The true self and the fry cook by swami vishwaparanthapananda
The secret to happiness is that there is no secret, there never was any secret; the secret is that there will never be a secret. Secret implies something that is not attainable, something that is not reachable and something that is not known to many. Since there is no secret what is it that keeps us from being the happiness, fulfillment and contentedness that we are?
The reason that we do not experience our interconnectedness is because we once had an agreement, a collective agreement to experience the opposite of that interconnectedness. Now, we are born into this same agreement and we are challenged to see the illusion of it. Every little thing we do is determined by the collective matrix of the ideas that we once agreed to. In the East, this is the deluding power of God called Maha Maya. Everything we see, hear, touch, taste; all reflect our predispositions. Our attitudes, our behaviours; these are played out in the collective hologram generated by Maya. Often it is said that this world, this dimension, is a training ground, one that moves us towards re-identification with the True Self. It is like a video game in which one gets three lives to accomplish a goal; here, though, we get as many as are needed. |
There are no co-incidences in life, there is no such thing as 'bad luck' and there are certainly no accidents. True Self is purposeful; it takes aim, and it hits the target every time.
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So here we are in this world, unsatisfied with who we are, knowing that there must be something more to our existence, finding dissatisfaction in all the things that used to bring satisfaction.
At this juncture in our spiritual lives,True Self’s plan comes to fruition – it has waited for each of us to come to this place. True Self, which is the Self of all things simultaneously, has a very clear goal - to bring us all into the reality of the love that It Is. To this end the True Self appears, ready for all things to lead to it, at the ready for fear, anger, suspicion, hatred, blame, neediness, abandonment and all the related emotions to be expressed, confronted and challenged.
Sri Swami Vishwananda once described Maya as a fry cook. A huge voluptuous woman lovingly stirring frying batter in a pan. Imagine we are the batter, wanting not to fry – but frying anyway. When we are golden and crispy the fry cook takes us out of the pan. The hot oil has acted on us and made us perfectly golden brown. And what happens to crispy fried batter? It is delicious to eat, attractive to all who wish to eat it. So, this is our challenge - to see the process of life working for us rather than against us. When we can see life in this way, we are golden, fried, crispy and attractive to all. We become willing to share what we have found with others; willing to impart the sweetness that has come from being fried. There is no great secret, except to observe again and again how beautiful each experience of our lives are when we are willing to see them differently. This is the great work steered by the Self, the Self that is as evident in nature as it is in the tragic and joyful events of our lives. To be willing is as simple as changing the channel of a TV. Willingness is the vehicle that propels us forward. Love is the destination.
Herein lies the invitation to each one of us – to wake up to see that every event is a movement towards realizing that we are the True Self. For many, this happens in hindsight and is usually connected to some traumatic event. Traumatic events include breakups, deaths, nervous breakdowns, losses, liquidation, getting caught cheating etc. With or without us, the True Self makes us golden brown, tasty and willing to be shared. Embrace, reject; whatever we do, we will eventually succumb to the love that we are.
So to summarize, Maya only ever works to bring us to Love. Our sorrow, all the tragedies of lifetimes, our illnesses; they all work to bring us to Love. By the unfathomable Grace of our most beloved Sri Swami, I have come to see that what He embodies is the Self from which all selves come, and into which all selves will be re absorbed. The golden thread of His loving kindness extending age after age is duplicated in our own hearts as our yearning to be the love we are. As He is the Self of all, He has already given to each the gift that will give back only HIM. All karmas and their consequences have been designed by that Self to attain that Self. We are here now; He will do all it takes till what is reflected back at us is nothing but our love and perfection. We must observe it in our lives, that all roads have led us here, to where we see the tower of our own beauty and perfection before us. Will we walk to the door? Will we enter the room? The truth is we have no choice. We never had. Rejoice in this.
At this juncture in our spiritual lives,True Self’s plan comes to fruition – it has waited for each of us to come to this place. True Self, which is the Self of all things simultaneously, has a very clear goal - to bring us all into the reality of the love that It Is. To this end the True Self appears, ready for all things to lead to it, at the ready for fear, anger, suspicion, hatred, blame, neediness, abandonment and all the related emotions to be expressed, confronted and challenged.
Sri Swami Vishwananda once described Maya as a fry cook. A huge voluptuous woman lovingly stirring frying batter in a pan. Imagine we are the batter, wanting not to fry – but frying anyway. When we are golden and crispy the fry cook takes us out of the pan. The hot oil has acted on us and made us perfectly golden brown. And what happens to crispy fried batter? It is delicious to eat, attractive to all who wish to eat it. So, this is our challenge - to see the process of life working for us rather than against us. When we can see life in this way, we are golden, fried, crispy and attractive to all. We become willing to share what we have found with others; willing to impart the sweetness that has come from being fried. There is no great secret, except to observe again and again how beautiful each experience of our lives are when we are willing to see them differently. This is the great work steered by the Self, the Self that is as evident in nature as it is in the tragic and joyful events of our lives. To be willing is as simple as changing the channel of a TV. Willingness is the vehicle that propels us forward. Love is the destination.
Herein lies the invitation to each one of us – to wake up to see that every event is a movement towards realizing that we are the True Self. For many, this happens in hindsight and is usually connected to some traumatic event. Traumatic events include breakups, deaths, nervous breakdowns, losses, liquidation, getting caught cheating etc. With or without us, the True Self makes us golden brown, tasty and willing to be shared. Embrace, reject; whatever we do, we will eventually succumb to the love that we are.
So to summarize, Maya only ever works to bring us to Love. Our sorrow, all the tragedies of lifetimes, our illnesses; they all work to bring us to Love. By the unfathomable Grace of our most beloved Sri Swami, I have come to see that what He embodies is the Self from which all selves come, and into which all selves will be re absorbed. The golden thread of His loving kindness extending age after age is duplicated in our own hearts as our yearning to be the love we are. As He is the Self of all, He has already given to each the gift that will give back only HIM. All karmas and their consequences have been designed by that Self to attain that Self. We are here now; He will do all it takes till what is reflected back at us is nothing but our love and perfection. We must observe it in our lives, that all roads have led us here, to where we see the tower of our own beauty and perfection before us. Will we walk to the door? Will we enter the room? The truth is we have no choice. We never had. Rejoice in this.