Every living being loves their life. Everyone wants to be happy. The deer in the field wants to be happy. The wolf, the coyote wants to be happy. The plants, the trees want to be happy.
And human beings want to be happy, want to feel that life is sweet. And it is a burden that even the wise carry to have an attachment to life and fear of death. Because it is the physical form that fears death, for the form will pass, will die.
Earth returns to earth. From dust to dust. Forms return to the physical world from which they came and become the elements of new forms.
The form you carry is transitory. But you are not transitory. Impermanence is the nature of this physical world. There is nothing in this physical world bound by time and space which does not change, which does not become old and move and change.
But in the world of spirit, in the world of essence, in the love-consciousness, the beingness of you, there is an unchanging essence. Because it is not bound by the laws of the physical universe. Your essence is not physical and is not bound by physical laws.
It does not change. You were the same before you were born, who you are now, and in spirit, in essence, you will be the same when your form is no longer there.
Form, mental activity, personality, they may come and go. If you’re in a severe accident, your personality will change, your mental function will change. These things are transitory. But the spirit, the being, the essence that you are, that is forever.
And the love you share with others, the deep love you share, the deep bonds you make, they are also eternal. Because the spirits of those to whom you are connected to you. Forms come and go, but spiritual essence remains; being remains, you remain, and those you love remain.
Many people theorize what happens after death, and speculate. But there is a veil between that world and this. And when one comes into physical form, one forgets the other side. And likewise, when the conscious awareness detaches from physical form, the experience of physical life becomes a bit of a dream. The reality lies in a brighter, more vibrant existence of life, of love, of connectedness.
So you never lose those you love. They will always be there. Those you are dearly bonded to will always be with you. They go nowhere. Living beings cross the veil into the physical world and into the subtle world, into the physical world and into the subtle world, time and time again, taking on the shapes and forms most suitable to express the desired movements of mind, growth of being, until mind grows in magnitude to such a level that descension into form is no longer needed.
Because when the mind truly grows in magnitude, it melts into the cosmic mind. And the unitary consciousness, the consciousness ceases to identify with form and recognizes its true nature in being. There comes a time in the life of every living being when all the boundaries of “I” and “thou,” of “you” and “me,” of separation, dissolve into knowledge that there is only one essence, there is only one being, there is only one, the infinite one, and that you are a part of that.
And knowing that, there is nothing else—you were the same; you are the same; you will be the same. There is the one eternal being, the one infinite Self, dreaming the dream of creation, dreaming the dreams of form, dreaming the dreams of the dramas of life. But who dreams these dreams?
Who knows? Who is aware of all that is? That is the Atman, the Self of your self, the soul of your being. And that Atman is no different than the Paramatma, the Self of every being. Like the drop of water when dropped into the sea, the Atman is no different than the cosmic Self, the Paramatma. You are no different than the whole. There is one being, one consciousness, one non-dual existence, appearing to be many in form.
When the true recognition of this is there, then there is no loss and there is no gain. For all beings are a part of this same integral whole. There is only one Self, only one truth, only one existence, appearing through the Maya, through the dance of creation, to be many. And when you awaken you awaken to the understanding that it is one, not many.
So you do not lose loved ones. You only lose the ability to interact in the realm of form and thought. But those you love remain and you are deeply connected to all. That is the nature of this world.
In the changing world of form, there is always acquisition and loss. They are real in the relative sense; but they are illusion in the deeper reality. They are an illusion created in the mind, in the dance of creation, by the great dreamer dreaming this dance, this reality.
Love is the force which brings all together and which makes all whole and is your true nature.
In addition to being an author of five books, Maetreyii Ma, also known as Dr. Nolan, is a licensed psychologist with a doctorate in Transpersonal Psychology, a teacher of yogic philosophy and ancient wisdom, an ERYT 500 Yoga Teacher, and an ordained yogic minister, or Acharya. Maetreyii Ma is currently the president of Ananda Guru Kula, a non-profit organization dedicated to spreading the wisdom teachings of yoga and a psychologist in private practice. She is also the Spiritual Director of Ananda Kamalalaya Ashram, where she offers ongoing training in meditation, yoga philosophy and regular weekly and monthly events.