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Doing What You Love - Pt 1 of Letters To My Father

A few years ago, I made up a list of books that I one day intended to write. One of them was called Letters To My Father. My father and I see each other in person every once in a while. But for the most part, we communicate via phone and email. Despite our past personal differences, we have a lot of the same metaphysical, health and holistic beliefs.

My father practiced yoga in his youth, and now at 76, he is practicing it seriously once again. While he has been ordered by his master not to divulge the higher practices to someone he perceives unready (i.e., me), he does talk about related ideas and how one’s daily life is affected. He has also spent the last 20 years studying Homeopathic and Natural remedies to common ailments, illnesses and diseases.

We’ve communicated on many such ideas via email for several years now. I’ve decided that maybe this journal is the appropriate places for these discussions about life and the universe that we have had for several years now. Here is the first installment. The first block quote below is a fragment of an email I sent my father yesterday, after having revelations while reading Steve Pavlina’s blog.

There is a man named Steve Pavlina who writes very detailed articles about self-improvement and personal development. He has been vegetarian for many years now, and also follows jnana yoga.

One thing that he said, that suddenly made me realize what is happening in my life for 4 years is this:

“While you might be willing to settle for living with your current model of reality, begin to notice where that model begins to break down. You will know when it breaks because you’ll experience some form of suffering. But suffering is not there to punish you. It is there to serve as a wake-up call, telling you that you have an inaccurate model of reality and that the way to end your suffering is to correct the errors in your mental model.”

I never thought about this. I know that you told me that what I am experiencing is a lesson. But what he has said makes what you said much clearer. He also said:

“In Hinduism there are said to be several paths that lead to the cessation of human suffering. These are known as the four yogas: karma yoga (action, work, service), bhakti yoga (love, devotion, worship), raja yoga (meditation, mental control, “psychic” exercise), and jnana yoga (knowledge, philosophy, enquiry). No one yoga is better or worse than any other, but individuals will tend to find themselves drawn to one yoga more than the others.”

The interesting thing is that I have gone through many transitions. I started the early part of my life following karma ygoa, followed by raja yoga, then jnana yoga (based on Steve’s definitions above).

But what is missing in my life is bhakti yoga. Also, I seem unable to follow raja yoga anymore, even though this was the aspect I enjoyed the most, followed closely by jnana yoga - which I think that I am following once again. Or at least, I am trying.

From a Buddhist point of view, when I converted 7 or 8 years ago, I was following the path towards Boddhisattva, but also towards “medicine Buddha”. I was told that the medicine sutra was more commonly followed by women rather than men. So I did not follow this sutra as closely.

However, somehow, my path has been derailed. Now it is obvious to me, based on what Steve Pavlina is saying, that my mental model is wrong. The problem is, I no longer feel able to decide what I must do to correct and balance this model.

But I’ve started by reading all his very well written articles. He has become a great success on the Internet. He gets about 700,000 visitors per month. I realize that my own website about prosperity (Rich Man Poor Man), which takes a holistic and metaphysical viewpoint about wealth and finance, has great potential. I think that I can fulfill my destiny to be a healer of sorts in this way. Meaning that, if I can help people reach a balance in their life through my Prosperity Project website, then I will satisfy my own goal of being a healer.

I have had this goal since I was 12 years old: to be a healer and an educator. I can do both, now that I know what I must do.

My father’s response, edited slightly. (”Bapa” and “Bapi” are simply a term of affection in my mother tongue, and essentially mean “father”. The latter is also my nickname.)

Bapa, i noticed this email now. pretty interesting. this is what i said in my last email that you find something you love and be good at it; develop topics or materials or techniques pertinent to it. remember do what you love, money will flow. Bapi, there is no easy fix; it is all hard work. there will be some failures, frustrations, rejections, but that should not deter you.

employ your various talents you have. one thing though, to be a healer, you must first heal yourself: physically, mentally, spiritually. that will bring wholeness to life. i am writing an email, i will send you within a couple of days how to cleanse yourself physically, mentally, and spiritually. that will bring wholeness to life.

He is, of course, right. And healing myself is what I’ve been trying to do. This journal documents my journey. I will also be publishing my father’s discussions on yoga here, as they relate to the main topics. (His discussions on health and physical forms of yoga will take place on his YourHealth1st.com website, which I’m currently constructing.)

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