Schedule of Events - Click to Download
Schedule of Events - Click to Download
Thursday, November 6, 2008
1st Anniversary Celebration at the Vedic Temple
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Karma Yoga ...and the Bliss of Being a Nobody
At Guru Mantra Initiates class, we started with discussion of karma yoga.The following is based on my notes of Bhaktapriya's words and his discourse. We began with reading a passage randomly chosen from the book "The Only Way Out is In":
"I always tell people: if you are continuously around, if you receive attention from me, you will be with me. But if you are in some corner of the ashram, cleaning some bathroom, I will be you. So now I tell you, 'I am with you.' What more do you want? And I tell you: your path is service. And you will see in your service, I will be with you. You may not be with you, but I will be with you. You will be able to feel my presence very clearly in each and everything you do, every moment. In fact, you will be able to feel my presence in my absence and my absence in my presence. "
Bhaktapriya discussed "karma yoga" - practice of spiritual sadhana. It is the space of being/doing without expectations. Create virtuous work done with joy and intensity. Duty that is done without expectation, that actions becomes karma yoga. Coming to the Temple and involving self will give more and more energy. Volunteering is an opportunity to create virtuous work, done with intensity and joy. Coming to the Temple and volunteering, give a "full battery charge."
Nature does all actions without a reason and through intention of karma yoga, we can work in the same way. Yoga sutra: intentions with which you move. Move body with intention for bliss, don't have a reason! Live with intention. Eat with intention. Watch thoughts and see how it is creating reality.
Bliss is that which is beyond all words. Enjoy every moment and just relax. Depression is not depression it is just bliss! Shastras, "the clicks", help us to work from whatever level we are at. Move body with intention and without expectation. Inhale bliss, exhale bliss. Pujas and chantings map to the other world. Fear and greed drop when experience bliss. Expectations create hurdles.
Right intention doesn't have expectation - find bliss in action through right intention. Body's intelligence will move toward what is bliss. Spirit, our true nature, is inner peace. Only with meditation, will have clarity. Every moment is transformation - Swamiji has given us this space to use for transformation. Living with more and more uncertainty, this is seed of transformation.
Seva is concept of moving without expectation, not here to help anyone but self. Ego is one of the shades of maya. Ego and identity is an illusion. Death teaches us that we are a nobody. Death is a process, the world runs without us. Practice at night before going to sleep being a nobody and doing nothing. Relax...let us become a nobody. By being a nobody, we actually move beyond our own limitations of who we are.
Use identity like a credit card, and swipe only when it is needed. Drop the word, at least with the self. and free yourself from the burden of "I am" we carry around.
The week following this discourse, I practiced this meditation. And found immense freedom within this practice of being nobody. A nobody, I have no past or future, I simply am. It was a beautiful state and a beautiful practice for the week. What surprised me the most was how much I had wrapped up in my identity about myself. By dropping this, was left with only a deep sense of peace and bliss.
This practice gave me a new understanding of Swami's discourses on the identity we show to ourselves (always less than who we are) and the identity we show to others (always more than who we are) and both of these identities are pure lies. By being a nobody, we can simply be.
These two identities are discussed in
an excerpt from the "Unclutched" discourse given by Swamiji at Agape Church in May, 2006.
There are many beautiful opportunities to spend time at the Temple, doing seva and working with intention and intensity - especially with the Anniversary celebrations coming this weekend, so please consider if you have time to offer.
"I always tell people: if you are continuously around, if you receive attention from me, you will be with me. But if you are in some corner of the ashram, cleaning some bathroom, I will be you. So now I tell you, 'I am with you.' What more do you want? And I tell you: your path is service. And you will see in your service, I will be with you. You may not be with you, but I will be with you. You will be able to feel my presence very clearly in each and everything you do, every moment. In fact, you will be able to feel my presence in my absence and my absence in my presence. "
Bhaktapriya discussed "karma yoga" - practice of spiritual sadhana. It is the space of being/doing without expectations. Create virtuous work done with joy and intensity. Duty that is done without expectation, that actions becomes karma yoga. Coming to the Temple and involving self will give more and more energy. Volunteering is an opportunity to create virtuous work, done with intensity and joy. Coming to the Temple and volunteering, give a "full battery charge."
Nature does all actions without a reason and through intention of karma yoga, we can work in the same way. Yoga sutra: intentions with which you move. Move body with intention for bliss, don't have a reason! Live with intention. Eat with intention. Watch thoughts and see how it is creating reality.
Bliss is that which is beyond all words. Enjoy every moment and just relax. Depression is not depression it is just bliss! Shastras, "the clicks", help us to work from whatever level we are at. Move body with intention and without expectation. Inhale bliss, exhale bliss. Pujas and chantings map to the other world. Fear and greed drop when experience bliss. Expectations create hurdles.
Right intention doesn't have expectation - find bliss in action through right intention. Body's intelligence will move toward what is bliss. Spirit, our true nature, is inner peace. Only with meditation, will have clarity. Every moment is transformation - Swamiji has given us this space to use for transformation. Living with more and more uncertainty, this is seed of transformation.
Seva is concept of moving without expectation, not here to help anyone but self. Ego is one of the shades of maya. Ego and identity is an illusion. Death teaches us that we are a nobody. Death is a process, the world runs without us. Practice at night before going to sleep being a nobody and doing nothing. Relax...let us become a nobody. By being a nobody, we actually move beyond our own limitations of who we are.
Use identity like a credit card, and swipe only when it is needed. Drop the word, at least with the self. and free yourself from the burden of "I am" we carry around.
The week following this discourse, I practiced this meditation. And found immense freedom within this practice of being nobody. A nobody, I have no past or future, I simply am. It was a beautiful state and a beautiful practice for the week. What surprised me the most was how much I had wrapped up in my identity about myself. By dropping this, was left with only a deep sense of peace and bliss.
This practice gave me a new understanding of Swami's discourses on the identity we show to ourselves (always less than who we are) and the identity we show to others (always more than who we are) and both of these identities are pure lies. By being a nobody, we can simply be.
These two identities are discussed in
an excerpt from the "Unclutched" discourse given by Swamiji at Agape Church in May, 2006.
There are many beautiful opportunities to spend time at the Temple, doing seva and working with intention and intensity - especially with the Anniversary celebrations coming this weekend, so please consider if you have time to offer.
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