“…Whatever you do, perform it as a sacrifice. Do not think you are doing it for yourself. Realize that this entire universe is a sacrifice and that we are a sacrifice to the entire universe. We are food for the universe and the universe is food for itself. Each sacrifices itself to the other. When this divine sacrifice is taking place, one is not bound by attachment.”
- Gurumayi
How can you enjoy something when you are holding onto it, or wanting more? Can you find total peace and joy in life if you are constantly wanting more? How free are you in the present moment if instead of taking the time to enjoy it, you are thinking how to improve it or where to go next? Reflecting on these questions will most likely show you the areas of your life you hold onto the most, where you are most satisfied, and where you are over doing it.
Spirit (life force energy) is constantly evolving. Spirit tricks us because it is in all and is one with all. "In his essence, each human being is one with all others, fee, eternal, immutable, lord of nature."* With limitations such as attachment, humans are unable to fully enjoy this world. Spirit's role in the cosmic universe is to possess and enjoy. It freely moves, mutates, and expands.
The Ego is what keeps us in this ignorant state of mind, as its master impulse is to desire and possess. Our mind works without the knowledge which remains veiled behind the Ego. This illusion is called ahamkara which is defined as: the separative ego sense which makes each being conceive itself as an individual personality.
"The result of this separation is the inability to enter into harmony and oneness with the universe and a consequent inability to possess and enjoy it...Desire is only a mode of the emotional mind by which ignorance seeks its delight in the object of desire and not in the man who expresses himself in the object. By destroying that ignorance one can do action without desire."*
In order to be detached (totally free), you must be content with the present. You don't desire anymore than already exists, and when the present moment changes (and it will), you are content with the next evolution.
“Enjoyment of the universe and all it contains is the object of world-existence, but renunciation of all in desire is the condition of the free enjoyment of all...Renunciation is not a moral constraint of self-denial or physical rejection, but an entire liberation of the spirit from any cravings after the form of things"*
Taking action in your life, being productive, successful in your work, wanting to go somewhere or buy something, feeling connected ("attached") to someone else, are all normal and important for humans. It's separating the action from the desire of the result of your actions, and ceasing to identify yourself with the actions, that allows us to experience freedom from the works we do in the material world.
By transcending the ego and realizing the Self, we can possess the whole universe in the one cosmic consciousness and don’t need to physically possess. Realizing oneness: Each object is a part of the whole universe, just in a particular form or outward appearance, brings about contentment.
The Self will continue to blossom, learn, and develop as it too flows with the always evolving universe. But, if it holds on to what was or what could be as things change, how can the experience provide growth?
*quotes from the Isha Upanishad
I realize that the dawn
when we'll meet againwill never break,
so I give it up,
little by little, this love.
But something in me laughs
as I say this, someone
is shaking his head and chuckling
softly, Hardly, hardly.
-RUMI
G
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