It is human nature to be happy when life goes our way and to complain or be disappointed when life does not meet our expectations.
Life, for each one of us, has its ups and downs. We can be sure that along with the sunny days, there will be rainy days. Along with brightness, there will be darkness; along with the roses, there will be thorns. But if we allow ourselves to only focus on the negative and to be impacted by the rising and falling tides of life, we will be surrounded by turmoil.
There’s a place one can go to relax far away from the sadness and suffering. We can renew your spirits and come in contact with a place free from sorrows.
Where can we find that place free of sorrows? That place free of sorrows is within us. It’s a place where we can connect with the peace of our soul. We can find relief from the sufferings of life. We can find the peace within us by sitting in meditation.
When we are in turmoil, finding stillness becomes a challenge and this in turn impacts our meditations and spiritual progress.
Saints and Spiritual Masters remind us that ups and downs are a part of our existence, defined by our karmic inheritance. We cannot avoid them. They exhort us to not focus on what we might feel is missing or not working out in our lives and instead, to live by the principle of Sweet is Thy Will.
If, rather than bemoan our circumstances, we learn to focus on all the blessings in our lives, we are sure to see that the roses far outweigh the thorns. In doing so, we develop gratitude for all of life’s blessings and come to realize that we are limited in our knowledge of what might be good for us.
God, on the other hand, knows our past, our present and our future and is always only giving us that which is best for us, regardless of how we may see a situation in the current moment.
When we live life with gratitude and appreciation, counting our blessings and leaving the rest to God, we live as God would want us to live. We come to this realisation when we experience God’s presence in our lives through meditation.
As we sit in silence and come in contact with the love and Light of God within, we are filled with feelings of contentment and gratitude, unearthing a state of eternal calm and bliss.
When we emerge from meditation, we see the world in a different light. We know that the outer sorrows of life are temporary. They will pass. When we see there’s a place of peace and joy within, we are strengthened with fortitude to pass through the difficult times knowing that happiness is accessible to us within. When we realize there is a place free of sorrows within, we can help others to access that place.
Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj
