Spiritual Blessings

2025, April, Issue 146

Opening,

Opening our heart and mind,

Opening to the ineffable reality,

We look within, we meditate, we remain at ease,

making ourselves powerful with blessings,

discovering that we are

more capable, more confident,

ready to encounter

that reality we face upon death,

Opening, opening, always

Opening with Bodhicitta,

Opening

with great compassion,

with a yearning to awaken,

with oh-so-much bright light radiating,

radiating from our heart center,

with Spiritual Blessings streaming in,

actualizing psychic cosmic abilities

for going beyond all that constrains us,

as we, allowing the light to come streaming,

open ourselves, increasing our capacity,

increasing that way, seemingly like a gift,

a gift we had forgotten long ago,

something we needed to give ourselves,

something from time immemorial,

infinite potentiality at last;

Increasing our capacity, as it is,

not as we wish it to be,

letting the light fill our being,

as it is, as it is, as it is,

always as it is,

we discover reality at long last;

We’re not changing, we’re allowing

ourselves to be naturally occurring,

we’re allowing ourselves to be

completely utterly genuine, completely

at ease in this natural condition of light,

love and compassion growing with infinite bright light;

Without fear, without hesitation,

we watch the darkness instantly obliterate,

realizing we are not separate,

we lessen our tight grip

on this delusional life,

this insanity that has become so

incredibly filled with darkness,

for no apparent reason, just shut off,

with terror, closing ourselves off

from reality beyond belief,

as we defend this fictitious thing

this imaginary fantasy called self,

all this ego nonsense,

this fabricated self that has caused us so much

trouble, an ego

that comes with pre-planned identity,

for no apparent reason, for no apparent reason;

Here we are in this life bardo,

dreaming about something we think is real,

about to face something

with utterly bright brilliance that has no

self-centered delusions contained

indestructible in that

beyond space

without limitations

of any kind,

being

simply

as it is.

A poem by Robert Aho © 2025

As I have said many times before, we must prepare for death or we will be wildly, madly, at the mercy of our own accumulated actions. This turbulence we face in the death bardo can quickly go from a view of a lovely light to a turbulent array of storms that go beyond what we thought would even be possible. This is why I talk about awakening and meditation so often. It is to help give you the tools you will need to navigate through all that.

In order to awaken, we must open our heart and mind. We must do this in a way that we can handle, because everything rushes in. We need to be ready for that. That is why meditation is so important.

What this means is developing the power to go beyond constraints of mind. Our mind is typically completely out of control, at the mercy of our own disturbing emotions, grasping at mind in motion when we need to be calm. When we meditate, we not only develop the ability to remain at ease in all circumstances, we develop the ability to have deep insight into all appearances.

With this, we find certain psychic abilities start to manifest; however, that is not the main point. The main point is that we begin to awaken to our own ineffable condition. Having certain psychic abilities is simply because our mind is more open. When we are deeply confused by what appears, we have no way to sense what that really is. When we start to awaken, we tap into that amazing light. We develop ultimate awareness, which is beyond time and space.

We see this when we examine what happens to a Bodhisattva, as they become more developed in their practice. By the seventh Bhumi, or level of Spiritual Progression, they are said to be able to read minds or have precognitive abilities. This sort of power starts with meditative practices.

Once we have established Bodhicitta, once we aspire to awaken with great compassion then start to meditate frequently, we discover almost at once that we have a greater sensitivity to the world around us. We discover that we become aware of something on an intuitive level that is far greater than anything we had imagined. This is because we are taking action to increase our capacity, that is opening our heart and mind to the ineffable.

This starts as something very subtle, even if it is just a very small insight at first. We start to feel the energy within us, and that somehow connects with the world around us. In time, this could mean that others will start to feel calm when you are near, or they might sense greater energy in you, without feeling disturbed. With Spiritual Practice comes what might seem like a divine gift; however, it’s really just you opening yourself up, becoming more cognizant of that natural light, maybe realizing what that is at some point.

To manifest as someone who will bring benefit to others, we must cast aside our ego and all the baggage connected with that. We become aware of our own actions and how we impact the world around us. We increase our capacity, then awaken.

Blessings in Light,

Robert Aho