TYS June Newsletter

WELCOME JUNE.

Musing of the Month

Are you treading the path of blind belief or true faith?

If not examined, fears will develop strong roots, though they are often rootless. Fear invites danger.

Self-preservation is the instinct that remains always vigilant to protect the body. This instinct is useful to a certain extent but should not become an obsession. When fear becomes an obsession, all spiritual potential becomes dormant. Fears are never examined—that is why they are able to control human life. They should be examined boldly.

Fear has two faces: I might lose what I have and not gain what I want. These two thoughts should not be entertained and cannot be when you remember your mantra or the presence of the Lord within.

Fearlessness is very important. One should constantly remain in spiritual delight so that no fear is entertained. Fearlessness comes from knowing that God is with us and that we are with God.

Faith

Faith based on direct experience bestows the clarity of mind necessary for functioning in the world of objects and for penetrating the many unknown levels of life. Such faith can never be challenged, whereas blind faith is always subject to scrutiny.

Belief in God and experiencing the presence of God at every moment are two different things. Before the actual direct experience of the Truth, one may believe in the existence of God, but that belief remains imperfect.

True belief, which is known as faith, comes after direct experience. Faith born from direct experience becomes a part of the aspirant's being, and such faith protects the aspirant like a mother protects her child.

A belief established on the solid foundation of the Truth is a source of strength. A belief based on the direct experience of the Truth, not contradicted by logic and reasoning, is known as shraddha, or faith.

Such faith is established over an extended period. Repeated experiences add to the maturity of the faith. Direct experience of the Truth removes all doubts and leads an aspirant to a decisive understanding. Such an understanding becomes an inseparable part of his being. Knowledge becomes firm and he does not feel it necessary to seek verification from others. He knows that he knows. Such is his faith.

Based on that faith, he starts his quest and reaches his goal. Belief in God may lead to a series of disappointments, but faith in God leads one to God.

The Essence of Spiritual Life

By HH Sri Swami Rama

Self-Study

Someone once asked Swamiji what the quickest way to be enlightened was. Swamiji said, "You can become enlightened here and now if you are completely fearless."

Can you ascertain a theme when you analyze your fears? What are your greatest fears? When analyzing your fears, it may not be the dread of a lion chasing you that creates extreme behaviors to avoid the lion fear but the fear of no one loving you that creates behaviors to "make situations where you feel loved." These situations could be having sex with someone, complimenting, or doing "random acts of kindness" that are not random or kind because you are doing them for something (praise, gratitude, to feel loved, to feel needed), and when you don't feel what you are craving, you get angry or sad and down the rabbit hole you go.
How do your fears control and manipulate your life, thus causing you to control and manipulate others with your power dramas?
After careful scrutiny, what fear would you like to eliminate in this lifetime, and what would it look like to eliminate that fear in this lifetime?
How would that change the way you live your life?
Examine how you handle the maelstroms. Do you get tossed or travel with poise? If you get thrown by the maelstroms, you are treading the path of blind belief. If you walk more gracefully, chances are you are treading the path of true faith. Do you have blind belief or true faith?

Benevolence Corner

Soup On Wheels

TYS has frozen homemade vegan soup in the freezer. As a part of our outreach, if you need a meal or know someone who does because of illness, surgery, death of a loved one, financial problems, divorce, or anyone who requires a little extra TLC, TYS is here for you. If you know anyone who needs a meal, let us know at info@tysdayton.com

Reflections with Kali

Lately at work, one of my favorite tasks has been thinning the fruit trees. This may seem menial but it always gets me into a good contemplation.

The orchard is still young and so you are not supposed to allow the trees to produce a lot of fruit because you want them to direct their energy into the growth of the roots and then to building a strong trunk. The duty of the tree is to produce fruit - but it can do this only after it has been properly prepared and the tree can sustain the weight of the fruit. This takes years. Our trees are two to three years old and my mentor said they should only produce five apples at the very most this year. You can see the weight of the fruit pulling the young branches down. As I tend them, I have to first pull off the weakest or most bruised fruit. If there is a bundle of three, I pick the strongest one to stay and pluck the others off. I have to be very observant and mindful. I let the trees know I am doing this for their benefit.

When I thin these young trees, I often think about the spiritual path and my practice, and things I’ve been reminded of many (many, many) times. First, as the yoga sutras say, practice takes a long time. It also requires much preparation. One of my favorite Swamiji quotes is when he says that students are like children; a child plants a seed in the evening and wakes up the next morning to dig it up and see if anything has happened and of course nothing has… “let the seeds of your practice grow; give your practice some time to develop…patience is a virtue in sadhana.”

Sometimes the weak fruit comes off easily, sometimes it has a stronger grip and I have to snap it off. It is the same with us as we slay our demons.

When we are beginning to practice, preparation is everything. These trees can’t sustain the fruit because they are not strong enough yet. We have weed out all of our unhelpful habits and behaviors, negative thinking, and nourish those traits which are helpful to us. Our teacher is there to help us see our weaknesses and '“thin” all of this out, so we become strong and self-reliant. Then when the time comes to bear fruit we are strong enough to do so, know how to be responsible with it, and can share it with others freely. I am grateful for these lessons from the fruit trees. 🍎🍐🍑