Obstacles

[Guest guest]

Why do we have obastacles and pitfalls in the

first place ?<br><br>does God not want us to evolve, or

is it Prakriti which opposes and why ?<br><br>Or

pitfalls are also abode of shiva to give us some new

experiences and learnings.<br><br>should we hate these

obstacles or love them too as shiva's blessings ? What

should be our reaction ??<br><br> without answering

these questions, sadhna will be incomplete.<br><br>Om

namah shivaye

[Guest guest]

Peace and Joy..<br><br>The posting of the

Kenopanisad would be only once a day, but, if it is seen as

an obstacle or as not in line with the topic, i will

certainly cease posting on this topic. <br><br>It can be a

little disconcerning when one looks for specific

information and has to wade through several posts to achieve

it.<br><br>It is only in service that this Holy Book was

presented. It speaks on Maya and how to over come it's lure

and so it was thought it would be helpful.

<br><br>Shiv Oham,Tatwamasi, Awasthi, or other members:

Please, let me know...<br><br>Om Shanti

[Guest guest]

Peace and Joy...<br><br>Maybe this is venture is

not conductive at the present time in Sadhana. So,

the series will conclude at the Peace Invocation--may

this Parnam bless the efforts of the founders and

members of the club towards Liberation.<br><br>Om Shanti.

[Guest guest]

adreamgodus, you have beautifully explained

obstacles as per kenopanisad (3 types of obstacles). Please

elaborate further what kenopanishad says about these

obstacles and their remedies.<br><br>Mani - I have pasted

your home page link in the club <br><br>Gyp - thanks

for Message on Mahashivaratri. 108 names of shiva may

be seen in Sanskrit in Photo section of the

club.<br><br>shiva

[Guest guest]

Tks Mira, vicki, devi and erica for thoughtful

posts on obstacles.<br>Mira...yes some people may

mention of visions etc. to show off, but most of them, I

have found are perplexed as to what is happening and

they wish to know the reason behind them and i think

there is no harm in sharing these thoughts if it helps

ourselves or others.<br><br> visions are no more than an

indication of progress in Sadhna and if we do not have them,

does not prove that we are not progressing. For

example if one is trekking on a mountain, when one is

going higher and higher, there will be different type

of flowers, different smells, temprature will be

colder, winds will be flowing faster....all indicating

that we are reaching higher altitudes, now one may not

care for these signs of altitude but still may be on

the higher planes.<br><br> Those who are emotional

and more sensitive, often notice these signs

easily.<br><br> But visions too become obstacles once we reach a

certain plane of consciuosness and if one does not

discard them, they stop further progress.<br><br> As

devi-bhakta said, all obstacles are our own creation, well in

a way that is correct to say as whole universe is

MY Creation , if we talk in the language of

Vedanta.<br><br> My querry was to know the latent purpose of

Mother Nature behind obstacles. I do have a feeling that

Mother Nature presents obstacles to us, to make us ready

for the next bigger leap. And the farther we go on

the path of Sadhna, the bigger are the

obstacles.<br><br> So let us talk about common sadhaka like

ourselves who are still engulfed in the Maya of Universe,

who may theoretically know Vedanta, but may feel

reluctant to put it in practical, who are still wondering

on the aspects and strange mysteries of Mother

Nature, who are still not sure if we are on the right

path, who may still have doubt if we are making

progress, who are still confused over how to utilise sadhna

in our day to day Karma.<br><br> Can we safely say

that Obstacles are a good sign, and they denote our

sadhna is working??<br>should we be discouraged over

obstacles, or cherish their arrival, as we do for visions

and miracles??<br><br><br>Hari Aum

[Guest guest]

Obstacles are a very good sign as they show us

where we need to focus our sadhna at that particular

time. Lately, I have had many obstacles in the path of

money issues. Twice now, companies have taken money out

of my account without any notification or reasoning.

It has caused me great suffering. But it is not all

for naught...It has forced me to look at the way I

use money, spend money, and have not had a practice

of saving money. This "lesson" has cost me over

$500. But it is also a lesson in trust. Trust of

myself, trust of others, trust of a system which seems

selfishly motivated. The lesson here is enormous! I am

still working it out. But within my anger at the

situation, my frustration, my crying out at the universe

"why?", it all comes down to self. I cannot look to the

outside as to why this has happened, but must look

within. See what I can change, how I must act

accordingly, and know that universe/divine will provide even

in this time of terrible poverty. Do I cherish this

obstacle? NO! ahahaah Am I discouraged YES!! But it is

necessary to teach me so I will grin and bear it in

love, mirabai

[Guest guest]

SILENT SOUL,<br><br>Regarding your query as to

the latent purpose behind obstacles. It is a very

thought-provoking question.<br><br>First of all, I reiterate that

visions, hearing the mystic sounds, etc. are only signs of

progress. They become obstacles only if we start

concentrating on them or get distracted by them.<br><br>Mother

Nature protects and guards everything very well. Look at

the way the seeds are protected. Even the sweet, soft

rose has its thorns. So it is in the law of Nature to

make it difficult for us to reach Her very

source.<br><br>Mankind does not value anything that comes free or easy.

Some healers I know who were doing free service found

that they had to charge some fees in order to make

people take them and their time and their healing

seriously! So God is playing ' hard to get '. He knows His

creations only too well.<br><br>There are some lessons each

of has to learn in the school of life before we can

progress. Each person will be given experiences (which we

perceive as obstacles) that will precisely teach the

required lesson.<br><br>Spiritual practice of any kind,

Yoga in any form, accelerates the process of '

liberation '. When we are going fast towards ' realization '

or ' liberation ' some of our karmas have to be '

worked out '. Many difficulties arise because of this.

Health, Finance, Personal relationships, Job, any thing

could be the trouble-zone. To varying degrees, each

according to his karma. Some of the Devi mantras are

supposed to do this clearing up of old karmas so well,

that the aspirant is at times over-whelmed by

misfortunes and troubles.<br><br>To quote Sri Aurobindo and

The Mother:<br><br>' There cannot be any high

endeavour, least of all in the spiritual field, which does

not raise or encounter grave obstacles of a very

persistent character.<br>... it acts in different ways on

different seekers. - Sri Aurobindo.<br><br>' Difficulties

are sent to us exclusively to make the realization

more perfect '.<br>' Shocks and trials always come as

a divine grace to show us the points in our being

where we fall short...'<br>'...every thing that

happens, happens in order to give us precisely the lesson

we needed and if we are sincere in ' sadhana ', the

lesson should be accepted with joy and gratitude.' - The

Mother.<br><br>Jai Maha Maya!<br><br>Sapta Matrka (matrka7)

[Guest guest]

The following is the answer given by Bhagavan

Ramana Maharshi to a devotee.<br><br>M : Your idea of

will power is success insured, whereas will power

should be understood as the strength of mind which meets

success and failure with equanimity. It is not synonymous

with certain success. Why should one's attempts be

always attended with success? Success develops arrogance

and one's spiritual progress is thereby arrested.

Failures on the other hand are beneficial in as much as

they open one's eyes to one's limitations and prepare

him to surrender himself. Therefore one should try to

gain equipoise of mind under all circumstances. That

is will power. Again success and failure are the

results of prarabdha and not of will power. One man may

be doing only good and yet prove a failure. Another

may do otherwise and yet be uniformly successful.

This does not mean that the will power is absent in

one and present in the other.<br><br>Note : The

context is the case of a man, who, because of repeated

reverses in business, has lost confidence in himself, and

who is now trying to find a way of recovering it. He

is confusing confidence with will power. One may

have abundant confidence in oneself, yet the will to

work is lacking. The case of the questioner is the

reverse of this, namely, he has the will to work, but is

pessimistic about the results of his labour, on account of

persistent failures in the past. Bhagavan advises him to

develop and equal attitude to both success and failure,

which after all depend on one's destiny, at the same

time he praises failure as more spiritually fruitful

in the long run than success, in that it kills

arrogance and promotes an attitude of vairagya, which

hastens one's approach to the supreme goal. Most people

live in abysmal ignorance of their glorious destiny;

more so of their weak points - of their tamasic and

rajasic cravings and behaviour. The rich in particular

take the strongest objection to these being pointed

out to them in a direct manner. How can then God open

their eyes and save them from this Self intoxication?

He gives them disasters and calamities to shake

their airy castles and crack the thick crusts of their

arrogance. Pride of wealth, of position, fame, power,

learning and worst of all, of lineage eventually destroys

itself, crushing down over the head of its owner to his

everlasting good. <br><br>-- Extracted from 'Reflections' by

Paul Brunton<br><br>Hari Aum !!!

[Guest guest]

Mother Nature, God, or any word we prefer to use

represents the Universal Intelligence, the set of Spiritual

Laws, that keep the universe in equilibrium. The Laws

of Karma, the laws of energy, the laws of physics,

the laws of chemistry. The role of the manifested

forms, I feel is to be one of the “Mother/Father” who

holds our hand as we walk through the journey according

to the route we have laid out with our actions. Love

– Bhakti – devotion, is what helps us stay grounded

to the ideal we seek, and it is far more easier to

remain attached to a personal form of “God”, a

compassionate loving caring (qualities we value in humans) God

is easier to identify with than a impersonal ball of

light. When we keep our mind occupied with Love towards

our personalized forms of “God”, our minds have less

opportunity to keep company with that which is harmful to our

journey. Without our Mind we don’t exist. The problem

occurs if it remains untrained, it has the potential to

get in the way. <br><br>First of all obstacles are

that only if we see them that way. No matter what kind

they are – natural, interpersonal, or health. At the

same time, if we are having great meditation

experiences and we suddenly fall seriously sick, or hurt

ourselves, or find ourselves at the door of poverty, or even

death, it certain is a challenge to look at that as a

gift during the experience. It is one thing to have

wonderful visions, speak great words sitting in the silence

of solitude, but when faced with difficult

interpersonal experiences, the challenge is to remain grounded

and keep one’s goal in focus. It is one thing to

advise others of how they create their own journey, but

the challenge arises when we are faced with one’s own

thorny paths and whether and how we are able to accept

our lessons in them. Creating our own experiences

does not absolve another’s negativity; however our

personal sadhna involves taking responsibility of our

action only and in that context learn how do deal with

the thorns “thrown” on our tracks without getting

derailed <br><br>How we deal with the experience of an

apparent obstacle, the actual moment-to-moment process, is

what our sadhna is all about - for me. It is there we

get an opportunity to practice what we speak. For me

therefore, obstacles are nothing but what we need to go

through as we learn to remove the veil of ignorance. It

may not be something I look forward to; I’d prefer

the ride without the bumps and ditches, but I know

that each time I pass one, if I am able to learn from

it, I am a little closer to my goal. For that I

remain grateful to whatever the gift of the “obstacle”

may be.<br><br>True Bhakti yogis say, do nothing

about the obstacles except Love (read - attach to) God

and practice the love in daily activities that need

to be done. The rest is taken care of by HIM. No

more karma is created and one is able to be free of

the cycle of rebirths. Those of other paths prefer

taking some action without attachment to the fruits of

the labor, to help the process along. However as we

take action, we run the risk of creating more karma,

even of it is good, thereby remaining tied to the

cycle. The path we are attracted depends on our

temperaments. (Combination of gunas – tamas; rajas,

sattwic.)<br><br>Being more action oriented, what is more important to

me is what are possible manifested causes and *How*

can they be overcome. My focus always remains with

dealing with the present moment. Several different points

like laziness, doubt, false expectations, etc were

brought out in our Sat chat on this topic. I look forward

to those to be presented here too so the rest of our

members can add to it. <br><br>_/\_ Tat twam

asi<br><br>Uma

[Guest guest]

>>Can we safely say that Obstacles are a

good sign, and they denote our sadhna is

working??<<<<br><br>I dont believe we can safely say that obstacles are

a good sign. When it comes to sadahana, the random

evil in the world can tempt and disrupt it. We have to

"roll with the punches" and continue our sadahana. We

can say, "yes the sadahana arouses the 'evil one' to

fight against us." But when that happens it is up to us

to deal the "evil one" the spiritual blow necessary

so that he will bother us no more, a battle which if

we are consistent, we can

overcome.<br><br><br><br>>>>should we be discouraged over obstacles, or

cherish

their arrival, as we do for visions and

miracles??<<<br><br>Visions and miracles are wonderful, but they are not

the

reason for sadahana. They are "perks" of the

practice/blessings of God. Sometimes visions are prophetic warnings.

So while they are nice to receive, looking for them

all the time is like expecting them to happen. Why

would we want to go around expecting evil in warning or

otherwise. That too is losing our sight of God and the

purpose of sadhana.<br><br>Miracles are nice, but we are

to seek the giver of miracles, not the miracle

itself. Miracles often come as blessings to help increase

our faith. Once our faith is increased to a certain

point, they will stop if we lose sight of the giver of

the miracle, who is God. <br><br>Silentsoul, I now

understand how visions and miracles can be obstacles. Thank

you for posing these questions.<br><br>vicki

[Guest guest]

I like to differetiate between obstacles and

hurdles, for want of a better term. <br><br>When we are on

the path that is right for us, events tend to flow,

as if in sync with the rhythm of the universe. It

doesn't imply there aren't hurdles to cross, or tests to

attend to; it simply 'feels' right. I constantly ask for

guidance, specially during the time of hurdles, for signs

that I am on the right path. I am always

obliged.<br><br>Obstacles are events which seem to go totally against the

grain of one's path, almost challenging to one's

fundamental values. Don't have the words for it. (Kinda like

sounds of silence. How can one describe it with

words??)<br><br>Of course no matter what course of action we take we

always progress; the process of cause and effect

constantly fuels us along. The question of avoiding

obstacles etc arises when we are attempting to live

consciously, choosing decisions on the path of Right Action.

<br><br>Visions, miracles etc are obstacles only if one begins to

get carried away; ie the ego begins to think they

have 'made it' or are advanced as a result of it.

There is a thin line between where it builds faith and

where it begins to pump up the little self. This ego

needs it to validate itself; it cannot impress anyone

without the outward signs of power! There are tons of

examples of Yogis or Swamis with siddhis, (powers) who

certainly don't embody the qualities associated with

Truth!! <br><br>But then again, it brings us back to the

problem of expecting signs of progress. <br><br>What then

is progress? <br><br>Does life go smoothly in tune

with the laws of the universe? Are all wants fulfiled?

Does sickness means progress too? Does poverty mean

progress also? Or does it mean a sense of SELF,

equanimity, no matter what is happening around us - a

stability in the SELF that no outer event can shake?

<br><br>_/\_ Tat twam asi<br><br>Uma

[Guest guest]

I don't believe there is such a thing as "random

evil in the world". Everything happens for a reason,

be it the result of karma or God's will. Either way,

it's not just random.<br><br>In Love,<br>Erica