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Who am I ? Am I fully present with my body, with my breath, with my emotion? With my thought? With my being? All these parts of myself are inter- connected. This is an experience of unitive consciousness. In that state I feel one with myself, with nature, and with human beings. In such a state of consciousness, all man- made differences fade away and I feel oneness.
When I do Yoga and Meditation I feel oneness with myself and with others. We are capable of having such experiences. Practicing nonjudgemental mindfulness helps me create and sustain the flow of unitive consciousness. It helps me to be connected with myself and with others in my life. It is a blessing. Namaste! Above is my reflection to Judith Blackstone's excerpt posted on awakin.org
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Robert G. Harwood is an author, and retired builder. Excerpt from Pouring Concrete, A Zen Path to the Kingdom of God is posted on awakin.org and below is my reflection to it:
There are two worlds we live in: one world is a world of sleeping; the other world is the world of awakening. The the first world is a world of illusion, the world of darkness. The second world is the world of light. In the first world of sleeping, I am ignorant of my True Identity. Who is Mu? Who am I? The first world is a world of separation, a world of disconnection. The second world is a world of union, a world of harmony. The first world is the world of bondage, the second world is the world of freedom. In the first world I am bound by a gate of separation. The second world is gateless, a world of union. In the gateless world I feel oneness and harmony. Life is a journey with ups and downs. When I am awake I realize the difference between freedom and bondage, Gate and Gatelessness. At times I lose my awareness of the Gateless Gate and create walls of separateness. When I get awakened I see the Gateless Gate and live with freedom. I live in the world of connectedness and harmony. Awareness of the world of Gateless Gate and living with that awareness helps me not to be bound by the Gate of separation. This is my pilgrimage and I am not in a hurry. May we all find our path of awakening, a path of Gateless Gate. Amen! Namaste, Based on the lovely poem written by Chelan Harkin, here is my reflection:
According to my experience prayer creates intimacy and a sense of oneness with existence. Prayer has helped me to be one with me, a sense of wholeness with existence. Prayer helps me to see the truth. Prayer takes me to a place which is beyond right and wrong, a place of oneness. When I was a child every evening we were chanting Divine songs. We were doing what we call Kirtan. Chanting together created a sense of intimacy, a sense of oneness or "onening". My childhood experiences have built a spiritual foundation of my life. This foundation has helped me go through thick and thin times of my life. It has helped me go through all seasons of my life. I love to read spiritual books and articles, reflect on what resonates in me, have discussions with friends and family members and regularly practice Mindfulness Meditation. We have created a spiritual community, a sangha where we virtually get together once a week for practicing Mindfulness Meditation and have spiritual discourses. Such weekly spiritual gatherings have helped us in our journey of life. May we all find our way to walk steadily in the journey of our life! This is my prayer. Namaste! Based on the wonderful excerpt by Dr. Gabor Maté. Please read it here and below is my reflection to it:
Mind and body are united. They are two sides of the same coin. Believing mind and body are separate creates dichotomy, a big gulf between body and mind and creates psychosomatic division. I have been learning Functional Medicine or Holistic Medicine. I have been developing scientific understanding of the union of body and mind. What we do affects our mind and what we think affects our body. They are dynamically connected. If I see a medical doctor he or she asks me questions about my body. If I see a mind doctor, he or she asks me questions about my mind. Believing and practicing Mind-body are disunited is sadly very prevalent. Glad to know that there is a movement to relate to body and mind in an integrated way. Ayurveda is an ancient wholistic health paradigm which is based on the unity and interaction of body and mind. Stress affects body and mind. I learned about this as I was growing up. I learned from my father how Ashtanga Yoga and concentric meditation build a body-mind bridge, a union between body and mind. I strongly believe in this holistic paradigm and implementing it has extended my life span. Keeping my mind and heart open and practicing what creates and sustains my holistic-physical, mental, emotional, social and spiritual well-being- has been very helpful to me. It is the action that counts, not just reading, writing and talking. Namaste. I deeply resonate with the wise words of the author, David Bullon in this passage: " But a silent voice lures me inward. The deep -now seeks to liberate my meaning -seeking mind." I have been learning the value of silence. Our conditioned mind tends to oscillate between past and future and gets away from the deep flow of here and now. The past is already gone and the future is yet to come. The challenge I face is how to remain centered and go with the flow of the here-and-now consciousness. I have been learning not to get attached to the past experiences and the future aspirations. I have learned to be awakened and say good bye to the past and hello to the present. Such an understanding of the deep now helps me to step outside of my echo-mind and go beyond a search for meaning. I realize it is hard to break the old pattrens of dwelling on the past and worrying about the future. I am gald to know that I am on the path of freeing myself from the grip of the past and the future. I have leaned how to live in the here-and-now consciousness. May we all learn how to flow in the river of here-and-now consciousness!
Namaste! Below is my reflection to the Sufi teacher Pir Aga Mir's excerpt:
The foundation of all religions is spirituality. If our religious practices are not expanding our circle of empathy, compassion, love and care , what is their purpose? We need to join hands with each other to create Heaven on Earth. Living in Heaven is living a spiritual life here and now. Being contextually relevant means being relevant to the present times, people, and events, and the world at large. Past is gone, future has yet to come. Living spiritually is practicing spirituality in the here and now. According to my understanding spirituality is responsive, not reactive to what is happening. Reactivity breaks bridges. Responsivity builds bridges. I daily do self-examination to be aware of my inner world: How am I responding to people different from me in many ways? Am I reacting or responding to people with different religious and cultural orientations? With different political ideologies? The world we live in has been divided into different and opposite worlds generating frustration, anger, and hatred-Me against you. Spirituality, not religiosity, can build the bridges. History shows how many religious wars have been created in the name of religion? How many religious conversions have been made by religious leaders? Spirituality unites, religiosity divides. Heart-to- heart connections with open heart and open mind are the ways to build the bridges of compassion and kindness. May we join our hands with each other to create a peaceful and blissful world! Namaste! Based on the article by Toko-Pa-Turner, below is my reflection:
I love the wise Statement of Rumi: "Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment". We are on a journey and we need to keep our mind and heart open to see the bewilderment that unfolds spontaneously without preconceived notions. A mind free from the bondage of preconceived notions shines and helps us see the light. When I face a fog of confusion as I move on the path of life, I face it with clarity, calmness and courage. When I bear witness to what is happening in my life, I do not get attached to and bound by my desires and wishes, by ups and downs in my life. It is very difficult for me to go through pain of several losses of people in my long life. Bearing witness to such losses in my life has been very helpful to me. Witnessing and accepting what is happening in my life has helped me to remain grounded and centered. Practicing mindfulness with loving kindness, patience and perseverance has been very helpful to me after a long exile. Namaste! I love the way Mark Vandeneijnde shows the integration of Head and Heart. I will quote a couple of statements made by the author:
One to listen and one to talk. One to think and one to feel. One to sense and one to see. One to Do and one to feel. This saying reminds me of the Zen Koan: What is the sound of one hand clapping? My response to this Zen question is that we need both hands to make the meaningful sound. They are together. By togetherness of sound and silence, a melody of oneness is created. The greeting Namaste comes to my mind as I am reflecting on this writing. By joining my two hands you and I are becoming one, a Divine Union or Unitive Cosmic Consciousness. Like any new significant learning, realizing the Divine Oneness requires time, patience, and perseverance. With non-judgemental awareness I have been able to integrate both head and heart. Practicing Mindfulness Meditation has been very helpful to me to integrate both aspects of the divide. By holding my hands and touching my heart, I am saying Namaste to all! Who am I is a profound question explored by spiritual seekers and mystics. Am I my body, Am I my mind, or I am beyond my body and mind? We usually identify ourselves with body and mind. My true self, my authentic self, my essence is beyond body and mind. Sadly, as we grow up, our personality is shaped by what the people close to us define our real and authentic selves by our looks, by our worldly possesions, our professions, prestige and power. Sadly we lose our authentic self, our true identity.
The story of the eagle and the chicken narrated by Jamie Glenn is quite revealing: How the mighty and free eagle turns into a chicken, the eagle looking like a chicken and quacking like a chicken and becoming a chicken. Sadly a majority of people in different societies and cultures tend to define their members by the external appearances, ranks, money and power. No wonder, why such societies and cultures create materialistic, power and prestige hungry leaders. I was blessed to have parents in my life who lived authentically and provided good modeling. They played a significant role in shaping my authentic personality. Forming eagle-like authentic self is not easy for us as we have to depend on and rely upon significant people in our childhood. It requires courage and determination to sing my song and dance my dance, to be an eagle and not a chicken. Namaste! There are two ways we use language. One way is for survival and the other way is for evolving our consciousness. The author of this article, Vyaas Huston, uses two different phrases to differentiate the two modes of communication: survival language and sacred language. According to my understanding, we need survival language to meet basic mundane needs such as food, water, clothing , shelter, and mate. We also need to evolve on a higher level of living, to evolve on a higher level of consciousness, from me to we, from mundane to sacred. The challenge is how to evolve from survival to sacred. According to my experience we need the helping hands of caretakers, to not fall down and hurt ourselves and others, and to slowly and gradually move up on our own. Parents can provide good modeling to their children. I was blessed to have such elders in my life. They would provide help when needed and let me walk on my path freely. My parents used to tell me in Gujarati, my mother tongue, 'Vicharine yar uchhar vani'. Think before speak. That was very helpful advice which I still follow. In other words, this means to cultivate mindfulness of your inner world of thoughts and feelings before hurting yourself and others. Empathy and compassion for myself and others is very helpful to allow me to talk and relate to others in a sacred language. Life is a journey and I have been walking on this sacred path with compassion and kindness, with patience and perseverance.
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