Will-power should be understood to be the strength of mind which makes it capable for meeting success or failure with equanimity. It is not synonymous with certain success. Why should one’s attempts be always attended with success? Success develops arrogance and the man’s spiritual progress is thus arrested. Failure on the other hand is beneficial, inasmuch as it opens the eyes of the man to his limitations and prepares him to surrender himself. Self-surrender is synonymous with eternal happiness. Therefore, one should try to gain the equipoise of mind under all circumstances. That is will-power.
Ramana Maharshi
Everyone just follows the conditioning they have received over the lifetimes, from the drifter to the CEO, from the womanizer to the nun. When we embark after our Awakening on a spiritual quest, we aren’t doing anything different. Maybe we want to impress our guru, want to escape from our pain, want to be ethical, loving, or simply the most enlightened kid around the block.
Reading Ramana Maharshi’s words yesterday really changed something in me. Our job is merely to follow the energies. Some activities are experienced as painful, other as joyful, and we use our willpower to accept life as is and do our duties as we perceive them to be. We do not try to be the best student. We accept our occasional missteps and identification with body, mind and world.
What we in fact live for is the occasional peering of the Light through the self-absorbed interferences. When we run after something we rarely see the Light, whereas if we do not look for anything other than follow the energy of life as is, we start seeing the Light pretty often. In fact, soon this Light becomes the guiding post for everything we do and experience.
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