BK Shivani in Toronto: five amazing insights into life, learning, and love

By Gautam Viswanathan, Deputy Editor, The Inspired Indian

On the weekend of Aug. 16 and 17, people from across Southwestern Ontario gathered to see Indian spiritual leader BK Shivani in Toronto. 

Her speech, organized at the International Centre in Toronto, was held in both English and Hindi, and provided brilliant insights into the state of the human mind, and how taking care of our mental health forms the foundation for everything else in our lives. If you missed seeing BK Shivani in Toronto, you can catch her in other cities across Canada. 

In this article, we list five key takeaways, in the form of excerpts from her speech at the event, that may help you live a better life.

 

Be the change you want to see in the world

“If there is a staircase here, and I have to walk up five steps, if I am strong, if I am healthy, I can just jump up those steps independently. If I am weak, if my foot is in pain, if my legs are weak, I am using a support to climb up those five steps, but when I am using that support system to climb up those  five steps, I need to be aware of whether it is the steps that are challenging, or is it my body which is weak?

“If I’d just said that those steps are not designed the right way, and this is why I need to hold on to something to climb there, that is my first step from being independent to becoming dependent and using a support system. But the more I did that, and the more I did not look at strengthening my body, the weaker it became. And the weaker it became, with the slightest of uncomfortable terrain, I said that I was unable to walk and needed a support system.

“The more I did that, the weaker I became. But even then, I did not realize that it is I who am weak, I said the steps are not right. 

“Now, look at your life: do you find yourself saying ‘they are not right, he is not right, she is not right, my work is not right, the weather is not right, my body is not right, my government is not right, my country is not right, the other country is not right, the environment is not right?’

“So many things are not right, but the weaker I become, the more I feel that things that are out of my control are not right. And even then, I do not pause to change myself, because I am busy waiting for them to change. The more that goes on, the more I get dependent and attached to everything that goes on around me, and then, even the slightest look from a person – not even a word – and I will get upset, saying ‘how could they look at me like this?’”

 

We have normalized pain…and we shouldn’t be doing so

“Every time anyone was not my way, I created that disturbed emotion, and justified my emotion, and lost my peace, my happiness, my contentment, my gratefulness, and said that this is normal. The biggest mistake that we have made in this century is that we called our pain ‘normal’. 

“How many of you think that stress is normal, that anger is normal, fear is normal, worry is normal, getting hurt is normal, and that feeling happy is rare? Finding peace is normal, but feeling peaceful is not normal. 

“Because of my dependency, I started experiencing uncomfortable emotions, which is also fine, provided I realize that these uncomfortable emotions are not normal, and I need to change, but somebody around me told me that it is normal to feel like this.

“Today, if you tell people that you never get angry, they will look at you again, and ask ‘why? Are you not normal?’ And then, living in that so-called normal world of normal emotions that were disturbing, we created a world that said, ‘I want love, happiness, and contentment.’” 

BK Shivani’s event in Toronto was attended by 5,000 people from the GTA and beyond

Our thoughts directly affect our physical health

“If I start creating worried thoughts, thoughts derived from fear, stress, hurt, and pain, does that hurt, pain, or discomfort just stay in my forehead, or does it affect other parts of my life? Let’s see the energy flow – where is it going to go first? It is going to go to my body. Pain in the body, discomfort in the body, disease in the body, where do they come from? Our thoughts.

“For most of the problems with which we go to the doctor, his advice is ‘don’t get stressed’. So that stress that can cause disease, can cause death, we called it ‘normal’. So many people over the last two years: this moment they were fine, the next moment, the soul has left the body.

“You go to the doctor and tell him, ‘doctor, they were perfectly fine, they were in the gym, they were strict vegetarians, they did not consume alcohol, so what happened?’ The doctor said they died due to stress, and still, the world says that stress is normal.

“If I want to be physically healthy, I must first be emotionally strong. The best of diets, the best fitness regime cannot keep you physically healthy if I am not taking care of myself emotionally. The right lifestyle is not just eating, drinking, exercising and sleeping. Lifestyle means the way I think, the way I speak, the way I behave, my attitude, that is lifestyle. My feelings are the cause of disease in my body.”

 

Our thoughts affect the health of those around us

“Whoever is closest to me is going to get influenced by my vibrations. Your body is the first one that feels your vibrations. I create an energy, my body is the first to catch that energy. That’s why whenever we are even a little stressed, we feel our mouth drying up, we can see the heartbeat changing.

“When we were in school and there was an exam, our tummy did something in the morning, and we’d tell our parents that we weren’t feeling well, but they would tell us that we were lying just because there was an exam. After the exam was over, the tummy was fine, and then we said, ‘stress is normal’. 

“Fix it in your mind: ‘Stress is the cause of my disease. Emotional discomfort is causing mental health issues and then it is causing physical health issues.’

“Who is the next person to receive my vibrations? Everyone around me, which means my people: people at home, people at work, people in my social circle, will receive my vibrations, my relationships get created based on my vibrations, not the mask that I put on and speak and behave accordingly.

“I can be very nice to people in terms of what I say, I can be very perfect in the way I behave, I can be excellent in what I do for you, but if I am not thinking right for you, my relationship is fragile: one word, and the basic foundation of the relationship starts shaking. Someone you’ve known for years, someone you feel you have the best relationship with, and one misunderstanding leads to things shaking, because the relationship is not based on what we’re doing outside, it is what we are inside. 

 

Emotional health is the foundation of success

“The first is my emotional and mental health, the second is my physical health, the third is my relationship, fourth is my professional health, and from my professional health will come my financial health. And the fifth is that my vibrations are radiating out into the world.

“If five thousand of us in this hall are stressed, the room will vibrate at stress. If five thousand of us are at peace, this hall will vibrate at peace. Now, stop complaining about the world, change yourself, your world will change, because when I change, the world changes around me.

“You cannot just sit in front of your TV screen and say ‘how can there be so much pain in this world? Who is going to change the world? This victim-blaming is not going to help. 

“If we want to finish crime in this world, we first need to finish the terror in our minds. If we need to finish the abuse from the world, we need to finish the lust from our minds. If we want to stop the corruption in the world, we need to finish the greed from our mind. Then, we will change the vibration of the world, and that peace and calm and unity and acceptance energy will change the mindset of the person who is slightly emotionally disturbed.

“The collective vibration of the planet is influencing people: change yourself. Contribute to changing the vibration of the planet, people will start changing, and together, we can create a world with peace, harmony, love, compassion, and all that is normal, and all that we have to do is change one person: ourselves.”