Wilhelm: I have a question (playing devil’s advocate).
James likes to joke about people “making a difference.”
In one guided meditation James asks us to see the world surrounded by love.
Is such a meditation making a difference in the world or is it purely for the benefit of the meditator?
(Seeing as everything is already love, and ignorance will always apparently exist.)
Sundari: It depends on how you look at it. As the self, you are love, there is no separation between you and apparent reality, all is perfect because there is only you. There is no need for any experience, meditation or otherwise. You are meditation. You are the Difference. As the jiva, enlightened or not, it is part of karma yoga practice to make offerings to the Field, to contribute. Karma yoga is to act with gratitude and appreciation for this amazing creation and all it gives to you – a reciprocal attitude. Trying to change the world is futile because Isvara alone is in charge of all the objects and takes care of the Total perfectly.
Meditation is only truly effective if it is undertaken with karma yoga – surrendering the results to Isvara, the Field, Life. Meditation is not going to change the world or even you as a jiva, but the benefit is sattva, peace of mind, experiencing your true nature, which is very beneficial, to you, to self-inquiry and to the whole. You become a contributor to life. It makes a difference to your world in that the more peaceful you are, the more sattva you contribute to Life. But the whole point of meditation is to prepare the mind for self-inquiry, that is all. Meditation will not remove ignorance, only self-knowledge can do that.
~ Love, Sundari
