Commotion or Devotion

Commotion or devotion: which aptly sums up your state of being? Is your life and endless string of ups and downs? Do you go through yo-yo emotions? Do you feel a regular lack of groundedness? Or do you feel calm, relaxed and thankful?

Very few people live in a true state of devotion, for this way of living requires the surrender of the ego. The ego is part of the dilemma of self-identification to the exclusion of seeing the interconnectedness of all things. This creates many problems as an individual established in his or her ego will cling to things, possessions, people, and desires, in hopes of satiating the ego’s fluctuating wants. notice the word “fluctuating”. Fluctuating means never being satisfied, always searching for the next want to bring us happiness. And when that person, place, or thing, becomes boring…on to the next noun! Of course, when we are unable to fulfill our wants or when others do not fulfill our expectations we get frustrated, hurt, angry, confused, and emotional. The cycle of emotion to commotion and drama to trauma begins and this is how commotion in one’s life ensues.

Most of the time we are the authors of the drama in our lives. We live as beggars always wanting more or better and we do foolish things to get them. Have you ever had a good relationship but then started to think of reasons to convince yourself that it’s not so good? Sometimes we create reasons or magnify little flaws so that we can have an excuse to cheat or end a relationship. This is self-sabotaging and occurs in your life more often than you will probably admit. Bear in mind a personal relationship can be a metaphor for your relationship to things. For example, you may have a perfectly good set of shoes, but suddenly the thought arises, “I need new shoes!”. So you begin to justify a purchasing a new pair by convincing ourself that the old pair hurts your feet, or are getting smelly. Well, the fact is, one day even the new shoes will get smelly! Now reverse this and think about these shoes as a metaphor for a personal relationship. It is important that we spend to in self-reflection to acknowledge in self-honesty our own insanities and self-sabotaging behavior – for your own good and for the benefit of those in your life.

The desire to seek something better is not always a bad thing. It is only when the desire for something better is irrational and based on a want rather than a need that it is harmful. The desire to improve your health is good. The desire to improve your relationships is good. The desire to change someone to fit your expectations is not. But above all worldly desires, the desire to reach Self-realization is the highest. And this requires devotion.

Devotion implies honoring something beyond yourself in which you utterly lose your sense of ego-self to unite with the divine essence of the object of your devotion. One can be devoted to their spouse or loved ones. One can be devoted to helping others. One can be devoted to finding a cure to a disease. One can be devoted to a guru. These are all noble and nurture the soul because within the very act of devotion is the essence of Love and Love is the sacred link that merges you into the Infinite. Devotion is the act of surrender that dissolves all fears to open the lotus flower of the heart.

In devotion…

Me becomes We.
Greed becomes Generosity.
Anger becomes Compassion.
War becomes Peace.
Chaos becomes Calmness.
Ungratefulness becomes Gratitude.
Hopelessness becomes Hopefulness.
Cruelty becomes Kindness.
Ignorance become Intuition.
Fear becomes Courage.
Darkness becomes Light.
Selfish love becomes Divine Love.

Blessings,

Sevaji