To Muktimaa about acting

[Guest guest]

Dear Henny ~ as a former member of Alanon (the support group for family

members and friends of alcoholics), one of the phrases I heard often was "act as

if..." Many of were scared much of the time. Many of us didn't know how to

behave around "normal" or "regular" people, or even didn't have a sense of what

"normal" was. We were beset with our own demons of fear, longing, need,

loneliness, even acting out (which is totally different from "acting as if").

I think of Swamiji's repeated suggestion, which is almost like a mantra

running through my mind much of the time, to act like a great renunciate. Am I a

great renunciate? Far from it. But this suggestion, which I recently found

embedded in the text of the "Advanced Shiva Puja" book, is, in a sense, "acting

as if."

 

So it is like you say, not something you make a show of, but an inward

position one takes towards oneself and others. And if you keep doing it long

enough, your demons (prarabda karma ... sorry if I mispelled it) may even become

your friends. I have experienced this. Thank you so much for the reminder. Jai

Maa , Jai Swamiji ~ Linda

 

Henny wrote:

 

....I have been thinking about the issue of 'acting spiritual'. I agree

with you that trying to act spiritual can be a hindrance, especially

if one expects to be congratulated with the performance...Yet in another

sense, I think some form of acting may be helpful. I

remember someone having said if you can't pray, but sit down and act

as if you are praying, you'll find yourself praying at some point. If

you prepare the form, the power will come through to fill and enliven

the form, something like that.

Anandamayi Ma's advice may involve some acting too, I suspect, at

least in the beginning. But the difference is that this is a

performance no one need know about and, (this is were I have gone

wrong many times) She does not say 'from now on, you must always...and

never again....'. She says 'start with one day in a month and then

expand'. That is practice, not pretense. And no one need know about it

until it has become a natural expression of who you are...