The Spiritual Essence Of Raksha Bandhan (Part 3)

Spiritual Significance Of Raksha Bandhan

1. Greetings - Radiating divine greetings in the form of blessings in thoughts and words, irrespective of people's behaviour, helps us maintain our purity. It finishes our attachment and hatred, both of which cause sorrow. Our pure and positive vibrations influence others to emerge their purity and positivity.

2. Tilak - Applying tilak of a paste made from fragrant sandalwood, on the forehead, reminds us of our fragrant and beautiful qualities as a soul. It awakens us to the reality – I am a pure and powerful soul. I use my body to play my roles and responsibilities and we start seeing others also with that soul-conscious vision and start understanding them. This shifts us from expectations to acceptance.

3. Rakhi - Tying a Rakhi is symbolic of our promise to God to follow the path of purity, self-control, truthfulness and discipline. Keeping this promise empowers us to finish our attractions and dependencies.

4. Sweets - As we share sweets, our words need to be filled with sweetness – radiating unconditional kindness and empathy, no matter what other people have to offer.

5. Gifts - An ideal gift would be to surrender any one habit or sanskar which we know is not comfortable for ourselves and others and replace it with a beautiful sanskar that we will always use, regardless of situations and people.

Spiritual In-Dependence or self-dependence means to be dependent only on our inner qualities and powers to respond to any behaviour or situation. In-Dependence means we have the power to give blessings to those who betrayed us; we can share and care for those who rejected us; we can co-operate with those who are jealous of us; we can be calm and soft with those who get angry with us. Let us not celebrate Raksha Bandhan just for one day today but let us remember to honour our pledge throughout the year. Inculcating purity and power are the simplest ways to become self-dependent.

Message for the day

To be a teacher means to touch the heart rather than the head.

Expression: Teaching others means being subtle and explaining in such a way that the mind opens because the heart has understood. The one who truly teaches inspires rather than just becoming the one who teaches others. There is a recognition of the positivity that is in each one and so no comparisions are made with others.

Experience: Once I am able to look at the positivity in another individual and have the pure desire of enabling progress within that person, I am able to feel the love for him. This is like a parent's love whose love for the child is that which makes him grow. So I become a teacher who inspires rather than the one who teaches.