God and Self-realization: Daily spiritual reflections - (Sn Upadhyay 25 - October -2020)
Always keep it moving. Activity helps us get into the first stage of yoga. The proper activity is the best activity. Practicing asana, rituals, and service to saints is the proper activity that helps us get into the first stage of yoga. And have a glimpse of the infinite divinity residing in all things. Still, any activity is better than none. Just try to set some time out to sit and practice just being. The mind always running and body always running influences us to lose awareness of what is. It would be a shame to leave this human body without having experienced what only a human can experience. This body is fragile. Like a bubble, it can pop at any moment. Before that happens, make an effort to experience what's beyond the body and mind. Otherwise, death will be the most awful thing. If only we can experience what's beyond body and mind, death will never be an experience for us again. Only life. Of all castes, only the Brahmins made efforts to connect to divinity through the rituals. The hair and wearing of the thread weren't important. Those were just a constant reminder. It's the rituals and discipline of practicing those rituals in a prescribed manner at prescribed times, fasting on prescribed days, arc, that shaped the Brahmin into a man of God. This Coronavirus is just a reminder for all of us that we don't know what will happen tomorrow. It's a very crucial time for us all to see what it is we want out of Life. What state we are in when this body dies, we remain in that state. We no longer have choices. There is no way to improve. Only with this body and mind can we evolve. After becoming conscious of life, aware of the self, then we can move about freely with or without the body. Everyone else who has yet to realize that is trapped in whatever state of mind they last were in when they had a body.
I'm keeping silent right now. There are many things happening in the world. Know that what we work on outside of ourselves only lasts for this life. Whereas what we work on within our self, we take that with us. There will be many lives ahead of this one. Work as you see is needed. The world outside which distracts and blinds us from reality, or the world within which illuminates our being and aligns us with the truth. Experiencing the self once changes one's life forever. The Kurukshetra war becomes real life. We see every chance to practice dharma and dissolving over karma and creating. And the practice, sadhana from there is to act properly (dharma) And constantly remember that connection. I have been given an opportunity to reflect on the self and am using this opportunity. There will be a day soon that there will only be time for the world. So I'm using this time to focus on that connection until it becomes an unbreakable one.
No matter what our goal is in life, the mind always gets distracted. But practice makes the focus become perfect. Life is like a journey. Distractions are like rest stops. The more rest stops we have and the longer they are, the more we get stuck and slow us down to reaching the goal. Everyone's mind is perfect in their own way. And God keeps everyone in their place so that this play of consciousness stays perfect. If a saint has realized the self, he is only in the beginning stage. Then he must practice remembering that self and not getting pulled away from that connection. He is just a teacher, not a guru. And so he can only have students, not disciples. The siddhis of such a saint are limited. He himself is just a disciple. But enlightenment happens after that connection is locked in and unbroken. That's the final stage. Neem Karoli was such an accomplished saint. Most gurus in today's world have yet to even experience the self. Fewer of them have experienced the self. But it's easy to get stuck on one accomplishment. And even fewer gurus are enlightened. And in the enlightened gurus, some have impure mind because of attachments to beliefs and knowledge, which prevents God from thinking and speaking through that mind.
After enlightenment happens slowly the mind becomes purified as God works through that mind by peeling the layers of beliefs. Until all beliefs leave and only truth remains. This is known as an Avatar. We are all students in life. When we keep losing one body and everything we had gained that Life and come back and have to start all over again and do it many times, eventually we disconnect from gaining, obtaining, and attaining. Instead of building the castle to watch it destroys more times, we seek the only thing which is always there and never leaves us. Whereas money keeps the bank full, food keeps the stomach full, He keeps the heart full and living life to it's fullest. Then we become a disciple. And have many steps along the way. This body was born into a family of those in the Christian faith. They said Jesus is God, so I chose not to believe in God. The idea that God is one thing or one person never clicked with me. But one day when I was 17 years of age, it was revealed to me that a higher power exists and that we should obey that higher power. But it wasn't a belief, it was a realization that something beyond the mind existed. Then when a guru blessed me in India around 6 years ago I had the experience that God is in everyone and everything, including my own self. But though God is in all, the putter layers are Maya. The play of God. They are not God. But God is seated in them. In the deepest depths. In the core. Every religion was based on the truth. But they became mistranslated and some left out overtime making them impure. Hindu is such that there isn't anything missing. It doesn't say only one way to God. It doesn't say God has a name or form. But it does show many deities which can be worshipped to help establish that connection within. All religions were originally perfect. But only Hindu had practicing and accomplished saints which kept the religion pure and have kept it alive to this day.
There are many paths which Hinduism speaks of. One with the mind of rock should practice Bhakti yoga to help it melt. But ones with the mind of a rock prefer to be stubborn, act as if they know, and become a teacher or leader in some way or form. Gyan gives us the knowledge to help purify the intellect of the mind. Bhakti gives us the devotion to helping purify the heart. These two are a must to experience the self. Without the proper knowledge, then we experience the self we may go into a state of fear thinking we are going crazy as we will experience what's beyond the mind. Without devotion, one cannot nourish the intention to experience the self. Gyan helps us steadily walk on the path with the least obstacles but bhakti is the fuel that gets us to the destination. The sincere intention is the seed. A desire without sincerity is like a passing cloud. It comes and goes. Gyan is the soil. Bhakti is the water and sunshine. We need all these in order to reach the goal. Physical suffering is the main motivation to seek God. God is attached to all things as it's the source of all. He never leaves us. He is never separate from us. But instead of attaching to that which is attached to us, we attach to expectations, which get broken and physical things which also break. Physical suffering leads us to wish to seek what there is to life rather than physical and mental suffering. Then we seek to go beyond the mind and body experience. But in today's world with all these comforts, we are more likely to indulge in Maya, which distracted from the truth, God.
When we listen to true knowledge, which comes from experience, it helps us to realize how useless thoughts are. Thoughts have no value. Only knowledge does. Many people spend their whole life sharing thoughts with each other. Wasting each other's time. Smart people share their experiences which can help others to make quick success in maybe a hobby or career. The wise ones share the knowledge they have which was gained through their experiences. Never waste time on useless thoughts or people with useless thoughts. No matter how entertaining they may seem at the moment, at the end of the day we will feel as if our time was wasted.
Be good to yourself
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Have a wonderful time, all.
Much love to you and yours,
Sn Upadhyay
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