A dharma journey through India — reflections
Authors note: In 2016 I travelled to India to undertake a “dharma journey” — a journey to my roots, a pilgrimage towards my purpose, a quest for lineages, a return to my center. This journey took me through chaotic festivals, yogi camps, sacred sites, ancient musical lineages, Sufi tombs and utopian communities…these were my final words of reflection as I prepared to leave India.
Dharma is a sanskrit word that means “duty, purpose, religion, cosmic law”. The goal of all spiritual traditions is to fulfill ones dharma, and this fulfillment comes through walking an authentic path of spiritual realization.
My intention in coming to india has been to completely immerse myself in the quest to understand dharma, both in the cultural context from which it arises and my own subjective search. This dharma journey to India hasn’t gone how I planned, yet it has been perfect. It would have been foolish for me to assume I knew exactly what I needed — all I knew is what I wanted and life found a way of bringing it to me. Perhaps I didn’t need to leave to find what I discovered, to learn what I’ve learned…but then again, perhaps the journey is only a progressive revelation of a destination that is ever-present. Perhaps we have to get lost in order to be found….I know that what I’ve found I will lose again, but what I’ve found can never lose me, and that makes all the difference.
I’ve left the motherland enriched by many experiences, renewed with inspiration and self-knowledge…now the work is to maintain it. Many tools have been discovered, along with the inner guidance and confirmations of the Teachings of the Masters. There is only now the condition of perseverance, sincerity, and of giving myself totally to the Path. The Love is too great when the Truth beckons to us.
Staying in sadhana we are reminded each day of the purpose of our practice. The practice yields transformation, insight and compassion — practice is everything. A balanced austerity to keep the mind and body alert is essential; falling prey to slack only leads to further transgressions against oneself. In the paradigm of non-separation, whatever we do to ourselves we do to the world. Thus we must take care of ourselves and treat ourselves with discipline.
The Divine is forever knocking at our doors, meaning that the Spirit is quietly awaiting our remembrance…our openness to receive IT. Maintaining inner silence or keeping the vibration of the holy name resonating within — either creates the space for the Higher Power to work through us. In the end, we are only instruments for the unfolding perfection of the Divine Plan. We have been envisaged by God for a purpose, as an expression of something beyond what we understand from our limited point of view. Through intimate encounters with the Divine we are blessed with the taste of eternity, of the infinitude of love, truth, beauty, goodness and all virtues. The soul yearns to stay in connection with this source, and it is entirely up to us.
We can inherit ALL if we desire, since it is only our illusions that bind us to falsehood and prevent access to the purer vibrations; we must let go of the false self so that the real Self can preside.
In other words, we have a kingdom within and it can either be ruled by an ignorant dictator or a noble sovereign. It is up to us to fight for our Kingdom, a battleground upon which the forces of light and shadow contest for territory, a theatre for the archetypal forces of Mind and Nature to play out their roles. The paths and practices of yoga, indeed all true spiritual traditions, teach us how to win this battle for our souls. What is at stake is very real: the opportunity for our very own liberation from ignorance and suffering.
While on one hand the whole experience of life is a leela — a Divine play — there is a very real purpose to it…if we want to see it. There is an evolutionary plan at the heart of creation of which we are important players…if we so choose. We can, through our conscious efforts, be agents of a higher consciousness to permeate the earth and bring upliftment, expansion, balance, peace and development to all creation. It is a sacred Work that we have been given, a noble role we have assumed, and a critical moment in which we have arrived upon the earth at this time. May it be recognized and embraced for the opportunity that it truly is.
The more we progress upon the path the more clear it becomes that there is a vast and ineffable consciousness that is governing all of existence. It is infuses the very core of our being, called by many names, and we must find what access points resonate with us and then use them to unite with this Source, allowing it to take hold of our hearts and minds to guide and mould us.
We are not who we think we are, we are far greater than what we have been taught to comprehend. Our limitations are shallow thoughts that have imprinted themselves into our self-identity. As we deepen in the spiritual journey we realize that there is no end to what can be accomplished when our identity becomes united with the unlimited consciousness.
While things may take time to manifest in the material realm, we can see, feel and participate in a great subtle reality that influences all known life. Indeed, every thing we think, say and do leaves an impression upon the living canvas of creation — thus to live as if everything mattered is a life of total responsibility. Such is the outcome of the realization of the Dharma…a journey of being and becoming that makes us whole, fulfilling our destiny through living a life of integrity.
I came on this journey thinking that I had some unique purpose to fulfill, that I would find a new expression of the dharma. In a way I have found and learned about both these things but the path to its embodied realization is what matters, and in the end, its premise is perennial: that spiritual life is a progressive surrendering to the Divine until we are completely absorbed by its Presence. Divinity is the dharma, it is who we are and the more we give ourselves to it the more we become IT. We discover that there is no “I” in the way we normally use and understand the word — a fabrication we uphold out of millenia of habitual conditioning.
The deeper we go, the more we realize that the true self is the Self in all and that we can merge with IT. This is what we want more than anything else in the Universe — all other satisfactions pale in comparison — it is the greatest gift we can receive. In its service we must labor, let go, and live with faith in the realization of the mystics as we too learn to master ourselves and fulfill a sacred promise: that all beings are destined to consciously become the Divine itself.
This is why we are here, and it is when we realize this that the real dharma journey begins.
