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.
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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. 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? 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. |
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All
Dharma
Ego
Forgiveness
Intro To Yama & Niyama
Living In Harmony
Niyamas
Spiritual Activism
Spiritual Awakening
The Nature Of Love
What Are The Niyamas
What Are The Yamas & Niyamas
What Is Gratitude?
Yamas