Love and live the sacredness (Lakshmi)

In its purest state our heart always moves towards unity and feels realized when it is in harmony. In our journey towards Deep Delight the path of Sacred Love can lead us to our greatest fulfillment. The Indian master Sri Aurobindo said: “Delight is the nature of consciousness, and of the acme of delight, love is the key and the secret”. According to Hindu thought, the path of love (Bhakti, in Sanskrit) has the potential to elevate our feelings and is a direct way to achieve the ultimate goal, which is the union with the Divine.

In the world of love our vehicle will be the emotional nature. Through it, we will feel the sacred love, we will leave behind the suffering of the division and we will advance towards the experience of Bliss produced by the perfect union.

From the Western perspective, we often choose to approach the sacred world through the mind and the intellect. We feel secure with this method and we think our intellectual integrity will remain intact. We have witnessed both historically and in the world today so much incoherence with blind devotion and because of this, we are suspicious about the path of devotion. Frequently, the vision of the mind is more respected and takes a privileged place over the path of the heart. However, there is a reality about the path of love: only in the emotional sphere is it possible to feel the wisdom and joy, experiences that are not accessible to the intellect. My teacher Premananda Deva said: “It is impossible to transform without the opening of the heart”.

What exactly does this path of the heart mean? What are its implications? Where are we going with the connection with the emotional being? The way of love means directing our feelings towards the depths and elevation of the existential experience. It involves healing the emotions, leaving behind the feelings that limit us and beginning to prepare the heart to savor the essence of existence, a celestial joy (Ananda, in Sanskrit). This vision does not underestimate the cultivation of the mind, in reality we advance with the integration of the two paths: we seek the lucidity of the mind and to activate the loving wisdom of the heart. The symbiosis of these two powers and the strength that results from this union mobilize the being towards transcendence.

In this opening of the emotional being towards sacred love, it is fundamental to ask ourselves: What do we visualize when we think of the Divine? Is it an impersonal vision, like the Tao, a force, energy or an invisible universe without form? Or do we think of deities, enlightened beings or teachers? On my path I have experienced the importance of creating both an impersonal and personal relationship with the sacred existence. We human beings are a mixture of the two facets. As we elevate our being, we will experience the development of both the impersonal and personal characteristics in ourselves.

This perspective presents an integration of East and West. For example, the Buddhist perspective proposes a dissolution of the ego and an experience of emptiness (a vacuity of identification). While Western psychology seeks the consolidation of an identity and the development of the individual being. The impersonal way facilitates the experience of humility, a healthy detachment from the unique identification with the ego and a path of transcendence through compassion. On the other hand, the personal way proposes the development of our qualities and capacities, to serve others and the world. This comprehensive understanding of the two facets of the path can facilitate our transformation: we are the microcosm in the process of becoming the macrocosm in our consciousness and in life.

When we calm the waters of the emotional being and experience emptiness, at the same time a great luminosity and wisdom appears. 

Now, in relation to the sacredness, when exploring the impersonal relationship, that is, contemplating the infinite without form, we seek to achieve an interior-meditative experience where we live a “disidentification”; with the individual and temporary being, to feel part of a Totality. This practice begins with the process of calming the mind, continues with the awareness of the emptiness of everything superfluous and reaches its peak with the perception of an essential nature that remains. When we calm the waters of the emotional being and experience emptiness, at the same time a great luminosity and wisdom appears. The most fascinating part of this experience is that we realize that the nature of the invisible universe or Purusha (in Sanskrit) is not really empty, it is full. This revelation makes us conscious that we are inside a “great cosmic womb“, which is alive and manifests with qualities that are infinite (Ananta Guna, in sanskrit). When we live these powerful and indescribable experiences (for the mind) in our emotional being, we can begin to understand why, from time immemorial, human beings have wished to represent these essences in the form of deities, in order to familiarize ourselves with the real forces that inhabit the invisible realm.

From this perspective we can begin to build a personal relationship with the sacred reality. If we are honest in the process of transformation, we know that the conquest of the different parts of the being requires effort, patience and perseverance. It is normal that we have difficult times on the path. It is for these moments that I propose a personal approach to the divine forces, through the cultivation of an intimacy that induces a blossoming of our feelings. We can choose an object, a symbol or a personification towards which we will direct our love; for example, towards a god or goddess, an archetype or a master. The intention is to find ways that support us psychologically; sustain the opening of the heart, and gives us the possibility to live with more love.

This relationship can be unfathomable and has the virtue of rekindling our inspiration. It also constitutes one of the secrets of the path, because the cultivation of the personal relationship is the vehicle to guide us towards transcendence and the ecstasy of union. While it is true that there is a dualism in the personal relationship, because there are always two (the lover and the beloved), the ultimate experience seeks the dissolution in that object-subject of love.

The path of sacred love allows us to explore the sublime forms of feeling. Beyond fusing with only one archetype, we can advance and create personal bonds with: the divine Mother, the divine Father, the divine Son, the divine Friend and, possibly the most powerful, the divine Lover. This amplitude of the loving experience will allow us to see how the sacredness manifests in the world. The journey of sacred love with the personal relationship is where we participate in the cosmic play (Lila). This moment constitutes the birth of the spiritual child in us. An experience that creates an environment where love is absolute and constant, and we begin to live a union with the presence of the sacred force.

In the world of Love of Deep Delight we will learn how to cultivate the emotional being, to live the feeling of the sacredness. For this, we will travel through four states: Caring, Uniting, Expanding and Elevating.

In the state of Caring, we will begin the path of emotional healing. We will cultivate self-love as a fundamental foundation for our transformation. In this state we will awaken the sweetness and tenderness of our heart. In addition we will open ourselves to patience, softness and understanding with ourselves.

In the state of Uniting, we will create compassion towards ourselves and others, cultivating warm feelings and recognizing the existence of an interdependence with others. With our acts we will expand the power of love, with the intention to relieve the suffering of others, and in this way life itself will become enriched.

In the state of Expanding, we will invoke the birth of our child consciousness. It is an invitation to appreciate the essence of beauty and create wonderment in our consciousness. We will learn to let go through the freedom in the arts and we will create a spontaneity within the cosmic play.

In the state of Elevation, we will reach the summit of our experiences, where the personal is integrated with the impersonal relationship, with a loving surrender and the ecstasy of union. It is the end of duality and the beginning of a sacred intimacy.

Feeling the ardor of sacred love is the basis of a deep happiness and this experience produces the sensation of a rapture in us. From this base arises harmony and beauty in our feelings, which invite us to feel life with its rhythms of a secret joy. To love is to open and to give, and with the states of the world of love we can do it with wisdom. The impersonal relationship will bring peace and equanimity to our hearts. The personal connection will give us intimacy and warmth, to fall in love again with ourselves, with others and the invisible world. Thanks to the openness of the heart we will sow a new consciousness, where inspiration and meaning incentivate us to begin to create.

Fotografía: Vishnu (Bill Hulse), EE.UU.
2019-06-24T11:01:41+00:00 25/02/2019|