Dear Rupert,
Do you think spiritual energy helps in the path? I visit a lot of spiritual places where we have Samadhi of famous saints in India. They are not in their body but somehow I feel strong vibrations in those places. Do you think this helps the seeker, even though these great saints are not in their bodies? Even looking at their photographs, the body starts shaking.
Regards,
Tejansu
Dear Tejansu,
Any form – a building, an object, a piece of music, a painting or sculpture, or some words, written or spoken – that comes from this understanding will be imbued with it, and the silence and love with which it was birthed will transmit itself to one who comes in contact with it.
The same is true of a person with whom one may come in contact if this silence, love and understanding are alive and present in that person. This silence, love and understanding is transmitted by a sort of resonance, just as the A string of a violin will begin to resonate if the A string of a piano on the other side of the room is struck.
In fact, this is how the teaching is communicated. The words are only the packaging; the silence, love and wordless understanding is its true content. This is the essence of a relationship with a teacher. As the Sufi, Irene Tweedie, once said to a friend of mine, ‘Come and stay with me and I will infect you with my happiness!’
So by all means keep the company of anyone and anything that evokes this silence, love and understanding in you, but do not mistake the object, person or place for the transparent jewel of your own being.
In time all objects, places and people announce this presence first and foremost. Everything sings, ‘I am here and I am you’, and then there is no more need to choose. When this dawns, we may continue to go towards the same objects, places and people, but this time we go out of love and gratitude rather than need or lack.
With love,
Rupert
