Jyotir Bhava: Illuminating Joyful Living

“May all the lights you see remind you of your self-luminous soul.

Seated in the lotus of the heart, pray to that, the source of light, love, and happiness.”

We have gathered here, in solemn remembrance and joyous celebration, as we recall the teachings of our Himalayan lineage through our Master Gurudev Swami Rama and the life of our beloved saint, Swami Veda Bharati, and through so many others to whom we give gratitude in appreciation.

Who are these masters and saints and spiritual guides influencing our life journey? Mysteriously they entered into our lives, like a whisper upon a breeze. And before we knew it, they were in our hearts. Yet, perhaps they were always there and we did not know.

We are blessed with the love and light of our guru-guided path through those words: Love, Serve, Remember.  We remain steadfast to continue on the path of light serving selflessly as our expression of gratitude.  The essence of sacrifice is giving selflessly. It is a complete expression of love in the true sense. We have learned to be content with our essential needs fulfilled using our resources in service of others.

We are all here for a purpose; it is an ongoing spiritual process. We are all here for spiritual liberation and to serve that mission. This spiritual path, the Guru’s mission, is alleviating pain and suffering in the world. All pain and suffering arise from our mind: from the conflicts in our mind, from the selfishness in our mind, from the greed, anger, and desires in our mind. Meditation serves as a way to heal the wounded mind. So in your mind decide what area of the pain of the world you want to alleviate, by what means, and offer your services there with all your capacity. Today, let us resolve to consciously weave the fabric of our lives with waves of illuminating light.  Let Sadhana ignite hope in reforming and transforming our deep emotional patterns, deconditioning our minds, and to use the inner eye to “see” through the light of compassion, with empathy and understanding.

We are all aspiring to live a spiritual life, and we are linked through that spiritual aspiration to the Tradition and the mantra-seed that was planted is part of this beautiful garden of the guru-mind. We rejoice in this common-unity, this community that is with us always even when we are not aware of it. The beauty of this garden extends worldwide, embracing the entire global sangha.

Our sangha, spiritual community, is a single mind-field in which the stabilized personal minds, the stabilized lives of each of us, are as soft, gentle ripples in a calm lake.  So raise your level of consciousness.  Raise your level of awareness.  Let these Realities become your Realities.  You operate in the world knowing that this world then operates within another world, and you are in both worlds, so remain aware of both simultaneously.  You become aware of a heartfelt connection and linkage to the Tradition.

Tasmai shri gurave namah.

srb

Editor’s Note:

To know more about the 2024 American Sangha gathering, you may want to read

1) Experiences from the AHYMSIN U.S. Sangha by Dowlat Budhram – https://www.ahymsin.org/experiences-from-the-ahymsin-us-sangha/

2) Why I Will Joyfully Attend the Sangha of the Americas by Jenny May – https://www.ahymsin.org/why-i-will-joyfully-attend-the-sangha-of-the-americas/

3) A loving invitation to the Sangha of the Americas by Swami Ritavan Bharati – https://www.ahymsin.org/a-loving-invitation-to-the-sangha-of-the-americas/

4) AHYMSIN Sangha of the Americas – https://www.ahymsin.org/event/ahymsin-sangha-of-the-americas/