Book Notes
My True Reality
A guide for inner awareness through meditation
It is often said that there are as many spiritualities as there are people. Proof of the pudding is the statement of Sri Sathya Sai Baba that no two people have the same experience of death. "It is different for everybody", says Sathya Sai Baba. The journey from birth to death is different for all.
The purpose of that journey is paramount; we are here to discover our true reality, our purpose, our being. That discovery is principally via an inner journey, and by interior self-management. Sai Baba teaches that the body is inert, the senses are inert and have no will of their own. What then is our true reality, our true life? How do we manage this life, how do we discover a roadmap to that reality?
Many roadmaps have been made. Some are called religions; the devotional practices therein point us to a goal and give us a means to reach that goal. Avatars and great teachers of humanity take birth in order to remind us of that reality, that goal, and the path to the goal. As it is said, no one who is ignorant of the goal can find the path; no one who is ignorant of the path can find the goal. It is divine call, gift and human effort.
In this day and age of modern communications, television, mobile phones and disposable incomes, roadmaps to life point to the fast lane, savouring experiences in the body, and, if the modern keepers and tellers of our story are to be believed, then the epitome is "Wow, look at me now"! The focus is on experience, in the here and now of the body, instead of our true, timeless reality.
Phyllis Krystal mapped a path to the goal using active imagination and mind management. It is essential that the mind be kept busy; if not, it will turn destructive with its perpetual outer grasping and coating of protection from fear and threat to the ego. Cutting the Ties that Bind, Taming Our Monkey Mind, and Reconnecting the Love energy are all roadmaps to the true reality of human experience in the modern world. Mrs Krystal's books emphasise that the mind must be managed and can be corrected and detached from its habitual pathways by certain exercises which call upon the Higher Consciousness, which is within us all. In a similar vein, Dr Huzan Daver, author of My True Reality, emphasises that we are all the one essence, on a common journey to a common goal.
Dr Daver is a Zoroastrian from Mumbai, and in the first chapter tells her story of how she came to be involved in counselling, psychotherapy, helping others, and healing. The author gives an overview of her formation in faith and that she would talk to God, (known in the Parsee faith as Ahura Mazda) whom she felt as a continual presence guiding and directing her life. After the death of her grandmother, the author began to explore the other worlds and learnt automatic writing, and explored her Zoroastrian faith in greater depths, often doing social service to help the poor and needy on the streets of Mumbai. Later on, opportunity for study took the author to the UK, where she learned that the greatest deficiency humankind endures is spiritual poverty.
In 1995, whilst living in Canada, Sathya Sai Baba came into the author's life. Sometime later, after learning hands on healing, the author realised that all possess the gifts of the great spiritual masters. These are like muscles that atrophy through spiritual malaise and poverty, and ought to be put to use in service of one's own path to their true reality. The author writes of emotional intelligence and spiritual intelligence. Spiritual Intelligence is the ability to have a deep love for all, intuition and spiritual wisdom. It also includes self control, control of the senses and emotions, and an ability to read the emotions of others. Spiritual Intelligence can help people and prepare them for the turmoils of life. Education, unfortunately, only prepares children for intellectual and academic intelligence. The author recounts several experiences where her students and employers have resisted introduction of spirituality to social work or psychotherapy work. After meditation, she was shown that all are the one essence, and to address this wholistically.
The thrust of this book is the exploration of the spiritual realities which exist within and around us. There are chapters on the Creator, the worlds beyond, the purpose of life, and an exploration of "Who am I?". Our Creator is our source; we need to connect to our source and that, regularly. In exploring the worlds beyond, the nine spiritual laws of reality are given:
- The law of Divinity
- The law of giving and receiving
- The law of karma
- The law of love
- The law of contentment
- The law of development and growth
- The law of wisdom
- The law of detachment
- The law of purpose and duty
The law of purpose and duty summarises human life aptly:
Everyone has a purpose in life, a gift and a special talent to give others. When we blend this unique talent in the service to others, we experience bliss and happiness which the world cannot give; it is exaltation of our own spirit ... the task comprises three steps, discover your spiritual self, express your unique talent, and serve humanity - asking the question "How can I help all those who I come into contact with without asking 'What's in it for me'?".
Other chapters in this book our nature as energy, cleansing, clearing and psychic protection, breath awareness, and the fundamentals of meditation. Energy is in everything, in us and in all the things around us. We are a latticework of energies, emitting an aura of electro magnetic field, in common with the rest of matter. In scientific terminology, energy is defined as "the capacity for doing work". We use energy to perform all of our activities, from baking a cake to sending astronauts into space. Energy can be potential or dynamic, and comes in different forms.
Given that we are energy, and energy is meant to circulate and be spent or used, then there is a need to be aware of the energy fields around us. The Earth has its own energy field. There are those who are advised when meditating not to sit directly on the earth as one can be affected by the electro magnetic fields in the earth. The human body has an aura which gives off energy and can also take in energy. There are aura cameras which can capture the colours of the aura.
The human body itself has specific energy centres called chakras. Energy can also flow up and down the spinal cord (it does as a daily matter of course ... transmission of commands from the brain to the feet traverse the spinal cord). There is also spiritual energy dormant at the base of the spinal column which is called kundalini. There is a brief introduction into kundalini in these chapters. Energy and the mind can also be managed by specific breathing techniques and the simple focusing and awareness of the human breath. This is called Pranayama (prana simply meaning energy ... and the energy of oxygen is taken in and out in every breath into the lungs, where it enters the bloodstream ... simple transfer of energy. The human body is indeed a marvellous latticework of energy, as the author tells.
There are energies we need to protect ourselves from. There are people who can pull you down with their general negativity, pessimism, and negative emotions. These can enter our energy fields and affect us. We have been taught that thought can go onto food and drink and affect us, and, of course, we know that the emotion present in any beast when it is slaughtered is still present in the meat. How does one protect oneself from these many sources of negative energy and purify the environment, the workplace, the place of study, the home? There are several meditation and suggestions in these chapters.
Fear and anger are negative energies as well as emotions; how does one remove fear and anger from external sources? These questions are addressed in these chapters.
The final chapters in this book consider emotions, use of energy as power through meditation (sending healing for example); the nature of angels and other spiritual beings; relationships, bad habits and addictions, and the Golden Age of humanity.
The chapter on love in relationships shows that love is not attachment, dependency or being rescued nor perpetually supported by another person. A citation is given: "Real live is realising that something other than oneself is real". An odd citation, but one that reveals the true nature of love as selflessness and the the Self of the other. Derived from her experience as a psychotherapist and counsellor, the author gives a definition of genuine love (albeit excluding attachment, emotion, dependency and so forth):
Genuine love requires ...
- Long term commitment - when you love someone, you should be consistent in loving.
- Effort and time - real love requires effort. Our love has to be demonstrable through exertion.
- Will - real love is both an act of will and an intention
- Discipline and taking responsibility - are the means to human spiritual evolution. Life is difficult and full of problems which must be solved.
- Independence and self sufficiency - dependency is not love; it seeks to receive rather than give. It nourishes infantilism rather than growth.
- Genuine love does not involve making sacrifices - Whenever we think of ourselves as doing something for someone else, we are in some ways denying ourselves and not taking our own responsibility.
- Genuine love is an exercise of wisdom
- Genuine love recognises and respects the uniqueness of individuality and separate identity of that person.
- Genuine love is extending ourselves to diminish our ego boundaries. The goal of love is spiritual growth.
This is an informative book packed with information, lavishly illustrated and full of citations and quotations from other teachers and sagacious observers of the human condition. Above all, it is a practical book, replete with exercises and anecdotal narratives which illustrate the matters being discussed. This is an introductory book, and the exercises are introductory in nature. This would lay a good foundation for further work and learning in spiritual matters in a group of like minded persons led by an experienced practitioner of meditation, inner awareness and creative visualisation. A very attractive book which gives an excellent introduction to our true reality within, and the duty, purpose and goal of human life.
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