About life I learned on my spiritual journey to India.
Truth: Satya
Panditgi says truth is so simple yet sooooo difficult and almost impossible to truly embrace in one’s life. He gets a big Amen from me on that one.
Swami Kripalu use to always say if you want to start practicing Satya or truth begin by just saying a little less untruth. He also understood the magnitude of the practice.
We have so much ego to protect and defend and so many fears and concerns about how others see us to be able to honestly reveal our true self. What if no one loves the real me? What if I’m not as nice or kind or loving as I seem? What if I have some secret aspect of myself and can’t let anyone see or don’t even see myself?
Probably the closest we come to being our true selves is with our best friends and/or our lovers and this is precisely WHY we love them so much. They accept us as we are, even the not so pretty self. They know us without our masks. Truth can be humiliating and frightening but can also be quietly comforting and free our hearts in untold ways. Find someone you trust and who really loves you to practice satya with and never accept anything as truth from someone who doesn’t really love you.
Simplicity: I bow down before you.
I’m absolutely amazed at how little it takes to be really happy. We have been living in almost austerity like conditions here and yet our joy grows more and more each day.
Sometime I think we Americans just don’t get this one any more. We create complexity in order to fill space in our life. We try to fill the emptiness inside with something outside. When you fully appreciate the night sky, the moon and stars in its breathtaking detail, isn’t that complex enough? Couldn’t we just stop long enough to see what’s in front of us now without going to get something more?
Our minds are trained from birth to believe, if only we had this or that thing then we would be happy. We are sold a complex life that says you’re not good enough- without whatever their selling. We women, especially buy into this be beautiful line of goods for sale. Beauty is simple. Its available to all. One can possess it but never buy it. It only comes from within.
A truly simple life is richly complex and rewarding. It’s full of zest and vigor. It’s creative and challenging. It’s not driven by owning things but by owning ones Self. If you’re looking for a way to start simplifying your life, clear out some closets. Give it to Goodwill, someone else may really need it. Downsize the mania, the to do lists, the overtime. Read more, dance more, love more, and do less things you think you should.
Love: ahimsa
It’s the BIG happy. We are born from love we spend our lives immersed in love and in the end, we return to love.
It’s our immortal spirit and our true nature. We all have it, we possess it intrinsically. Sometimes it hidden under layers of guilt, shame, pain, sorrow, and oppression by others. But the light is always within. There is no wind strong enough to blow it out, no waters than can wash it away, no darkness it cannot shine through.
Real love is a choice, a way of being and living from the heart, not something rare we find outside ourselves. The Bahkti sutra says love someone or something larger than yourself wildly, be completed devoted. Immerse yourself in that river of love that flows from your own heart and from there, let your love flow into the great ocean of love that contains all things.
I’ll share the great Sufi prayer:
May the love we share here spread it wings and fly across the earth to sing it song to every soul that is alive.
May the blessing of it’s grace and love be felt by everyone
And may we all see the light within within within.
Signin off from India.
OMW home.
Namaste
Wow what a journey. I am so excited for you. As you leave, be gentle with yourself as you flow from one cultural experience to the next. All the memories will start pouring back in. Lessons will be learned over and over again. Songs will be sung over and over again. Dances will be danced over and over again. Your heart will swell with love. Your body will seek simplicity. Your mind will search for truths over and over again. The deep muddy waters of life will return mixing with the sweet smells of joy and happiness that have so lifted your spirits. Your sisters will come back to remind of family and the treasures to be had with loving deeply. So many experiences to nourish, so many hugs to bind, so many visions to feed, so much to bring home as you make your way. And go ahead and LOL for you have achieved that special feat that required great courage and inner strength. The “truly awakened woman” is a great joy indeed!! You might be leaving India but it is not leaving you. The journey has really just begun. Namaste, Liliana
So Beautiful Jude, your words speak truth, simplicity, love. I’m so happy for your journey. Thank you again for sharing it with us. Welcome home.