All is well??

Check this out. When you walk down the street and meet someone you ask, “How are you?” The reply has to be “Fine!” or “Good!” or “Nice!” or “Great!” etc.  Same when someone asks you this ritualistic or traditional question, you end up giving the same answer. The answer means “All is well.” But here my true question is “Is all really well?” and “Are you really fine?”

Anything that we repeatedly do for a period of time becomes a habit or rather creates a neuropathway in our brains that over a period of time becomes so conditioned that it requires no more effort to do it. Same is the how are you and I am fine conditioning. We forget that these conditioning may be affecting our lives. So many conditioning has happened by now that it is literally impossible to be truly honest, even to our own selves. This article is more than a self-help article. Now, the literal condition is such that even the ones needing to know this article may also tend to discard it saying “When all is well why should I be reading this?” or “I don’t need to know anything on this subject because everything is fine with me.” That is again conditioning. For one to know the truth of what are you or who exactly you are, one needs introspection. Introspection with just a few moments with one’s own self and asking and probing deep if I am being true to myself in all aspects.

More of the life’s problem is because we see that we are being treated negatively, we are being troubled, we are being targeted, we are being taken advantage of, injustice is being done to us, etc, etc, but if one carefully introspects not a single external being has given us trouble. It is all our own creations. Sadly, to worsen things, this aspect is not understood and the blame continues to be projected outward and thus creating and attracting more miseries from the outside world.

This morning I was just thinking about most of the people close to me as friends, relatives or family members. I was thinking of a few friends who loved talking about the entire world and all the creatures and stories and gossips in it but disliked even talking one bit about their own selves. So much they suffered from within but so tactfully and so gracefully managed to keep their external bodies and faces happy. This reflects the same to the first question I asked here – the how are you and I am fine stuff. There is so much of harm done to one’s own self by the lies that one speaks to one’s own self. “I am fine. It is the world that is bad.” There are two extremes of people. One who says that he/she is doing great and whatever problems are there in their lives are coming from miserable outer beings who want to make their lives miserable. The other extreme is the ones who feel that they themselves are to blame for everything and the world continues to torture the poor they. This is the self-pity type. But here still the world is to blame for adding up to their miseries. Both these types suffer for there is no total acknowledgment that what is coming to them is what they themselves created. Both the categories focus on the external things and factors and continue to blame, curse, hate, attack these external factors. The cycle continues. More anger is spewed, more resentment, more revenge, more attacks, more sarcasm and criticism, everything dumped again and again outward. The law of karma or the law of Newton works silently whether one wants to believe it or not. “The law of karma says, ‘As you sow you reap’ and Newton’s law says, ‘Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.” Just one little true introspection for a few seconds on one’s own self can end this endless cycle of give and receive. If this law is understood then this time when one thinks again one will notice that to receive one has to first give. So if you are receiving something it means you have already given something in the same form. This includes the blessings in your life. If good things are coming your way, it is only because you have given it out in the past. If negative things are coming your way it also means you have given it in the past. So, how does one stop receiving any thing negative in life? Simple – stop giving anything negative out! The highest harm that comes is with the ignorance of one’s actions when one gives out more negativities in negative situations. If insult comes your way, the reaction is to insult back. If anger comes your way, the reaction is to retaliate with fury. If bad luck comes your way, the reaction is to curse more. All these reactions are with an attempt to get even. In an attempt to pay back and make things tit-for-tat. Somethings these reactions are even to create more injury or harm to others than that was caused to oneself, so that there is no further retaliation from the other part. What is sadly forgotten here is that one is still creating more problems for oneself. The more you give the more you receive back. It is only a matter of time before what you sent out starts to boomerang.

It is a myth to feel that all problems external can be destroyed. Nothing can be destroyed. We hear of incidents where one gets the enemy killed or one physically disable the enemy. All this is done with a sense of insecurity, feeling a false sense of security when the enemy is destroyed or disabled. What one forgets here is that what comes back may not be the same person or situation, but what comes back is the misery in similar form. More enemies sprout out suddenly that will move towards you to complete the cycle of giving back what you have given. Their reasons might be totally different but what does not differ is the justified action coming back to you. It will come for it has to come; one can manipulate things in their lives but the laws of the Universe cannot be manipulated.

There is so much going on in our lives. Everything that we are going through is give and take. Both the good and bad incidents of life. So when bad things happens one should not “pretend” all is fine and continue living as though nothing has happened. Just thinking it will go away will not make it go away unless the reactions to these incidents are not in the same line of negativity. Have more of retrospection of one’s soul agenda and the journey through life. For ones who do not want to do this, life is going to be difficult to deal with in the coming years. These are the times when the truths of life are being openly revealed for mankind’s betterment. There are numerous opportunities springing up to give you the insight of what you need to do to bring more harmony into your life, to wipe our miseries from your life and to help you stop create further problems for you. For all, the only requirement that is needed at this hour is the introspection. Probe within and try to get rid of things that you dislike in others. For what you dislike in others is a very much true part of your personality. If ego is what hurts you in others, if jealously is what bothers you about your partner, if insincerity is what you are worried about in your spouse, if dishonesty is bothering you in your children, if selfishness is what you dislike in your colleagues then know that all these are abstracts are a huge part of your personality. It is from within yourself that you need to get rid of it rather than aiming to change the people around. People and situations are nothing but mere reflections of your own true selves. So, this introspection can begin from looking at people. This is easier because it is much more difficult to probe within one’s own self. The mind will lie and be dishonest because noone wants to feel inferior. We are the best judges when it comes to judging people but utterly miserable when we have to judge ourselves. This is also due to the false ego and false feeling we have carried about ourselves. It is easier to see others and judge others because we can notice them and observe them very easily and clearly as our attention is very good to focus on them. We fail on ourselves because we can never focus on ourselves; rather, it is difficult to observe our own selves unbiasedly.  The best way to know is would be to video tape your own self and then watch the recording of how you behaved. You will catch many things that you dislike and feel embarrassed about it also. Know that other people are video cameras who read you clearly of things that you might disapprove of.

So, all the work that has to be done to make a better world is within. No need of peace rallies, no need of sting operations, no need of wars, no need of clean-up operations, no need of increasing police or armed forces, no need of speeches and sermons, no need of threatening children, no need of using any fear tactics on others, no need of emotional blackmails, no need of changing the education system, no need of changing the government, no need of memorandums, no need of meetings, talks and discussions, no need of carrying out movements, no need of strikes, no need of noncooperation, no needs of boycotting, no need for death penalties, no need for punishments, nothing, nothing. All these are tactics used to try to change the external. Man has never succeeded. That is why with even the increase of all these tactics man has miserably failed to achieve what one wants to see. What one wants to see is actually their own part. They try to see what they want, in others and fail. Then they believe by changing others they can be happy and they still fail. Everything begins from oneself and ends with oneself. The externals are only mirrors. Man is blindly firing into the mirrors, trying to kill their own reflections. It is like nursing your wounds on your reflection on the mirror. Mirror will end up having more bandages and treatments and you will still remain miserable. How if the wounds are nursed and taken care of on the self itself? Miraculously the wounds in the reflection will get healed. This is the simple thing that God in any form – through Christians, Hindus, Muslims, Buddhism, Sikhism, etc tried to convey and are trying to convey but everyone is just lost in external battles. All the saints and prophets and masters came to show this to you and point out to you. They have always told about the bad in us and we take their teachings seriously and judge how bad it was in others, just ignoring our own selves. Is that real honest? Will that really work out that way when we our cheating our own selves?

In the coming years, these are the challenges offered to you by masters of all times – in the living and nonliving forms. Challenges to change your own self, purify your own self. It is all in our freewill to chose what we wish to do. If we do not wish to suffer we must change our attitudes and outlooks immediately. For the goodness of these truths are now catching up. Previously, one could fool anyone with what one wished to do, but now the time is gearing up to face truths. Everything is answerable now. The process of Karma has speeded up. That is why one can see chaos all around – in individuals, in families, in society, in countries, in the world. All that was given is returning at a rapid rate. This is not to punish you for nothing external can punish you, you yourself punish yourself. The process is acting fast so that one pushed to the edge where one can now realize that things do not work in the same old fashion. Old tricks and methods will not work anymore. Sufferings are nothing but reminders of these facts that there is something wrong with what you are doing or where you are heading. Change and the result changes. Change within and everything around changes. One may ask if by changing one’s own self how can corruption, injustice, havocs, miseries, disasters, crime, etc in the world stop? They will continue for as long as people keep doing it externally and they will continue attract such similar experiences. But as an individual what will change is the outlook and reactions to external situations. That is why if you look at saints and masters they are unperturbed by what is happening outside. They are compassionate but never pity others for any condition for they know it is their own consequences that they are facing. External hurts, insults, praise, criticism never affect a fraction of their mental peace and joyful aura. They live in their own world of happiness and continue to emit only positivity such as love, compassion, help, joy, peace, healing and continue to receive these as everlasting gifts in their lives. They come a step forward to teach humanity how to follow these simple steps and live but man mocks them and ignorantly continue feeling very superior to these great souls and continue begging and pleading God to make them free of their miseries. Running to God, offering your valuables and pleading to change the world for you will not make even a fraction of difference to whom you are praying to. It is time to knock your common sense to wake up and know that God is within. Foolishly even God or the supreme power is treated as an external thing. Everything is within. The whole Universe. Ask that divine within to change and it will change for there is no difference between God and you. When you see Him external you need to fear him and do all rituals and worship outside. When you see him internal and as a part of you, you begin treating your own body as a temple, church, mosque, gurdwara and continue to worship the one within you. When this happens miracles happen because now you will not allow any negativity to grow within or sprout from within. You inner self will be treated as divine with love and respect. When this happens, all that you emit will be positivity and thus in the due course all that you will end up attracting is positive conditions and situations. Situation and conditions of peace , joy and contentment not outside but all of this deep within. Finally, one will realize that this is what one has been searching for throughout one’s life and perhaps lifetimes! Stay blessed