Tools to Consciously improve the quality of our inner life - Introspection

The meaning of the word “Introspection”, as an online dictionary suggests is soul-searching, looking within, contemplating on one’s own thoughts, emotions and feelings, self-analysis or heart-searching. Introspection especially is an un-ignorable tool to improve one’s inner spiritual life.

What Introspection is NOT

Introspection is NOT meditation; it is NOT concentration; is NOT sitting quietly.

What Introspection IS

Introspection is to look within; looking at one’s own self as a third person without being judgmental; watching one’s own self “as he/she is” and finding one’s own self as it is.

Introspections helps one to accept one’s own self as he is. Acceptance being the first step to Change one’s self. It helps us to identify our strengths and weaknesses/problems. Helps us to watch one’s own thoughts, emotions and feelings as they are. Helps one to identify the areas that can be worked upon; identify the areas that are difficult to work upon; and also helps us to identify the areas where there is no possibility to work upon and accept them.

That which can be worked upon should be worked upon consciously and got rid of immediately.

To deal with the areas that are difficult to work upon, we need to invoke the help of the Divine within or with the help of the Guru can be got rid of. The areas that appear to be impossible to work upon must be accepted heartily as they are by adjusting ourselves thinking it to be a part of the Divine Scheme and think that they have a significant role in our ultimate evolution. Thus ‘introspection’ as a tool can play a very vital role in accelerating our natural evolution.

Not to have Desires is also a Desire

It is said that Desires are what that make a man miserable. Some  other saint said, that it is NOT the desire but the slavery of the desire that does not allow us to advance. But even to "not to have desires" or trying to achieve "a desireless state"  is also a desire. How to solve this problem?  This question has been troubling me for several years now and constantly working at the back of my mind.  

I attempt to share the understanding that is revealed to me. One answer that occurred to me was  to desire a desireless state is really NOT a desire but an act of restoration to our original state from where we come. And it is NOT a selfish act but an act of dharma or duty that we go back to our original state. Another answer that occurred to me was perhaps that it is the only desire that removes all other desires to get back to our Origin or the Purest State. 

In tune with this, I found a Teaching that says, desires are of two types - Needs and Wants; that Needs are fundamental and basic to our existence and Wants are creations of human beings.

And so the FIRST STEP is to reduce Wants to Needs; and the SECOND STEP is to reduce NEEDs also to as minimum as possible all in a Conscious manner. This is Spirituality. This takes us to the State of Purity that we really belong.

The level acceptance determines one's position in the Evolutionary ladder. We can see such people around us very much and so it is very much a POSSIBILITY. This is the only way and an Universal way  when adopted can give human being  progressively a refined life. This is the way to Conscious Evolution.

My prayers that every human being is blessed with such a life  so that the World becomes a better place to live in.

Karmic Law and Human Being

It is a wonder to observe that a human being is subject to so many laws starting with Divine Laws, Karmic Laws, Universal Laws/Natural Laws,  Laws of the Land, Financial Laws, Medical Laws, this Law and that Law and it goes on. Yet he thinks he is supreme in some way. Whatever we are at present, we are the Resultant of so many  forces that are acting on us. Some are evolutionary, some are pulling against the evolution, perhaps they may may be called anti-evolutionary. All his life human being struggles with all these forces to get through or escape or transcend. Some succumb to these forces; some sail through reasonably; and some make it successfully. 

Of all these laws, as far as individual human being is concerned, it is a more a struggle between the Karmic Law and the Divine pull if any. Karmic Law seems to be inexorable. It appears it does not spare the greatest of beings; even those who teach us how to go Beyond. It does not spare a just-born child or to-be-born child for that matter; it does not spare the old or the young; it does not spare educated or uneducated; it does not spare the sinner or the saint.

In fact, this Karmic Law is something that defines our existence on earth.

There is pleasure and pain and all those dualities so often mentioned by all scriptures. Human being mistakenly goes in search of pleasure forgetting that pain comes along with it. In search of pleasure he undergoes all pains. It appears as if that the influence of Karmic Law is so much on the individual that he becomes utterly helpless though he pretends that everything is in his hands. It is only a pretension. We cannot explain otherwise why Stephen Hawking is like that or Helen Keller is blind; why a promising young man should die at such an early age falling from 2 feet? ; why a small child of 5 should suffer the death of its father and a mother suffering from brain-cancer who is almost ready-to-die?; somebody wants to become a an IAS, becomes a Clerk in the Government; somebody wants to become a doctor and he ends up as a software engineer; someone is ignorant dumb but he makes a fortune; etc etc. We see so many examples around us everyday. There seems to be absolutely no logic at all the way our life goes on. Human being is so helpless before the pull of the Karmic Law or Samskaras or in the modern parlance called the baggage that we brought with us. Inspite of all this human being ultimately evolves in some way at the end.

What is the solution? We need a solution that fixes this Karmic Law and takes us forward. All these forces mentioned above can be broadly categorized mainly into two major Forces viz., the Evolutionary and the Anti-evolutionary.  The human being is here ONLY to EVOLVE. So there are evolutionary forces that are trying to pull him up and there are forces that are against Evolution pulling him down. And the human being is in between. Towards what is the human being is orienting determines the level of his present evolution. The FIRST step is to be conscious of this reality. Once we recognize this reality the human being needs to be consciously make efforts to be ALWAYS oriented towards evolutionary forces through his thoughts, words, actions and most importantly with his heart. Because Heart is where the evolution happens. Take up any spiritual practise  that makes it happen. One should feel the experience on a daily basis to believe that this is happening. Please think contemplate and meditate till you get a solution for this.

However I found that Heartfulness Meditation is one such system I have been trying since several years. You can also try it if you so wish. Please visit www.heartfulness.org 

Thought Power and Meditation

Thought is the fastest means of communication available to human being. I don't think there is anything faster than 'Thought' in this Creation. The moment you think of something whether known or unknown, it instantly connects to that which you are thinking. It may be a person, place, thing or a concept; whether it is gross, subtle or subtlest or even subtler than subtlest. God is supposed to be subtler than subtlest. So thought is the ONLY means to connect with God or The Source from where everything emanates. In the human being also, before everything is actualized, it is in the form of thought inside us.

What is there before the thought? It is an idea. Idea is the potential form of thought. Idea when developed becomes thought. If we apply the same to this Creation, all this Creation must have been a thought before it is manifested. And before that thought there would have been an IDEA, the potential form of the Creation. And what is this IDEA? It must have been a little disturbance in SPACE or GOD-CONSCIOUSNESS. In the same way in HUMAN-CONSCIOUSNESS this small disturbance is called 'idea'.

So it can be inferred everything that happens within the human being is in some way a reflection of what happened before the Creation.

That is how the Creation has started and still EVOLVING of which the human being is an integral part and he is also evolving whether he knows it or not. Evolution is unconsciously happening in most of us like it is happening in minerals, plants, animals - the living and non-living. The ONLY and the great advantage that the human being is blessed with is, that he can participate in this EVOLUTION consciously using this Thought Power.

And if the Thought Power of the human being is consciously aligned with that ORIGINAL IDEA of Evolution that started at the SOURCE, the evolution of human being is faster, the ONLY purpose of the human being. The ONLY purpose of human being is to EVOLVE. That is the only most-fulfilling way of life.

Now, for whatever reasons, this alignment of human thought instead of being oriented or resonating with the ORIGINAL THOUGHT, lost it's way down the line and became dis-oriented. Meditation by regulating this thought power restores this orientation but makes possible the evolution that every soul is interested in. It is important to understand that Evolution never ends.

Especially the Heartfulness Meditation re-establishes this lost-connection with the SOURCE and facilitates the EVOLUTION that every souls is longing. Anybody can experience this system of Meditation for a brief period and can know in their own hearts where it could take.

Please visit www.heartfulness.org