You are what you are

You are what you are – accept it. 

When the time comes to give it up, do it with grace. 

(Ramana Maharshi’s advice to Thelma Rappold, American visitor at his Ashram)

‘You are what you are’, that’s how we start our self-discovery, rather than,’you are pure love’, or, ‘you are That.’ No shadow can form when we accept who we are. When we accept who we are we get ready for the letting go process. It’s then when we can dispose of everything alien to us, our conditioning, our past life memories, our fears, our keeping up with the Joneses attempts. That’s the stage when it dawns on us, we are That.

My personal example in this direction is a competitive streak that I failed to accept for the longest time but when I finally did, I soon realized that cooperation beats competition any time and is a lot more fun too. Now I simply surround myself with folks I would only root for, or hit the stage now and then to remind myself that being in the limelight is also no panacea. That’s how we remind ourself that we are That, by working with what is.