Do
You Know the Way to Light?
A sermon about Enlightenment for Divali
Rev.
Robin Landerman Zucker
First
Unitarian Church of Pittsburgh
October
28, 2012
Some time back, I clipped a cartoon from the New Yorker magazine for my fridge showing two bald, robed yogis sitting lotus-style in an ashram (or spiritual retreat) under the watchful eyes of a Shiva statue. One is turned to the other, saying: “I’d read
so much about it beforehand that I couldn’t help being disappointed when I
actually became enlightened!”
Of course, the ironic humor of the cartoon
resides in the unlikely notion that anyone who had genuinely achieved
enlightenment would remain so earthbound and cerebral as to be disappointed about anything!
For the most part, religions do hold out some possibility of enlightenment, and you needn’t don robes,
and sit on a cushion in a mountain cave to get a taste of it. To
“enlighten” or “to shed spiritual
light upon” represents the central
purpose of religion in the first place. And Hinduism, the religion we are
exploring together this morning, is no exception. In fact, the pursuit of
light, the immersion in one’s inner light, and the Hindu festival Divali, the
annual celebration signifying the journey away from spiritual darkness, typify
this illuminating religion – colorful, wise, peaceful, mythic, and accessible,
especially for us religiously open-minded, mystically-inclined Unitarian
Universalists.
Hinduism is an ancient religion, with its roots in India. Scripture
includes the sacred wisdom texts known as the Vedas; the Hindu devotional classic, the Bhagavad Gita, and a collection of spiritual dialogues known as The Upanishads. As my Harvard professor
Diana Eck explains, “Hinduism embodies a rich sense of plurality saturated by a
Oneness in the one Supreme Being, Brahmin.”
It is a polytheistic faith, in which adherents can worship or undertake
a devotion practice (or puja) to
more than 330 million Gods and Goddesses, each embodying different legends and
a particular desirable attribute. Some of these deities are more prominent than
others (and we find several of them on our special Divali altar this
morning). For instance, Lakshmi,
the primary focus of the Divali celebration, represents prosperity. Ganesha,
the elephant God, represents wisdom, Kali signifies strength, and Saraswathi is
the goddess of knowledge.
During Divali, celebrants offer puja (or prayer) in honor of a favored Deity. Houses all
over India twinkle, as families eat special foods, exchange gifts, and set off
fireworks. Rows of wicks within diye, clay lamps filled with mustard oil, light the way to
welcome the Hindu god Rama, who returned thousands of years ago to reclaim his
kingdom after 14 years in exile.
It’s
been said of Unitarian Universalists, not inaccurately – “if you’ve met one…well, you’ve met one!” The
same can be claimed, even more emphatically, of Hindus. They are not all like Mahatma Gandhi,
or Deepak Chopra, or a Bollywood movie star; nor do they all resemble TV’s Apu,
the Hindu Quik-e-Mart owner on The
Simpsons, and devotee of the elephant Diety Ganesha, who admonishes the
irreverent Homer Simpson to “stop feeding peanuts to my God!”
If you were to ask a Hindu the central question of this sermon: “Do
you know the way to light,” she would explain that the answer will
be given in two parts.
First, she may suggest you alter the question to make it plural. Do you
know the ways to light? Hinduism
contends that there are many paths to the summit; “many strings in the lute,”
as the poet Tagore tells us.
The great Hindu swami, Vivekananda, who helped introduce his relatively
exotic tradition to America at the 1883 World Parliament of Religions, once
remarked that “truth is a pathless land. ” This suggests
(at least from my perspective) that truth itself exists beyond or
outside of a single chosen path, while the paths themselves, practiced
faithfully, also represent vehicles of truth leading to greater spiritual
depth, self understanding, perhaps,
even enlightenment, as known as liberation (or moksha).
The Transcendentalist movement in the mid 19th c within
Unitarian Universalism was strongly influenced by the spiritual foundations of
Hinduism. In Henry David Thoreau’s
classic, Walden, the author
writes: “In the morning, I bathed my intellect in the stupendous and
cosmo-gonal philosophy of the Bhagvat-Geeta..in comparison with which our
modern world and its literature seem puny and trivial.” He notes quite
poetically that “The pure Walden water is mingled with the sacred water of the
Ganges.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson learned about Hinduism from his formidable aunt,
Mary Moody Emerson, and by the 1820’s, he was writing about India in his
journals. He obtained copies of the Bhagavad Gita in
the 1830’s and began publishing excerpts from the “Ethical Scriptures” in The
Dial, the journal of the transcendentalist circle.
“Unitarians were increasingly drawn to India’s religious ideas: its
insistence on the oneness of the divine, the presence of the sacred in all
existence, and Hinduism’s capacity to point to the transcendent unity of
diverse paths and ways.” (Diana Eck) We hear the resonant strum of Hinduism’s
lute strings in Emerson’s definitive transcendentalist essay entitled, “The
Over-Soul.” He writes: “Meantime within man is the soul of the whole
[Hinduism’s Atman]; the wise
silence; the universal beauty, to which every part and particle is equally
related; the eternal ONE. “ [Hinduism’s Brahman].
Ralph Waldo and Henry David understood that the second part of the
answer to our central question: Do you know the way to light? is a brief two-word response: Inquire Within.
Like all religiously authentic people, Hindus are expected to take
their religion off the shelf and personalize it through dynamic actual
existence, to find keys to their own enlightenment through spiritual practice,
devotion, and discipline. One must walk the talk, or find oneself walking and
talking and stumbling and learning through as many cycles of incarnations (or samsara) as needed on this earth to work out one’s karma (that is, deeds from past lifetimes).
There is no golden ticket to punch. Lakshmi isn’t
going to drop prosperity into the lap of any devotee. Through mindfulness and
practice, the devotee must discover enlightened ways to bring more prosperity
into his or her own life. Perhaps by practicing what Buddhists call enlightened
self interest – an act which benefits
both the individual and the community.
Yoga, a spiritual practice connected explicitly to Hinduism, and which
I practice myself, is anything but newfangled. Evidence of yoga postures were
found on artifacts that date back to 3000 B.C. as well as in the
oldest-existing sacred Hindu text, the Rig-Veda.
The word, “yoga” actually
means “to yoke with the divine,”
not “to cripple oneself trying to bend in half like one’s
far-more-experienced and limber teacher!”
Physical forms of Yoga have gained enormous popularity in the West, and
sadly, have been corrupted by some teachers and schools, becoming competitive
and hard-edged. I mean, “Boot camp Yoga” - do I detect a disconnect there?
Yet, Yoga is not just physical asanas. Devotees also practice jnana, yoga of the intellect; bhakti, which centers on the heart, karma yoga (the only most closely associated with Gandhi)
which motivates right action, or “the way of works,” and, raja yoga
offers a path to God through experimentation on the Self.
True yoga must be taken off the mat and into the world! Sweat all you
want, bend and balance, and practice and breathe…but by all means, bring some raja and some bhakti to your
effort; inquire Within. Otherwise, it’s just a fitness class with an exotic
twist.
Through yoga or another chosen dedicated practice of meditation and
self-knowledge, we can awaken, by realizing that Atman, the pure soul within each person, and Brahman, the Ultimate cosmic reality, are one. The light of the Universe shines within
us, through us, and around us. We each shimmer like a knot in Indra’s fabled
cosmic net.
Do you know the way to light? Inquire Within.
One of the aspects of Hindu teaching I most savor is the use of wisdom tales and riddles, often
with some amusement or a twist, to illustrate concepts as complex as
enlightenment.
In the classic Hindu wisdom tale , Tat Tvam Asi, a seeker went to a great master, a renowned yogi. Bowing reverentially in the traditional
manner he said: “O master, I seek enlightenment, please initiate and teach me
so that I may attain That!” The master replied in a kindly manner: “Certainly
my son, tat tvam asi, which is
Sanskrit for You are That.” The master continues: “The divine Self lives within
you. Meditate on that Self, know that Self, merge in that Self, realise that
Self!” The seeker was disappointed. “O master, I know all that already. Why,
that very teaching was featured in this month’s Yoga Journal. Please give me the secret teachings, I want the real
stuff!”
The master said: That is all I know. That is my entire
teaching I have no secrets. There is nothing that I have not given you.
However, if you are not satisfied, you can go down the road to the next swami’s
ashram and see if he has something more suitable for you.” The seeker
approached the other guru and said: “O master, I seek enlightenment, please
give me the initiation and your most secret teaching so that I may attain
That!” The guru said: “I do not give my teachings so easily. You must earn
them. You must do sadhana,
spiritual practice. If you are sincere then you can stay here and work for 12
years. Only in this way will you earn my initiation.”
The seeker was delighted: “That’s just what I wanted.
That is real spiritual life, real sadhana. I’ll begin at once.” The guru
assigned him the job of shovelling buffalo dung in the back paddock. The years
went by. Each day as he shovelled the dung the seeker dreamt of his future
enlightenment. He ticked the passing days and months off his calendar.
Finally 12 years were up; the great day arrived. He
approached the guru with hands folded palm to palm. “O my guru, I have served
you faithfully for 12 years. I request your teachings and initiation as you
have promised. Please bestow your grace upon me.” The guru said: “My son, you
have served me well. You truly deserve my teaching. Here it is: “Tat tvam
asi. You are That, the divine Self
lives within you. Meditate on that Self, know that Self, merge in that Self,
realise that Self!”
The seeker became enraged. “What! Is that all? The
guru up the road gave me that the first time I met him and I didn’t have to
shovel buffalo dung for him for 12 years!”
“Well,” said the guru. “That was
your decision, but the truth hasn’t changed in 12 years.”
Do you know the way to light? Inquire Within.
This tale strikes a particularly resonant chord for me
because just about 12 years ago, I purchased tickets to hear a talk given by
the Dalai Lama at MIT. He had been there at a symposium on science and religion
( a fascination of his, I understand).
When he came onstage, people went wild –“Elvis is in
the house” wild! He sat in a chair and his feet dangled off the ground. He was
like a large happy child in orange and red robes in an oversized Lazy-Boy. Gosh
– why are these spiritual teachers always so much smaller in stature than the
imposing figures we imagine them to be?
The format was Q&A and the questions began about
how a seeker could achieve enlightenment. The Dalai Lama would listen and
smile; a reverent silence would
pervade. Wait for it, he’s going to say something earth-shatteringly wise! “I
don’t know, but that is a very good question,” replied the Lama, over and over
again, to more questions than not.
In essence, the Lama was teaching us:
Inquire Within. Or as the
Buddha himself revealed: I am not the moon. I am just another finger
pointing at the moon.
A special form of smugness can pervade assemblies such
as this – one can practically
smell the aroma of “I’m already more enlightened than the average Joe because I
was wise and spiritual enough to purchase this ticket.”
Let me tell you - I thought there might be a collective meltdown in the
room. People were annoyed. I paid 100 plus dollars for this!? Who made you a
Lama anyway? I could sense how hard folks were trying to keep the serene “I
belong here” expressions on their faces. It was squirmy and awkward, but the
memory reminds me to check my projections about gurus, stay in the moment,
inquire within.
Earlier this month, I traveled to Washington DC to
hear the contemporary spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle speak at the Warner
Theater. I admire him. He is deservedly popular, in my opinion, and
some of you may be familiar with his books. The event was advertised as “an
evening of presence with Eckhart Tolle,” so I suspected he would share
his valuable insights about the egoic mind and the pain body and the
enlightened moment somewhat more off-the-cuff than his very smooth and
accessible CDs.
When Tolle entered the stage from the wings, I sensed
some surprise among the crowd that he was not more debonair. There he was,
quite hunched over and diminutive, not especially GQ in his attire; the
quintessential philosophy wonk.
His talk was extemporaneous and occasionally even a
wee bit rambling, punctuated by an unexpected goofy little laugh. In
pockets around the theater, I could feel frustration, impatience, a “get on
with it, and tell me the secret” vibe. Tolle kept on. Some folks began checking
their text messages, others fell asleep, while others stayed with him, as best
they could, in the presence of the moment.
Was it life-changing? No. Was the experience yet
another opportunity to seek stillness in the moment, the only reality I’m
actually experiencing anyway, the only place I could possibly wake up and find
even a shred of enlightenment? Yes. So, the event delivered as
advertised.
Maybe you feel impatient or even agitated listening to
this sermon, right now, in this moment, the only reality you actually
experiencing. When is she going to tell us the secret? Maybe you are already
wondering if there will be cookies at coffee hour today or if you’ll be able to
follow the confusing repeats in the hymn we’ll be singing when I’m finished.
Do I know
the way to your light? I have some
ideas and resources to share, just like Tolle. But I say, yet again: Inquire
Within. Whenever I sense in others a zeal to line up behind me so they
can “follow” me on the path, I tell them clearly: I am just another finger
pointing at the moon. I am not your light. However, as your minister, I will
stand here on the edge of the path and shine a flashlight down upon it, so that
you might not trip quite so much along the way.”
In a nutshell: If a teacher, a minister, a therapist, anybody, tells you they have the secret password to your enlightenment, I suggest you strap on your sandals and
head to the next village. Charlatans abound in the world of spiritual growth
and even renowned teachers, roshis, yogis, ministers, and gurus have lost their
way, been seduced by adoration, and fallen from grace believing they are the
moon and not the finger pointing at it.
When I lose my own way and find myself in a dark
corner, when I fall out of the moment, I follow my own counsel, and I inquire
within, reminding myself that I am not my self-defeating thoughts or emotions,
my “egoic mind” or my “pain body”
-- I am the person aware of them.
Eckhart Tolle would call this a moment of clarity and
consciousness. As best I can, illuminated at times by just a sliver of light, I
stumble back to the present moment, the only reality I am experiencing anyway,
the only place I could possibly wake up to any semblance of enlightenment.
By inquiring within we are reminded, through the
richness and beauty of spiritual practices, including those found in Hinduism,
how glorious yet limited we humans truly are; how forming some connection to
the sacred enriches us; that we are flawed, yet improvable, through the
practices of mind, heart, hand, and spirit.
We may awaken to an awareness that enlightenment is found in those
moments of Being, the admission that we are not enlightened, and in some
devotion to growth. We may find that in the open arms of Hinduism’s
plurality, we’re better able to
recognize the arrogant Western preoccupation with exclusivist religions -- the
ones which extol bigger, better, best; one-size-fits-all, one way to the Light,
or be damned!
We may discover, yet again, that the way to light, be it through
Unitarian Universalism or Hinduism, or any other legitimate path, requires
intention in both our action and our stillness.
Hear these words from Hindu
sage Krishnamurti:
“When you understand the mind and the mind is completely still, not made
still, then that stillness is the act
of worship; and in that stillness there comes into being that which is true,
and which is beautiful, that which is Light.”
Do you know the way to light? The truth has not changed for 12 years or
1200 years -- Tat tvam Asi. You
are That.
Inquire Within.
Jai Bhagwan (the divine in me recognizes and honors the divine in
you.)
©
2012 Rev. Robin Landerman Zucker.
All rights reserved. Material may be quoted with proper attribution.
