Obedience means quickly, cheerfully and accurately carrying out instructions. I cultivate it by controlling any tendency to resist directions or do things differently than asked. The opposite is resistance.§
Comparing the actions of one who is obedient to one who is resistant§ |
||
|---|---|---|
Situation§ |
Obedience§ |
Resistance§ |
When your father gives instructions for a minor task, you…§ |
are happy to fulfill it exactly as he explained.§ |
feel a need to discuss your own ideas on how to approach it.§ |
When your dance teacher gives you a long series of exercises, you…§ |
accept each one, execute it well and report back to her.§ |
find the work tedious and use your dance time for self-expression.§ |
When the school rules change and students are asked to dress uniformly, you…§ |
acquiesce to the change, even though you would prefer different fashion choices.§ |
ignore the dress code and rebelliously continue to wear your preferred clothing.§ |
Gurudeva explained: “…discipline and obedience. Nothing was ever accomplished on this Earth without these two qualities. Be self-disciplined, cultivate self-control. Obey your gurus. Obey your mothers. Obey your fathers. Obey your elders. Obey your Saivite teachers.”§
“Obey your guru, obey your guru… Siva’s devotees obey their satguru, carrying out his directions, expressed or implied, with intelligent cooperation, without delay.”§
“Scriptures say a guru must be carefully chosen, and when one is found, to follow him with all your heart, to obey and fulfill his every instruction better than he would have expected you to, and most importantly, even better than you would have expected of yourself.”§
ASSIGNMENT: For two weeks, watch for those moments when you are given a project or instruction and work to fulfill it without undue resistance or questioning.§
Date you began this assignment ____________________§
MY THOUGHTS ON THE BENEFITS OF OBEDIENCE: 
§
