Dear Yogis,

It may be in this time of covid you have asked again (and had more time to think) what is the point and purpose of my life?

There is an answer and I have suggested it to you many times.  The point and purpose of your life is to decide AND TO BE Who you Really Are.  It is not just a thought.  Even if you don’t realise you are asking the question,  you are making the decision about your life by moving forward with every action, every thought and every word.

Paramahansa Yogananda could be called an example of a person who had a very clear idea of who he was, and wanted to know himself in his own reality.  Not many people live at this level,  and the level of his consciousness was reflected in his thoughts his words and his deeds.  He of course has moved on to his next incarnation and gets to decide what he would next like to re-create in ever more beautiful versions of himself.  As I understand it, he probably will not choose to be a rock or a stick-insect,  as creation goes upwards and forwards, not backwards.

The soul crossing over may choose not to be a human being as we know this state.  But that is up to them.  They might like to play a while, then go back to “school” because they understand that.  In this school they may learn THAT THERE IS NOTHING THAT THEY HAVE TO LEARN.  All they have to do (all that WE have to do) is remember WHO AND WHAT WE REALLY ARE, by being it.  Some souls have this realisation before they move to the next place.

The knowing that the soul never dies in fact it never sleeps, never forgets.    That no experience is visited upon any soul against their will.  Yes, the soul leaves the body, and if you have sat with the dying you may have seen or felt this. The soul will change its bodily form when it sees no purpose in remaining in that form.

Don’t get caught up in the process – it is just a process.  Even if you asked God to help you understand the process would it make a difference?  Like Krishna and Arjuna in the ‘Gita.  Krishna (God) revealed himself.  It changed Arjuna in so far as he was scared, but then had trouble believing it was not his imagination.  However he was more open to instruction.  Are you open to instruction, are you ready to learn, move forward?

Would this information matter in the long term.  Will it change how you act? (this of course is the big test of understanding). Will it help you to help your neighbour, celebrate the wonderfulness around you and see the “Glory” in everything.

Will remembering who you are and what you really are allow you to change the mind of others?Or will you slide back to the soft and  comfortable place? Live in the smallness of who you imagined yourself to be before this lesson?

It is your choice.

You can choose for death to be a glorious moment. A chance for the soul to return to its natural state. Limitless.  If you have a clear set of beliefs that support a beautiful after death experience and a reconnection with God, then you never need be afraid of the wonderful gift we call death.

NOTHING IS PAINFUL WHICH YOU UNDERSTAND IS NOT REAL. The Buddha and the Dharma, the Dharma and the Buddha – The Lesson and the Master, The teacher and the student, the object and the observer – all part of the one.  Even permanence is impermanent.

Have a wonderful Sunday (the “day of rest”).

NAMASTE .JAHNE

Dear Yogis,

NOTES FOR TODAY:I am never sure whether to put these in the front or at the end.

YOGA CLASSES: please read “classes” above, and bring all your props, and pre-pay. ZOOM – Four classes PER WEEK.  Mondays, Wednesdays, Friday and Saturdays.

TAROT: The last training class today (Saturday) at 2pm.  Bookings taken for the next class. I will be trying zoom consults and trainings starting the 1th July.

TEA AND TAROT  “Afternoon Tea – Meet-up”, At the studio, 2pm to 4pm Sunday 28th June.  Please email an RSVP yogafirst2@bigpond.com. Everyone welcome.  Readings, decks, paintings, posters, pendulums….

We have been walking around and around the hard things, the yoga basics, but starting today we are going to jump in.

WE ARE NOT THESE BODIES.

“O descendent of Bharata, he who dwells on the the body can never be slain.  Therefore we need not grieve for any living thing”. (Bhagavad-Gita 2.30)

The first step is to understand that you are not your body.  In the verse above the “he who dwells in the body” is not talking about you.  It is not a matter of just repeating “I am not this body” but actually realising it.  Although we are not these bodies, these vehicles,  but are pure consciousness, somehow over time we have become identified within this physical identity.

Some scholars say that this identification with the body can be cured by abstaining from all action.  Buddha also maintained that if we somehow separate ourselves from the material,  the cause of suffering will be removed. In today’s terms – If you were being pursued by the ATO, would it remove your tax debt if you destroyed all your material possessions.  I don’t think so.  It would however make it more difficult for you to meet the remaining obligations, but now you would have destroyed the vehicle through which this could be achieved.

The Bhagavad-Gita indicates that the body is not everything.  There is more.  Beyond the complex material elements there is the spirit, and the symptom of that spirit is consciousness.  We know that a body without consciousness is a dead body.  What is this energy we call consciousness? Consciousness is the energy of the soul and proves that the soul is present.  When the body breaks down and this energy called consciousness leaves the body, there is no possibility of our replacing a broken part and thereby reviving the body, and achieving our destiny…  The soul energy has gone.  There is no possibility of re-animating the body after the soul has left.

In the Bhagavad-Gita, Sri Krishna points out that all our miseries are caused by false identification with the body.   It is the spirit spark of the soul which motivates us into great feats of creation. We try to attain eternity, knowledge and bliss by subjugating our imperfect physical vehicle, however to progress to our goals we must realise  that we are being blocked by the physical.  Perhaps we are floundering in a place of desire and attachment, allowing the  senses to drag us this way and that.  For success, for peace and contentment, we must learn to master the body, not deny it.  We must be masters and not servants.

Tantra USES the energy of desire.  Instead of seeing pleasure and desire as things to be avoided at all costs, TANTRA recognises the powerful energy aroused by our desires,  to be an indispensable resource for our spiritual path.  Tantra seeks to transform every experience no matter how un-religious it may appear – into the path of fulfilment.  Because our present life is so inseparably linked with desire, instead of denying this fact, instead of living in denial,  we must USE desire’s tremendous energy if we wish to transform our life into something transcendental.

HAVE A LOVELY WEEKEND.

NAMASTE – JAHNE