Upheavals

"When you come to the edge of all the light you know and are about to step into the darkness of the unknown. Faith, is knowing that one of two things will happen. There will be solid ground to stand on or you will be taught to fly." ~ Richard Bach

When walking on the path of complete inner alignment and surrender, I have many a times been taught how to fly. It is almost like God's wings have swooped under me and taken me to a height I knew nothing about. Most importantly, these lovely little miracles have happened in solace, when nothing, BUT God could have come and lift me up.

As human beings, we get engulfed by what we think is our power. We have been blessed with education, learning, knowledge, reason, free will, (and if we are in the right place, free wi-fi!). But these gifts are to be shared, and used with kindness, and not as a means of being right and showing superiority. In the eyes of God, we are equal, so what good does it do you feeling superior in your own? 

The things you own, and the things you think you are, are ultimately things of this world. I am not indicating that you must renounce it all and meditate on a mountain. I am simply suggesting awareness. Be conscious of the temporary nature of life, of social rules. Then the way you deal with others will change significantly. It will not be about you anymore, as you will have the conscious awareness that you are only a soul visiting this Earth with a purpose. Instead of seeking your identity in societal norms, seek your identity within God. In times of uncertainty and upheaval, rest, rest, rest. Rest in knowing God is at work. You may sleep, but He is always around you, looking after you. Your faith in Him will give you wings when you have forgotten how to fly. 

Just rest, and show your Faith to Him. 

© Sneha Singh 2012

Nothing

Three years ago I was introduced to Tao. The foundation of Taoism is that it's not a concept that can be understood. You can't put it into words or explain it. It is a way that unfolds. Almost like, how someone can show you how to get to a destination but the experience of travelling to that destination is uniquely yours. The beauty of the Tao expresses itself through the natural and the mundane. It is open to present moment, fluid and does not have a predetermined way. Like a new river that takes birth in a glacier. The river cannot decide which way it wants to flow. It only flows. Embracing the effect of gravity, the pull of the ocean, offering no resistance to stones or other obstacles in it's path. It flows. And it finds a way. Flowing without active flowing. Doing by non doing. No analysis.

To some this may seem like an absurd way of being. How can you live like a river. For some this spells total dependency on the outside, as in the case of the river, dependance on gravity or the ocean to steer its path. But a truth we forget is that you may have the power in making choices but you don't have command over the way the universe unfolds through you. The universe is constantly trying to live through you and your choices. Therefore any unnatural choices you make have an effect on the unfolding. The purpose of universal existence is much greater than individual purpose. Individual purpose fits into it and not vice versa. Therefore when an unnatural choice or act is made/done there may or may not be an immediate effect. But if that does not fit with greater purpose, there will be an effect.

The way of the Tao is doing by non doing, that is merely letting things unfold as they should. This is always in line with universal existence. It's almost like asking, do you trust life itself or the universe itself to do nothing and let it work for you ?

This does not translate into idle behaviour. It actually translates into being utterly present and doing only that which is the need of the moment. If right now you are eating focus fully on eating. If you are reading, just read. Understand that in truth, only this moment exists and in one moment you can do only one thing. The Tao asks you to unlearn conditioned ideas and let the outside reflect your inner calm.

It reminds you that all storms are within. Only within.

(c) Sneha Singh 2012

Cleaning

This time it isn't a long winded poem or a thought provoking quote.

This time it is plain old ramble.

I'm late spring cleaning. Spring went by oh-so-quickly and I've Only Just begun Cleaning. Time to take the old vision goggles off and see things with (as a friend put it) a new set of eyes. Just like, to realise oneself we are always told to meditate and go within ourselves deep down to the roots of our souls, sometimes it is essential that in order to reach our roots within we need to physically be in a place where our physical bodies have their roots. Of course, hence why " as within so without", isn't it?

I could only begin cleaning when I made an intent to clean. Cleaning requires effort. The broom is not going to sweep the house itself. And it has become apparent to me how beautifully the energy of intention works. Only the intent of cleaning took birth in me. I was given the tools and taught how to work them. I was taken and transported to where I needed to go. My only effort was and is the sweeping. The rest took care of itself. so on the whole, it feels like little effort.

When I started cleaning though, it seemed like a mountain climb. But Grace, beautiful Grace always has ways of protecting you if you believe in it. For anything to exist, belief is needed. Belief breathes life into its existence. By lending an idea our belief, we give it life. Our bodies without our souls would be carcasses unable to perform the wondrous tasks that they do. Similarly ideas without belief and faith are just a set of muddled thoughts constructed by us with no heartbeat to keep it alive. Ideas require an analytical initiation but with faith, they acquire a life of their own with a purpose to fulfill in this world and bring forward that, which can only come through the vehicle of your body and mind. Creativity is not human born, it is universal energy and genius in action through a vehicle called the human mind. We are not geniuses, but mere vehicles.

I realised this when I was cleaning. When we accept that creative ideas and beauty have a need to express themselves as that is their very purpose and virtue, we wouldn't feel as proud of our creative genius. Simply because we would acknowledge that the creative genius is not "ours"! We would feel humbled that universal energy chose us to express itself through us. Because you know as well as I do, that we all will go but creation has stayed and will continue to live.

So clean yourself. Sweep out the rubbish inside which leads you to have ideas that inflate your idea of yourself. Remain the instrument which you are. Know your importance. There would be no music without the instrument. So you are important, no doubt. But the flute did not create the music, He who breathes into the flute is the Real Creator.

© Sneha Singh 2012

Lessons from Nature

A baby bird.

It opens its eyes, not understanding what it sees. Such an overwhelming world muddled with sounds and sights, beings and things. After a while it realises it has the beautiful gift of flight. Suddenly, there are are no boundaries. The whole world is it's own to discover. Imagine, how you would feel if you had a such a realisation? It is uncontainable, is it not?

So, slowly it finds a friend in the breeze. A love affair like no other. An indescribable high. The bird and the wind are now like beautiful lovers, entwined in each other arms each giving the other an identity. Overcome by this new joy, the bird rides the wind in exhilaration - the wind carries it's beloved to places unknown.

Then, comes a day when the bird is witness to a transformation.

The same breeze that breathed life into it's wings becomes a storm and destroys it's nest. Helpless and unaware the bird knows not what to feel. It is lost and alone, shivering in the storm.

But have you noticed?

The bird doesn't stop flying.

The bird doesn't stop loving the wind which gives flight to its wings.

It simply builds another nest.

© Sneha Singh 2012

When does God visit you?

When he comes out of the blue

A meteroite shattering your home,
Be sure God is visiting you.
When you are beyond all hope
When you are robbed of the whole world
and your voice becomes eloquent
Be sure God is visiting you.
– Says Tuka, Pp. 95-96

Have you ever had an extremely tiring day and collapsed on your bed only for all thought to subside in you? As the tiredness slowly takes over, it is almost like you are too tired to even think and fall into deep peaceful sleep.

As is physical tiredness so is internal tiredness. In times of deep internal destruction, I have wrestled with my thoughts and emotions until my insides hurt. Internal fatigued to my maximum, I've been at the doorstep of nothingness many a times - where you cannot see further, when there is no path. That feeling causes an internal collapse.

And that collapse leads to surrender. Surrender to the Divine. At your most powerless, most vulnerable moment is when God visits you, rendering a peace that passes mental thought and understanding. There is no room for logic. In surrender, you detach - you flow.

As I read the above words by Tukaram (thanks to a beautiful friend for introducing me to them) I became absolutely sure of Divinity's presence as it flows through every breath in my Life. Instant Peace.

Let's face it - we all sit on the fence with Divinity at times, especially when its rough seas and we feel like abandoned children left to fend for ourselves. And we question, God where are you now. God why am I going through this? God what have I done to deserve this?

Beautifully, the mystics have always spoken of embracing the pain of this world, like an old friend. And when you do, God will come visit you. When you accept the circumstances or your 'situation' you understand the difference between 'life' and 'situation' and that the 'situation' is a part of your life, not your breath of life itself.

When you completely destroyed with nowhere to turn to, take a deep breath and be aware of the breath you slowly take. Give that breath attention and know it holds the power of your life.

Not the situation you are in.


Let God visit you. Often.



© Sneha Singh 2012

The Soaked Soul

A thousand depths
I feel inside
My hollow caged frame

As I stand on the edge
Of my own body
Looking into it's valley

How deep you go
How far you run
Within, I wonder.

Sunshine of love
Mingled with clouds of sorrow
Give birth to a laughing rainbow
Originating from
My tear soaked soul.

(c) Sneha Singh 2012

Dormant Volcano

Trying to lay still
Motionless
As a fire engulfs me inside
Trying to run
From my own self
No place to hide.

Calm, serene externally
My insides churn each moment
Shattered, strewn,
Torn apart
There's a million pieces to gather.

I close my eyes and look inside
Knowing not where to begin
So I fall to my knees
And ask You Please
Restore the peace within.

(c) Sneha Singh 2012

Eternal Sunshine of the Forgiving Heart

I write with great joy about forgiveness, but do I forgive with great joy as well? I cannot explain the transformation an internal act of forgiveness brings with it. It needn’t be spelt out or overt. Silently forgive the one who doesn’t understand your state, who betrayed you, who hurt you. It’s a long process, and not at all easy. It drains you and you will be forced to face your ego and put it to rest. It is agonizing, but the outcome is liberation, almost like a new birth. I would like to compare it to the paradox of pain and joy experienced at childbirth, but I don’t know the process to make a comparison. In my head though, the analogy fits beautifully.

In the past few years, I have felt internal shifts within me which have been difficult to spell out. Probably, because an experience that transforms a portion of you cannot be described in words. How would a caterpillar describe its metamorphosis into a butterfly? It can only experience it, and the outward world can only view the final product. What goes on within the cocoon is God’s beautiful miracle, slowly unfolding, hidden from everyone’s eyes.  

I don’t know if the world has noticed my miniscule transformations because I haven’t really asked anyone. But I know I feel them within me. As I said before, it is paradoxical, the pain of witnessing death within yourself accompanied by lightness due to disillusion of form. Watching a part of you die slowly, hurts so much as you know its time to unburden your heart and free yourself, for yourself. The beauty in this death is then that joy, which follows when one feels brand new – almost like a skin that’s moulted off you. And as much as it hurt let that part of you peel off, it is short lived. In the grander scheme of things, it is all short lived. My two favourite words to define life - fleeting and impermanent.

I know forgiveness is liberating, I have practiced it a few times, and I know from experience that it leaves you refreshed. It brings forth a new dimension in your life. Everyone and everything suddenly becomes friendly. The world once again becomes a happy place to live in. And yet, knowing this fact, I can never immediately put forgiveness into action when I know I should. I still go through the cycle of self criticism, drama, pain, self burden, anger, resentment, blaming before I am drained to tiredness and fed up of my own story. THEN I forgive. Hallelujah!

Through this piece, I am making myself aware of my own cycle and my internal desire to break free of it. And whilst I internally go through the cycle once more, I live in the truth that this is fleeting and temporary, but love is eternal and permanent. There is joy hidden in the pain, and healing within each wound.

PS – So many Rumi quotes I can feel inside me right now, but maybe those are for another day.

Love

© Sneha Singh 2012

The Awakened Heart

Intuitive intelligence never fails to surprise me. And this isn’t just my own intuitive intelligence, but the actual phenomena itself.


I have read so much about the “wisdom of the heart” or “heart intelligence” as some people tend to term it, and its proposed superiority over the intelligence of the logical brain. I cannot say I disagree with it, but I had only ever read about it so I found these propositions just very challenging to accept and even more difficult to believe. However, as I practiced heart wisdom exercises, I have noticed a shift within my own. The fact that there is a subtle power within us all, (NO EXCEPTIONS!) which is available to us as a guide on our journey here on Earth is an amazing realisation for those who come to awaken to it. If I close my eyes and imagine how I would feel if I had that realisation I would probably feel lighter, happier and one with everything.


I have had glimpses of this state, where every cell of my body has felt feather light – as if I had no weight at all. I wonder what it would be to live in this state permanently. I suppose, people who live with an awakened heart must be in this state permanently.


I will always wonder.


And of course hope. Hope that I am blessed with the Grace that would enable me to rest and live by the wisdom of the heart. And be feather light forever!

© Sneha Singh 2012