Tuesday 14 June 2011

Sunday, June 12th, 2011

The Will To Do

Montreal, Quebec

Henri Matisse once said, "when you're out of willpower, you can call on stubbornness."

Willpower came out of the older couple seated behind me on the drive to Montreal in a Megabus.

They were determined to travel the six hour distance to see the Grand Prix car races. I overheard the man say, "I wonder if the races are going to go on despite the rain." This was said as water was beating against the bus wind shield.

Indeed the race car organizers had the conviction to carry the mood that the show must go on because as I arrived at the bus depot and was taken to Montreal's ashram on Pie-IX Blvd I could hear the vibration of the cars - a constant hum, a little shy of the vibration ommmmm. Only the 'O' was missing. It went on for hours - this buzz sound seeping in through my window. "God, what willpower!"

I had recently received a phone call from an earnest devotee from British Columbia asking about developing the strength to stay committed on the vow of chanting. I very much felt the urgency in the caller's voice, "How can I get determined?"

I had to quickly respond and for that had to think. Let's try this. Determination is preceded by desire. If that is strong then our conviction should be strong.

"How can the desire be strong?" you might ask. To achieve that we must understand the need. You raise the conviction through the power of need. You must believe, "I can't survive without this. I need the spiritual protection from illusion's toll."

Analyze and rationalize that if I don't have my defenses up I will become vulnerable.

Think like a warrior, a spiritual warrior and be determined to kick the enemy known as MR STUBBORN and succeed.

3 Km

No comments: