“We come to the profound realization that the true path to liberation is to let go of everything.” Jack Kornfield
As we grow and change and evolve it is natural that our needs and our environment should change and evolve along with us, otherwise we are like a rose trying to bloom in the desert of the past. Our life is a reflection of what we value and, as what we value transforms, so does our life transform: our environment, our friends, and our activities. Sometimes these changes require a decision be made that says, “This doesn’t fit me anymore; it doesn’t describe me. I’m going to let it go and replace it with something better, something higher.”
It very often requires courage to let go, to detach. In fact, Sunburst teaches that detachment is one of the important words describing the virtue of courage. One of its opposites is grasping.
It takes courage to go into battle, but it also takes courage to walk away from the battlefield when we are called to stop fighting. An example is to let go of a relationship or an activity that no longer serves you. We grasp, clutching onto the hope that someone else or something else will change. We hold onto key people, places, and things because we are attached (sometimes addicted), and feel that we need them, that we won’t be happy without them, even if we are miserable with them.
Detachment is key on the spiritual path. It is difficult to go far without it—like trying to reach the top of Mount Everest but forgetting your water or your oxygen, or like trying to sail into outer space without dropping your booster rockets. Detachment is the ability to let go of every person, place, or thing that holds us back from progressing along the way. There are activities and people that, although they bring some pleasure or comfort in the moment, it is more destructive than constructive to have them in our lives. How can we detach so that we can move over onto the fast track in our spiritual life? After all, letting go leaves a void.
Filling that void with devotion is key. When we develop a love for God and a passion for God Union, where God becomes our mother, father, lover and best friend, our all-in-all, then little else is needed. “Become a spiritual alcoholic!” Yogananda said. This passion for God gives us the courage to do what we must do to live a healthy, serviceable life on the fast track to God. Devotion, in its ultimate form, gives us the ability to let go of everything, even of the small self we perceive ourselves to be, cleaving at last solely to the act of loving God.
God please empower me to let go of everything and everyone that is holding me back on the path homeward. I only want to see Your face. I only want to be with You. Make me a courageous Warrior of Light, strong in Your service. I am Yours, forevermore.
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” ~Winston Churchill
We are in the month of Scorpio, so it is an auspicious time to study and more deeply embody the virtue of courage. Courage has many sources. A new source of courage has come to me recently. It began with a look…
I watched the trailer to the movie, “Awake”, on the life of Paramahansa Yogananda. I have been waiting for years for someone to make a movie about the life of this great Teacher, and now has happened and I can’t wait to see it. Through the image on my computer screen I looked into the eyes of Yogananda, or rather, he looked into mine, and I saw in them something I didn’t have. There was this intensity of focus. I imitated that look of his, putting it into my eyes, and I realized: he was totally awake. And totally courageous. What did this mean? What was the difference between his consciousness and mine?
Generally, my mind is in neutral. My will says, “We are driving to the store now. Here we go,” and my body goes along for the ride, basically unaware. My mind goes along too. On the way it wanders everywhere. That is what I would call being in neutral gear.
The awake state is much different. The gear switches into forward drive. My will says, “We are driving to the store now. Here we go,” and my mind says, “Okay, I’m driving to the store,” my body says, “I’m going to the store,” and all along the way to the store my will, my mind, and my body are in alignment. They are all doing the same thing. This is not just living in the present moment, a worthy goal in itself, but in the awake state there is a very special ingredient: there is a force of intention and purpose. Instead of going to the store like a sleeping woman can be carried across the river in a boat, I am going to the store with intention, and with my will, my mind, and my body in alignment behind this intention.
Here’s the result of this practice: my entire body is energized, my mind is clear, and there is a power that begins to run in me. I’m awake! When I say that I’m awake I’m not talking about THE spiritual awakening. I’m talking about a state of consciousness that is not asleep, but is truly alive, clear, powerful, and naturally courageous. I know I can do whatever God asks me to do.
This practice, applied to all activities and projects, can become a way of life where one can become a powerhouse for God.
If you live in the Central Coast area of California, “Awake” will be shown at the Edwards Cinema 10 Theater in Santa Maria on Tuesday, November 11th at 7:30pm. Tickets will not be sold atthe theater and must be reserved online here. Tickets are $11.00 each. For more information, contact Sarah at: [email protected].
Click here for information on other screenings around the country.
Paramahansa Yogananda said, “Drink with the hero the good wine of virtue.” I feel that my Sunburst friends, Al and Dawn, are heroes, and that hearing their report of a recent trek into the high Sierras is drinking the good wine of the virtue courage with them. This is most apropos because we have just entered the month of Scorpio where we are studying and embodying the quality of courage, and certainly admiring it in others.
Our friends can inspire us. Dawn and Al recently took a trip to the high Sierras, and brought back photographs of God’s breathtaking creation. The vistas are so majestic that one feels a sense of deep beauty, and a longing to enter the frame. I want to enter into it because I know that looking at the photographs doesn’t compare to being there. Standing on top of a mountain, almost 10,000 feet high, and looking down into a sky blue lake of pristine water with the smell of pines all around is really special.
Banner Peak (12,942 ft.) – High Eastern Sierras
Dawn and Al have had that experience because they imagined it, then worked to earn it. Their intense love of God’s oh-so-obvious presence in the high country motivates them to go and be there. They plan in detail, prepare physically, organize their lives and gear, then pack. They drive for hours just to get to the trailhead. They carry backpacks with forty or more pounds—camera gear, and everything else needed for a week on the trail—up steep mountains and down tricky descents. They sometimes even trek over rugged terrain where there is no trail. But what a sublime reward!
I don’t want to be a couch potato. The qualities I see in these friends of mine are exactly the qualities needed to attain God-union: perseverance, the willingness to work for it, courage, passionate enthusiasm, and an intense love for the journey and the goal.
Practicing the Sunburst meditation techniques out in such pristine beauty has to be an amazing experience. At the first opportunity, I will go climb such mountains; until then, I’ll continue my inner trek. My strength is renewed by the example of my friends at Sunburst.
Dawn on the worst part of the climb on day hike of day 4. Rocks are moving and it’s steeper than it looks.
We can get very serious during hard times of difficult challenges. Humor uplifts the vibration of everything. It is a powerful, helpful tool for returning us to a state of equanimity.
Norm Paulsen, the founder of Sunburst, loved to laugh and he laughed with all his might and being.
Ananda Moyi Ma
Ananda Moyi Ma was a great saint of India. It is reported that in her ashram when the vibration would get too serious, she would begin to laugh…and laugh…and laugh the merriment of God, until everyone was laughing with her and the vibration of Joy would reign supreme. She said:
Whenever you have the chance, laugh as much as you can. But to laugh superficially is not enough; your whole being must be united in laughter, both outwardly and inwardly. Do you know what this kind of laughter is like? You simply shake with merriment from head to foot. In order to be able to laugh in this way you must have implicit faith in the power of the all-pervasive Self and try to bring the outer and inner parts of your being into perfect harmony.
Do not multiply your needs, nor give way to a sense of want, but live a life of spotless purity. Making the interests of others your own, seek refuge at His feet in total surrender. You will then see how the laughter that flows from such a heart defeats the pain of the world.
Father-Mother God, teach me to laugh more often, and to see everything as you do. Help me make this effort to raise my vibration to your vibration of pure joy that I may merge with you, my true self, who is joy, ever-new joy, joy everlasting. Amen.
“I, a tiny bubble of laughter, have become the sea of mirth itself!” – Paramahansa Yogananda
Norman Paulsen, the founder of Sunburst, loved spending time out in Nature. “Mother’s Nature” he called it. He said: “Look at that sun shining out there. Look at that blue sky and the waters upon the earth. What a miracle! Look at the mountains and valleys covered with Mother’s natural images, her garden of life-forms.”
When I am facing difficult challenges, the focus of my attention can become very small. My thoughts and energies center around my problem or situation, making me feel like my brain is stuck in a self-made steam room. It is so helpful at these times to go out into the wide, open spaces of Nature. There, in the cool breezes, I am able to regain a sense of perspective, peace and equanimity. I begin to feel, “Gee, the world is so big, beautiful, and full of God, what I’m going through doesn’t seem so huge a deal after all. You know, everything is all right!”
Ananda Moyi Ma of India encouraged her students to partake of the healing forces of Nature. She told them, “Try always to spend as much time as you can in the open air. Gaze to your heart’s content at the lofty mountains or on the wide ocean. If you cannot do anything else, at least peer at the open sky whenever you have the chance. Little by little the rigid knots that make up your shackles will be loosened and you will find yourself becoming freer. A fully awakened consciousness functions only through and untrammeled mind and body. When both body and mind are light it is easy to attain to Liberation.”
Father-Mother God, help me make time to commune with you in nature. May your cool waters, your warm breezes, and your dappled shade become a healing force in my life. I take the time to heal, to rejuvenate,and to play, that I may all the better serve you. Amen
The symbol for the virtue of equanimity is a woman holding the balance scales, blindfolded, that she may judge without prejudice. (She is not allowed to peek!). One quality that is an opposite of equanimity is that of being judgmental.
How wonderful it would be if I didn’t have any judgment about my challenges. Instead of saying, “Oy vey, not another one!” if I could really live the song: “I like the sunshine; I like the rain; I like the good times; I like the pain, ’cause it’s all the same when you’re livin’ the life!”
Yes, I can see life as a journey of hills and valleys designed by Love for my growth and for my joy. God is with me. God, is for me. This is truly possible when all I want is to be close to God. Rumi wrote, “The snow brings me closer to Your lips.”
When I am sad, I am close to God. When I am happy, I am close to God. So, what do the ups and downs of life matter? I am always close to God! All I need to do is remember this.
Beloved God, I receive my challenges with an open heart, knowing that they make me strong and wise. I embrace the times that are difficult because they bring me closer to you. Today, through your grace, I hope to make someone else’s load lighter. Amen
