Intention, attention and manifestation

Violence or non-violence is determined by the attitude and not the act. Even a war can be non-violent if it is devoid of anger, hatred, jealousy or greed and it is for educating someone who cannot be educated in any other way. Even charity can be an act of violence if it takes away self-esteem and inflicts slavery, and a war can be an act of compassion if it helps to put things in the right perspective. Sounds strange but is true! 

Also, authenticity and skillfulness appear to be contradictory, but in fact they are complementary. Your intentions need to be authentic and your actions need to be skillful. The more authentic the intention, the more skillful the action will be. Authentic intention and skillful action make you unshakable. 

Skill is required only when authenticity cannot have its way. Yet skill without authenticity makes you shallow. You cannot have an authentic action and a skillful intention. If you try to be authentic in your action but manipulative in your mind, that is when mistakes happen. If your intention is colored by greed, over-ambition, etc. then your intention is not authentic. Whenever your intentions are impure, it pricks your consciousness, so it cannot be authentic. Authentic intentions are free from negative emotions. An action that is not skillful leads to negative emotions and an intention that is not authentic harbors negative emotions. 

Do not keep any sankalpas (intentions) to yourself. Offer them to the Divine. Actions can never be perfect but our intentions can be perfect. Actions always have room for improvement. Action means growth and movement, and that needs space. The depth in you and the freedom in you bring out all the skillfulness in you. When your intention and attention are there, manifestation happens. If your intention is not there it will not work. For anything to work, you must have intention and attention. Then manifestation happens.