Note: For the complete lessons, with additions, see the AYP Easy Lessons for Ecstatic Living Books.

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.

Note: For detailed instructions on employing desire and action on our spiritual path, see the AYP Bhakti and Karma Yoga book.

<  Previous  |  Next  >