The HEART of mysticism

[amanpeter]

Received this in my Email and found many nuggets of nectar within. Hope you agree! Peter/valaya

 

James Bean

Moderator, Spiritual Awakening

Instant Messenger ID: sant_mat_gnosis

e mail: santmat@zdnetonebox.com

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1. The HEART of Mysticism

"sant_mat_gnosis ( James )"

<santmat@zdnetonebox.com>

 

 

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Message: 1

Thu, 23 Aug 2001 22:05:30 -0000

"sant_mat_gnosis ( James )" <santmat@zdnetonebox.com>

The HEART of Mysticism

 

Sant Mat Fellowship:

santmatfellowship

___________________

 

This is an article I wrote on the power of love and devotion to

open

us up to the spiritual domain. It's a long post so it'll be the

only

new post for a couple of days. Enjoy! Have a great weekend!

___________________

 

The Heart of Mysticism

 

By James Bean

 

(Copyright August 1997)

 

Cultivating love is one of the central teachings of mysticism,

East

and West. In India, Masters often use the term "Bhakti," which

means

love and devotion. Students of spirituality are instructed how

to

develop love for the Creator and for all souls. They're taught

that

approaching spiritual exercises and meditation with an attitude

of

love will lead to a much more succssful spiritual practice. An

ascetic attitude of discipline can achieve some results, but

love

concentrates the mind much more effectively. Love takes the

difficulty out of one's practice. Instead of meditation being

thought

of as a "duty" or "chore" to be tolerated, it's transformed into

joy,

a divine love affair!

 

The book "Enchanted Land," published by the MSAC Philosophy

Group

features encounters with several Indian mystics. I remain in awe

of

this particular quote from Yogani Mataji (Nirmala Pandit), a

Radhaswami guru who now lives in Bombay. I often use this quote

in my

meditation classes. The author asked Mataji: "How can one sit so

still, repeat only holy names and think of God constantly?"

Mataji

serenely replied:

 

By falling in love, because when one is truly in love nothing

but

the Beloved can enter one's mind. So the secret of Surat

Shabda

Yoga and of mysticism is not necessarily 'practice and more

practice,' but love. To be so devoted to one's Lord that

nothing

can stand in the way, this and nothing else is the truth

of Sant Mat.

 

The reason why love is so effective is, as many saints have

revealed,

the universe was created by love, is sustained by love, and is

returning back to love; love is the essence of everything

including

our soul. Our true nature is love. Kirpal Singh, an Indian

master

popular in the 1960's put it this way, "Love is innate in our

souls.

God is love and our souls are the drops of the ocean of all

Love,

which is also love personified." The great 19th century mystic

Shiv

Dayal Singh, the founder of the Radhaswami movement said, "The

essence of Spirit (Atma) and God (Paratma) is love (Prem).

Bhakti and

the Supreme Being are one. A genuine Master is the embodiment of

love. You are also love in essence, so are all souls." (Sar

Bachan

Radhaswami Poetry)

 

Spiritual practices like silent meditation can gradually

transform

the practitioner in profound ways. Meditation is the method used

throughout the ages to re-identify with our soul, the spark of

love

within.

 

"When we identify ourselves with our true essence we will

discover

the wealth of spiritual regions rich in knowledge modern science

can

only dream about." (Rajinder Singh) Instead of perceiving

ourselves

as being merely five dollars-worth of chemicals plus H2O, or a

collection of neurons firing and molecules, we perceive who we

really

are: SOUL. This process of self-realization, re-identifying with

the

love-essence of our soul is viewed as one of the most important

steps

of our spiritual evolution. Who we think we are will determine

the

course of our lives, both inwardly and outwardly.

 

Orthodox academic voices often portray our identity as solely

materialistic: the 'five dollars worth of chemicals and neurons

firing.' Other rigid or closed 'fundamentalist' belief-systems

portray human beings as ugly sinners and ugly saints perpetually

unworthy of partaking of divine mysteries, and that only after

death

will the meaning of life be revealed. This appears in the

context of

mysticism to be to little, to late. Fortunately, other

alternatives

exist! The approach of the mystical tradition transcends blind

faith

in limited belief-systems and encourages individuals to directly

verify the existence of the soul, higher spiritual realities and

God

through personal contact with them. For mystics, the human body

is a

kind of laboratory where spiritual claims can tested for

oneself. My

favorite quote from The Nag Hammadi Library is found in The Book

of

Thomas the Athlete, one of the Gnostic gospels:

 

Examine yourself that you may understand who you are, in what

way

you exist, and how you will come to be.

 

How logical. We're advised to examine who we are and how we have

come

to exist in this body of ours. This admonition implies that

human

beings have access to higher intuitions and senses, through

which we

are able to make new spiritual discoveries -- that is, IF we are

willing to make use of them.

 

Contemplatives seek spiritual knowledge through meditation. This

focuses all of one's attention upon the soul, that life force

which

makes us alive. The eastern way of self-knowledge is one in

which the

soul increasingly learns of it's true nature. The drop seeks to

discover the ocean from whence it came -- the ocean of life.

Mystics

call this looking within process, "inversion." In this way,

souls

learn to know themselves as well as to gain perception of the

oversoul, the Supreme Being.

 

"To convey this soul/oversoul relationship the saints and

mystics

have resorted to various analogies. Jesus spoke of it in terms

of 'father and son.' Shri Ramakrishna spoke of it in terms of

'mother

and child.' Mira Bai spoke of it in terms of 'husband and wife.'

Like

St. Teresa of Avila and mystics throughout the world, St. John

of the

Cross depicts the relationship of the soul and God as that of

lover

and beloved, of bride and bridegroom. As the relationship

develops,

the lover awakens to his or her lover and is changed into love

itself. This is the transformative power through which the human

becomes divine." ("Streams Of Nectar," Darshan Singh)

 

Many mystics have used the language of romance to describe the

ineffable joy of divine love and union. The ultimate goal of

mysticism is the union of the soul with the oversoul. In the

Narada

Bhakti Sutras, a twelfth century Indian scripture and manual of

Bhakti Yoga, it describes this union as intoxicating. The soul

"is

completely immersed in the enjoyment of the bliss of the Atman,

the

truest and highest Self." This goal is reached in mystical

states

discovered or realized during contemplative meditation.

Spiritual

practice is done with an attitude of sincere love or a strong

fervent desire and perseverance to approach the Supreme Being.

Love

removes all obstacles and forms a link with the Creator.

 

The medieval Indian mystic Dadu composed many odes to this

divine

state of being:

 

When the heart merges into the Merciful One, then no

difference

remains. Like ice dissolved in water, in God is merged the

lover.

God has become the anguished lover, and the anguished lover

has

become God. (Dadu, The Compassionate Mystic, RS Books)

 

One of my most favorite books of Eastern love poetry is "Songs

of

Kabir," published by Samuel Weiser books. The translator,

Rabindranath Tagore, was himself a great spiritual poet. Kabir

asks:

 

How could the love between thee and me sever? As the leaf of

the

lotus abides on the water: so thou art my Lord, and I am thy

servant. As the night-bird Chakor gazes all night at the

moon: so

thou art my Lord and I am thy servant. From the beginning

until

the ending of time, there is love between thee and me; and

how

shall such love be extinguished? Kabir says: 'As the river

enters

into the ocean, so my heart touches thee.'

 

Further to the West, the medieval Christian mystics also used

the

language of love to describe spiritual union with their heavenly

Beloved. Saint John of the Cross, a Spanish mystic, spoke of

"the

touch of the Beloved as setting the heart on fire with love; as

if a

spark had fallen upon it." Christian mystics also agreed with

their

Eastern counterparts that the soul, through mystical union,

becomes

deified -- becomes divine. Saint John of the Cross said:

 

And to make the soul perfect and to raise it above the flesh

more

and more, He assails it divinely and gloriously, and these

assaults are really encounters wherein God penetrates the

soul,

deifies the very substance of it, and renders it godlike,

divine.

 

After reaching this exalted state he said, "The soul beholds

itself

as one immense sea of fire." (quotes from his classic, "Living

Flame")

 

Another example of love consciousness or Prem-Bhakti manifesting

itself among the Christian saints is the 14th century English

mystic

Richard Rolle, who said:

 

Among these delights which he tastes, moreover, he

experiences in

love so sweet, the secret sent into him from heaven, which no

one

here knows unless he receives it, and bears within himself

the

potion which intoxicates lovers rejoicing in Christ... The

love of

God takes up to itself with marvelous rejoicing the soul of

the

one whom it perfectly penetrates and sets it truly ablaze by

the

fire of the Holy Spirit, and does not permit it to stray for

a

moment from the memory of so great a love. (The Fire of Love,

Richard Rolle)

 

I recommend two textbooks on mystical tradition. "Mysticism" by

Evelyn Underhill, first published in 1955, has become a

spiritual

classic on Christian and Sufi spirituality. Another beautiful

book

is "Streams of Nectar" by Darshan Singh, featuring chapters on

18

different saints of the Sant Mat, Sufi/Muslim, Christian, and

Hindu

traditions, SK Publications, 4 S 175 Naperville Road,

Naperville, IL

60563 ///

 

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amanpeter@hotmail.com

 

[This message has been edited by amanpeter (edited 08-24-2001).]

[Guest guest]

St. Teresa of Avila and mystics throughout the world, St. John of the Cross depicts the relationship of the soul and God as that of lover and beloved, of bride and bridegroom. As the relationship develops, the lover awakens to his or her lover and is changed into love itself. This is the transformative power through which the human becomes divine.

 

It is unbelievable how their realizations and philosophy are so close to those of Sri Caitanya's. They were almost contemporaries but couldn't have any direct relationship due different birthplaces, different origins and languages. But both San Juan de La Cruz and Santa Teresa D'Avila could express the same feelings towards Hari than the gopis of Vraja: Unselfish love like the paramour lovers use to have. Just like Sri Caitanya and his party.

 

I had read most of San Juan's poems, I would like to translate and to post some of them, but I am not qualified to proper express his feelings in English.

 

Maybe Jijaji, who is an expert spiritual cybernaut, can post his biography and some of his poems already translated. I think there are some in net in English. Make a search after "San Juan de La Cruz," you'll gonna get surprised!!!

 

 

[This message has been edited by Satyaraja dasa (edited 08-24-2001).]

[talasiga]

Saint John of the Cross poem:

O LIVING FLAME OF LOVE

 

O living flame of love

That tenderly wounds my soul

In its deepest center! Since

Now you are not oppressive,

Now consumate! if it be Your will.

Tear through the veil

of this sweet encounter!

 

O sweet cautery,

O delightful wound!

O gentle hand! O delicate touch

That tastes of eternal life

And pays every debt!

In killing You change death to life.

 

O lamps of fire

In whose splendors

The deep caverns of feeling

Once obscure and blind,

Now give forth, so rarely, so exquisitely,

Both warmth and light to their Beloved.

 

How gently and lovingly

You wake in my heart,

Where in secret You dwell alone;

And by Your sweet breathing,

Filled with good and glory,

How tenderly You swell my heart with love!

 

 

a translation found in a book by

Nitya Chaitanya Yati entitled

Love and Devotion

copyright 1979

published by East West University of Brahmavidya

Srinivasapuram, Varkala, India.

 

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talasiga@hotmail.com