The Vine of Intense Longing

Where are you running to?  What is to be found at the end of your pathway?

Should we walk, crawl or run to the Castle?

When one finds oneself unable to fulfill one's heart’s most cherished desire, and still is desperate to achieve the goal, the heart melts. At this point, feeling unworthy the devoted one begins to experience humility. In such a state, the one may cry incessant tears in separation from the object of one's devotion.

All alone, and lamenting with a morose and heavy heart, and a sense of deep longing in one's loneliness, the devoted one takes shelter of the rosary mala by chanting God and Goddess's Great and Holy Names repetitively in the darkness of night, when the rest of world sleeps. The devoted one, living a quiet life, withdrawing oneself from the external fickle joys and sufferings of this world, achieves the desired goal.

Without performing devotion (Bhakti-yoga) like this, with a melted heart and tears of bliss, how will the heart be purified of material desires? The forests within the Kingdom offer the devotee happiness and ecstasy not like anything we could possibly taste within this world. Therefore the devoted one completely surrenders to God's will and most humbly petitions Him to be kind and disclose is what the best way to receive the darshan (an audience with Whom the devotee prays to)?  God and Goddess's Hearts are flooded with mercy. Therefore, be we can pray that They may be pleased with us, even though we may be fallen or weak.  We can petition them to bestow upon us just a drop of real love, thus guaranteeing the devoted one's audience with Them.

We can pray:

"May Your mercy illuminate and overwhelm my heart.  Bowing down before the Two of You I beg, kindly grant me Your service, for You can easily do so.  Let me be with You always.  I place my head at Your feet and request You for the supreme blessing.”

“What blessing do you want?” They might ask you

“Consider me Your property. Accept me as Yours, please hear my intense longing and be gracious towards me. There is nothing you cannot make happen. You are free to do as you anything You like, for you are God and Goddess, supremely merciful and all-loving.  Hear this devoted one's request.”

They repeat, “What is your request?”

The devotee replies, “This devoted one is humbly asking if, for even a moment, I might engage in loving You, together with all of Your loved one's who in the forests of the Kingdom with you.  I have yearned for You for more than a million births.  I have an intense and unabating thirst."

“What sort of thirst is that?” They ask

“An insatiable thirst which leaves me unsatisfied,” the devotee cries...... earnestly.....

"I long for You to appear on the pathway of my eyes. Even though I may lack some qualification, I swallow my arrogance and pride, and unabashedly present my request to You without fear or shame.  When will the beauty of Your Faces shine upon the pathway to my heart, exhilarating me with great spiritual happiness?  I am tired of roaming the streets of materialism, and yearn to walk upon the soft grasses in Your Kingdom, and pick flowers for Your Hair."

Permission To Shine

Permission To Shine

Do you need permission to shine? 

To be as powerful, beautiful, fully expressed and successful as you are in your soul.

Allow the sacred light of your being, to radiate and illuminate within you.  Bless those around us by reminding them subconsciously that there is a greater reality to which we are all connected.  Bless our selves, and allow the Divine to pour through us, and allow the voices 'in the shadows of this fragile human life' to bathe us so that we may feel a more expanded, connected sense of ourselves, as being in relationship with the Divine. 

"There is nothing inside of me that is unholy or unlovable"

"There is nothing inside of you that is unholy or unlovable"

Now take a moment to recognize that we have been created whole and perfect by God's beauty and grace. 

We are made of love. 

There is nothing in this Universe that is not created by God. 

Even the demons were created by Him. 

If everything is made of His energy then everything in you and in me is made of Love

(even those things we believe are not!).

If everything comes from God

then you should know that there is nothing in you, nor in me, that is not acceptable or love-able.

So I say let that person without sin cast the first stone.

If you are a person who judges others, STOP.... take a breath and choose to look for the good instead.

The reflection in our own mirrors is plenty dirty requiring our repentance and forgiveness. 

Surely our own reflections is enough to give us a lifetime of focus within.

Why then are so many looking in others mirrors?

Surely our lives are meant for inspiring one another, and seeing the glory of God's love within the wonder of each individual one of us?  For we are all made of the same essence....... love.

If you look for the good in others you will find it.

If you look for the dirt, you will find it also.

Practical Application for the week:  Notice what you focus on when you meet and spend time with people?  After you have talked with someone, do you then criticize them with your mouth, or inside your mind?  Or do you think good thoughts and focus on sending them love and healing?  Take a week to be honest with yourself and see where you are not shining, such that you are reluctant to give others permission to shine.  See where your judgments lie and cleanse yourself with repentance and prayer until your thoughts reflect the beauty of your true nature.