Blessed are those who are pure in heart; for they shall see God. ~Matthew 5:8
In the Hindu religion, this path is called Bhakti Yoga; the religion of adoration and devotion. This is the religion that the Hare Krishnas follow, of which I was one and still follow in my own way today.
In Bhakti Yoga, everything you do is for God. When I washed the community’s dishes, I washed them as if Krishna was to eat off them next. When I worked in the garden, it was Krishna’s garden and everything I did in that garden was done for Krishna. The goal was to practice seeing Krishna/God in everything and do it all out of love for Him; not as a chore, but as joy of service to the Lord. When we are able to continually see God in all we do we are seeing Him through our Heart and, therefore, become Pure of Heart, as Jesus asks us to be.
As I said, it is a practice seeing through our Heart/Soul because our minds are conditioned otherwise. We are conditioned to see the world through our minds and when do, we see a world of duality, which is overwhelming a lot of the time.
When we see the world through our mind, each of us sees things differently because of the impressions that were made in minds from the past, both this life and previous lives. These impressions are called Samskara: imprints that are left behind on our minds and hearts that affect our thought processes either in a negative or positive way. (When I say negative and positive, basically what I mean is that the impression left behind on the mind brings us either a good feeling or not so good a feeling.)
So you can see that when seeing the world through our minds, the world can be a bit of a roller coaster ride.
In Yoga Psychology, there are five root causes of impressions left on the mind:
1). Ignorance (forgetfulness of His Divine Nature); 2) Ego (the illusion that we are separate of God); 3) Attachment (attachment to everything temporary); 3) Aversion (repulsion to things we dislike or don’t agree with). I want to add a reminder here that both desire and hatred are obstacles in the path to God. 5) And finally what The Buddha calls Tanah…“fear of death.” Remember what The Christ says: “For whoever shall save his life, shall lose it.”
Again, our life journey toward God is a practice. Each of us has our own unique path that God wants to experience through us and as us. The soul within is a part and parcel of God Herself.
So as we practice seeing God in everyone and thing…a little at a time…just for a brief moment…if we continue practicing seeing from our Heart/Soul, we will see more and more from that place, which will bring about the Love and Peace we seek, instead of what our conditioned mind will bring us: pleasure (but pain, as well), a sense of security (but a sense of fear, as well) and both desire and hatred and so on.
So, how do we begin to see God in everyone and everything? The saying goes: what we think about we bring about. So chanting the Holy names of God, reading bona fide scriptures by the Saints and Sages, and contemplating on God (meditation), are the recommended practices to open your Heart/Soul. As we do these practices, we will see God in All, more and more.
Peace be with you.
Namaste,
Michael
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