Healing Family's Hearts During the Lockdown

(If you want to heal your family, stop focusing on how different you are from them or how superior you are to them.)
Namaste

For the first time in human history perhaps we are experiencing one global crisis- no nation, no section of society, no geography is an exception to this global crisis.

Hitherto when we thought of globalisation, a flat world, a borderless world, we only thought of internet, air travel and communication and commerce.

Little did we imagine, that a flat earth would also mean a global epidemic, a pandemic.

Do you know in this time of global crisis the oneness of human experience is more transparent than ever?

People in every nation, whether they are Chinese ,American ,Latino ,European and Indian everyone is experiencing the same anxiety over either their own sickness and death or that of their loved ones. Rich and poor alike are experiencing the same anxiety over economic uncertainty.

The atheist and the theist are experiencing the same confusion of being quarantined in their homes with their loved ones without escape.

We are one humanity. If only we can move away from our divisive consciousness, and go past all the labels we put on peoples' foreheads because of skin colour ,language, culture, class or caste - we will see we are one.

Can we go beyond division and duality to a space of oneness even with family members?

As you sit across the dining table ,as you go about your daily chores amidst the four walls - Pause for a moment and Centre yourself in the heart and reflect.

Is not your child’s longing for acceptance the same as yours even though you may express it differently?

Is not your grandmother’s clinging to life the same as your clinging to some position at work?

The experience of clinging is the same what you are clinging to is different.

You are judging your in-laws or your partner for their anger or aversion to someone. You think it is unfair.

But pause for a moment come to your heart and meditate. Is your anger towards someone really different from their anger?

The experience of anger and aversion is the same - you may shout and use cuss words- others may hold it in and simmer in it.

The way you love and wish for the other’s well-being too is the same- only the way you show it is different.

Meditate on your loved one’s experience of happiness and your own.

Why you become happy and they became happy could be different-

But the experience of happiness is the same.

“If you want to heal your family, stop focusing on how different you are from them or how superior you are to them."

Focus on the oneness of your human experience.

From that space relate, converse, do things together - you will heal their hearts

MEDITATION

Please sit still.

Close your eyes. Centre yourself in the heart.

Feel the divine, who is the Antaryamin in all our hearts in any form or name you choose.

Ask the divine to help you see that you and the members of your family are one.

Their experience of life now is just the same as yours.

May the Divine bless you to accept and celebrate this oneness and togetherness with your family.

You may now listen to the powerful Ekam mantra and chant along with it. The mantra is -Hamsa Soham Ekam, which at its simplest level means, I am in the divine, the divine is in me, we are one.

Whenever you are ready you may open your eyes