In his commentaries on the Bhakti Sutras, Sri Sri says, if there is anything in this world that is charming, I (Krishna) am the charm. Elsewhere he says, your non-attachment to the mundane is your beauty, your attachment to the divine is your charm. Combining these two statements together, I was not completely surpized when my teacher at the end of the Art of Living teacher training course (way back in 2004) said: "beware, your students might appear to fall in love with you. It is not you they are in love with - it is the charm and grace of the knowledge, of the enlightened Master that they experience radiating through you. You can respect their love, because it is actually love for the highest knoweldge." Indeed, I have had several students express deep love and admiration for me and I have always reminded them and myself that what they are drawn to is the knowledge and the grace and wisdom of the Master - and these alone are worth pursuing (and being in love with). At the same time, when ever I have felt attracted towards the charm and grace of an Art of Living teacher, this knowledge has kept me centered.
I wanted to share with you all, however, an early experience of mine with this beautiful and true knowledge. Despite knowing that what I love about all Art of Living teachers is, essentially, the grace and wisdom of the enlightened Master that radiates through them, there is no escaping the fact that I have been drawn to several wonderful teachers on the path. In the early years, when I had been with this knowledge only a few years, I remember being utterly in love with one extremely handsome, young, charming (but, unfortunately, not single) teacher from whose lips, Sri Sri's knowledge flowed like the cool holy water of the Ganges. Whose smile was radiant like Krishna himself and whose eyes were full of mischief, love and wisdom (a deadly combination) - just like Sri Sri's. Can a young girl help but fall in love? Yet, the intellectual 'knowing' that what I was drawn to was nothing but the highest knowledge and wisdom, made me push away the loving feeling that arose in my heart each time I laid my eyes on this charming instrument of the Divine. Lets call him Mr. Krishna :) I was particularly upset that I was attracted to someone who was already in a committed relationship.
Soon after, I heard about the Guru Mandala - the matrix of sorts that exists around the elightened (or around the gate to enlightenment) that keeps us entanlged and away from reaching the enlightened. The Mandala, for example, might have very horrible, nasty people in it who put us off and keep us away from our center (or from the spiritual path itself), or it might have very attractive charming people - in whose charm, again, we remain trapped, and thus remain away from our own nature, which is enlighenment. This partial knowledge about the Guru Mandala shook me - being in love with an Art of Living teacher was like being trapped in the Guru Mandala! OMG I told myself - shake out of it immediately. I started wishing even more strongly to be out of trap of the Mandala so I could keep my mind one tracked on enlightenment, or in the short term, at least more focussed on my work (that was suffering dearly as a result of my love struck state of mind) :) It helped for a few days - but the next time I laid my eyes on Mr. Krishna, all the resistance vanished and I was once again helplessly in love. Yet, I fought with this feeling and tried hard to throw it out of my mind and heart, not least because I felt deeply guilty 'wanting' someone who was in a relationship with another. "I have work to do - I have places to be and things to acheive in my life - this is no time to be in love," I told myself - but to no avail. Later that week, as I continued to fight with my feelings and even went to the extent of avoiding seeing Mr. Krishna, I heard a bit of knowledge from Sri Sri - I dont remember all of it (as usual), but this small bit hit me hard and stayed - "if you are in love with someone, that love is a gift to you."
I was shocked. How can this crazy one sided love be a gift? I asked myself - "I know this piece of knowledge is for me - but how am I to use it in the current situation? I need to work hard on several projects and dont need this distraction of being in love - if I consider this to be a gift, how will I get out of being in love with the wrong guy and get my work done??" Nevertheless, I let it go. I went about my day as usual, but with some kind of new lightness in my heart. I stopped fighting with the feeling of love that arose in my heart when I saw or thought about Mr. Krishna. The next morning, as I walked out of my home to get to work, there was a smile on my face and in my heart - and a new wisdom dawned - It is impossible to not feel this love and it is futile to try and fight with it in our intellects. If we are on the spiritual path, being drawn to teachers who give the highest knowledge of the enlightened is as natural and inevitable as being drawn to the knowledge and to the enlightened Master himself - in fact, it is indeed a gift, because not everyone is attracted to the spiritual path and to the practical, beautiful wisdom it brings into our lives. The only thing we can do is know that it is inevitable and accept it - then the feverish tendency of the mind to want to possess the beauty it perceives, dissolves, and leaves us with an innocent feeling of gratitude - and a love devoid of desires and fantacies. The uncomfortable grip of attraction that I was in, had vanished - all that remained was a gentle feeling of gratitude and beauty - how wonderful Guruji, that the Divine has created people like Mr. Krishna who so gracefully and beautifully share your practical wisdome and knowledge with the world.
Flowing away with the maya(illusion) of the 'loving feeling' that arises in the face of one who is a (mere) instrument of the divine, or wanting to somehow 'possess' them, is problematic - not the love itself. The knowledge that what we are attracted to is not the person, but the wisdom, grace and knowledge that radiates through the person, is important because it keeps us focused on our commitments. But it is equally important to know tht being drawn to one who is an instrument of the divine is inevitable and is indeed a gift - ironically, this knowledge too keeps us away from the feverish grip of maya.
At the right time, I was attracted to and fell in love with the right person (my hubby), the love and attraction was not one sided, and has led to a relationship that helps each of us grow and walk further on the journey called life and on the beautiful path, called the spiritual path - keeping all our (other) commitments intact. Because, as Sri Sri says, commitment indicates a mature mind and only a mature, centered mind can reach its goal.
Todays irresistable, attractive, and committed recipe:
Vegan Banana Blueberry Waffles
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients:
2 Cups whole wheat spelt (Dinkel) flour
1 Tbs Corn Flour / Corn Starch
1 Tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp Baking soda
1 pinch salt
1/2 tsp vanilla powder
Wet Ingredients
1/2 Banana
1 TBs Whole Brown sugar
1 TBs sugar
3 Tbs coconut oil
1 TBs chia seeds (soaked in 100 ml water for 10 minutes)
1 pinch salt
1/2 cup rice or soy milk or almond milk
1 TBs almond butter
1 cup blueberries
Method
Mix all the dry ingredients. Set aside. Mix all the wet ingredients (Other than blueberries) in a high speed blender. Pour wet ingredients into the dry ones and mix well. Add the blueberries and mix again. Warm a waffle iron and follow the instructions to make waffles in it. Serve with maple syrup/honey, fresh cut fruits and vegan whipped cream.
