Posted on May 4, 2013 by Jean Mishra

The reason why people with differing beliefs tend to clash is this: a belief is not Knowing. Belief is intellectual and is the creation of your own ego regardless of how you arrived at it. Nothing will defend itself to the death like the ego-mind, so it will raise up in defense of itself. Examine a belief and accept the truth it brings you to, then release it. The truth alone will remain and has no need to be defended. It stands alone without effort.

The Conversation

Posted on March 9, 2013 by Jean Mishra

twins

Baby 1: And you, you believe in life after birth?

Baby 2: Absolutely. It’s obvious that life after birth exist. We are here to become stronger and to get ready for Whatever awaits us next.

Baby 1: This is absurd. There is nothing after birth! What would life look like outside the womb?

Baby 2: Well, there are many stories about the other side. I’ve heard there is a blaze of light there, an intense and profound feeling of joy with deep emotions, thousands of things to live for… For example, I’ve heard that we’ll eat with our mouth, there.

Baby 1: That’s silly. We have an umbilical cord and that is how we eat. Everyone knows that we don’t use our mouth to eat! And, on the top of it, no one has ever come back from the other world… Those stories are all coming from naïve people. Life just ends at birth. Period. That’s the way it is and we must accept it.

Baby 2: Alright, then allow me to think differently. That’s for sure, I have no idea what life after birth looks like, and I can’t prove anything to you. But I like to believe, that in the next world, we’ll be able to see our mother and that she will take care of us.

Baby 1: “Mother”? You mean that you believe in ‘Mother’? Oh! So where is she?

Baby 2: Everywhere, don’t you see it! She is everywhere, all around us. We are part of her and it’s thanks to her that we are living right now. Without her, we wouldn’t be here.

Baby 1: This is ridiculous! I’ve never seen any mother so it’s obvious that she doesn’t exist.

Baby 2: I don’t agree, that’s your way of seeing things. Because sometimes when everything quiets down a little bit, we can hear her sing. We can feel her hugging our world. I’m pretty sure that our life will start after birth.

Author unknown

Too beautiful and thought-provoking not to share. We can never know what awaits us after this life. Our minds are too busy. But in the stillness of the Heart the answer awaits, like the arms of an unseen mother. Who knows how many layers of reality may await beyond the possibilities we perceive?

Truth is the Flame

Posted on April 23, 2012 by Jean Mishra

Truth is the flame upon which the idea of truth is forever extinguished.

A Perfect Rippling

Posted on April 20, 2012 by Jean Mishra

Existence simply is. It didn’t require religion to come to be. It doesn’t require being right, devotional, or philosophical to continue. It cannot be any less or more than it already is. It simply wants to be realized. It wants its Truth, which is not separable from your Truth, to be known.

Religion, devotion and even philosophy are paths or methods one can use to reach the Truth but they are not Truth itself. They can guide one towards realization and conversely they can lead far away from it. To realize Truth, one needs to be supple-hearted and quiet-minded. If one is overly-attached to any religion, devotion, or philosophy then one becomes too rigid or single-minded in the fervor of trying to “get it right” and there is no room for Truth to enter.

Truth is not a blaring of trumpets or blinding lights. It can’t be bought or earned. It can only be realized. Truth is as silent and subtle as a falling feather spiraling slowly towards a pond. It kisses the surface almost imperceptibly as it lights. In that instant there is the slightest perfect disturbance in rippling circles to let the water know it’s there. The water accepts it completely and moves with it as it will.

Don’t be surprised when you reach Truth to find there are no words. There are no sky rockets or flags to wave. There is only a perfect rippling in the moment to let you know it’s there and it will move you as it will.

“I said to my soul, be still, and wait…So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing.”
T.S. Eliot

The Mystery of Love

Posted on January 2, 2012 by Jean Mishra

“The crown of spiritual experience is the attainment of divine love – a love that overflows the bounds of all human calculations and standards and inundates the entire world.”

– Swami Ramdas

This is a worthy quote, but how many of us really understand this “love” he’s speaking of? I know for most of my life I didn’t have a clue. Trying to untangle this “love” stuff everyone is seeking, having or lamenting over is enough to drive anyone insane, but I persevered for most of my life. The only constant regarding the concept of love I was sure about was the certainty I was missing something intangible. In so many ways I was right, and in so many ways I was dead wrong. I think I’m coming closer to figuring this whole love thing out.

“Love” is one of those slippery terms; like “truth” and “god”. The moment you try to define it you’ve already lost the battle of doing it. The longer the list, the more confused you become. I’m finally beginning to understand it’s because it defies the intellect. “Love” is not separable from “Truth” or “God” in this respect. This is the way I view these terms, whether right or wrong:

God – the “what is”; that which is the source of and fiber of all that is. It’s not a physical being or thing, this is where our confusion begins. It’s existence is beyond what we can perceive of physically and quantify intellectually.
Truth – a Higher Intellectual expression of that “god” and truth than those born of and intellectualized in the physical world.
Love – A Higher Emotional expression of “god” than those emotions born of and felt in the material world.

I realize, believe me I do, this really doesn’t clear much of anything up. Unfortunately, by their very nature it’s probably as close as we’re going to get to a no-nonsense definition. These are abstract things best expressed through the arts and experienced in deep inner silence. I’m convinced the closest most of us come to experiencing it is in that brief instant when you’re overtaken by the beauty of something. It happens when your mind is suddenly stunned into stillness and your heart is ignited by sheer awe. It’s present in that momentary hush.

I think there’s a lot of confusion out there regarding the “inundation of divine love” into the world as Ramdas states. A lot of folks beating the spiritual trail think this is something they need or have to do. It’s a noble idea and gesture, unfortunately in the doing we’re involving our own mighty human egos. Goodness knows the world needs a little more kindness and good deeds are certainly needed, but realize those deeds for what they are. Without judgement, they are actions arising from the ego and not the pure state of divine love.

The effect of divine love, in its purity, involves no doing. From where it springs there is no doer. Divine love is manifested into the physical realm through the realization of itself in you. Once you’ve consciously been in the experience of it, the lamp is lit. Your own being becomes the only doing to shine it forth into the physical world. You know people like this. They exude a certain “something” without having to speak a word. Peacefulness surrounds them and the weight of the world seems something alien to them. Their proverbial cup runneth over.

So the intangible thing I was missing is that this is a state that exists and is available to everyone. You walk in it, swim in it, sleep in it. It’s never apart from you. What’s missing is the simple realization. It’s not magically found in the relationship with another person or ideal. It’s found in the stillness of the heart when the mind is silent. Once realized, the relationship becomes with existence itself and spills over into everything you do and everyone you relate to, in whatever role that may be.