More than good vibes or vibrating love frequencies, alignment means being aligned with every vibe and every frequency, depending on the time. Non-dual constructs, like those of Tantra or Advaita, are perfect spiritual pursuits, and on the way to this specific realization of alignment, and even, or perhaps especially, after the realization, clear alignment means to experience life without illusion. In other words, deeply connected to the experience of being human.
When the human nature and the Mother Nature are in alignment, the communication is clear. The needs of the one are fulfilled by the resources of the other, and vice versa. The signals of the one are interpreted and responded to by the other. My will and Thy Will find harmony in the alignment, and the intention of one is verily the intention of the other, manifested within and without equally.
It’s not mystical; we were born in total alignment, and we remain aligned – for the most part. It’s only this incessant chatter in the brain that gets really, really loud, making it hard to see through all of that noise sometimes. The good news is that it really doesn’t take a miracle to cut through that noise and consciously re-align.
One of the primary teachings of the Indian yogic philosophies is that of tat tvam asi, or, you are that. It’s a teaching that stands front and center before every other. It’s the first teaching to be whispered in your ear by the sage, and it’s the one that becomes clearer and clearer the deeper you take your practice. You are that. You are already that which you seek. Self has never been lost, and cannot be found, for you are that very same self, and the denial of this crucial truth, by seeking into books and on spiritual paths, in the orient or through psychedelics, by reaffirming consistently that there is something else to know that will bring one closer to the goal, that I am somehow less than perfect, that I am not aligned – takes one further and further away from the truth. Big danger here.
Aligning with Source is the Secret of Healing
And yet Buddha still died of food poisoning. Ramana Maharishi lived with recurring bouts of cancer for years. The Christ was murdered outright. Ram Dass suffered a stroke. The Dalai Lamas all suffered with deteriorating health. The reality of life on earth, in a mortal frame, requires a huge reconciliation with spiritual idealism. The scars of samskara, no pun intended, are imprinted for better or for worse, and how one lives through these existential dimensions is directly determined by the clarity of one’s alignment with Source, because we are all aligned with that Source, from birth to death to rebirth, if the legends of that are true, that is.
Tat tvam asi. We are that. We are aligned with Source. Swamy Vinayagananda would tell me often: “Stay quiet. Wait and watch.” That was a tough practice. Still is sometimes, when the drama takes on extraordinary characteristics like the other day when I quite suddenly thought I was having a heart attack. “Stay quiet. Everything is absolutely fine, as it is.”
Buddha understood the totality of that statement and was able to drop all ideals that propped up the suffering ego in its quest to define itself as something other than what it is. He wouldn’t speak often of God or Self, understanding the tendency of the human condition to wander in search of everything, including the ideal. He’d most often stay completely mum or find more simple ways of pointing at the most sublime truth. Conversely, Buddha tended to point often towards the root of suffering and the liberation from the same.
Buddha was very smart in His teaching of liberation and the coining of a new term to support these teachings – Nirvana. In Sanskrit, Nirvana means extinction or disappearance. He considered that it would be very difficult to wander in search of a negative state. Alas, we wander anyway. Wander and wander seeking the goal when the goal has been right here all along. We even seek to be nothing in active denial of our nature.
The human mind is something fantastic; it can make a goal out of anything – even nothingness. Why is it that so many are chasing this nothingness? Why not chase somethingness? Where is the wrong in that? We assign blame to ourselves for a condition of suffering when such a condition is but the natural response to unfulfilled desires. So why not fulfil all of that in the creation of a life of joy? Why to deny the self? Someone says they feel guilty if they receive too much joy or if their personal focus is on themselves instead of others. Such is the commotion in a mind that pushes itself out of alignment with a Mother Nature who seeks to bestow every desire of the self.
Alignment with Source Means Accepting the Gifts, Too.
Isn’t that what we’re supposed to do – make use of our natural resources to thrive? As a being. As a species. Tat Tvam Asi. You Are That. Aham Brahmasmi. Divinity. Come to experience the human condition for a little while. Not to confuse. Be happy. Lift up yourself and lift up your neighbor and lift up the man on the street who needs a hand. Create. Enjoy. Be happy. Be happy. Be happy. And then when you are finished being happy, then maybe you can renounce the life and seek salvation.
…is a Saiva Tantrika, Gyana Yogi and founder of Uma Maheshwara Yoga & Ayurveda. David has an MA in Semiotics, lives in Japan with his family and works as a coach in L & D, devoting his time to developing science-based tools and programs that help people reach the fullest potential of the human condition.