Give life to what you want
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August 30, 2010
Conflict-free life is the only way out of depression. Learn the art of prana pratishtha; giving life to what you want. Then you will just live in a conflict free life. Understand, it is a very simple truth.
During my wandering days, I was once resting at noon under a tree, with my head on a small stone on which turmeric powder had been applied. Usually, when turmeric powder is smeared on any surface, it keeps away snakes. So I thought that this maybe was a snake-infested area, so someone who had rested here before me had applied the turmeric powder to keep away snakes.
Around an hour later, a villager whom lived two or three kilometers away came running towards me, shouting, how dare you put your head on my Shiva! I saw in my dream that someone is showing disrespect to my deity, my Shiva!
When he came near and saw that I am a sadhu (monk), he said, because you are a sadhu, I am sparing you. Otherwise, I would have broken your head!
I was shocked! The villager has been worshipping the stone as Shiva, and he had a telepathic connection with that deity! He was sleeping in his house a few kilometers away when he saw in his dream that someone was resting with their head on his deity. I was amazed at his clarity, and his ability to do prana pratishtha – giving life to his ideal as he wished.
Understand: in your life also, a conflict appears as reality only because you give life to it. But because you perceive it, you forget that it was you who gave power to it. In the villager's case, even though he was able to experience the stone as God, he did not forget the truth that it was he who gave power to it; it was he who did prana pratishtha to it.
Whenever you see that you are giving power to your perceived conflict, take back the power and give it to life, because life has no conflict. If you have given life to a conflict and it is hurting you, then just move it to life! That's all, nothing else. It is you who is going to decide whether to give power to the conflict or to life.
So always be optimistic. Even in the last moment of what you think of as the worst crisis, life can take over. Trust life. It has the ability to create miracles.
This is what I call doing prana pratishta to life.