[Uma]

Day 26 of 40: April 20, 2016 link

Sri Vasudeva outlined what the typical spiritual journey looks like. I've summarized this into five basic steps that I've experienced:
1. I desire to have a greater experience than the merely human one.
2. I realize that God exists or that the Universe is intelligent and I realize there is something more to me than meets the eye.
3. I begin to detach from the world now that all the worldly things and relationships that used to give me joy no longer do - and they disturb my peace. I want something that enhances my spiritual experience.
4. I experience a spiritual awakening (whether from the past resurfacing, from a physical master, or from a master in a dream) through grace. I now begin to experience my multidimensional self-hood and the presence of an Inner Guide, so now my experience of God is no longer only something outside of me but more and more so as something within me. The inner me seems to get more real, and the outer more like a dream. (I am not hallucinating by the way - I am grounded in both worlds.)
5. The more I give attention to that relationship with the Divine and to making it more powerful (to attracting more grace), the more my ego transforms…so today's practice is about step five - giving attention to that ego transformation.

Step Five
Following yesterday, today's topic was:

"How can we move from that doer-ship and the burden of doer-ship into the joy of being carried? What are the steps involved as you become more and more spiritually awakened? I think it's important to observe this." ~ Sri Vasudeva

If I feel the presence of God within me moving through the chakras (and giving me hints on the outside), and if I observe carefully which chakra is most blocked, then I can work on helping my divine self open up that chakra by allowing more of my divine nature to express through it in every situation. This is sounds simple enough. It means giving my best in every moment in every area of life. I need to free my inner butterfly. I need to be the light in all my actions.

Because the Divine supports me from inside and outside, it's like the child's game of hot and cold - find the Divine Light that hides in everything. If I act in the way of selfish ego, there is no Kundalini movement or no synergy happening on the outside but if I act in the way of divine self, I feel a surge of power and beautiful feelings or sometimes intuitive insights, and everything just falls into place magically.

Why do I resist this?!
So why am I NOT doing this in every moment?! How come the laboratory mouse in one of those reward/punishment experiments does a better job of doing what it's supposed to than I do! Why do I sometimes forget to do this?! The "God" I worship is not an unknowable great mystery to me because the more I know my divine self, the more I feel at home, the more I feel closer to my true being. The real mystery to me is my own ego and its bizarre forgetfulness. Hence the importance of vigilant observation - staying the course of whatever practice I am following, and constantly looking to see where exactly my ego is blocking my chakras - and when, and how, and under what circumstances.

Opening chakras
In the guided meditation practice Sri Vasudeva took us through three kinds of ego consciousness as a way of expressing the right posture or attitude our "I" needs to keep in meditation and in daily life. These are heart, mind and body. You can access this by clicking on the link (top of page). Of course there are seven spiritual chakras to deal with - but these three are commonly the most troublesome.

I'm absolutely amazed by the deviousness of my ego - all the sneaky ways I sabotage my own progress.

"Oh Supreme One. . . . Guide me, protect me, hold me in this awareness of oneness with You. I do not want to lose that. Protect me. I offer all that I am to You that You may cleanse me completely." ~ Sri Vasudeva