The most important thing you can do on a spiritual journey is to transcend, to step into samadhi. The most effective way I’ve found for this is an effortless mantra meditation.
In previous articles, I’ve spoken of the importance of Community but I’ve come to see this as more important than I once placed it. Being around others on our spiritual journey helps support us and can help get us out of some of the materialist mindset.
But we also want that Community to include the awake. People who are awake give us a living example to resonate with. I don’t mean their behavior or attitudes but rather their Being. If they are connected deeply enough, they will radiate that. This will enliven our own awakening and help the Self to recognize Itself through us. There is also the “popcorn” effect. If we’re around others who are awakening, it can help us switch too.
Note here that the person does not become enlightened. We simply help support the process. And the best ways we can are direct experience within ourselves and direct experience of living embodiments. Meditation and Darshan.
Being with the awake can include their books, videos, conference calls, satsangs, and retreats. The more live, the more potent the benefit. I don’t know anyone who’s woken through a book or video but they can be helpful. I do know some who’ve woken listening to the awake on conference calls. And many more in person.
It’s notable that the awake tend to congregate because being around others awake amplifies the awakeness. So around the awake, you’ll now often find others awake. This of course makes the effect more potent.
At one time, being with the awake was a difficult thing to accomplish. As little as a decade ago, you’d probably have to go somewhere like an ashram in India. A generation before, you’d probably spend years walking around there, trying to find a suitable example. But now, the awake are showing up all over. And surprisingly large communities are coming together.
The process gets easier and easier. But don’t wait for your train to arrive. This train will come only when we begin the journey ourselves. 😉
Davidya
(had a few days off so managed a couple of articles)
Thanks for your article, Davidya! I’m new on my awakening journey and at times have felt some guilt for desiring Community. Like it was a sign that I’m still living too much in my ego. I have felt as you wrote that they “will enliven our own awakening” and “help support us”. So thank you…I’m going to stop beating myself up for seeking like-minded people to connect with. I look forward to reading more of your posts.
Hi Tina
Thanks for the comment and welcome to the journey you’ve now become conscious you’re already on. 😉
Relationships – both intimate and not – can be a great mirror for our process and issues. And on the flip side, with the awake can help enliven and resonate with our higher self. Purify the path and move down it. We may get the impression from some teachers that silence and withdrawal are the means to awakening. And certainly, there is an important role for silence, for transcendence, as I mention. But for awakening to occur, we have to bring that silence into activity. Integrate it with the world. In India, they have an old saying. To make the colour fast, you dip the cloth in the dye, then you bleach it in the sun. And repeat. Transcendence and activity, until they are concurrent, and then further when they are found to be one and the same.
Enjoy the journey.
I think that’s what I miss the most about having to self-isolate, being with the awake, even being with those who just transcend on a regular basis makes a difference.
Hi Gina
Yes, there is great value in being with those who will uplift us. Some will want to keep us as we are. Others will welcome growth.
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I’ve not limited my time with the awake. I regularly visit online and one-on-one in person with social distancing. But yes, the format has changed.
Hi David,
On this topic, it was nice to see your face on the recent ASI open meeting (on zoom). I can attest to the potency of online meetings. I get kriyas everyday, but there were interesting brand new variations that popped up during this zoom. (I had to turn of my video a few times!)
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What I also appreciated was seeing teachers just hanging out. Alongside wisdom and clarity, ordinary normal work-in-progress humanity was refreshingly on display.
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I get the feeling that the increased use of online meetings these days (in light of the virus), is part of a kind of germination aspect of consciousness… It seems like it’s guiding us to awaken or flex our subtle faculties, and “feel” one another in lieu of physical proximity. Helping us to viscerally see though time and space, and taste the “entanglement” that was already there.
Hi Chris
Ditto for you. Yes, and it was a very wide range.
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Yes, every group has a collective aspect. Consciousness isn’t limited so even online gatherings have a collective. Although I think the appreciation of that varies widely. I got the impression my comment about the world in collective purification was a foreign idea to many there.
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I also found it interesting that what I’ve experienced as just a change of medium (going online) others have found very challenging.
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A lot of compassion and openness in the group that was lovely to see. A few others I knew too.