The realm of Greatness!
Hello all,
Namaste! Hope all of you had a fantastic week working towards bringing authenticity, improvement, and prosperity for your life. Last week we discussed the concept of 'Purusharthas', where using Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha how we can lead a purposeful and authentic life to capture our true personal power. Today let us discuss another concept, where when we start to live a life of authenticity how we can capture another state, which we can call the 'Realm of Greatness'. This concept we will try to understand by taking the example of one very powerful personality.
Before that let us all reflect or contemplate on our normal lives. Think about all of us including myself. Many times we take birth, grow up, get a good education, get into a great job, marry or not marry, have a few kids, see them grow and thrive well, get to our old age and then one day just like that we are gone! This is usually how most of us lead our life. We just settle for whatever comes our way, become happy about accepting it and lead our life.
But now think of the great personalities like Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Abraham Lincoln or Mother Teresa. (Of course, I need and have to put at least one woman. As I have previously mentioned, the divine feminine has not gotten its fair share of recognition. Hope that narrative changes very soon ;-)). What did they do differently to acquire such worldwide recognition and what was the underlying motivation for them?
In our previous post, we discussed that nobody is excluded from a life that shines with purpose and authenticity. But many times why so many of us lead a mediocre life and go back behind the curtain of life? These great personalities must have done something different so that the world bows its head before their greatness! This is where the concept of a 'realm of greatness' comes into focus. To discuss this concept we very much need to keep the concept of 'Dharma' in our mind. Now to just once more to recapture, what is Dharma?
According to what we discussed last week, Dharma is the soul contract or the soul pact we have made with the divine where we are given inherent talents and tendencies, which we need to develop. Later we need to co-create with the divine, our duty or soul purpose where the divine and us are equal partners in bringing that unique purpose into existence. This Dharma many times appear before us as our calling or pull of our heart. Now as discussed before we always have the free will with everything we do in this physical existence. So according to what I understand we always have the choice to neglect/reject our unique purpose or have the mindset to pursue it.
Now we can ask why many times we reject it? According to what I perceive many times we are paralyzed by fear to do something different that none of our friends, family or colleagues have done. The pull of the collective consciousness (or is it collective unconsciousness, a topic for another day ;-)) to stick to norms and not move away from normal societal structures is enormous. To overcome that we need huge mental and emotional strength. This obstruction can come as family questioning us, friends discouraging us or we ourselves doubting us. Once we reach this stage many times we become dispirited and leave the task we set out to do. But for now, let us think we overcame this and then what is awaiting us?
This is the point where we come to the concept of the 'Realm of Greatness'. This is the realm or dominion where our true personal power and authenticity lies. Let us think that we have decided to pursue our Dharma. As of now the only one who has made that decision is just ourselves, the single one person. We are doubting our decision, our capabilities, and our talents. But the inner being inside is prodding us, "Don't doubt, take the first step, go ahead, go ahead". The decision this time we have taken has come very much from inside us, not from a mentor, family or friends. Here another fact that becomes clear is that many times we have an easier time trusting others than trusting ourselves. Because this is the very first time we have started taking decisions according to what our inner Self-says and what we very truly want for ourselves.
Now we have already mentioned that we have to co-create with the divine. We also have discussed that once we start pursuing our Dharma, we become a drop in the ocean with the might of the ocean behind us. So can we now say that the 'Drop becomes the ocean?' because the whole might of the ocean is there embedded in that drop when we work with the divine. Now our question of being doubtful. If the divine can create all of us and create the Galaxies, Universes and Solar systems, can't it also keep the promise of its part in the co-creation? The concept of Dharma itself comes from the divine, so won't the divine keep its Dharma? So should we doubt whether our unique creation comes into existence when our inner being or the divine nature in us asks us to proceed? Does in this scenario our Self-doubt serves any purpose? If we can trust another person, why can't we trust ourselves and the divine? (Now, I myself am not sure whether what I wrote makes sense. Please let me know through the comments, whether this paragraph made any sense and whether my dear readers could understand it. Lol! ;-)).
So when we are in the process of co-creating with the divine, then we go to a higher state of being, which we can call as the 'Realm of Greatness'. Many great people have given us clues about this state. Let me share one or two of them here. Ralph Waldo Emerson has written, "Once you make a decision, the Universe conspires to make it happen". The famous Iranian poet Jalal-ad-Din Muhammed Rumi quotes,"You were born with wings, why prefer to crawl through life?" Here flying is the metaphor for standing in our true power doing our authentic purpose and crawling is just doing the ordinary normal life.
One thing that is true with living in this state is that we are not shown the whole path. We are only shown 1-2 steps at a time. Now our Self-doubt starts crawling back in,- Am I doing it correctly? Am I right? Is this good? About this, Martin Luther King has quoted, "Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase". So this is where our true inner trust or faith comes into the picture and we are tested at every single step. Do you have enough faith and courage to take the next step? The trust is very much needed in this state of being. Once we are doubtful of ourselves and the divine all the bets are off. In that stage, we self-sabotage everything. But in case we are brave enough and have the inner trust, a path truly paved exactly for us starts opening up and even ourselves or even the divine does not know what the path will look like in another few years. But always we will get a chance to look at our life in hind sight and be truly happy and grateful for the life we led. Before finishing let us look at the life of the 16th President of the U.S.A., Abraham Lincoln and how he captured this realm of greatness.
Abraham Lincoln: Lincoln was born in Kentucky, U.S.A in 1809 and later his family moved to the state of Illinois. He had to work as a boy to help his family and many times could not go to school and had to self-teach himself to become a lawyer. (Remember, even learning or improving one's talent is part of one's Dharma). He got involved in the Whig party and won the election for Illinois State Legislature in 1834. Later he won the election to the U.S. House of representatives in 1846 and as a U.S. congressman, it seems he was extremely unpopular among his district voters. Later he decided not to seek re-election as a U.S. congressman.
Now think about it, any weak hearted person who had an extremely unpopular time as a Congressman would not seek to become President later. The path of Dharma is not easy to traverse and it is almost always laden with obstacles, Self-doubts, and missions at massive proportions. A weak hearted person cannot traverse it. Every juncture the person will be tested - Are you brave enough? Do you trust yourself enough to stand up for your morals? Are you courageous enough when the whole world can come against you? Remember the collective consciousness we mentioned before? We are standing against that and fighting to pave a unique path for ourselves. Not at all an easy task!
But when the Universe is pushing him to become the President who can stand against that? Some events that happened pushed him again to national politics and in 1854, he had to go before a large crowd in Peoria, Illinois to debate Stephen A. Douglas, a Democrat in Congress on the merits of an act called Kansas- Nebraska Act, which declared that voters of each territory and not the federal government had the right to decide whether the territory should have slavery or free.
Lincoln stood for election in 1855 and 1858 for the U.S. Senate and both times he failed miserably. In these times he also did a series of debates with Douglas who was also running for the Senate, which made Lincoln very prominent nationally. Even though he could not become the Senator from Illinois to the U.S. Senate, the eloquent, passionate and persuasive orator from Illinois captured the attention of America.
On February 27, 1860, some New York party people asked Lincoln to give a speech at Cooper's Union in front of dominant Republicans and that speech brought him an unparalleled recognition as a person with great intellectual capacity and morality. From here step by step he won the nomination of the Republican party and later went on to win the election to become the 16th U.S.President. Here we can see another point. When one door closes, don't lose heart, another massive door is just waiting to swing open. If something does not work out, it is the Universe pushing us towards greater achievements. Only many times we don't realize it and get depressed and not work towards it. As discussed before, nothing gets thrown into our lap. Lincoln thought of becoming a U.S. senator and the divine had plans of making him the President.
Once he was President, did he get time to have a breather? No! As he was a Northerner against slavery, by the time Lincoln took the oath of office, seven southern states had cut off their allegiance to the Union of States and had formed the Confederate States of America. Now Lincoln was sitting in his Oval office (The Office of the President of the U.S.A) and staring straight at a civil war.
It seems the Confederate leader Jefferson Davis was a West Point graduate, Mexican war hero and had served as the Secretary of War before, while Lincoln only had a short stint of service in the Black Hawk war (1832). But he surprised many by becoming a true wartime President, quickly learning war strategy, military policies and operations.
Under the leadership of General George McClellan, Lincoln won the civil war in 1862, even though he had to fire General McClellan after that. On January 1,1863, Lincoln issued an introductory Emancipation proclamation giving the freedom to slaves of the Confederate states (later Northern states also gave freedom to slaves) and later passed it as the 13th amendment after his death in 1865.
In November of 1863, Lincoln gave his very famous 'Gettysburg address', detailing the purpose of the war, the vision of the founding fathers of the U.S., the declaration of Independence and the vision for Human equality. Lincoln had to face a tough re-election as President against the same General McClellan, but his strategy in the war, emancipation proclamation and the vision for the future brought him again the seat at the Oval Office. But this time he could serve only for four months as he was assassinated by an actor and the confederate supporter John Wilkes Booth. While Lincoln was watching a play at the Ford's Theatre in Washington D.C.,Wilkes slipped into the President's box at the theatre and shot him point blank at the back of his head. Lincoln who became unconscious, was carried to a boarding house across the street and took his last breath in the early morning hours of April 15,1865.
Analysis: Did the constant barrage of failures whether not able to get a school education, the repeated defeats for the U.S. senate race or the looming civil war deter the courage and the inner steel of Abraham Lincoln? Instead, as we discussed before, the war brought out a strategic and calculating side of Lincoln so that he could win the war as well as the hearts of the people.The victory in the civil war and the Emancipation Proclamation brought him acclaim and worldwide recognition.
In his biographies, it has been mentioned about his struggles to take the correct decision and how as a human he was bothered by slavery and the human cost of war. Abolishing slavery at a time when it was prevalent in the cotton plantations of the southern states was a very bold and audacious move. The whole of the South that supported slavery was against the policies of a President from the Northern states. There were cotton plantations in the South where the slaves were needed to do the everyday menial job. Watch the movie, 'Django Unchained' or '12 years a slave' that portray the struggles of being a slave.
Lincoln was pursuing his path of Dharma and many times he was tested, put through raging trials and asked to stand up for his morals and principles all through his life. As mentioned the path of Dharma is not easy and is laden with tests, obstacles, and trials. But think how a single person called Abraham Lincoln affected so many lives and how his standing up against slavery brought a whole generation of people out of slavery.
This is the 'realm of Greatness' where a single soul affects the lives of many in a very positive manner. In this path of Dharma or 'realm of Greatness', there is no place for doubts, fear or self-aggrandizement. It is the realm of principles, morality, integrity and righteousness. Can everyone access this Realm of Greatness? Of course! Nobody is excluded. But the first and foremost question is, do we have the courage and the inner trust to pursue it? And in this realm, the Universe truly becomes our partner in co-creation and we indeed find ourselves in the 'Realm of Greatness'!
Let us now finish with a quote from Abraham Lincoln:
I wish you a good weekend and I'll see you next Friday! 😉
Next week: Kuja - The army chief!
Note: Images from Wikimedia Commons as well as created by Swaroopa.
Ralph Waldo Emerson writes, "There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance ; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better for worse as his portion that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till. The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried".
All rights reserved to the author (SwaroopaStargazer) and SwaroopaBlog.
To my Blog readers: As all of you know, the European Union has passed laws regarding the collection of the user data. This is just to inform all my EU blog readers, I use Google Analytics, which Google provides, to look at from where readers are reading my blogs. I also use Specific feeds for their service for subscription. I don't collect or intend to collect user data to sell or provide to third-party applications. Regards,
SwaroopaBlog.
Disclaimer: This is a personal blog. The opinions and viewpoints shared here are that of the author/owner only. Even though the author/owner will try to research well before posting the information, the author/owner of this blog does not make any portrayal of the accuracy or correctness of the content on this blog or the links provided. The author/owner will not be liable for any omissions or inaccuracies occurred. The author/owner will not be liable for any damages or losses due to the use or display of this blog. These terms and conditions can change at any time. This blog is purely for informational purposes only.
©SwaroopaStargazer and Swaroopa, 2017- Eternity.
Namaste! Hope all of you had a fantastic week working towards bringing authenticity, improvement, and prosperity for your life. Last week we discussed the concept of 'Purusharthas', where using Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha how we can lead a purposeful and authentic life to capture our true personal power. Today let us discuss another concept, where when we start to live a life of authenticity how we can capture another state, which we can call the 'Realm of Greatness'. This concept we will try to understand by taking the example of one very powerful personality.
Before that let us all reflect or contemplate on our normal lives. Think about all of us including myself. Many times we take birth, grow up, get a good education, get into a great job, marry or not marry, have a few kids, see them grow and thrive well, get to our old age and then one day just like that we are gone! This is usually how most of us lead our life. We just settle for whatever comes our way, become happy about accepting it and lead our life.
But now think of the great personalities like Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Abraham Lincoln or Mother Teresa. (Of course, I need and have to put at least one woman. As I have previously mentioned, the divine feminine has not gotten its fair share of recognition. Hope that narrative changes very soon ;-)). What did they do differently to acquire such worldwide recognition and what was the underlying motivation for them?
In our previous post, we discussed that nobody is excluded from a life that shines with purpose and authenticity. But many times why so many of us lead a mediocre life and go back behind the curtain of life? These great personalities must have done something different so that the world bows its head before their greatness! This is where the concept of a 'realm of greatness' comes into focus. To discuss this concept we very much need to keep the concept of 'Dharma' in our mind. Now to just once more to recapture, what is Dharma?
According to what we discussed last week, Dharma is the soul contract or the soul pact we have made with the divine where we are given inherent talents and tendencies, which we need to develop. Later we need to co-create with the divine, our duty or soul purpose where the divine and us are equal partners in bringing that unique purpose into existence. This Dharma many times appear before us as our calling or pull of our heart. Now as discussed before we always have the free will with everything we do in this physical existence. So according to what I understand we always have the choice to neglect/reject our unique purpose or have the mindset to pursue it.
Now we can ask why many times we reject it? According to what I perceive many times we are paralyzed by fear to do something different that none of our friends, family or colleagues have done. The pull of the collective consciousness (or is it collective unconsciousness, a topic for another day ;-)) to stick to norms and not move away from normal societal structures is enormous. To overcome that we need huge mental and emotional strength. This obstruction can come as family questioning us, friends discouraging us or we ourselves doubting us. Once we reach this stage many times we become dispirited and leave the task we set out to do. But for now, let us think we overcame this and then what is awaiting us?
This is the point where we come to the concept of the 'Realm of Greatness'. This is the realm or dominion where our true personal power and authenticity lies. Let us think that we have decided to pursue our Dharma. As of now the only one who has made that decision is just ourselves, the single one person. We are doubting our decision, our capabilities, and our talents. But the inner being inside is prodding us, "Don't doubt, take the first step, go ahead, go ahead". The decision this time we have taken has come very much from inside us, not from a mentor, family or friends. Here another fact that becomes clear is that many times we have an easier time trusting others than trusting ourselves. Because this is the very first time we have started taking decisions according to what our inner Self-says and what we very truly want for ourselves.
Now we have already mentioned that we have to co-create with the divine. We also have discussed that once we start pursuing our Dharma, we become a drop in the ocean with the might of the ocean behind us. So can we now say that the 'Drop becomes the ocean?' because the whole might of the ocean is there embedded in that drop when we work with the divine. Now our question of being doubtful. If the divine can create all of us and create the Galaxies, Universes and Solar systems, can't it also keep the promise of its part in the co-creation? The concept of Dharma itself comes from the divine, so won't the divine keep its Dharma? So should we doubt whether our unique creation comes into existence when our inner being or the divine nature in us asks us to proceed? Does in this scenario our Self-doubt serves any purpose? If we can trust another person, why can't we trust ourselves and the divine? (Now, I myself am not sure whether what I wrote makes sense. Please let me know through the comments, whether this paragraph made any sense and whether my dear readers could understand it. Lol! ;-)).
So when we are in the process of co-creating with the divine, then we go to a higher state of being, which we can call as the 'Realm of Greatness'. Many great people have given us clues about this state. Let me share one or two of them here. Ralph Waldo Emerson has written, "Once you make a decision, the Universe conspires to make it happen". The famous Iranian poet Jalal-ad-Din Muhammed Rumi quotes,"You were born with wings, why prefer to crawl through life?" Here flying is the metaphor for standing in our true power doing our authentic purpose and crawling is just doing the ordinary normal life.
One thing that is true with living in this state is that we are not shown the whole path. We are only shown 1-2 steps at a time. Now our Self-doubt starts crawling back in,- Am I doing it correctly? Am I right? Is this good? About this, Martin Luther King has quoted, "Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase". So this is where our true inner trust or faith comes into the picture and we are tested at every single step. Do you have enough faith and courage to take the next step? The trust is very much needed in this state of being. Once we are doubtful of ourselves and the divine all the bets are off. In that stage, we self-sabotage everything. But in case we are brave enough and have the inner trust, a path truly paved exactly for us starts opening up and even ourselves or even the divine does not know what the path will look like in another few years. But always we will get a chance to look at our life in hind sight and be truly happy and grateful for the life we led. Before finishing let us look at the life of the 16th President of the U.S.A., Abraham Lincoln and how he captured this realm of greatness.
Abraham Lincoln: Lincoln was born in Kentucky, U.S.A in 1809 and later his family moved to the state of Illinois. He had to work as a boy to help his family and many times could not go to school and had to self-teach himself to become a lawyer. (Remember, even learning or improving one's talent is part of one's Dharma). He got involved in the Whig party and won the election for Illinois State Legislature in 1834. Later he won the election to the U.S. House of representatives in 1846 and as a U.S. congressman, it seems he was extremely unpopular among his district voters. Later he decided not to seek re-election as a U.S. congressman.
Now think about it, any weak hearted person who had an extremely unpopular time as a Congressman would not seek to become President later. The path of Dharma is not easy to traverse and it is almost always laden with obstacles, Self-doubts, and missions at massive proportions. A weak hearted person cannot traverse it. Every juncture the person will be tested - Are you brave enough? Do you trust yourself enough to stand up for your morals? Are you courageous enough when the whole world can come against you? Remember the collective consciousness we mentioned before? We are standing against that and fighting to pave a unique path for ourselves. Not at all an easy task!
But when the Universe is pushing him to become the President who can stand against that? Some events that happened pushed him again to national politics and in 1854, he had to go before a large crowd in Peoria, Illinois to debate Stephen A. Douglas, a Democrat in Congress on the merits of an act called Kansas- Nebraska Act, which declared that voters of each territory and not the federal government had the right to decide whether the territory should have slavery or free.
Lincoln stood for election in 1855 and 1858 for the U.S. Senate and both times he failed miserably. In these times he also did a series of debates with Douglas who was also running for the Senate, which made Lincoln very prominent nationally. Even though he could not become the Senator from Illinois to the U.S. Senate, the eloquent, passionate and persuasive orator from Illinois captured the attention of America.
On February 27, 1860, some New York party people asked Lincoln to give a speech at Cooper's Union in front of dominant Republicans and that speech brought him an unparalleled recognition as a person with great intellectual capacity and morality. From here step by step he won the nomination of the Republican party and later went on to win the election to become the 16th U.S.President. Here we can see another point. When one door closes, don't lose heart, another massive door is just waiting to swing open. If something does not work out, it is the Universe pushing us towards greater achievements. Only many times we don't realize it and get depressed and not work towards it. As discussed before, nothing gets thrown into our lap. Lincoln thought of becoming a U.S. senator and the divine had plans of making him the President.
 |
| Abraham Lincoln before his Cooper Union speech, New York. Mathew Brady [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons |
It seems the Confederate leader Jefferson Davis was a West Point graduate, Mexican war hero and had served as the Secretary of War before, while Lincoln only had a short stint of service in the Black Hawk war (1832). But he surprised many by becoming a true wartime President, quickly learning war strategy, military policies and operations.
Under the leadership of General George McClellan, Lincoln won the civil war in 1862, even though he had to fire General McClellan after that. On January 1,1863, Lincoln issued an introductory Emancipation proclamation giving the freedom to slaves of the Confederate states (later Northern states also gave freedom to slaves) and later passed it as the 13th amendment after his death in 1865.
In November of 1863, Lincoln gave his very famous 'Gettysburg address', detailing the purpose of the war, the vision of the founding fathers of the U.S., the declaration of Independence and the vision for Human equality. Lincoln had to face a tough re-election as President against the same General McClellan, but his strategy in the war, emancipation proclamation and the vision for the future brought him again the seat at the Oval Office. But this time he could serve only for four months as he was assassinated by an actor and the confederate supporter John Wilkes Booth. While Lincoln was watching a play at the Ford's Theatre in Washington D.C.,Wilkes slipped into the President's box at the theatre and shot him point blank at the back of his head. Lincoln who became unconscious, was carried to a boarding house across the street and took his last breath in the early morning hours of April 15,1865.
Analysis: Did the constant barrage of failures whether not able to get a school education, the repeated defeats for the U.S. senate race or the looming civil war deter the courage and the inner steel of Abraham Lincoln? Instead, as we discussed before, the war brought out a strategic and calculating side of Lincoln so that he could win the war as well as the hearts of the people.The victory in the civil war and the Emancipation Proclamation brought him acclaim and worldwide recognition.
In his biographies, it has been mentioned about his struggles to take the correct decision and how as a human he was bothered by slavery and the human cost of war. Abolishing slavery at a time when it was prevalent in the cotton plantations of the southern states was a very bold and audacious move. The whole of the South that supported slavery was against the policies of a President from the Northern states. There were cotton plantations in the South where the slaves were needed to do the everyday menial job. Watch the movie, 'Django Unchained' or '12 years a slave' that portray the struggles of being a slave.
Lincoln was pursuing his path of Dharma and many times he was tested, put through raging trials and asked to stand up for his morals and principles all through his life. As mentioned the path of Dharma is not easy and is laden with tests, obstacles, and trials. But think how a single person called Abraham Lincoln affected so many lives and how his standing up against slavery brought a whole generation of people out of slavery.
This is the 'realm of Greatness' where a single soul affects the lives of many in a very positive manner. In this path of Dharma or 'realm of Greatness', there is no place for doubts, fear or self-aggrandizement. It is the realm of principles, morality, integrity and righteousness. Can everyone access this Realm of Greatness? Of course! Nobody is excluded. But the first and foremost question is, do we have the courage and the inner trust to pursue it? And in this realm, the Universe truly becomes our partner in co-creation and we indeed find ourselves in the 'Realm of Greatness'!
Let us now finish with a quote from Abraham Lincoln:
 |
I wish you a good weekend and I'll see you next Friday! 😉
Next week: Kuja - The army chief!
Note: Images from Wikimedia Commons as well as created by Swaroopa.
Ralph Waldo Emerson writes, "There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance ; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better for worse as his portion that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till. The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried".
All rights reserved to the author (SwaroopaStargazer) and SwaroopaBlog.
To my Blog readers: As all of you know, the European Union has passed laws regarding the collection of the user data. This is just to inform all my EU blog readers, I use Google Analytics, which Google provides, to look at from where readers are reading my blogs. I also use Specific feeds for their service for subscription. I don't collect or intend to collect user data to sell or provide to third-party applications. Regards,
SwaroopaBlog.
Disclaimer: This is a personal blog. The opinions and viewpoints shared here are that of the author/owner only. Even though the author/owner will try to research well before posting the information, the author/owner of this blog does not make any portrayal of the accuracy or correctness of the content on this blog or the links provided. The author/owner will not be liable for any omissions or inaccuracies occurred. The author/owner will not be liable for any damages or losses due to the use or display of this blog. These terms and conditions can change at any time. This blog is purely for informational purposes only.
©SwaroopaStargazer and Swaroopa, 2017- Eternity.
![Mathew Brady [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ALincoln_O-17_by_Brady%2C_1860.png){kind=link}
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