Acharya Shunya – Sovereign Self

 

 

But soul memory becoming activated is not enough. Sooner or later, we need to follow it up with imbibing mind purifying Self-knowledge – and stay clear of spiritual fads, trends, and cults. Only then will we be able to part the dark clouds in our inner sky and reclaim the joyous light of our inner sun! Soul memory will emerge at different times (in other lifetimes) in all of us. When it does, we should take advantage of it and expose it to mature, tries and tested awakening wisdom that changes our paradigm, from experiencing bondage to the world and its conditioning to experiencing inner sovereignty.

 

OMTimes: How can one go about transforming our Jiva (Limited Self) to our infinite and bondless Atman Version? Are there any practices that may facilitate that?

Acharya Shunya: Shadow must recognize that it has no essence, reality, or validity apart from the light. The shadow in your mind, too, has no substance, apart from the true Self. It all depends on how you choose to view yourself: The mind-based self/shadow with limited power or the Self with unlimited soul power. And here is the good news. You were never at any time, the shadow. You are always the magnificent sun. You simply forgot. With the Vedas’ right instruction, the kind my book dispenses step-by-step, your spiritual ignorance will end, and with it will end any imagined limitations. It’s like you were asleep to your true potential until then. But upon receiving sacred awakening, instruction, you wake up and recognize who you really were all along! Then, you will begin operating from your truly expansive nature. However, this true awakening is not instantaneous nor spontaneous. Instead, it is earned gradually through assimilation and internalization of Wisdom on the real Self’s nature.

 

Guided Practice: The “I Am Enough” Affirmation

“From inner contentment, the highest happiness is attained.”

~ YOGA SUTRAS, 2.42

Meditate on this positive affirmation to help break attachment:

I am enough (because my joy, power, wholeness, and love lie inside me).

This affirmation often helps us center in the truth of Self, instead of being tossed about in the waves of our samsara ocean.

I encourage you, too, to make this your primary belief by repeating it to yourself often. It will change your life for the better. Your neediness will end. You will no longer give away your power in search of morsels of happiness from others. If it is flowing, good, but if it is not, you are still useful because you are enough.

Breaking through the cycle of hypnotic joy-seeking in the world is life-changing. Think I am enough thoughts, and you will be fulfilled because you become what you believe. Try it, and it will set you free.

Guided Practice: Page 59, Sovereign Self, Sounds True, 2020

or

Guided Practice: The One Truth

The Vedas say that you become what you believe. Therefore, I have provided some thought suggestions to help deconstruct illusion and guide your ego toward constructing an identity closer to your sovereign truth. As you meditate on these words, your mind will become what you believe. The veil of limitations and illusions will begin to thin. Every time you remember, I am Self, the boundless one, you will experience inner expansiveness. Why? Because expansiveness, not limitation, is your most profound truth.

Meditate on any one of these thoughts to reconnect with your sovereign Self:

I am Self, the Ultimate Reality. I am enough unto myself.

My bliss lies inside me.

I am beautiful as I am.

I am divine.

I am made of sunshine, moonlight, and starlight. I am enough as I am.

I am sovereign.

Guided Practice: Page 35, Sovereign Self, Sounds True, 2020

 

OMTimes: What type of Wisdom can bring a clear understanding of the Spirit (Atman) dimension of ourselves?

Acharya Shunya: A burnt rope cannot be used to tie anything, can it? After all, the moment it is touched, it disintegrates into burnt ash particles. If we humans expose our mind to Vedic teachings on nature or the true Self, metaphorically speaking, the Wisdom acquired would burn away our fear and smallness and reduces our false beliefs to ashes. That is why the Vedas are often compared to a fire that burns away our self-ignorance. This fire has light. It illuminates our true Self in that light! Then our minds can no longer tie us up to false beliefs. Then, freed up or liberated, you will continue living in the world, enjoying the world, but as if freed from bondage to this world and free from your identity in it as a struggling, time-bound body.

But wisdom teachings that come out of India nowadays are often offered in a piecemeal manner. They are disjointed, like spiritual band-aids – a mantra here, a yogic breath there, teaching here, and a deity there! This is NOT how awakening happens. It becomes more shackled than sovereign if you ask me.

 

 

OMTimes: What attitude or practice makes a Mind Sovereign?

Acharya Shunya: The Sanskrit word atmavaan means “mindfulness,” in the sense of staying consciously aware of Self. It entails choosing to remain alert in our life by remembering:

I am pure awareness with a body and mind;

I am not merely a struggling body- and mind-based individual ego.

I am Spirit Divine.

It entails not getting carried away by external circumstances and not leading an automated, scripted, entirely unexamined life.

Let your life be a deliberate one so you can be deliberate in your every goal, not merely a clone of the rest of sleepwalking humanity. Only then can your mind, along with speech and actions, be deliberate and genuinely representative of the sovereign you!

 

OMTimes: You say in such a poetic way: “If you are the light that lights up this universe, do you really need to procure a candle for your security against Darkness?” Why are we so misguided when we start our pursuit of happiness?

Acharya Shunya: You have pure freedom to define, redefine, or undefine yourself and your life script as you please. Only total freedom allows you to simply be yourself as you are right now or change your mind, despite any goal-driven pressures. The distractions, successes, or failures that conceal your higher truth. You cannot become free by doing or not doing any specific thing, by holding onto some relationships, or by letting go of others. You are open right now. If all paths have led you to this moment, then your freedom is right here inside the good, bad, or ugly circumstances in your life, right here in the challenge facing you right now.

OMTimes: Nowadays, it seems that people are creating systems to Self-Help (the feel-good tools) and Self-Awaken themselves. In your opinion, how important is the role of a Guru in the process of the spiritual awakening of real seekers?

Acharya Shunya: The Sanskrit word “guru” is derived from the root “ghri,” which means “to enlighten the mind.” The sound “gu” refers to Darkness. The sound “ru” refers to the light of knowledge that drives away the Darkness. The guru is the one who dispels the darkness of ignorance of our blinding, suffering mind by igniting a steady lamp of knowledge.

According to the Vedas, a real guru’s words remind us of our sovereign potential. A true guru won’t ask us to worship them, for example, but rather to look for what is worth worshipping within ourselves. You put it rightly, nowadays, almost anyone and anything can be a guru. Besides, people feel they can help themselves awaken with books and audio teachings. But while the Self-help industry imparts paradigm-shifting new ideas, a book or blog will not talk back to us. They cannot engage us in a dialogue to weed out our false assumptions, can they? That is what a guru does until our metaphysical self-ignorance is entirely shed. The guru says, look within (not toward me) to find the truth, your destination, where you can rest at last, inside you. The only trip that you must now accomplish is to turn toward your own Self. I am a consultant, a guide, a mentor, a professor of the Vedas, not God. The outer guru assists the emergence of your inner guru.

 

OMTimes: You mentioned that a Guru is a dispeller of Darkness and ignorance. One should rely on a reliable teacher to clarify their doubts and release them from limiting beliefs. But isn’t a submission to a Human Guru contrary to the Goal of Sovereignty?

Acharya Shunya: I respond to this important question in this way: To a teacher whom you have accepted after due examination and discernment, submit your self-ignorance, not your self-esteem or your right to self-determine your life!

 

Continue to Page 3 of the Interview with Acharya Shunya