Poetic Pointers to Non-Duality
One of the themes that we find in the poetry of Hari Prasad Shastri is how the seeker of truth is open to receiving help from a power far greater than that of our limited intellect and will. This help is sometimes called inspiration, sometimes grace, and its influence, though itself indescribable, is indicated by words like peace, courage, joy, understanding, relief and release. It is an influence that may visit us suddenly and unexpectedly, and it has the power and certainty to dispel negativity and enable us to make further progress on the path to self-realisation.
To be open to this possibility, one needs faith that there is a deeper reality—all-powerful and all-knowing. The non-dual teaching is that this reality, being equally present everywhere, is present within us as our true Self. Thus grace and inspiration do not descend from a region above, but rise, so to say, from the root of our being, when our mind is suitably disposed to allow this inflow.
The key principle is that grace and inspiration have their source within our own being. A verse from the Bhagavad Gita assures us:
Out of mere compassion for my devotees, I, the Lord, abiding in their heart, destroy the darkness born of ignorance by the luminous lamp of wisdom.
In other words, at any time, at any moment, the helping, liberating influence is available—if we are open to it.
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