Spiritually, Free Yourself!
            
                -The dispeller of darkness is within you-

She is a beautiful woman from India.  Her whole life is India, its culture and its traditions.  She came to America a few years ago and was trying to understand its ways.  She is Hindu and gave much emphasis to the culture she called her own.  There is great beauty in the way she walks.  There is splendor in the way her foot softly touches the ground as if to avoid harming the earth and the things upon it.  Her eyes are full of passion whenever I come to see her.  It is always a great delight to be in her presence. 

She is watchful and deeply suspicious of everyone and everything.  She believes there could never be a relationship between us.  The color of my skin and her background is the barrier between us.  To be outside of her culture was considered taboo and as a result, the prejudices of the world kept us apart.  She could not see that we were both human and that is all that really mattered.  Her life and religion was that of her country, Hinduism.  I often wondered did she understand the meaning behind her religion and culture or was it just something she did because she was told to do so.  The strict vegetarian diet, the puja, and going to the temple were a part of her daily life.  She worked day and night, believing she was doing it for a better living and a greater tomorrow.  I wondered was this constant occupancy of ones time an escape from a life of loneliness and sorrow.  After all, do we ever act without it being a movement away from suffering?

Spiritual development takes us beyond this life.

She was a woman deeply committed to her traditions and conformed to them, entirely.  Often I questioned, is fear the root of all traditions, the fear of letting go of the many yesterdays of our ancestors.  So often, she spoke of being free to do what she wants, which was a constant issue.  One could tell she gave it much thought.  I wanted to ask her, can a mind trapped in tradition; culture and ethnicity ever know what it means to be free?  Free of all limitations imposed by others or oneself.

There was much pride in her for being a Hindu woman, independent and financially secure.  In only being in America a few years, she had managed to secure two jobs, her own place and a brand new car.  At times, she felt out of place being so far away from her family and friends.  She was so proud of her country and full of love for her people, its food and way of life.  I often asked her did she really feel the exotic beauty of her country and its people.  They have tried to isolate themselves from the rest of the world, so they believed, as if to be a unique and rare nation.  Perhaps, there was a time when India was pure, rich in culture, and full of creativity.  Allegedly, in the history of man, the feet of many so-called holy Beings walked this great land pointing the way to the Unknown.  However, what has become of India?  Is the beauty of this exotic land lost forever?  Like all the other countries of the world, India is overflowing with prejudices, brutalities and countless sorrows.  Like Ancient Egypt, the spiritual heart of passion that was the heritage of India has withered.

Spiritual awakening beyond all desires and fear.

Our burdens and unfulfilled desires have desecrated the creative pulse of our lives.  Without freedom, there is no creativity.  Without freedom, how can you have the perfume of love within you?  The mind and heart of each of us is chained and burdened by beliefs, fear and the odor of sorrow.  There is no one to free us but ourselves.  We have been completely forsaken by all the so-called religious Beings and Messiahs of history and the contemporary.  There is no one and nothing for us to turn to.  The only way is to look within our own selves for the answers to this life.  The whole world has failed to solve the problem of sorrow.  To see the truth of this is to see the reality of your own life.  Are you a free, creative and beautiful human being?  Is this what it means to live spiritually?  Only when that truth awakens in you, will you have that understanding which transcends all things.  Free yourself so that you may be spiritually fulfilled.  In this fulfillment, there is the infinite, the immortality and the compassion for all beings.

Spiritual Master Adonis Alexander

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