< Back to Archive

The Purpose Of Life, Part 4

Author: Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami

Description: Develop a whole new lifestyle; transmute desire so that we desire the realization of the Self more than anything else. "Desire is energy expressing itself." Uplift consciousness, channel or transmute energy into desiring things that are more refined. Major experiences of this and past lives have brought you to the point you are now, ready to turn inward and realize your infinite being, to gain independence from the instinctive area of the mind. Get answers from within yourself as awareness begins to unfold. One day you will be Self Realized. Shum series related becoming Self Realized: rehli to idamrehvumsirehli. "Master Course Trilogy, Merging with Siva, Chapter 3, Lessons 19 cont. - 21.

Transcription:
Good morning everyone. Continuing in "Merging with Siva" Chapter 3, entitled "The Purpose Of Life" drawn from "The 1970 Master Course." [Lesson 19, "Using the Power of Observation" ,Second part.] "Living by basic principles keeps awareness clean-cut, pure, direct and positive, out of the areas of the mind that are confused, unwholesome, unhealthy—areas that react back upon the nerve system of the physical nature. When we are clean-cut, our perceptions are precise. We make our decisions from an up-down point of view, and our path through life is guided by each decision that we make. "When we make a decision, it has its reaction. If we do not make a decision, that has a reaction, too, for then decisions are made for us by circumstance, other people, situations or confusion. The confusion becomes so intense that finally we’re forced into a decision. When we become accustomed to making one decision after another from an up-down point of view, our lives are guided in a systematic, positive, clean-cut, beautiful way. Who does the guiding? You do, with your awakened perceptive faculties." And we get Lesson 20: "Are You Ready To Turn Inward? "Basic principles for a good foundation in our lives can be established through consistency. The consistency in approach to what we are doing—a good habit pattern in living our life, as we approach our inner life, the understanding of our inner life, the study of it and the experience of it—has to be on a day-to-day basis. (That's one of Gurudeva's masterful sentences there.) Developing a contemplative lifestyle that is sensible, that is positively worked out, and programming that into our complete pattern of daily life gives us a foundation strong enough to face decisions and the ensuing experiences and the reaction to those experiences in a way that they enhance our spiritual un­fold­ment. Remember, the lifestyle that we now have was programmed for us by mothers, fathers, religious leaders, teachers, people that we had just met along the way, and good friends. It’s not a particularly good lifestyle in which to hold the perspective that we’re an immortal being. It’s a great lifestyle to hold the perspective that we’re a temporal being, and we’re only here a few years and then we die. "To develop a whole new lifestyle takes thought. Our desire has to be transmuted into doing that. In the ordinary lifestyle of human consciousness, our desires generally are for things, for emotional experiences, for intellectual knowing. And that’s all good, but they’re not organized. We have to organize the tremendous power of desire so that it’s transmuted, and we desire the realization of the Self more than anything else. Then you’ll have enough desire left over to get things, to get happiness and to get all the getting that humans want. "But the tremendous force of desire is transmuted. The perspective is changed. We see ourself as an immortal being, and we work consistently with our lifestyle, day after day, week after week, month after month and year after year. Each decision that we make is an easier decision to make, and each reaction that we face, we face it joyfully. Each meditation that we hold is more profound than the last, and the spiritual being, the soul body, begins to merge with the physical body, as the elements of the instinct and the elements of the intellect that have been supreme life after life after life begin to give up and transmute their energies into the immortal body of the soul." And we have my comment here: Notice that Gurudeva doesn’t ask us to give up desire but rather to transmute desire. Gurudeva gives this explanation of his idea elsewhere in "Merging with Siva", "Desire is life, and the reason we desire things is because we are alive. Desire is energy expressing itself.” My comment on that is: The only way you could get rid of desire would be to get rid of life. Even if the physical body has passed on, even if we don't have a physical body, we are still "alive, " still active, creative and motivated by what? Desire. So, trying to get rid of desire is not really a solution to the cycle of desire and fulfillment. Instead, Gurudeva is suggesting uplifting our consciousness and changing what we desire. That is how we solve the problem, by channeling or transmuting our energy, desiring things that are more refined. Instead of desiring just to make ourselves happy, we desire to make our family and friends happy, too. That is a higher desire. Then we get Lesson 21: "On Earth to Realize the Self "Look through your entire life and make a memo of each major experience in this life. Then surmise how many major experiences you have had for the last ten lives. All the accumulative experiences have brought you to the point where you are now, ready to turn inward and realize your infinite being. They have all been good experiences. The reaction to the experience has also been good. It brought you to the point where you are, ready to sit down and say to yourself, 'Who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going? What is the power of That which has never changed, which I am and can feel in every cell of my body? Where does the clear white light come from? What is the underlying power of pure consciousness out of which awareness emerges?' All of this and more, too, you will ask yourself and get answers from within yourself, as you, your awareness as the lotus flower, begins to unfold. Always try to remember the reason why you are here. You are here to separate awareness from that which it is aware of and gain your own independence, your liberation, from the instinctive area of the mind. "When we’re in it, we believe that everything we’re going through is us. The intellectual area of the mind—when we’re attached and in it strongly, we believe that that is us. When we’re in the super­con­scious area of the mind, awareness is detached from that which it is aware of. We see ourselves as the traveler traveling through all areas of the mind, not getting stuck in any one area. Then we’re here to go in, to take awareness off the surface of the Earth into outer space, or out of the instinctive and intellectual areas of the mind, into pure super­con­sciousness, into the clear white light, so that it permeates every cell of the body. "We’re here to realize the Self, to have that one dramatic experience where everything that we thought was things is turned upside down, and our whole perspective afterwards changes. That is the purpose for living on this Earth. That is the purpose for being here this very moment. That is the purpose for my speaking to you in this way, to impress upon you very thoroughly that you are here for Self Realization, walking on this planet. Get it. Direct all your energies toward it, and then the tremendous power of desire will be for the one goal, not for the many goals toward which desires usually flow. When that happens, Self Realization will come to you. It’ll be very easy. One day, you will be Self Realized." Then in the commentary we have a series of Shum words that's related. Very nice one. rehli Voice or sound containing thought. sirehli Communication, projecting thought into another person’s mind or that of a group. vumsirehli This portrait names the many currents that come out of the simshumbisi and feed energy into the physical body; this is the musimatyena energy that flows out through these currents; they are not always in use (for instance when karehåna or vumtyeyudi are in power, these currents are dormant); nerves, energy currents. rehvumsirehli To give up mind, form, thought, feeling, even superconsciousness, until only the knowledge of the Self exists, then too this is given up; the Self alone remains; a process of the experience of focusing niimf into kaif through the giving up or elimination of the movement of niimf; the process of going into kaif through quieting the movement of niimf, piece-by-piece, form-by-form, until one merges into a pinpoint in the inner space of pure superconsciousness. (Two more to go here.) damrehvumsirehli The experience of Self realization. idamrehvumsirehli Spiritual awakening, the process in shumnuhm’. Very nice series. And, have a wonderful day.