Introduction to blog 18 – My Personal Journey in Om Divine Grace Yoga.

The specific components of this Yogic Pathway are enumerated in the first five blogs Then blogs move on to a broad view of my own Om Divine Grace Yoga spiritual journey, and then introduce teaching material associated with this pathway. Blog seventeen is now continued here as blog eighteen, with a focus is on The Challenge – to be Enlightened.  Some of this material is adapted from the Om Divine Grace Journey – which you can read on this site in various blogs.

Om Divine Grace Yoga is designed to enable practical use by a practitioner interested in this pathway. Of course anything here can be approached as just reading matter of interest.

Historically, this pathway is approached via a Guru for initiation and guidance. In our modern world this might not be feasible or practical, given the nature of this dark era (Kali Yuga). It may not be possible to get a guru who can assist you in this area.

It is necessary now to offer this spiritual pathway and process as an option for any practitioner, desiring progress. All this material will also become a book when all the blogs are complete.

My personal teachings gained from my journey in Om Divine Grace Yoga.

The Challenge

continued………..

The Cave or the Cappuccino?

We can’t so easily wander off to the forest. Even getting to go and live in a monastery has become complicated. Places of sanctuary to actual just walk into and settle down in, are rare, especially in the Westernized world.

So, this is the time for You to find Your Inner Guru, and then additionally Your Transcendental state. Can it be done?

Our birth right is our Divinity, whether we are monks, rock stars or plumbers. We are our own Transcendental Guru. Yes, the body/mind provides painful experiences, or as the Buddha says, “all life is suffering”. We agree to participate in this delusory activity until we stop pinching ourselves, and start being who we really are.  Then the body/mind of ourselves, and the environment of the whole universe, ceases to rule our lives or even have much significance. We escape from Life and the Universe.

We may currently struggle with mental health, addictions, trauma, or relationship disasters. Then we might be impelled to shout out: “I am not Divine”. Keep on being sad and suffering then if you want to keep on avoiding the Truth of all life. There is nothing between you and Divinity except this business with the great delusion of all life – Maya. One can chose to “wake up” in any circumstance and indeed that is what the Transcendental is.

Mission Impossible! If we are truly Divine, why are we not Realised and Enlightened from birth? Also the evolutionist say we are descended from monkeys anyway, so what hope do we have?  We can of course have a God/ Creator who is really in charge and thus get Salvation from this way of thinking, especially if we then are then engaging in some religious activities. It is still then possible to also accept the Cosmic Consciousness perspective and thus so called humans are then actually sparks of the Cosmic fire. It’s about hedging ones bets! Later you can chose a Him God or an impersonal Cosmic Awareness. It’s about freedom of spiritual choice.

we may seem to be descended from monkeys at times, but remember this is still in the ambit of Maya. The monkey-man and the enlightened–man are still in the same ego bound situation, just different levels of intelligence, or spiritual purity. (If there is such a thing).

Just let go and then sit or exist in our natural state which incidentally happens to be Enlightenment. Resting in ones Divine Consciousness. It’s all natural and the process is simple. Simple, but how come it doesn’t happen?

Lot of followers of many teachers have sat and soaked up the teaching for many years. Yet they are still on the journey, and still seekers of self-realization. What the barrier, and what’s blocking the transformative change to Transcendence? Is it ego, or desire, or enmeshment, or….? Probably some mixture that’s is unique for each individual, meaning that one size doesn’t fit all when it comes to the spiritual pathways.

Take this perspective! There is no God or Goddess. There is no universe. There are only creations in the mind, which are creations of humans. Therefore we cannot be Divine with a capital D because consciousness, which is the same as the Cosmic Consciousness, is just our “true normal state. It’s who we are, therefore perhaps we are divine with a small D. However people say: “oh my ice cream is divine”, so this won’t work. Being who you means you are as one with the Divine, and therefore being Divine. Therefore all with a capital D, because it’s so important to have that – otherwise we are just humans with egos and minds. Human being itself though is not a cause for uppercase use.

We don’t have any concrete position to stay in as humans, because everything changes. Nothing there that is not subject to the reality that all die, and all else will change out of recognition. So death and taxes are certain, and it’s certain that your $40 million Picasso will be dust eventually. This whole position of Life and the Universe is just that.

Here belief, s not required, only some logical application to go deeper and deeper into:

Who am I?

What is this creation?

What am I experiencing in Truth?

The end of suffering

No problem! I am not the mind/body. I witness what’s going on. I can still participate, and humans always do just that. Unless Enlightenment has occurred. Then one will be only a witness of events, but not then a true participant. Participation will still occur but it’s spontaneously generated by the accumulation of past impressions, activities, habits etc. Like a motor that ran out of fuel but keeps rolling on, for a while. The Realized being is aware of, say an itch, and may scratch. This experiencing and continued reaction to itches etc., is Prarabdha, the accumulate effects of past Karma. In this case only the qualities of nature, called Gunas, are acting. (Again still only in the domain of Maya – that illusory nature of what we call real). There is no more bondage, as it’s just the residue of Life and the Universe, doing its own thing as it was set up to do. It was set up due to desire, which is that wish to participate in life to satisfy our desires and wants. Not necessarily sex ‘n drugs ‘n rock ‘n roll, but having families, careers all the thing that we monkeys have evolved into, and are now participating in. (Evolutionary superior humans that is). A flash car? That wonderful wardrobe of clothes? Easy! What about being rich and famous, or a film/rock star? Famous writer/artist perhaps?

This is where we get bogged down, and our superiority as far as evolution is concerned, is questionable. We stay living in Samsara, taking birth after birth, and experiencing death after death. Until that is, we become disinterested in it all. We are not suicidal then! We are sane! (Nor depressed either – just sad about it all). There may be a sense of loss and difficulties with adjustment. That is why when we turn deeply to the spiritual, or even religious life, there is created a possible new set of problems. The ego might fight back and increase the cravings, and release a temporary insane splurge into addictive or obsessive behaviour. Depression may seem real. (It isn’t – its temporary).

Suffering has no end! But it also has no beginning. If you can get to the situation before the beginning, you disconnect suffering from life. All life. Life and the Universe.

How to do this? Start by finding out if you are the “doer”. Do you create your life and why? There is no real reason why you need to be in this human form on this planet. No reason!

If then the insistence to remain human continues, only reduction of suffering is possible. Mental health issues for instance can be alleviated if the right approach is made. (That is a huge problem area in itself because of the current overwhelming reliance on medications). So the end of suffering is a mirage mostly because the core reasons for its existence remain. Thus whatever gurus and religions and various new –age of self-help teachers says: this is actually a no-go area. It is no-man’s land because you are not allowed to walk over the border to the “other side” if you want to bring all your baggage. You have to be prepared to discard everything, abandon everything. And, who wants to do that! Ever the most advance spiritual practitioners will want to hold onto their achievements. That could be spiritual centres, writing, and students. Anything that is – “all that is near and dear to me”. And then, there are relationships to be placed in their proper place. What does that mean! Well, it is not about abandoning anyone, but it is about cutting ties, dependence, obsessions, and really this whole human connection business. But, it’s not about loss. It’s about gain and transformation, especially in regards to relationships. This is where everyone get stuck and thus stays in Samsara, and keeps coming back for multiple re-berths. Yes, heaven can last a while, but if you want to be human again you will find a way back. Some religions don’t even know what really goes on after death – they just make up stories about Heaven and Hell! Ignorance does not provide ultimate liberation from the cycle of life and death, just maybe some solace. So, yes “religion is the medication of the masses”. (Marx said it is the opium or the masses).

Next accept each moment as the only one, the last one, the full experience of all there is or can be. This seems extremely painful. That’s because the pain of life is being magnified and concentrated into this one moment. This is when it all can be transcended, but you need to know what you are doing, and be your own guru mostly, for the moment to moment awareness. Then you are the Transcendental Guru, because, you are willing to accept that the massed negativity of the moment is only the ego, just Maya. Samsara is what you are in, and to transcend it you can’t go anywhere. You can’t get from non-realised to Realized with this Transcendence, because it’s not a journey. It’s more of an experiential activity. Be your own Being, and become therefore in tune with Cosmic Consciousness – not separate. Therefore whole and complete. You are then done here! (But don’t then need to do anything about it, and start changing everything).

Best not to do anything about confusion and doubts, especially any “rage against the machine”. “Why won’t god/higher power/my personal god form fix it”? Because you are responsible and there is no god/higher power/personal god who will save you. You can fantasize that this, (being fixed), is the case and “this is what happened personally to me”. It won’t last! Ultimately Jesus, Buddha or Krishna etc. won’t fix it, because it’s your job to learn from life and sort it out – all on your own. That is what empowerment is all about. Divine Grace will just give you the ability to get there – not provide the fixing it stuff we all desire so much. When you calm down from your childish tantrums about life you will be ready for the Big Step.

Now we have a situation regarding Life and the Universe, where nearly all humans are entrenched in their identity with race, culture, religion etc. Nothing to comment much on here, except that so far history has been about wars and destruction a lot of the time. So much for culture and religions! Never mind, it is a learning environment that we suffer in this Samsara. Until, that is, we move up a few levels. Move into spiritual practice as well as advanced human practice. Then we think about doing stuff for our Higher Purpose, (or Higher Power). Then, maybe, we advance enough to make service to others our priority. Eventually for the Bodhisattva, the Jesus, and the Krishna, it’s only about being the Avatar of Divineness on earth, for the sake of humanity. We are then beyond all levels, as this is where we see and feel and realize our essential nature in relation the Cosmos and all its life. First thing first though, and that is about how to move past this human ego based life of selfishness, and how to have some sense of spiritual sanity? We already know that we are responsible for our actions – no gods to the rescue! This is then our moment to moment business, otherwise we stay where we are.

The mind doesn’t want to be trained or curtailed, so it doesn’t seem doable, unless you can sit in a cave with no distractions for months on end. The mind can settle down like sediment falling to the bottom of a still lake. In this busy world – forget about it! So, yoga needs to be more structural, with practices that allow one to separate out from the mind and the world, whilst in the midst of it. I use mantras. That’s it for me. That’s all I do, per breath, per moment. No matter what I do, right or wrong, or what happened, or what’s going on now. I take refuge in the mantras that I use, (and there are a selection, just as one wears different clothes for different occasions). It’s a refuge and a stable mountain of attention. Ultimately the mantra is transcendent through its own sound connection to the Cosmic Sound.

Truth is the “l” of you as the Divine Soul. It is your birth right. You may need to connect with it, (it seems), even though it is just there. You have to sit on your mountain, (of solid spiritual practice), and chant through the time of the dark clouds and the storms.

We separate ourselves from Light, we live in darkness. Change perspective and focus

Seek Divine Grace. The Light will shine through, and with it the Divine Sound will manifest.

Our consciousness identifies with matter as ego, and the illusion that is Maya, gets created, but also can be destroyed eventually. Nothing really disappears, because nothing really appears – illusory stuff all of it. We can agree or disagree with much of science, as per choice, but the Big Bang is after all a “large sound’. It’s just mind perspectives still, and not so relevant in the state of Enlightenment, and confused views of science are not the position of the Transcendental One. However, we are in fear, and rush around, because we cannot find ourselves experiencing being the Transcendent One, and truly seeing the un-reality of the Maya created forms in life. We do not connect with the underlying sound then. The mantra makes this connection, (somewhat artificially it is true), and tales us to the point of Enlightenment. Then Maya is seen as just the Goddess going about her business!

Attachments

Unfortunately attachments will remain in the soul memory and affect future passage onwards, even after death. This will be especially so if predominant negative thoughts remain to the time of death. Some type of obsession, addiction or just plain old lust may have a regressive effect regarding next realm entry. Fortunately the power of mantra and faith will cut through the bonds eventually, even if it seems there is some delay as these things take time. Be patient with the short trial which occurs also while practicing devotional yoga, and mantra repetition, and allow the onward journey to pick up successful in its own time. (Gods will – not my will). Surrender to the Divine Grace and allow to be cleared away what you can’t control or overcome.

The last dominant thought is very important, and if we are dependent on our spiritual practice, then we will remember what we need to at death. Even if you think you are such a sinner or bad person, invoke your mantra at the point of death. The emissaries of darkness will be held back. There seems to be some confusion or very different ideas about the time of death as per various religions, and within the “holy books”. Take only what you need for sanity! What makes sense, and seems productive. The writings of those who are Realized are more important, as they have had the experience and can better advise accordingly