Wisdom Corner-Sri Bhagavan- Be Who You Are

Be Who You Are:
Once a king was approached by his friend and asked, "Sir! If you conquer Rome, what will you do next?"
The king replied, "Sicily is next door and will be easy to take?"
"And what shall we do after Sicily is taken?"
"Then we will move over to Africa and conquer it."
"After Africa!" Sir
"The turn of Greece will come."
"And what will the fruit of all these conquests be?"
"Then", said the king, "We can sit down and enjoy ourselves."
"Can't we enjoy ourselves now?" said the friend.

This story is self-explanatory. The joy and peace one expects to find after the accumulation of wealth or what one considers an ideal future can be attained here and now. Possession of wealth can help us to enjoy a comfortable life. However, possession of material wealth alone is not a criterion for relaxation and enjoyment of life. By applying a little thought when one explores the inner world and the complex human emotions one finds that most of human suffering is because a human 'being' is only constantly 'becoming.'

Sri Bhagavan says, "Suffering is the movement from the 'what is' to the 'what should be'."
This constant 'becoming' surfaces when one tries to move from jealousy to non-jealousy, from bad to good, from foolish to intelligent, from imperfect to perfect, from profane to sacred. It is the struggle that has gone on in the human mind for thousands of years.

Sri Bhagavan says, "Embracing yourself as you are is the first step and the last step. You must be who you are. What you should be is not important. Whoever you are, you are unique. The universe has made you like that. God has made you like that. Why do you disturb His work? To surrender to God is to be yourself."

To be yourself is to be enlightened.
'Mukthi Deeksha' is Sri Bhagavan's gift of enlightenment to humanity.