Contemplative Nature

Before I realized what I was doing, I was cultivating a contemplative approach to life.  You see, it was natural for me to seek stillness in the chaos of my life, natural to seek light where there was darkness, natural to identify with the infinite when confronted with the finite.  Over the years, some have accused me of “escapism”, saying that I have “run away” from life’s challenges.  To this I can only answer, “Not even the saints and sages have been able to escape the slings and arrows of life.”

 

As a child it occurred to me that I was auspicious, that life was auspicious.  Not that I was special, because anyone who either has children or has spent time with children, realizes that all kids view the world with such happiness and promise.  Maybe my discovery of Yoga philosophy at the age of eleven allowed me to keep that favorable perspective, even in the face of uncertainty and calamity – which befalls us all as we grow through life – because in my Yoga readings, at such an early age, I was encouraged by the promise of  mercy and metta (loving kindness).

 

What occurred to me later was that all of us are auspicious, that we are Auspicicus Sapian, or that this is our real identity.  After all, as I rationalized early on, we are all born this way.  And those slings and arrows of life, well those are ego and ignorance, or the darkness that comes over us the further we move away from our auspicious self.

 

A few years after discovering Yoga (while still in my teens), during meditation, I heard a clear voice say, “In the darkness of our lives, there was a spark of existence”, and in that moment, a light literally came on inside my being.  That fire – that tapasya, that heat, that incandescence – transformed me.  Where there was heat to digest and metabolize the food I ate, now that fire sent the Prana of what I ate and drank through the seal in my head.  Where there was experience there was now knowing, where there was learning there was now perception, where there was past and present there was now Now, where there was deception and uncertainty there was truth, where there was separateness there was shared-ness, where there was many there was now One.

 

Beyond making a connection, beyond finding higher self, beyond replacing the negative with the positive, there is simply a presence of being, an identity as ‘I Am’.

 

You see, Yoga means ‘yoking’ or ‘union’ of body and mind.  But it also means the union of the lower self with the higher self, the base nature with the exalted nature.  It is not a matter of bailing out of the troubles of the world but embracing them as part of the larger self. It is not about ignoring or destroying or overriding the lower / ego self, to replace it with the higher self .. but to wed the two.

 

We all live in the world, along a horizontal line, yet many seek the higher world, along a vertical line.  Life is about living at the intersection of those two.

 

Prem and Metta!

Yogini Devi

Guidance

Guidance.   We all need it .. whether we like to admit it or not (darn that ego thingie!).  But honestly, guidance is what we have needed since birth .. no one has ever truly gone it alone.

 

That makes guidance paramount.  Likewise, it makes it something that comes in the most unexpected places.  Such as, when we dont think we need guidance .. when we are strumming along at a nice pace, then someone comes along and makes a suggestion .. which we then see the simplicity of .. then implement it, then .. Viola! .. we find ourselves at a new level.

 

And thats just daily stuff.  So what about the real issues .. like spiritual matters?

 

Well, first its a matter of finding out, ‘What sort of spirituality’.  (Ok .. for those of you who know this answer .. no shouting it out and giving it away to those who havent arrived yet!)   😉

 

So .. here are a few ideas for you to ponder regarding guidance.

 

First, is your personal practice assisting in quieting your mindbody energies?  Meaning, is what you are doing along the inward path helping to purify and refine the mind and body?  If what you are engaging in eases the emotional tempest, soothes restless sensations, calms longing, keeps a positive perspective within reach, and gently nudges you towards generosity instead of greed, contentment instead of jealousy, loving kindness instead of hate, and joy instead of anger .. then your doing just fine.

 

Many of us need guidance to realize that we are not the mind, and we are not the body, but that we are radiant, conscious and eternal souls.  And it is our splendid soul – our true self – that guides the mind and body.  Or, as C.S. Lewis so clearly reminded us:  “You don’t have a soul.  You are a Soul.  You have a body.”

 

When we realize this .. truly real-ize this .. then the soul that we are directs the mindbody towards the fulfillment of duty and the resolution of action.  (Or, in other words: the fulfillment of dharma and the resolution of karma.)

 

You see, daily living often includes fear and sickness, worry and doubt .. which work to distract us .. keeping us from the truth of our brilliant self.  After a time, we begin to think that we are these things .. even affirming, “I get sick a lot”, “I’m always stressed out”, “There is just so much to worry about”, “I cant do it”, and the like .. all of which are a brick-in-the-wall, or the acceptance of limitation.

 

This is where we need guidance, for before beginning any spiritual path we must first better our self, which means finding out where we are hurting our self.

 

Wow!  Talk about Catch 22!

 

Lots of time is needed here on self-examination .. lots of contemplation and meditation.  Lol .. in fact, this is where we get ‘brutally honest’ with our self.  ‘Brutal’ because many have become adept at sweeping things under the rug.  But you know what happens when you always sweep things under the rug?  Well, after a time, a pile is created, and that pile grows into a road block, which trips you up.  Which is when many ask, ‘Why is this happening to me?’  When it truth, that ‘trip’ was created by you.

 

You know .. the whole ‘forest for the trees’ scenario!    😉

 

So, in truth, there is nothing to do .. no ‘spiritual path’.  There is only realizing that you are already that which you seek.  There is only realizing that you must allow your true self to be; and when you do, it will transmute – like an alchemist – those base qualities into gold.

 

Prem and Metta!

Yogini Devi