Lesson 165 - Q&A – Desire and change

From: Yogani
Date: Tue Apr 13, 2004 4:23pm

New Members: It is recommended you read from the beginning of the web
archive, as previous lessons are prerequisite to this one. The first
lesson is, "Why This Discussion?"

Q: I have experienced desire very intensely to achieve my life's
plan. What happens when the foundations of your past beliefs is
shattered by new discoveries (yoga, meditation, reincarnation) and
your desire and motivation for most things disappears?

A: Our desire will carry us through to our destination. Sometimes our
desire to achieve a particular thing can lead us to surprising
revelations about what is true, and we find that we are compelled to
change our orientation. Change can be confusing, but isn't discovery
of the truth a good thing? It is a birth. And, as in all birth, it is
change of the status quo. Yet, the world need not be turned upside
down. It is a fulfillment we are witnessing today, not a destruction.

There are many ways to go about handling it -- as many ways as there
are people, it seems, for we all react differently to our changing
understandings and circumstances.

In the lessons, a gradual approach is recommended. It is actually
quite fast in terms of how quickly one can take on powerful spiritual
practices. But at the same time, everyday life goes on, and the
lessons don't recommend throwing away our family, career, culture, or
religious background. The truth is oozing out everywhere in life. We
just have not been so aware of it until now. The light is coming up
everywhere. If we are going to become enlightened (and we all will),
then it can and will happen right where we are in our current life,
family, activities, etc. Why not?

The idea used to be that we have to run off to an ashram
somewhere, "drop out" of society, and give up our worldly ambitions.
Paradoxically, that is an old-way strategy based on external
appearances. We don't have to go anywhere. Neither do we have to give
up our worldly goals, for these are spun from God also. If we look
deep into ourselves, we will find that our core beliefs have room for
the light of truth in them, and so does the rest of our life, just as
it is today. As a matter of fact, everyday life needs what yoga
brings, and there is not nearly the incompatibility it might seem.
Just go into your silence in deep meditation and see for yourself.

Some would dissolve all the world's traditions to make way for the
new. I am not for that. All the world's traditions will flower with
the same great truth of God that spawned them in the first place. It
is human desire and spiritual enterprise (daily practices) that are
going to illuminate the old values, beliefs, and traditions from the
inside.

So don't throw away your foundation beliefs. Let them bathe in the
living light that flows from within as you move into your own
experiment in human spiritual transformation with meditation, spinal
breathing, and the rest of the advanced yoga practices. You will find
that most of your foundation beliefs are good, only needing a natural
tune up from within. What is not real will fade away, and the truth
will shine forth from you ever brighter.

Call it a revival of who you are -- a homecoming.

It is not a black or white world. Truth and untruth are mixed
together in everything. Better to shine a bright light through it all
with spiritual practices before deciding to make radical changes or
throw anything away. After some time in daily spiritual practices,
you will know what to do. There is nothing to fear...

The guru is in you.

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