May all beings have love and peace, and the world will be in peace...
(Photos taken in Chiangmai from a painted wall beside the road)
We notice that there are many of us are very unhappy or depressed with the current situation in the world. We care for the world and want to help or make the world to become a better place for all beings to live in. We know that if the world is not in peace, there will be no peace in our own personal life as well. If the country is having problems, there is no peaceful condition for us to enjoy a good quality of life. If the world is having problems, it is difficult for us to be able to live in peace in anywhere of the world.
We want to have good and healthy living environment. We want peace and harmony among all beings disregard different nations, religions, believes and races. We want good, wise and selfless leaders to lead the world. We want all beings to respect and love and be kind to each other without anger, hatred, jealousy, violence and killings.
We also know that there are some people that don’t want the world to be in peace… Out of selfish intentions, they create disharmony and fear into the world. Some people just being very selfish not caring for the environment and damaging the environment consciously or unconsciously. Most of us might get very angry and frustrated with this. There’s nothing wrong to feel angry about this. But anger and hatred cannot stop this from happening. We should feel compassionate towards these people because they are being influenced or blinded by ignorance. They don’t have love, peace, compassion and wisdom in them. That’s why they are doing actions that are hurting other people and themselves.
Being upset, angry and hatred towards the bad situations that derive from wrong doings in the world now will not help the world to improve or to become better.
Anger and hatred cannot solve problems. They cannot remove negativity, anger and hatred that are existing in the world.
The only things that can stop ignorance, anger, hatred and violence, is compassion and wisdom. Only compassion and wisdom can help the world to change and evolve, to be peaceful.
This compassion and wisdom have to start with our own self. We need to realize compassion and wisdom in us. Then only we can spread compassion and wisdom to other beings, and share love and peace into the world.
If we ourselves are not compassionate, lack of wisdom, and are full of anger and hatred being disturbed by the “bad” happenings and “bad” people in the world, then how can we share love and peace with others and help the world to become a peaceful harmonious place, as we ourselves are not in peace?
If we don’t know how to take care ourselves and don’t know how to deal with our own mental and emotional tensions, then how can we take care of other beings or help others to be free from the mental and emotional tensions that contribute to the “bad” happenings in the world?
If we are full of negativity, how are we going to bring positivity and positive changes into the world?
Start with our own evolution. Love ourselves, be kind and compassionate towards our own self.
When we are compassionate towards ourselves, we won’t let ourselves to be over-powered by the impurities in our mind and be free from the influence of the selfish ego. All our actions are out of compassion and selflessness. Without intention to change the world, without expectation that the world will be changed, without discrimination of good or bad beings, wise or ignorant beings, we perform all actions that can be done to help the world to evolve. There is no anger and hatred. There is no disappointment and discontentment. There is no frustration and unhappiness.
Like the sun, the air, the water, the earth and the space. They give, provide and support all living beings and non-living beings to be exist in the universe. They perform their action of giving, providing and supporting unceasingly, selflessly, out of compassion, unlimitedly, unconditionally, without discrimination, without intention to give, they are giving all the time… Without expectation to benefit anyone or to receive anything in return, they just give, provide and support. It doesn’t matter if human beings are polluting the world, damaging the nature, and condemning the sun, the wind, the water and the earth for being too much or too little, they still continuously to give without anger, hatred and disappointment.
That is real compassion. Complete selfless. That is our true nature. Our true nature is selfless like the sun, the air, the water, the earth and the space, but we are being disconnected with this selflessness due to the veil of ignorance and the selfish ego. We become selfish and being influenced by all the impurities in the mind for us to act and react through thoughts, actions and speech.
All our actions are being influenced by the likes and dislikes, agreement and disagreement, craving and aversion that comes from the selfish and self-protective ego. And all these impure actions bring some consequences that are not necessary beneficial to anyone or as what we expected it to be.
In our true nature, there’s only selflessness and compassion, being free from the conditioned thinking mind, the limited intellect, the selfish ego, and be free from desires and ignorance. If all beings realize this true nature, being compassionate and wise, the world will be free from unnecessary and meaningless harmful wrong doings that come from human beings that are not happy, not peaceful and not satisfied due to ignorance and the wrong identification with the ego in the absence of love, peace, compassion and wisdom.
If we have love, peace, compassion and wisdom in us, we will know how to be happy and be at peace, will not be disturbed nor affected by the world, but at the same time we are aware of what is happening in the world. We know what is right, what is wrong but we are not being affected by neither of them. Out of compassion without selfish intention and expectation, we can perform many actions that need to be done and that can be done, to help other beings to realize the wisdom and compassion in them. But before that can happen, we ourselves need to be compassionate and wise. We ourselves must have love and are in peace. Then only we can share this compassion, wisdom, love and peace with other beings, and guide them to realize their true nature is love, peace, compassion and wisdom.
Only when we realize the wisdom and compassion in us, and start to reflect on our own thoughts, actions and speech, then we will have the awareness of what is right and what is wrong, what we should do and shouldn’t do. This justification of right and wrong, should do and shouldn’t do is coming from the wisdom within the true Self, and it is not coming from the limited and conditioned intellectual mind under the influence of the selfish ego, which is influenced by what the mind likes and doesn’t like, or what the mind thinks is good or not good, or what the mind agrees or disagrees with.
Knowledge that we studied from books or heard from somebody who told us or taught us since we were born until now, it’s not necessary absolutely true and correct. We were being manipulated or brain washed by so many informations that come from many impure sources.
Knowledge that will remove ignorance, anger, hatred, doubts, arrogance, jealousy, selfishness, discrimination, disharmony, violence, depression, greed, ill-will, fear and worry are true knowledge. Knowledge that will promote all these impurities are incorrect knowledge.
Knowledge and actions that are based on self-control (not being controlled or influenced by any influences that are other than ourselves and not trying to control others to be the way that we want them to be or what we think they should be), compassion (unconditional loving kindness) and selflessness (unselfish; not influenced by the ego) are pure knowledge and pure actions that cannot be judged by impure minds which are being conditioned or influenced by qualities of names and forms, selfish intention and expectation.
Some good people who love the world very much, “passionately” want to change the world, who “actively” want to help the world to become a better place, criticize those who focus on performing Sadhana spending their time meditating at a corner of the world, criticize them for sitting there doing nothing, didn’t go out to do something about the world’s problems, didn’t contribute anything to help to change the world…
The point is, when these meditator sitting there “doing nothing” is already contributing to the world as there is less a being generating negativity or harmful actions and vibrations into the world… The people who love the world “passionately” should be thankful for that.
While these meditator who seem like doing nothing, they are indeed generous contributors towards world peace, as they illuminate positive vibrations and energy of love and peace into the world…
If we don’t like what is happening in the world, and want to perform actions trying to change the situation or the condition of the world, this is very good. We should keep it up and do our best to help the world to improve, to be a better place…
But if at the same time, we are being proud and arrogant about ourselves being “good human being” or “responsible citizen of the world”, and start criticizing those who we “believe” and “think” that they don’t do anything to help the world, or they don’t contribute to a better world, and judging them as not “good human beings” or not “responsible citizen of the world”, such like “those who meditate sitting there doing nothing”, then we are not really helping the world, as we generate so much negative vibrations and energy into the world, just by being so proud and arrogant about ourselves and our “actions” that “want to change the world to be a better place”…
If we can perform all our “loving kindness” actions to help the world to be a better place without being proud and arrogant about ourselves, without criticizing those who “seem like” or “look like” they don’t contribute anything, without expecting other people will also be like us, to do what we do according to what we believe is right and good, and not doing what we don’t do according to what we believe is wrong and bad, then this is Yoga. This is selflessness and compassion…
Without peace, selflessness, compassion and wisdom in ourselves, even though we perform lots of actions try to help the world to become a better place, it doesn’t necessary means that we didn’t cause any destructions or didn’t generate negative vibrations or energy into the world…
If we want to help the world, please help ourselves first. Rise above ignorance, anger, hatred, selfishness, expectation, craving and aversion. Without being affected by what is happening in the world, out of compassion, selflessly we give and share love, peace, compassion and wisdom to every beings without fear and worry, without frustration and expectation, without attachment to our actions and the fruit of actions.
Be peaceful.
Be happy.
