 All of life is one integrated, interwoven whole. One part cannot be separated from another, for you and all those around you, all that is in this manifest world, is an expression within the awareness of the cosmic entity. Like the dream in the mind, that cosmic entity is dreaming your existence, is dreaming the existence of every living being and the struggles and joys of duality. Within that dream, certain laws operate, that make this manifest expression possible. The Lady Prakriti, Mother Nature, manifests, and dances the dance of creation within the mind of the infinite, within the aware consciousness of being. She dances the dance of manifestation, and her paintbrush has three points: Sattva, sentient; Rajas, mutative; and Tamas, static. And these three principles unfold all that is. So, when you think, “I am,” who is that I? Who abides where you are? Is it, not the one eternal infinite Self, the divine cosmic entity that is there, manifesting as you, manifesting as all those you love, manifesting in all the world, both that which is supportive of life and that which is dark and diminishes life? This world has no sense of morality in the sense that both shadow and light play together to form the dance of creation, the formation of opposites, and out of those opposites manifests the trifold universe and all that appears to dance in the dance of creation. It is said you are not alone, but what does that mean, you are not alone? For that which you call you is composed of the one, is it not? You are the dream in the mind of the dreamer. You are imagined in the mind of the cosmic one. So that which you call you can never be separated from that cosmic entity. That one is always with you. And will show Himself/Herself, will manifest for you in various ways. And if you keep your vision subtle and your mind aware, you will notice those ways. You will see the one behind the curtain, you will notice His movements, you will notice His presence. Deep meditation is very beneficial for this process. The frequency of your mind makes a difference. If your mind is resonating with material objects and the physical world, what you will see, what you will notice is the physical world. But if your mind becomes more subtle, you notice your feelings, you notice psychological movements, you notice your sadness, your happiness, your fear. These become prominent in your mind. And as your frequency becomes even more subtle, when your awareness attunes to an even more subtle frequency, then you begin to notice that which is called intuition. You begin to notice the many movements that happen around you, the subtle spiritual forms, the movement of the cosmic being in this world, the touch of the infinite.  And as mind grows in magnitude, as the frequency becomes even more aligned with that sublime entity, with that cosmic progenitor, you begin to experience the deep love, the sense of grace, and the presence of that one in your life. You begin to feel that one is just near you, touching you. You feel the touch of that infinite one on your mind, on your being. You feel you live in the grace of that divine being.
And as you surrender, as you let go, you feel that you are melted in that one and you are blended. And the deeper you let go, the more you let go, the more that blending becomes one. You dissolve into that one. This is the natural state of mind, the natural state of being. This is not some great achievement of some high holy individuals. This is for you. This is your relationship to the Self of your self, to your Gurudev, to your Ishta-Deva. You each have a personal relationship with your Ishta-Deva. But who is your Ishta-Deva? A person, a personality, an individual? No, no, no, no. Though the Ishta-Deva may have manifested in the form and ambiance of a particular individual, the Ishta-Deva is none other than the infinite one. The Ishta-Deva is your divine Self, the cosmic progenitor, the Self of your self, the Self of all beings. And that cosmic one is beyond the comprehension of the human mind. You can only notice the traces of that one’s grace, for that one is omnipotent and omniscient. There is no place, even in the darkest shadows, that that one does not abide. When your heart and mind abide with that one, you feel the love and grace and the light of the true spirit. That is there, even in the hardest times, in the darkest times, in birth, and death. That one is there. So cultivate your relationship with your Ishta-Deva. Cultivate knowledge of your Ishta-Deva, for that one is not an ordinary person or personality that lives or has lived in this world. That one is far more. That one is your own cosmic Self; that one is the very source of all that is. Eternal, immortal, pure being. A love beyond human comprehension. A peace that surpasses understanding. There are no words for that one, for words have limits and that one is limitless. The poets, and the minstrels, capture the essence, the feeling. The words come and go; the feeling is real. The feeling of love. The feeling of being loved unconditionally. There is a presence near you, the presence of you; the presence of your Ishta-Deva is with every one of you. When you attune your mind and attention away from the material objects, and the psychological movements of the mind, and you attune to the love of spirit, you learn to live in a subtle frequency. And there are subtle emanations, subtle worlds, subtle manifestations. Many things may happen, unexplained by science, though in subtle science they have explanations. In the world of today that you live in, they are unexplainable. For there is some limited understanding in the human mind of the nature of this reality. And so things cannot be explained and so you call them miracles. They are impressions, all within the cosmic mind of the infinite one. Let that one open your heart. Let that one draw you close. And as you feel that presence around you, let the duality fade, and let yourself be in that love. Let yourself surrender to that love. That is your home. Let all that be in that. And let yourself be all that is. There is no separation. For all is composed of the one eternal Self, the essential being, the beloved, your Ishta-Deva. Your Ishta-Deva is with you always and is your deepest Self.
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 Human life is an ideological flow, a movement from crudity to subtlety, a movement from animal existence to sublime being. In this movement, there is both joy and sorrow. There are times when it feels as if the world is all coming your way, when you feel very good about yourself, about your circumstances. And there are times when you feel there is great difficulty in your life, things that cause you great pain. Many times, in life there, is a mixture of those circumstances that cause pain, and those that bring joy. This human world, this material world is one of transient forms, as you all know. Because it is transient there is that which comes to life, which grows and develops, that which sustains, and that which degrades, dissolves, and is no more. It is natural in human life that there is grief, there is loss. Not only loss of loved ones, loss of abilities, loss of health, loss of social status, and loss of money, but many losses occur in human life. And there is also, in addition to those losses, the ability to gain, to become that which you want to be. Loss and accomplishment are both part of the human experience. It is not the experience itself that determines your happiness, that determines the quality of your life, but your relationship to that experience. If you feel that with the losses you are completely adrift, or with the accomplishments and achievements and gains that you are on top of the world, you swing back and forth, back and forth, but all of that swinging is occurring on the outside of your being. Your mind is engaged with the external world, the senses of the body, and the perceptual field of duality. It is possible to have the same set of circumstances that are at times grievous, and at times joyous, and move within yourself to a different relationship to this human experience. The human experience does not change - the times can be difficult, very difficult. But what does change is your relationship to it, and as you continue to do Brahma sadhana, to ideate on the infinite, the divine Brahma, your relationship with this transitory existence changes because you are now a part of something greater. You see yourself as a part of something more, a part of something profound. When that divine presence comes into your life, when through your efforts in meditation to bring your mind into a relationship, your heart into a relationship with the infinite, and then through the grace of that divine one, that presence comes to you, becomes a part of your existence. Then you know, you become a presence, a consciousness that is partially engaged in these highs and lows of life but is also engaged in the equanimous flow of infinite being, that your divine guide, your divine Beloved, the divine manifesting in your life is a pervading presence—a love that sustains through the good times and the hard times. A love that carries you through it all. When your heart and mind flow in relationship to the infinite, you become in the world but not of it, able to live this life but see that both the pain and the pleasure, the loss and the acquisition are both parts of a whole that in each there is a dance of creation. There is light and shadow that forms a whole of being in this creative world. But in the light and shadow, there is something that sustains, something that maintains through a thread through it all. When your mind and your heart connect with that thread, that wave that flows through pleasure and pain, that flows through all the variety of experiences that can occur, you become connected to the soul, to the atman, and thus to the Paramatman. You become part of this divine presence, knowing that this presence is in all and everything, and though there is in the world of form, the continual appearance of change, that truly there is no change. There is a love that sustains, a being that always is the same.   There are two great impediments to spiritual life. The first is attachment to the body and the sensory experience, because when there is attachment to the physical form and the sensory experience there is engagement with the body-mind structure and the belief that you are this small person who abides in the body.
That belief becomes dominant in the mind, and so attachment to the enjoyment of sensory experience and embodiment becomes a hindrance when they overtake the mind and leave consciousness attached to embodiment. The second greatest impediment to spiritual life is the assumption that you are small, that you are limited, that you are not divine, and that all the life around you is not an expression of divinity, but other. It is an outgrowth of the first impediment, the assumption of self and others and the definition of self as limited, confined, restricted, and small. You can be in this world but not of it, not immersed in the belief in your individuality, but rather sailing through the experience of embodiment in human form, human life, and human senses while maintaining an expansive understanding of the nature of yourself. When you dissolve the illusion created by sensory experience of self and other, then you can walk in the world in this physical form but maintain the larger perspective that only the infinite Self, the one infinite divinity exists in all the beings in the world, and in your I-feeling, in your consciousness, in your awareness. Then there is nothing of you that is separate or apart from that integrated whole; that you are one with that divinity. This knowledge of your unity with the divine is your saving grace. It allows you to be embodied in this world but in a state of conscious awareness. Your consciousness is like a beam that focuses attention, and it can focus on sensory experience, it can focus on bodily experience, it can focus on the sense of self apart from others. But it can also focus on the unitary sense of the whole. The beam of your awareness can focus on that unitary sense of the whole. You can draw your attention to it, realizing that all is the manifestation of the one infinite Brahma and that you are in fact, part and parcel of that manifestation of the whole. The idea of your aloneness is an illusion of duality when your very nature is the unbound love, the infinite consciousness of the one eternal essence of being. That is who you are. That is what you are. When you begin to constrict into small definitions of yourself and identify that vast love, that vast consciousness that is you, with this limitation or that limitation, I am...and what follows that? Some form of limitation is it not? I am ugly. I am beautiful. I am talented. I am without talent. All of these are definitions of limitation. When you are all things, when you are the infinite Self of yourself, you are not bound by the ego, or others. These are creations of the mind and of the sensory experience of the two impediments: the body-mind structure and the definition of self and other.  Namaskar. Every day is a new opportunity, a new beginning, an opportunity to live the life you truly want to live. Spirituality uplifts the human spirit. It is governed by love, lovingkindness, compassion, and awareness. When the mind and body and spirit are aligned, there is a flow from that infinite one into the mind and the body, and out through the voice, through the eyes into the world. When that is there, there is a diminishment of separation. There is a love that flows from the heart into the mind and out into the world. It permeates the body. That love is unconditional. It does not require that you like this, like that, do this, do that. No; it is unconditional, and it is for everyone. When you align yourself with that divine love, you align yourself with a love that knows no boundaries, that does not see race, that does not see sex, that does not see species, that does not see good and evil. A love that is so unconditional—an unconditional shower of grace… Can you love everyone? Can you give that unconditional love not only to those you admire or are close to but to every living being, even those whose behavior you find abhorrent? Unconditional love does not mean that you approve of all actions or that you even stand by a person in their actions. But it does mean that you care for them, you love them, you understand them, and if they will listen to you, you give kind advice, and if not or if you are in no position to talk to them or have any influence—such as bad leaders—you understand with compassion what has caused them to be as they are. It does not mean you support their behaviors that harm others, but you understand, and you love them; you love the person that they are beneath the difficult behaviors, the wounded child who has grown to a man or a woman and then due to their own wounding and mental, difficulties they enact them in the world and do harm.  For when you are aligned with that shower of grace from the divine, there is nothing else but that, for that is the nature of the infinite aware loving consciousness. There is unconditional love in a shower of grace, and when you align with your divine progenitor, when you make that one the center and the core of your life and you mean it; you align with his qualities, his characteristics; you become one with him, with her; you become one with their qualities and characteristics.
And what is the characteristic of that most precious divine one that you know in the core of your heart? The main characteristic is unconditional loving consciousness, is it not? You feel that shower of grace. It does not mean that it changes the world so that everything goes your way. No, that is not what grace is. Grace is not imposing your ego on the world. Grace is receiving this unconditional love, attuning and aligning yourself with the nature of divine being. When you attune and align yourself with that nature of divine being and you go to the Guru within, the Guru of your heart, the love of your life, and you surrender, you say, “Lord, Lord, there is nothing for me in this life but you. I want to walk in your footsteps,” then, bowing down and giving all of your assumptions and beliefs and vanity to the infinite one, that one takes you. You surrender yourself. What remains but that flow of unconditional grace and love? For that is the very nature of that divine one. That one loves everyone; be they good or bad, still they are all his children. They’re all the children of Parama Purusha. And that love is for everyone. It does not discriminate. When you truly align with that divinity within, with that Guru of your heart, then you align with this love, with this shower of grace. And it becomes who you are. The love you seek comes from within. And when you seek it within and to everyone without, you just allow the shower of grace and love to flow through you with kindness and support for all living beings, be they human, animal, plant, or even inanimate objects like a rock or a mountain. Can you not love it all, love this creation? For it is the form of the beloved of your heart. That one has complete love for all beings, complete love in the shadow and in the light, in the dark, in the sun; all is of the one. Aligning yourself with that beloved of your heart, you become a vehicle of love unconditional. That becomes your nature. And the more you align with that one, the more that nature rises to the surface, and you become that infinite love. You become one with the beloved of your heart. That divinity flows through you in this grace and love. This is your natural home, and it is from that one within that you find your deep love. Some people may return your love; others may not. But can you love them either way? Not seeking the return from them, but knowing it is within you, in the heart of your beloved. There lies the love. There is the one who gives you love, who always loves you, who always cares for you. Others may show kindness and care and love, or they may not. It doesn’t matter. You give love to everyone. Then you begin to truly know your Baba, then you begin to truly know who you are and who Guru is. And you align yourself with Guru, with that infinite grace. Take this message to heart.  Today is a new day, a new beginning. Each day of your life brings you closer to your destiny. Whether you are young or old is irrelevant. What is relevant is what you do each day. Each day is a new beginning, a new opportunity to be what you truly want to be. The individual self, the ego self has many desires, and wants many things. But the eternal being wants only one thing, that all beings, all creation, return to their source, return to an infinite being. There is no separation between you and Parama Purusha, between you and that infinite consciousness. The only separation is an idea held in the mind. For that infinite being is manifest in all creation as well as in the silence and stillness of the unmanifest. That infinite being resides in you and all other beings. Not inside of you as if you have the infinite being inside of you, but is everything of you—that which you think of as you, resides inside that infinite being. Every molecule of your body, every thought in the mind—be it a thought towards unity or a thought that brings you into ego orientation—all of it resides within this cosmic entity. There is no separation, no duality between you and the eternal essence of being. You do not reside apart from that divinity. It is not only the core of your being; it is all of you. You are within eternal essence. There is no thought you can have, no action that you can do, that is outside of that divinity. For all is that. It is the assumption in the mind due to the experience of embodiment in human form that brings you to believe you are an individual, a separate entity. That is called—that assumption is the essence of ego. That is the core belief that you have, that you are apart, separate, an individual. It’s because awareness, consciousness, is embodied in form, the sensory experience, making the perception within consciousness of “I” and “thou,” that you are separate from all else, that all forms are individual, apart from each other. And this very notion of separateness which allows the ego to function, which allows you to function in the human body, also causes you your deepest pain. It is the root of your pain: The pain of separation, the pain of duality, is the root of all other pains. The Yogis of ancient times realized that in deep introspection, the root cause of their suffering, of human suffering, is this idea, this understanding that you are separate, that there is a separate person apart from everything else. And naturally, feeling this body identity, you fear death. And you struggle to achieve to bring to you that which will allow your survival and allow your individuality to survive, your body-mind to survive. And you fear that which will threaten that survival. But old age and death come to all who are in form. And this struggle, to win, to achieve, and to survive, is ultimately doomed.  So, if your entire consciousness is immersed in that struggle, there is pain. Failure. Times when life does not work out. It doesn’t go your way. Because the cosmos truly does not revolve around you. You are part of an integrated, interwoven whole of being.
So naturally sometimes your being is supported; sometimes it is not. Things that seem not to your welfare but to the welfare of another occur. So what to do in such a difficult world? The Yogis of ancient times realized there was only one solution: to go very deep. To unwind, and deconstruct, the assumptions and beliefs that have led to the bondage and suffering in human life. How to deconstruct those beliefs? How to find lasting happiness? It can only be found when your mental capacities, your thoughts, and feelings are suspended from everyday thinking, from all of the engagements with the senses, quieted so that you begin to feel yourself; you become aware of your existence. You begin to realize the self-deprecating, self-defeating thoughts that you have, perhaps the bad feelings that you have about yourself, as well as the pride and the ego, and you begin to go even deeper than those thoughts, those beliefs. They are more than just thoughts; they become assumptions about who you are and what you are. You go deeper underneath those. Putting the thoughts aside, putting the assumptions and beliefs you have held about who you are aside. Having the innocence of a newborn baby, the innocence within you, letting go of all of these burdens you have carried. Find the depth of your being. And when your attention and awareness focus on your innermost self, you begin to realize there is something more, that the assumptions you have made about who you are, what you are, they’re not true. They’re based on actions and reactions to actions, Samskaras, from the past, held within the mind, in the subconscious. When you move the conscious awareness through this subconscious mind to the superconscious mind, to the collective unconscious, you begin to realize you are not separate, that that which is assumed is not your true identity, that you are held within an identity that is far more vast. You are held within a consciousness that lives in all things. You begin to feel in the depths of awareness when your attention is shifted from the senses and the assumptions to your innermost consciousness. In the stillness of being, in the depths of yourself, you find that that which you have thought of as you are but a passing dream in a vast stillness, in an eternal love that does not move with time. It always is as it is. There is no time, no place, for there is no dream. It is only in the dream that time and place exist, that there is movement. But beneath it, all is the stillness, the love, the eternal home in which you abide. You have not only come from there, you abide within it, always, knowingly or unknowingly. The dream is in the mind of the dreamer. Whether the dream character realizes they are in the mind of the dreamer or not, they remain within the mind of the dreamer. Likewise, you remain an eternal being as the dream of creation plays out, interwoven, interconnected, a whole. You are part of that network, that whole. That which you have called you is an essential element in a whole of creation within the mind, within the awareness of infinite being. You do not have an infinite being within you; you are composed of infinite beings. There is nothing in you outside of the infinite being. There is nothing that you can see, hear, or touch, that is outside of an infinite being. So when, through deep contemplation and meditation, you make this deep association with the divine one, with the heart of your heart, the soul of your soul, the infinite love which binds all things, the peace that never changes, when you realize this is you, you are the drop of water in the ocean of eternal being, then what happens? Through continual association, the dreams, the beliefs, the assumptions, begin to fall away. You know you are not this and that idea that you have had about yourself, a belief based on experience. You are instead the eternal one, the knower, the consciousness that is aware. You are instead the love that is so deep it cannot be put into words. This is your true nature and as you abide by this, it becomes more consistently your experience. There is no difference between waking, deep meditation, and sleeping—we think that there is a difference, but as you grow deeply into the nature of the Self, as you grow deeply into the beloved of your heart, into your Baba, into your source, you realize that is all around you. You live in all that is. All that lives within you. You reside in an eternal being. Eyes open, eyes closed. It remains the same. There, what you have known of as you dissolve in surrender into the whole of being. There, lover and beloved are one. There is no duality. Take that with you. Stay in association with your eternal nature and you will find that it becomes your constant experience. You live in a body; you have senses. It does not mean you need to be separate. See divinity all around you. Feel the divine beloved of your heart in every form and your form. Let your love flow. Release the gates of your heart. Let go. Let go. Dissolve into one. Remember. Namaskar.  Namaste. The world today is a changing place. Finding your dharma, your place and your right action in a world that is shifting and changing in a process of transformation from one age to another can be difficult. To know your place, to your know dharma at this time can be challenging because there are so many distractions, so many electronic engagements to be made, so many ideas available by so many people, and so many beliefs. The world of information is vast, encompassing knowledge from all parts of the globe, encompassing the ideas of all manner of people. And so, people follow different leaders, some opposed diametrically to others. It is confusing and easy to become polarized for in times of great change polarization is natural, it occurs. But for those to aspire to think of sadvipra, one who encompasses all of the different points of view and connects with the divine flow, then it is not taking one side or another but going within and finding the light within, the guidance within. And from that guidance find your true path for you amid all of the ideas, confusion, beliefs, doomsday predictions, and so on between the emergencies, the fears, the literal storms of weather, the droughts, the hurricanes. Amid all of this, do not look with fear to the outside for answers, but calm your mind, go within, and there, with your divine guide, find your dharma. Find what it is that will be in harmony with all life and with the divine flow. I have said this year that divinity will come closer to the earth plane, and be more accessible to living beings, but this means that there will also be more turbulence because that subtle frequency disrupts the status quo, but it is a push to the times to come, to the age to be. Sattva guna will be increasing on the earth plane, but this increase in sattva requires that there be change. Change that is so fundamental is not only a change of attitudes, a change of beliefs, a change of habit, but a change of frequency. For those attuned that will be a great relief. For those not attuned it will cause disruption.  There is a wavelength to the time that has been for some years prominent in the world. A time of materialism, a time where philosophy and the thinking of people made the material world the sum of their ideas. But that time has changed. That is breaking down and the spiritual realm, the subtlety of sattva guna is coming into play.
That does not mean all will be smooth, for a sattva increases as the subtle energies of Parama Purusha become more available and the frequency in the earth begins to shift. The minds of people will be changing and in confusion many times not knowing where the ground is, where they belong, and confused as to whether what they believed in the past is truly the way. But out of that confusion, out of that disruption, humanity will rise like the phoenix to meet the day, to be aligned with the infinite. That is the new dawn rising. That is the new beginning. The question to ask yourself is, will you align yourself with that infinite one? Will you increase sattva guna in yourself? Will you surrender what you have been to the divinity which lies within you and all around you? Will you take this opportunity to walk with the divine, to let the divine permeate you and guide you to move in harmony with the great? Doing this, put aside looking outward. Find your ground, your center with the divine Beloved and let go—let go. That divinity is coming closer; through this year that will come closer still. There will be more access. That means you will have what you need for spiritual alignment. Lord will be there. Surrender. Let go. Let go of what you have held onto. Hold to the infinite one. Let that one fill you, guide you, and align you with dharma. Do not look to organizations, do not look to leaders, do not look to social norms to be your guideposts. Let the infinite one, let Parma Purusha be your guidepost, your polestar, your bright light in the night. Then you have nothing to fear. And being aligned with that one, being aligned with the harmony of the universe you will find your way to live in truth, in love divine, in care and compassion for all beings. And right action will ensure; dharma will prevail, and you will be part of the forces of light that are shifting and changing this world Surrender and act in harmony with this flow from the infinite. You will be more accessible to you as the year goes forward. Remember this, alright? Are there any questions?  For hundreds of thousands of years humans have lived upon this planet. They have, each one, struggled to exist, to survive, to have a good life - to live. And in this time throughout history people have encountered various obstacles, difficulties, struggles of the life. These struggles are a natural part of human existence; a natural part of living in this world. There is no time in human history when there hasn't been some sort of difficulty, large or small, personal or collective. Difficulties always arise. But in addition to difficulties there are always periods of personal joy, personal fulfilment, personal expansion. Times when life seems very good. Times when you feel very connected to friends, family, loved ones. Times when you feel there is abundance in your life. These are also natural human experiences. And throughout history people have had both the difficult experiences and the joyous experiences - times of struggle and strife, times of peace and integration. Some people may ask why are there are periods of struggle and strife? Why do obstacles and difficulties arise? Without them, how could you grow without both the personal and collective, obstacles, struggles, and strife? For each human being loves their life, wants to survive, wants to do the maximum to fulfil their destiny and to find true happiness. But in that search and effort to find happiness, many times the happiness of others can be stepped upon. The happiness of one can be at the expense of the happiness of others. And, for the happiness of one, another may suffer - living beings of all species may suffer. And so, as society goes on and the disparity between those who are well off and see profit from the way the society is operating and those who suffer, be they in human form or in other forms, becomes highly divided. There is bound to be some sort of circumstance which begins to level this off, begins to change the situation. In today's world many animals are highly exploited. There has been a degree of human exploitation of the planet that there are many species dying today, completely disappearing from this world. The world is out of balance and to bring that balance back there are forces in nature which adjust, which naturally bring harmony back to the natural world, back to all the living beings. And so, this is a time of adjustment.  It is one adjustment. Until human beings awaken to the harmony they have with all other living beings, rather than trying to put themselves above other beings and exploit others, when they begin to live in harmony and mutual love and respect with all beings, then the world will change.
So, in collective life as well as personal life, there are lessons to be learned from the trials and tribulations and difficulties that arise. Those are nature's way of teaching us, of showing us when we have gone too far down the wrong path, and allowing us to make adjustments, corrections. When people become very extroverted, trying always to find their happiness outside of themselves, then they may be very successful for a time and then hit a period where that success fails them. And you think why is this happening to this person? But, if you saw the entire scope of that person's life and many lives before, you might see that that person has come to a point in their own evolution where what they've been doing, the way they have been approaching their life, is not working. Is not for their higher good, not promoting their true spirit to awaken and arise, not promoting their path home to their source. And so, certain circumstances might arise to make a correction in that path. When that happens then there is an opportunity in life to adjust, to make changes. And the same is true in collective life. It provides an opportunity. So never be daunted by the difficulties that life presents individually or collectively. But, take them in stride as an opportunity to change, to grow, to expand, to go inward to know your inner most self, to become connected to the entirety of your being. Such are the ways that nature adjusts, and the laws of the universe are sustained. This is the path of dharma.  In human life, there are many different types of experiences. There are those times when conflict arises between people. You have one opinion; another has another opinion. You have a judgment of the actions of another person. Conflicts can become collective when leaders assume positions opposed to the ideas of another and then the conflictual tension of the leaders is reflected through the masses that follow those leaders. When those conflictual situations where different ideologies, different approaches, come in contrast and in conflict with each other and the people that hold those ideologies or approaches, then there is hostility and even war. War can be between two people, it can be between two groups, or two political views, or between two nations. There are different levels of war depending on the situation. The fundamentals of conflict are that two separate views are held, be they between two feuding people, two feuding families, two feuding political systems, two feuding nations: between any two entities with opposing views. Some conflicts are easily solved by finding common ground. But there are conflicts where the common ground is not there. And in today's world, there is a polarization of people. You will notice there is one side and another. Some want the globalization of the planet. They hold ideologies that put focus on humanity and going forward to save the planet. Some want to maintain the era of capitalism, the Vaishan era, and maintain the values of that system and have the successes they have seen in that system of that thinking approach in the past. Naturally, these two forces clash and as the strain of the situation grows people are polarized—they are in one camp or another camp. And it seems that the amount of people who can be in the middle is becoming almost non-existent because there is such differentiation, such pull to opposites. This happens between people. It happens at all levels. And soon if it goes on, there is an entire separation between people who are of another ideology, another way of thinking. So what to do? One wants to eliminate the other. When this happens between large bodies of people it leads sometimes to physical violence because they can find no way of settling their differences. They find no common ground, and the only solution they can see is to eliminate the other because the other is a threat. This approach has been common in certain phases of human development. And it is common today. Family members do not talk to each other; they do not work out their differences. This is more common than in the past. Children not speaking to their parents, unwilling to sit down and find their common ground, to find their way through to harmony and love. It happens between groups of people. It happens between political ideologies. And unfortunately, the very commonality of humanity and the love divine which binds all life together becomes forgotten in the conflict. What is seen is the other; someone different, separate, and to be disliked. The commonality of your feelings towards your children, the commonality of your love in your heart becomes unreachable because the opinions, beliefs, and actions vary so greatly. What to do when polarization dominates the field of the human mind, individually or collectively? There is only one true solution, to realize that everyone is connected to you. You are all part of the same whole. You are all children of the Great. Differences may be there in beliefs, ideologies, and definitions of right and wrong, but the supreme loves everyone. The Divine showers grace on all. The Divine does not care if you are a Christian or a Muslim or a Hindu or a Buddhist or an atheist. The Divine loves all equally. The shower of grace is there for everyone. The rituals and the customs will vary, but in the heart of the rituals and customs is the love of the human heart, is the devotion, is surrender, not to ideologies, but to the infinite one. How to Live in Harmony with Each Other Cont. |
 | The teachings of the Tao come from the ancient teachings of dharma. When a being follows the Tao, they are in alignment with their inherent nature and they follow the laws that govern that inherent nature. These laws, the principles and operating forces of the universe, are the fabric of existence. Without them, the natural world would lose its integrity. |
To understand the Tao is to understand the inherent nature of human beings, the inherent nature of rocks, the inherent nature of water, the inherent nature of Earth, and the inherent nature of each and every type of living being. When beings are in alignment with their inherent nature, dharma flows naturally. A sense of harmony with all life is the result. The Tao is the Way. Dharma is also called the Way, the law, the path. Dharma is inherent in all things.
Human beings have a longing for the Great. There is a restlessness in the hearts of people, because there is dissatisfaction with duality and feelings of separation from the whole. Sooner or later, most people experience the existential pain of separation from the unconditional love that is the source of their being.
This separateness, and the restlessness that emerges because of it, brings a search for wholeness that may take many forms. People try to acquire things to feed the need inside of them. They grasp for solutions, not only in the physical world, but in the psychic and spiritual worlds as well. However, this need to reconnect with wholeness is met only when dharma governs a person’s life and they move in harmony with their innermost Self.
Bhagavat Dharma, our human dharma channels our restlessness towards the Great. When we do this, our unique human expression moves towards unity and wholeness. We align ourselves in perfect harmony with our inherent, natural state of being. Dharma is followed when you are in alignment with the natural laws of the universe, with the laws of the Divine Mother. When people find harmony with all that is, life becomes an expression of love, a seva, a service to others. One feels alignment with the Tao.
When you are in the flow of dharma towards the Divine, all that you have seen and known comes into a harmonious alignment and becomes directed towards your innermost Self rather than towards pleasures or worldly acquisitions. When dharma governs your life, the little sense of “I” melts away and is surrendered to the love that is unconditional, that is the larger Self. The pain of duality is dissolved in Moksha, liberation from ignorance, a movement from ego-centered pleasure seeking to selfless love in the flow of dharma. This movement towards unitary wholeness and liberation is the natural, essential flow of human life, inherent in your own being.
Each person’s expression of this flow of dharma will be unique. You move on the path of dharma when your life becomes a flower offered to the Infinite. When you live in love with all beings and with honor and respect for all life, when you direct the restlessness and pain within to the one true Self, you move on the path of dharma. Let love flow in you and through you, in all that you do, all that you say and in all that you are. Then, following dharma, you live in harmony with the natural laws and in harmony with all life. This is knowledge of the Tao.
If you would like to read more articles like this one, please go to www.yogama.info under Teachings.
Author
Maetreyii Ma: a teacher of yogic wisdom & practices
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