The inner voice

The concept of guru and yoga as a spiritual practiceis often confused with the idea of an Indian religion and the occult. Spirituality is not in any way related to the religious concepts of God or sin. Spiritual topics are based on the fundamental principles of energy and common sense. You must first realise that if you cheat and gossip, then it is obvious no one will be able to trust you. Your intuition will guide you and the inner guru of conscience will certainly help you to make the right decisions and choices when it comes to choosing between a good action and a wrong one. In the end spiritualityis a way of life that requires integrity, honesty and humility. The external guru is a mentor who guides you and teaches the proper way to think and behave. Yoga is the system of personal practice that will awaken your intuition and strengthen your personal will to live your life with an understanding of what spirituality truly is.

We all have a conscience; the inner voice that will not leave us alone. Our conscience is the motivating force that comes as an unrelenting thought and it reflects the truthfulness and honesty of our actions. It reminds us of our relationship with ourselves. Of course there are many times when we are tempted to cheat and try to carry on as we please but inevitably we are unable to deny the truth and must accept responsibility for our actions.

"By listening to our conscience and following our intuition we can be at peace".

Intuition is an instinctive knowing that what we have thought and felt is absolute and correct. Our experiences of pleasure and pain, joy and suffering are all relative to our ability of listening to our conscience and following our intuitive instinct that tells us that we have no choice. Intuition tells us that we must act according to our conscience. We have all suffered from indulging in the temptations of life without regard to what is right and wrong action. When we become caught between success and failure our conscience helps us to realise the truth of our motivations. It is at this point that we begin to develop a little self-discipline and a change of attitudes. When we pay more attention to our conscience then we are at the beginnings of spiritual life.

"Common Sense is the conscience within all of us. Truth and honesty in our relationships with each other and ourselves leads to fulfilment and contentment in life"

Dharma is the correct use of common sense. Following the path of Dharma maintains faith and trust in others and ourselves. Such a person who can remain within the flow of dharma and live according to their common sense performing the right and appropriate action is loved and revered as someone especially worthy of respect. However those people who carry on without regard for their conscience and colour their lives with misconduct will display a lack of faith and respect. Their intuitive ability to make good decisions becomes weak and they are often easily confused and in conflict. These people become lost in emotional tragedy, often isolated from happiness and security and it is very difficult to work with them. The whole of humanity is confused in a mixture of self-afflicted fears and faithlessness and lack integrity to conscience. i.e. (common sense or dharma) A real commitment is required and it cannot be avoided. Commitment is an inner relationship between spirit and that part of us that is knowing of spirit. It is awareness that allows us to view this relationship. You cannot separate awareness from spirit, the two are inseparable in exactly the same way as sugar and sweetness are inseparable. Spirit and I (awareness) are one. Our conscience reflects the reality of spirit. Awareness of our conscience combined with the intuitive instinct is a recognition of spiritual existence.

"The awareness is consciousness looking back on itself"

Consciousness (shiva) in action (shakti) is spirit. Consciousness is the essence of being here now i.e. (in existence). It is an absolute reality, formless and beyond description, yet evident and undeniably real. When consciousness acts then spiritual life exists. Spirit is all pervading; do not think of it as a separate thing. Spirit has by its very nature of existence generated a field of activity, an arena of consciousness in action. This vibrational activity is known as mind. read more