On Raising Compassion

Tags

compassion, easter, passion, resurrection

In all the years that I have been hosting the Sunday #SpiritChat, it has become a sort of tradition to ‘pause’ the weekly virtual gathering of our community on Easter Sunday. One reason for the ‘pause’ is that it is a day for celebration with ‘real life’ friends and family and local community. Many of our #SpiritChat community members are traveling or hosting travelers in their homes. Another reason is that it is usually ‘spring break’ time for my school-going daughter, and I myself am traveling. Perhaps the biggest reason for the ‘pause’ is that it serves as a day of reverence, renewal, reflection and, often, new spiritual resolutions for me and many in the community. 

However, this year, life is a bit different because a lot of us are not going to be gathering with our ‘real life’ communities on Easter. A lot of us are ‘physical distancing’ to help contain the spread of the pandemic, and we can see some positive results emerging from our efforts, as each of us in our small way contribute to the wellness of the whole. So, we break ‘tradition’ and gather virtually, to connect and celebrate our collaborative spirit of compassion. 

When I started to think about the topic for this unique day, I initially thought about resolve, resolution, renewal, rebirth, and yes, even resurrection. However, the more I read about how different communities, cities, states and countries have been responding to this unique challenge, the more I asked myself the question – what is the greatest need of the current situation? To rephrase the question in the form that was popular a few years ago — What would Jesus Do (WWJD)?

Two Aprils ago, we were all in Southern Brazil on my father-in-law’s farm for the Easter holiday and spring break. There were a lot of gatherings with my wife’s immediate and extended family. The one event that was perhaps most impactful to me was the one that I hadn’t planned on or expected to attend. It was an Easter service at the family’s local church where my wife’s cousin is the priest. I wasn’t sure what to expect, because I had never attended an Easter service before. I went with an open heart, with the expectation that I would find some common ground with temple services. 

Sure enough, there was common ground aplenty. There was light through candles, there was music and singing through the choir and congretation’s singing, there were rituals and pageantry, and much more. Above all, there was family togetherness, and the peace among all those gathered was palpable and pronounced. At the start of the service, when the priest and processional walked through the center aisle with the Cross held high, I was immediately reminded of Swami Vivekanda’s famous quote — “ Unfurl the banner of Love! – Arise, Awake and stop not until the goal is reached.”

Compassion is our common ground because it represents a commingling of all the different streams of love, with a passion for each others’ well-being. Love is the banner that has been raised in all times, by all spiritual teachers of all spiritual denominations. When we raise the banner of compassion, we celebrate the resurrection and empowerment of the heart. When so empowered, we evoke grace, we act with tenderness, we put into motion the wheels of empathy. 

So, for the opportunity to raise compassion and find common ground, let us gather virtually again. Let us celebrate the heart’s resurgence, and honor the remembrance of love and light that Easter represents. 

Namaste,

Kumud

P.S. What does (spiritual) Easter represent to you? Share with us in our weekly gathering on twitter in #SpiritChat – Sunday, April 12 at 9amET / 1pm GMT / 630pm India. To all those celebrating, Happy Easter and Feliz Pascoa! Namaste – @AjmaniK

Let the Lillies rise again…

 

On Spiritual Investment

Tags

investment, passion, purpose, spirtuality

What do we tend to invest in? The investment advisors, and there are many of them with perhaps as many different opinions as there are investment opportunities, often ask us to first evaluate our ‘risk profile’. The questions are in the form of a short quiz that asks questions like – “what are your long term and short term goals for investing”, or “what would you do if your investment lost 20% of its value in a month”, and more.

Our answers are then analyzed by the advisor, who then recommends how to make allocations in our investment portfolio. Invest this much in stocks, this much in bonds, and so on. But investing is rarely a ‘set it and forget it’ proposition. We are also advised to keep revisiting our ‘risk profile’ as your life goes through changes, and rebalance our investment portfolio regularly.

So, how do we use this model in our spiritual investments – the time, energy and actions that are available for us to invest towards our spiritual progress? Are we ‘rolling our own’ when it comes to our investment strategy towards our spiritual goals? Or do we have a trusted advisor to guide us? Do we take time to evaluate our spiritual investments when the state of our life suddenly changes? How often do we reevaluate and rebalance our spiritual practice?

I asked all of the above questions, and a few more, two years ago, when my Mother passed away suddenly. There is rarely anything that brings a greater sense of urgency, that the “time is now”, than the loss of a loved one. It brought a new perspective to my spiritual practice. It made me evaluate the ‘risk profile’ of my current spiritual practice(s), and led me to rebalance my time investments in my practices of writing, being in nature, building community, and daily meditation.

Two years to the day and virtually the hour of her passing, I found myself reevaluating my spiritual investments yet again. I found myself sitting across the table, listening to Mitch Albom, of “Tuesdays with Morrie” fame. I had volunteered to drive my (cousin) sister to inner city Detroit, to speak with him about a social investment fund that she is planning to get off the ground. Mitch’s intense passion for making change in one of the poorest cities in America poured out in every word that he spoke. His investment of time, energy, leadership and acknowledgement that his organizations face a huge uphill battle, was apparent during the conversation.

At the end of the meeting, on the drive home, I could not help but ask the question. What am I investing in? What impact is it having in my life, and the life of others? Are the investment returns designed for short and long term returns? Or is it time to rebalance my ‘spiritual action’ portfolio?

I only have questions so far, but I do know that the heart will bring me the answers. I also know this for sure – that the “time is now”, to ask again – what is it that I am investing in with ALL my heart?

Kumud @AjmaniK

P.S. I invite you to join us to discuss ‘Spiritual Investments’ – Sunday, February 18th 2018 at 9amET/2pmUTC on twitter. Namaste, and thank you, for your investment in the #SpiritChat community -Kumud

On Passion and Peace

Tags

passion, peace, practice, purpose

What is my foremost passion in life right now?

Some of us can instantly answer that question. Others may need some reflection to arrive at an answer. Regardless of which category you may find yourself in, it may be useful to try and define the word…

passion: a strong or barely controlled emotion… a state or outburst of strong emotion

The thesaurus suggests some synonyms as fervor, ardor, enthusiasm, fieriness, zeal, spiritedness and fanaticism. It seems clear that our passion, whatever it may be, has the ability to connect us to a relatively high state of energy, action, and emotion. Passion also has the ability to bring us to the edge of, the tipping point of energetic balance in our lives, and leave us there. It can almost seem like the edge of a precipice on our journey.

Whether we go towards higher plateaus in life or fall off the precipice, perhaps depends on our ability to remain focused on our purpose. We have a choice. We can use the energy of our passion to lead us towards the higher ground of compassion. Or we can let the strong emotion of unbridled passion lead us towards anger. We are all familiar with what compassion can produce. So, let us examine what anger creates…

Anger creates a state that steals our Joy. It is like the autumn wind that makes the garden barren. When Joy leaves, we lose perspective. We tend to find ourselves in inner turmoil, as we find that peace is departing too. Anger fueled by frustration, lack of control, leads the passion train. Joy and Peace follow the anger engine. And before we know it, our entire inner emotional train has derailed. The casualties are many.

So, how do we position ourselves so that, at the edge of the emotional passion precipice, we can move towards compassion instead of anger? I believe that it is through practice. With observation comes learning. Repeated and regular observation of our passion(s) and their propensity can become our personal practice. With practice, we can learn how to turn the energy of passion — away from the feelings of unfulfillment, undeservedness, unlovedness, and their likes.

In that great turning away from the precipice, we can then use passion to walk our path of purpose, upwards towards the summit, with joy in every step. And before we know it, the nature’s justice will have returned our gardens and valleys to spring-like bloom. Passion would have then produced three things worthy of celebration – Peace. Peace. Peace.

Namaste,

Kumud @AjmaniK

P.S. What’s your take on passion and peace? Share with us in the comments below. We also invite you to join our weekly twitter chat on Sunday, December 10th at 9amET/730pmIST in #SpiritChat ~ Do join us!

Walking the Cuyahoga Valley – a celebrated passion of mine…