Welcome to Day 26 of our 40 Day Retreat 2009.
Yesterday, we spoke about working through kriyas. This was working through kriyas that might have been challenging when negative experiences come and we are asked to have faith in the process. But today, I want to speak about the positive side of kiryas. I want to speak about the empowering kriyas that take us into the light, and give us tools to continue the journey and to work against weaknesses. This is an important point, working in the light.
Work with your Strengths; overcome weakness
In the last few days, I spoke about the dark night of the soul, and I spoke about challenging kriyas, a lot of people identified with that. However, today I am calling upon you to look for where your strengths lie. As the energy awakens within you and brings you more in touch with your energy body, your energy centers, and the powers of your energy centers, the opportunity now exists to work with your strengths against the weaknesses, the transformed weaknesses. This is an important part of the journey. This is where the journey becomes joyous and adventurous, and we move away from the victim consciousness.
New Experience of Empowerment
As spiritual centers open up within us and negative qualities tend to go away when we work through them, we begin to feel enhanced powers. For example, if we have strong physical kriyas some of which might have been painful, after nadis or energy channels are opened up we begin to feel this wonderful strength coursing through our energy system. We begin to feel more empowered. The body begins to become stronger; the body begins to experience more vitality. It begins to feel radiant. Our voice has more power. We feel more confident in our expressions and so the inner power begins to enhance our well-being.
Now we can use that strength to continue the journey of waking up other centers. We can begin to look at the direction we are getting from this opening up of the chakras. I spoke about the different stages of energy awakening. When the energy breaks open the first knot and we begin to feel the challenges of the physical, and to strengthen the physical then the next knot opens up. We then begin to feel a whole new experience of energy and vitality that takes us through another series of energy transformations. This is what we had called the Vishnu Granthi. This is a very empowering area.
Enhanced power in daily activities
Vishnu is the sustaining power of the Universe, so this gives us a wonderful kind of sustenance. We begin to feel empowering emotions as the dark emotions go away. We begin to feel our voice becoming strengthened. As we begin to feel these enhanced powers in all our activities we begin to feel that this energy is there. Then the opportunities are there to bring this into our field of daily activities. As we begin to use these qualities in our daily activities we begin to feel even more strength as we do so. And we learn how to use these tools even more. Then when challenges come we are better prepared to deal with them because now we feel stronger.
Faith Comes Naturally
Here lies the gift of faith. When we are called upon to have faith in the beginning, it is when darkness surrounded us. Now here we have the gift of faith. Now we can feel strength coming through our being. Here we can identify with the inner power easier because we can feel that source of power inside of us, supporting us and strengthening us. And faith comes naturally.
Sunshine period of the Soul
As we begin to build on this Vishnu level of energy, finally the brow center begins to open up. And as we work through the little bit of negative that may be there, wonderful experiences of the brow begin to come. We begin to see colour or lights. We begin to feel the mind becoming more one-pointed. We begin to feel increased self-awareness and more empowerment.
We begin to feel that we can manage our destiny now; we can make things happen. A whole new experience of self-empowerment comes. This is where the energy begins to give wonderful kriyas or wonderful empowering cleansing that makes us stronger and stronger. This is the “day of the soul, the sunshine period of the soul” that we need to recognize and to use powerfully.
Hijacked by Siddhis
Even in this part of the journey we can be challenged. For example, we can be challenged with selfishness. We have a new phase that we are challenged with, not the dark night period, but the period when we may become selfish in experiencing too much power. This is the part of the journey where siddhis come, when we feel we can read people’s mind, we can read their energies and we can influence them more. We feel that we can talk them into doing things. Here we can manipulate people and situations to satisfy our lower desires that might still be lurking there even though we have upper strength. That is when the ego can be hijacked by siddhis into self-indulgence.
That is where we need to be careful. That is another stagnating period or another distraction on the path. That is why when we have some of these wonderful kriyas: seeing visions or feeling power, knowing what is going to happen around us, and reading minds, we are told that we should not get distracted by them, because they are not the destination. They are just sign posts along the way and so we need to be guarded against them.
Identify Positive Side; Feel the Grace
This is, therefore, a wonderful period and we need to be able to identify this part of the journey and to use it powerfully to work through all difficulties and to enjoy that journey of transformation. That is why there is the Science of Kriya Yoga, the one that works in a very positive way with kriya techniques, trying to purify the imbalances within us. It works with strengths to go deeper and deeper inside and finally to harmonize all the energy fields and to bring balance. This is the positive side of the journey that we need to make. As we continue to do this we begin to feel more and more grace entering into our lives.
Empowered by the Tools
In my own journey this was a wonderful period. As I have said to you, I think that the dark period of my life had been before shaktipat awakening and before the presence of all those kriyas. When they came they brought to me an awareness of the tools, so that instead of staying indefinitely in India, after four months I made the decision to return to my country. I did not feel the need to stay there anymore. I realized then that the power is inside of me, and that the awakened energy brought me in contact with my own source of power. I could feel the Presence of that power within me. The physical Guru was not there but I identified the power of the Guru as being that Supreme Power inside. I kept that with me.
What was more important to me was that I learned the tools. I felt the power of chanting; I felt what chanting can do to me; I felt the transformation that chanting was bringing to me; I felt the power of mantras; I felt the energy of meditation. I could feel spiritual centers opening up within me. I felt that my loveless being was now filled with love. And I felt that I could bring this love into everything that I did.
Putting Spirituality into Everything
I enjoyed working and cleaning toilets. I enjoyed working in the gardens, carrying cow droppings and urine. I just enjoyed everything! I enjoyed sitting in the meditation hall. It was just an amazing experience of work becoming joy. My whole day became filled with spirituality, and I worked on that. I worked on these tools that I felt and I was very intense at it.
When I came back to Trinidad I felt that this power stayed with me and I used it in my work. I used to teach young children in a school then, and I felt so empowered in the class room. I felt that this transformation was carried on in the classroom and that the teaching was not labour in exchange for money, as we do in daily jobs. It became a journey of self-transformation for me and an opportunity to selflessly serve all these young people and to awaken their minds.
Working in the Light
Besides teaching the subject that I was teaching, I brought in stories and inspired the young people with a sense of human values. It was exciting to teach. I felt that I was not working but that it was a tremendous joy. This has been a wonderful experience. In all the relationships I had with friends, family and with my world, they all became very positive. Suddenly I saw my world in a beautiful way. It was an adventure.
Of course, I was not enlightened. I did not feel that I had reached anywhere that was so powerful, but certainly I felt so much joy in my being and it was a joy to undertake the discipline that I was doing and to do all the things I was doing. Everything seemed to be so filled with spirituality. I tried to bring light everywhere I went.
Use our Strength to Overcome Weakness
It was tremendous, of course, as there were challenges around me, but I could feel that inner strength in me supporting me through the challenges. In all of this it is very important to see how awakened centers can empower us and give us the opportunity to put these principles into practice and to bring light into everything we do. That is the power we have. We need to use the tools that we have and we need to use the strength that we have to overcome weaknesses. We need to see it, to recognize when we have them and not allow them to be lying in a corner somewhere to be hidden by cobwebs in our consciousness. We need to pull them out, shine them up and to use these instruments in our daily activities as we need to.
Be in a Space of Surrender and Humility
Whenever we begin to feel that power, do not become swell-headed and think now that we are so powerful, as we begin to feel empowered. But continue to be in a space of surrender, knowing that all these positive signs are not the destination. Know that we need to continue a little further until we can become fully empowered by the Supreme and that we can fulfill that goal of self-realization and inner freedom. That is what we need to do.
Oneness with that Power
Finally as we journey we will feel that this God we are looking for, we have become a part of it. This shakti that we are seeing inside of us empowering us, we can begin to feel that, “Now, I am that power; I am in oneness with that power.” That is a part of the journey that is going to come to us. We begin to feel that we can direct this power the way we want to and that we are this power. Only when we have become deserving, only when we are using this power for selfless reasons, will we be given the full mantle of the power, not before. On the journey it is very important to be humble if we are to receive the fullness of grace, and to feel that full extent of power that is within us.
Co-create Your Destiny
It is an exciting journey. It is a journey into the light from darkness, and it is a journey that can become an adventure. It is a journey that can take us to the very end where we begin to feel in oneness with the Supreme, no longer a victim but a co-creator; co-creating our destiny in accordance with Divine Will or in alignment to the workings of the Universe. It is a wonderful journey.
Today, I wanted to speak about the empowering kriyas on the journey. It can be a journey of light and not just a journey of darkness. Working through the darkness is a temporary phase and hopefully it will be a short phase.
While working in the light is a longer phase, a joyous phase and an empowering phase, it is the phase where we can bring the light into our daily activities, and not only transform ourselves but transform the world around us. That is the joy of the journey, not only we benefit personally, but the world around us is impacted by the transformation. Isn’t that beautiful?
This is a marvelous journey of the Maha Yoga or Siddha Yoga.
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