Thursday, September 17, 2009

Disturbed Mind - Restless Soul

Disturbed Mind - Restless Soul:

The question is not only what have I achieved,
the question is what have I helped others to achieve?
That is the notion of social conscience in Islam.



Often there are obstacles in achieving peace of mind.
Therefore, God always tries to wake one up during a person's mid-life,
which is between the ages of 40 and 55. This call comes in different
forms. Sometimes in dreams, sometimes when you hear a good sermon,
sometimes a crisis, sometimes a tragedy. All these ways are to pull you
back so that you can prepare yourself for your return to God. Some
people are able to catch these messages but others fail to see it. The
obstacles that stop us from hearing this call are as follows:

1. ATTACHEMENT TO MATERIAL THINGS. The more things we have the more we
need to take care of it. Our time and energy is invested in maintaining
these things. The possessions take us over. We become slaves to our
possessions and our lust for power and position in the society. So the
trick is to draw a line between our needs and our ego. We can make our
lives very tranquil by having what we really need; or complicate it by
fooling ourselves that we are acquiring it for children and family
whereas in fact we are doing it for POWER and EGO and POSITION in the
society.

2. ATTACHMENT TO OUR RELATIONSHIPS. Learn to keep a little detached from
your relationships. The children that are born through you are not your
possessions. You give them love and guidance but they are God's souls.
If you were to lose anybody in your life - you should be prepared to
accept it. Enjoy and be peaceful with your relationships but when it
ends - let it go.

3. ATTACHMENT TO YOUR IMAGE. We spend so much time and energy to make
ourselves perceived different than what we actually are. We should be
comfortable with ourselves. If we are possessed with how we are
perceived, that becomes a hindrance (difficulty).

4. ATTACHMENT TO WEALTH. Accumulation of wealth that we can not share
with others, is not part of any religion. When we are busy making money
so that we can hoard for children and grand children and family - as if
the God who looked after us can't look after them - we are trying to
play God's role, guided by our EGO in disguise. Needless to say we are
too busy with no time for anything else or ANYONE else.

Finally, "When you run after the world, the world never comes into your
hands". The day you learn to detach (separate) yourself from this world
and concentrate on working for others, the world will come after you.
But you will have no need for that world because you have found peace
and harmony and tranquillity (calm).

No comments: