Devotion, Gratitude, and Love - Part 2

The millions of stars in the cosmos do not equal the number of reasons we create to not do our sādhana.

In Part 1 of this blog series I discussed several aspects of devotion. One of the key understandings is that devotion is not a gooey sentiment but a conscious response to grace; it is the recognition of the incredible gift from God that has set us on the path to knowing our highest Self. 

Engaging in sādhana is our response to grace. If sādhana is the vehicle in which we drive to follow that light, then devotion is like the chassis of the car. Devotion must be an unwavering commitment to doing our practice — to digesting our tensions and freeing ourselves from our own contracted mind, every time those things show up. And those things are going to show up regularly!

Freedom is flowering within us because of grace, and it will bring to the surface every barrier and misunderstanding to the very freedom that grace is calling forth. So our devotion must include the willingness to hold onto the discipline of practice, and express it in our lives, no matter what we have to face. There is only one reason to do our sādhana, to live from that unwavering devotion, and that is, in response to the deepest part within us. That inner place, which we can call God, is informing us of the highest truth.

The discipline of sādhana can sometimes be arduous when it kicks up the dust, exposing all the resistance of our ego in its perpetual attempt to rule the kingdom of our consciousness. That is why the consort of devotion is gratitude. The recognition of what is possible for us flowers as devotion, and that matures on the field of our profound gratitude for what grace is offering us. It is that gratitude that dissolves resistance.

If you choose the discipline in the face of all adversity — in the face of every reason to not surrender — and are willing to understand that everything that appears in your life, which seems to be blocking your freedom, is only there to free you, then how you could be anything but grateful?

Cry-Baby Soup

We normally start cooking “cry-baby soup” every time some struggle occurs, or a part of us gets exposed. We throw in every ingredient that supports our belief that something should not be happening. But understand that your spiritual freedom is the perpetual revelation: I didn’t realize that! Freedom requires being freed of our beliefs, perceptions, and thought constructs, until we are truly free from all constraints. Nityananda said to us: “Surrender everything that keeps you from Śiva.”

In my own sādhana, I was fortunate that every time I found myself trying to prevent a breakthrough from happening, I also recognized in that moment that I must close my eyes and open my heart. Then, through whatever means was necessary, whether it was words, mantra, prayer, or just breath, I found gratitude in seeing that I was being freed.

You cannot separate devotion and gratitude. And, at some point, you understand that the third vital component is love. Devotion is what we do, gratitude is what we feel, and love is what we express. If we hold onto the limited idea that life needs to change (or not change) to conform with how we think it ought to look, then we will not respond to God with full devotion, gratitude, and love. We will just be in a repetitive cycle of responding to life from our mind, emotions, tensions, and contractions.

The Leprechaun of Contraction

At any point in our journey back into God’s heart, the “perfect contraction” may show up as a reason to stop our sādhana. That contraction is like a leprechaun because it changes its form and dance just to capture our attention. That leprechaun may appear as our financial needs, the way we think the world ought to be, or our family pressures. All of those dynamics are really just stories and content that reveal our tensions, which are folding back and grabbing hold of the expansion that is trying to take place. Our ego, the limited part of us, is saying: I’m not going to be open, I’m not going to be free!

Remember that the perfect contraction is designed from within your own consciousness to create the opportunity for you to be freed from your limited awareness. It is not something, someone, or anything outside of you doing it to you. Everything that happens carries the possibility of exposing your misunderstanding about who you are, and, if you choose to open, the revealing of who you really are.

Instead of cooking cry-baby soup, cook the soup of gratitude, devotion, and love.

As you move through your day, have another bowl whenever some contraction threatens to close your heart and diminish your commitment to spiritual growth. Be grateful for the possibility of living God’s purpose for you, which is having the direct experience of His unconditional freedom and joy. The entire purpose of life is the organic expansion of higher consciousness that consumes limited consciousness as it expands.

Let’s celebrate our life every day and be devoted to the freedom and joy that is available to us in every moment. Be grateful that this is possible in your life.