Today was the online special assembly for Navratri at my daughter’s school. Under the efforts of the teachers and their guidance, they practiced their dialogue for the last three days. As we parents were also excited, we looked forward for today morning. We all woke up cheerfully and witnessed the beauty of the rising sun from our balcony. At 10.15am, as I logged her in on my laptop, I happened to see a glimpse of how well seated, disciplined and well behaved the children were. Later, Reyah came up to me and narrated what her Principal Ma’am had shared. She felt tall and proud. I agreed and explained Reyah about how aptly Ma’am had explained the thought behind this celebration. So, the thought of writing this article.
I completely resonate with the thought of diminishing the demons within. “The victory of magnanimity over pettiness, of the big mind over the small mind” is celebrated on the tenth day after nine days of Navratri known as Vijaydashmi.
Amongst the hustle and bustle of life, when we crave for materialistic/worldly or spiritual experiences or when there is a situation of neither longing nor interest, there is a feeling of inertia in our mind. Another situation could be explained as a state of contentment and happiness. When the small mind starts bickering with judgement, fear or insecurity, the noise within starts to awaken. This time of the year when everyone celebrates Navratri with dance, songs and culinary delicacies, we also learn to overcome the negative tendencies and source ourselves looking at our own light within.
Our inner demons talk to us all the time, but we tend to avoid/ignore them. They are the thoughts, feelings and beliefs that we assume cause us pain. We get obsessed and dwell on them. Haunted as we might feel, we allow ourselves to get consumed by the negativity.
Who likes to acknowledge or accept the lurking demons inside us? We are so used to faking up our feelings and emotions due to fear of judgement. We have learnt to do things out of fear. But no longer do you suppress, ignore and avoid these demons, their strength and power surfaces up. They bubble up like soap lather seeping out the reality inside you.
Let us try and not get trapped into a morph of self-loathing and feel powerless and weak. Get up and think a way out. Work on it. Someday your hard work will give a result of inner peace and joy.
I need to thank Mrs. Jaspal Gill for inculcating this thought. She has so much valuable to share and for me, there has always been a takeaway.
STOP FIGHTING AND AVOIDING THE INNER DEMONS. LEARN TO MAKE PEACE WITH THEM.
22.10.20