Hello,
I hope you can hear me.
We continue going deeper,
Looking at all aspects of the wonderful experience that is life,
The many aspects of life,
The deeper aspects that we sometimes are aware of,
The deeper aspects that some people label as the forces of the unconscious,
The forces of the parts of ourselves that we do not comprehend until they become so strong,
Until those forces become so obvious to the mind or to the feelings that we realize that there is a form to the formless,
There is an aspect to our experience that makes sense on some level as it resonates with parts of ourselves that we recognize in the feeling or in the thought that is happening in that moment as an experience.
We recognize simply because it's there,
So as it's there,
If we have pain or suffering or if we are attached to ideas of pain or suffering,
The unconscious forces begin to resonate on that level and make some sort of experience that we recognize as a personal aspect of ourselves.
So without us being the vessel of that form,
Then of course there is no space for form to manifest within,
And hence this practice is known as the path that is formless,
Meaning that we do not add our personal aspect into the picture that we are meditating upon.
So if we are meditating upon beauty,
We do not add our personal ideas of what beauty means or what our mind thinks beauty means or what our feelings comprehend as beauty,
As beauty in this present moment is a spontaneous and beautiful expression of something that is more than that which the mind comprehends from past experiences or ideas of the future.
It is in this moment,
Immersed in this moment,
And so the formless is not an aspect of ourselves that is without character or without some form of quality that is recognizable.
The recognizable quality is of course universal,
Love is not a specific,
We do not hold in our minds or in our feelings the completeness of love and we cannot impose such ideas upon others or in the world that we live.
We cannot say that love is this or love is that,
Love is formless not because it doesn't contain an aspect of love,
Simply because it is more than what you think and more than what you feel.
The space is much more than what can be comprehended through reason,
Hence reason cannot be a reflection or an indicator of love,
It cannot be an indicator of experience,
Experience needs to happen through itself.
Love is an expression that is understood when you are aligned with love,
Joy is an experience that is understood when you are aligned with joy,
It doesn't mean that you have to reach for a specific form or a destination or an ideal so that that experience becomes real or made into an experience that is validated by your mind or by your feelings.
When you do this then of course you miss the love,
You miss the joy that is new and that is giving birth to itself through this moment rather than through your ideas of the future or your ideas that come or are based,
Referenced in the past.
Hence what formless truly means is the spontaneous,
Unknown,
Beautiful,
Expansive,
Infinite space that is beyond form,
It is so everywhere that there is no space to fit our concepts into such form.
So this formless in the ancient language in India for example was called Nirgulana and it's spelled just so that if you want to check this out,
It's spelled n-i-r-g-u-n-a and it inspired a movement within India but also a movement that carried on around the world,
A movement that was perhaps influencing Buddhism where the formless creates this concept of not trying to reach for something but emptying ourselves of forms,
Emptying ourselves of concepts,
Emptying ourselves of belief systems,
Of specifics that create such confusion as to allow us not to experience that which is here in this moment.
So Buddhism in my opinion is saying drop everything and come back here to this moment and experience what is here.
It is the same in many mystical traditions in Sufism,
In the many ancient traditions that were not lost in concepts that managed to hold on to the essence.
The beauty is the formless but it doesn't satisfy our mind,
It doesn't satisfy our feelings because we need something to hold on to,
We need an ideal,
A dream,
A simple concept that makes sense,
Enough sense so that a few people can understand it and in such conceptualization of beauty or love we diminish the qualities to that which is mundane,
That which is human and so we create all sorts of forms and we begin to worship these forms,
We begin to idealize these forms as the goal of our experience and hence what happens to experience?
We lose ourselves in trying to reach for those goals rather than living those goals but where are the goals the mind may argue with you in that sort of interesting way that makes you human?
Where is that goal,
Where is that substance,
Where is that essence that I can feel and where is that essence that I can taste and where is that essence that will excite my being so that I'm not just lost in the confusion of separation,
In the confusion of Maya,
In the illusions of this and that,
How can I come back home,
What is the way back home?
It is so very simple but not for the mind that is lost in trying to reach for the same form every time it loses,
It loses the excitement of one form,
It looks for another form,
When you lose the excitement of whatever it is that makes you joyous and happy and feeling that you've achieved whatever it is that you want to achieve,
Another dream pops up in your mind and so this is the wheel of karma,
This is the wheel of illusion that continues giving birth to itself,
Continues giving birth to the idea that separation is the problem.
Love isn't all those separate aspects,
It is the force of your ego,
It is the force of your mind and the force of your feelings that push you constantly to jump out of yourself,
Out of this present moment and into some future ideal that creates the constant birthing of separation or the constant birthing of the sense of being separate from your essence,
The atma and hence why Saint Kabir spoke in the past of the formless,
The divine love potential,
The higher aspect of yourself is formless,
Is without limitation,
It is without this concept that is based on time,
The linear perception of love,
It has a beginning and it has an end and it needs to fit into that form otherwise it doesn't exist,
It is formless and the way to reach for such an experience is not only to drop those concepts which are quite simple really,
You start at the beginning and you drop them one by one,
Every little concept,
Every little limitation that you have,
That you believe,
That you think,
That you feel,
That prevents you,
That constricts your body and your mind and your feelings from opening to that which is more infinite and greater and much more in alignment with the infinite by dropping those limitations,
By dropping those constrictions in your body now in this moment,
Not tomorrow,
Not as another ideal,
I need to drop my pain,
I need to drop my suffering,
I need to drop all those things that prevent me from feeling and experiencing the formless because then you're just repeating the same game with another interesting or more interesting concept but dropping those constrictions now as you breathe,
As you breathe in and breathe out,
Relaxing the body so that the mind and the feelings can relax so that you drop and lose yourself in a space that you don't know,
Of course that will bring up fear,
Of course that will bring up a sense of where do I put my mind,
Where do I put my feelings if there is nowhere concrete to rest on,
To hold on to,
How can I drop and where do I drop to,
Do I drop into oblivion,
Do I lose myself into a space of just craziness because I have no nothing to hold on to,
Nothing to create an ideal or a picture of at least what I think I am,
All these questions are irrelevant,
Drop them as you breathe in and breathe out,
Simply relax the mind,
Relax your body,
Relax,
Do not create such tensions,
Relax as you breathe in and breathe out,
The unknown cannot be known,
Drop the struggle to want to know,
To desire to know,
To need to know,
Just enjoy the breath as it fills your body,
As you breathe into your abdomen,
Into your belly,
Relaxing the diaphragm,
Breathing into your chest,
Breathing in so completely there is no space for mind,
There is no space for feelings to begin a philosophical debate as you are breathing in,
You are just present to your breath and as you breathe out,
Nothing,
Just pure stillness,
As you breathe out,
Letting go,
Simply by allowing the mind and allowing the feelings to recognize that such potential is possible creates a momentum within you,
A momentum within that aspect that is consciousness,
Consciousness begins to move beyond those limits,
Beyond those constrictions that are so addictive and so very much part of your core,
The structure of your mind and the structure of your feelings that it is difficult to let go,
It is difficult to let go of any addiction,
When you let go you need to understand that energy is not personal,
Energy is not for you,
Is not for an aspect of you,
Is not for some selfish reason,
Energy is everywhere,
It doesn't need to then create a new momentum within yourself,
Energy is self revealing,
Energy is movement that transcends itself and such transcendence is selfless,
It is not connected to the ego,
It is not connected to the mind that is referenced in the ego,
It is selfless and hence why Saint Kabir speaks of bhakti,
Bhakti is the word in the ancient Indian tradition meaning love,
Love that transcends the fulfillment of self,
Love that is in every aspect of life,
Love that expresses itself simply through its own beauty,
So selfless doesn't mean that you have to see yourself as a negative,
I have so many problems,
I have so much karma,
I have so much pain,
I have so much suffering,
So I have to anoint myself with my good deeds and work hard to let go of the bad karma,
Let go of the negatives,
The limitations and perform selfless service until I'm free enough to enjoy myself,
My self,
Bhakti is an enjoyment,
Bhakti is beautiful simply because it is an alignment with the infinite space that you are,
The infinite space that your mind can reach,
The infinite space that your emotions can touch,
The infinity that is you,
You are more than the self,
You are in all aspects universal,
Every aspect of your experience is reflected in every little molecule,
In every little luminous molecule that shines back to you and allows you to comprehend the atma,
To touch the atma,
So bhakti means allowing that space to flow through you in alignment with such higher consciousness,
With such an expansive and unlimited,
A profound depth of seeing,
Of feeling,
Of being,
When you express love from such a higher consciousness,
It is not limited to what you need or what helps you or what creates you,
Or what helps you to make yourself feel better or whatever it is that then in that moment fulfills your needs or desires,
Pure love is an expression that is beyond the self,
It is selfless and that is bhakti,
Bhakti is that love expressed in all and everything,
So the way to be free according to Sant Kabir and according to my experience is known as formless bhakti,
That means you are not giving yourself to a specific need,
You are not giving yourself to a specific desire or reason to be love,
You are simply being love because the formless,
The space that is all around you,
The space that allows your mind to manifest in form,
The mind to think its thoughts is in essence love,
So as you expand into your thoughts with this beautiful concept of being selfless,
Then your thoughts transcend as that is their nature,
Then being connected to ego,
Being connected to desire,
Being connected to needs and move into that unknown space,
It is unknown for most people and that is freedom,
Freedom from the mundane,
Freedom from the needs and desires of the mundane,
Freedom into a space that is known as bhakti,
Love,
Sant Kabir explains this in his sutra in a beautiful way in case you have not understood what I have been speaking about and explains that and I am quoting a part of a poem here from the book called Songs of Kabir and it goes like this.
Behold,
What wonderful rest is in the supreme spirit or the supreme atma and he enjoys it who makes himself meet for it.
Held by the cords of love,
The swing of the ocean of joy sways to and fro and a mighty sounds break forth in song,
See what a lotus blooms there without water and Sant Kabir says my heart's bee drinks its nectar.
As you breathe in and breathe out,
Understand that your thoughts and your feelings no matter what judgement you put upon them,
No matter what you feel,
What others say,
What other situations reflect back to you are held by the cords of love of this beautiful infinite space that is formless,
That comes from beyond those minute limitations that you are focused on.
The cords of love are connected to the infinite,
To the space that is unknown,
The swing of the ocean of joy and the joy that is felt when you are connected to those cords,
To those aspects of yourself,
Those forces,
Those powers within you,
The love that is awakened in your heart as you breathe in and breathe out without holding on to the ego,
Without holding on to the aspects of the mind that creates suffering.
As the swing of joy sways to and fro,
The mighty sound of consciousness is heard not only in your mind,
Not only in the feelings of your heart but also in the depth of your experience,
So everything changes,
The colour of your experience changes,
Suffering changes simply because you connect to the cords of love that create the possibility for suffering to be experienced and so then the lotus that is connected to the crown of your head,
The lotus that is connected to you and how you connect to everything,
You on a personal level connect to that space that is in every aspect of your experience,
How that blooms without water,
It blooms simply because the force of focus,
Of letting go of this and that,
Of the dualism that creates pain and suffering,
The focus blooms without water,
You do not need to put effort into such focus,
The lotus blooms simply because that is its nature.
Kabir says as you open to the formless,
Your heart,
The heart's bee drinks its nectar.
As you breathe in and breathe out,
May you drink the nectar of your beautiful experience in every moment of every breath that you take,
In your karma yoga,
In your spiritual practice,
In life.
Thank you.
