Not Getting What You Want

Swami Satyananda SaraswatiBy his own account, Swami Satyananda’s method for working with disciples was: “I give them everything they don’t want and nothing they do want.”

What do you get when your teacher blocks you from getting what you want?

  • You get to watch yourself fume, freak out, machinate and manipulate.
  • You get to actually feel how enslaved you are by your attachments.
  • You get slowed down, or stopped. This gives you time to notice that, in the speeding drive to get what you want, your View has narrowed. Your ability to empathize and see a bigger picture that includes other people is diminished.

What do you get when your teacher gives you what you don’t want?

  • You get to work with the textures and tastes of your resistance to life.
  • You get to explore a new situation, one not so controlled by your karmic compulsions.
  • If you really let go, you receive an indelible and direct transmission of the quality of the freedom of your own essence nature.  Hint: It’s not the freedom of your small, tense, egoic self to do whatever the bleep it wants.

If you have some spiritual practice tools at your disposal, you can apply this natural paradigm to any situation in life, not just those situations orchestrated by a compassionate teacher. The reality is that Guru resides everywhere, in every situation, and she is always busy doing whatever it takes to help you wake up.

Love,
Shambhavi

 

 

Posted on May 9, 2012 by Shambhavi
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Present and Presence

Hello, Everyone!

Have you ever heard of a book called Tantra: the Play of Awakening?  No! Of course not! That’s because it’s my new, soon-to-be-released title.  The Play of Awakening will fly into your hands this coming June. The designer is working on it right now. I’m editing. The editor is editing. We’re all very busy. I’ll share the cover art with you as soon as it’s finalized.

In the meantime, here’s a little teaser from a section called “Present and Presence.”

You often hear about the importance of “being in the moment,” or “being present.”  Most of us interpret this to mean engaging fully with the present moment as opposed to being distracted by thoughts of the future or the past. We are being aware of what is happening right now rather than numbing out with fantasy.

In the direct realization traditions, the present as described above is the “ordinary present.” It is an aspect of our experience of linear time. It is, of course, desirable to be engaged with the present moment rather than lost in thought or fantasy. There are some lovely practices designed to help students  be more present in the ordinary sense. However, ultimately we are more concerned with presence than the present.

Being in presence means that all of our senses are open and awake. We are not grasping at successive moments in linear time with our mind. We are in a condition called samavesha, or immersion. We are fully immersed in the vital texture of livingness called Shiva nature: our own Self.

All direct realization practice aims at getting rid of the internalized watcher and becoming totally identified with the play of consciousness and energy.

Love,

Shambhavi

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Shambhavi
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Are You My Guru?

Recently asked:

Do I need permission to take a teacher as my Guru?

In direct realization traditions, the student needs to declare that she recognizes the teacher as Guru and wants to be treated as a disciple. The teacher also needs to say “okay.” The teacher will have recognized the situation with the student long before the declaration is made. The real situation with the teacher and the student is already accomplished, in terms of them being Guru and disciple, long before the declaration is made. Yet it is important to declare, to ask and to accept. This is because of the nature of the work between the student and teacher.

A Guru gets in all of  your business.  The teaching of a Guru is all-encompassing. When you ask someone to be your Guru, you are giving them a green light to do whatever it takes to help you to realize your true nature. The teacher needs to know the student is giving conscious permission for this. The student needs to take responsibility for being a student and not just linger in states of feel-good fantasy, using the circumstance of having a teacher as just another ego trip. There has to be a pact.

Love,

Shambhavi

Posted on April 9, 2012 by Shambhavi
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Navaratri and You

Today is the fourth day of Navaratri. During this 10 day festival, we celebrate the wisdom virtues of our lives as they emanate from three of Ma Shakti’s manifestations: Durga, Lakshmi, and Sarasvati.

During the first three days, we recognize life’s fierce and total compassion embodied in the Goddess Durga. Mother Durga, riding a tiger or a lion and brandishing all of the weapons of the Gods, is the living symbol of skill in cutting away limiting attachments such as jealousy, fear, competitiveness, self-denigration, emotional hunger, and so on.

Once these self-limiting attachments are cleared away, we can recognize in ourselves the great generosity of life embodied in Shakti’s emanation, Lakshmi. People today commonly think of Lakshmi as the giver of material wealth. However, material wealth is just a gross form of the world’s riches. In truth, Lakshmi is the very principle of generosity expressing itself in the limitless abundance of existence. Find Lakshmi in yourself by giving without hesitation.

During the next three days, Ma Sarasvati, the Goddess of Wisdom and the Arts, leads us to discover within ourselves the seeds of authentic Self understanding and natural devotion.

The tenth and final day is Vijayadasami, the Great Victory: Self-realization. We celebrate and express our gratitude for the natural process of life that inevitably leads us to this.

Posted on March 26, 2012 by Shambhavi
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