Walking on Thin Ice..(wake up call)

I have been a regular visitor of an Ashram near my home. It is headed by a very loving and kind realized Saint. I thought that everyone who came to this ashram must have been enveloped by his love and hospitality. But to be sure- I did ask one of the inmates one day: Has anyone ever been turned out by Swami ji from this ashram?

I was told: Yes- once an old man, who has been living here happily for days on end, was told by Swami ji: Catch the first bus to Vikasnagar and GO HOME! On deeper analysis of this paradox, I understood something: Many of us join a church or a sect or a spiritual movement and think that “I will be OK now”. We stop putting any further effort. We don’t do sadhana (Jap, Meditation etc.). We neither serve our family members. Nor do we put any effort in earning money, doing any meaningful effort in society. We are like a ship, which lifts anchor, sails out of the port, and then drops the anchor again and forgets all about further journey! (Dhobi ka kutta- na ghar ka, na ghat ka- as the proverb goes: Neither here, nor there).

But in our own mind- we are sure that we are doing FINE. But the fact is we are walking on thin ice. Any moment it may give way and we may slip below to our death. These thoughts came to me, when I listened to a young pws friend, who was facing difficulties. I realized that similar things are happening to many pws AFTER joining TISA! They are neither going for formal speech therapy, nor are they pursuing self therapy as advocated by TISA, on its website, blog and in its self-help manual. They have attended one Communication workshop of may be three days in 2008, one SHG meeting in 2009, wrote couple of posts on TISA blog in 2010, left a comment on TISA facebook in 2011… that is ALL- and they think they are doing fine! They are walking on very THIN ICE! They just have to appear for one job interview, for their complacence to be shattered- sadly.

As a senior member of this community, let me emphasize a few cardinal principles:

1.      A pws who tries some path, therapy or technique is BETTER than the pws who is sitting down, feeling bad but doing nothing. It is better to attempt and FAIL, then to do nothing.

2.      Every one’s stammering is being driven by different reasons- so, if one technique or path does not work for you, TRY other paths.

3.      If you can afford and access, go for Formal speech therapy. Government hospitals are recommended because of their transparent and affordable fee structure. But you are FREE in this matter. TISA has not legislated any LAW about it.

4.      Where formal therapy faces so many difficulties in transferring speech skills, learned in the clinic to the outside world, SELF-THERAPY should not be considered as an easy short-cut. All that needs to be done in the name of self therapy, is laid out in the self help manual. Unless you don’t do all those things, you are fooling yourself.

5.      Self – help works and there are enough proof around in the form of satisfied practitioners like, Manimaran, Dinesh, Rajesh, JP, Lalit, Pramendra, Jasbir Sandhu, myself and MANY more across the country. YET, TISA being a self help association gives no implied or express warranty of CURE. We only promote inner healing, wholeness and better communication skills.

6.      Some have benefited by Vipassana, some by Brahma vidya, some by running a SHG, some by writing in public domain, some by “teaching” others, some by some techniques. There is no objective method to predict, who will benefit by which method or approach. This can be found out only by trying methods SINCERELY. This is why TISA encourages exploration of a wide variety of approaches.

Friends, my sincere appeal: don’t live in fool’s paradise: get up and do something. We are here as "coaches" and friends to help you, share whatever we know - but YOU must do, what has to be done. Whatever you do, will strengthen you from inside, your will power. And keep sharing your experiments, your learning, your wisdom- because you are the EXPERT on your life, your problem solving. You have all the POWER inside you to help yourself. TISA wishes you all the success.