Q  What is life trying to make us understand by all the trials and tribulations?

          The answer is life. The achievements and obstacles we encounter in life help us understand the ingrained philosophy of life. Life itself is a subjective experience. Life itself is the result. Every experience we have in life is one step further towards perfection.

                        A child attempts to answer some sums. When someone points out a mistake, the child corrects itself.  And gradually, it will be able to answer sums without making a single mistake. So also, we commit some mistakes in life. Our experience guides us on the right path. And then we succeed in this test called life.

                        When we succeed in life, we rise beyond consolation (Vaazhkkaiyil therum podhu, yaarum namakku therudhal sollakkoodiya nilai irukkadhu). Persons have not got the real feel of life as yet. And so they need Siva Shankar Baba to counsel them. Siva Shankar Baba does not need aaruthal because he himself is aaruthalai. (Muruga).

                        Once we understand that we are God, when we know we are Muruga who is aaruthalai (the Lord with six faces), there is no need for external aaruthal (consolation).

                        We transcend wants. We realize that our search starts and ends within ourselves. We will know that we are repositories of that Infinite Power. Until such time, you will search outside. You are the solution to all your problems. You need not visit tantrics or astrologers; you need not even visit temples. But you are unable to believe it when I say this.

                        There is a quote: “I am bigger than anything that can happen to me. All these things, sorrow, misfortune and suffering are outside my door. I am in the house and I have the key”. The painter is more important than the painting itself, because it is his creativity that expresses itself in his painting. You are the one who opens the door of your heart to any intruder. If you deny entry to misery, how can it enter? If you decide that you will never entertain fear, how can it gain entry?

            So the decision is yours. Insecurity is the basis of your fear. The moment you imbibe the confidence that you will face anything that happens, nothing can disturb you; no one can disturb you. You have not yet gained that confidence. Once you surrender to God, saying ‘whatever happens, good or bad, I am not concerned. You are my Lord’  (‘Nanre vilaiginum, theedhe vilaiginum naan arivadhu onrum illai’). Your surrender to God must be absolute. Or, decide that you don’t need an external ‘God’ because that pulsating Supreme Force is within you. Vivekananda puts it beautifully, ‘The New Faith defines atheist as one who does not have self-confidence’. If you have self-confidence, you need not offer prayers to God, because God is no more external to you.

            God is the source of self-confidence. You are tossing about in the river. If your aim is to reach ashore, then all it requires is a log to keep you afloat.

          You are climbing some mountains. You lose your balance and trip. You grope about for a branch to cling to. Similarly, God helps you in staying afloat in this Samsara Sagara, the ocean of life. God is very much within you.

          Persons judge you as believer or agnostic based on whether you accept the presence of God. I do not subscribe to this judgment. What is needed is self-confidence; and whether you are naturally self-confident or you need an external prop to hold on to.

          The Vedas declare, ‘Aham Brahmaasmi; Tattvamasi’ (I am God and so are you). So, he who knows himself to be God, is not concerned with anything else. That is the characteristic of Muruga, ‘Ullasa Nirakula Sallabha Vinodhan’: He is beyond the understanding of the common man with his blithe, merry ways that leave no room for worries.

          These traits come from within you. Emotional disturbances wait at your doors. You are within your house, and you have the key to the door. If you open your door and let sorrow in, you become sorrowful. If you observe persons who are miserable, you will find that they are more interested in worrying about the worry, than sorting out the worry itself.

          You know that if you scratch a wound, it will not heal. So what is the way to heal it?  Apply medicine and allow it to heal. Similarly, if you want to alleviate your misery, try to find solutions for it. There is no use remembering the sorrow and grumbling about it to everyone you meet; it will only increase your misery.

          The quotation I cited, continues: “By the right choice he ascends. As a Being of power, intelligence and love and the Lord of his own thoughts, he holds the key to every situation”.

          So ‘Enniya enniyaangu eidhuvar enniyar thinniyaraaga perin.’ (Man is a consequence of his own thoughts). Destroy yourself or elevate yourself. Your thoughts originate from within you. The magic wand is very much in your hands; you can use it effectively to create a paradise for yourself.

( continues next week....)