Getting Unstuck From Form

And a not so cute story about yours truly

Real, unambiguous truth hits different.
Strangely, there are many different kinds of truth: personal truth, cultural truth, and momentary truth to name a few. But then there is universal Truth that is unchanging and feels like an unavoidable law of the Universe just like gravity. This is the Truth that real spiritual teachers and realized beings share with those who are willing to listen, and the Truth that feels like a lightning bolt to the heart. It is an unlocking of wisdom that each of us already holds, but that we have usually forgotten how to access.
Luckily, there are realized beings who are the living vessels of this Truth and who share it with those who are willing to listen.

Recently as part of my own practice and study, I’ve been reading Death Must Die, which is one Western woman’s journals chronicling her time in India in the 1940s as a devotee of Shree Anandamayee Maa, who ultimately became her Guru. Along the way to finding Anandamayee Maa, she spent time with many living saints including Shree Ramana Maharshi. We are so lucky to have journals such as this that share not only the concepts that he taught, but also the exact words he used in teaching them.
One short saying of his that she relays in her journals that awoke Truth already known to my heart was,

“If you focus only on the form of the bangle, you may forget that it is made of gold.”

On a spiritual level this teaching is meant to remind us that if we are only focused on our bodies and egos, we forget that the Truth of what we are is a manifestation of the Divine. It is through our lack of connection to this inner divinity that all of our suffering is born.

On a less overtly “spiritual” level, this teaching basically reminds us to not judge a book by its cover, and it nudges us to notice what we may be missing out on due to the judgments that grow from this forgetting.

The story that I’m about to share is deeply personal and, frankly, shows some of my most unsavory parts. Please try to read it with understanding and empathy in your heart.