Episode Transcript
My name is Ken Hanuman and I've been practicing Raja Yoga meditation for over 40 years. In these episodes, I will share the experiences and insights I've gained from meditation and how I've integrated them into my everyday life and all my relationships. Welcome to the Spiritual Relationship Podcast. Hello everyone. Welcome to the Spiritual Relationship Podcast. My name is Ken Hanuman and this is my wonderful wife, Dr. Anne O'Hare, and she has her own podcast, the Spiritual American. So please look at that when you get a chance. There's a lot of wonderful information and spiritual help. The series that we are beginning, given the situation today in the world, how confusing, chaotic and unpredictable it is. This series will be called spiritual prepping, meaning that how do we handle the challenges of today? Today's topic is going beyond injustice. So let me ask my wife here, uh, what is her experience or if she had experience of, of injustice and, um, maybe how she handled that. And I would also will go into some of my experience because justice was indeed a huge, um, issue with me and I had difficulty handling that and overcoming it because we need to, if we need to survive and to learn. So over to Anne. Okay, well, for me, I can say right now I, and I can't be alone where the things that are happening in the world right now, everything that we thought we could depend on seems to be crumbling in front of our eyes, isn't it? Like everything is corrupt. This one says something and then they do the opposite. This is we, this, we elect somebody to do something, and then the exact opposite happens. And it seems like the world is kind of spinning outta control. And I think that's why we're doing this. And actually on the Spiritual American, I'm doing another, a series called, preparing for the Future, which is a similar idea. Exactly, yes, similar idea. So with everything going on. We are gonna talk about injustice here. There's always a feeling it seems of right and wrong. This is right and this is wrong. This is the way it's supposed to be, and now it's not being that way. And then inside I feel bad or I feel out of control. And don't we, I mean, I can't be alone feeling out of control when things happen, outside, right? Yeah. And we can get stuck in that and we can be. Thinking a lot and, uh, talking a lot about it and feeling self-righteous about it, but you know, internally you're suffering or you wish that you weren't stuck there. There's a lot of suffering. And I think that we've. Blamed the suffering on the situation, like hoping the situation will resolve. This is what I'm thinking. You are hoping the situation will resolve and then I'll feel better. Yes. And it doesn't seem to be resolving, is it? It seems to be getting worse. It seems to get worse and like, so that's why we felt compelled to put forth this information because spirituality gives a solution to this. Yeah. And we're gonna walk us through the solution, but first we have to talk about the pain. So where's the pain? Yeah. The pain is, you see it going wrong. You can't change it. You're, you feel like a victim. You see other victims. What's happening? I can't control it. It's not supposed to be this way. And that dissonance inside creates a pain. Yeah, you wanna do something, but nothing you do seems to change it. Right. And I, I think we've mentioned this before. That we have been studying Raja Yoga for many, many years. So there are a lot of wonderful, practices that are being taught. And I have found using them, it actually helped me to overcome, this feeling stuck in, in injustice, learning how to protect itself and learning how to, see what is going on, observing it. But at the same time, not allowing myself or allowing my mind to get into that spin of, constantly complaining about it, constantly, thinking that I'm the victim. Those are not good positions to be in because it steals your happiness and your self-confidence. So I'm gonna say that there are. Two steps, three steps. The first step is acknowledging that I'm in pain. Yeah. That's the first step. Acknowledge that I am creating. No ma with good intentions. I mean, to be fair, inside our mind we're like, we want it to be fair. That's not wrong. Exactly. It's not wrong to want things to be fair, right? Yeah. But if they're not, then what do I do? Am I just gonna go crazy? Answer. No, we're not gonna go crazy. First step is. Acknowledge that it's hurting. Acknowledge that yes, there's what I feel to be injustice. Things are right and wrong, and I'm going like a little crazy inside based on this thing. It's not resolving. So I have to acknowledge that I'm feeling uncomfortable. I'm feeling in pain. I'm angry, I'm upset, I'm sad. I have no self conf, whatever it is. I feel insecure, right? Yeah. Different things. I feel that's step one. Step two is the laws of karma. We have to train our intellect to understand that there are, there is some logic to what's happening right now, and that we may not need to understand all of it. We may not need to understand each situation like you could say to me. Or say to us, uh, Hey you guys, how is like a kid getting killed or a kid getting kidnapped and mutilated? Or where are this happening? Or that, how is that justice or how is that the laws of, how is that good? We're not saying it's good. We're saying that if you think about the laws of karma, and I'll let Ken talk about he's, I don't wanna say he's better, but he's really good with karma. That if I can accept intellectually not my feelings yet, the next step is the feelings, but the first step is the intellect. If I can accept that there is some logic here, there is some return of something happening. We don't understand. We don't have to understand it all. We just have to have faith that there is some logic happening. Then intellectually, I can accept a little bit. But the real acceptance comes with the, with the feeling part, but we gotta do the intellect first. Yeah. So you wanna say something about karma? Yeah. Sometimes people look at, um, what is going on and they, they say, okay, there's injustice, but, uh, religion or spirituality, they're like more passive. And, you somehow can think, you think that that's not the right response. Um, we are, we're not saying that if you feel like expressing your views or some people go up there and they're protest, protesting, protesting or volunteering, that's great, but be careful. Right. Or volunteering. But that's fine. Do what you are compelled to do. But at the same time, laws of Karma teaches us that. We need to ensure that there is peace. That's your self-esteem, your self-confidence, your feeling, a sense of control. It starts from you, taking care of your mind, taking care of your intellect, and, um, um, which means that I, I'm responsible for, I'm responsible for me, I'm responsible for my peace because. The media and other people's opinion and maybe politicians and leaders out there, they have their views and they have their goal or their aim. And, and I, um, we have seen a lot of times people just use other people or, so many things are happening these days. We don't have the full picture and we can take one person's opinion and next thing you know, we are going following blindly and then the consequences are there and you wonder. Why did I do that? And you end up losing Now, uh, look at this example, being at work where you experience, say, discrimination or injustice, where you are overlooked or something, or where you, there's favoritism and, um, you're not the one that is kissing up to the boss or something. So you're overlooked. Uh. One thing I, I've learned from my own experience, and also that's what is recommended too, if you work in a way that you're fulfilling your responsibility and you're going a little beyond that, uh, helps you to, show that you're not affected by, by the. Obvious, injustice. And at the same time you feel good about yourself, that at least you're earning your keep. You are actually able, like you have, you have self-esteem, you have a self-pride that will not be affected by what other people perception of you is, or, you know, even though you don't get exactly what you want, you want that raise you want. That position and you're overlooked for it. Then internally don't give up. Then don't let it affect you in a way that you are now. Like it just compounds or it reinforces their attitude towards you that. You know, you're not the right person or that, um, you never measure up. Why should you hurt yourself? Yeah. But that, but that's like a principle though. Like not just at work, but why should I hurt myself? Like this whole thing about I'm suffering. Why should I hurt myself even? But I have to understand how the functioning, how that works. I have to be able to. See it in a way that I can be with it and still do whatever I need to do and still feel in my self-respect. Yeah. And my dignity I think. Right. And then when you are doing, when you are performing your task properly and in a professional way, even though you don't get what you want, I mean, there is a tin line though. You don't allow yourself to be used or abused. Mm-hmm. But there is a way to still hold your dignity. And be true to yourself and to fulfill the, uh, the whatever the job requirement is, right? So that's, that's one example. Why, why mentioning that because the law of karma there is that you will, even when you leave that job, you retire or whatever it is, you will still feel good about who you are and you are. And actually you'll forget those people because eventually, because you haven't done anything. To regret, because you know what I mean? Let's use that thing about work, but then switch it back into the world thing. The world attitude mm-hmm. At work. Right? No matter how upset you were, it didn't change it. Right? Right. Yeah. So let's, let's put that now back into the world thing. No matter how upset I get, no matter how crazy I feel about what's happening, it's not changing it. Yeah, so what can I do? Like what you had to do, it's not changing it. So you had to figure out what can I do, what's required of me plus a little bit more? And I'm gonna say that brings us to the third step. The third step is to go beyond this idea of right and wrong. To go beyond the idea of fairness and justice and injustice. And actually go into what Ken just alluded to, which is, what can I do? And maybe a little bit beyond. And in this case, I'm not necessarily talking about physical stuff to do, although like we said, if you feel compelled to do that, do it right. Yeah. Whatever you feel compelled to do, do it. But we're talking about the spiritual side, the mind side. So what is it that I can do if I be, go beyond this right and wrong? Go beyond the suffering. I understand that there's karma going on, which I can't change. It's happening and I can't change it. So what can I do? And I'm gonna say, what I can do is start generating some soul conscious attitude, feelings, and generate love. Like no matter what's going on, I'm generating love. Yeah. No matter what's going on, I'm generating peace. And what that does is it saves me, and I am putting energy into the system that's positive. And then when it comes to karma philosophy, there is personal karma, right? There is also group karma, and maybe even at a national level, you find people are like, we watch the news, right? We're, we're like spectators to suffering, or we see what is going on as a result of politics as a result of. Uh, I don't know, centers of power moving and all, and economies and all this stuff like shifting. Yeah. What am I supposed to do? It just feels so out of control. And and that is where you're watching what you, you can do nothing about it. Exactly. So you should, we should be able to. What spirituality teaches us is to recognize that as time goes on, it seems like things are getting more chaotic, more confusing, and, and almost as if there is an. In humanity, in the in people's behavior. And you can, you can ask God, you can cry out and say Why? The thing is that you're still not able to change it, but what you can change is you, your feeling for those who are going through whatever they're going through. Because when you have compassion and you have a, a connection with others, empathy. Not necessarily sympathy, don't suffer, but have love and compassion like mercy. You have mercy for everyone. That the karma in that too. It one thing, it'll protect you from suffering. Right. The other part is that it will probably even help others, in a subtle way. Subtle. We don't know subtle ways, but subtle ways, but at least I'm doing something positive. Yeah. Then you might have some control over your family and, how they feel and the environment and the atmosphere that you think. So you're helping each other to, to face this together so nobody feels alone. So don't let what is obviously injustice or perceive injustice. Don't let it make you sink into depression or anxiety. Right? Because, because let's say why it, it would send us there. Because we're holding on to the idea of this is right and this is wrong, and it's not changing like the external. This is very important. What I'm saying, by the way, the reason why it hurts is because I have an idea of what's right in here and that is not doing it. So. What can I do about that? I can sit here and suffer and keep saying, this is not right. That's not right. I can't believe this. I can't believe that, but, and I'm guilty of it. By the way. I'm not saying this like I'm beyond I, oh my gosh. Mm-hmm. Yeah. All of us, right? Oh my gosh. Yeah. You're years and months of suffer the suffering, suffer these things. All of us, even now we're watching the news and I'm still, there's still a little bit of. I wish it would be. I wi It's much less though. I, to be fair, right? Yeah. It's much less, I'm not emotional about it. I'm not upset anymore. I'm actually, that shows progress. You see what, you see what we're trying to say? I hope you all see what we're trying to say, right? It's not about turning off your feelings. It's not about turning off who you are. It's not about doing or not doing something. It's about beginning to see things as they are. Being able to accept them a little bit because, A, you can't change it. B, you're suffering. And C, the laws of karma are operating. Yeah. So I have to say that there's something beyond what I can understand in this one little moment. Maybe there's something else going on. So can I accept that? And then who am I finally in the scene in this time? Who am I? I can be peace, I can be generosity, I can be love. I can be caring for the people who are suffering. I can care without judging, I can care. Yeah. And then I save myself and I'm doing elevated karma. Uh, it's, this is really a very deep topic because when you it, it might be a nice practice in meditation to when these things are bothering you a lot and relationships or like injustice. Go inside and see how you feel in the morning, early when you, let's say you wake up at for a few minutes, 15 minutes. Sit and relax and, and just go within. Think of yourself as being of light, soul, peace. And it's, you are with God and you look and just observe things and look at how you reacted. And then feel, remember that sad, depressing, feeling doesn't help and it just make matters worse. And, it'll take away your power and your ability to face even other problems in your life. And you don't wanna add problem, you wanna reduce it. So use meditation to help you to develop that internal resource that you have. So with that before, so what I'd like to do now is I'd like to take them in a one minute meditation. Let's just do a one minute meditation. So we're gonna, now we're talking about being peaceful and being generous, right? And being caring and being benevolent. So let's just take a minute, relax in your seat. We know what's going on, we know what all the emotions are. You can close your eyes, or you can look at me, look at Ken, look at our forehead. Just let the sense of peace like come over your body and just for a moment, we're going beyond all of it. Take a breath in and exhale. Just recognizing very gently that silence is present. Peace is present in me. And I do care about the world. My heart is large enough to care about the whole world. And just for a moment, let me bring up that feeling of caring for the world. You can visualize the world. Visualize the globe, let's say the earth, and just feel the love that I have for all souls and for nature. Just feel that for yourself for a moment. Okay, now gently start coming back. Bring your attention back to your body, up into your face, and come on back. Hopefully that was even just for a moment, just a little taste of what we're talking about. When I'm beyond injustice, when I'm beyond this way of looking at the world in terms of what we talked about, that I can access this resource inside this beautiful, powerful, peaceful, loving resource inside that energy benefits me first, my body and everyone. And nature also. Okay. So with that, we will say goodbye. Um, below in the description you'll see a link for, uh, free meditation commentaries. And if you're interested in Zoom classes, the links are there also. So thank you for listening and we'll see you in the next um episode. In the next episode. All right. Bye-bye everyone. Bye-bye. Okay. When you walk into a room, life gets little, you. You.
