INSIGHT

Sometimes even the odd snatch of conversation, or a stray line read in passing can spark off a line of inner inquiry that leads to insight. While surfing the internet I chanced upon a piece that mentioned how Jesus, in his earthly sojourn, battled ‘temptation’ and ultimately conquered it. Immediately Mary Magdalene flashed before my mind and I wondered, did the writer mean her? And then is it just the sexual act we are referring to here, or is it something else. Somehow the thought of viewing ‘sex ’ as temptation and the woman as the ‘temptress’ made me feel distinctly uncomfortable. Isn’t sex supposed to give life ? Is not the coming together of a man and woman, the joining of two holy forces to create anew? So what is there to be ashamed of? Dirty? To resist?

Maybe it is just aeons of conditioning. How easily we accept Krishna cavorting with the gopis. His love for Radha is immortalised in the passionate “Gita Govind’.Infact Radha rani is worshipped as Krishna's 'hladini shakti' or pleasure potency. And we hardly bat an eyelid at the thought of his numerous wives. Gautama Buddha too was married and fathered a child, as did Guru Nanak.Yet we baulk at the thought of Jesus and Mary Magdalene! A woman is part of God , a representative of the sacred feminine, why demean her by labelling her a ‘temptress’?

So here I was, 2000 years hence, battling my own demons of radical thought. And then from within the answer arose, ‘temptation is any act that comforts and feeds our lower nature and hence becomes a hindrance to ascension. It is not a particular act or craving in itself, but the ‘motive’ behind it, that leads to ruin’. If I am indulging in something for temporary succour, to comfort my lower nature then I am fuelling that part of me…and adding so many more blocks to my own path. The reason why we indulge in something is the key, look at that, the hidden motive behind the thought ,word and deed. Sometimes so embedded is the real reason in our subconscious that even we are not aware of it.

The second insight I gleaned, was sparked by a comment a friend made about the difficulties entailed in ascension. For a minute even I felt some resistance to any further effort I may be required to make. The thought of facing torment and despair a second time round was not welcome. However it suddenly came to me in a flash that if we do create our reality, then surely we can create a process whereby ascension is truly a joyful and beautiful experience. But as long as there is even the slightest subliminal fear, then pain will be a reality. Only at that point of perfect and shining belief where one knows with one’s heart and soul that it CAN BE, and WILL BE a joyous process , that the reality will change.

As long as I am buying into another’s reality , how will I create my own? Maybe ascension was a difficult process for my friend. Maybe it was so for a hundred others, but that does not mean it has to be so for me. No. If I claim the divine power vested in me, if I can truly recognize that I am Divine and totally free to create any reality…then surely I can create a process of joyful ascension. And is not that precisely what the masters have done—seen through the illusion of their own fears ? Once they pierce this illusion they do not continue to live in extended states of misery…No, they are revelling in their own joy.

And…maybe, it is time now for us to revel in ours. Amen.

tunisha9@yahoo.com