Campuhan Deep within

In places where the river kissed the beach beautifully, or two rivers merge into one, the elders of Bali gave the name of the place Campuhan. Many shrines have been established there. Of course there is a beautiful spiritual message hidden there.

The river is a symbol of the small and selfish self. The self who likes to be called better than this or that. At the same time it is the part of the self which is easy to get injured because of small reasons. And the ocean is the symbol of the Supreme and Great Self. A place where all things are processed into a beautiful blessing.

In its simple yet profound form, the spiritual journey is a journey of water in a river seeking the ocean. A long self-discovery journey to find the Great self. Yoga, meditation, contemplation, prayer and whatever the name and many activities are intended to reach this point of encounter.

As is often shared in meditation classes, for the ordinary people the water in the river is constantly flowing in search of the ocean. The question is; why the ocean is still far away, why it must face a lot of obstacles, and a series of questions against others.

But for mature and luminous souls, the water in the river never misses the ocean. In the water of a river there is already ocean. In firm and straightforward language, man is not a drop of water looking for the ocean, but the ocean is in a drop of water.

From this profound awareness, was born the approach of: “accept, flow, smile”, has been spread by the spiritual family of Compassion for a long time. From this understanding was also born the sense that the art of meditation is the art of “resting” in this moment as it is.

On the surface, the waves seem to be chasing the shoreline, but once it reaches the beach, the waves return back to the same ocean. On the surface, death seems to separate people, but in the depth of the deep, death is not the opposite of life.

The opponent of death is birth. Life has no opponent. The closest friend of life is called immortality. This is what many spiritual seekers find in the stage of the Great self. You can run away from bad memories of the past, get away from the fear of the future. But you cannotA escape from the present.

Strangely, once the present is “perfectly accepted as it is”, even a lack of peace is transformed into the seeds of peace. In Buddhism, this is called the encounter between Prajna (wisdom) and Upaya (compassion). In Hinduism, this is called the encounter between Shakti (feminine energy) and Shiva (masculine energy).

It is at this level of attainment, that it often sounds like this: “Death is not death for a yogi, it is a little enlightenment”. Death no longer comes with fear. It is just an enlightening little experience. Welcome to the true home beautiful souls.

Author: Guruji Gede Prama.
Photo: charlottecommon.com.
Proofread By: Kirtsy Spence.