Introduction to blog 17 – 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. Now here the focus is on The Challenge (of Enlightenment). Some of this material is adapted from the Om Divine Grace Journey – blogs from which you can  read on this site in .

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

What’s our Purpose?

Who am I? What am I? What is my purpose?

What goes on outside, but taken in through our eyes, thoughts, and are senses?

Thought sees “happenings” as something to hold on to and maintain.

More often we see what we want, but we don’t get it.

Why do we do what we do?

Why should it work?

However if that’s what works what’s wrong with that? Then all is well also!

It seems that life has a lot of things that we want, or positions we want to attain.

By this time we should not be saying there is anything to fix nor anything to make different!

Perhaps having a purpose is not all it’s made out to be.

Certainly sometimes it seems there is no purpose at all, to anything.

But other times the sun is shining and all is well.

Another time a person may have a deep faith

Fundamentalist faith can be akin to burying one’s head in the sand.

The other prospect is that we get or use what we like and want, and then become addicted to substances or behaviors, which then of course lose their power to pleasure. So perhaps it will be better for all of us, if we just stay out of off the roads! Living out caves and just pass the time. That way we stay out of trouble!

Presumably there is some underlying understanding that answers must come from within us, in order for us to hold the expectation that some form of salvation occurs this way. Indeed all the teachers in the spiritual sphere will undoubtedly mention as some component of their teaching that the Divine is within.

My gurus say that the guru is also actually within. So some say when you find the Buddha tell him to go away, as you don’t then need the guru in human form. In other words you’re done, finished you’ve got it, and you’ve got what it needs.

Except this is just the beginning!

Step back & look at the real human needs before jumping into space! (Divine space that is).

In the spiritual world or in the mental health world, there are other things we can do: activities to partake in. At one level there are talking therapies. We can try to heal through counseling or psychoanalytical methods, or with practical efforts, such as using sensory modulation techniques to alleviate anxiety. Physical relaxation methods: practice controlling the breath, listening to soothing music, or practicing some mindfulness type exercise.

If we go further still, then there are other things we may do. It seems necessary in life to bring in mechanical means to alleviate suffering. An illustration of this is taking medication for physical or mental health problems. We “forcefully” try to resolve the issue. This quite often is reasonably successful, otherwise people would not bother going to doctors or psychiatrists.

We also go into the realm of prayer, using liturgical hymns, or using mantras. Or, on a more physical level, some devotional worship, as for instance performed in temples. We are almost trying to force God to come to the party.

We want to make it happen. Some of it we can touch, talk to, or directly experience through senses, but of course it eventually disappears or vanishes, or changes. Then you need to expose yourself to the Divine Grace through your spiritual practice again and again, until there is no more “again”.

And then what life is, still goes on. There is still the mortgage, to pay the pets to feed. Then what is just left is the suffering of the moment, the being in the body here now, which is not really a comfortable place by any measure. The tummy rumbles, the nose itches, it’s too hot or too cold, and we are always subject to hunger and thirst, with a need for sleep in a place of safety. Life is pretty dangerous, and it can be extremely dangerous. A matter of just survival for so many billions of people.

So this daily moment to moment practice is what gives us the moment to moment relief, (from our suffering), and this is where we can thrive instead of survive. By this time we will have formed a connection with our Deity, with our spiritual pathway, and understand the place of our particular religious beliefs in the whole picture.

Enlightenment via a Mantra

Tap into the Divine power within and without. Use and repeat Holy Names. Select the Mantra of choice, or better still get a mantra from a knowledgeable Guru.

Repeat as much as possible.

From India we have for example the mantras:

Hari Om

Soham

Hare Krishna

Rama, Rama.

Om Namah Shivaya

And many, many more.

Also “seed” mantras associated with the chakras- described earlier also.

Mentally repeat the mantra. (Called japa)

Mantra’s power will then do the work for you as desired. (I.e. can be used for wealth or spiritual growth. You choose).

Mantra is vibrational healing, of the soul through to mind, body, and to your environment.

In addition, mantras create a shield of “armour” around you to protect from curses, violence and accidents.

Higher vibration emanating from mantra repetition rises above darkness, or even evil forces.

It is a remedy for depression because you bypass it. It is left behind in the darkness. In the Higher Rooms there is only light.

You are not your body and mind. You are the Witness. Your natural state is Sat, Chit, Ananda. Existence, Knowledge, Bliss.

Light is always you as the Divine soul. It is your birth right. You may need to connect with It, even though it is just there.

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

Seek Divine Grace.

The Divine is perfect and complete, and emanations from the Divine, such as this world of Life and the Universe, are complete in purpose. Be it your belief in the Goddess as the “creatrix”, or God as Him, or as the Big Bang. Whatever is produced in this Cosmic Consciousness is interconnected with sound.

Even though many components emanate, a wide variety of sounds are associated. A sound for each aspect. (Including chakras). Thus, there are many mantras and each of the major ones has an extensive history of practice, and is seated within a body of ancient knowledge.

Our consciousness identifies with matter, the illusion that is Maya. Matter is created and destroyed at some point of time, but nothing really disappears. Hence, we can agree with much of science here. (The Big Bang is after all a “large sound’). However, we are in fear, and rush around, because we cannot understand the essential essence of both the Transcendent Self and the Maya created forms in life. We do not connect with the underlying sound. The mantra makes this connection, and gives us understanding to the point of Enlightenment. After all Maya is just the Goddess going about her business!

We do not ask the real questions. Not what is your name, but what sounds are you composed of?

Our consciousness is ignored. However, we try to control nature. Unless you know yourself as Divine (in sound), all else is just fleeting experience. A trip!

Do not fear, just focus on:

Who am I?

What is reality?

What is experience?

How do I serve?

Find your mantra/s. They will attune you to the collective and the individual consciousness. Sat Chit Ananda.

Mantra is a combination of special sounds and vibrations that purify space, body, mind and consciousness from negative energies. Mantra is an ancient sacred formula that gives a powerful Divine Energy, and is the key that opens the way to the Divine Knowledge.

Repeat the mantras as much as possible any number of times.

There is a method regarding repetition. Use a rosary or mala.

108 times, is considered sacred, as it is the number of Rishis, (or seers), in the sky, as certain star formations.

Chant, sing, write, or meditate silently.

The mala is charged with Divine Energy and thus is an excellent talisman or amulet. Treat it with due respect!

Get a Guru

The spiritual journey is open to anyone at any time. There are no rules which say you must have a guide, a teacher or a guru. Rather there is an understanding that all focused and energetic efforts on the spiritual journey will bring good rewards. In fact it is logical that if you have gleaned good solid information you will get better results, rather than if you accept willy-nilly someone professing guidance, which may lead you into a mess.

Indeed getting “enmeshed” with a guru for the spiritual journey may even be dangerous. So you need to be prepared for the acceptance of, and then proper use of a teacher, who is “bona fide”.  Real gurus are not to be trifled with; they are for those who are willing to accept some painful truths. Also casual acceptance of any teacher may be a gateway for further neurotic anguish rather than peace and bliss. The word guru means “one who leads from darkness to light”. A guru must be already in the light to be able to reach out and help others to attain the same illumination. A guru can only affect others to the degree of that guru’s own achievement.

By taking on a living teacher one is opening up to immediate evaluation, to being given marks, as in exams, and to being critically examined. The teacher is not working to allow comfort in the student. The student is not working to remain static in knowledge.

What benefits then are to be gained by the following of an enlightened being? That teacher, that guru, may not even be alive in a physical sense. As long as the teaching remains with some system or path to be followed, then the aspirant on the spiritual journey can benefit in proportion to the efforts made. The difference with the living human guru is that, a dead teacher is not going to come along with a cane to administer a rap on the knuckles. (Which they do in some Zen sects)! What the living guru may require of you personally may be “too much”. This may be the very reason why the living guru is necessary. If you want the spiritual journey to proceed apace, you can’t stay in your comfort zone!

When the guru is found by a careful, even choosy search, and when the guru is approached in the appropriate manner, then the guru becomes the means for rapid progress on the spiritual journey. It is quite possible to progress spiritually by one’s own efforts, and there is nothing inappropriate about this. Using the benefits of an enlightened guide however is like taking the express train rather than the slow goods train that gets “bumped off” into numerous sidings

The Challenge to be Enlightened

To be Transcendental to all experience is another matter. This is about going beyond the light and the dark.

Say, you’re in darkness. It doesn’t matter in this end -process.

Until then all you have to do is, strive towards the light, doing the service to others – not hurting others at all.

When you are entitled to participate in the Transcendental event, you move past it all, and you’re seeing the unreality, the stupidity and the grossness of human experience. (I am tempted to say all of it, but that may not be very kind!).

If you need to deal with that stuff about being a human, and a sinner or fallen, or whatever – fair enough. However you don’t actually need to, as you are entitled to be a Realized and Enlightened being. But it will take a bit of work to get there! (Unless you are already there). Do not listen to what religions and cultural gurus tell you, if they are putting you down, as they want you to stay down on the bottom of the trench.There are reasons for that, and it’s all about control.

It’s about being a Divine being in a Divine world, which at the same time seems to be a very dysfunctional and disturbed world. This may seem like mission impossible, as it about being an avatar oneself, in the spiritual sense. It also means that possibly you’ll be still driving your car, going to work, going to the restaurant, or going to the mall. Think of it as theoretical, if you have to. Just an idea, a bit different from the general view that we are down here and God is up there. This is a view that man has created a God, or is it the other way round? Become separate. No beliefs that. However one’s culture may dictate a freedom of religious pathways, and it is not allowable to have divergent views.

We are not going back, only forwards. This is the idea anyway, for all time. It’s just very few people accept the inevitability of the future, which will be as designed, or random. Doesn’t matter, as the problem is not so much unwillingness to change, but non-acceptance, including of the now moment. We always want something else, something more, better, or less painful, distressful, or boring. So we leave and come back to the choice of true spiritual growth up to Self –Realisation.

Now, where is the shortcut?

The Truth is, we are in our full Realized status, when we choose to be so. (To start). Is this a hard choice to make? It appears to be a somewhat difficult and an unusual choice. Most human just go about their business, and for many this is mainly about survival.

It may seem to some that we’re in an adversarial relationship with God. A view perhaps that God wanted to create his planets and these situations where we’re all doomed to a struggle. Then in another almost opposite view, we may accept that there are yogis who can reach out to any other dimension as a perfected Enlightened being.

So, here we are as human beings, feeling stressed in the midst of all of life, and subject to all sort of uncontrollable events, having limited power  most of the time – it seems. However we are Divine Beings, in the Divine Source, when we look much deeper. Further than the or our religions “allow us”.

It’s all about the facility of living in Divinity, and accessing the perfect well-being that is available to anyone that so chooses. We have been subject to a lot human philosophy that make no sense currently in our new “internet” worlds. Not nonsense, but not working anymore. We are looking here at our level of power that is Enlightenment and Realization, within and without, whatever our circumstance. Then we also do not accept any real division within humanity. We are all equal in this perspective, and this enables us to become more able to work together for the benefit of the whole planet, and hopefully the whole universe.

Is there really a battle between God and humans? We certainly have to fight this some of the illogicality. Even if we want to fully believe in a male God, and His creation, it’s still this unfinished and illogical perspective prevailing. What is the result of this destruction? (Let’s face it – it’s not just Creation!). Fight, kill, loot – all the bad stuff, is still going on out there. We are still ready to fight the enemies and win, “with God on our side”. This business needs changing, so we can be at peace together, and create something that is functional for all humanity. At all times throughout the world, and throughout the universe. So, are you ready to challenge current views about the laws of the universe and evolution, God’s creation, and anything else that no longer makes much as much sense as it did? Give up stuff: which just stuffs you up!

If you are ready, then we are the true revolutionaries as far as Life and the Universe goes. There has been a limit to any revolution to date. Nor being one that decides we will make the ultimate changes required for a decent planet. That we may have a perfect experience in life that’s worth living.

We need to be aware of our option to be Divine Beings living in a Divine Universe. This may be all it is about, and the rest is “whatever”. Are you ready to take this step? Are you ready to be on this journey to the stage of Enlightenment within the human realm?  What you do today and now matters. Just being in your Awareness, with each breath, and being ready to transfer out of the mundane into a spiritual awareness. A place where “god” has limited purpose perhaps. Even “creation” is bypassed. We can design our future here, and we need to start doing this now. Or you can choose – maybe next Monday.

Life and the Universe is Maya, but there are other ways of seeing this, by entering the state of Enlightenment or Realization. Specifically when in Practical Enlightenment or Realistic Realization it all makes sense, and Maya is no longer just some obstacle on the spiritual pathway.