Spiritual Thinking is a simple way to transcend illusions.
Mundaka Upanishad
‘Satyameva Jayate’ which means – Truth alone triumphs; not the illusions ( Maya)
Bhagavad Gita Chapter 7, verse 14
My divine energy Maya, consisting of the three modes of nature, is challenging to overcome. But those who surrender unto Me cross over it quickly.
1 John 5:4
“For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.”
Romans 12:21
“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
Luke 1:37
“For every promise from God shall surely come true.”
1 John 4:4
“Little children, you are of God and have overcome them. For greater is he that is in you than in the world.”
Jeremiah 29:11
For I know my plans for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not evil, to give you a future and hope.
We all go through events that look so real, but we know they are only transient and will disappear. Frequent examples are various diseases or illnesses that we overcome by believing good lies ahead. A more complex example of this is the global pandemic that we all went through. As we go through these events, we experience some fear, and our faith helps us go through that. In this age of ever-changing technologies and convenience, it is no wonder that there is more uncertainty than during older days when progress was much slower. Maintaining our focus with intense competition for resources is becoming more challenging, mind-boggling new variations of diseases, ever-worsening global warming, unpredictable weather patterns, etc. Do we ignore all these situations that we will have to deal with and deny or accept and try to adapt to them no matter how difficult it will be? Added to this global economic system is dependent on people believing in these illusions. Medical Doctors earn their living by people imagining that they are sick and doctors can introduce them to new ones when the patients visit them; medical companies encourage doctors to prescribe their brand of medications, and diagnostic companies invent new technologies to detect new existing and non-existent diseases, lawyers and insurers make money by exploiting people’s fears about losing their material possessions, fashion, cosmetics ad jewelry companies use peoples wanting to look good, the politicians exploit people with lies and false promises. This list can keep going on and on. We must maintain our sanity in knowing what is real and what is imagination. This is where Spiritual Thinking, involving synchronizing our human thoughts with the ever-present Divine Mind, Brahman, and God inside us, lets us perceive the truth and get a handle on all the events as they happen. We must transcend these illusions and other illusions as we go through them.
In the epic Ramayana. Prince Rama had to go into exile with his young wife, Sita, for 14 years. His father, King Dasaratha, had promised his second wife, Kaikeyi, to help him with his chariot during an earlier war, and he will give her anything she wanted. She had deferred that wish until Rama was to ascend to the throne because she wanted her son Bharatha to climb. Though King Dasaratha could not verbally grant Kaikeyi her wish, Rama volunteered to give her wish on behalf of his father and was exiled to the forests for 14 years, enduring all the obstacles and demons he had to fight with.
In Hindu mythology, he and Krishna, later, were reincarnations of God Vishnu, the protector of this universe. Nevertheless, being born human, he had to endure all the difficulties we all go through. While Rama, his brother Lakshman, and Rama’s wife Sita, Sita was abducted by Ravana and was in isolation at the Ashoka Vana.
He ascended to the throne when he came back after fourteen years because his step-brother Bharatha wanted to take care of the Kingdom with Rama’s shoes placed on the throne. To endure all the hardships as we go through them, we need much faith that there is good at the end of the ordeal. When we go through a long tunnel, we need religion and the belief that there is light at the other end of the tunnel, just as we have to know that the dawn is on the horizon in the middle of the night.
There is a similar story in the Bible, and it is reproduced verbatim from the internet reference given below:
The Story of Joseph in the Bible:
https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/143035/jewish/The-Story-of-Joseph-in-the-Bible.htm
Joseph was one of the sons of Jacob and his wife, Rachel. Known as “the righteous one,” he was favored by his father (who gave him a particular colored coat) and sold by his brothers to Egypt, where he ultimately became ruler of the land, second only to King Pharaoh.
Joseph was born in the Mesopotamian town of Haran to his parents Jacob and Rachel. At six, he left Haran with his family and journeyed to Canaan, eventually settling in Hebron.
Jacob displayed extra affection to Joseph, who was born to his father’s old age, presenting him with a specially-crafted garment. This prompted jealousy among his brothers, especially the sons of Jacob’s other wife, Leah. These ill feelings were exacerbated when Joseph repeated two of his dreams to them, portraying him as ruling over his brethren. In the first, the brothers gathered wheat in the field, and the brothers’ bundles bowed to Joseph’s. In the second, Joseph envisioned the sun, the moon, and eleven stars (symbolizing his parents and brothers) turning to him.
Soon enough, the tension came to a head when Joseph was seventeen.
One day, Jacob instructed Joseph to visit his brothers in Shechem, where they were tending their sheep. Little did he know that this would be the last time he would see his dear son until their reunion a long twenty-two years later.
Seizing their chance, the brothers threw the unsuspecting Joseph into a pit.
A short while later, they spotted an Arab caravan passing the scene, and the brothers sold Joseph to the traders. He was eventually brought to Egypt, where he was traded to Potiphar, one of King Pharaoh’s ministers.
For a while, things started to look up for young Joseph. Divine success enabled him to find favor in his master’s eyes, and he was appointed head of Potiphar’s estate. However, this would not last for long.
Attracted by his handsome looks, Potiphar’s wife desired to be intimate with him. To her consternation, Joseph continuously refused. One day, when no one was home except the two of them, the mistress grasped Joseph’s garment, demanding that he consent. Thinking quickly, Joseph slid out of his cloak and ran outside. This self-control earned him the appellation “Joseph the Righteous.”3
But Potiphar’s wife turned the tables on Joseph, telling her husband that Joseph had tried to entice her. The angry master reacted by placing his trustworthy assistant in prison.
Joseph’s charisma followed him to prison, and the warden appointed him as his right-hand man. In time, his unique qualities expressed themselves in an additional area. When the king’s royal cupbearer and baker were imprisoned, Joseph successfully interpreted their dreams, correctly predicting that the cupbearer would be released and the baker hanged.
King Pharaoh envisioned two dreams two years later, which none of his advisors could explain. Remembering the Hebrew youth from his prison days, the cupbearer suggested that Joseph be summoned. Joseph, then thirty, interpreted Pharaoh’s dreams as being a Divine prediction for seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine and advised Pharaoh to prepare by storing grain during the first seven years. Impressed by Joseph’s wisdom, Pharaoh appointed him as his viceroy, second only to the king himself, and tasked him with readying the nation for the years of famine.
Meanwhile, the effects of the famine were felt in nearby Canaan. Hearing that there was grain in Egypt, Joseph’s brothers journeyed there to buy precious food from the viceroy, not realizing that he was their brother.
Joseph used this opportunity to observe whether his brothers truly regretted selling him. Using dramatic maneuvers, Joseph tested his brothers’ determination to save their youngest brother Benjamin—Joseph’s only maternal brother—from the plot he set up for him. Once he saw their devotion toward Benjamin, Joseph finally revealed his identity to his astonished siblings.
Following this heartfelt reunion, Jacob and his family settled in the Goshen section of Egypt. This series of events served as the backdrop for Israel’s ultimate enslavement in Egypt and the subsequent Exodus.
After appointing Joseph as viceroy, Pharaoh gave him as a wife Asenath, daughter of Potiphera, priest of On. Midrashic sources identify Potiphera as none other than Potiphar, Joseph’s previous master.
Joseph and Asenath had two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, born during the seven years of plenty. Before Jacob’s death, he gave Joseph a gift: his children would be the only ones among Jacob’s grandsons to be treated as independent tribes. Indeed, throughout the Jews’ journey in the desert, the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim received equal status to the other tribes, and they inherited individual portions of the Land of Israel.
Joseph ruled Egypt for eighty years until he died in 110. Before his passing, he made his brothers promise to take his coffin with them when they eventually left Egypt for the Promised Land. After his death, he was embalmed and laid to rest in Egypt. Indeed, when the Jews left Egypt many years later, Moses found Joseph’s tomb and carried his remains to the Land of Israel.
Joseph was subsequently buried in Shechem (known today as Nablus), and his resting place is visited today.
Spiritual thinking, by synchronizing our human thoughts with the Divine Mind, God inside us enables us to transcend all illusions.
You can read more in the author’s book: Think Spiritually – Spiritual Thinking For Life. Available at Amazon.com.
https://www.amazon.com/author/sivaraman_raghu/
You can buy the e-book “Think Spiritually – Spiritual Thinking For Life” for only $5.00 below.
You Can buy e book “Think Spiritually Book2 – Spiritual Thinking For Life” for only $5.00
You can buy the e-book “Think Spiritually – Spiritual Thinking For Life”- Hindi Version for only $5.00 below.
You can buy the e-book “Think Spiritually Book 2– Spiritual Thinking For Life”- Hindi Version for only $5.00 below.
You can buy the e-book “Think Spiritually – Spiritual Thinking For Life”- Tamil Version for only $5.00 below.
You can buy the e-book “Think Spiritually Book 2– Spiritual Thinking For Life”- Tamil Version for only $5.00 below.
French
You can buy the e-book “Think Spiritually – Spiritual Thinking For Life”- French Version for only $5.00 below.
You can buy the e-book “Think Spiritually Book 2– Spiritual Thinking For Life”- =FrenchVersion for only $5.00 below.
German
You can buy the e-book “Think Spiritually – Spiritual Thinking For Life”- German Version for only $5.00 below.
You can buy the e-book “Think Spiritually Book 2– Spiritual Thinking For Life”- GermanVersion for only $5.00 below.
Spanish
You can buy the e-book “Think Spiritually – Spiritual Thinking For Life”- Spanish Version for only $5.00 below.
You can buy the e-book “Think Spiritually Book 2– Spiritual Thinking For Life”- Spanish Version for only $5.00 below.
[wpforms id=”903″]
