Persevering through terrible experiences

The worst experiences are the ones which bring about the best strengths and character.

Once a man prayed god to give him strength, God responded by keeping a huge heavy rock blocking him. The man had to struggle to push it out of his way. It took many days. But at the end of it he got what he wanted - Strength. Due to the constant pushing of the rocks he had a well developed musculature, and his arms had become strong - This is how God answers prayers.


Some experiences in my life are so strong and so terrible - that i end up completely identifying myself with the mind. It happens within a flash of a second. one thought leads to the other ultimately resulting in a miserable state of mind with all the emotions surging like a volcano eruption.

On the goal to the merger with Siva there are many many pitfalls - major one being how we respond to the experiences in life. As long as we react, these miserable experiences keep repeating. The experiences stop when we have understood them and stop reacting to them. End of the day it was an experience - neither favorable or unfavorable, but a result of some past karma carrying some lesson and necessary for the evolution of the soul.

The spiritual path is a long, enduring process. It does not reach fruition in a year or two years.

The spiritual path brings lots of ups and downs, and the greatest challenges will come to the greatest souls. With this in mind, it becomes clear that steadiness and perseverance are absolutely essential on the spiritual path.
- Gurudeva

In the Shandilya Upanishad (upm, p. 173-174, dhriti (steadfastness)) has been described as preserving firmness of mind during the period of gain or loss of relatives/friends/a loved one. This implies that during times of sorrow, difficult karmas, loss and temptation, when in mental pain and anguish, being misunderstood by a loved one, while suffering a heart-break, feeling alone and neglected, we can persevere, be decisive and bring forth the dhriti or steadfastness strength within us and thus prevail.

Life has been providing these experiences to me lately, probably due to my own past karma, however the good part is it is giving me a chance to exhibit the quality of dhriti. My guru was tru when He said that the world is our university and each experiences is there to test us. From past 2 days, i can say that i have got a some amount of success in being steadfast and im happy about it. Going forward it will be the way i live my life.

One translator of the Varuha Upanishad used the word courage to translate dhriti. Courageous and fearless people who are just and honest prevail over all karmas--benevolent, terrible and confused. This virtue is much like the monk's vow of humility, part of which is enduring hardship with equanimity, ease of mind, which means not panicking.

The Tirukural reminds us, "It is the nature of asceticism to patiently endure hardship and to not harm living creatures" (261). And we can say that dhriti itself is a "hard ship"--a ship that can endure and persevere on its course even when tossed about on the waves of a turbulent sea.

Many a times I wonder why it is good to passively endure hardship. To persevere through hardship one must understand, as all Hindus do, that any hardship coming to us we ourselves participated in setting into motion in the past. To endure hardship and rise above it in consciousness is to overcome that karma forever. To resent hardship, to fight it, is to have it return later at a most inconvenient time.

The following steps will be put into effect from this day in order to express the quality of dhriti - steadfastness more effectively:

• An essential part of steadfastness is overcoming changeableness. Changeableness means indecision, not being decisive, changing one's mind after making a deliberate, positive decision. Changing one's mind can be a positive thing, but making a firm, well-considered decision and not following it through would gain one the reputation of not being dependable, even of being weak-minded. No one wants a reputation like this.

• To be steadfast, you have to use your willpower. Willpower is developed easily in a person who has an adequate memory and good reasoning faculties. To be steadfast as we go through life, we must have a purpose, a plan, persistence and push. Then nothing is impossible within the circumference of our prarabdha karmas.

• It is impossible to be steadfast if we are not obeying the other restraints that the rishis of the Himalayas laid down for us as the fruits of their wisdom. All of these restraints build character, and dhriti, steadfastness, rests on the foundation of good character. Character--the ability to "act with care"--is built slowly, over time, with the help of relatives, preceptors and good-hearted friends.
  

• Observe those who are steadfast. You will learn from them. Observe those who are not, and they, too, will teach you. They will teach what you should not do. To be indecisive and changeable is not how you should be on the path to enlightenment, nor to be successful in any other pursuit.

• Surrender all resistances unto Him - know thats All is Siva, everything is His will, and He is the ultimate well wisher of the soul.

Bhagwan Baba - a perfect example of steadfastness gave me a good darshan at whitefield yesterday for more than half an hour. He has a major backbone problem and a deteriorating physical condition - yet He arrives for darshan regularly everyday to bless His devotees. His projects that were discussed during a speech yesterday - are a perfect example of how seemingly impossible things are made possible by power of will and steadfastness. Sri Sathya Sai Water supply project which supplies drinking water to the whole of Godavari district, Sri Sathya Sai Super Speciality Hospital - providing free health care to all people including the tribal people who have no money - Shame on all the so called great countries like USA, UK, Australia and the whole of Europe for these countries cannot even think of something even close to "free" health care despite their technological advancements !

Thank you Baba for all the things you have done selflessly to mankind and for answering my prayer yesterday regarding Mr Manjunath and family, and for calling me for your darshan. I dedicate this blog post to You.