QUESTION: After spending time in retreats/workshops and traveling to India, immersed in direct experience with the divine, I am longing to be there all the time.

In the meantime, I have a human life to be respectful of. Can you offer me any comfort in the transition? I always return here to this place. I long to be immersed in the divine and know in my heart that in my life now, as it appears, that is not realistic.

ANSWER: Let’s start with what a blessing it is that you have started having the unity experience: to know directly that there is more, much more (or less) than meets the senses. Of course, the "I" that is having the experience is the very concept that gets in the way of the full immersion in the reality of oneness. Oneness just is; on the other hand, experience is only possible in duality. We experience things when there is the duality of an "I" and another thing to be experienced. This is beyond semantics, sit with it and see what needs to be surrendered next.

When remembrance starts to unfold, take comfort in the fact that you will fully remember your true nature. It does take time. As much as the conscious part of us wants to remember, there is much in the unconscious that is afraid/addicted/resistant. So there is work to be done. The vasanas, the bodymind tendencies that are formed over many incarnations, take conscious effort to dismantle. Roll your sleeves up and start dismantling. Examine deeply what has pulled you into an incarnation, both the preferences as well as the aversions. Discharge the karma consciously with this awareness at hand. If this is to be your last go round, what stone have you left unturned? What is it that you want to experience? It was something that pulled you back in, conscious or unconscious, what was that desire?

What you have been tasting is merely the appetizer. Don’t settle for that. Walk in and eat your fill. You own the joint. Just don’t underestimate all of our absolute commitment to starvation, no matter how much we beg to differ. That is the game here: forgetfulness. You are on your way home, let that be your talisman.