Understanding God Realization

To explore God Realization in our culture, first you have to surmount our deeply embedded ideas about “God”. For one, they’ll be the initial do believe/ don’t believe/ don’t know. As if deity has something to do with opinion.

Next there will be the belief set – from hard-line ‘God is dead’ to the fundamentalist believer. Again, no matter how hard we hold a position, belief is not reality. Just another concept. And then there’s the mixed bag of concepts we were raised on, like a grumpy old bearded man on a throne in the sky.

In spite of what you may hear from many a book or pulpit, all of this has little to do with God. It’s a little like suggesting a debate about reality will affect the chair you’re sitting on.

If we can put aside all that stuff for a moment, the next problem is how to describe it in a way that makes any sense to the mind.

In States of Consciousness, I describe a standard model for awakening. Self-Realization or Cosmic Consciousness (CC), followed by God Consciousness (GC) or Realization and then Unity (UC). The realizations I am That, Thou art That, all This is That. I’ve also explored earlier models of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and some similar ones like Genpo Roshi’s.

I’ve mentioned about how God Realization is more prone to occur after Unity in our mind-oriented western culture. This is because GC progresses through refinement of perception and feelings and development of the heart, something western culture does not support as well as some.

But defining GC has other issues with fixed definitions, unlike CC and Unity. For one, it has an overlapping progression. While GC cannot flower until after Self Realization, the process itself often begins long before awakening to Self. And it continues long after Unity dawns.

Also key, both Self Realization and Unity have distinct realizations. Both have various experiences that may arise in the leadup, then there is a distinct shift in being, then further development. For example, CC typically develops with periods of transcendental awareness or samadhi. Increasingly, that inner silence stays with us. This flowers into periods of witnessing, being detached from the body-mind. There is a distinct switch where we become Self. Then there is a progression in depth through peace, freedom, and bliss, maturing into sat chit ananda.

God Realization on the hand is a continual progression that overlaps both the others. This is due to it’s nature. It develops with refinement of perception so we can experience finer and finer values of existence. Not only perceptual, it is also  characterized by refinement of feelings and the awakening heart.

Some obvious steps:
- refined perception, unfolding mechanics of creation and being
- perception of doership, the devata
- seeing all beings in the Self
- perception of the finest relative, the aliveness or flow.

The first steps are the most likely to begin before awakening. We may remember past lives or see auras or begin to have cognitions. Once we’re established in silent being, the evolution accelerates and begins drawing things together.

But it’s important to recognize the maxim with awakening. Experiencing is not being. An experience of an awakening heart is not the same as being the divine flow in the heart. The above are stages towards, not being.

Even the direct experience of God is not GC. While this is certainly a significant experience in anyone’s life, GC is much more than this. Commentators suggest we may experience God in personal (in form, seen unique by each person) and impersonally (as formless Being).

Shankara describes 6 primary forms of God. Thus, we may experience God in many forms before we come to full realization.

Now, this may seem sacrilegious to some, but in essence, God Realization occurs when we Become God. Not an aspect of God or an experience of God but God in wholeness.

Of course, the big caveat here is that we have a human nervous system. No matter how refined and polished, we are only able to reflect some value of that wholeness. We experience being Thou/That/Being, but only to the extent of the capacity of our nervous system.

But that does not minimize the scale of becoming. Awakening the Body can give you some idea of this, where we have first experienced being all beings, then being the cosmic being, then transcending that into absolute being. We’re not talking about abstract ideas here but a directly experienced reality.

In the Bhagavad Gita (4:35) Krisna says “You will see all beings in yourself and also in Me.” In his commentary, Maharishi suggests that seeing all beings in the Self is the start of GC. Once all beings are seen in Self, then Self is seen in God. In it’s completeness, the realization absorbs even the sense of Self and the height of CC.

In Yogananda’s translation, “thou shalt behold the entire creation in thyself, and then in Me.” In discovering ourselves as the cosmic body, we find both all of creation and all beings within. That then dissolves into divinity.

Later, Maharishi speaks of God Realization rising to Godhead, then direct communion with God. This suggests he uses God Realization as a stage into God Consciousness, similar to how the realization of Self matures into full CC.

Because of the intimate nature of this process, we experience becoming God the personal. But if this is after the Unity switch, we know this is none other than God the impersonal (Brahman, Nirikar) as well. The difference is only in relationship to the One. Should Unity occur after GC, the impersonal connection may be made later in the merging of Oneness.

He also mentions every object in creation reflecting the light of God (sight) in terms of ones own Self, similar to the aliveness found right on the surface to the sense of touch.

The last verse of chapter 7 of the Gita,  (7:30): “Those who know me together with the physical (adhibhuta), that which is within the celestial realm (adhidaiva), and that which is within the Yagya (adhiyagya), their minds united with the divine, remain conscious of Me even at the time of death.”

As you might imagine, relationships are changed dramatically by this process of refinement of feelings and perception and the awakening heart. Mates become objects to flow love to, for example. We not longer seek from but rather to give to and share.

At a certain point, the whole idea of “States” breaks down. The cosmic body illustrates this well. We could call this the upper reaches of CC, when we become physically cosmic, prior to dissolving into divinity. We could call this a key step in God realization as the Gita describes above. And we can also describe it as a stage in the development of Unity.

In other words, the states are not separate things but rather aspects of an over-arching unfoldment of awareness to its own nature.

As I mention above, this process does not end. Even the most highly evolved souls I’ve met over the lives speak of a continual development of feeling, perception, and unity. The scale is hard to comprehend, the changes beyond the minds experience to grasp.

But this is our birthright, the home we are all stepping towards. However wiggly our paths sometimes seem to be.
Davidya

Healing the Animal

There’s an aspect of spiritual awakening that is not always talked about. The process of awakening is a movement to total integration. This means not only awakening to our higher spiritual selves but to our lower animal selves as well.

The average person lives mostly in their ego sense. This is a mental construct, driven by emotions and the “subconscious”, our urges and wants.

They appear to us as urges and vague impulses because we have submerged our primitive nature. Instead of being a conscious, vibrant part of our being, it is repressed, squirting out sideways. We call it our shadow or animal nature.

Yet the lower 3 energy centers are what bring us our confidence (3rd), passion (2nd),  and groundedness (root). Our solidity and drive, our joy of being.

When these areas are out of balance, we experience difficult and persistent traits. Because they are subconscious, they are hard to manage. The source is hidden. If we can instead bring them into awareness and heal them, we not only heal the imbalances, but we bring a vivid richness to life.

(Note that the body has thousands of energy channels. We’re just focusing on the main ones for simplicity.)

When the 3rd is out of balance, we can be either controlling or submissive. Not wanting what life wants. This is also the home of the core fear that separates us and drives the ego sense.

When the 2nd of passion is out of balance, we find issues around emotions and sexuality. We may experience fear or addictions to sexuality, emotional dependencies, boredom, or depression. Inversely, it can lash out in anger. Feelings can be vague and/or conflicted.

This is often one of the muddiest places, what some call the emotional or astral body. It’s also where many people have some of the most visible issues, partly because the 2nd is also about relating. How we are with others close to us.

When the root chakra is out of balance, we may feel restless, have difficulty manifesting, feel insecurity or craving, have tendencies to hoarding or excess spending, feel resistance, or be prone to violence.

The root chakra has some of the least familiar qualities as it’s the most distant from mind and meaning. The most primitive or animal. But this does not mean we should repress it. We should give it the light of our awareness. This will correct the imbalances and integrate our foundations into wholeness.

In balance, we find:
Calm confidence and reliability
Emotional and sexual health, good relationships
Grounded, presence, and security

Healing is the same process as usual. Attention and intention. When we notice a reactivity, see how it feels. What is behind that feeling? If it’s a strong one, we may notice a physical sensation. Let our awareness go there. That can facilitate it’s release. The energy lets go and flows. Over time, we release more and more resistance and our quality of life improves.

We might call this Healing the Animal or Awakening the Animal. Or Freeing the Animal. It is only the devil if we keep it in the dark.

On the spiritual journey, we cannot predict when such “lower” issues may arise for us. But it’s not at all uncommon for them to come up a couple of times in the long cycle. For one, when the kundalini energy begins to rise naturally, it has a tendency to gradually “awaken” the main energy centers on the way up. This will bring up issues we have not yet resolved.

In his book Autobiography of a Yogi, Yogananda described the awakening second chakra. Until it cleared and rebalanced, it was quite aroused. For a monk, this was undesirable. For a householder though, there can be a profound awakening of our sexual selves.

Sera Beak is someone who talks about awakening our passion, something often closely intertwined with sexuality.

The second cycle is when the divine descends. Any issues that have not yet been made conscious will do so as each area of life is awakened to its divinity. Adyashanti talks about Self descending and absorbing the gut. This dissolves our sense of identity that separates inside and out. The absorption of the second facilities our merger with all beings. And the absorption of the first, our merger with the divine, right on the surface of life. I wrote about that recently in Awakening the Body.

The spiritual path is a remarkable journey into our complete nature, from the primitive animal to our oneness with the divine. It brings us face to face with the entire spectrum of life and to life itself, in its own essential nature. And you are That.
Davidya

Who is Doing, Anyway?

Recently, I received the following question. The answer seemed worth sharing.

Just read your post Wisdom Intention. Intention implies wanting and in turn doing. If this is true, who is wanting and doing? How does intention reconcile with the non-doer concept?

Intention is the driver of desires and thus action, yes. We could say intention is awareness with direction, so not simply desire. As the article notes, some intentions arise in the me, some from a deeper place or around us.

The question of who is wanting/seeing/doing is a prominent aspect of the evolution of consciousness. When we’re coming from a me, we perceive that I am doing/thinking/feeling and what is happening is happening to this me.

When we connect more deeply to our inner being and the witnessing observer arises, we discover that doing/thinking/feeling continues but is not actually coming from a me. We see ourselves as the non-doing observer. Somewhere along the way, there is a permanent shift in being. We realize ourselves as the silent being or Self or no-self. We perceive the me ends or becomes all-self/oneSelf.

The variations here are not in what is, just in how we might experience the process. This is as far as many teachers cover. But there is quite a bit further we can evolve.

The question may arise for example – if I’m not doing, who is? Who is animating this body, this life? Who is desiring and doing? Some will just say it is Maya, illusion. Nothing is really happening. In some ways, this is true. But there is a much deeper story here. One of profound value.

From a state of silent being, the nervous system gradually refines. If someone has a regular effortless spiritual practice, this may have been underway for a long time already. One may even have been born with the fruits of prior refinement. But somewhere along the way, we begin to see through the “veil” and the mechanics of doing and then creation is revealed. We discover the world is a much bigger and fuller place than we might have imagined.

People may have experiences of their deep past, of the subtle values of creation, or of the devata, the doers that remain doing, even when the doership of the me ceases. It becomes apparent that there has been a lot more going on that we knew. And that there is a profound underlying order and intelligence at work. This leads us into perception of divinity.

As in the oft-quote Upanishad “I am That, Thou art That, all This is That“, we discover that this divinity is none other than That being or Being. And in turn, That and That are one and the same, bringing everything together in wholeness or unity.

As the wisest of sages have observed, it is only then that the true nature of reality can begin to be seen. At this point, doership is difficult to describe as there is a collapse of duality. Doing is contained in non-doing. It moves within Itself. Free will and determinism are the same thing. There is no me, only “we”. When we do, who is the doer? We do non-doing. (sounds like a song)

That covers your question from a larger context than you may have wished, but it’s important to see that non-doership is just a stage. At some point, we find ourselves as the one doer.
Davidya

Enlightenment will make it Better

In a discussion in another forum a couple of weeks ago, the idea that Enlightenment will fix our broken selves came up.

What you have to remember is that this business of “living up to standards” and “failure” is the ego, using the minds judgment and making it personal. Anything that makes life about “me” is the ego. Something happens and the mind says “bad” and the ego jumps in and makes it personal. It happened to ME! That of course brings in all the emotions, etc. and the story of drama is enlivened.

Because we’re in the middle of the story, this is difficult to see. But sometimes,  we have a chance to step back and witness the story at play. Step off the stage for a moment. We see the drama and we see the judgment and the emotional triggers.

When waking occurs, that identification with the little me ends. We shift from a person experiencing the Self, to Self experiencing a person. Without the core there, the habits of mind around that winds down over time.

We might say (and experience) the end of the small self. Or we might say (or experience) the self becoming the Self or some such. Same thing.

After this point, “failure” becomes increasingly meaningless. Who is there that failed? Who is there to take it personally? Something may happen that is annoying or frustrating. But quickly the present is on to something else. It’s past.

There’s another big caveat to throw in here though. I’ve noticed a tendency in many spiritual circles to idealize enlightenment. Make it some future place where it’s all bliss and paradise and your personal stuff is gone. “It will go away when I’m awake”. “Enlightenment will make it better.”

But if you recall the old saying – Before Enlightenment, chop wood, carry water, after enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. One thing many people notice after waking is how ordinary and normal it is. That can be very, very, very funny. Pop THAT expectation. This also means that the person, their karma and tendencies – all that is still there.

Genpo Roshi points out that karma can seem to end after waking. But that gets clearer later.

This is not to say it’s the same because it’s not. Not remotely. It IS bliss. And how we are with all that stuff changes a great deal. But that process can take some time. And if there’s junk we haven’t dealt with yet, that nice open space awakening creates is the perfect forum for it to be in our face.

Have bad habits? Have some stuff needing to be cleaned out? Best time to look at it is now. Don’t save it up for later. Then it’s just more junk you have to deal with then. And if you wake up, you might not care anymore, so you’re stuck with it. (laughs)
Davidya

The Roots of Relationship, Part 2

Part 1

People thus show up in our life for 2 reasons.

The first is to help us come to balance. To purify or complete things we may have held together. Perhaps we have an unfulfilled obligation or an unrequited love. Other people can also be a very profound mirror for ourselves, reflecting what we’ve been unwilling to see. Notice how we react to them. Strong reactions can indicate what we need to look at. They may also help us heal and find balance. We can release the nodes of holding that create an energetic mesh in our history.

These we can describe as karmic relationships. They are not necessarily bad. Often they can be quite alluring or fun, drawing us into what needs to be done. But if we instead react and push back, we actually can increase the resistance. We add to the “mountains of karma” some teachers speak of.

This doesn’t mean always being nice to what shows up, as I spoke of in To Battle and Surrender. It means not fighting the pointless battles.

One of the hallmarks of a karmic relationship is that it’s needs based. We find someone who is energetically similar with common or compatible resistance. This can be another way for them to mirror it for us – seeing it in another.

But relationships based on needs dependency are doomed to either fail or be a source of pain as they place our happiness dependent on another. When they “misbehave” or change, they may cease meeting a need, causing strife. Especially if they resolve a resistance and now mirror our shortcomings more vividly!

The tricky part is that because held karma is resistance, it creates blind spots. In fact it’s a sure sign that karma is at play when we notice we don’t see or grasp the situation clearly. This makes it harder to allow and let it go. But if we notice the symptoms, we can stop, look, and listen. With a little practice, we get to know how to  feel what we’re feeling and use the signs to get under the mask.

Because we can clear our active karmic obligations with simple seeing and releasing resistance, if we do our inner work, we can increasingly avoid the big drama of hurtful relationships.

While a relationship can be a valuable vehicle for clearing, we don’t have to jump into the mud. We can step patiently and see what arises. Look at our reactions without engaging the judgments that might arise.

If we begin to develop skills with this, we may discover that the driver for the relationship dissipates or it shifts from wanting intimacy to just being friends. They brought us what we needed to see and it’s done.

This is profoundly different from stepping into a prolonged co-dependency of pain.

Because of the way the mind works, we’ll create stories about someone we meet. Or assign them an existing story – He’s one of those! We react and put our reaction on them. Blame them for how we feel. But our reactions are NEVER about them. This is probably the most important point to get.

If we can take responsibility – without blame – for how we feel and respond, we can begin to own our heart again. And that is the doorway to profound happiness and peace.

We should not confuse reactions with preferences. Everyone has preferences. The kind of people we’re comfortable with, what we enjoy doing, and so forth. The hidden value here is the preference for people who push our buttons or reinforce our drama. We can  unconsciously seek our pain.

Seeing our attachments tends to happen in stages. At first, the light bulb will go off after the fact. After we’ve put our foot in it. After we need to apologize. With observation, we can begin to see the dynamic while it’s happening. Cut it off midstream. Perhaps before the damage is done. Finally we can begin to see the energy as it arises, as we first begin to react. Before action is engaged.

The trick here again is not to push back at what is arising. That’s just more resistance. Resisting the resistance in fact. The trick is in allowing it to arise but not reacting. Just looking and seeing. Not engaging the energy.

If we’re doing this kind of work, we may get the impression that all relationships are karmic. Some drama from the past coming knocking in an enticing form once again. It’s enough to make you want to become a monk!

But there is the other aspect of relationship that goes far beyond an exercise in having ones shortcomings mirrored. A dharmic relationship is one that mutually supports our journey, that supports the fulfilling of purpose. These relationship are almost unrecognizably different from karmic ones. Rather than being about playing the drama they are about mutual fulfillment. These are more likely to be long term relationships, possibly even ones that span many lifetimes. They are marked by mutual respect, deep friendship, and love.

You’ll know these relationships as they come with a deep resonance. Much deeper than physical and emotional attraction. A soul harmony. Such relationships are deeply rewarding and mutually enriching. The kind we’ll never forget.

This is not to say such relationships are easy. They are even more inclined to be mirrors for our crap. And getting the lives synchronized energetically can take some clearing of any residual obstacles to being with them. In other words, they are not without karma. In fact, they may feel like karma factories as they can push us along our path more quickly.

We may meet the disappointment of meeting them when we’re at different stages of the path, where the energizes can’t be synced. Or our karma may pull us to other experiences. The movie The Time Traveler’s Wife expresses this in a curious way. Or The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. How life dances us together in the most odd ways.

We can’t separate the dharma and karma of a relationship. But if we can pay attention to how we’re reacting to what arises and do our work on that, we clear the way for the flow of dharma and thus happiness. Life can be deeply enriched by good relationship.

We may be lucky enough to find our upaguru in our mate. A partner who serves as a vehicle of the divine in our lives, a point of devotion to flow love to. A god/goddess. Thus they not only support our dharma, they become vehicles of developing enlightenment. This is relationship divine.

Remember – we’re in this together. There is no separate person here. Relationship is thus our most direct way to recognize our unity.
Davidya

The Roots of Relationship, Part 1

Starting a new relationship can be a wonderful time. But beginnings can also be a little bumpy. Understanding the dynamics can help to avoid the pitfalls and establish a deeper connection.

There are 2 aspects of relating we’ll explore – the karma or energy and the dharma or purpose. This dynamic is true of any relationship but as intimate relationships express this the most vividly, we’ll focus on that.

Karma is action, kinetic energy, the flow of life. It functions in the surface values of life, through our thoughts, emotions and actions. We know the physical law that states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. This is the way of karma, to always seek balance. Hence the golden rule, do unto others and so forth.

Wherever we have energetic resistance, we block the natural flow of energy. This causes action to take divergent directions. Blocked enough, it cycles back on itself, creating “repeaters” in our life. We see the same kinds of experience show up over and over.

Many people associate karma with “good” and “bad” experiences, but this is largely judgment calls about what shows up in our life. If the same kinds of experiences show up regularly, it’s worth our happiness to take a look at how we’re being. These repeaters can be due to karma seeking balance or due to what we’re giving our attention to. Of course, these can be closely intertwined.

What we resist, persists. What we give our attention to grows stronger.

Because the flow of karma pushes against our points of resistance, events can be like buttons for us, touching the sore spots. While nature is asking us to look and see and release, we’re pushing back. When we are willing to look at the energy (emotions) we have around something that’s bothering us, we then have the possibility of clearing the resistance, allowing the karma to complete, and thus resolving that difficult area of our life. A feeling of balance arises rather than conflict. Peace. It can also be experienced as purification and healing.

Dharma on the other hand is purpose. Essentially the underlying intelligence and structure of our life. Our guiding principles. What draws us through our evolution and development. This is expressed in every aspect of our life, from our talents and tendencies to our form and personality. And of course, it is expressed through our actions, through karma. Thus dharma and karma are closely intertwined.

What shows up in our life may be driven by karma but it may also be more deeply driven by dharma. Divine intention we could say. If we are resisting that flow, we are getting in the way of why we’re here. Because the flow of life is happiness, we’re getting in the way of joy. Resisting life through fear, we deny ourselves the rich pleasures life has to offer.

In fact, happiness is one of the best ways you can tell you’re working to dharma. As Joseph Campbell said “Follow Your Bliss“.

When we take this broader view of events and people who show up in our life, we discover they may be driven by the flow to balance and purification. Or they may be driven by the flow of purpose. In either case, it is very useful to pay attention to how we’re responding. Our reactions tell us what we don’t like. But much more deeply, they can show us the way. Push us where we need to go. Or oblige us to look at where we’re holding back.

If what we see is karmic, it can be resolved and end. If what we see is dharmic, our way will become clearer. They may also be blended but either way we’re ahead.
Davidya

Part 2

Awakening the Body

We tend to think of enlightenment as an abstract future promise. A place where the transcendent peace we’ve experienced becomes an ongoing reality. Where we find an inner freedom.

This place is known as Moksha or liberation. Self realization. Cosmic Consciousness.

Many teachers speak of this apparent goal. But only some teachers and traditions speak of the more complete unfoldment of reality. Where Being is discovered as the driver of all life and then becomes found in everything. The inner world and outer world are joined in wholeness.

What’s important to grok is that we’re talking about human development here. The highest states of consciousness are not static goals to be achieved. They are doorways to infinite potential.

Reality is so vast that the refinement of perception of the mechanics of Being can go on ad infinitum. Plus, the values of everything joining in oneness takes place is a progression of astonishing proportions. God Consciousness and Unity are not endings. They are beginnings.

For some time now, it has been rare that such things are explored in any detail. But now, there is a growing number of people stepping into those once rarefied states of being. This is not just an awakening but the awakening of everything.

We’re not speaking of some abstract, transcendent value. We’re talking about concrete awakening of the physical world. 6am has arrived everywhere. I’ve spoken prior of how happiness becomes solid, like concrete. More real than physical objects.

What follows that is the awakening of the physical body.

I’ve mentioned Adyashanti’s description of how Self moves forward with awakening and absorbs the head, heart, and gut. With the gut, the core identity that divides inside and outside falls away and unity dawns.

But Self does not stop there. It moves forward and absorbs our emotional body. That’s when happiness becomes solid and we really discover our cosmic form.

To understand, lets review some of the prior themes around time and past lives. While an individual process will vary, this illustrates how the perception can evolve.

In The Past, I spoke of how we gradually become aware of events in our deep past. Eventually we see our history as a flow of lives to the present moment. As part of the unity process, all of our lives then collapse into the now. We realize they are all happening concurrently. Time is only now.

As I continued in another post, all lives of all people are found to be one life. We are the one consciousness of all beings. With simple attention, we can flip through to any life. Time and space are only here and now.

Then, all lives are seen as aspects of the one life, in one cosmic body. One being is living through all aspects of the one as us together. We are all formed in the image of the One.

Curiously, the human is found to exist before the universe is made for them to experience in.

It’s important to note here that we’re not describing a series of different things. This is one thing which our perception is progressively unfolding. Self now moves forward to absorb the root chakra.

The cosmic body is then seen in relation to the divine aliveness. Then it is recognized they are one and the same. The cosmic body dissolves into divine aliveness.

This has the interesting effect of bringing the aliveness right to the surface of the world of experience. You may have heard some sages talk of the divine being right on the surface. No longer static, we see the fundamental liveliness of being at one with all expression. Life infuses all experience.

This tends to happen in stages. First, the physical body awakens to its aliveness. The sense of touch is radically altered again as you are no longer feeling objects, you are touching the aliveness directly. This is described as being quite delicious, like touching bliss or touching the divine mother.

Notably, this carries a quality of intensity that does not evidently pass. Unlike experiences like rapture that we adapt and get used to, the liveliness stays intense.

The internal surfaces of the body are next to awaken. The physical heart, for example, becomes awake to it’s aliveness and to the aliveness of the blood flowing through it. The devata who are responsible for it awaken as well. It’s like waves of awakening, thousands of aspects becoming awake to their fundamental common aliveness.

Next, just as the unfolding unity progressed earlier, the aliveness moves out into the environment, our history, memory, and so forth. We begin awakening the world. Our co-created expression.

Enough people do this and you can imagine how everyones experience will change.

Of course, we’re talking of how it is experienced. The world is already awake. It is only that now we discover the truth of this directly. This is why the sages tell us that Self realization is not a complete perception of reality.

As the aliveness deepens, the infinite value at every point of the aliveness becomes seen. The Brahman value of the awakeness. This begins structuring the awareness of what has been called the Absolute Body, that which “causes” and infuses the Cosmic body. In Sanskrit, the name is Narayana, the “original” person or resting place for all living beings. He is cited as the first of the long tradition of Vedantic teachers.

It’s quite apparent how different this is from what can be the dry nothingness (or no-self) of early Self realization. There is no emptiness when everything vibrates with intense aliveness that completely infuses the deep silence. This is beyond even the profound sense of fullness that precedes it.

As an aside, this is the deeper value of techniques like meditation. They help prepare the ground for after awakening.

Who turned on the lights? (laughs)
Davidya

To Battle and Surrender

“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”
– Reinhold Niebuhr, American theologian, 1892-1971

That classic quote speaks to one of the most important things we have to learn as human beings. When to fight. And when to take acceptance to the deepest level of surrender.

I touched on this dilemma as it is reflected in the various Yogas or Paths back on Battle to Surrender.

In some ways we could say there is the battle of the ego usurper followed by the surrender to the divine. But this choice continues to show up at various stages in our journey.

The Bhagavad Gita is the classic battle story, where the journey of enlightenment is told over the battle to destroy evil.

“There are historic situations in which refusal to defend the inheritance of a civilization, however imperfect, against tyranny and aggression may result in consequences even worse than war.”
– Reinhold Niebuhr

Gandhi and Martin Luther King on the other hand exemplified non-violent resistance. A battle of wills, of non-compliance. A new choice in a new time. Taking a higher ground. But that only works if the moral compass of a community is high enough.

As we cross the center line, you find tolerance. Then acceptance. At the end of the spectrum is Surrender. Even there on the battlefield, Arjuna surrendered to Krisna.

Recently, I spoke with an enlightened teacher about the wisdom we can use in applying wisdom. Wisdom alone can be clumsy if not applied with wisdom. They agreed but said that they still saw a battle is necessary. Walking in the shoes of Gandhi will bring great benefit but we need our warriors too.

This illustrates the choices we will be faced with. Getting clear within, then choosing to allow the divine to have her way with us. But standing up against the dark side. Jesus preached love and peace but overthrew the tables of the money-changers in the temple.

This is standing for peace, whatever is called for. Both are bringing direct attention and intention for the higher good. One to clear the way, the other to open the way.

The spiritual journey is thus not a wishy-washy path of mood making. It is learning what we have worth standing up for. When to push back and create change. And when to open the hand and let go.

This is the journey of life. Stepping into the light and bringing light to the shadows. Put another way, these are balancing the male and female aspects of wholeness in the unity of inclusivity.
Davidya

Wisdom Intention

Intention is the driver of all things in the world. It brings everything into our life and propels us forward. But there are, we could say, 2 kinds of intention.

There are the intentions that come from a me. These may be driven by good thoughts but they can also come from a place of want and separation, disconnected from our place in the whole. However good we may be trying, they can create problems and reinforce the ego sense.

When we intend from wisdom, the Saraswati value, intention has the embedded intelligence of the divine in it. It always comes from the context of the whole and stands with all of nature behind it. You can bet which will be more effective and satisfying.

Our ability to connect with divine wisdom will be variable. But all of us have that ability if we are willing to open the door. It is the very stuff of which we are made, the remarkable capacity and integration of every aspect of our being.

Many of us call this wisdom our intuition. At first, it will be easiest to connect with that by taking a step back before we step forward. Turn within and connect with our inner wholeness. Our quiet peace. Listen to what arises or how it feels when we consider our goal. Consider from whence a desire is arising. If fear arises, is it fear of moving forward or a warning flag? Do we feel a green light? Or is there a yellow there, some tuning of the approach needed.

As we learn to feel our way through life, we awaken the intelligence of the heart. An intelligence that goes far deeper than anything the mind can muster. It is the intelligence of creation itself.

When we give our attention to the best arising in us, our life flowers in abundance.
Davidya

On Intention

10 steps to Achieving

What is Enlightenment?

Takuin recently responded to the question What is Enlightenment? on his blog. His answer is excellent.

“Enlightenment is limitless expansion within a limited field.”

“The limited field is this physical world we all live within. And the limitless expansion…well, I will leave that for you to see on your own.”

Tom Stine liked it enough to also post it AND open comments.

And of course, I thought it remarkably succinct as well. In the discussion at Takuin’s, a suggestion was made that it was about finding our “true nature”. While this is true at first, it soon becomes apparent that “true” becomes an evolution. A continual expansion, even of the bounds of what we see as “true”.  At first it can seem like a huge unknown. Soon, you stand rooted in the security of being and what is is a continual becoming. Becoming known, becoming seen, becoming full. Limitless expansion.

Takuin said it better.

Notably, later on the journey even that “limited field” is found to be limitless expansion as well. Then it’s just “Enlightenment is limitless expansion“. But, you know, that’s even harder for the mind to grok.

In comments, Takuin added this, from George Carlin:
“I think that being a student doesn’t give you any more enlightenment than working at Blockbuster. In fact, if your parents are footing the bill to put your pansy ass through 4-7 years of college, you haven’t begun to be enlightened.”

It’s happening.
Davidya

PS – am off to a retreat tomorrow for 5 days. Until later…