Lessons for Living Your Higher Purpose with Heart and Meaning: Your Extraordinary Life
“Show me what is real.” Yogacharya O’Brian penetrates the heart of the ancient Vedic prayer of awakening in the video below. It is a universal prayer that we regularly chant at the Center for Spiritual Enlightenment.
The first line of this short but potent prayer in Sanskrit is, “Asatoma sadgamaya,” translated as, “Lead us from the unreal to the Real.” The ‘unreal’ represents the changing field of nature, the manifest creation that includes the mind. The ‘Real’is the timeless unchanging omnipresent One. “It is and we are It,” Yogacharya’s aphorisms state.
We have heard the prayer many times but what does it reveal in our everyday experience?
Ultimate Purpose and Profound Potential
“We pray the universal prayer for enlightenment, for illumination of consciousness. O Lord open our eyes so that we can see how things really are.” Then Yogacharya sings a sweet melody from a Christian hymn pointing to the same essence. “Open my eyes that I might see visions of truth Thou has for me. Open my eyes illumine me, Spirit divine.”
A line from Rumi reveals the prophet Mohammed crying out to God, “Show me things as they are.” Sometimes what appears beautiful is in truth not good for us, and some things that appear ugly are good for us. “Show us each thing as it is so that we don’t fall into a trap,” Yogacharya says.
“Which is better success or failure?” She quotes the Tao Te Ching. “It’s the same question. Open our eyes so that we can see the divine will happening in our life.”
“We are walking through life but not really seeing where we are because we are looking for something else.” Then she quotes Paramahansa Yogananda. “We are all looking for something else but that Something Else is God.” She adds, “It’s now my favorite name for the divine. What do you believe in? I believe in Something Else.” The congregation in the Temple lights up with laughter and Self-remembrance.
The Way of Dharma
An old English teaching story of souls awakening from the hypnotic trance of the physical realm is included in this message. For the full story watch the video. The story left me feeling more open to experiencing what is real. What’s beyond what we can see? When we wake up from the dream we move into dharmic living. “Dharma means the way of righteousness, the way of living in harmony with divine reality, of living with higher purpose.”
As we walk the way of dharma we begin to ask better questions. Early on in life, we ask, “Who am I going to be? What do I need to do? Can I have what I want?”
“As we awaken we begin to ask, ‘What is the higher purpose for my life? What is divine will for my life?’ We ask the important question, ‘Who do I need to become in order for God to be God in me?'"
The questions we ask and live-into create an impact on our world. Our thoughts create consequences. “We want a better world and we would like God to show up more in our world, with compassion, with kindness, with peace. God is only going to show up through us. It is and we are It. God expresses through each one of us.”
“Wake up in the dream. Recognize what is real. Know that God is your life. God is nearer than your breath, nearer than your heartbeat. In Kriya Yoga, we say it is possible to know That.”
Experience the Real. Drink the nectar of Self-remembrance by watching the video below and notice what questions awaken in you.
More teachings and support for living according to higher purpose can be found in Yogacharya’s year-long online course, Dharma365! - A Year of Living Purposefully. Click here for a free sample lesson.
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