One day a Christian monk and a Hindu monk met walking on the road. The Hindu monk said to the Christian monk, “Tell me the principles of your faith”. The Christian monk replied, “The Christian faith is summed up in the Lords prayer, which goes like this, ‘Our Father'”…Before he could get another word out, the Hindu monk ran quickly away. Perplexed, the Christian monk went on his way. Ten years later, the Hindu monk found the Christian monk, and said, “I have meditated for 10 years on the first lesson. I now understand, ‘Our Father’. What is my second lesson”?

There are (at least) two concepts that this story highlights. The first is that of feeling “impulsed” to do something. When the Hindu monk quickly ran away, I like to think of that as that overwhelming call to action that some receive from the Divine, when they are open to it. This is what is embodied in the Sanskrit word shubhecha, which means, “the initial impulse that starts us on a spiritual search.” Shubhecha can be experienced time and time again, as new searching leads to to new lessons, which lead to new searching.

The second concept in this story is the requirement to do what is asked when shubhecha enters, to actively look for answers to spiritual questions. When action is taken in the service of this type of impulse, then understanding, integration, and greater peace are experienced. Shubhecha is the spiritual breadcrumb that leads the seeker on a path. Each breadcrumb must be found, picked up, and digested; the action of picking up and ingesting the breadcrumbs is the very thing that leads to the next breadcrumb. The Hindu monk would never have been ready for the second lesson, had he not spent 10 years meditating on the meaning of the first.

When I was struck with the shubhecha to feed the birds, I did not know it was a crumb. This was about three years ago. I was reading a book by or about Haidakhan Babaji (I don’t remember the book). There was one line which said, simply, “Feed the birds”. It came to me as a directive from God. I thought, “OKAY”. For three years now, almost every day, I have fed the birds. Each time I do, I remember that line, and as I feed, I know I am fulfilling that directive. I did not know it was a spiritual practice that was leading me to something more. It was simply feeding the birds.

About six weeks ago, I was reading another book about Haidakhan Babaji (again, I don’ t remember the book), and the line this time that struck me was “You must dedicate all your actions to the Divine”. It took a bit longer for the shubhecha to kick-in this time–I have been turning the sentence ’round  and ’round in my head thinking here and there about dedicating random actions to the Divine. It was only this past week that I really experienced the impulse to dedicate every action to the Divine; in fact, the “message” I got was that I must do this thing in the same way as I feed the birds.

After just under a week of daily practice of dedicating every action to the Divine, I now understand some things:

Each time I fed the birds, I “proved” that I was willing to do what God asked me to do. This has shown that I am reliable, and that I am committed, and that I will do what is asked of me. Simply put, I’ve been agreeable and consistent. Feeding the birds was easy and fun! And I receive a lot of joy watching the birds who feast at my table. The practice was rewarded through that joy, through a greater sense of unity with my feathered friends, through a feeling that I was giving to nature and the earth, taking care of Her and Her creatures.

As I said, it took about six weeks for the shubhecha to kick-in. This is how it happened: One day last week, the thought “You must dedicate all your actions to the Divine” was stewing in my head, as they do when I am allowing a thought to work on me, as I work with it. When they stew like that, they usually are “floating” with very little substance–just enough for me to feel their presence, but not enough to interrupt or disturb “normal” thoughts. They usually float just behind my right ear-area of my brain. I don’t know how I know this.

All of the sudden, the thought gained substance and shifted to the spot at my forehead: You must dedicate all your actions to the Divine and you must do so like you have fed the birds.

OKAY.

That’s how I usually respond when the shubhecha comes upon me in such a way that there is no ignoring it. OKAY. There was one time, about 25 years ago, when I had just begun my daily practice of bathing first thing in the morning (3 or 4 or 5 a.m.), when I did NOT want to get up to take my bath. I resisted, I wanted to fall back asleep, and in that half-sleep state, I had this dream: A shoulder-high Doric, Roman pillar stood in the middle of a vast space, which was dark and empty. A spot light from above shone on the pillar, on top of which was an old, black rotary phone. The phone rang. I answered it, “Hello”. The voice came across the line, “Susan, this is God. Go take a bath”. “OKAY”.

It’s not like I think about saying “OKAY”. It’s more like my whole body/being responds, and my brain just thinks what all of my energy is already saying. I have a choice, yet, somehow, “OKAY” is the only choice. But I digress.

The past five days, I have been taking time daily to dedicate every action to the Divine. At first, I tried just thinking “I dedicate this action to the Divine”, and did that for every action I could (a bit overwhelming). Then, I coordinated my breath (an action) with the thought, and did that for at least 20 minutes. That worked much better. But then, I figured out a bit of a “prayer” to accomplish the coordination of every action with the thought of dedicating every action to the Divine. It goes something like this:

I dedicate all activity, energy, vibration, and movement of my physical body, in all time frames and dimensions both known and unknown, and at all levels of consciousness to the Divine, for the benefit of all, including myself.

I dedicate all the effects of all the activity, energy, vibration, and movement of my physical body, in all time frames and dimensions both known and unknown, and at all levels of consciousness to the Divine, for the benefit of all, including myself.

I dedicate all activity, energy, vibration, and movement of my emotional body, in all time frames and dimensions both known and unknown, and at all levels of consciousness to the Divine, for the benefit of all, including myself.

I dedicate all the effects of all the activity, energy, vibration, and movement of my emotional body, in all time frames and dimensions both known and unknown, and at all levels of consciousness to the Divine, for the benefit of all, including myself.

I dedicate all activity, energy, vibration, and movement of my mental body, in all time frames and dimensions both known and unknown, and at all levels of consciousness to the Divine, for the benefit of all, including myself.

I dedicate all the effects of all the activity, energy, vibration, and movement of my mental body, in all time frames and dimensions both known and unknown, and at all levels of consciousness to the Divine, for the benefit of all, including myself.

I dedicate all activity, energy, vibration, and movement of my etheric body, in all time frames and dimensions both known and unknown, and at all levels of consciousness to the Divine, for the benefit of all, including myself.

I dedicate all the effects of all the activity, energy, vibration, and movement of my etheric body, in all time frames and dimensions both known and unknown, and at all levels of consciousness to the Divine, for the benefit of all, including myself.

This is my current breadcrumb. I’ve already learned so much, but that sharing will be for another article.

Maybe in 10 years, I will be ready for the next lesson.

In the meantime, I am doing this, “as I fed the birds”–with joy and ease. I think about it. I do it. I’ll let you know where it leads.