Lack of drive in career/job once paradigm shift in spirituality

[sarabatam]

This is common issue with spiritual folks from all walks of life, once one expereinces paradigm shift in one spirituality, one naturally feels de-attached from soceity and career, jobs. My question is how do you reconcile the two? And come in absoulute harmony with outer job/career materialism life. Like personally, i do want to advance in career but absoulutely have no desire to do so.

Your thoughts?

[sikhni777]

Good time management.  Keep time for bhagti as you can't do it 24 7.

Devote time for career too. Alternatively choose a job that involves physical work. 

If necessary use alarms to keep reminding you of your duties.  I remember being so busy... in school. Totally focused on each minute... to use time to its best productivity. The energy from bhagti is put into use to further your achievement in this world.

Laziness imo is not a product of bhagti... it seems rather like a leisure time pass. 

[sarabatam]

Thanks for your response, that helps. Another one is great driver i found which is helping a bit is that our philosophy is based on kirat karni - hard work -advancement in studies and career comes under. Sri Guru nanak dev ji gave us - naam japo, kirat karni, vande ke shako

[das]

On ‎12‎/‎17‎/‎2017 at 8:57 AM, sarabatam said:

Your thoughts?

Isn't this the mind's habit?

Desire to attain the thing which has given us enjoyment/happiness; and there is no enjoyment greater than Spiritual experience. Our Mind thinks (that's the only thing he does) that we can have the same experience if we do all the hard work of meditation and may be if we've less distractions then it would be better.

Yes, in reality it would be better but that's NOT how the Matrix operates.
e.g [ There was method of drawing water from a kind of well in which a wheel is pulled by horses or bulls, and it brings up the water. Once a horseman came with his horse and wanted his horse to drink water. That horse was thirsty and wanted to drink water, but the noise scared the horse and it would jump. So, the horseman asked the proprietor to the well, "Will you please stop this noise so my horse can drink?" The proprietor replied, "But if this noise stops then the water will also stop." Same way if we expect the whole world to behave nicely or have less distractions, and think that then we will be able to meditate, forget it! Or if we expect that we'll get some extra-time apart from our daily chores, then we're wrong. We should do meditation while doing our duties towards our family. ]

The Secret (do NOT tell anyone) is: The sustenance of Spiritual enjoyment does NOT come from our attachment to that Spiritual experience or hard work alone. It comes from Kirpa and Kirpa comes when all of our hard-work/techniques/thinking have exhausted and at the end we understood that there is not other way around it we just Surrender.

All the other things: like kirat-karo, accept the will, do your duty etc. sounds like it is the way to reach higher states, but the point is: These sayings are merely pointers stating that you're just the puppet in the hands of Environment you're in (Matrix/Maya/Illusion). Everything (some had to do hard-work to earn little money and some needs very light work to earn lakhs, diseases, relationships, finances, careers etc.) is bound to our previous karma. So, instead of fighting with the environment to overcome some issues, just accept whatsoever it is AND at the same time continue your seeking; eventually we'll get what you really seek for: Kirpa.

There is another Big question
- Do you have a choice to ignore your duties? I guess not unless one wants to ignore the needs of the near and dear ones and are ready to let them suffer because of our desire of non-desire.

So, at-least for me: I want to go away from these worldly affairs (family, career, and all that) but I do NOT have the guts to leave my duties/punishments as I don't wish my children to suffer. There is a saying in Punjabi: "Gaal paya drum te vajana he penda ha" i.e "You've to perform the task that is given to you against your will"; in other words, here is the brief:

1. We've to perform our duties (or whatever you call it) because there is no other choice.
2. Secondly, as we've to perform the duty, then why not perform it with happiness and enjoyment. In-fact, perform the duties cheerfully, selflessly, without attachment. It will bring Contentment (believe me it is very great experience)

And here are some things that I DO KNOW but do NOT practice and therefore I didn't take advantage of these; but may be you want to. In other words, it is Theory or Borrowed-Knowledge and NOT Self-Knowledge.

How to be always Happy

First create a condition in which we are always happy but that requires human effort. There are 4 happiness giving techniques: Veerag, Patience, Contentment, and Vichar. Contentment is the first and foremost virtue that should be cultivated. It comes only when we have done our duties to our fullest capacity and selflessly without worrying for the results. It is a virtue that always helps and never disappoints the seeker.

Secondly, don't fret over the past and don't be worried about the future. The present is going on.

Thirdly, Happiness is within and the source is the center of consciousness, love, and wisdom. Try to get Self-Knowledge. Life is very short and we should learn to enjoy every moment by remembering the Lord of Life, and always assuming our body to be a shrine of His living presence. We are not body, we are Soul which is always in Bliss.

I guess that's enough of ranting.......

[sarabatam]

Found this by eckhart tolle really helpful:

http://communicate.eckharttolle.com/news/2015/02/09/the-joy-of-being-is-the-joy-of-being-conscious/

The Joy of Being is the Joy of Being Conscious ByEckhart Tolle

 

 

Here is a spiritual practice that will bring empowerment and creative expansion into your life. Make a list of a number of everyday routine activities that you perform frequently. Include activities that you may consider uninteresting, boring, tedious, irritating, or stressful. But don’t include anything that you hate or detest doing. That’s a case either for acceptance or for stopping what you do. The list may include traveling to and from work, buying groceries, doing your laundry, or anything that you find tedious or stressful in your daily work. Then, whenever you are engaged in those activities, let them be a vehicle for alertness. Be absolutely present in what you do and sense the alert, alive stillness within you in the background of the activity. You will soon find that what you do in such a state of heightened awareness, instead of being stressful, tedious, or irritating, is actually becoming enjoyable. To be more precise, what you are enjoying is not really the outward action but the inner dimension of consciousness that flows into the action. This is finding the joy of Being in what you are doing. If you feel your life lacks significance or is too stressful or tedious, it is because you haven’t brought that dimension into your life yet. Being conscious in what you do has not yet become your main aim.

The new earth arises as more and more people discover that their main purpose in life is to bring the light of consciousness into this world and so use whatever they do as a vehicle for consciousness.

The joy of Being is the joy of being conscious.

Awakened consciousness then takes over from ego and begins to run your life. You may then find that an activity that you have been engaged in for a long time naturally begins to expand into something much bigger when it becomes empowered by consciousness. Some of those people who, through creative action, enrich the lives of many others simply do what they enjoy doing most without wanting to achieve or become anything through that activity. They may be musicians, artists, writers, scientists, teachers, or builders, or they may bring into manifestation new social or business structures (enlightened businesses). Sometimes for a few years their sphere of influence remains small; and then it can happen that suddenly or gradually a wave of creative empowerment flows into what they do, and their activity expands beyond anything they could have imagined and touches countless others. In addition to enjoyment, an intensity is now added to what they do and with it comes a creativity that goes beyond anything an ordinary human could accomplish.

But don’t let it go to your head, because up there is where a remnant of ego may be hiding. You are still an ordinary human. What is extraordinary is what comes through you into this world. But that essence you share with all beings. The fourteenth-century Persian poet and Sufi master Hafiz expresses this truth beautifully: “I am a hole in a flute that the Christ’s breath moves through. Listen to this music.”

Excerpted from Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth, pages 299-300. To access more of Eckhart’s teachings on the joy of Being, click here for this month’s episode of Eckhart Tolle TV.

 

Category: Books, Concsiousness, Creativity, Eckhart Tolle TV, Presence, Universe and Enlightenment

 

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