Loyalty and Spiritual Evolution
“Dadu,
We are your children surrendered at your feet. Thank you for guiding us with your light.
Please accept our quiet offering.”
(Dedication made by Swami Satyananda Giri to Sri Sailendra)
I have started this article with a beautiful dedication made by a Master to another Master. The respect and consideration the masters had in the past for any human being or for a different spiritual system must be taken in consideration nowadays by all spiritual seekers.
A few years ago, I was having tea with a very good friend, a well known Martial Arts and Zen master. During the discussion he confessed to me that he was surprised to see how easily people move from one school of meditation to another. Basically, he was telling me that a lot of people touch just the surface of a spiritual system; they are very superficial, without delving deep into the exercise or understanding a spiritual technique. After just a few lessons, they switch to a different school or quit it completely.
Even worse, they learn some techniques (for beginners) and start teaching it, opening new schools without having a profound understanding and experience of the technique. Some even talk behind the back of the master, spreading rumors and trying to destroy the goodwill of the school.
I remember elaborating further and having more insights on the problem, discussing the greatest spiritual betrayals in our local Universe. Obviously for us, on this planet, the largest issue arose from one of the three brilliant personalities that had completely disregarded the fraternal obligations and became blind to the cosmic relationships: Lucifer, the administrator of 607 inhabited worlds (including ours). It is not my purpose here to develop this subject further.
I agree with a lot of my friend’s insights given on this sensitive topic. Years ago, I used to say that in the spiritual world there are just two categories: spiritual seekers and spiritual tourists. The second category likes to commute from one school to another hoping that they will find a short-cut. But in the spiritual world there are no short-cuts.
Of course, if we try to look deep inside into what goes on in the spiritual world we might find a lot of issues. But regarding the above topic, I always take in consideration three things.
The first regards free-will. Each person has God’s given free-will to pursue any path in life. I call it “spiritual democracy”. On higher levels of consciousness all time-space beings that live in duality achieve liberation just by using their eternal free-will. The eternal and infinite “I AM” achieves freedom from the limitations of the duality world just through the eternal free-will given to all beings, in any Universe.
The second that is worth mentioning here regards the tons of garbage that is out there, especially on some internet videos and websites. True seekers become really confused about what workshop would be good or not, what technique would be helpful or not, what teachings would be worth their time or not. There are hundreds of videos in which so-called spiritual teachers inform us about the end of the world, thousands of videos with distorted techniques to increase energy, to open the third eye, to awaken the kundalini, to move the sexual energy and so on.
Last but not the least, is the new trend of changing something that has already been out there (maybe for thousands and thousands of years), giving it a new name and claiming that it is the best thing one will ever encounter. Of course, this is a very cheap way of trying to get attention.
However, these obstacles cannot stop a true spiritual seeker.
And I do believe that sometimes it is good to search and find the technique that is right for you.
Personally, I do teach more than one spiritual system. I teach people to create from the heart (Awakening the Illuminated Heart workshop), Tibetan Meditations (including Heart Imagery and Meditation Day workshops), Tai Chi and Kriya Yoga.
Of course, each system brings a holistic approach that helps each individual to balance the physical, mental and emotional bodies. Eventually the loyalty and devotion to a specific system or a particular set of techniques brings God’s realization to any true seeker.
I am not saying that it is good to move to another school of meditation every other week or to go to another workshop every other weekend. I am just saying that even well known great masters had to first go and find a system that worked really well with their energies.
Swami Sri Yukteshvar, the well known Kriya Yoga Master who was Yogananda’s teacher and mentor, had to go and see a lot of well known schools of meditations before he found the system that worked the best with his energy: Kriya Yoga School lead by the Great Master Lahiri Mahasaya. Swami Sri Yukteshvar had also shown the famous Unity Breath Meditation to Drunvalo. Yogananada himself went to 6 or 7 different spiritual schools before he found Swami
Sri Yukteshvar.
But all the above masters did three important things. The first was that they were able to choose the spiritual system, amongst some real spiritual systems, that worked best for them. Any of these systems would work, because all the schools of meditations at that time were real schools, not just surrogates.
The second thing, which is of great importance, was that they really respected any school and master they visited; they never spoke negatively of any place they visited and they always kept them in their hearts.
And the last thing that is worth mentioning is that they never viewed a spiritual system as competition. They viewed it as a complementary system. They knew that if you combine these systems, people would be able to enhance their energies and their spiritual beliefs.
Of course, during my years of teaching, I have met people who have forgotten these three things mentioned above. On the other hand, I have met so many people that have moved onto God’s realization path and these true seekers are the majority.
It is good to seek a true master that is able to teach you a technique that brings you health, harmony and trust. It is good to look for a true school that promotes love and peace. But remember that eventually the true master is inside you.
Whenever you meet a teacher that tells you that without his or her techniques you will not be able to meet God, you should run away. Whenever you meet a teacher that tells you that he is the only one that can intermediate a link between you and Divinity, you should run away.
The real master empowers you and helps you find the master within you; these teachers are rare, but remember that it takes some effort to find a real diamond amongst the stones in the river.
Daniel Mitel
www.danielmitel.com;
www.heartimagery.org
Daniel is a world traveler helping people understand their intimate connection to God. He started to teach Zen Meditation in 1981 and between 1981 and 1992 he was practicing “the spinal breathing” meditation; later he found out that, in fact, he did practice the Kriya Pranayama of Kriya Yoga Great Master Babaji. Since 1996, he is teaching worldwide Meditation Day Workshop and Heart Imagery Workshops. After couple of years spent in meditation in North of Tibet, in 1999, Daniel created “The School of the Heart”. Ten years later, in Toronto, he created “The School of Meditation”. Daniel is an Ambassador of Peace and Diplomat of Love in the Embassy of Peace. International lecturer and Martial Arts Master (Tai Chi Master and Karate Traditional Black Belt 5 DAN in WJKA – World Japan Karate Association), Daniel is dedicated to inspiring the world to move from violence to peace and from anger to love. Throughout his work, workshops and spiritual conferences, Daniel changed the life of thousands of people. After Tibetan Great Lama Masters, Daniel worked with a group of well known Masters from different schools of meditation (Osho, Dalai Lama, Paramahansa Prajnananda, Ana, Di Yu Ming, Sadhguru, Drunvalo Melchizedek, Jasmuheen, Anastasia) who train their students to be in the Heart. Now, together with his own workshops (Meditation Day and Heart Imagery), Daniel Mitel is bringing Awakening The Illuminated Heart and Luscious Lifestyle Program workshops out to the world. By teaching all these spiritual seminars, Daniel is sharing a message of hope and possibility to anyone who wants to experience a new understanding of life; an understanding which comes from the heart. Drunvalo Melchizedek appointed Daniel in the first Council of School of Remembering: Awakening The Illuminated Heart (ATIH) Teacher’s Council. As a Mentor of Drunvalo Melchizedek’ School of Remembering, Daniel was helping and teaching ATIH teachers from all over the world. Daniel is blessed to work with children, teaching them Tai Chi and Meditation.In the last years, since he is visiting teacher in Montessori Schools, Daniel changed the life of hundreds of children through his work. Interviewed all over the world and constantly invited to write articles in magazines and on-line publications (Spirit of Ma’at, Collective Evolution, Vision, etc.) Daniel is one of the most prominent Master of Meditations known worldwide showing the inner power what you can achieve using your Heart’s unconditional love. Daniel’s book “This Now Is Eternity” is highly regarded as one of the best meditation and spiritual guide tool now available in iBook store and KOBO!