By Michael Ketterhagen
The spiritual journey is by its very nature a physical and mental journey. Body and mind are governed ultimately by the Spirit, yet the Spirit must contend with all the physical and mental “afflictions,” called “kleshas,” that have become so much a part of our human existence. These kleshas are: ignorance (avidya), identification with one’s small self (asmita), attractions (raga), aversions (dvesha), and fear of death (abhinivesha).
After we as children and teens wander through all our animal urges/needs; namely, the need for food, sleep, sex, and self-preservation, and learn to control those needs/urges, we must learn that we are spiritual beings whose purpose is to use our talents and skills for the welfare of others. We must learn that we are not just a certain gender, nationality, or culture because those are trivial identities. Our true identity is our divine consciousness, our core Self that yoga calls Atman. This means learning to discern how our gifts and talents not only fulfill our dreams but also how they fulfill the well-being of the community in which we live. This is the first stage of our sojourn on earth—the movement from animal to human.
As we become more fully human, filled with compassion and service to all of humanity, we begin the second stage—our movement to divinity, like Jesus of Nazareth and many saints, sages and yogi(ni)s. We begin to think and act like God—friendly, compassionate, happy, and non-judgmental (Yoga Sutra 1:33). For most of us this movement toward divinity doesn’t happen until late adulthood. It takes time and, as Swami Rama says, it takes “practicing disciple and at the same time hav[ing] the comprehensive knowledge of the … goal,” which is union with our Creator. When he talks about discipline, he means training and self-discipline that is sustained will power to live from our heart center. This is the location of Jesus and his Mother Mary (in Christianity) and the Lotus of the Heart (in Buddhism and Yoga).
To live spontaneously out of our heart chakra we must discipline the lower three chakras which long for security, pleasure and power (Thomas Keating). These are the centers of our small ego. They focus on our personal physical and mental desires of safety, pleasure, and control over our lives. Those desires often do not
listen to our true spiritual core, Atman.
However, when we are surrounded by the power of our heart center (anahata chakra), we are firmly grounded in our divine nature. We are like another Christ or Buddha. Our destiny is completed. We are in the divine presence of God with all the saints and sages of the Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Taoist, Buddhist, Hindu, and Yoga Traditions. We have reached our final goal—union with God.
The challenge for our lives, of course, is realization that this grounding in our heart center does not just happen. It takes our ardent effort to practice a spiritual discipline like meditation and all the preliminary practices of the yoga tradition that move us to the stillness of our bodily and mental urges and impulses. This means performing daily practices that train/discipline the lower three chakras and move our consciousness beyond our heart center to the ajna chakra, center of pure intelligence and the awareness of ourselves as divine, infinite and perfect. This light within us is our Divine Being.
It means daily meditation and absorption in the Presence of our divinity, our ajna chakra.
I bow to the divinity within you!
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