Seeing Our Way Forward This Easter

Gauging who we are at this time, the depth of our practice, and the fulfillment of our consciousness, regardless of our belief system or because of it.

Namaste, beautiful people. Easter is a very special time of the year for those who are Christian. The majority of the people on my list are not connected to Christianity but to Eastern spirituality. Despite many having had some connection to Christianity or Judaism by birth, they find greater fulfillment in Eastern spirituality presently. Naturally, this makes it difficult to share a meaningful Easter message with everyone on the list, something that everybody can relate to. However, I'm going to give it a shot because most people will recognize that Easter is, on the one hand, about death and, on the other hand, about life, eternal life, that is.

And just that statement alone places us with two perspectives that are seemingly at odds with one another. From a Christian standpoint, eternal life can only be granted by God, and it is often the result of the life we live. It is also based on the beliefs we have, and it is only God who can confer eternal life upon us based on the merits of the life we've lived.

Eastern spirituality, on the other hand, says that we can realize eternal life while in this life. There are many forms of accessing this experience through practices, such as Yoga, meditation, and Tantra and developing an inkling of what eternal life is. However, what really is eternal life? Hindus claim that it is a type of blissful consciousness that can be experienced while still alive.

Christians, on the other hand, desribe it as a reunion with God after the fall from Paradise and that it's only at the moment of death, and also at the moment of the final splitting up of humanity, of all souls, that is, into heaven or hell, we will know it. And, of course, there are many different views, even among Christians. Some approaches claim that all souls will have the opportunity to be saved. Similarly, in Buddhism, Bodhisattvas will delay their eternal fulfillment until all beings arrive at enlightenment.

Some approaches in Hinduism are distinctively dualistic, very similar to the Christian, saying that it's only the grace of God that can give us salvation and eternal life. The famous dualistic philosophy exponent Madhvacharya makes something of type of theology in the 13th century. And so, even in Hinduism, there are many, many different approaches.

Some Hindus will say it's entirely up to us to discover eternal life. And we can do that while we're alive, while others within Hinduism will say different things, such as only a particular God, for example, Vishnu or Krishna, can save us. 

This Easter, we might gauge who we are at this time, the depth of our practice, and the fulfillment of our consciousness, regardless of our belief system or because of it.

Now, the reason I share this with you is because, ultimately, there are a few everyday things that we can all relate to, no matter what our belief system is.

It's about the life we're living every day, the type of consciousness we are accessing every day, what our belief system is, and how our belief systems are contributing to our consciousness, giving us strength and liberation, or confining us. And, of course, this is a matter of individual circumstances and effects. We're not all feeling the same way, and certainly not all feeling the same way on the same day. 

The question is not whether a traditional Hindu or Christian is liberated by their beliefs but whether you feel authentically liberated either because of your beliefs or because of the lack of something that genuinely works. 

Now, we all have different days in which we feel burdened by our belief systems or some parts of them. Some days, we feel liberated. On other days, when the influence of our belief systems is non-existent upon our consciousness, we feel lighter.  

And so, what is the message then, this Easter, that would be meaningful to everybody on our list? It comes down to, number one, the kind of consciousness we are living consistently, not occasionally. For the most part, that is an aggregate experience, a dominating factor.

Our life fulfillment could be quantified by a number, like "How are you feeling on a scale of ten?" On the other hand, consciousness is really a quality, and our fulfillment should be derived from the quality of our consciousness. There's a beautiful statement in the Bible that a day in the house of the Lord is like a thousand years come and gone. 

And so, even if we are tapping into profound states of consciousness for short periods of chronological time, the effects of those deep immersions and absorptions could be potent. Those are words we use in Tantra: absorption and immersion. The Christian mystics were into a similar experience.

And because a day in the house of the Lord is like a thousand years come and gone, we don't need to spend exorbitant amounts of time in meditation. Even brief encounters with profound levels of consciousness can have long-lasting effects over many days.  

But that, too, is relative because someone who is tapping into deep states of consciousness and having powerful, profound, life-transforming peak experiences can also have mental health issues that are very disruptive and take over the consciousness at other times. And so, there's no simple solution. There is no one-size-fits-all.

Now, we can have people who are extremely devout and religious and have obvious belief systems who are quite unhappy for a number of hours in the day. They might have some respite at certain times of the day or night through their spiritual practice but are also suffering despite the value of their belief systems, which could come from neglecting their psychological development. Often, spirituality needs to be supported by psychological development to fill the gaps. Similarly, the exclusion of spirituality entirely from one's life can create an emptiness that cannot be filled otherwise. 

And so, no matter who we are, what our belief systems are, whether or not we're agnostic or atheistic, there are many forms of spirituality and spiritual practice within Hinduism (and Christian mysticism) that can accommodate an atheist and an agnostic and provide ways in which to tap into profound levels of consciousness that are fulfilling. In fact, many processes complement and supplement one another.

For the most part, there's always a nagging thought, even for the atheist and the agnostic, which is, could there be something more than what I'm tapping into, even though what I'm tapping into is very profound and very fulfilling?

Similarly, it is essential that the deeply religious person who believes in grace and salvation, whether Hindu or Christian, can doubt eternal life at their core while professing it aloud. Eternal life, for some, cannot be solely a belief. Some daily experimentation can reveal some truth to that belief. 

In Hinduism, the possibility that profound experiences in altered states of consciousness can convey some sense of eternal life is not only well documented but widely practiced. We don't necessarily have to wait for death to discover eternal life.

The mystic Kabir says this: "If in this life you have not realized (eternal life), what hope have you for deliverance in death?

In some response to this statement, the Christian revelation offers hope that there is eternal life. It was Jesus' essential message. 

However, there's still a nagging thought: what if there is nothing? And, of course, that's based on the discovery, which could only be known at the moment of death.

And if it's postponed even further to some non-chronological moment in time, in which all of humanity and all souls were divided into those who are saved and those who are not saved, we wouldn't know that either.  

Isn't it essential, then, to discover a type of consciousness that can be associated with eternal life while in the body?

So this Easter, no matter what our faith is, no matter what our daily experiences, perhaps it is worthwhile spending some time asking ourselves, what is it that our belief system helps us with? And what is it that our belief system does not help us with?

What is it that our daily practice helps us with, and what does our daily practice not help us with? And while we need to know that we are enough, that we have enough, it is also important not to be complacent and not to settle when there could be much more available to us.

All festivals come and go, including Diwali and this Easter. And, of course, when we are in that mode, we are riding on the power of so many millions of people alive and billions of souls who have passed. When we are attuned to the vibrations of a particular festival, we feel carried on the wings of that type of prayerfulness.

So why not make this Easter a commitment to seek eternal life every day? We should not take it for granted but do what we can each day to seek it genuinely.

 Easter, Christmas, Diwali, and other festivals can be powerful when we tune into those energies, but they come and go. And even though there is some residue from having ridden that wave, something compelling about our daily practice needs to stand by itself every single day.

While we may take some reference from festivals or astrological events to inspire our spiritual practice, every day is an opportunity to know more about the mystery of life and the mystery of death, and of course, they are connected. We may seek to know eternal life while in this body, as well as to prepare for an eternal life that's based on the way we're living now. Both are valuable, and together, they contribute to the quality of what we're doing every day

This Easter, let's make some decisions on how we want to live every day and have some measure by which we gauge who we are, what is the depth of our practice, what is the fulfillment of our consciousness, and a sense of where we are going.

May you be guided by your inner guidance system and whatever means you use to tap into a level of intelligence that is far beyond what can be learned through books, videos, or even conversations.

There is a level of intelligence that comes from profound places within us, deep states of consciousness, and qualities of awareness that we can tap into and that we should be tapping into regularly and consistently.

At the very least, this Easter may be a time to take stock of the quality of what we know and how we put that to use in our lives, which can be measured by the quality of our consciousness, its depth, the fulfillment we're experiencing, the strength of our relationships, the meaning of what we do in our lives daily, and what all this does for us, and what it doesn't do for us. May we dare to challenge our complacencies at this time.