Be With the Storms
How to free yourself from the grip of storms? This is the only basic problem in this universe. The first thing is to become aware of it and stop regretting it. Like waves come and go, storms in your life too will subside. No one storm can be there for ever. One storm comes and subsides, another comes and subsides and it goes on. As the storm subsides, you experience that inner cool, soft, delicate aspect of yourself. In that space of calm, all the anxiety, fear, feverishness lose their grip on you and you become yourself again. Love dawns.
When you stop resisting the storms of life and start accepting them with open arms, they will subside on their own. That is the purpose of all spiritual practices, or sadhana, and meditation. When you realise that somebody really cares for you, you feel at rest and all fears and insecurities drop off.
You keep running away from small things -- your feelings, sensations, desires -- and this leads to more feverishness. Realize that like the ocean cannot be there without the waves, storms are inevitable in your life. Every storm touches you somewhere and makes you grow stronger. A storm pulls you out of your likes and dislikes and purifies you. So accept all that comes with both arms open. [...] Even when the storms come, you are still the same ocean, as deep as ever.
This realization is the culmination of knowledge. When this knowledge dawns, you rise above events; you grow out of them. Everybody in the world goes through crises, insecurities, confusions. It's like drowning in the ocean of life. But the person with the life jacket can survive even the worst turmoil. So keep your life jacket of knowledge handy.
[...] Do not be in a hurry to get rid of the storms, be with them. Looking for perfection creates imperfection inside you. If you are peaceful, everything around you becomes peaceful. You are the center of this universe. Wherever you go, you carry your own mind, and wherever you go, you will create your own storms. It may appear to be calm and quiet for sometime but the storm will surface sooner or later. Unless you realize this, nothing will hold. There is no other permanent solution. Don't resist the storms, instead see them as an amazing play of your personality.
--Sri Sri Ravishankar
It also occurs to me that this approach to accepting pain is useful for those who suffer from chronic pain. Anyone interested in reading more about this could check the work of Steven Levine.
Deep words here, deep, so deep but so peaceful. I feel nurtred for having read them. I am the centre of my world. I allow others also to be the centre of their world. Making another the centre of your world leads to far more turmoil. You can control yourself, you cannot control/should not try to control others.
Embrace the storm, learn from and with the storm. The storm may be within you or without, but if you go with the storm, you will survive.
true; storms r a part of our lifes n will come n go bt its how u deal with them that will make u strong and bigger than before
Unusually fine. It is being yourself and acceoting yourself which is no separate self. All readers continue to have our gratitude.
Amazingly deep yet so simple!
It also occurs to me that this approach to accepting pain is useful for those who suffer from chronic pain. Anyone interested in reading more about this could check the work of Steven Levine.
This brings to mind a piece of wisdom from a Cherokee elder, "What goes on in and around you reflects your own mind and shows you the dream you are weaving".
Parijat, in many cases, we ourselves don't know the sources (or they don't exist online), but whenever we can, we do try to put a link. This particular piece was sent in by a reader, Somik Raha; it was published by Times of India on 4 May 2009, in the "Speaking Tree" column, and is excerpted from a commentary on the Ashtavakra Gita.
I appreciate this and many of your postings -- but is it possible to list or even link to the source? It's helpful that you provide excerpts for a quick morning read, but often I want to read more of the piece or learn more about the author.
thanks!
I needed to read that, it made me feel better
