Fall from grace

Fall from grace. The great story of life.
Sometimes, in life, in spite of everything, we fall.

The nicest guy can become a criminal.
The most honest guy can lie.

What is it that causes the fall from grace? Maybe self interest.

I was so proud about the fact that I always speak the truth. So much so that I started believing that whatever I say will come true. Then suddenly I lied. And the fall was excruciatingly painful.

Now I do not wish for any sort of power over the truth. I embrace my human weakness.
I have lied and cheated. And I forgive myself and forgive you for all your secret evil acts.

No matter how long you have been honest, a single lie can completely shatter everything instantaneously. Hence the desire to be good is the root of misery. The shadow cannot be destroyed.

In order to keep life simple, just avoid lying. Period.

Yes, you may fall sometime, but come back onto the path. Forgive yourself and come back home.

Lying and its consequence

The consequences of lying are instantaneous. Instantly, darkness falls on the mind and a heaviness is felt.
You don't feel good. Subconscious impression is made.

Truly, it doesn't help to lie. Especially to lie intentionally. Today, I lied intentionally.
And I swear it doesn't feel good afterwards.

Truly, its not worth lying even if telling the truth puts you into slight inconvenience.

Else, always stick to truth. Lying sucks. Believe me. Even lying to your enemy sucks.

What to do?

What is to be done? What is to be avoided?
The two endless questions.

The divine intent is forever active. Let it decide the course of action.
No need for resistance.

Gold is shaped into a ring. If it identifies as the ring, it will always be afraid of losing its identity or getting damaged. If it realizes its true identity as gold, it 'becomes' indestructible immediately.

Reality of the absolute

Awareness exists only in opposition to unawareness.
Being exists only relative to non being.

No matter how hard you try, you cannot escape the opposites. Because outside of the world of opposites, nothing exists that can be known or thought about.

That which is can only be in opposition to that which is not. Death can be only in opposition to birth.
Similarly, time and non time etc.

The only way out is the absolute. All relatives are conceptual. Only the absolute alone is real.

The absolute is neither aware nor unaware. Since awareness and unawareness give rise to each other.

Choice and misery

That causing most turmoil is the notion of choice. The possibility of making the wrong choice drives the mind insane. Imagine a life ruined by wrong choices. Is the person responsible?

What factor inspires the respective choice? We have no idea of the exact consequences of a choice. Sometimes, we regret making a choice. But, we have no idea of our state had we made the other choice. For example, sometimes no matter what you choose you will regret it.

Choice is both your greatest blessing and your greatest curse. Ultimately, the wise ones see that all choice is an illusion. To realize this is peace.

Choice

Let us consider the question of choice and free will.

Say you are in a position where you have to choose between two possibilities A and B.
Assume you chose B. Now was this really a free choice?

On the surface, it seems as though you chose B out of your own free will. However, notice that in the act of evaluating the choices, your subconscious invariably brings out past memories related to the choices A and B. These past impressions cannot be ignored while in the process of choosing. Also, the state of mind you are in at the moment of choosing matters. What are the imagined consequences of choosing either A or B? And then comes moments where the forces that govern our lives bring circumstances to the point wherein the choice gets made. The variables in question are simply too many to factor out and the interrelations among them result in the making of the choice.

So, what factor ultimately makes the choice? Notice that your mind is a container of various impressions or programs. These programs run your daily life. Sometimes they cause joy. More often pain. Our lives are not ours alone but influenced by those we come in contact with. It is these complex intermingling of impressions that create decisions and a self is created as the owner of the decision. A self is fabricated to claim ownership of all choices and decisions. This is done merely to make things simple. Thoughts can easily be implanted in the mind which can create anguish. The only way out is to give up hope or desire.

In this sometimes ruthless battle of cause and effect, of opposing forces of light and dark, is there an absolute truth? There is seeming choice.

The play of impressions is the factor governing life. There only seems to be choice.

Reveal and be free

Conflicting tendencies cause confusion and you end up making the 'wrong' choice.
For example: Today I bumped into a friend while alighting a bus. One part was happy to see him. Another part wanted to hide my visit to the place I was coming from. And I ended up not meeting him. And then I was tormented by guilt for refusing to meet him.

Why did I want to hide my previous visit? Why am I trying to hide my activities?
They invariably lead to situations where revealing them become inevitable. Why indulge in this tiring game of hide and seek and instead just have the courage to reveal, whatever the consequence. This will save a lot of regret, guilt or just energy.

So don't try to hide stuff. No need to go around parading your activities either. However, when the moment demands, reveal it. Do not stubbornly try to hide.

Dealing with illness

Dealing with illness is one of life's greatest challenge. Facing illness implies facing loss of health and also death. It automatically causes you to shed most of your mundane concerns and learn to appreciate life itself. Illness is a call to look inward. A call to introspect. Go within and realize the deathless. The soul cannot be sick. No illness can affect the soul.

Illness affects the body. Identification with body results in severe suffering due to illness. The only way out is to be convinced of the deathless dimension of consciousness. Consciousness is untouched by illness. To deeply realize this is true healing.

May you be healed.