Values - Marilena Shyama Shakti

Values as Spiritual skills

Values are spiritual skills that direct our energies to ever higher levels of accomplishment. Spirituality and Healing in all levels, begins when we transcend our deepest unconscious thoughts and therefore emotions and actions to a higher level of propose. Spirituality is here and now inside us.

Love – Sneha is not a feeling or emotion, but a deeper state that transforms every human being into a spiritual being. Erich Fromm in the book: The Art of Loving, argues that the active character of true love involves four basic elements: care, responsibility, respect, and knowledge. Each of these is difficult to define and can differ markedly depending on the people involved and their circumstances. Seen in these terms, love is hard work, but it is also the most rewarding kind of work.

Faith – Āsthā Many people regard faith as a faculty rather than a value, but the mind can embrace the idea of faith and make it a dynamic principle for living. Sri Aurobindo describes faith as the knowledge of the soul which the mind does not yet possess. ”Everything we do in life requires faith in something — in our capacities, technology, law, the honesty of other people, etc. Often it is severely limited by our past experience or our willingness to trust others. To make faith a living value is to shift that faith from ourselves, other people or any other thing to the Spirit and to rely always on that highest spiritual reality as the basis for our actions”

Truthfulness – Satya Truth is the ultimate expression of divinity. Truth is Reality. To be true in thoughts, words and acts is to align our outer lives with the highest truth of which we are conscious. To be uncompromisingly true in all circumstances elevates us above the normal plane of human consciousness to spiritual heights.

Aikyam – Harmony Life is filled with competition, conflict and contradictions. The spirit is a unified oneness based on harmony. Expressing and maintaining harmony in our life and work is a powerful way to call down the higher spiritual consciousness into our lives. When that is done it always brings an opening up of unexpected opportunities, a sudden expansion, a burst of joy or discovery of higher knowledge.

Communication In order to move on as a society and to evolve we need to communicate our selves, our feelings, intentions, fears and thoughts. We tolerate different points of view and take a stand in the world for the qualities of respect, generosity, helpfulness and caring in all of our interactions. Contacting each other from the level of the heart makes things easier and true.

Dharma – Righteousness is simply ‘being righteous’ in the sense of ‘being in right relation to others’, not ‘to right or just’ in a judicial sense. It is often used to designate one’s state or “the quality or state of being morally correct and justifiable.” It can be considered synonymous with “rightness” or being “upright”. It can be found in Indian religions and Abrahamic traditions as a theological concept. For example, from various perspectives in Hinduism, Christianity, and Judaism it is considered an attribute that implies that a person’s actions are justified, and can have the connotation that the person has been “judged” or “reckoned” as leading a life that is pleasing to God. (wikipedia)

“In this body, the mount Meru [the vertebral column] is surrounded by sev en islands; t here are riv ers, seas, mountains, fields; and lords of the fields too. There are in it seers and sages; all the stars and planets as well. There are sacred pilgrimages, shrines; and presiding deities of the shrines. The sun and moon, agents of creation and destruction, also move in it. Ether, air, fire, water and earth are also there. All the beings that exist in the three worlds are also to be found in the body; surrounding the Meru they are engaged in their respective functions. He who knows all this is a yogi; there is no doubt about it.”

~ Śivā Saṃhitā