Love versus Emptiness – Staying Free from the Shadows Talk + Meditation

Hello,

I hope you can hear me.

What a wonderful day,

I hope for you.

It's not always the case that things flow,

But when the sun shines then always there is a glimpse of light in the background that helps the mind to not get so caught in the shadows that often are there clouding one's understanding of things.

Today's satsang is about not just the clouding,

But where does that light actually shine from,

Where is this light that can help one feel,

One sense,

One experience,

Not just hope,

But a sense of connectedness even though the situation that is happening around may be chaotic or difficult or enjoyable but then not so enjoyable after a little while,

How can we connect to this aspect of ourselves and what is this aspect of ourselves?

For me,

Words are interesting,

But in reality when it comes to one knowing or one feeling so connected that there is no need for thoughts,

The experience comes from beyond simple words,

Comes from a movement and that movement that stirring happens deep,

Deep within oneself,

Where is that depth?

Throughout history that depth has been termed as the atma or the soul and what is the soul,

What is the atma?

The atma according to the mystics of past and according to the way I see things is that light that is constantly there,

Present,

Whether your mind is aware of it or not,

Whether your heart is aware of it or not,

This atma shines in the background of everything,

How do we stay connected to the soul because of course the mind is not connected to the soul,

The body is not connected to the soul at least not directly,

How do we create the space where that connection is actual?

That is of course as many beautiful people of the past have spoken about,

Even though it's been misunderstood or translated into words and then loses its meaning and its depth,

People have explained this way,

The way forward to be the way of the heart,

The remembrance of the heart,

Jesus spoke of this and explained that the way forward,

The way to come back home to something more profound is the way of love,

Rumi spoke in his poetry in the same way,

Kabir spoke in his poetry slightly differently implying that whatever gets in the way of love needs to be let go of or needs to be seen for what it is,

That love can be experienced even though there are other aspects that create a sense of emptiness or a sense of loss in the mind by letting go of certain things that we believe to be so very important we come back to the naturalness that is being human,

That is the heart,

The way to come back to the heart is through meditation,

It is not by dialoguing with oneself like so many people do when they cannot sleep because the mind continues its dialogue and they become more aware of this dialogue as they fall asleep or some part of them is stirred by that dialogue so forgets the atma,

Forgets the heart,

Forgets to be stirred by the heart but rather falls into the trap of seeing that the mind movement is one's reference or one's reality,

Meditation is the opposite of this,

It is taking a deep breath remembering as you breathe in and breathe out that you're not just breathing air but you're breathing the movement of the universe,

The in and out breath is an extension of the expansion and the contraction that happens in the universe,

It is the space between one and zero,

It is the space in between the spaces that we are aware of,

It is the emptiness that Buddha spoke of and as we connect by replicating the natural movement of the universe in our breath by feeling the vibration of life in our bodies,

In our being,

In our energy as we breathe in and breathe out and rather than having the reference of mind or the reference of ego in our breath,

The reference becomes the expansion that is everywhere,

That which is beyond our limited thinking,

That which is beyond any little aspect that we believe to be so very very important,

As we expand with our breath there is no other experience than relaxation,

As you expand into the muscles of the body,

Into the nervous system of the body through the energy of breath,

We let go of whatever those parts of us that hold on to experience of the past,

We let go of such the energy of the body lets go of stress,

The muscles lets go of thoughts or feelings or memories,

As the expansion happens as we breathe in and breathe out we are letting go by immersing ourselves in love,

It is not that we are letting go into a specific ideal or as many many religious traditions have misguided people into a space that is heavenly,

We are letting go as Jesus spoke of,

As Rumi spoke of,

To the space of love,

As we breathe in and breathe out we realize that love is expansion,

But we realize this through the nervous system,

The nervous system relaxes,

We realize this through the muscles of the body,

The body relaxes,

We realize this through letting go deeply,

Love is letting go and trusting made real in the body,

The body is the temple of wisdom as you breathe in and breathe out,

The temple opens to the expansion and the light shines within the temple and then is born consciousness rather than ignorance,

Kabir says there is neither body nor mind,

We know this,

There is only the temple of light that is the Atma and where is the place that shall still feel the thirst of the soul,

Where is this place you shall find nothing in that emptiness,

Be strong and enter into your own body,

The body is the temple of light for there your foothold is firm,

Consider it well,

Oh my heart,

Go not elsewhere,

Kabir says put all imaginations away and stand fast in that which you are and what are you,

You are this beautiful light,

All other ideals,

All other pictures,

All other mental concepts are part of your imagination even the idea of time,

Even the idea of beginning and end is part of that imaginary world that we believe to be so solid,

You will realize sooner or later that that world is emptiness,

That world that we believe to be dualistic,

Linear is an illusion,

Is part of the illusion that sustains karma,

That sustains the circle that is often termed as Maya,

Hence why Kabir and the many beautiful saints before and after have said make sure that your foot is grounded,

Your feet are grounded,

Not in the imaginary world,

Not in the dualism,

Not in the temporary aspect of illusion but in that which is permanent,

Permanence is found in consciousness as you expand consciousness through your breath,

Breathing in and breathing out,

Letting go of all that the mind is occupied with,

Immersing yourself in the space of love,

Then the temple opens,

Opens to your mind,

Opens to your emotions opens to your body,

Opens to your nervous system,

Your mind begins to see the world in a neutral way not connecting to the references of past or future or victim or this or that but sees the universe for what it is,

The manifestation of creative potential,

The mind understands this and makes this a reality for itself and begins to think from this reference,

Hence why every time we are taken away from that sense of neutrality where the mind is able to see all that there is,

Kabir says be strong,

Make sure that you are strong,

There is not strong meaning your willpower or strong meaning your ego or strong meaning that you have achieved this or you have thought about this or you have reached whatever it is that you believe is important to reach,

Kabir says there there is nothing but emptiness,

Where you need to go to is the space that is,

The space that is real,

That is the Atma,

As you come back to your soul,

As you come back to your essence,

As you come back to the fundamental aspect that is who you are and you realize this in the body of life,

Not just in your physical body but in the body of experience and the temple shines its light very clearly and there is no thirst,

There is no body,

There is no mind,

There is simply the beauty of experience,

That is what meditation is,

Hence the importance of meditation,

Hence why no matter what is going on in your life,

It is important to remind yourself of that part of you that is there,

That is witnessing whatever is going on,

That part which is the mind that speaks in the background and reminds you of the little things that you do,

That thinks and looks at whatever is going on in a certain way,

That witness,

That part of you that witnesses everything to remind this part of yourself,

That as you breathe in,

As you breathe out,

As you let go,

Even if this is forgotten once in a while,

Even if this is forgotten most of the time,

As you breathe in and breathe out,

The journey is not out there,

It is not in a picture that the mind creates,

It is here,

Where is here,

As you breathe in and breathe out,

The presence of this beautiful experience,

The atma,

Makes itself heard in ways that are invisible to the mind in the beginning but become more and more manifest in your breath,

In the way you breathe in,

The way you breathe out,

You become a natural,

Beautiful being.

May today your actions,

Your breath,

Your work,

Your spiritual practice,

Your karma yoga be a reminder of this coming back home to love that thousands of mystics have spoken about,

The great mystics have spoken about and that some people still today remind you that this is the temple,

This is your truth.

May every moment be coming back home to that reality that creates happiness,

Creates freedom not just for yourself but that allows the universe to breathe in and out and celebrate life,

That allows that celebration to be part of your reality.

As you breathe in and breathe out,

Let go of everything and be totally focused on this present moment and celebrate this present moment.

Thank you.