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Lesson 337 - Dare to Dream  (Audio)

From: Yogani
Date: June 11, 2009

New Visitors: It is recommended you read from the beginning of the web archive, as previous lessons are prerequisite to this one. The first lesson is, "Why This Discussion?"


We are all passionate about something. Our work. Our play. Our family. Our aversions. Whatever it is, we can take it to a higher plane through bhakti (see Lesson 67). It is simply a matter of investing our emotional energy in a chosen ideal that reaches beyond where we are today in terms of our life experience. Our passion can be constantly expanding in that way.

Of course, to do this, it is necessary to consciously look beyond where we are to what can be. It is necessary to dream a little.

Dreamers are often criticized as being impractical. But is it so impractical to imagine our greater possibilities, and move toward them? Can we ever become more if we do not have a vision, an ideal to invest ourselves in? This is true of everything we may aspire to in this life.

Dare to dream, and dare to act on your dream.

It is the same in spiritual life, only the stakes are much higher. We can dare to dream of enlightenment in this life, and we can dare to act on that dream.

Even if we don't know quite how to dream it, we can inquire about it:

"Who am I?"

If our emotional energy is invested in the inquiry, and we can release it from our thinking process into stillness, the answers will be there to lead us along our path. It works like magic. When our sincere longing is expressed, nature will find ways to bring us grace. The expression of our desire, accompanied by a willingness to act without too many expectations, is grace itself in action.

It is a process of desire, leading to action, leading to results, leading to more desire, leading to more action, leading to more results, and so on...

The end result will be the union of inner divine life with outer material life. Stillness in action...

The guru is in you.

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Note: For detailed discussion on the essential role of desire on our spiritual path, see the Bhakti and Karma Yoga book, and AYP Plus.

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