Real Peace

Real Peace
Each of us longs for an abiding sense of purpose and meaning, peace, health, and security. At some level, we also aspire to freedom.
According to the Vedas, your soul has four distinct desires:  The first is dharma, the desire to become who you were meant to be.  It is the longing to thrive and, in the process, fulfill your unique purpose.  I know every artist can relate to that.  It is what makes us who we are.  My art is so intricately intertwined with my identity I could not separate the two.  It is my giving back to the world, my reason, my own prophetic content.  My relationship with art is like my relationship with God: eternal, emotional, and ultimately fulfilling.
The second is artha, the desire for means such as money, security, and health, to help you fulfill your dharma.  The third is kama, the longing for pleasure, and the fourth is moksha, the desire for spiritual realization and ultimate freedom.  Artha is a way of achieving the things that matter.  I'd love to totally disregard money, health, and security, but they teach us lessons of discipline and responsibility.  They are the roots that stabilize our path.  Kama is like the dessert of life: weekend get-aways, jokes, cupcakes, a foot massage, a bubble bath.  Moksha is about selflessness and eternal fulfillment of a spiritual nature.  It comes from meditation and prayer, singing worship songs, thoughtful inspection of your own heart, and a practice of patience and loving-kindness to the world around you.
This article on page 110 of Yoga Journal's Sept 2011 issue really spoke to me as I've lately dealt with intensified longings for my purpose and my freedom, and the ways to achieve it.  My illustration honors Mountain Pose with hands folded in prayer position, a place where daily stress falls away and the world becomes quiet.
"The mind is everything.  What you think, you become."  -Buddha
"Enter the kingdom of Heaven and righteousness and all things shall be added on to thee."  -Matthew 6:33
-Paraphrased from Yoga Journal 


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