Spiritual Notions
Spiritual practice relies on having the correct notions.
Hope these will strengthen your core beliefs and serve as your guide in your realisations.
If only we see our life as filled with opportunities to neutralise all our sensations, feelings and emotions, then this life will become the catalyst for enlightenment; if not, the catalyst for a chain of events leading to a series of realisations that culminate in enlightenment.
Impermanence is omnipresent. It causes suffering, pain, and despair. Impermanence is synonymous with change that causes fear, anxiety, and distress. And yet, we embrace impermanence as if we are oblivious and impervious to it. We live busy lives to distract ourselves and in the process, lose the meaning of our existence.
What is spiritual practice in the 21st century? It is the pursuit of a conscientious body, mind and spirit! To know how to take care of your body conscientiously and ensure the health of the body. To conscientiously build a conscience: so as to know what is right and what is wrong- not vague or indistinguishable notions ...
What if we are the emotions that arise through the sensations and feelings we have accumulated in our interactions with people; our perceptions and experiences from present and previous lives?
If we were to observe our mind carefully, we would catch glimpses of our feelings and emotions embedded in our thoughts. These fleeting glimpses reveal our joys and sorrows, and on a greater scale, our sense of wellbeing.
There is a perfectionist in all of us. We desire life to be precisely the way we expected it to be. It has to be perfect for our fancy. We want our careers to go in a certain way; our spouses to behave to our liking; our children to do what we tell them ...
Karma is a curious Truth. It stems from our intentions and actions (or inactions) in our previous lives; but brought forth as sensations, feelings and emotions in this life. The cessation of Karma (sufferings) therefore must depend on our daily practice to neutralise these karmic sensations, feelings, and emotions before they tighten their stranglehold on us.
While Karma is ubiquitous, it does not mean that its origin is in the present; it’s most likely from a past life. The accumulated feelings and emotions give rise to our behaviours and habits in this life. So, by patronising or ignoring our estranged relationships will not neutralise the negative feelings and emotions (i.e., Karma), it is through noble acts of communication, love, sacrifice and service in the relationships that will remove the negativities.
Our mind is also awe-inspiring. It is capable of conscience - it is our guide to the rightness or wrongness of our behaviour. Our mind is the beacon to our wellbeing - our body and spirit. Without this mind, we are no different from beasts and we will always be driven by basic survival instincts - without any sense of right or wrong, and clueless with no ethical or moral compass. Our mind is also capable of choice.
We play different roles in our lives depending on our gender. Apart from our gender roles, we play other roles in society as well. In most circumstances, we can choose our societal roles but our gender roles are bestowed at birth. In other words, we cannot decide to change our gender roles without repercussions.
Gaining independence by becoming fully aware of our roles and responsibilities is a prerequisite to having deep and meaningful interdependent relationships. But does being independently aware mean that we should impose our perspectives and understandings on others? Should we assume that others would be ready to accept our independent awareness? How then should we be interacting with others?
Time slips away when you’re not watching because it is a reluctant witness. It is made of samsara. Only realisations and the dissolution of karma will liberate time from its witness stand- the culmination of enlightenment. Until then, you are the torchbearer and the maker of time- the keeper that ensures karma continues to burn bright during your darkest hours in samsara.
Always treat your relationships with fair and reasonable expectations at the appropriate time, and never lose sight of the outcome and the longer-term tangible and meaningful benefits you may derive from them.
Imagine Karma as a set of equations with constants and variables. All the Divine needs to do is to tweak some of the variables in each life and we will end up with a different, albeit predictable, outcome. A consequence of our feelings and emotions. The answer to defeating Karma is as simple as not overreacting whenever the variables are changed.
According to Nalakuvara, we have the tendency to do one of 2 things: (1) to make excuses for not doing the things that we ought to be doing: things which we know are right for us; or (2) to find reasons to continue doing the things we are doing - even when we knew the consequences - so as to continue on the path we have chosen for ourselves.
A great many suffer from it. Some fought and died because of it. History speaks of men so full of it, yet no one talks about it, because they all want it.
Transformational faith is the pillar of our connection to the Divine. Through it, we are inspired to progress on our spiritual path; we are empowered to make the right decisions, and we are encouraged to delay instant gratifications that have become synonymous with modern living. In transformational faith, we live a guided life and we become one with the Divine.