! Our concepts of God and our relationship with the Divine are not all identical. However, we all tend to share an essential idea that to raise our consciousness and contact with some greater life and light will help us experience greater spiritual Consciousness and through that contact become ourselves transformed and magnified in understanding.
If we entertain strong spiritual faith, it is natural to long for a heightened experience of consciousness in realisation and confirmation of our beliefs. If we are exploring, without any preconceptions, in order to discover spiritual realities, both inside ourselves and outside in the greater world, we look forward to every new sense of awareness of the subtleties of life that our developing sensitivity will permit.
It is an integral part of human nature to aspire to understand and to establish a conscious link with our Source. Some have experienced a supreme spiritual experience spontaneously, often in difficulties and often without any apparent stimulus. However, it is by use of our free will and by direct personal willingness in our attitude towards spiritual expansion that we can consciously direct our being toward the Power and Universal Intelligence of our Maker.
Some of us see the Divine as the Great Creative Fire, and consider ourselves as little sparks of that same element.... and are likely to experience accordingly....
"As from a glowing fire, kindred sparkles come forth thousand-fold,
So from the Eternal, manifold beings are born and return also." Manduka Upanishad
Others conceive God as the Divine Ocean of Life and themselves as a mere droplet of that same element of water, affirming the beautiful merging with that great element....
"The dewdrop slips into the shining sea...." Light of Asia - Sir Edwin Arnold
Some people consider themselves as part of all life which is manifest. To live in perfect harmony in the outwardly manifested natural world is their wish.
Others cherish the thought of spiritual brotherhood with all other human beings and long to experience unity of spirit in a sense of associated group identity.
Those who believe that the Divine is Supreme Love may yearn to identify themselves with this Greater love. In devotion they may seek to free themselves from the limitations of personal emotion to find a new identity as part of the eternal heartbeat of Divine and Infinite Love pervading all natural life.
We must give to others what we claim for ourselves - respect for spiritual matters and the essential privacy that is attendant to an individual's approach to this most important and sacred relationship with our Creator. We may differ in our chosen manner of spiritual communing, whether we choose to meditate alone or in group meditation, prayer, church service, or in religious rituals.
By whatever way we choose, meditation and prayer are inherent, helping us to arrive at a state of stillness and receptivity of both the body and the mind when we will be reminded that it is by an expansion of our Love that allows us to experience union of any kind, whether with fellow humans, with nature around us, or with the Divine.
Sally Janssen is a writer, and Yoga teacher well known both in Australia and abroad for her skill in demonstration of the Hatha Yoga practices and her wisdom in applying the principles of Raja Yoga -the study of the mind and consciousness. More details at http://www.essence-of-yoga.net
Her book "Mental Fitness: A Complete Self-help Guide" explains the principles of mental fitness that can be applied by us all. The book may be found here: http://www.mentalhealthandfitness.com/blog.
View the Original article
No comments:
Post a Comment