The first principle in living a spiritual life is to be full of Love. Love is not a desire to become God, escape from the suffering, or even escape from rebirths of thoughts. It is simply Love in the non-dual sense. It is the will to be one with Shakti, not because She is the all powerful divine mother, but because She IS Love. In complete Love, a separate entity of I does not exist apart from Shakti.
To translate this in daily life involves two things, not to wilfully hurt someone, and secondly, seek out an opportunity to help someone. The former arises mainly due to thoughtlessness; a cruel word is said and later regretted. The thoughts repeat themselves in a neverending cycle. Any opportunity to help someone is to be taken as a divine gift bestowed upon us to carry out. Help should be not provided so that one can appreciated, or because of the love to the world, but because helping others should be our very nature since in essence, there is no one else other than the Self.
The second principle is discrimination. While usually associated with the discrimination between the real and the unreal, it is something more. Between good or evil, the choice is obvious. But between the will of the Self and the will of the mind/body, the choice becomes more difficult. At every step of the life (i.e every minute), we should ask ourselves whether the Divine would will it such a way. Often we are unable to hear the inner voice, not because it is non-existent, but because the clutter and noise of the mind (thoughts) is so much that it blocks the voice of reason and strength.
For example, when the mind wants to help others, the body complains it is too tired. When the body is well rested, the mind dwells on desires making you feel jealous, envious, greedy etc. Mind and body both should be fed and rested, not just because they are real but because they are the vehicle of your reality. Of course, moderation is essential. Socrates once said, 'I visit the market to see how many things I don't have nor need.'
The third principle is tolerance and desirelessness.
Possessions
Happiness = ------------
Desires
If you don't have much desires, even if your possessions are meagre, there is infinite happiness. Besides having desirelessness of comforts, un-needed possessions, there should also be a desirelessness for results. Often a help goes unappreciated, but that shouldn't bother us. Tolerance is the key. Everyone learns at his/her own pace. What seems right to you need not be right for anyone else. It is worse to impose on someone rather than help.
Desire, as such, is not wrong but only its smallness. The desire can be transformed to love, and to devotion of being real. The desire to be happy is inbuilt, but what is rarely understood is that happiness is within us.
As my friend says, 'Act as if everything matters, while Be as if nothing matters.' Often, we encounter material failures or successes and get carried away with it. My friend, who lost all possessions in a fire, put it succintly 'I did not lose anything, since I owned nothing. All I lost was something so unreal that a mere flash could take it away.' There is only a magical sentence to cure all depressions or elevations. 'This, too, shall pass.' Whatever happens, always remember, you are ever free and that only the body and the mind suffers or enjoys.
The final and the most important part of life is to be one-pointedness towards your chosen ideal and also practice self-enquiry. An one pointedness means that nothing ever will turn you away from the path. Failures, successes, temptations may all play a minor role, albeit momentarily, but the goal of the path is always remembered. The one pointedness cultivated by daily meditation also helps you in staying on the path. Treading on the ideals of the path will become your nature that turning away from it, would be like turning away from yourself. The more earnest you are at remembering who you really are, the sooner you will become aware of yourSelf.
Possibly, the most gratifying of all meditations is the self-enquiry. The question 'Who am I' is posed, or the thought 'I am' is maintained without any qualifying adjuncts. The thoughts are not fought, since the mind is a good fighter, but instead watched till they quietly calm down. It is akin to standing on the Lakshman joola (a bridge on the river ganges) and watching the water pass by. Water is passing by continuously, but gazing at a particular cross-section of the water one-pointedly without following any particular stream of water makes us feel it is still. Similarly, watching the thoughts standing aloof makes us realize that we are not the thoughts, but the witness of the thoughts. The final step is, of course, to step beyond the duality of the seen and the seer but that state can not be described by the mind but should be experienced. The closest I say is that it is like being aware while being unconscious.
To translate this in daily life involves two things, not to wilfully hurt someone, and secondly, seek out an opportunity to help someone. The former arises mainly due to thoughtlessness; a cruel word is said and later regretted. The thoughts repeat themselves in a neverending cycle. Any opportunity to help someone is to be taken as a divine gift bestowed upon us to carry out. Help should be not provided so that one can appreciated, or because of the love to the world, but because helping others should be our very nature since in essence, there is no one else other than the Self.
The second principle is discrimination. While usually associated with the discrimination between the real and the unreal, it is something more. Between good or evil, the choice is obvious. But between the will of the Self and the will of the mind/body, the choice becomes more difficult. At every step of the life (i.e every minute), we should ask ourselves whether the Divine would will it such a way. Often we are unable to hear the inner voice, not because it is non-existent, but because the clutter and noise of the mind (thoughts) is so much that it blocks the voice of reason and strength.
For example, when the mind wants to help others, the body complains it is too tired. When the body is well rested, the mind dwells on desires making you feel jealous, envious, greedy etc. Mind and body both should be fed and rested, not just because they are real but because they are the vehicle of your reality. Of course, moderation is essential. Socrates once said, 'I visit the market to see how many things I don't have nor need.'
The third principle is tolerance and desirelessness.
Possessions
Happiness = ------------
Desires
If you don't have much desires, even if your possessions are meagre, there is infinite happiness. Besides having desirelessness of comforts, un-needed possessions, there should also be a desirelessness for results. Often a help goes unappreciated, but that shouldn't bother us. Tolerance is the key. Everyone learns at his/her own pace. What seems right to you need not be right for anyone else. It is worse to impose on someone rather than help.
Desire, as such, is not wrong but only its smallness. The desire can be transformed to love, and to devotion of being real. The desire to be happy is inbuilt, but what is rarely understood is that happiness is within us.
As my friend says, 'Act as if everything matters, while Be as if nothing matters.' Often, we encounter material failures or successes and get carried away with it. My friend, who lost all possessions in a fire, put it succintly 'I did not lose anything, since I owned nothing. All I lost was something so unreal that a mere flash could take it away.' There is only a magical sentence to cure all depressions or elevations. 'This, too, shall pass.' Whatever happens, always remember, you are ever free and that only the body and the mind suffers or enjoys.
The final and the most important part of life is to be one-pointedness towards your chosen ideal and also practice self-enquiry. An one pointedness means that nothing ever will turn you away from the path. Failures, successes, temptations may all play a minor role, albeit momentarily, but the goal of the path is always remembered. The one pointedness cultivated by daily meditation also helps you in staying on the path. Treading on the ideals of the path will become your nature that turning away from it, would be like turning away from yourself. The more earnest you are at remembering who you really are, the sooner you will become aware of yourSelf.
Possibly, the most gratifying of all meditations is the self-enquiry. The question 'Who am I' is posed, or the thought 'I am' is maintained without any qualifying adjuncts. The thoughts are not fought, since the mind is a good fighter, but instead watched till they quietly calm down. It is akin to standing on the Lakshman joola (a bridge on the river ganges) and watching the water pass by. Water is passing by continuously, but gazing at a particular cross-section of the water one-pointedly without following any particular stream of water makes us feel it is still. Similarly, watching the thoughts standing aloof makes us realize that we are not the thoughts, but the witness of the thoughts. The final step is, of course, to step beyond the duality of the seen and the seer but that state can not be described by the mind but should be experienced. The closest I say is that it is like being aware while being unconscious.
