'Living From The Inner Temple' Live Spiritual Service

Recording of a live, virtual spiritual service on the 13th of June 2021. Edward Pike first leads a beautiful journey to the inner temple, before Kevin Hewitt continues with more words and a silent meditation. Finally, some of Kevin's music tracks are played, before finishing with some words.

Transcript

Okay, So yeah maybe just closing our eyes and taking some nice deep breaths into your belly exhaling out through your mouth, Allowing any yawns, Any sighs, Any sound that feels good to drop in to this moment, The temple of this moment. Breathing in a way that feels really good to you, That feels pleasurable deep into your belly, Slowing down your breath, Tasting your breath, Enjoying your breath. And then we slow down just noticing the sounds of the body, The sounds around you, Sensations, Feelings, Whatever's here is more than welcome in this temple. Noticing what it's like to just have that awareness of this moment as we could call the temple a space, A shared space, So we can be the wholeness of what we are. In all our human selves but also that spark of divinity within each of us, Which is really what we're here to connect with today and expand into our own lives but also into the world which we know needs it. We need to be reminded of it at times. So taking a few more breaths, Gentle breaths, Deep breaths, And imagine yourself floating down into the earth, Gently, Softly, Feeling safe, Feeling held, Embraced, Floating like a feather, Until you land very softly, Very gently at the foot of a beautiful mountain, Noticing this mountain. This is your holy mountain. You've come here for a pilgrimage, An adventure, A quest, So come home to remember. Noticing the smells as you're standing there, The sounds, The sights, Your feelings as well. Then feeling inside you that knowing, That desire, That part of you that has brought you here today, Brought you here in this moment that pulls you up, Calls you up the mountain. And imagine yourself, See yourself traveling up this mountain, Feeling each step in your body. As you move with each step, The view becomes clearer and clearer. You begin to feel more open, More expanded, More spacious, More light with each step. Keep noticing your body, You might feel a bit of a pulse, A vibration, Something in your body, How it wants to move. Just relax, Allowing any inner movement that wants to happen. With each step, Each breath, We ascend higher this mountain, Feeling the heart opening, Shoulders dropping, The belly, The pelvis opening, Feeling our connection with the earth with each step. You might even be walking barefoot. Eventually, You come to the top of your mountain. And there at the summit is your temple. And this temple could have any shape or size. You might notice it, It might already be there, You might create it. Just noticing and standing in front of this temple, Your temple, Your sacred, Secret place. Notice how that is, How it might move you. Perhaps you feel an awe, A reverence to what's here. Perhaps there's even a bit of tension, Excitement or nervousness. Just breathe into whatever your experience is as you approach your temple. And slowly you make your way inside the structure. Again, Noticing what it looks like inside, What it might smell like, Sound like. Maybe there's some music playing in the background, Maybe there's some incense burning, I don't know, Some candles. And at the center of this temple is this beautiful, Brilliant, Loving light. So brilliant, So beautiful, So powerful. And yet, You feel completely at one and safe as you approach this light. And as you stand in front of it, You notice it being reflected within you. This light in your body, This divine core. Take your time to breathe and to really feel this light emanating from your being, From the core of your being. Reflecting back this brilliant, Beautiful, Bold, Loving light. And now to infuse every part of your body, Every cell, Including your mind. And your mind's just rest into that open space. To just be a few moments together in our unique temples, Yet connected by this same light that emanates from all of us and every part, Every atom of the universe. And now this light inside to move you, Maybe feeling sensations, Could even be images, Memories, Thoughts. Now in this light to pulse and emanate. See yourself once more standing in front of this light in your temple, Knowing that this light is always available, Always here, Always inside. And keep feeling it, Sensing it, Seeing it. As you slowly in your own way make your way out of your temple, Knowing that you can return here at any time. And as you stand there at the top of your mountain emanating this light, You expand it further, You keep expanding it, Expanding this beautiful emanation that you are. As if you could emanate and broadcast it out to the entire universe, The entire cosmos. Notice how that is to allow this expansion. Take that risk even to expand, To emanate. Take a few more deep breaths, Enjoying it, Feeling yourself nurtured by this emanation, Cleansed by this emanation. Until you start to make your way down the mountain again, Carrying with you this beautiful sense of who you are, Of what you are. Noticing how this emanation might impact the world around you, The flowers, The trees, The plants, The animals. Now by being your most profound emanation of love, Truth, Wisdom, Beauty, You move the world simply by your presence. And as you come back to the foot of the mountain, You also just imagine or get a sense of how your life might be different when you bring this emanation, This knowing into your relationships, Into your work, Into those areas that might feel a bit challenging right now, Into lockdown, Into everything that we're going through, Receiving perhaps a little sense, A little vision, A little awareness, A glimpse. We're slowly imagining yourself and feeding yourself floating back upwards. Up and up and up and coming home to our bodies to this moment, The temple of this circle, Coming with us that beautiful emanation. And I'll let Kevin take over now. Kevin, Feel free to ask us to open our eyes, We'll keep the eyes closed, It's up to you, But I'll let you take over. Thanks Ed. So if you feel comfortable keeping your eyes closed, Then please do. In fact, Please feel free and totally easy to do anything that you need to do at this time, If you need to move or something is itching or bothering or anything, Just feel very, Very easy and free to just adjust as you wish, As you must. And then if you wish also to return to that place of stillness, Then just continue to watch. And just be aware of the beautiful space that Ed has just opened and created for us to step into, To float into, To play in. That space of purity, That space of light is you and it is always there. It may be sometimes feeling far away, May feel like it's covered up, It may feel like it's not there, But it is always there. And the more that we have the chance and we make the effort, The very gentle loving effort to remember that space and to simply very, Very gently recline into that space again and again, Then the memory of that space, The awareness of that space and the presence of that space of love and peace and purity remains more consciously held and more consciously available to us in our lives. These are very, Very special moments that we have right now together. All the troubles and worries of the world are far, Far away. You are that pure being who is the one watching everything all the time in every moment. When something feels good, We say, I feel good. When something maybe doesn't feel good, We say, Well, I don't feel good. And even those times when we're not really feeling anything, Maybe boredom or just sort of nothing, We can find ourselves sometimes saying, I'm feeling nothing or whatever. What's common to all of those different experiences is you, The I. I is that one little letter word that carries so much importance and so much meaning because it's the introduction that each one of us has. The moment we say anything, I am so-and-so. I feel this, I do this, I come from here, I go to there, Whatever the case may be. So that I, Without that I, We wouldn't be able to function, We wouldn't be able to interact in the world, In this beautiful world, As we do. So we use that I constantly as the kind of plate on which everything is written or experienced. When we have these moments like we do right now, We have the opportunity to just reflect on that I, To go back to that I, That source, That infinite vast repository, If you will, Or treasury of light and of purity and of vastness from where everything comes. And by appreciating that light, By appreciating that I, By appreciating that source, Something really marvelous happens in all our interactions because all the interactions continue, Our existence as human beings continues, Of course, It's very important. We're all human beings and we all have a very unique signature, Not just in the way we write, But in the way we are living our lives wherever we are. Each one of us is a kind of signature of that infinite, From that infinite pot of pure ink of the absolute light that we are. And so by remembering that source and just simply with great simplicity, With great patience, With great love and the greatest respect for all the efforts that we do, We just return and remain with that source, That presence, That experiencer of all the experiences. And then something really beautiful unfolds in our expression and in our lives in every moment. There's nothing complicated, Nothing stressful or strenuous to be done. Just simply watching, Allowing the breath to move in and out as it feels comfortable to you and to just be and just relax into that and to give yourself permission, To give yourself permission to be free, To be that freedom that you already are, To give yourself permission to be that love that you already are, And to give yourself permission to be that purity that you already are. You have never done anything wrong, You're not sinful and you're not bad in any way whatsoever. We all as human beings may make mistakes, We may do things that we wish we hadn't done, We wished we could correct things, That doesn't matter. What does matter is the source and the purity that we are is always there. And from that place, Remembering that and remaining with that, We have the ability again and again and more and more to live our lives truly as we really wish to do, Which is in that place or space of purity, Freedom, Love, Delight, And joy. So let's just take a few moments in silence and then at any time when Ed feels it's time to move up into the next part of the program today, Then I would invite him to please just come in and bring us on to the next place we will visit in this beautiful day and this beautiful time together. I'll just sing something very very briefly as we head into this short period of silence and then we can just relax and just watch and just be. Oh, Lead me from the unreal to the real. Oh, Lead me from the unreal to the real. From the darkness to the light, From the earth to the open sky, Lead me from death to eternal life, Lead me from death to eternal life. Om, Asit om asat gamaya. Om, Asit om asat gamaya. Tamaso mai jyotir gamaya. Tamaso mai jyotir gamaya. Brit yurma mritham gamaya. Brit yurma mritham gamaya. Brit yurma mritham gamaya. Brit yurma mritham gamaya. Thank you. You you you you you you you Thank you, Kevin. Thank you very much. Yeah, So take your time. Take your time to come back to maybe open your eyes and if you need to stretch, Do whatever you need to do. Thank you very much, Kevin. That was beautiful. Yeah. I'm gonna continue in a bit of a different way. I'm gonna play some music in a moment with some lyrics that really kind of encapsulate what I'm gonna speak briefly about, Which is in my experience, When we come home to what I call as the inner temple or that source, In the past, I would make it very serious and rigid. And I know that there can be tendencies for spirituality to be that. When really, Also in my experience, It's that point where there's that playful, The innocent divine child like energy that lives. Yeah, And I, Well, This next song will really, Really encapsulate that. You'll see there's a song and an image to really kind of reconnect to that essence. Remember that essence. And I invite us and really invite myself to remember that time and time again when, You know, I make life so serious, Make spirituality so serious, Make, You know, Whatever is happening in our lives so serious. And this next song is really to help us, To help me, To help us remember. Okay. So this is the image. So I invite you to listen to this music, Listen to the lyrics. Allow perhaps the image to move you at the same time. Now, Fingers crossed, This is so quick. So once a child comes to understand this world of me and of you rules and rules the words of fools they fill up his mind then what can he do i thought i was once a child of many many thoughts how i wondered what to do you then i saw you the infinite blue and all of my troubles were through so world yes i'm glad to be alive in your world in your world of peace in your world of joy in your world let it date on yourself and leave all your smallness behind these words you told me again and again you were never born you will never die close your eyes and fly high and i'm glad to be alive in your world yes i'm glad to be alive in your world in your world of peace in your world of joy in your world of kings in your world meditate on yourself and leave all your smallness behind these words you told me again and again you were never born and you will never die close your eyes and fly high and i'm glad to be alive in your world yes i'm glad to be alive in your world in your world of peace in your world of joy in your world of peace in your world of joy so Shambhali Shyam Shyam Shyam Shyam, Shyam Shyam Shyam Shyam, Shyam Shyam Shyam Shyam Shamsaadhi Shamsaadhi Shamsaadhi Shamsaadhi Shamsaadhi Shamsaadhi Shamsaadhi Shamsaadhi Shamsaadhi Shamsaadhi Shamsaadhi Shamsaadhi Shamsaadhi Thank you Kevin again, Beautiful song. I love you. And then as a closing piece, I felt the impulse to close with another piece of music and another image, Which I'm going to bring up in a moment. And I really want to invite us here to really feel that emanation within us I was speaking of. We were reconnecting with today, That inner temple. And to really see, Perceive, Sense that emanation in the world. The next song is called, Is it in the Whole World? I think it's another song from Kevin. And what came to me a second ago is that when we observe things, We really bring things into being. And perhaps in observing the light in the world and this emanation coming from ourselves, From this circle, But also from the earth and the wider collective, Perhaps that can support something to help ease whatever shift we're going through right now as a collective. And I invite us to just to be with that for a few moments in the music, With the image, And to feel emanation, To notice it, To feel the love that we are. And to really hold that perhaps as an intention for us and for all beings to remember that. So we can perhaps find an easier way through the chaos. Maybe, Just maybe. SABAKI BISARE MOHAMAYA SABAKA HOKAL YANA NIRANTAR SABAKO SAKA ANUBHUTANAYA SABAKA HOKAL YANA NIRANTAR SABAKO SAKA ANUBHUTANAYA SABAKO SAKA ANUBHUTANAYA AMRAM MADURAM GAYEMANTRA SAB BASEKHIR DAYEME SHANTI DAYAH AMRAM MADURAM GAYEMANTRA SAB BASEKHIR DAYEME SHANTI DAYAH BASEKHIR DAYEME SHANTI DAYAH SABAKO HOKAL YANA NIRANTAR SABAKO SAKA ANUBHUTANAYA AMRAM MADURAM GAYEMANTRA SAB BASEKHIR DAYEMANTRA SAB BASEKHIR DAYEMANTRA SAB BASEKHIR DAYEMANTRA SAB SABAKA HOKAL YANA NIRANTAR SABAKO SAKA ANUBHUTANAYA SABAKA HOKAL YANA NIRANTAR SABAKO SAKA ANUBHUTANAYA SABAKO SAKA ANUBHUTANAYA AMRAM MADURAM GAYEMANTRA SAB BASEKHIR DAYEME SHANTI DAYAH AMRAM MADURAM GAYEMANTRA SAB BASEKHIR DAYEMANTRA SAB BASEKHIR DAYEMANTRA SAB PARAMSAKA BASU DEVAKI JAYSHARANAM BOLOBHAI GURU DEVAKI JAYSHARANAM GURU DEVAKI JAYSHARANAM GURU DEVAKI JAYSHARANAM PARAMSAKA BASU DEVAKI JAYSHARANAM BOLOBHAI GURU DEVAKI JAYSHARANAM GURU DEVAKI JAYSHARANAM GURU DEVAKI JAYSHARANAM GURU DEVAKI JAYSHARANAM I hope that worked well with the sharing. You could hear the music. Yeah. I forgot to do, Maybe Kevin you want to give us some background on these songs? Maybe we could have done that before but maybe you can give us some. Sure. So the first one, The English song, Was something I wrote many many years ago. I'd have to go digging for the date, Probably back in the 90s I suppose. Maybe 80s even actually, Late 80s. And I was just feeling like sort of reflecting on my own upbringing and different things that had been kind of imprinted on me, Shall we say, Growing up. And then definitely coming to a point in my life when I saw it for what it was. Not to condemn anything, Not to put anything down, But just seeing it for what it was. That I had these certain ideas or conditions from my upbringing or just with carrying certain things that had happened to me growing up. I was bullied quite a bit when I was growing up and there was no recourse, It was quite something. But anyhow, Making peace with all of that, Moving through it and realizing that we are the product of our upbringing and there are certain things that happen to us and we carry that will always be with us. But here's the thing, The thing is to not be bound by those things. To be aware that sometimes certain things trigger things in us but at the same time we have the awareness to be able to view that. And most importantly, The ability and the power to say, No, I'm not going to just automatically react to whatever it is. So that was one part of how this song came about. And then just feeling overwhelming gratitude, Overwhelming gratitude for being alive and having this incarnation and having this chance to be able to move and talk and think and speak and experience so many wonderful things and so many wonderful people. And so just tremendous gratitude. And yeah, There's certainly lots of problems in the world, We certainly know that. But I chose in this song to really dwell on the aspect of peace and joy and that this is a world of beauty, This is a world of joy and incredible vastness and incredible graciousness really. It just really boggles my mind every time I read a little bit of astronomical science about the galaxies and the universe and everything. And the chances of all of this coming together the way it did so that we can be here in this moment is just absolutely phenomenal. The planet Jupiter, They say, Is a failed sun. Apparently it was on its way to being there. There's so many things that could have been that aren't. But here we are, We have this, We are in this beautiful planet and I really feel that the way to happiness is through practicing happiness, The way to love and peace and making the world a better place is simply living in that space of purity as much as we can. So that was what was behind the first song. And the word sham that was sung at the end like sham sham, That's a word basically just for the space, Which is the space that is visible when we close our eyes, Whatever you see. It's just another word for that and that's what I used in that song. And the second one is very old, Ancient actually, Sanskrit. Invocation, You could say, Of sorts, Prayer, Blessing, Peace. And basically it says, Sarve bhavantu sukinaha sarve santu niramaha. We wish well to all beings, May everyone know their true nature, Their true reality, Their true immortality actually as that purity that they are. We wish everyone to be happy and to be healthy and to be just living their lives to the fullest, Meaning fullest in terms of the full awareness of who they are. Because from that place of awareness of who we are, Then comes all the beauty and the grace with which we can live every moment in peace and harmony and joy and happiness and health with each other. And by really having that sharing of love and awareness, Then the world not only becomes a better place, But it automatically, Instantly is a better place. The moment we've made ourselves happier and healthier, We've made someone in this world healthier and happier, Which is already a huge contribution. And we're all, Not just we're all so connected, We're more than just so connected. We are actually super, Super connected, If you will. So the moment that you have a feeling of love or goodwill towards someone anywhere in the world or anywhere, That reaches. Our thought, You can think of the furthest star in the universe and your thought has already gone there. So likewise, When we think of each other or think of those we love, Think of those that maybe are having a hard time that we really want to see doing better and see their lives happier and healthier. Something does happen and it does make a difference just by sending out that thought, That energy, That awareness, That vibration, If you will. So this song is, The second song is really just full of those mantras, Those wishes, Those blessings, Those vibrations. And at the end, The word paramsukhvaasudevakijsharanam. Sharanam means shelter or protection. So it's also a song of invoking that protection against the forces that would drag us into thinking that we're not happy or into different places that are just not positive and life-supporting. So it's all really the essence of that whole song in two words, Life-supporting. And to really support life is, I feel, What a real temple does. And I think that a temple is that we're all really like, We are like these mobile temples and that our existence is a kind of gateway from that absolute unmanifest to that formed relative world of existence. So we're kind of a moving threshold, If you will. And then when we go to a temple or we participate in a temple like this beautiful one here, The awareness of that just gets expanded, That doorway gets expanded and it just encompasses everything everywhere. And then the result is peace and love and happiness and joy and immense, Immense, Actually unlimited gratitude for our lives and for each other. So immense gratitude to you, Ed, To everyone here today and to that pure presence that has enabled all of us to be here and to know this moment in the purity that it is. And I just am so grateful. Thank you all so, So very much. Thank you, Kevin. Kevin, For your words and your music and your attention. Thank you.