Abundance and Gratitude: The Gifts of a Spiritual Life

It’s autumn now at the Ashram. A few days after the Equinox the seasons suddenly shifted from a summery warmth to cool crisp days. And now the sun is setting at 6:30 so that by the time I walk to the Temple for satsang it’s dark. Yet, it seems that this change is balanced by the gift of such remarkable sunsets. Tonight, the Western sky was filled with little rippling soft pink clouds with the rays of the setting sun behind the mountains, shining through.

Autumn Abundance

We have been harvesting for the past several weeks, the abundance of this spring and summer.  In spring the Ashram was covered in blossom. Not a tree or bush was without blooms, which then became fruit and berries. The garden has grown such delicious greens filled with energy and light and daily, the Kitchen creates beautiful and satisfying meals.

I have said over and over to friends, “this summer is just like the old days”, which tells you that I’ve been around for a while! The fact that we didn’t have to suffer from the smoke of forest fires this summer was a marvel and it seemed that in our small corner of Canada we were given a gift, a reprieve, as many fires were burning in the North throughout the spring and summer.  So daily I was grateful for the sunshine and the rain and a summer where it seemed that this year we were blessed.

And now we are harvesting all that has grown, kale, tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, apples, pears, nuts, blueberries, golden berries, raspberries, blackberries, saskatoons.  The trees are still full of fruit although we are picking every day and the Preserving Kitchen has been busy chopping, freezing, canning and pickling.

Spiritual Teachings and Gratitude

The abundance here I feel is a reflection of the abundance of Swami Radha’s teachings.  People come to the Ashram as seekers. They come for a personal retreat or for a 5-day guided retreat and over and over as they leave, they come to the Temple at satsang and speak to what they have learned, what they have gained.   

Often, I have tears in my eyes as people speak of understandings and insights that have come to them, speaking of parts of themselves that reveal their strength and devotion. Again and again, guests  speak of gratitude for these teachings, for what they have received and how they want to bring this awareness into their daily life.

What an amazing thing it is to be living here, witnessing this abundance and to recognize this privilege. I turned 81 this year, just before the Equinox. I find myself filled with gratitude for my life and all I have received.  

Challenging Times and the Power of Slowing Down

Yet, I have come through a period of fatigue, suffering from high blood pressure and ongoing infections. It’s been a challenging time, difficult much of the time to see the blessing that illness offers. I struggled with these illnesses, impatient and frustrated that I was no longer the person I was five years ago, or ten or twenty. It’s been a time of learning about acceptance and seeing myself as I am now.  

My friend and teacher Swami Radhananda passed into the Light during this time and I was deeply grieving. It was a time of letting go of my attachment to her, and still holding close in my heart the love I felt. It was also a time of receiving help, and there was so much given to me in so many ways.

This challenging time also created space. I had to step back. I had to slow down. I had to hold on to the Divine Light Invocation (my main spiritual practice). One of the things that we are asked to do as Swamis is to let go. Well, I did let go of teaching, of management jobs – I didn’t want to but the illness demanded it. I had to let go and in doing this I had to start asking who am I, the perennial question of Yogis.

Healing with Poetry: Inner Wisdom 

In the midst of this an amazing thing happened. I began to feel a little stronger and joined a poetry club that my young friend Katie Taher had started. I had written poems off and on throughout my life, but this was different. Each week we had a prompt to inspire us to write. Very quickly I realized that the poems allowed a part of me to speak that was/is intuitive and wise.  

Starting with a word or a thought I found that I entered into a stream that took me to a knowing, that was often unexpected. It became a way to see what my inner being was trying say, how it could help me to understand myself and my life.

I’ve written many poems now and they continue to reveal to me a life that is full of abundance and gifts. This summer I began to realize that all along I’ve been healing. It’s been happening slowly on the physical level, but there is another healing taking place.

It is a healing within, an acceptance of where I am now, and as I look at my life a feeling of  profound appreciation for what I’ve received has emerged. I feel gratitude for the challenges I’ve faced which have asked me to change. I feel gratitude for my friends and family, for my life here at the Ashram. I’m deeply grateful for the gift of being a Sanyasin.

The poetry club here is very vibrant, it shifts and changes, sometimes there are few people taking part and other times many. Right now, there are fifteen or sixteen that come each week. We sit in a circle and each one reads their poem, there’s very little discussion, though often the person will say what inspired them. We listen, we absorb and we honour each other. There is such trust and vulnerability, it is a precious time, full of abundance and harvest.

Writing poetry has helped me to reach into the wise and grateful part of my being and express these knowings. I feel blessed.

Poetry as Spiritual Practice 

I encourage anyone reading this to write a poem. Anyone can do it, as we see weekly in the poetry club, over and over. Perhaps you might want to use the title of the blog as a prompt and let abundance and gratitude be the words that guide you as you write. 

Here is a poem I wrote last year…

Emotion

-Swami Jyotihananda