Getting out of my shell

[JUSTIFY]I am trying to live in my shell thinking that I will be protected by that shell. I am looking at the whole society and the entire world to come down on their knees to help me resolve my issues. My mind is telling me that I am the most important person in the world and it is the duty of the Creator and the rest of the creations to look after me when I am in crisis or otherwise. When I have or hear about a problem, I blame the society which I am part of. I am a self-proclaimed good person who is going through a lot of ordeal because of this stupid society that I live in. I don’t prefer to be bad but this society makes me become bad by their thoughts, words and actions. I stick my neck into the whirlpool of life and the material world keeps consuming me when I am trying to lead an ideal and purposeful life.

How do I get out of it and make myself not influenced by the bad world around me and its evil effects? First of all, I need to realize the world in front of me is nothing but projection of my own mind. If I see the world outside as exciting and interesting, it becomes one and on the contrary, if I look at it as depressing and problematic, it becomes one as well. Only thing I control in my life is how I can influence the society around me by my own conduct and discipline. Mahatma Gandhi said, “You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.” John F. Kennedy said, “Ask not what the country can do for you, and ask what you can do for the country.” Mother Teresa said, “If you judge people, you have no time to love them“. She also said, “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love”.

Our own in-house wise man expressed in simple words in his post called, “The art of non-living” that we should basically transcend ourselves from living standard of selfishness to non-living higher standard of selflessness. He very nicely articulated that it means helping a neighbor or a stranger in times of his need, educating the poor children as though they are our own and shower affection to our parents without whose effort we won’t be where we are today. He also mentioned that we need to see friends in everyone around us and forget there are no enemies.

Who is the society? It consists of every one of us who are members of IL and many more. If one of the members is hurting, we all provide solutions to his/her problem. When one of the members write something remarkable, we jump right in to nominate that post so that everyone can benefit by reading it. At the same time, when someone is making a mistake that is not in the best interest of that member, we don’t hesitate to write what is right. These are selfless actions showering love and affection to the fellow members of IL.

I asked a person who has been with my Guru for over 50 years, “How can I lose my identity that makes me delve in dualism?” He shared what he learned from our Guru politely with the words, “Let your identity be something that everyone around you recognizes. You remain unattached to it and become selfless and that is the best way you can dispense with your ego and achieve the purpose why you came into existence.”

What is known as Crown Jewel of wisdom “Vivekachudamani”, Adi Sankara taught us, “Mumukshuta or yearning for freedom is the desire to free oneself, by realizing one’s true nature, from all bondages from that of egoism to that of the body, bondages being superimposed by ignorance.” The Creator has His own reasons why, He created all lives, makes them feel pleasure and pain alternatively, provides resources to make a living and take care of kith and kin and gives them thoughts to fulfill their wishes. But He also gives power of discrimination to differentiate right from wrong, ability to love fellow beings and ability to choose the path of selfishness or selflessness. I need to give something to the world to get a right to scratch the surface of the world for my own needs. Butterfly faces a lot of pain getting out of cocoon but that is what gives it the ability to fly. Similarly, true solution to my problems is in my ability to make the journey from selfishness to selflessness while performing my duties. Enduring pain is part of the solution. I need to get out of my shell.
[/JUSTIFY]

 

Dear Kamalji,

Thank you for being the first to respond to this post. You are right about the glass we wear makes the difference in terms of how we perceive the world in front of us. You are already a big inspiration for many of us in terms of how to live happily, how to help others and how to handle tough situations in life. You are already a big role model for many of us.

Viswa

 

Dear Syamala,

Thank you for taking the time to write a detailed response to this post. In my opinion, the society is nothing but sum total of collective behavior of all of us and only thing I can do to positively contribute to it is by changing my own perspective of the world and positively influence the society by own thought process. We have to ask the question whether we measure our success based on the gap between how much wealth we accumulated as opposed to what we need or should we measure our success based on the sense of fulfillment we achieve in our lives and how we are able to establish peace in our mind. Somehow, I feel that if we keep doing things skillfully, selflessly and lovingly in whatever we do, we will achieve material accomplishments as a byproduct.

Desires and attachments are considered as two major huddles for everyone to cross when we make effort towards salvation. Some people question cultivating good qualities is also a desire while others question, are we not obligated to be attached to our own kith and kin? In my opinion, desires that helps us to achieve the purpose of our lives is good. We need to also differentiate between unconditional love we have Vs attachment. unconditional love is different from conditional attachment. If we unconditionally love our children and take very good care of them but at the same time have awareness that we have custody of them in this lifetime temporarily, it is detachment. It is our duty to take care of our grandparents, parents, spouse, siblings and children. Main reason why people are afraid of death is because of their attachment to leave the kith and kin fearing what would happen to them after they pass away. The one without the second who gave custody of those kith and kin to us also knows how to preserve and protect them even after we leave. Even material possessions in this world will have to be held by us like a Trustee which will prepare everyone to leave without them at a time determined by the Lord. We need to develop unconditional love (not attachment) to every being at the soul level and not at the body level. When we try to accomplish that we feel universal love with all beings not only with our own kith and kin.

I always enjoy reading your responses and please feel free to write whatever comes to your mind. We all learn from each other.

Viswa

 

Dear VSharma,

Thank you for your response. I am sorry to know that you were feeling depressed and frustrated and at the same time, I am happy to know that reading this post made you feel better. Many times, it is the condition of our mind that changes our perception of the society. More than what the society does to us, it is our reaction towards it that causes more pain to us.

I am glad you liked Mother Teresa's quote. Take it easy. Your mind is a very precious tool and don't allow your emotions to muddy it. While a muddied mind can kill all our enthusiasm, a pure mind can achieve unbelievable things.

Viswa

 

Dear GG,

I need to learn how to write briefly but effectively from you. You have nicely narrated getting out of the shell on our own is a better option than someone breaking it for us. Then, we end up blaming the society for it when it is our own making.

I really enjoy reading all your two line responses not only here but to others as well.

Viswa