Fight for the Throne
Like the moral of the classic Beauty and the Beast fairytale, we may understand at a fundamental level, that it is important to value inner beauty above external appearances.
But what is inner beauty?
Where does inner beauty come from?
How does one develop inner beauty?
Why is it easier to see inner beauty in some people than others?
Why do some people seem downright beastly rather than beautiful at all?
The truth is that we all have within us a great beauty….and also an inner menacing beast, to varying degrees.
Our inner beauty refers to those positive personal qualities which when embodied, benefit ourselves, each other and ultimately the entire planet.
Our inner beast refers to those negative personal qualities that tend to be destructive, obstructive and which have no place in a spiritually evolved heart.
We are all on this planet to evolve spiritually and by definition, we are also all works in progress.
Whichever - beauty or beast - we expresses most in our lives, is the one that has been cultivated the most.
The one we carefully nurture, exercise and encourage, gets to dominate the stage of our life.
Different scenes from the play of our life may provoke our inner beast or alternatively inspire our inner beauty to burst forth.
If your inner beauty is accustomed to being encouraged and chosen above your inner beast, then naturally it will be more confident to shine through in many and varied situations.
It will even dominate in situations that challenge its finer sentiments, because it is used to sitting on the throne of your heart, so it calls the shots.
However, if you take pains in allowing your inner beast to be the ruling monarch of your life, then instead, the one calling the shots will be your inner beast.
Even when there is no reason for beastliness, your inner beauty being oppressed and dominated by your inner threatening beast, cowers in fear and then of course, your inner beast still reigns supreme.
Spiritual Strategy
It all comes down to a decision.
As always, how we behave is up to us, despite our external circumstances.
But don’t you wish it was that easy! You and I both know it’s not.
Deciding to facilitate your inner beauty or your inner beast is no spontaneous event.
It is born of countless decisions made from moment to moment and probably over lifetimes.
So if you have an entrenched beastly monarch ruling over your heart, mind, words and actions, who desperately needs to be overthrown, this takes strategy and determination, and usually, time.
The kind of strategy I refer to is spiritual strategy.
Just as you cannot fight fire with fire, you cannot tame a beast with beastliness.
Beauty has to be involved as your secret weapon.
But if your beast is the ruler and your beauty is timidly crying in the corner, how can she hope to be your secret weapon and usurp your inner kingdom once and for all?
The answer is borrowed beauty.
Borrow beauty from elsewhere.
By this I mean sacred spiritual teachings, including the wisdom of ancient Bhakti Yoga tradition which know all too well about the beauty and the beast cohabiting in each of our hearts.
In fact the philosophy of Bhakti Yoga is all about taming this wild animal and rather letting your inner radiance shine through in all of its true resplendent glory.
The borrowed beauty I refer to is the beauty of the philosophy and lifestyle of Bhakti Yoga.
Borrowed Beauty
The sacredness of Bhakti Yoga lies in the profound spiritual knowledge and insights it gives, based on the eternal premise that the true nature of the soul is love.
The loving connection between the individual soul and the Supreme Soul (Krishna, also known as God - He has infinite other names), is beauty in its most realised form.
When we haven’t experienced this kind of love before, we need to seek out authorised information from divine sources or strongholds of the very nature of beauty, in order for it to work for us -similar to when we want to learn something new, we refer to experts on the matter.
We ‘borrow’ it or refer to it constantly, until its beauty becomes second nature to us and has the strength and willpower of its own to take its natural place as the predominant energy of our lives.
After all, 'you are who you associate with', as they say.
So it stands that if you constantly choose your beauty over your beast then you will want to hang out with other beauties.
These beauties can be found in the Bhakti Yoga teachings themselves in the effulgent (saintly) personalities they describe.
They can also be found in the like minded company of those who also consistently choose their beauty over their beast and who also look to sacred teachings such as the Bhakti Yoga texts for guidance.
The central theme here is that your words, actions and decisions over time, influence who is in charge of your heart.
No material endeavour can overthrow the kingly status of your beast. This is a matter for spiritual authority.
The ancient sages who have passed down the Bhakti Yoga tradition over millennia, knew the powerful dynamics of the internal struggle between your inner beauty and your inner beast.
So they shared in loving detail, the even more powerful method of ensuring the supremacy of your more desirable qualities, if that is what you choose.
The Bhakti Yoga philosophy, practice, culture and lifestyle offers a process by which your inner beauty can become the dominating force of your life once and for all - a force to be reckoned with.
The Coronation
Our troubled world needs its shining beauties to overpower its bullying beasts.
The solution to the distress of our planet lies within each of us.
Wouldn’t the world be a different place if everyone chose their beauty over their beast?
The thing is that many people simply don’t know how to go about it and it may all just seem a bit too hard.
They may feel trapped and miserably oppressed by their ruling internal beastly emperor and reluctantly crown it due to its tyranny, but deep down all they want is for their beauty to have rulership.
Entrenched domination is not easy to depose, even if you really, really want to.
That is where Bhakti Yoga comes in with its sweetness, beauty and light - and that’s not just a superficial joke.
It really is sweetness, beauty and light.
It lights our way out of the darkness of brutality in its many forms, by drowning us in its sweetness and beauty.
We become overpowered by deep spiritual wisdom that reminds us of our own divine natures and we are then inspired to act out of them.
Our true nature as a spirit soul is awakened - the shining inner beauty that we so long for.
Your New Heart is the result of recognising the value of such spiritual wisdom and incorporating it into your everyday life.
You begin to see your life as not some fairytale gone wrong :-) , but a tangible expression of the profound beauty of your own unique individual soul.
The New World is where you can find the company of other such New Hearts.
Coronate your inner beauty today.
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Feel free to check out my other blogs for more information.
You can find out a lot more concise information by checking out my videos containing secrets of the ancient, timeless knowledge of Bhakti Yoga - literally at your fingertips.
The Bookshelf is also a good place to start the Bhakti Yoga magic.
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A fabulous way to connect to similar minds and hearts is to find an international Bhakti Yoga Centre near you (Branches of ISKCON - The International Society of Krishna Consciousness), where you can speak to an experienced yoga practitioner and receive personal guidance.
If you would like to explore how you can incorporate Bhakti Yoga into your life in a balanced and harmonious way, and feel you would benefit from one on one support, you are welcome to book a Discovery Session with me, Rasika Manjari and we can see if we can work together to help you reach your spiritual goals.
See you at the New World.