Tuesday, March 27, 2012

I do not want to remove my shoes

At the temples, it is essential for one to take off their shoes for respect. I always take off my shoes of course, but I do not want to take them off. The ground is dirty and hundreds perhaps thousands of people are stepping on that ground daily and it just unsafe walking on some of the areas with stone and glass. When it comes to hygeine, it is important for me to keep my feet clean and off dirty surfaces.

From a religious standpoint, this does not sound good, but I do believe in sacrifice. In the Holi temple in Coorg, my friend Beru made a good point about sacrifice. We had to take off our shoes way at the beginning ,which meant we had to climb the holy stairs and the mountain with no shoes, which is also common with temples. Stumbling along the rocks and seeing glass on the ground, I complained that I just wanted my shoes. Beru told me to , “Walk for Jesus.” I thought about this and he was right. Letting go of materialism and many of my wants, I had to remember what it was like to sacrifice physically through actually experiencing real pain. My higher power has made numerous sacrifices for my being so I should be able to handle the pain of rocks and glass on underneath my feet for a harmless 20 minutes.

This physical sacrifice also came into play the other day during meditation with my guru. When cleansing in the holy water,sitting on the pavement was bearable because of the water. When meditating on the scorching pavement without water, it was painful. I did not want to stop our meditation because this would indicate weakness to my guru. I wanted to show him strength and dedication, but it was not just my guru’s presence, but the mindfulness of my higher power. I can experience physical pain every once in a while. It is good for me to go through some pain to shake my reality.
A little bit of pain can lead to a whole lot of pleasure.. PRIS

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