One of the things I experienced this morning was waking in the midst of speaking to someone. I don’t recall what I said now but it woke me up twice. Twice with the same word spoken. The word wasn’t familiar and sounded foreign so I wrote it down in my sleepy state before I lost it. What I wrote down was: Swo-me.
Later today, while at work, after forgetting completely about speaking the word, it came back to me. I searched Google for anything close but ran into nothing. So I thought about the spelling because I likely spelled it wrong. I was tired and just wrote the sounds I was speaking. So, I typed in swomi and came up with swami. That was the word. I had just misspelled it.
I wish now I remembered what I said. I only recall that the word was in reference to a person. To me? To someone else? I don’t know. Sigh. Memory can be so difficult when sleepy.
I read an article about what a swami is and found it fascinating. I also find it fascinating, once again, that my guidance, through the in-between state, had led me all the way across the globe to India and Hinduisim!
Swami means “master” but so much more than that. The author states:
The act of becoming a swami is not so much an acting of becoming, of adding on, of allegiance, as it is an act of setting aside, of renunciation. A swami is a monk, one who has set aside all of the limited, worldly pursuits, so as to devote full time effort to the direct experience of the highest spiritual realization, and to the service of others along those lines.
It represents setting aside one’s identity and embracing the Whole. Ha! How appropriate!
The rest of the article is also informative and I suggest you read it if only to learn something new for the day. The whole article feels like a message to me. The part of the article that most resonates with me is What is Renunciation located at the bottom of the article in the link above.
These parts stood out to me:
Renunciation is not, definitely not, an abandoning of any duties. Those who have any claims on him first renounce their claims on him and grant him their happy permission to let go. Theirs is no less an act of renunciation, more difficult, because they have yet to struggle with the world. He renounces because his karma with them has been fulfilled; all he leaves behind is their happy thoughts about him.
The above confirms so much of what I have been intuiting about my current karmic situations.
H. H. Swami Rama says that human beings are an unfinished product. A swami is the finished product, ideally speaking; or aspiring to become a finished product soon, in this very life; this is the ultimate in human evolution.
Wow..
In the life of a spiritual seeker or teacher there comes a moment when a decision can no longer be postponed. One passes through emotions like those of a bride: sadness at separation from past love, looking forward to a future of a different expansion of love, enhancing oneself. All weak emotion is to be watched and conquered–not by suppressing it but by merging the little love into the greater one……..Such a moment is a moment of dying; dying to one’s erstwhile limited self. The renunciate performs that ceremony to himself which is normally performed by relatives following the funeral of someone physically dead.
The final section, The Basis of Renunciation, list seven principles as the basis. They are:
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The renunciate directs all his energy toward the attainment of the goal of life, realization.
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He does not waste time and energy pursuing desires based on self-interest.
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The renunciate’s journey is inward; it is neither action nor inaction nor retreat. It consists of performing actions mentally and directing the mind and its modifications inward rather than toward the external world.
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Non-attachment is attained spontaneously because the renunciate is not involved with objects; they have all been consciously renounced.
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With pure reason all the samskaras are burned in the fire of knowledge.
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There remains only one desire: the desire for Self-realization. That desire does not motivate one to do actions in the external world but becomes a means to build determination, will power, and one-pointedness. Therefore such desire is an essential means rather than an obstacle in the path of sadhana.
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In the path of renunciation, Self-realization alone is the goal, and any action that does not become a means is firmly rejected and renounced. There is no half-here and half-there; total dedication and devotion are essential limbs for renunciation.
What this means for me, I am still unsure. Perhaps it is just that one of my guides is a swami and I was speaking to him. Perhaps this guide wanted me to explore this definition of “master”. It would not be the first time I have been led in this direction. Feels like I should have been born in India this life! lol
I hope this post sparks a Remembering in you as well. 🙂
Living Life in Between 