Tracking Our Purpose in Life

Note: This is continuation of the previous blog on Finding Happiness...

I cannot say this enough times, everything on Earth has a purpose, every person has a purpose in life, and the whole of creation has a purpose, if this were not so nothing would exists.

In reality, we don't actually have to know our purpose in life and it will always keep trying to manifest, to push through us into the world.  In fact you are probably already doing things that are very much in line with your purpose in life; but also, you may be doing things that are very much out of sync with your purpose in life.  The value of conscously recognizing, affirming and actualizing our purpose in life is that we can help birth it and we can consciously allow it to be a guide for what we do in life.  In this way we will be more successful, we will feel more fulfillment, happiness and joy, and less frustration in our lives.  It is the many expressions of our purpose in life that makes each of us unique and important beings in the universe - there is no one like you!  When you know and express your purpose, you are clearly sounding your particular note in the symphony of the universe.  Can you imagine what flow this brings to your life - The doors of life open to you of their own accord.  Your purpose is for you but it is also a gift to the world, and it always manifests as a benefit to others.

Finding the Signs of our Purpose

In searching out ones purpose in life the easiest thing to do is identify three signs which can be current or past:

1. Things you just really love doing (they can be simple things); 

2. Expereinces you've had or things you've done were you struck with a particularly strong sense of joy, peace, or fulfillment;

3..Things for which you have a particularly strong talent or ability - (you may not even like the outer form of the activity but still you have a talent for it);

4. Experiences of 'rightous indignation' - times when you've been abosoluty insensed by some injustice or wrong (this shows by contrast something you highly value).

Write down as many of these things as you can remember.

Tracking the Signs to our Purpose

It is not the individual activities that are key here but rather what is behind them. Now you must question, contemplate and interrogate these activities and experiences both individually and also as a whole, for each has a secret to tell. Ask questions of yourself, such as 'why did I feel at peace there', 'what was it in me that was triggered by that situation?' 'why do I have that talent?' 

If you can ask a question you already have the answer - the question will draw out the answer.

This may seem like a lot of work, but it is all worth it when you begin to get a glimmer of your purpose in life and you will!

Actually you probably already have an idea of what it is - It is something fulfilling, someting you love and enjoy doing, it is something for which you have a definate talent.

Brining our Purpose out of Hiding

Once you get a sense of what your purpose in life is you'll find it probably to be an impression of some kind, or it will be a sense of the core qualities that drive your interests or live, or things you have a real talent for.

Now you need to try it all out in life.  Start to do find ways to do things that you feel are in line with your purpose in life, eventually you will hit on one or two things that feel very right to you and you will stay with those.  Still, don't be afarid to make changes, in manifestation everything changes, everything runs on cycles and generally we must find new ways to manifest and create as one cycle runs down and a new cycle needs to begin.

Some specific examples from my life ...

Example 1.  I love to polish things, I love to polish my car, my silverware.  So I ask myself, 'what is it in polishing that I so enjoy?'  I find I like to see things shine and be bright. Hum what is it in shiney and bright that attracks me so?  It is clarity, to see clearly, this is a manifestation of the light of truth.  It is also how the soul appears in life.  Ok, fine this information away for future cross-reference.

Example 2. I love to read fantasy novels. What is in the fantasy novels that attracks me?  I find it is not just any fantasy novel, I love the ones where there is a highly skill person, usually possessing magic, who fights for salvation of others. Interestingly these characters are usually hermits or loners.  Hum, what does my attraction to magic and those characters say about me?  I want to help others, I want the power and skill to help others.  I love a cause and I'm will to fight for the right!  The magic is the inner power used to overcome darkness or evil - can I develop and use that inner power? Yes indeed, through meditation.  Also, I realized in this contemplation that I had been a celtic priest in a past life.

So now I know I am deeply attracted to helping others in a cause and I find the light of truth a very powerful force in my inner being - does this relate to my purpose in life? What can I do to test this assumption out?  I've tested this out in many ways in my life over the years.  I first tried going into the health professions because this was helping others, I was a transplant coordinator and a respiratory therapist but I really disliked direct patient care, this told me someting, that was not the right manifestation of this aspect of my purpose.  Then I feel into being an Education Coordinatory in the Healthcare field - I really love this.  Hum, what was the difference?  I liked helping the people who helped the patients.  This taught me that part of my purpose in life is indeed helping others but more along the lines of supporting, helping and reinforcing the good actions of others. I realized I love and could not help but want to share useful knowledge with others - this took the form of teaching CPR, teaching tennis, teaching in a course called the Mastery of Life in life long learning programs, teaching communication colleges, etc. 

Example 3.  I was attracted to study Human Communications in College.  From this I learned that I had a talent for communicating with others both verbally and in writing.  This talent is not so much one-on-one communications but more in groups. However, oddly, due to childhood conditioning I was also petrafied to speak in front of groups but still I know this was where I had a talent.  I could not help myself and I would force my self into situations, such as 'readers theater', where I had to speak to groups.  Why? It all fits together, I can't easily put it into words but all these things have qualities that build upon or reinforce my purpose in life.

It is easy to write about in hind-sight but the unraveling of my purpose in life is and has been a continual process.  Sometimes I do forget, and when I do I am miserable and that misery is a sign to take a look at what is going on and to remember Amin's guidance: 'If you are unhappy, you are out of touch with your soul nature!'

 There is nothing in this world without purpose, and, though the place of one in the scheme of life may seem different from that of another, yet in the sum total of things we and the lower creation, together with the jinns and angels, have our purpose; that purpose is the realization of truth, and it comes to all in the form of bliss.

Hazrat Inayat Khan

Finding Happiness

Simple Gifts

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free

'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,

And when we find ourselves in the place just right,

'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.

In my youth I was prone to melancholy. As I began to make a commitment to my spiritual awakening, this mental-emotional disposition was a challenge I had to overcome and I must admit, it did not sit well at all with my spiritual teacher Amin.

Amin once told me, after I had been in a very ‘down’ or unhappy state of mind for weeks, that the reason I was so unhappy and had no joy was: “your outer life is completely out of sync with your soul nature.” He told me I needed to find my purpose in life, which was part of the deeper desires of my soul. In seeking and fulfilling my purpose, my soul’s desire on earth, I would find the joy and happiness I sought.  Phew, that seemed like a tall order for one wallowing in self-pity and melancholy!

“Every being is born on Earth with a purpose

and the Light of that purpose one is born to accomplish in life

has already been kindled in their Soul.”

Hazrat Inayat Khan

As I began to think about it, I realized that the desire of my soul was something inborn, not something I needed to create, therefore what I needed to do was find ways to reveal it so I could see and know what it was.  I knew it was not going to be some frivolous personal desire but a deeper impetus that drove my soul to be born on earth .  Once I realized this, it was clear why Amin told me it was the key ingrediant to finding a steady state of Joy and Happiness in life.  I realized to be truly, inwardly happy, I had to find a happiness that was not dependent on outer circumstances (which are constantly changing), I had to find and actualize something from within, not outside of me. And I also realized that I could not let this discovery be colored or limited by the expectations or norms of society, parents or friends.

This reminds me of a women I ran across working at Starbucks, our only encounter was that she took my order for coffee. I tell you now, her eyes sparkled and she was so full of love that just by her greeting and service of coffee that I was flat on the floor overwhelmed with by a feeling of love and joy! She was absolutely filled with it, there was no faking it, it was her own inner being shining out that was infecting the whole coffee shop!  I watched her for a time and her temperament did not change.  Well, “I wanted what she had!”  What was it that made her feel this way?

“By creating happiness, one fulfills one's life purpose."
 Inayat Khan

Finding our Purpose...

To find what is hidden inwardly we must look for its signs outwardly, we must become trackers, identifying the external signs and then we follow them back to their source which was hidden but now can be found.

          Seek out, think about the things you have done that made you feel joyful or happy.  These may be recent or from the past – it does not matter as long as they were things that made you feel inwardly fulfilled, happy or joyful.  Write them down.

Now think about what it is in these things that touched your heart and made you happy? What is it that you loved or enjoyed about these things? Why did doing this or that seem fulfilling?  You see, it is not the specific activity itself it is something behind that activity that is touching your soul - what is it?  Once you find this you will know something of the core quality or qualities that is behind your purpose in life. You may have identified a number of activities, what do they have in common with each other? 

There are indeed many things you can do in life that will actualize your purpose and they need not be your vocation but it can be your passion!Don’t forget these things! Don’t forget what it is that makes you happy and look for ways to incorporate those things in your life.

Words of power that also may be of help:

1.   Ya Fatah – Ya Wahabo (open the door to the fulfillment of my life)

2.   Ya Wajid – Ya Hadi - The guide to finding the way

3.   Puush-karaksha – for pure joy

4.   Nur, Nur, Nur - Hayy - to chase away psychological darkness

5.   Ya Maumin - For the faith and self-confidence to move forward

6.   Do a Light Meditation – it makes things clear

“It becomes apparent that by learning, through countless mistakes and wrong turns, individuals fulfill the Divine Purpose for which they were born thereby contributing to the ever-evolving destiny of all human-kind.” Pir Vilayat

The Mystic Heart

What is the Mystic heart?

The Mystic Heart (Sirri) is an ocean of Divine Life and Love,
that carries us beyond the shores of birth & death, time & space, I & thou
and bestows upon us the realization of Truth. (Ya Huk - Ya Mawjud)

What we call the individual heart (Qalb) is the surface of our Soul (Ruh), and our Soul is a ray of light and life within the Divine Ocean of the One Reality, Allah.

How do we find our mystic Heart?
Only through surrender to that divine ocean of love, light and mercy that is within us every moment.

This is accomplished through proper repetition of Dhikr:

• La Illaha Illa la hu or
• Ishq Allah Mabood Lillah

"Truth is a divine inheritance found in the depth of every human heart." [Inayat Khan, Sayings, Bola 8]

“And bring your Lord to remembrance in your [very] soul, with humility and remember without loudness in words, in the mornings and evenings” [Qur'an 7:205]

Verily in the remembrance of God do hearts find rest." [Qur'an 13:28]

After a Tragedy

After a Tragedy, how can we allow ourselves to feel joy or to love again?
How can we allow joy to slip back in to our heart without feeling we are betraying our love for who we have lost? We would not suffer if we did not love.

I don't know for sure but I do see this remarkable transformation courageously arise in so many people who have lost loved ones, dear possessions or aspects of their health!  I ask myself how is it done? The heart is broken and it must take time to heal, healing is not forgetting it is integrating and it is also remembering.  Memory is a very, very special and important connection of heart that endures and joins us beyond the boundaries of time and space.

Anyway, I feel we cannot, must not, give up on feeling joy or love again, though it would be a common feeling to have.  Deep in our broken heart, in the core of our being, Joy and Love have never left, for they are an inherent part of our very soul, our very existence.  Joy arises as a combination of suffering and love, both being allowed to exist together in the heart.

There is no way we can force joy or happiness to come, but it will come of its own accord and alight upon us as a butterfly.  Looking, touching, allowing this butterfly to be, this is not a denial of tragedy or betrayal of a loved one - it is an affirmation of Life - that Joy lives on within us to spite all that has happened.

Befooled not oh night, the dawn will break;

Be aware oh darkness, the sun will shine;

Be not vain oh mist, it will once more be clear;

My sorrow forget not, once again joy will arise,

once again joy will arise.  Hazrat Inayat Khan

On Mother’s Day – A Hymn to the Divine Goddess as Teacher

 

I bow to Sri Dakshinamurti in the form of my guru:
I bow to Her by whose grace the whole world is found to exist entirely in the mind, like a city's image mirrored in a glass, though, like a dream, through maya's power it appears outside; And by whose grace, again, on the Dawn of Knowledge,
It is perceived as the everlasting and non-dual Self.

I bow to Sri Dakshinamurti in the form of my guru:
I bow to Her who, by the sheer power of Her will, Projects outside, like a magician or a mighty yogi, this infinite universe, which, in the beginning, rests without name and form, like the sprout in a seed, and after creation, by the power of time and space imagined through maya, appears to be many, possessed of manifold shapes and hues.

I bow to Sri Dakshinamurti in the form of my guru:
To Her whose outward manifestations, though based on Real,
Appear as illusionary, ever changing objects; Who grants to those who take refuge in Her through the Vedic "Tattvamasi", the boon of immediate knowledge of Brahman, to which attaining, one returns no more to the realm of birth and death.

I bow to Sri Dakshinamurti in the form of my guru:
To Her whose knowledge, issuing forth through the organs of the sense like the glow of a powerful lamp placed in a pot with many holes, vibrates outside in the shape of the thought "I know"; Whose Light it is that illumines the whole of the universe.

I bow to Sri Dakshinamurti in the form of my guru:
To Her who dispels the mighty illusion evoked by Maya's play,
Impelled by which, unseeing, childish, and misguided men
Continually speak, in error, of body, prana, senses and even of the fickle mind, as "I," though in reality these are all mere emptiness.

I bow to Sri Dakshinamurti in the form of my guru:
I bow to Her who, as man and women, in deep and dreamless sleep exists as Ultimate Truth itself, when outer awareness is obscured, like the sun or moon in Rahu's grasp, and the organs of sense are all withdrawn; and who on awakening, tells himself, "It was I who slept," and sees again the objects he saw before.

I bow to Sri Dakshinamurti in the form of my guru:
I bow to Her who, in Her loving-kindness, reveals to Her worshippers the eternal Atman, which — through the changes of waking, dreaming, and dreamless sleep, through childhood, youth, maturity, and old age — Persists as the inexhaustible flow of consciousness, Revealing Itself in the heart as the ever present sense of "I."

I bow to Sri Dakshinamurti in the form of my guru seated before me,
Who, as a mortal under the sway of maya, and whether awake or dreaming, perceives that the world is composed of multiple entities,
Joined in relation to one another as cause and effect, owner and owned, teacher and pupil, sire and son.

I bow to Sri Dakshinamurti in the form of my guru:
Beyond whom, for a wise and discerning person, no being exists superior; who has manifested Herself as an eightfold form as the tangible and insentient earth, water, fire, air, and ether, As the sun, the lord of the day, the moon, of soothing light, and as living human.

I bow to Sri Dakshinamurti in the form of my guru:
Seated upon the earth by yonder the banyan tree;

I bow to Her who bestows on the sages direct knowledge of the Ultimate Truth; I bow to the Teacher of the three worlds, The Lord who dispels the misery of birth and death. Behold, under the banyan are seated the aged disciples about their youthful teacher. It is strange indeed: the teacher instructs them only through silence, which, in itself, is sufficient to scatter all his disciples' doubts.

I bow to Her who as the inner meaning of the scared syllable Om,
To Her whose nature is Pure Awareness;

I bow to Sri Dakshinamurti, stainless and serene beyond measure.

I bow to Sri Dakshinamurti, the Mine of Eternal Wisdom,
The Healer of those who suffer from the malady of birth and death,
Who is regarded by all as their own teacher.

I praise Sri Dakshinamurti, my youthful teacher, who, through silent instruction, reveals the Truth of the Parabraham, who is surrounded by aged disciples, mighty sages devoted to Brahman. I praise the Supreme teacher, the Essence of Bliss, who revels in Her own Self, The Silent One, whose hand is uplifted in the benediction of knowledge.

Shri Sankaracharya, Sri Lalita Sahasranama

 

Notes:

1. Lalita Sahasranama is a sacred Hindu text for the worshippers of the Goddess Lalita Devi, i.e. the Divine Mother, in the form of her power, Shakti. Lalita is the Goddess of bliss, an epithet for Shiva's wife Goddess Parvati. (from Wikipedia)

2. Once, when we were deep in sadhana on the contemplation of Truth, my beloved teacher read this prayer. It possessed such wisdom and power we were immediately transported into heart of the mystic knowledge of ‘name and form’ and the reality which transpires behind. I am posting it in my blog because I stumbled across it today, Mother’s Day, and I do not want to lose it.

3. If with love and sincerity you read and contemplate this prayer you to will be given its blessing and grace for it contains the unadulterated Baraka of Pure Truth.

4. In this Hymn, the Hymn itself becomes the Guru, the spiritual teacher, the one that dispels darkness and ignorance. In Sanskrit Guru means “heavy”, as in ripe, fullness of wisdom, ready to nourish and give to others the fruition of this wisdom.

Blessed Mother’s Day!

 

May infinite blessings be upon all Mothers!

 

May God’s Bounty, Mercy and Compassion be returned to them who are the power of all creation and who have given birth to us all.

 

Oh my Blessed Mother, giver of life;

power of Creation; Guide, Consoler, protector of life.

In my life, oh Blessed Mother, I know thee as Wise Consoler,

Healer, Nourisher. Tis you oh Divine Mother who are Love, Lover and Beloved; you are all mercy and Compassion.

Your love and life is in every name and form, nothing exists, nothing lives, nothing sings in creation but you.

We praise thee oh most sacred She, we love thee, we honor thee with all our heart and soul.

“Love is the divine Mother's arms; when those arms are spread, every soul falls into them.”  - Hazrat Inayat Khan

Earth, Water, Fire, Air - Practicing with the Elements

Earth -  is our posture and movement;
Water - the flowing of our breath;
Fire -    the light of our aura;
Air -      the fragrance of our atmosphere.

Verily where Earth, Water, Fire and Air meet, that place is holy.