The Review Par Excellence

Dear Thyagarajan Sir,

I never knew this before I read your post. Thank you for sharing this.

 

"How we see God is a direct reflection of how we see ourselves. If God brings to mind mostly fear and blame, it means there is too much fear and blame welled inside us. If we see God as full of love and compassion, so are we."

Source: Rule #1 - The Forty Rules of Love - Elif Shafak.

As mentioned earlier, purifying ourselves is a life-long exercise. Purity, Unity and Divinity are three legs of the same stool. When we purify ourselves out of Arishadvargas namely Kama, Krodha, Lobha, Moha, Mada, & Matsarya, the mind becomes subordinated to our divine consciousness. It is prepared to feel the unity with the other souls. Once we feel the unity with the other souls, divinity manifests itself. Primarily fear comes from our attachments and guilt comes from our desires. Fear and blame is a direct reflection of how our mind reacts. If we feel love and compassion when we think of God, it means our mind is pure and unsullied.

When Arjuna was in the battlefield, he saw Krishna as his friend (8th stage of devotion) and told him that his hands are nervous and he was not able to hold the Gandhipa because he is overwhelmed with attachment to his grandfather, Guru, and all other cousins fighting the battle against him. Lord Krishna took the role of a Guru and taught him Bhagavad Gita only after he surrendered (9th stage of devotion called "Atmanivedhanam") himself completely to Lord Krishna. Krishna told him we all existed before and we will continue to exist even after the war. Only the body falls but Atma is imperishable. He explains it is God who resides in each one including those enemies who are ready to fight the war against Pandavas. Krishna agrees not to hold any weapons in the war and only become a charioteer for Arjuna which itself is symbolic that love can conquer anything. The five horses are the senses, the rein he held is mind, the chariot is the body, and Krishna Himself is the divine consciousness.
Arjuna sheds his attachments and gets overwhelmed by the love for Krishna. He is determined to do anything including losing his life for the sake of Krishna. He saw Lord Krishna as pure love and compassion.

 

"If God brings to mind mostly fear and blame, it means there is too much fear and blame welled inside us. If we see God as full of love and compassion, so are we".

Source: First Rule of Forty Rules of Love - Elf Shafak

"Love for God; Fear of sin; Morality in society" is what scriptures say. Fear of God is a wrong term to use. When we think of God, we should not be overwhelmed with fear and we should get saturated with love. If we have fear of God and blame someone for our situation, it only means our mind is filled with fear. Fear generally comes from attachments to the body consciousness and material things and anger is the result of desires.

Sabari who lived for many years just to fulfill the wishes of her Guru to meet with Rama and greet Him when He comes to her place. She never knew when Sri Rama is expected but kept living one day at a time knowing what her Guru said would eventually happen. Despite her old age, she continued praying to Sri Rama. She kept collecting fruits to give Rama a meal and when Rama arrived, she tasted each one of them before offering it to Sri Rama. Lakshma was surprised by this action but Sri Rama was overwhelmed with her love and kept eating everything that was already tasted by Sabari. Sabari's love for Sri Rama is extraordinary and was flowing naturally. All her actions showed that she is filled with love for God and shows her mind is filled with love for every fellow being.

It is Anjaneya who proved the name of God has as much power as God Himself. When the monkeys were building the Rama Sethu Bridge, the stones that they were putting into the sea were getting drowned into the ocean. Then Anjaneya suggested that everyone should write Sri Rama's name in each stone with the determination that the bridge should be built at any cost. Soon, the stones starting floating in the sea helping them to continue construction of the bridge. It is Anjaneya's pure love for Sri Rama that helped the Vanaras to complete their mission of building the bridge. It is Anjaneya's love for Sri Rama that helped him cross the ocean to reach Sri Lanka and bring Sanjeevi Mountain to cure Lakshmana when he got hurt in the war.

In case of both Sabari and Anjaneya, their hearts are filled with love.

 

"Loneliness and solitude are two different things. When you are lonely, it is easy to delude yourself into believing that are on the right path. Solitude is better for us, as it means being alone without feeling lonely. But eventually it is best to find a person, the person who will be your mirror. Remember, only in another person's heart can you truly see yourself and the presence of God within you."

Source: "Forty Rules of Love' - By Elif Shafak

"Head in the forest and heart in the society" is the saying. The one who learns to love all creations find God in each one of those creations. Love is the instrument that helps find God in every being. Adi Sankara said, "Satsangha twe nisangha twam, Nisangha twe nirmoha twam, Nirmoha twe nischala ta twam, Nischala ta twe, jivamukti" meaning, "When you are in good company, you are not in bad company, when you are not in bad company, you don’t fall into delusion, when you don’t fall into delusion, the mind becomes steady, when the mind becomes steady, you are liberated." Detachment and desireless state is not necessarily physically separating oneself from the society but living a pias and virtuous life while in the society. Most Himalayan Masters taught their disciples, after they completed their Gurukulam, should move to the society and serve them. Every experience in life adds value to our character and hence having a good company is extremely important. When Karma has its own effect in our lives, if one sustains keeping good company with a determination to pursue spiritual enlightenment, Karma even if it is not entirely eliminated, it gives courage and strength to face them or reduce the effect of karma in the minds.

Every life is created with purpose and we have a duty and obligation to love every such creature. God is seen only through love. Love is a perinneal source of energy and it flows forever, if we learn to remove the restrains in our heart. God is Love and we need to live in love.

 

"Most of the problems of the world stem from linguistic mistakes and simple misunderstandings. Don't ever take words at face value. When you step into the zone of love, language as we know it becomes obselete. That which cannot be put into words can only be grasped through silence."

Source: "Forty Rules of Love" - Elif Shafak

The God is indescribable and every definition of God that exists in this world are limited to linguistic capabilities of human beings. It is difficult to comprehend even the definition of omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent as we can only experience it when we truly know God. Human beings are created as images of God but it is consequences of our own actions that made the human beings separate from God. Duality exists everywhere due to the Maya the human mind encounters. The power to pierce the veil of Maya exist in our spiritual transformation. God's voice can be heard only in the depth of silence. Silence has many connatations including silencing the mind, silencing the agitation of the body, silencing the senses, silencing the emotions and feelings and many more. Only a person who is Sthitaprajna can see the world filled with God's energy. One who achieved God's head would see every being in this world as God as God manifested in every form. The word love is often misused as most of love that exist in this word are conditional. Love that is unconditional and flows through to every being in this world is the one that is true love. Love in action provides righteousness. Love in thoughts provides peace. Love in words provides non-violence. Love embedded in Truth is unconditional and elevates one to Godhead.

 

"Whatever happens in your life, no matter how troubling things might seem, do not enter the neighborhood of despair. Even when all doors remain closed, God will open up a new path only for you. Be thankful! It is easy to be thankful when all is well. A Sufi is thankful not only for what he has been given but also for all that he has been denied."

Source: "Forty Rules of Love" - Elif Shafak

Keeping the mind healthy and positive during challenges is hard but the hope that the door will open in difficulties will provide the necessary courage and strength to overcome the ordeal. Only the gold that gets beaten in hard temperature becomes an ornament and only the stone that takes a lot of chisel and hammer becomes a statue. Purity, Patience and Perseverance are three important elements for human life. What does not happen as expected teaches us purity, patience and perseverance and what happens as expected teaches us to remain humble. One can control only how one reacts to a situation and there is no way one can control what is beyond one's control. Facing situations that are not in our control makes one achieve fortitude.

 

"Patience does not mean to passively endure. It means to be farsighted enough to trust the end result of a process. What does Patience mean? It means to look at the thorn and see the rose, to look at the night and see the dawn. Impatience means to be shortsighted as to not be able to see the outcome. The lovers of God never run out of patience, for they know that time is needed for the crescent moon to become full".

Source: "Forty Rules of Love" - By Elif Shafak

Caterpillar endures a lot of pain inside the Cocoon to become a beautiful butterfly. If it shortens this struggle, it might not shape up to become a new body with wonderful colors and be able to fly. It trust the God's intent and waits for the end result of a process of development. Patience and perseverance is a virtue. In God's creation, elapsing of time is crucial to manifest into a new form. All the creatures wait for the Sun to come out knowing that after night there will be dawn. The pair of opposites is essential for life to exist. When a Bee focuses on extracting the honey, endures the risk of the petals of a flower closing down at the Sunset but never gives up on getting the sweet honey. In the animal world, the animals looking for a prey never gives up until it sights a prey and pursue it aggressively. The prey itself never gives up easily and try to escape as much as possible.

Similarly, when a man endures pain, he knows that this also will pass soon to get into a situation where he would be out of pain. Patience never runs out for a God's lover as he believes in God, he also believes in the process.