The apparent age of disinformation that besets us all goes beyond politicians’ lies and shadings of truth, and beyond artificial intelligence’s ability to make the unreal seem real.
The ‘truth’ is what we don’t know includes some basic life questions such as:
How many times has your life been saved or extended through no particular current effort by you?
Has your fate been such that particular negative outcomes were ‘pre-ordained’ and that such outcomes were changed, avoided or ameliorated?
GRACE has been described as a slight—sometimes not so slight—bending of the LAW OF KARMA to create an outcome more favourable than what our karmic debts might have dictated.
At times, the situation is so dramatic as to make it unmistakable that Grace has taken over and become an unseen Hand of God steering us back on to the road after we have veered off into danger. This is not hyperbole; this is the experience that is real and part of the lives of many of those privileged to have come upon and diligently practiced Fivefold Path, the core practice, of course, being daily sunrise/sunset Agnihotra.
At other times, we don’t know what is in play or operative that prevented our fall on the ice that otherwise might have put us in hospital.
Or what about the job interview that was going poorly until by ‘accident’ it came out that both you and the interviewer attended the same university and belonged to the same fraternity?
However, immense care needs to be taken that our personal desires, habits, etc. are not guiding matters such that we are overtaxing the Divine. Our karmic accounts are rather indelible. There is no substitute for the intention to turn our lives over to Higher Power for guidance and consequence.
We recite, ‘idam na mama’ twice when performing Agnihotra. ‘Not my will but Thy will be done.’ Thus, we turn over the results to a force greater than we. That Force knows what we don’t know.
What exactly is THE GOAL and HOW TO REACH IT?
FROM Day 1, the battle cry, the mantra, the logo was—and still is: TRAIN THE MIND TO REACT WITH LOVE UNDER ALL CIRCUMSTANCES.
This isn’t a new concept hot off the presses. The Bible, hardly yesterday’s news—gave a very similar message, just a bit more ‘obscured.’ “Be ye transformed by renewal of the mind.” (Romans 12:2)
NO SABEMOS LO QUE NO SABEMOS
TRAIN: Our minds require a certain measure of discipline—preferably Self-discipline (Tapa). Without it, we may be the most powerful of horses, but unbridled, we are at the mercy of the old impressions on our minds (samskaras) and subsequent habits that accompany us to this very moment.
How can I react with love under all circumstances when I am bedeviled by greed, jealously, lust, attachment, pride and anger? Ain’t going to happen. And reacting with love isn’t meant to happen only when convenient, when it is a birthday, when your lottery ticket looks promising or when a rainbow appears. UNDER ALL CIRCUMSTANCES!!
So, we need devise a plan of self-development (Swadhyaya), to implement the necessary thoughts, feelings and intentions, and put them into action.
For very few, if any, of us, does this come completely naturally, or necessarily easy—at least not after the age of 4. So, behaviours designed to balance our instinctive tendencies are not luxuries. They are crucial to our unfoldment and best be considered to be requirements, not sprinklings of powdered sugar on top of a cake.
We’re talking here of the cake itself, the whole ball of wax, the main dinner course.
“Why go to all this trouble,” your lower self may protest? Why….because this is indispensable to your own happiness and thus to all sentient beings in the circle of your life.
Should part of you question all, or parts of this, simply try an experiment. Clarify, codify and implement your lives and have your own experience. THEN YOU CAN BELIEVE (or not).
And belief is the foundation of what is true and the prelude to trust, faith and confidence. It is also a key to discerning what is truth and what is disinformation. Continue your journey; if you don’t find it valuable, a 75-year guarantee—no questions asked—is yours for the asking. You will get a full refund. In fact, you may begin again should you wish.