On Feeling Spiritual Dimensions, the Temple Space, and Divine Connections.
Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2020 10:30 pm
.
A lecture by Hari broadcasted live on YouTube on 3.09.2016
Watch and listen to at: https://youtu.be/n_bek6YZJfo
Summary of the most important statements of this lecture:
"Sometime people ask me, I know this is a frustration: "I did all those things, yet I don’t feel it in the way I was supposed to, the way I’ve been promised." It’s not the fault of the things, it’s not the fault of the discipline, it’s not even your fault, it’s not even that the system is wrong or incorrect - whichever one it is. It’s that the dimension you’re supposed to be in, when you do this, is something that for one reason or another you don’t feel."
"Now that is far more significant than you might think now. But I’m going to give an example why it’s interesting. As we know I was in a group, you were in a group ... I never really felt exactly that same kind of depths of connection with many or most as I felt with the hurricane people, us guys here in the hurricane. (In Florida was a hurricane before) Or even in our meditations in St. Petersburg or whenever we were doing something together, I feel it very deeply."
"And it’s always boiling down to people. Conflicts between people, inability of people to understand, appreciate or to connect. I felt that often very much that I was feeling rather disconnected from people, at least in that really significant spiritual sense. I felt through the years that the individuals that I felt very close to for some reason or other left, or went away somewhere, or I couldn’t have that contact, or died."
"So it was hard when you don’t really feel connected to people. And it’s even harder like when you’re a leader and you’re being placed in this position. Where you’re not really connecting on that level of sharing in a very intense equality the space - that intense interaction in that space - because another dimension is created."
2
"That dimension where the leader or the spiritual master, whoever, is empowered by the disciple or the follower who is placing it into your space, (and) who is pushing you more and more into your space. And that becomes a dimension in and of itself. The interaction between the spiritual master and disciple, that becomes another kind of dimension that transcends all the other forms of dimensions. Even sometimes pushing away (the) connection to other people, or (the) connection to even the Supreme. Where it becomes confusing sometimes or you become confused: "He said something or he looked at me, what did he mean? What am I? What? Who?” And shame and guilt and, "Ah, I was not good enough.” So this dimension that I’m speaking of, that’s so important in spiritual life, requires a space, and a space in which we fit."
"Now, let’s examine what we consider the spiritual world to be. It’s a place where people fit. They’re not in a conflict. Or if they have a conflict it’s coming out like fun. So it’s a space where everybody does their thing together and Krishna and Radha and all the others are in that space too. Not sharing it in an awe and reverence but sharing it as friends or as lovers or whatever. They’re in that space in the same way that you’re in that space. We are all in it together. There’s a very big togetherness about it."
"Now we know our dimension centers on Radha and Krishna or Gaura Nitai. It depends on the historical context in this specific case. But it centers on Radha and Krishna and all of that which is going on (centers on them, although) they may not even be in a physical kind of center. But the space is compatible, there is no element in it which is beyond the space. It’s very compatible, everybody’s fitting."
"If somebody has not experienced that, they may think, “that sounds very unlikely.” You know there is a person here and than there’s God. It’s very unlikely that the space would make sense like that. Very compatible, very equal in the sense of the relationships work, they make sense, you can have a give and a take. It’s not all give and take by the God. It’s a give and take. It’s a reciprocating relationship. It’s a reciprocal sharing of the space that focuses us within that dimension. That means before you step into that space you have to be ready to share it. You have to be willing to invest in that space and share it."
"We could rightfully so make an analogy between a massive force of nature and the human beings and the supreme powers that be and those who are not supreme powers that be. When you’re aware of the parameters of the dimension, when you’re aware of the power you’re dealing with, when you’re aware of what it is that you’re relating to, there’s no doubt, there’s no question. It’s given. You don’t have to think about it. There’s no question of doubt. It is. You don’t need to study it.
3
"Similarly with a depths of awareness of the Supreme, of God, it’s a given how any interaction could conceivably take place. Now, you could do awe and reverence. Ah, ah, you’re great, I’m small. But awe and reverence has some problems in the sense of it usually means protect me, save me, give me.
Let’s say we’re just thinking about love as the force in that dimension that keeps us there, that is the uniting factor. Not awe but love. Now love (is a) hard term to deal with. It’s an intangible. You feel it or you don’t. How do you feel it? Here’s a question for you. Can you contact Krishna, or Radha and Krishna, or Radha and not feel love? I’m not asking can you contact them without feeling love. I didn’t asked that. I said, “can you contact them and not feel love?”
This is two ways of seeing the same issue. One may say, “without feeling the love first you can’t contact them.” God over there, you over here. (The) only connection is you’re feeling love first than you contact them. There’s another site of this coin. You contact them and you feel love. Doesn’t that remind us of anything? Lord Caitanya. You contact him, you feel love. As soon as you contact him (and) you feel that love, you’re connected.
This idea that you got to feel the love first (and) than contact (is) difficult. There’s a million reasons (of) why it’s difficult and every single person listening knows them as well as I do. But that Lord Caitanya connection (is) very interesting one, that you first connect and feel the love instantly."
"Because my question is, “Can you connect and not feel love?” My answer is, no. It is not possible to connect and not feel the love. The reason why that is so significant is that the task - terrible word but it’s true - the mission, the vision, the task, the ideal, the whatever we’re going to try to do, is now to connect."
"Let’s go back again. It’s like this. So if you have an electrical contact it means that two things are stuck together and yes, it’s a connection. But you can also have a contact which is momentary or you can have a contact which is, yeah, (come in touch says Maha) yes, (says Hari) whereas a connection is a linkage - it’s a linkage."
"What I’m talking about (is) this energetic embrace. Like the rocket and the Space Station. The capsule and the Space Station - energetic embrace. So the task - and again it’s a bad word but it really is a task, call it whatever you want - the idea, now is to make the connection."
"Somebody may think the way to make the connection is through the steps of a discipline. Obviously all religions, all traditions, they have ideas, disciplines, to make the connection. And they actually feel, the idea of connection in the same exact way. You go through this and this and this and at the end you make the connection."
4
"The problem is that (the) transitional stage between not connected, and connected, is not very properly defined. Like you’re doing this this this (and) you’re still not connected. So therefore they have like a discussion. Does the connection come by gradually developing it til one day you’re just there?
Another side may say, “you do it and than like lightning ball, psaam ... it hits you. I don’t want to discuss either of those problems or difficulties. I want to go right to that transition between not connected and connected. By means of discussing the dimensional space in which the actual energetic embrace or connection takes place, in which it lives, in which it thrives, in which it nourishes, in which it goes on and on and on.
Again Lord Caitanya. These people weren’t many of them doing step by step discipline, and neither did some external lightning ball of realization hit them. Lord Caitanya walked in... bango, intimate connection, dimension created. Dimensional space. The temple room. My experience in St. Petersburg we used to do this in the temple there. Walk in, free the minds of all this other jazz which says you can’t embrace the energy of the deity and enter into the dimensional space. Contact, connection, (would be) just flowing - flowing."
"So you place yourself in the environment and let everything else go. And just allow all of their energy to flow to you. Now you become an antenna, a receptical, a sponge, and you fill up. This is contact. And you just reciprocate that and send your love, and than there is connection. That is the dimension. Okay, there are, shall we say restrictions, or shall we say restraints, within that. You are physically living in another space. You are in a form which has demands. You are not yet in a dimension where you can live within that dimension and there is no other space.
"We all right now exist in this dual space, where we periodically enter and leave other dimensional spaces. And yet we can enter into the space of Radha and Krishna or Gaura Nitai. We can connect, we can feel the embrace, we can experience it. So we can do at the same time both things. Not at the same moment but in the same lifetime."
"So if I were to fix what I just said. In my lifetime I can experience - me meaning all of us - in my lifetime I can experience various dimensions related to my physical existence here, or whatever mental, intellectual existence, and I can be in the temple room and experience the spiritual dimension. This is why God created temples. Why since the beginning of God knows how far back there have been places where we can go, drop off all this other jazz, and embrace the connection to the divine."
5
"The problem has been - the problem was corrected by Lord Caitanya but again it turned up - that we tend to burden ourselves with shame and guilt and doubt and other desires and needs. And we tend to think that, so we don’t get bored, we need power or control or we have to be better than someone or we have to accomplish something, make a lot of money to do all this things.
Actually all we really need in spirit is a temple. Because the responsibility of the temple is very different than one might have thought before. Because the responsibility of the temple is to be the dimension within which the deity space resides. To be the dimensional space of the deities. And whatever a pujari does, or whatever anybody does, is to serve the space, that sacred space, that sacred dimension, so that anyone who walks in - just like the hurricane - feels that power of the space."
"But the real thing is that you feel the deities, you embrace them energetically, and you are in that dimension. Yeah, it is. Let’s say, you can be in the spiritual world. Well, it’s the second best thing. So (it’s the) second best. Indeed it can be just as good, if you cultivate it. You go, you connect, you’re in the temple, you feel it you’re there. And yes, when you walk away, yeah, it dissipates. You get dragged into other spaces. That’s life."
"One of the problems that comes when, for example, you discuss about the temple and you discuss about the depth and the richness of the space that’s there feeling the energy of the deities is that it’s not a physically interactive space. You know what I mean? It’s not a space that’s physically interactive. It’s energetically interactive."
"So you are in the temple, you are with the dieties, it’s another physically interactive place. It’s not like the deities are standing there in front of you and they are talking and walking with you, and you’re doing things together. So we kind of get disappointed in that sense sometimes, and than we enter into a space which has been described to us in literatures. And than we’re in a space and a time very different than ours."
6
"Because the literatures talk about very ancient times, or they talk about realms which are unfamiliar to us in many respects. But if you think about the dimension of the people who were in that time period that’s written down in these literatures. I don’t feel like getting into a discussion about whether or not it was or wasn’t or could have been or was a change, I don’t care about all that. I’m just talking about... Accept it as it is, no problem.
But that dimension was a very different one. They were in a very different dimensional space. The forces they dealt with, or the people they dealt with, were of a very different quality and character as we are today. So all of that which is described in their dimension is relevant only to them, not to us. And not only that, they didn’t have to worry to much about trying to attain or worship Krishna or Radha. They were connected in the physical space.
So sometimes people talk to me about the irrelevance of certain discussions in the literatures. And I kind of try to answer that, “well, sure, you’re not in that space. So it doesn’t matter.” The essence of what matters is the connection you have. If those descriptions inspire your connection, fine. If not, (it’s) not very important. If for example the structure of the universe turnes you off, don’t bother with it. If somebody having hundreds of millions of infertile wifes bugs you, don’t pay any attention to it."
Read more: https://writer.bighugelabs.com/document ... x0n3BN9KXA
A lecture by Hari broadcasted live on YouTube on 3.09.2016
Watch and listen to at: https://youtu.be/n_bek6YZJfo
Summary of the most important statements of this lecture:
"Sometime people ask me, I know this is a frustration: "I did all those things, yet I don’t feel it in the way I was supposed to, the way I’ve been promised." It’s not the fault of the things, it’s not the fault of the discipline, it’s not even your fault, it’s not even that the system is wrong or incorrect - whichever one it is. It’s that the dimension you’re supposed to be in, when you do this, is something that for one reason or another you don’t feel."
"Now that is far more significant than you might think now. But I’m going to give an example why it’s interesting. As we know I was in a group, you were in a group ... I never really felt exactly that same kind of depths of connection with many or most as I felt with the hurricane people, us guys here in the hurricane. (In Florida was a hurricane before) Or even in our meditations in St. Petersburg or whenever we were doing something together, I feel it very deeply."
"And it’s always boiling down to people. Conflicts between people, inability of people to understand, appreciate or to connect. I felt that often very much that I was feeling rather disconnected from people, at least in that really significant spiritual sense. I felt through the years that the individuals that I felt very close to for some reason or other left, or went away somewhere, or I couldn’t have that contact, or died."
"So it was hard when you don’t really feel connected to people. And it’s even harder like when you’re a leader and you’re being placed in this position. Where you’re not really connecting on that level of sharing in a very intense equality the space - that intense interaction in that space - because another dimension is created."
2
"That dimension where the leader or the spiritual master, whoever, is empowered by the disciple or the follower who is placing it into your space, (and) who is pushing you more and more into your space. And that becomes a dimension in and of itself. The interaction between the spiritual master and disciple, that becomes another kind of dimension that transcends all the other forms of dimensions. Even sometimes pushing away (the) connection to other people, or (the) connection to even the Supreme. Where it becomes confusing sometimes or you become confused: "He said something or he looked at me, what did he mean? What am I? What? Who?” And shame and guilt and, "Ah, I was not good enough.” So this dimension that I’m speaking of, that’s so important in spiritual life, requires a space, and a space in which we fit."
"Now, let’s examine what we consider the spiritual world to be. It’s a place where people fit. They’re not in a conflict. Or if they have a conflict it’s coming out like fun. So it’s a space where everybody does their thing together and Krishna and Radha and all the others are in that space too. Not sharing it in an awe and reverence but sharing it as friends or as lovers or whatever. They’re in that space in the same way that you’re in that space. We are all in it together. There’s a very big togetherness about it."
"Now we know our dimension centers on Radha and Krishna or Gaura Nitai. It depends on the historical context in this specific case. But it centers on Radha and Krishna and all of that which is going on (centers on them, although) they may not even be in a physical kind of center. But the space is compatible, there is no element in it which is beyond the space. It’s very compatible, everybody’s fitting."
"If somebody has not experienced that, they may think, “that sounds very unlikely.” You know there is a person here and than there’s God. It’s very unlikely that the space would make sense like that. Very compatible, very equal in the sense of the relationships work, they make sense, you can have a give and a take. It’s not all give and take by the God. It’s a give and take. It’s a reciprocating relationship. It’s a reciprocal sharing of the space that focuses us within that dimension. That means before you step into that space you have to be ready to share it. You have to be willing to invest in that space and share it."
"We could rightfully so make an analogy between a massive force of nature and the human beings and the supreme powers that be and those who are not supreme powers that be. When you’re aware of the parameters of the dimension, when you’re aware of the power you’re dealing with, when you’re aware of what it is that you’re relating to, there’s no doubt, there’s no question. It’s given. You don’t have to think about it. There’s no question of doubt. It is. You don’t need to study it.
3
"Similarly with a depths of awareness of the Supreme, of God, it’s a given how any interaction could conceivably take place. Now, you could do awe and reverence. Ah, ah, you’re great, I’m small. But awe and reverence has some problems in the sense of it usually means protect me, save me, give me.
Let’s say we’re just thinking about love as the force in that dimension that keeps us there, that is the uniting factor. Not awe but love. Now love (is a) hard term to deal with. It’s an intangible. You feel it or you don’t. How do you feel it? Here’s a question for you. Can you contact Krishna, or Radha and Krishna, or Radha and not feel love? I’m not asking can you contact them without feeling love. I didn’t asked that. I said, “can you contact them and not feel love?”
This is two ways of seeing the same issue. One may say, “without feeling the love first you can’t contact them.” God over there, you over here. (The) only connection is you’re feeling love first than you contact them. There’s another site of this coin. You contact them and you feel love. Doesn’t that remind us of anything? Lord Caitanya. You contact him, you feel love. As soon as you contact him (and) you feel that love, you’re connected.
This idea that you got to feel the love first (and) than contact (is) difficult. There’s a million reasons (of) why it’s difficult and every single person listening knows them as well as I do. But that Lord Caitanya connection (is) very interesting one, that you first connect and feel the love instantly."
"Because my question is, “Can you connect and not feel love?” My answer is, no. It is not possible to connect and not feel the love. The reason why that is so significant is that the task - terrible word but it’s true - the mission, the vision, the task, the ideal, the whatever we’re going to try to do, is now to connect."
"Let’s go back again. It’s like this. So if you have an electrical contact it means that two things are stuck together and yes, it’s a connection. But you can also have a contact which is momentary or you can have a contact which is, yeah, (come in touch says Maha) yes, (says Hari) whereas a connection is a linkage - it’s a linkage."
"What I’m talking about (is) this energetic embrace. Like the rocket and the Space Station. The capsule and the Space Station - energetic embrace. So the task - and again it’s a bad word but it really is a task, call it whatever you want - the idea, now is to make the connection."
"Somebody may think the way to make the connection is through the steps of a discipline. Obviously all religions, all traditions, they have ideas, disciplines, to make the connection. And they actually feel, the idea of connection in the same exact way. You go through this and this and this and at the end you make the connection."
4
"The problem is that (the) transitional stage between not connected, and connected, is not very properly defined. Like you’re doing this this this (and) you’re still not connected. So therefore they have like a discussion. Does the connection come by gradually developing it til one day you’re just there?
Another side may say, “you do it and than like lightning ball, psaam ... it hits you. I don’t want to discuss either of those problems or difficulties. I want to go right to that transition between not connected and connected. By means of discussing the dimensional space in which the actual energetic embrace or connection takes place, in which it lives, in which it thrives, in which it nourishes, in which it goes on and on and on.
Again Lord Caitanya. These people weren’t many of them doing step by step discipline, and neither did some external lightning ball of realization hit them. Lord Caitanya walked in... bango, intimate connection, dimension created. Dimensional space. The temple room. My experience in St. Petersburg we used to do this in the temple there. Walk in, free the minds of all this other jazz which says you can’t embrace the energy of the deity and enter into the dimensional space. Contact, connection, (would be) just flowing - flowing."
"So you place yourself in the environment and let everything else go. And just allow all of their energy to flow to you. Now you become an antenna, a receptical, a sponge, and you fill up. This is contact. And you just reciprocate that and send your love, and than there is connection. That is the dimension. Okay, there are, shall we say restrictions, or shall we say restraints, within that. You are physically living in another space. You are in a form which has demands. You are not yet in a dimension where you can live within that dimension and there is no other space.
"We all right now exist in this dual space, where we periodically enter and leave other dimensional spaces. And yet we can enter into the space of Radha and Krishna or Gaura Nitai. We can connect, we can feel the embrace, we can experience it. So we can do at the same time both things. Not at the same moment but in the same lifetime."
"So if I were to fix what I just said. In my lifetime I can experience - me meaning all of us - in my lifetime I can experience various dimensions related to my physical existence here, or whatever mental, intellectual existence, and I can be in the temple room and experience the spiritual dimension. This is why God created temples. Why since the beginning of God knows how far back there have been places where we can go, drop off all this other jazz, and embrace the connection to the divine."
5
"The problem has been - the problem was corrected by Lord Caitanya but again it turned up - that we tend to burden ourselves with shame and guilt and doubt and other desires and needs. And we tend to think that, so we don’t get bored, we need power or control or we have to be better than someone or we have to accomplish something, make a lot of money to do all this things.
Actually all we really need in spirit is a temple. Because the responsibility of the temple is very different than one might have thought before. Because the responsibility of the temple is to be the dimension within which the deity space resides. To be the dimensional space of the deities. And whatever a pujari does, or whatever anybody does, is to serve the space, that sacred space, that sacred dimension, so that anyone who walks in - just like the hurricane - feels that power of the space."
"But the real thing is that you feel the deities, you embrace them energetically, and you are in that dimension. Yeah, it is. Let’s say, you can be in the spiritual world. Well, it’s the second best thing. So (it’s the) second best. Indeed it can be just as good, if you cultivate it. You go, you connect, you’re in the temple, you feel it you’re there. And yes, when you walk away, yeah, it dissipates. You get dragged into other spaces. That’s life."
"One of the problems that comes when, for example, you discuss about the temple and you discuss about the depth and the richness of the space that’s there feeling the energy of the deities is that it’s not a physically interactive space. You know what I mean? It’s not a space that’s physically interactive. It’s energetically interactive."
"So you are in the temple, you are with the dieties, it’s another physically interactive place. It’s not like the deities are standing there in front of you and they are talking and walking with you, and you’re doing things together. So we kind of get disappointed in that sense sometimes, and than we enter into a space which has been described to us in literatures. And than we’re in a space and a time very different than ours."
6
"Because the literatures talk about very ancient times, or they talk about realms which are unfamiliar to us in many respects. But if you think about the dimension of the people who were in that time period that’s written down in these literatures. I don’t feel like getting into a discussion about whether or not it was or wasn’t or could have been or was a change, I don’t care about all that. I’m just talking about... Accept it as it is, no problem.
But that dimension was a very different one. They were in a very different dimensional space. The forces they dealt with, or the people they dealt with, were of a very different quality and character as we are today. So all of that which is described in their dimension is relevant only to them, not to us. And not only that, they didn’t have to worry to much about trying to attain or worship Krishna or Radha. They were connected in the physical space.
So sometimes people talk to me about the irrelevance of certain discussions in the literatures. And I kind of try to answer that, “well, sure, you’re not in that space. So it doesn’t matter.” The essence of what matters is the connection you have. If those descriptions inspire your connection, fine. If not, (it’s) not very important. If for example the structure of the universe turnes you off, don’t bother with it. If somebody having hundreds of millions of infertile wifes bugs you, don’t pay any attention to it."
Read more: https://writer.bighugelabs.com/document ... x0n3BN9KXA