For too long has the kingdom of the inner world been neglected in the pursuit of a kingdom of the material world. It is now time for that to change.
The inner world is a tiered kingdom, beginning with the self.
Below the self, are your subtle advisers – your mind, intellect and your nature. Thoughts are the seeds of reality. Your mind helps you create thoughts into vibrations, words and actions. Your intellect helps you to choose the types of thoughts to sow and helps you make decisions. Your nature consists of your attitudes, emotions and habits.
Below your subtle advisers are your physical advisers – your senses for seeing (‘visual’), hearing (‘auditory’), touching (‘tactile’), tasting (‘gustatory’) and smelling (‘olfactory’).
Have you ever woken up in the morning and opened the curtains to see the weather outside? I have found that the sense of seeing is the first sense I use to make decisions, which makes sense considering the intellect is also known as the ‘third eye’.
There are three more less known senses – your sense of balance in terms of your orientation in space (‘vestibular’), your sense of the internal body in terms of physiological state (‘interoception’), and your sense of muscles and joints in terms of location and movement in space (‘proprioception’).
Before fully waking up, have you ever experienced a moment where you don’t exactly know where you are, while your inner world adjusts after coming out of a deep sleep? I have found that a sense of spiritual balance is the first sign of spiritual awakening.
Below your physical advisers are the elements of nature. There are many elements, but the basic five are water, fire, earth, aether and air – nature’s building quirks.
So, this is your inner kingdom.
Are you a benevolent sovereign or do you heavily tax your subjects? You will know your taxes are too high if you receive complaints in the form of negative feelings, confusion, doubt or dis-ease.
A wise sovereign will understand the solution must be in the same location as the problem, that is inwards, and not beyond the kingdom, into other realms of people or situations. But it’s okay if you find that your tendency is to look outwards for causes and solutions, because it is a life journey to come back to self-sovereignty. It is a journey that starts with the first step of recognising that a new path is available to you. Then it is a process of learning to find the right balance, a wholesome balance where nothing has power or influence over you and yet you are able to maintain your position in the centre of it all.
“Where attention goes, energy flows. Where energy flows, life grows.”
If you want to cultivate a garden of paradise in your inner world, you must grow it and not wait for it to happen. That growth starts with paying attention to what is happening within. If we are not benevolent to our inner world and continue to look for causes outside or alternatively, continue to blame and degrade ourselves, only thorns and weeds will grow in a desolate kingdom.
It is not easy to focus our attention inwards on our own. It can be a scary place to start, particularly if you are inclined to self-blame, like I was. To change the flow of attention back towards the self in a nurturing way, new energy needs to be injected into the self, and it needs to be pure and clean, without judgement or motive. Only the highest quality energy will suffice. It must come from the spiritual Source of pure energy. Goodness does exist. God does exist. This is where we turn to, to return to our authentic selves. He places us back on our throne of self-sovereignty.
It is said we should drink water at similar temperature to our internal organs to purify and prevent dis-ease in the body. Similarly, we should purify the spiritual energy of the self with the spiritual ‘water’ from the Source, the Ocean of Knowledge. That spiritual ‘water’ is knowing the truth about your inner kingdom and understanding how to become a benevolent sovereign of your inner world. When I contemplate on the spiritual truth of my inner world, my mind becomes full of elevated energy that I can then use to create vibrations, words and actions filled with authenticity. It makes me feel satisfied and complete and naturally present in the moment.
If you are still wondering what spirit and spiritual self means, it is simply that part of your kingdom that is subtle and not physical, the self and the subtle advisers, as mentioned above. Consider this thoughtfully, and you will know it to be true.
Learn to be a benevolent self-sovereign of your inner kingdom by registering for your free Raja Yoga course today.