Suffering Is Our Initiation

In this powerful and timely transmission, Shunyamurti calls on Sat Yogis to prepare for uncertain times through ceaseless self-inquiry and inner stillness. By transcending ego and body identification, we can abide in the freedom of the Real Self and radiate peace into the collective consciousness. We must be free of any trace of ego-consciousness so that we can fulfill our God-given functions during these final days.

How can you sustain divine love, inner peace, and fearlessness when the world around you is falling apart? In this retreat invitation, Shunyamurti introduces "How to Sustain a Divine Life," a retreat devoted to gathering the spiritual strength required to face uncertainty, loss, and the collapse of everything we depend upon. Physical preparation alone cannot meet the coming challenges; the essential question is whether we can maintain equanimity, love, and clarity under even the most difficult conditions.

The subject of this satsang is death, a fear of which is endemic to every ego. We fear our own death and feel sorrow at the death of the other, because our consciousness has identified with a mortal body and its thoughts. Fear of death also amounts to fear of life—fear of taking risks, individuating, and entering the unknown Self. Only when we live in this state, recognizing and deciding that our highest Self is most valuable and Real, will the power of Self-actualization and a life free of Self-betrayal be possible.

The world is in a state of full system collapse. If we want to remain in a state of peace and navigate with accuracy and freedom, we must prepare psychospiritually. Shunyamurti presents M. C. Escher's lithograph "Drawing Hands” as best representing the logical trap of the ego's core delusion and why the capacity for Self-actualization has been lost. Shunyamurti teaches how we can reclaim our Self-sovereignty and finally be free of the internalized other.

In this Q&A, Shunyamurti explores the three levels of consciousness—the I, the I-Am, and the I-Exist—and the state of effortless flow that emerges when thinking falls silent and we become receptive to a deeper intelligence.

Drawing on the mystical vision of the Sufi sage Suhrawardi, Shunyamurti explores a progression from the City of Darkness and degraded egoic desire, through self-reproach, divine love, spiritual discipline, prayer and samadhi, and finally to fanā: the annihilation of the ego and the complete dissolution of separation from God.