This inner spiritual guidance. What is it ? Where is it going. It can eventually only go to one place once everything else is removed – God. On the way there may be side shoots, obstacles, amusements, wants and needs of many sorts. But in the end it can all only come to one point of oneness.
God lies beyond the reality we are involved in. All the things in life appear in front of the Bliss of God. Our attachment to them and focus on them no matter how beautiful or wonderful, friendly. Conversations, looking, hearing, even singing. All of this obscures God. When life is at the direction of God or directed at God then that is another matter. Even conversations about god, are of the mind and drawn on the voice below the crown.
This is poem which I love and puts a very beautiful perspective on the enormity of what isn’t God.
Poem – Atma Shatkam
I am not mind, nor intellect, nor ego, nor the reflections of inner self (citta).
I am not the five senses, nor am I the five elements.
I am indeed, That eternal knowing and bliss, the auspicious (Śivam), pure consciousness.
Neither can I be termed as energy (prāṇa),
nor five types of breath (vāyus – Prāṇa, Apāna, Vyāna, Udāna, Samāna),
nor the seven material essences,
nor the five sheaths (pañca-kośa).
Neither am I the organ of Speech, nor the organs for Holding ( Hand ), Movement ( Feet ) or Excretion.
I am indeed, That eternal knowing and bliss, the auspicious (Śivam), pure consciousness.
I have no hatred or dislike,
nor affiliation or liking,
nor greed,
nor delusion,
nor pride or haughtiness,
nor feelings of envy or jealousy.
I have no duty (dharma),
nor any purpose (artha),
nor any desire (kāma),
nor even liberation (mokṣa).
I am indeed, That eternal knowing and bliss, the auspicious (Śivam), pure consciousness.
I have neither merit (virtue),
nor demerit (vice).
I do not commit sins or good deeds,
nor have happiness or sorrow,
pain or pleasure.
I do not need mantras, holy places, scriptures (Vedas), rituals or sacrifices (yajñas).
I am none of the triad of the observer or one who experiences, the process of observing or experiencing, or any object being observed or experienced.
I am indeed, That eternal knowing and bliss, the auspicious (Śivam), pure consciousness.
I do not have fear of death, as I do not have death.
I have no separation from my true self, no doubt about my existence,
nor have I discrimination on the basis of caste or creed.
I have no father or mother,
nor did I have a birth.
I am not the relative,
nor the friend,
nor the guru,
nor the disciple.
I am indeed, That eternal knowing and bliss, the auspicious (Śivam), pure consciousness.
I am all pervasive.
I am without any attributes, and without any form.
I have neither attachment to the world,
nor to liberation (mukti).
I have no wishes for anything
because I am everything,
everywhere,
every time,
always in equilibrium.
I am indeed, That eternal knowing and bliss, the auspicious (Śivam), pure consciousness.
These verses of the poem are said to be valued to progress in contemplation practices that lead to Self-Realization.
Nirvana Shatakam, is a famous six-verse (shatkam) Sanskrit poem composed by Adi Shankaracharya that summarizes the core teachings of Advaita Vedanta (non-dualism). It is a meditation on the true self (Atman), stating that one is not the body, mind, or senses, but pure, blissful consciousness