Happiness Now or Later?
There are no immediate external signs. Being in one’s dharma means primarily one thing: no matter what the external circumstances are, richness or poverty, sickness or health, whether the path is clear and free from obstacles or whether we are meeting with roadblocks every step of the way, we have and we maintain a sense of inner peace and balance that comes from the knowing, the assurance that I am where I am supposed to be, I am doing what I am supposed to do, and going in the direction I am supposed to be going in. It is a state of equanimity that comes from having found the core that defines us by having let go of mental preconceptions about what/who we should be. Difficulties that accompany us on this path may be part of the cleansing process. And as discussed earlier, once the cleansing process is complete, things do always smooth out. If they don’t, it means more cleansing is needed surely. But the end is always beautiful no matter what! Having said this, it does not mean that we should now all ready ourselves for a life of suffering for a possible happy ending one day maybe! We do not postpone happiness and SVA offers many practical insights and tips into this.
Clean your Food Clean your Karma!
Through Ayurveda, and particularly SVA, we can accelerate the cleansing process so as to materialize our ideal condition of happiness faster. We have all heard about the food-mood connection. But it goes deeper than that. Of course, it helps to be in the in the right mood in order to accomplish things, but a mood is just that: here one second and gone the next! You can consume food items that give you a quick high (white sugar) and then let you down; or you can consume food substances that nourish not only your physical body, your emotional heart, but that also affect your Satwa, the light of your soul, and that then help you on your path to dharma or maintain you in your dharma. This is Ayurveda. An ancient science revealed by seers whose secrets are now being brought out to benefit one and all. And SVA (Shaka Vansiya Ayurveda) is a lineage of practitioners whose dharma has been and is to perfect the skill of bringing peace and happiness into people’s lives through their healing knowledge of diet and lifest le, and when needed, their knowledge of herbal formulations.
In other words: strange as it may sound, there are foods that you can eat that facilitate your access to dharma, or that make your path smoother while you are in your dharma. And then there are foods and lifestyle patterns that create more roadblocks and weigh you down as you try to do your dharma. You have to choose right. But it is not guesswork! That’s where the knowledge comes in through the help of the sutras. The sutras are here to guide us and help us be our best.
Next week we will talk about this connection between food, Satwa, and Dharma, from the sutras.
But wait, there is more!
There is also one other thing you can do as well in addition to diet and lifestyle changes. A great thing about the Sanskrit sutras is they work on many levels. They offer intellectual knowledge that can help structure our lives. They incite us to further action through inspiration. But more than anything else, their mere recitation (or listening to) helps purify the physiology of karmic sanskaras (past life actions and their effects in your current life). It is always so inspiring to hear about them and understand the messages they have to relay to us, but the best thing is they work on the levels beyond the intellect. Listening to or reciting the sutras, learning them “by heart” cleans the vibrational gaps in our physiology and accelerate our process of growth and evolution towards greater happiness. If you feel you are not in your dharma yet, or are experiencing great trouble while being in your dharma, I encourage you to listen to, repeatedly, and learn the sutras, by heart, as we explore them together.
Namaste!
