Toward Love…
~ Gurumayi Chidvilasananda
Listen to the teaching
Read by Eesha Sardesai
Music to accompany the teaching:
Pan flute played by Derek Jivan Jones
Since first reading this teaching by Gurumayi, I have noticed that I’ve spent less time and energy focusing on the “collage,” which for me takes the form of news, social media, and books and videos that do not uplift my mind or heart. In fact, they leave behind a residue of negative thoughts and impressions.
By cutting down on these distractions, and instead focusing more on doing mantra japa, I’ve become more aware of the silence in pauses and the vibration of the mantra in my heart. Now that I’m more anchored in this inner silence, I believe I have much more to offer to myself and others. As I engage with people throughout the day, I often feel that I am able to speak and act from a place of deeper awareness and presence. This allows me to better share and experience love.
Pennsylvania, United States
Often when something is unsettled in my mind, I’ll tend to ask someone else’s opinion on the matter. Often I will get caught up in their ideas and in my own thoughts, which are not helpful, and “have no bearing” on the life I have worked hard to build. Heeding Gurumayi’s words, “Wake up to the coruscating light before you,” will lead me closer to the Self and to love.
Florida, United States
Like another Siddha Yogi who shared in response to the fifth teaching of “Toward Love…,” I am also intrigued by the choice of words Gurumayi uses in her teachings. I love to look up the dictionary definitions as well as the synonyms of key words as they help provide me with deeper layers of understanding.
For this sixth teaching, I looked up the word perspicacity and found it means acute discernment or understanding and the ability to notice and understand things that are not obvious. It comes from the Latin perspicere, “to see through (something)” or “to examine thoroughly.”
I next discovered a painting titled “Perspicacity,” by the surrealist artist René Magritte. The painting shows an artist at his easel, intently studying his subject of an egg, but having already painted a bird in flight. I understood the artist had seen beyond the limits of the egg’s shell to a greater reality.
This is why I love Siddha Yoga study so much. We never know where it is going to lead us.
For this sixth teaching, I looked up the word perspicacity and found it means acute discernment or understanding and the ability to notice and understand things that are not obvious. It comes from the Latin perspicere, “to see through (something)” or “to examine thoroughly.”
I next discovered a painting titled “Perspicacity,” by the surrealist artist René Magritte. The painting shows an artist at his easel, intently studying his subject of an egg, but having already painted a bird in flight. I understood the artist had seen beyond the limits of the egg’s shell to a greater reality.
This is why I love Siddha Yoga study so much. We never know where it is going to lead us.
London, United Kingdom
This teaching brought a sudden awakening in me. I have thought many times about the fact that the media world imposes a selection of the concepts and ideas from other’s people’s minds, which limits everyone’s vision of reality again and again.
When I compared that situation with “this phenomenal moment” that Gurumayi is reminding us to honor, that’s when a sensational, sudden awakening happened for me, precisely on the thirtieth anniversary of my divya diksha, my divine initiation. Now I’m filled with gratitude and enthusiasm for what is happening right now, and for what is yet to come on my own amazing journey.
When I compared that situation with “this phenomenal moment” that Gurumayi is reminding us to honor, that’s when a sensational, sudden awakening happened for me, precisely on the thirtieth anniversary of my divya diksha, my divine initiation. Now I’m filled with gratitude and enthusiasm for what is happening right now, and for what is yet to come on my own amazing journey.
New York, United States
Recently I had an experience of the “coruscating light” that Gurumayi speaks of in this sixth teaching of “Toward Love….” It happened while I was in a jail—offering a meditation satsang as a volunteer meditation teacher.
Most of the men attending were new to meditation and recently incarcerated. However, they were awake and engaged and wanted to go deeper. As we repeated Om Namah Shivaya out loud along with Gurumayi, using the Siddha Yoga CD of her meditation instructions, the jail reverberated with the vibration of the mantra.
I fell into a deep meditation. There was a field of golden, “coruscating light” that was undulating and breaking up into golden, dust-like particles. My awareness ran along the edge of the field, and I felt that I was both the light of the field and ready to enter it. I was in awe and wonder. The light was so close and available! On the out-breath I was in the light, on the in-breath I was back to the edge. Most of the men attending were new to meditation and recently incarcerated. However, they were awake and engaged and wanted to go deeper. As we repeated Om Namah Shivaya out loud along with Gurumayi, using the Siddha Yoga CD of her meditation instructions, the jail reverberated with the vibration of the mantra.
Waterville, Canada
My tendency to want to see things around me is very strong. I consider myself an observer. However, as I contemplate this teaching of my beloved Gurumayi, I have to recognize that I have an attachment to seeing. For me, the “collage” that Gurumayi speaks of represents the TV, the cellphone, the computer, magazines, books, any form of communication that involves images. And I am definitely surrounded by such things.
Yet, when I do japa mantra or chant a namasankirtana, I can dissolve this attachment and then I “wake up to the coruscating light” before my inner eye. As I repeat the mantra or chant the name of God, its sound envelops my perception.
It is a back-and-forth process, between the attachment to seeing and the repetition of the mantra and the chanting of God’s name. It’s not very easy to leave the attachment behind, but I achieve it. I become aware of the sparkling light, and I “follow its corresponding sound, its unmistakable note.” I achieve it.
Yet, when I do japa mantra or chant a namasankirtana, I can dissolve this attachment and then I “wake up to the coruscating light” before my inner eye. As I repeat the mantra or chant the name of God, its sound envelops my perception.
It is a back-and-forth process, between the attachment to seeing and the repetition of the mantra and the chanting of God’s name. It’s not very easy to leave the attachment behind, but I achieve it. I become aware of the sparkling light, and I “follow its corresponding sound, its unmistakable note.” I achieve it.
Mexico City, Mexico
This teaching from Gurumayi serves as both a warning and as protection for me. I understand that to stay on the path of love, I must not be distracted by all sorts of things that hinder my focus on my goal: experiencing love and spreading it.
To accomplish this, I avoid situations that are not useful to my sadhana. I create an environment conducive to my spiritual development and I check that my activities are in harmony with my spiritual practices. Above all, I remain attentive to the stillness of my inner voice, the sweetness of my heart, and the light of my eyes.
To accomplish this, I avoid situations that are not useful to my sadhana. I create an environment conducive to my spiritual development and I check that my activities are in harmony with my spiritual practices. Above all, I remain attentive to the stillness of my inner voice, the sweetness of my heart, and the light of my eyes.
Rodez, France
The sixth teaching of “Toward Love…” has illumined me! How mysterious is “Toward Love…” today! Could it be the newness of the words coruscating light? I discovered that the definition of coruscating is “flashing, sparkling, brilliant.”
My Guru has a unique way of guiding me toward the light of love. She knows my artist’s heart will follow her into any “coruscating light.” Inside the creative “collage” of images, colors, shapes, and textures that those words evoke in my mind, I can climb on the letters of the word coruscating and listen to their melodious sound “chorus-skating” in the valleys of my innermost Self. Soon I reach their source and my final destination—I have arrived in the cave of my heart, the birthplace of the light of love.Waterville, Canada
Yesterday, very good friends came for dinner and the dish I’d cooked was a real dud. One guest, a former chef, came to my rescue and the evening ended full of laughter!
In the middle of the night, I woke up remembering what happened and began to feel tightness in my body. I asked Kundalini Shakti to let me know what she would like me to understand. Memories began to come to mind from when I was a little girl, a teenager, a 28-year- old mother—all related to the kitchen, good food, or cooking. In response, I began breathing love in, breathing love out, and listened to my heartbeat. I relaxed and felt back to sleep.
This morning, I listened to the sixth teaching of “Toward Love…,” and immediately related these night memories to Gurumayi’s words, “staring at a collage made by hundreds of people”—people I’d internalized at different periods in my life, but who never were the true me. I was happy to realize that yesterday, I’d been able to laugh at the dud dish and to go back to sleep peacefully after calming myself. I am so grateful to the Guru’s ever-present grace!In the middle of the night, I woke up remembering what happened and began to feel tightness in my body. I asked Kundalini Shakti to let me know what she would like me to understand. Memories began to come to mind from when I was a little girl, a teenager, a 28-year- old mother—all related to the kitchen, good food, or cooking. In response, I began breathing love in, breathing love out, and listened to my heartbeat. I relaxed and felt back to sleep.
Plougonvelin, France
The affirmation “Gurumayi is with me, and I am with Gurumayi” has been the “unmistakable note,” the inner stambha in my life, carrying the power to wake me up to “the coruscating light” inside. Many years ago, when I repeated this affirmation for the first time during meditation, I had a vision of the Blue Pearl, the presence of the divine within.
Throughout life’s myriad challenges, whether navigating new beginnings or confronting lows and highs, my steadfast repetition of “Gurumayi is with me, and I am with Gurumayi” has evoked the palpable presence of Gurumayi for me. It has served as a guiding light, instilling profound confidence and a sense of “standing tall.” It has empowered me to carve out a unique path, distinct from the opinions and judgments of others. “Gurumayi is with me, and I am with Gurumayi” has become a source of strength, reinforcing the belief, “I’m protected, I’m loved.”
I’m confident in my belief that Guru’s grace is ever present in my life.
Throughout life’s myriad challenges, whether navigating new beginnings or confronting lows and highs, my steadfast repetition of “Gurumayi is with me, and I am with Gurumayi” has evoked the palpable presence of Gurumayi for me. It has served as a guiding light, instilling profound confidence and a sense of “standing tall.” It has empowered me to carve out a unique path, distinct from the opinions and judgments of others. “Gurumayi is with me, and I am with Gurumayi” has become a source of strength, reinforcing the belief, “I’m protected, I’m loved.”
I’m confident in my belief that Guru’s grace is ever present in my life.
Sydney, Australia
This teaching posed an immediate and direct question to me this morning. I had habitually picked up my phone and was mindlessly scrolling through social media as a way to take a break from a frustrating and challenging issue. Realizing that I was wasting my time, I remembered that I wanted to review the fifth teaching in “Toward Love….”
When I opened the Siddha path website, there was the sixth teaching. directing me to “wake up” and to change. With deep gratitude, I refocused and found more kind and loving ways to respond to the issues facing me.
When I opened the Siddha path website, there was the sixth teaching. directing me to “wake up” and to change. With deep gratitude, I refocused and found more kind and loving ways to respond to the issues facing me.
Geelong, Australia
In my life there are infinite distractions creating a cacophony that can make it more difficult for me to listen to the inner voice. Shaktipat initiated a process within where my self-effort is generously met with an abundance of grace. I am guided by flashes of intuition that light my path and align me with my heart, with the Heart, with love.
Part of my self-effort is to skillfully discriminate between these distractions and my intuition, my inner voice. When I choose wisely, inner contentment, peace, love, and bliss unfold. At such times the Blue Pearl appears flashing and Om dissolves into silence. Here I am free of the outer “collage.” Here I am one with Gurumayi. Here I am Consciousness. Here I am love.
Part of my self-effort is to skillfully discriminate between these distractions and my intuition, my inner voice. When I choose wisely, inner contentment, peace, love, and bliss unfold. At such times the Blue Pearl appears flashing and Om dissolves into silence. Here I am free of the outer “collage.” Here I am one with Gurumayi. Here I am Consciousness. Here I am love.
California, United States
This teaching brought me to a place of deep contemplation. I recognized how often I feel the need to fit in, even when it is not for my highest good. I asked myself, “How do I hold my genius back in order to be identified with a pre-existing paradigm? What would my life and work look like if I let go and gave ‘the coruscating light’ of the present moment its freedom to shine through fully?”
New York, United States