Nurturing The Soul

Discussion in 'Education & Personal Growth' started by Viswamitra, Jan 30, 2022.

  1. Rihana

    Rihana Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    I've been coming back to this thread so many times since it got bumped up last month. Each time I am struck by how simple or less stressful life can be if we stick to a few basic tenets. Or in other words, how we (or maybe just I) complicate life by focusing on the wrong things or not switching focus as needed.
    This. We tend to give too much importance to the hits and misses that happen along the journey. Often, our success or failure is not the result of one hit or one miss.

    "Pray for the right thing to happen..." as opposed to "asking for a specific thing to happen"
    How much mental stress, strife and agony could be avoided if we follow this even half the time .....

    I have this strange urge to look for an app that gives such examples if we enter some key words. Maybe some millennial has already created it!
     
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  2. Viswamitra

    Viswamitra IL Hall of Fame

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    @Rihana,

    There are many such examples exist in epics. When Krishna was getting ready to capture Rukmini from her palace when her family forced her to marry someone else when she was in love with Krishna, he requested Arjuna to help him by entering the palace in disguise dressed as a woman. This action really helped Arjuna when he was in Ajjanavasa during the last year of his Vanavasa.
     
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  3. Viswamitra

    Viswamitra IL Hall of Fame

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    Soul-realization is inherrent in every being in this world. Only humans have the ability to discriminate what it takes to realize the Soul. Manobhava needed to pursue this mission is to achieve equanimity to treat pleasure and pain equally (i.e. no excessive celebration on feeling pleasure and not getting too carried away by suffering), recognizing oneness of all beings (the real being in each life is one and the same), remaining unattached to this mundane world (like a lotus flower in a muddy pond), knowing thoughts are the root cause of desires and eleminating as much as desires as possible, and listening to the voice of the soul in silence and its constant intent to liberate to be in union with the Universal Consciousness. That state of being is known as Sthitha Prajna.

    The reason why Soul-realization is inherrent in every being is to ensure it achieves the goal to become immortal and ever-lasting bliss. Every life is in pursuit of happiness because of this inherrent nature. It is the mind that limits the purpose to worldly pleasures to achive happiness and consider such happiness as its own achievement. The indweller in each life is powerful, knowledgeable, attributeless, indestructable, changeless and immortal. Those who pursue the journey inside can find this invaluable treasure. For doing that the mind has to cooperate and should be directed towards this inner treasure. The mind's role is to do everything to liberate the soul from its encryptions. It is like opening the tied end of the baloon and immediately the air inside the baloon merges without any individual identification with the air outside.

    In routine life, one experiences passions and the mind is so powerful to find the path to achieving success for each one of those passions. Similarly, this powerful tool is extremely capable of liberating the soul, if it becomes a powerful passion. The power of the soul is visible and useable only when it is nurtured with the help of the mind.

    When the mind pursues Dharma, it become a vehicle for the Soul to journey from imprisonment to liberation. Discipline of the mind is an essential requirement and it can be achieved through Yoga, Meditation, and other spiritual practices. When one has the attitude of serving the world, it creates instant connection to the Universal Consciousness. Lord Krishna controlling the chariot of Arjuna itself is a great lesson. The Chariot is the body, five horses are the five senses, the rein is the mind, Lord Krishna's hand that controls the rein is the intellect which controls how to direct the vehicle and the soul is Lord Krishna Himself.

    When Lord Krishna coordinated the Mahabharatha war to defeat the evil, he advised the Pandavas to remove the ill-feeling they have towards Gaurava for their deed to insult Panchali (Draupadi) and install the mindset of eradicating the sufferings of the common people living in the vast kingdom of Asthinavara. When our individual goal becomes a universal goal, the probability of achieving it certain. Lord Krishna taught Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna in the battlefield when he was reluctant to kill his own relatives as he dwelled in Moha (attachment).
     
  4. Viswamitra

    Viswamitra IL Hall of Fame

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    The article that was written in 2020 (in my interest to learn more) and the responses received from some of the best in learning, assimilating, interpreting and explaining spiritual knowledge and scriptures here might throw some light into our intention to nurture the soul.

    Who Am I?
     
  5. Viswamitra

    Viswamitra IL Hall of Fame

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    Here is another article where many who have evolved spiritually responded with their answers. I am learning more and more by reading and rereading all these responses.

    Object of the Soul
     

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