Creative Courage
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This episode is a reminder for all of us to tap into our creative courage. Chandresh has blended creativity with courage in this episode because he feels to truly be creative we must have courage.
True creativity may not have any reference points. It does not mean manufacturing or assembling things that are already recycling themselves. Instead, true creativity goes beyond our logic, calculations, comparisons, or even our vision of how we want things to be seen.
In this age in time where our ideas are so influenced by what is trending and what is making the news, we need to go back into space where we are not creating anything out of the demand and pressure, but are simply honoring that creativity within us.
We hope this episode takes people beyond the fear and need to satisfy the noise out there, and simply gives you the courage to show up in your most creative courage and fearless version of who you are.
Have any questions or curiosities about your spiritual journey? Email Chandresh at askcb@leelagurukul.com.
Episode Transcript
Creative courage is an untamed force. It's rebellious, it's revolutionary, and it's not cheap. It comes with trust and consistency. You earn it by unlearning how you were taught to suffer. Breathe, take a moment, and ask yourself, what will you do today to plant seeds of creative courage in your heart? I am Chandresh Bhardwaj, and this is Leela Gurukul. Namaste, everyone. I hope you are feeling safe, relaxed, and grounded wherever you are. Today's episode is about creative courage. I always connect creativity and courage together because I feel to be creative you need courage. Creativity is absolutely the most powerful rebellious act that you can put out there. When we are truly creative, we may not find many takers, we may not find many reference points, but in those moments of creativity, your truth comes out. Your colors shine, your wings expand, and if I could give you just one message in this lifetime that would be to keep cultivating this creative gut every day in every possible way.
To go deeper in this subject, in this topic, I want to share a story of tigers and monkeys that I heard from one of my dear school teachers in high school. And throughout my school life, I always had troubles with principals, school teachers, and this particular teacher was one of the few ones who really encouraged my rebelliousness in school. There was a time when they announced that there will never be a gathering around Chandresh because he brainwashers other kids not to follow the system of the school, and she was one of those teachers who really would encourage me to tame my rebelliousness, to understand my anger, and not to give it any impulsive outlet. So in addition to many spiritual forces around me, there were a few exceptional school teachers who really just led my path with example. So this story is of the tiger versus monkey story in a jungle. This group of tigers and monkeys were never friendly to each other. They hated each other always.
And then one day, this little monkey was born. For the sake of this story, we are going to call him Ananda. Ananda means bliss. And bliss is much deeper than happiness. Bliss means that you have found your source. So this monkey called Ananda, he was different from day one. He would look at things differently, he would have different questions, and they all ignored his unconventional energy thinking that it's just a phase. But one day, Ananda something really crazy. He was seen playing with tigers. The monkey saw him and they ran back to the leader of the monkey tribe and they said, "We saw Ananda today. He was playing with the children of tigers." And the leader got angry and scared, and they called Ananda's parents. And Ananda's parents confessed that they had a certain idea that he's doing that.
And they said, "We have been trying to convince them that these tigers are enemies. You cannot play with them." And the father of Ananda said, "I really think he's mentally unwell because why would a monkey play with tigers?" The mother said, "I think he's just stupid. He doesn't have his brain functioned. Maybe that's why he keeps going there." The siblings of Ananda said, "Maybe he is just a coward. He doesn't have the courage to fight with the tigers and that's why he just keeps going there. He just doesn't have it in him." So they all discussed that this cannot go on and they decided to call Ananda and they told Ananda, "This is absolutely wrong. It's absurd, and what you're doing is against the tribe of monkeys, because these tigers are evil. They have been killing us for centuries, for such a long time."
And Ananda said, "I understand. Things have not been cordial and you feel that they'll hurt you. But the truth is, there are some bad tigers and some good tigers, just like we have some bad monkeys and some good monkeys. But if you say all the tigers are bad, it's just wrong. So why don't we sit, discuss, reflect upon this, and then conclude a more mindful solution? Maybe we can exist in harmony with each other." And all the monkeys got really angry. They got offended. "How dare this little one trying to sound all preachy and wise. And it's just wrong. He doesn't know what he's saying." And told Ananda, "What you're saying is terrible. We actually think you are possessed by some spirit." And then one senior monkey stepped in and he said, "Not only he's possessed by a spirit. I also think he's not a monkey. Maybe he's a tiger. And he's just born as monkey to take revenge on us." And they all started discussing.
And then another senior monkey stepped in and he said, "I agree with all of this and I really think one day he's going to kill all of us because he's planted by those tigers in the body of monkey. So before he kills us, let's kill him." The story ends on a very sad note. Ananda was killed. And when I heard this story, I didn't know how to react. I was a teenager and my teacher said, "Chandresh, if you want to think original, if you want to lead with awareness, if you want to truly express who you are, then be ready to face criticism like Ananda. Because if you lead with awareness and if you try to think original, the truth is, if you are not killed by your enemies, then you may get killed by one of your own." And I said, "Is that a bad thing?" As a teenager, when I heard this, I, of course, got confused, and I said, "Is that a bad thing? Then, are you saying I should not be trying to think originally?"
And I stopped meditating also in those days because the more I would meditate, the more urge to create some disturbance in their system would show up in me. And she said, "No, I am reminding you that this may happen, but that should not limit your courage." And she said, "When this courage will meet creativity, you will do something wonderful. And remember that Ananda. You owe it to this Ananda." And till this date, each time I feel a little weakness, a little confusion, a little loss of strength in my creative courage, I think about the little Ananda, that he died so that you all can build some creative courage. Because the truth is, this story is not just about tigers and monkeys. This is a human story really. I always hoped that I should not see the relevance of this story as I age. But the truth is, in this day and time, this story continues to show up in the most bizarre ways. And the reason I'm sharing it with you is to remind you that, please, build this creative coverage.
If you're not being creative, you are not really alive. You may be breathing, you may be aging, but you are not truly alive in your expression. The problem is our society is wired on this herd mentality. The society is not interested in truth. And whatever satisfies our ego, whatever makes us feel safe from some invisible imaginary enemy, then we simply accept those things as the truth. And when you are influenced by the herd mentality, the approvals become very important, the adjustments become very important, and you simply, blindly, unconsciously keep adjusting your life. And even if few of the individuals feel the need to raise their voice and be a little more rebellious and creative, they get scared because they feel, "I'm too small and this society is huge. It's big. I cannot fight it. But if I adjust to it, if I adjust myself to it, that might work."
And this keeps on happening until one day you start to taste something much bigger, much more alive, original, and eternal than the shallow society. And that big powerful force is the force of your awareness. I have stopped meditating on and off. When I used to feel that this rebellious spirit is getting too much and I need it tone down, I need to calm it down, and there is a huge part of me that I have not expressed on podcasts, but my hope is eventually it will come out, because all of those ideas and thinking templates are a bit unconventional and even they make me uncomfortable but they feel so right and so alive and each day in every way I'm trying to put them out. Each day in every way I'm trying to invite that creative courage, and I'm hoping you're also doing the same and together we can actually contribute a little bit to the collective consciousness.
Because that day will not come when each and every being is just Buddha, and it's all just enlightened awakened world out there. There will always be light and darkness. There will always be calmness and chaos. The seasons will always come and go. But if you keep making a little difference, you will only encourage more people to become a little more alive, to become a little more creative, to become a little more courageous. When you start to taste awareness, you realize that until now I was trying to find my safety in the river. But now I'm joining the ocean and when I join the ocean, who cares for the river? I don't need to feel so insecure. The ocean will take care of me. I don't need to always simply do things and repeat things based on the validations. When you are born, you're born as pure consciousness. There is absolutely no religion, no culture, no civilization, no education on you. You are pure creative force. You can do anything.
But before you start to understand the world, many systems step in and they start to program you, they start to decode you, and they make sure you don't have a free thinking process. They make sure you don't develop any free-thinking, and systematically, we are made to wire our mind based on fear, insecurity, need-based love, and tons of other complexities that we pretty much spend our entire life to fix, to understand, to make sense of. Those who have little children, try to invite this courage for yourself, for your children to be free and independent for a few years, which means there's absolutely no layer of education, religion, norms being forced on them. They are simply playing, simply alive, and you are only encouraging their curiosity. Whatever they're curious about, you're answering it, and that's their school for the first few years. Your child might become a powerful force even before they turn seven, because they are filled with countless curiosities.
But we keep giving them templates and formulas and we systematically end their curiosity, because someone has done that to us and we feel now we may need to do that to someone else. Creativity is the greatest revolution that can happen to us and we are gifted with that power. All we need to do is just invite some courage, because if we don't do it, then everything we say, we do, we write, it's nothing but a borrowed idea from others. Everything we do is simply going to be for others, but we neglect who we are. We put ourselves in this rinse and repeat system doing similar things on a daily basis. And I'm not saying that if you are working in a job, you should leave the job because being in a job is a terrible way to live life. The truth is, you could be doing the job and you can be absolutely creative in that job. You could really play with plenty of options in that job.
Because this idea, the cancel culture is one of them, and other ideas to leave your job, have some passive income, this whole idea without any context and basis is just terrible. I feel creativity can happen anywhere. You could be writing books, doing podcasts or teaching dance, or writing or anything and you could be least creative. You could be simply manufacturing. And this is what a lot is happening in the name of creativity. I feel people are not writing books anymore. They're assembling books. People are not being creative, they're manufacturing. Because once the creativity happens, it may be so original, so raw, and it may bring you some love, some powerful force, and guess what the mind wants? Now the mind wants to repeat that ecstasy, and to make it happen it wants to exactly replicate what it did with the earlier expression of creativity. And then you're not being creative anymore, you're only manufacturing.
And this is why some of the greatest writers, artists, you don't see any originality in their work, and when they try to be original, their fans hate them. But some of them teach their fans to be as creative as them, and that's where the power is. I know it will not be readily available to you when you are ready for creative courage. It takes time because we are unlearning so much. So don't give up. Don't get tired of trying to be creative. When you're relaxed, creativity will come. But if you get tired, if you give up, it will keep leaving you. And as I said, you can be doing anything that you're doing and still be creative, but if you allow yourself to be tamed and be an obedient product of society, they will be rewarding you and making sure that you never ever cultivate that creative courage, because deep down get afraid of not belonging to a tribe.
Deep down you're afraid that if you are not accepted or acknowledged, then who are we, really? So first step is aloneness. It's okay to be alone in this process. It's okay to vibe alone, play alone in this process. Once you really learn to be alone, then the courage will step in to be creative, to simply be who you are, and then hopefully you will revisit your ambition. Hopefully, you will revisit what has always been the idea of success and creativity in you and realize that what I was thinking about creativity was nothing more than manufacturing and assembling things. But now, as I'm becoming creative, I'm not focused on quantity. I'm focused on the quality, the joy of it. And that's where the fun is. That's where the real joy is. That's all for today. Thank you for listening. Be safe, be well, and continue to build your creative courage.
May the teachings of tantra continue to guide you and heal you, and I hope Leela Gurukul helps you to unlearn the old and embrace the unknown mystical possibility unfolding for you. To support this podcast, share it among the seekers who are ready for the next step in their spiritual path.
Useful Links
Find Your Source of Happiness - 21 Day Challenge
Private Guidance Program with Chandresh
