Recently a friend of mine asked a question during a meditation class.  He asked if we ever really get there.  I knew what he meant.  Do we ever reach this wonderful enlightened state where we are at peace and one with God, The Universe, and in that Heavenly state of mind?  Do we ever become free of fear and worry? Do we  get to live with a lasting sense of peace and happiness, and still feel completely alive in an adventure?

I think back to a story told by Parahansa Yogananda.  He talked about feeling disconnected with God during a certain time period.  It got to be so agonizing that he asked God to please come to him.  He was crying in pain. God came to him and told him, “when you could see me in your world you were close to me.”  When you were longing to see me, you were thinking of me, and you were close to me.”  He said after this he went through seven months of complete bliss.  No  matter where he was or what he was doing he felt an incredible sense of happiness.

My answer to my friend was that when truly get the lesson, we will feel extremely good, magically in touch with the Universe.  When we get whatever the Universe is trying to tell us through our situation, we will have signs from God letting us know we are in a different place than normal life.  Parahansa’s bliss was an example of this.

It is also true that when we truly get the lesson, the karma will be transcended.  Our situation will change.  Parahansa’s pain left, his agony left, when he got the lesson that he is connected and close to God, when God is on his mind.  Not only did his pain and unhappiness leave, but he moved into incredible happiness and bliss.  His karma was transcended.

The thing is, we are always in the midst of a lesson.  We need to realize that the lesson is where God is.  When we get the lesson we will see God.  We will see how everything was designed for us to get it.  We will see magic and harmony.  We will not trade it, our lesson, and all that came along with it, for nothing, because it led to the incredible sense of oneness we are experiencing.

When Parahansa Yoganada cried to God, he let go of his will.  We must let go of our will to get the lesson.  When we do we move into the will of God and the Universe.  We become one.  We get incredible ideas and information that are beyond where we normally are.  We act differently.  We think differently.  Once again, the knowledge Parahonsa received letting him know that whenever his mind is on God, God is right there, moved him into a state of incredible bliss.  He was there.  We can be there too, but we must let go of our will, and our plans and truly be open to the lesson.

Sincerely,

Craig

Today’s post comes from my second book Wise Words.  It applies to both people and situations.  It can apply to having faith in God or faith in the way people will act.  It also of course applies to the experience of God, the Universe, people and situations.

“When You Have Experience, You Know That You Know, That You Know.  When You Don’t Have Experience You Don’t Know, That You Don’t Know, That You Don’t Know.”

In the Power of Myth, Bill Moyers asked Joseph Campbell if he was a man of faith.  Joseph Campbell replied “I don’t have to have faith I have experience.”

Faith is very powerful, it has been called the evidence of things not seen.  Experience however, is seeing for yourself and seeing is believing.  Seeing for yourself is even more powerful than having faith.  On the spiritual path we are encouraged to do what we have to do in order to have the experience for ourselves.  Then we have gone beyond faith, we have gone beyond belief, now we know.

The Legend of Bagger Vance (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

My message for today came at me loud and clearly even screaming.  I was walking outside to my garage thinking.  I was thinking about people in my world, particularly the ones who I feel my relationship with could be better.  As I thought about this I saw my next door neighbor.  A young girl about 10 years old.  I spoke to her.  She reluctantly spoke back.  I thought to myself that I had made a connection with her younger brother and although he did not want to speak at first, we speak now.  He usually looks happy to see me.  I began to wonder what is it about me and certain people?  I get along with most, but some people, then I thought “wait, you are nobody.”  Suddenly I got this wonderfully peaceful feeling, complete with all the sensations of a deep meditation.  When this happens I tend to take notice of either what I said or what’s going on.  I thought I am nobody. Why did I feel this way from saying that?  Then I realized that this was to be my message for the day.

I thought about the last chapter of my first book. What If My Soul Is Eternal and Heaven Is Everywhere? The chapter is titled “More on Remaining In The Kingdom, You are no longer you.”  It mentions that wonderful scene in the movie Bagger Vance.  When asked how is he going to help poor Junuh who is clearly struggling with his game and in life.  Bagger says “Oh you want to know my strategy.  My player has a problem right now.  He still thinks he’s Rannulph Junuh  .”  The inquirer answers.  “He is Rannulph Junuh, you twit.” Bagger responds “well he is and he aint.”  Bagger knew that his job was to get Junuh off all his concerns that came along with being Junuh.  “What will they think if I can’t hang with these two greats?  Will I be letting the people of my town down?  Will I get my game back? How can I compete with the two golfing gods, Bobby Jones and Walter Hagen, when I am just an amateur?”  Bagger had to get Junuh to see he is one with the ball and the club and the course and truly let all other thoughts go.  As I thought about this, I realized once again that this is what I must do in life.  Forget about whether someone likes or understands Craig.  Focus on just sharing and giving without the concerns with how the outcome of my giving or sharing effects Craig or the perception of Craig. In reality I am simply an instrument of God playing the role of Craig and hopefully being open enough to do it the way in which God and the Universe wants it to be done.  Once again as I processed it all I felt so free.

Sincerely

Craig

Logo of the Dharma Initiative (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This post is for those of us who for whatever reason find ourselves not taking time to truly be ourselves.  The ancients have a term called dharma.  Dharma means duty.  Dharma also means place in life.  It is our duty to God and The Universe and ourselves to be in our place.  Our place is where we feel most natural and happy.

It does not matter what we do for a living or how busy we find ourselves, we must take time to tend to our dharma.  We are all wired a certain way, and we are wired that way for a reason.  We are like tools made for a specific purpose.  If we are not being of use in the way that God intended for us to used or better yet the way The Universe wants to express itself through us, we will feel out of harmony and  out of balance.

The interesting thing is we may even have several ways we are meant to express ourselves.  I have found that I can spend all day everyday tending to one dharma with my business where I serve many people daily, but if I neglect other parts of myself and ways of expression, I will feel out of sorts. The more this is neglected the worse it gets.  It can even lead to fatigue and sickness.  For this reason I have to take and set aside time to be myself in ways that may not otherwise be expressed.  I have found that taking just a few minutes a day to devote to my writing for example does wonders for me and changes my whole day.  It changes the way I feel about the rest of my life because this part of myself is not being neglected.

This is just some food for thought or a question to ask yourself.  Are you tending to your dharma?  Are you taking time to be who you really are?

This past week my message has been based on a story about embracing right where you are, realizing God is right there with you.  The same story seemed to keep showing up everywhere I looked.  Then, yesterday I looked at a previous post in this blog randomly, saying “whatever I open to will be my message for today.”  The post talked about not casting pearls before swine.  It was about not sharing information with people who are not ready for it.  Truthfully, I went on about my day without thinking much about it.  Then this morning, I opened up my book Wise Words for a message to start my day.  It read “Do Not Caste Pearls Before Swine.”

This time as I read I paid more attention to the message, and thought about how it may be relevant to what is going on in my life at the moment.  I felt like God and the Universe was saying “I tried to tell you yesterday.  Pay attention.”

It was a reminder that we are in a perfect Universe that is always trying to guide us if we pay attention and remain open.  Everything is working for us.  We just have to move into the harmony and pay attention to the lesson at hand.

Thank you,

Craig