A pure and pristine world where we all live in harmony, and where children and adults are happy and joyful, filled with love and peace – is this possible? Or is it just the random musings of an idle mind? Well, we can get there, and the answer lies in `Hearticulture.’
So, what is Hearticulture? Hearticulture is a culture, based on the heart!
In general, culture defines ideas, customs, and the social behaviour of a group of people. Culture is what defines a society. If a society is based on the culture of the heart, life is lived from the heart and the heart is given its rightful place, at the centre of our being.
What can we say are the qualities associated with Hearticulture?
Generosity of the heart is the most significant quality we observe. Differences are accepted very easily. Generosity is not just about sharing our possessions; it also means how well we embrace each other’s differences. So when we become generous and forgiving of others, of their mistakes, of our own mistakes, and rise above these differences, our hearts become pure. In this state of being compassionate and forgiving, all the while not even aware of the need for reward, for such a purpose, our hearts grow generously in Hearticulture.
Humility too finds a beautiful place in Hearticulture. It is the right to be humble with our loved ones, but very difficult to be so, with those closest to us, as we take them for granted. We expect a lot from them without accepting them as they are. When we are humble and accepting, and open our hearts, we do not need respect and honour from anyone, including our own.
The modern day saint, Shri Ram Chandra of Shahjahanpur gave a very beautiful message in 1982. He said, “We are all brethren connected intellectually, morally and spiritually – the main goal of human life. This and that have gone now. There remains the purity alone in all His work and environment which weaves the spiritual destiny of people with the Ultimate.”
This lies at the crux of a society based on the values of the heart. The heart alone connects us, and in Hearticulture we feel this automatically. When we respond to the world as ‘we’ instead of ‘I’, there is neither separation nor blame. There is no desire to create conflict. There is only love. Now differences are viewed not as conflicting but as bringing about evolutionary change and expansion of one’s vision.
In Hearticulture we also notice the subtlety and tenderness in the way we communicate. Ram Chandra of Fatehgarh shared the spiritual principles of communication as follows:
Let the flow of your conversation be a current that is even and in tune with the current of Reality. In this way, you will touch the hearts of those people listening. How? Remove all sharpness, so that your speech doesn’t carry any kind of weight, like a current of still air.
Let it be soft, cultured, smooth and balanced. A person whose tongue is cultured and polite has a large, pure and noble heart.
Be free of anger and free of emotional outbursts in speech. The heart is so tender that it begins to wilt even with the slightest disturbance.
The purity and lightness of our heart helps us to listen to it with clarity and confidence. We make our decisions with courage and the wisdom from within.
Heartfulness meditation plays an important role for the advent of Hearticulture in our lives. This practice of meditation, with its roots in ancient Raja Yoga and made simpler and easy for today’s world, helps in opening of hearts. A regular practice of meditation instils trust in Nature’s bounteousness and we are guided from within to take the right step in the right direction, thus wise making decisions.
Do we ever go wrong? We are human, after all!
When we make mistakes, we continue to learn along the way, with the greatest wonder and awe that life offers us. We are fascinated by the cocoon of joy and acceptance with which life surrounds us.