In the course of a conversation with a friend today, I was asked what I thought was the most important factor when one is starting on a spiritual beginning. Without hesitation, my answer was “Fellowship”. The only reason I could answer without hesitation is because it has been on my mind for quite a bit of time.
The fellowship of dharma brothers and sisters is probably the only safe harbor that can shelter you from the storms of worldly concerns, and this is especially so at the beginning of the journey when your spiritual muscle is still frail. Yonder, life conspires to distract you from your practice, usually by throwing in “genuinely” important things such as the mortgage repayments, the career-making assignment and the dying friend or family member, as if our own intransigent and habituated mind is not problem enough. I placed the word genuine in parenthesis simply because I suspect that what is genuine and what is real would most likely shift as we mature spiritually.
When you first get into the dharma, it is the fellowship that makes dharma FUN. At first you take it for granted till you try looking for fun things to do, which also happens to be virtuous, with people you like. It is not that easy. Outside the fellowship there is no short of fun things to do but most can hardly be considered dharmic. Most assuredly, there are not bad things per se but it is only within the fellowship that you can practice Guru Devotion and have fun doing it. In fact, just by participating in the fellowship activities, whether you realize it or not, and even as you are having fun, you are more likely than not, “carrying out activities on behalf of the Guru” and also “acting under the Guru’s instructions”. That is the genius of it.
Think of the fellowship with your friends in dharma as a powerful and yet ever so subtle process of rewiring your instincts, your priorities and your automated actions. In your heart of hearts, you may have longed to do something worthwhile with your life but never thought it possible. Never had the courage to be different. Not daring NOT to want the material and yet transient ambitions the world calls you to submit to. In the fellowship, you see possibilities. You see your potential being lived by others and happily so.
The friendships you make and the values these friendships underscore…they change you. Think of it as re-writing your rules, which now states: “it’s hip to be good…and different” and “it’s cool to be a fool to the world”. In a world where consumer capitalism is the predominant religion, the fellowship is that underground network that shelters you from a world of delusions. It is your Zion.
When you are in that fellowship you burn with the blue flame of spiritual zest and you may be excused for thinking that you are stronger than you are. And for sure, you grow in knowledge, and in spirit and in faith. Yet it is more likely that you are basking in the collective blaze of positive karma of your fellows, which is constantly kindled by the collective merits attained by the practice of devotion, and rekindled masterfully by the Guru himself.
The absolute sacrosanctity of the fellowship is immediately felt when it is not within your immediate vicinity. It then dawns on you that what kept you ablaze in the hitherto said flame wasn’t so much from within you, but more from what was around you. On your own, you may find to your dismay that you are the least of cinder…more ash than coal…and going out faster than you would like.
