True Grace

Grace strikes us when we are in great pain and restlessness. It strikes us when we walk through the dark valley of a meaningless and empty life. It strikes us when we feel that our separation is deeper than usual, because we have violated another life, a life which we loved, or from which we were estranged. It strikes us when our disgust for our own being, our indifference, our weakness, our hostility, and our lack of direction and composure have become intolerable to us. It strikes us when, year after year, the longed-for perfection of life does not appear, when the old compulsions reign within us as they have for decades, when despair destroys all joy and courage.

-    Paul Tillich

Grace is not some antiquated notion from our pre-modern past.  Nor is it something that we can achieve through hard work and moral behavior.  One the other hand, grace is not denied to us because we are unworthy or unlucky.  Grace is simply an awakening, however momentary, to our true nature.  Spirit momentarily breaks through the fearful illusions of ego and reveals love.

It is wonderful to be in a state of grace.  Life flows joyously.  Worries seem insignificant.  We feel loved and admired.  But sometimes we feel like we are in disgrace where nothing seems to work and we are rejects of the universe.  It seldom occurs to us that it is all in our minds.  There is never a time when we are not connected to our source.

Disgrace is the illusion of separation maintained by the ego.  It is based in our own judgments.  When we judge ourselves and others we reinforce the sense of duality.  We are sucked into the cycle of samsara, conditioned by original sin.  When we ride that cycle we are headed for the territory of anxiety, separation, sickness and death.  Of course there is always rebirth so we can do it all again.

Many people turn to spiritual practice in an attempt to purify themselves.  This is not a bad idea really as long as we are willing to face our arrogance, aggression and ignorance.  Meditation helps us to relax our defenses and open to grace. 

Ultimately, grace is the realization that we are perfect within ourselves.  There is no sin and there is no sinner.  There is neither grace nor disgrace.  There is just pure being-presence. 

Paul Tillich wrote, “You are accepted. You are accepted, accepted by that which is greater than you and the name of which you do not know.”  Grace allows us to let go of the past, resentment and self-condemnation.  In grace we are truly born anew.

The Lost Key

 

Self-forgetting is inherent in self-knowing. Consciousness and unconsciousness are two aspects of one life. They co-exist. To know the world you forget the self - to know the self you forget the world. ~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

 

There is a famous Sufi story concerning Mullah Nasrudin.  His neighbors came to help him look in the street for his lost key.  Someone inquired as to where he last had it and he replied “in the house.”  When questioned why he was looking in the street the Mullah replied that the light was better outside.  A funny story but, Nasrudin generally had a point to his foolishness.

We tend to look for the source of our beings in the external world of the senses or through some kind of mental analysis.  I’m sure there will be an app for that soon.  In the same way scientists search for consciousness in brain tissue and minute neural structures (microtubules).  We look in the familiar territory of our experience in order to discover who it is that witnesses experience. 

We won’t find consciousness by refining our instruments nor through theories based in materialist science.  Consciousness is the irreducible interior of everything.  It is the Ground of Being as Paul Tillich put it.  As such it is not limited to us as individual egos.  It is the deep, universal aspect of ourselves.  It can only be found within.

 

Believe in Yourself

The real “you.” The real deep down “you” is not a puppet which life pushes around.  The real deep down you is the whole universe.  – Alan Watts

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=alan+watts+the+real+deep+down+you&FORM=VIRE2#view=detail&mid=E74F10BE164FFF2D8AE1E74F10BE164FFF2D8AE1

Sometimes the hardest thing to trust is our own being.  Because of avidya, that is, our non-recognition of our true nature, we have been lead to believe that we are limited ego-selves isolated in our bodies.  However, even our bodies themselves are expressions of the universe.  They are made up of “stardust.”  We cling to this sense of separate identity and forget that we are not just part but parcel of everything. 

We have been sold an illusion.  The illusion is not that the apparent, phenomenal world doesn’t exist.  If you step out in front of a car you will get hurt.  The illusion is deeper.  The real you is timeless and invincible.  The real you has been around forever and will continue through multiple cycles of universes.  The real you is not involved in the space-time continuum. 

At the same time the space-time continuum is a natural expression of who we are.  We are not separate from the universe but we are also essentially beyond it.  As conscious beings we are not inside the universe; the universe is within us. 

You are God (and there is no God)

Time, space and object exist only as categories of individual mind. If there is no individual mind there is no time, space nor object.

– Paramhamsa Satyananda Saraswati

 

The mind is such a tricky thing.  We live in a world of thoughts and ideas, concepts and beliefs.  The more naïve among us take this for reality.  As one investigates more deeply into oneself however it becomes apparent that the world we perceive is our creation.  As Buddha put it in the Dhammapada:  Experience follows from thought.  It is our thoughts that create suffering or happiness.

Meditation helps us move into an awareness of thoughts and feelings and consequently into a deeper sense of identity.  Our deeper self doesn’t buy into the sales pitch of the world.  It sees through the advertisements saying “this could be the new bigger and better you.”  Our deeper self is grounded in peace and perfection. 

We are inseparable expressions of the one being we call God.  There is nothing that is not God.  However we have the choice to see this or not.  We can use the power of mind to create suffering if that is what we want.  We can use the same power to create happiness.

There was a song in the 70’s by John Lennon called “God.”  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jknynk5vny8) In it he sang, “God is a concept by which we measure our pain.”  Lennon was a courageous thinker and songwriter.  He also wrote “Imagine”  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRhq-yO1KN8) which challenges conventional ways of thinking. 

“God” is a concept; a creation of our minds.  So is “love,” “truth,” even “reality.”  When we let it all go we encounter our true being.

Self-Evolution

Sadhana is a conscious, ongoing effort which you make to experience the transformation of your nature. It is not something that you do for one hour. Sadhana is continuous awareness, being in the present moment. One has to become a sadhaka in order to experience the truth, the auspiciousness and the beauty in life. The entire process of yoga is based on the principle of sadhana. Samadhi, which is the aim of yoga, does not mean meditative isolation from the world where you become one with yourself, rather it means a harmonious interaction of the feeling of unity within and without. 

-      Paramhamsa Niranjanananda Saraswati

 

Evolution is more than just a theory.  It is the defining view of our times – the recognition that everything is moving forward at an accelerating, i.e. exponential, rate.  Of course we are not just talking about biological evolution but also the evolution of mind, technology and culture. 

Whereas our ancestors lived in a world that was somewhat static and predictable from generation to generation, we live in a world where things change dramatically within a decade or even a year.  As our technology changes so do we on some level.  We must learn to adapt to survive.

Human beings have survived due to our adaptive abilities.  Now we are adapting to the changes we ourselves have brought about.  Perhaps as some theorists suggest we are becoming transhuman – a hybrid of biology and technology.  Perhaps we’ll attain some form of immortality by uploading ourselves onto computers.

There is a deeper level of evolution that needs to take place.  This is the evolution of consciousness.  It is important not to get too fixated on our devices.  We also need to pay attention to our inner selves.  The twentieth century was a demonstration of how our technological abilities can outstrip our spiritual development.  As Albert Einstein put it, "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity." 

Technology which is meant to make life easier actually seems to create more stress.  As a friend confided to me in the 90s, “I used to just send a letter and wait for the reply.  Now I’m running back and forth to the fax machine all day.”  Now we are confronted with the ubiquity of cell phones that interfere with us engaging on a personal level in the actual world. 

Yoga is a means of reconnecting with our inner being and evolving on a conscious level.  Yoga is not just about a set of physical postures but about inner transformation through spiritual devotion, self-inquiry, service and meditation.  Through yoga sadhana we can evolve ourselves as conscious beings and help the world to evolve on a deeper level.  This is inner evolution.

Without inner evolution outer evolution will continue blindly until it annihilates us.  In this sense, yoga is essential for the survival and consciousness evolution of humanity.

True Self-Nature

 

 

Yoga occurs when the patterns of mind become completely still.

Then the Self rests in its own true nature.

-    Patanjali

 

     Who are we?  If we think about it too much we miss the point.  In fact, most of us assume that we are who we think we are.  Who we think we are is based on our conditioning – who we have been taught to believe we are.  Our apparent identity is based on name, family relations, social status, how we look, our achievements or lack thereof, race and ethnicity, religious upbringing, marital partner, offspring, pets, cars, favorite sports teams, musical tastes, health condition, and so on and on.  From a deeper perspective it is all false.

     All of the things listed above are relative and impermanent.  Yoga teaches us that there is something else within us that is unchanging, independent and universal.  It is referred to as Atman, the Self.  It is neither body nor mind.  Instead it is pure awareness.  Atman witnesses the passing parade of the world without getting involved.  It employs body and mind as instruments for this particular human experience but is not bound by them.

     Ultimately the sense of a separate self is lost in the awareness of Atman – in the awareness of awareness itself.  When we are falsely identified with body and mind we see ourselves as inexorably separate and ultimately alone in the universe.  When we rest in our true self-nature as Atman, as pure awareness we are intimately connected with God and with all beings.  In this sense Atman is Love.  Not love of this or that but all-encompassing, unconditional Love that flows through everything.

     Meditation is what enables us to deconstruct our false identification and to rest in our essential nature as Love-Bliss-Awareness.  Concentrative meditation as taught in the Yoga Sutras helps us to transcend the pervasive patterns of the mind that condition our awareness.  Another approach is simply to witness the mind’s activity from the vantage point of the inner witness, or Sakshi.  Either way (or both) with persistent practice and patience, we can awaken from the false dream of the world into a recognition of our inner perfection.