PREMA JYOTHI - DECEMBER 2023 NEWSLETTER Sacred Earth
Within us is a wellspring of Joy
In this Christmas season the newsletter will explore the realm of joy, the depth of joy and, ultimately, the heart of joy. The picture above was taken on Karekare beach, the home of Sacred Earth. The flying Terns depict the pure joy of being for the sake of being only.
Joy has been defined (Merriam Webster Dictionary) as the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires. The same dictionary also defines joy as a state of happiness or felicity. The question arises - having what one desires – does that really bring joy, or does it seed only further desire?
Joy to the World is a popular Christmas Carol. The first line is, “Joy to the world the Lord has come”. To whom has the Lord come? Where has the Lord come from? Who is this Lord? Why does this Lord bring Joy?
To answer these questions, we must dive deeper into the process of unfolding joy within. Christmas time is often a time of celebration, of great festivities and lavish repasts. It is also a time of deep reflection on the life of Jesus. However, the sad fact is that it is also a time of great difficulty for many, where some find that they cannot share the joy of Christmas because of their circumstances. Why is this when none of these external pleasures bring lasting joy.
Joy is a natural consequence of experiencing the Atma – the Self within. It arises from a heart that is filled with Love, for we are Love. Joy often arises when we serve with an open heart and mind, a totally non-judgemental state wherein we see all as One. Mother Theresa of Calcutta saw Jesus in the poor, the sick and the destitute. She stated, “Where there is love, there is joy.” That equal vision arises when we identify with the heart that is full of Joy.
Love is God and God is Love. This is the dictum behind all the faiths. Joy is fundamental to all human beings, and therefore all the world’s faiths have the joy of loving God as a central tenet of their teachings. As the potential for joy is found in all peoples, we should not confine our thoughts at this time to one faith – Christianity but extend the bounds of joy and love to all.
Sai Baba says that the word JOY stands for: Jesus first (this implies that God is the essential core of our lives); Others next (we should consider all creation as part of the One, and work towards the welfare of all); and Yourself last (we can no longer be self-centred, but universally centred).
Let us use this season to spread joy by our actions, not just by singing a few lines of a Christmas Carol, for we are the wellspring of Joy.
“The secret is, discover the fountain of joy within; that is a never-failing, ever-full, ever-cool fountain, for it rises from God. What is the body? It is but the Atma encased in five sheaths, the Annamaya (the one composed of food), the Pranamaya (the one composed of vitality), the Manomaya (the one composed of thought), the Vijnanamaya (the one composed of intelligence) and the Aanandamaya (the one composed of bliss). By a constant contemplation of these sheaths or koshas, the sadhaka [aspirant] attains discrimination to recede from the outer to the inner and the more real. Thus, step by step, abandoning one kosha after another and is able to dissolve away all of them, to achieve the knowledge of his unity with Brahmam. Sathya Sai Baba 1965
“One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar.”
― Helen Keller, The Story of My Life
Joy On KareKare Beach
Do we choose Joy?
We all have a choice, we can make our lives a living kriya (evolutionary action) by choosing action that is elevating, that uplifts, that is evolutionary, or we can take actions that lead to suffering for ourselves and our fellow beings.
These two choices are available to everyone of us to increase kriya in our lives which naturally gives rise to greater love, greater harmony, and greater joy. Alternatively, actions based on the sense of isolated identity, fear or self-hatred leads us to greater suffering, and even addiction to this suffering!
It is important for each one of us to engage in a manner that gives value of that infinite value of pure being, which exists as joy.
Can we reflect on what we have done this week to raise the vibration of consciousness? How are we taking responsibility for infusing the world around us with love and joy, especially when we feel challenged? Can we move from engaging in negative filled conversations to filling our life and those around us with joy? Do we take some time every day to get in touch with our essential nature which is joy itself?
The renunciate Dharmista
Phil and I recently met a woman renunciate - Dharmishta, living alone in the forest above Gangotri. Her whole day was filled doing all the things that gave her joy: yoga, pranayama, devotional chanting and singing, worship, fire ceremonies and meditation. A dancer in her previous phase of life, she now only dances in joy for Hanuman, whom she considers her younger brother. “Life is too precious to waste in worrying what others think of us, “she emphasises.
We must follow our bliss.
- Savitri
“He was mastered by the sheer surging of life, the tidal wave of being, the perfect joy of each separate muscle, joint, and sinew in that it was everything that was not death, that it was aglow and rampant, expressing itself in movement, flying exultantly under the stars.”
― Jack London, The Call of the Wild
Picture of Jesus materialised by Sai Baba
Who was Jesus?
Jesus was a person whose only joy was in spreading Divine Love, offering Divine Love, receiving Divine Love and living on Divine Love. There are various theories about the birth date of Jesus based on the 'bright star that appeared at his birth.' It is visible once in 800 years, it is said. Some say he was born on the fifteenth day of September.
But he was born at 3-15 a.m. (early morning) on December 28, 1980 years ago. It was Sunday. The star that appeared that day appears only once in 800 years. Its appearance had nothing to do with the birth of Jesus. There is no rule that, when Divine Energy or Divine Incarnation descends on Earth, a star has to appear. That is the opinion of devotees only. But, Jesus was himself a 'Star' of infinite value, spreading brilliance of infinite dimension. Why posit another less brilliant glow?
- Sathya Sai Baba
What is Joy really?
We all strive to be happy. Throughout our lives, this is possibly the main goal of most. But we find that happiness comes and goes, according to the circumstances and occurrences in our lives. The question may be asked - is happiness joy? Perhaps joy is a more enduring state that spans the ups and downs of life. Can we be joyful in the most dire circumstances. Aotearoa/ New Zealand recently experienced a dramatic and destructive cyclone. This caused a great deal of misery to many people.
However, underneath the devastation and loss, people rallied round and the great sense of community prevailed. This occurred at Karekare, the home of Sacred Earth, and, both resilience and the sharing were highly prevalent.
Whilst there was much unhappiness and loss at this time. The sense of being part of the whole and not isolated in our own little world, shone through. Perhaps this is because, underneath all the difficulties, the sorrow and the bewilderment, there is joy.
From where does this joy spring? Pamela King states this about joy as compared to happiness.
“…joy is more complex than a feeling or an emotion. It is something one can practice, cultivate, or make a habit. Consequently, I suggest that joy is most fully understood as a virtue that involves our thoughts, feelings, and actions in response to what matters most in our lives. Thus, joy is an enduring, deep delight in what holds the most significance.” Dr. Pamela King (What Is Joy and What Does It Say About Us?
It could be that happiness is a fleeting feeling that comes and goes according to circumstance. In other words, happiness moves from the outside to the inside. Whereas joy is something akin to bliss, in that arises from within us. The following two quotes from Ramana Maharshi indicate that this is the case.
Ramana clearly identifies that seat of bliss as the heart. Here he refers to the spiritual heart, which is distinct and separate from what we might term as the emotional heart. Pamela King has studied joy and found that it is not attached to emotion but something deeper. Ramana places the seat of joy within the realm of the spiritual heart.
The oft repeated phrase of Joseph Campbell, “Follow your bliss”, is generally contextualised to our outer life. However, there is an inner path to bliss or joy that is not conditional on outer circumstance. This blissful path arises from the heart and merges into the heart. There are no words to identify or describe this, as it is a spontaneous opening to something deep within.
When we feel an emotion, if we ask deeply, within the heart of silence, from where does this emotion arise? Who does this emotion affect? We begin to enter the place where the possibility of true joy, true bliss, living eternally inside us, becomes evident. Undoing the knot of ignorance (the hridaya granthi) we enter a space where there is only joy. Then all creation, regardless of turmoil or destruction, regardless of pleasure and comfort, is seen as simply bliss – the Bliss of the Self. - Satyavan
“There are moments when I wish I could roll back the clock and take all the sadness away, but I have the feeling that if I did, the joy would be gone as well.”
― Nicholas Sparks, A Walk to Remember
“Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.”
― Thich Nhat Hanh
Gangotri lights up my heart
Here in Gangotri, my greatest joy is to walk up the mountain slopes, through the forest, deep into the heartland of the Himalayas. It is not long before I become completely intoxicated from the fragrance of alpine flowers. As I pass through the colourfully painted landscape, there are multitudes of butterflies, fluttering in the sunshine, displaying their orange, red, yellow green, or black striped wings.
The thrumming of the insects vibrates a musical note which flows across the landscape, overlaying the bird song and speaking of the inner beauty that underlies Mother Nature's kaleidoscope. It is as if a golden nectarine liquid is flowing out across the landscape.
Savitri walks the trails
To walk these trails, is to follow in the footsteps of all the rishis and yogis who imbued these regions with their energies. That experience opens me to the divine intelligence that created this landscape and is to be seen everywhere. Within the energy of great beings, I dissolve into the boundless skies beyond the mind, and I feel as if I am no longer walking, but being carried along.
Streams fall from the great heights of the mountains in white ribbons, dancing their way to Ganga, the mighty river, and a great silence holds this majestic panorama. This silence draws me into the heart of the Mystery of the ONE.
Yes, we are here for this inner journey. The outer with its magnificence teases the heart towards its Beloved.
Every evening I go over to one of the ashrams to feed sadhus (renunciates). They come to receive the diskha (offerings) of coffee, biscuits, warm milk, and rasa gula (a sickly Indian sweet). There is something that makes my heart sing whilst performing this service, and I am filled with an inexplicable joy. The sadhus line up every day at 5.30pm at the Punjab Singh Khestra, not just for their milk, but the spiritual food that is dispensed in the joyous renditions to the Divine played over the loudspeaker.
Filled with clouds of bliss, as I return to Tapovan Kutir. Inevitably I will pass an entourage of local villagers, wildly beating drums and dancing in their own joy as they carry their village deity towards the temple. This deity is all powerful, imbued with centuries of faith and devotion. It will be seated, shrouded in velvet, inside a special palanquin (mobile temple) and put to rest inside
the Gangotri temple to be taken for a bath in Ganga. At times these deities will simply depart for the river on their own, sometimes with the drums following, inexplicably without the drummer, for the sacred bath. Our cook has a video of such a deity dancing alone in the waves, in spite of the strong current! Just yesterday one deity enroute to the temple left the side of the river and crossed. Ganga to go to a particular spot. The villagers will go into a trance, dancing wildly in front of the temple until late in the night. They stay in one of the ashrams and return to their village the next day. There is an incredible power in these ancient spiritual practices that is beyond our comprehension.
Vishwanath Puri
We have spent some time in Satsang with a wild and free spirit, Viswanath Puri, who says he was a high saint in his two previous lives and is now here just to play. He does no sadhana or meditation but roams free in a cloth that is printed leopard skin and red tinsel turban. He tells us that, as we are part of creation, automatically at some point the sense of separation will disappear and we will experience ourselves as the One. He emphasises that we are all children of the One and we must spread love - just love. As a sadhu, he says he is like the ocean. No matter what problems appear in the outer world he goes inside the ocean. However, for him, the universe is a toy village created for our enjoyment. His life he describes as a bun, and bhakti (devotion) is the cream. When you put it on the toast it becomes delicious. Everywhere he goes he is giving, giving, giving, and at Kedarnath, his main abode he holds a daily Bandara (free feeding) for 600 other sadhus, doing all the cooking himself.
Indeed, Gangotri is filled with a tremendous joy. The people who take the pilgrimage here are smiling and happy. Their faces glow with the inner bliss. Lit up inside, they amble through the streets smiling and laughing with each other. I too, cannot help but smile back at them.
- Savitri
“I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.”
― Tagore
Joy on the face of a pilgrim to Gangotri
“If you carry joy in your heart, you can heal any moment.” Carlos Santana
What Is The True Meaning of Universal Love?
By Lyn Kriegler
Any love that is related to the body has an element of selfishness in it, and this can be compared to the electric light we have in a room. The light in the bulb is limited to the four walls of the room. This is like selfish love.
Love, if it is on a higher plane, can be compared to moonlight. Here the light is both within and without. This light too is hazy and not clear. This is human love, fraught with haziness.
Pure love,which is entirely selfless, is like sunshine. Sunlight gives us a clear view of all. Human love is like moonlight. Selfish love is like the light bulb in a limited space, a room.
Sathya Sai Baba
“It is all very well to say you believe in universal love,” muttered my friend Mohan.” “But I hate my job. I hate my boss. The people I work with are idiots. I get home and complain to my wife. I guess I need some sympathy...or something. She nags me instead and just adds to my misery. She says, Well, darling, what about the children? You can’t just leave your job. How will we manage? The power bill is due. The rent is due next week. Vikram needs a new pair of shoes..”
...really, my life is hell. I wouldn’t mind just running away from it all, to tell you the truth. I’m sure not feeling the love in my life!”
Mohan's outburst reminds me of a long-ago conversation a visitor had with the saint of Arunachala, Ramana Maharshi.
Visitor: I am inclined to give up my job and remain always with Sri Bhagavan.
Maharshi: Bhagavan is always with you, in you. The Self is Bhagavan. It is that that you should realise.
V: But I feel the urge to give up all attachments and renounce the world as a sannyasin (monk, renunciate)
Maharshi: Renunciation does not mean outward divestment of clothes and so on or abandonment of home. True renunciation is the renunciation of desires, passions and attachments.
V: But single-minded devotion to God may not be possible until one leaves this world.
Maharshi: No. One who truly renounces actually merges in the world and expands his love to embrace the whole world. It would be more correct to describe the attitude of the devotee as Universal Love than as abandoning home and donning the ochre robe. “
V: At home the bonds of affection are too strong. I do love them. I would be heartbroken to lose them. And then there's my parents, and my wife's family, and my sister....and my dog....and...and...
Maharshi: He who renounces when he is not ripe for it only creates new bonds.
V: is not renunciation the supreme means of breaking attachments?
Maharshi: it may be so for one whose mind is already free of entanglements. But you have not grasped the deeper import of renunciation...great souls who have abandoned the life of the world have done so not out of aversion to family life but because of their large-hearted and all-embracing love for all mankind and all creatures .
V: the family ties will have to go sometime so why shouldn’t I take the initiative and break them now so my love can be equal for all?
Maharshi : When you really feel equal love for all, when your heart has so expanded as you embrace the whole of creation you will certainly not feel like giving up this or that. You will simply drop off of secular life like a ripe fruit from the branch of a tree. You will feel that the whole world is your home.
Lyn: Look at that last sentence carefully: you will feel that the whole world is your home. This is what drives travel writers. The world is their playground. The world is their oyster. They are ready to make the smallest corner or the biggest city their home. They are happy to try any cuisine. They are prepared to embrace any culture, any race, any language, any custom. And it goes much, much deeper than that. Fortunately one need not leave the comfort of their home to experience universal love. it is simply a matter of entering the world of the heart. Therein lies the flame, the fire, the deathless immortal point of positive energy I the body that is capable of limitless expansion. This is self-enquiry. This is the road back to the Self. Maharshi emphasized: is always with you, in you. The Self is within you. All roads eventually lead within; all great teachers recommend the heart as the best teacher. One cannot just blithely say “oh, I love everyone!” and the next minute insult the cleaner, avoid a debt, cheat on your exam, neglect your health (love for yourself in the manner of self-care is an absolute, which many neglect out of laziness or a misunderstanding of sacrificing oneself for others) . If you complain about your neighbour, break your word, hate your taxman or kick the dog-- you’ve missed the boat. Pure love is universal. It does not differentiate and it is not affected by fickle emotions, likes or dislikes, preferences or choices. These are aspects of personality.
If a person remains centred on the True Self, as their identity, ever remaining in the reality of themself as a constant steady flame, they remain unaffected by worldly cares. Sounds impossible? It’s not. Make it your life's work. Nothing else compares in importance to ensure a life well lived. We have received this greatest gift...a physical body to house that flame. That temple is a moveable feast. It has feet, arms, legs, hands, eyes, ears, taste, touch, breath, a smile, a voice that comforts, that races to help, whomever, whenever, wherever. That is the true purpose of your life.
The Buddha knew and made known to the world the truths:
Everything is empty.
Everything is brief.
Everything is polluted.
Properties are not proper ties.
So, the wise man has to do the duties cast upon him with discrimination, diligence and detachment.
Sathya Sai Baba
