Happy Solstice!
I’m writing this on the morning of the Winter Solstice 2023 and have been reflecting on the way human beings have, throughout time, approached this darkest time of year.
We live in an age in which a great many of us take the miracles of electricity, running water and central heating for granted. Throughout almost the entirety of human history, however, the Winter months represented a life and death challenge. For many, it may have been a feat simply to stay alive, warm and fed.
I love the fact, however, that in spite of it being the darkest and bleakest time of year, the Solstice has traditionally been a time of festivity and celebration; a way of transmuting the burden of worldly hardship into a celebration of life, light and cheerful anticipation for better, brighter days to come.
Whether you are Christian or not, there’s a lot of rich symbology in the story of Jesus’s birth. The essence of the Christmas story is a Divine light kindled amid the darkest of times. This light already exists in the heart of all beings as the reflected Consciousness of Brahman, the Self; truly the “Father” of all that exists.
I sometimes get asked an interesting question. If everything in creation is Divine, why is there so much evil, suffering and sorrow in the world? Why are corporations, politicians and people in positions of power waging wars, committing murder and destroying the planet? If it’s true that everyone is essentially God assuming name and form, why do many people live with such closed hearts; selfish, materialistic and prone to adharmic actions?
The answer is that while everyone is Divine, not everyone manifests that Divinity.
As long as our mind and heart are conditioned by the influence of rajas and tamas, we are unable to express and actualise our true Divinity in thought, word and deed. Even though it’s always there, the inner light has no real way to shine through the prism of a mind tainted by gluttony, delusion and materialism.
Sadly, this accounts for the current state of our world. Lower values such as greed, lust for power and narcissistic self-interest all too often supersede higher values and attributes such as kindness, compassion, cooperation and love. You only need to take a look at the headlines on any given day to see ample evidence of this.
None of us can single-handedly change the world, or even the people around us, but we can change ourselves.
We each have a choice. Do we seek to express and bring forth our Divinity; that which is highest and best within us? Or do we allow negative cultural conditioning and the greed and dissatisfaction of tamas and rajas to be the driving force in our lives?
There’s an ancient Chinese proverb which states “It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness.”
In actuality, then light is already there; and it will never not be there. We simply need to clean the lamp of our minds to allow it to shine in all its splendour.
The birth of Jesus represents a symbolic kindling of the inner light in the darkest of times; the shifting to a higher, Divine consciousness that happens by surmounting our lower nature and baser instincts and impulses.
This upliftment of consciousness means seeing the best in all and cultivating higher qualities, values and behaviour in our lives. It means an unceasing commitment to following dharma, because dharma is synonymous with God.
The Bhagavad Gita outlines twenty key dharmic qualities of mind that can be cultivated in order to express our inherent Divinity. These qualities are as follows:
1. Resisting the tendency to pander to our ego and its endless desires, addictions and lower impulses.
2. The absence of pretention and the need to impress and manipulate others.
3. Non-injury to all beings.
4. Having an open and accommodating attitude toward life rather than a rigid, closed mindset.
5. Straight-forwardness, honesty and the harmonious alignment of our thought, word and deed.
6. Service to your teacher. This doesn’t mean becoming a slave to the guru, but simply honouring and respecting your teacher and doing your best to realise and embody the spirit of the teaching.
7. Cleanliness in all aspects; physically, mentally and in terms of our actions, habits and behaviour.
8. Steadfastness; the ability to persevere and commit to your true goal with constancy and determination.
9. Mastery over the mind. Perhaps then most important quality a human being can develop! The mind is a wonderful servant but a terrible master. It must be appropriately trained and brought into alignment with dharma and the higher values outlined in the scriptures.
10. Dispassion toward sense objects. Another vital qualification for all seekers. Many waste their lives in a haze of blind, narcotic hedonism. It’s vital that we learn to master and control the senses, lest we be controlled by them.
11. Absence of egoism and the ability to see beyond the ego part of our nature.
12. Being aware of the limitations of birth, death and body-identification. This means becoming clear about the zero sum nature of material reality and knowing with surety that lasting happiness can only come from within.
13. Absence of the sense of doership. This comes from analysing all the consitutent factors necessary for action to take place. Ultimately, all actions are done by Ishvara, which alone is in control of all factors in the material field.
14. Absence of excessive attachment to our family members, friends, home and belongings. This doesn’t mean we don’t love those in our lives, but that we love with what Swami Dayananda calls “dispassionate caring”. Attachments bind the mind and prevent the full assimilation of Self-Knowledge.
15. The ability to retain even-mindedness and equanimity even amidst life’s greatest challenges and hardships.
16. Unswerving devotion to the Divine.
17. The ability and willingness to retreat to quiet places and disengage from the world’s constant hustle and bustle.
18. Being able to feel happy and content by oneself; or the absence of craving for the company of other people.
19. Constant and unwavering application of Self-Knowledge to the mind. This alone liberates!
20. Devotion to spiritual Truth. This understanding of the true nature of Self and Reality must so strong that it overrides the mind’s tendency to relate to life through a screen of division, separation and disconnection. It means seeing ourselves as we actually are, pure Consciousness, and not the body/mind/ego we might initially appear to be.
What we have above is a checklist for cultivating higher values in alignment with our true Self. By consciously adopting these qualities, we light up the dark night of ignorance and transcend the pains and suffering inherent to identifying solely with the aggregates of matter; the body, mind and ego.
As the dark days begin to lengthen and the light again returns, why not make a commitment to embodying the spiritual Truth of the ages and to fully realise, actualise and express your inherent Divinity?
That, more than anything else, is what our world needs and is the very doorway to lasting peace and freedom. It reveals to us the light that is always within us, ever present and always shining. It simply requires the commitment to dharmic living and the cultivation of a pure, sattvic mind in which to manifest our own inner light.
What greater gift can we give the world?
Happy Solstice, Merry Christmas and a good New Year to you!
