Shiva Sutras | Without effort, you cannot prosper. Only when you apply effort will you get results.
*Chapter 2 - Energy Centres*
*Day 10*
Effort and continual practice are required in both worldly and spiritual matters. Some people say, "I will go on a pilgrimage when God desires," or "I will go for sadhana only if Guruji makes me go."
This happens only when the mind is not firm and is wavering in its commitment. You do not apply the same rule to other areas.
For instance, you do not say, "I will eat only if God feeds me," or "I will see the movie only if God shows it." Only by working hard and applying full effort can you experience good samadhi.
A lazy person never reaches samadhi. Therefore, satsang, sadhana, and seva, all three are very important. When you do these, you enter into yourself, into sivatattva. Then it becomes easy to experience love and knowledge.
We treat our wishes and God's wishes differently. We accept things according to our convenience. When you succeed in something, you say, "I won by putting in my full effort,"
But if you lose you say, "What can be done? It is God's will." You never admit that you did not put in your effort 100%. Actually, God did it, otherwise it would not have happened, even if you tried.
So, God alone does everything. This is important to understand the efforts that you make are also Shiva. If God alone is the doer and nothing exists except for him, then he is also enjoying the fruit of action.
If God has made you a thief, then through you God will also experience punishment in jail. Suppose you overeat and say, "I have a stomach ache,"
How is it possible that you have a stomach ache? The aching stomach is God's. If you are not the doer, then you are not the enjoyer of actions either.
Remember that he is the doer and also the enjover. You will not get results if you merely keep thinking about a work that you have no interest in doing.
If you want to do something, do it 100% and complete it, and if you want to leave a project, then drop it and drop it in your mind too.
Whatever you do, do it 100%. It is not right to say, "Why should I do it if everything is being done by God?" Only God is doing everything, and he is doing work through you.
The God in you is eager to work. Therefore, allow God to work, why do you stop God mid-way? This is only acceptable when you feel God Himself is stopping mid-way.
If you sit and start wondering about it, you will wind up utterly confused. Come out of it, and let your mind be empty. The energy you have to do work is Shiva.
Your faults also belong to Him. Virtues and happiness come
from knowledge while flaws and misery come from ignorance.
If happiness and misery are the same to you, then knowledge and ignorance are the same. You will not feel anger or hatred towards anyone. Liberated and pure, you will march towards the self.
Krishna tells Arjuna, "Treating with equanimity happiness and misery, gain and loss, victory and defeat, fight the war." Fight without feverishness. Look at your actions as a witness.
The heart beats, blood flows, breath moves in and out, digestion and other functions continue. These processes happen on their own.
Even thoughts appear by themselves. Realise that there is no distinction between a complete doer and a complete observer. Then you will become the doer of everything.
This should happen naturally. You should still act. Do not be without doing. The rain falls only when it is time to rain, and the sun rises and sets in its own time.
You cannot affect these, but when the sun shines, open the windows. Only then can the rays of sunlight enter. If you open the windows at 12 midnight expecting the sunlight to enter, how can it happen?
If the windows are shut it will be dark inside even if the sun is shining. Nature is giving you everything, but still you should put in your full effort.
Without effort, you cannot prosper. Only when you apply effort will you get results.