My spiritual blog & articles - My Spiritual Coach

Have you ever had an interaction with a guru that left you feeling changed or enlightened?

12/1/2022

I was walking through the forest in Rishikesh, in the foothills of the Himalayas, when I encountered a solitary, old sadhu. I had been walking all over India, from Kerala in the South all the way as far north as I could get. Until that time, I had not felt as powerful a presence as I felt with this man.

He told me of his daily routine, which consisted of arising at 4:00AM and beginning his meditation. His servant went down to the Ganges to get water for his tea. And wood with which to boil the water. It was a simple life and he was happy, in a serene way that I could feel in the air around him.

He conveyed his teachings to me wordlessly, for my Hindi and Sanskrit were lacking in some respects. But in his case, I didn’t need language.

I don’t even know his name.

The next day, I went to that same area of the forest. Or, at least I thought it was the same place. But there wasn’t even a trace of him, his fire, his hut. Nothing. I tried the next day, thinking I had taken a mistaken path, but no. Nobody. It was a one-day occurrence from which I osmotically received the powerful vibrations of this being.

And he has affected me ever since.

What is your opinion on the spiritual state of California and other parts of America?

11/22/2022

I was surprised to find, when I lived in California recently, a wasteland of spirituality. The symbols are there, but they are for show, or possibly good luck. For example, many well-decorated houses have statues of the Buddha. And people wear jewelry with all kinds of symbols, such as the ankh and the Hamsa hand. They use spiritual terms, such as “vibrations,” “cosmic,” but they are labels for superstitions. The Californians I met did not spend too much time contemplating the meaning behind the symbols and words.

The symbols are for good luck: For financial gain and survival. If I have a statue of Shiva, I will attract all the good stuff I want in life. I want to look cool and enlightened, so I will dress this way to send the signal. The spiritual-sounding terms have become slang and over-inflated, as have the words, “epic,” and “awesome.” “This pizza is awesome!”

I participated in very few conversations involving the nature of consciousness. or anything other than body maintenance, house maintenance, dog and pet maintenance, politics, and health practices such as exercise or food. Politics was a big topic for many people. Very few people showed even an interest in deep contemplation of the Source Energy of the Universe, cosmology, or metaphysics.

I say I was surprised to find that California was a spiritual wasteland because it had been the womb of so many spiritually advanced movements: From introducing Yogananda and the practice of yoga to the US, to the obviously spiritually-oriented sixties and such luminaries as Alan Watts. I was expecting to find people sitting around in Berkeley, strumming guitars and singing Kumbaya. What I found was the devastation of homelessness and the hopelessness it represents on many of the streets, including of course, in Los Angeles and San Francisco. It is hopelessness that hangs in the air, rather than spiritual upliftment.

These are overall impressions and experiences gathered over the five years I lived there. I had relationships of the heart that I will always hold dear. And many people expressed kindness and love. But spirituality, no. Talk about meditation and yoga, yes. But these are practices to get something. They are to get fitter, look better, get peaceful, or have some me-time. The core of why they came into being has been lost. For example, the flocks of people who go to whatever yoga is big at the time. It’s all about what’s popular and what feels good to the “little me.”

The “little me” in California is also running scared about aging and any bodily flaws or perceived imperfections. Therefore, time that could be used for understanding who we are as eternal Souls, is spent on getting every possible body part fixed so we can fool ourselves that we will never die. Or we can display to others how we have it all together, when in fact we are terrified.

As for the rest of the nation, spiritually conscious beings exist in every state. They may not make a big display of it and they live quietly or even boisterously. They may not belong to a group, which at base has nothing to do with spirituality and much to do with conditioning, fear, and the need for structure. But, in general, the entire world consists of over 8 billion people, all striving to stay alive. We are not at the stage in our evolution for world-wide understanding of our inner being and its connection to All That Is. The state of the world of humans is a testimony to this.

How does Thich Nhat Hanh's work differ from that of other mindfulness teachers?

11/15/2022

Thich Nhat Hanh’s message is the same of all the great spiritual masters of all time. He quotes the Buddha, Jesus Christ, and others. And his message is to find the peace of the Soul within and discover a path out of the whirlwind mind and its fearful, angry, and upset states.

To do this, he offers simple and nature-based meditations that allow us to gently return to the groundedness of the Now. His meditations are refreshing poems and tributes to all of nature: Flowers, trees, mountains, rivers, and oceans. So it is not his message, but the way he communicates it that makes Thich Nhat Hanh unique.

All mindfulness teachers have their favorite practices, from fire walking to exercises in letting go. Hanh doesn’t favor one way of achieving peace in the present moment. He goes back to the very basics. Breathing and walking.

We are a culture of shallow breathers and are barely conscious of the most primary act that keeps us alive. Hahn tells us to pay attention to the in-breath. Pay attention to the out-breath. They are different. Just sit still and breath, separating the two and even remarking, “This is my in-breath. This is my out-breath.” Just this practice clears away the cobwebs of endless old thoughts and well as clearing the path for new creative ideas. Because while we are paying attention to the breath, our mind doesn’t have room for other thoughts.

Walking is another very simple modality that Hahn uses as a tool for centeredness and being in the Now. Most people walk to get somewhere. They are impatient. The future is more important than the present. They are in a rush and the present moment is standing in the way of “getting there.” Thich Nhat Hahn says, “Take each step as is you have arrived.” Stop running. You have arrived home. In the Now.

It is the way he expresses himself that is impactful and different from others. He defines mindfulness as “The energy of being aware and awake to the present moment.” And he gives us the tools to allow this energy flow to enter our lives and bring us inner peace.

Here is part of one of his poems on walking:

“Walk and touch peace every moment.
Walk and touch happiness every moment.
Each step brings a fresh breeze.
Each step makes a flower bloom under our feet.
Kiss the Earth with your feet.
Print on Earth your love and happiness.
Earth will be safe
when we feel in us enough safety.”

Do enlightened people believe in aliens?

11/14/2022

An enlightened person would probably call them, “extraterrestrials.” The word “Alien” means that we think we are the center of the universe and any other life form is a foreigner and doesn’t belong. But we all share the same Universe. It’s almost racist to call them aliens because it is such a people-centered outlook. It’s like, we are the only ones that count. Everyone else not on this planet, is strange and somehow not good.

It is also very people-centered to believe we are the only ones out there. There are about 125 billion galaxies consisting of 100 billion stars on the average. It is preposterous to think that everything in all this centers on earthlings and that the only possible form of life in all grandeur and complexity, is on earth.
Some have postulated that the reason extraterrestrials have not made significant contact with us is because we are not enlightened enough for them to communicate with. They are operating on a higher level of consciousness and why would they bother hanging out with a species still involved in petty ego conflicts as well as large-scale wars.

If they already have the resources to break through earth’s atmosphere and land, what possible benefit could it be to them to befriend us? Some say so they can make us into slaves and mine our resources for their project, but this is just a human view of grabbing things, enslaving people, and being a menace. The human view of extraterrestrials comes from TV and films. For example, Star Wars or Star Trek, where the extraterrestrials indulge in warfare and other power struggles, simply based on human social interactions.

Enlightenment is about expansion of consciousness to ackowledge more than the finite human struggles for survival. It is about acknowledging the vastness of the Universe itself. As Neil de Grasse Tyson says, “To declare that Earth must be the only planet with life in the universe would be inexcusably bigheaded of us.”

How can you tell if a spiritual teacher is genuine or not?

11/14/2022

The spiritual teacher is a vessel for Divine wisdom and insight into the eternal truths that are difficult to teach. They require an equal passion for discovering their spiritual natures from their students. They are not there to rescue anyone or to create a fantasy that sells dreams to frightened people who find life meaningless. Or to set themselves up as gods to be worshipped.

Many, such as Osho, or Rajinish, begin as clear vessels and then go haywire as the love of power and ego tendencies start to emerge. We can feel all kinds of inspiration and inner peace and finally belonging around such people, or just be carried along by the crowd in a blissful dance of loosened inhibition. But that has nothing to do with spirituality and everything to do with needing to feel that somebody has all the answers. As in cases such as Jim Jones of Jonestown: People felt wonderful around him until 900 people died because of his commands, including 200 children, who were murdered.

Just because we can escape into something other than our difficult lives and join a group that makes us feel safe is not enough basis for really knowing if the spiritual teacher is genuine. It is more than a feeling. Feelings come and go and are mostly based on our mind’s reaction to something first. If we have a wonderful feeling of peace because we have finally found the answer out of our misery, that may not be enough of an indication as to whether the teacher is genuine or not.

So many spiritual teachers have gone the way of power and corruption, it would be easy to trash them all. But, the genuine ones stand the test of time. “Satya” Sai Baba was discovered to have serially molested boy students for years. Yoga guru Bikram also indulged in sexual misconduct. They both had excessive collections of jewelry, cars, and other items of personal wealth in their multimillion dollar estates. Osho owned 94 Rolls Royces, and was aiming at one for every day of the year.

Yet, on the other hand, we have Sai Baba of Shirdi, Buddha, Jesus Christ, Lao Tau, Sri Ramana Marharshi, and so many other great spiritual teachers whose lessons have endured. These teachers were simple in their lives and acknowledged that they were only expressing the inner light and the truth of Spirit and Soul that was revealed to them through contemplation and grace.

As we can see through the years, ultimately the true teachers emerge. They do no harm to their students. They do not seek to get rich off of their students. If they charge a fee, it is because the student needs to show commitment. The student needs to work for it. But it is a nominal fee compared to the energy the teacher puts into sharing understanding and spiritual experience of lasting value. In my own experience, spiritual teachers put in three times the energy of any student. These teachers do not want to be celebrities or be worshipped. They see themselves as humble vessels who were blessed with the ability to communicate and then step out of the picture.

How does someone's personal belief system effect how they see the world around them?

11/13/2022

We are all products of our cultural conditioning. When we were children, we believed everything our parents told us. We needed to be loved and cared for. Going along with our caretakers’ beliefs and what they told us, helped us to survive. Often, if we went against these beliefs, we would be punished or ostracized. So we learned to conform. But those are not our personal belief systems. They are handed down to us, fully formed. Yet we think they are ours.

We may think we have a personal belief system, but if we scratch the surface, unless it is based on our own experience and direct apprehension, it is just one more set of ideas that someone came up with a long time ago and everyone around fell into. Then, if it is based on “belief” instead of direct knowledge, it is based on a supposition. We suppose something to be true when it is a belief. We don’t really know it. We observe, and based on our imperfect knowledge, come up with a plausible explanation.

For example, human sacrifice, was part of many of the ancient belief systems. People thought that was their personal belief. If a human was not sacrificed, the sun would not rise in the morning. It was believed to be important and necessary to kill adults, children, and babies to make sure the sun rose. Of course, now we know that the sun doesn’t “rise.” It is all a matter of the rotation of the earth and where we are on it, in relation to the sun. The sun is always there, just where it always was.

Then, as time went by, the belief about human sacrifice and the sun rising changed and was replaced by other beliefs. All beliefs are stories we have made up to make sense out of life or to get what we desire. But all beliefs are not based on any real experience—only on lack of it and lack of knowledge and actually the fear of the new and real.

As Thich Nhat Hanh says,

“Usually when we hear or read something new, we just compare it to our own ideas. If it is the same, we accept it and say that it is correct. If it is not, we say it is incorrect. In either case, we learn nothing.”

Beliefs are about, “This is right because people told me so and I haven’t figured it out for myself.” They are what have caused so much human turmoil. Animals have no such belief systems and are much more peaceful because of it. Especially when people start killing each other over their belief systems, which are based on conformity, illusions, and delusions that make them feel better for the moment. They can see all Christians as devils or all non-Christians as bound for Hell. And it is all based on unexamined ego patterns, shaped by fear and ignorance.

How does Zen help us deal with suffering and hardship?

11/13/2022

Thich Nhat Hanh, the great Zen master, says this:

“The seed of suffering in you may be strong, but don’t wait until you have no more suffering before allowing yourself to be happy.”

He is not saying that people don’t suffer. In fact, one of the fundamental observations of Buddhism is: Desire for and craving pleasure, material goods, and immortality is the root cause of all suffering. These desires are all wants that can never be satisfied. As a result, desiring them can only bring suffering.

Suffering means that we do not like what is happening in the present moment. We are not satisfied with it. It brings us emotional pain. Suffering is emotional and is a choice. Pain is inevitable and sometimes even a blessing when it lets us know that we need to take care of the issue. But suffering is chewing over in our minds the fears and anxieties that are merely add-ons and don’t help us at all.

He’s saying suffering may be a strong pull for us. We may want to wallow in it. And bask in feeling sorry for ourselves. We can ask, “Why me?”, as if this is something personal the Universe is inflicting on us, when we feel entitled to be happy every moment of the day and night. And furthermore, we never want our bodies to die. But because we know these bodies will go, we can’t allow ourselves to be happy because we will all end in death anyway.

Hanh says, stop this miserable cycle of anxiety. Don’t put off your happiness until the day when everything is picture perfect and your body won’t die. Be happy now. Even if your toe hurts and you just bit your tongue. Experience the pain fully and when it is divorced from suffering, it is just one more strong physical sensation.

Zen’s primary focus in on mindfulness in the present moment. It is not about the wild hurricane of the whirlwind mind. It is finding peace in every minute, joy in the kernel of timelessness, and gratitude for it. Suffering gets transmuted, through this awareness, into a profound revelation of perfection right now.

Can you explain the concept of "mindfulness" as taught by Thich Nhat Hanh?

11/13/2022

The moment we awake from sleep, our minds begin their whirlwind of thoughts about the future: I need to do this and that, I need to meet or avoid certain people, I’m hungry, my leg hurts, maybe I should see a doctor. But the last doctor I saw didn’t help. Now what should I do? It took so long to get my last appointment with that doctor. No we are going back into the past, remembering the unpleasant. Then we switch to the future, fearing what will happen if we don’t get it taken care of. We fear it will only get worse.

This is just one example of how our minds run away with us, as we toggle from future to past and past to future. Meanwhile, we are not experiencing the fullness of our present moment, which is all we really have. The past is gone. The present hasn’t happened yet. All we truly have is the now. And if we don’t allow ourselves to experience and pay attention to the now, in all its peace and completeness, we will be dragged around by our minds into a state of anxiety, fear, regret, despair, and unease.

And this is just the start of the day. Instead of waking up and looking at the new dawn, feeling the joy of being alive, feeling appreciation for life and love, being fascinated with how perfect it all is, we need to fix things. We need to get on with the next project, we are bored, restless, or reluctant even to wake up as we face the drudgery and difficulties ahead.

Thich Nhat Hanh steers us away from this unhappy way of living. He says:

“If while washing dishes, we think only of the cup of tea that awaits us, thus hurrying to get the dishes out of the way as if they were a nuisance, then we are not “washing the dishes to wash the dishes.” What’s more, we are not alive during the time we are washing the dishes. In fact we are completely incapable of realizing the miracle of life while standing at the sink. If we can’t wash the dishes, the chances are we won’t be able to drink our tea either. While drinking the cup of tea, we will only be thinking of other things, barely aware of the cup in our hands. Thus we are sucked away into the future—and we are incapable of actually living one minute of life.”

We are not really living when we are rushing off to the next thing and seeing the present moment as an encumbrance that we need to get through somehow. The present moment becomes something we must survive so we can get to the next thing that we must survive. It is a pointless and completely miserable way to live: Let’s get on with it so we can rush to the next thing we need to get on with. Instead, Thich Nhat Hanh says:

“When you walk, arrive with every step. That is walking meditation. There’s nothing else to it.”

Now we are at one with our body and its movement, each step, the earth, and the freedom of present moment awareness. We are not dragged down by the sorrows of the past or the fears about the future. We are mindfully walking, one step at a time, and being happy with that one step. Focussing our attention on that one step. In that mindful step is the key to our freedom from the churning of the mind. There is no place to go. We have already arrived.

How can belief in something that cannot be seen or measured provide strength and comfort?

11/5/2022

We can't see electricity, nor the interconnections of the Internet that makes our communication with each other possible. We don’t see the air, yet we rely on it for our very lives. We put our trust in so many things that we cannot see or measure.

We can measure the outcome or output of these invisible forces, such as how much light or heat electricity puts out. But the actual invisible energy is not quantifiable in that way. All we can do is rely on the thermodynamic laws and laws of electrical flow to predict their outcomes.

Belief and trust are two different things. Belief means, “I don’t know. I’d like to think it’s such and such a way. But I don’t really know.” Or, belief is based on blind trust, as a child believes in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.

But when it comes to finding strength in unseen forces outside ourselves and our sensory apparatus, it is more a matter of deep feeling, and an inner knowing that comes from profound experience. If it is based on belief alone, we could find comfort in the Great Rabbit in the Sky, if that is what our culture teaches. Then, a new belief system comes along, such as the Great Turtle beneath the Earth, and we believe that as well. Because belief is not based on knowledge or experience.

The most important things in the world are those unseen things, such as love. We can’t see love or peace. We can only feel love, peace, and joy. Also, it doesn’t depend on sight at all. Sighted people rely so much on what they see to believe what they think is real. What about our blind brothers and sisters? They can feel the presence of the Holy Source Energy of the Universe too. Because, Spiritual forces are not dependent on our senses, which can easily be lost, destroyed, or diminished by age.

Therefore, the only things that are truly comforting, are the eternal things, which cannot be destroyed or diminished. That is what brings comfort. But don’t try to measure them with any scientific instruments. You must feel them to know them.

What aspects of yourself did you have to let go of in order to progress further on your spiritual journey?

11/2/2022

The spiritual journey is not a linear, progressive achievement. This is a prejudice that comes from how the human mind works: Needing a story with a beginning, a middle, and an end. With the spiritual journey it is a deepening of awareness that continues but doesn’t end with some final state. It is continuous and eternal and not based on earthly sacrifices. It’s a mistake to think we must give things up to get there.

Spiritual people can feel anger. They may not feel love for everyone and everything. They may give into the fears of the mind on occasion. It is ridiculous to impose saintly values on people who are all too human while in the human form. For example, Alan Watts was enlightened and in tune with the underlying harmonious structure of the Universe. He also was an alcoholic and a chain smoker. He didn’t give these things up and didn’t feel the need to. He knew that addictions come with the body and we don’t need to bolster our ego minds by promoting ourselves to sainthood in the eyes of others.

In my life, I gave up owning anything for five years. It was a positive experience to be able to live without possessions and very liberating. But it wasn’t because I thought it would get me farther on the path or that I could bribe Source Energy or God with my saint-like behavior. It wasn’t because I was trying to be a martyr. It was specific to me and what I needed to learn and when I learned what I needed, I moved on from that discipline.

It’s an imposition on spiritually inclined people to expect them all to be Mother Theresas and Sri Ramana Marharshis. Those beings did what they did because it brought them meaning and the maximum amount of joy in their lives. They couldn’t do anything else. It was their very nature and their choice. They weren’t going without and serving others so they could feather their nests in the next world. They had to do what they did based on their destinies. Nothing else made sense to them.

And, so I have let go of nothing, even troubling thoughts if they arise. They are just part of how the the mind works, churning out worries, fears, and apprehensions. I don’t need to think I am actually these thoughts and get caught in the whirlpool of misery. On the other had, I don’t need to force them away. I can let them be, the way we can let a car alarm carry on in the street when there’s no means to shut it off.

Eckart Tolle tells of a time he was in Starbucks and a fan came up to him and said, “You drink coffee?”, in an outraged voice. The public expects enlightened beings to be plaster saints at all times. They force us into molds of their fairytale vision of enlightenment. While, if you read any of the stories of the Zen masters, you will see they were cruel at times and seemingly lacking in compassion. That is because they were shocking students out of their cliches about what enlightenment really is.
And therefore, I have let go of nothing except sainthood itself. “Bring it on,” I say to the Universe. I know whatever you bring is for my good and my gaining. I can have fun, be full of life and energy, and still be in touch with All-That-Is. As Lao Tsu says in the Tao (19th verse):

“Give up sainthood, renounce wisdom,
and it will be a hundred times better for everyone.

All of these are outward forms alone;
They are not sufficient in themselves.”ick here to edit.