IF ONLY WE SAW…..

If only we saw the different shades of green in the leaves,

If only we could witness the hues of blue in the sky,

If only we saw the changing colors of the sun during the day,

If only we could hear the varied sounds of the chirping birds,

If only we could understand the phenomena of heat and cold,

if only we could realize the process of changing seasons,

If only we could experience the vibrant colors of flowers,

If only we saw all these and many other things around us,

that we will understand HIS grace in the umpteen things that we experience each day.

HIS grace in all the phenomenon and many other things.

How He prevents us from being locked outside the house,

by sending us a reminder about the possibility of the keys being left inside.

How He prevents us from falling, even after landing on an uneven terrain.

How He gets us out from so many troubles that could have been a nuisance in life.

How He prevents us from getting so many illnesses and keeps us in good health.

How He brings us out of a bad patch in life.

How inspite of a bad illness He brings to healthy state.

How He charters the path for us and gives shape to our rightful thoughts.

How He shows hope when all gets scattered & hopeless.

How He does millions of things for us each day, without us realizing them.

To reminisce all & His grace we need to open our eyes to the realities of life and,

see all that we are experiencing each day.

Only then will we understand His blessings and will be grateful for all.

But ONLY IF WE SAW…..

MAMTA SEHGAL

AUTHOR-THE PERENNIAL JOURNEY, ROOH-E-RUMI

LIFE !

What is life; just a bunch of lies.

Lies which are a part of our childhood and adolescence, which everyone around us gives us.

The world of Barbie’s, toy trains and bedtime stories; depicting a life full of roses. Not half of them are true, but we still believe in them waiting for them to come true.

The youth is another bunch of even bigger illusions. The unreal thoughts, feelings and inconsequential concerns, which become irrelevant as we tread.

In reality, the truth is only revealed when half the life is sealed.

It is only then when we understand the world around us; the people, the situations and the circumstances and understand the meaning of life.

And they are the ones that teach us the real lessons of life and make us truly wise .

But till then, it is too late in life. The more is lost and the less is left. We ponder on the wrongs we did, but there was no way we could forbid.

The only way left now is to live a life of reality, where we bar ourselves from duality, being truthful to us and every entity.

Mamta Sehgal. AUTHOR- THE PERENNIAL JOURNEY, ROOH-E-RUMI

THE POWER OF SELF

What we do in our life, how we conduct ourselves, how we let others treat us, how often do we get hurt by the conduct of others; in short-every emotion or feeling we experience, all depends on our own self. Nothing, at all depends on others.

Each day all the people that we may interact with, carry their own mindsets and thought process and behave in a way acceptable to just them and there’s no way we can change that and thus shouldn’t even attempt it. Thus it is purely on us how we remain unaffected by such acts of other people and how we manage ourselves rather than managing others is what is crucial for our own mental balance.

If we keep getting affected by everything that people say or do than we are ourselves bringing us to a doomed situation, from where there’s no revival. It’s a labyrinth that keeps us sucking us in its darkness. And more so if we keep engrossing ourselves in such affairs than we are giving undue importance to those people. Knowingly or unknowingly we are making them so powerful that their acts get the ability to break us.

The best part is that these people are oblivious of what they are doing to others and in what degree their acts are having a bad influence on other people and the reason for this is that according to them they are ideal as well as righteous and never attempt anything wrong that might hurt others. So, ultimately we become the sufferer of our own thoughts.

There’s a famous saying, ‘We are the outcome of our thoughts, which can make or break us.’

To live an ideal life, we must be aware of ‘The power of our own self’ and rely only on its guidance. This power comes from within and the moment we start to communicate with it and start believing in it’s power it starts to guard and guide us. And thus we must believe in this power and ask for its assistance in everything we do in our life. Till the time we don’t ask for answers, the self remains quite but as soon as we start interacting, the answers or the guidance start flowing.

So, rather than material or external sources or people in general, make a powerful relationship with your own self. Do not give power to people to treat you badly, rather give power to your own self to keep you protected.

Make others powerless by not reacting or getting affected by what they do and make yourself so powerful that you can face any turbulence without being touched by it. Take yourself to a level where you are unaffected by anything around you. When you start doing this, you will experience a change in how you feel because now the conduct of people will become meaningless for you. The people will keep doing what they intend but you or your mind will cease to react and thus remain untouched.

The inner self will make you so powerful that nothing will reach you and this will put you in a zen situation with utmost happiness, peace & calmness. And that’s the real and the only way to lead an ideal life.

Someone has rightfully said, ‘If you ever get the chance to treat them the way they treated you, I hope you choose to walk away and do better.’ So walk away from everything that might pull you down or give you an unrest, never get into the give back mode, just keep yourself free of these thoughts to lead a powerful life.

Mamta Sehgal.

THE PROPHET VISITS A SICK MAN

An old acquaintance of the prophet Mohammad was taken ill. Unable to eat, he had lost a great deal of weight and had become invalid. When the prophet heard about his old friends pitiful state he decided to pay him a visit. As he walked into the sick man’s room he realized that the old man’s days were numbered. But the old man was so thrilled and grateful to see the prophet sitting beside him that he felt like he’d been gifted with a new lease on life.

‘’My illness has brought me this unbelievable fortune!’’ he uttered feebly. ‘’The prophet himself has come to pay me a visit! What an auspicious morning. How grateful I am for all my pains and aches, for they have brought the prophet to my side! God has bestowed me my wish in my old age. He has given me such a backache that I can’t sleep at night from the pain, but there is no torture; it’s in fact my treasure. My prayers have been answered before my death.’’

The prophet was puzzled when he heard the old man praying for pain.

He said, my friend you have been praying erroneously. You may have thought that you are asking God for sweet kindness, but in fact your wrong words have brought you much misfortune. It sounds like, instead of healthy life you have been begging for affliction.

The poor man said, “I felt guilty for many sins I had committed and was frightened of Gods punishment. I prayed that He would inflict all the tortures of hell upon me while I’m still alive so that I can pass into the next world in peace. Now I am riddled in such pain and suffering.’’

The prophet looked at the man with great sorrow: “Be aware, and never again repeat such a prayer. When you pray to God, ask for an easier life to endure, not one that’s more difficult than you can bear. Ask God for only goodness in this life, and in the next! Ask that your path cross through gardens with lush flowers guiding your way back to Allah, who should be your ultimate destination.’’

So, always be thoughtful of what you pray and wish for in life, because contrary to our belief, God is aware of all our acts, listens to all our prayers and rewards us at the right time and occasion. Sadly, our adverse and negative contemplations at every moment send wrong signals to the Power above and He fulfills what we wish for. Unknowingly there is always a huge contrariness in what we wish and what we desire. As a result of our negative outlook our wishes are totally opposite to our desires and God fulfills what we wish for and resultantly we get into the labyrinth of problems as a result of our own doings.

Thus, to a large extent, leading a peaceful and a joyful life is in our own hands. It just calls for a prudent way of life.

Mamta Sehgal.

MONEY CAN’T BUY YOU LIFE, ONLY GOD CAN.

My recent two months stint with Corona and my two weeks stay in ICU in the most critical conditions was an eye opener for many. There were repeated attempts by doctors to revive me when my oxygen levels decreased to unmanageable levels and at one point, the family was told that there were bleak chances of survival. Struggling to breathe even with all the ICU paraphernalia even I used to think there’s no point of such life where I will have to be dependent for survival. But than there was some Power which still wanted me to be there.

We have all heard the phrase that, ‘Money cannot buy you happiness.’ But going through all the ordeal when every breath counted as the oxygen cylinder couldn’t not be arranged, there were no ICU bed and the medicines which needed to be administered immediately were unavailable, I realised that leave aside happiness, money can’t even buy me life and it will only be possible if the Power above wants it to be. In spite of easy availability of money which could be spent on the best of facilities, I was struggling to breathe in an ambulance in the hospital parking for two hours, people managing my situation pronouncing that it was no age to go. But when resources can’t help much, there’s this power that does miracles for you, streamlines everything unimaginably and gets you all that you need to survive.

I have always been a firm believer that we humans are nothing but a puppet in the hands of God and this incidence helped me prove this to many. What do we humans boast of ? The money, the fame, the health, the beauty, all that is, is there till He wants and only He wants. We are able to use the riches or enjoy everything that has been bestowed on us if He wants, otherwise we are just left to be mere spectators to everything around us. If we are gripped with illness than even the best of resources or the heavenly environment that we live in are a waste because our health does not allow us to enjoy things that we proudly possess and think to be ours.

So, if we haven’t learned our lessons till now, it is time for us to realise the presence of divine nature and the power that runs our life. We must understand that money can’t buy us anything -happiness, health or life, only HE can. So let’s be grateful for all that we have and stop believing that we are the doers of things happening in our life and give credit to the one who’s actually running the complete show.

Mamta Sehgal.

EXPECTATION OR ACCEPTANCE!

Life is all about expectations. At each stage of our life we expect things from the people around us. We expect a certain outcome to everything and every situation that life puts us in. We expect things to happen our own way. But most of the time it doesn’t happen the way we want it to be and that puts us into lamentation and solitude.

When it comes to people’s behavior towards us, we expect it to happen in a particular manner, which is suitable just to us, but sadly it never happens. We are put into the many abominable situations because of people and it becomes difficult to handle such situations and thus stress erupts.

What is the solution to this problem that each day brings us to? The easiest way to overcome this problem is to remove all ‘EXPECTATIONS’ and follow the mantra of ‘ACCEPTANCE’.

Whether it is the people, their behavior, or situations, we should stop expecting anything from anyone and should start accepting the way people or situations are. We should accept the fact that we can in no way change the people or their behavior or the situations around us and we have to accept them as they are, and it is only then that we can buy our piece. Always remember, it is the clash between our expectations and acceptance that causes the pain and unrest in our life.

Lets take the example of our personal life. We have our family members, domestic helps, friends, and so many people we meet each day and find each one of them having a peculiar way of conduct and behavior. There are times we do not like the way a particular person behaves or his/her habits. Each day we expect them to behave in an opposite manner but nothing changes. The more we see them and expect them to behave in a specific manner, the more we get irritated. Nothing changes in them but it surely affects us, because of our irritation towards their demeanor. The more we try changing them the more frustrated we become. So the question is that how can we overcome this frustration? The easiest way is to accept things as they are and ignore whatever is happening around us. When we start doing that, our attention is focused on our own acts, rather than the acts people indulge in. It makes life pretty much easier than what we had made it into.

There is another example I would like to mention here. Imagine it’s a pleasant evening and we are sitting in our lawn reading a book of our interest. Few minutes later someone in the neighborhood starts playing loud music, and all our attention is diverted towards that music and starts to irritate us, so much so that we loose all attention from the book and start to think of that music and how we can stop it. The more we think about it, the more annoying it becomes and we instantly loose our peace of mind. So how can we bring ourselves out of this situation? -By acceptance. We have to tune our mind to ignore the music, prevent it from bothering us, and try to concentrate on our read and the pleasant weather that surrounds us. We have to accept the fact that someone is indulging in something they like. The moment we accept this fact, all our annoyance vanishes and the same music sounds soothing to our ears.

Hence think what will you choose-EXPECTATION OR ACCEPTANCE, to make your life peaceful and stress free.

Mamta Sehgal.

THE STORY OF LIGHT & DARKNESS

Light and darkness are the two most prominent opposites in this world and there were two very close friends who symbolized these two scenarios aptly: The Sun and The cave. The Sun we all know signifies light. The darkness of night fades with the first ray of light and it only takes one single ray of light to illuminate the surroundings. The Cave on the other hand denotes total darkness and probably is unaware of the phenomena called light.

One day the Sun and the Cave got into a conversation. The Sun had trouble understanding what darkness meant and the Cave didn’t equally understand what light & clear meant. So in order to make the other understand the two expressions, they decided to switch places.

The Cave went up to the Sun and was overwhelmed with the brightness of the shining natural light. But at the same time became morose at the kind of condition she lived in and thus invited the Sun to come to her abode. The Sun went down to the Cave and saw no difference. Everything was illuminated with its light and that is why the Sun could not see any darkness in the Cave.

The reason for this is that the Sun took its light along and wherever it went, it became bright and shiny. This incidence signifies that the enlightened ones take their light to wherever they go and illuminate the entire atmosphere with their positivity and cheerfulness. They can never be pushed to darkness because they carry their brightness on their shoulders.

On the other hand, those full of darkness, negativity, fear and doubt, unknowingly become a Cave, which is all dark and shady & sees no light. It’s a hell within and no matter how much knowledge one accumulates, one remains hollow.

It is thus extremely important for us to know the light within and to be illuminated like the Sun, because it is then the darkness of the Cave wouldn’t matter. In spite of being in the worst of situations we will still be able to find our light or blessings somewhere and will be carrying our heaven within us.

Mamta Sehgal.

ATTAINING THE STAGE OF ANANDAMAYA

Human life is extremely precious and every human is meant to undergo austerity to purify one’s existence, otherwise one continues to be in the cycle of birth and death because of contamination by the modes of material nature. The true purpose of human life thus is to purify oneself of this contamination so that we can regain our spiritual form and not undergo this cycle of birth and death. And the recommended process of decontamination is devotional service to the lord. There are various processes for self-realization, such as karma, jnana and yoga but none of them match the process of devotional service. As gold and silver can be freed from all dirty contamination by being put into a fire and not merely being washed, the living entity can too be awakened to his own identity by performing devotional service but not just by karma, jnana or yoga.

The word varnam refers to the luster of one’s original identity. The original luster of gold and silver is brilliant. Similarly, the original luster of the living being, who is part of the sac-cid-ananda-viraha, is the luster of ananda, or pleasure, Anandamayo bhyasat. Every living entity has the right to become anandamaya, joyful, because he is part of the sac-cid-ananda-vigraha, Krsna.

Why should the living entity be put into the tribulation because of dirty contamination by the material modes of nature? The living entity should become purified and regain his svarupa, his original identity & this can only be done by devotional service. Therefore, one should adopt the instructions of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is described as guror guruh, the spiritual master of all other spiritual masters.

So it should be our devoir to take the guidance of the guru or take the direct teachings from the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna so that we regain our true identity and go back home, back to Godhead and attain the stage of Anandamaya.

Mamta Sehgal.

LIFE’S EXPECTATIONS

WHAT IS IT THAT WE EXPECT FROM OUR LIFE? A question not even a single human being has been able to answer till date.

The fact is that no one of us ever has the clarity of what we require to be happy and contended in our life. We may have everything material required to lead a comfortable life; may it be money, resources, food, clothing or anything required for our well being and comfort but alas even that does not make us happy. We still live in a state of solitude and sorrow. Nothing brings a smile on our face; nothing at all.

Although we are aware of everything that is happening around us; people struggling with poverty (we see our maids or other helps slogging for a month to receive a salary which we may spend on a single family dinner or on our other luxuries), people fighting dreadful illnesses for years in spite of bad financial conditions, people without jobs fighting everyday with destiny to make sure they can take care of their family, and most important, people leaving the world as a result of untimely deaths.

All these incidences and situations do hit our conscience for a little while and we feel sorry for the one’s facing such problems and feel grateful for our own good state but this lasts for a very short period and sometimes later we are in the same somber state of mind; a situation of melancholy and a sense of forfeit in our own life. The life seems aimless and there’s nothing that brings cheer. In spite of understanding that what we are doing and have caught ourselves into is worthless and absolutely undesirable, we still choose to be in it.

All our lives we keep chasing family goals, sometimes with ease and happiness but sometimes with great stress, but still find satisfaction and a feeling of accomplishment after doing it but as soon we are done with all our responsibilities we get into a vacuum and a complete void; a situation seldom explainable but transpires for everyone.

So in nutshell, we are troubled and dejected in both the situations; when we are actually struggling to make a living and fulfill all our social responsibilities and when we are free from them and have all the comforts in life, are in good health and have nothing to worry about.

Although the situation is there in everyone’s life but it’s truly uncalled for. By doing this we display our callousness to the one who’s given us all. Instead of being grateful for all that we possess we become mournful for things that do not exist and are a creation of our own mind. This situation is extremely difficult to handle and all that we can do is to ask for help from the Power above. No medicines or treatments can cure this situation but that eternal Power can surely take care of this.

Thus, we need to be thoughtful of our behavior and well being and should not ruin it for a reason, unknown to even us.

MAMTA SEHGAL.

LESSONS TO BE LEARNED FROM COVID-19

Five lessons we need to learn from Covid-19.
1.There is a Supreme Power that rules the Universe and we are subordinate to His will. However hard we may try or whatever we may plan, but things only happen as per His plans and not ours. Bhagavad Gita confirms that behind the material laws or nature’s laws and behind the growth, maintenance, production, and evolution of all planetary systems -behind everything- is God’s direction.

2.Surrender- The most crucial and superior knowledge that Bhagavad Gita renders is ‘Surrender’-surrender to the will of God and be happy and satisfied in what He disposes. Total surrender can do wonders in our life; it brings us under the shadow of God, who protects us in every situation.

3.Learning to live with basics- Humans all their life run after accumulating endless material things and display that it is almost impossible to live without them, but this pandemic has brought forth the reality- that it is not so difficult to live with just the basics-food, clothing and other things. It is just our foreboding that forces us to be in the mad rush of acquiring more and more and give away our piece of mind in the bargain.

4.Endurance- This pandemic has taught the power of endurance- the power to face the extremities, bear the hardships and be patient in what is brought forth.

5.Harmony- This lockdown has brought harmony in the entire humanity- the harmony of thoughts, the harmony of emotions and the harmony of actions. Today the whole world stands united and all differences based on caste, creed and religion have become meaningless.

Mamta Sehgal