To view this newsletter in the browser, click here                 Issue #192       A newsletter from Creativegarh to help you live a life of passion, purpose and meaning.         The war against ego.     Before it gets better, it gets worse.                     As one starts on a healing journey, or takes the first step on the spiritual path, all hell breaks loose. The demons send out smoke signals to warn other armies of the impending war against ego. Ego itself wears its designer armor and sends its most trusted generals - judgment, resistance, and fear of the unknown to the battlefield. One general is there to take stock of the situation and make mockery of it, and the second is there to use the old-age inner narrative against you and negotiate a truce. It employs its own deceitful Chanakyaniti and compels you to abort the mission.           And you do reconsider aborting as people start calling you foolish, selfish, idiotic, mindless, stupid, and brainless. They laugh at you, they mock you; even those whom you had written off show up to reveal their karmic connections. You feel you are being left alone, supported by none, ridiculed by everyone, judged, unloved, and uninvited. You are on the verge of chickening out. You feel lonely. It seems like the dark night of the soul just got darker.           But something far bigger than your separate self, far more accomplished than the ego, tells you to plod along. To keep walking the path, to keep turning one leaf after another until all the chapters are opened and closed. And as you think you've seen it all and read it all, a new book, totally out of the syllabus, is thrown at you to test you once more. The ego, feeling threatened by your slow and steady progress, raises the decibel level, and there is a deluge of cuss words invoking every weakness in you, every soft spot that hurts you; every answer is questioned again. It's a full-blown war now.           No one is on your side, except your guardian angels, who’ve brought along the weapons of mass destruction to annihilate the ego. Your ancestors come riding on beautiful unicorns as your backup army. Your guides and gurus cover your back. Your gnomes, cherubs, and angels start decorating the city to welcome you back home after your victory. Your soul mates plan the reunion with cocktails of heavenly elixir.           You shoot inquiries at yourself, you energize yourself with inner work, you make friends with your shadow, and slay your demons. You kill your spiritual ego by hanging it to death as you hang there with no weapon other than being the witness of your life. You negotiate a deal with fear, and you blow apart your own beliefs and prejudices. You let the wild horses run amok with your chariot as it plunders the self-hatred from your subconscious.           You soothe your wounds, many of them self-inflicted over the years. You put the balm of forgiveness on them, you vomit out the painkiller - its job now being done - and one day, you transcend everything and stand over the dead body of your past, knowing that you can never go back. It only gets better from here. And a tad lonelier. But lighter. Very light.                       A story of how the unknown becomes the known.                     A Knowing that doesn't belong to anyone has emerged somewhere in the annals of time and space. This Knowing wants to be expressed and brought into consciousness and takes the shape of an intuition that begins its long, arduous journey over time. As it crosses the chasms of dimensions, it shape-shifts into words that represent a rather deep, essential and self-fulfilling understanding of life.           This Knowing flows and glides over black holes and shares a joke with a galaxy as it surrenders itself to be devoured by time. It puts on its dancing shoes and does an intimate Foxtrot with other exoplanets, sits in sadhana with the pillars of creation and joyfully waves hello to the pulsars and quasars that have seen more lifetimes than life itself.           This Knowing knows that it can wake up humankind from its slumber of the ages, can shift consciousness and can co-create a new reality.           As it travels across the vastness of everything and nothing, the Knowing and the words choose whom it wants to be birthed by and co-created with. It's a young writer who has been incarnated in a dimension called Mumbai. The Knowing comes to the writer, not in the usual process of a thought or a sense perception but comes as light through the cracks and the crevices of the wounds and sufferings of the writer. The Knowing comes as a healing source that has the potential to heal the writer and also be expressed in the universe.           The writer has been writing her own story of victimhood over the years. The Knowing that comes to her as intuition tries everything to come into the writer's consciousness... as a road sign, a book cover, an Instagram post, a conversation, a film poster. The Knowing is strong but the writer is caught up in the busyness of the mind and life to even have the awareness of the Knowing. The writer chooses to ignore the Knowing, latching onto her own conditioning of control, reward and ego and 'waiting for inspiration' which she believes does not come as intuition.           The writer believes she has no ideas, is a stepchild of the universe, becomes vitriolic, finds solace in the numbness of social media, and tells her publisher that she has no ideas, thus self-sabotaging her book and career... a repetitive pattern now emerging.           The Knowing on the other hand having travelled over Yugas, creations, and universes is still on purpose and still wants to heal and be expressed.           The Knowing then finds another writer. This time in Rai Bareilly who has just woken up at 5 am to show up for his 1000 words of the day. The writer surrenders to the process. The Knowing slides out of nothingness, is held by angels, egged on by gnomes, led by fairies and enters the black Waterman of the writer and pours itself as 15 of the 1000 words. Little cherubs celebrate the pouring with a pouring of love.           The hair at the back of the writer's neck stands, he moves into a state of flow and churns out what becomes the voice of the universe. The Unknown becomes Known through the writer. Its purpose is fulfilled. The writer's purpose is fulfilled. Those 15 words have the potential of changing an entire life in an instant for someone.           As the writer manifests the divinity in her to allow the words to come through her, very soon, a book lover will read those words on a vacation in the mountains, and every word will open doors for her to feel the divinity in herself. That is how creation comes through and makes its way through. Divine finding divine, light finding light.           Joy!           Somewhere in the annals of time and space, a new Knowing has started its journey towards an artist in Kochi.             Our upcoming retreats                         Mandi Sold Out 14th to 20th June     Mandi in summer is a calm escapade. Cool mountain air, green slopes, and quiet mornings create space to breath, rejuvenate and slow down.   More details         Kolhapur Last 6 Seats Left 12th to 18th July     Escape the city's clamor, reconnect with your inner light. Indulge in a life changing retreat, experiencing the discovery of your true self, within the arms of nature.   More details     Reignite conversation     Kasauli Last 6 Seats Left 13th to 19th September     The stunning vistas and holistic experiences at Kasauli create the perfect space for self-discovery and ensure this retreat is a transformative and unforgettable experience.   More details     Reignite conversation           This week, let's revisit     Mandi March 2026                         Experience a life full of purpose                     The purpose of my life is to use the gift of my music to heal lives.   Abhilasha Ojha Kasauli, April 2022         The purpose of my life is to create joyful, holistic and meaningful learning experiences. My vision is for all people to lead self-actualized, happy lives, filled with empathy.   Samathmika Balaji Kasauli September, 2022               For a daily dose of Creativegarh and our retreats, follow us here:                           Mantra Gold Coatings & The White Paper Creative         Sunita Somani         Pedal On               View Our Collabs for Joy                   creativegarh.com             You are receiving this newsletter because either you have subscribed to it through our website, interacted with us by filling an invite form or because you have asked us to put you on the database. If you would not like to receive any more newsletters from us, please click here to unsubscribe.