In Aries territory we ask ourselves — How can I expand my identity and deepen my awareness of who I am?
We suffer because we lack knowledge about our Soul Self. In our unawakened state we carry the burdens of unconscious thoughts, emotions, and actions that erroneously define who we are. We also suffer because we are dissatisfied with who and how we think we are. This is because we identify with our issues and fears. And we think we should be perfect, or at least ‘better.’ It is useful to keep in mind Yogi Bhajan’s words, ‘Perfect beings are all dead. I am still alive.’ *(1)
Our most basic truth is that we are who we are. We just don’t know who we are. We relate to our thoughts and neuroses instead of our soul. Our spiritual path is about awaking up to our spiritual identity and reality and in the process learn to love, trust, and enjoy ourselves and our life. *(2)
Life Is an Individual Trip
In our unawakened state, oblivious to our soul and the Divine, our limited perception creates fear and insecurities. When we think our current asleep state is reality and don’t like it, we indulge in fantasies and create problems for ourselves. When we live from imagination and denial, we get lost in a void instead of being consciousness. Subjected to this void, our lives are run by subconscious habits and conditioning.
As long as we are disconnected from our spiritual essence, we suffer from inner conflict, stress, depression, and discontent. The good news is that – Everyone knows their own truth and can connect with their soul identity. We must be willing to move through the lower vibrations (fears) blocking our truth to be able to look at, listen to, feel, and discover our soul essence and reality.
Our life is a very individual trip. It is the nature of the human experience that we live in and perceive everything in the bubble of our own reality. No one else can ever know or be in our world. It is our job to realize and acknowledge — I am me. I am here to experience who I am and my personal reality. I am constantly interacting with others who are trying to figure out who they are and creating their own realities.
Our current reality is determined by our mood, thoughts, feelings, reactions, and what we pay attention to. Our on-going reality is circumscribed by our energetic blueprint.*(2) Our greatest challenge is simply to be ourselves, free from external influences and liberated from our karmic baggage. In Yoga Bhajan’s words, our life is about living ‘free and clear, absolutely sovereign, independent, exalted.’ *(3)
We must avoid too much mental evaluation because our negative mind has the habit of computing that we are not good enough or have not achieved enough. We must focus on self communication between soul me and human me. Our personal goal is to connect at the deep feeling level where we can believe in ourselves and build self-confidence as the artist of our life. When we link up with our soul at our third eye and in our heart, we operate from a totally different perspective. We can rely on our intuition and our inner experience, not on our thoughts.
Be You – Advice from Yogananda
‘Mankind is like a large zoo — so many people behaving so differently, most of them having no real control over themselves.’ To find inner peace and to be happy, we have to have control over ourselves. We have to seek inner balance. *(4)
‘Each human being is unique; no two can be exactly the same. Think of yourself this way: ‘My personality is the gift of God. What I am, no one else is. I shall be very proud of my divine individuality. I shall improve myself and don a personality of goodness.’ If you play your part well, you are just as good as the soul who plays the part of a king or queen. And so long as you play your part well, you will be attractive and loved by all. Your part well played is your passport to God.’ *(5)
To develop your Self, develop the consciousness that God is with you. Concentrate within and feel the Divine within. Stabilize yourself in this consciousness. Your personality will develop around your experience of soul awareness and Divine qualities. *(6)
Sources and Footnotes
The Chakras–Kundalini Yoga as Taught by Yogi Bhajan, Kundalini Research Institute, 2012.
Paramahansa Yogananda, Man’s Eternal Quest, Self-Realization Fellowship, 1982.
1. Yogi Bhajan, p. 61
2. The Inner Art of Love – Awaken Your Heart with Kundalini Yoga by Guru Rattana, Ph.D.,Yoga Technology. Four chapters explain how to understand the energetic blueprint of your soul using astrology and your birth chart.
3.Yogi Bhajan, pp. 89-90
4. Yogananda, p. 145
5. Yogananda, p. 147
6. Yogananda, p. 147 and 150
The Power of Neutral — Soul Alchemy in Meditation by Guru Rattana Ph.D. Yoga Technology has several chapters explaining how to cultivate oneness with Infinite Qualities.