Coping With Change

Sharing our wisdom is an integral part of living a balanced life. I am honored my Guruji has blessed me with the seva of passing along the lessons I have learned throughout the years.

Today I had the great good fortune of sharing these words with a young man on Instagram. They seemed to resonate, so I share them with you.

Namo Namah
Bhakti

June 9, 2015

INSTAGRAM @jai_bhakti
TWITTER @BhaktiBrophy

BHAKTI BROPHY QUOTE No. 462: SHIVA SHAKTI

Shiva is the screen.
Shakti is the movie.


©2014 DL Bhakti Brophy
All Rights reserved

BHAKTI YOGA: Mundaka Upanishad

Take the great bow of the sacred scriptures,
Place on it the arrow of devotion;
Then draw the bowstring of meditation
And aim at the target, the Lord of Love.

The mantram is the bow, the aspirant
Is the arrow, and the Lord the target.
Now draw the bowstring of meditation,
And hitting the target be one with him.

~ Mundaka Upanishad (Part 2. 2:3-4)


This Upanishad was written circa 2,000 BC.
These two verses define the essense of Bhakti Yoga. "Bhakti" is Love and Devotion--combined with a strong longing for Union (yoga) with the Atman, the Self; knowledge of the Truth.


May you ALL draw the bowstring of devotion and become One with the Lord, your Self Within!


Love and All Great Blessings,
Bhakti*




* I was blessed with this name (Jaya Bhakti! Jai Bhakti!) by my Beloved Guru ji.

THE INFINITE SUN

While in meditation, I heard myself referring to The Self Within as THE INFINITE SUN.
I find this quite fitting--perhaps this will be the title of my new book.
Here's an excerpt from the journal entry written while coming out of this joyous meditation. Enjoy!



THE INFINITE SUN

My Heart Center on Fire
with cool rays of the Infinite Sun;
The Self Within.
Source of Infinite Love and Light.
Life.

No body.
Nobody.
Just am.





 © 2013 DL Bhakti Brophy
All Rights Reserved
(Excerpt from new book.)

OM SHREE SHREE GURUMAYI...JAYA!

"In truth, the gift of life must always be recognized and never be taken for granted. Why is life so precious? In Siddha Yoga philosophy, we recognize that in this human life we have a rare opportunity. We can transform an ordinary perception of this universe into an extraordinary vision. To be on this planet and to behold the universe from the divine perspective is a sign of an illumined heart. To put this vision to best use in the best way possible is a human being’s highest duty."

--Gurumayi Chidvilasananda
Sadhana of the Heart, Vol. I, pg. 162



To see everyone, everywhere as a manifestation of Divinity is a rare gift. For this gift, I thank my Beloved Jesus Christ, the Light Within, and my physical spiritual teacher, Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, for giving me the key-- for showing me that I am the Guru I have been searching for; I am That, the Self. She is the manifestation of the Self--showing me my Truth. It is only with this supreme knowledge, and through this gift of knowing the Truth that I have been able to get through the past two years of "hell". Even while going through my darkest times, through the worst physical pain and mental anguish, it is the knowledge of the Truth that has made it possible for me to go on. It is my knowledge of how precious this very life is that carries me through the darkness, even when "I" can not see the light. I know it's there. 'IT' is always present; the Self, the Guru within and without, is always present--even when our minds cannot perceive this notion; even when we feel as though we have sunk so low that we feel we have lost everything we have ever worked for (spiritually speaking), the Light is shining.

When I feel I can no longer live with the physical pain and mental anguish caused by the level of pain I am in, there is always something that gets me through those incredibly dark, wretched times. That 'something' is the Light Within. That something is the knowledge that EVERYTHING, EVERYWHERE is of a divine nature. Yes, EVERYTHING. I recall that even my worst feelings and emotions, and the darkest places in my psyche are a manifestation of pure consciousness. Nothing exists that is not God.



As the Hindus say: 'Nothing exists that is not Shiva'.

In the New Testament John proclaims that Jesus was made before him, even though he is IN him!

The Creator is the Created, and vice-versa. (Take a breath and chew on that one for awhile--it does make sense, I promise!)



Yes, that is the key.



I have been struggling--REALLY struggling--these past few months with issues of life vs. death. How is one to live with this amount of pain? And worst still, how am I supposed to live with the knowledge that my disability is taking a toll on my mother?



The answer, my friends, is recognition that all is Divine! Once experienced, it's a simple recognition; it's like riding a bicycle. The problem occurs in remembrance, i.e. 'how to remember this while in the throws of despair?' Not such and easy task!

When I'm in a deep, dark hole (created by my mind no longer being able to handle the level of physical pain--coupled with the toxicity of the meds I'm on), I find it virtually impossible to remember that this, too, is Shiva. This too is a manifestation of God. It's all good! Even the 'bad' is good. Actually, if we take the concept of 'good' and 'bad' out of everything, we are left with simple 'being'. (And I very graciously thank Master Dr. Yuen for reminding me of this TRUTH.)



In short, I have not been posting on this blog for some time now for the simple reason that I had nothing inspiring to write. I was loathe to write about my struggles with keeping my head above the water. My journey since last November's surgery has been brutal: the greatest thing I've learned is that I don't care what anyone thinks anymore. If people don't want to be supportive of my condition, that's their decision, that's their choice, that's their prerogative. It's also MY prerogative to focus on the good--to focus on the people who actually take an interest in helping me survive. People who are willing to admit that one of their loved ones is suffering and that I need their help, rather than making every excuse in the book to run the other way.



The truth is, I have PLENTY of supportive, loving people in my life. The problem used to be that I spent so much energy trying to get the people who DIDN'T understand,-- and who DIDN'T want to help me-- to understand what I'm going through, and I wasn't focusing on the people who ARE here for me, who ARE helping me.



I was taking care of some online business when I came across the above quote--and that's when remembrance hit me. The question of life vs. death is no longer going to be in my vocabulary. (When did that question even enter my vocabulary? I'm the one of the most positive people I've ever met. I know the answer to that question: the level of pain mixed with the high level of pain medications.) This life IS a gift. I have been to the darkest caverns of my soul--to the darkest corners of my mind--and I've survived. I will continue to survive.



I spent the past three weeks withdrawing from 1/3 of the total amount of Oxycontin that I take for my pain. This has been a hellish experience, to say the least. I have experienced hell in all of it's forms since July 29, 2005, when my neck decided to fall apart; however, trying to lower the dosage of Oxycontin was hell: shaking, irritability, restlessness, loose bowels (eww! but true!), insomnia, crying, and more shaking. I reached a point where I had to admit that I am no longer living for myself; I am alive for the sake of my mom and dad; for my nieces and nephews, etc. What is the purpose of experiencing all of this pain, day in and day out? That's the conclusion that I drew last week. That's a terribly low place to be.



I don't think it's hard to imagine how this could wear a person down--two years of third-degree-burn-like sensations going down your left arm, into the wrist, and palm, through the middle and ring fingers; going down your back into both shoulder blades. Etc. You've heard it all before.



But the answer to my question is simple. And, of course, my Beloved Gurumayi Chidvilasananda revealed it to me just when I needed it: Life is a gift. Focus on the positive.



There are plenty of people in my life who don't give me the time of day. They make it a point to tell me that it is 'difficult to be around you' and talk about my bad moods, etc. They ignorantly tell me to 'get out more'--not knowing that if I could, I would--DUH! Although I no longer have patience for this kind of behavior anymore, I forgive them, and I thank God that they know nothing of the pain that I am going through. They may have forsaken me, but that's not my problem. It's not even my business, really. What others' think and/or feel about me is not my business.



I have been blessed with the knowledge and vision that everything, everywhere is Divine, albeit I don't live in this state of unity awareness all the time. Even the greatest sinner has the Light Within, shining brightly--the problem is, they can't see it; they don't know it exists--and that's why they do ungodly things, such as kill, molest, rape, etc. 'Forgive them, they know not what they do.' I say, 'They know not what they are.' I believe when Jesus was on the cross saying "Forgive them, they know not what they do", he was saying--they don't know that My Light is shining right within them. They are ignorant of their own divinity.

Jesus came to Earth not merely to show us that He was God, but to show us that WE, too, are God. We have the eternal flame burning inside every cell of our bodies! The nucleus of every atom in our body throbs, pulses, stating 'The Word' (Om---God!). "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God." The 'Word' was God. In other words, God created sound, and the Sound was God: sound was made of God--and God was in sound. The early Hindus explained it thusly: you have pure gold. You melt the gold and make necklaces, rings, picture frames--heck--even the interior of one of Elvis' Cadillacs. Even though the gold has taken different forms, it's still gold. If you melt down a gold earring, you have pure gold. This is what I believe the author of Genesis was stating when he said "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God": God began creating--and He is in everything He is, and He is in everything He does.

Lest I digress, I must say thank you to everyone who has kept in touch. I will try to hold my head up high--thanks to Dr. Kam Yuen, I can actually hold my head up for up to 5 hours at a time, and he got rid of my stomach spasms and my migraines--I'm going to write an article on him soon. Stay tuned. (If you are in any kind of chronic pain, please click on his name for more information on instant healing. This is no joke--he is the real deal.)



Darkness is ALWAYS dispelled by Light. It can be no other way. If you feel like you can't go on, like you have no purpose in life anymore; if you are on medicine that makes you depressed, or if you feel you aren't getting the support you need, pray for help. Pray for guidance. Reach out to someone in your neighborhood. If you have to, beg for mercy. I begged for God to dispel some of the darkness I was experiencing-- and two days later I happened across the above quote by my beloved spiritual guide. Not to mention the fact that my friend Sally paid for me to have an alternative healing session with a woman named Anne--who in turn sent me to her husband--who in turn introduced me to Master Yuen.

I just thought of a funny image: For the past three weeks I have been feeling as though I was at the absolute end of my rope--and believe me, this is not a place I've been many times before. And then yesterday, something clicked. I found the Gurumayi's quote. I got more insight from Master Yuen. It seemed like the sun came out after a long winter's sleep. I realized that yes, perhaps I was at the end of my rope--but it was then that I realized that I merely had to look up, look around, and I see that there were other ropes to grab hold of. I stopped banging my head against the same wall over and over again (figuratively speaking, of course) and grabbed a different rope; or should I say a different 'life preserver'.

Prayer is so powerful--and I'm not talking about blind faith. You have to believe, you have to know that we (the entire world, universe) is, on some mysterious level, a collective soul. If you ask for help, someone will hear you; something will happen to you that will open your eyes and begin the healing process. Even something as simple as a quote, or as gracious as an email from a Master healer can open your eyes to the beauty of life--and the knowledge that life is precious--and should not be taken for granted.



My love always and forever to Gurumayi Chidvilasananda---the One who gives freely of her love, support, knowledge, and wisdom. I have given her my heart and she has given me the world.



Om Shree Maha Ganapatayi Namaha!

Om Shree Shree Ganesh,

The remover of obstacles.



Go in peace, my friends.

In the famous words of my beloved favorite guitarist (tied in first place with Frank Zappa, of course) STEVE VAI: "Remember: LIFE IS GOOD!'

~Bhakti

tags: Jaibhakti, Bhakti Brophy, bhakti, Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, Divine Love, quotes, spirituality, steve vai, pain management, Dr Yuen,

TODAY...ON MY MIND:

I like to think of everyone and everything everywhere as Shiva (the Lord) with a costume on. I see things this way and I believe it to be true. If Christians were to study the Gospel of Thomas, they would come to know that Jesus is not someone or something outside us, but He IS ourselves. Thomas quotes Jesus as saying "Anyone who drinks of My cup becomes Me, and I him." I have come to know that everything everywhere is a manifestation of the Divine.

If one were also to compare the Gospel of Thomas to basic Hindu texts--say the Katha Upanishad--one would find that our two religions are basically saying the same thing, but with different symbols and languages. Joseph Campbell was right in saying that all 'myths' tell the basic need of each culture to make sense of their own existence/divinity. And as one of my teachers, Baba Muktananda, says--"All paths lead to the same door."

This is lovely! It is my contention that if people stopped paying attention to the mere words of their religious texts, but took them to be symbols of a deeper meaning, more people would realize that most of the major religions are talking about the same concepts. It is the language and the cultural plurality (and the human interpretation) that cause the differences and the strife. Think about it: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are ALL Biblical religions (that is, they use the 5 books of Moses as a basis of their religion)--and yet they are the three religions that are causing the conflict in the Middle East.

Literal interpretation of the Bible is dangerous. My experience of Jesus 'ascending to Heaven' means that He ascended above the solar plexus chakra (energy field/circle) and rose higher to the Heart Center, Ajna Chakra (Third Eye), and then finally to the Sahasrara, located at the top of the head. To me, this is the literal meaning of 'ascension'. Science (not to mention mere logic) has proved that a physical Heaven couldn't possibly exist. Think about: what is above us? The sky. Other Universes. Other Galaxies. What is below us? There is no 'below', because the Earth is round. There is only the center of the Earth.

That is not to say that Dante was wrong in his description of the 12 gates of Hell. I believe in the existence of Hell, although not a physical place. Hell, to me, is when we descend into the lower chakras. These are the energy places in the body where, when situated there, they allow us to cheat, lie, steal, murder, etc. This is NOT, by any measure, anywhere near the seat of the Lord. The purpose of our being born is to find the path that leads to the ascension of our spiritual energy to union with the Lord within (hence the word 'yoga').

Since globalization is the wave of today, and is obviously going to be the way of the future, we (the collective people inhabiting planet Earth) need to start taking into account that we come from not only different places, but we have different stories. Our forefathers all told different stories based on their own experiences. The story of Jesus of Nazareth is not going to make as much sense to a Native American as it does to a Christian European. Native Americans have their own myths and legends (in using the word 'myth', that is not to say that I don't believe that Jesus was an actual man); their stories illustrate the pursuit of man in finding his own Divinity; his own purpose; his highest good.

Let's come together and start comparing our religions before we wage wars over signs and symbols that may have the exact same inherent meaning, even when written in different languages, by different cultures. The time is now. There are no more excuses for faith based wars. We are ONE world.

""It will not come by watching for it. It will not be said, 'Look, here!' or 'Look, there!' Rather, the Father's kingdom is spread out upon the earth, and people don't see it." --Gospel of Thomas

"The self-existent pierced the openings outward;therefore one looks outward, not inside the soul.A certain wise person, however, seeking immortality,looking within saw the soul." --Katha Upanishad

Heaven is right here, right now. Look inside and find it.

Love,

Bhakti

TAGS: Jaibhakti, Bhakti, mysticism, Joseph Campbell, Bhakti Brophy, religious war, peace, spirituality,

Introduction to THE EGO...

Hello. It's been a long time since I've posted, but I knew in my heart that I needed to take some time away from the ritual that had become my life in order to do some major soul searching. I think it's good to 'drop out' for awhile. For me, it helps gain perspective. Of course, there are many ups and down when one takes on this endeavor: the ego doesn't like to be toyed with or challenged. The ego doesn't like when we try to get rid of everything in our minds that keeps us down and keeps us small. I spent a lot of time (and continue to spend time) pulling out the weeds of repressed emotions and old thought patterns that needed to be purged like last year's news. Wow, I didn't expect the ego to put up such an intense fight. (By 'ego' I mean the limited mind; that which is NOT our intuitive mind. The 'ego' is the part of the mind that thinks it knows what's best for us, when, actually, the ego is only interested in keeping itself afloat.)

Does this make the mind sound a bit disjointed?

Well, dualistic maybe, but not disjointed. All humans have an ego-mind and an intuitive sense. There's the duality. There's God, and then there is the limited self. The intuitive mind is innate, although it is sometimes buried way beneath the ego mind. I'll write more on this topic later. For now, I will just say that this past year has forced me to look at the things in my thought beliefs and life patterns that keep me bound, and I have to tell you--it's all the doing of the ego. The ego wants to keep us small. It's not so difficult to understand this Truth once the ego is understood. Basically, the ego is that which tells us that we must be careful, fearful, full of guilt, and needy of punishment. In other words, it's the ego that keeps us from knowing the innate Truth within.

We are greater than we could ever imagine! All of us. Just by taking birth we are great--a manifestation of God. Yet the ego keeps us bound.

Why?

Because if we aren't bound, then we are free. No more need for the ego. Our self that was once tethered by the ego becomes a Self swimming in the knowledge of undying existence, love, and bliss absolute (to borrow from ancient Hindu philosophical speak) which can never die.

Think about it: our bodies die, our personalities dissolve. What is left? The spirit. The Self. I have found that knowing the Self within and experiencing the Self is not enough. By the Grace, love, and knowledge of my spiritual teachers it was brought to light that, indeed, knowing the Self is not enough. We must sustain the experience of the Self within.

But how???

Get rid of the ego. Dissolve the ego. I needed to (and continue to) forgive myself for all of the guilt that has been locked away in my subconscious for so long. With guilt comes fear; fear of punishment. Where does this guilt come from? Look inside. Meditate. As the emotions come up, experience them and let them go. Dissolve the emotions, fear, and anger that keep you bound. I had found that many of my not so memorable childhood experiences were still informing my decisions in my adult life. It was time to take out the garbage, for sure.

This is a very lofty, time consuming, emotional rollercoaster of an endeavor, to be sure; however, it is my wish that everyone gets to this point in their lives. The point where they KNOW that their True Reality, the reality of their existence, is LOVE. We are all nothing but love. We are all love. We come from Love; we exist by the Grace of this Love; we find this Love by our longing for something real, something constant, not transient; and we dissolve back into this Love when our bodies/minds die.

May the light within shine so brightly that you long to know this Truth within. And if you know this Truth, share it with others. One by one, we will enlighten this world. One person at a time, until everyone learns the value of their lives. When we know the value of our own lives and truly honor the Self within, we have no choice but to love our fellow man. We must honor all of God's creation--from the largest boulder to the tiniest blade of grass.

Please look upon your fellow man with love. We are all connected. If a fellow man transgresses, know that they are doing their best, even if their best falls incredibly short of the mark of goodness and right action. Some people cannot see the light within; they have no knowledge of the incredible source of love and joy that is within their own hearts. They are blind. Yes, blind. They do not have knowledge of the Truth, therefore, they believe their physical existence is the only reality. That is why they start wars, commit genocide, rob, steal, and punish others. They are truly punishing themselves. They only have personal desire and greed. Blind. Therefore, forgive. And pray that everyone everywhere may know the Light of God, the Love of God, and the immense Grace of God that is right within!

Find the jewel within. All of your Earthly desires will fall away. What is there left to desire when you have knowledge that everything is transient except for this Truth? This doesn't mean you have to give away all material things. It is truly the cessation of longing for things in the outer world simply because you have found That which you are looking for.

Won't you join me in this search? No dogma. Only love. Share it with yourself and your fellow man.

Om Namah Shivaya,
Love,
Bhakti

tags: Jaibhakti,
Bhakti Brophy,
ego, spirituality, Om Namah Shivaya,
Divine Love, Divine Truth, Bhakti

The Light Within Us All Shines Brighter Than A Million Suns!

I just returned home from another week-long stay in the hospital; this time for pain management. I have to say that no matter how much physical pain and drama in general that I experience in my life, there is still a light at the core of my being that can never be extinguished. As Baba Muktananda says, knowing this light, the Self within, is the purpose of each and every human birth. Time and time again, I am lead back to this light within, and I feel so blessed. To me, this light is the sustaining power of the entire universe.

I thank God for leading me home, to the source within. A source, by the way, that is available to each and every one of us--right within our own hearts.

Love and all great blessings,
Bhakti

Click here for a brief article defining 'Self Realization'.

tags: Jaibhakti, Self-Realization, Swami Muktananda, spirituality