Madhuvidyá, "honey knowledge": how to keep the mind elevated throughout the day by treating every action as an offering to the Supreme and seeing the supreme Consciousness in everything.
Madhuvidyá means "honey knowledge": madhu is honey, vidyá is knowledge. With the help of this practice the mind is kept in an elevated state — it stays calm and positive whether one is dealing with a saint or with a drunkard. If balance is maintained in the mind while an action is being performed, no seeds are created either for future suffering or for future pleasure. Pleasure is simply another form, the opposite of suffering. In any action, keeping one's balance is a victory that falls onto the scales of experience — an experience that will eventually lead you to dwell constantly in a state of peace, love and bliss.
After meditation the mind is in an elevated state. There is a feeling that the darkness has parted; inspiration has come, along with clarity of vision and an understanding of what to do and how. But after a while the world of objects pulls us in again, and the inspiration and clarity of mind fade.
To sustain this elevated state, one needs to learn to practice Madhuvidyá. It is a separate lesson. Someone who practices a personal meditation lesson can receive the lesson of Madhuvidyá. But the spirit and principle of Madhuvidyá can be practiced even without this second lesson.
The actions we perform leave an imprint within our mind — a A reaction of a past action waiting in the mind to be lived through; what people often call fate.. At the same time they change something both in the outer world and in the inner world. Every action has consequences. If you sow pain or pleasure, you will surely reap the same. But neither is good for a spiritual seeker, because every desire disturbs and alters the mind and does not let it remain in a state of balance. Only by fulfilling one's desire can one reach a state of rest.
In order not to sow the seeds of pain and pleasure, and to dwell in the highest possible state of inspiration, joy and love, one needs to practice Madhuvidyá.
For example, when doing something as dull as washing the dishes, one should take the ideation that this is not just an action but an offering to the Supreme, an expression of love for Him. When such an ideation is taken, a feeling of love arises within. The more often during the day the ideation is taken, the stronger the inner feeling of love.
For a spiritual seeker it is very important to get rid of the pride of being the "doer." By thinking "I am doing this," we squeeze ourselves into a very narrow frame. The law of the universe works like this: as you sow, so shall you reap. When you act and think "I am doing this," you will have to pay for the results of your action, because a potential reaction to that action (a saḿskára) has been created.
Even good actions add to the basket of karma; good saḿskáras will also have to be lived through, at the cost of one's inner energy. That is why, in renouncing the pride of authorship of an action, one takes the ideation: "It is not I, not my ego, that performs the action. My body and mind are only instruments of the Supreme within me. Within me is a spark of God, of joy, of love, of bliss, a spark of the miraculous, and it is this spark that acts within me. And my mind is simply an instrument that yields to this joy and expresses it in the outer world."
When there is no "I want — I don't want," no "I like — I don't like," one can act in a balanced state, a state of harmony.
There is a cosmic flow, a cosmic ocean. Being in harmony with each of the waves of this ocean, a person lives in unison with the cosmic flow and moves within it. Such a person is joyful and successful, everything works out for them, because all their ideas are in harmony with the cosmic ocean.
Whatever action you perform, it is important to take the ideation of the supreme Consciousness. Let us return to the example of washing the dishes. Both the dishes and the water are a cruder form of the supreme Consciousness. That is, in essence we are in contact not with dishes and water, but with the supreme Consciousness, which has appeared in this form today. If you look into someone's eyes, think: "I am looking into the eyes of God, and the Almighty is looking at me through this person's eyes."
Go deeper, beyond the physical eyes; look into the very soul of the person and feel: "Right now I am in contact with the divine within them." As a result of such practices, a great understanding of the essence of things awakens in you.
It is important to remember the following:
- every action of mine, whether trivial or grand, is an offering to the Supreme.
- I am not the author of the action; a higher power acts through me. The joy, inspiration and divine energy that I use are expressions of this higher power. And all the credit belongs to it.
- whatever I do, whomever I talk with and whatever I come into contact with — all of it is an expression of the supreme Consciousness.
People find themselves in different life situations, and when they encounter something dirty and ugly, they should look into its essence. With practice comes the understanding that everything is a temporary form of the Infinite. What you think about, you become. If you see the form, the form will shape the mind. But if you perceive the essence of this form, the mind becomes the essence. “Only the name of the Supreme Consciousness”, or “there is only Supreme Consciousness”: the mantra sung in kiirtan, open to anyone. means: the supreme Consciousness is everything that exists. All the various ice sculptures are water in a transformed state. The forms of this world are very different, pleasant and unpleasant. But their essence is one: they are all made of the supreme Consciousness. And if you hold on to the thought that everything you meet in life is the supreme Consciousness, the mind will abide in this awareness.
We go on perfecting ourselves in this practice all our lives, because it does not come easily. Before each of your actions, try to remember the supreme essence and fill yourself with the feeling: through my action I want to serve the Supreme and all of His creation. Then the practice of Madhuvidyá will work. In this way you will improve your daily meditation, because you will not have to struggle to redirect the mind — it will already be on the wave of love with the supreme Consciousness. In meditation this feeling will become even deeper.
