By Stephen Sturgess
I first met Leon Deith in 2008 at a Kriya meditation retreat at the Ananda Europa community near Assisi, Umbria, Italy. Ananda Europa was founded in 1987 by Swami Kriyananda (1926-2013), a direct disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda.
Like myself, Leon has had a comprehensive training in Yoga, and in spiritual-related subjects, including Vedanta. So, spiritually, we share a commonality.
I have always known Leon to show politeness, kind respect and generosity towards others with a joyful heart. He is open-minded, and not dogmatic when it comes to embracing new ideas.
This book should appeal to all those who are seeking Truth and the reality of their true Being, which is infinite, eternal, indivisible, unchanging, and blissful. Knowing and realising the Truth and having Self-knowledge is of paramount importance if you want to end suffering, and attain true happiness, inner peace, contentment, fulfilment, and freedom. Both the science of Yoga and Vedanta gives us the practice and knowledge to attain spiritual fulfilment and freedom. Without the knowledge of one's true essential Self, one cannot be free from ignorance and doubt.
Leon is an adventurous traveller! And I know it is in his blood and close to his heart. I have followed many of Leon's fascinating travels to sacred lands like Tibet and other holy places from his photo journals on Facebook. So, I was pleased to read chapter 20: Going on Pilgrimage, in which he has the experience to explain to us the true meaning of pilgrimage. I reiterate what he says, "Pilgrimage is not about searching for something outside ourselves, as it's our inner journey where we discover who we are."
Our world is going through rapid changes and challenging times of uncertainty, fear, and division. The world is right now at a time of tremendous geopolitical stress with ongoing war in the Ukraine, and the Middle East, and the dangers of more conflict in Asia and in other parts of the world. Wars are fought for a variety of reasons, including political, economic, territorial, religious, ideological, revenge, civil, and ethnic issues.
The geopolitical tensions are related to the global economy and the problem of humanity's excessive material aims and greedy desires.
Seeds of war, division, and social conflict are sown in the individual mind. Unless human nature transforms radically, just preaching and practising outer remedies and systems will not bring about an end to conflict.
Conflict begins in the individual mind, and so long as that inner conflict is not eliminated, a society built by such individuals will never be free of conflict. An individual is not isolated from the total human consciousness and in bringing about this transformative change in oneself, one can influence the entire human consciousness. Therefore, freedom, peace, and harmony implies not only an outer environment which is conducive, but also an inner state free from fear, greed, selfishness, irritation, anger, hatred, and resentment. This state free of inner conflict cannot be brought about by affluence and material progress. We all must recognise the seeds of conflict within our own minds and see how it fragments and causes division.
The goal of life is spiritual enlightenment; realisation of our own divinity, our real nature, for lasting joy, peace, freedom, and fulfilment. The highest Truth, our spiritual destiny transcends all conditions.
A very warm welcome to you,
This book was written for you, you who would like to have more peace and freedom in your life, to understand why life is as it is. The pendulum of life that swings between pleasure and pain and the ultimate freedom that lies within.
My wish is that this book will be an aide memoire on your path to greater freedom and lasting happiness.
Why is life as it is?
This question and more will be considered as we voyage together through the pages of this book.
We are all fellow travellers on this life path in this field of apparent reality.
Let's discover what life has in store for us.
You will need an open mind to accommodate new perceptions, discipline to change the things that need to change and a willingness to take responsibility for your happiness.
This life is full of pleasure and pain, providing us with many opportunities to experience and grow. Life's ever-changing situations and challenges are designed to wake us up.
There is an old adage for the process of awakening: 'feather, feather, brick, truck.
It starts with a gentle nudge, a 'feather, where we need to learn from the situation and be able to reflect and respond differently.
However, we are often unaware of our karmic lessons, and so we keep reacting in the same way.
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