Stories

If you sit quietly, and zone out from your outer circumstances for just ONE moment, and carefully observe, you will notice something you wish you had not noticed. You will notice, the voice in your head. The voice in your head that speaks of how you are not good enough, how you cannot get anywhere, how circumstances are binding you, how everything is miserable, how you need to get ahead of where you already are and other words that sound similar.

How true is this voice in your head? It is pretty loud. And therefore accurate? It does always seem to point correctly to your life situation, so it MUST be right. 

Is it?

Does the voice in your head mirror the situation you are in or is it the other way round?

Have you considered stepping into the possibility that the voice in your head is exactly what is limiting your life situation? It is not mirroring reality, but creating and affirming all that is wrong within your reality?

Circumstances are not negative or positive - just teachers. Like all the years that have passed you on till now, this will too. What is the worst that can happen? 

You Die.

That is essentially the worst as fathomed by our minds. Death, annihilation, end. 

The truth within You knows that is not the end. It knows it's own immortal, perfect nature and hence it is fearless. Caged in our bodies, we live from the body, every minute rather than living from within our souls. We spend every moment in worry, calculating, analysing every step we take, thinking how much we risk, counting how many people we love, measuring HOW MUCH we love. 

Listen to yourself. "I did so much for her, the least she could do is love me back". "I sacrificed all my youth bringing them up, and they don't care anymore". "I give my whole heart to him, and he does not do anything special for me, he does not understand me". 

Are you really that much of a victim? Is that how you define care and loving? By what you get and not what you give? Is that your real self? Have you tried to see your authentic self, buried under those layers of judgement and opinion?

Gently try drop your focus on that voice inside your head that tells you everything is wrong. Smile at it. It will be surprised at you when you smile at it from a deep awareness of the truth of any situation ~ any situation's true "temporary" nature. Loosen your grip on what you don't want. Let it go, rather than thinking about how it will go wrong and keeping it alive within yourself. For once, connect with another being without judgement of their past or present, without holding onto what they have 'done' to you. Understand, that people are rarely themselves anymore, just their own stories. A large part of you is also just your own version of you. A story about yourself that you tell yourself, each moment of every day. This is the voice, the story, about yourself and others that forms the cloud you see all things through. It is your preferred choice of glasses, with a really high optical number! 

Don't be your own prisoner, woven within your own stories. Let yourself out. Let go. And while you do that, remember to Smile.

© Sneha Singh 2010

Light

It's been devoid of Light over the past few weeks for me, where I've been looking, (actually, frantically searching) for something to brighten me up. Diwali came and passed by just as quietly as it had arrived. I lit up my living room with many tiny candles that day, and it made me feel light. That's when I decided to light candles in my room each night before I went to sleep. The warmth and glow of the tiny candle lit up my room just appropriately lending me a strange sense of security amidst the internal chaos that had started to overwhelm me. Just while I was thinking of the Light that I had blocked out in my Life, very voluntarily, I received a text message from an unknown number thanking me for a candle I gifted them ages ago, which they were using today as they were facing an unexpected power cut. The sender had a test to study for and wrote that he/she had not intended to burn the angel shaped candle but was glad he/she had it when they needed the Light. I tried to reply back saying that I was glad to be of service, but it was an invalid number. I tried ringing the number and my call would not go through. My frantic outward effort to respond to this person quietened with an deep breath and a quiet smile as I remembered that three years ago I gave out approximately ten to fifteen angel shaped candles to friends as Christmas presents. Maybe someday I'll know who was the person that sent me that text.

The Light in my room has been giving me the nudge to sit in deep silence and find my way back into Love. Amidst the silence, I can hear so much chatter in my head that I have to remind myself to quiet down. I have to remind myself to stay put. Stay put in Love. Remain there. 

This is not final.

Only the Light of Love and all that stems from it is eternal. Someone very special to me said to me today - We live in a world which is fleeting and we are beings that have only one truth that we are sure of, that is, destruction. We are not immortal or eternal. From his words I understood, that we cannot be eternal but our intentions and actions can become eternal. What we give unto this world and its beings can become eternal. What we live as, can become eternal. And if we live in the Light of Love, we are living in the present moment. The present moment, which always is and always will be ~ Eternal. 

© Sneha Singh 2010 

Metamorphosis

You think you are on a path, 

A struggle, 

A road.

An obstacle we all need to overcome

So we can grow.

So, stretch, make room.

Let this push you till you disintegrate.

Let this fire, turn you into gold.

Let go, surrender,

Into this transformation.

Drop all the resistance you withhold.

Become the metamorphosis,

And your own observer.

Watch carefully, what He does

To bring you close.

© Sneha Singh 2010

The Real Challenge

As we grow in size and opinion, each day we are told by the people around us how difficult things are. How difficult it is to study and achieve a good grade, how difficult it is to get into a good university, how difficult it is to get a job, how difficult it is to get a good salary, a promotion, a car, a house. An almost endless list. How I wish people were brighter on their general outlook in life!

However, there are more people that have most of the things listed above, and yet do not have Love in their lives. They have pleasure, but not peace. 

So what is the real challenge?

Is the real challenge to become an achiever? A person who can get all these things? Or is the REAL challenge one which demands you to become a giver? A giver of unconditional Love? 

I meet many people each day - and each person remembers to tell me about the 'bad economic climate'. I understand it is a reality. But it is also true that anything is only as much of a reality as you accept it. It is very important to be mindful of the circumstances we are in, but it is more important to mindful of the fact that it is temporary. We've lived in eras of civil wars, world wars, the Great Depression, and yet survived. Not only have we survived, but we have given birth to more prosperous generations. It must be understood that many key individuals of these generations have tripped and given in to selfishness over selflessness. Therefore, the real challenge is not only to become an achiever and gain success. The real challenge is to know that achievement and success are temporary just like the person who has achieved them. There is a powerful choice that comes along with success that can make a enormous difference to how people in your surroundings, and even in the world perceive you. That is the choice of being selfish or selfless. 

Remaining grounded, and in unconditional Love, no matter what your external state might be - that is the Real challenge. And remaining in unconditional Love and humility, after being blessed with the strength to work hard and achieving brilliant success - that is an even bigger challenge. For the man that is poor by money makes do, and knows that his shining heart will definitely make the difference needed to help people around him. But the man that is rich is quick to forget Love and confuse it with pleasure.

Remaining within Love, that radiates from within, and using that as your powerful tool for transformation is the Real challenge. People remember and use their minds amazingly to analyse situations and people and create opinion. However, they forget they are blessed with hearts too, and that the intelligence of the heart is supreme because it is a mirror of the intelligence of the Creator. Your Heart, which is the seed of your life. 

The REAL challenge is to remain true to your heart, in all situations, knowing that all situations, in reality, are temporary. 

© Sneha Singh 2010

My Companion

"Looking at my life

I see that only Love
Has been my soul's companion
From deep inside
My soul cries out:
Do not wait, surrender
For the sake of Love."

-- Rumi

In truth, my companion since I have started waking up, and even before that, has been only Love. Without it, I am nothing. It is not an entity that we hold, but an ocean that flows through every molecule of our bodies. If Love were absent, we would fade away. The energy that holds our DNA together would dissipate. We are connected through energy, through Love. 

It takes great courage to step into Love, and then realise, you are home- where it is not about blood ties but about authentic relationships. Everything we receive is a gift of Love. Longing for loved ones is just as much of a gift as the Union, for without either, the whole essence of Love would be hidden from you. Every circumstance is here to open you to Love, each fall an opportunity to love your wounds. 

The most amazing part of this is, we all know these things in our hearts. But we sit in our dark holes, doing our thing, waiting for a 'Light' to shine on us. Meanwhile, we forget the Light we have been holding within us, the Light that fuels our existence.

Beautifully, Rumi says, 'Do not wait, surrender, for the sake of Love'. He says, Love is not about self, it is about annihilation of self, to be able to destroy who we think we are so we can become infinite, eternal Love.

Do not wait.

• © Sneha Singh 2010

Without Love?

Rumi says, ''A Lover only Loves. He has no choice". 

I am in awe of Love. Each day, it teaches me a new lesson. It reaffirms to me that it is on a journey of its own. I have no choice but to Love, no choice but to live in surrender. Surrender is a choice that requires immense love and strength, and it is not a sign of weakness. 

The only Love that is permanent in my Life, is the Love for God. Through that Love, all other love flows and I am only a channel. It is so simple, that all life, irrespective of form, seeks and lives through Love. We know it, but we don't understand it. Or maybe, we understand it, but we don't know it. Which one is true, I don't know. 

I don't know if we truly realise, that sadness, sorrows, trouble and tears bring with it the joy of patience, surrender, faith and peace? 

Each one of us is on a journey, no one's journey less important or more meaningful than the other. Thinking, that your journey has a higher place is not the voice of God within you that is speaking, but your Ego which wants you to believe that you, somehow, have a superior purpose. All purpose is simply that - Purpose. Effort shall be recognised and purpose achieved. That is the wonderful law of this Universe. 

In this journey toward my purpose, of which I still lose sight sometimes, I know that without Love I cannot cope. Without God, I cannot cope. And for your constant Light and Presence, I am eternally grateful. You break me apart God, so I can see the Light you have planted in my heart, for that I am thankful to you. 

A few more verses, 

 ‎"You try to be faithful
And sometimes you're cruel.
You are mine. Then, you leave.
Without you, I can't cope. And when you take the lead,
I become your footstep.
Your absence leaves a void.
Without you, I can't cope.

You have disturbed my sleep,
You have wrecked my image.
You have set me apart.
Without you, I can't cope." 

~Rumi~

• © Sneha Singh 2010

The Unseen

''This which I am faced with, how will it go away? How will it all detangle? Where will the strength that I need to face this come from? What do I do?''

Questions like these come up in our lives at every moment, where we're tested and we find ourselves spiraling into the circle of fear and doubt. It is, in times like these, that we need to centre ourselves and find that which is true within us, that which WE ARE. In the words of Eckhart Tolle, things we have can be taken away from us, but that which we ARE will always stay with us as our real strength, as our true virtue. The depths of an ocean are always calm, always serene, no matter what happens on its surface. The surface is lashed with lightning, storms, winds and rain, but in its depth, the ocean knows what it is. It takes what Nature gives it, and underneath it all, it remains calm. It knows, like all other storms, this too shall pass. 

It is the unseen, the unfathomed, the unknown that we all fear. In our careers, relationships, family - we don't know what is going it happen. In life, we don't know what is going to happen! And so we spend today in fear, creating a fearful, troublesome tomorrow. Have you tried just being thankful for the fact that you are alive and reading this right now? That you have access to a computer or a mobile device, which millions in the world don't? If you are still here, you're mission on this Earth isn't over yet. That, you must be sure of. But instead, we complain about what we think we want, what we think we need to make us happy. Your heart's real desire is created in God's image, and there is no other way but for it to come true. Think back at all the things you really knew you wanted, and those you 'think' you wanted. You'll see how it all came together, just right. Because there is something that we don't understand that works in our lives. Thank God for that!

The problem is we try to understand God. We try to analyse what will happen, how it will happen. God is too expansive, too amazing and too overwhelming an energy to be understood. I can't understand Math, how am I supposed to even attempt understanding God? But I have felt His Love, and that is REAL. How can I argue with that which is SO real? God's love is visible, just not tangible because it is a burst of energy traveling through all Creation. So don't get caught up in that which you cannot see, comprehend or understand. It might be dark, and so you might not be able to see the way, but when God's morning lights up the sky, the way will be crystal clear. 

Patience and faith, my love. :)

• © Sneha Singh 2010

Selfish Love/ Selfless Love

''Nit khair manga soneya main teri, dua na koi hor mangdi'' 

(I always ask for your wellness, there is no other prayer in my heart) ~ Sufi Song sung by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

Sufi songs overflow with Love, where singers and poets talk of their piya (Beloved) and their unending quest to be reunited with their Supreme Lover, which is their Spiritual Master or God. These poets never aimed to be famous, but simply sang the song of their heart, and here we are centuries later, still humming these words. Such is the power of the Heart and the ocean of Love within it.

It is a well established fact now, that we all, every one of us, is looking for Love. It does however make me wonder, how many of us are looking to get Love and how many looking to give Love. THAT is the question. We look for Love so we can get Love, appreciation, praise, care. We give so we can get. Seldom do we give for the joy of giving. Thus, we fail to see that the 'Love' we think we fall in, is a selfish Love, which in truth cannot exist since Love by virtue is selfless. When we realise that the joy of Love is within it's giving, within it's flow and the purpose of Love within it's fulfillment, we will connect with True Love. A Godly Love, wherein the presence of Love itself is so overwhelming and powerful that you only pray for the wellness of your Beloved. Such a Love draws more Love unto itself, and we realise that, that which we crave for in a 'selfish' Love, we graciously receive in a 'selfless' Love, as a 'by-product' of giving. This evokes awe, wonder and deep gratitude for Love, the Lover and the Beloved for no longer now do they exist as three entities, but only One. 

Rumi beautifully says that the purpose of Love is total annihilation, complete destruction of self. It burns this house you call your own, to show you the wonder that exists beyond these physical and tangible forms. Love does not cage you into self, but frees you into abundance and selfless joy. Till you reach that madness, he says, call not your needy emotions Love. :)

When you truly breathe the essence of Love, you are so awakened that everything flows out of your being just as effortlessly as it flows into it. In the current of this flow, the selfish 'me' is destroyed and gone, from the ashes of which a New Love is Born.

• © Sneha Singh 2010

Welcome

The Guest House

This being human is a guest house.

Every morning a new arrival. 

A joy, a depression, a meanness,

some momentary awareness comes

As an unexpected visitor. 

Welcome and entertain them all!

Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,

who violently sweep your house

empty of its furniture,

still treat each guest honorably.

He may be clearing you out

for some new delight. 

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,

meet them at the door laughing, and invite them in. 

Be grateful for whoever comes,

because each has been sent

as a guide from beyond. 

From Essential Rumi, by Coleman Barks

I've read this verse by Rumi over and over again in the past few days, and it made me aware of how I welcome joy, smiles and happiness but become laden with sorrow the moment things appear to start entering an unfavourable situation. The mind automatically starts judging and analysing, creating and spinning stories and outcomes which are often just as fleeting as the thoughts that give birth to them. 

I read once, that if we truly try to befriend everything and everyone that comes along, joy will never leave us. If we can understand what an important role sadness, solitude and disappointment play in our lives, we would never resist them or oppose them, but instead welcome their lessons with the same love as we welcome happy moments and contentment. For the minute we understand that they're all just different forms of a Teacher that has come to impart divine knowledge to us, all our resistance to it will disappear.

Just as the Rumi verse says, we have to learn to let pain in just as warmly as we open our doors for happiness. In 'A New Earth' by Eckhart Tolle, the writer explains that when you truly befriend that which gives you pain, you overcome it. It no longer hurts or serves you. You transcend it. Welcome and love pain as a guide of what it has been sent to make you aware of within yourself - that is the real challenge, not overcoming the pain itself or resisting its transformation into resentment or anger. For every wound that hurts can only be healed by showing it some Love. :)

• © Sneha Singh 2010

All there is.

One day, this world will fall apart
As beings all over will break open 
Lashed with sorrow and hatred,  
Tired of circumstance and battle.  
And that day, through visible cracks 
In bodies and buildings, 
Light will unveil itself. 
That day, you and I,  
We all will know, that, 
Love is all there is.  


We can spend our days, running away, and running toward what the world tricks us into believing will make us happy. Or we can take a moment of silence and listen to our hearts and let its divine wisdom lead the way.  

We can argue and blame, create stories and defenses or we can take a moment of silence and open ourselves to accepting reality for what it is, and dissolve all internal resistance to it.  

We all know our need of Love but often look at ourselves as a separate from another human being, with a 'special' set of needs. But the moment we see that it is the very existence of this 'need' of Love that joins us as beings. That, Love in its essence is so beautiful that it does not need language, and is recognised by all beings, everywhere!  

A deep realisation of that, and you'll never snap out of awe and wonder for the God who created us in Love.

© Sneha Singh 2010

Letting Love direct your course

And think not you can direct the course of love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course. Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself. - Khalil Gibran, The Prophet.

So really, how often do we let Love take it's course? And how often to we warp it, knead it, bend it according what gives us pleasure? Isn't the whole idea of Love not giving us peace and joy at all times a little absurd? Isn't that the very nature of Love - to fill us with joy at every waking moment, for the joy of true Love is never ending, unfathomable, uncontrollable and incomprehensible? And yet, we wrap Love into layers of longing, jealously, sorrow and tears. But to understand that they too are a part of Love, which is there to direct your course and guide you into patience - that is the mission of Love. It teaches one surrender, not unto another human being, but unto Love itself, unto God Himself. Love as an energy has been designed with such beauty that it gives us the chance to awaken to its reality every moment. Every moment, we can flow into the beauty of Love or we can intellectually analyse what we're gaining by being in Love. The very Nature of Love is to shine - just like the stars and the sun. It is the seed, the root and needs no anchor to sustain. So if we let Love flow, trusting its intelligence, how can it be wrong? In the midst of disappointment, we automatically get overcome by insecurity rather than learning to trust that there is a reason why the given moment is of such a nature - may it be good or bad. The choice to welcome and allow love to be dominant at all times is difficult, especially when we live in a world surrounded by conflicting emotions and constant drama. If only we remember, each moment to keep going back to the constant Seed within us, the root of us, the very energy that created us - Love.

• © Sneha Singh 2010

Born Again

You feel angry, and then you tire. 

You feel hateful, and then you tire. 

You feel let down, and then you tire.

You feel resentment, and then you tire.

You feel helpless, and then you tire.

You feel alone, and then you tire.

You feel tired, and then you tire.

And, then, at the end, from that tiredness

A peace is born.

When you know, you are enveloped by something bigger than the trivial ongoings within your small head.

When, what you thought gave you joy, only stroked your pleasure nerves, a source so temporary, an illusion unveiled.

And from that, a Love sprouts open from its shell of insecurities, judgement and justifications.

A Love that peels away your layers of fear. 

One layer at a time.

And there you shine, 

A new plant, 

Born out of Love.

• © Sneha Singh 2010

The Treasure

The presence of Love awakens something indescribable within each being. And therein, lies its beauty. :)

Love is always there. Maybe, it just gets clouded by all things unnecessary. Things that our opinions create. In its original and rawest form, what must Love look like? What must it feel like? Maybe it looks like a new born baby that exudes only Light and Joy. Maybe, it feels like dew on flowers, dancing and shining in early morning hues.

Love is always there. Our task is only to uncover what already exists. A treasure of joy within our souls.

Where does separation from Love exist? Only in our minds, never in our hearts. Our beautiful heart has been designed such that it can hold within it immeasurable Love. And yet, we spend most of our lives in complaint and not content, in anger and not awe, in jealousy and not joy, in fear and not faith, in judgement and not jubilance. The key lies within us, to the treasure we already possess and yet we turn outward for needless fulfillment. For it is essential to remember that, 'What lay before us and what lies ahead of us are small matters when compared to what lies within us''. 

And it is Love that lies within us. Always.

• © Sneha Singh 2010

Recognise, Accept and Smile!

There is no separate self. 

One of the most profound and truthful statements I have read, by Eckhart Tolle. Suspending thoughts, beliefs, opinions and judgements about what is happening with us right now is probably the most peace lending exercise. Simply done, by taking a breath in and leaving it go. Your ego will put up a convincing fight and argument - ''This is important, it makes you YOU. It gives you identity. It is defining your life.'' 

Really?

We define our life. Not our ego. We have to learn to trust and let our True raw nature come to light as we let all else fall apart. Unnecessary, peripheral attachments that complicate our lives with mindless entities that ''seem'' so vital to our way of life. At every instance we need to stop and question - What is leading this thought/action/word? Is it my ego or my heart? We must remember to remember. Remember that the Law of Love and Gratitude will govern no matter what. That falls and pain are only temporary, just like peaks and pleasure. What is constant is our spirit and its ability to have faith. The Light within our true self, within our spirit is constant. And miracles that happen in the darkest of hours, more than often, are lit up by the oil which burns this Light within us.

This connection with our spirit only soothes, heals, cushions and teaches us that we are all here full of our own stories in our head which are distorted by judgements created with the help of each other. How quick we are to doubt, but how slow to trust. The fear that someone else holds the key to breaking you and your trust and your spirit. Know that the amazing power of the spirit is such that it feeds and expands because it draws from The Source, an energy so vast, which we cannot comprehend. You don't have to understand it, just know it. Accept it. Make room for that acceptance within your being. And then just let it flow. Know the Light of your spirit in your heart. Let the amazing, wiser laws take care of that which our limited, distorted, opinionated head tries so hard to control. 

A beautiful sentence I heard at church this Sunday (thank you Geoff for this one!) - We cannot comprehend the wonder of God, that's the reason God put Himself in our Heart and not our heads. :)

Our heads, our ego will keep trying to create resistance and give us reasons to fight. But your Heart and your Spirit will know that it's not what you're here for. The spirit knows that it is connected to everything around it. Recognise this, accept it and smile :)

© Sneha Singh 2010

The Return

''This is how I would die into the love I have for you. As pieces of cloud dissolve into the sunlight'' ~ Rumi

Rumi's writing never fails to drown me. I lose my external non- existent, unimportant self. And I learn to see myself through the eyes of Love. Everyday, I remind myself, learn to see yourself as Love would. And then learn to see others as Love would want you to see them.

But how willing am I to let Love overcome me?

I question my willingness to just be Love. To just be One with what I am faced with. And, to remember to savour all that is right now, because it can be good or bad but the truth is it is going to go away. The only reality is now. 

I know this. But, how much of it do I realise?

''...as pieces of cloud dissolve into sunlight.'' How beautiful. As I read this, I can almost feel being split into a million specks of me, dispersed through the air, One with everything that pervades the Presence around us. 

Like everyone, I too have my troubles, doubts and fears - but they only remind me that I need to keep going back to the centre of it all. That I need to keep going back to my Source, which is devoid of doubt, which has all the answers. It helps me identify and connect with that 'already existent' space between my thoughts. It reintroduces me to the peace which has always been, just not acknowledged. I re-enter the place where Love, Peace and Joy lie entwined within each other in their true state, as One. 

Thank You, for the constant reminders. I am eternally grateful. 

Sneha Singh © 2010

Water

Be like water. 
Mould, let go. 
But underneath it all, 
Have the strength. 
Nurture, quench, relieve all.  

Trickle with ease, 
Into the smallest cracks, 
Or burst into realms 
Creating seas.

For drops are naught 
But miniscule oceans, 
And oceans merely, a drop, 
In all of creation.  


Sneha Singh © 2010

Renewal

I stepped, and 
Never looked back. 

A sensation that has now 
Engulfed all that I am, and how.  

With every fall,  
I lose my all.  

The more I burn,  
The purer I become.  

This Fire, this Light 
A madness, raging with all its might.  

I don't resist this storm, 
As it destroys my form.  

I let this wind, take me 
And blow my fragments free.  

For now, what has become of me, 
Is yours eternally.  


© Sneha Singh 2010