Dear Divine Ma,
What Do You Want Me to Learn Today?
“Today it’s about devotion. What is it that you are devoted TO?”
Well, it’s not exactly Master. Nor to Swamiji, nor to Jyotish or Devi. Nor Asha, or Shanti, nor to my best friends in Ananda Palo Alto. No, all these I admire greatly, I am inspired by all of these. And others in Ananda scattered through many residential colonies all around the globe. Yet still not any of these do I worship with devotion.
“Have you become a non-dualist in your old age?”
Possibly, I guess. Because it’s hard for me to say I am devoted to any one of these. All of them together, yes! But no one alone. Except for one. And that One is the Light that I call out to at the conclusion of my best meditations. When I get still enough, even rigid with breathlessness, I do feel devotion to One presence. I think it is the Light. The One Light of which all great religions speak. I don’t know what name It goes by. Probably each faith has its own unique label for It. But I only know that when I reach out to perceive It—I sense Its presence—and sometimes even get to see it high above my forehead. When that occurs, the inner urge rises in me to call out longingly, ‘Lord, Lord.’
Blessings, great soul!
Aw, we are ALL blessed by that One Light that shines in each one of us, aren’t we? Some people DO need to humanize what they are devoted to. I certainly did for decades in my spiritual life. But somehow, things seem to change after enough time has passed, or enough growth has happened. When we have gone deep enough into devotion to God in form, as St. Teresa of Avila wrote in her autobiography, the embodied Christ seems to transform into the formless Christ. Needing just as much of our love, but somehow changing from a person with a body into pure Spirit. I believe that is what awaits us as our devotion ripens. We start by worshipping the photo on the altar. And somewhere along the way, our eyes lift, and we find ourselves giving our worship to the vision of Light represented by the big circle of golden light we’re all placed above our Sunday morning altars. It’s THAT Light from which all we worship comes, just as we repeat over and over in our path’s Festival of Light.