Finding the Ultimate : The non transient SKY

The winter was coming to an end and the spring was all about to set blooming colors of life, on a cool Thursday evening I was sitting in my living room and watched the distant sky, I saw the floating clouds on clear blue sky. The rays of the setting sun threw a splash of gold on the smooth sailing packets of cloud. A question arose - 'why am I enjoying the little floats of cloud? What makes me smile as I see this little act of nature?'

        As I wondered, the answer came in a slightly philosophical assessment. There are two ways to look at it. I can be attached to the cloud passing by or I can take the sky as my point of reference. When I think the cloud to be mine, I will lament the loss as they pass by and slowly fade away. I will be in pain thinking I could have owned them and viewed them every single moment because they give me happiness. I felt sad.

And for a moment I paused and thought what if I was the sky, the sky be mine, how would I feel about the passing clouds? It was joy. It was the joy of having the presence of the clouds, the beauty of the clouds and the little play and dance they did on the sphere. I enjoyed the clouds. I could feel the little smile on my face. Suddenly, it amazed me because of the fact that the same situation can result in completely opposite emotions. The reason for the two different results was simple. It was the 'point of reference'. 

         If I refer to the clouds, I felt remorse because they were moving, going away, fading, never to come back. If I refer to the sky, the omnipresent, encompassing, infinite sky, the clouds are a transient but at the same time pleasant and beautiful. Their existence at that very moment has a reason. Out of many reasons, one definitely was making me joyous. That gave me happiness. I was not perturbed by the fact that they will go. I knew it.

Similar is the joy and happiness we get from attachment. Attachment to the right aspect of our existence and short life span on earth will result in happiness and sorrows. Attachment to physical objects that are transient in nature has always resulted in sorrow, even after the momentary pleasure we derive out of it. Attachment to   people and the surroundings, and the emotions generated out of our relationships are nothing but the beautiful clouds. They are generated for a reason and they exist in our lives for a reason. The good and the bad - memories, people, things, emotions are short lived. They will come and go. They too shall pass. If we refer to those and live by those, we will be sad once they go. Now, the same clouds of feelings, people, and objects can be enjoyed even when we refer to them from the SKY, the sky of permanence. The enduring and everlasting spheres where from the small clouds of life generate ultimate joy. We have to find our Sky, the permanent blue sky where in the transients can float and charm. That sky has been realized by the Siddhas or the accomplished Ones. Each has his own Akshaya sky, which eventually merges and is unified. They are defined in different cultures, different philosophies, over different ages of human civilization and addressed by different names. Every human takes that journey to find the Ultimate, sooner or later. The sooner one realizes, the longer happiness persists.

Go look for your SKY.

PS: I wrote this blog in June 2013. Six months later, in Dec 2013 while reading the 'The Tibetan book of Living and Dying', I found something similar mentioned by author Sogyal Rinpoche. Page 26 THE TIBETAN BOOK OF LIVING AND DYING-"Reflect on this: The realization of impermanence is paradoxically the only thing we can hold onto, perhaps our only lasting possession. It is like the sky, or the earth. No matter how much everything around us may change or collapse, they endure. Say we go through a shattering emotional crisis . .. our whole life seems to be disintegrating . . . our husband or wife suddenly leaves us without warning. The earth is still there; the sky is still there."

How to get rich ?

We have survived the most feared doomsday in the history of human civilization. The Mayan calendar and the deadlines have been proved wrong but as the human race survives, the most advanced species on the face of the earth are getting wretched. They are getting poor and hence feeble.

Talking of poverty, if you look at history, the meaning of wealth has changed over time. The cave men's wealth was food, they hunted animals and conquered forests for food. That resulted in capturing territories and hence building kingdoms. They invented weapons made of stone, wood, brass. Definition of wealth changed. In order to maintain and protect the kingdoms, the wealth needed was strong men, warriors. To create and maintain the system, a currency was needed - then came precious metals. Gold captured the imagination of thinkers and philosophers. The same shiny metal would be no value a few thousand years ago for the cave men. They could not have made attacking weapons out of it. Meaning of wealth changed again. With gold and jewels, men fought for power. The next phase of human civilization saw the emergence of pride, the pride of becoming world leaders. The world wars were not meant to capture gold mines of hostile countries. It was the supremacy of human prowess. We evolved from that and we have reached a point where we have everything our fore fathers wished for as their wealth at different phases- food, gold, land, prowess, dignity and pride. So, the question arises - what do we wish for now to call ourselves wealthy? How do we get rich today?

After much thought and weighing different valuables I posses, I came to conclusion that if there is something I would call wealth and thus protect it is Relationships. We build and treasure relationships in our life and like wealth it comes to your rescue when you are in distress. The tools used to earn this wealth is love, compassion, forgiveness, accommodation, ignoring faults in others. It's not an easy job to do. Like it takes sweat and persistence to build wealth, so does relationships need a big heart and patience. People don't realize how much vulnerable our life has become that it takes years to build a good relationship and earn the right people in our lives. Having said so and as the old saying goes, it takes years to build and so it takes a few seconds to loose.

Like money and gold, if we do not build on it, we lose it. We spend it and we waste it. Similarly behaves relationship. Once we have the people in our lives, if we do not nurture them with constant love, affection, care and communication, we too will lose them. Look back and you will realize how much wealth you have wasted in the last few years just because you did not have time to value them as wealth. We did not spend time and effort of retaining those. We lost them.

Now, what we get out of this wealth is far more precious than what you could harness from so called fictitious worldly wealth. Relationship is non-perishable, money is. You never lose this - It stays, waiting for you. Look back, forgive if you are hurt, find if you have lost, establish connection to someone in the past. All it takes is a little time and a heart filled with love. That gold will come back to you. This has happened and will keep happening. Unlike money, lost relationships can be regained and re-earned. All the tools it needs are the one that I have already mentioned and many more that you know but above all tools you need - Patience and Acceptance. Rest all will follow.

Since all this inspiration comes from my Gurujee and Baba who guides me in my journey towards being a better human, the wealthiest people on this earth today are the ones who have built that relationship with the Supreme, or, are on the path of building the same. Your love and journey towards Baba, guided by your Guru will lead you to discover the greatest wealth of your life. Go, get on the journey and earn more wealth. Go, get rich.

PS: discovered something similar in Dec 2013 while reading - Page 24 - THE TIBETAN BOOK OF LIVING AND DYING effects their actions have had on others, and experience the emotions their actions have caused. One man told Kenneth Ring: I realized that there are things that every person is sent to earth to realize and to learn. For instance, to share more love, to be more loving toward one another. To discover that the most important thing is human relationships and love and not materialistic things. And to realize that every single thing that you do in your life is recorded and that even though you pass it by not thinking at the time, it always comes up later.