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I feel deeply grateful to Brother David Steindl-Rastfor giving the great gift of passage. I consider offering this thought provoking passage itself a great gift of passage. It has the three intertwined core concepts of grateful living: I recognize, I acknowledge, I am grateful. These three concepts create a steady and strong foundation for going through passages of life. Living this way I feel the unity within me and between people in my life regardless of apparent differences like Brother David says unity in multiplicity, oneness in manyness, where giving becomes receiving and receiving becomes giving, an experience of oneness. To me this is living spiritually, living in pure heart and relating to others from pure heart. And this an ongoing journey that creates loving joy and deep fulfillment.
I have been blessed to have many people in my family and many others out of my family who take care of me lovingly regardless of age, gender, nationality and religion. It feels like living in a spiritual community or an ashram. Such experiences happen not on Thanksgiving Day. Everyday becomes a Thanksgiving Day. As I have mentioned before life is a spiritual journey. In my journey of life there have been times when I have stepped out of the spiritual path and I have hurt me and some people close to me. Recognizing and acknowledging my wrong doing and learning from such experiences has always helped me. Practicing Mindfulness Meditation regularly and living mindfully and relating to others unselfishly and compassionately also reinforces my spiritual way of living. Namaste!
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I appreciate the passage "Heart Is Not About Emotions", authored by Cynthia Bourgeault. According to my understanding, there are three kinds of perceptibility; mental, emotional, and spiritual. Mental and emotional perceptibilities have limitations of their own. Thoughts and emotions change and our perception of reality changes. Our perception is bound by thoughts and emotions and by space and time limitations. Spirituality is not bound by the inner changes of thoughts and emotions and by space and time. It is beyond mental and emotional perceptions. In the culture I was born and raised the heart is considered the abode of devotion or Bhakti. In Bhakti Yoga there is pure love and devotion for the Divine beloved. It is unchanging, profound and beyond space and time limitations.
I experience such Divine Relationship with nature and with my family and friends and even with strangers when my mind is quiet and clear and my heart is filled with unconditional love. In such moments I feel deeply connected and sense the feeling of oneness. This is an example of a deeper spiritual perception. Regular practice of mindfulness meditation and loving Kindness-meta- meditation and remaining mindful of my thoughts, feelings, emotions and my actions help me walk on this path of spiritual living. Listening to devotional songs and serving others selflessly are very helpful to me abide in my heart. This the way I relate to the author's wise words " Heart Is Not About Emotions." Namaste! Finding a balance between two extremes is a virtue by itself. In Buddhism it is called the middle path. In Yoga it is called equanimity-Yogahasmattvam uchyate. I use these words of wisdom in almost all walks of life such as eating, working, sleeping, talking and resting and thinking. Following the middle path helps me avoid the voices of deficiency and access. As Adam Grant says," If you want to be resilient, find the right amount of generosity and authenticity and grit." Or to put it differently to find "virtue in balance."
Once one of our friends invited us to celebrate his birthday. It was a wonderful gathering with lots of delicious vegetarian food items and different kinds of fruit juices. Normally I am careful about what and how much I put into my belly. That day I forgot to eat in moderation. And I paid a heavy price for my indulgence. That was a good lesson for me for walking and staying on the middle path. I apply mindfulness in all walks of life. Awareness and alertness of what is going on in my body, mind, emotions and my actions and remaining alert about my actions helps me act wisely. Overdoing as well as under-doing have an adverse effect on the flow of my energy. I have learned how to live a balanced life and that's a blessing. Namaste! When I am fully engaged in what I am doing I feel oneness within me and without me. The line of separation fades away and I feel oneness between the inner and the outer world. The difference between doing and being, having and being slips away. This happens when my mind is calm, clear, and pure. I feel oneness within and without, between the outer and the inner world. It is a non-dualistic experience.
Six of the members of our family were on a pilgrimage to Amarnath, a five thousands high peak on the Himalayas. The sun was setting. The sky was clear. There was deep silence. All of us felt the oneness between the outer world and the inner world. It was an unforgettable experience. In deep meditative state I experience such oneness between the inner world and the outer world. I just become a swinging door as Shunryu Suzuki puts it. To be true to oneself, to be truly oneself, requires consistent training of my mind. When my mind gets divided between the inner world and the outer world, I become aware of the truth of oneness of the soul. We all are one. The dualistic mind becomes non-dualistic. The individual self becomes the universal self. When I do selfless service I feel the fullness of living. To me life is a spiritual journey and I need to remain awake if and when I deviate from my spiritual path. Namaste! Virginia Satir was an author and family therapist who wrote this poem on awakin.org when she was working with a teenage girl who had a lot of questions about herself and what life meant. Kindly read it and here is my reflection to the poem:
Who am I? What am I? Who is me? What is me? These are important questions about my true and authentic identity. It means taking ownership of me. Ownership of my mind-thoughts and ideas; ownership of my feelings and emotions; ownership of my actions; ownership of my triumphs and failures; ownership of my whole self. I do not hide myself from my own self and also from others. This is Me. When I accept myself as I am I am free to engineer me; to change me. Taking ownership of me frees me from my socially, culturally, and religiously conditioned self. I loved and married the love of my life born and raised in a different caste, class and religion. Both of us followed our inner voice and faced all kinds of challenges together and grew by going through them. Authentic self creates and sustains authentic and flourishing relationships. Life presents challenges and puzzles. How do I face them makes a big difference in my life. If I close my eyes to the challenges and puzzles or deny them, I stifle my own growth and development. I recognize my puzzles. I own my puzzles. I have learned to remain grounded and rooted like a tree and derive strength from my authentic self. Relating to challenges and puzzles cultivates strength and courage in me and I do not get uprooted by challenges and difficulties. I conclude my reflections by quoting Virginia Satire's last line of her poem: "I am Me and I am Okay." Namaste! Here is my reflection to Todd Henry's thoughtful writing:
There are many reasons I have for working. One of the reasons is for survival and for meeting my and my family's basic needs. There is something more than just surviving. My core values are fulfillment, deep contentment and joy. I am clear about my purpose and intention for working hard. I engage my energy fully not only to meet my needs and aspirations and my welfare. I also devote my energy for serving others selflessly. This is my way of living spiritually. I discovered my path of living fully by going through some hard and painful times in my life. I learned valuable lessons from my pain. My pain helped me understand pain of others empathically. My mother used to sing a song that conveys the way we learn empathy for others. It is by going though our own pain mindfully, we can understand the pain of others and cultivate empathy and compassion. The good news is that we are wired for empathy and compassion. Like any other skills we can cultivate empathy and compassion for ourselves and for others. When I live mindfully I do not have any regrets or remorse for not living fully. Living life mindfully and fully is dying empty. Fullness is emptiness. This is a paradoxical truth. Namaste! The fist sentence of this passage by Jack Kornfield says it all. "In spiritual life, what matters is simple: We make it certain that our path is connected with our heart. Our spiritual journey is a journey of caring, love and kindness. It is important to pay our attention when our heart is focused on the core values of our life. What we do is in alignment with our core spiritual values such as kindness, compassion and caring. The three questions stated by the author are very pertinent for living a spiritual life. " Did I love well?" "Did I live fully? "Did I learn to let go?"
My mother was illiterate. She lived a very simple life. Her hear was full of love and compassion. She used to say in my mother tongue, when you feed someone who is hungry your heart is filled with abundance and grace. My friends used to come to visit me. They always said to me that whatever simple food my mother made tasted more sweet than the food they ate their house.. It was the sweetness of her heart that made food very sweet. She taught me how to live spiritually. When I serve others from my heart I feel fulfilled and very happy. The lesson I learned from my mother has been a guiding star for me. She taught me a lesson of how to live fully. She showed me the path with heart. Upon reading Jason Garner's thoughtful writing on Practice over Parables, I had the below reflection:
To me spirituality means relating to life with an open mind and an open heart. It means facing life with non-judgmental awareness. In order to be free from my suffering I need to go through it with compassion. I pay my kind attention to my own suffering without being carried away by distractions. I follow the same way when I relate to someone going through hard times. This is the way we evolve to thrive personally, interpersonally and collectively. Spiritual evolution tales time. Having someone as a model in spiritual journey has been very helpful to me. In my culture such a person is called a guru. I was blessed to have my parents as my gurus. They not only believed in simple and humble living but they lived that way. Mahatma Gandhi also was model for my father and for me. Seeing people living modestly and humbly and learning from them provided a basis for my spiritual evolution. I am very grateful to them. Spiritual evolution is an inner work. Reading books and articles like this one written by Jack Kornfleld, having a satsanga with like minded people, Introspection, meditation, and practicing mindfulness have been very helpful to me in my spiritual journey, It is a way of living. Namaste. Richard Rohr's passage from his book, "A Lever and A Place to Stand: The Contemplative Stance - The Active Prayer." is published in awakin.org and the below is my reflection to it:
We all need a steady, rooted, poised and balanced place to stand otherwise the winds of pain and suffering may uproot the tree of our life. All wisdom traditions strongly emphasize the significance of contemplation and meditation to work on our inner world and the need to be connected with the outer world of suffering and pain. In order to be whole and fully functioning persons we need to create a balance and rootedness within ourselves. I had attended one month retreat for mindfulness meditation and deep contemplation. That was a transformative experience for me. I felt profoundly centered, calm and rooted. I felt at home with me and with others in the retreat. This experience fostered a deep sense of empathy and compassion in me for others. It was a powerful transformative experience for me. Daily practice of mindfulness meditation and self-introspection help me to maintain a balanced and wholesome connection between my inner world and outer world, between my "private room" and my "public room." Namaste! This beautiful poem written by Aryae Coopersmith reminds me of a poem I had read a long time ago. It is written in Gujarati, my mother tongue. Who came this morning to wake me up from my deep sleep? The unexpected voice startled me and made me realize that I have been walking on the same old path of my life. No wonder why I felt stale and tired and bored. The fresh voice coming from within me made me realize that I was caught up in the habitual nest that I myself had created for quite some time. I was listening to the same old story and was singing the same old song. The voice woke me up and I am eager to listen to a new unexpected voice. I feel a sense of thrilling and wonderment and curiosity to hear and see what is coming.
A few days ago my daughter, a guest and myself were invited for a dinner at our friends house. I had been to their house three years ago. Maya, the three year old whom I had seen as little girl was eagerly waiting for me to greet me. In the beginning she was shy. After a while she she sat beside me with her curious eyes. It was a joyful and beautiful experience for me. She was eager to show us her favorite jasmine plant. She gently plucked a few fragrant jasmine flowers for me. As we were leaving she offered me a necklace of different colors of beads she had made for me. This was totally unexpected. The fragrance of her gift will always stay in my heart. Life offers many unexpected gifts if we keep the portal of our heart open and surprisingly receive them. I keep my mind and heart open to receive unexpected gifts. They are sacred gifts and I am ready to run with the unexpected and unknown gifts coming on my way. Namaste! |
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