Satsang with Ma: Spiritual Practices In The Face Of Natural Disasters
Sarychev Peak Eruption, Kuril Islands
Devotee: How can individual consciousness, and collective consciousness, be applied when natural disasters such as tsunamis and earthquakes occur? I try to be stoic and compassionate, but honestly, I find it quite devastating, both on a personal level and for the planet. So what kind of attitude should we have towards these events, and how can we apply our consciousness to helping the planet?
Shri Anandi Ma: There are so many aspects in creation for which we do not have an answer. All we can do is accept these situations, however positive or negative. We should do whatever we can in terms of easing the pain and suffering of the people involved in such disasters. However, spiritual practice is the key way that we can help. The spiritual practices you do for your own growth release a tremendous amount of subtle positive energy, which has an etheric impact over all of creation. But aside from individual practice, group practices are especially powerful. When people get together in groups to do practices—a simple prayer or chanting, or more particularly, meditation—the collective energy that is put out is tremendous. It’s ten times the size of any tsunami. As more and more people search for the answer to the question, “Who am I?”, those negative attributes in Nature will definitely subside. When these natural disasters do occur, we should, of course, do whatever we can in an external way to help — but more importantly, we should definitely get together to do group practices.
Hello, I’d like to thank the Devotee to ask this question and thank to Ma for the answer.
He is born in vain, who having attained the human birth, so difficult to get, does not attempt to realise God in this very life.
— Sri Ramakrishna
Okay, I understand this except where my son is concerned. Is he, by the very birth he choose, attempting to realise God in this life? He is very spiritually inclined in a very simple and precious way but he cannot do spiritual practices and needs to be cared for all the time. Have we both been so awful in other lifetimes that we must endure this life as it is? I don’t know why I need an answer but I do.
I am so grateful that I have my son for he has shown me what unconditional love and acceptance is all about. I know that every life matters, as does his. In his own way, he is a teacher. Maybe I just answered my own question, did I?
Sita Ram
Agape
Agape,
This is not an answer but something a teacher once said in answer to a similar question that may be helpful to you. Not all difficult births, lives or events are the result of negative actions. Some are expressly chosen by the “soul” as a fast track approach to self knowledge. Who can deny we make the deepest changes enduring challenges.
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