In some religions it is said that one should love one’s neighbor as oneself, in some that one should love other people, but one can forget about oneself, and somewhere it is said that one should love oneself in general. And after hearing this, sometimes we can’t figure out which theory to use as a basis. But the thing is, these are all phrases taken out of context that don’t define our path by themselves. Once again, everything converges at one point – in the UNITY OF ALL THAT EXISTS!
Once, after listening to many lectures by a Buddhist Lama, where he often said that it was necessary to free oneself from self-love, I asked him a question:
- If, according to Buddhist Doctrine, we should love all living beings, then why shouldn’t we love ourselves, because we are also one of these living beings?
The lama was silent for a long time, and then he said:
- If we proceed from the statement that all living beings were once our mothers in the endless past, then surely we could not be our own mother?
Then I retorted:
- In fact, there are single-celled organisms in nature, such as amoebas, which reproduce through cell division. So we could be our own mothers. He looked at me in surprise and was silent.
In the next lecture, he replaced the term self-love with narcissism, or selfishness, which, however, meant clinging to Skandhas (aggregates of elements). And it was the right thing to do, because, indeed, if a ray of the same Divine sun shines in each of us, then why shouldn’t we love it? We just need to decide what exactly we should value first, our negative inclinations, attachments, base desires, which are the Skandhas, or is there something Divine that is hidden in every living being?
Although, if we take the theory of Advaita Vedanta and Emptiness as a basis, then everything that has appeared is also a projection of ONE, the variety of forms is only a manifestation of the ONE, this world is our Big GAME.
And again, religions that advise us to love ourselves first of all usually first explain who we are and who we are. They explain in detail that every person is a semblance of the whole, the whole universe is hidden in every person, it is inside us that we have everything that we are trying to find outside, there are Gods and Demons inside us, it is “I am God”. And when we realize this through reflection and meditation, then by loving ourselves, we will be able to love the whole universe. That’s the only way. Otherwise, “Someone who loves himself very much is disliked by others, because out of delicacy they do not want to be his rivals.”
Therefore, it can be very funny to hear how some people, after hearing this expression about self-love, but without thinking about what it means, begin to intensively implement it into their own lives. And then big problems begin, because if earlier our egoism could be restrained by morality and morality, then after such concepts it no longer knows any barriers and completely destroys a person.
It also happens to novice spiritual practitioners who receive tantric initiations. They often begin to play the role of their Idam rather than conform to it. So, for example, one girl, having received initiation into the Maha-Annutara yoga Tantra of Vajrayogini, begins to order another to serve her, while forgetting that her friend received initiation with her and should also show the image of Vajrayogini.
It’s a lot of nonsense, but it’s there. These are real cases that happen to educated adults.
If we try to be like Idols and Gods, we must first SHOW THEIR QUALITIES: Love and Compassion for the Whole world!
We must feel the Creator within us, the Creator of the entire universe, and this means being responsible for everything: for our actions, thoughts, and everything that happens around us, for every tear of a child, for every heart of a mother, for every moan that escapes from a man’s chest.
“Feel like the Christ and you will be the Christ, feel like the Buddha and you will be the Buddha.” / Swami Vivekananda/
But sometimes it only seems to us that we are capable of loving, sometimes it only seems to us that we are capable of creating, sometimes it seems to us that we are omnipotent. But in fact, our consciousness is multilayered, and each layer manifests itself depending on the conditions in which we karmically fall.
When I was studying at the Institute, I was jokingly called mom. And among the people who called me that, there were even those who are much older than me in age. At the time, it seemed to me that I had enough peace and wisdom, and I was proud of it, but when I found myself in another, almost extreme situation, where I had to live in full view of everyone for a long time, where I had no opportunity to retire and put my thoughts in order, I noticed how much garbage began to fall out of my head. It’s just that my intellect used to diligently hide this garbage in secret lockers, covered it with beautiful bedspreads, and covered it with cheerful curtains, but now it just didn’t have time to do it.
Our brain storerooms contain data accumulated over millions of our past lives, it’s a big ocean of garbage, and it will take a huge amount of time to really clean it up. Therefore, do not be surprised that when you suddenly want to put things in order there, you will suddenly see how many stale concepts, attachments and negative emotions there are, and each of your achievements on the spiritual path will open your eyes to a new problem. It’s also like a game: when you reach new levels, the conditions become more complicated and the obstacles become more significant.
Therefore, to receive a high Tantric Initiation or to learn about the Divine nature hidden in yourself is far from becoming someone else. Most often, this is just the start for growth, when the seed is planted in favorable soil.
“The Disciples Asked The Master:
- Some Teachings say that man is Divine, others that he is only dust, an accumulation of sin… What should we believe?
The master picked up a seed from the ground and showed it in the palm of his hand:
“Here is the seed of the tree. Some will tell me: it will be a tree. Others will say: It’s just a speck of dust that the wind is playing with. Who is right?
After all, everything that can become a tree lives in the seed! But until the seed germinates, takes root, and transforms its entire being from an embryo into a tree, from the possibility of being into being, until then it will remain only a small speck of dust, which, playing, is driven by the wind.…
And also a man. He can become divine not only because the seeds of the Divine are embedded in him. And because the Divine Love took root in him, matured and became a Tree, transforming his whole essence!”
“… God is love. And the soul, being a part of God, cannot live without love. Love is the breath of the soul. The whole universe will try to help us revive and accumulate unconditional love in our soul and free us from gross selfishness. And that’s the only reason we come to this material world. And everyone around us – parents, friends, children, colleagues, etc. – are our teachers, through whom we receive certain lessons, according to the level of our spiritual evolution. No one comes into our lives and nothing happens in it by chance. There are no accidents.” /Marina Targakova/
Sometimes people think that if no one loves them and doesn’t help them, then they don’t have to love anyone either. But first, sometimes we just don’t notice this love, but if we analyze it deeply and remember how many people we owe our existence to, then everything falls into place. And if it’s difficult to open your heart to the whole world right away, then you can just start with gratitude. With gratitude to her own mother, who sacrificed her body, bringing us into the world, time and tireless work to put us on our feet. With gratitude to all those who create food, clothes, shoes, etc. for us. With gratitude to all living beings who help us to develop spiritually and gain life experience.
Secondly, paradoxically, it is precisely what we lack that we must give as much as possible. So we didn’t do this before, but now we have a chance to fix it.
It’s very simple: when it hurts you because no one has congratulated you on a holiday, just take a phone book and congratulate yourself, especially those who are most lonely, grandparents, and even the eternally grumpy neighbor. If no one is interested in your affairs and does not offer help, then you are interested and offer help. If no one smiles at you, it means that this is a very important sign that something is not quite right in your life, because people’s smile is like a small ray of blessing coming from the ONE thing that unites us all and gives us the opportunity to believe and live.
And the last stage of our game:
Try to smile at someone or say something affectionate and kind when going outside. It’s not necessary for the person you like, but it’s even better if you smile and say kind words to those who are clearly sad. But one very important condition is that it must come from the depths of your heart. You can smile even with your heart, you can speak with your heart. Look, if your life doesn’t change in a month, then you have a deep-seated problem. Usually, within a week, the whole world begins to glow with one continuous smile, as soon as you go out to him. Even this is not affected by cloudy weather. It’s just that we actually have the sun inside us, we just need to be able to open it and let its rays out.
Why should it come from our hearts?
It is very important that we can distinguish true love from fake love. These should be real feelings, not speculative ones, because very often we think that we love, but if we are strongly pricked, we realize that there is no trace of love left. It is the difficult circumstances that we find ourselves in that make us realize how true and deep our love is, and whether it is just far-fetched, ostentatious and speculative, as it often happens.
What is really a manifestation of love? More often than not, people think that they are loved by those who always smile at them and speak kindly. But is this always the rule?
“A smile is a stretchable concept,” as some people like to joke. And again, we will touch on the topic when the same action can have different results, because the main role is played by human motivation. This is exactly what it is very difficult for us who do not have supernatural abilities to recognize.
So sometimes Buddhist Lamas give such an example that every householder takes care of his animals, and the animals think that he loves them. But in fact, he feeds them, washes them, and protects them, because he sees them as his future food. And sooner or later, he kills them.
Such moments can be found in relationships between people. Nowadays, even maternal love does not shine with selflessness. You often hear such expressions from women that I need to have a baby, otherwise who will take care of me in my old age. That is, a woman goes to motherhood, not motivating it with a lofty goal to give birth and put a new person on her feet, but to give birth to her future servant!
We always strive to benefit ourselves, we are even friendly and affectionate with those whom we do not respect, but we know that our ostentatious good attitude towards them will bring us one benefit or another.
There was a girl in our group at the institute. I noticed it when I was already admitted. She was standing in the hallway in front of the door of the auditorium where the entrance exams were held, there was something unusual about her appearance, although it seemed that she looked no different from the rest of the applicants. When I looked at her more closely, I realized that she was attracting attention with her unusual eyes. Her eyes were filled with some kind of deep essence, it was felt that the person already had a significant spiritual experience. When we started studying, her classmates openly disliked her. The fact is that she was harsh in her judgments, noticed mistakes and easily criticized others. Everyone shunned her, but they were drawn to those who were the soul of the company, always smiling, joking, cheerful.
But one day trouble happened. One of the students became very ill. Who do you think was the first to rush to call an ambulance, and then sat next to her bed all night?
Yes, she was exactly the girl everyone disliked for her sharp temper, and the charming souls of the company were sleeping carefree.
Therefore, smiles, jokes and kind words are undoubtedly very important, but not in order to make yourself attractive to other people. All of them must be supported by good motivation and come only from our hearts, otherwise there is no point in them.
I personally like it when people are affectionate and smile, it creates very good positive energy, creates good karma, and India is famous for this. Therefore, accustomed to smiling Indians, upon arrival in Russia, for the first month I almost get sick from the gloomy and angry faces of my fellow countrymen. Therefore, even based on this situation, I really want Russians to be happier. And I want to do everything possible so that Russia also shines with the light of their kind smiles.
“Atman, the supreme Self, is the same as Brahman, the Lord! This “I” is the essence of everything that exists; it is the only reality. Maya, the illusion makes us see it as differences. There is only one higher self, not many. The One reveals itself in various forms. Man is a brother to man, because all men are One.” / Swami Vivekananda/
In other words, we are all rays of the same sun.…
/ From Elena Kshanti’s book “Secrets of the Universe. A message from the Himalayas.”/
