Keys to understanding the universe #5: surrender to the wisdom of the universe

Let’s start with a game: Above 9 dots are covered with 5 straight & connected lines…
… now try to connect all 9 dots with only 4 straight and connected lines: 
(You will find the answer later, but think for yourself first, before scrolling down).

What is the difference between the dedication towards the highest, the absolute, and the divine?

• the Highest = to be “your best you can be”, such as practiced in
  • Karma yoga which includes high ethics
    (not to be misunderstood with political correctness)
• the Divine = focus on a higher force ( which is the realm of religions)
  I do distinguish it from the religious god in my two posts:
  • about the orthodox concept of religion, &
  • about the esoteric mystical approach
    So this article is for believers and atheists alike.
• the Absolute = a cosmic state pervading everything (as used in Buddhism for example)

Just to make sure, that you don’t mistake the orthodox concept of a liberating daddy-god who rescues us from the misery we brought upon ourselves, Krishnamurti does debunk an obedient belief in a creator-saviour-person-god here:

Rituals to connect to the divine are.

• Bhakti Yoga
• Jesus prayer and mantras like the rosary,
• chanting: the repetition of certain words tunes one into a vibration by
  • either repeating a certain meaning until it sinks in
    (here are 16 interpretations of the meaning waheguru
    which is used in SCK for example);
  • or using certain syllables to influence the energy,
    • such as “wa” for “water, “he” for air and “guru” for fire,
    • or “wa” to open the heart, “he” to defend against others
      & “guru” to draw down the energy.
      (poets often use such psychological effects, which is why translations are so difficult)
• postures, such as
  • the folding of hands which is not only designed to be pious, but also to balance out the left and right sides of the body and mind
  • Jalandhara Bandha: sitting upright in dignity whilst at the same time bowing ones had in humble acceptance of a higher divine.
  • touching the forehead or the heart opens the chakras responsible for connecting to the spiritual realm

Talking forehead: The third eye is where the vision of a personified seems to be locked:
Ramakrishna was already totally devoted to the personified Kali and could not move beyond until his teacher Totapuri did cut him with a glass at the forehead right at the moment he had his vision again. This is when Ramakrishna moved beyond into the realm of the abstract divine.

Initially the divine still is needed by humans who need to make sense of everything by projecting a higher intelligence into everything.
It also reflects a residual need for something higher in order to have a reason to bow to it.

But once those concepts are resolved it becomes the Absolute,
and connecting to that is not by devoting oneself to a higher being anymore, but like swimming in the ocean of higher intelligence.
One Zen-school I once visited had a tenet which said:
“To look for enlightenment is like standing in the middle of the water and crying to be thirsty.”

I recapitulate:
1. step = personified god(s) {religions are a mere intro-kickstarter}
2. step = the divine {in a spiritual sense}
3. step = the {totally abstract} Absolute

But why then bother with the intermediary step of personified gods and the divine at all?
Because most of us simpletons are not capable enough to straight dive into the Abstract, and until then a tangible guide-rail is necessary.

The substance of the absolute is inwardly, like wood or stone in that it is motionless, and outwardly like the void, in that, it is without bounds or obstructions. It is neither subjective, nor objective, has no specific location, is formless and can not vanish.
Those who hasten towards it, dare not enter, fearing to hurdle down through the void, with nothing to cling to, or to stay their fall, so they look to the brink in retreat.

Huang Po

Yet we need the larger picture because there are some rational problems we simply can not solve without stepping outside the box.
Look at the 9 dots of the initial riddle as the material world.
You could not connect them with 4 lines within that square.
(Hence materialistic squares will hit their limits sooner or later).

For some issues you simply need some non-materialistic references to solve seemingly unsolvable issues. And here the need for spirituality in general comes in.
By merely confining oneself to only believe in what is palpable and visual, one limits ones possibilities to a tiny square, but when someone steps outside the box “connecting the dots” literally is possible:

This is how I would explain the modern disease of schizophrenia and why it didn’t exist in ancient “magical times”:
In our cold world of neon-lights, plastic, cement and machine-noise, paranoid schizophrenics usually were not spiritually educated.
Yet they do have a sense of a much larger reality behind the narrow materialistic constructs.
So without any spiritual foundation they express their (often correct) intuition of flaws in the system in form of the most absurd conspiracy theories – often very intelligent ones, because their theories have to be designed to fully satisfy their own schizophrenic’s intellect.

---

Now there is a dilemma: Humanity is divided between the pious believers and the rebellious atheists
yet in order to fully experience the Absolute, we need trades from both sides at the same time:
1. a humbleness for life which is larger than us, but at the same time
2. an insatiability to grow beyond the narrow frames of materialistic values.

How can we reclaim a humbleness to the mysteries of the universe in dignity;
without becoming a submissive obedient sheep which merely serves religious organisations (and large corporations)?

An easy way is to simply keep in mind the vastness of our universe.
When you start the video (in fullscreen)
visualise yourself as a mere tiny microbe sitting on planet earth which is only one cell in a huge body of the divine.
And then see how many of those cells of god are out there.

Now that you have a moment of realising how insignificant you really are,
let us quickly dive into the next step before your next “yes, but…” will snap you back into your tiny narrow own universe with all its fake-importance.

How do you now tune into that huge Absolute, and how not?

• You won’t get there by merely begging in old fashioned prayers in the hope that a daddy will rescue you – look at it from above as if you were the god for trillions of microbes inside you: Do you care about each one of them individually?
  The older people get, the more inclined they are to resort to this last known hope to them – would they believe in reincarnation then it never would be too late to start shifting their reality.
• You also won’t get there by being a nice person who expresses unconditional puppy-love for everything. At the latest when you encounter a deadly creature you know that this doesn’t work. Hippos and Lions are cute, but I wouldn’t go out to hug them.
• You also won’t get there by fighting for your religion as atrocities in the past have shown us.

The above ways are just like trying to catch the raindrops by grasping them, but what works is simply to open your hand for the rain to flow in.
By opening your ego-fist you allow to open your hands for the divine to rain in or even better – to start swimming in it.

And all above points will be solved automatically ones you are in tune with the divine:

• You won’t need extra personal attention, because you will become in synch with everything around you
• You won’t have to try extra hard to love even your enemies, because being in the right place will make you love yourself and that tops any love even from the most revered person, because it is total acceptance for yourself as you are – and then the acceptance for others will follow.
• And your belief system will radiate by its success so just as a rich person does not need approval from a poor, you won’t need to get others on board with you to strengthen your faith.

All you have to do is to let go of your believe that you are the one who is important here – it’s not you – it’s the universe!

So without having to feel like a worthless sinner, just relax into reality as it is (hence the Buddhist recommendation to live “here and now”;
and replace what the Rosicrucians call the outer (egoistic) will; with your inner will (of your higher self).
Hence in the Bhagavad Gita it is recommended never to expect results from your deeds – the equation is just so much larger than what we can fathom

Initially this seems like a huge, never ending sacrifice of all pleasures, desires and ambitions, but the longer you practice it the more some temporal ecstasy which is very much prone to fate, is replaced with a stable sense for serenity and tremendous happiness literally nothing can match anymore. Just let go, step by step and see below how beautifully Mirabai Ceiba put the process of surrendering to the divine into a song:

Har har mukanday is a Kundalini yoga mantra that liberates the yogi from whatever is blocking or holding him/her back. 
Har is the Sanskrit root word for Hari, one of the Hindu names for God; and hara, which means “destroyer” or “remover.” 
Mukanday is the liberating aspect of the Self.
Therefore, in the spiritual sense, the mantra beseeches God to remove or destroy that which is preventing liberation.

Yogapedia

har har mukanday har har mukanday har har mukanday
take from me what i want
take from me what i do
take from me what i need
take from me everything
take from me everything
that takes me from you
fill me with your love
liberate my soul
har har mukanday…

< previous article: 4: the right posture

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