Spiritual Intention
Welcome! We are in the fourth day of our Transformational Training. When I was asked to say something towards the end of Dharmachakra today, initially, I had hesitation. Then, a flood of ideas and thoughts came in, mainly because this has been a very rich experience. And as my mind settled in, a couple of thoughts came to mind. The first was to have a little fun. And the second that I wanted to make our teacher happy. This is for you, Ravi.
What are the seven principles of a spiritual life? (participants in the Dharmachakra Talk began to share the principles). The seven principles are Brahma Sadhana (ideation upon the Great), Karma Yoga (right action), Satsaunga (spiritual community), Natana Sadhana (spiritual dance), Jaeva Dharma (maintenance of the body), Sankalpa (firm determination/intention), and Supreme Command (fundamental practices – Sadhana [meditation twice a day regularly], Morality [follow yama / niyamas], and Dharma Pracar [inspire others to follow the spiritual path]).
Sankalpa is an intention formed in the heart and mind. It is a solemn vow…
I want to talk about sankalpa, because we have talked about it, and I want to teach what I know. Sankalpa is an intention formed in the heart and mind. It is a solemn vow, a resolve made in the heart. Wayne Dyer has an amazing book called The Power of Intention. There is a way on how to manifest your innermost desires.
Through the yoga nidra energy, [energy] goes where the intention goes. A thought passed through my mind: what does an airline pilot, on his days off, have to offer a group of spiritual seekers? It was interesting what Baba offered me.
When I file a flight plan, more than anything else, I know my destination, and there is tremendous preparation before we are air-born. This has much to do with the spiritual path. After being air-born, there are thousands of corrections that we make enroute of a course, whether it is a short or long flight. [For example], how to evade wind storms and fuel winds.
Spiritual paths are, in my experience, a bit of a road less traveled with not so much data or information. In my experience, sankalpa is an amazing and powerful force to take us there, back to the power of intention. This intention is no longer a secret: most corporate departments, major corporations in our country have a mission statement. They know where they are going and what they want to do, and involving employees helps enroll this intention and what they want to do.
But, in my opinion, it is a very esoteric secret. And esoteric because it has power. If you set your goal and put your heart into it, an unwavering vow that will be accomplished day in and day out, I assure you it will come through.
Humbly, on my evening of sharing, I shared a bit of my background. And I said, “well, kind of a miracle, that Baba allowed me to materialize this amazing airline career.”
Later that night, Bhavananda asked me to tell him a little bit more about the early days. I’ll share that, in the spirit of small steps from day labor, it is an amazing journey because I was broke and didn’t have an education to learn to fly. I carried bags and saved tips for flight school and college. I washed and waxed airplanes, fueling them. You would see none of that if you saw me walking through the terminal in my full uniform, approaching my airplane, and being greeted with respect. Yet these were very small, little steps over most of my life.
I have been flying now for 42 years. Back to the spiritual path, I was challenged in our course about the idea or resolve of how to bring this knowledge forth. How do we bring others into the fold? [And I felt] overwhelmed because it is big, and I don’t know quite how to do it. But I [would] like to leave you with the idea with a thought that, if we nurture our self-realization with love, with determination, and follow our spiritual guidance, unwavering, this will happen. And not only will this happen….we talked about all the problems on how to get people to meet with us, to come see us, which could possibly become resolved, because it will be with amazing beams of full light and love.
This is my dream for me and you. That we may form a fraternity, as my wife loves to call it, willing to journey and make changes that we may never see the fruits of in our lifetime, but could change the consciousness of the planet. With sankalpa, nurture your spiritual dream. I look forward to the journey ahead, and the companionship on the journey.
Ananda Seva’s Transformational Training is a holistic program for those who are inspired to change themselves to become effective facilitators of change in the world.
This article was transcribed from a talk by Acharya Rama given in March 2020.