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Photo copyright Suresh Gundappa 2007
It seems tension has nothing to do with anything outside you, it has something to do within you. Outside you always find an excuse only because it looks so idiotic to be tense without any reason. Just to rationalize, you find some reason outside yourself to explain why you are tense.
But tension is not outside you, it is in your wrong style of life. You are living in competition — that will create tension. You are living in continuous comparison — that will create tension. You are always thinking either of the past or of the future, and missing the present which is the only reality — that will create tension.
IT IS A QUESTION of simple understanding; there is no need of any competition with anybody. You are yourself, and as you are, you are perfectly good.
Accept yourself.
This is the way existence wants you to be. Some trees are taller; some trees are smaller. But the smaller trees are not tense — neither are the taller trees full of ego. Existence needs variety. Somebody is stronger than you; somebody is more intelligent than you — but in something, you also must be more talented than anybody else.
Just find your own talent. Nature never sends any single individual without some unique gift. Just a little search… perhaps you can play on the flute better than the president of the country can be a president — you are a better flautist than he is a president.
There is no question of any comparison. Comparison leads people astray. Competition keeps them continuously tense, and because their life is empty, they never live in the moment. All they do is to think of the past, which is no more, or project in the future, which is not yet.
This whole thing drives people almost abnormal — insane. Otherwise there is no need: no animal goes mad, no tree needs any psychoanalysis. The whole existence is living in constant celebration, except man. He is sitting aloof, tense, worried.
A SMALL LIFE, and you are losing it and every day death is coming closer. That creates even more angst — “Death is coming closer and I have not even started living.” Most people realize only when they die that they were alive — but then it is too late.
Just live the moment.
And whatever qualities and whatever talents you have, use them to the fullest.
WHATEVER YOU ARE doing, if there is contentment and a feeling that this whole existence is nothing but the manifestation of godliness, that we are traveling on holy earth, that whomever you are meeting, you are meeting God — there is no other way; only faces are different, but the inner reality is the same — all your tensions will disappear. And the energy that is involved in tensions will start becoming your grace, your beauty.
Then life will not be just an ordinary, routine, day-to-day existence, but a dance from cradle to grave.
And existence will be immensely enriched by your grace, by your relaxation, by your silence, by your awareness.
You will not leave the world without contributing something valuable to it. But people are always looking at others, at what others are doing — somebody is playing the flute and you cannot, and immediately there is misery; somebody is painting and you cannot, and there is misery.
WHATEVER YOU ARE doing, do it with such love, with such care that the smallest thing in the world becomes a piece of art. It will bring great joy to you. And it will create a world without competition, without comparison; it will give dignity to all people; it will restore their pride, which religions have destroyed.
Any act done with totality becomes your prayer.
Love and lots of it Dear ones
Suresh
This is a beautiful post and an idea worth striving for.
Once again beautiful photogrpahy and message.
Excellent post Suresh … my feelings too. My trouble is dealing with these things in the outside world.
@”But tension is not outside you, it is in your wrong style of life. You are living in competition — that will create tension. You are living in continuous comparison — that will create tension. You are always thinking either of the past or of the future, and missing the present which is the only reality — that will create tension.”
This is the part I am having trouble with, at this time of great transition in my life. It describes my ‘working world’ where I have go to make money. After thirty two years I am trying to transition out of an industry that encourages all of those very evil things.
Going there is almost torture for me, in terms of environment. I will walk away as soon as I have the other things in place. Meanwhile, it is difficult to ground oneself in a situation which, for me, is the ‘wrong style of life’ at this point.
I am working on living in the moment, which means embracing my gifts, but also quelling the anxiety many of these things encourage.
Very true, Suresh, it is the competition that kills every joy…
By the way, I really miss YOUR picture on top of the page
Love…
thanks Bluemoon for sharing you own experience. I guess most of the people are going thru the same dilemma as you are going thru. All I say is compete and compare but do it thru inner stillness, then you can put all your energy to what you can do rather than what you feel. Ability to detach yourself from competition and still compete – makes interesting growth.
thanks once again !
Like blumoon, it’s my workplace that makes me full of angst. People here are tense and project anger, even when I think they are really not angry at all. It just seems to ooze out of them. I have an uneasy feeling most of the time. I worry about not doing well enough at what I do, even though everyone tells me I do a great job. It’s such a waste of energy. I am not a competative person at all, so that in itself makes me different from those around me. Meditation helps and knitting socks is my best release and relax technique. Sometimes it makes me smile when someone at work tells me they just love all the wild and crazy looking socks I wear! If they only knew they were inspired by their own kaos!! LOL
I love your website Suresh, it’s always a great part of my day.
That sounds very nice but we live in othervise reality.
You wrote:
Comparison leaves you astray, Competition makes you tense..
We grasp the truth by comparing the opposit truth and thus the comparisons help us to comprehend the necessitty of the HARMONY that frees us from hardships of tension.
thanks for the note on tugster. i love your photos and meditations. you clarify an unformulated thought that has been implicit in my blog, ie, it is possible to meditate on images whether of geographical landscapes, landscapes of the face, or on tugboats. i will continue checking your work. happy new year will
Suresh – just wanted to visit your blog – thanks for the comment on mine – i hope you read it frequently.
a couple things:
GREAT blog of your own – i will be back often
you may also like seeing is a verb: http://seeingisaverb.wordpress.com – it’s full of thoughtful musings on metaphysics, reality, life, etc.
pip
Suresh good post.
Nice blog and beautiful photography! You have quite an eye, Suresh!
Brilliant post Suresh. I believe the only person we should be competing against, is ourself.
To improve ourself, for our own sake.
Thank you for commenting on my blog. I am grateful to you for doing this because it led me to your site, and this post, which was on top when I first checked it out. The photo is beautiful, which you surely know, but your words are also quite amazing and so on-target for what I am dealing with right now. I am about to be sentenced in a white-collar fraud case. I do not believe my conviction was just, yet I am ashamed of the wrongful actions that caused me to be indicted, if you can appreciate that narrow distinction. Your post here put so much of what my experience has meant to me in words I could not find for myself. Not just the alleged crime, but my participation in the corporate world, which perverts and distorts our thinking in just the ways you point out. No matter what my sentence is, I will never participate in the American economy in the same way I willingly accepted before. I hope your readers realize that your writings are not just of a spiritual nature; they are supremely practical as well — a guide to your daily decisions in the world of business and life.
thank you. I will be returning to your site frequently.
John
beautiful photography…
Meditation – this is one of your subject and I really don’t have much knowledge about the subject. I try some meditation for the peace of mind and relaxation but it never worked. Whenever I did meditation my mind was always very well aware of where I am with wandering thoughts in my mind.
Write something about it whenever you get time.
Suresh-fantastic post. So appropriate to hear at this time. So much anxiety in the world…so hard for people not to compare and compete. We set ourselves up with false expectations of how we should be, who we should be, how we should act. So many of us have no idea who we are. We are struggling to find ourselves in the sea of celebs, young business stars, and brands that change every couple months. We are all desperate to be heard and understood. I love what you said. Returns me to the truth. Thank you for that.
The tag ‘SEX’ attached to all your posts no matter what the subject, always makes me giggle
all attention towards sex is towards relaxation. Everyone looking for sex subjects mostly are going to be in need of relaxation. My effort is to try and give them glimpse of relaxation thru Meditation and photography.
ha ha!, will they be able to recognize the beauty of your posts through their hormone glazed eyes
not really but I want ot give my best shot to move that energy!
Good One.. Really a worth while to read it. Need of the hour I should say! Excellent post.
Suresh,
This is beautifully written. You are correct, comparison and compitition are both ego based and do not serve the soul in a postive way. When we are able to step outside our ego and become centered with our soul then we have a knowing that we are not here to compare or compete with anyone or anything.
You should be travelling a lot to take such lovely photographs. It is nice to know that such lovely and serene places exist on this earth. Thanks for sharing them with us. and Thanks to Mr Karthigeyan for introducing this Meditation pictures to me.