Owning your own spiritual nature

by Dada on December 21, 2010

Just a few stimulating questions:

1. What smells, tastes, sights, touches, or sounds in your environment connect you with your inner sense of happiness or pleasure? Do you ever use memories of sensory experiences to connect with your inner sense of pleasure or happiness when you are alone or with close friends?

2. Did you ever meet your Guru? Did you ever experience his darshan (seeing him) or visit him? Or did you experience him in some personal way after his death/departure? What was your experience like? Do you often remember that experience? Does the memory of that experience rekindle the same or similar happiness as you had in person? Can you remember that experience now and hold onto that feeling now? Where does that feeling come from and how do you hold it in your body or mind?

3. Have you ever thought that these memories of your Guru are similar to other sensory experiences? Can you hold a particular sensory experience and savor it for a few moments? And now can you hold your past experience with Guru and also savor it now for a few moments? How are these two experiences similar?

4. After your Guru's death/departure did you ever seek out another Guru or spiritual personality to replace that external presence of Guru? Did this new Guru or spiritual personality give you a similar internal happiness or joy as your experience with your previous Guru?

5. If you were to remove that external presence could you still hold onto that inner sense of happiness or joy? Where does it reside? Does it belong to you or to the external presence?

6. How do you use this internal experience of joy and happiness in your meditation? Can you connect this internal experience with your own meditation without the need for an external source of inspiration?