THE GOSPEL OF LOVE
AN ANCIENT VEDIC
TREATISE ON THE SUBJECT OF DIVINE LOVE
COMMETARY BY JAMES SWARTZ
INTRODUCTION
Every
day roughly six billion humans wake up, have breakfast, and set out on their
life’s course in search of something meant to make them a little happier than
the day before. Successful or not, the
same six billion get up the next day hoping it will bring happiness.
A fellow gets a house. Is he satisfied? Next he needs a wife. Is that then end of it? Not on your life. Kids, grandkids, a place in the country, a
trip around the world - the list goes on.
Until the day he dies the sense that life still has something to offer
lingers in his mind. Were he to be
reborn a thousand lifetimes and garner untold experience, our hypothetical
person would get up in the morning and set out on the quest to find something
he or she didn’t have.
So
the question is, “If I felt whole and complete and unconditionally loved myself
as I am, would I chase happiness outside myself?” Would I strive ceaselessly from dawn to dusk,
subject myself to untold inconvenience, and take endless risks to get something
- freedom from want - that seems largely unattainable? If I had peace of mind, wouldn’t I ignore the
alarm clock, sleep till ten, and read the morning paper over coffee and
doughnuts at the cafe on the corner?
By
and large most of us aren’t that happy, even those who think they are. A nagging sense of insufficiency trails us
wherever we go like a needy little dog.
We work hard with the best intentions, do everything right, yet some
small emotional grain of sand always manages to foul up the works of our
clocklike lives. However, moments of
true happiness, when we feel adequate and complete and our sense of self is
perfect, do happen. Not frequently, mind
you, but often enough to make us wonder why the feeling can’t last forever.
For
thousands of years a perennial spiritual culture has been saying that it can,
that the very nature of the Self, like these moments, is peaceful, wise,
loving, and desireless. Keeping our eyes
peeled as we move along our paths, we encounter people who are completely
happy, who express what could be called pure love, Mother Theresa for
instance. And it’s not surprising that
such souls are greatly revered, are, in fact, never forgotten, Jesus for
example.
It
might be argued that these people had been arbitrarily blessed by an unknown
and mysterious fate, but the paths leading to peace of mind are well-trodden.
The
path of action says that an abiding mind comes when the source of our
discomfort, the Unconscious, is cleansed, and counsels substituting a
service-oriented attitude for the selfish grasping state that motivates so many
of our activities. As the Unconscious
empties wholeness and peace dawn.
The
path of knowledge says there’s nothing to do.
We’re already OK. All that’s lacking is the realization of the real Self
which is whole, complete, and loving by nature.
The work lies in teaching the mind to discriminate between those
ephemeral things that bring dissatisfaction, and the eternal Self, the source
of lasting satisfaction.
The
path of mediation asks that we control and discipline the mind, redirecting it
to the Source, God.
The
path of love, the subject of the Gospel, is the easiest because Love is our
nature. All that’s required is that we
love God.
WHO IS GOD?
God,
Happiness, Love as the most universally coveted experience is never a problem,
but the word “God” has become one.
Originally, it probably meant “good,” in the sense of that which is
always good, true, and real. But now,
because of centuries of accumulated baggage, the meaning has become
obscured. Thinking about God, the Good,
apart from our experience, is always difficult because It isn’t knowable by the
senses and mind, remaining an abstraction, subject for debate by theologians
and philosophers. The most common way of
dealing with the problem has been to create a more user-friendly abstraction by
turning the nameless formless Love that is our nature, the source of all
goodness, into a person.
The
difference between a person and a being is negligible. In fact a person is a being. And Love, in spite of its formlessness,
though not necessarily a being, is Being - what is. Our “beingness” as people derives from Love’s
being, or to use religious terminology, we are “cast in the image of God.” So personifying the impersonal is not a
problem spiritually if we actually know what the Impersonal is.
To
project, the mind needs a substrate, something whose nature is subtle enough to
appear when perceived under certain conditions as something it isn’t. If the mind isn’t completely clear when it
perceives the substrate, in this case Love or God, its fears, desires, opinions
and prejudices condition the perception, just as clear water seen through a
colored glass appears colored.
Projection is by definition unconscious, so the religious mind has
unconsciously developed views of God not completely in harmony with God’s
nature, the wrathful jealous Old Testament picture of God, for instance. Nonetheless, the mind’s impurities, not God
or the word “God” is the problem.
So
when these commentaries, in keeping with the text, refer to God they are not
thinking of It as a jealous, vengeful, arbitrary, judgmental, authoritarian,
white-bearded old man in a physical Heaven.
The Old Testament was probably put together by a number of sincere
religious men whose minds were burdened with concepts of jealousy, vengeance,
power, majesty, and glory. In fact, the
second verse, the beginning of the text proper, defines God in a completely
experiencable non-conceptual impersonal way.
However,
not everyone can initially realize God’s nature, so concepts (words) are
necessary to turn the heart inward toward God.
The path of meditation, for example, refers to God as the forth “state
of Consciousness,” the object of meditation.
Is God, Love, a state? If a state
is subject to change then God is not a State.
Even the Old Testament agrees, calling God, “The Eternal.” Because it carries the sense of something
unconscious, the word "state" probably isn't the best. The dream state, for example, is not
conscious but a condition created when God shines through the dream ego. So if the forth state is not conscious, then
it isn't God, because God is Consciousness.
But if we define the forth state as Consciousness then it is the only
conscious state, the only unchanging state.
Even calling God "conscious" could be misleading because of
the implication that It might become unconscious.
Different
words appeal to different people. God,
Consciousness, is often called the "I." In a way it's a good symbol because the
"I" we know in everyday life, the ego, is a conscious being, but
unlike the ego, God doesn't have a personality, suffer, die, sleep, eat, or
breathe. So its non-similarity to the
ego is easily greater than its similarity.
"Self" is a good word too because it conveys the idea of
something essential. You can get along
in this world with just about everything except a self. But it's not a good word because we tend to
think of the ego when the word "self" is used. And the Self, for various reasons, especially
with regard to love limitation, isn't an ego.
With
each of the thousands of symbols something is appropriate, something not so
appropriate, something stated, something implied. It probably doesn't matter what symbol is
used as long as an important quality of God is highlighted. But, by definition, a symbol can only
partially convey the symbolized.
Nonetheless, contemplated with understanding and faith, religious
symbols should transport us to the inner experiencable state of universal Love,
not feed the mind with ideas about God.
The
unauthored text that follows, which provides a long list of purified symbols,
is of indeterminate origin, its ideas as old as the hills. I came in contact with it in
When
I think of the Gospel I see a stately mansion on a country hill looking out
over a pristine river valley, surrounded by a graceful cluster of old
oaks. Time has been kind, according it
the patina of lives well-spent. About
twenty five years ago I came along, sat on the verandah and looked on the
ever-changing world. Something happened
and I received a wonderful gift. The
other day I got to leave and noticed that it needed another coat of paint and
some minor repairs.
Scripture
is much more than words. Like the house
on the hill it can undergo modification without loosing value, if we stay true
to the spirit of the Architect. Taking
it out of Sanskrit doesn’t harm it. In
fact it does well in English. I like it
because it doesn’t stoop to dogma. Nor
does it get fascinated with its brilliance, but patiently and humbly sticks to
its subject. The organization bothered
me a bit at first, but my attempt to rearrange the verses failed. Then I realized that it was so sure of itself
it could afford to be natural and spontaneous.
Like a gnarly old oak, it has sucked diverse nutrients from human
devotional soil, absorbed and assimilated them into one wonderful eternally
living form. It will continue to give
shelter and shade forever.
Now,
therefore, we shall reveal the Gospel of Love.
The
first human to know God was probably the first human. For who has not, having journeyed into the
backcountry anywhere, dwarfed by the immense grandeur of nature, noticed the
civilized mind begin to gently dissolve into the silent timelessness of the
elemental? And, in the face of such
splendor, felt the electric arc of Divine Love flowing between oneself and the
body of the Eternal? Just being there,
alive and unencumbered by memory as the first of our species must have been,
encompassed by the awesome beauty of life, is to know God.
In
those times, unlike today, to know was the rule rather than the exception. Probably nobody made much of it. But, when civilization developed and nature
became an adversary to be conquered, exploited, and manipulated, it was time
for the heart, ever in search of meaning, to begin the difficult and subtle
quest within.
The
feeling of oneness that invariably comes when we experience identity with life
is religion, spirituality. Our holy
ancestors had no need of churches, synagogues, mosques, and written
scripture. Life itself was seen as a
vast open-air temple, nature a sacred scripture, and the body a living altar in
which the flame of Love, the Holy Spirit, reverently burned in devotional
purity. Wishing to preserve their vision
for the coming generations, the blessed ones developed spiritual culture.
Endowing
them with lofty standing, society entrusted its most promising minds to their
care. In those days spiritually-inclined
young people routinely spent years in forest hermitages, learning the inner
way, developing spiritually before returning to the society to marry and assume
their responsibilities. A number never
returned but followed their hearts, wandering in search of Truth. One could find them holed up in caves on the
banks of holy rivers or cloistered in monasteries practicing austerities and
devotions - living lives of contemplation, prayer and meditation, the
foundation of the spiritual path.
It
was a common sight then, and even today in cultures still in touch with their
spiritual roots, to come upon a small group sitting in the morning sun under a
tree near a stupa, temple, or mosque, or in the courtyard of a hermitage
listening to a discourse by someone whose heart vibrated with love, whose mind
sparkled with wisdom. And in that
dynamic communion a passionate love of God was awakened in their hearts.
This
text, undoubtedly heard countless times throughout the ages, is addressed to an
ethical, cultured, non-attached, discriminating person with an inquiring mind
who, through conscious living, has come to the conclusion that worldly
happiness is not enough, and seeks to know and love the great mystery beyond.
The
Gospel is not apologetics, dogma, or an evangelical polemic intended to convert
the atheist, agnostic, or cynic to the religious point of view, but a
meditative treatise intended to reveal God’s love in moments of deep reflection
and contemplation.
***
“Now,
therefore, we..” The royal “we” suggests
the lineage, the perennial tradition from which the ideas on Divine Love
spring. The Gospel’s ideas are neither
the personal mystic theories of a prophet or the speculations of a
spiritually-inclined poet or philosopher, but time-tested and universally respected
truths. Such works have endured because
they embody our highest ideals as revealed through an ancient yet extant
culture of holy beings. The author might
be conceived of as the Infinite Spirit’s response to the devotional yearnings
of humanity.
Devotion
is intense exclusive love of This.
No
verbal definition of love is given in the beginning because the Gospel knows
that to define is, in some sense, to defile.
The verse uses the neuter pronoun, “This” to suggest that devotion is a palpable,
ever-present experience, not only to avoid sectarianism, but because to think
of the object of devotion as a “God” outside oneself in a transcendental sky or
faraway heaven is to turn a self-evident reality into an object of blind faith.
The
God “This” is immediate and perceivable, the innermost Self, (“I am the way,
the truth, and the life.”), nearest of the near, that because of which we
exist, the Consciousness in whose light we “live and move and have our being.” “This” is the GodSelf, the spiritual
mother-father of the psyche or self, our individuality. Devotion is love of Self, not love of
self.
Devotion
is both intense and exclusive. According
to the Gospel, love tied up with material things or psychological states
(feelings, ideas, and people) does not qualify as devotion, although usage
occasionally dignifies love of objects with the term. Devotion is exclusive love of God. Lest the concern arise that loving God
excludes love of sentient beings, it should be noted that all beings are
embodied God - “man created in God’s image.”
Therefore, love of God includes love of everything that exists. However, loving God’s forms without
understanding that they are in essence God, is merely emotion, not devotion.
More
than a Sunday-only attraction to religion and its forms or blind belief in an
immanent or transcendental deity, Devotion is as exclusive, intense,
attractive, and liberating as youth’s first love. All feelings and thoughts constantly stream
inward toward the Beloved in response to the universal and compassionate
outpouring of Love from the all-pervasive Heart, creating passionate
attachment.
It is
Immortal Bliss[1]
Why,
in spite of overwhelming evidence, do we consistently believe that our human
loves should last forever? No matter how
passionately we project immortality and divinity, no matter how hard we try to
keep them pure, they always seem to entangle themselves in a finite web of
circumstances - emotions, feelings, desires, fears, fantasies, dreams, the
flesh rather than spirit - that inevitably lead to disillusionment and
grief. How insecure we become trying to
insulate love from change, protect it from the ravenous jaws of desire, salvage
it from the monstrous clutches of time.
Yet in spite of all our good intentions, love comes and goes, bringing
ups and downs, joys and sorrows.
But Devotion, the immediate experience[2] of
the innermost Self, never dies. Because
it never dies, it is considered bliss.
Though all descriptions somewhat miss the mark, a devotee describes
it. “The exclusive love of God is real
nectar, the sweetest thing that can be possessed. Whoever has it attains immortality. Desire love is equivalent to death. Within the heart of the devotee only the pure
ever-growing desire to taste Love exists.
He or she lives constantly in the presence of God and God lives by his
or her side. This inseparable union is
true immortality.”
Attaining
It, one becomes perfect, immortal, and completely fulfilled.
The purpose of life is to attain
union with God through love, a sensible idea since searching fulfillment in an
ever-changing world with an ever-changing mind is a tailor-made recipe for
disappointment. God, Love, is that which
endures, is true and good at all places and times, and can never be apart from
us.
In
fact Love can’t actually be “attained” because it is us. When we haven’t realized it, however, we
should practice love, direct our thoughts and feelings toward God as we understand
It. Consciously loving God dissolves the
“getter,” the imperfect part of ourselves, allowing God to spontaneously reveal
Itself.
“Be
ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” The perfection the devotee attains through
rediscovery of the Godhead doesn’t come from outside but is a revelation of
innate identity with God and the actualization of God’s perfect love in his or
her life.
Attaining
it, one desires nothing else,
grieves
no more, neither hates or delights in objects,
and
feels no enthusiasm for the vanities of life.
Satisfying
desires is unsatisfactory because it only temporarily frees us from
desire. The more we satisfy ourselves
the more there is to satisfy. Following
this path the soul becomes a misshapen and ugly caricature of itself, twisted
and contorted under the pressure of its neediness. Squandering its energy by incessant craving,
it eventually arives at the point where it can no longer efficiently obtain,
possess, and enjoy desired objects, ending up frustrated and grieving, a bundle
of unfulfilled expectations.
We
tend to think that satisfaction comes from objects, things outside ourselves,
but it doesn’t. If satisfaction were in
objects the same object would supply the same satisfaction to everyone,
suggesting that the question of happiness, satisfaction, love, is centered on
me, the subject.
The
Gospel states that, though seemingly coming from objects, all satisfactions
come from the Self. Everyone at one time
or another believes happiness comes from giving to and\or receiving love from
someone. As long as the love object
cooperates, gives and\or receives according to the subject's special needs,
everything is fine, but as soon as cooperation stops the love withers, at which
point the removal of the object is thought to make us happy. Why does the love dry up? Because the idea that it was coming from the
object acted like a switch in the mind which erected a wall between the mind
and the Self, effectively shutting down the feeling happiness\love.
That
switch, the belief that the joy is in the object, can as well pull down the
wall. Starting from lack we erect an
idol, the "ideal" person, the attainment of which we believe will
remove the loneliness. When reality
presents a semblance of our fantasy, the desire for love is released, the
Self's love cascades into the mind, and we experience happiness. Of course the love seems to be coming from
the object, or an interaction with the object, but it is only a catalyst, a
trigger, activating the inner switch.
Rather
than seek love indirectly the verse suggests we go to the source. To get there the devotee should purify desire
for objects because as the mind empties, the Self, an infinite reservoir of
pleasure, floods it with immortal bliss.
A purified mind becomes a window of perception through which the soul
can inwardly gaze on the heavenly beauty of the Beloved resting within. In such a state who will “hate or delight in
any object?” In such a state who will
feel “enthusiasm for the vanities of life?”
Attaining
it, one becomes intoxicated, then silent, delighting in the Self.
The
state to which this verse refers is not a simple love inspired by blind belief,
but an inner transformation, the rebirth of the soul out of the womb of matter
into the realm of pure Spirit, a spontaneous, ecstatic expansive, dynamic,
open-ended awakening that fills the heart with Love and the head with Wisdom,
resolving all conflict and tension.
Unlike "born-again" experiences, which quickly fade leaving
the devotee caught up in the limitations of the old life, the heart merges
completely into the Self.
A
glimpse of this state inspires intense faith, prompting single-minded striving
to enter into It. Referred to as
salvation by religion and liberation or enlightenment by spirituality, it is
distinct from all meditative, concentrated, absorbed, and practice-induced
states of mind and lower forms of devotion.
The
seeing, enjoying, and participating in the Self inspires divine madness, an
overwhelming exhilaration that blows the mind and knocks ego's socks off,
leaving no sense of separateness. One
feels completely intoxicated, like winning the lottery and falling in love on
the same day, or the mother's feeling, extended forever, when a child thought
to be dead returns to her. Everything,
including oneself, is seen as Love. The
devotee may hug and kiss a complete
stranger or enemy, accept an insult as the sweetest thing, go for days without
eating, throw money and possessions away, sing recklessly, laugh uncontrollably
like a child, take embarrassing liberties irrespective of proprieties, talk in
tongues, roll madly in the dirt, jig shamelessly without music - anything is
possible. Devotional literature is
replete with accounts of the fantastic antics of devotees who attained this
state.
The
emotions, unable to handle the intensity for long, gradually calm down, not
that the vision is less intense, the relationship less passionate. The heart, formerly constricted by selfish
thoughts, becomes spacious, graciously accommodating the Divinity blazing
within. Over time one’s feelings rarefy,
turning back toward their ecstatic Source, creating an unbroken circle of
love. Before long God doesn't seem such
a big deal, an incredible being, but a natural companion, tried and true,
trusted, warm and maternal.
As
the initial reaction to the State of
Renunciation
is the essence of Devotion.
Devotion
is actually God loving God through the heart of the devotee, the natural state
of the Self, the pristine meditation of the Self on Itself. When the Self loves Itself, as is Its nature,
the world disappears, but when It apparently forgets, the world begins and Love
manifests as the energy and intelligence in all forms of life. Though in fact It doesn’t, It seems to get
mixed up with life forms, taking on the nature of the form, just as clear water
in a colored container appears colored.
Pure
Love, functioning through an unawakend mind, becomes other directed and
transforms into romantic or “special” love.
As humans we are unaware of the spiritual origin of our feelings for
each other, believing them magically manufactured from an earthy “chemistry”
between bodies, a belief subjecting the “love,” like the ever-changing bodies
and emotions that influence it, to endless instabilities: possessiveness,
clinging, jealousy, anger, fear, desire, and anxiety - the fear of “falling
out” of love. A confusing state because
it contains light as well as dark elements, romantic love will momentarily rise
to sublime heights, perversely devour itself in fits of stormy passion, or
predictably drown itself in the dark seas of
depression.
Associated
with the lowest in us, Pure love ironically appears as lust. An ignorant and unremittingly dualistic
state, lust is intense craving flowing compulsively through deeply-etched
grooves in the Unconscious, incarcerating the soul in an addictive, hellish
world.
Both
romantic love and lust yield special sufferings which in the best of all
possible worlds ignite the fire of seeking and set the soul on the inner
path. To find true love the seeker must
abandon the idea of object love and convert special to spiritual
relationships. Special relationships,[3]
which are compensations for the Separation from God, operate on the principle
that love can only flow to an object that satisfies the lover’s special
needs. Spiritual relationships, on the
other hand, ask the devotee to love and serve the Self in the beloved. Short of that, the devotee is enjoined to
love the beloved’s ego as it is, warts and all.
At
a more developed stage, the devotee, secure in the knowledge that the presence
and absence of objects are equal, becomes indifferent to the whole concept of
relationship and cultivates a pure meditation, a relationless relationship with
God.
On
the God level renunciation, freedom, and Love are identical because Love is
complete, depending on nothing but itself.
The discovery that the devotee’s and God’s love are one and the same is
liberation, the fruit of Devotion.
Renunciation
is a sense of wholeness and self-esteem.
What is more liberating than the feeling that you, not your needs, are
the master of your destiny? A renounced
devotee enjoys the enviable option of making decisions based on what is
spiritually correct rather than expediency, a luxury few enjoy.
For
renunciation to occur all activities must be consecrated.
From
ego’s point of view life is a futile attempt to satisfy an inexhaustible stream
of desires and pander to an unending procession of fears. To thwart the unconscious recycling of fear
and desire the Gospel recommends converting desire into devotion by dedicating
all actions to God. Dedicated
activities, rather than creating attachments, purify them, turning the heart
into a luminous channel through which pure Love flows. Since God dispenses the fruits of consecrated
action, the ego needn’t dissipate energy in needless worry, investing it
instead in devotional practice - loving service, for example.
The
more we’re attached to things the less we’re apt to experience Divine Love, and
conversely, fewer attachments make it more likely selfless love will develop. Material philosophy, on the other hand,
defines happiness as love for and attachment to things and beings, and supposes
that more of everything produces more happiness. Whether the desire for ever-increasing joy
springs from our unenlightened material self, or God in us trying to realize
Itself, the desire for object love must be dismissed if devotion is to flower.
Of
course the devotee can’t banish the objects themselves because they belong to
God. However, the misunderstanding that
associates love with objects should be renounced. Sublimated into devotional practice,
impurities wither and die. God consumes
any thoughts and feelings, positive or negative, offered in a spirit of
surrender and sacrifice as holy good, removing them from the unconscious cycle
of emotion and transmuting them into devotion.
The
inner enemies (desire, lust, anger, attachment, arrogance, acquisitiveness,
possessiveness, sloth, greed, pride, etc.) often seem so powerful we feel
compelled to toady to them completely.
Invariably we resist letting go, testily defending the fortress of
rationalization and justification we’ve constructed to validate them to
ourselves and others. Occasionally,
puffed with pride, we turn them into hard and fast credentials.
The
idea that renunciation is painful is false.
A
rich and famous person, attracted to the simplicity of a devotee’s life said,
“What a great soul you are, having given up everything in the world yet are so
happy!”
“No,
the devotee replied, you are much greater than I. I have only renounced worldly things for
eternal love but you’ve renounced eternal love for the goods of this
world.”
The
consecration of positive feelings is safe, even sensible, but offering
negativity seems foolhardy, not to say blasphemous. Surprisingly, God, who sees no duality,
though conscious, doesn’t suffer karmic rebound, accepting everything without
comment. It is the part that
dispassionately reflects, like a mirror, our thoughts and feelings, a thirsty
cosmic sponge that soaks all projections.
Knowing God’s nature frees the devotee to consecrate it all, positive
and negative, in love.
Consecration,
therefore, proceeds renunciation triggering the devotional flow from the
devotee to God, completing the cycle.
The devotee is
indifferent to obstacles that hinder the flow of Love.
To
the lover of God there is one Friend and many enemies dwelling within. Toward the enemies dispassion (fear of the
enemy is the enemy) should rule the mind, toward the friend, devotion.
Purging
the heart is difficult because of the strong attractions and aversions we’ve
developed toward emotions. On one hand how
quick we are to defend, justify, and rationalize them; on the other, how easily
we make ourselves feel guilty, remorseful, and “sinful” because of them. This verse offers a weapon for dealing with
our feelings (and our feelings about our feelings) - dispassion.
Dispassion,
which teaches that emotion, a major obstacle to growth, is transparent and
impermanent, helps deconstruct the frozen superstructure of ego and intellect
that makes feelings unworkable and allows the devotee to creatively relate to
feelings, teaching him or her to step back and allow them to play out in the
world or direct them to God through prayer and meditation. Without dispassion,
the inner enemies have their day and love remains caught up in objects, unable
to pierce the subtle realm of Spirit.
The whole-hearted
renounce everything but God.
A
statement unwittingly designed to raise doubts about our devotional
eligibility. Can we actually live
happily without attachment[4] to
all the props - family, job, status, wealth, etc.? Such questions are only relevant when we’ve
arrived at the high devotional state to which the verse refers.
We
try to solve the universal need for security in many ways, all fraught with
anxiety. The need to relieve anxiety
often creates a belief in God, (Marx’s “opiate of the masses”) but the belief
in an external problem-solving agent is not devotion unless the devotee depends
completely on God for security and support.
When
the devotee experiences God directly and comes to know what he or she had
formerly merely believed in, devotion is said to be ripe, “wholehearted.” The experience of God purifies ill-considered
and superstitious notions of the Divine and leads to self awareness, insight
into one’s psychology.
Devotion
flowers when perception of God is continuous, though union, the forth stage,
has yet to occur. Perception is
panoramic, the devotee seeing the reality of God, the soul, and the world with
no identity crisis clouding the mind.
Devotion is pure, intense, and Godlike, filling the heart with
confidence and self-assurance. Though
residual worldly tendencies occasionally extrovert the mind and agitate the
heart, faith is unshakable. All
supports, except God, are abandoned and the heart becomes incapable of loving
anything else. The world, formerly a
fickle reality, becomes God’s body, and the devotee, like a fish, swims in an
ocean of love. As the poet says, “The
lovely form of the Lord has settled in these eyes and there is no room for any
other beauty.”
In
the final state the devotee and God melt into each other in Love and
Understanding, leaving nothing to renounce.
Rejecting selfish actions,
the pure devotee performsactions pleasing to God.
God’s
love is unchanging irrespective of our behavior, however unselfish actions
performed with the understanding that everyone and everything is God rate
special attention - because they express our full devotional potential and
bring union with the Beloved, the purpose of evolution.
Often
society and family demand action that conflicts with devotion: the son is
required to obey tyrannical parents, the employee the boss, the citizen the
government. Because devotion is a
conscious discriminating process, not blind belief, the devotee is required to
determine on a case by case basis which of the four classes of actions, with
the exception of prohibited, are conducive to devotion.
The
four classes are: (1) Obligatory - taxes, military service, and jury duty,
those compelled by the society on threat of punishment. (2) Incidental - small social and family
duties of a non-compulsory nature. (3)
Prohibited - actions to be abandoned by all: murder, theft, adultery,
homosexuality,[5]
taking drugs and alcohol. Violation of
prohibitions impact negatively on society, cloud the emotions, and dull the
intellect.
(4)
Desire-prompted. Our society encourages
unbridled pursuit of desires, inimical to self-development because it increases
egoism and injures others. Sublimating
desires into service of God in others purifies the heart and creates a healthy
society. On the other hand, the mindless
denial of desire creates an unhealthy personality, necessitating the need for a
middle ground. Spiritual practice is
intended to cultivate a space in the heart where the seed of devotional love
can sprout. If all energy is expended
satisfying our worldly desires, how is it possible to love God? Therefore the devotee should ask whether or
not acting out desires actually increases his or her sense of well being and
enhances devotion. In fact we want
things, not for themselves, but for the love they apparently bring. So why not seek the love at the source,
rather than in its pale reflections?
Until Love is
attained scripture should be diligently followed.
Everyone follows something. Scripture points the way to union with
God. This verse addresses the devotee who
believes “guidance” or “intuition” superior to scripture, a common New Age
view. Because of ego’s tendency to
co-opt and misinterpret the inner voice, intuition should be considered useful
only when coinciding with scripture, not the other way around. One meets many nowadays who view God as a
permissive parent and whose “guidance” seems to suspiciously coincide with
ego’s every fancy. Those exclusively
following intuition tend to be burdened with the belief that the spiritual path
is a personal affair and God’s instructions tailor-made to every
individual. In fact, devotional practice
is meant to dissolve personal peculiarities in the universal experience of
Love. And scripture, which admittedly is
also subject to misinterpretation, is addressed to the universal in each of
us. Hence its teachings are
indispensable and should be “diligently followed.” [6]
The
verse is also addressed to those who may not be particularly psychic but who
need to base their lives on principle, not passion. Of course there are tens of thousands of
scriptures worldwide, many with apparently conflicting views on the nature of
God, human psychology, and the purpose of the world. Contrary to the anti-intellectual view
sweeping the Western spiritual world, devotion demands clear and comprehensive
knowledge. Rather than put intellect on
the shelf the devotee should make a thorough study of world scripture accepting
only universally valid ideas.
Or there is danger
of a fall.
In the heat of exalted devotional moods
ego can easily loose touch with reality and imagine itself an exceptional
spiritual superbeing unencumbered by petty morality, beyond all teachings,
rules, conventions, and injunctions.
Therefore, the teaching and advice of outside authorities should be
given careful attention.
The
purpose of following a spiritual path is to show that God, not an individual,
is the fountainhead. Knowledge and
experience of the Almighty does not make the devotee special. On the contrary, distinctions like high-low,
pure-impure, enlightened-ignorant, and spiritual-worldly should be reduced to
ash in the fire of devotional love. Once the vision of God has taken root
devotional practice should be continued, not suspended, to purify hidden
tendencies that can cut the flow of devotion and cause the devotee to become
resentful, blasphemous, and bitter, blaming God, and abandoning the path - the
“fall” referred to in the verse.
Worldly duties
should be performed
until body
consciousness is transcended,
but care of the
body should continue until death.
Although
following any path is impossible without devotion, the “path of devotion” is
meant for those who respond emotionally to the world. Because such people tend to get carried away
with their feelings and ignore common sense, the Gospel is urging a “head in
the clouds, feet on earth” approach. The
deeper the devotee dives into the ocean of love the faster conditioning
dissolves, like ice in warm water, compromising relationships not centered in
love. The verse, however, counsels
against the impulse to discard all relationships until permanently established
in the Divine, reminding the ecstatic devotee to honor nature and respect the
power of the mind.
Occasionally
the bonding in love is so deep the devotee looses all body consciousness and
ignores even basic rules (eating, sleeping, bathing, etc.) because life and
death, spirit and matter, have become one.
Though no personal reason to continue living makes sense, scripture,
wishing to keep the devotee on earth so his or her experience will benefit
others, insists the body be cared for until death. In
One characteristic of Devotion is worship with deep
attachment.
In
the highest state of devotion the devotee’s every act unconsciously radiates
love - walking, talking, eating, sleeping, even breathing - the absorption in
love is so complete no sense of doing or enjoying remains.
The
means of reaching this state is “worship with deep attachment,” viewing the
body and mind as objects given by God for the express purpose of worship and
seeing everything in one’s life, not just religious symbols, as God. For example, the devotee is to see food as
God, the eater as God, and the body as God’s temple. One’s spouse and children are to be regarded
as God's own, every spoken word thought to be the name of the Lord, all actions
service of God. Bending, lying, or
kneeling are to be considered prostration to God, walking as circumambulation
of the Deity, all lights as symbols of the Self, sleep as union with God, and
rest as meditation. Every person the
devotee contacts must be offered loving service, as if he or she were the
Divinity. With the intention of keeping
God’s name continually in the mind, in this manner mundane rituals from washing
dishes to sweeping the floor are converted to sacred rites.
To
a fervent devotee religious icons (stone, wood, paper, clay, and metal
statuary) are not viewed merely as elevating or provocative symbols but are to
be symbolically bathed, fed, entertained, spoken to, slept, and worshipped as
living Divinity. On special holy days in
To the materialist mind, projecting life into inanimate objects seems the height of irrationality, but the practice is good psychology from a devotional perspective. Just as an actress “becomes” the person she is portraying by totally identifying with every aspect of the character’s life, the devotee discovers identity with the inner Self through intense identification with the symbol.
Nearly
everyone believes in love but not everyone believes in God, a strange
contradiction in so far as God is love and the capacity for love. The fact that no form of love is perceivable
by the senses doesn’t keep us from believing in and seeking it, yet God’s
apparent imperceivablility does. Often
those ardently seeking love fancy themselves atheists.
Nevertheless,
since the purpose of the world is to facilitate spiritual evolution, over the
course of human development hundreds of thousands of God realized souls have
contributed to a universal culture, the basis of all major world religions and
countless spiritual traditions, whose vast body of knowledge and technique
forms the foundation of the religious life.
Fascination with, attachment to, and fondness for this culture, a
tangible manifestation of God, is one sign of true devotion.
Complete attachment
to God, the formless Self, is Pure Devotion.
Worship
of or contemplation on a form or symbol of God brings about identification;
greater the identification, greater the love for the symbolized object. Contemplating the life of the historical
Jesus, for example, may inspire personal devotion. As the meditation intensifies, a spiritual
awakening might take place that transforms the personal form into the universal
Christ, the Self, a being of unsurpassed beauty. It is impossible to witness such beauty, not
fall in love, and become passionately attached.
Because worldly beauties pale, outer attachments, personal views,
automatically fall away.
The true devotee
surrenders everything
and feels extremely miserable at the
slightest lapse in
remembrance.
God’s form, Love, draws
devotion into the sacred Heart like the flow of oil from a lamp through the
wick to the flame. So worthy of our love
is God that even the thought of separation produces inordinate terror. When we
love someone passionately we think of them constantly. A devotee who utterly loves God will
psychologically thrash around like a fish out of water were he or she to forget
the Beloved even for a moment.
Such
devotion deeply affects God who becomes immensely attached to
the devotee. In an extraordinary passage from a Pauranic[7]
text, God says, “Not even the creator of the universe is a dear to me as
you. I constantly follow in the
footsteps of the devotee who has no worldly craving, who is tranquil at heart,
who has no quarrel with anyone, who beholds me equally in all things, and who
is constantly absorbed in thoughts of me - to
sanctify myself with the dust of his or her lotus feet.”
Humbled
by such devotion, God sees it as a sacred intimacy, saying, “The supreme bliss
of desirelessness enjoyed by those exalted souls whose hearts are attached to
me, who have made themselves utterly destitute by surrendering their all to me,
who are tranquil, and because of their relationship with me, kindly disposed to
all creatures, is known to no one else.”
The Devotion of the Gopis is an example.
“Gopi”
is a Sanskrit term indicating someone whose vision of God is so powerful he or
she drinks Love through the senses, a person whose sole attachment is
Love. One of Vedic literature’s most
exalted devotional works, Srimad Bhagavatam, describes the Lord’s feeling about
such souls. “Oh Gopis, you have broken
the chains of household obligation and clung to me with love. This act is entirely blameless. In a thousand lifetimes of service I could
never repay this debt. Will you please
discharge me of the responsibility of your own generosity?”
And,
“The Gopis have given up everything for me and offered their hearts. I must look after them. They treat me dearer than their own
children. If they send their thoughts to
me and can’t find me, they loose consciousness.
They are one with me and I with them.”
Gopis
see Love all around, inside and out.
Speaking of their love they say, “There is no room left in our
hearts! How shall we accommodate
anything else when the heart is fully occupied by the Lord? Whether moving or looking around, awake or
asleep, the Lord’s beautiful form doesn’t leave the heart for a single
moment. What are we to do when the body
is brimming over with love? The jar
cannot contain the ocean.”
“We
are not fit for spiritual practice. What do we know of wisdom? How can we close
our eyes and meditate when our eyes are full of our Beloved’s precious
form? How can we wander around all day
looking for God when He stays right here with us, just as our shadows are
always attached to our bodies?”
Even in the State
of
How
does it happen that at the breakup of a relationship one or both parties is
often heard to say, “I can’t believe it.
I was married to that so and so for twenty years and still don’t have
any idea who he (or she) is.”
Disillusionment,
anger, and confusion are not problems when the love is pure because the devotee
is so unconcerned about his or her self and so concerned about the love object
that the Beloved’s nature, powers, and glories are well known.
Even
when the devotional flow is broken, consciousness of the Beloved is not
lost. In fact separation only increases
devotion - absence makes the heart grow fonder.
When
the Lord disappears in the middle of one of their love games to teach them love
in absence, a love they already have, the Gopis, though unable to see Him,
chide Him thusly, “O Almighty Lord, source of everything that is! It is not becoming that you ask us who have
renounced everything for you to leave your protection. You yourself have decreed that it is the
primary duty of every woman to protect her family. We have abandoned our families seeking
protection from you who are our mother-father and you don’t even follow your
own advice? It is your duty as the
source of all moral instruction and the fountainhead of virtue to protect us.”
Worldly
security never satisfies the heart. We
expect our small loves to last forever because the desire for love, like love,
is endless. However, no human being can
ever fill such a deep need. Loving God
solves the problem because God is always with us, completely conscious of our
need for love, and infinitely generous.
Surrender to God, the innermost Self, brings knowledge of God, the
ultimate security, because it empowers us to forthrightly communicate with our
deepest Self.
Love without
Self-Knowledge is like that of a paramour.
How
difficult to accept that we all have an hidden paramour within, that our needs
create the illusion of love, that our lusts generate excitements which often
end in degrading relationships with unholy people. A paramour’s love is purely selfish. Conceived in the dark, it brings pain,
suffering, and disrepute to the soul.
Love without God consciousness, a self-insulting victory of matter over
spirit, it is the setting sun, plunging the soul into worldliness.
Devotion
is the rising sun, transcendence of spirit over matter, enlightening and
elevating the soul. Devotion expands
awareness and teaches how to live in the Self, the center of unconditional Love
around which all existence, like planets their suns, spin. It is blessing and enriching energy,
empowering the heart and mind with goodness.
My spiritual teacher said, “Love
actually lives life’s joys, lust only seeks them. Love generates tranquillity within, lust
begets excitement all around. Love is
for the One in many, lust for the many in the One.”
Devotion
changes one’s relationship to needs by satisfying the need behind the need,
freeing the devotee of their tyranny.
For a committed devotee the satisfaction of basic needs will never
seriously affect devotion or obscure knowledge.
A devotee says, “Love of God may be based on faith in God or knowledge
of God. Love without knowledge is never
in vain, but love with knowledge has special virtues. What joy we derive from the mere thought that
God is our beloved! How great and
indescribable is the bliss of those who have actually realized God as the
supreme object of their love!”
A worldly lover derives no joy from the joy of the beloved.
THE SEPARATION[9]
If
we’re whole, limitless, complete, unconditioned, and one with God, yet think of
ourselves as limited, incomplete, conditioned and separate, we’ve made a
mistake and are living a lie. When we’ve
made a serious mistake we feel guilty.
We see our guilt in the feelings of self-loathing, self-rejection,
anger, depression, failure, emptiness, longing, desire, and arrogance that
continually disturb our hearts.
When
we make a mistake we also fear punishment.
Of course God, being unconditional Love, will not punish us for
separating (because from It’s point of view there is no separation), but - and
here's the rub - we believe “He” or “She” will.
Fear is a natural reaction to this unholy situation because we have
unwittingly removed our true support and protection in life by striking out on
our own. Any small helpless creature
forced to leave the nest is naturally overwhelmed with anxiety. The longer we remain separate the deeper the
unconscious reservoir of fear becomes.
But fear refuses to stay hidden, squirming out instead to attach itself
to a thousand things, polluting our contact with the world. Though we try to deny it, it always comes
back. Our next trick involves blaming
someone or something, usually another person, for our unhappiness. To cover the guilt for blaming we get angry
at the object, usually a person, and attack.
The need to project guilt is undoubtedly the root of considerable hatred
and anger. Of course attack makes us
feel guilty, putting us right back where we started.
Dealing
with the guilt-denial-projection-fear-attack cycle isn’t the end of it. Attack means we need armor, a defensive
posture, because of the fear of being attacked back. The more we defend ourselves the more we
reinforce the belief in our guilt.
Attack is projected fear, so defense is an attempt to protect against
fear, but like all Ego-generated thoughts, it reinforces precisely what it is
intended to relive.
But
for The Separation and all its twisted psychology we would be wildly happy,
children sporting in a garden of delights.
To correct it we try to find the Self we've seemingly lost, the state of
pure Love.
We
try to find it by falling in love. The
love into which we "fall" is very much like the love we're
seeking. In it we feel whole, complete,
happy, peaceful, powerful, tender, immortal, and free. Would that it, like the Love of which it is a
pale reflection, last forever.
What
is "in love" love?
GENERALLY ILL-CONSIDERED FACTS
ABOUT EMOTIONAL LOVE
Not
knowing love’s in me - when it happens - I assume its in you. So I fall in love with you. Bathed in the halo of my projection you seem
absolutely wonderful, my idol my god.
You saved me from my loneliness.
Unlike anyone, including the most recent love-of-my-life, the last in a
long line, who had the temerity to change and force me not to love him any
more, you are so special, the very best.
You have all the qualities I lack.
You're funny, I'm serious. You're
strong, I'm weak. You're beautiful, I'm plain.
In an inexplicable way, I see myself in you.
If
I'm honest, however, I have to admit that even though you are so incredible,
certain things about you need to be fixed.
And so I feel compelled to see that our oneness extends to everything. I'll make sure we do everything together,
enjoy the same music, eat the same foods, maybe even dress the same way. I so much identify with you that even your
belongings have become my sacred objects - those worn skin-tight jeans, that
old floppy hat you picked up at a garage sale.
If we manage to survive for twenty or thirty years we may actually come
to physically resemble each other, like the neighbor and his dog. How I wish I knew when I fell in love I was
really only in love with me.
But
wait a minute! Now my happiness depends
on you. I've invested so heavily in you
I’ve become hopelessly attached and can't stand to have you out of my
sight. When you're not around I think of
you all the time, imagine what you might be doing, what you're thinking. I want to know everything about you, discover
all your personal secrets and find out what you saw in all those other
women. I analyze your behavior and
compare it with your words to find discrepancies. I get very nosy, pry into your past,
psychoanalyze you to your face, insist you account for every minute, and maybe
even start the long slide down jealousy’s slippery slope. As a bare minimum I insist we tie the knot,
make sure this love lasts forever. Oddly
enough, however, in spite of all this surveillance I never seem to know what's
going on with you. You're as much a
mystery as the day we met. Women are
from Venus, men from Mars.
I
hadn't figured I'd become so clingy when I fell in love. I seem to have been tricked into thinking I
can't do without you, my cupid. Remember
- you shot the arrow. In the old days
our love was so terribly free and happy.
I even let you do little things on your own and didn't feel jealous at
all. Now my dependence on you puts me in
conflict and I seem to love myself less.
What a terrible irony! In the
beginning I loved me more because you made me feel so free.
Not
only did I lose my freedom, I accepted anxiety as a way of life. They say anxiety is a reasonable response to
love because the world is always changing.
I change, you change, the relationship between us changes. Much as I hate to face it, I know, in the
back of my mind, that one day we'll be separated (because you've changed) but
nothing's to be done about that because I'm in love with you, my ball and
chain.
OK. OK.
You're right, it isn't all that bad.
Because I want you to love me I try to make you happy. My happiness is your happiness. I'm continually thinking of little things to
make your day. Of course this attachment
to your happiness has its downside - if you don't feel good, I suffer. Why can’t you be responsible for your own
happiness? And why am I neglecting my
own needs to satisfy yours? Better yet,
why aren't you taking care of me like I’m taking care of you? It just doesn't seem fair. You go blithely about your own business and I
go blithely about your business. It
doesn't seem right. If love is its own
reward, why do I feel so incomplete?
Along
with the desire to serve, I try to surrender to you, do what you want, a
love-inspired ideas that seems O.K. with you.
Not my will but thine, a terribly romantic idea which puts me in hot
water with my ego, who sees it differently.
It would like you to surrender to me, do things my way, since I love you
so much.
Finally,
though you're never out of my sight physically or mentally, and it's clear
you're here to stay, I seem to always "want" you. When you sit down after dinner in front of
the telly I want you here with me, tidying up the kitchen. When you're off on business the long phone
calls are a poor substitute for the real you.
I want union. When we make love I
feel unhappy if our special moments are not perfectly synchronized. I won't rest until we're absolutely one. Still, in spite of all our passionate unions,
I feel separate.
No
matter what I do, no matter how hard I try to set you straight the record
speaks for itself: you don't really love me.
We never spend any quality time together, go out dancing, like when we
met. You're always schmoozing clients on
weekends, working late, watching football, even Monday nights. And, I know I shouldn't say this, but you've
really slacked off in the hay too. You
used to take your time, make me feel wonderful.
Not any more. Its all over in a
matter of minutes. What's wrong with
you? I don't think you love me in spite
of all my devotion. The more I think
about it the more it seems that you probably never loved me. How could you let me love you like that, take
advantage of me, vulnerable as I was?
It's unconscionable! You
beast! You lair!! You said you loved me, but we can see what kind
of love it really was!
Well,
I've got news for you. I never loved you
either. I only loved you for the
happiness you brought. I had to work
very hard ignoring the many signs cropping up every day telling me you're not
my prince charming: your bad manners, your vanity, your big ego.
Just
hurt? Defensive? How dare you! I've never been so offended in
my whole life! I try to share my
feelings with you and this is how you react!
OK. Maybe it isn't as bad as I make it sound,
but, believe me, I've had it.
Nonetheless, just to show you how lucky you are, and because I'm not
quite ready to hit the streets looking for my next most incredible someone, for
your sake I'm going to deny you're a mess and try to see your good side. After all you pay the bills, make me look
good in public, and, of course, we have the whole past life thing to work out
properly, lessons to learn, and all that.
You're
worth one more try. I really mean it
this time. What? That's baloney! I can
do without you. You think I'm some sort
of love-starved waif? Over the
hill? How dare you! I’ve never been so offended in my whole life! I've still got my figure unlike you, sitting
around all day swilling brew, munching chips!
You're wrong, I'm staying for
you, giving you one more chance to shape up.
Without me you're nothing. I've
enough love for both of us. Still, I
have to admit, every day you're looking more and more like my worst nightmare.
Here's
the plan. We just have too many issues
to sort out on our own. We'll do this
right, make a proper profession of our relationship, call in the experts. Maybe if you hear it from someone else you'll
realize how lucky you are, how much you really do love me down deep. But until I see concrete evidence of your
love I'm cutting you off, throwing out my sexy underwear.
I
was right, you S.O.B. You never loved
me. Yes, those are the papers. I get the house, the kids, and half your
retirement. This is war, you
bastard. The best years of my life down
the drain.
***
As
much as we'd like to think its not really like that, it usually is. And, if we're going to sincerely address the
emotional side of our personalities and present a pure heart to God, we should
understand the psychology of conditional love, how The Separation works out in
relationship.
As
indicated above, when we’re cut off from our love nature we have a deep need to
“fall” in love and invest someone else with Godlike qualities. To protect the projection we have to insist
that our god or goddess demonstrate his or her love by fulfilling our special
needs, which creates dependence and attachment.
Fear our needs will not be met brings anxiety and anger.
Unfortunately
people are people, concerned with their own needs, so ours are neglected unless
we agree to support our lover’s projection by fulfilling all his or her special
needs, a heavy price to pay. Even then a
lover can’t completely satisfy our needs - causing cracks to appear in the
projection. To protect our projection we
become delusional, imagine there's something wrong with the love object and/or
try to manipulate it with anger or guilt.
Anger is psychic aggression which gives rise to guilt, reinforcing the
original guilt. Fear also develops
because attack invites retaliation. To
protect against retaliation we become defensive, reinforcing fear.
With
so much unconscious baggage is it any wonder this kind of love is
endangered? Secondly, it’s virtually
impossible to keep the illusion alive for extended periods because: (1) our
needs are always changing, (2) our relationship to our needs is always
changing, (3) the love object's needs are always changing, and (4) the love
object’s relationship to his or her needs is always changing. When anger and guilt no longer work the love
withers on the vine and, depending on the depth of attachment to the projection
(how guilty we are) turns to hate.
Convinced the love object has failed, we dig up a more cooperative subject.
As
the verse points out, “a worldly lover derives no joy from the joy of the
beloved.” Even in the beginning when the
projection is most vivid, the desire to serve and surrender to the beloved is
usually a fear-motivated device to keep the projection alive. At no point in this process is the lover
every seriously concerned with the beloved for his or her own sake because this
kind of love is about an attempt at healing The Separation, not about love.
To
care for and respect the lover as a manifestation of the Beloved the lover
should come to the relationship relatively free of special needs. Only under the aegis of Spirit can two
separate selves find a safe non-judgmental context in which to evolve in
love. When conflict arises the problems
lend themselves to solutions because both know that selfishness and deception
are impossible with God the witness to every perception, impulse, thought and
emotion.
In
the highest state of Love the feeling of relationship, duality, is absent, and
the devotee a celebrant, unconcerned with his or her own special needs, seeking
only to honor, glorify, and worship God.
All possessions - body, mind, health, wealth, talent, life itself - are
considered sacerdotal instruments to be continually used in loving service. An ancient text says, “The desire for
gratification of one’s senses and mind is lust, whereas the desire to gratify
the senses and mind of the Lord is devotion.
Lust is pitch darkness, devotion the brilliance of the sun in a
cloudless sky.”
Such
an attitude is pleasing to God who takes pleasure in a life embodying our
highest ideals, and who celebrates any action, no matter how tiny, that binds
us in love.
Devotion is
superior to action, knowledge, and discipline.
God’s
nature is being, awareness, and love.
Being is the foundation of life.
Life is action and through disciplined action we seek God. Awareness manifests as intelligence, the
basis of intellect through which we strive to know God. Pure love gives birth to the feelings and
emotions through which we seek to love God.
As
spokes of a wheel converge on a hub, all paths converge on Devotion. However, the devotion referred to in this
verse is not Devotion, the ultimate goal, but the devotional path, the rituals
and states of mind that lead to Devotion.
Because no special qualifications are required, the path of devotion is
deemed “superior” to disciplined action (yoga) and knowledge. Knowledge requires a sophisticated intellect
capable of deep inquiry, ruthless discrimination, and pure reason. The path of disciplined action requires a
strong body and great stamina. The path
of love requires only love, which we have by nature, making it accessible
(superior?) to all.
The
paths of action and knowledge tend to attract devotees with self-reliant
psychologies, but the path of devotion, which stresses dependence and humility,
sees the concepts of independence and autonomy as fertile ground for spiritual
materialism,[10]
the enrichment of ego. God supports all
efforts to reach Him\Her, allowing devotees freedom to doubt, argue, and go
their own way. However, the more reliant
the devotee, the more support is given.
Much
ado is made of the difference between paths but there is no difference because
all three are within each of us, psychologies that help the seeker adjust the
physical, emotional, and intellectual aspects of the self and attain the
pathless goal, pure Love.
The State of
A
verse meant to remind us that devotion is not merely a state of mind, or a
feeling of the heart but the goal itself, our innermost nature. All techniques and rituals bear fruit when
they bring the devotee into the state in which all seeking stops, a state beyond
religion and spirituality.
God is averse to
pride and attracted to humility.
Though
not a human being, God is completely aware of our need for union. Of the two attitudes we can assume vis-a-vis
God and the world, pride, because it is based on the dualistic view that ego is
real, will not lead to happiness. In
fact the proud suffer immensely because they are not in harmony with either God
or society.
The
Self is neither proud or humble, but humility is devotionally advantageous
because it levels ego and makes our path through life pleasant and efficient.
The heart free of conflict is fertile ground for growing the seed of devotional
love.
It is said devotion
should be preceded by knowledge.
God can be known directly
or indirectly. Direct knowledge is based
on direct perception, seeing God in the Heart.
Indirect knowledge comes from inference or the testimony of God knowers. For example, the beauty, order, and power of
the universe presupposes a beautiful, ordered, powerful Force behind, just as
smoke indicates fire. Or a person of
good character might report his or her experience of God. Devotion can be developed on the basis of any
means but the highest devotion is based on direct perception. Though based on indirect knowledge, other
forms of devotion can, if pursued diligently, bring direct experience.
It is also said
that devotion and knowledge are interdependent.
God
shines in the intellect as wisdom, as devotion in the heart. We won’t seek wisdom without devotion, nor
can we practice devotion without knowledge.
As knowledge increases devotion grows, giving rise to deeper
knowledge. Around and around they go,
eventually melting into one another in the experience of God. Then who will know whom, who will love whom?
But Pure Love is
its own fruit.
Our
finite loves spring from the Separation but Love is self-born. The one who has Love wants nothing else.
Knowledge of food
won’t satisfy physical hunger
and knowledge of God won’t satisfy spiritual
hunger.
Intellectual
knowledge will not satisfy spiritual hunger.
Only the knowledge arising from the immediate experience of oneself as
limitless unconditional wholeness, not knowledge of or belief in
God, will permanently satisfy our deep need to be whole.
Seekers of
liberation should follow the path of devotion.
Everyone,
knowingly or unknowingly wants to be free of the sense of limitation and
inadequacy. The pursuit of pleasure,
power, wealth and knowledge only provides qualified and momentary freedom, but
devotion frees the mind of limitation because the devotee turns his or her life
over to God. Though simple in theory,
surrender to God is difficult in practice.
Overcoming the tendency to meddle with one’s life is like trying not to
scratch an itch.
The teachers,
prophets, saints and sages
sing of the practice of devotional love.
For millennia humans have
loved God. Contact with Self realized
devotees who support the spiritual culture is the easiest way to attain supreme
Devotion.
Devotion is
realized by renunciation of attachment to worldliness.
Attachment
to the idea that worldly objects are the path to happiness, not the objects
themselves, needs to be dropped before devotion can flower. Material objects, including feelings,
thoughts and ideas, which are subtle insentient forces, have no dominion over
devotion. The wealth of the man in the
Biblical parable who couldn’t enter the “kingdom of heaven” (read attain a
state of Pure Love) was a materialistic state of mind.[11]
Because
the mind can only pay attention to one thought at a time, it can either
meditate on the thought of God or another object - not both. To practice devotion the heart must be
disconnected from the ego thought system and taught to meditate on the name of
God. When the flow of love is redirected
the heart becomes light and subtle, a field wherein God sports in pure
delight. As the mind purifies, the
devotee becomes aware that God is the sole enjoyer and the devotee the object
of enjoyment, living solely for the pleasure of God.
The State of
by ceaseless
hearing and singing
The Name even while engaged in daily
activities.
Worship
is a finely tuned sensitivity to the presence of God, the loving the
Consciousness because of which the mind thinks and heart feels. A reverent and grateful heart, not religious
ritual, is spiritual practice. If the
heart is in a devotional mood, even apparently mundane activities like washing
dishes or driving home from work generate spiritual results equivalent to
dedicated ritual worship. Because daily
activities require only a tiny fraction of the mind’s power, the devotee can
utilize the remainder in the continuous remembrance of God.
The
tension between the spiritual and material forces in the mind makes devotion
hard work. At the onset material
energies dominate the mind making re-direction of attention to God
difficult. The contemplation on and
loving repetition of a symbol of the Self endowed with mystic power, in the
seat of meditation and in a congregational setting where the mood is intense,
counteracts dark forces and instills deep devotion.
“Hearing”
is studying scriptural teachings, reading stories of the Divine as embodied in
mythology and the lives of devotees, saints, sages, messiahs, and prophets,
taking them to heart, and patterning one’s life on their example. Inwardly, “hearing” is listening to the
mystic sound, the Logos, as it vibrates in the Heart Space. The worldly, unaccustomed to the sweet pleasures
of worship, have little appreciation of the beauty of the unfolding inner
process triggered by chanting.
A
nineteenth century Russian devotee gives a remarkable insight into the process
in a description of his spiritual journey, The Way of the Pilgrim. ”Many so-called enlightened people regard
persistent offering of the same prayer as useless and trifling, the thoughtless
occupation of simple-minded people. But
they do not know the secret of this mechanical exercise, how frequent service
of the lips imperceptibly becomes a genuine appeal of the heart, sinks down
into the inward life, becomes a delight, become natural to the soul, bringing
it light and nourishment and leading it on to union with God.”
Because
the Name is known to have a miraculous effect, it has been chanted by billions
of souls over millennia. The Shrimad
Bhagavatam, a devotional work of the Hindus, says “Just as the sun removes
darkness from mountain caves and the wind dispels heavy clouds, so the singing
of the Divine Name causes it to enter the cave of the Heart dispelling the
clouds of ignorance, bringing sorrow to an end.”
Devotion is
primarily attained by the
Grace of God and
association with great souls.
The
“Grace of God” covers any of thousands of situations, ordinary and
extraordinary, that invoke a vision of God: spiritual practice, great good
fortune, intense tragedy, and association with great souls, beings who have,
for whatever reason attained union with God.
Because continuous union purifies the heart, the presence of these souls
awakens unconditional Love in those with whom they associate.
But contact with
great souls, though infallible in its effect,
is rare because
they are difficult to recognize.
Of
all beings, humans, though six billion, are quite rare. Of the six billion a tiny percentage is
actively inclined to spirituality. Of
those, an equally small fraction pursue the inner life with diligence, among
whom only a handful are permanently established in union with God. Finally, of the thousands of enlightened
beings presently in the body, not all feel inclined or empowered to teach,
avoiding the public platforms and popular forms of worship. “The one who says doesn’t know and the one who
knows doesn’t say.”
The
signs of Devotion, a mind refined in the fire of Divine Knowledge, are
subtle. Often the communication with the
Divine is so intimate and the mind so quiet, nothing appears to be happening
all. Because they are so rare the
unevolved have difficulty recognizing them. “John came neither eating and drinking and
they say he hath the Devil. The Son of
Man came eating and drinking and they say, “Behold a gluttonous and winebibing
man, a friend of publicans and sinners. “
Devotion is only possible through God’s grace.
The
great soul’s union with God is God’s grace and the devotee’s contact with the
great soul is also God’s grace.
Therefore all devotion is God’s grace.
Between God and
great souls there is no sense of difference.
The
essence of God is Love. The essence of
human beings is Love. One who suffers no
sense of limitation with reference to love is a great soul, not different from
God, an idea with great potential for misunderstanding.
Associated
with the macrocosmic mind and the five elements, God, Consciousness, creates
the universe. Associated with the
microcosmic mind and the five elements, God creates us. Though the macrocosmic and microcosmic
creations differ in scale and longevity their essence, God, is the same. One who knows his or her essence is not
different from God.
According
to the non-dual
Therefore cultivate
a relationship with a great soul.
The
spiritual world is continually abuzz over the miraculous transformations
visited on seekers by great souls.
Books, cassettes, and ads in a raft of New Agey magazines proclaim the
wondrous powers of Spirit that descend on attendees of intensives,
channellings, and workshops of all ilk.
It sounds too good to be true, but our curiosity is piqued. We hear of a great soul, touring the world
with an entourage of devotees, giving mediations, talks, and “darshans,”[13]
handing out mystical incantations and a pre-packaged yogic lifestyle. We give it a try and it works -
temporarily. A few months later another
mahatma[14]
blows into town and offers different advice - gurus are a fraud, you’re already
enlightened, take it easy. We give
non-doing a try and after the non-dust settles discover we’re back to ground
zero, a bit older but no wiser.
Eventually we’re well known on the spiritual circuit, having developed
an arms-length list of exotic credentials (twenty-three ten-day Vipassana[15]
retreats) but little else. At which
point we’re tempted to write off the whole business and heed mom’s advice, “The
Lord doesn’t bring in the bacon.”
Perhaps she’s right; we’ve gone off half-cocked. Maybe it’s time to get a job.
To
attain excellence in any worldly calling requires years of committed
study. During the course of the
education, working with professionals in the field, savvy comes. Spirituality is no different. When the time is right and the devotee ready,
God sends a mentor, often a complex and fascinating personality, who is willing
to bring all aspects of the devotee’s life - money, family, food, sex, etc.-
into the Light.
The
teacher creates problems for the ego who tries to mould the relationship to
suit its fancy, often by installing the mentor on a high pillar and creating a
deep gulf of fearful submissive love that communication is not possible. Invariably it presents an exaggerated picture
of its virtues and tries to hide unflattering qualities. Pitted against someone who knows its games,
someone who may occasionally seem more a tormentor than a savior, it’s bound to
take a beating. But the compassionate
and unflappable teacher, backed by God and the ancient spiritual culture, has a
knack for turning conflict into growth, showing the devotee that emotional
negativities are transparent and workable, transforming them into devotional
energy.
After
the sorting out period the devotee’s life enters a profoundly spiritual phase,
regularly punctuated by periods of intense communion with the Divine, during
which deep appreciation of God takes root.
Once having learned to live unpretentiously and love purely, the devotee
finds it demeaning, humiliating and embarrassing to love selfishly.
Though
the Divine inexorably achieves Its purpose, It is conditioned in the short run
by the eccentricities of the mentor and the eligibility of the devotee. As the devotee purifies, God showers Grace
more abundantly, revealing mystic secrets.
The full blessing, the State of
Shun evil company.
The
Gospel, unlike literalist religions, defines “evil” as ignorance of the Self, a
cloud of unknowing that, like “original sin,” brings sorrow, distress, and
misfortune. Often portrayed in
fundamentalist iconography as a horned, hooved, pointy-headed fire-breathing
red devil, evil is simply a boring accumulation of negative tendencies locked
in the unconscious mind, reinforced and kept alive over time by civilization -
tendencies that percolate up to surface consciousness and shroud the soul,
preventing it from feeling God’s love.
As
such, “evil” is an aggressive grasping passion that keeps the mind constantly
disturbed, and a slothful inadvertent dullness preventing accurate
perception. “Evil” people lack
self-awareness and express whatever impulses disturb their minds: anger, pride,
fear, depression, hypocrisy, arrogance, vanity, intolerance, competitiveness,
violence, lust , greed, etc. Acted out,
these devils bite back, devouring peace and reinforcing existing negativity.
Though
the actual “evil company” is our own gross mind, negative tendencies are
reinforced by association with unspiritual people. Often friends and family merely pay lip
service to the devotee’s spiritual inclinations; professional life may force
fraternization with materialistic and cynical minds. The best way to avoid bad company is to avoid
bad company; cut off the relationship or cut off the attachment to the
relationship. The idea that karma has to
be “worked” out is often an excuse to avoid looking at unholy attachments.
With
reference to gross people, regardless of their lack of intelligence or
spirituality, The Gospel insists on separating the “sin” from the “sinner,”
loving them unconditionally as temporarily distorted manifestations of
God. When devotion is unshakable,
association with worldly company is possible though The Gospel does not
encourage proselytizing. The heart is
ready when the heart is ready and will, guided by God, hook up with devotees
that can be of service.
For it leads to
lust, anger, delusion,
loss of memory,
loss of discrimination,
and total ruin.
Materialist
culture endlessly bombards the senses with attractive images, aggressively
encouraging us to desire the objects they represent. At every turn we are asked to enjoy sleek,
warm, gooey, tasty bodies (human and animal, living and dead) and objects,
subtle and gross. So long has the culture
been pandering to our empty selves, so total is our conditioning, not desiring
these things seems quite impossible.
Constantly
craving gratification, the mind becomes obsessed. The more it broods over desirable objects,
the more it desires them. Because desire
attracts objects, enjoyment increases.
Greater enjoyment increases attachment.
As attachment grows freedom shrinks.
Loss of freedom brings anger.
Anger increases desire. Before
long the personality becomes twisted and distorted, pressurized by a backlog of
unfulfilled desires. Unable to bear the
tension and incapable of manifesting enough objects to keep it satisfied, the
mind seeks relief in fantasy. Incapable
of remembering what’s important, discrimination breaks down, the purpose of
life is forgotten, and the soul does hard time in a loveless dungeon.
These forces, like
ripples, swell into great waves
under the influence
of bad company.
Just as DNA carries the
blueprint for certain physical characteristics, the soul contains genetic
material, samskaras,[16]
that blueprint the psychological and spiritual qualities to be expressed in the
coming incarnation. The samskaras are
like seeds and the company we keep the field.
Virtuous tendencies sprout in good company. The devotee should never underestimate the
power of negative tendencies. Feed and
water them and they’ll grow into a monstrous plant capable of choking out
devotion.
Who crosses Maya?
Who really crosses
Maya?
The one who gives
up attachments,
serves great souls,
and is free of
possessiveness.
The
theory of Maya[17]
explains why we feel so loveless and incomplete when we’re complete and
love-filled by nature. Because our love
nature is seemingly hidden we feel empty, an emptiness that creates
mini-universes, endows them with reality, and sets us up to possess, enjoy, and
attach to them.
We
love the physical body, the most obvious universe, more than the divinity it
apparently encases. Though evanescent as
a dream, Maya creates the emotional world, projecting a heavy moving shadow of
feeling on the screen of our lives, tricking us into thinking that it’s
real. On the intellectual level Maya is
the flood of ideas, dreams, and schemes flooding through the mind. Maya also gives birth to a stillborn ego, the
feeling of separateness, and the Unconscious, the momentum of our pasts.
Spiritual
literature presents her both as a powerful woman bound and determined to lead
us astray, not a popular image in these gender-sensitive times, and
alternatively as a great ocean of illusion, difficult to fathom, nearly
impossible to traverse. The verse
repeats itself to call attention to Maya’s all-pervasive power and remind those
who think they’ve crossed her treacherous currents to double-check and see if
they’re really as free and unconditionally loving as they think.
Devotion,
cultivated through renunciation, service, and non-possession, is the sturdy
boat that shuttles us across. Contrary
to popular opinion, renunciation, a dirty word these days, doesn’t deny
enjoyment because it teaches that the world is the body of God and the souls
its enjoyers. As God’s body, a Garden of
Eden, the world has no power to addict.
Seen through a loveless needy materialistic ego, however, it can easily
become a dangerous drug.
To
rout possessiveness the following views should be pondered: (1) Phenomena are
devoid of self-nature and therefore unpossessable; (2) All things being
temporal are not permanently possessable; (3) Possession is a concept depending
on an equally conceptual possessor; (4) As the Self we already possess
everything.
Service
of great souls, a sure way out of Maya, does not mean writing a fat check for
TV evangelists or slavishly worshipping a guru.
Though physical service is not excluded, service is following the ideas
and ideals propounded by great souls, supporting spiritual culture, living a
simple and noble life, loving ourselves and others purely, and worshipping God,
the Great Soul within.
Who crosses Maya?
Who really crosses Maya?
The one who loves solitude,
cuts worldly ties,
gives up getting and keeping,
and transcends ego.
Because
we don’t really like ourselves, we don’t spend much time alone. Our jobs, families, and the superficialities
of social life swallow all our time, conveniently helping us avoid looking at
our selves; we may have no idea how caught up in Maya we are, how unspiritual, insipid,
and uninspired our lives have become.
One day we can no longer ignore the nagging little voice that’s been
saying life will never make sense unless we take the impulse to escape
seriously.
For
some strange reason we don’t, as usual, jet off on another fun-filled vacation
to the latest trendy resort, but stay right where we are and quit working
overtime. Instead of watching the tube
till late hours, making small talk on the phone, or taking in the bright lights
of the city, we actually spend a quiet evening at home reading a good book. We’re in bed by ten-thirty and up, feeling
rested and perky, at six. Maybe we sit
and meditate for twenty minutes before the kids wake up. Little by little we create a quiet place for
ourselves in the midst of our frenzied lives.
Nothing
profound should be done to walk the spiritual path. In a way, considering how insane our lives
have become, reclaiming a few minutes of silence from a day of chaos is a
dramatic statement. We needn’t become a
Buddhist, don the hair shirt, sell the farm and run off the
The
most powerful statement to make is to become a disciple of solitude, allowing
the mind and emotions heal. At first
silence’s humorless stare is embarrassing, as if we were naked in public. It seems to enjoy our discomfort as it slyly
points out our neuroses one by one.
We’re tempted to opt for excitement - crank ourselves back up to the
mind’s level and blend in with the incessant energy - but somehow we know
better. And the silence, who by now
seems a little less threatening, tells us to ride it out. We may wonder what to do next, now we’ve
discovered meditation.
Actually
there’s nothing to do, no books to read, no mantras to chant, no gurus to
seek. Sitting in silence is enough. Slowly our emotional capital returns. If we stick with it, we’ll find silence a
wise friend capable of molding our thinking into a clear and logical
force. As we sit we’ll learn that it’s
quite all right to get into ourselves, to think deeply, to ask questions. “Who am I?
What is life all about? What is
love?” no longer seem the stupid queries of dippy spiritualists, but important
ideas. And, surprisingly, we find
ourselves unembarrassed to be asking them.
Solitude,
aloneness, is the natural condition of the Self, more than a state of mind or a
physical condition. But because we don’t
realize it’s our nature we begin by cultivating it physically. Retrieved from the depths, it goes with us
into the world as teacher and guide, a sturdy ark to ferry us across the vast
ocean of Maya, a sharp knife to cut the artery of discursive thought, an
infinite sponge to soak our mental drippings.
Only in silence can we tune to the compassionate emanations from the sacred
Heart.
To
culture silence is to cut worldly ties.
When we’re comfortable in the silence we no longer indulge our neuroses
with the same panache. As we become
aware, we’re liable to feel ashamed and repent, offering our sufferings to the
silent Being, vowing to be done with them.
Worldliness is not an absolute state but the graspings of an unspiritual
mind, one unaccustomed to silence.
Moving
deeper into silence we become aware of the psychology behind our psychology,
the “whys,” and see there’s nothing to achieve or protect. The springs of aggression dry up and the need
for security fades.
Getting
into silence, sitting in it, appreciating its sweet boredom, is the royal road
to self-transcendence. The Self is not
an incredible mystical experience but the simple clear silent awareness that is
our very essence, the light in which all activities of the ego are illumined,
the one sure way to cross the
Who crosses Maya?
Who indeed crosses Maya?
The one who renounces the fruits of action,
overcomes egoism, and is free of
the pairs of opposites.
Another beautiful verse
presenting a menu of subtle actions that lead out of darkness. Concern with
what we want (“the fruits of action”) takes the mind out of the present where
God dwells. The Bhagavad Gita,[18]
Bible of the Hindus, says, “You have right to the actions but none to the
fruits thereof.” Selfless dedicated
action destroys anxiety for results and makes work enjoyable for its own sake,
one of the simplest paths out of Maya.
Egoism
is ego, an individual, with attitude - the view that it is something other than
what it is. A tree, for example, is an
ego, embodied Consciousness, with no idea that it is anything but a tree. Never worrying it’s too small, to tall, or
too big around the middle, it simply follows its nature: holding to the earth,
sucking water through its roots, transforming carbon dioxide into oxygen,
providing shade for all and sundry. A
human who harbors an “I” thought other than “I am pure Love” is egoistic.
The
“pairs of opposites” is spiritual lingo that describes the nature of the
mind. In Love there are no opposites,
but in Maya everything is an opposite because life is viewed through a split
psyche. The unenlightened see joy and
sorrow, good and bad, pleasure and pain, right and wrong, now and then, gain
and loss, me and you, success and failure, and a host of others. Overcoming these built-in contradictions is
the spiritual path, the royal road to liberation, self-transcendence, and
Divine Love.
Who crosses Maya?
Indeed, Who crosses Maya?
The one who renounces scripture
and attains an unbroken flow of devotion.
The
real question underlying today’s immense social and political conflicts is
identity. Who are we? What are we doing here encased in these
strange meat tubes? And where are we
going? Careful observation is not
required to conclude that human life is experimental, contradictory probings in
many directions in search of an answer.
Scripture,
speaking from the distant past, has something to say: we are here to realize
our identity with all life, the one loving energy that holds it all
together. It’s picture, one from which
educated and uneducated alike can benefit, painted on a broad canvas, piques
curiosity, stimulates inquiry, and clears doubts.
An
impartial study of scripture from many traditions reveals common ground: God is formless awareful Spirit capable of
taking form, the essence of the world and the individual soul; It is free of
suffering and limitation, beyond everyday means of perception; given the right
conditions, It can be known here or hereafter; Its nature is love, that which
glues “the ten thousand things” together; It is the summum bonum, that which is to be known.
Scripture
functions best as a work book, a technical manual penned in sometimes symbolic
language, an aid to insight. It’s subtle
truths, which the devotee experiences in moments of prayer and meditation,
raise the foundation on which its ethical and moral pronouncements rest. It’s purpose is to turn our attention inward,
support us in trying times, and intensify our faith. Because it is such a good friend, it may
displace the living presence it heralds.
Transcending
scripture means the devotee must develop an understanding that everything, even
the apparently mundane, because it is God, is scripture, script - symbol
directing attention to God. On the inner
level scripture is face to face vision of God, seeing and hearing the Word with
inner senses as it pours from the mouth of the Infinite, gentle and
invigorating as warm summer rain.
Renunciation
of the book, the verbal and intellectual sheath of scripture’s bright sword, is
not blasphemy but a natural evolutionary stage, a shedding of props and
formula, signaling the arrival of an understanding that the devotee has understanding, a firm foundation, the
experience of God. Ritual and desire
cease and God Itself becomes scripture, the sole support, the formula for
living. At this level you need nothing
else because the Heart is bleeding sweet unstoppable love. Having attained the state of Devotion
Cross, and ferry others across.
Not
only the living presence, but the very idea of enlightened devotees inspires
great devotion.
Supreme Devotion is indescribable.
Describing
this level of Love would be like a person made of salt jumping in the ocean to
tell his or her friends on shore of the experience and dissolving before saying
a word. A famous devotee, Mirabai, said
she knew nothing of God. The moment she
felt His touch she lost consciousness and was unable to speak.
It manifests in
rare souls.
In
spite of repeated disappointments, we always believe that life, as we define
it, will get better if we just keep trying to make it work. Though light falls equally on a mirror and
the wall on which it hangs, reflections are seen only in the mirror. A heart soiled with impurities will not
mirror God’s love. One in a million
knows that life is always limited and unsentimentally turns toward God, willing
to purify mightily to receive The Blessing.
The State of
unselfish,
expansive, subtler than subtle,
and immediate - an
unbroken inner experience.
Scripture defines by pointing. A sign saying “San Francisco 20” doesn’t mean
the sign is a place called
What
is Devotion?
“Qualityless.” Humans fall in love for the sake of qualities
in the lover: sexiness, emotionality, brilliance, self-confidence, beauty,
etc. But pure Love, eternally present,
has no qualities.
“Unselfish.” Discussed earlier.
“An
unbroken inner experience.” As we pass
from state to state[19]
suffering and enjoying, experience is broken up causing confusion about
ourselves, and life. Pure Love, or Pure
Consciousness, if you will, pervades all states and illumines our weaving in
and out of them. Through devotion we can
become inwardly aware to the degree that we constantly experience the unchanging
State of
“Expansive.” Physical and emotional love runs in peaks and
troughs, rising and falling like waves in the ocean of the Unconscious, but
infinitely creative Pure love expands in unending concentric rings.
‘Subtler
than subtle.” Devotion is not a feeling
or emotion. The physical body is gross,
limited, un-selfconscious consciousness.
The mind is subtler, aware of the body.
The Unconscious is even subtler, causing and pervading the mind and body. The innermost layer is God, Pure
Consciousness, Who pervades and is aware of every atom of all the other layers.[21]
“Immediate
experience.” The experience of life in
the gross and subtle bodies is changing and mediate, conditioned by an
interaction between a knowing subject and an object, gross or subtle, but the
“experience” Pure Love is immediate, bodiless, and changeless. One needs no experiential filter to
“experience” oneself. One is oneself.
Attaining it, the
devotee sees Love everywhere,
hears the Beloved
in every sound,
thinks only of the
Beloved.
In
the State of
Having
attained this State a devotee says,
In streets and alleys,
gardens and groves,
doorways and thresholds,
woodlands and bowers,
In lightening and clouds
Wherever I look
I see nothing but the Lord.
It is He alone who is spread before my eyes
and settled in my heart.
and,
The whole universe is painted
in the colors of my beloved.
Actually the creation has vanished
and ignorance disappeared.
There is no time
and I have forgotten myself.
With whom will I confide the secret of my Heart
for everyone has disappeared?
Even the secret is gone because
while gazing on my Mother my heart was stolen.
Now it is She and She alone I see everywhere.
Secondary devotion
is threefold
according to the
psychology of the individual.
What
we are devotionally depends on what we are psychologically. The subconscious impressions controlling our
psychology are of three types: sattva, rajas, and tamas.[22]
Tamas
is veiling energy, the power of inertia, darkness, and sleep, manifesting
materially as matter, physical substance.
Psychologically tamas is the sleepy dullness we feel after a big meal,
hearty exercise, or a day at the office.
The unflattering terms sloth, laziness, and stupidity describe this
common state of mind.
Perception
takes place when a perceived object and the mind of a perceiving subject are
bathed in light. For example, to see a
tree physical light is essential. To
register the perception, a mind, psychic light, is necessary. If the mind’s dull or asleep, knowledge will
be distorted or not occur. When the
mind’s under the spell of tamas our critical faculties are suspended and we’re
unaware of what’s going on.
Devotionally,
the tamasic mind is incapable of ascending to higher planes where God is known
directly. To it God is usually a
personification, an all-powerful being to be worshipped fearfully and
slavishly. The tendency to see God as an
authoritarian Mother-Father figure is often counterbalanced by the belief in
oneself as a helpless child of God. Such
a mind is naturally superstitious and generally believes in magic, ghosts, evil
spirits, poltergeists, sin and the Devil.
The
dark energy dictates a commitment to formula, especially ritual, and literal
interpretation of scripture. Ignorance
loves organization, swelling the ranks of churches worldwide. Because thinking for oneself is considered
willful and disobedient, the tamasic devotee is easily manipulated by false
prophets and power-hungry priests, and attracted to cults of personality. To question or attack his or her
narrow-minded faith is to gain an enemy for life. Religious history is replete with examples of
the excesses wreaked from this state of mind.
On
the positive side tamasic faith is unshakable, capable of withstanding life’s
pinpricks and her major crises. The
conviction that God exists is steady, deep, and heart-felt.
Rajas,
the mode of passion, is a projecting, striving, grasping, aggressive
energy. Under its influence the mind is
continually roiled with distracting thoughts and emotions which conceal the
Self and cut off the flow of love from within.
The extroverted rajasic mind, rarely self-aware, views the world as the
source of all meaning and searches passionately for objects, people, and
situations that will supposedly fulfill it.
The mind under Rajas’ power makes the devotee vain
and self-centered, not above asking God for worldly things - money, sex, power,
position, etc. The theory of abundance
and prosperity consciousness making the rounds on the spiritual circuit in the
last twenty years is tailor-made for passionate devotees who tend to be status
and image conscious, viewing devotion as evidence of spiritual attainment,
often using it to impress or humiliate others.
Scratch the surface of this type and you have a hypocrite, more interested in presenting a devotional
front to the world than a devotional heart to God. Unlike the steady dependability of the
tamasic type, the active devotee will change faiths and practices at the drop
of a hat.
Once
committed to the path, the rajasic devotee becomes a dynamic bundle of energy,
capable of making great progress in no time.
His or her businesslike concern with results and passionate love of God
attracts God like nothing else. The
some-say-ambitious belief that union with God is possible allows the devotee to
transform rajas into sattva, the highest of the three secondary types of
devotion, gateway to the Divine. Both
rajas and tamas are material, not spiritual energies, because they direct the
mind to the world rather than God.
The
third strand of energy is sattva, with a foundation in the Absolute. Light is indispensable for knowledge, and the
minds in whom it predominates have clear understanding and love of truth. Essentially spiritual, the light quality
confers intelligence, peace, curiosity, and awareness. In the world sattvic individuals make up the
intelligentsia, providing society with its ideas and ideals, its creative
motor. The light element is the
foundation for a high and noble devotion because it permits the heart to know
God.
The
devotee situated in the mode of light enjoys the ego of a superior soul, one
who knows more and loves unconditionally, one attached to purity and goodness,
the golden chain tethering him or her to life.
Sattva is devotionally desirable because the veil separating the devotee
and God is so thin.
In
reality, nature, comprised of the three energies, is continually evolving and
involving, the energies weaving in and out of our consciousness like strands of
fiber in a rope binding us to the world.
Each soul possesses all three energies but tends to be anchored in one
or the other. Devotional practice is
meant to purify rajas and tamas, thereby increasing the relative proportion of
sattva. As the heart purifies, attention
becomes subtle and turns within, awakening to God.
Secondary
devotion, regardless of type, is a means of attaining Primary Devotion, union
with God.
Of these, each
succeeding type is superior to the proceeding.
Because the devotee is unaware of the
inner world and enjoys a distorted perception of reality, the dark type is
considered the lowest. Though rajas is
also extroverted and provides a distorted view of reality, it is thought
superior because it provides the energy to pursue spiritual goals. Turned toward self discovery it converts to
sattva, considered the best because it confers powers of discrimination, dispassion,
contemplation, and meditation, essential tools for re-discovering God.
Devotion is the
easiest practice.
Devotion is easiest because
love is our nature. Actualizing it only
requires that we be what we are.
Yet
taking our love out of objects and special relationships is often hard work,
made easier when we realize that attraction to outer things is
a misunderstood and misdirected
attraction to God, the love apparently dwelling in them. Our fascination with wealth, power, love, and
intelligence, for example, is really a fascination with the spiritual wealth,
power, love and intelligence hidden within ourselves.
How
can something natural to us become a practice?
When we love God’s forms without loving God we suffer because forms, and
our loves with them, always die. Loving
in the presence of love objects is easy but loving in their absence is
hard. Therefore, to turn our love into
an unbroken flow of devotion, we have to practice. To practice is to love.
Love is its own
proof.
Lovers find themselves
compelled to prove their love every day, but nothing we can do or say proves
the existence of Love. Even before we
think of proof it is proved because we are it.
Does our existence require proof?
It is supreme bliss and peace.
Bliss and peace are wholeness, lack of
limitation, not the feeling of happiness.
We feel happy because the emotions become temporarily stilled when we
get what we want.[23] Agitation is a reasonably constant state
because we’re so much identified with the ego, the incomplete part of
ourselves. When the ego is transcended
and the Self re-cognized we live in constant peaceful blissfullness.
Having surrendered worldly and spiritual interests,
the devotee is indifferent to gain and loss.
Desire
is suffering. As long as we think there
is something to gain or lose in the material or spiritual worlds we are not at
peace. In fact we can’t gain anything
because we already have what we think we want. Nor can we lose anything, because anything
that could be lost wouldn’t be real.
Whether practicing
devotion
or having attained
the state of Devotion,
worldly activities
should be performed
in a disinterested
spirit.
The practice of devotion is the practice
of living. Greedy, grasping minds are
incapable of practicing devotion. To
exhaust the unspiritual tendencies that prevent contact with God scripture
enjoins us to serve the world in a disinterested spirit. Once the spirit of dedicated service sprouts
in the mind the heart becomes quiet and meditative, allowing our natural
devotion to surface. To avoid a fall,
the devotee who has attained the State of
With
a “disinterested spirit,” the view that everyone and everything is a
manifestation of God, life ceases as an unpleasant network of obligations and
responsibilities and becomes an enjoyable game of love. In the Bhagavad Gita God says, “Consider my
case. I’m not bound by any obligations. There is nothing in the universe I don’t
possess. Yet I work ceaselessly
nonetheless. Were I to stop mankind
would no longer follow me and all would be lost.”
Eschew worldly
talk.
No
matter how profound the awakening, the Unconscious is very powerful, invariably
recycling negative energy. The cynical,
materialistic, and degenerate attitudes and ideas that flood the media must be
ignored if devotion is to flower. The
text, in the original, specifies four types of “worldly talk:” sex lust,
monetary greed, hatred of others, and atheism.
Avoid argument.
Devotion
is not missionary zeal designed to convert.
The devotee lives Truth, the only argument in its favor.
Abandon negative
impulses.
Obviously. Sometimes, however, negativity, in spite of
patient and persistent effort, does not yield, so the Gospel proposes a brilliant
and unusual idea in the next verse.
If, having offered
everything,
the devotee is
still plagued with negativity,
it should be offered to God.
Taking a negative attitude toward our
negativity, thinking of ourselves as worthless sinners, for example, reinforces
negativity, destroys discrimination, clouds self awareness and derails
spiritual practice. Taking a negative
attitude toward others is karmic disaster.
To deal effectively with negativity, as a last resort, we are
encouraged, like Job, to project it at God.
If
the purpose of spiritual practice is to produce an unbroken flow of thought and
feeling in the direction of God, allowing negativity to break the flow is
spiritually detrimental. Therefore, even though our offerings are apparently
ugly and inappropriate, we should place all negativity at the altar of our
Deity.
If
I'm angry with myself or the world and can't cop to it, rather than abandoning
my spirituality, why not direct the anger to God for denying me the courage to
overcome weaknesses, for my inability to transcend pride, vanity, and
arrogance? Rather than lose my
connection with the Self why not blame God for failing to reveal the Divine
form and keeping me under the thrall of negative traits? When I'm suffering rejection and have
forgotten that God's love is always flowing, why not accuse God of depriving me
of His or Her love? With imagination any
negative tendency can be laid at the feet of the Lord.
One
idea behind this practice is to protect myself and others from my
negativity. Turned toward God negativity
doesn't recycle but dissolves like clouds in the vast inner sky. As the love offering proceeds, the barrier
between the devotee and Beloved becomes increasingly transparent. Repressing negativity solidifies it, erecting
a thick wall of duality around the ego, cutting it off from God's loving
embrace.
How
does God, the innermost Self, feel about this practice? Just as a lover listens indifferently the
tirade of the beloved because the love behind the angry words is perceptible,
so God understands the devotee's distress and appreciates his or her desire to
maintain contact at all costs, graciously accepting, nay, encouraging, all
expressions of love, even the foulest abuse.
Paying attention to God, irrespective of the emotional state, the
devotee becomes absorbed in God and experiences mystic union.
A
touching example of a negative relationship is provided by a commentary on this
verse by H. Poddar, an Indian devotee.
"When a child begins to toddle, it often stumbles and falls. Hearing the cry, the mother runs to help, but
the child becomes angry with the mother, even though she was not at fault,
chiding her to make her feel guilty.
"Why did you leave me alone?
See what happens when you leave me?" it says. Then it decides to punish her. "I'll never talk to you," it
wails. "I'll never sit in your lap!" The mother, in an attempt to appease its
anger tries to give comfort by taking it in her arms but it evades her and runs
away weeping. Why does it do so? Because it recognizes its power over her and
her power over it. She is everything to
the child and the child is totally dependent on her. There is no discrimination. The child can express anything without fear,
including all its negativity. The
dependent devotee makes God the object of passion, anger, and pride."
Transcending the
causes of devotion play the love games.
The causes of devotion are:
(1) Pain and sorrow. Confused and weary
from suffering in the world the person turns to God for help. (2) Unfulfilled desires. Frustration arising from the inability to
obtain one’s goals produces a belief in God.
(3) Curiosity. The desire to know
what makes the world tick leads to an investigation of its cause.
LOVE GAMES
Styles
of Worship
The
relationships and psychologies we bring to the spiritual path were formed in
early childhood in a worldly setting.
Rarely were we informed that the purpose of life is to love and realize
the Self. In fact the family and later
the society at large were assigned the task of supplying our love needs. By and large, the relationships developed
unconsciously, serving purely physical or emotional needs. Had relationships supplied us with lasting
happiness we would never have developed a longing for God.
Recognizing
this, the path of love provides an opportunity to redefine life’s goal as union
with God and utilize remnant psychologies to attain it. In fact, every psychological tendency and the
relationships it spawns, no matter how negative, can to awaken love of
God. For example, if a parental
relationship functioned successfully, we will have developed love and respect
for elders, an attitude that can quickly be converted into love and respect for
God.
The
"bhavas,"[24]
devotional moods that purify the heart and bring us closer to God, convert the
basic elements of worldly love as enumerated
under the heading "Generally Ill-Considered Facts About Emotional
Love," (guilt, anger, identity, attachment, anxiety, desire for knowledge,
service and surrender, and desire for union) into devotional love.[25] The devotional moods are love games, to be
practiced consciously in the theater of our relationships.
THE SLAVE
The
Slave, is based on the idea that we’re all slaves to the Unconscious. Who isn't chained to physical passions,
indentured to selfish feelings, painfully shackled to unforgiving
thoughts? The more we strive for
freedom, rail and rebel against the injustices of society and aggressively
court empowerment, the more we admit our bondage to the unreal.
To
convert the feeling of powerlessness into a positive devotional force is the
purpose of "dasya bhava," a devotional psychology ultimately leading
to self love and freedom. A
service-oriented psychology, the devotee worships God and Its manifestations,
people particularly, with a whole heart, putting his or her life completely in
God's hands, seeing his or herself as God's property, faithfully and diligently
executing all Divine instructions with mindless efficiency. Such devotees support and maintain religious,
charitable, and spiritual institutions, faithfully serve enlightened souls,
spiritual teachers, and God-intoxicated devotees.
The
Slave is considered a sophisticated love game because it develops loyalty and
respect, natural feelings in the presence of The Master/Mistress. Secondly, to distinguish God's voice from the
many self-serving ego voices requires a quiet mind and keen discrimination. Diligently practiced, this bhava quickly
reduces ego inflations to rubble.
THE WIFE
If
The Slave is not your cup of tea try The Wife, another high devotional
stance. The tie between the husband and
wife is the strongest and sweetest in the world, containing all love
expressions, particularly sexual intimacy, which is taken to symbolize the
union of the devotee and God, the ecstatic wedding of the individual and
supreme Selves. In this mood of complete
identification and attachment the devotee, regardless of sex, sees God as the
husband or wife, to honor and obey in every life situation, even beyond the
grave. Just as devoted spouses will
gladly suffer for each other, the devotee will suffer any misery on behalf of
his or her beloved Husband or Wife.
A
quotation found on the back of an eighteenth century painting reproduced in a
book entitled, Krishna, the Divine Lover, illustrates the mood as practiced by
a sect of devotees known as the Shakti Bhavas, worshippers of the Divine
Mother, Radha, consort of Krishna.
"This
sect is in favor with those with an effeminate turn of mind. They declare themselves to be the female
companions of Radha, with the idea of paying her homage and establishing
identity, even taking on the manner of speech, gait, gestures and dress of
women. At monthly intervals, in the
manner of menstruating women, they put on red-colored clothes as if affected by
menstruation and pass three days in this state.
After menstruation is over, they take a ceremonial bath. In the manner of married women anxious to be
physically united with their husbands as enjoined in the scriptures, they take
to themselves on the forth night a painting of Sri Krishna, and stretch
themselves, raising both legs, utter "ahs" and "oohs,"
adopt coy women-like manners, and cry aloud,
"Ah Krishna, I die! Oh
THE FRIEND
A
more common form of worship, one that transforms worldly love into devotion, is
Sakya, friendship, in which equal love flows between God and the devotee. God is seen as a tried and true confidante, a
close relative or family member, one with whom innermost secrets can be
shared. "Henceforth I call you not
servants, for the servant knoweth not what the lord doeth, but I call you
friends, for all things I have heard of my Father, I have made known to
you."
Practitioners
of this bhava find their greatest happiness in the happiness of the God in
others and dedicate themselves to the spiritual welfare of their friends.
That
devotees may become competitive and develop a God ego is thought to be the
downside of this type of devotion, the expression popular in New Age circles
years ago, "God is my co-pilot," for example. A true devotee would think of his or her self
as God's co-pilot.
Nevertheless
a diffident, sacrificing, attitude toward God, The Friend, is cultivated. As do close friends, the devotee acutely
suffers moments of separation, continually craving God's company, either in the
form of a deep experience, or through communication and conversation with other
devotees. The tender, joyful, and
playful relationship of nine and ten year old children serves to model this
charming mood which sees God as a dear playmate sporting among His or Her
creations.
THE CHILD
A
popular bhava because we so easily identify with childlike parts of the psyche,
this method is based on the universal need of children to love their
parents. The devotee is enjoined to love
God with the unsuspecting faith of the child, acknowledging and accepting his
or her state of total helplessness, ignorance, dependence, and attachment. Practically the devotee treats all fatherly
and motherly figures as God, including his or her own parents. Parents, our physical source, make nice
symbols of God, our spiritual source.
The realization that we are part and parcel of His or Her being instills
confidence in our own divinity, the effect being non-separate from its cause.
Similar
to The Slave, this love game is considered an imperfect vehicle for God
realization because it does not, except indirectly, cultivate knowledge of God,
leaving the devotee vulnerable to exploitation and manipulation from both inner
and outer sources. Ultimately, of
course, love begets knowledge because the intellect develops natural curiosity
for what the heart loves, but in the short run this devotional posture is at
best a preliminary step in the soul's long march home. Because this style of worship produces such
deep attachment, unless the devotee cultivates understanding of the formless
aspect of God through scriptural study and meditation, he or she is in danger
of forgetting God's greatness and glory, and merely using God, like a child its
parents, to satisfy basic needs.
MOM AND POP
Vatsalya,
the parental bhava, is thought superior to The Child because parental love is
tempered with understanding, a sense of duty and responsibility. The precious and profound love of God
produced by this mood is balanced and enhanced by an equally deep attempt to
probe the mysteries of the Divine through scriptural study, meditation, and
reflection.
Vatsalya
taps the universal need to parent and can be successfully practiced by anyone
who has felt the need to protect and nurture a small helpless creature. Children, because of their purity, innocence,
and guileless bliss, make excellent symbols of God. When the devotee develops this feeling for
his or her inner Self, he or she shines with maternal or paternal
splendor. When maternal feelings for God
achieve rapturous intensity, this mood is even known to produce mammary
secretions in women!
Because
it forces the devotee to identify with the "inner parent," this mood
helps heal the negative views of parents that accompany the reluctance to leave
their "inner child"[26]
and attain spiritual maturity. The bhava
also teaches the devotee to detach from ideas of power, fear, and punishment
associated with God. Calling into questions
ideas of reverence and obedience, the bhava also roots out atavistic concepts
of low self esteem and unworthiness associated with God's glory, majesty, and
grandeur - projections of a primitive religious consciousness. Unlike the child, the mother and father are
not moved to awe in the presence of the child.
Because they cannot ask favors of a child the bhava negates the tendency
to ask favors of the Lord. And, like
parents their children, the devotee is enjoined to make any sacrifice for the
sake of God.
THE PASSIONATE
LOVER
"Oh, for one kiss from Thy lips, my Beloved!
The thirst of one kissed by Thee increases forever,
his[27]
sorrows vanish and he forgets all things but Thee."
About
this kiss, Swami Vivekananda, says, "Aspire for that kiss of the Beloved,
that touch of the lips that makes the devotee mad, which makes a man a
god. To him who has been blessed with
such a kiss, the whole of nature changes, worlds vanish, suns and moon die out,
and the universe itself melts away into that one infinite ocean of love. That is the perfection of the madness of
love."
A
selfless lover eager to gratify his or her beloved is the intriguing model for
this bhava which takes the bliss of physical orgasm as a symbol of the powerful
experience of ecstatic meditation on the Self.
Sringarasa[28]
bhava, the attitude of passionate love of God, lover and beloved, is often
considered the most advanced love game because passionate spiritual love is the
hardest to develop owing to the difficulty of consistently experiencing the
Self. Because of excessive attachment
brought on by the experience of extreme joy in the presence of God, it is
equally difficult to break.
A
completely spiritual love, the devotee sees God, the innermost Self, as
divinely beautiful and lovely, an Adonis or Aphrodite, to be worshipped with an
affection verging on the erotic. In this
style of love, all conventions, reservations, hesitations, and personal views
are cast aside and an exclusive, potentially jealous, love cultivated. A gargantuan appetite, craving for the
embrace of God, the experience of the Self is evidenced, the need for nirvana
or samadhi[29]
replacing the need for physical gratification.
Just as lovers locked in the throes of orgasm do not know what is inside
or outside, which body is which, so the devotee in union with the Self knows
neither internal nor external, and is unable to distinguish his or her body
from God's (all matter). In the
culmination of this bhava all sense of duality disappears, leaving only the
sweetest bliss.
ABSENCE MAKES THE
HEART GROW FONDER
Obstacles
to ecstatic meditation, return to mental and emotional states of mind, are
treated as opportunities to develop love in absence, just as lovers desire for
the beloved is increased by separation.
This
bhava in no way resembles the modern view of tantra yoga or "spiritual
sex." Based on the fact that true
love only comes from within, this mood is a sophisticated technique for
sublimating sexual energy into high meditative states of mind, successfully
practiced only by virtuous celibate individuals or married souls in a mature
non-possessive relationship. Unlike
worldly love, which is born of Rajas, passionate love of God is born of the
sattvic element and aims to gratify God, the object of one's affections, not
the devotee.
The
state of mind and the emotions produced by the realization of the presence of
God, the deity in the Heart, is sattvic and includes loss of consciousness and
suspension of animation as if asleep, erratic breathing, perspiration, thrills,
chills, horripulations, shivering, breaking voice, change of color, and
shedding unselfish tears from the sides of the eyes.
The
sattvic devotional manifestations of realization of the absence of God's
presence are sleeplessness, helplessness, fickleness, depression, and
anxiety. When they descend from the
ecstatic heights of devotion, devotees practicing this bhava often see God as a
fickle, inconsiderate, unfaithful lover prone to selfish disappearances and are
not above exhibiting signs of haughty superiority and disdain, fervent
yearning, regret because of the Beloved's uncaring attitude, and a sense of
folly for having become involved with God in the first place. Occasionally the separation causes such
anguish the devotee accuses the Lord of cruel injustice: the perverse
dispensation of pleasure to others while the devotee, who has not forgotten the
Beloved for a minute, continues to suffer.
FORBIDDEN LOVER
Operating
under the assumption that the more love is obstructed, the more it intensifies,
this bhava, a variation of the Passionate Lover, converts feelings of secrecy
and shame associated with love into a positive devotional psychology.
Love
of God often awakens in the most unlikely and inconvenient
circumstances. When a declaration of
love would invite ridicule, condemnation, and persecution, taking God as a
forbidden lover is helpful. Devoid of
outer signs, the Forbidden Lover is a "stealth" psychology, through
which the love of God grows by inner yearning, silent repetition of the Holy
Name, and meditation. Devotees whose
possessive, insecure, and jealous spouses can't tolerate the idea of inner
freedom and divine love can benefit greatly from this bhava.
The highest class of devotees have single-pointed love of
God.
Single-pointed love is possible when,
through sustained practice, the Unconscious is relieved of the lion’s share of
its rajasic and tamasic[30]
energies.
When pure devotees speak of the Beloved,
their voices break with emotion,
hair stands on end in ecstasy,
and their tears purify the earth.
Contact with God is like falling in love
or taking a powerful drug because its radiant energy heightens emotion and
alters perception. Devotees attaining
this state may speak in tongues or experience bizarre involuntary bodily
postures; the hair may stand on end and the skin tingle. The atmosphere around such devotees is
charged with purity, clarity, and ecstasy.
They sanctify sacred places,
divinize action and
lend authority
to scripture.
Places are sacred because
God-realized devotees frequent them. A
devotee’s actions are sweet because God is pure sweetness. Scripture’s power lies in its ability to
change lives. Changed lives enhance the
power of scripture.
Because they are
one with Love.
God lies hidden in the innermost
recesses of the heart, eternally radiating love. To experience it we can associate with pure
devotees who, having surrendered their egos, like rivers flowing into the
ocean, have become the ocean.
When a devotees realizes God
the ancestors revel,
the gods dance with joy,
and the earth acquires a savior.
Devotion is the root of the tree of
life, bringing sustenance to all its branches and leaves, past, present, and
future. “Ancestors” means that all human
spiritual strivings find fulfillment in the realization of God. “Gods” are virtuous souls attempting to
actualize their divinity. True Devotion is
a great umbrella, shielding the world from the rain of secularism and materialism. A pure devotee proves that God lives, giving
hope and inspiration.
Among them there are no distinctions of class,
culture, education, appearance,
birth, wealth, or profession.
Because they are God’s own.
Scripture should be continually meditated on
and actions that increase devotion
consistently performed.
Now is the right time to practice.
To attain devotion
cultivate the virtues.
To
purify the heart we must become acutely aware that we are not isolated
individuals, but human beings functioning in a universal system of
relationship, sharing common values. For
example, a world-wide value for honesty exists because nobody likes to be
deceived. A value for non-violence
exists because no one likes to be injured.
Values are important from a meditative perspective because ignoring
universal values creates inner and outer conflict, cutting off contact with our
love.
The
following is a partial list of values to cultivated.
(1)
HUMILITY or SELF-ACCEPTANCE. People with
an exaggerated sense of self importance continually conflict with the world
around. Because they don’t feel good
about themselves they continually try to make themselves look good. Such people live in constant fear of exposure
and need an excellent memory to keep their stories straight.
The
way out is to value yourself as you are.
When you get right down to it nobody who really loves you cares how you
look and those who do aren't worth posturing for. When this is understood it's possible to
accept yourself as you are, warts and all.
(2)
NON-INJURY. In thought, world, or
deed. Nobody wants to be hurt physically
or mentally by themselves or others.
When I think negatively about others the thoughts rebound to injure
me. Thinking negatively about myself is
painful because I am a perfect Being.
Negative thoughts about Ego, the imperfect being, stir up emotional pain
and reinforce Ego’s false self-concept.
All false values are based on lack of Self Love, knowledge that
everything is Me, the Self.
(3)
ACCOMMODATION. To expect reality to
conform to personal views is egoism.
Accommodating reality is a sign of advanced spirituality.
(4)
RECTITUDE. Thoughts and emotions
manifest as words. Words create
actions. Actions rebound favorably or
unfavorably. So to act effectively words
and thoughts must be aligned. Rectitude
is alignment of thought and action, moving consistently in one path.
(5)
SERVICE. Willingness to facilitate the
suggestions of the inner or outer guide, surrendering to the spiritual way, and
discipleship, following higher ideals.
(6)
CLEANLINESS. Commitment to the
purification of the soul.
(7)
PERSEVERANCE. Sticking to the path.
(8)
SELF-CONTROL. A misunderstood term
because the mind can’t be ego controlled.
It means taking the position of an observer of the thought process,
becoming aware of how one thinks, where the thoughts come from, the patterns of
emotion and feeling, allowing control to come through awareness. Self-control is switching attention away from
the mind and turning it toward the Self.
(9)
NON-IDENTIFICATION WITH EGO. Knowledge
that I’m not the Ego.
(10)
NON-ATTACHMENT. If ego and the objects
in the world are essentially devoid of self-nature, what's to cling to? Another form of dispassion.
(11)
COMPASSION. Non-clinging,
non-possessive, non-attached selfless love of beings based on the understanding
that we are all one. A nun was waiting
at a river for the ferry when a small scorpion fell off a rock into the
water. To relieve its suffering she
scooped it up and returned it to the rock only to receive a sting in
return. A few minutes later the scorpion
fell in again and she saved it again receiving a second sting. A witness couldn’t believe she was foolish
enough to pick it up the second time.
“What’s
wrong with you?” he said contemptuously, “Are you mad? I can understand saving it the first time,
but the second?”
“It’s
the scorpion’s nature to sting,” she replied.
“And mine to save.”
(12)
EQUANIMITY. Refusal to allow the mind to
go up and down based on the positive and negative energies passing through
it. Related to dispassion and
non-attachment.
(13)
LOVE OF SOLITUDE. Appreciation of one's
existence apart from others. Until you
like yourself the mind will never be capable of realizing the Self. Knowledge that people are not required for
happiness.
(14)
LOVE OF TRUTH. Understanding that life's
goal is the Self-Realization, the State of
(15)
FAITH. Belief, with or without
knowledge, that God permeates every atom of the universe.
The Compassionate One is to be worshipped
constantly and wholeheartedly.
When
invoked,
The Divine Nature is revealed
to the inner eye.
Though one, Love expresses in many ways.
Electricity
functioning through a bulb produces light, through a radio, sound, through a
heater, heat. Though the manifestations
differ all are nothing but electricity.
The teachers of the ancient Gospel fearlessly declare these
truths.
The culture of Devotion,
our divine heritage has flourished since the dawn of civilization. Though not the first Christ, declared the
Gospel by offering his life as witness to the power of Love.
Whoever has faith in this Gospel
becomes a lover of God
and attains union.
Finally, the Lord
says,
“Though I willingly grant salvation,
I hesitate to give Pure Love.
Whoever wins it surpasses all,
is adored by all,
and rules the world.”
[1] The Sanskrit term usually translated as “bliss” is ananda which actually means “unendingness, or without an end. Therefore bliss is different from happiness - which is subject to change. Though not a feeling, bliss is like a feeling of completeness or wholeness that persists through all periods of joy and sorrow.
[2] The “experience” referred to is unlike the ordinary transaction between a subject and an object that comprises most of our experiences. A discussion of the issue is found in “Meditation, The Science of the the Self “ by the author.
[3] The term “special relationship” originated in the Course in Miracles and is exhaustively explained there.
[4] Attachment, not the props themselves, is the object of practice
[5] None of the prohibited actions are listed in the text proper, but are found in most of the commentaries. I can think of two reasons why homosexuality might have been included. First, rightly or wrongly, behaviors that contravene biological (alcohol, drugs), universal values, and social norms produce conflict. Secondly, the purpose of spirituality is to discover identity with God through love. Attachment to the idea of oneself as a sexual being, irrespective of gender, with its immense potential for confusing love and sex, is thought to be devotionally restrictive. Though both heterosexuals and homosexuals can be deluded by their sexuality, heterosexuality, the sexual default, is not included because it is not a special identity. Special identities, sexual or otherwise, are devotionally limiting because they are based views which produce suffering. Homosexuals, with some justification, tend to believe their suffering is caused by homophobic social view but suffering actually stems from guilt, fear, desire, and ignorance arising from The Separation from God, the innermost Self. Lack of Self knowledge is the true victimizer, not attachment to a socially unacceptable behavior. Finally, any philosophy, hetero or homo, enshrining sexual desire as the summum bonum does not qualify as a path to fulfillment through love.
[6] Though many scriptures contain unpurified information and seemingly unreasonable injunctions, because profound logic supports its views, statements that confuse or disturb the ego should be carefully considered, not rejected out of hand.
[7] The Pauranic or Mythological age (1000BC to the present) followed the Vedic and was responsible for the spread of Vedic principles through myths and stories.
[8] The apparently sexist term “Lord” does not symbolize a male Divinity. The bodiless sexless God, the Self, is often thought of as the ruler, the ultimate power behind the body and mind, and therefore a “lord.”
[9] The Vedantic description of The Separation is called Maya, the “non-apprehension of Reality (Self) and the subsequent misapprehensions (guilt, fear, denial, anger, attack, defense, etc.)arising therefrom.” The most eloquent expression in Christian language is found in “A Course in Miracles.” For a clear and intelligent summary of Course ideas on the subject consult a booklet by Kenneth Wapnik entitled “A Talk Given on A Course in Miracles,” published by the Foundation for “A Course in Miracles,” Roscoe, New York. Mr. Wapnick connects The Separation with Western psychology, particularly Freud.
[10] The term was coined by Chogyam Trungpa Rimpoche in a famous book, “Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism,” published by Shambala Press, Berkeley.
[11] “It is
easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter
the
[12] Vedanta is a means of God knowledge that comes from three sources: The Upanishads, Brahma Sutras, and the Bhagavad Gita.
[13] Sanskrit term indicating an audience with an enlightened being during which God is experienced.
[14] Sanskrit term meaning great (mahan) soul (atma.)
[15] Insight. A very ancient and powerful (Buddhist) meditation technique.
[16] For a detailed discussion of the samskaras, subconscious impressions, see Chapter II, “Meditation The Science of the Self “by the author.
[17] Technical Vedantic term that means, “The non-apprehension of Reality (the Self) and the subsequent misapprehensions arising therefrom.” A more trenchant definition is “That which isn’t.”
[18] An
excellent resource, because it presents
[19] A detailed discussion of the three states and their relationship to the Self is discussed in “Meditation, The Science of the Self,” and “Who am I?” by the author.
[20] A detailed discussion of the nature of the “experience of the Self” is found on page 12, Chapter 1 in “Meditation, The Science of the Self.
[21] The three bodies and their relationship to the Self are also discussed in the two books listed in footnote thirteen.
[22] A comprehensive discussion of the the “gunas,” the qualities that color psyche and matter and their relationship to purification of mind is found in Chapter 3, “Meditation, The Science of the Self.”
[23] See “Removing the Wall” on page 3 of “Meditation, The Science of the Self.
[24] Sanskrit term meaning “mood or feeling.”
[25] See commentary on verse 22, page 20.
[26] The psychological, not the spiritual inner child. The psychological inner child, unlike the spiritual which is fully-developed at birth, is subject to growth and development into full adulthood - or not.
[27] In spite of apparently sexist language the Swami’s vision of God was universal and impersonal. Not only did he not see God as a male, he was a great champion of all socially opressed groups, particularly women.
[28] Sringarasa is Sanskrit for springtime when passionate love affects most species.
[29] Techinical terms from the Yoga philosophy indicating the state of the Self. “Nirvana” means “without flame”and indicates the desireless nature of the Self. “Samadhi” means “equal vision,’ and indicates the state that confers universal vision on the devotee.
[30] Rajasic energy produces intense mental and emotional agitation and tamasic energy brings sloth, stupidity, and dullness to the mind.