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Appreciate

United We Stand

“In today’s ‘I’ society, everyone thinks in terms of ‘I’, ‘me’, and ‘mine’. But for people to be happy there has to be unity based on the understanding that everyone requires everyone else” — Radhanath Swami.

On the battlefield, every soldier is completely dependent on all his comrades. When there are thousands of people shooting guns and bombs at him, what can he do alone? His life, his survival, depends on all the others around him. At that time, he does not harbor petty feelings like “I do not like the color of his skin,” or “I do not like the things he eats,” or “I did not like what his wife said to me two years ago.” No. He understands that without the other, he will perish. On the frontlines, everyone is dependent on everyone else.

Similarly, this world is also like a battlefield staging the battles between the good and the evil, sin and piety, sentiments of the religious and the irreligious, love and sectarian hate. Our relationships are tested as the many situations of this world threaten them. At that time, it’s important to understand that we need each other to maintain and fortify our relationships. Without each other’s help and support, the relationship will perish. If we live by this understanding, then we will remain united and stop harboring petty thoughts about our spouse, and instead appreciate just how important our spouse is for us.
Strong relationships come from two things: (i) having each other’s association, and (ii) learning together the science of depending on a power beyond our own.

Categories
Radhanath Swami Tolerate

Aspire to be a china cup

China Cup“For a relationship like marriage to work in this world, it is very difficult! In fact, for anything great to work in this world, it is very difficult.”-Radhanath Swami

If we want a relationship to have deep substance, deep meaning and deep fulfillment, difficulties have to be endured. Just like the beautiful china cup which was once just a lump of red clay. The potter rolled it, pounded and patted it over and over, though the lump of clay did not like it. And that was not the end. The potter then placed it on a spinning wheel, spun that clay to dizzying speed, poked, prodded and bent the clay out of shape to suit his needs. The potter then put the clay in the oven and treated it to torturous heat. Though it went through unbearable times, there was more in store. The clay was put through cold treatment, brushed and painted with choking fumes, and laid back in the oven twice as hot. When the clay thought what was next, the potter placed it before a mirror and in that mirror it saw the unbelievable. The red lump of clay had transformed into the most beautiful china cup!

God knows what he’s doing for each of us. He is the potter, and we are his clay. He will mould us and expose us to pressures of just the right kinds that we may be made into a flawless piece of work to fulfill his good, pleasing and perfect will. So, when life seems hard, and you are being pounded and patted and pushed almost beyond endurance; when your world seems to be spinning out of control; when you feel like you are in a fiery furnace of trials, just know that at the end of it all, your life is set to be transformed into something beautiful that you never imagined.

When we endure difficulties in our relationships knowing for a fact that it will help us grow into a beautiful person, God enables us to grow.