Flow of Love ~ Birthday Tribute to our Teacher

Flow of Love ~ Birthday Tribute to our Teacher

One should hold on to only one feeling,
that God is ours…

–​ Eknath Maharaj, Poet-Saint

Placed within the framework of unique circumstances and different walks of life, each one of us is moved by the ultimate questions. No one else’s answer can still the secret longing in the heart. The beauty is that it keeps stirring us – invisibly, where the mind cannot reach. Little do we know that this inner churning is the “crack… where the light gets in,” as Leonard Cohen sings in his famous “Anthem.” It softens the heart and makes us receptive to the whisper of the soul to awaken to its beauty. This inner longing opens the gateway to be guided by those who have gone before us…

One of those rare Beings who has fully merged with the Divine and who serves as a vessel of Grace, has called us into his luminous presence. On this special day today, we bow to the mystery of life who gifts us with the most sacred experience of the heart-to-heart connection with our beloved Teacher. Today we unite our voices to sing the Glory of the Self in the form of Igor Vamadeva Kufayev.

Om asato mā sadgamaya
tamasomā jyotir gamaya
mrityormāamritam gamaya
Oṁ śhānti śhānti śhāntiḥ

Om ~ From ignorance (unreality of transitory existence) lead me to Truth (reality of the eternal Self),
From darkness (ignorance) lead me to light (spiritual knowledge),
From (fear of) death lead me to (knowledge of) immortality.
Om peace, peace, peace

We offer our heartfelt pranāms to you, Teacher of the Heart, and wish you a wonderful

HAPPY, ​HAPPY BIRTHDAY! ​

May you feel the rays of love flowing to you from your dedicated students across the world. May you be blessed with wellbeing, vibrant health, a wonder-full year ahead and ongoing delight amidst your loved ones. May what you tirelessly give in service to humanity return to you many fold. May the beauty of this work attract those who long to drink from the Source. May your knowledge of light protect the dharmic principles and apply the healing touch. May we be ready to empty ourselves to carry your teachings and serve this work with all our hearts.

How blessed are we to be treading this earth at the same time when your feet touch the ground. How lucky are we to be nurtured by the timeless teachings of the Self. You not only teach us to navigate the “sacred pathway to God,” but show us how to stand as Consciousness in every phase of this pathless path. You open our eyes to the mystery hidden in the ordinary. You skillfully lead us to the mastery of the Self over the self by showing us how to assimilate your teachings into our lives, by teaching us to sharpen the sword of discrimination and vigilance and to rise above what no longer serves our evolution. You make us recognize that this world is the embodiment of Consciousness – that this earth is Shiva, that our pinkies are Shiva, that our hearts are one with Shiva! When this recognition dawns, the ultimate questions willingly dissolve in blissful Silence and re-emerge as the song of Love. Om Namah Shivaya!

While we gather in spirit to celebrate our Teacher today, we invite ​our global Sangha to celebrate this special day with us: so make yourself a cup of tea, take a few deep breaths, relax and ​immerse yourself into this wonderful snippet of Igor’s teaching from the archives. ​These words are the flow of love themselves –​ streaming from the source to inspire and kindle the qualities of an illumined heart…

With ​deep love, ​​​gratitude and service,

Jai Guru Deva

FLOW OF LOVE

by Igor Kufayev

Love is that magnanimous power that moves our hearts in waves of bliss and unity with the entire Creation. Love is the subtlest yet most powerful energy that takes us beyond our limitations. Love is kind. Love is gentle. Love is all embracing. Love is transformative.

We all know that about Love, yet why when we love someone, that often brings out the whole gamut of not-so-loving emotions and feelings? Why is loving someone often mixed with painful experiences? Why is something which is unbinding by its very nature often binds us to our all-too-human condition? Can we reconcile the individual expression of that Energy with all embracing Universal Love?

Most of us don’t even know what real love is, simply because in order to love fully we need to have an unwavering awareness of the moment free of limitations and past conditioning. It is because the initially pure impulse of love is obstructed by the accumulated blockages deep within, with all of the symptoms brought to the surface by the stir of love.

Our predominant experience falls between elated states of heightened emotional responses and contracted phases caused by past conditioning. All of these do not allow for the finer aspects of love to manifest in their fullness. When we love someone, the biggest contradiction is to experience pain and the other negative sensations that come with it. Jealousy, anxiety, unrest, possessiveness have little to do with love.

How can we become the victim of all of these contradictory feelings? How can we feel the opposing pulls of energy in the presence of love? How can we become bound, when love transcends all boundaries?

The answers are hidden deep within the innermost recesses of our psyche –deep inside of our nervous system, where all our impressions along with desires are stored together as seeds in a dormant state waiting to sprout.

What if what we call love is in fact a mere psycho-physiological condition of the mind going wild by following the senses under impressions left from previous desires and experiences? What if what we call intimacy is only a physiological condition of certain pre-dispositions of our instinctual nature? What if in order to find out what real love is we have to go through a degree of self-transformation? To rid ourselves from the impurities deposited beyond the reach of ordinary thought?

Love is at the base of all that exists –​ it is existence Itself. Life equals love and Love equals God.

On the material plane, love manifests itself as Life with all of its diversity made of complementary gender. At each evolutionary step, love moves to a new level, where greater recognition become possible. When awakened to itself, love regains its true status by bridging the dual-polarities of nature through the wisdom and power of its own. From there the personal and universal Love flow in confluence on its own.

Life, Love, God are but expressions of Oneness throughout its entire spectrum of Being. Each expression is characterized by the unique experience which is based on the level of consciousness predominant at each particular point.

With the change in consciousness –​ experience changes as well. Love on the level of Life is open only to a certain dimension; procreation, sexual pleasure, attachment. The true nature of love can only be experienced on the level of love itself: only here love shines in its full glory. Beyond that level there is no longer difference between love and creation –​ Love and God are indistinguishable. The lover and the beloved become One; nothing can be said of that Union, it is beyond the scope of any expression…

Love is an experience free from any negativity, free from any form of projection which tries to tie the experiencer with the object of experience. Love is not dependent on the subject of love. Love is sufficient unto love. The sun is not dependent on those who bathe in its light. Love is all inclusive. Object and subject are drowned in the sea of Love.

May these serve as a reminder, may we find a way forward. May our hearts open to reveal Love at its utmost.

Jai Guru Dev

– Igor Kufayev – Jan 2005, London. Expanded Feb 2011, Silchester, England

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All images: courtesy of Flowing Wakefulness