It's good and necessary to be good... but don't be stupid

How do we combine the efforts necessary for our own transformation and spirituality with external, work, and family responsibilities?

With common sense and ingenuity,

considering that what we do for ourselves is secondary

to what we owe it to others to achieve,

by virtue of the responsibilities we have assumed (especially since they are often not just responsibilities but it is, in fact, about love).

I mean, we're not allowed to say.

"I go to Abheda, you can stay uneaten or sick, I will care for you afterwards"

Or

"I go to Abheda, patient because yoga is the essence of life, it is the most precious thing possible."

It's true that it's the most precious thing possible for us.

but not for others

and we have no right as for our own good

to ignore our responsibilities that we have also assumed.

It's true that

"if we put first that which is spiritual, all the others will be offered to us on top of that."

Yes, but responsibility to other people cannot be ignored for our own good.

It is necessary to apply the principle

"justice and truth without love are cruelty and faith without love is fanaticism."

Gandhi said , "The hands that help are more precious than the mouths that pray."

Although they are all precious, we would add and I am convinced that this is what the great Gandhi knew.

On the other hand , this responsibility also has some limits.

If for those in our care we have achieved enough help

and more is already a luxury, we can stop helping

until there is urgent need again

and we can also carefully and ingenuously focus on our own needs,

primarily being the spiritual ones.

The compulsion in which we tend to ignore our own needs is dangerous

and leads to self-destruction,

it being the shadow of the psychic typology number 2 on the eneagram

which bears the name of "the altruist".

It is necessary to learn

"let us be good but let us not be fools"

and act wisely

so as not to carry karmic burdens that do not belong to us.

So, it is also the case that we take care of our needs

intertwining this with external responsibilities in a wise way,

the first place being the outer ones.

And when we take care of ourselves,

we put first what is spiritual

and then the other aspects.

By doing so we will also have the best inner balance

and santosha or soulful contentment

and... we will get all the others on top of that.

It is said that...

a cobbler from a village with many poor people went to a master and asked him:

"Please, master, help me, maybe you know what God's opinion is on this issue.

I am a cobbler in this village with quite poor people, with many barefoot people.

Those who work have only a preche of shoes

and I have to work all night to repair their shoes,

that they may use their day at work.

"That's it," said the Master, "you will then sleep during the day and at night you will help your fellows

and this is, for you, a privileged opportunity to do Good

and to please God."

"Thank You Master, I have already understood this and that's why I'm not complaining

but I am happy to be able to help them with something that is important to them.

But my problem is another:

because it is necessary to finish repairing the shoes,

I fail to accomplish the morning prayer that you have directed me to perform

and which I also found in sacred texts.

Please, tell me, doesn't God get mad at me that instead of praying, I fix shoes?

What do the sacred texts say in this regard?

"And if you don't pray at the time of the morning, what are you doing then"

"Well... knock nails repairing the shoes and... I sigh, because there is nothing else I can do more"

The Master replied:

"This problem, as such, I have not encountered in the sacred texts

but I can tell you what I would do if I were in God's place.

I would appreciate your sigh much more while you help people

than the prayers you would make ignoring their pressing needs"

But another story also shows us another side of helping others.

It is said that a migratory bird with a very beautiful plumage but which, above all, sang wonderfully beautifully spent the day in the glade where it had its nest.

She sang wonderfully all day with all her might when she wasn't feeding.

Next to the nest was a colony of ants who were very happy to hear his song while they were working around.

So they asked this bird to stay closer to them.

and sing to them because that's what they enjoy very much.

And the ants brought him seeds penteu to feed.

just-just will stay with them to sing them.

When it came time for mating,

the ants praised the bird for its song and asked it not to leave them to start a family, not to give up singing to them because they really like her wonderful song.

When it came time for flight training for migration, so the ants asked the bird to stay by their side, because they would help her with food, because they had become dependent on her wonderful song.

So the weather has passed, the birds you have gone to warm countries,

winter has come and our bird sings to the happy ants day by day,

enduring the increasingly penetrating cold

but experiencing a state of anxiety, desolation of mind and bitterness.

Although the ants provided him with enough food that he did not need anything.

At one point the ants told her that she could stay with them all her life because they like it very much and that they would still feed her.

And that if he no longer needs food, to give up his wings, as a sign of his commitment to be with them.

The bird let itself be convinced and gave up the feathers of its wings, constantly remaining next to the nests and continuously singing them to the ants that praised it so loudly.

Years passed, and over time the bird realized that it had made a big mistake.
She sacrificed her mission as a bird to sing to ants who don't necessarily need her song.

This song was, in fact, for them, an unnecessary luxury that they could have given up.

taking into account the importance of pursuing one's own personal development as a migratory bird.

Therefore, the bird realized that it had made some wrong decisions,

he left the nest and went to fulfill what was possible from his development."

So... there is a limit to which it is appropriate to stop because, in order to help others,

it is necessary to help ourselves as well.

What we can offer to others is increasingly precious

the more our inner value increases

or our skills are more refined (according to the principle of the Grand Vehicle Way, Mahayana)

So how do we do it?

We constantly evaluate the needs of others in terms of quantity and quality

and how important our help is to them

compared to the importance of fulfilling our spiritual needs and desires.

We make decisions all the time,

making a slalom among responsibilities and their own needs,

keeping the promises given to others or obtaining their grace, where appropriate,

taking care of your loved ones

when and how much is the case.

It's good and necessary to be good... but don't be stupid

We cannot ignore our outer dharma

but we cannot ignore the inner one either.

Of course, people with a lot of responsibilities,

who have a large family or family

have fewer reserves of time and energy for their personal dharma,

they grow mainly through love, dedication and detached effort,

practicing karma yoga system

and practicing as strongly as I can the Abheda system

of methods that offer spirituality in the midst of life.

It is necessary to be very careful

what responsibilities we assume,

because after that it is necessary to carry them to the end

and here a wise harmony is required.

I wish you success, my dear ones!

Leo Radutz, founder of the Abheda system, initiator of the Good OM Revolution