I don’t know about you but there have been, are times,
when it seems that all my spiritual practises are actually causing me more stress
rather than less. Given that the idea of spiritual practice is to develop inner
peace and clarity of connection in mind-body-spirit and to Divine Mother it’s
not a good thing or a step in the right direction to be run ragged in such a
way. Why does it happen and what can we do to put a stop to it, to get our ‘life’
(time) back?
Just this morning I opened my eyes after morning agnihotra and meditation and was giving
this very subject some thought. I thought about all that I do to foster health
throughout my mind-body-spirit being. I thought about all that I have done in
the past, all the practises I have given my time and effort to over many years
and as I sat there feeling so calm and relaxed I thought about karma yoga and of
what great benefit it is, how ridiculously productive it is to remember and
practise karma yoga as part of one’s sadhana (spiritual) practise.
Karma yoga is the yoga of action. That is what karma
means, action. So karma yoga is the yoga of your actions. It is doing the
dishes, going to work, sweeping the floor, making the bed, watering the garden,
feeding the family, wrapping a gift, making a card for someone, writing a
letter… all of your actions can be yogic actions, all of your actions can be
transformed into your sadhana (spiritual) practice by performing them as karma
yoga.
You won’t be run ragged by karma yoga because it
involves doing what you’d normally do though with a different focus/intention.
You don’t need to set aside an hour day for karma yoga, you don’t need to go to
a class. You just need to live your life with the attitude of service and
awareness.
Karma yoga was not a form of yoga that I ever really
gravitated towards, to be honest. However, as things often turn out… it is the
yoga practise that is more dominant in my yogic life. Having spent so many
years ‘working on myself’ has given me a perfect background of skills to employ
in the art and act of karma yoga. I can apply almost all ‘healing myself’
skills I have learnt in life in karma yoga. The wonderful thing is, I don’t
need to do most of those activities or have them as a focus in my life, I can
just apply what I have personally gained from them in my daily karma yoga
practise.
I have found the perfect balance and recipe (for me)
is karma yoga + meditation + diet/lifestyle + agnihotra. Karma yoga needs to be
balanced with meditation practise. Anything at all needs also to be balanced
with meditation practise. What karma yoga does is give you the opportunity for
you turn your everyday life into an opportunity for your spiritual development
and overall wellbeing for your highest good. This is the beauty of karma yoga.
It does not run you ragged, it is not asking you to perform more actions it is
asking you to work at being more present in action. Actually you will find that
in order to have more success with your karma yoga practise you need to do less
action.
Less action because this means you can move, think and
breathe more slowly rather than when you are in a rush. The slower you go, the
better the chance you will have of being aware, mindful, and present.
So this is how you can avoid your quest for spiritual
development, God realisation and personal development running you ragged in
modern life, karma yoga. It doesn’t ask
more of you, it does not deem you as less or wanting, it only asks that you be
present in your actions and hone that skill with the intention of opening your
heart to Divine Mother and love.
No comments:
Post a Comment