Welcome to Day 32 of our 40-Day Retreat 2008.
Synopsis of Previous 2 Days
We have been speaking about Guru Deeksha and how we can prepare ourselves for maximum receptivity when Guru Deeksha takes place. Guru Deeksha is the initiation that the student receives from the teacher. In this case we are considering that the teacher is the Parama Guru, one who has that great power of presence. The student is the disciple, the one who is seeking to be in that same state of awareness or energy as the teacher. This process of initiation is called Guru Deeksha.
Over the last two days we have been speaking about how the student can prepare himself or herself to receive the most. We said that one should give up bad company, one should desist from negative actions and one should stay away or detach from desires and intentions that are negative because these draw you into the world and into energy fields that are disempowering.
We said that a good student is one who is detached from the pull of the world and we call that detachment “tyaaga” which means renunciation. The good student should not be pulled strongly by the world, but be able to connect with something greater inside.
We said that renunciation is not about moving away from the world or moving away from situations of power or objects of pleasure. It is about being right where your karma dictates that you should be and not being pulled or drawn by these situations into the influence. For example, you can be surrounded by wealth, but you can be completely unattached to it.
Yesterday we spoke about opposites and the effect of opposites - duality (dvaita). That aversion and attraction both pull you into the web of material thinking. One should come into a place where one is free from the pull of both.
We spoke about pride and anger. When you are too proud, this also takes you away from that inner space of peace, tranquility and spirituality. When you are in anger, hate and bitterness, that also pulls you away. So one should be careful about the dual pull of both and we spoke about how subtle this can be.
These Messages are to be Internalized
Please remember that these messages are to be internalized. They are not just to be contemplated and for you to say “oh yes, we see those people in the world and this information is true”. Internalizing means that we need to see it inside of ourselves. Asking ourselves, do we do that? To what extent, and how do we become free of it? Otherwise the message will mean nothing.
If you analyze the people who are caught in the influence of materialism, negative and positive actions and that is what you take away, then you are only seeing part of the story - that which is outside of you. It is more important to see it within yourself, which is more difficult to do. So my wish is that you really do some self-searching or soul-searching. Do an audit on yourself and see where you are, that is extremely important. Try to prepare yourself for the best initiation that you can receive from the great ones.
Guru Deeksha – Becoming Interested in the Welfare of our World
The topic today continues with Guru Deeksha and how we can prepare ourselves for receiving initiations.
Etal lakshanam samyuktam
Sarva bhoota hite ratam
Nirmalam jeevitam yasya
Tasya deeksha vidheeyate
“One who is endowed with these characteristics, who is interested in the welfare of all beings of the world, whose life is pure and untainted, to him deeksha is fruitful.”
Why is this given so much importance that a verse will embrace this principle? How do we become more worthy when we become interested in the welfare of our world? How does it make us a better student, a better disciple? Sometimes we are so caught up in our own development, our own world, that we neglect to see the world through the eyes of others and to offer support.
You know in Blue Star, one of the underlying mottos is “Transform Yourself, Transform Your World.” Go deep within yourself, find yourself, share with the world. That has been the theme of my entire life. I love this verse.
Expand Your Awareness to those around You
When you begin to think of the welfare of the world then you begin to move away from the selfish ego into a space of unselfishness. For example, a baby is given to you and the baby has nowhere else to go and you have to take care of this baby. Taking care of another can bring about a huge transformation in us, simply by giving up the idea of our own self only and expanding ourselves so that we can hold another in the space as part of ourselves. That puts us into a space of humility, having to open up to another, having to share ourselves with another. It begins to put the ego into a different place - a place of caring, a place of selflessness.
On your spiritual journey where does that place you in terms of the welfare of others? Are you aware of those around you who are part of your world and who you neglect? These are opportunities to expand your being, to experience your expansive self inside, and you neglect the opportunities. Right in your own home with family members; do you see there, opportunities to expand yourself? The young ones who need guidance? Family members who may be going astray? Your friends, your workplace, your community, are they opportunities to support, to help and to experience that degree of selflessness that comes with it?
Spirituality is about going beyond your lower self into an experience of higher self. Those who serve the world, they get this beautiful expansive awareness of their self expanding and containing others. If we pattern ourselves after the great ones, we will see how they embrace the world fully, everyone is important to them. We spoke about the teacher who is the Vaagmi and we saw how important that was. How important it was for those teachers to reach out to us with all our faults and all our shortcomings. How important it was to receive unconditional love. On the path if we begin to understand this, and if we begin to extend that, the consciousness of our soul expands.
It is in Giving that We Receive
If you think of the idea that “It is in giving that we receive” this is a very powerful spiritual theme. When we open our heart more to give, our heart is open to receive. A very simple illustration is that if you have some money in your hand and you close it because you don’t want to share it, then that is all you are going to have. If you don’t want to open your hand to give, you are not open to receive. Open your hand to give and more will come because the hand is open. Even in meditation when you open your heart to love your world, you are opening up your heart to receive more love and more peace from your higher self. It is amazing that in giving we receive.
When you open yourself to help people, whether it is in counseling or whether it is in physical things, you are building such a powerful relationship with your world. You are creating such a connection that people will be drawn to giving you all kinds of support. Your world has become bigger and the possibilities of receiving have increased.
It is in Giving that We Receive - Personal Experience
You know what is very enjoyable for me, (and this has been on my spiritual path as well) my whole teaching experience as a secular teacher in the world improved when I walked into a classroom and just gave love unconditionally. After my deep spiritual awakening I had go into a classroom when I was teaching, with so much unconditional love that my whole experience changed. The classroom seemed to be so much more powerful. I felt much more elevated by the attention I was getting from these students and by extension the entire school. By giving I was receiving.
Even when I go and give a talk as I am giving now, when I offer complete unconditional love and every bit of peace I have in my being, people are touched by that. I feel that I am getting back so much more from each person. When they focus on me and they return that love, I am getting it back so many times and that is an incredible experience in a group. Even if in singing with them and sharing my love through a song their hearts become awakened, I feel as though the heart has grown so huge that I am singing together with them in a big heart. That love is embracing us and lifting us from a very deep space. It is indescribable. In giving my bit, I have received so much. It is in giving that we receive. I open up my heart and my heart opens up to a bigger heart, the collective heart.
In giving attention to people, in allowing people to express their power in a space, in respecting them, in being humble, we receive more. When they open up and embrace us with their power, we receive more, we open up more, we grow and we are lifted.
It is a great joy for me whenever I conduct retreats and I really touch people’s lives deeply. At the end of these sessions, I feel as though I am floating in the air. As people think of me and remember me with so much gratitude in their hearts I feel completely lifted, I would not want to be anywhere else in the world, I would not want to do anything else. In my giving they go back feeling so much gratitude, that they have gotten so much, but I have gotten so much more.
Co-creating Powerful Energies
The beauty of this verse is that on the spiritual journey as seekers, when we come together in groups that can co-create powerful energies of love and peace, we each go back with something more. When we come into strong spiritual groups we go back with more powerful meditations, powerful awakening and powerful knowledge because each one has something to contribute to that space - knowledge, energy, awareness.
Each human being to me is fascinating; they bring a world of experience and knowledge to us. Whenever I am in groups, I am fascinated by the variety of experiences. I want to hear and listen to every story and I want to be a part of every story. That is the joy of working with the world. You begin to love, embrace and want to share all that you have. I felt that opened up my spirituality and led me to my higher self. My life has always been a life of service even before spirituality. On the spiritual journey it opened me up to so much more; in creating relationships and in offering unconditional love.
The verse says “When your life is pure and untainted” it means when your intentions are pure, when you come into a space of giving and your intentions are pure and untainted, it is not mixed with other feelings “Should I give? Should I do this? Did I give right? Did I do that? No. Don’t let your selflessness be mixed with any misgivings, let it be pure.
Working Together for a Better World
The joy of the journey is walking together hand in hand with all those around you who will hold your hand. Those who do not hold your hand, you wish them well, but those who hold your hand, walk with them. It makes us stronger, it makes us more united and it gives us a greater experience of the higher self. Isn’t that beautiful? Wouldn’t that be a wonderful quality of a student on the path? Isn’t it a wonderful quality that Guru Gita should give importance to that?
This is another verse that excited me when I read it because in the world that we have now, in such a globally connected world, we need to work together for the future of a better world. We need to work together, not in isolation. We don’t need to be Maunis living in silence; we need to be Vaagmis expressing the Guru Principle in the world, selflessly helping others as we go along.
