DRINK IT IN

Our problems will always grow bigger. If we think that we’ve had it up to here, rest assured that worse will come, without warning or planning. We may plan about and cater for a thousand things, but the next test will come in a completely unimagined form. Smooth sailing is a dream.

So where does that lead us? Are we here just for the torture planned by some sadistic power? Is that the aim, the be-all and the end-all of this world? Whither lies redemption?

Till the time I think that I have solutions and plans that will protect me from the adversities, I am going astray; simply because the focus is on myself, I, I, I and I. Did I plan on every day of health and fun and smiles that came my way? No, I just took them on without heed, without thanks, without questioning their being or happening.

We are blessed with senses to pick up external stimuli. How are we reacting to the information they send us? If my senses tell me mountain, do I immediately feel climb, or exhaustion, or landslide? If I am told water, do I feel flood, drowning, danger? If it says tree, do I react obstruction, or plywood? If it says breeze, do I react cold, sick, indoors? If I see flame, do I jump to fire, destruction, scorching, burning? If I am told desert, do I feel thirst, exhaustion, death, buzzards?

If I see buzzard, do I see clawing and scavenging or do I see graceful flight over uplifting thermals!

Am I open to the awesome beauty of the mountain? The power, the strength, the majesty? Can I look up in awe at the Maker’s creation, The Composition of the Lord, Hari ki kirat, Harkirat? Do I have any idea of my relative size strength and importance?

Do I see the force of life in water? Do I feel its heavenly coolness? Do I appreciate the capacity of water alone to douse the inferno inside me, the gifts of fun and force and adventure and rejuvenation that it is all about? Do I see how just the promise of water pours life into any living being, and gentleness into the stones that we think don’t live?

Have I ever gazed into the green and near-green of the trees, and actually drunk it in? It is a life force! It calms it soothes it unruffles. It unfetters, it relaxes, it enlivens. It holds the promise of heaven, of the Garden of Eden (Jannat).

Have I ever let the breeze play with my hair as no lover can, have I ever felt its touch in the unknown reaches of my soul as it plays over my mind and body? Have I allowed it to pull and push me against my will? Oh, it is Divine!

When was the last time I faced the sun and drank it in with closed eyelids and felt the life flow all through me and smiled at the warmth of its touch as it filled my inner being?

I can teach myself languages and maths and tricks and discipline. I can school my mind to explore, analyze, learn and accept. Let me now guide it to appreciate and wonder and rejoice. Let my mind discern and appreciate and compose love, truth and beauty, and all the wonders of God’s world will be mine. Man ki Kirat, Mankirat.

If my comprehension of the forces of life, love and beauty grows, then my problems pale into insignificance. When I am in tune with all the forces that sustain my life and energy, then I do not wilt in anticipation of imminent problems. I draw strength from these friends who are always willing to replenish and rejuvenate. I live, I bloom. I celebrate the love and beauty and oneness and care and energy and prana. I live to celebrate life. Jashan. My problems come, but I know that they too will pass, either by retreating physically, or by leading me towards different perspectives.

The life forces are God’s arms reaching out to me to help me, to support me, to hold me up. They are nectar; I need to drink them in.