hostmelissa
02-09-2009, 08:01 PM
Seeing the Divine Light Within
By Dr. Melissa West host of Returning to the Body Mind Wednesdays 8-9 am PST
Namaste. The sanskrit greeting translates loosely as, “the divine light within me acknowledges the divine light within you.” Take a moment right now to connect with the divine light within you. As you inhale, breathe into your heart center, breathe in light, filling yourself with the light of the divine. As the breath floats and suspends before the exhalation allow that light to permeate every cell of your being.
The light within is a powerful and pervasive metaphor in many spiritual cultures. I remember as a little child attending Sunday school singing, “This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine.” As we grow older we sometimes lose sight of the light within us. It is always there, but from time to time, we need to clear the glass of the lantern to expose the radiance inside.
Buddhist teacher, Tara Brach tells the beautiful story of a huge statue of Buddha in Sukhothai, Thailand. This Buddha was popular attraction amongst locals and travelers not because it was particularly beautiful, but because it was huge and had been there for centuries. This giant clay Buddha had survived the test of time.
One year, after an exceptionally dry-season, cracks began to appear in this enormous, clay Buddha. One monk took a light to look inside the cracks to see if he could discover the internal structure of this massive Buddha. When the monk shone his light inside the Buddha what shone out was beautiful gold. Turns out, the largest gold statue of a Buddha in Southeast Asia had been covered with clay and plaster to protect it from being stolen.
We humans are very much like this golden Buddha covered with clay. We protect ourselves with our own unique versions of clay. We conceal our true nature with our stories about me and what I have to do to get through the day. We cover up with our stories about how we have been wronged. We cover ourselves with our obsessing, addicting, desiring, and fearing self and we forget that we are not the clay covering, we are not the stories, but the gold statue underneath.
Tara Brach reminds us that “The one who looks out right now through your eyes is the one. The God you are looking for is looking out from your eyes.” Our prayer, mantra or request could be, “Let me see you in the light behind my eyes.”
In the second volume of the Upanishads (Hindu scripture) there are a couple of verses that translate as “The Sun.”
There the sun shines not,
nor the moon and the stars,
nor the lightning,
let alone this earthly fire.
Only when illumining Light shines,
everything else shines;
the self-revealing Light illumines
the entire universe.
This verse teaches us that the outer sun asks us to see when we look around and only see darkness. The inner sun allows us to see what we eternally are, divine light.
This week I greet you with the beautiful Sanskrit greeting, Namaste, the divine light in me recognizes the divine light in you.
www.melissawest.com (http://www.melissawest.com)
By Dr. Melissa West host of Returning to the Body Mind Wednesdays 8-9 am PST
Namaste. The sanskrit greeting translates loosely as, “the divine light within me acknowledges the divine light within you.” Take a moment right now to connect with the divine light within you. As you inhale, breathe into your heart center, breathe in light, filling yourself with the light of the divine. As the breath floats and suspends before the exhalation allow that light to permeate every cell of your being.
The light within is a powerful and pervasive metaphor in many spiritual cultures. I remember as a little child attending Sunday school singing, “This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine.” As we grow older we sometimes lose sight of the light within us. It is always there, but from time to time, we need to clear the glass of the lantern to expose the radiance inside.
Buddhist teacher, Tara Brach tells the beautiful story of a huge statue of Buddha in Sukhothai, Thailand. This Buddha was popular attraction amongst locals and travelers not because it was particularly beautiful, but because it was huge and had been there for centuries. This giant clay Buddha had survived the test of time.
One year, after an exceptionally dry-season, cracks began to appear in this enormous, clay Buddha. One monk took a light to look inside the cracks to see if he could discover the internal structure of this massive Buddha. When the monk shone his light inside the Buddha what shone out was beautiful gold. Turns out, the largest gold statue of a Buddha in Southeast Asia had been covered with clay and plaster to protect it from being stolen.
We humans are very much like this golden Buddha covered with clay. We protect ourselves with our own unique versions of clay. We conceal our true nature with our stories about me and what I have to do to get through the day. We cover up with our stories about how we have been wronged. We cover ourselves with our obsessing, addicting, desiring, and fearing self and we forget that we are not the clay covering, we are not the stories, but the gold statue underneath.
Tara Brach reminds us that “The one who looks out right now through your eyes is the one. The God you are looking for is looking out from your eyes.” Our prayer, mantra or request could be, “Let me see you in the light behind my eyes.”
In the second volume of the Upanishads (Hindu scripture) there are a couple of verses that translate as “The Sun.”
There the sun shines not,
nor the moon and the stars,
nor the lightning,
let alone this earthly fire.
Only when illumining Light shines,
everything else shines;
the self-revealing Light illumines
the entire universe.
This verse teaches us that the outer sun asks us to see when we look around and only see darkness. The inner sun allows us to see what we eternally are, divine light.
This week I greet you with the beautiful Sanskrit greeting, Namaste, the divine light in me recognizes the divine light in you.
www.melissawest.com (http://www.melissawest.com)