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Why seeking Enlightenment is for the fools?

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Why seeking Enlightenment is for the fools? 

Seeking enlightenment

Enlightenment, the great cosmic joke. Yes, you are already enlightened, and that is the absolute truth. So why seek enlightenment? And seeking enlightenment is for the fools, you know, it’s like a bird who is looking to fly and say, where is the air, where is the sky? Enlightenment is the same, beloved? Because you see, this is where the big confusion comes in… there is absolute truth. Absolute truth is omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient. And it’s eternal, and it’s immortal, its infinite like there are certain laws of the universe, like cause and effect and the law of attraction. So it is absolute truth, it is permanent; it will never change, it is omnipotent. So the absolute truth is, we all are in this very present moment, we are enlightened because we are true spirits; it’s our true nature to be enlightened.

Why do you may get confused on your Spiritual Journey ?   

Seeking enlightenment

I remember all throughout my spiritual journey, my awakening (spiritual journey) was always the big confusion that I was seeing all the time. I even see it with my followers. And it’s always that confusion between absolute truth and relative truth. So, let’s explain relative truth. Relative truth is in direct correlation with another in a relationship. It’s related to the physical plane. So relative truth is like; most human beings are not enlightened per se unless they have self-realized. Though, let me rephrase that…what Devi Ma means is that people accumulate conditioning and a lot of baggage, and most people do. It is universal, and so that’s the nature of human beings with ego and mind to constantly be conditioned, brainwashed, and accumulated. You see, it’s in relation to something else. So, this is the relative truth that human beings have been conditioned to, either from a dysfunctional family, social media, government, or authority. Whatever there is in the physical realm, we live in a duality where we constantly deal with relative truth. So the relative truth is, one of them is most people grow up in a dysfunctional family.  Therefore, they accumulate so much garbage, and the karmic structure is so loaded. And so that’s why ultimately, people live in suffering and misery, and some are in emotional pain because they haven’t gotten rid of all the garbage. Because that is the nature of the physical realm. There is duality, yet the absolute truth is that we all are interconnected by one web. It’s like a universal web, like a spider web, all interconnected by one source. There is no absolute separation between all of us. And to experience that deep down and that non-dualistic experience of oneness is rare for most people.

Even though if you look at the Maharishi, Ramana… I have a profound, beautiful reverence for this spiritual master who brought the path of self-inquiry. Self-inquiry directly channels to the Source is a very hard experience for most people because the nature of the physical realm is to live in relative truth. To live bombarded by all the karmic structure you’re carrying by your personality, Asmita, the ego identifications, by your mind; by all the samskara, the karmic impressions, the vasana,  the tendency, the conditioning, the accumulation, all of that is a big load that you’re carrying. So it’s very hard for most people to be able to transcend, feel and experience their true nature at the moment. Self-inquiry is a beautiful path, but it’s difficult for most people. Aren’t you caught in your mind all or, most of the time, the jabbering of your mind? Most people get caught in what we call the mental body.

Why transcending the Mental Body is so crucial?  

Seeking enlightenment

You must transcend the physical body, and  the mental body, what we call in the yogic tradition the Mano Maya Kosha, and then the Pranic Maya Kosha, the energy body. So when you start transcending these sheaths, you can really tap into beyond the Vijnana Maya Kosha, the etheric body to really transcend into the bliss body, the Ananda Maya Kosha. Self-inquiry which is to go and tap into the Source, to go straight to the Cosmic Mind is very challenging because you have to transcend all those envelopes, what we call in the yogic tradition, the maya kosha, these sheaths. Devi Ma says that it is not impossible. It is certainly possible! But for most people it’s very difficult. You might get a glimpse of it and that’s so beautiful, but it’s very hard to maintain it.

Enlightenment doesn’t happen like a big bang. If you look beloved, for example at a seed, you plant a seed of a peach tree, right? And you’ve seen the sprout growing, and then there is a little plant growing with the right conditions, the right elements because everything has cause and effect, the perfect conditions have to be there for the sprout to grow, and for the right amount of protection, and as it grows the conditions have to change. Too much sunlight, too much rain, or not enough rain, or too much protection from the elements could hamper the plant. Then the plant starts growing, growing and growing, and with the right conditions, the right effects, and the right amount of sunlight; too much sunlight could completely burn out the young new plant, or too much rain will completely destroy it. So with the right conditions, you can pierce through these envelopes, especially transcending the mental body and go beyond your limitations and boundaries.

Why a journey on the Spiritual Path?

Seeking enlightenment

As the baby plant grows, grows and grows, it’s like the spiritual unfoldment on your journey on the spiritual path. Then it unfolds, and it finds some obstacles, overcomes it and grows and grows, and then becomes a strong tree. See how long it takes. It’s a process, and then suddenly flowers come, and in a different season then you’ll start seeing little fruits starting to grow for it to finally bring that sweetness in the peach. I love peach, it’s such a delicious fruit, especially when they’re ripe. They’re so delicious! But it’s a long journey from seed to become a peach, and it’s the same for enlightenment, for this unfoldment. So, Devi Ma always says, in a way, yes enlightenment is the greatest joke, a cosmic joke, because ultimately within our own spirit, our own being, we all are enlightened. That’s our true nature. But when we come into the physical realm, we are facing relative truth; we are facing duality. Ah one important part….the duality we are experiencing in the physical world is how we are experiencing this world. How could you know from love to hatred, or good to bad? You see, beloved? So, if you look around, all around, we see duality all over in this realm. In fact, some countries like in India experiences extreme duality for instance. If you haven’t gone to India yet, I highly recommend that you go. It’s a phenomenal experience because you will see extreme duality there. And it’s necessary to change your perception.

The physical realm cannot be without the relative truth and without the duality of opposites, because that is what keeps the physical realm alive and manifesting. Without it, the physical realm would collapse. That is how phenomena come into existence in this plane. And yet, the absolute truth at the very core of who we are, our true essence of who we are, is there is nothing that needs to be done. Because the bird is out of the cage, can fly and is free. And it is our true nature to be free, infinite and abundant in a complete expansion of consciousness with no limitations, no duality, and no separation. Because ultimately this is the challenge human beings have here on Earth, is to come back to the present moment, and to experience their true nature. Because of the karmic structure that most people have, the bags they carry makes it almost impossible not on the path. It requires a lot of sadhana (spiritual yogic practices), a lot of Kriya yoga (pranayama), meditation and mindful practices, etc. These are powerful ways to transcend and experience to your true nature. And for other seekers who are a lot more evolved, and who don’t have so much of a karmic structure, it might be easier to transcend and experience your Divine presence. You see, Ramana Maharishi was already living, bathing in his own Divine presence, already fully enlightened, so without doing anything. 

It was very easy for Ramana Maharishi, but try to sit there forever, for weeks and months on and on, and just to be in your Divine presence, to close your eyes and do nothing, be nothing. Your ego and your mind are not going to allow it for most people. But the point of this, beloved, is don’t seek enlightenment because ultimately you know it’s there. All you need to do is just get rid of garbage. That’s all. It’s like peeling an onion. This expression has been used, I believe, as an example in Buddhist language. It’s like layer after layer. This has been my experience that enlightenment is not a big bang. It is really a dissolution of ego identifications, and it’s a process. It varies from person to person, again depending on the conditions and their karmic structure.

Do not Seek Enlightenment

Do not chase enlightenment. Not every peach tree will grow the same way. Where they’re planted, how they were planted, in which climate they are in, what kind of soil, and what kind of sunlight and nutrients the tree receives. So, it depends on your karmic structure. It will also depend on the kind of sadhana you do. It could also depend on the kind of spirit you are and many conditions around you. The best thing is, don’t worry about any of this, just be in a state of abandonment and a state of wonderment like a child. Don’t seek enlightenment because when you realize it’s a joke, it’s the great cosmic joke, you just go back within yourself and just enjoy the ride. Just know that your heart is the gateway to God, is the gateway to the Divine within yourself. When you enshrine Divine love there, and you know this is the gateway, if you seek something, don’t seek enlightenment because it can become the biggest obstacle for you just chasing enlightenment. It’s elusive for most people. Just seek within your heart, the shrine of Divine love, and you are sure on the right way to experience your Divine presence, and your true nature.

So, how do you know that someone is enlightened? How can you tell? That’s a question also often asked. Well, my own experience, from my own realization, and I speak with a tremendous, profound experience of phenomenal spiritual, transcendental, mystical Kundalini ascension, and this was an unfoldment for so many lifetimes. And how could you tell? Well, first, you will notice everything change about you, even your physiology changes. The eyes… there’s such a Divine light, pure light coming from the eyes, not a light that you see in most people.

It’s challenging to put this into words. A pure light emanates from this being as a Divine presence, an energetically field. The way they speak with so much wisdom. Just something unusual about their presence, this presence is something that needs to be experienced. It’s something, just the glowing of the aura is different and ethereal. It’s a state of vairagya, of colorless. It’s a state of pure Divine light, consciousness and love. It’s vibrational field that you feel, ultimately is the true nature. So don’t seek enlightenment. It’s for the fools and just enjoy the ride. Go make your heart the shrine for the Divine, and there you will find Divine love, and you will experience a beautiful journey on your path. And don’t worry if you don’t have this glimpse of your true nature and presence yet, it’s an unfolment and just trust the process. It can be the most phenomenal soul journey! 

Article written by Shree Devi Mayi Ma based on April,22, 2023 based on her own self-realization, life experiences, insights, revelations, timeless & practical wisdom.

©All internationalcopyrights2021Vivianne Nantel  (Shree Devi Mayi Ma at Devi’s Grace)

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In Search of Love | Devi’s Grace by Shree Devi Mayi Ma

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In Bhakti yoga, the most ordinary activity may become full of spiritual beauty, value, and significance if it is performed or expressed for the unfolding of selflessness and the expression of Divine love. The Source is manifested in every atom of this universe. So it does not matter at the end who is our sacred figure and/or religion, because the same thread connects us all. We are all interconnected as One like waves of the cosmic ocean. When we hurt someone, an animal or nature, we only are hurting ourselves. When we let someone down, we are letting ourselves down. Inner beauty is realizing and experiencing the oneness of existence. That is to be in yoga. Love and compassion are the pulsating heart of all spiritual paths and religions. When an individual feels Divine love within, the rest blossoms like a wild garden; compassion, understanding, reverence, harmony and respect all occur naturally within.

Thus, Bhakti yoga is universal and can be practiced by anyone from any religious, socio-cultural or economic background. The only criterion is to have longing for the Divine. This emotional force called “Rati” transforms the lover, shedding all psychological and emotional limitations, blocks and fears. One may wonder, is this path of love merely one of sentimentalism and emotional outburst? Bhakti yoga recognizes the amazing power of human emotions, and encourages devotees to wisely channel their energy to the highest Divine goal, the ultimate objective of existence.

          

 

Devotion liberates the imprisoned heart from its own fabricated jail, to feel again by letting go of life conditioning, depression, socialization and the false illusion of the ego. Devotion elevates and expands our consciousness to the Source by allowing our genuine nature to pierce through. Only then the intensity of the longing (Rhada) of our being can be felt— the cry heard. “Your life becomes utterly beautiful because your emotion has become so sweet. Through that sweetness, one grows. That is devotion,” says Sadhguru.

When one becomes passionate for the Divine, one opens up their heart to this entire creation, breaking down all man-made barriers. All religious, political, ethic and socio-economic walls dissolved. Divine love then flows abundantly. Bhakti Yoga is the alchemist healer for the brokenhearted, the lost soul, the wounded one who is afraid to love again for fear of rejection, commitment, vulnerability, pain and suffering. Decades ago my heart was shattered to pieces. I never thought I could ever love again. But my devotion to the Divine healed me. I have experienced the healing power of Bhakti Yoga. “If you use your emotions and try to reach the ultimate, we call this Bhakti yoga, the path of devotion,” says Sadhguru.

The element of surrendering is the core of Bhakti yoga, without it there

cannot be any devotion and pure love. “Thy will be done.” Most Westerns do not understand the meaning of this Eastern thought on “surrendering.” Many individuals view it as a demeaning or a submissive position. Surrendering is empowering spiritually. Surrendering is letting go of the strong demands of the ego personality, and getting rid of the noisy chaos of the mind which are responsible for our anxieties, fears, limitations, stress, worries, confusion and suffering. “Surrender” allows the eternal beauty of our true nature to shine thru. How can we deny ourselves the highest? Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (Gurudev) says on surrendering, “Have faith in the organizing power of the supreme intelligence and have the sincere feeling, ‘let thy will be done.’ That is a state of total contentment. The pinnacle of love is also called ‘surrender’- where your whole being becomes one with the infinite, where the river meets the ocean, where the activity reposes in rest, in the self.”

Offering flowers, incense, candles, and fruits to the Divine is not enough; it is like compassion without action. Offering every breath, every thought, every action with a heartfelt passion to the Divine is the devotion of the genuine bhakta; worship God in every particle of this universe. “What dawns in you is freedom and joy. Divine love is itself an end, is itself the fruit,” says Gurudev. Once Anandamayi-Ma said, “If one loses one’s being in the contemplation of the Divine name, one can merge oneself in the ocean of Heavenly Beauty.” Her entire life also exemplified this sublime path of love, so is my  my work—my breath.

 

 

In the state of surrendering, of abandoning oneself, we have already won the victory because a fragrance of equanimity will exude from us like a blossoming garden. Surrendering begets expansion of consciousness. Divine love brings us back home, healing us from the illusion of separation from the Source. The more we know and experience our ultimate nature, the more we become an instrument and expression of beauty, love, and compassion. Compassion is always the highest expression of love. Genuine love is just there like the sun radiating all over the planet, and all living beings. Its rays emanate without discrimination, without asking for anything in return. Divine Love is our very nature. It needs to be experienced, expressed. We have wings to soar. When Divine love is present, it can never go away. It is eternal and boundless.

Forever in search of eternal Divine love, I woke up one morning ….an epiphany had blossomed in my being like a baby lotus bathing in a tranquil pond. As a yogini, mystic, spiritual guide, vocalist, composer, artist and author, I realized my work is a spiritual ritual and devotion offered to the Divine Mother. I only sing, chant, write, compose music and paint for the Divine and help others and the animals to lose myself in it—as an instrument glorifying its wonder. Like the blue moon scintillating on a crystal lake, my work reflects our deepest longing to merge. Shakti, the primordial Divine energy permeates all that my being is.

Only from the garden of Divine love can compassion, kindness, and selfless service spring forth. When Divine love grows in one’s heart, all human values flourish. Serving humanity becomes natural. Jesus Christ’s greatest teaching was the simplest — the path of love. And love starts from within, radiating, growing like a wild flower garden. Love is expressed in compassion in actions, respect, understanding, cooperation, caring, forgiving and kind actions. Love is the very core essence of all religious and spiritual traditions.

Being in a state of Bhakti yoga does not limit us to only one branch of our living tree. When Divine love flows, devotion, right actions, and right knowledge naturally take off like a young dove on its first flight. The longing for meditation and asana (postures) grow strong. We start serving humanity as our beloved one, discovering and realizing the light within us. Swami Vivekananda shared with us long ago, “The great advantage of Bhakti is that it is the easiest and most natural way to reach the great Divine end in view.”

“The satisfaction of love is not the feeling itself, but in the joy that feeling brings. Love gives joy. We love ‘love’ because it gives us such intoxicating happiness. So love is not the ultimate; the ultimate is bliss. God is Sat-Chit-Ananda, ever-existing, ever-conscious, ever-new bliss. We, as soul, are individualized Sat-Chit-Ananda. True love is Divine, and Divine love is joy,” explained Paramahansa Yoganada.

“Devotion is a way of transforming your emotion from negativity to pleasantness. Just see, people who have fall in love do not care about what is happening in the world. The way they are, you think they are unrealistic. It is just that they have made their emotions pleasant, so their life is beautiful. That is the state of a devotee.” says Sadhguru.

Devi Ma with Sadhguru in 2018 when she offered him her riveting and acclaimed book, Becoming the Light: Realize Your True Enlightened Nature.

Thus bhakti yoga brings us back home, healing us from the illusion of separation from the Source. Experiencing Divine love is finding and experiencing our Creator, and is accessible to everyone. Then our ephemeral journey on earth becomes more beautiful,  more meaningful as the entire universe belongs to us and we belong to the each other. An blossomed heart is the path to the ultimate truth– transforming us to an expanded consciousness. We may not have control over wars, natural disasters and the economy, but we have the will to open up our heart to seek this ultimate transcendental and transformational love, finding our ultimate genuine nature and allowing the light to permeate our actions. It is our foremost responsibility. When we become aware of the intensity of our longing for the Source and invoke the Divine within, our cry is heard. Expressing devotional love helped my being liberate my imprisoned heart.

There is profound humility in surrendering, in abandoning oneself completely. In that surrender an inexplicable sense of serenity and bliss exudes from within. That presence is the Source shining forth. We can live with an ever expanding consciousness, or as a slave to our compulsiveness and early conditioned training and life accumulations. The choice is ours. The essence of wisdom is always timeless, universal and expansive. There is only one truth, one Source of creation manifesting in billions of different forms. What we call “God” is always within us. We are all interconnected. At the very core, we are a unique expression and manifestation of the Divine, a microscopic mirror of the macroscopic existential phenomena. Through the transformative power of yoga, the beauty of our ultimate nature shines through. Feeling a sense of belonging is a portal to knowing our ultimate being, realizing there is only One. Belonging is vital for reconnecting with the Divine within us.

The only boundary between our mastery and our dreams is us. That conditioned and brained-washed personality we do accumulate over the decades can cause the most intense misery and sufferings. When we are in a state of Divine love, physical boundaries melt away. We expand and stretch that love to all living beings . . . to infinity. Even power is an illusion. Our ultimate nature is naturally powerful because of its true Divine essence. Only within the depth of our inner shrine can we know and experience the truth. Genuine healing emerges from our expanding consciousness, and it transforms our being. The more our consciousness expands, the more we blossom. Divine love brings us back home, healing us from the illusion of separation from the Source. Our ephemeral journey on earth becomes richer, more beautiful, more meaningful as the universe belongs to us. Like a bamboo in a hurricane, we bend with resiliency, strength, grace and dignity without breaking. As long as there is a split between two entities, we will experience duality, exclusiveness, and hierarchy. There is only ONE!

Until we desperately long to know and seek the truth, it will never be revealed to a believer, only to a seeker. Listening is hearing with our heart, our spirit. Every particle of our being must be engaged. Every form has a unique sound, yet this whole creation is chanting a universal song. Have you heard its melody calling, vibrating within you yet?

From untruth to truth, darkness to light, ignorance to enlightenment, this has been my journey. In vain I had been seeking every corner of this earth, looking into every place of worship until one day I woke up in a valley of rose petals… experiencing thee in the shrine of my heart, resting in my sacred temple.

Shree Devi Mayi Ma

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