Mohan Ji
Today, we will talk about our limiting beliefs. I think you already know about the story of how a wild elephant is tamed by the trainers to use them in various capacities.
The first and foremost is that freedom is limited. In the wild, they are wild and free; they can do whatever they want. They roam around as they like, and elephants usually live in groups, they are social beings, very intelligent beings. When an elephant is caught, it’s tough to discipline it. What these trainers do is to tie a very tight rope on their hind legs and leave them like that. The elephant does its best to break free, pulling at the rope all the time. And it starts getting injuries because of friction. The frictional injuries start to grow as the days go by. The trainers do not try to heal them; they just leave it like that. And the pain would be tremendous; continuous and consistent pain because of injuries in the hind legs. Then and the elephant stops pulling it because it hurts when it pulls. The elephant drops it and doesn’t pull anymore. It understood that these ropes could not be broken. And if he pulls, it gives pain and suffering. So, the elephant surrenders.
Afterwards, the tame elephant is used for various entertainments or utility matters. But they are tame; they obey the tiny human much lesser in size, and much lesser in strength than itself. But the initial limiting belief, which the trainers were able to give the elephant, stays on forever. Limiting beliefs are the point. We all have limiting beliefs, just like this elephant. Some traumatic memory from the past, its corresponding agony, the feeling, the helplessness and associated emotions and memories that we carry leads us or binds us with our limiting beliefs, and it works through the whole life.
We shy away from many things of life. We fail to achieve only because of our limiting beliefs. This is the truth. We must understand that all these limiting beliefs apart, we are as wild, free and strong as a normal elephant would be in the forest. We should be successful in our daily life. And we should also be a significant part of our society by delivering as per our capacities positively to society. Sometimes these limiting beliefs are so hidden that we don’t even recognize them. It needs introspection, needs contemplation.
How many times, how many situations we could not handle because of our limiting beliefs? Try to understand. Sometimes limiting beliefs are given by our parents, our teachers or society. Sometimes limiting beliefs are given by religions; all of them create an almost similar effect. We have seen that over history. Limiting beliefs have taken away great opportunities for great progress in human existence. This is very important to understand, limiting beliefs exist, and limiting beliefs are really, really important to understand and come out of.
We are supremely powerful. Nothing can stop us from doing our good work in the world. I always tell my people, the people who believe in me, we are powerful as a team, and our intention is always pure. We do not want to harm anybody; we have no violence in us; we do not have anger, hatred, jealousy, revenge in us, because they contaminate our inner space. We only have love; we have compassion; we have kindness. This is very strong. And these are very powerful. Compassion is powerful; kindness is powerful.
To have the strength and to have discipline – power without discipline can create havoc. Power without discipline creates atomic bombs which destroy an entire race. We saw the devastation that happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But today, we have much larger, much more destructive atomic capacities with us to wipe out entire mankind. We must observe restraint, we must accept love, and we must be compassionate and kind. Just imagine having great strength, great power and exercising great kindness, how it will be. It can be very transformative for the entire human race. Having great power, and having great strength and capacities, but using it for dividing, harming, or destroying, literally shakes the root of our species.
Nature has given us all the options. Nature has given us everything. And nature continues to provide us, to experience and execute it. We have to be realistic. We have to be responsible. And we have to lead a life of purity and harmony, like one of those great Lamas, who was arrested and imprisoned and tortured by the Chinese authorities after they invaded Tibet. When he was released, he told about his time in the prison. Apparently, it was very torturous; it was very disturbing for him, for his equilibrium, because they tried their best to break him down. As always, as a prisoner of war, he was tortured almost every day for 25 years.
When he was asked, did you have fears, he said yes because a truly spiritual person will have no fears. There is no room for fears. If you’re really walking the path of purity, you should be fearless. God can be loved because God sits in you as your soul factor. God is to be loved; God is love. So, Lama said, I had fears. Three times it appeared in the canvas of my mind. Each time it was the fear that I may end up hating the oppressors, the guys who are torturing him. And that can cause inner contamination. I didn’t want anything to do with inner contamination. That fear happened thrice.
To maintain the purity, you need constant vigil. You’ve got to make sure every day, every moment that anger, hatred, jealousy, revenge, or any emotions which are draining and negative by nature should not enter your mind. You should be free from all that. This is important. This is vital.
Fear binds you, so you must practice fearlessness. Anything which gives you the fear of anything should be avoided because one fear leads to another fear. Fear binds, and fear distorts our vision. It’s important to understand that we are born free, and we have every right to exercise our highest potential and possibility of existence while we are living on Earth. Life has got to be lived. Life has got to be experienced. Life has given us an opportunity to attain the highest possibility of human existence. We must make use of that, not existing like bricks on the wall. It’s living a full life. We have the capacity, and we have the ability.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
