Remembering Plus +
Galumphing along through our day, thoughts rising and falling, senses picking up data, our minds considering what to do with the data. Checking our to-do-list and our to-be-list. Then we remember something, it might be a delightful memory, transporting you into a peaceful and joyful place. You might remember a not so sweet circumstance and relinquish that memory swiftly. You might remember a task that needs to be performed, a bill that needs paying, a call that needs to placed.
Once we have remembered, we have options. Act on the memory that arose or discard the memory, for now. When we remember that we have an appointment, we adjust our schedule accordingly. When we remember an outstanding account, we would be wise to pay it or call the creditor. When we remember a loved one, we can call, write, visit or take a moment, in the moment and dwell on the love you have for the being.
Remembering for the spiritual seeker is a blessing that defies description. The seeker may have drifted into the worldly dance of the senses, the body and the ego, they forgot that they are an eternal, infinite being, a Soul, divinity incarnate. They may have been drawn into the powerful current of the material realm and the subtle reality is all but forgotten.
The determined spiritual seeker greets remembering their divine nature, the God in and around them with ecstatic rejoice. Rescued from unawareness the seeker takes stock and returns promptly to the awareness of the One. For if we remember God and then do nothing to return Home, we will have forsaken the blessing. We will have abandoned the remembering and fallen back into the mind and the sensory realm. So, if remembering the Soul is such a blessing, finding ways to induce remembering would be fruitful.
The ways and means to help us remember are many. They range from the large and obvious to the small and subtle. We can use just about anything to aid us in remembering. The music we listen too, the company we keep, the way we decorate, the way we articulate, the clothes we wear, the fruit we bear. Trinkets and pictures or spaciousness and emptiness depending on your tendency, all trigger the mind to remember the divine.
Frequenting places dedicated to the higher realms arrests forgetfulness and supports remembering, because all the beings there are in one way or another, at one level or another seeking the Oneness. Being with, listening too and watching people who remember often and forget rarely will help us remember. Having dedicated times and behaviours solely for the purpose of remembering is essential for most of us. Prayer, spiritual fasting, sadhana, service, devotion all encourage remembering and returning home.
Remembering regularly keeps us from falling too deeply into the illusion. Just as we were about to be swamped by ignorance, ego, attachment and aversion we are thrown the lifeline of remembering. This enables us to spend more time in revelation and connection.
Clarity and strength
Hanuman Das
