Remaining With Your Self, and The Fruit of The Spirit.
Remaining With Your Self, a note to my students.
An accomplished musician walks with his music. A dance master keeps creating dance in his mind. A businessman keeps his eyes on the money.
Similarly, a seeker must remain with his Self.
A father enrolled his son in soccer classes. The son would go on the soccer field but he would run back to his father every few seconds as he felt more secure there. This went on for some time. Finally, the teacher told him that if he wanted to learn soccer, he must stay here and not run back to his father. The father also told him the same.
Similarly, a seeker must learn to remain with the Self and not keep running back to the mind. Without this, it doesn’t matter how advanced one becomes on the spiritual path; the real progress remains insignificant. One always remains infinitely far from Infinity.
The term ‘spiritual journey’ is very misleading. It implies that you have to go somewhere. In the process of going somewhere, you end up losing something very precious; simplicity.
Is there a place and time when God is not there? He is here, now, and every moment. Can you be here now with your Self, the life in you; this moment, and next, and next again? Is this that hard? Is there anything more to understand? But you forget this simplicity again and again. Instead, you keep running back to your mind. That’s where you feel secure, like the son who felt more secure being with his father. You feel more comfortable in your thoughts, concepts, judgments, and desires. So, you keep running back to your mind, even during your meditation. With your mind, you remain determined to understand God and your Self, although you know that you will neither understand nor know the Truth, neither by reading Books nor by yogic practices.
To advance on the spiritual path, you have to return to this simplicity of remaining with your Self. By being here with your Self now, and the next moment, and the next, you are traveling with your Spirit. That’s what makes your journey a spiritual journey. Then you can read Books, not to understand them, but for the glory of the Books. Then you can do your practices, not to advance, but to become simpler.
The soccer child grew up to become an excellent soccer player because he spent lots of his time on the soccer field. He knew that that was the only way. Likewise, the only way to grow spiritually is to remain with your Self. So simple!
While you are on your spiritual journey, cultivate some of the above qualities in you.
Then you will also become the fruit of the Spirit.
