Dearest all,

Here is a nice little story bringing alive what we discuss on Tuesdays often... so a tiny recap:

Peace is an instinctive longing ... and what brings many a person to the 'path'... with many seeking through it what they call: peace of mind! Yet once on the path we discover that the real meaning of peace is very different from what we thought it to be- cessation of problems; rest; white fluffy clouds syndrome....!

For true peace is not the absence of issues or problems; but in being centered inspite of the changes and flux of life. It is in being able to witness life through the larger lens!! Indeed if your peace is dependant on the 'absence of'... something ... anything you will always fear its presence at some deeper level! And your peace can only be short lived and in spurts! 

True peace is not in rest but in eternal play! Think of it!  Retirement or cessation of activity is not really peace, as it becomes boredom over time - a prison indeed - an empty mind that becomes a devils workshop! Think how you are 'at peace' when you are involved in some activity…. enjoying self... playing a game...! or seeing a movie…!or your trek...! or crafting a wooden box...!  for you are involved in an  activity  that fulfills you ... yet detached as its only a game or movie or creative endeavor... needing to lead you no where... it's play!

True peace is really really in fulfillment and expansion of the soul and the opposite of rest, cessation of and passivity that we often mistakenly associate with peace!  True peace is  not a wall placed protectively around you shutting out … darkness, negativity, problems, desires or whatever -   but an inner light, which banishes the  ‘darkness’ forever.

Thus the stillness, calm, silence tranquility   of peace is paradoxically not in cessation, immobility, quietness, but in uplifting, freeing, soaring,  rising of your energy within- up the ‘spine’- where one dances, laughs, sings within, moment to moment- enveloped in inner joy and ‘peace’. 
 
Kabirs doha  about the grain of wheat which is close to the centre of the 'chakki' remaining uncrushed also touches upon this idea!

Wish you peace...the ah and its fulfillment!

Love Divyaa Kummar
 

THE STORY OF PEACE
 
There was a king who offered a prize to the artist; who would paint the best picture of peace.
 
Many artists tried. The king looked at all the pictures. But there were only two he really liked, and he had to choose between them.

One picture was of a calm lake. The lake was a perfect mirror for peaceful towering mountains all around it. Overhead was a blue sky with fluffy white clouds. All who saw this picture thought that it was a perfect picture of peace.

The other picture had mountains, too. But these were rugged and bare. Above was an angry sky, from which rain fell and in which lightning played. Down the side of the mountain tumbled a foaming waterfall. This did not look peaceful at all. But when the king looked closely, he saw behind the waterfall a tiny bush growing in a crack in the rock. In the bush a mother bird had built her nest. There, in the midst of the rush of angry water, sat the mother bird on her nest - in perfect peace.

Which picture do you think won the prize? The king chose the second picture.

Do you know why?

'Because,' explained the king, 'peace does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work.

Peace means to be in the midst of all those things and still be calm in your heart. That is the real meaning of peace.'