Lighten up.....mesg from Jody.

[Guest guest]

Mesg from Jody.......

 

Hi everyone,

 

As Jay so aptly points out time and again, we need to lighten up on the

spiritual path. I find authenticity in all of my fellow Vedantins in the

home of my guru. We are not a glum lot. We are not of the " peace, love and

granola " variety. Thakur has given us permission to be REAL.

 

A quote from Swamiji is most appropriate here:

 

" We may well say that we are all playing in this universe. Just as children

play their games, just as the most glorious kings and emperors play their

own

games, so is the beloved Lord Himself playing int his universe. He is

perfect. He does not want anything. Why should He create? Activity, with

us, is always for the fulfillment of a certain want; and want always

presupposes imperfection. God is perfect. He has no wants. Why should He

go on with this incessant work of creation? What purpose could He have in

view? The stories of God's creating the world for some end or other that we

imagine, are good as stories, but not otherwise. It is all really sport;

the

universe is merely His play. The whole universe must after all be a big

piece of pleasing fun; if you are rich enjoy the fun of being rich; if

dangers come it is also good fun; if happiness comes there is more good fun.

The world is just a playground, and we are here having good fun, having a

game; and God is playing with us all the while, and we are playing with Him.

God is our eternal playmate. How beautifully He is playing! The play is

finished when the cycle comes to an end. There is rest for a shorter or

longer time; again all come out and play.

 

" It is only when you forget that it is all play and that you are also

helping

in the play --- it is only then that misery and sorrows come, that the heart

becomes heavy, that the world weighs upon you with tremendous power. But as

soon as you give up your serious belief in the reality of the changing

incidents of the three minutes of life, and know it is to be but a stage on

which you are playing, helping Him to play, at once misery cease for you.

He

plays in every atom. He is playing when He is building up earths and suns

and moons. He is playing with the human heart, with the chessmen on the

board and shakes them up. He arranges us first in one way and then in

another, and we consciously or unconsciously help in His play. And oh,

bliss! we are His playmates! "

 

-Swami Vivekananda