THE GOSPEL OF LOVE
THE LOGIC OF DEVOTION
AN ANCIENT VEDIC TREATISE
ON THE SUBJECT OF
DIVINE LOVE
COMMETARY BY
JAMES SWARTZ
1996
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 experienciable 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 experienceable
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 performs
actions 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
the devotee sees all the Lord’s[8]
glories.
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 continally 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.