I look out my window as a man vomits underneath the bridge. He is homeless and filthy. Plastic bags, membrane thin and torn hang from his body like lifeless kites. His hands on his knees he struggles to maintain his balance, his human stature. The coal train on the other side of the brick wall is motionless the only other witness to the suffering of a man whose headphones separate him from the rest of the world. Kolkata arrives outside of my window and I am transported to another continent in a faraway land where this sight is commonplace and just as invisible.
I feel the swelling ache of the world’s hungry, the despair of the homeless, and hopelessness of the imprisoned. My heart beats in time with theirs and my relative comfort feels empty and shallow. I breathe long into the awareness of this life so blatantly brief. In this precious moment, in the silence of my abode I bow to the grief that bends the world into twisted form. I absorb the suffering into my own Being and I feel it dissolve into the spaciousness that has no end. Santi Devi
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Often times people come to me wanting to free themselves from what they term the “bondage” of their human bodies. They feel as if it somehow encumbers them or limits their ability to experience their transcendental Self. The inference is that the body inhibits their spiritual practice. How could that be so?
The body by design is an instrument of such perfection and complexity as to defy explanation. Everyday science is humbled by the previously unknown capacities of our human anatomy. We have a hundred trillion cells within our bodies that communicate instantaneously with each other through infinite correlation. The field of divine intelligence, pure consciousness lives within each of those cells. Your body/mind is in continual correspondence with all that Is. Every part of your body is a representation of the whole of existence, within you lie the very forces of creation! Everything inside of you and outside of you is in communion and exists as One. Within your human body lies the entire Universe, that’s how “limiting” it is! In truth, your physical form is the Divinely manifested means by which you experience transcendence, formlessness, the Absolute. The perfect vehicle for Enlightenment. Confusing your suffering or limitations with your body is a misperception. For you see it is not the body that limits you from becoming who you are, from experiencing the non-dual state of Being. It is a lack of consciousness, of an identification and attachment to concepts and ideologies that create and perpetuate the unreal and obscure the Truth. The body must be honored as the Sacred temple of the Divine. People make pilgrimages all of the world to holy temples and redemptive sites to feel a connection to the Source, to God. They search outside of themselves to have a mystical experience or spiritual revelation. My friends the feast is within, the body is the Sacred Centre and it is only here that you may realize the essence of your immortal Self. Love your body, be grateful for your existence in this highly evolved vehicle of Divine consciousness. Embodiment is a gift of beauty and grace, a creation of the eternal One. Honor it as an ishta-devata [psychic symbol of the Divine] Know that it is the abode of eternal bliss and liberation. Go within, be still and listen to your heart, it is the heart of the infinite. Love, Santi Devi The spring equinox is an auspicious time. The light and the dark merge and there is for a brief time an integration of opposites. This transitional period creates an exceptional condition in which the possibility of uniting the opposing forces within is heightened. The conscious and the unconscious, the masculine and the feminine, the seen and the unseen. This phase can be likened to a hypnagogic state, or the midpoint between waking and sleeping. One is both awake and asleep concurrently this produces a third state one that is not divided. This naturally and spontaneously allows our consciousness to transcend the limitations of duality and experience our true nature.
The equinox is known as the in-between time where the veil between ignorance and Truth thins. A mystical portal from the unreal to the real emerges out of the mists of consciousness. It is a highly spiritualized period that supports the Sadhaka [spiritual aspirant] in Sadhana [spiritual practice] Meditative practice is particularly important at these points of transition. Your body is the alchemical vessel of the Divine. Within you these forces influence your consciousness and your experience. Allow your awareness to relax into the interplay of these cosmic energies, become the observer of this ancient ritual. The soil of your unconscious is particularly fertile when the dark and the light are merging, thus it roots your Sankalpa [resolve or intention] and gives rise to new life through rebirth. Be receptive to the ebb and flow of these primal forces. The spring equinox is the return of the solar, the energy of the masculine and the active principle, as represented by the pingala nadi. The feminine aspect is the receptive, and lunar or ida nadi which recedes as winter comes to an end. This is a natural cycle that continuously plays itself out in the human body. When these two energy channels are balanced the sushumna or central nadi opens and so to the possibility of transcendental experience. The sun symbolically represents the unified being, the Source of all creation. Like the phoenix that rises from the ashes of the fire of transformation it signifies the purified and non-dual Self, the Absolute. It is a living expression of our immortal nature, the light of pure consciousness. May spring deliver you newly born. Love, Santi Devi The quote was crafted in pink chalk on the schoolhouse chalkboard that covers one wall in my bathroom. One of my students had left it floating in the inky blackness. I stood and read each word slowly, carefully, just as it had been written. Whenever I have moments of questioning my relative value in the world I am Awakened. The Sacred has reached into my heart and blessed me with the Truth. Life is a gift!
What is our value and how do we measure our worth. Can it be quantified? Albert Einstein said, “ The true value of a human being can be found in the degree to which he has attained liberation from the self.” Profound statement from an evolutionary man, it’s also true! For when you achieve liberation from the small self [ego] you no longer perceive yourself as a separate being, but as a correlative expression of the unifying field of consciousness. A part that is also the whole. When you are liberated from the self all that is unreal dissolves and all that is real manifests. All illusion is absorbed and only the Truth remains. The Truth is that your a Divine Being. Self Realization is the purpose of your life. At any moment you can experience your value by remembering your purpose. To become who you are, to express it in a meaningful way in the world…to this you were born! Your greatness lies in knowing and living this Truth. Your life is a gift to the world, and your gift to the world is your life. Love, Santi Devi The quote was crafted in pink chalk on the schoolhouse chalkboard that covers one wall in my bathroom. One of my students had left it floating in the inky blackness. I stood and read each word slowly, carefully, just as it had been written. Whenever I have moments of questioning my relative value in the world I am Awakened. The Sacred has reached into my heart and blessed me with the Truth. Life is a gift!
What is our value and how do we measure our worth. Can it be quantified? Albert Einstein said, “ The true value of a human being can be found in the degree to which he has attained liberation from the self.” Profound statement from an evolutionary man, it’s also true! For when you achieve liberation from the small self [ego] you no longer perceive yourself as a separate being, but as a correlative expression of the unifying field of consciousness. A part that is also the whole. When you are liberated from the self all that is unreal dissolves and all that is real manifests. All illusion is absorbed and only the Truth remains. The Truth is that your a Divine Being. Self Realization is the purpose of your life. At any moment you can experience your value by remembering your purpose. To become who you are, to express it in a meaningful way in the world…to this you were born! Your greatness lies in knowing and living this Truth. Your life is a gift to the world, and your gift to the world is your life. Love, Santi Devi Q. How do we take our practice, our Sadhana into the world.
A. Life is the medium of your practice. Everything that arises is a means for Awakening. Your practice is meaningless unless it allows you to live more joyously in the world! The goal of Sadhana is Self Realization. What are you to Realize? The Truth of your Being! How? There is but one practice to bow to the moment, to surrender to what Is, to abide in the Silence, to relax into the unknown. Resist nothing! The antagonizer is your liberator! Whatever you encounter is conspiring to Awaken you to a greater Truth. You mistakenly think that meditation is an activity and not a state of Being. Your meditation is moment to moment Awareness! All that you will ever need to know or to experience arises from the spaciousness of the present moment.[the field of pure Consciousness] It is accessible to you Only when you abide where you are. Free your mind of incessant thinking. Be absorbed in the One. Be in Union. This is the Great Liberation. The lotus flower blooming in the heart of your heart. Surrender to the Divine, to the Self, the great unknown. You are the bountiful feast! Q. How does Compassion manifest? A. Compassion arises spontaneously when we experience non-duality. When we recognize, based on our own knowing that we are not separate phenomenon but a completely innerconnected expression of Consciousness. You, as the “I” is absorbed into the One. You see the Divine in all manifestation. This inspires the illuminating presence of great Compassion. The power of which renders all barriers to union illusionary. Love is the path to Liberation. For when we love we surrender, our individual sense of a separate self dissolves. Our desire to serve manifests out of loving compassion for all Beings. Q. When should one meditate? A. The classical times for meditation are before sunrise or 6:00am, 12:00 noon and 6:00pm. Why? Because these are transitional periods where light and dark meet. Therefore there is a union of opposites that takes place in a cyclical and natural way. You are composed of these contrasting elements. To sit in silent Awareness at these times heightens conscious perception. The goal of meditation is to experience the Truth through the power of transcendental knowing. To be still with ones Self, to let go of the mind, to reside naked in the moment is to make ready to recieve the Grace of your true Being. There is nothing more to do than this. Meditation happens spontaneously when we are present in the moment. It is effortless, and our natural state. Fear is an invitation to Fearlessness!
Our world is evolving. The recent global economic challenges have inspired anxiety and fear. Our standard of living and way of life feels threatened. What was once appeared dependable and immune to loss has fallen. We feel overwhelmed and helpless, our very survival feels compromised. The illusory nature of the temporal world has revealed itself. What appears as real one moment disappears the next, thus is the nature of Maya. The Ego is intolerant of anything that creates a sense of vulnerability. It readily enlists fear, intimidation, ultimatums, anxiety and depression as the means to control our thoughts and behavior. It seeks to dominant our experience, as well as destroy our sovereignty. We avoid fear at all cost so we allow the Ego to persecute us into submission. What happens when we stop fearing the fear? When fear is no longer resisted, when we actually allow it to be, something quite miraculous occurs… Fear is a great ally in Awakening, it is the tool of liberation. For when we bow to our fear, when we surrender to the unknown that is life, we are no longer trying to escape. We don’t have to because we are not bound. When we realize this, the Ego loses its power to seize control of our Being. We become Fearless! As institutions, governments, corporations, political figures and economies rise and fall, do not judge, analyze or anticipate the outcome. No assessment or commentary is valuable or necessary. Accept what Is. We do this by being receptive to life, by receiving all that we experience with equanimity. Abide in a state of non-resistance. In doing so, you will align yourself with the flow of the Divine. The only constant in the universe is change. What is of this world is subject to the cycles of nature. The tree comes forth from the seed, the seed bears fruit that ripens, it eventually falls to the ground and decays. Why? For it has fulfilled its purpose. Why mourn, why fear? As the fruit lies rotting, it enriches the soil from which the seed will root and grow. Do not attach yourself to the ebb and flow of cyclical phenomenon. Go within and be still. Contemplate, what is enduring and what is subject to change? In the midst of the movement of the Creative be silent. Watch the dance of the Divine as it transforms energy into form. Observe how one begets the other. When we observe this process, it is Inspiring because we see the providence of Divine intelligence expressing itself. This Consciousness is Purposeful! That is its inherent nature. It is bountiful, abundant, infinitely compassionate and unfailing in its ability to nourish life! What may look like the end is merely the beginning. From the perspective of the Absolute, the beginning and end is nonexistent for it is only the One. Therefore, do not fear but rejoice! Shed your uncertainty and anxiety! Reside in the moment, in the Truth! You are not bound, you needn’t suffer. Suffering is an absence of Consciousness. When we are aware of our Immortal and Sacred nature suffering ceases and life becomes meaningful. See the beauty and the blessing that these times bestow. See each and every experience as a gift from the Source of your own true Being! It is intended to Awaken you, to foster trust and faith in yourself and in the Grace that is Life. Now sit quietly and observe your breath, until it becomes natural and rhythmic. Abide in the Silence. Let that Silence become the spaciousness of your experience. Whatever arises is absorbed in the spaciousness of your Being. No resistance, no effort, no will, no judgement. Be where you are. Repeat within, I Am Divine, I Am Divine, I Am Divine. Om Shanti, Shanti, Shantihi, Santi Devi From the moment of your birth you have been acquiring an identity. This identity is not who you are. You are not your body, your mind, or your emotions. You are pure consciousness. Consciousness has given rise to all existent form. It is immortal and eternal. Your authentic Self knows this Truth.
Identity is simply the data you refer to as yourself. This is your persona, the part of yourself that you refer to as me, I, “who I am.” You determine who you are, based upon your collective but limited experiences and perceptions. All of which are subject to evolution or change. You create yourself based upon your interpretation of your sensory awareness. What you interpret, becomes who you are. What you think you become. You have been entrained, environmentally and culturally conditioned to assume an identity to become someThing, not someOne. You develop an Ego, a set of personal associations, preferences, and identifications. This becomes your agent for relating to your life’s experience. You have departed from your authentic Self. You see yourself as separate from the whole, and fully independent. This process of alienation is commonly referred to as ego development, your persona or personality, is a contrived sense of Self and therefore transient. The ego’s purpose is to assure your survival. Beyond that primary role, it seeks superiority, power and control. The ego is insatiable in its quest to secure these socially valued human amenities. Your choices have been shaped by your ego’s endless need for recognition and achievement. You compete with others as a means to measure your progress. You depend on their failure in order to succeed. This is the path of destruction and illusion. {The truth is, you are an expression of the infinite Source. This Source is pure consciousness. It is the energy that gives rise to creation. Creation is consciousness. It is our true nature. This is the Oneness of our conception…it is the non changing, and eternal. All existence is an interplay of creative dependency and interconnection. You are a reflection of the whole, a microcosm of the macrocosm.} The ego is in constant need of renewing its authority, approval and supremacy. Therefore it continually relies on external validation. Judgement of self and others takes root and becomes your chief tool of measuring your relative position in the world. You condemn and criticize others in order to elevate yourself. Self righteousness and condemnation become tools of your own eminence . Your concern is for your own welfare and well being. Any failure on your part to assert your supremacy is ultimately a threat to your inner stability. You become completely self absorbed, ruled by your own ego’s obsessions, ambitions and desires. You have given up all authority over your life. This failed system is the root of all of your anxiety, fear and insecurity, because it lacks spiritual substance, the Truth. The ego obscures the Truth and veils the nature of reality. It prevents you from seeing and experiencing things as they are. The ego lives in the past and projects itself into the future. Its lifespan is determined by the process of thinking. It literally thinks itself into existence. The thing it fears most is death, {a thoughtless moment.} because with the cessation of thinking it cannot place itself in space and time. To be present is to create a lapse/gap in the ego’s functioning. From the perspective of the moment, there is no past, no future…only now, only what Is. Every moment is the same in that regard: timeless. This is where creation occurs. The moment is threatening because it represents the unknown, so we manipulate our fear of the unknown by filling the moment with our internal dialogue, analysis, and repetitive thinking. You avoid the true reality by living in one you have self created. To maintain this illusion requires an inordinate amount of time and energy. You are always having to strategize, manipulate, and control the world in order to preserve your semblance of truth. The true reality is preexistent and independent of your thinking, it is transcendent. At any moment you can experience it by waking up, by bringing your awareness to “what Is”. This only requires a shift in your attention, a willingness to be present, to relax into the moment. Children do this naturally, spontaneously. Their world unfolds before them and they engage authentically with whatever they encounter. They are intimately connected to “sahaja” or the spontaneous inborn essence of their Being. Ramana Maharshi was a living sage and enlightened Being. He advocated self inquiry as the means to Self Realization, “moksha,” or spiritual liberation. This state of pure consciousness is experienced as union with the One, the Absolute. It is a condition of absorption where the individual merges with the Infinite. This is the sole purpose of human life.
The essential question to contemplate is , “Who Am I?” The mind that asks the question cannot answer because it doesn’t know. The Truth of your Being lies beyond the thinking mind. The question is a tool, a key to the mystery, and like all good questions, it contains the answer within it. “I Am.” Self knowledge can only arise out of the spaciousness of our own intimate experience. By being present moment by moment we encounter the Infinite. The inhalation and exhalation that defines our lives. In the stillness of this ebb and flow we experience deep relaxation. In the absence of thought we experience peace. By abiding in what Is, we are at One. “Who Am I.”? When I am not my repetitive mind, when my emotions cease to rule my conduct, when I shed the thinness of my identity, what is left, what is my own? To be naked with ourselves is to discover the essence of our longing for Self Realization, union with the Divine. Deep within us we intuitively feel the pulse of our Divinity, our greatness, our creative potential. We know that we are more than the sum of our parts, that we’re not just flesh and bone, mortal and fleeting. In reality, we are an expression of the whole of existence. We feel a disparity between the inner Truth of our knowing and the outer reality of our experience. Reconciliation lies in acceptance of what Is, only then can we absolutely know the immortal nature of our true Being. When we are present, we are connected to the Source of our origin, to consciousness. We are pure consciousness embodied, the formless within form. The only way to know this Truth is through the experience of direct perception. Therefore the practice is to be in the moment, to be who and where you are. Experience what you’re experiencing , in a state of non-resistance to what Is. This is the seed of liberation. |
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