We undertook the mission to exchange emails throughout April to discuss our spiritual learnings in an attempt to deepen our knowledge.
from: Skandha
to: Vaibhavi
date: 9 Apr 2024, 22:59
Girl,
On March 30th, I attempted a very overconfident run along the Adyar River Trail. I thought that I would be able to finish a 5k run without any practice, solely depending on my past fitness level. We both know how that went.
But on the way, the path crossed a gate of a compound belonging to the Indian Army. On that, these words were written:
"Pain is acceptable,
Walking is acceptable
Crawling is acceptable
Quitting is not."
It stung me while walking past it on the way back and I took it as the day's important learning. Whenever divine intervention strikes again to convince myself to go for a run, this quote will run in my mind longer than my run.
What do you think?
Skandha,
09.04.24
from: Vaibhavi
to: Skandha
date: 12 Apr 2024, 12:14
Boy,
You're lucky to have chanced upon such inspiring words right when you reached your low point during your run. At least that changed your perspective from quitting running altogether to giving it another chance some other time. I will need this quote when I go for my next half marathon because that's when my mental strength is truly put to the test.
~
On Monday, 8 April, I attended the Satsang with my brother at the Murlidhar Mandir. Ishank Bhaiya and Vaishnavi Didi are a magical singing duo! I often get goosebumps due to the energy that their singing brings to the atmosphere. There's another thing that takes place during Satsang that brings similar feelings and puts you into deep meditation—the Guru Pooja. Every time, a new person is invited to chant the Guru Pooja. This time, a tall man dressed in all-white clothes chanted it in his deep, soothing voice. We were introduced to him as Hanamant Shinde, a retired police sub-inspector who is currently serving full-time as an Art of Living teacher and blesser.
When asked to conduct a knowledge session, he spoke a few wisdom points, shared some exciting stories, and asked if anyone had any questions.
Someone asked him, "How can we surrender?"
I had heard this term quite a few times from my dad, grandmother and other Art of Living teachers. But, of course, I had forgotten what it truly meant. After all, spiritual knowledge is so deep that it needs to be revised again and again to embed it into our heads and bring it into action in our daily lives. So, I was excited to revisit the topic.
Hanamant Shinde promptly replied, "To surrender, you must get rid of the doer-ship. So, whenever something good happens in your life, never think, I did this or it's because of me. Similarly, whenever something bad happens, never say, I did this, or it's because of me. In both instances, if you give importance to I, you let the ego take control of your life. Instead, in every situation, whether good or bad, you should think that it's not because of you but because the divine/nature wants it to be that way. So, when you remove the doer-ship from your life and surrender everything to the divine, you'll always have inner peace. You'll never go too high nor too low. You'll stay balanced. You'll be humble and down-to-earth. You'll forever be in gratitude. You'll have faith that everything happens for a reason."
He explained it way better than me, but I've tried my best to convey what he meant.
I also looked up Guruji's (Sri Sri Ravi Shankar) quotes on surrender and found plenty that effectively summarise the concept of surrendering in a few words. Here are four of them:
Surrender or 'letting go' is not an act. It is the realization that you are not the doer and that whatever is happening is how it should be!
We think surrender is a sign of weakness, when in fact it is a sign of strength. Surrender comes with knowledge, with realisation, and with gratefulness.
Surrender happens spontaneously with the knowledge that you are not in control of anything, not even your thoughts or feelings. When you realize that you are not in control of your life, but some supreme law governs life, then surrender happens.
Surrender happens when you know that your life is insignificant in the span of time and space. When you know, there are millions and millions of stars, how big the solar system is, where the Earth is–then what is one’s life? When you see this, surrender has happened.
So, whether we succeed or fail, fulfil our desires or don't, receive appreciation or criticism, we should surrender everything to the divine, be free, and enjoy life!
Sending you lots of sunny vibes ,
Vaibhavi
12.04.24
from: Skandha
to: Vaibhavi
date: 17 Apr 2024, 23:04
Thanks for your patience.
The concept of surrender was something I kept wondering about for many months before the answer came to me. It was very similar to Shindeji's story. Despite having the knowledge of experiencing life through divine unity rather than as an isolated speck as oneself, I find myself forgetting this knowledge. Maybe I should tattoo every spiritual learning on my body. Pretty sure I will end up looking like a 5ft 11in long exam chit :P
Last week, on the 10th, I attended a new kind of training session at the gym called a group fitness session. Since I had gone to the gym after 3 months, there seemed to be some kind of a staff overhaul because I couldn't recognize any of the staff members. I could see all new faces at the session, including the trainer. An hour of core workouts, HIIT and stretching later and we were all quite exhausted. And at the end, we gathered around our trainer when he asked us to stand facing him.
That's when I was pleasantly surprised. One by one, people shared an incident that they wanted to get off their heart, a token of gratitude for someone or something in their life or anything that made their day or life special in the recent past. This was such a cool icebreaker for everyone and we all laughed, clapped and cheered each other's words. I liked the idea of incorporating gratitude and self-reflection after a workout and would definitely keep attending these classes on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
Smile now pls,
Skandha
17.03.24
from: Vaibhavi
to: Skandha
date: 23 Apr 2024, 01:22
Hi hi hi!
I loved your gym story, but I was also hoping to read what you shared with your workout buddies that day! Is it a secret reserved for only those who exercise with you?
Also, we're in April, not March! Another knowledge point you must etch on your body: Be in the present moment.
~
My brother and I sometimes like to read stories before we sleep. The other day, we read a story titled 'Alone' from the children's book 'Days with Frog and Toad'. When Toad visits his best friend Frog's house, he finds a note saying, "Dear Toad, I am not at home. I went out. I want to be alone." Toad is shocked to learn that his friend wants to be alone. That word triggered a range of negative thoughts and feelings in him. Maybe he is very sad. Maybe he does not want to see me. Maybe he does not want to be friends with me anymore. He finds out that Frog is sitting alone on an island in the river and decides to cheer him up with sandwiches and iced tea. When Toad manages to reach the island after much difficulty, he tells Frog that he prepared lunch to make him happy. And that's when Frog exclaims, "But Toad, I am happy. I am very happy. This morning when I woke up, I felt good because the sun was shining. I felt good because I was a frog. And I felt good because I have you for a friend. I wanted to be alone. I wanted to think about how fine everything is." I loved this story! Frog was so happy that he just wanted to sit and spend some time with himself in gratitude.
The tale so simply and beautifully explains the concept of connecting with oneself. We are social animals, but being alone every once in a while is important, too, because it gives us time for self-reflection. Frog also puts light on the fact that alone is not always synonymous with loneliness, sadness, or other not-so-feel-good emotions. In fact, it's healthy to spend time with yourself doing things that help you relax, be it meditation, yoga, journaling, or simply sitting in nature.
There was a time when being alone made me too uncomfortable. I've also heard many people say that they get bored when they are by themselves. But if we give it good thought, we will spend more time with ourselves on this Earth than anyone else. So, shouldn't we all love having our 'me-time'? If we cannot stand our own company for some time, it's concerning, right? Dad often told me this quote by Guruji whenever I expressed my views on being alone: "If you enjoy being with yourself, you will not be a boring personality. And if your own company bores you, how boring must you be for someone else?"
I don't know when my perspective shifted, but now I like spending time with myself every day doing things I love, be it photography, birdwatching, nature foraging, or running!
May you get some awesome 'me-time' today ,
Vaibhavi
23.04.24
from: Skandha
to: Vaibhavi
date: 28 Apr 2024, 13:56
Hello there,
I spent a lot of time with myself in the past few weeks. Riding in traffic for almost 1.5 hours everyday puts me in autopilot and I end up with my thoughts while stuck between vehicles.
I observed others and myself cutting between cars, zooming past signals to avoid the dreaded red lights and impatiently honking at anything that stands in the way that could possibly slow down my journey. Sometimes, there are motorists worse than me who cut across the road without any indicators, brake suddenly and I have ended up with many close calls. This experience turned out to be very frustrating and tiring by the time I could reach my destination.
One evening, my commute was estimated to be 50 min for a journey that would usually take 25 min. I decided to soldier on and crawl through the traffic. I was too tired to engage in my shenanigans to reach home sooner. So I decided to drive sane and focus on a stress free journey.
It made a world of a difference. I forgave people driving like madmen, I anticipated jaywalking pedestrians with way more accuracy, gave way to all these honking motorists and did not rush to cross any signal. I made a few observations that evening:
I felt way less exhausted after reaching home. Usually, an hour goes by till I wind down after the ride. I was up and about with my other stuff sooner than usual.
My mind felt much more at peace after parking the bike. On any other day of riding though traffic, my head would still be on a riding mode for a few minutes after parking. I'd feel a bit jittery, with a faster than usual heartbeat and a slightly grumpy mood.
There was a difference of about 3-4 min compared to the ETA on Google maps. This was an insignificant price to pay for a calmer mind and an energetic evening.
I was reminded of a lesson from Liz ma'am, a teacher I regarded very highly from school. She would say "if you see someone driving like a maniac on the road and your peaceful ride gets disturbed as a result, just forgive them. Assume that the other person's wife is pregnant and they are rushing to the hospital." Now most of Chennai's evening traffic looks like people rushing to tend to their pregnant wives to me.
Nevertheless, I can clearly see the long term payoff for this short term sacrifice that I took. My evenings are more energetic, I spring back up quicker and the fog of riding lifts off my mind sooner. I still do like to ride fast on empty roads at night though, there feeling of cool breeze hitting my skin after a hot Chennai day is unmatched. :)
Let's go on bike ride soon,
Skandha
28.04.24
from: Vaibhavi
to: Skandha
date: 1 May 2024, 01:39
Hi!
I'm glad you are on the path of mastering the art of keeping cool while navigating through traffic. It's indeed an incredible feat!
~
Every day, the Times of India publishes a 'Speaking Tree' article covering different spirituality-related topics. Since we started our April Spirituality Email Exchange, I have been on the lookout for a good Speaking Tree story to share. Finally, last week, there was an interesting read: 'Three Algorithms To Take You Closer To Bliss' by Mona Mehta.
It discussed how our goal should shift from 'being happy' to 'being in an eternal state of bliss'. Why? Happiness is short-lived and usually followed by opposite emotions like sadness. But bliss? Once attained, it's here to stay.
You can evolve towards bliss by:
being comfortable and delighted within
being peaceful by yourself
feeling no turbulence under any condition
knowing how to behave in a given situation and what lessons to draw from it
having no expectations from the world
It's easier said than done. In reality, applying these principles is really hard. That's why we can follow three simple rules from the Gita to get closer to bliss.
Let it go
This, too, shall pass
How does it matter?/ So what?
When I read these points, I was immediately reminded of my advanced course in the Bangalore AOL ashram. We were taught these exact tricks to tackle any problem in life.
The article used three different examples to demonstrate how to apply these techniques. Similarly, during the course too, we were asked to sit in pairs, where one person would give a situation, and the other would reply with one of the three techniques they would use to tackle the problem.
Your best friend forgot to wish you on your birthday. Let it go.
You broke your leg and had to be bedridden for six months. This, too, shall pass.
You failed your exam. So what?
In fact, while writing this mail, I realised that you applied all three rules in your riding through the traffic story.
Your commute was estimated to take 50 minutes for a journey that would usually take 25 minutes, but you decided to drive sane and focus on a stress-free journey. This, too, shall pass.
You forgave people driving like madmen, jaywalking pedestrians, and honking motorists. Let it go.
You reached about 3-4 min later than the ETA on Google Maps. How does it matter?/ So what?
If we start this practice for every problem we face, we can get closer to being blissful instead of getting stuck in another cycle of action and reaction!
Wishing you, me, and every one the power to successfully apply the three algorithms,
Vaibhavi
01.05.24