The role of power of will or ichcha shakti in a seeker’s life-I

Part A

My dear readers, in one of my previous posts recently I had mentioned that henceforth I will write articles as my spiritual diary which you can peek into.  However, this trend has to be discontinued now as some of our friends are communicating via email and their answers now and again are better answered here on a wider platform through a detailed posting as this will benefit a number of people on the net.

This post unlike the previous is explanatory and not exclusively instructive in nature. By giving my personal examples, citing anecdotes of pilgrimage and also wrapping up with some exclusive moments of meditations should make this post useful in many ways to all those who are pursuing their high spiritual goals. It is heartening to see the sustained, swift progress of many of you. I pray to God and the Divine Gurus to bestow their blessings now and in coming days without whose help it is not possible to get applause in our accomplishments.

This topic is also presented in three parts like many others; the first one being the introduction of an intricate spiritual concept and the following elaborating on the same. Please read it first in parts and then as a whole. Once the series get over, assimilate the whole concept by visualizing the infinitesimal and subtle thoughts, then apply them in your inner life to make  spiritual thoughts and divine perceptions.

Quoting from ‘The  state of Super Consciousness-I’  There are three types of power that a man possesses in his consciousness.

Ichcha Shakti or the power of one’s desire

Sankalpa Shakti or thought power and

Kriya Shakti the power to do actions.

First comes the Ichcha Shakti. It is the power bestowed upon humans to initiate an act. Without this power, the force to initiate and start an action does not come into play. The stronger the desire or ichcha shakti, the more possibility for the actions to manifest. Desires should be positive and constructive in nature. It should be used to promote only positive developments in oneself. They should be cultivated and enhanced by practice of concentration and positive affirmations. One must be cautious not to put this ability to a distorted goal. It should not be used for incorrect, detrimental or unsound goals. For example Bhishma Pitamaha in Mahabharat story had the boon of dying at will. If he had used this boon before the Kurukshetra war, there would have been no war in all probabilities. Duryodhana would not have fought this war because he was depending on Bhishma Pitamaha to kill Arjun, the infallible archer. As no one could kill Bhishma Pitamaha and he was a great warrior, Duryodhana’s plan was to kill Arjuna through Bhishma Pitamaha. So Ichcha Shakti should not be used for mischievous, detrimental as well as vicious acts.

Sankalpa Shakti – This word is also used for determination many a times. Sankalp here means the rise of a thought, the power of thoughts. Every thought that is born is like a wave in an ocean, and has its magnetic power. It draws to itself positive or negative circumstances. The more positive our thoughts, the more power we possess and vice versa. Attention should be paid by us every time we think and to our quality of thoughts. We should discard the evil, bad and weak thoughts. In their place cultivate and nurture positive, constructive, creative and healthy thoughts.

King Drupad of Panchal vowed to kill the man who was once his best friend, Drona out of enmity and hatred. Hence he wished for a son who would one day grow up and kill his enemy. He performed a putrayeshti yagya to beget a son for this purpose. Such detrimental thoughts should always be destroyed immediately.

Kriya Shakti– Kriya means to do, shakti means power- the power and force to perform actions. Some people have more energy and force to work than others. The reason for this is that both the body and mind of such people are robust and healthy and they are in tune with nature’s powers. Such people not only perform better than others but they also produce better results in shorter duration because of their kriya shakti.

All the three shaktis are divine powers only but its uses are different. We need to become aware of these three latent powers in us. These shaktis push us to move up in great strides on the spiritual path and we are transformed quickly. We need all these shaktis as we progress our way up. They should be cultivated and increased by the practice of concentration and meditation.

Part B

On 27^th April evening and 28^th April morning meditations and even on the night of 27^th April  before I fell  asleep, I  had a strange experience. After shutting my eyes, immediately I was in a very fast moving automobile which was racing on an unending road. This went on for a few seconds until I was in a dizzy like state. Strangely I was applying my force to surge the vehicle ahead as far as it was possible and I was using my force so that the vehicle should not stop.

Yesterday as I sat down quietly to contemplate after I got ready in the morning, as soon as my eyes closed I was again running down fast on an unending road but this time I stopped and had reached a place. As I stopped at that point, very old memories of my childhood of age less than four were revived. I recalled a few interesting things which nobody knows about and it had no meaning or significance had they not been interpreted by none other than His Holiness Shri Mahavatar Babaji in my present meditations. The yogis perceive inane and normal incidents of our lives as remarkable or special because they can read into our character so well. So when my very early childhood memories were evoked, these incidents surfaced on top. The memory of all these episodes was lying dormant in the deep layers of my mind for many years. After reviving them with the grace of Babaji, I am viewing ordinary day experience of a child as something note worthy. They were-

• I used to go to my paternal ancestral house years ago in holidays and I can recall incidents and episodes of time  when I was three years or little older than that. We used to have great fun with cousins and siblings by going up and down the stairs, railings and ramps. The house was very big and breezy. The rooms and kitchen were on first floor while the ground floor was used for other purposes. I had heard from my grandmother that once upon a time we used to have a horse carriage and my father used to have his own horse to ride when he was a young man.

The stairs were many and I remember running up the house stairs faster than my capacity like the ‘big people’ did. I used all my strength to reach up faster than others.

When I became eight or ten years old, I loved riding  horses and was very comfortable sitting on its back. The desire of doing fearless acts continued when I used to fantasize riding fast horses, driving motor cars, bikes and trucks and even flying an aeroplane! This was my favourite daydreaming activity even till I was a teenager and obviously no one knows till this date about it!

At the age of  ten or so, I dreamt of earning and making it on my own and had a great desire to run away from house so that I could create my own life depending on none. In other words, I dreamt of being absolutely independent and self reliant as soon as possible. I hated asking help from anybody and wanted to do things all by myself without any assistance.

• Our ancestral house was near a flowing river which would get flooded in monsoon. The south-western part of the house was extremely windy because of the gushing wind coming from the river. The door of the guest room in that area would get slammed with a compelling force because of wind and sometimes it could get unsafe for us. We children, who visited our grandmother in summers or weddings were always warned to be careful with the forceful slamming door on windy days and nights. When I was around five  years old, I would open and shut the door with all my force visualizing myself as an adult and could manage to hold the door firmly without squeezing my fingers between the hinges and the door. I still remember the times when I had to go inside the room, I  applied all my strength opening the tightly closed door as the wind from the river which came gushing in from the verandah- courtyard would not allow it to open as it exerted pressure on the back of the door.

•  There was a domestic helper called Gopal who would come home in the morning on a cycle. He would cook, clean and do all the house work. I remember him coming home riding a bicycle everyday after which he would park it near the entrance. I wanted to ride his bicycle and be like him. As I could not do it because I was too small then, I would go near the stationery bicycle and with my one hand rotate the pedal fast and enjoy seeing the spinning wheel and its spokes. I would derive immense pleasure in riding a bicycle psychologically instead of doing it physically and would repeat this exercise mentally when nobody was in sight so that I would not be stopped by the elders in the house or by Gopal for that matter.

• When I was in kindergarten, I had a wonderful time. I adored my Kindergarten teacher who was very loving and understanding. She dealt with me patiently and poured out all her love and attention on me. She looked after me very well like a mother would do for her own child. Miss X left an irrevocable mark on my tender heart and mind. She kindled in me an unspoken desire of becoming a caring and loving teacher. In future, when I have handled age groups of four and five plus in school, a character was already shaped and a mind moulded silently because of that desire which was born decades ago. I have only become aware of it now.

In my recent meditation when I reverentially asked Mahavatar Babaji what I should write in the upcoming posts, he gave me some quick glimpes of my early childhood once again which I have just narrated. At the age of nine or ten when I was either reprimanded or prevented from attempting to do tough things like cycling for four to six hours with my cousins and brothers in summer vacation mornings, they were actually good signs of Ichcha Shakti or will power I was told by him. I was quite relieved to know that my childhood traits of accomplishing were positive and healthy in nature and my pursuits were not a case of stubbornness or just being a ‘tomboy’ as I was called then.

After some moments, Babaji gave me the outline of this post and gave these useful tips for all the spiritual seekers. His advice for which we are always so grateful should be followed so that we review ourselves from time to time and add some charge and spark to our sadhana and in life in general.

He said to me, “The power of will or Ichcha shakti is the driving force, the initiative force present in all of us. In normal world it is useful to start and initiate a goal, a purpose, a mission or any other task.

But for a seeker, the role of will power or ichcha shakti is much higher than one can understand or acknowledge.

The bondage of recurring cycles of birth and death can never be broken by any soul unless he or she has a will to do it. Even God’s help or Grace comes to us  when we create and initiate that will in us to free ourselves. The soul spends  lives after lives reincarnating groping in the dark without spiritual wisdom and spiritual growth if he does not initiate and use his latent power of will.

And seekers who are already traversing now will reach a stage when they do not make substantial growth. If they search for answers within, they will recognize that they have not yet had the desire or the will to step up their spiritual efforts and hence they are where they were a long time ago.

Hence if they now kindle a desire, a blazing will not to dwindle or languish, they must in moments of stillness and calmness express their will to Omnipresent God.”

In addition to all this Shri Mahavatar Babaji made me understand that it was my sheer will to see Mt. Kailash from close quarters that I could reach the summit in freezing climate during my pilgrimage. Had it not been because of my enduring will inside, I would not have been able to make it uptil there. It is not only the physical fitness that was required to reach the higher altitude but it was the will to do the impossible feat that drove me to the hilt.

(There is one more related post ‘How  to increase the power of your will?) for consideration on the same topic)

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Updated on 02-02-2020

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