 |  |
“The constant assertion of belief is an indication of fear.”
Jiddu Krishnamurti
Smith was born into a wealthy merchant family. He lived a comfortable childhood and won appreciation and awards in sports. After college, Smith joined his family business. Although Smith wished to pursue a different career, his mind did not allow him to listen to his inner voice. While growing up, he developed the compulsive trait of short-temperedness. He used to feel guilty and helpless because of it.
Smith worked hard, achieved his life goals, and began his married life. His professional commitments kept him busy. To expand his business, he partnered with another company. They performed well for a year. However, the leadership style of both the company's leaders was poles apart. Smith was friendly and creative while his business partner was autocratic and aggressive. Soon, they got caught up in an ego battle. They had to go through several patterns of actions and reactions. As a result, Smith lost the balance between his work and personal life. He began feeling suffocated and extremely angry.
He was a man who always set a high benchmark for his success. He had been holding on to the social belief that a man needs to be mentally tough. So, he distracted his mind and denied his emotions even when he felt guilt and shame about his life’s circumstances. However, he was neither aware of his emotional state nor of its cause. He faced challenges to break through his limiting belief. His wife observed the situations in his life and intervened to understand the depth of the problems. She created an environment that helped him to open up about his thoughts and feelings. He resisted opening his heart and mind but eventually prioritized his well-being.
Smith and his wife investigated his life’s events not only to fix a problem but also to harmonize their relationship and understand the life processes. Interestingly, they found out he was obsessed with success. He wanted to chase happiness and seek acceptance from his family and society through his success. He lived his entire life to build up his success story, but he was afraid to accept failures in life.
He realized that life gives opportunities to those who learn from success and failures. As the cloud of ignorance faded out, he sensed the urgency to take ownership of his well-being. He spent time in silence and self-reflection. He discovered that most people were living in a hypnotic state with their success stories. He was one of those people, but he took an effort to investigate his life’s realities. This instant revelation set him free from his guilt and shame. At last, he received an insight into his relaxed mind.
His inner voice whispered, “I am angry with myself. I did not acknowledge the gift of my life.” He found his intrinsic motivation through his human values. He always wanted to spread the importance of self-confidence and teamwork through his unique gift of a sports person spirit. However, he remained ignorant and ignored his inner strength. Eventually, he took the courage to acknowledge and face his fears. He realized that his life’s decisions and events were part of his karmic journey. He attracted situations and relationships that helped him to pay attention to his karma. Life wanted to guide him towards his inner potential. He felt empowered with his unique creative self, which was left unnoticed. At last, he learned his life lesson and used his creative life force energy to discover his bliss.
What we sow is what we reap. For every action, there is a reaction. For every effect in our psychological domain, there is a corresponding cause in our own life. The patterns of ‘cause and effect’ are known as ‘karma.’ According to yogic psychology, our memory stores a layer of karma. We project our karma in the external world through different mind forms such as imagination, knowledge, and memory.
We can turn our attention inwards and heal our life. We can gain wisdom from our karmic journey and evolve to the awareness of love. If we identify ourselves with limiting beliefs, likes and dislikes, fears, and pleasures, we need to face the consequences. If we escape or fight against our karma, we become ignorant of the life process and our inner potential.
Meditation is the path to heal our karmas and use our creative force towards the purpose of our life.
According to yogic psychology, everything that we experience through our senses and even in thoughts leaves an imprint on the Chitta. The experiences of previous lives, early childhood, and adulthood all get registered in the unconscious mind. These experiences take the form of subtle impressions known as ‘Samskara.’ These Samskaras give rise to ‘Vritti’ or thought waves. We express these thought waves through our conscious mind in daily life. These vibrations stay in our awareness for a definite duration. After that, these experiences get stored as Samskaras in the subconscious and unconscious mind.
Consider that you attended a birthday party for your close friend. Both of you enjoyed the celebration. As you were experiencing those moments, they remained in awareness of your conscious mind. The next day, you resumed your regular workday.
At the office, your manager told you to travel abroad for a few years. You went abroad and settled with your family. A year passed by with your busy working hours and family life. On a particular day, you saw a bakery on your way to the office. Suddenly, you thought about the birthday party. These thought waves trigger the corresponding Samskaras stored in your subconscious and unconscious mind. You recalled the memory of those joyful moments of your friend’s birthday party. You smiled and called up your friend.
Similarly, all our painful life experiences, such as emotional and mental trauma, are also stored in the memory. However, we are unaware of these experiences most of the time. We may distract our minds and forget our past life events, but we can instead notice those experiences and gain insights into our life. This learning process guides us to the path to love.
Often when people practice meditation, they will remember experiences they had previously forgotten, or they thought were insignificant. This situation shows that Samskaras of the unconscious mind are manifesting.
If we witness the thought waves during meditation with unwavering attention, we can discover insights about our lives. The discovery of telomere—an enzyme associated with aging—by Elizabeth Blackburn won her the Nobel Prize. Imagine chromosomes that carry your genetic material, like a shoelace. The telomere is like the tip at the end of the chromosome.
During our lives, telomeres wear down, and when they can’t protect chromosomes adequately, cells can’t replenish and they malfunction. This process sets up physiological changes in the body which increase the risks of the significant conditions and diseases of aging. A telomere’s role is to protect the chromosomes from degeneration. Dr. Elizabeth’s studies with Dr. Dean Ornish from the Preventive Medicine Research Institute reveals that meditation increases the length of the telomere. The process of regeneration gets stronger during meditative practices.
Yogis, psychologists, and physiologists recognize the existence of three fundamental and distinct states of individual human consciousness. These are—the wakeful state, dream state, and deep sleep state. In the wakeful state of awareness, the conscious mind remains engaged with the external environment through the sensory channels of experience.
This awareness includes our cognitive activities such as thinking, feeling, and actions in our daily life. During the dreaming state, we withdraw our senses from the external world. The subconscious mind becomes predominant, and the suppressed desires, fears, inhibitions, and deep-seated Samskaras find their active expression. In this state of mind, mental activities and disturbances occur. In the deep sleep state, the unconscious mind, source of instincts, drives, and deeply buried experiences of earlier evolutionary stages are manifested.
Meditation aims to bring our awareness to the different regions of the mind—the wakeful state, dream state, and deep sleep state. During the dreaming and deep sleep state, we realize our fears, limiting beliefs, desires, and experiences. We must witness these forms with no judgment during meditation. This vital information reveals our inner strength and weakness.
Fear of the past and future can influence our life in the present moment. Meditation helps us to be conscious of our thoughts, feelings, and actions. During meditation, we should not involve ourselves with thoughts and emotions. This engagement leads to intellectualization and defeats the purpose of meditation.
Swami Satyananda, one of the great Indian sages, explains the significance of developing the attitude of a witness: "When a thought comes into your mind, your approach to it is of the utmost importance. If you are completely neutral towards it, then it will quickly cease. Still, when you become involved with a thought or touched by it, either positively or negatively, then it goes back into the mind to be recycled." Analysis can become a vicious circle but through witnessing, you can jump right out of the conflict.
Joseph Campbell, an American professor of literature and author of The Hero with a Thousand Faces, describes the three phases of a hero’s journey as separation, initiation, and return. Everyone who takes the journey to follow their bliss is a hero. In the separation phase, we remain ignorant about our true nature and struggle with pain and pleasure. In the initiation phase, we learn our life lessons and listen to the call of our hearts. Lastly, we take the courage to face our fears, overcome them, and pursue a purposeful life.
Eric Liddell was a gold medalist runner, Scottish rugby union international player, and a Christian missionary. At the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, he refused to run in the heats of the 100 meters race because the Olympic community held them on Sunday. He consciously stayed with his religious conviction. Nikola Tesla inspired and benefited humanity with his extraordinary talent. Nelson Mandela chose the path of harmony, despite civic violence and political disturbances. Mahatma Gandhi chose non-violence for independence against the British rule, whereas Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, and Sukhdev—Indian freedom fighters, willingly gave up their lives during the struggle for independence. They sacrificed their tendencies of the lower mind and lived a purposeful life.
Our purpose in life is unique and depends on our intrinsic motivation and human values. However, the underlying principle to pursue a purposeful life remains the same. We need to sacrifice our old habits and compulsive tendencies that deplete our vital life force energy. We need to live a disciplined lifestyle, heal our karmas, and raise our awareness to the higher vibration of love and devotion.
Mr. Perfectionist was an adventurous, joyful, and curious kid during his childhood. He used to enjoy the beauty of nature during his early morning walk with his father. One day, his father thought about playing hide-and-seek with his son. He wanted to observe his son’s response when he was left alone. Although he made the learning process enjoyable, he wanted him to learn a valuable life lesson. On a regular day, both of them walked through the lane of a park. The father looked at his son and instructed him to take a stroll in the nearby garden. So, the son followed his instruction.
Meanwhile, the father hid behind a tree and observed his son’s response. After a while, the son looked around in search of his father. The father's mind pondered several questions. Will he cry and feel helpless? Will he go away with somebody? Will he forget me? To his surprise, the son stood still at his place and said, “Father, I know you are near me. Please guide me towards your path.”
Faith is the trust in the unknown and unseen. Astronomers using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory in 2003, found sound waves from a supermassive black hole for the first time. The ‘note’ is the deepest ever detected from any object in our universe. Naturally, these sounds are beyond the perception of our senses. Imagine if we had not made this discovery. Does that mean the black holes were not emitting sound waves? Similarly, we can't understand the laws of the universe and perceive universal intelligence through our senses.
Does that mean they are not real? This experience is a question of faith. You may call it God, creator of the universe, or any other form. If you walk on the path to discover and follow your purpose in life, you must develop faith. Faith is like oxygen. It will nourish and sustain your life through challenges.
Belief occurs on our mental plane. It can empower us or limit our spiritual development. For example, “Each human being can live a purposeful life” is an empowering belief. “Only a few people can live a purposeful life” is a limiting belief. Faith and empowering beliefs are like a magnet coil and electricity. Both work in harmony to create momentum in life.
Triveni Sangam is the ‘confluence’ of three sacred rivers—Ganga, Yamuna, and Saraswati in India. The three rivers have their purpose from a historical, economic, and spiritual perspective. These rivers, which unite at Triveni Sangam, strengthen the religious faith of people. Similarly, the union of intelligence of love and faith channelize our creative life force energy in discovering and living a life of purpose. Bhakti means to express your love and devotion towards God. In Bhakti Yoga, spiritual seekers learn to channelize their emotions and minds towards the divine nature, glory, and teachings of God.
The journey starts with an authentic spiritual quest to associate with the love and wisdom of God. The foundation of Bhakti Yoga is to plant the seed of love and faith in our hearts. The spiritual seekers create a favorable environment and nourish the seed to grow organically into the plant which subsequently gives fruits.
Faith, curiosity, and willingness create the internal environment, and regular spiritual practices and disciplined lifestyle provide nourishment for spiritual development. Spiritual practitioners create their experience and trust the life process. As part of their self-transformation, they notice their fears, inner conflicts, and limiting beliefs and view their past life events within a spiritual dimension. As one gains insights about past events, one understands the nature of the mind and transmutes negative emotions such as anger and hatred to positive emotions such as joy and empathy. The practitioner simultaneously discovers the path to selfless service according to their intrinsic motivation. Finally, when the practitioner attains the equanimity or deep sleep state of mind, the significant creative life force energy becomes available. In this way, one can devote their life force energy towards discovering and pursuing a purposeful life.
The Narada Bhakti Sutra, the sacred book on bhakti, defines bhakti as ‘both the means and the end.’ The purport is that bhakti acts as an authority on our spiritual experiences and the attainment of love and wisdom.
Srimad Bhagavatam, the sacred Vedanta literature, describes nine methods to attain God’s love and wisdom. I have listed the important aspects of these methods that I have incorporated in my daily life.
● On a regular day, do you feel controlled by your senses? Extroversion of thoughts determines the quality of the state of mind. Any spiritual seeker must maintain a balance between daily life duties and spiritual life. Listening and reading about God’s divine qualities, glory, and divine power from authentic religious scriptures or resources such as the Bhagavad Gita, the Ramacharitamanas, the Bible, the Quran, help us attach our mind to God. It encourages us to investigate our life principles and seek inner motivation. If you commit even a few minutes a day to it, you can understand the nature of the life processes. The spiritual seekers must interpret the essence of spiritual wisdom and connect it with their life experiences. The intellectualization of the life processes leads to sticking with the spiritual path.
● Association with the teaching of spiritual masters helps us to understand the different perspectives in life. We must clarify and deepen the spiritual quest. The association brings the possibility to gain insight about one's life challenges and its proper understanding in terms of the spiritual dimension. On the other hand, the association for different objectives such as personal gain or an escape from situations and responsibilities in life is a mind trap.
● Practitioners build their awareness with the sacred sound of holy mantras and the name of the God and Goddess. We develop faith and love for God through this form of mindfulness meditation. We do it without desire.
● Singing the name of the God and Goddess with music and rhythm is known as Nama (Name) Kirtana. This practice helps us to open our hearts and minds to experience inner joy and peace.
● Prayer and worship have been an integral part of various cultures. They help us express our gratitude, seek guidance on the spiritual path, and share a personal space in God’s reverence.
● Visualization of daily life events in silence helps us to review spiritual development. It also helps us to manage our emotions, evaluate life decisions, and prioritize important aspects of life. If you spend at least 5-10 minutes a day, you can develop a healthy and beneficial habit.
● Conscious practice to express kindness and affection towards others helps us to open our hearts and develop an attitude of selfless action. These actions can be pure and the natural expressions of your mind and spirit. For example: laugh and smile, offer a flower during an idol worship, extend a helping hand to others, care for family and nature, use humor and wit in your talk.
Lord Rama was born in a royal family but he spent fourteen years in exile. His wife, Sita also shared her karmic journey with Lord Rama. Both of them were separated and united during their life journey. They strengthened their love and faith. Although they were divinity personified, they lived in harmony with the laws of nature. They accepted life’s challenges and lived a life that inspires millions of people for ages. They bless all walks of people who associate their hearts and minds with their divine nature.
Ravana created a karmic debt with Lord Rama with the unique manifestation of his ego. He associated himself with Lord Rama as a rival. The moment he started a rivalry, he unknowingly attached his mind with Lord Rama. He remembered him and repeated his name with a feeling of dislike. The compassionate Lord Rama knew that he had to liberate Ravana from his ego. So, he fought the battle and released Ravana from pride.
Vibhishana, the younger brother of Ravana, chose the path of goodness and righteousness. Vibhishana advocated the peace offer from Lord Rama. However, Ravana rejected his advice, insulted him, and pushed him out of his kingdom. Thus, he took shelter in Lord Rama’s presence. He sowed the seed of faith and love for Lord Rama and he reaped its fruits. Lord Rama appointed him as the king of Lanka after Ravana’s demise.
When Lord Rama was searching for Sita, he sought help from Sugriva, the king of Kishkindha. King Sugriva was in dispute with his elder brother, Bali. Bali forced him out of his kingdom. So Sugriva fled to a safe area on the mountain. He promised Lord Rama that he would provide his army in search of Sita. However, he sought Lord Rama’s intervention to kill Bali so that he could reclaim his kingship.
Lord Rama fought the battle with Bali and killed him. Sugriva claimed the kingship and enjoyed a comfortable life. However, he almost forgot about his commitment. Lord Rama told his brother, Laxmana to remind him about his involvement. At last, Sugriva realized his mistake and ordered his army to join the search mission for Sita.
The younger brother of Lord Rama, Bharat had a high reverence and love for Lord Rama. He refused the kingship of Ayodhya and renounced the palace’s comfort for fourteen years, just as Lord Rama did. He felt the deep pain of Lord Rama’s absence and healed his guilt with his spirit’s power. The younger brother, Laxmana could not imagine his life without Lord Rama. Laxmana served Lord Rama in all circumstances. He shared the space of love, wisdom, care, and protection with Lord Rama. Lord Hanuman was the greatest devotee of Lord Rama. He devoted all his senses, intellect, emotions, and mind only towards the service of Lord Rama. He lived a blissful and purposeful life. He served Lord Rama selflessly and united with his divine form.
Karma is a fixed pattern of cause and effects. We express our karma in the behavioral and cognitive responses in our daily life. These fixed patterns depend on various factors such as limiting beliefs, genes, fears, ideologies, cultural and social influences. Karma is a potential gateway to unlock the creative life force energy. We learn to heal our karma through meditation.
During practice, we can gain insights about life events and investigate its significance from the perspective of spiritual development. Bhakti Yoga is the path of love and devotion towards God.
We learn to channelize our emotions and mind towards God through various authentic methods and disciplined lifestyles. The balance between body, mind, and heart creates a space of harmony and helps us use our life force energy to discover and pursue a purposeful life.
