Openness of the heart

by Maxim Hongell

In the state of open heart you are similar to the phenomenon when in the sky which was covered by dark clouds there suddenly appears a gap of clearness through which the rays of the sun penetrate the darkness just like it was angels pouring down on earth. In the same way we open ourselves and let our inner light, our inner beauty shine on anybody we meet. We are as if piercing through the veil of greyness through which the majority of human beings are looking at the so-called normal weekdays, indulging themselves full of anxiety into worries, hurries and unnecessary preoccupations.

When we are in the state of an open heart and the love of God is pouring through our being, then we are just like the sun and we don’t discriminate on who our rays of love shine onto. It is not a matter of liking and disliking since there is no decisions based on a selection. There is just openness for the moment, for the love. It is also not a matter of who deserves love. Usually someone who apparently doesn’t „deserve” love is the one most in need of it. This is why we have to recognize and to become detached of our personal sympathies and antipathies related to different human beings. Otherwise this might prevent us from being compassionate. And if we are not compassionate, we will not be able to understand the behaviour of certain human beings and without this understanding we might not become aware of the love that God has even for them. This understanding to which we are pointing to is the understanding about the true nature of the human being, that behind the masks there is nothing else to be found but Atman, our immortal Self. In the same time we come to understand that all unharmonious behavior is the consequence of not being aware of our own true nature.

Often we try to control love as if it was our property and we forget that in reality love comes from God. It is just like when we want to control a river by building a dam and then letting love flow only when we want and as much as we want. Just like it was some kind of matter of economy. But we make a big mistake when we egoistically believe that we are the source of love and when we believe that we are the boss of this company in a position where we can decide how much love we want to invest. Acting in this way we actually close ourselves and we will have less and less love flowing through our being until eventually we have built a dam so tight that no water can flow through it.

We should realize that love is an endless, inexhaustible divine resource of God. And the more we are open, meaning that we are ready to expand our being for the sake of love, the more love will flow through us. And the more love flows through us the more we can expand. And since the energy of love is endless, our expansion can also be endless and in this way the transformation of our being into an cosmic being becomes easily possible. This means that we move from our ego or in other words from the narrow and limited frame of our little self to the infinite or in other words into the unlimited, eternal and blissful existence of God. We can describe this process also in the following way: first we let love of God the Father flow through us and this expands our being. At some point the love will echo back to us amplified and through us it returns to God the Father. But then love echoes back from God the Father, again amplified, expanding our being even more as it flow through us into the world. And at some point, again the love echoes back, amplified even more and so on. And in this way we will become a divine passage through which the symphony of love is being sang by God into the manifestation and through which the love echoes back to God. And every time when the love echoes through our being it will become a wider and wider passage until the borders of ignorance collapse and we become an eternal and limitless channel of universal love

To be open for love is not just to open the gates of our heart but to tear them down once and for all. Then we will be like a river of love that overflows and floods the desert surrounding it, bringing nourishment and life to the dry soil, making the nature bloom. This love will be like an invisible embrace that brings brightness and smile onto mourning faces, happiness for the unfortunate and  hope for the ones in despair. And with this love that is offered through our being by God the Father, we elevate the resonance of human beings around us and help them to rise up from their inferior states. By being open for love we are ready for love and by being ready for love we are in an alert state of awareness ready to hear when our Heavenly Father grants us His grace and whispers the sweetness of love into our inner space from where He will direct the flame of love onto anything He wants.

Where thinking stops, the essence of love shows itself. Even though love can manifest itself also as a beautiful thought for our fellow human being, we can not reach the core of love, it’s essence without stopping our analytical thinking. We have to recognize the fact that love is One which only manifests itself in different ways. And through this understanding it doesn’t any more matter how love manifests itself since we recognize love to be the fundamental principle beyond all that exists, putting the universe into motion. But this miracle of opening towards love can happen only if we aim to perceive the essence of love when we experience it manifesting itself. In different situations someone might become our lover, to someone we share a smile and someone might not even notice that through us it was an euphoric stream of love poured towards him but we will always know that behind all these manifestations is God.

When we are open for love we also become quite naked and sensitive because we are not just ready to offer but also to receive love without having expectations. We should remember that we are that mysterious passage through which the breath of love is not only being exhaled but also inhaled by God. This requires that we throw down our arms and shields and let the world touch the deepness of our Soul, to let the world penetrate us to the innermost, back to the source from where the love that we offer is springing from. In this way we become the channel of God’s love, a magical river that can mysteriously flow upstream and downstream in the same time.

But in order for our being to become that interactive part between God and manifestation, we have to become the witness of that what is and to be born again as a divine child.

The state of witnessing requires the silence of thoughts, detachment and deep acceptance of the present moment. So let’s clear our mind, make it like the wonderful transparent arctic waters and let us think of nothing. And if there is to be a thought let it be „YES, I say YES to this moment”, because saying no or analising will only make our being contracted which prevents love from flowing. And for us to awaken the divine child dwelling inside of us we have to remember that what is natural to him is to be in a state of wonder and playfulness. So let us see how wonderful a flower can be, let us be amazed how wonderfully some of our friends manifests a quality that we admire because by wondering and adoring we awaken transfiguration. In it’s turn transfiguration connects us to that which is beyond the manifestation and in the same time the source of love. In this way we attract love into our being and make it fill our being and then overflow through it in a natural way. In the same time playfulness prevents seriousness and inner stiffness, which are poison for love. It is impossible for us to become aware of love if we are tensed or stressed.

The state of divine child is also the state of innocence. Love needs purity in order to flow freely through it’s channel. We have to become stainless because a human being who is predominantly egoistic and full of inferior thoughts and feelings is like a dirty window that is so full of stains that only little diminished light shines through it. But when we are determined and work relentlessly with ourselves by using all the modalities at our disposal in order to purify our being to free it from everything which is inferior, it is analogically speaking as if we washed away the dirt and stains from the glass and polished it so that it becomes completely transparent and the light shined through it as bright as possible. In the same way love will shine through our purified being.

The human being who has an open heart becomes like a messenger who doesn’t know where or when he should deliver the message of love. But since he is always ready to be the messenger of God and to follow the divine Will, he will always spontaneously deliver the message of love in the right place, in the right time so that finally God’s glory will fill the world and make us all become one with Him.

Yogaesoteric

September 2014