Letter # 1: "If It Is To Be It Is Up To Me"

Recently, a friend told me two sayings that have stuck with me:
"If it is to be it is up to me."
"It is as it is".
Note that all the words in both of the above statements are extremely short, being composed of two letters only.
So here it is - the first of my "spiritual letters". The messages herein are adapted from the Vedas -the ancient spiritual scriptures of India, documented by the sage Vyasa, perhaps 5,000 years ago.
Everyone is attempting to be happy in this material life. But material life poses sources of misery, which is classified as having a three fold nature:
1. From body and mind.
2. From relationships.
3. From natural disaster - flood, storms, earthquakes, and accidents etc.
So how do we find happiness? Perhaps, we should think of ourselves differently - think of ourselves as being spirit souls. You see, there is no question of misery for a spiritual soul. The Ultimate Spirit which created the universe, call it God, Jehovah, Allah, Krishna, Waheguru, or by whatever "brand name" name you wish, is always happy. If we were to see ourselves as spirit souls, as part of that Great Spirit, then we would naturally take on the happiness of that Great spirit.
But by being in the material world we forget our relationship with that Great Spirit. We have forgotten who we are. We think of ourselves as our bodies and minds. We think that our bodies are ourselves. This mode of thinkling is causes us to suffer the pains of life - of being born, aging, becoming ill and dying. Also, we know by experience that any material happiness is temporary and illusionary. Therefore, for lasting happiness, we must rectify our ways of thinking our misconception that we are only material beings. We must kindle or rekindle our original relationship with the Great Spirit, and realize who we really are - spirit souls. Then we make ourselves open to true happiness.


God Bless; Allah Hu Akbar; May The Forces Of The Universe Bring You Harmony; Hare Krishna; Radha-Swami; and Nanak Naam Chardi Kala Tere Bhane Sarbat Dha Bhalla.

I wish to express my gratitude for your comments, which inspire me to carry on writing. Please forgive my fallibilities in presenting this material. Also, feel free to send this message on to someone that you might think would like to receive it. If you do send it on, my only request of you is that you send it as it is, in its entirety, and to not alter or modify any of the text, references or authorship information. Thus you will help to give credit or liability to where they are properly due.

Jas Bhopal
Copyright© 2007
“Practicing goodwill makes for a good life."
Tel: 604 273 6641 (also for fax on request)

http://jasbhopal.com/

References: "The Holy Bible" Online version; "The Koran" as translated by SV Mir Ahmed Ali 2005 ISBN 0-9761870-0-0); "The Bhagavad Gita As it Is" as translated by Srila Prabhupada ISBN 0-89213-268-X; The Srimad Bhagavatum as translated by Srila Prabhupada ISBN0-89213-259-0; "I Am That. Talks With Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj” ISBN 0-89386-022-0; The Dhammapada ISBN-10:1-84483-344-5; The Sacred Sukhmani ISBN 81-7205-098-4; Wikipedia.
(This message was inspired by: Srimad Bhagavatum's translation by Srila Prabhupada. Canto 7. Page 731)