Let Everything into your Inner Space

Since I returned from India I have spent a lot of time reconnecting with my family and hooking up with old friends.  These are situations that, in the past, had the potential to create stress, especially spending time with family.  Although I have been practicing yoga for over three years, I used to be preoccupied with protecting the benefits I received from my practice by putting a wall up around my inner space.  Whenever I felt someone or something threatening my peace, I would try to exclude that person or situation and contract.  I would also commonly do this in meditation, for example, if there were a distracting noise or smell.  Of course, this never really works because I spent more time thinking about trying to exclude the disturbance, or fearing that I would not be able to exclude it, than if I had just relaxed into it and let it be.

One thing I have been observing with respect to living with a peaceful inner space is the technique of inclusion versus exclusion.  When we exclude something, we contract.  If we include it, we expand.  Expansion will always bring more bliss and peace to your inner space.  And, expansion is always possible; just include everything as part of you. 

In the past, I tried to avoid the situations or people that I did not like, thought were unworthy, or was afraid might disturb me or hurt my sense of self.  And sometimes this is, of course, intelligent.  But, lately, I have found myself sharing my bliss with others instead of keeping it for myself.  I even find that I am running headlong—Repo Man style—into potentially difficult situations with a kind of strange enthusiasm.  I just decided to stop protecting my inner space and start sharing with others, even if I might get disturbed a little bit.  And really, I feel a great benefit in my life because of this process of inclusion.  I feel more love for others and less fear in me.  Before, when I tried to protect and avoid, I always felt fear that others would disturb me.  I was not free.  Now, I feel others cannot disturb me.  The truth is no one can hurt you unless you yourself allow.

I recently came across a very beautiful teaching of Osho and have been recalling it whenever I am having some problem:

Everybody has been a child, and everybody has the same urge to get love.  So all are asking, “Give us love” and there is nobody to give, because the other person is also only asking.  So be aware that just an incident of birth should not remain a constant prevailing state of your mind.  Rather than asking, “Give me love,” start giving love.  Forget about getting, simply give; and I guarantee you, you will get much.

The amazing thing about this technique is we do not need anything in the external environment to change in order to practice it.  We can let everything be as it is and radiate love.  

So, how can we experience and radiate real love?

A Video Discourse on Meditation Techniques for Experiencing Love

Story of Saint Dakshinamurthy Swami

Arunachala Shiva

Arunachala, Thou form of grace itself! Once having claimed me, loveless though I be, how canst Thou let me now be lost, and fail to fill me so with love that I must pine for Thee unceasingly and melt within like wax over the fire? Oh nectar springing up in the Heart of devotees! Haven of my refuge! Let Thy pleasure be mine, for that way lies my joy, Lord of my life!

From Eleven Verses to Sri Arunachala, Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi

Arunachala, the mystical hill at whose foot lays the town of Thiruvannamalai in Tamilnadu in South India, is regarded as a manifestation of lord Shiva, the ultimate yogi and first Guru, the Adi Guru.  On every full moon, thousands of seekers do girivalam, i.e. walk barefoot around the mountain on a 14km path, to worship, bring a state of calm to the mind, and have satsang with the cosmic consciousness in the form of Arunachala.  I was fortunate to take part in the pradakshina twice during my trip, once with Swamiji’s ashramites and once with my dear friend Sangavasini, whose name means Dweller of the Sanga.

Live Webcam of Arunachala

Swamiji Shares his First Enlightenment Experience on Arunachala

Amazing video featuring Arunachala by Digital Media Spiritual Artist Ben Drewry

Love and blessings.  Thank you for reading this blog.

Bring Yourself Back to Right Reasoning Continuously

Snowcapped mountains flanking a small Himalayan town near McLeod Ganj, home of the Dalai Lama

When approaching a technique like the Buddhist training of the mind, 

we must understand and appreciate the complexity of the task we are 

facing.  Buddhist scriptures mention eighty-four thousand types of 

negative and destructive thoughts, which have eighty-four thousand 

corresponding approaches or antidotes.  It is important not to have 

the unrealistic expectation that somehow, somewhere, we will find a 

single magic key that will help us eradicate all of these 

negativities.  We need to apply many different methods over a long 

period of time in order to bring lasting results.  Therefore, we need 

great determination and patience.  It is wrong to expect that once 

you start Dharma practice, you'll become enlightened within a short 

period of time, perhaps in one week.  This is unrealistic.

--His Holiness, the Dalai Lama

Thank you for reading this blog.

What's in a Name?

My name is Ma Nithya Puranjani.  It means Eternal Embodiment of Life!  When I say my name, hear it, see it, write it, or even think it, I feel it happening continuously inside me!  I feel tremendous energy and joy.  I am literally exploding with life.  I smile so widely, joyfully, and with so much laughter as I have never before experienced.  Nithyananda (Swamiji) gave me this name on February 13, 2010.  When I received my name, along with a group of devotees with whom I had been living at the ashram for the previous three months, we all erupted into blissful dancing.  There was so much dancing.  One might think you go to an ashram to sit cross-legged for hours on end, stretch your body into impossible positions, and chant in Sanskrit, and those things will be there of course, but actually there is so much dancing.  And the more I danced, the more I felt this name, this feeling, this “embodiment of life” overflowing inside me. 

 

You might wonder what is the purpose of a spiritual name.  Before I came to the ashram, I carried so many negative emotions: incredible shyness, guilt, judgment, anger, and so on.  Without even realizing it, I had the idea that these things were a part of me.  I was unknowingly attached to perpetuating these thoughts and feelings.  All of those feelings completely melted away when I received my name—embodiment of life—which is the very opposite of anything negative.  How can I ever be depressed or discontented when my name stands in such stark opposition to those feelings?  During the three months I spent at the ashram, I experienced such a beautiful peace and vibrant stillness radiating from within me.  My name continuously reminds me of this experience until it is not just a thought in my mind, but a physical sensation that I feel in my very muscles.  Whenever I see emotions, behaviors, or patterns of thought happening inside me that are disharmonious and unproductive, I remember my name… PURANJANI!  EMBODIMENT OF LIFE!  

When Swamiji gives a name, he meditates on that person’s energy and gives a name that represents what the individual is expressing at a being level.  It is such a beautiful thing because I feel so loved and supported to have such a blessing.  It is a blessing to live that, become that, reach the fullest potential of that, a reminder that I already am that.  At the temple, there is a picture of Swamiji with the caption TAT TVAM ASI, which means “you are that.”  It is a very beautiful statement to inspire us to find our inner light.

 

Living a conflict-free life is nothing other than having the right memory about who you are and living continuously with the feeling evoked by that memory.  I am Ma Nithya Puranjani!  Thank you for reading.