[Uma]

Day 34 of 40: Apr.28/16

Yesterday Sri Vasudeva introduced the idea of using the intellect to attain crown consciousness and today he spoke about 5 classical paths or yogas from which we as souls having individual personalities and temperaments can choose (they are like the basics for any path).

It's the idea that all roads lead to Rome, that every chakra is a doorway to God and that God can express in fullness through any of them, that we are unique individuals and that, while the awakened Kundalini takes us all on a journey up the spine awakening all the chakras, the way this manifests and wants to express in every person is most certainly NOT "one size fits all".

This teaching empowers me to choose whatever teaching, training or method I want to and teaches me how to go about finding what works best for me, what my own Inner Guide is telling me to do - and not be stuck with the status quo or peer pressure or anyone else's opinions. This is where Sri Vasudeva is such a breath of fresh air as my personal spiritual guide because he gives me so many options!

Too many choices
My problem is that I am spoiled for choices and I think this is often the case for the beginner seeker trying to figure out what path to follow. It feels sort of like when I'm standing in the cereal isle overwhelmed with the promises each one is offering me and intuitively knowing I have to avoid the junk and go for what's good for me.

Fortunately today Sri Vasudeva gave me a couple of leads in how to figure that out. I am someone who loves to combine different practices, working on all the chakras at once, and that's the essence of Maha Yoga - allowing awakened Kundalini to take the lead, so that I'm always focused on strengthening my strengths and using them to work on my weak areas.

About strengthening the weak areas, I think it's like a flock of geese the way when the leading one gets tired and falls back another one from below the ranks flies forward to take its place. It's like chakra team work - inner team work. (Here's a link to a fabulous inspirational video called "Lessons from Geese": link)

Following my joy

"The path of spiritual discipline and the path of freedom has to be a joyous path, and that's the gift of Maha Yoga. When the Kundalini wakes up within you She wants to express that Spirit within you joyfully in everything that you do. So ask yourself: Am I happy on the path?" ~ Sri Vasudeva

Today's topic was also a breath of fresh air because after all the emphasis for the last couple of days on self-discipline, no-pain-no-gain, and thinking about all the trials on the journey I've had to endure, all the painful surrendering of my ego to finer and finer degrees...today's talk is a reminder to me that God is on my side after all, always supporting me, and that - surprise surprise - the journey is supposed to be joyful!

But what does this "joy" thing really mean? Is there a catch-22 to this?

I think what it means is that I need to look at what kind of spiritual practice brings out the best in me, what brings out the most spiritual of expressions in me, and from what chakras. What activity makes my inner Goddess Kundalini dance for joy when I am doing it? Because I've noticed that sometimes it's when I'm doing NOT WHAT I WANT TO DO but what I THINK I SHOULD DO, that this sacred energy begins to move very powerfully. It's not the same message being given by a lot of popular New Age gurus is it?

This joy thing has a lot of strings attached to it...but it satisfies my soul as it ultimately aligns with my deeper or higher purpose.

The unlikely example of Walt Disney
Lately I've been thinking about, of all things, the entrepreneur-genius and visionary Walt Disney. I watched a film that's still up on Netflix about his life before Mickey Mouse and then synchronistically discovered that this month's Life Magazine article is all about this. What impressed me most about his story was that he was a man driven with his own unique vision of co-creating a better world through the art of animation and ultimately his vision bloomed into this idea of creating a virtual reality experience through the creation of a theme park (Disneyland) in which people could interact like story book characters inside a real touch-and-feel make-believe world. The man was way ahead of his time! And he never stopped taking it further, expanding his vision even to his last breath!

What Walt Disney did throughout his life was follow his joy - his passion, his vision, scratching that itch that refused to go away - holding fast to it no matter how many times he went bankrupt - even living homeless and hungry - going through extreme ups and downs of successes and failures and just sticking with it because he was so driven to fulfill this vision in his heart and in his mind. His yoga was capitalist, his soul purpose - who knows what it was - but here was real soul power driving him - and to me, that is the secret of knowing my joy, my passion.

I think of my spiritual journey like that. I think that's what is meant by following your joy, by the journey being joyful. It doesn't mean that it's going to be all roses and tea cakes every step of the way. There are going to be serious ups and downs and risk taking is all part of it too (we call them great leaps of FAITH) but the joy for me comes through the passion that makes me get up every time life has given me a black eye, through my ability to dust myself off and keep on going, keep on going, keep on going staying as positive as I can - whether it's bringing my mind back to breath awareness after the 100th time some thought has dragged it away, or whether it's picking up the pieces after my husband has left me widowed.

And joy is also God tapping me on the shoulder and saying, "Hey, it's okay to cry. I'm right here behind you. Look how far you've come. It's just a little more. Paddle a little more. Look, I'll help you," and the wind will start to blow all of a sudden pushing my little life raft in the right direction...

In the meditation Sri Vasudeva offered me a very useful affirmation...

"I centre myself in the consciousness of that Evolutionary Power within me that is pushing me to be free.
I seek to align myself to Its drive with my mind, with my heart, with my vital being.
I align myself to that Evolutionary Energy within me.
It's with me in every moment.
I seek to remember that I am never forgotten.
It is I who forget this Power.
I pray on this day to be conscious of It in every moment,
that there is an Evolutionary Drive within me,
the Universe is pushing me, helping me to be free."
~ Sri Vasudeva