He Said, She Said - What Will They Say?

Every single waking moment of our lives and also when we sleep, there is a sub-conscious activity that is constantly running - He said that, she said this, they will say this or that...goes on and on...

It is obviously very easy to say "ignore it. why should You bother about all this?" But, No! It is not so easy to ignore it and is in fact a little un-natural to do so.

Because we are human and supposedly have an intellect (Gnana) acting upon us, we naturally analyze, debate and try to reason while we run through our minds various what-if scenarios, a million times a day if not more :-)

The idea is to let those thoughts come and the greater goal is to simply observe them without getting involved - with what is called a "Sakshi Bhava" or with an attitude of being just a witness! Once we make this practice a normal behaviour, the rate of occurrence of those perturbing thoughts will reduce - will require time and patience...

A small and an interesting story I was recently told by someone I look upto:

A Guruji was approached by one of his devotees (Siddhartha) asking how he could stop the villagers from making fun of him and hurting him constantly. He also said he did all the right things and never did anything to hurt anyone. So, the Guruji told him to simply ignore them. After a few days Siddartha came back saying the torture from the villagers continued.

The Guruji thought for a while and gave Siddartha a small vessel filled to the brim with oil. He asked Siddartha to go round the village 3 times without spilling a drop of oil. This charm would work if and only if there was not a single drop of oil spilt!

So, Siddartha was thrilled that finally he had found a tool to relieve himself of the grief from the villagers.

He very cautiously took the vessel with the oil and completed walking round the village 3 times.

Once he returned, the Guruji asked him if all had gone well and if the charm worked -that is the villagers were now behaving themselves?

Siddartha immediately beamed up and said "Guruji, YES! the charm worked! Not a single villager talked - forget about good or bad. They were simply quiet! I don't know ow to re-pay you for this!"

The Guruji laughed and said - "Siddartha, it is not the villagers. Infact they would have made fun of you more than ever to see a man head bent low and walking with a vessel in hand round and round the village. It was YOU who were so focused on the vessel that ignored them, and hence did not hear what they said or did! This is what I want you to practice in your every day life - your sole focus being on that one single point of equilibrium, a point that gives you the balance and inner peace/happiness and go through life without paying heed to anyone or anything that they say - this is the very key to happiness!"

Siddartha went home with this realization.

I love this story for it's simplicity and the message it brings - I want you to do the same.

I'm trying to..join me in this search..

Try and discover your "self" - find that vessel filled with oil, the inner self that belongs to you and only you...that point of balance. Once you have found it, there is nothing else that you will need or want...

Have a wonderful day!