Feeling is the language of the soul. If you want to know what's true for you about something, look to how you're feeling about it. Feelings are sometimes difficult to discover - and often even more difficult to acknowledge. Yet hidden in your deepest feelings is your highest truth.
The SatGuru keeps empowering the jeevatma to reach Him.
But it is extremely difficult to reach the place of the atma that can endlessly and eternally converse with the Paramatma. It is so difficult because one has put so many veils around oneself to strengthen the ego instead of the divine self. Many people on the spiritual path think that they would love to endlessly converse with Bhagavan, with the SatGuru. But is one truly ready for such an opportunity? What conversation does one hold with the Antaryami within oneās own heart? A conversation of complaints? doubts? anger? jealousy? telling Him the story of one being a helpless victim? Or, is oneās conversation with Him in the heart one of gratitude? joy? love? wonder? The type of conversation one has with the Antaryami within the heart is heard by the Paramatma. It is heard by the SatGuru, who may be thousands of miles away. It is heard by the cosmic eternal Shakti of Bhagavan, of Sri Hari, who is everywhere. What conversation do you hold with the SatGuru when you meet Him? What type of conversation would you hold with Bhagavan if He appeared in His chaturbhuj form? If one has no idea, or the idea of endless conversation from the atma with the Antaryami sounds scary or impossible - then one should ask oneself: is one ready for greater closeness with Bhagavan, with the SatGuru? Or, does one simply like the idea of it in oneās mind? And if one truly wants that greater closeness, then how has one made oneself ready for it? Has one truly tried to embody the SatGuruās quality and teaching of unconditional love?
The SatGuru is the one with whom you can be yourself.
Often people hide the most from Guru and God. They present their ābestā self in front of the SatGuru and then, breathe a sigh of relief and go back to being however they want when they are not around him. But this is actually the opposite of what the Saints realized. They presented their entire mind to the true Guru so that they could receive transformation from their pain. Because the SatGuru is the only one who can transform all karma into pure divine love. If one hides from His eyes, then one robs oneself of the opportunity to receive Bhagavanās company. Bhagavanās endless presence is perceived when the psyche is fully cleaned and uplifted to His eternal realm. But people turn to others who are similar to them, to receive comfort, understanding, and acceptance. One may receive love from other people but they have their own life agenda, they are working on their own eternal path. So, if one wishes to receive eternal comfort, understanding, and acceptance, then one can only turn to the Eternal One. Bhagavanās love is attained when one has surrendered and submerged oneself in the grace of the SatGuru. Because the SatGuru has only Bhagavanās love in His heart and He shows how to walk on the path of Bhakti Yog. The highest, easiest, and quickest path to reach Sri Hari Vitthala.
Simply quoting the scriptures does not make you wise. Knowing spiritual concepts does not make you spiritual. What makes you spiritual is your deep love for God who is in everything and everyone, at all times.
Spirituality doesnāt mean to avoid pain or run away from disagreeable situations. It means to be happy knowing that true unconditional happiness can help solve the problems. When one is sad or angry, do the problems go away? They grow bigger instead. But when one strives to come out of the negative feelings and thoughts, then the problems go away quickly. Because the mind can easily and quickly see the solutions. This is why spirituality is a lived experience of unconditional love. It is not about anything external. It doesn't matter whether one can quote the scriptures. It doesnāt matter if one knows many philosophies or intellectual concepts. Because the inner state has to change. And that happens through endless love. Through trying to see Godās mercy in everything. It makes the mind naturally cleaner and open to Bhagavanās, the SatGuruās, grace. And this is pure joy. The joy of knowing one has come out of the negativity within oneself and started to see greater and greater beauty in life. Unconditional love is very easy to live, one simply has to turn to it. Allow His love to wash through oneself, immerse oneself in it.
Is one able to question oneās thoughts or beliefs?
āWhat if my perspective isn't the only perspective? What if that which I have heard or even experienced isn't the highest truth of that situation? ⦠What if I am wrong?ā Is one truly okay with this type of self-analysis? Or does one stick oneās head in the sand and pretend nothing is happening? One should leave open the possibility of being wrong. Because then one can actually hunt for the truth. If one has already determined what the conclusion is, there is no hunt for truth. Very often, oneās dogmatic thoughts show up in oneās speaking patterns. The words one uses are a great clue to knowing whether one is stuck in a particular belief system or one is truly open-minded. For example, one looks down on someone and thinks of them in a certain way. However, what if one has never seen the true reality? What if oneās perspective was genuinely proven wrong? But in the meantime one has judged and executed them. There isnāt always an easy way back to repair the hurts one causes. And thatās why one often creates many, many future lives for oneself. To recreate the possibility of healing that deep-rooted hurt. When someone is 100% sure of something to the point of not even being able to meaningfully discuss or being open to other points of view, become aware and cautious. There are infinite facets to every subjective truth that should be explored to allow the Universal Truth to emerge from within and outside. And the Universal Truth, God, is ever-growing. Something that is stagnant, can it be a Universal Truth in an ever-evolving world? Observe which qualities allow your humanity and spirituality to keep growing positively and joyfully, into true freedom.
Learning to be okay with āI donāt know, but Iām happy to learn.ā
How many people are alright with saying that? Accepting that one doesnāt know everything. Everyone is always learning, always growing. One doesnāt stop being a student. Because life itself is a school. It is beautiful to keep the mind open to all possibilities regardless of age or any other circumstances. Keep learning. Grow. Develop critical thinking. Test your faith against difficult questions. Faith isnāt something to just close oneās eyes and accept foolishly. Faith is built on a solid foundation only when you yourself are sure that it can withstand the test of time, of difficult questions, of still loving and having meaningful discussions with those who donāt have the same thought or path as you. Even within one path, everyone is different. How can everyone be the same? Itās not possible. Each one is unique. The beauty is in accepting that. The exciting thing is to grow by learning from everyone. Love is fostered when you wish to grow with the world. You can see perfection in imperfection. You can see God where earlier you could not. Itās okay to not know everything, but itās not okay to just sit, be complacent, and do nothing. Life is to be lived. Loved. Enjoyed. Made extraordinary for all beings that you spend your life with. This planet is so filled with life, it is so easy to love. There are countless ways to grow your love. Make your mind curious and open. Allow it to soar to the heights of peace and joy. Let your mind become your best friend. Accept what you donāt know, but keep learning. Share your best self with the world, and allow God to take care of you in return.
Forget about how you think things "should" be. There is no such thing as "should" in the universe. Trust that God knows what God is doing, and that life is always conspiring in your favor.
Often one sees a deep beauty in music. Then why not in words?
When used as a meditative practice, music can naturally turn one more inward. Have you seen someone who is in the state of flow when they are singing, dancing, playing an instrument, or even just listening to something that brings them into peace and love? On the path of unconditional love, Bhakti Yog, we hear about music and its various expressions so often. Because it can lead to extraordinary states of experience within the self. Have you felt the vibrations of the bhajans, of the instruments? They are so powerful. They create subtle ripples that impact the various chakras and organs of the body, creating healing and bliss. They work on the subtle parts of the Self and bring the jeevatmaās energy into a concentrated upward movement towards the higher self. The same is true for any words that one speaks. But why is it so much easier to accept this about music, but people still very much ignore the power of their words? What one speaks and how one speaks is such an important part of human experience. Words create ripples in the fabric of the universe, lasting a far longer time than one believes to be possible. There are words that were spoken or the way they were spoken that you still remember years later, right? The same is true for other people and how they feel. So why misuse or waste this extraordinary gift of speech from Bhagavan? Why not infuse it with love and kindness, as the constant reminders of the SatGuru are showing everyone? Not everyone has received the ability to hear or speak. Everything can be a way to go closer to Bhagavan, but only if one starts to look at it that way. Those who have these abilities also have the responsibility to use them properly. The way one thinks, that is the way one speaks, then one goes out in the world and acts in that way also. When the mind receives contradictory signals from the thoughts, speech, and actions - what do you think would happen? Confusion? Depression? Inability to move? Lack of belief? Anger? So many problems arise when there is hypocrisy hiding within. Purify your mind, speech, and actions towards genuine unconditional love and you will see that Bhagavan, the SatGuru, were always so close to the Self.
One should not confuse love with attachment or obsession.
Single-pointed love is not the same as being overly attached or obsessed. Love is freedom. It is joy and safety. Where the entire self feels alive, healthy, good. Feeling that inner joy and wellness is spirituality. Strive for that, donāt let anyone tell you otherwise. Attachments or obsessions make one feel smaller and smaller. Safety, health, and wellbeing start disappearing. The mind becomes fearful and starts seeing scarcity and darkness everywhere. It becomes afraid of losing what it has. But love can never be lost. One can never be far from it. Enlightenment, spirituality, these are states of being within the self. Donāt follow someoneās story of finding spirituality or enlightenment outside. The true SatGuru leads one to the inner Guru, to complete union with God within the heart. Anyone who disconnects you from your own inner world, your intuition, your gut feeling, the truth of your health, isnāt looking out for your wellbeing or spirituality. That would just be a game of power and control. Complete independence is complete union with God within the heart. To want complete independence of self is not wrong. That is the blooming of the atma, the true self. To realize oneself, one has to let go of the obsessions and fears of the mind. The SatGuru is within oneās own heart, a pure feeling of love, there is no external shackle or necessity on the spiritual path. Only that complete freedom and joy of feeling loved by God in every moment. This independence can then be infinite because the eternal friend is always with you. The friendship with Sri Hari Narayan within oneās heart is realized. This is single-pointed love towards Bhagavan. Not an obsession of the mind which makes one go into darkness, nor an attachment of the outside which becomes a shackle sooner or later. Love is complete freedom, donāt be afraid of anything.
With the SatGuru, one realizes the heart of the Sanatan Dharma.
That there is one focus, to love all unconditionally as a part of Godās eternal self - whether it is a small atom or the cosmic planets, a rock, a river, piece of dust, a tree, an animal, a human, oneself, a situation, a feeling, a thought, a direct vision of God, anything and everything - at all times. All bhaktas should learn this simple yet powerful truth of the path with the SatGuru. Unconditional love. Take a deep breath and let it sink in. As one holds onto this truth with stronger and stronger deep inner knowing, the external rituals start to make sense as well. Atma Kriya Yoga. Puja. The Deities. One develops a genuine relationship with all the seemingly external things. Because one doesnāt see them only outside anymore. They become fully internalized. One realizes the joy and deepness of God in the external rituals, without making them a thing to become dogmatic about. The inner transformation is the foundation, the path, and the destination. The external is a temporary play which also reveals God in His full glory. He hides and appears in His creation. Itās just that most lack the eyes to see Him in the exterior world. When love cleans the eyes with humility and selflessness, it makes them capable to see Bhagavan. Start feeling the joy in the external rituals. Your every action in this world, from the simplest to the most complex, can become an act of worship that finds Bhagavan everywhere.
š š š
*Who is saving whom?*
You are standing on a living organism that has been breathing for 4.5 billion years.
And it is trying to tell you something.
In 1970s, an American evolutionary biologist, Lynn Margulis and a British chemist named James Lovelock proposed an idea that seemed very radical at that time yet it is so extraordinarily real.
They called it āThe Gaia Hypothesis.ā
They said the Earth is not a dead rock with life on top of it.
They said the Earth IS life.
The atmosphere, the oceans, the soil, the temperature.
None of it is accidental.
The planet actively regulates itself the way your body regulates its own temperature.
When you get hot, you sweat.
When you get cold, you shiver.
Your body doesnāt wait for you to decide.
It corrects automatically.
Margulis and Lovelock said the Earth does the same thing.
When CO2 rises, forests expand to absorb it.
When the ocean gets too acidic, shell-building organisms pull calcium from the water and lock it into limestone.
When the surface gets too hot, clouds form to reflect sunlight.
The planet has been running its own thermostat for 4.5 billion years.
Without a manual.
Without an engineer.
Without permission from anyone.
It survived five mass extinctions.
It recovered from asteroid impacts that vaporized entire oceans.
It turned a ball of molten lava into a system that grows rainforests and coral reefs.
And then we showed up.
In the last 200 years, we decided the Earth was a resource, not a relative.
We extracted its blood and called it āoil.ā
We tore open its skin and called it āmining.ā
We filled its lungs with chemicals and called it āprogress.ā
And when the planet started running a fever, we debated whether the fever was real.
You would never look at a person with a 102 degree temperature and say āI donāt believe in your fever.ā
But we did that to our own home, an entire planet.
Here is what they understood which most people still donāt.
The Earth does not need saving.
The Earth has survived things that would make a nuclear bomb look like a firecracker.
It survived the Great Oxygenation Event, when a new organism called cyanobacteria flooded the atmosphere with a gas so toxic it killed nearly every living thing on the planet.
That toxic gas was oxygen.
The thing you are breathing right now was once the deadliest pollution event in Earthās history.
The planet adapted.
Life rebuilt.
New species emerged that could breathe in the poison and thrive.
The Earth will do this again.
It will survive us.
The question never was, āCan the Earth survive what we are doing?ā
The question always has been, āCan we survive how the Earth will respond to our exploitation?ā
Because the planet does not negotiate.
When a system is pushed too far, it corrects.
It doesnāt correct gently. It doesnāt send a warning letter.
It sends ice ages.
It sends floods.
It sends extinction events.
And then it starts over.
The planet is not fragile.
We are.
We are the species that built glass towers on fault lines and cities below sea level and then acted surprised when the ground shook and the water rose.
We are not the owners of this planet.
We are the tenants.
And the landlord is losing patience.
The Earth doesnāt need a movement.
It needs us to remember something we forgot the moment we paved over the first meadow.
We are not separate from nature.
We are nature.
And the war we declared on the planet is a war we declared on ourselves.
You cannot poison the water and keep your blood clean.
You cannot burn the forest and keep your lungs clear.
You cannot strip the soil and keep your food alive.
Everything you do to the Earth, you do to your own body.
You are not on the Earth.
You ARE the Earth.
And it is running out of ways to talk to you.
Period.
(author unknown)
Please raise this awareness. For EARTH is what we all have in common.
š š š
What happens when hypocrisy creeps in? When oneās thoughts, words, and actions donāt align?
One of the saddest parts of hypocrisy is that one cannot remain open-minded to all possibilities, nor open-hearted to love. Because one is already stretching the mind to speak, act, and think differently from one another, it is too difficult to accept any new perspectives from others. The SatGuruās guidance, the will of the atma, the deep inner intuition cannot be heard and followed. The fake face that one is presenting to the world takes too much energy to maintain. And so the mind cannot cope with change. It canāt see a single reason to change because it is too busy maintaining the pretense. The pretense has become so important that the person cannot deal with others realizing their hypocrisy. The hurt to the ego is very large when one is faced with oneās own hypocrisy. To align the thoughts, words, and actions to love and kindness is everyoneās natural state of being. Then why do so many people stay away from their original self? The self which is so naturally drawn to positive things and wishes to avoid negative things, within and outside. Itās because one has not experienced the pain of the other person when they are burdened with oneās hypocrisy. One does not wish to be in the shoes of oneās own victims. Then one wonāt be able to listen to their point of view. One wonāt be ready to change. To work on deep-seated hypocrisy, this analysis can be done: āWhere is my resistance to being open-minded to all possibilities? How many patterns in my life so far have been due to this resistance? How is that resistance showing up in my life today?ā Once the answers have revealed themselves from the deep intuition, work to change that. Sincerely and with love. Slowly but steadily, your life will transform into divine peace, joy, and freedom.
With the SatGuru, one learns from within the heart that God is just as much here in the imperfect world as He is in the perfection of everything, Vaikuntha.
Often people distance God by thinking, saying, and behaving as though He is only in some perfect place and here in the imperfect world, He is less available or not really available at all. But this thinking is not true at the highest level. God is everywhere and in everything. In His fullness. Always. This world seems imperfect because one is looking through an imperfect lens of the mind. But the enlightened saints never thought that this world is not good. They could see the absolute perfection of the world. Even what others judged and hated, the saints loved and worshiped. Because they could only see Bhagavan. In the imperfection as well as in perfection. And truly He is. Not because He ever becomes imperfect, but rather He wears the cloaks of imperfections so that love can truly become unconditional. This world is God enjoying Godās love. It is always Him experiencing an aspect of His own self in everyone. He sees His own love wearing infinite cloaks of perfection and imperfection. And because He is always growing, that love through the play of imperfect and perfect, becomes purer and more beautiful through every moment. Never look down on this world. It is filled with extraordinary love, as a perfect stage where the jeevatmas can submerge fully in their egoistic role or be fully aware of their true identity as a tiny spark of Bhagavan. Submerged in oneās ego or submerged in Godās endless love and joy. You choose. And you do choose, in every moment. When you become aware of that choice, then your experience of perfection can grow.
Your sangha, the people, all beings, they are the dearest gift from God.
When you truly love, you will know. Know that opportunities to give genuine and unconditional love are so few. Where you will receive nothing from the other person or being. Where it may cost you a lot to be kind, but you do it anyway. The sangha is one such great teacher. It will become your divine mirror if you truly wish to know unconditional love and heartfelt kindness. The SatGuru gives Adesh sometimes which may seem like it is contradictory between people. But He never says to let go of your love and kindness to follow His Adesh. To follow His Adesh is of utmost importance, but if you try to do so when becoming hard of heart and mind, you have failed anyway. How you follow His Adesh can lead you to either break hearts or to become a part of His love that heals hearts. The sangha shows you that. It shows you which qualities cause pain and which comfort the soul. Which cause suffering and which cause healing. You cannot blame the sangha for being the perfect mirror. You have to learn what is the lesson for you hiding in the reflection you are seeing. No matter who one thinks oneself to be, in reality no one is greater than the other. Only the SatGuru. Only Bhagavan. He is greater. Greater than all. Everyone else is on the same level. Keep your eyes on His lotus feet always. Never doubt or be sad. Never lose hope or drop your faith in Him. He will deliver you from every pain and free you forever. But only if you hold onto the qualities that made the saints extraordinary. Those who have done wrong, trust that the SatGuru sees it. Trust in Him that He will heal the hurt and make things better than you can ever pray for. But faith only works with patience. Deep and enduring patience that allows His will to manifest in divine right time.
If one does not understand the urgency with which to move when the SatGuru is here, then one has truly missed the point.
Surprisingly many people think, āItās ok, Iāll just meet Him again since we have heard that the Master or Bhagavan comes again and againā. Or, āThere are so many gurus in the world, i will simply meet another Master to help me on my path.ā Do you genuinely believe it is so easy? So random? So indifferent? Do you believe this is the attitude with which one can secure the eternal place at Bhagavanās lotus feet? You have to be filled with a burning with passion for your spiritual path. It should steal the sleep from your eyes and make your heart tremble to lose even one moment to grow nearer to Him. How many days do you think are left in this short mortal life? So few. And yet most people are still fast asleep. Your atma is constantly straining to wake you up. But one is ignoring its call again and again and again. Do you know what a struggle it is for the atma to depart after living a mediocre life where love and God werenāt a priority? It regrets and repents the poor decisions made by the jeevatma so strenuously. If you could glimpse this struggle during your life, you would never waste even the blink of an eye. But usually people choose not to wake up. They want to remain asleep. And they wake up only when the atma no longer has time in this world. If one feels it is so easy to meet the SatGuru again and again, then one is truly deluded. It doesnāt matter who you were in your last life or lives, it doesnāt matter at all. What matters is what one is doing now. This present moment is so important. Wake up and walk with utmost dedication and focus upon your spiritual path before your atma has to lament in misery for a life wasted doing useless things.