Living in Harmony in a Dualistic World

Human life is made of struggle, difficulty, joy, and happiness. It is the contrast of these different experiences that brings one into focus in human life. If it were all happy and all good, then there would be no contrast, and the experience would not be as appreciated.
 
So human life is a combination of struggle, difficulty, joy, and goodness. And this combination is one that is there for all humanity. And not only for human beings but for all beings. It is the nature of this dualistic world that is the material plane. It is a plane that is both a heaven and a hell.
 
And so at times in one’s life, one feels the joys and fruits of life, and it is very enjoyable. And then at other times, one experiences the difficulty and the struggle, and it becomes hard.
 
So there are lifetimes where there is more struggle. And for some people, there is more struggle; for others, it is less. But it is still there. Life is a contrast. On the personal level and on the social level, there will be a contrast.
 
And so this world is one in which you struggle to find your way to spiritual knowledge. For if you simply live in the day-to-day and your physical experience, you will find that you are limited, that you are immersed in the physical world and the ups and downs, in trying very hard to protect yourself and achieve what you need, and also struggling to avert and avoid pain and suffering. You may think you’re good at this, but Mother Nature may prove you wrong at one time or another.
 
So, how to relate to human life when it is filled with struggle and difficulty as well as joy and attraction? The Yogis felt that to be bound in the sense of individuality, in the feeling of separate self, is to struggle in this life with acquiring and aversion, and the ultimate aversion and acquisition is to hold on to life and to fear death. That is the ultimate acquisition and aversion.
 
But this tendency and desire to achieve and avert suffering permeate your life if you think about it. You want your family to be well; you want yourself to be financially secure; you want to have a nice home and a car; you want to have physical comforts.
 
And so this naturally brings the feeling that there is a purpose to life. The purpose is to achieve what you want, what you desire, to bring happiness to yourself.
 
But many people find that even when they are very successful, have wonderful jobs, are by human standards complete successes in their lives, they find a lack of something inside of themself. They still feel restless, they still feel unfulfilled, they still feel a need. And it can be success that drives people to spirituality. It can also cause suffering, pain, and difficulty. Both of these can awaken you from the conditioned mind and your unconsciousness about your life.
 
When adversity hits you, certainly you’re crying, “Oh God, please help me.” Suddenly, you believe in God. Suddenly, you want help; you hope that there’s some grace out there for you. You need something.
 
And when you’re very, very successful and you have what you need, and you’ve had it for a while, and you feel you can achieve it, and you find you’re still not feeling fulfilled. That also makes a human being turn to spiritual life.
 
When there’s this turn to spiritual life, it means there’s a deep searching for truth and for happiness that is not dependent on your struggling to achieve it and always thwarting that which is threatening you. Instead, the happiness that comes in spiritual life is a deep happiness of wholeness and completeness. It doesn’t happen the opposite.
 
You can’t struggle to achieve it, and you can’t achieve it by pushing away all the difficulties in life. Those you do to maintain yourself in this physical world as an individual. But as long as your mind is bound in the idea of your separate self as an individual, you are in a state of limitation. You don’t connect with and feel that eternal presence which is always there.
 
When, through deep self-inquiry, through continual meditation on the nature of Self, you begin to open up the unitary wholeness, you begin to open up the feeling and experience of unitary wholeness, you begin to feel that you’re not separate but you’re a part of something larger, you’re a part of an interwoven, interconnected web of life; you’re a part of what happens in the universe from the greatest, largest stars and galaxies to the smallest atom, to the tiniest beings. All of it hangs together, is part of a whole in which you are also part of that whole.

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So, when, through deep honesty, you begin to see that the separate self that you have thought to be you and led your small life in this world, a short life is just a part of something else, something vast, something great. Then you realize that death is not something final. Death is merely a transition. Death in this physical world is only a transition. You begin to see that you have a continuity; you have a continuity as part of something great, part of something whole, part of something profound.
 
Through deep, deep understanding in the depths of meditation, you come to realize that there is a love, a deep presence of divine being that is omnipresent love, that is deep peace. The true nature of that Self of your self, that one of which you are a part, cannot be spoken in words. For it is beyond the understanding of the mind.
 
But the feeling of it can be known and can be described in words, though they limit that which is, that which is eternal, immortal, undying, aware, present, conscious, infinite love, a divine intelligence that does not die; that is eternal; that is unending; that creates the patterns which create planets, create solar systems, create living beings—plants, animals, human beings. All the nature of life abides within this cosmic intelligence. And that intelligence holds the patterning—I use the word intelligence because it does not take intelligence to create this massive universe with all its multiplicity and diversity? Isn’t manifest existence a profound patterning and encoding that only a vast intelligence far beyond humans can perform?
 
This divine presence, this infinite all-compassionate loving intelligence some call God, some call Allah, some call El, some call by the names of saints and sages and Gurus, some call Baba, some call Ama, some call Divine Mother, Holy Mother, all of these forms in which the divine can be seen are but one form in a universe of forms in which the divine abides, in which this cosmic intelligence, this all-loving, all-attracting intelligent consciousness abides. And when, through deep inquiry, through deep understanding and meditation, one goes into the depths, the knowledge comes that this consciousness that is you is not limited by a body. This body is only a change of clothing, something to wear for a little while, and then it’s taken off.
 
All forms are that way. They’re all in a shift, all in change. They’re temporary. But what you are and what is in the essence of all forms is permanent. It is because you are composed of that divine source, that omniscient unitary wholeness, that infinite intelligence which creates the universe, creates everything and everyone within its consciousness, so you are composed of that infinite one.
 
There is nothing inside of you that is separate or apart from that. There is nothing around you that is separate and apart from that. All forms are the holy form of the divine being when the eyes are open to truth.
 
The one eternal love abides everywhere. It abides within you. It is omniscient. And you do not have a separate little corner in which you live. You are a part of this whole. Knowingly or unknowingly, you are already part of the whole. But you have the opportunity as an evolved being to become conscious that you are part of the whole, to become self-aware, self-awakened, self-realized. This is the secret blessing of human life, that this may happen.
 
And it’s not just for some great Yogis in the Himalayas somewhere who meditate 18- 20 hours a day. No. It is for everyone. It is your nature. It is the truth of who you are, and you have every opportunity to awaken to that truth, to be that love, to be melted into eternal being.
 
Where is the separation between you and the infinite one? Your Baba, your Ma, your Ishta-Deva? That omniscient, omnipresent Godself? Where is the separation?
 
It is an idea that separates you, a belief in your separateness, a belief that you have independent actions, free will for making your own choices. You’re an individual, and you’re in charge of your life. That is the dream.
 
You think that you’re separate from your Godlike being that is yourself, that is in charge and connected to the body and mind. The small self that struggles and gets pushed around by the forces of nature, this way and that way, gets an illness, gets sick, has a loved one die, or is in an accident. So many things can happen in human life, some of them very difficult. And then finally, there is death.
 
 If you identify as the body and mind, and you believe that the small self is you, you die. For that form that you have inhabited will not last, as all forms do not last. Even the forms of planets, even the forms of stars, do not last. But you, that which is and makes all forms, have a continuity, an eternal life, an infinite existence.
 
So, awaken from the slumber of your conditioned mind. Awaken and allow truth to live in you. Allow yourself to feel the presence that is inside of you, all around you, the presence of the divine, pure, omnipresent, all-compassionate, all-attracting, infinite love, eternal peace, a grace that is showered on you at all times, a love that is always there. All you need to do is take down this idea, this belief in ego, in separate self, and let yourself melt back into your true nature. You know the truth of this.
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