Bhakti-Karma Yoga
I am just returning from a retreat with my Lama in California, and digesting unexpected blessings. I had thought I would go off for a week of immersion in a field of bliss and return basking in the steady glow of rigpa mind. Instead it was more like a chod retreat, and I got to grapple with some of my inner obstacles. Now returning, instead of being "blissed out" I am deeply grounded in a field of devotion.
I have gained an increased clarity and resolve regarding my motivation for my spiritual practice. I have intellectually known for some time that the point of practice is to increase my capacity to assist others. However, there is a difference between intellectualizing an understanding and embodying it. Now it appears that there is really nothing else to do that is worth doing. Everything points to that one thing -- become more so that I can give more.
This next phase of my life I thought was going to be about promoting my book and expanding my healing work along with that. I know the book will help many people and my lama also says that my healing work is an important part of my service to others, that I am deeply helping them. But now I see that the coming phase, while it will include fulfilling my responsibility to promote my own work, will focus on my service to the dharma. In this way I will not only be providing direct service to others, but also purifying my kleshas, particularly those related to self-seeking and self-promotion. This ego purification process is what advances me towards awakening and through that the ability to be of greatest service to others. It is therefore more worthwhile for me to work to promote the teachings of other teachers than to advance my own work, apart from them being more advanced in their wisdom and so already having more to impart to others than I do.
The greatest love is devotion and devotion is about surrendering the self. Karma Yoga is a form of self-surrender that offers a dual blessing -- helping others directly and peeling away the layers of ego so that more help can be given later. So I have agreed to start organizing the presentation of teachings by visiting lamas from Tibet. It is a huge responsibility and will challenge me in many ways. It will also involve numerous sacrifices and a huge investment of time. But the karma I will receive in return will make it more a blessing to me than a gift I give to the lamas I host. It is the opportunity for devotion in action. And I am honored to be chosen for this responsibility.
I have gained an increased clarity and resolve regarding my motivation for my spiritual practice. I have intellectually known for some time that the point of practice is to increase my capacity to assist others. However, there is a difference between intellectualizing an understanding and embodying it. Now it appears that there is really nothing else to do that is worth doing. Everything points to that one thing -- become more so that I can give more.
This next phase of my life I thought was going to be about promoting my book and expanding my healing work along with that. I know the book will help many people and my lama also says that my healing work is an important part of my service to others, that I am deeply helping them. But now I see that the coming phase, while it will include fulfilling my responsibility to promote my own work, will focus on my service to the dharma. In this way I will not only be providing direct service to others, but also purifying my kleshas, particularly those related to self-seeking and self-promotion. This ego purification process is what advances me towards awakening and through that the ability to be of greatest service to others. It is therefore more worthwhile for me to work to promote the teachings of other teachers than to advance my own work, apart from them being more advanced in their wisdom and so already having more to impart to others than I do.
The greatest love is devotion and devotion is about surrendering the self. Karma Yoga is a form of self-surrender that offers a dual blessing -- helping others directly and peeling away the layers of ego so that more help can be given later. So I have agreed to start organizing the presentation of teachings by visiting lamas from Tibet. It is a huge responsibility and will challenge me in many ways. It will also involve numerous sacrifices and a huge investment of time. But the karma I will receive in return will make it more a blessing to me than a gift I give to the lamas I host. It is the opportunity for devotion in action. And I am honored to be chosen for this responsibility.
posted by Indigo @ 12:08 PM
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