Journal of Medicine Vol 4 - Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences and ...

Amrita Journal of Medicine
Patience
comfort day after day? Who else can listen to problems
for hours on end? Who can sincerely smile continuously?
Who else can travel around India and the world for 8
months in the year, keeping up an impossible schedule?
If we can’t learn a little patience from such a being, we
are really a hopeless case. One may search for a long
time, but one would be hard put to find a role model
such as Amma who practices what she preaches.
Amma tells of seeing people waiting all day in line at
the government hospital in order to see a doctor. But for
making a bit of spiritual progress or self-improvement,
most people have no patience. Many of us want everything
right now. People come to Amma and insist that
they should have darshan immediately or that their problems
should disappear without the least delay! They have
no time to hang around. With such a lack of patience,
what benefit will they get from Amma’s company?
In relation to the Highest Truth, without patience, we
cannot gain the direct experience of our true self, the
Atma. The ever-bubbling restless mind prevents us from
doing so. The state that Amma demonstrates in her own
life and which she wants us to also experience is one of
perfect stillness, peace, shanti.
Instead of getting angry whenever we must wait or
when we meet with resistance, let us use such situations
to practice patience. Let us think of Amma’s example of
natural patience and try to follow in her footsteps. Then
we will find every difficulty becoming an opportunity
for spiritual practice. When we naturally become as patient
as Amma, then we have reached a lasting goal. We
will be happy and have great satisfaction, and we will
make others happy too.
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