Relaxing Into The Divine

From an article on Sufism, in the latest edition of Parabola:

"The more frustration and failure we feel, the more powerful the nafs [ego] becomes. Since the ego has access to the unconscious, its ability to create frustrations and failures is endless and inventive. Nafs thrives on anything that prevents the seeker from relaxing into an experience of the Divine, which is equivalent to destruction of the nafs. As a result, the nafs prefers to keep us in a state of disorientation, which it easily choreographs with the help of unconsciousness. Rumi explains:
Something that doesn't exist makes a phantom
Appear in the darkness of a well,
And the phantom itself becomes strong enough,
To throw actual lions into the hole."
---"Real Miracles," Anna Kilmer, Parabola, Winter 2003

To counter the "naf's" nefarious ways, the Tantric Buddhists give the initiate abhishekha, modeled on the anointing and empowerment of a king. You are "enthroned" as a Buddha, a divine being, so you can finally relax as you are.

My late beloved advaita teacher, Ranjit Maharaj, simply told us over and over, every chance he got: "Everything is an illusion. You are HE!"