PEACE LOVE YOGA: January 2011

Burnt To Ash

"All Inquiry is meant for one purpose; to take you experientially into the unknown as efficiently as possible. Once you get there, simply be still because inquiry has delivered you to its destination. The rest is up to Grace. Do not hold onto any knowledge that comes your way. Even the greatest revelations much not be clung to, or you will end up with a head full of memories and a heart empty of substance. The truth is ever new, existing only in the now. The highest truth is beyond knowledge and experience. It is beyond time and space, and beyond beingness, consciousness, and oneness. Just remember that all direct path techniques are meant simply to undermine, to cut away, the one who is performing them. No matter what spiritual path you've walked or what teachings you've followed, they must lead you back to no path and no teaching. A true teaching is like a blazing fire that consumes the itself. The teaching must not only consume you, but consume itself as well. All must be burned to ash, and then the ash must be burned. The, and only then, is the Ultimate realized. True Enlightenment destroys enlightenment. As long as you can refer back to yourself and say, 'I'm enlightened', you not. Enlightenment is authentic only when there is no one left to be enlightened. Even to say 'I am nobody', is one too many. There's a point when you intuitively realize that to be Free you have to give up your attachment to Freedom. You have to quit asking yourself: Is it still there? Am I okay? You have to decide to never look over your shoulder again to see if you're free or if others know you're free. You just have to let yourself burn there - no matter what. This isn't something I can help you with. I can tell you what you need to do, but you have to do it. In the beginning, teachers can help a lot. But the deeper you go, all they can do is point, and clarify, and tell you what you need to do. Only you can take this step. Nobody can push you in to this place."

- Adyashanti

No Expectations

A spirit that lives in this world

and does not wear the shirt of love,

such an existence is a deep disgrace.

Be foolishly in love,

because love is all there is.

There is no way into presence

except through a love exchange.

If someone asks, But what is love?

answer, Dissolving the will.

True freedom comes to those

who have escaped the questions

of freewill and fate.

Love is an emperor.

The two worlds play across him.

He barely notices their tumbling game.

Love and lover live in eternity.

Other desires are substitutes

for that way of being.

How long do you lay embracing a corpse?

Love rather the soul, which cannot be held.

Anything born in spring dies in the fall,

but love is not seasonal.

With wine pressed from grapes,

expect a hangover.

But this love path has no expectations.

You are uneasy riding the body?

Dismount. Travel lighter.

Wings will be given.

Be clear like a mirror

reflecting nothing.

Be clean of pictures and the worry

that comes with images.

Gaze into what is not ashamed

or afraid of any truth.

Contain all human faces in your own

without any judgement of them.

Be pure emptiness.

What is inside that? you ask.

Silence is all I can say.

Lovers have some secrets

that they keep.

(Rumi)

27.1.11

Above are a few pictures taken of Shravanabelagola. An over 80 km trek outside Mysore, India, it is one of the most important Jain pilgrim sites. After climbing all 1008 steps to the very top there is definitely a sense of accomplishment, in addition to the beauty and history of the place. If you every find yourself in Mysore; making a stop to Shravanabelagola is well worth the trip.

24.1.11

So, I'm in the mist of finally buckling down and learning Sanskrit, and I must say I'm really enjoying it. Actually, my favorite part is writing the letters, and formulating words on paper. There is something extremely meditative about it. I can't say I really have any particular goal in learning this ancient language, except to say it is fascinating in many ways. One being, that it is vibrational in nature. The sounds we formulate in Sanskrit reverberate in our being if used over time. Obviously, I am only at the very basic level of learning, and I can see the value in building my understanding slowly through time. Good stuff, indeed.

23.1.11

"Love says "I am everything". Wisdom says "I am nothing". Between the two, my life flows. Since at any point of time and space I can be both the subject and the object of experience, I express it by saying that I am both, and neither, and beyond both." - Nisargadatta Maharaj

Faith is everything.

When practicing with faith we explore a whole new territory within ourselves. We come into limitlessness, if only for a moment. Sharath has brought up faith quite a bit during our weekly conferences at KPJAYI. It's good to be reminded of faith. It forces us to reevaluate why we practice. A question that should be continually revisited during the course of our lives.

So what are we putting are faith in? Good question. All I know is a revealing happens through continuous practice, and it's THAT, that I continue to put faith in. A nameless force, or whatever you want to call it. As the practice evolves the unseen forces come alive, and in essence, become more real than what is seen with the naked eye. This is true. Sometimes it frightens me, but at the same time, I am forced to rely on it. That is faith.

With faith, I have everything. It's about more than having meaning in my life. It's about surrendering to the overall good that emanates all around. It's about trusting the underlying process that yoga practice brings to light. Often it seems as if nothing is happening, never fearing, when letting go, just like Pattabhi Jois said ... "Practice, and all is coming".

"Faith is a knowledge within the heart, beyond the reach of proof." - Kahlil Gibran

I feel my moments of doubt have grown into faith, and I've definitely had my share. I guess there are the rare few who come into this world filled with faith. For me, I've had to live through periods of darkness to experience faith as being the only thing that could pull me through. Meeting grace, when something, or someone, was available to catch my fall through times of uncertainty, often at the very last moment.

I think in our practices we're often tested. Through injury, openings, and a myriad of emotions exploding out of us it is through the trails, not the bliss, where we are lead through the doorway of transformation. If anything, it is the very beginning of the journey when we are met with challenge. There have been instances when I felt I had nothing, nothing at all, not even my own self-respect, all the while holding on to a tiny thread of faith, being all I possessed. Through that tiny thread, everything of true value has been born. Love. Trust. Openness. Awareness. Surrender to the unknown. A zest for life.

Letting go to allow the practice to do the work, not trying to make something happen, takes a huge leap of faith. When we come to this place, then we come into faith. It's more than where we are, but how deep we are going.

"To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible." - St. Thomas Aquinas