Focus on being a soul, not the body, mind and emotions. When we think of ourselves as a soul we're able to move forward and get closer and closer to Siva. That's the whole idea of Saiva Siddhanta. A negative self-concept is an obstacle. We can change our self-concept through applying Gurudeva's teachings, affirming every day that we are a divine being. Vasana daha tantra: Going back and understanding experiences; clearing up the reactions to the past.

Master Course, Dancing with Siva, Lesson 1.

Unedited Transcript:

Guru Brahma, Guru Vishnu, Guru Devo Mahesvara, Guru Sakshat, Parabrahma, Tasmai Sri Gurave Namaha.

Good morning everyone.

This from our, Gurudeva's Master Course Lesson. We just started a new cycle; cycle starts at Tamil New Year. Happy Tamil New Year.

So we're back to Lesson 1. Go from Lesson 1 is about 365 and then start over again. Lesson 1 in "Dancing with Siva" is certainly one of my favorite lessons. Read the Sloka:

"Rishis proclaim that we are not our body, mind or emotions. We are divine souls on a wondrous journey. We came from God, live in God and are evolving into oneness with God. We are, in truth, the Truth we seek."

So you could just, think you could meditate on that for a year and keep learning something new every day. Certainly a rich statement.

And I always point out, that it's very interesting, "Dancing with Siva" is the name of the book, right? So the first sloka, you'd think it would start talking about Siva, you know? Starts talking about the soul. So, it's very important we focus on being a soul and not our body mind and emotions. And when we think of ourselves as a soul then we're able to actually get closer and closer to Siva. But when we think of ourselves as a body mind or emotions we're stuck at a distance, we're stuck at a distance. So, we need to think of ourselves as a soul in order to move forward which is the whole idea of Saiva Siddhanta.

But, trying to keep this morning's talk short so we won't explain the whole idea of Saiva Siddhanta.

We're going to raise the flag. Walk to Iraivan if weather permits.

I always tie this in to affirmations. My talk on affirmations starts out:

"What exactly is a positive self-concept? It is thinking of our self as a worthy individual deserving of a wonderful life and fully capable of achieving it..."

Unfortunately, many of us reach adulthood with a negative self-concept, feeling that others are better than us and so forth.

Of course we're not born with a negative self-concept; it's something that we pick up. Parents correct us in a way that makes us feel inferior. I always say when you correct the child you say something like: "Boy, that was a dumb thing you did. But, you're a smart child and I know you won't do it again."

You don't say the child is dumb, you know, you say the behavior is dumb, but you're smart. But unfortunately, parents don't necessarily do that and teachers don't necessarily do that either so we can end up going through the system and growing up and having a negative self concept. You don't feel as you're supposed to. We're the individual, deserving of a wonderful life, and fully capable of achieving it.

That's what we want to be when we're 21 years old. Ideally that's the state of mind we should be in.

So, if we're not, if we have a negative self-concept, then that is an obstacle.

It says here: "To progress spiritually, a positive self-concept is essential."

And for this, Gurudeva gives us certain tools which are affirmations, one of the tools. And the basic idea is we can change our self-concept; we're not stuck. We ended up with a negative self-concept because of how we grew up. We can re-mold it; we can change our self-concept through applying Gurudeva's teachings. One of the key teachings is using affirmations. Giving an affirmation every day that you are a divine being.

Also going back and understanding your experiences. Call that vasana daha tantra. Going back and clearing up the past and our reactions to the past which hold us.

So there's a number of tools we can apply to change a negative self-concept if we have one into a positive one. And that's what's needed before this first sloka is really livable.

"Rishis proclaim that we are not our body, mind or emotions. We are divine souls on a wondrous journey. We came from God, live in God and are evolving into oneness with God. We are, in truth, the Truth we seek."

One way I explain that in my talks is to think of being in space. The more activity in space these days and so we're thinking more about space. And one of the things about being in space is you need a space suit if you're outside. Very cumbersome, right? Trying to do things in a space suit. I wonder how they, you know they have to use wrenches and different tools and they're in a space suit floating around. So, we're in a space suit but we don't think about it that way.

We have a physical body, a mental body, an emotional body and we're the soul. So we think of ourselves like the person in space in this big cumbersome suit and the idea is get back in the capsule and get out of the suit as soon as possible, right, so? In this case we don't want to do that but we want to identify with that being that's residing inside these bodies. And look at the outside just like a space suit that eventually we'll throw off.

So we need to use different images to convince ourselves that we're a divine being.

And that's all we have time for this morning.

Have a great day. Have a great... This is called a ritau change.