To bring yourself, and, as a result, everyone else, from the Kali Yuga into the Satya Yuga, remember this one simple Truth: When you bless another, you also bless yourself. When you curse another, you only curse yourself.
I'll repeat that:
When you bless another, you also bless yourself; when you curse another, you only curse yourself.
Any blessing you give has a life of exponential growth. When you bless someone else, you draw from the well of spiritual divinity in order to give the blessing, and in so doing, you act as the vessel through which divinity and blessing flows. Naturally, by passing this divinity through yourself to someone else, not only will the recipient of your blessing be blessed, but you yourself will be blessed, also.
When you bless someone, it creates a win-win-win situation. The Divine wins, by finding a vehicle through which to express it's auspicious energy. The one whom you bless wins, in receiving the divinity. You win, by becoming a channel for the divine blessings to flow and there-in you become, essentially, one with the divine.
On the other hand, any curse that anyone tries to give will fail miserably at harming the object of it's aim, but will always wreak havoc on the life of the curser. When someone tries to curse, that curse will only affect the cursed if the cursed accepts the negativity into his or her life. If we keep ourselves and our intentions in the realm of love, light and harmony, we won't be touched by the negative energy of such things as the evil eye, ill will, or more deliberate attempts at induced harm, because our very objection to the curse will stop it from affecting us. However, the one who tries to curse, in offering his or her own self as the vehicle through which negativity can work, will incur just that negativity into his or her own life.
While a blessing creates a situation of win-win-win, a curse- at best- makes the one who intends it lose, and at worst, makes the curser and cursed both perpetuate a cycle of animosity. (Karmic loops, that may cause the two to repeat the same dreary situation over and over until finally, the last one cursed decides it's not worth cursing back, or the one being cursed decides not to accept it.)
I've heard a lot of spiritual teachers expound this message before: that we reap what we sow; we get what we give; we rise in love when we radiate love; we are only hurting ourselves when we hurt others.
Now, through some personal experience, I can stand by this knowing completely.
When we bless someone else, we bless ourselves, literally; the same way, when we curse someone else, we curse ourselves, literally.
***
First, let's look at the radial effects of blessings.
Masters, saints, spiritual beings spend their time blessing. Look at any mystic who earns a living through their mysticism, and you'll see a being who spends the majority of the day, every day, blessing whomsoever they meet. Some of these blessings are given en-masse, the way Sai Baba would do for his groups of seekers. Some saints bless individually, as the mother incarnate Amma gives her devotees hugs, or Swamiji Nithyananda gives one-on-one darshans. Some mystics bless the world through their writings, or art, or music.
We sometimes look at these mystics, and feel it's too easy for them to be in bliss all the time. Some people think that first they earn their status as spiritually adept, and then they start blessing because they've somehow earned the right to do it. We may think, "I'm just an ordinary person... nobody wants my blessing." So, we go on living our lives, wishing to incur the blessings of saints, not for a moment thinking we ourselves can become saints.
I'd like to propose something different, though: none of us ever needs to earn the right to give a blessing!
When we're on the sidewalk, and someone cuts us off rudely, do we ever wonder whether or not we've earned the right to curse before we say something like, "Hey! Watch it or you're gonna hurt yourself!" No. We'll just blurt it out. If a pesky neighbor is constantly complaining about the noise we make, do we stop to consider ourselves before saying, "If this noise bothers you, it's your own fault!" Do we consider whether or not it's up to us before we then go on making more noise just to cause irritation? No. We curse daily without giving those curses a second thought. All the while, we begin to feel worse and worse. We are dragging ourselves down through all the expressions of negative energy.
Why not just try giving blessings. Nobody, I promise you, nobody, will refuse your blessing on grounds that you're not a saint. If someone cuts you off rudely on the sidewalk, and you say, "May you walk safely the rest of this day," instead of, "watch it or you'll hurt yourself," think of the difference. The person who has cut you off may be taken aback by the genuine care expressed from a total stranger whom he almost hurt. This will make him reconsider his actions far more beautifully than a threat of future danger, which, no doubt, we all hear all the time. If a neighbor we consider a bother complains about our noise, and we then turn down our volume, and say, "I truly hope my music doesn't bother you in the future," the same way the man on the sidewalk was taken aback, the neighbor will be, too. He will think, "Maybe I was over-reacting. Maybe the music won't bother me in the future..." Whereas, if we try to instigate a fight from the beginning, he will only look for more and more reasons to be angry with us.
To bless everyone we encounter doesn't mean to raise our right hands in benediction, and continuously say, "Bless you, my child," to all whom we pass. No! To bless everyone we meet means to always intend the highest good from all of our interactions. Not only to intend the highest good, but to act on that intention. To speak only kind words no matter how rude someone else may be. To wish only good things for others, regardless of what they wish for us.
This is not a prescription for martyrdom. This is not advice to follow that will lead you to being walked all over by everyone. This is advice to follow to raise yourself above conflict, and along with you, raise everyone else above conflict, also.
I started this practice of continually blessing about two and a half years ago. It was the summer of 2009, right before the universe put me squarely on my path of tarot card reading, and mystical Hindu studies. One day, I woke up, miserable because of all the things I considered wrong with my life, and I decided to see what would happen if I just dropped all the conflict. From then on, any time someone said something rude or cruel, I simply blessed them, and carried on.
A couple of days ago, I was sitting with one of my dear friends form the ashram. We were talking about work and our lives outside of India, and I told her how much I love to read tarot cards. I mentioned that I spiritually bless every client who comes in, even if their questions are of a worldly nature, and that the positive feedback I receive is incredible. My office is like a vortex of blessings. The client is blessed, and in turn, I'm blessed, and when the client leaves, his or her friends and relatives are blessed by the higher perspective he or she carries in her life.
My ashram friend said, "With this job, no wonder you can live in the enlightened state."
I told her this is something everyone can do. You don't need an office and clients who respect you to bless everyone you meet in a day! Just start the morning by setting the intention that you will hold the feeling of love, light, and spirituality with you everywhere you go. Then, as the day goes by, everyone you meet who smiles nicely and acts warm, to them you'll return the smiles and warmth. And everyone you meet who scowls and acts rude, to them, you'll give a friendly reminder that even they are cared for.
The goal in doing this is not to have others thank you, or compliment your positive energy, or tell you how much you've helped them. The goal is to make this world more hospitable for you! The people who live around you represent the landscape of your life. If you're a land owner surrounded with land, you'll plant flowers or crops, not weeks and thorns. Same way, to all the people around you, nurture their positive qualities, and suddenly, you'll find you live in a world where everyone is pleased to meet you. The goal is not to be thanked, complimented or revered... that's just the side-effect. This is how you'll see, very clearly, that when you bless another, you also bless yourself, and in time, everyone else.
***
Now, for the flip side, let's look at one unfortunate soul's self-induced harm caused by a curse.
Two and a half years ago, around the same time I started to practice a life of blessing, I worked at a store on a little island. My boss there had two friends- a couple named Wart and Donny- who would regularly visit the shop. They themselves worked nearby on the same small island.
One day, when nobody was looking, Wart touched my thigh. Instantly, I jumped away from him, and told him not to do it again. The next day, I told my boss, and she advised me to keep a distance, but thought that I may have misinterpreted an innocent gesture. About a week later, Wart came into the store again, snuck up behind me, and grabbed my waist. I told him that this was completely unacceptable behavior, and again asked my boss to help. She didn't fool around the second time. She called Wart, and told him to stay away from the store.
Still, he came back a third time, and threatened to ruin my reputation by telling everyone that I had instigated his rude behavior.
He said, and I'm quoting him directly, "I have more friends on the island than you do. You're going to lose your job in no time. Nobody will respect you, and everyone will support me. You'll be ruined."
The next day, my boss banned both Wart and his girlfriend Donny- who had defended him- from the store.
I had completely forgotten about Wart and his past cruelty until a week ago when I was walking with an old friend. She suddenly asked me, "How could you just ignore Wart's evil eye like that?"
I asked what she was talking about, and she said, "Wart just walked right up to us, gave you the angriest, meanest look I've ever seen, followed us for about a block glaring, then walked away. But you smiled right at him, and kept walking like it didn't even happen."
I told her that I hadn't noticed, and she said, "But Sarah- he was right in your face! The hatred in his eyes was so strong, nobody could just ignore that..."
I didn't just ignore him, though; he was invisible to me.
My friend was a bit nervous. She knows Wart has studied magic and metaphysics, and she feared that his glare would, in a sense, curse me.
I didn't bother about it, and wondered aloud "Why, after more than two years, does Wart still hold such a strong grudge against me?"
My friend explained that while my life has grown progressively better over these last two years, his has become progressively worse.
"Once Wart and Donny were banned from the store, more people started to notice his shady character, and he got fired from his job. He's had trouble finding work since then. Not only that, rumors started to spread about Donny, and she lost her job, too. Now, nobody on the island wants anything to do with either of them. It's like they've been ruined."
Literally, Wart's curse had been fulfilled to his own mean specifications. Only I, the object of the curse, wasn't cursed at all; he, the curser, was cursed.
While he lost his job, my own boss gave me a raise. While rumors started to spread- eventually ruining his and his girlfriend's reputations- my own reputation has not only remained spotless, but also, people started coming to seek my counsel because of all the good they hear about me. While he was trying to pick himself up and rebuild his life, Existence picked me up, led me to an enlightened avatar (Paramahamsa Sri Nithyananda) and provided me with everything I needed to go to His ashram in India.
Because, right from the beginning, I had intended only to bless, my life became a continuous experience of the Divine. This intention to continuously bless made me an impossible target for a curser. Since he tried to curse someone who wouldn't accept negativity into her life, all Walt really did was open himself up as a channel for something sinister that had no place to go besides back into him.
And what happened on the sidewalk, when he glared and scowled and projected hatred through his eyes? Well... nothing. The whole point of giving someone the evil eye is to throw them off balance, and make them miserable. By trying to curse a girl who is so continuously surrounded by love, light and spiritual bliss as to be impervious to evil intention, even when it's literally staring her in the face, all Wart really did was walk a block out of his way, glaring, scowling and brooding, only to just give up and continue on his way again, no doubt feeling like a failure at the dark arts, and wondering why he can't even cast a basic evil eye curse properly. By trying to curse me a second time, all he's actually accomplished is the re-sealing of his own cursed fate, all over again.
(May he be blessed!)
***
So many people worry about psychic protection, and psychic shields, and bubbles of light. Here's the simplest, easiest, most beneficial way to ensure no ill will ever cause you harm: bless everyone your meet, every single day. All the time. Bless, bless, bless! You not only have the right to do it, but also, this is what the divine wants most for you to do! Your life, the lives of those living around you, and again, the world as a whole, will be better for it. And just remember- even when I was blessing everyone, still someone like Wart came into my life and attempted to sully it, but his attempted negative actions only backfired on him. So, as you go out there to bless, bless, bless, don't worry about it if someone sinister pops up. The world is full of all kinds of people. It's not a sign that your blessings aren't working if you meet people who intend you harm. (Even enlightened avatars like Nithyanandaji encounter sinister people who try to thwart them... yet they go on blessing, and so, go on living in bliss.) You can do it! Keep going. Bless, and you cannot be harmed.
The Kali Yuga- the age of darkness we're moving out of- was an age filled with wars, and conflicts, and the need for shields and armour. The Satya Yuga- the age of light we're flying into- is a time to drop our shields, drop our dark defenses, and simply radiate light, love and bliss.
By blessing everyone you meet, you pull yourself out of the darkness and into the light.
Let's do it! Let's bless this world into the Satya Yuga!
I love you, and thank you for reading this blog. May it inspire you to live a life of unending bliss, blessings and truth.
*Om Aim Saraswataye Swaha*
I'll repeat that:
When you bless another, you also bless yourself; when you curse another, you only curse yourself.
Any blessing you give has a life of exponential growth. When you bless someone else, you draw from the well of spiritual divinity in order to give the blessing, and in so doing, you act as the vessel through which divinity and blessing flows. Naturally, by passing this divinity through yourself to someone else, not only will the recipient of your blessing be blessed, but you yourself will be blessed, also.
When you bless someone, it creates a win-win-win situation. The Divine wins, by finding a vehicle through which to express it's auspicious energy. The one whom you bless wins, in receiving the divinity. You win, by becoming a channel for the divine blessings to flow and there-in you become, essentially, one with the divine.
On the other hand, any curse that anyone tries to give will fail miserably at harming the object of it's aim, but will always wreak havoc on the life of the curser. When someone tries to curse, that curse will only affect the cursed if the cursed accepts the negativity into his or her life. If we keep ourselves and our intentions in the realm of love, light and harmony, we won't be touched by the negative energy of such things as the evil eye, ill will, or more deliberate attempts at induced harm, because our very objection to the curse will stop it from affecting us. However, the one who tries to curse, in offering his or her own self as the vehicle through which negativity can work, will incur just that negativity into his or her own life.
While a blessing creates a situation of win-win-win, a curse- at best- makes the one who intends it lose, and at worst, makes the curser and cursed both perpetuate a cycle of animosity. (Karmic loops, that may cause the two to repeat the same dreary situation over and over until finally, the last one cursed decides it's not worth cursing back, or the one being cursed decides not to accept it.)
I've heard a lot of spiritual teachers expound this message before: that we reap what we sow; we get what we give; we rise in love when we radiate love; we are only hurting ourselves when we hurt others.
Now, through some personal experience, I can stand by this knowing completely.
When we bless someone else, we bless ourselves, literally; the same way, when we curse someone else, we curse ourselves, literally.
***
First, let's look at the radial effects of blessings.
Masters, saints, spiritual beings spend their time blessing. Look at any mystic who earns a living through their mysticism, and you'll see a being who spends the majority of the day, every day, blessing whomsoever they meet. Some of these blessings are given en-masse, the way Sai Baba would do for his groups of seekers. Some saints bless individually, as the mother incarnate Amma gives her devotees hugs, or Swamiji Nithyananda gives one-on-one darshans. Some mystics bless the world through their writings, or art, or music.
We sometimes look at these mystics, and feel it's too easy for them to be in bliss all the time. Some people think that first they earn their status as spiritually adept, and then they start blessing because they've somehow earned the right to do it. We may think, "I'm just an ordinary person... nobody wants my blessing." So, we go on living our lives, wishing to incur the blessings of saints, not for a moment thinking we ourselves can become saints.
I'd like to propose something different, though: none of us ever needs to earn the right to give a blessing!
When we're on the sidewalk, and someone cuts us off rudely, do we ever wonder whether or not we've earned the right to curse before we say something like, "Hey! Watch it or you're gonna hurt yourself!" No. We'll just blurt it out. If a pesky neighbor is constantly complaining about the noise we make, do we stop to consider ourselves before saying, "If this noise bothers you, it's your own fault!" Do we consider whether or not it's up to us before we then go on making more noise just to cause irritation? No. We curse daily without giving those curses a second thought. All the while, we begin to feel worse and worse. We are dragging ourselves down through all the expressions of negative energy.
Why not just try giving blessings. Nobody, I promise you, nobody, will refuse your blessing on grounds that you're not a saint. If someone cuts you off rudely on the sidewalk, and you say, "May you walk safely the rest of this day," instead of, "watch it or you'll hurt yourself," think of the difference. The person who has cut you off may be taken aback by the genuine care expressed from a total stranger whom he almost hurt. This will make him reconsider his actions far more beautifully than a threat of future danger, which, no doubt, we all hear all the time. If a neighbor we consider a bother complains about our noise, and we then turn down our volume, and say, "I truly hope my music doesn't bother you in the future," the same way the man on the sidewalk was taken aback, the neighbor will be, too. He will think, "Maybe I was over-reacting. Maybe the music won't bother me in the future..." Whereas, if we try to instigate a fight from the beginning, he will only look for more and more reasons to be angry with us.
To bless everyone we encounter doesn't mean to raise our right hands in benediction, and continuously say, "Bless you, my child," to all whom we pass. No! To bless everyone we meet means to always intend the highest good from all of our interactions. Not only to intend the highest good, but to act on that intention. To speak only kind words no matter how rude someone else may be. To wish only good things for others, regardless of what they wish for us.
This is not a prescription for martyrdom. This is not advice to follow that will lead you to being walked all over by everyone. This is advice to follow to raise yourself above conflict, and along with you, raise everyone else above conflict, also.
I started this practice of continually blessing about two and a half years ago. It was the summer of 2009, right before the universe put me squarely on my path of tarot card reading, and mystical Hindu studies. One day, I woke up, miserable because of all the things I considered wrong with my life, and I decided to see what would happen if I just dropped all the conflict. From then on, any time someone said something rude or cruel, I simply blessed them, and carried on.
A couple of days ago, I was sitting with one of my dear friends form the ashram. We were talking about work and our lives outside of India, and I told her how much I love to read tarot cards. I mentioned that I spiritually bless every client who comes in, even if their questions are of a worldly nature, and that the positive feedback I receive is incredible. My office is like a vortex of blessings. The client is blessed, and in turn, I'm blessed, and when the client leaves, his or her friends and relatives are blessed by the higher perspective he or she carries in her life.
My ashram friend said, "With this job, no wonder you can live in the enlightened state."
I told her this is something everyone can do. You don't need an office and clients who respect you to bless everyone you meet in a day! Just start the morning by setting the intention that you will hold the feeling of love, light, and spirituality with you everywhere you go. Then, as the day goes by, everyone you meet who smiles nicely and acts warm, to them you'll return the smiles and warmth. And everyone you meet who scowls and acts rude, to them, you'll give a friendly reminder that even they are cared for.
The goal in doing this is not to have others thank you, or compliment your positive energy, or tell you how much you've helped them. The goal is to make this world more hospitable for you! The people who live around you represent the landscape of your life. If you're a land owner surrounded with land, you'll plant flowers or crops, not weeks and thorns. Same way, to all the people around you, nurture their positive qualities, and suddenly, you'll find you live in a world where everyone is pleased to meet you. The goal is not to be thanked, complimented or revered... that's just the side-effect. This is how you'll see, very clearly, that when you bless another, you also bless yourself, and in time, everyone else.
***
Now, for the flip side, let's look at one unfortunate soul's self-induced harm caused by a curse.
Two and a half years ago, around the same time I started to practice a life of blessing, I worked at a store on a little island. My boss there had two friends- a couple named Wart and Donny- who would regularly visit the shop. They themselves worked nearby on the same small island.
One day, when nobody was looking, Wart touched my thigh. Instantly, I jumped away from him, and told him not to do it again. The next day, I told my boss, and she advised me to keep a distance, but thought that I may have misinterpreted an innocent gesture. About a week later, Wart came into the store again, snuck up behind me, and grabbed my waist. I told him that this was completely unacceptable behavior, and again asked my boss to help. She didn't fool around the second time. She called Wart, and told him to stay away from the store.
Still, he came back a third time, and threatened to ruin my reputation by telling everyone that I had instigated his rude behavior.
He said, and I'm quoting him directly, "I have more friends on the island than you do. You're going to lose your job in no time. Nobody will respect you, and everyone will support me. You'll be ruined."
The next day, my boss banned both Wart and his girlfriend Donny- who had defended him- from the store.
I had completely forgotten about Wart and his past cruelty until a week ago when I was walking with an old friend. She suddenly asked me, "How could you just ignore Wart's evil eye like that?"
I asked what she was talking about, and she said, "Wart just walked right up to us, gave you the angriest, meanest look I've ever seen, followed us for about a block glaring, then walked away. But you smiled right at him, and kept walking like it didn't even happen."
I told her that I hadn't noticed, and she said, "But Sarah- he was right in your face! The hatred in his eyes was so strong, nobody could just ignore that..."
I didn't just ignore him, though; he was invisible to me.
My friend was a bit nervous. She knows Wart has studied magic and metaphysics, and she feared that his glare would, in a sense, curse me.
I didn't bother about it, and wondered aloud "Why, after more than two years, does Wart still hold such a strong grudge against me?"
My friend explained that while my life has grown progressively better over these last two years, his has become progressively worse.
"Once Wart and Donny were banned from the store, more people started to notice his shady character, and he got fired from his job. He's had trouble finding work since then. Not only that, rumors started to spread about Donny, and she lost her job, too. Now, nobody on the island wants anything to do with either of them. It's like they've been ruined."
Literally, Wart's curse had been fulfilled to his own mean specifications. Only I, the object of the curse, wasn't cursed at all; he, the curser, was cursed.
While he lost his job, my own boss gave me a raise. While rumors started to spread- eventually ruining his and his girlfriend's reputations- my own reputation has not only remained spotless, but also, people started coming to seek my counsel because of all the good they hear about me. While he was trying to pick himself up and rebuild his life, Existence picked me up, led me to an enlightened avatar (Paramahamsa Sri Nithyananda) and provided me with everything I needed to go to His ashram in India.
Because, right from the beginning, I had intended only to bless, my life became a continuous experience of the Divine. This intention to continuously bless made me an impossible target for a curser. Since he tried to curse someone who wouldn't accept negativity into her life, all Walt really did was open himself up as a channel for something sinister that had no place to go besides back into him.
And what happened on the sidewalk, when he glared and scowled and projected hatred through his eyes? Well... nothing. The whole point of giving someone the evil eye is to throw them off balance, and make them miserable. By trying to curse a girl who is so continuously surrounded by love, light and spiritual bliss as to be impervious to evil intention, even when it's literally staring her in the face, all Wart really did was walk a block out of his way, glaring, scowling and brooding, only to just give up and continue on his way again, no doubt feeling like a failure at the dark arts, and wondering why he can't even cast a basic evil eye curse properly. By trying to curse me a second time, all he's actually accomplished is the re-sealing of his own cursed fate, all over again.
(May he be blessed!)
***
So many people worry about psychic protection, and psychic shields, and bubbles of light. Here's the simplest, easiest, most beneficial way to ensure no ill will ever cause you harm: bless everyone your meet, every single day. All the time. Bless, bless, bless! You not only have the right to do it, but also, this is what the divine wants most for you to do! Your life, the lives of those living around you, and again, the world as a whole, will be better for it. And just remember- even when I was blessing everyone, still someone like Wart came into my life and attempted to sully it, but his attempted negative actions only backfired on him. So, as you go out there to bless, bless, bless, don't worry about it if someone sinister pops up. The world is full of all kinds of people. It's not a sign that your blessings aren't working if you meet people who intend you harm. (Even enlightened avatars like Nithyanandaji encounter sinister people who try to thwart them... yet they go on blessing, and so, go on living in bliss.) You can do it! Keep going. Bless, and you cannot be harmed.
The Kali Yuga- the age of darkness we're moving out of- was an age filled with wars, and conflicts, and the need for shields and armour. The Satya Yuga- the age of light we're flying into- is a time to drop our shields, drop our dark defenses, and simply radiate light, love and bliss.
By blessing everyone you meet, you pull yourself out of the darkness and into the light.
Let's do it! Let's bless this world into the Satya Yuga!
I love you, and thank you for reading this blog. May it inspire you to live a life of unending bliss, blessings and truth.
*Om Aim Saraswataye Swaha*
