Only the purity of our souls is permanent, everything else is temporary. Material things can never become ours forever, they belong to us today, will belong to another tomorrow. But the qualities accumulated by our Atma remain with us in this birth as well as future births. This corrupt mind lulls us into a false sense of ownership of all things external. Only when an Enlightened Master holds our hand and removes the delusion from within, does a disciple actually awaken and start correcting his misconceptions!! It is the harmony of Guru’s words and actions that instils the faith in HIS sermon.
Learning is the Raising of Character by the broadening of Vision and the deepening of feeling. Our actions and conduct is a reflection of our thoughts
So, how do we listen to his swadhyay to gain the most and the best? Brahmnisht Minalben shared some meaningful ways to help us absorb the Guru’s words and connect with him better; and encourage grasping true knowledge from any source or setting.
Be attentive to the Guru’s guidance and teachings – his words have divine wisdom filled in them
Feel the flow of his consciousness and not just the words – the guru speaks from his experience and awareness of inner self
Know that Guru wants you to succeed – When you reach a karmic block don’t be embarrassed to ask for his guidance
Follow his lead and inner guidance to move past the test of Karma
Persevere until you feel assured that you have attuned to His consciousness.
Use this awareness to build your confidence and strength for the spiritual journey
Pujya Bhaishree’s recent Holi swadhyay shed light on the immense value of gratitude so closely related to kindness, and so did the next chapter from ‘Pinnacle of Spirituality’ narrating one incident between Shrimad and judge Dharshibhai. Chapter 14 illustrates an incident when as a young boy, Shrimad overhears that his uncles plotting to kill Dharshibhai. His compassionate heart would not rest until he found a solution for this impending heinous crime, which would immerse his uncles’ in a sea of bad karmas. He alerted the judge and saved the situation. Gratitude is very closely related to Kindness.
‘Daya dharmnu mul chhe’ – Shrimad Rajchandra
Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thoughts creates profoundness/depth and Kindness in giving creates love. Try injecting little bit of kindness everyday with the intent of making it not just a habit but an effortless part of our nature and conduct.
Kindness and mindfulness are like two wheels to reach the heights of everlasting joy. Minalben and Vikrambhai shared different ways in which all of us can do our act of kindness everyday.
Say hello to everyone you meet
Give directions to someone who is lost
Provide water to stray people
Don’t interrupt when someone is explaining themselves
Simply say sorry when you have done wrong
Let someone in the queue go ahead in the line
Hold the door open for someone else
Compliment the first three people you meet in the day
Everyone is important – Learn their names
When everyone in a group are gossiping – remain silent
Feed a meal to someone
Forgive someone and never bring up that issue again
Help an elderly person
Try to ease the worry of your household help or someone who helps us daily
Feed/Save animals
Be kind to your family members
Refrain from focusing on to the weakness and shortcomings of your family members. Constantly referring to them leads to dissatisfaction and bitterness
Vikrambhai says kindness also means making an effort to achieve greater good and spreading joy. He shared two inspiring incidents:
Trustee of Gadge Baba Mission, Gunvantbhai, a simple and modest man, would clean the floor wherever he would go. He would himself bend, pick up and arrange shoes and footwear of other people even when nobody was looking.
Prabhashankarbhai would go house to house, collecting old newspapers, then carry large bundles of discarded newspapers to sell. The money that he collected from this back breaking work would be used to help poor farmers in villages.
It is human nature to be kind and soul’s nature to love and be happy. And there is joy in giving. So, shall we begin being Kind from Today?