Generally, birthdays are about celebrating oneself. Getting gifts. Getting things your way. But what I want today is not anything for myself. What I want is for you, my friends and family, to be happy. Also, being kind of immersed in Vedanta, it seems silly to celebrate my 'birth' since there never was a time when I was not, nor you, nor any of these rulers of men, O Arjuna. I was never born. But this perticular leg of the journey began 30 rotations of the sun ago, so it's a good excuse to do things that are importaint to me. Like send love to the people in my life who make it good. I suppose that's a bit partial, and perhaps I should send love to everyone, ever. Which I do, most mornings, so... Good on me, I guess? I'm going on a tangent. I owe a debt of love that I am happy to pay, to you who are the treasures of my life. One of the first real bits of wisdom I learned was that true friends make life good. So let me thank you for that. There. That's my birthday present.
And here's something I told myself this morning during my annual Soliomancy sunrise walk: Remember and accept that God (or whatever name you call the Ultimate) loves you. Has always loved you, will always love you. There is nothing you can do to change that. God is at least as loving as a perfect mother, who loves her children even when they are naughty. Maybe she will dole out disipline, but it is done only out of love.
Know that God never wants you to think of yourself as weak, sinful, or fallen. God wants you to think of ourself as a child of God, as God himself. Think of yourself always as worthy, strong, skillful, with unlimited capability and dignity. Verily you are incarnations of divinity. Live that. Accept that. Enjoy it. Stop worrying, if you can. It's all going to be alright. And even if you can't stop worrying, at least be kind to yourself. Because me and God care about you. We don't want to see you beating yourself up. We just want to you to be happy. Happy and carefree. With a heart full of love.
The Bhagavad Gita says: act, without attachment to the fruits of action, with awareness of the Atma, the Self, dedicating all actions to that form of divinity dearest to your heart. That is the way to make all action spiritual practice. That means, if you do this, it's as though you are spending the whole day in spiritual practice. This is from chapter two and three of the Bhagavad-Gita. (And a whole bunch of other chapters as well, I think. But those were the two that I read today.)
I can vouch for the effectiveness of this practice. It is one of those deceptively simple things that tricks you into not doing it because you think it's too simple to work well. Or maybe it sounds too simple so you think you're not understanding it right. But no, it's pretty simple. And very effective. It takes a whole load off your shoulders. Dedicate your action like this and renounce the fruits, and God himself (as Krishna) has said he will take care of all the rest. Just do your sincere best effort, and you're good.
This concludes my birthday message. I hope your lives are wonderful. You're happiness is my happiness.
Isaac
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