Today is the one-year anniversary of our Sri Somesvara Temple at Mount Soma. We will be at the temple throughout the day. Yesterday we had a beautiful Hanuman puja. Hanuman is devotion. I had intended to write about devotion… what it is… how it consumes ones life. I did speak about this at the temple. It was very moving for me to do so.
Somehow, I am having a hard time bringing myself to write about it. The feelings run too deep. It is too intimate. Some things are best whispered at only the just right moment.
It is beautiful here at Mount Soma. We are creating a field of harmony, which will radiate peace and coherence to the world. Liberation means freedom from conditioning. It means flowing with the stream of your own Divinity. It means flowing with the Cosmic Flow that permeates and feeds all of life. That means finding God within you. This is the deepest meaning of devotion. Total surrender to your true nature… to God. Emancipation. A life of devotion.
But how can this be conveyed? Devotion on that level is not an emotion… not an attitude… not something done to gain anything… not done to gain even enlightenment. It, in fact, only comes after enlightenment. It can be compared to nothing worldly.
Where do you see such devotion? It is rarely ever seen. When it is seen, it is not understood… not comprehended… not believed.
In this age of ignorance called Kali Yuga, life lived in “devotion” often seems to be devotion to making money. There, one may tirelessly effort without reservation. One may continually burn the midnight oil with pride and conviction, willingly depleting the life blood in pursuit of that… one pointedly focused and committed.
Imagine a life of such devotion, multiplied to infinity in purity and commitment, to the Divine flow that feeds and supports all the world… all that is. Who can even imagine that? Who can perceive that, even after they see it… who can believe it? Every breath, every moment… lived in full devotion. Not just an emotion or attitude, but a life lived fully.
Many aspire to enlightenment. Why? What do you reach for? What do you want? Is it about you as a human being? Or is it about you as a Divine Being? And what does that mean to you? Devotion is not an emotion. It lies much, much deeper. Though it permeates thoughts and emotions, it lies infinitely deeper. Devotion to God is union with God is enlightenment is Hanuman.
Beautiful beyond words…
Jai Guru Dev
Thank you for this blog that reaches far across the distance to me. It is not the same as my being in classes or at Mount Soma. It does none the less help me stay connected. I deeply appreciate your devotion.
Although I appreciate the blog, I feel as though people need to have a healthy relationship with the idea of devotion. As the master speaks it ceases to be what the master says and what the listener hears. I sense devotion can get almost into an astral sense when misunderstood.
Yes Chris, exactly correct. That is why I say it lies beyond emotion. Not an attitude or mood. In its highest form, it is a state of physiology… a level of consciousness.
My devotion along the path was to knowledge… to truth. I was not the least bit biased or vested in what I found… how it looked… or where I had to go to find it. My pursuit was for understanding… not over-standing. “I” was completely secondary to “Truth.” What I found left me in total awe. In that moment “I” ceased to exist, though it took time rest with it. That is to say it required a period of time for me to adjust. In fact, it is fair to say that there are not really levels of enlightenment… there are just levels of getting accustomed to it once it is gained.
When it first happened, I had to reconstruct everything I thought I knew. Everything changed. My “spiritual knowledge” was turned upside down and inside out. And that was after much study of spiritual books and the teachings of masters.
Thank you for your steadfast openness at revealing the crystalline structure of YOU. Your life and the process? It can happen in an instant and then take a lifetime to integrate. It is a great mirror for all of us.
Yes, Steven… and may I add that my path, which I described here, was and is one of Bhakti… i.e. love and devotion.