Love in action – Readings and writings on spiritual life

Sat-cit-ananda

Eternity—knowledge—bliss: these are the qualities of the divine in both God and in every realised soul. How do we advance toward this realisation?

Spiritual practice begins with observation, as both idea and as exercise. It starts with the idea that the foundation of life is spiritual, and that realising this foundation requires observation, self-observation, attention to our interior life, to the life of the mind and the of the soul. This means nurturing techniques and habits for recognising our interior life as it unfolds, then increasing awareness of it.

By asking the simple question ‘who am I? we stand already before the extraordinary realisation that someone is directing a question to someone else.

The very idea of our self, and even the most simple questions we might want to ask about it, produces the strange realisation that we are two. There is one who asks, and there is another who answers. There is a mind-ego and there is a soul.

From Om to Rādhārānī

Bhakti

Om is both a word and a sound.

What is om the word for?

All meaningful words refer to objects that give meaning. Doesn’t the word ‘tree’ refer to a certain perennial plant with a wooden stem and branches covered with green leaves? Doesn’t the word ‘golden’ refer to a colour? Doesn’t ‘brave’ refer to a person without fear?

All words that give meaning refer to objects that have meaning. All words, perhaps, except for one. Om is a word, discrete and clear. It follows all the rules of grammar, all the rules of sense making. And it refers to nothing.

And yet, it is a word that gives meaning. And yet, we all know that speaking or chanting the word om has noticeable effects on us, on our health, on our well-being, our happiness, our peace and our serenity.

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