Nature is designed to make us Let go
Hindu philosophy recommends under the
Ashram system that human life be divided into four periods. The goal of each
period was the ideal fulfillment of each of the four consecutive stages of life.
Brahmacharya or Student Stage;
Grihastha or Householder Stage; Vanaprastha or
Hermit Stage; Sannyasa or Ascetic Stage. These stages were designed to allow a
man to live a full life according to the laws of nature.
It suddenly dawned on me that every law of
nature and every circumstance are designed for detachment. This is the oldest
philosophical lesson and never too late to learn. Clouds come and go, the sun
rises and sets, earth moves, seasons change, there is birth and death at all
times.
Looking back, after the birth of a child, the
ability to walk independently leads to detachment from carrying the baby,
student life creates gradual detachment through education and adolescence is
the start of the child learning to become responsible for one’s own physical
and emotional well being. Similarly, middle age is the start of Vanaprastha
stage where one needs to start learning to shift focus once again.
To flow with these changes effortlessly,
letting go is the only answer. What prevents us from letting go? There is
limited awareness and focus on spiritual knowledge. We learn how to achieve,
earn money, about the physical body and world of
objects. There is negligible space given to another subject - how best to apply
all this information to our life in the most efficient and effortless manner.
Why is there
limited focus? Is that again a play of nature? We go through success and
failure, joy and sorrow; and only when we are pushed against the wall, do we
truly seek. Till then, we live in a deep slumber and keep fighting with
ourselves. We create chaos in our life and then we look for ways to understand
it or unravel it. I am amused, is that a way of feeling occupied and important?
There are rules
to every sport and sharing spiritual knowledge too is another sport to be
played. Like any other field of achievement or education, mastery is acquired
through consistent practice and by playing with the rules. Every body of
knowledge is a teaching that forms the pillars of life and spiritual knowledge
is the foundation on which these pillars need to be constructed. There is
limited significance given to the subject of spirituality due to ignorance,
beliefs and perceptions. If we were to understand and regard spirituality as
the science of thoughts and acquire knowledge like any other scientific study,
our attitude towards this subject would change and so would our life.
A teacher or a coach
has the ability to draw out the potential from people and help them grow into
independent individuals. It’s all about serving one another. Sports coaches work with people to become
better sportsmen and life coaches work with people to live their life better.
As a coach, I
use the knowledge of spirituality to be a catalyst for people to feel empowered
and achieve their dreams. My dream is about seeing people feel fulfilled with
their life, a cricketers dream is to inspire and entertain people, a doctors
dream is to heal people and bankers dream is to make people financially
empowered. I too got caught in this play and thought that I had a special gift
to improve the world. Without the other gifts of knowledge that I acquired
through life, I would not be able to live this life. The joke is back on me. I
started with wanting to become free and I ended up getting entrapped in the
sense of power of knowledge that was to free me. All I need to do is live life
authentically and celebrate every moment of life.
