10 Acceptance
There is no adversity in life. There is only opportunity! That which we regard to be adversity might be the very lesson we need to learn.
Every person is a unique entity, a totality unto himself; each must accept responsibility for himself and his weaknesses. From that day of acceptance, progress starts.
People just don’t accept themselves for what they are. This is the root of all problems and this is the root of all surface suffering that people go through. Once they learn to accept themselves by reaching the deeper layers of the mind, all the things that happen on the relative conscious level are automatically accepted.
When we accept the principle, “I have conditioned my mind and I have become dependent on that conditioning,” then only with that acceptance, will we do something about it. Then we will cease to stagnate. We have to “uncondition” the conditioning.
Human beings must realize that whatever circumstances they are placed in are the result of their own actions.
Progress can start from faith or doubt.
In acceptance of another’s actions, you are surrendering your Self to yourself, not to another. Who are we to demand, “I need this,” or “I need that”? Rather, “Lord, you know my needs and I know you will fulfill my needs. I trust you have a reason for this. Perhaps you are trying to teach me something; who am I to teach you and demand from you? Am I capable of commanding you? You command me, rather. Not my will . . . Thy will.”
When you try and change that which is forever changing, you produce conflicts and those conflicts bind you more and more and more.
The person most qualified to accept what a teacher says is the one with devotion in his heart. When devotion is there, there is acceptance. If one is lacking in devotion, then evaluation will not come from the heart, it will come from the mind. But there is no hope lost because our practices are designed to expand the heart. With the appreciation and expansion of the mind, an expansion of the heart must naturally occur; then we develop the qualities of acceptance, belief, and faith.
Now, we do not say have blind faith—that is what some religions teach, blind faith. We are seekers of the truth, seekers of the essence of truth, so we do use our intellectual faculties. We evaluate the truth as much as we can understand it. If a proposition is set forth, many minds may not understand that proposition because they have not reached that stage of understanding, and there is nothing wrong with that. All must work within their own capacity.
We are responsible for all that has befallen us. That principle must be accepted, not only as a mental concept, but really felt deep within ourselves. “What has befallen me is because of me and not you.” Now, having brought it upon myself and accepting that fact, then we ask the second important question: “What am I going to do about it?” And when I ask that question, within the stillness of my mind, the power of Grace becomes activated and the answer comes.
We are allowed to think. We are allowed to accept. We are allowed to reject. And that is what progress is all about. If you reject a certain thought, I will not say, “Do not reject.” I say, “Yes, go on rejecting—rejecting until you reach the stage of accepting.” It is like two people moving in opposite directions around this globe—sooner or later they will meet face to face at the other side.
There were times in the past, for example, two thousand years ago, when the spiritual Master had to deal with peasant folk. The Sanhedrin, or the learned clergy, would not listen to him. He was forced to speak to the peasants of the land and he could not go into philosophical discussions with those illiterate people who could not understand philosophical truths. So he said, “Believe.” “Believe in thy Father in Heaven.” Why did he say, “Believe?” Because the people were simple people, illiterate people, who were not able to understand what the sophisticated minds of today can understand. So he taught Bhakti Yoga. Bhakti Yoga is to develop faith until that very belief becomes a reality. And this is true—you can try it in your daily life. If you believe something strongly enough, it becomes a reality, always.
Never shatter anyone’s faith. If you have faith in a certain ideal and your faith is sincere, I would encourage you in this faith. If you believe in Jesus, I would not tell you, “That is wrong, you must believe in Krishna.” That would be a terrible crime perpetrated against humanity. Never shatter anyone’s faith, whatever you do. If a person has a particular belief, remember it has come about because that person is capable only of the belief at that moment. When you shatter someone’s faith and belief, you are superimposing your little personal beliefs upon that person. By shattering a person’s belief, you are putting that person’s mind in a particular mold, and that mold is your mold according to your mind and not the Divine mold.
This is a collection of quotes from satsangs of Gururaj Ananda Yogi