Six Principles Of Bhakti

Adam Wes Just waiting for people to arrive and settle in. Let's bring your attention to your heart, your body, and let everything settle down. Attend to yourself energetically.

Namaste. Welcome. I hope everybody had a wonderful week.

I'm very excited about our discussion today. These are very important principles, so I'll share with you what I feel are six of the core principles of bhakti, which is the path of becoming enlightened through the heart or love. It is not a religious path. It's purely an existential pathway available to sentient beings, and it is my personal predilection because I enjoy love and the heart and everything related to those qualities of existence more than just about anything.

These six principles are not only for bhakti, but they're very central principles. I've lived them and contemplated them, and I'd love to share a distilled, empowering version of them with you today. I'll also explain how they relate to karma. What is karma, and how does it affect us? Because it affects everybody.

First of all, karma is a Sanskrit word, and it means action. Everybody has probably heard the word karma. In Western society, the actual nature of it is a little misunderstood. The actual mechanism of karma is this: our thoughts, our actions, and particularly the intent with which we take our actions inform our state of mind.

Do something nice, and you'll feel good. Do something not so nice, and you'll feel bad. Do something self-transcendent, and you'll feel self-transcendent. Do some mathematics, and it changes you. Be meticulous in some way, and it changes you. Karma informs our state of mind.

Whatever our state of mind is determines how we perceive the world, and through synchronicity, we draw in likeness. What is similar to our state of mind will come into our world. What is not will be like radio signals that are not registered by a particular antenna.

Old-fashioned car antennas are a certain length, and they have a certain quality within them that determines their ability to pick up a signal. The signal they pick up could be anywhere on the spectrum. It could be AM, FM, any radio station. Everything else goes by because it's not reverberating at that particular frequency.

In synchronicity, we attune to and see all the things that are our frequency. Karma is the actions that inform our state of mind, and then we have those things come back into our lives through that synchronicity.

All of this is related to principles. Principles are distinct from values. At least in my semantic definition here, values are the things we value, the things that are important to us. They're our jewels, our gold. Principles are the virtues, the ways we live, and the way we conduct ourselves. Sometimes those are switched around, but we'll be very clear about the definitions for our purposes of discussion here.

I'm excited to share my principles. I invite everybody to check in and say, "Is that a principle I want to prioritize in my life?" If it is, we can build a community based on these central principles.

Communities generally share principles. If you go to Japan, they have etiquette, right? They bow down lower to somebody who's older. In California, they don't really do that. There are different principles in different societies, and they act as a cohesive agent in creating a shared paradigm.

These could be whole nations. They could also be families or communities. Beverly Hills has certain principles that are different from Venice. Venice is kind of grungy. Beverly Hills is really opulent, but Venice is very conscious, and Beverly Hills is sometimes conscious. There are different principles in different places.

Sorry, Ariella. Ariella basically lives in Beverly Hills. She goes to all those places where it's all fancy.

Okay, I'll share the principles. The first principle is kindness. We've already done kindness, so I'm going to talk about the principle and what I mean by that.

Kindness is having benevolence and goodwill for the other person. Usually, it comes from a sort of detachment, from not being vested in that individual, but just wishing for them the best, what they want for themselves in the depths of their heart. Not superficially, but what they actually want for their happiness.

If you walk around with kindness, don't just assume it's an intellectual shift. Sometimes I'm like, "Whoa, I just found kindness again." That happened to me yesterday, actually. I saw somebody, and I felt real, genuine love for a stranger without even thinking. It was an energetic quality.

As you practice kindness, you can embody that frequency structure in your energy field, wanting for others what they want for themselves in the deepest, truest way, which ultimately is the happiness of freedom, the happiness of wholeness, the happiness of being kind.

That's kindness. That's one principle.

The next principle is positivity. This one's a little more complex. Kira knows all about it. She's super positive.

Positivity has a lot of dimensions to it. It does not mean ignoring the truth. It does not mean being blindly positive about everything. It's a way of relating to life that's massively empowering and changes the outcome. It also changes your field. It changes so many things.

There's a lot here about positivity. For everybody who may be scrambling to take notes, there will be a full document on this. You can always message me. I'm going to create something based on everything I've said here, as much as I can.

Positivity has five types. First of all, revolve around what you want. A lot of people complain. This is not good for energy. Resisting the things you can't change and just complaining about them is indulgent.

Revolving around the things you want is very empowering. What do you want? Focus on that. Let everything else go. Try to resist the whole world, and you'll never get anywhere. Revolve around what you want. Think of it as a planet going around a sun. It's revolving. It's centered on that.

Another one is optimism, believing that things will work out. If you believe that, you'll live with that in the moment, and you will affect the outcome and generally cause things to work out. Believing is a transformative agent. Believe things will work out, because they can and they will if you really believe that in your heart and live in that.

The next one is believing anything is possible. This just blows my mind, how many people don't connect with this one. If you believe we can colonize Mars, we might actually do that. There are so many naysayers in the world: "You can't do that. You can't do this." Eventually, they're just about always proved wrong. You have to believe anything is possible.

Sean, you have to believe you can become a math genius. Then you might actually have a chance. If you don't believe that, I don't think you'll have a chance. I don't know if that's bad news or not. You're going to have to change your belief system here.

All of these things, of course, apply to our Enlightened Mathematics course. If you're kind, for example, you're going to be in a nice, equanimous state of mind, which is better for math. If you're positive, you're going to focus on math. You're not going to be clouded by all the things that have nothing to do with your life.

Let's keep going with positivity. I said to revolve around what you want, be optimistic, believe things will work out, and believe anything is possible.

The next one is to be grateful for what you have. That's a form of positivity, although I keep that as a separate principle. I've been trying to decide. It almost is a full principle in itself, but gratitude is a positive focus because you're focusing on your blessings and living in those blessings.

You could have the most wonderful things sitting right next to you, and if you don't acknowledge them, if you don't feel them, you won't get to experience the benefits of that. Saying, "Oh, I love this new computer," and really marveling at everything you have, all the blessings, every moment you have, changes your energy field and changes your karma.

It's such an easy blessing for yourself because you get to enjoy the things you have instead of not enjoying the things you have. It makes perfect sense. It's more enjoyment.

See the best in things. Somebody dents your car. See the best in it. What does that mean? There is a silver lining in things. Maybe it means you get a new paint job. Maybe it means you become more detached from your car. Maybe it means all kinds of things.

Ultimately, in Buddhism and Zen and yoga, when we lose something, it's a gain because we become more free, less dependent on that thing. There are a lot of ways to see the best in things. It might be challenging. We can always talk about that if you're having trouble finding it.

In life and in spiritual practice, what sets us free is a benefit. When we have that, we can generally find a way to see the best in things. We could also find out that we're going to get a whole new car, in which case it would not be about setting us free, but about another manifest blessing.

Let's see, how many did I get? I have a shirt with all of these written on it. I'm going to have to go get my shirt out. Do you remember the other positivity principle?

Kira Radiate with brightness.

Adam Wes Yes, thank you. I'm forgetting my own principles here.

Radiating with brightness means to just shine. Shine on your face. When was the last time you smiled really big for no reason? When was the last time you had smoldering, glowing love emanating from your eyes because the sun was shining on you?

Practice the energy of luminousness, of being radiant. That's a form of positivity as well.

That's actually just principle number two. Principle number three is gentleness. Usually I put this next.

Gentleness is softness with your energy. Hardness and resistance with your energy are not conducive to retaining the highest energy within your field.

By gentleness, I don't mean weakness. I mean the might of meekness, to be mighty in your meekness. A mountain is gentle. A mountain doesn't make sharp movements.

If you watch some of the wonderful teachers of the 20th century, some of them speak very slowly, but their words hold so much gravitas. Gentleness is a sign of a deeper power, knowing yourself and having integrity.

Usually, when somebody has erratic, fast movements, there's something that's not happening optimally in the system.

Gentleness also has to do with kissing a flower, being gentle when you pick something up out of the fridge, or throwing something away. Don't toss your groceries in the basket. Put them down gently.

I've had people come up to me and say, "Wow, I love how you folded your blanket after your meditation," because I did it with gentleness and intentionality.

Principles require intentionality. That's a fundamental. The intention is, "I'm going to be gentle with how I fold my blanket." Then I'm going to feel gentle, and it's going to open my heart. Wonderful.

Next is mindfulness. The lack of mindfulness is an epidemic in our society. You should really be on guard. You can't just download the status quo. If you do that, you're going to end up not living as long, not being happy, and having all kinds of problems. Look beyond society for the way you live your life.

Mindfulness means tasting your food when you eat, closing your eyes, tasting the food, and giving it your attention. Don't watch TV and then suddenly it's in your stomach before you even notice.

Let me define mindfulness. It is giving your full attention to what you're doing and doing it with complete intentionality.

Folding that blanket required mindfulness. I was doing it with gentleness, but I was also doing it with mindfulness.

Mindfulness is a central spiritual principle. Without mindfulness, you're not going to feel, seem, or look to yourself, if you were to videotape yourself, very spiritual.

Think of a mindful individual in Japan. There's a movie called The Last Samurai. They're doing a tea ceremony, and they're so mindful. It's not always the most efficient in the immediate sense. It might take you twice as long to make dinner, but you'll get 10 times as much out of it because you'll walk away with a state of mind that allows you to make 10 times as much money in your next hour, or do 10 times as many things in terms of cleaning your house because you're efficient. You're mindful. You're thinking clearly.

A lot of people run in circles, and that doesn't mean you're efficient. It just means you're erratic.

I love walking mindfully, when you're really getting into your energy. If you're doing the Dan Tian meditation that I suggested, which is the third eye, the heart, and the navel center, you can walk around.

Maybe the most important mindfulness is walking around feeling your chakras. It takes intention to continue. Don't just spend 15 minutes, an hour, or two hours working on your energy. Do it all day.

When you're sleeping, you can actually keep working on your chakras, believe it or not. You'll wake up and be like, "Wow, I just spent three hours half sleeping and half doing energy work, and my chakras are going further toward a sorcerer-like power of enlightenment."

You only have so many years to get there. Every year in our life, we can get further along energetically.

That's mindfulness.

The next one is independence. What I mean by this is very nuanced: spiritually, emotionally, and psychologically independent.

That means you don't need anything. Meditation is one of the greatest expressions of independence. You don't need your TV. You don't need your shows. You don't need your pills. You don't need your crutches.

There are so many crutches. People say, "Well, I have my needs. I need this. I need that. I need the girlfriend. I need the boyfriend." There are so many needs that people just say, "Well, that's just what I am." I would argue that we are way more independent than that.

Ultimately, we don't even need our body. We want to find the part of ourselves where we don't need anything. Nothing. We are complete.

Spiritual independence is something you have to choose. Most people go their whole lives satiating their cravings. But when you choose independence, you liberate yourself. You open yourself up to potential, integrity, and freedom. You'll find that you can become kind, loving, and benevolent when you're not scared.

Also, Sean, give away your sense of, "I need to be good enough." If you're only happy when you have this idea of yourself as being XYZ, good enough, then that's not independence either. It's a codependency or a dependency on this image you have of yourself.

Stand naked to the unknown. Be absorbed to the point where you don't care if people respect you. You don't care if you respect yourself. You don't even think about it. You're just completely independent, like a child, ironically, who's not thinking along those lines. They're pretty free.

If you're dependent on somebody for paychecks because you had a kid with them, that's a different thing, although you might want to disentangle your circumstantial dependence as well.

The more independent you are, the more you can give everything to your freedom, your art, and your spiritual practice. Independence is a very important principle.

The sixth principle is gratitude. I want to make this a separate one because this is so big.

Kira has seen me do this. She should tell some stories. Kira will be like, "Adam is crossing the street. Okay, he feels gratitude for this side of the street, and then he goes to the other side of the street."

Every time I feel a change, I feel gratitude. After this class, I'll stand up, but first I feel gratitude for this moment that will never come again, this one concurrence of uniqueness in life that's right now. I feel gratitude for it.

If I don't feel gratitude, I'm definitely missing out. Sometimes I forget.

Gratitude means, "Oh my gosh, there's an unopened, beautiful juice in front of me that I got from Erewhon. Wonderful. I'm going to feel gratitude for this for a moment before I open it. It's sitting right there, waiting for me to consume it and enjoy it. Thank goodness I had the funds to buy it and the health to drink it." All of that.

Those are the six principles.

Usually, you can adopt one principle a week, a month, or a year. I wanted to share all six. You could try working on them all, but it's a major upgrade to your system if you start to live these principles.

Look around and say, "Wait, are people living these principles?" Most people aren't being kind, grateful, mindful, and positive. People don't do these things.

When you do it, you act as an example. I don't think people don't do it simply because they don't care. They're suffering from the lack of mindfulness. They're suffering from the lack of kindness. It hurts to be selfish. It does.

If I'm surrounded by people who are immensely kind, maybe I'll snap out of it and stop being selfish. Then I won't have to live in that sense of separateness and isolation. We can feel the unity and love of self-transcendent activity.

I shared the Treasure of the Eight Jewels last week, which are the values, so I thought it was natural to go into the principles.

I'd really love for everybody to transform their lives, be super happy, and stay connected because it's easier for us to travel together. We could go further if we had a lot of beautiful, kind people and beautiful, mindful people in our lives.

I'm looking for some friends, some sangha, some community. I invite you to invite your friends to embody these things, practice these things, and make them a point of focus, cultivation, and priority in your life.

Namaste. Does anybody want to share anything? I almost feel like Kira should tell a story, because you've seen me do a lot of these, right, Kira?

Kira I love it. If we're going out to eat or going to the grocery store or something, it doesn't really matter what is considered normal by society, friends, et cetera. Adam always prioritizes gratitude.

If we're entering a grocery store or leaving a grocery store, he'll stand and solely focus on gratitude. I've never seen that level of focus on it before.

I think sometimes you may be like, "Thanks," while you're texting or something. What's really interesting, and I think Adam does this very uniquely, is that he focuses. He's mindful, which is another principle, about the gratitude.

Now I've started to explore doing that. Instead of just feeling gratitude casually, I'm really being fully present with it. Thanks, Adam, for not caring about what society thinks and for setting an example based on values and principles.

Adam Wes Yeah. Yesterday, I met somebody, and he said, "I see you all the time. You're the guy who bows at the store," because everybody watches me doing that. But he loved it.

It's important to be independent. These principles really work together. Independence means you don't care what anybody thinks. Then you can be yourself, and you can be eccentric.

But really, what is eccentric? You're not conforming to the greatness of our current society, right?

Every time I see somebody walking on their phone, not feeling out with their energy or noticing nature, just walking on their phone, it makes me dizzy because empathically I'm picking up what they're experiencing.

Watch out for your phone. You can use your phone to empower you, or you can use it to really disempower you.

If you spend the next 10 years walking on your phone, eating on your phone, never getting away from your phone, and scrolling for 45 minutes on your phone, it's going to mess with your mind. Zuckerberg doesn't care, man. Zuckerberg will let you do that. It's our responsibility.

Thanks, Kira. Kira, by the way, embodies so many of these principles really beautifully. She's a glowing, shining, positive, sprightly, wonderful being. A lot of people here embody them too.

I'm simply bringing them to our attention. I know a lot of you are kind and mindful. Maybe everybody is doing all these things better than me. Who knows? That's not the point.

The point is, let's hold these in our hearts as principles. We're part of a community that values them and shares them. I think that's a very lovely thing to have.

All right, let's meditate. Thanks, Giulio. It's wonderful that you're here. He lives in London. It's 2:00 a.m. I'm so happy he made it.

The music should be starting here. Cool. There it is. I can hear it.

All right. Let's bring our attention to the heart center. You can even practice the principles while you meditate.

Oh man, my heart feels good after going over those with all of you. It feels warm and fuzzy, vital, and clear.

Right now, we're just looking to get in touch with the heart or take the heart to the next level. We're attending to the heart, this dimension of ourselves energetically located in the center of the chest.

You can put your finger on your heart center, pull the energy etherically with your hand, or simply feel it.

Let's take a moment and give our attention to the heart. Allow it to be the center from which you look out at the world through your eyes.

We'd like to practice another energy exercise with the heart. Allow the heart to expand beyond the field in proximity to the body.

A healthy field is one that is not confined to the body, but expands. It's almost as if you can touch the beyond, as if you permeate space magnetically. Perhaps that's exactly what it is.

If this feels helpful, you can join me in expanding your heart field. Open your heart.

We do this to generate love. Love is a substance that's accumulating within our field. Become a source. Change the world just by being an embodiment of it.

Listen to the sweet peace. You should feel empowered and vital.

If you want to lie down, if that feels right for you, listen to yourself.

If you're capable, let's focus on the light a little bit and stay on the heart.

You're welcome to gaze or just cultivate it from within with your eyes closed. It appears as a brightness, a luminosity in the field.

Gazing actually does help. In fact, I'll guide us on this because we haven't done this yet.

Open your eyes if you like, and keep doing what you're doing. Look at everything at once with a slight, blurry focus. Notice all the brightest points in the room.

There's an ambient brightness that will become so brilliant if you stop resisting. Let it wash you away. Allow it to grow on its own.

When we gaze, we allow our eyes to settle on a particular spot, but we don't concentrate on that spot. We use our peripheral vision, looking not only forward, but behind ourselves, feeling the whole body all at once. This is the faculty of attention that does not require the eyes.

The light is a visual phenomenon. It's not imaginary, but an actual, perceivable visual. It's also a feeling. It's multisensorial and transcendent.

You can infuse the body with the light. It purifies and loosens the calcifications of energy and stagnation in the chakras and the nadis, the astral tubes that connect them.

Either stay on the heart or add light to the heart.

Also focus on me. There's an empathic attunement that occurs. It's actually a darshan, an energetic transmission. It's possible to do it online. It works better in person.

Just feel into it.

Everybody, come out of the meditation.

Meditation should feel like an adventure, like a journey. Even if you go away completely and come back, you should feel like you had an existential catharsis.

Awakening should be really profound. It should be intense at times: intensely peaceful, intensely quiet, intensely energizing. There are all different dimensions of it.

You can cultivate that quality of profundity within your being. Hopefully, that was a beautiful experience for all of you.

Mom, would you like to share?

Colleen Just quickly, I have a lot of gratitude for the practice today. Thank you so much, Adam.

Adam Wes You're welcome. I have gratitude too.

Colleen I enjoyed the principles. My favorite was the calmer ones. I need to practice a lot of things, especially mindfulness and independence. Independence will be the hardest.

The meditation was really nice. I saw a lot of red colors, and then I had a lot of weird images coming to me and going away.

Adam Wes Weird meaning not bad, but like dolphins and things, right?

Colleen One was either a fish or a snake. I'm not sure. It was blue and scaly. You were handing me something as we walked up the stairs. There was a little boy and girl walking up the stairs, a child, and just a whole bunch of craziness.

Adam Wes Wow. Thanks.

Colleen I was going in and out of different scenarios.

Adam Wes And you saw a red light?

Colleen Lots of red.

Adam Wes Beautiful. Namaste, Mom. Thank you.

Colleen Thank you.

Adam Wes You're welcome. We'll just do a quick share, maybe three or four more people. If anybody feels like they'd like to share, please do. If you have to go, that's totally fine too.

I just want to let everybody know that on my website, theheartofmathematics.com, you can click "Meditations" in the menu. If anybody wants to support us with a donation, there's a link there. Five dollars, 20 dollars, a million dollars, 10 cents, whatever you like. Elias wants to do a million.

If you're already in the course, don't worry about it. Also, if you just wanted to be here, that's totally fine. It's totally up to you. I'm holding this stuff freely or on a donation basis.

Thank you, Marilyn, for being here. I'd love for you to share. Are you Sean's friend?

He told me.

Marilyn Yes. Sean introduced me to you and the website. Thank you. I'm very grateful for him. I brought my husband, John, with me tonight.

Adam Wes John, namaste. Thank you so much for being here.

Marilyn We love doing the work together, and this is very special. Thank you.

Adam Wes You're welcome. You guys look radiant over there on that couch, with the glowing gold lamp behind you. I love seeing you guys there. Thank you for being here.

Marilyn You're welcome. Namaste.

Adam Wes Ariella, would you like to share?

I know Ariella likes these principles. She's like, "I've been doing these principles," but you love them anyway.

Ariella Yes. Thank you for the principles. I appreciate that. Gratitude is something I deal with a lot. I can see my 97-year-old mother in South Africa twice a day.

Adam Wes Hmm.

Ariella It's such a miracle. I am so, so grateful that it's a possibility.

Adam Wes Wonderful. I love that you talk to her twice a day. That's amazing. I'm going to call you twice a day. I hope that's okay. Then I'll call Andy twice a day.

Sorry, I'm just being silly.

Ariella There is so much else to be grateful for as well, and this meditation class is one of the things I'm grateful for. Thank you so much.

Adam Wes I'm glad. You're welcome.

How about you, Kira?

Kira What can I say? Give me a moment. Maybe somebody else. I just need to integrate because it was such a far-out space.

Adam Wes Everybody should know that you don't have to share. If you're feeling unable to share because your energy is super sensitive or you're feeling private, you really don't have to share.

Sharing helps to integrate the experience. It also helps everybody to reflect and know they're not alone in certain experiences. Would anybody else like to share?

Kira I'm ready to share now.

Adam Wes Okay.

Kira I was just recounting what actually happened. I could feel that the more I absorbed into the light, the more certain blockages were being cleared.

Maybe there were things I was hesitant about. Let's say there was a path, and I was operating as if there were a block on that path, or there was hesitation around it. I felt like the light really acted to diffuse all of that and almost clear the path through radiance and heart-centeredness.

Adam Wes Wonderful. Kira and I have been going into the light together a lot. It's really wonderful. She's very good at it. We go into very deep layers of light.

Hopefully, some of you saw the light. If you didn't, we might have a chance at some point to meet in person. Ariella, did you see it?

Wonderful. I was doing something I usually don't do, which is gazing with the camera. It was really nice because I had a lot more light by doing that as well.

Namaste, Kira. Anybody else?

Maybe we're done, then. All right, everybody. Namaste. Thank you so much.

Kira Thank you.

Adam Wes See you soon. I'm going to create a little guide and transcript of this, so look out for that on Circle, or you can get the link to the Google Doc.

Namaste. Remember to meditate. Bye, everybody.

Living with kindness, positivity, gentleness, mindfulness, independence, and gratitude changes the state of mind and the way life is perceived and experienced.

• Karma means action. Thoughts, actions, and especially intent inform the state of mind.
• The state of mind determines how the world is perceived and what is drawn into life through synchronicity.
• Principles are virtues and ways of living, while values are the things considered important.
• Kindness is benevolence and goodwill, wanting for others what they want for themselves in the deepest, truest way.
• Positivity does not mean ignoring the truth. It includes revolving around what is wanted, believing things can work out, seeing the best in things, and radiating brightness.
• Gentleness is softness with energy, not weakness. It requires intentionality and reflects a deeper power.
• Mindfulness is giving full attention to what is being done and doing it with complete intentionality.
• Spiritual, emotional, and psychological independence means finding the part of oneself that does not need anything and is complete.
• Gratitude is appreciating blessings and the uniqueness of the present moment.
• Living these principles provides an example and supports a community based on kindness, mindfulness, gratitude, and shared practice.
• The heart meditation attends to the heart center, allows the heart field to expand, and cultivates love and light.

Hold these principles in the heart and choose one to live with intentionally. Let it become an embodied quality in ordinary actions, relationships, attention, and meditation.

• Kindness toward others, including strangers, without being vested in an outcome.
• Attention to what is wanted, rather than resistance and complaint.
• Gentleness in simple actions, such as picking something up, putting groceries down, or folding a blanket.
• Full attention while eating, walking, preparing food, or completing an ordinary task.
• Awareness of dependency, cravings, and the need for approval or a particular self-image.
• Gratitude for blessings and for moments that will never come again.
• Awareness of whether phone use empowers or disempowers attention.
• Attention to the heart center and the expansion of the heart field during meditation.

• Which principle feels most present in the heart right now?
• Where does intentionality naturally arise in ordinary life?
• What is noticed when attention rests in the heart?