"The difference between theism and nontheism is not whether one does or does not believe in God. . . Theism is a deep-seated conviction that there's some hand to hold: if we just do the right things, someone will appreciate us and take care of us. . . Nontheism is relaxing with the ambiguity and uncertainty of the present moment without reaching for anything to protect ourselves.”
Shakti is love. It leads us to love through its fertile uninhibited force, dissolving all the beliefs that stand in the way of wild joy, the expression of love untrammeled by convention. It says yes to love, and connects all life forms, once you have allowed it to flow through you unchecked, and to take you without reservation
In the Upanishads, the “word symbol” for Brahman is AUM. It is a sacred sound with three letters that represent three consecutive states of “waking, dreaming, and deep sleep.” AUM is the link between the mortal and divine worlds. During deep meditation both worlds are united. AUM is only defined in negatives: “unperceived, unrelated, incomprehensible, unthinkable, and indescribable” (Torwesten, 1999). When devotees chant the sound AUM, their goal is to transcend duality and experience oneness with the Eternal Reality. This phenomenon is known as the mystical experience: “The infinite becomes the word, thus taking root in the human heart, and what is inmost in the heart expands.” Achieving this state of transcendence, leads the devotee toward self-realization.
Light is one of the primary metaphors in sacred poetry, suggesting the Divine not framed within a mental concept. But for many genuine mystics, this light is directly experienced.
This sense of light is more than a brightness one might experience on a sunny afternoon. This light is perceived as being a living radiance that permeates everything, everywhere, always. This light is immediately understood to be the true source of all things, the foundation on which the physicality of the material world is built. The sense of boundaries and separation, long taken for granted by the mind as the fundamental nature of existence, suddenly seems illusory, for this light shines through all people and things. It has no edges, and the light of one is the light of all. Often, one describes being "bathed" in this light, and that is absolutely fitting. This light is not merely an airy phenomenon of the visual realm; it is tactile, permeating, embracing, profoundly soothing, revitalizing, healing. Some describe it in liquid language: water, fountain, lake, a shining white or golden ocean.
As many as are the waves of the sea, so many are the desires of the mind. Stilling them all, one sits with contentment holding the thought of the One in his self. As in the presence of a magnet the iron is drawn, So do thou attach thy senses, mind and dispositions to the One alone.
