Metaphysical Group June 30, 2024

The class starts with a sacred sound and focuses on the Yoga of Devotion. They discuss the experiences of God and being alive in the world. They mention a verse from the Tao Te Ching about not being able to improve the world, and comment on the idea. They talk about how to explain God to children and share examples of responses. They then transition to discussing the Bhagavad Gita and the two ways of experiencing God: loving the manifest and loving the unmanifest. They explore the path of knowing God without attributes and its challenges. They mention that this path may be difficult to teach to children. Shall we fill the room with a sacred sound to start our class off today. Get our feet and toes centered on the floor and press our heels down. Wiggle your big toe. Wiggle that big toe. Press our tailbones down. Hold our shoulders back. Lift the tippity top of our head as we take a deep in-breath. Today we have the perfect chapter to end this series. The Yoga of Devotion. The Yoga of Devotion. We're going to look at two things. What is our experience of God? What is our experience of God? What does the scripture teach us about the possible experiences of God? And what is our experiences of being alive in the world? What is our experience of being alive and in the world? So before you open your books, I'm going to preface with something else. And this is a verse from Tao Te Ching. So we're going to take a little different aspect before we enter into these final words. And this is from chapter 29 of the Tao Te Ching. And here's what it says. Do you want to improve the world? Do you? Remember Russ is smiling. I guess he does. Do you want to improve the world? I don't think it can be done. The world is sacred. It can't be improved. If you tamper with it, you'll ruin it. If you treat it like an object, you'll lose it. The world is sacred. It can't be improved. If you tamper with it, you'll ruin it. If you treat it like an object, you'll lose it. There are some comments about this verse which are instructive. And by the way, this translation is by Stephen Mitchell, the same man who translated the Bhagavad Gita. So the comment on do you want to improve the world is a quotation from the famous saint Ramana Maharshi. And he said, wanting to reform the world without discovering one's true self, wanting to reform the world without discovering one's true self, is like trying to cover the world with leather to avoid the pain of walking on stones and thorns. It is much simpler to wear shoes. It can't be improved. The comment on that is, this is the Sabbath mind as in the first chapter of Genesis, when God, in a state of perfect repose, looks at the world and says, behold, it is very good. Behold, it is very good. So here is something we hear God saying. So that's one particular way we might experience God saying something. So in the Bible, God says, behold, it is very good. How do we experience God in that context, talking to us like a person? Behold, it is very good. So that leads me into wanting to investigate our experience of what God is for us. What is God for us? Especially us here at Unity. As the light of God, we shine. As the love of God, we embrace. As the power of God, we stand in truth. As the presence of God, we radiate love wherever we are. God is, and all is well. God is. God is. Now imagine yourself being drafted into service one Sunday. It turns out we're short of teachers in the youth and family group. And you have been appointed to go to teach the elementary school children during the service. And your challenge is to tell the children what God is. What would you say? If you're willing to share. What would you say if the children asked you, what is God? What's a few words that you might say to a child? What is God? God is everything. God is everything. And everyone. And how would a child receive that? God is everything. God is everyone. And from their age? Oh, they're about six, seven years old. That's only at the beginning. My memory from teaching those classes at that age was that they would try to inquire into a specific thing. Like, they'll say, is this God? Is she God? Am I God? And what did you respond? Yes, yes, yes. I mean, those literal questions. That age demonstration is really important. I remember once with the kids just that age, and Nancy Schneider's Charlie, using a sheet that had pictures of mountains and rivers on it, and flipping it and having them dance on it until we said, peace, be still. So that kind of a demonstration is what they really responded to. So here's an example of an actual teacher who had to put to the metal and answer the question. So you don't need to share your response, but think about it. If you asked yourself, what is God for you? What's going through your head? We're going to hear what the Gita has to say about that. But rather than get right into the Gita with our intellectual curiosity, it's better to come from a foundation of where we are at. Otherwise, we're just looking at the Gita as outsiders. Well, this is sort of interesting. You know, that's what they think, and good for them. But to really internalize it, yeah, really internalize it and not looking at it as, well, I'm me, and that's the other. Oh, it's fun to study other religions and see what they think. Hmm. Can we look to see what God is for us? So that when we hear what God is in another tradition, we can relate to it from our own experience. God is a sense. It's a knowing. God is what? A sense. Is this what you would tell a little child? Yeah, it's the knowing that you're not alone. It's the security of the sun coming up every morning. Right. It's the vibration that I feel, somebody else, but a presence. It's not something you can see. Hmm. Yes, that's really what a spirit is. Not something you can see is what a spirit is. Yeah. God is that tree. So it's an energy. It's an energy. And what will the little kids respond when you teach them that way? I think then I would ask the children to remember something that was joyful to them. Hmm. And that feeling and that sense or that toy that they have. And when they feel that, that would be love. And then they could sense what God is. I got it. Thank you. So we've all been... You are hired. I don't do children. Okay, we're going to come back to these as we begin with the Bhagavad Gita now. Arjuna said, this is the yoga of devotion. One man loves you with pure devotion. That's love. Another loves the unmanifest. Which of these two understands yoga more deeply. The Bhagavad Gita is going to present two aspects or two ways of experiencing God. One is tougher, probably not for most people. The other is probably more natural for most of us. And Arjuna sets it up. He says, one man loves you with pure devotion. Love. Love the trees. Love the things. Another loves the unmanifest. Now, if you were to tell that child, well, what God is, God is unmanifest. And it's not, you can't really see him. So that's what you should love. That might be a little harder to teach. Might be a little harder to teach. And yet, it is a path that we could undertake. So would you like to hear more about it? We could even use a 15 year old as an example. Fifty year old child, huh? What do you know about it? I'm at the beginning of the yoga of devotion. Page 144. Page 144 in this book. Thank you. So Arjuna sets up what we're going to hear. Which of these two understands yoga more deeply? Or which of these two loves God better? Or which of these two is the right path for my spiritual evolution? Which of these two understands yoga more deeply? The blessed Lord said, those who love and revere me with unwavering faith, always centering their minds on me, they are the most perfect in yoga. So he starts off with a general statement. Those who love and revere me with unwavering faith, always centering their minds on me. One time, a man went to the rabbi and said, you know, when I'm here in the temple praying, I keep thinking about my business. What should I do? And the rabbi replied, when you're in your business, think about God. Always centering your minds on me, they are the most perfect in yoga. So that's the overall umbrella. Loving, revering me with unwavering faith, centering their minds on me, they are the most perfect. Now let's get into some of the gory details. So here is probably the hardest way, the toughest way. And yet, if you think about it, I believe it has something to do with the way we here in Unity teach knowing God. See if that's true for you. And this particular way of knowing God is knowing God without attributes. Knowing God without attributes. Absolute. It's actually called Nirguna Brahman. They have a name for it. So the good Lord said, here we go. Imagine you teaching this to those nursery school kids. This is going to be a challenge, isn't it? Those who revere the imperishable, the unsayable, can't speak the name, the unmanifest. We had a little exercise a couple classes back where we envisioned the manifest and the unmanifest and even what's beyond that. Those who revere the unmanifest, the all-present, looking out the window at the trees, the inconceivable. In other words, our minds, which we bring here to have an intellectual understanding of things, are not useful in this path. Handy to have around, but not useful on this path. Because those who revere the inconceivable, the exalted, the unchanging. Well, the trees change, don't they? The kids are looking at the trees, things change, but this God is unchanging, eternal, eternal. Managing or mastering their senses, acting at all times with equanimity. That's a tough charge for a lot of us, you know, if you watch the politics on the news or even hear about it, can you master your senses at all times with equanimity? Equanimity. Rejoicing in the welfare of all beings, not just friends, those people you've never even met that are in foreign countries, those politicians you don't like. Rejoicing in the welfare of all beings, they too will reach me at last. Then he goes on to say that their path is much more arduous because for embodied beings, like ourselves, the unmanifest is obscure and difficult to obtain. So it might be hard to teach the unmanifest to children. And it is one of the holy paths going up the mountain to the truth. Truth is one, paths are many. This is a path. Seems to me, though, in our understanding of God here at Unity, that those descriptive words mean something for us. There's some aspect of unity that looks at God that way. And even though the scriptures present these as two separate paths, that's just a way of us getting a hold of it. Actually, paths are always gray. Look at this, look at that, one time this way, one time that way. So now, let's look at Sona Brahman. That is our understanding of God with attributes. God has attributes. He goes on, those who love and revere me, who surrender all actions to me. Remember the teaching from before, everything we do is an offering to God. All actions, everything we do, sitting in our chairs, thinking our thoughts, driving near, eating our food, arguing with our in-laws. Everything is an offering to God. Surrender all actions to me, who meditate upon me with undistracted attention. I know that meditation with undistracted attention has been an issue for me, and yet I can get there a little bit. And I've learned that even a little bit, the meditation is great. If I meditate and have my mind on whatever I choose to have my mind on, it wanders away to something else. If I gently bring it back and resume my meditation, even if it jumps away right again, even the smallest amount is a benefit to me and useful. The Absolutists who meditate upon me with undistracted attention, whose minds have entered my being. So if we envision a being that we can enter, and our minds have entered that being, this is the God with attributes. He says, I come to them all, Arjuna, and quickly rescue them all from the ocean of death and birth. In the way of thinking back then, most people, when they die, come back. They are reincarnated. Why? Because there is something in the karma of their lives, in other words, just the experience of their lives, it's not complete. So the soul needs to come back and is reincarnated in a new body to complete karma. And once karma is complete, then there's no, and once karma is complete, then there's no leftovers, no more resistances. Open to everything, even to dying. Thank you, God. I offer my dying to Thee. Thank you. I surrender. Then, Krishna says, I quickly rescue them from the ocean of death and birth. I don't think you go to heaven in this tradition, but you are rescued from returning to the earth. He goes on. So now he's going to give us some steps. All of us are on sort of a ladder on our spiritual path in different places. And now he is going to talk about that ladder and where we are on that ladder. And we may not be in one particular rung. Maybe a rung, one rung, one place, another rung, another day. Not absolute. But we may experience different consciousnesses being on our spiritual path, different points in our life. How to realize God through devotion. So the highest is concentrate every thought on me alone. Like the rabbi said to his supplicant, think of God when you're at work. Concentrate every thought on me alone. With the mind fully absorbed, one point is you live within me forever. So I'm wondering, does this mean we have to go in a cave somewhere and just up on a mountaintop and just think of God? What if we are householders and have a business and children to raise or grandchildren to raise? We have to give some thoughts to those children, feeding them, perhaps making some money to set aside as a reserve for our old age and for them. Even so, although it doesn't sound logical, we can still have a part of us concentrating every thought on me alone. With the mind fully absorbed, one pointed, you live within me forever. So that's the pinnacle. Next step is, if you find that you are unable to center your thoughts on me, this is an issue for you, strengthen your mind by the steady practice of concentration or meditation. So have a steady practice of concentration or meditation. What does your mind like to do? Wander, wander. Can you keep your mind from its wandering and keep to the original oneness? Our minds wander. And even if we return to the original oneness, our minds are going to wander again. So we keep returning. If you find that you are unable to center your thoughts, all your thoughts on me, strengthen your mind by the steady practice of concentration. If this is beyond your powers, the Gita recognizes that we all have different abilities, we're in different places, and it's all good. So it's quite okay. If this is beyond your powers, dedicate yourself to me. Dedicate yourself to me, performing all actions for my sake, all actions for my sake, you will surely achieve success. So this is a numeral of our actions, doing things. Perform all actions for my sake. This may be tough too, but he says, if you do it, you'll surely achieve success. Dedicate yourself to God, performing all actions for my sake. Well, here we go. If even this is beyond you, rely on my basic teaching. Here's my basic teaching. Act always without attachment, surrendering your actions fruits. So this is the verse we heard before. You have a right to your actions, but never to your actions fruit. Act for the actions sake, and don't be attracted to inaction. Self-possessed, resolute act with no thought of results. Open to success or failure, this equanimity is yoga. So, if even dedicating yourself is beyond you, then rely on the basic teaching. Act always without attachment, surrendering your actions fruits. So there's a ladder, and we may be in different places at different times. Now, the next verse is going to be rather a conclusion, and I want to dive into it a little more deeply. It starts off, knowledge is better than practice. What does this mean? Practice. Practice is mindless practice, or mindless rituals. Are our rituals mindless, or are they mindful? So, it shouldn't say knowledge is better than mindless practice, that would be more accurate. And knowledge is our understanding of our practice and our rituals. And Satchitananda teaches that where we start from is no rituals, no nothing. We just take the kids to Little League on Sundays, or go to a matinee. But the beginning of spiritual practices is rituals. We go to the spiritual place and we perform rituals. And that's great. The next step up is to perform rituals with knowledge. So, let's take a look and see if that's what we do. So, here's a ritual that we do that's wonderful. And when I do it, I don't necessarily think about it, so I don't put knowledge into it, but let's just try and put some knowledge into it today. So, here's a ritual. As the light of God, we shine. As the light of God, we shine. What do you see? What's your knowledge? As the light of God, we shine. As the love of God, we embrace. Who are we embracing? Ourselves? We can't embrace others who are about us, but we can embrace ourselves, love ourselves. Loving ourselves is a step towards loving God. As the love of God, we embrace. As the power of God, we stand in truth. So, what is our truth? Are we impeccable with our word? Or do we sometimes allow us to put a little shine on what we say to people? You know, a little twist, so that things will turn out the way we wish. And people will behave in the way we'd rather see them behave. And people will give up being wrong when we just explain how we're right. As the power of God, we stand in truth. Our word is impeccable, both to others and to ourselves. Can we take this beautiful ritual and embed some knowledge in it when we speak it? As the presence of God, we radiate love. So, let's all radiate some love now. Can you radiate love right now? Can you feel a part of yourself radiating love right now? Can you interpret that as the presence of God within you? As the presence of God, we radiate love. Can we radiate? Wherever we are, God is. So, what is this God that is for us? Wherever we are, wherever we go, whether we're at work, in the temple, in the sanctuary, can we bring God there? What does that mean for us? Wherever we are, God is. What is God is for you? And whatever God is for you is good. Maybe God is unmanifest, eternal, has no name, and so on. Has no name, and so on. Maybe God has attributes. Mother Mary, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, or what? Whatever God is for you. Wherever we are, God is for you. That's just like the scripture was saying, to bring God into our presence wherever we are, whatever action we're doing. That's how God is. And all is well. All is well. Can we breathe into all is well for us? I know there's some issues you got in your life. Who are you going to vote for? How is the country going to turn out? Who's killing who these days? Who's right? Who's wrong? We saw last time how the Lord brings both aspects to life. What's true and so about the Lord is he has fangs and teeth, gnashes the heads, and punches them, of all those warriors. So a Christian instructs, Sergeant, you don't have to worry about killing these people. That's my job. I've already done it. You're just my instrument. So, how can we be in perfect equanimity in all is well, when there are horrendous killings, as well as beautiful things? We may not want to teach the children about horrendous killings, and so on. That may be something that they're introduced to later. But it is something that we have as part of what's so. If we have faith in the way things are, there's some things we might see as good, and some things we might see as not so great. Yet, can we have faith in the way all things are, so that all is well with us? You see, all is well doesn't mean that we judge everything as all is well in our intellectual minds when we look out and evaluate things. I don't think so. You decide for yourself. All is well with me, and my equanimity, and my experience of life. Wherever we are, God is, and all is well. Do you project that outward? No. Everything's not that great. They're having a war there. They're starving over here. They're poor here, and so on. Hmm. So, what is all is well for you? Isn't that you are, like God, when he created the world, in a state of perfect equanimity, and all is well with you as you understand yourself? Questions? So, here we go. We're in the conclusion. We spent quite a bit of time here on knowledge is better than practice. And then he says meditation is better than knowledge. We went through an exercise of understanding our ritual, that I suggested, or whatever understanding you bring forth. Meditation is better than knowledge. Meditation. And best of all is surrender, making everything an offering to God, which soon brings peace. Which soon brings peace. We have been bringing our intellectual minds to this discussion I expect. And yet there's another aspect to us, and that is our spiritual mind, our spiritual understanding. And our spiritual understanding has an analog. I thought we'd do a little exercise, a little practice here, to see perhaps what the difference is between our intellectual understanding, we have beautiful minds, thank you God, and our spiritual understanding. Are we up for it? Exercises. Hopefully exercises can help us experience something, rather than just hear me teach about it. This exercise is going to be about our peripheral vision. Our peripheral vision. Are you ready for it? It's pretty simple. Everybody take a nice breath. Take a breath, be present. All right, here we go. So the exercise is, hold your index finger up in front of you and gaze at it. You can hold it closer, or farther, whatever is comfortable. But just gaze at the tip of your finger. Did you know that in our retinas, there are thousands of receptors? And a small percent, keep gazing at your fingertip, a small percentage of the receptors are in our central vision, which is what we're using to gaze at our fingertip. The greatest number of receptors are in our peripheral vision. Gazing at your fingertip. Now the next step, keeping our attention on our fingertip, is to raise our other hand up, gazing at the fingertip, wave at ourselves. Gaze at our fingertip, just wave gently. Keep your eyes, are you noticing what's waving as you gaze at your fingertip? Keep your eye on your fingertip and just wave at yourself. All right, take a breath and relax. So what is the difference between experiencing gazing at your fingertip and while gazing, having your awareness on that hand waving at you? What's your experience of that different way of seeing? Is it something that you've ever thought about or paid attention to? When we do our meditation in church, whoever leads it, instructs us, gently close your eyes or soften your eyes. And that's what we were doing. We were softening our eyes by gazing at something, but not being, but not being, gazing softly so that we were able to notice the hand waving at us, the hand waving at us. Now if we were in a prior state of evolution, out eating berries in the forest, where is our attention going to be? It's going to be on the berry, like our fingertip. That's good to eat. Where is our peripheral attention going to be? On the tiger that jumped out of the bush and wants to eat us. So our attention is one place, softly in the berries, but our peripheral vision is available for the tiger who jumps out of the bush and wants to eat us. Can our peripheral vision also be aware of God? Who is waving at us? It's God waving at us. Perhaps, perhaps our experience of life is what our central vision is on most of the time. Most of the time. But perhaps the real underlying truth is what's going on with our peripheral vision. Peripheral vision. Perhaps it's through our peripheral vision that as we're driving down the road, focused on the road ahead of us so as not to make an accident, we experience the trees passing by us. Maybe that's God speaking to us. So that's an analogy for a difference between what we focus our attention on and what else can be in our awareness. That's really interesting. Yes. So it means when the scripture says keep your mind on God at all times, well I've got my mind on God at all times. There he is. Now I happen to be on the computer and I happen to be reading a book. I happen to be teaching a class. But can my awareness also be aware, like in my peripheral vision, that there's God waving at me saying I've been waiting at you for years. Why don't you pay any attention to me? I've been there all this time waiting for you to be aware of me. Continue doing what you're doing but please be aware of me also. So we can do both awarenesses at the same time. It's part of our capabilities. Questions? I'd just like to say, so as long as we're embodied we have no choice but to be acting, responding, doing, manifested. And this awareness that you're describing is also how we know about the unmanifested part of us or the unembodied parts while we're alive. The nameless, the unmanifest. As well as spirit and God. And it also speaks to the awareness of being embodied in this body but embodied in this body but paradoxically also being part of us. Communally, collectively, as spirit. It's a very interesting way you've presented that. We always have two awarenesses or more. Or more. We just touched the surface here. People who are deeply into the spirit, perhaps aware of other levels of consciousness as well as these two that we have just experienced today. Well if you think about the analogy of driving a car, you've got your single focus out here, your peripheral vision is doing over here. You're also relying on your other senses. If there's anything else going on, if there's the smell of something burning, you're aware of that. Or if you hear a noise, that's unusual, you're aware of that. So the other senses, our physical, tangible senses are working. And then there's the other ones beyond that. How you can be driving a car, focused on the road, paying attention to all the other senses, and then get some divine idea or resolution or thought or prayer comes through that speaks to your point. Yes, so are my experiences. I have something that's been bothering me. I can't quite resolve what to do about this. And I wake up at four in the morning and bing bang boom. I don't know if it's my direct vision or peripheral or some other sense, but an answer pops into my mind that's absolutely appropriate. I'm very grateful. The scripture goes on, who loves God best? Who loves God best? And now we're going to get some ideas of what we can do to love God, whether we love God as unmanifest, like in our peripheral vision, or as manifest, like in our direct vision. He who has let go of hatred. I don't see a lot of hatred here amongst my fellow Unity petitioners. But sometimes you see people who seem to be hating or do hateful things. Do hateful things. Maybe it should be he who has let go of having hateful thoughts and then doing hateful things. Who treats all beings with kindness. All beings with kindness. Remember the three gatekeepers before speaking? Is it true? No, wait a minute. Are you being impeccable with your word? Is it true? Is it kind? Yeah, maybe. Is it necessary? Is it necessary? Who treats all beings with kindness? It isn't necessarily say things to them that aren't necessary to be said. Even though they're true and part of you thinks it's kind, not necessary. So treat so being with kindness and compassion. There's the compassion. Treating others from their perspective, rather from your need to say something or to comment upon what they've just said, or to remark how you've had the same experience, or rather your experience is different from theirs, and let me tell you about it. Compassion is being at one with someone else and removing that I-ness and just being at one with someone else who is always serene. You see the serenity there when we let go of our mind wanting. Have you ever been to a meeting in business? And God help us if there's too many people there because everybody seems to have to say something before the meeting's over, no matter what. You know the meeting can't finish until everyone has said something. Who's always serene, even without having to speak up, say anything. Unmoved by pain or pleasure. Or not to be moved, unmoved by pain and we certainly like our pleasures, but can we be in that serene equanimity of yoga so that we have our pains and pleasures? They don't have us. They don't possess us. So in the sense we have them, this hurts. Something's tasty and good. If we have it as an experience, but not who we are, then we are unmoved in our solidity. We experience them, but they don't have us. Free of the I and mind. I have a whole class going on for as long as this one how to free ourselves of the I and mind that's so built into our consciousness. Self-control that means the capital S self. We allow the capital S self to control us. If we're not sure what to do, we have any hesitation, we are patient until the self comes forth and controls the self-control. Firm and patient. Firm means resolute. Who are we patient with? No, not our children. Or our parents. First we're patient with ourselves. If we can be patient with ourselves, then we can learn to be patient with our children. I ain't out there. I'd be patient with myself. His or her whole mind focused on me. Now remembering we have different focuses. We've got the central focus and the peripheral focus. So we can have our whole mind, all those receptors, our smells, our hair, our eyes, focused on God while still doing something that's ours to do. That man is the one I love best. So having one's whole mind focused on me doesn't mean we run up to the monastery or the cave. It rather means a part of our awareness is always focused on the divine. That's what the scripture says. He who neither disturbs the world nor is disturbed by it. He who neither disturbs the world nor is disturbed by it. Well we just had a little quotation about that in the beginning, didn't we? About do you want to fix the world? Remember that? That can't be fixed. It's perfect as it is. He who neither disturbs the world nor is disturbed by it. So in a sense we experience the world as external. That's where this consciousness comes from. If we keep in touch with what's ours to do, that's different. Who is free from all joy. My goodness, so often when I see something on the internet, someone's promoting something new, they just seem to always say, I'm so excited about this. I'm so excited about this. I'm so excited to tell you or to release or I'm so excited. This is going to bring you joy. But perhaps it's a false promise. Who is free of all joy. We can have it but we're not attached to it. We're free from it. Fear. Free from fear. Remember LA last week? Had some fears? Can we have our fears and thank God for them? Offer them as a blessing to others? To the Lord and a contribution. The Lord have them but not have them have us. Free of envy. Wanting to be like the neighbors. That man is the one I love the best. He was pure, impartial, skilled, unworried, calm, selfless in all undertakings. That man I love best. He who devoted to me is beyond joy and hatred. Notice how the scriptures keep repeating themselves. We need to hear it again and again. Beyond grief and desire, good and bad fortune, that man is the one I love best. The same to both friend and foe. Can we treat both our friends and our foes with respect and compassion? Remains the same in disgrace or honor, suffering or joy. There comes joy again. Unfurled, indifferent to praise and blame, quiet, filled with devotion, content with whatever happens. Content with whatever happens or whatever we imagine might happen. At home, wherever he is. That was my experience when I first came to Unity. I felt I was at home. At home, wherever he is. That man is the one I love best. Those who realize the essence of duty, meaning being aware of and responsive to our inner voice, who trust me completely and surrender their lives to me, make everything an offering. I love them with very great love. Aum Together. Two more. Aum Aum Go in peace, my friends.