Peace and Hope

Its 11 pm and I am so hungry that I can eat an elephant, but it is never a good idea to eat meal after 8.30 pm as our digestive system slows down soon after sunset. So anything you would eat after that time would be partly digested and the rest of the undigested food would turn into fat. So no late night snacks for me.

In this air of hopelessness and despair there is light and something is shining through. Today returning home at the Clifton signal I saw students voluntarily collecting donations for the flood victims in Sindh. They were holding charts, donation boxes and going to every car on the signal to collect funds. All I can say that in the midst of all this chaos there is hope.

Yesterday on some TV channel they showed a tree in some area in Karachi. That tree didn’t have any leaves and has dried down; however, soon after the rains most beautiful white flowers sprouted from its stem. Botanists must have some explanation but to us lay persons it was a sign of hope and good times to come.

Similarly if you witness a beautiful brilliant colored butterfly on a busy road, like I did, you would understand that whatsoever negative may happen nature still unfolds it beauty. Flowers blossom, trees sprout leaves and they stand gracefully in the polluted streets signifying that hope and bliss is still there. It is only that we need to quiten our minds from its unnecessary chatter and thought processes to really witness the peace which lies beneath all life forms. Mostly we see but we actually do not see, we hear but do not listen to the stillness and peace which is common between us and everything in the nature.

All of us must realize that whatever may happen on the outside, in the background there is always deep peace in all of us, like a lake whose surface can be disturbed but in its base there is always silence and peace. All we need to do is to get connected with ourselves and nirvana shall emerge.

We go to pilgrimages to find peace of mind and if I tell you that the same peace is always available to you even if you are at your office or at home with children crying in the background. What happens when you go on religious pilgrimage or even travel to foreign countries is that your mind shifts and stops its regular thinking and gets engulfed in exploring a new place. Hence your mind becomes quite and mesmerized by observing new faces, places and things get intensified if a religious/ spiritual place is involved. Nevertheless, when you return home along with you returns your mental chatter.

So right now just look in front of you, what do you see- may be its your computer, paper, mobile or pen. Then hear the sounds around you may be its the fan or traffic or children or birds. Feel the taste in your mouth. Now what do you feel inside, are you happy, anxious, angry or do you feel any physical pain in your body. Lastly what do you feel on the outside, is it warm or breezy or cold.

Another way is to follow and feel your breath- how its passes from your nostrils to your throat and goes out from your mouth.

However, the most profound way is to look and focus on the palm of your hands- in few seconds you would feel a slight tinkling or warmth or numbness. Now feel it in your arms, legs, abdomen, chest, neck and head. 

Congratulations! you have just experienced your soul in the form of tinkling or warmth and this is who we all are beneath this flesh and bones.

For these few seconds your mind stopped its thinking and focused on this activity and the result is the peace of mind. Practice any of the above during the day, on waking up in morning & before sleeping at night with the intention to bring peace. Before driving look around and feel inside and the outside for 30 seconds and the ultimate result will be the peace within. 

Initially you would experience brief moments of peace but as you do any of the above regularly during a day - at work, at home or before any meeting, then brief moments will increase and ultimately peace will become your natural state. Insha Allah..

So in peace I leave you my dear ones..

Sonya. (Day 206)