Here are a few of our thoughts on the bigger picture of spiritual practice and Living Sattva that we wrote on our most recent journey in India.
Let it Shine Brighter Still
Optimizing our own health is the starting point for this way of being in the world, as when our physical, mental, and spiritual well-being improves our awareness naturally expands, and our inner light shines. From this heightened sense of awareness each of us has the clarity, creativity, and inspiration to offer the world our own unique expressions of unconditional love. These external expressions of our higher awareness -- our unconditional love -- make our lives more joyful, purposeful, and fulfilling. They positively impact our health and well-being. They keep us in the light and contribute to our ever-expanding awareness.
In Sanskrit the word used to describe a radiantly healthy person is swastha. A swastha is healthy in the physical body for sure, but he is also healthy in his mind and spirit. The three levels of our being – mind, body and spirit – are connected and dependent upon one another. Each one of us has a unique mind/body constitution (prakriti) that must be in balance to enable our inner light to shine. The more literal definition of swastha is "one established in the Self." That is to say, a swastha is a person who has achieved a state of balance with her unique mind/body constitution, and as a result, she is connected to her "original goodness" or "inner light" – that aspect deep within us which is greater than the small sense of self (the ego-personality).
When we are a swastha, "established in the Self", we are awake to and connected with our inner light. The Self is the inner light. The Christian Mystic Meister Eckhart called the Self "a light in the soul, a light that is uncreated and uncreatable." He goes on to say that "we should find our unity and blessing in that little spark in the soul, which neither space nor time touches." Yoga and its sister science Ayurveda (wisdom traditions that have influenced our lives immensely) call "this uncreated light at the center of the soul" the Atman. In Buddhism, it is called Bodhichitta, the awakened mind/heart, or Buddha-nature.
Within each of our hearts lies a divine spark – an inner light. Awakening and expressing this inner light is the foundation for living in health and higher awareness. Yoga, Ayurveda, Kirtan Music, and Sustainable Living each offer us a practice path for discovering and uncovering our inner light and for letting it shine in and through our lives.
It Begins with Health
It Begins with Health
Optimizing our own health is the starting point for this way of being in the world, as when our physical, mental, and spiritual well-being improves our awareness naturally expands, and our inner light shines. From this heightened sense of awareness each of us has the clarity, creativity, and inspiration to offer the world our own unique expressions of unconditional love. These external expressions of our higher awareness -- our unconditional love -- make our lives more joyful, purposeful, and fulfilling. They positively impact our health and well-being. They keep us in the light and contribute to our ever-expanding awareness.
In Sanskrit the word used to describe a radiantly healthy person is swastha. A swastha is healthy in the physical body for sure, but he is also healthy in his mind and spirit. The three levels of our being – mind, body and spirit – are connected and dependent upon one another. Each one of us has a unique mind/body constitution (prakriti) that must be in balance to enable our inner light to shine. The more literal definition of swastha is "one established in the Self." That is to say, a swastha is a person who has achieved a state of balance with her unique mind/body constitution, and as a result, she is connected to her "original goodness" or "inner light" – that aspect deep within us which is greater than the small sense of self (the ego-personality).
When we are a swastha, "established in the Self", we are awake to and connected with our inner light. The Self is the inner light. The Christian Mystic Meister Eckhart called the Self "a light in the soul, a light that is uncreated and uncreatable." He goes on to say that "we should find our unity and blessing in that little spark in the soul, which neither space nor time touches." Yoga and its sister science Ayurveda (wisdom traditions that have influenced our lives immensely) call "this uncreated light at the center of the soul" the Atman. In Buddhism, it is called Bodhichitta, the awakened mind/heart, or Buddha-nature.
The world's great wisdom traditions and sages have validated for centuries, that when we awaken to our inner light – when we are established in the Self (our True Nature) – and act from this place of higher awareness, then our lives become full of health, vitality, wisdom, joy and abundance. Living in this light is our birth right. May our inner light shine brighter still!
Wisdom and the Cultivation of Sattva
Wisdom and the Cultivation of Sattva
To discover this uncreated light within our selves, and let it shine in and through our lives, we need the liberating power of wisdom. Wisdom, according to Yoga and Ayurveda, arises whenever the quality of sattva grows stronger in our mind/body. Sattva, a Sanskrit word that literally means "being-ness" (from sat "being" and tva "-ness"), is a combination of the qualities of light, purity, lucidity, harmony, clarity, and transparency. Sattva is one of the three qualities composing Nature. It reflects the "inner light" or the Self, more faithfully than the other two qualities of Nature, those being Rajas (the dynamic principle) and Tamas (the inertia principle). Sattva signifies light, clarity and understanding. The sattvic mind/body maintains balance, health, happiness, peace and ease. Sattva is as much about internal health and peace as it is about a way of being in the world. India's sacred text the Bhagavat Gita tells us that "the fruit of virtuous living is sattva, pure joy." Sattva is our "impulse to evolve" in the most positive way imaginable, for the betterment of ourselves and all others.
So if we are to awaken and express our inner light, we need to cultivate the quality of sattva in our mind/body. Indeed, awakening and expressing our inner light is a spiritual practice as well as a life practice. This means that it is both about following routines and disciplines for awakening to a higher principle, the Self, as well as finding ways to express ourselves in the world each day. We are called to be a fully integrated human being and to start with our very own unique mind/body and let our inner light shine, right here, right now. The poet Rumi says "let the beauty you love be what you do, there are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground." This is how it is with cultivating sattva. There are hundreds (if not millions) of health-enhancing, awareness-expanding ways to cultivate sattva and, in turn, to uncover, reflect, honor, and express the light within us.
Awakening and Expressing Our "Inner Light"
Awakening and Expressing Our "Inner Light"
Whatever name we choose for this inner light is fine, whether it be inner light, Atman, the Self, Bodhichitta, or something else. The most important thing is to awaken to it and to let it shine through our expressions in the world. We may catch a glimpse of it initially like a "flash of lightening in the sky." This may be enough to inspire us to cultivate this luminous quality within us. With dedication and practice, this light will shine more brightly, with the potential to shine brighter than the sun. And, to use a Buddhist metaphor, although the sun within may get covered by clouds from time to time as the weather of the lower mind changes, we will come to know that the light is always there. We must have faith and remain steadfast in our pursuit of awakening to it.
Awakening and expressing our inner light is about optimal health and higher awareness as a way of being. What else could bring about self-healing and self-transformation? It is about choosing, through all that we believe, say and do, that which nourishes, purifies, heals, balances and uplifts us. By being in the world in this way, we are naturally of benefit to ourselves as well as to others. All of our actions are motivated for the benefit of all sentient beings. As Gandhi was fond of saying, "if one of us is uplifted, we are all uplifted and if one of us falls, we all fall to an equal degree." How could harmony with others and nature not be part of living our inner light? This way of living requires upholding virtues, which are embraced by the world's great wisdom traditions, such as universal love, compassion, kindness, tolerance, patience, courage, equanimity, non-violence, and truthfulness. Letting our light shine is not about doctrine or dogma, or swapping one set of beliefs for another. It is in fact at the very heart of all the great wisdom traditions and the path of the world's great saints and sages.
Once we begin to aspire for our own full potential, the bright light within, the question that arises for many of us is: How does one become a swastha, a healthy person, awakened to this light? And then we may ask: How is this light of higher-awareness expressed in the world? Our continual studies and research, our very lives, this website and our offerings reflect our attempt to provide insights to these questions. We hope that the above was helpful in some way.
Awakening and expressing our inner light is about optimal health and higher awareness as a way of being. What else could bring about self-healing and self-transformation? It is about choosing, through all that we believe, say and do, that which nourishes, purifies, heals, balances and uplifts us. By being in the world in this way, we are naturally of benefit to ourselves as well as to others. All of our actions are motivated for the benefit of all sentient beings. As Gandhi was fond of saying, "if one of us is uplifted, we are all uplifted and if one of us falls, we all fall to an equal degree." How could harmony with others and nature not be part of living our inner light? This way of living requires upholding virtues, which are embraced by the world's great wisdom traditions, such as universal love, compassion, kindness, tolerance, patience, courage, equanimity, non-violence, and truthfulness. Letting our light shine is not about doctrine or dogma, or swapping one set of beliefs for another. It is in fact at the very heart of all the great wisdom traditions and the path of the world's great saints and sages.
Once we begin to aspire for our own full potential, the bright light within, the question that arises for many of us is: How does one become a swastha, a healthy person, awakened to this light? And then we may ask: How is this light of higher-awareness expressed in the world? Our continual studies and research, our very lives, this website and our offerings reflect our attempt to provide insights to these questions. We hope that the above was helpful in some way.
May your inner light always shine brightly.
May we all shine brighter still.
May all beings be healthy, happy and free.
