Picture: Full Moon rises over desert mountains just outside our door
The desert has been beckoning to me for some time now–finally it is here. It is easy to see why those who want to know God have sought out desert retreats: expanse, clean vibrations, quiet, and a slow changing backdrop to support inner stillness.
I remember during my silence and solitude that we had some group gatherings during the year. One participant kept saying how she yearned to be in a place of silence, but even though the rule was total silence, she kept a whispering conversation going toward me (as if a whisper qualified as silence!). Beyond the humor of it, she demonstrated how we can abstractly yearn for something, but in reality find it quite difficult.
Inner and outer silence does a couple of things. True silence makes the consciousness expand. Whether you are viewing life across open expanse of desert, from a high mountain top, over a vast body of water, or from your “yogi’s cave” in your home, stillness makes it is easy for your mind to loose it bounds and seek out vastness. Master Mahasaya said his great guru, Sri Ramakrishna, told him to always meditate when he was next to a body of water in order to go beyond body consciousness.
Once remembered, Spirit’s domain in eternity does not easily accommodate the small confines of a human body or ego-consciousness. When we seek out the attributes of God we yearn for freedom, peace, joy, love, knowing who and what we truly are–pristine nature can help us realize this impulse.
There is an additional blessing to being in the desert near Borrego Springs–we are in the neighborhood where householder-yogis Rajasi and Dr. Lewis had homes. We feel our kinship with these two highly realized beings in our stay here–asking their blessings for full immersion in our Infinite Beloved.
As we reside in this place of stillness, please join me in spirit and experience the expanding purity that we feel here. Be quiet in your bi-daily sojourn of meditational bliss, and feel our gathering oneness in the blessed Divine.