We all have many little children.
Even if we haven’t had a child, we can love other peoples children just as fully as if they were our own.
We can feel responsible for other people, animals, plants or planets, just as much as a mother loves her preciously amazing and unbelievable child. We can feel a deep joy for our creative thoughts, or constructive plans that become the fruit of our futures. We can give birth to new projects, thoughts and relationships.
Even if we never gave birth to a physical child that has arms, legs and minds of their own, we still have and make many children all day long!
These creations of ours can be so beautiful, so full of joy, freshness, awaking us to new realities and pathways. And the thing is, these beautiful children do have arms, legs and minds of their own. Our children, once we dream them up, or start to fulfil our desire, start to come alive, start to ask for our attention. They literally grow full bodies that need nurturing. And if we listen too much, too soon, too often, they rule our lives, run our minds and, sometimes drag our bodies and energy all over the place.
If we don’t listen enough or with full attention, they become undernourished, resentful, or worse- unloved. And they will feel in the dark. They will feel alone, unheard, unknown.
Then our fruits can become exhausting, or pull us into the dark, or we are afraid of them. They can cause us to disconnect, to suffer or be in pain.
Think about it, all those thoughts you have, all the emotions they trigger and actions or reactions that spring into life from the continous movement of the mind. These are very real children. They have consequences, they demand our attention, they need us to engage with the rest of the actions to fulfil these desires.
So to be a good parent, to All our creations, we need a place where we can take our time to relax and reconnect with our deeper Self. In this space we can reflect, redirect if necessary, and refill. Reflect on whether we actually need to fulfil these desires, which path is the right action to take for this child that asks so much of my time? And the question, “Does this child need all my attention? Do I really need to even listen to these requests it makes? Is it really a need or a greed? Should I be listening more fully, intently, honestly?”
These are very important questions, if we don’t want to end up walking down a path of constantly chasing after or catering for creations who run our lives, for months, or worse, years.
When we have the time to reflect, we also shed light onto and discover what we have been ignoring, or “leaving out in the dark”, and actually needs more of our awareness, love and embrace. And what we have focused on too much and actually needs to be left alone for a while.
Not only the new and the fresh creations are our children but also the old and sometimes painful or difficult ones, are also our precious ones. They too deserve our love and embrace, they need our light upon them. But not a powerful focus of attention that makes us grip or hold on to it, creating heat rather than radiance. We need a light and love to free our pain and fear. We need just the right amount of fire, Agni. Agni is the Tapas that will light our awareness and bring that nurturing warmth of Mother that heals and embraces All, no matter what. She excludes none.
Our pain and joy are both like a little child- needing not too much and not too little attention, just the right amount is a very brave and discerning practice. It requires swadhyaya, or self inquiry, Aparigraha, or openhearted and handedness, and Santosha, or contentment with what is as it is. These are the Yamas that guide us from inside toward the outside.
So, let us walk that path, like Mother Durga, on the sharp edge of the blade finding balance between these Yamas. Fierce with devotion to care for her young.
Let us hold our many children with equal amounts of love, tenderness and awareness.
Let us shed our full light of consciousness onto our creations, good, bad or unbelievable.
Hari Om.
