Toward Love…
~ Gurumayi Chidvilasananda
Listen to the teaching
Read by Eesha Sardesai
Music to accompany the teaching:
Pan flute played by Derek Jivan Jones
I had the great fortune of participating in the Pilgrimage to the Heart retreat in Gurudev Siddha Peeth. It was during the period of silence when I first read this teaching by Gurumayi. I burst out laughing in joy; it felt like Gurumayi was describing my experience! Entering the retreat, I had innumerable questions, thoughts, and judgments about myself and others. Plunging into the silence of the Heart, I emerged with a feeling of profound contentment, love, gratitude, and a sense of my purpose—to know the Self, live from that space, and share it with others. This clarity and simplicity, with my mind no longer cluttered by judgment and expectations, felt like “perfect order.” Since returning home with this new focus on sadhana, I’ve experienced each aspect of my life unfolding with a spontaneous beauty and alignment with my purpose.
Pennsylvania, United States
Recently as I meditated in the morning, I experienced that I was going deeper and deeper inside. When the alarm sounded to signal the end of my normal meditation session, I felt as if my mind had just begun to enter a thought-free space. So I turned off the alarm and continued to meditate. As I did so, it seemed that my mind was merging into the Self. When my meditation eventually concluded, my awareness was buoyant, supple, and profoundly joyful. I felt as if I was floating in a vast sea of quietude. This experience brought to mind the eighth teaching of the “Toward Love…” series. It helped me to better understand the part of the teaching that says, “What’s left of you, in such moments, is that perfect order.”
New Jersey, United States
When I meditate on Bade Baba, I experience this “profound silence” that Gurumayi speaks of. In that experience there is no right or wrong, good or bad, worthy or unworthy. And when I open myself to “the vast ocean of nothingness,” and let go of my worries, that “all-benevolent love” naturally flows into my being like water into an open space.
When I pick up frangipani flowers from my garden, I no longer overlook the flowers with the bruises. I see the bruise on the petals as a symbol of its experience in its existence. I bring it in its beauty to my puja altar. For me, it is an example of “perfect order.”Kingscliff, Australia
Gurumayi asks us to contemplate, “What is ‘perfect order’ in this world?” For me, perfection is in the divine, and one way I perceive the “perfect order” of the divine is in the flow of pure energy that I can observe in nature. The crystalline purity of snow reveals a deep silence in a landscape.
One day, as I was climbing a mountain, I arrived at a place where I felt perfectly happy and found that I was tasting the silence that reigned there. Another time that I felt this total happiness was in an experience beyond the void, with my mind empty of thoughts.
I have come to know that I can experience this state even in the midst of my daily activities. The silence I experience through meditation nourishes my mind and my body with happiness. Only then, from this source, does love flow in “perfect order” through me to the outside world.One day, as I was climbing a mountain, I arrived at a place where I felt perfectly happy and found that I was tasting the silence that reigned there. Another time that I felt this total happiness was in an experience beyond the void, with my mind empty of thoughts.
Rodez, France
Like pieces in a puzzle, these teachings of “Toward Love…” pave out the path toward divine love. I know that this love is always there, but it can be so difficult to discern, hidden by the eyes as they seek outer things, crowded by the imprints of past experiences, muffled by the noise of thoughts and voices.
I now understand that to be fully present, all silent and aware, is the fruit of this love as well as the vehicle that will unveil its presence. I do get glimpses of it, and then it gets hidden away again by some spiral of thought or emotion, or by the body speaking through some automatic response to a situation.
I am so grateful for the chance to see through a different lens and with the clarity that is the essence of these teachings from Gurumayi—given with love, given with light, given with grace.
I now understand that to be fully present, all silent and aware, is the fruit of this love as well as the vehicle that will unveil its presence. I do get glimpses of it, and then it gets hidden away again by some spiral of thought or emotion, or by the body speaking through some automatic response to a situation.
I am so grateful for the chance to see through a different lens and with the clarity that is the essence of these teachings from Gurumayi—given with love, given with light, given with grace.
Hørsholm, Denmark
This morning, I started meditating by listening to the eighth teaching of “Toward Love…” I invited Kundalini Shakti to show me what “perfect order” means for me. The first answer that came up was this: being in the right place, at the right time, in “my own unique personal note.”
Then I remembered my visit last December to Shri Omkareshwar Temple in Pune, India. I felt the same sensations as I had that day. Even though it was the first time I had visited this temple, I felt that my feet recognized this small path covered with cobblestones, shiny from having been trodden many times. I felt an intense vibration throughout my chest—the emotion of returning to a place I had loved so much.
Just like that day in Pune, I then spent a long time in silent meditation, savoring the vibration of my heart. Then I wrote these words in my journal: “When my feet, heart, and mind are perfectly aligned, I remain in ‘perfect order.’”
Then I remembered my visit last December to Shri Omkareshwar Temple in Pune, India. I felt the same sensations as I had that day. Even though it was the first time I had visited this temple, I felt that my feet recognized this small path covered with cobblestones, shiny from having been trodden many times. I felt an intense vibration throughout my chest—the emotion of returning to a place I had loved so much.
Just like that day in Pune, I then spent a long time in silent meditation, savoring the vibration of my heart. Then I wrote these words in my journal: “When my feet, heart, and mind are perfectly aligned, I remain in ‘perfect order.’”
Plougonvelin, France
When I reflect on Gurumayi’s question, “What is ‘perfect order’ in this world?” I observe that my mind does not know how things ought to be. At times my ego proclaims that it knows, but I see that it cannot know from such a limited stance.
I end up at God’s feet, with open hands and bowed head, praying for guidance to serve, perhaps in the smallest way, the perfect order of God’s will.
I end up at God’s feet, with open hands and bowed head, praying for guidance to serve, perhaps in the smallest way, the perfect order of God’s will.
Langwarrin, Australia
I feel wonderful when I am offering myself as a pure vessel for divine energy to flow through me. At these moments I experience myself as nondoer and witness the Shakti doing everything. What self-effort is there is for me to align with the divine.
Still deeper, fuller, more fulfilling, and perfect is my experience of deep meditation. Here the “I” of the ego is absent and pure Consciousness abides with contentment, peace, love, and bliss. When I emerge from meditation, this beautiful state persists. I feel in harmony with myself and the world. When I experience this kind of “perfect order” within, I see that the world is fine as it is.
Still deeper, fuller, more fulfilling, and perfect is my experience of deep meditation. Here the “I” of the ego is absent and pure Consciousness abides with contentment, peace, love, and bliss. When I emerge from meditation, this beautiful state persists. I feel in harmony with myself and the world. When I experience this kind of “perfect order” within, I see that the world is fine as it is.
California, United States
When I asked myself the question Gurumayi has given us, “What is ‘perfect order’ in this world?” I closed my eyes and felt a gentle expansive love, a softening. I was in my heart.
Many times I attempt to figure everything out with my mind, and to put the various aspects of life “in order.” I realize now that when I experience the darshan of my own heart, the stillness and peace, free from descriptions of myself and others, I am experiencing love.Warrnambool, Australia
In my meditation this morning
as I opened my heart to grace,
I plunged into
the vast ocean of nothingness.
It was like a black hole
that swallowed all my thoughts.
And I was embraced
by the waters of silence,
waters of contentment,
waters of love.
When I emerged from
“the vast ocean of nothingness,”
I was completely at one
with my own divine nature.
Waters of gratitude welled up in my eyes.as I opened my heart to grace,
I plunged into
the vast ocean of nothingness.
It was like a black hole
that swallowed all my thoughts.
And I was embraced
by the waters of silence,
waters of contentment,
waters of love.
When I emerged from
“the vast ocean of nothingness,”
I was completely at one
with my own divine nature.
São José do Rio Preto, Brazil
When I am out of touch with my heart, it seems that the world needs to change. When I am immersed in the divine Consciousness that unfolds in meditation, I feel and perceive that everything is already in “perfect order,” or at least my own consciousness is in “perfect order.”
California, United States
Gurumayi’s eighth teaching in “Toward Love…” made me deeply ponder her question, “What is ‘perfect order’ in this world?” You know what? I couldn’t find any answers! So many worries and questions perturb me as I begin my meditations, only to give way to a nectarean peace and tranquility as I dive deeper into meditation.
Truly speaking, as Gurumayi teaches us, this golden state is “that perfect order”!
Truly speaking, as Gurumayi teaches us, this golden state is “that perfect order”!
St. Laurent, Canada