Journey
May 2024
Journey
When you align yourself with the Divine, by default, you find the courage to fulfil your journey on Earth with self-respect and dignity, says Shivi Verma
I am considered radical and unconventional by those around me. The reason is that I often take steps that others find difficult to undertake.
Often, when matters reach a head—when people think I am weak and can be manipulated or bullied because certain vested interests shackle me to them—I surprise them by walking away or declaring my independence.
When dangers or unfairness surround me, I get reminded that my sojourn here is temporary and that nothing can stop me from doing the right thing because I am protected by the Creator, the most potent force.
This has involved walking out of an abusive marriage, quitting a job where I was being disrespected, or taking on people who think they can lord over me because of their superior financial or professional status. When I had left my toxic first marriage, I was alone in Mumbai and had no friends or relatives to fall back on. Furthermore, I had offered to resign from the job I was doing because I felt stifled and lacked the space to grow in it. So, I was alone, homeless, and almost penniless in a big bad world and had only my instincts to help me survive.
My ex-husband threatened me with dire consequences if I decided to act autonomously, since I was young, pretty, and without a roof over my head. But I knew that I would be fine since I was doing the right thing by not succumbing to his threats, violence, and abuse. I knew that I would be taken care of. And things did come around. I came across some very good people who helped me instead of taking advantage of me. I found a decent place to live in and even got a raise and promotion at the same job I wanted to quit.
Such turnarounds happen because a part of me perceives the world as unreal, as though I am watching a play. And I have the power to improvise on the spot since I am a director backed by a powerful producer. My eyes are forever fixed on the One who dreams this world into existence. Who keeps guiding me and telling me that it’s all a game which can easily be played by being astute, intuitive, brave, and self-controlled. However, I am aware that nothing happens in a vacuum. It’s important for women to be educated and financially independent to be able to take full charge of their lives.
Nothing empowers you more than earning your bread, bearing your expenses, and making your own decisions.
Whenever I have looked at my life from the perspective of the Divine, I have found no disparity between man and woman. He hasn’t straightjacketed men and women into strict gender-based roles. He hasn’t created a woman to find her purpose in being a good daughter in-law, wife, or mother alone. It’s our fears that generate this image. He wants a woman to experience life as much as a man and be treated with respect, equality, and love. He wants her to hustle hard to build a life and fortune, and blossom into her full potential. He wants her to seek knowledge as well as liberation.
Now it’s up to women to decide who they want to be—an object by playing into a man’s sexual fantasies, a slave who has no agency over her life and decisions, or an individual who is aware of her divine origin and purpose?
Editor-in-Chief of Life Positive, Shivi Verma is a devotee who found all her answers in loving God passionately.
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