Reflections- On Cleaning – 2

 

Contd....

Reflections- On Cleaning – 2

It was clean as slate. I beamed. Now that cleaned corner inspired me to do more cleaning. I went to my other balcony where I had my plants. It was mess with plant mulch etc. first, I loosened up soil in all the pots. This caused more sand to fall on the floor. I was glad. It was good. Now, I can clean all in one go. Then I cut old and dead leaves and branches. I trimmed the plants. Good again! Now, I put the trimmed mulch in various pots and covered with soil. I was glad of my work. Then I saw ‘ash’ from my daily homam handing in the cover. Time to put manure to the plants. I put ash in all the plants. This too was long pending!!

Next, I had to sweep and wash the balcony. It being very small and with multiple small pots, it actually is a very laborious job than otherwise. But, I was in a zone! I tucked my saree to let the Universe know that I am on war footing today. Yes, cleaning is a job of a soldier. I swept, washed the floor.

Now, the balcony was as new as a bride – gleaming and shining! I loved this part the most of any cleaning, where I just looked at the area cleaned and grinned as an Olympic Champion. Each unto his own! My little jobs were equally daunting and equally satisfying to me! I felt relieved of so much of ‘nagging’ from my head! I felt light! It wasn’t outside cleaning that I had done. I had cleaned my inner clutter. The inner voice that kept pestering me, belittling me, demeaning me stopped. I felt I had won over this little vicious ‘me’ within me! I had won one more battle against myself!

Contd....

# outer world reflection of inner world, on cleaning, cleanliness and happiness, abundance, attitude, little nothings of life, mundane routines of life, spirituality in day-to-day life activities, perception, awareness, mindfulness,

also read suggested : https://kantipadam.blogspot.com/2018/08/bhagavatam-krishna-answers-king_29.html 

and also 

https://kantipadam.blogspot.com/2017/02/indian-mythology-advaitha.html 

Points from the post :

"It was clean as slate. I beamed. Now that cleaned corner inspired me to do more cleaning." - Cleanliness by itself gives us joy. And once we start cleaning, even little patch that is cleaned will inspire and motivate us to clean the other areas of house.

Same is the case with Self. Once we become aware of our qualities that is not up to the mark, we start working on them and find that if we decide we CAN and we DO overcome our weaknesses. Even little progress is enough to inspire us to be walking this path with more dedication, vigour and commitment. 

" I felt I had won over this little vicious ‘me’ within me! I had won one more battle against myself " - Every time we overcome our old habit of living in pain and giving pain, we have won a battle over ourselves. Trust me this is the most satisfying war ever fought. It is the ONLY war worth fighting. We can never feel 'confident of ourselves' till we have overcome that 'nagging voice' within ourselves. We need to lift ourselves in our own eyes. This is not for someone else. This is not even for heaven or hell's sake. NO! This is not to please some God or Guru. This is to earn respect in our own eyes. 

This is the battle we fight with ourselves to win over ourselves to gain appreciation from ourselves. Such a joke!

Just think about it!

Reflections- On Cleaning – 2

 

Reflections- On Cleaning – 2

I had wanted to clean my balcony windowsill since long. The very thought kept nagging at the back of my head – all day long – every day since it became due for cleaning. And yet, I would say “I’ll clean it later since this work is more important etc etc" 10 times a day.

Today, I set aside all other works and decided to clean it. First, I had to go to my downstairs neighbours and intimate them that I would be washing my balcony grill. This was to avoid creating any inconvenience to them. The water wall falls into their balcony while I washed my balcony grill. You see, they could’ve put some edible for sun-drying or they had hung their clothes and so on. So, I always made it a point to tell my neighbours living below our floor of my such activities. Today was no different.

Then, I saw the ‘disgusting piles of garbage’ on the grill. This was one of the most ‘putting me off this activity’ cause. But, today, I was so clear in head that it didn’t bother me at all. I took an old broom to clean it. The one I use to sweep house can’t be used for this purpose. How can I let that broom sweep the indoors after touching all that was on balcony sil. This old broom was the discarded, ragged one that I kept just for such purposes. I dusted with it and it hardly took 10-15mts to push all that I loathed off the sil. Next, was to just put water there. I did. And lo! It washed on its’ own. It was that smooth. I didn’t do anything except pour water on it. The rest was taken care of by water.

Contd....

# outer world reflection of inner world, on cleaning, cleanliness and happiness, abundance, attitude, little nothings of life, mundane routines of life, spirituality in day-to-day life activities, perception, awareness, mindfulness,

also read suggested : https://kantipadam.blogspot.com/2013/02/me-and-my-guru.html 

On Post :

"I had wanted to clean my balcony windowsill since long. The very thought kept nagging at the back of my head – all day long –" Don't we all do this umpteen times a day...we keep postponing "doing" something. It can be a simple cleaning or making that call. It can be writing a report or making some changes in house. It can be "Being happy"!!! It can be about 'using something' as we wait for the 'special day' to come.....

In all this, we postpone 'living'. And the NAGGING - well that makes life more miserable than ever....so think about postponing every time that temptation comes your way....

"First, I had to go to my downstairs neighbours and intimate them" - If we decide on doing something, it should not be a problem to others. We should take care of that first. Let our joys not eat away others peace of mind. That is important. 

"This was one of the most ‘putting me off this activity’ cause." - There is always something or someone who is 'responsible' for us to postpone doing what we need to do. But once we decide to do it, then we realize that 'the thing' was not that big a deal! 

Try it - even things like 'forgiving someone' is easy once we decide to do it. 

" I dusted with it and it hardly took 10-15mts to push all that I loathed off the sil." - In our head, all work looks big and difficult. All times seem problematic. Our future looks bleak in our imagination. But, as you see here, it took just 10-15 mts to clean that window sil. Same is the case with life. Once you decide to move on, forgive, become calmer, disciplined, no one can take that away from you. But you should decide first....

Next, however messy our life may be now, tomorrow it will sort out fine - if only we keep making our 100% effort in the right direction with right intent and with right purpose....

This week's HW : 

Take one patch of your house and clean it - one day at a time.....

Those who can, clean the entire wardrobe or room....

By weekend we would have cleaned major portion or maybe whole of house too.....

Let's compare notes and see how this cleaning helped us in our state of well being....

Reflections - On cleaning – 3

Contd....

Reflections - On cleaning – 3

Points to ponder and reading the post right: Bathroom represents our deep, dark shame or guilt. It represents all that we are ‘throwing’ out of us that are ‘disgusting and harmful to us and our well-being’.

1."One bathroom was irritating me for quite some time. It was due for cleaning." It is possible you haven’t healed of late and the dirt has settled on you

OR

You are healing regularly but even you know it’s not complete or good enough.

2."Reasons many and valid – lack of time and energy and disinterest." Reasons are same for both cleaning – be it outside or inside.

3. "Just a little was good enough. Just a little cleaning pecked me up". Don’t look at all that needs to be addressed. It would be mountain size and our lack of time, energy and interest would make it even more difficult task.

Instead, take a little of healing – like you pick up one aspect of healing and start dusting the ‘cover of anger, jealousy, shame and guilt (and so on)’ over self! Before long you’ll find the ‘dust’ cleaned and you’ll find yourself radiating through every pore of yourself.

Just one step at a time.

Just one technique a day.

Heal just one aspect a day! 

Contd....

# on cleaning, outer world reflection of inner world, character and attitudes, facts of life, mundane routine of life, purpose of life, life as we see it, spirituality and daily little nothings of life, life is a teacher, teaching moments during the day, wanting something, rights and responsibilities, 

previous posts on this topic : https://kantipadam.blogspot.com/search?q=Reflections-+On+Cleaning+%E2%80%93+2 

Reflections- On Cleaning – 2

 

Contd....

Reflections- On Cleaning – 2

And to think I took all these days’ nay weeks to get to work. By delaying I had not reduced the work. But on the contrary, I had felt ‘little’ of myself. I gained my pride by completing this simple task. I earned my self-esteem and self-respect by making the right choice today to do over postponing to do.  If found myself. I found job. I celebrated happiness. Such is the way to ‘catch life’ in our hold. It didn’t better my health. It didn’t bring back ‘lost relationships’ in my life, it didn’t’ increase my bank balance. And yet, I felt more energetic, joyous, happy, smiling, glad, satisfied in a long time to come!

Rightly said “It takes ONLY SIMPLE THINGS” to reclaim your life!!!

Beware of your mind which gives understandings in these way:

“My mom always asks to keep the house clean, now I understand why she said it etc etc”

“My sister/aunt/etc always keep the house clean. They are not even Reiki Channel and yet…”

“I always go to sleep only after cleaning the entire house” and such related statements – if this is how logic and your mind gives you an understanding, mark this post and let it go. Go heal yourself for couple of months. Read this post again. Then again go back to healing and then come back again. Do this till you get it right!

Don’t let your mind fool you into believing ‘wrong understanding’ as ‘having understood’.

Be smarter than your mind!

***

Contd....

# outer world reflection of inner world, on cleaning, cleanliness and happiness, abundance, attitude, little nothings of life, mundane routines of life, spirituality in day-to-day life activities, perception, awareness, mindfulness,

also read suggested : https://kantipadam.blogspot.com/search?q=Me%2C+My+Guru+-+Stories+and+All%21+Clean+the+House%21 

Points from post :

"By delaying I had not reduced the work. But on the contrary, I had felt ‘little’ of myself." - We have right to postpone cleaning - both outside and inside. We can choose to be who we are for all the eternity to come! We can choose to still play all the games we are adept at. 

But just as by delaying outside cleaning our inner voice keeps nagging us and robs us of our peace of mind, so too, unless we heal ourselves from within the inner voice will not let us 'just be'!

So better now than later....Why postpone doing the inevitable?

Start today, start now and do it honestly....

"I gained my pride by completing this simple task. " - Respect, confidence, fearlessness, courage - all are earned by cleaning ourselves. They are not received from outside. As we heal we gain these things. And people ask "But I have done this healing, then why didn't get this material benefit?" Material benefit is the side effect of healing, not the purpose. The main benefit is that we gain respect for ourselves. Our confidence increases. We overcome fear! What more can we ask for!

"Mind games" - are also given to keep you safe from misunderstanding this post. Till you master your mind, it is not to be believed with logic and understanding. Be alert of your mind!

Reflections - On cleaning – On keeping the house clean!

 

Reflections -  On cleaning – On keeping the house clean!

One desire that kept me restless for 40-45 years is this – keeping the house spic and span. Whenever I would visit any house, it never would bother me if their house was huge or expensive. Their gold, assets never bothered me. But if their house was spic and span, I would feel very bad. And the next 2-3 days all I would be doing is cleaning the house. The emotion is not that of jealousy or envy. It was sheer disgust at myself for my incompetence to keep my place so clean! This was like an obsession. This would take me to my friend’s and relative’s house too. This nature even took me to other’s place so I could clean their every nook and corner. The houses I cleaned would be disgustingly and unpardonably dirty –unhygienic. Ours was just untidy, cluttered and messy. Yet, I would put both in the same bracket and would be grumbling. I would clean their mess and come to clear up our clutter. this went on for years.

And finally, about a year ago, it finally happened. Now, this place is sorted as I always wanted. Each in its place. It is messy even now and then, but that can be sorted in 10-15mts now. Oh! What a relief when this desire was fulfilled.

My anger was based on the fact that our house was just 240sft two rooms 8X8 and 8X12 sft with 3X8 kitchen. And their houses would be anywhere between 1700sft to 2 acre mansion. They could keep such huge houses clean and why couldn’t I do that in ours?

Contd....

# on cleaning, cleaning the house, spirituality, mundane routine of life, facts of life, living life the right way, using life to become free, liberation, techniques for moksh, conducive situations to practice spirituality,

read suggested: https://kantipadam.blogspot.com/2009/04/spirituality.html 

Points to ponder:

• I have heard people say "Maam, why should I do Vastu healing when the house I stay is rented?" and I say "The body you stay is also rented. You have to leave it and go one day, why eat, exercise and take care of it? Let it be!"
• Even if the house is small (owned or rented), still we can choose to be grateful for it. We can still make memories in it...!!!
• The house may be small, yet if it is yours it is better than the royal palace. The one who knows this, understands this, feels this will never feel little, insulted, cheap or sad because of his social status!

Reflections - On cleaning – On keeping the house clean!

 

Contd....

Reflections -  On cleaning – On keeping the house clean!

It was only few years back that someone explained the logic behind this. They explained how our 240sft house housed 6-7 inmates always. And the people visiting was anywhere between 15-25/day. With that many people coming for studying (departmental exams), games (card games, caroms etc) and for lunch, dinner, evening snacks, there was hardly a probability of keeping the house “Ikea model” clean. Though the house was never dirty, that was the only saving grace for me.

On the other hand, others hardly had people coming over. And even if it be so, then the house was so huge that they could accommodate everything and allocate a place for everything.

I never found a reason to justify how it was. For me, it was bad and I was not able to keep it the way I wished.

But, finally what a relief now! Able to clean room in just 2-3 hrs effortlessly. When finally, it happened it seemed easy. But it took all these years of trial and error. It also meant change every other month. Cleaning every other month, I would change everything. It would take ages to clean the house.

You are going in the wrong direction if these thoughts cross your mind or if these are your arguments:

·        But my sister/aunt or I keep the house clean right from day 1.

·        Everyone praises my house.

Know we are in not competition here. Read the post and understand why this is told. What does a house not being clean mean? What does dirty mean? What do clutter and messy mean?

Contd....

# on cleaning, cleaning the house, spirituality, mundane routine of life, facts of life, living life the right way, using life to become free, liberation, techniques for moksh, conducive situations to practice spirituality,

read suggested: https://kantipadam.blogspot.com/search?q=Me%2C+my+Guru+%E2%80%93+on+ego%21 

do read the link given as per the date - not as you see it in the link given...

Points to ponder:

• Whether the house is owned or rented, keep it clean.
• Whether the house is owned or rented, charge it daily.
• Whether the house is owned or rented, treat it with respect, love and gratitude.
• Even if the house is rented, it's ok to treat it nice and feel good about it.
• Even if the house is rented, we can still be happy in it!

On Spring cleaning – The task of the sadhan for November 2024

 

On Spring cleaning – The task of the sadhan for November 2024

Further to https://kantipadam.blogspot.com/2024/10/sadhan-for-november-2024.html cleaned the Pooja room (Prayer room) first – as always! This is my preferred choice. 

After cleaning found lots of space cleared! Yes, it was found that ‘one single item’ was found in 2-3 boxes – like kumkum or wicks. Took all of them and put them in a single box.

Like-wise rearranged the entire setup. About 4-5 boxes could be done away with – good enough!

It looks more spacious now. It seemed cluttered before – but NOW – no clutter at all.

And I thought all this while, it was because of “the Pooja room” being small and with no shelves there??!! Turns out, I was wrong.

So, what is the moral of the story so far?

Deenni nunchi manaku dorike neeti emiti?

Kya seekh milaa?

*****************  

# on cleaning, sadhan 2024, mundane routine, spirituality in daily life, healing through daily activities, mindfulness, awareness, on beingness, disciplined mind, outer world reflection of inner world, microcosm and macrocosm

also read suggested https://kantipadam.blogspot.com/2022/07/reflections-on-cleaning-2.html read the complete post (as always) and also read the pointers given in the various posts.....

Reflections – on Cleaning Lady Achamma

 

Reflections – on Cleaning Lady Achamma

Once, Achamma, lady who cleans the toilet came to my place. I asked her if she had come to work. She said she had come for just 2-3 days visits from her hometown and hence couldn’t work.

I smiled and gave her what I paid her to clean the toilets. Mind you, this was given without her cleaning or doing any job. Then, I gave her a few old clothes and one new saree too as Christmas was around the corner. She said “Praise the Lord” as she received money, old clothes or new clothes. She thanks for everything “(Deva neeku sthuthi! Na thandri neeku sthuthi!) Lord, praises to you, my Father, praises to you.”

She left after eating some food.

A couple of days later, a student paid me 10 times that amount. Nothing big if it was for a class taken! But this student never attends classes or comes for any counseling. This Reiki channel doesn’t bother me with any questions. And yet, periodically he comes (after taking an appointment only) stays for ½ an hour – in whichever class that is being conducted that day, places the ‘dakshina’ (offering) and leaves. I asked him a couple of times the reason for the same. I told him “You don’t take any counseling or attend classes and yet, why do you pay?”

He smiles gently and replies “My works get completed whenever I do Reiki. So many issues get resolved and all that is because of Reiki. So!”

Contd.....

# gratitude, you receive as you give, you receive what you deserve, eligibility, attitudes, character and destiny, on giving and receiving, honesty, validating others' hard work, purity, intent and results, abundance, laws of Universe, 

Revisit old post to understand better in this subject: https://kantipadam.blogspot.com/search?q=Achchamma+-+Great+character+in+a+simple+lady+doing+menial+job%21 

On being regularly irregular in sadhan!

 

Contd....

On being regularly irregular in sadhan!

The Next point is “Is it wrong to not do sadhan or take a break from sadhan?”

Technically, the answer is NO!

Then, what difference does it make?

After all, you come back to sadhan when things go wrong, right? (and there too people talk as if that is also a great favour done to me!!)

Understand this here – ethically, legally, and socially you are not bound to do sadhan. You are not committing a crime by not doing sadhan. https://kantipadam.blogspot.com/2024/04/grace-healings-swathi-and-bhanu.html

Then, what is the problem?

Understand first, why are we doing sadhan in the first place?

If the answer is just, to keep things going in life, fine, you can move on to other posts!

But, for those who are here with an understanding that YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE for all that is happening in your life, you also have understood that YOU NEED TO CHANGE for the better to change the things and people in your life. Then, whenever you give a break, then things and people are going to go back to their original or painful way of being. When you know by being in healing, it can be avoided, the pain can be avoided, why let it surface in the first place? https://kantipadam.blogspot.com/2022/07/reflections-on-cleaning-2.html

Contd....

# being irregular in sadhan, sadhan, drawbacks of indiscipline and perseverance in sadhan, success and failure in spiritual field, 

Read related post https://kantipadam.blogspot.com/search?q=monk+and+the+fish

Reflections - on Eureka moments!

 

Contd....

Reflections - on Eureka moments!

2.In gardening :

a.trim the plants – say just 3-4 and then loosen the soil

b.next trim next set of 3-4 plants and then loosen the soil

repeat and complete for the entire pots/garden

c.add manure to all.

d.water them.

OR

a.Day one just trim all the plants

b.Day two loosen up the soil of all plants

c.Add manure and water them the third day. 

3.Even inner clutter or cleaning can be done the same way. Don’t look at all the attitude that you need to address.

b.Take one at a time. See how to address it.

c.Write down the techniques that would address it.

d.Plan out on how to use incorporate these techniques in daily routine.

e.Plan your work and then work your plan.

f.Note down the progress regularly.

g.Share the growth /change regularly with others.

h.Time to look at next attitude.

i.Look at attitudes and note how to address them. Sometimes, two or more attitudes can be incorporated at a time. Do the needful then. The task or rather no task is big enough for ‘not able to do’. If you just break it into small parts, it not only looks doable, the doing also becomes effortless, easy and less time-consuming.

Look at your life and see if this life hack eases it in any way.

Share your application and benefit others with your journey.

Receive thanks and blessings from others. Feel the abundance by making a difference.

***  

Concluded....

# Eureka moments, understanding, effortless moments of enlightenment, mundane routine and their benefits, being in the moment, uncluttering , destress, on finding solutions,

also read : https://kantipadam.blogspot.com/2015/05/a-moment-of-revelation.html 

and

https://kantipadam.blogspot.com/2015/05/a-moment-of-revelation_3.html