Face The Reality

 

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Face The Reality

A spiritual Master does not distribute lollipops, he is not there to mollycoddle you! He is there to make us face our reality, to look at life and see where we stand, how we have improved; are we progressing or are we stagnating?

The Guru provides the mirror for us to see our own reality. The Master is like a polished mirror, such that when we look at him, we see ourselves just as we are, no image distortions, no false images – just who and what we are! Because if we can’t actually see ourselves for what we are, how will we ever change?

Once in a while look in the mirror and ask yourself – “Have I changed?” Be honest with yourself, then only will there be room for improvement, for progress. In order to facilitate our spiritual progress, the Master keeps testing us by giving rise to such situations which literally test us in the aspect of ourselves that we think has changed for the better. Don’t run away from such situations, face them, face your reality. It is only when we face our reality that we understand where we actually stand.

The most important aspect of spiritual practice is to look at oneself in such a way that we know actually where we stand, where we actually are, or what we actually are. But how do we do that? This can happen only by facing situations, only by being in particular situations, and only through contact with other people.

We have to change for the better, there is no other way. If we remain the same, the years of meditation, the years of chanting mantras or singing bhajans are useless, unless the heart changes. The heart changes means that the heart has begun to look outside oneself, look at others and feel compassion, then we are progressing. We are always looking at our own selfish interests not bothered about others, when we start looking after the interest of others, we are progressing.

By sharing we receive – by sharing we are not talking money or wealth or material stuff, sharing spiritual insights, our spiritual experiences help others on the same path who may be stuck. We are not talking about giving everything we have, it is just that we should sacrifice some part of our lower self – sacrifice selfishness – look outside, help others.

We have to do our spiritual practice daily without fail, only then can we say that we are making some progress. We have to ‘sit down’ for meditation, there is no way out, let our mind wander it is alright, but physically sitting down is a must. After some time the mind becomes habituated and quietens down.

Difficult situations are wonderful opportunities to look at oneself – can one handle it. No armchair experience will do, real life situations are the real testing ground. How did you react, how did people perceive your reaction? Analyse and see for yourself. 

So, if we have to get out of this finally, once and for all, the only way is to find our own self. To find our own self, means to examine ourself, to look at life, try and become as less self-centred as possible. There is no human being who is totally non-self-centred’. Some self will be there. Otherwise, we cannot function on this earth.