Rule 1: Mirror of Compassion

Rule 1: How we see God is a direct reflection of how we see ourselves. If God brings to mind mostly fear and blame, it means there is too much fear and blame welled inside us. If we see God as full of love and compassion, so are we.

As I am growing older, I realise the true meaning of this kind of mirror aspect of Shamz. I am not sure if I saw God as the source of fear and blame but I definitely saw the world as something to fear and blame. I always had this sense of injustice. I felt that the world is not fair to me, that I am being short-changed despite my best efforts. I thought that I was not being treated fairly despite me being honest and fair and despite my hard work. This sense of injustice gave rise to fear and insecurity and the more I felt that way, the more I felt that the whole world is my enemy.

At some point, things started transforming within me and the inherent compassion (which I have inherited from my father) started showing me another picture of the world. A world which is being ruled by nature where there is no justice or injustice; where everything behaves as per its nature, where your dharma (duty) is to do your Karma (duty) and do not expect anything. The returns will come as nature has intended in its scheme of things and not as per your desires. 

Now that I am learning astrology and understanding the concept of the cycles of life and death, I realise that life is an eternal journey. Sometimes it will be pleasant even though we didn’t do anything to deserve it and sometimes it would be full of hardships despite our best efforts to steer it to better pastures. So why blame anyone for the same? Why not follow the path with love and compassion? This way, the path will not only look a lot easier and more pleasant but moreover  worthwhile to go through anything that comes on the way. 

This realization has made me see my own life in a whole new way. I feel stupid and immature when I look back and realise how many years have I lost in being fearful and insecure. How the journey has been bitter just because I always found people to blame. What if instead of blaming I had brought love to my heart? What if I had felt their fears and insecurities and instead of feeling angry and hurt, would have dealt with them with compassion? How big a difference it could make in their world and mine?

Albert Einstein said, “A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.” He has put it so beautifully. It’s only by widening our circle of compassion and love we can see the true nature of universe. 

Isn’t it true that we feel our worth through the praise in someone’s eyes, through a kind gesture by someone, our beauty is reflected in somebody’s compliment and our whole persona is reflected in the people whose lives we touch? Compassion doesn’t always mean that we have to do some great feats and join big care foundations (although that is priceless) but a gentle touch, a listening ear, a strong shoulder, a simple but honest compliment, or even just being a silent company to another. In fact, sometimes even not retaliating to a slight, can be something that can make a difference to someone. I try few of these things on daily basis now and I can feel the difference in the way people around me have started reacting to me. The world seems to be changing or is it me?