scriptures or rituals.
I am not the experienced, nor the experience itself.
I am the form of consciousness and bliss.
I am the eternal Shiva.
I have no fear of death, no caste or creed.
I have no father, no mother, for I was never born.
I am not a relative, nor a friend, nor a teacher nor a student.
I am the form of consciousness and bliss.
I am the eternal Shiva.I am devoid of duality, my form is formlessness.
I exist everywhere, pervading all senses.
I am neither attached, neither free nor captive.
I am the form of consciousness and bliss.
I am the eternal Shiva
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