Recognise what is yours so that you can recognise yourself. - Mahagathe

Recognise what is yours so that you can recognise yourself.

Recognise what is yours so that you can recognise yourself.

शमथ। Samatha
Everyone likes to be recognised by others. To be recognised means to be part of something larger than yourself. When a dog comes into your home, that wafer which you give him or her is the first sign of recognition from you that the dog receives. You will find the dog returning to your home frequently in the hope of that initial recognising being repeated.

Any recognition has two aspects. The first is the act of fulfilment for the one who gives recognition. The second is the fulfilment of the one who receives the recognition. Here the former becomes active and the latter passive, meeting at the common ground of fulfilment.

There is a great potency for growth here. However, the passive participant in this case, similar to the dog, is tied to the hope of the initial experience being repeated thereby afflicting the present with the memory of the past and seriously impairing the possibilities in the future. You don’t go to a cinema to watch the ticket, do you?

A dog in the wild often does not have enough food to feed itself. A peaceful sleep out there comes at the cost of a threat to its life. That initial biscuit from you is his or her ticket to a different reality. But the dog has to make certain lifestyle modifications in order to live in the new home. Without this change, the new home will be a prison for the dog.

You too have been recognised, and that recognition is that you are larger than your separate existence. But you are not in a condition to accept this because you have afflicted the present with your experiences of the past. Here you have the twofold duty to recognise your larger existence and shed those mental impediments which do not suit this existence. This duty will turn itself into bliss.

Feel Blessed
Swastham Shantam Sampurnam