Clean your inner space

The parched earth, heated by summer, longs for rain to soak in a few drops of water. Kalidasa’s immortal poetry pours over us as the monsoon rains wash away the dust and dirt to uncover a brave new, fresh and innocent world.

“The good earth is decked with many coloured jewels. Like a woman of elegant taste”

Ramtek near Nagpur celebrates the immortal 4th century poet with a festival during two days in November. During these days let us honour the great poet and the monsoons, by cleaning our inner and outer spaces. Getting rid of clutter will free up cosmic energies to sweep in.

“Tearing down the trees on the banks With swirling torrents of turbid waters. Rivers go surging to join the sea”

Let us focus on what we need to change and preserve in our lives. As the great Tandava of Shiva shows us, destruction is essential to build anything new. There is so much that needs to be destroyed in our lives. To start with, the five negative emotions — lust, anger, obsessions, greed and jealousy. Pull them out of your life like thorns from your flesh. Wrong actions are easier to control than wrong thoughts. The stealthy entry of negative thoughts often goes unnoticed. This  begins to poison the purity of your mind. Remain alert and replace every negative thought with a positive one.

Sometimes swift events can hit us — loss of a job, loss of a loved one, destruction of wealth. Let us be prepared and understand that anything can happen. But we can recover and rebuild our lives, just as Mother Earth does. Perhaps destruction can give us a chance to  become infinitely better. It will give us a clean slate to start something new, that we have been dreaming of for a long time.

“Wild elephants, delirious with pride, Fiercely trumpeting, ever and anon Challenge the thunder of the clouds”

So let us welcome these lessons with an open heart!

The writer is the author of Everyday Happiness Mantras