Our dear fellow LBC blogger The Old Fossil, TOF for short, had to make this a bit exotic by using the word alchemy instead of chemistry. In the process, he has flummoxed me. I really do not know how to transmute emotion into matter, or universal elixir. And like Mattheus van Hellemont,The Alchemist, shown above in the painting, I have been experimenting and researching to find something to write for this LBC post.
Alchemy : The medieval forerunner of chemistry, concerned with the transmutation of matter, in particular with attempts to convert base metals into gold or find a universal elixir.
If however TOF had suggested Emotional Blackmail, I could have written tomes. What a pity that he did not.
So, cornered as I am, I have decided to opt to write about a universal elixir for emotional well being which was also the quest of the alchemists of the past.
And, Abracadabra, it is nothing but an attitude of gratitude. In the Indian spiritual tradition it is called Prasada Buddhi. Prasadam comes from the Sanskrit word Prasad which means religious offering to god, which is in return given back to the worshipper as blessed gift. It is very similar to the Sacramental Bread of the Christian faith. Buddhi means, in this context, attitude.
Prasada Buddhi – When one dedicates all work to the Lord, and when there is no selfish desire for the fruit of action, the mind acquires such purity that it will be happy and contented, no matter what the outcome. This can be likened to our attitude of accepting prasad from the temple priest; no matter what he gives, we accept it reverently. Such is the prasada buddhi of a karma yogi. In such a person, there is no place for frustration, disappointment or sorrow, however adverse the result.
Developing that attitude is the spiritual path. Not easy but one that can be achieved with conscious attempts to be so.
This topic was suggested by The Old Fossil for the weekly Friday Loose Bloggers Consortium (LBC) where currently six of us write on the same topic every Friday. I hope that you have enjoyed my contribution to that effort. The five other bloggers who write regularly are, in alphabetical order, Ashok, gaelikaa, Maxi, and Shackman and The Old Fossil. Do drop in on their blogs and see what their take is on this week’s topic. Since some of them may post late, or not at all this week, do give some allowance for that too!