Exploring Spiritual Intelligence – Part 8 – Sacrifice

For the Love of Sacrifice

Spiritual understanding really dawns once we are able to appreciate that sacrifice is not martyrdom. Sacrifice is not about violence, punishment or suffering, it is not a display of pretended or exaggerated hurt to obtain sympathy. It is not about crucifying yourself over and over. It can entail enduring difficulties, embracing challenges and letting go of what you want. Sacrifice arises from loving and embracing all life. It’s as if you want to let go so deeply to know the ONE, to know the bliss and goodness that flows through everything.

Sacrifice is the ability to let go of “my, mine and I” agendas. Giving up the little ‘I’ is the true meaning of sacrifice. It means sublimating every thought, word and deed as an offering to Love and Truth. It is about saturating all acts with Divine intent. This is the most wondrous spiritual practice to cultivate selfless love. Love gives for ever and ever, it never requires anything in return. Selfless unconditional love thrives on sacrifice and renunciation.

When you sincerely investigate the question, “Who am I”, you will find that everyone is included in ‘I’, and your love will expand limitlessly. The ego resists sacrifice with its desires, fears and need for control. True sacrifice is love, it reveals tremendous power. The power to heal, to overcome, to transform and to bring about great change.

Sacrifice Leads to Fulfillment

Most people don’t understand that through sacrifice you learn resilience and discover what you are truly capable of. Sacrifice nourishes our sense of responsibility to ourselves, our children, our world. It makes us whole, reveals the machinations of the laws of creation. Sacrifice illuminates the willingness to become all that you can be and are. It leads to a fulfilled and contented life.

“You must give up the life you planned in order to have the life that is waiting for you.”


Joseph Campbell

The true secret of joy lies in sacrifice. In the Vedas, sacrifice has been declared to be the only means of achieving liberation. Understanding that there is a time to give and a time to receive is at the heart of sacrifice. When we let go of all that we believe about ourselves, our limitations, our long cherished hopes, our need to be in charge, our comfort, we reveal all that is good and Godly about humanity.

Giving up what is taken in is a law of life. It applies to breathing, food and other things. Likewise, the wealth which one acquires should also be given back to society. Wealth includes not only riches, but every other form of acquisition including knowledge, scholarship, and skills of various kinds. The knowledge you have acquired through education should be imparted to others. It is by such sharing that your education gets enriched and purposeful. If you do not impart the knowledge you possess, it becomes useless. This means that the more you give, the more you grow.


Sathya Sai Baba
Summer Course in Brindavan, May 24, 1991

Parents make sacrifices all the time and the impact this has on children is enormous. The earth is a perfect example of sacrifice, constantly giving of itself to nurture and nourish us. Can you sacrifice some of your attachments, your desires, your identity, your greed, your arrogance, your stubbornness, your limitations, your choices, your plans? If you can then we can heal our world.

Lovingly, Ranjana

www.whatwecan.com

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