A reader of my book SHARING the QUEST wrote:
“I really appreciate your chapter on The Dark Night of the Soul, it could havebeen written just for me. I have been trying to follow a guru with devotion butI see his human failings and so tend to criticize, which of course brings medown. Then I begin to think all is useless and get spiritually depressed,feeling my soul is empty. Have you any advice to offer?”
Please realise we are not here to worship theguides, but to put their teachings into practice. They are all human, withvarying human frailties, although some are pretending to be gods. But it is howwe apply the message that counts. A man is no less a man, simply because he isdeemed holy. Nor is he less holy because he is a man (or woman). If someone'seyes or soul, give you light, bask in it for the time it is available. AllSatsang with those further on the path is helpful for our soul growth. Theirproblems are not our business. Absorb what is true for you and move on.
We all get into spiritualdoldrums at times on the path. But Spiritual prostration is the thief of time. And ourlifetimes are very short. Don’t waste yours. We cannot afford to wallow indepressive thoughts. If you are not ill, crippled or diseased, then what IS—atpresent—is fine. Life is only mirroring your thoughts—not what actually IS.As you think downer thoughts, all your life energies will run in thosechannels, like water seeking its lowest level. And what is happening on theplanet is only reflecting a similar way of thinking by the majority of people.Buying in to consensus misery and apprehension is a mental choice.
In what feels like a DarkNight of the Soul, your soul is resting as a fallow field for now, beforethe new sowing season starts. It is a necessary period of repose. Don't sowyourself with inner negativity while the ground is preparing to become fertileonce again. The doldrums will pass. And spring will come. So long as you don'tfixate on the past, by hanging on to what has gone, or what was wrong withothers.
Enjoy them when they are around,but don't hang on to them. They too will pass away. Seek the Source. Permanentjoy is only found within. In the Self, that is—not in the sense-of-ego. It isonly the ego-sense that whines about the condition it finds itself in. Ifwe buy into its whisperings, we are lost. Do not allow one second of regret ordepression to emerge in consciousness. Transform it instantly, before it gets ahold. If you hug it to your heart, it takes far too long to winkle-out.
As the sagePatanjali says, "Whatever troubles you, ponder on the opposite."Create a new groove in Consciousness.
In REALITY all is well. Inour deep selves we are one with silent joy. Practice the Sunconsciousbreathing in my last chapter of 'Sharing the Quest'). Stay in it all day long.Chant Om Namah Shivaya as you work and walk. Become rock-like in yourresolve to refuse all mental wallowing. Stop it as soon as you feel it rising.Such thoughts are only passing emotional weather in the Clear Blue Sky ofConsciousness. Identify with your permanent state—the Sky (Being) not theweather (thoughts and emotions). You are not your thoughts. So don't identifywith them.
Get up with God-ness in your InnerSun. Go to forests. Hug trees. Listen to the birds singing in praise ofCreation. Absorb the strength and silence of the woods and know the samestill joy lies deep in you. It is the Omnipresence. Be aware the Omnipresenceis working through you all day long. Don't do anything yourself. Let everythingbe done through you. Constantly remain aware of that and the joy will comeagain. Only then your life will change.
Smile. Start now.
