HomeSelf-careThe secret of abundance

Have you ever wondered how to be peaceful and create peace around you? MEGHANA ANAND embarks on her own peace mission and shares her experience.

Recently, a little message inscribed on my pen stand caught my attention: “The way to find your peace is to help others find it.”

You may ask: how to help others find peace when I myself don’t have it? It is a very valid and potent question – I too sought an answer. So I posed this question to nature, and these are the answers I received:

I asked Sun: Why are you never dark?
To shine is my nature –
on thief and saint alike I shine.”

I asked Tree: Why are you never empty?
“To give is my nature –
deserving or undeserving, unconditionally I give.”

I asked Child: Why are you never sad?
“Joy is my nature –
the world is full of wonder; I laugh without fear.”

I asked Ocean: Why are you never quiet?
“To roar – at the surface – is my nature;
but life in my depths is still and clear.”

I asked Candle: Why don’t you live long?
“That’s not in my nature –
I burn and consume myself in giving light to the other.”

I asked God: Do you really love?
I wonder what is His nature.
God smiled.
“I know not my nature; I am Nature.
I know not whether I love. I am Love.”

 

So the secret lies in integrating the condition of peace with one’s being. For me personally, Heartfulness is bringing about this integration slowly but surely, both within and without.

Most of us face the challenge of manifesting the changes we want to see in ourselves and the world around us. We know we have to change, but we don’t know how to change. While change must start from within us, can it be in isolation? Humanity is one entity, so surely global change is the need of the hour, to sustain change both at the micro and macro levels.

How does Heartfulness help in manifesting this? I can share from my personal experience.

The Heartfulness practice of cleaning is a wonderful tool to find and make peace with myself at the end of a stressful day. I experience rejuvenation and lightness, both at the physical and mental levels, at the end of the cleaning process. I feel fresh and relaxed no matter how stressed I have been during the day. After cleaning, the day and its stresses are behind me, and I look forward to a relaxed evening with my dear ones.

Just before going to bed, I close my eyes and connect with my higher Self through the Heartfulness practice of prayer for a few minutes. These moments of pause and silence are precious, as they help me to contemplate on the areas that I need to improve. They help me to be honest with myself, allowing me to unload myself of any unnecessary burden and sleep with a light heart.

I haven’t come across anything more promising to start the day with than Heartfulness meditation. An hour of stillness and calm at daybreak, in touch with my Source, paves the way for a day full of potential and poise in the midst of worldly chores. Well begun is half done! The next little step is to carry the condition I experience during meditation wherever I go, in whatever I do, and see the difference that makes.

Heartfulness has several other wonderful elements, especially the effects of Transmission. It brings transformation at the micro or cellular level, integrating change with my very being. This change at the micro level is sustainable and radiates from within, outwards into my world. As I am growing in peace and harmony with myself, I feel the need to share the same with everyone with whom I come in contact in my daily life.

Talking about our interconnectedness, Parthasarthi Rajagopalachari explains: “Quantum physics says, whatever you may appear to be, you are ‘this’ – you are particles floating around in the quantum field which by some act of imagination or thought has coalesced into the form that you see and you think this is ‘me’ … You have isolated yourself wilfully because you are using your will by thinking ‘I am’. The moment you say ‘I am’, you are this and the rest is that.”

Maybe we have all experienced this. Even within my family, I have observed that a block or a discord with one person affects the rest of the family, either directly or indirectly. This is true of any social group – family, workplace or any other group with a common goal. Each member of the group is linked with each and every other member, and a block in one means a block in the flow of energies of the entire group. This is why it matters so much that we help each other to free ourselves from all that is binding us – both as individuals and as a group.

The same holds true in spreading peace. No doubt, peace begins within, and inner peace brings world peace. But we need practical tools to fill the gap between knowing and accomplishing. With the tools of Heartfulness, I have consciously started working upon myself to bring about the changes I want to see in the world I live in.

Initially I may be the nucleus of change in my family,
Slowly the family turns into the nucleus of the community,
The community becomes the nucleus of the country,
and so it keeps spreading.


No doubt, peace begins within,
and inner peace brings world peace.
But we need practical tools to
fill the gap between knowing and accomplishing.


In fact, one candle is enough to dispel the darkness in a room. Let’s go one step further: when you break the walls of the room, then there is no ‘inside’ and ‘outside’. There is no darkness, only oneness.

Once I expressed my concerns to an elder about my inability to change and grow as much as I wanted to, and as fast as I wanted to. He told me a great secret: to pass on whatever I had gathered in my journey, instead of waiting for a total overhaul of my nature before serving. He said, “Pass on whatever you receive, as soon as you receive it.” The secret of abundance lies in giving.

I am reminded of a story I read during my childhood. A wise teacher invited all his students for a sumptuous meal at his home, and when food was served he told them that they had to eat without bending their elbows. All the students were in a dilemma: how to pick up food and put it in their mouths without bending their elbows? One boy suddenly had the answer. Without bending his elbows at all, he took some food from the table and fed the boy opposite him. The other students watched and took their cue, and soon every student had their fill of the feast!

As I finish writing this, the little message on my pen stand continues to attract my gaze: “The way to find your peace is to help others find it.” And this is the peace mission that I have embarked upon. It definitely begins with me, but it is not restricted to me. I am not isolated. Please join me!



Article by MEGHANA ANAND



Comments

LEAVE A REPLY