Today I take stock of my wonderful life and find that there were so many opportunities when I could have let my inner fires blaze up and shine for the entire world to see. Each of us has a unique perspective to life and each one of us has our own universe to live in. It is up to each one of us to find ones life’s purpose and then use it to leave our mark on everything around us. Artists do it through their art, philosophers through their world view and authors through their writings. Each of us has his or her own unique gift and it is up to oneself to feed this inner fire or to let it be blanked by our circumstances.
Those of us who can stay true to our inner calling can still make something out of our life. It is not up to others to define our life but only we have this mastery. The safest route is the one society shows where you follow its norms and stay within its limits. The boldest path is to strike off on one’s own and follow the path that no one else sees and to hack our way to where we want to go irrespective of what other may say or do. The middle path is where we confirm to society, but still do not lay down your soul to it; and stand tall in our own beliefs as nothing says it is me, till I square my shoulders and face up to society, and fight its ills.
When I arrive at my chosen place, what I want to see or do is entirely up to me. I can walk along the shore of the beach and wade into the water of the ocean, and dwell in the life of the eternal waves and count my blessings. I can hike the mountain trails and admire the vistas and the forests, and seek higher knowledge. I can enter the dark night and awaken to beautiful dreams, as who is this dreamer and what is this reality, but only a figment of our imagination. I can enter a relationship and make one’s companion the most beautiful and cherished one, as after all I was put on this earth only to admire your loveliness warts and all.
This journey I realize is not a destination to eternity but only a path to oneself. Where do all the beings go once they have completed their journey and why do we not sit with them when they want us and share the warmth of their inner glow. I know some who gained the world and still lost themselves in the stiffness of what they had become. I know other who lost everything and yet were rich beyond measure as their beliefs did not dessert them. The true being is the one who blossoms in his own light and needs no other. We seek their strength and need their love for in them we find the spark that we know we each had. Sometimes this spark is all we shelter in the storm of our life as we know if we lose it than all is lost.
Do not despair when the spark is weak as I give you hope that you can rekindle it and let it grow. I give you faith in yourself as there is strength in you that can mold the universe around your little finger if you try. Reignite that fire and your life will become meaningful again, as there is nothing holding you back but yourself. Shine on as the glow inside is the power of life, that all of us possess. I sit alone yet I contemplate the ever expanding universe, and see it clearly in my own way. No one else can come and sit with you and see the same view, so contemplate and smile as this was all made just for you.
Be happy as what is ours none can take away and that which is not ours does not factor into our happiness. Meditate on the now as the past and future are irrelevant and only a maya of karma or an illusion that distracts from the eternal truth. This I know, so pray Om shanti as peace is ours to have and to give. Do not expect others to understand your fire or appreciate it. Be blissful that it is only I who act, and only I who succeeds in this glory that is my life.
One may have a blazing hearth in one’s soul, and yet no one ever comes to sit by it. -Vincent van Gogh, painter (30 Mar 1853-1890)