This is session one, Dharma, of the Four Great Aims of Life (Purusarthas) from the Winter Solstice 2023 Retreat.
Led by Yogi Jai Dev Singh, this was the most challenging and groundbreaking experience I’ve had with Kundalini Yoga. I will begin sharing it with you now.
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The Four Great Aims of Life: Dharma (Foundation of Happiness, Purpose), Artha (Prosperity, wealth and resources), Kama (Desire), and Moksha (Liberation).
Tonight in the opening ceremony, we begin with Dharma.
Honestly, I have no idea what is going to happen. I write this intro before we begin.
Opening advice (which was really a warning):
Take care of yourself however you need to take care of yourself. You know your body better than anyone, definitely better than anyone in this room. Be compassionate, thats the simple way to navigate: “Dig in more, or back off?”
Because there will be MANY times where the mind is going to want to back off. What I suggest in navigating that type of mental-emotional swirl— be compassionate.
Sometimes compassion will have you dig in deeper, sometimes it will have you rest, because compassion is NOT empathy. Compassion is wisdom, love and empathy, it contains all of it. That’s the main thing here, as we start this four session journey, Dharma, Artha, Kama, Moksha...
Jai Dev Singh
In the three years I’ve been practicing Kundalini Yoga, I have NEVER struggled so hard to go within. My mind fought me on a level I’d never experienced.
For the first three sessions, it was either a constant onslaught of disturbing memories (flashbacks), or my minds attempt at shredding my focus in a thousand different directions —- anywhere but here.
I was going to war within myself, to get to myself.
Dharma
Dharma. Some people mistranslate it as religion. We often talk about it as purpose.
It is the Great Path of each of our lives, the very natural path of our lives: Following the natural path of Love, the natural path of bliss.
A Dharma practice is keeping the mind in a state of opening so we’re not getting stuck in perspectives that are causing the suffering of ourselves and others.
Dharma practice is simply transformation of the mind, so we can experience our innate happiness. Purifying the patterns of the emotional, mental and intellectual body, so the tendencies we have that contribute to our suffering decrease, and we create new tendencies that contribute to our genuine innate happiness— the type of happiness that doesn’t get swung by the ups and downs of life, but actually grows and strengthens with the ups and downs of life.
Jai Dev Singh
Quick Vedic Breakdown of Dharma in the Houses of the Zodiac:
I don’t know who’s familiar with Vedic astrology here, or how much I should include. But we did discuss how Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha are all assigned to specific houses/areas of ones life in their natal chart.
The first house, the house of the self, is the first house of Dharma. The second house of Dharma is the 5th house in ones chart, which refers to the collection of good karmas of ones previous actions, as well as things like enjoyment of life, creativity, romance, children, etc.
The third and final house of Dharma is the 9th house. This is the house of True Prosperity, and in ancient texts was considered the House of God. It is the house of Guru, of Wisdom. It is the energy that flows when we are aligned with what our life is truly all about - True Prosperity.
The 9th house deals with several other things, but for the sake of brevity I’ll leave it at that.
TAKE THE INNER JOURNEY
The first thing that hit me like a ton of bricks as we began the session was this:
“You cannot take them with you.”
In entering the sacred void, the sacred darkness, I discovered it wasn’t such a roomy gateway. The void and the abyss are not the same thing.
As described by Buddhists, this (Nature) is:
“The bliss void indivisible, the force of creation, the force of loving kindness at the center of all things.”
That is what we’re seeking to touch, to test, to meet, TO REMEMBER.
I was not allowed to take my baggage with me. I was not allowed to take the energetic parasites I was allowing to feed off of me.
No phantoms allowed. Only Truth…
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