Planetary Mantras

Sun: Raam

Moon: Soom

Mars: Ram

Mercury: Aim

Jupiter: Shriim

Venus: Hriim

Saturn: Kriim

Rahu: Duum

Ketu: Keem

Pronunciations:
a -- vowel sound (v.s.) in "up"
aa -- "ah"
i -- v.s. in "it"
ii -- v.s. in "eat"
u -- v.s. in "us"
uu -- v.s. in "you"
e -- v.s. in "et"
ee -- v.s. in "ate"
0 -- v.s. in "ah"
oo -- v.s. in "oh"
ai -- v.s. in "ice"

Last Man Standing

For most of its history, Christianity was a tricontinental religion, with powerful representation in Europe, Africa and Asia, and this was true into the 14th century. Christianity became predominantly European not because this continent had any obvious affinity for that faith, but by default: Europe was the continent where it was not destroyed.

As late as the 11th century Asia was home to about a third of the world's Christians, Africa another 10 percent, and the faith in these continents had deeper roots in the culture than it did in Europe, where in many places it was newly arrived or still arriving.

About the time of Charlemagne's investiture in 800, the patriarch, or catholicos, of the Church of the East, often called Nestorian, was Timothy, based in Seleucia, in Mesopotamia. In prestige and authority, Timothy was "arguably the most significant Christian spiritual leader of his day," much more influential than the Western pope and on par with the Orthodox patriarch in Constantinople. Perhaps a quarter of the world's Christians looked to him as their spiritual and political head. His duties included appointing bishops in Yemen, Arabia, Iran, Turkestan, Afghanistan, Tibet, India, Sri Lanka, and China. A Christian cemetery in Kyrgyzstan contains inscriptions in Syrian and Turkish commemorating "Terim the Chinese, Sazik the Indian, Banus the Uygur, Kiamata of Kashgar, and Tatt the Mongol." The Church of the East may even have reached to Burma, Vietnam, Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, and Korea.

The Asian church was also more intellectually accomplished: Its operating languages were Syriac, Persian, Turkish, Soghdian, and Chinese. Timothy himself translated Aristotle's Topics from Syriac into Arabic. Much of the "Arab" scholarship of the time, such as translations of Plato, Aristotle, Hippocrates, Galen, and others into Arabic, or the adoption of the Indian numbering system, was in fact done by Syriac, Persian, and Coptic (Egyptian and Nubian) Christians, often in the high employ of the Caliph.

It was also a church immersed in cultures very different from the Roman and Hellenic environments of the West. Timothy engaged in a famous dialogue with the caliph al-Mahdi, which still survives. The church's milieu was not only Jewish and Muslim but also, perhaps more so, Buddhist, Manichaean, Zoroastrian, and Confucian. This made for relations that defy many of our usual assumptions about history. Jenkins recounts how "in 782, the Indian Buddhist missionary Prajna arrived in the Chinese imperial capital of Chang'an, but was unable to translate the Sanskrit sutras he had brought" into Chinese or other useful local languages.

Hence, Prajna did the obvious thing and consulted with Bishop Adam, head of the Chinese church, who was deeply interested in understanding Buddhism. As a result, "Buddhist and Nestorian scholars worked amiably together for some years to translate seven copious volumes of Buddhist wisdom." These same volumes were taken back home by Japanese monks who had been in Chang'an, and became the founding volumes of Shingon and Tendai, the two great schools of Japanese Buddhism.

The Chinese also influenced the West. Around 1275, two Chinese monks began a pilgrimage to the Holy land. One, Markos, was probably a Uygur and the other, Bar Sauma, may have been an Onggud. In 1281, Markos was elected patriarch. He protested that he was not up to it, not least because his knowledge of Syriac was rudimentary. But the church fathers argued that the "kings who held the steering poles of the government of the whole world were the [Mongols], and there was no man except [him] who was acquainted with their manners and customs." Markos established his seat near Tabriz, then the capital of the Mongol Ilkhan dynasty.

Bar Sauma had an equally interesting life. In 1287 the Ilkhan overlord sent him on a diplomatic mission to Europe to enlist aid for a proposed joint assault on Mamluk Egypt: Kublai Khan in Beijing would also be a supporter. The Europeans were amazed to discover both that the church stretched to the shores of the Pacific and that the emissary from the fearsome Mongols was a Christian bishop, one from whom the king of England subsequently took communion.

Jenkins places the ending of this world, "the decisive collapse of Christianity in the Middle East, across Asia, and in much of Africa," not with the initial rise of Islam but in the 14th century. One trigger was the Mongol invasions, which threatened Arab Islam as never before. (The Crusades were a minor sideshow.) The Mongols sought alliances with Christians, and there were Christians among them [i.e., the Muslims], hence local believers were treated as a potential fifth column and often massacred [by Muslims].

Later, the Mongols themselves embraced Islam and turned on the Christians. Timur's subsequent invasions, among the most brutal in history, furthered the process, as did Seljuk and Ottoman advances and, further east, rising anti-Mongol Chinese nationalism. Between 1200 and 1500 the proportion of Christians outside Europe fell from over a third to about 6 percent. By 1500 the European church had become dominant "by dint of being, so to speak, the last men standing" of the Christian world.

The Signs of God

Krishna the Avatar represents the astrological sign Cancer, ruled by the Moon.
Siddhartha the Buddha represents the astrological sign Capricorn, ruled by Saturn.
Jesus the Christ represents the astrological sign Aries, ruled by Mars.
Nanak the Guru represents the astrological sign Libra, ruled by Venus.

Cancer, Capricorn, Aries, and Libra are the signs of action-against-all-limitation.

Dattatreya the Avadhut represents the astrological sign Leo, ruled by the Sun.
Muhammad the Rasul represents the astrological sign Aquarius, ruled by Saturn.
Moses the Prophet represents the astrological sign Taurus, ruled by Venus.
Vardhamana the Tirthankara represents the astrological sign Scorpio, ruled by Mars.

Leo, Aquarius, Taurus, and Scorpio are the signs of utter-resoluteness-against-all-enemies.

Confucius the Wise represents the astrological sign Virgo, ruled by Mercury.
Laozi the Master represents the astrological sign Pisces, ruled by Jupiter.
Kabir the Poet represents the astrological sign Gemini, ruled by Mercury.
Zarathustra the Priest represents the astrological sign Sagittarius, ruled by Jupiter.

Virgo, Pisces, Gemini, and Sagittarius are the signs of vibrant-creativity-within-creation.

Says Kabir:

O how may I ever express that secret word?
O how can I say He is not like this, and He is like that?
If I say that He is within me, the universe is ashamed:
If I say that He is without me, it is falsehood.
He makes the inner and the outer worlds to be indivisibly one;
The conscious and the unconscious, both are His footstools.
He is neither manifest nor hidden, He is neither revealed nor unrevealed:
There are no words to tell that which He is.

The Healing of Genesis

Within Genesis, chapters 1 and 2, are the keys to bodily, mental, and spiritual health.

¹ In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ² The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.

The heavens represent the elements of fire and air. The earth represents elements of water and earth. These elements must be in balance in order for health to be possible.

³ Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. ⁴ And God saw that the light was good. Then he separated the light from the darkness. ⁵ God called the light "day" and the darkness "night." And evening passed and morning came, marking the first day.

The light represents the Divine Sun in the Heart, or Soul, of each person. This light, this fire, must be attended to, and cultivated, each day. One must listen to one's soul.

⁶ Then God said, “Let there be a space between the waters, to separate the waters of the heavens from the waters of the earth.” ⁷ And that is what happened. God made this space to separate the waters of the earth from the waters of the heavens. ⁸ God called the space “sky.” And evening passed and morning came, marking the second day.

The waters represent the different parts of the mind: discrimination, sensory mind, and energy-mind. The waters of the heavens represent the discriminative mind, which must achieve independence from the waters of the earth (the sensory and energy minds). Let one's discrimination determine which sensory data is beneficial and healthy, or harmful and unhealthy, and then use the energy-mind to act on the results of discrimination.

⁹ Then God said, “Let the waters beneath the sky flow together into one place, so dry ground may appear.” And that is what happened. ¹⁰ God called the dry ground “land” and the waters “seas.” And God saw that it was good. ¹¹ Then God said, “Let the land sprout with vegetation—every sort of seed-bearing plant, and trees that grow seed-bearing fruit. These seeds will then produce the kinds of plants and trees from which they came.” And that is what happened. ¹² The land produced vegetation—all sorts of seed-bearing plants, and trees with seed-bearing fruit. Their seeds produced plants and trees of the same kind. And God saw that it was good. ¹³ And evening passed and morning came, marking the third day.

The seed-bearing plants represent the physical body. The physical body acts, thus creating results (or fruits) in the world. Karma yoga is the committed performance of action, without being attached to the results, or fruits, of said action. One simply plans, performs, and does one best; without letting the results either discourage or make giddy. Health is a long-term project, whose fruits are certain, but available only to the patient.

¹⁴ Then God said, “Let lights appear in the sky to separate the day from the night. Let them mark off the seasons, days, and years. ¹⁵ Let these lights in the sky shine down on the earth.” And that is what happened. ¹⁶ God made two great lights—the larger one to govern the day, and the smaller one to govern the night. He also made the stars. ¹⁷ God set these lights in the sky to light the earth, ¹⁸ to govern the day and night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. ¹⁹ And evening passed and morning came, marking the fourth day.

The marking off of the seasons, days, and years represents jnana yoga, the yoga of knowledge. The knowledge of the sun, moon, and stars is the knowledge of astronomy and astrology, which themselves form the foundation of all the other arts and sciences, including the science of medicine, health, and wholeness.

²⁰ Then God said, “Let the waters swarm with fish and other life. Let the skies be filled with birds of every kind.” ²¹ So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that scurries and swarms in the water, and every sort of bird—each producing offspring of the same kind. And God saw that it was good. ²² Then God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply. Let the fish fill the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth.” ²³ And evening passed and morning came, marking the fifth day.

Being fruitful is characteristic of water, and water represents emotion. Thus, the fifth day is the day of bhakti yoga, the yoga of emotional devotion to Divinity. With emotional devotion, one can dive deep into the deepest ocean; or fly as high as the highest eagle. With love for God, anything is possible.

²⁴ Then God said, “Let the earth produce every sort of animal, each producing offspring of the same kind—livestock, small animals that scurry along the ground, and wild animals.” And that is what happened. ²⁵ God made all sorts of wild animals, livestock, and small animals, each able to produce offspring of the same kind. And God saw that it was good. ²⁶ Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.”

²⁷ So God created human beings in his own image.
In the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.

²⁸ Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.” ²⁹ Then God said, "Look! I have given you every seed-bearing plant throughout the earth and all the fruit trees for your food.³⁰ And I have given every green plant as food for all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, and the small animals that scurry along the ground—everything that has life.” And that is what happened. ³¹ Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good! And evening passed and morning came, marking the sixth day.

Man has dominion. Man is, in a sense, a king, though a king with heavy responsibilities. Raja yoga is the kingly yoga, the yoga that penetrates into the heart of being. Raja yoga reaches into the realm of the soul, the heart of true health.

¹ So the creation of the heavens and the earth and everything in them was completed. ² On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work. ³ And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation. ⁴ This is the account of the creation of the heavens and the earth.

The seventh day is the day of realization, of enlightenment, of liberation, of salvation. The Latin salvus means whole and complete. Aditya.

The M-Word

The M-Word

Dom Bede Griffiths

We hear a great deal today about the magisterium of the Church, and those who have a position of authority in the Church are even required to take an oath of loyalty and make a solemn profession of faith in the teachings of the magisterium. It is important, therefore, to understand exactly what is meant by this word magisterium.

Many people today think that the magisterium consists of the pope, and the Roman Curia, but this is mistaken. “Magisterium” comes from the Latin magister, a master, and signifies authority to teach. Strictly speaking there is only one such authority in the Church and that is the Holy Spirit whom Jesus promised to his disciples to “lead men into all truth”. The apostles, as St Paul says, were commissioned by the Holy Spirit to preach the Gospel in the name of Christ, and it is generally believed that the apostles commissioned others named presbyters (elders) and bishops (overseers) to succeed them. Thus it is generally recognised today that the bishops who derive this authority from Christ through the apostles constitute the magisterium of the Church.

But there are in fact four organs of the magisterium. The first is that of the pope and the Roman Curia, which is concerned with the day-to-day administration of the Church. But that is subordinate to the authority of the bishops in communion with the pope who constitute the magisterium properly speaking. This was made clear at the Second Vatican Council.

But it is here that a third organ of the magisterium came into play. The bishops were accompanied by periti, or expert theologians, who advised the bishops and were actually responsible for developing the understanding of the Church which emerged at the Council. In a sense it is to the theologians that the word magisterium properly applies, since a theologian is a magister sacrae doctrinae, a master of sacred doctrine, who has been commissioned to teach theology in the name of the Church. The theologian, of course, does not speak or act on his own, but as a member of the Church in co-operation with his fellow theologians.

There is still another organ of the magisterium, perhaps the most important of all, and that is the laity. The laity consists of the people (laos) of God....

The Rebirth of Reincarnation

While participating in Easter Vigil, with the Blessing of Fire and all, I realized that there are a few further comments that need to be said regarding this paragraph of the catechism:

1013 Death is the end of man's earthly pilgrimage, of the time of grace and mercy which God offers him so as to work out his earthly life in keeping with the divine plan, and to decide his ultimate destiny. When "the single course of our earthly life" is completed, we shall not return to other earthly lives: "It is appointed for men to die once." There is no "reincarnation" after death.

An underlying assumption in this denial of reincarnation is that the human person is composed of body, mind, and the soul, or the very self (that which makes awareness of body and mind possible). What this denial of reincarnation means is that the very self does not associate itself with another physical body-mind, after the death of the physical body-mind. From a scientific perspective, this denial is not accurate. The very self does indeed associate itself with another physical body-mind -- during any one particular lifetime. That is, the atoms and molecules, the thoughts and feelings, of a person are constantly changing in any one lifetime. The atoms that existed in your body as an infant will most likely be replaced completely by the time you turn 10. The thoughts in your mind are changing at an even faster rate. So one person might have multiple physical body-minds over one lifetime. That in itself is a sort of "reincarnation".

But the above quote from the catechism is about dying only once, and not gaining another physical body-mind. And yet, even that claim is not totally true. In Christian theology, the dead will undergo a physical resurrection of the body-mind. The resurrected body might be quite different from the body one once had, but it will be physical or solid in some sense. So living as a resurrected person in a resurrected body-mind is a type of "reincarnation", though not a reincarnation into another "earthly" life.

Still, reincarnation into another earthly life might still be compatible with Christian thought. If one considers the atoms that exist in a body, then it is conceivable that atoms hold 'memories' of bodies that once included them. These 'memories' might entail some sort of energetic pattern that remains stable over time. Perhaps these atomic 'memories' are able to induce mental 'memories' in persons' bodies. The atoms of a serial killer, for instance, might carry the energetic patterns associated with that killer's actions and thoughts. The killer himself might be executed, but his atoms might carry the killer's energetic patterns into new bodies; and the persons who embody these atoms might have to deal with those energetic patterns, perhaps tolerate them, resist them, transform them. In such a scenario, the killer's energetic patterns did in fact "re-incarnate", even if the very self of the killer did not. Such an interpretation of "reincarnation" is also compatible with the highest philosophies in Hinduism and Buddhism. What all this means is that we are all indeed "our brother's keeper": what we do affects not only ourselves, but our descendants as well. And what our ancestors (both human and non-human) did, affects us, in more ways than we may have thought.

Live as if you'll live a 100 years. Love as if you'll die tomorrow.
Live as if you'll reincarnate for a 100 eons. Love as if you have just one life.

Has Anyone Seen God?

Mani: “You say, ‘Has anyone seen God the way I see this tree?’ Suppose God came as a human being and said, ‘I am God,’ will you believe him? Don’t you know the story of Lazarus? When he died and was in the other world, Lazarus said to Abraham, ‘Let me go tell my relatives and friends that there really is another world and a hell.’ Abraham said, ‘Will they believe you if you say that? They’ll say that some charlatan has come and is telling stories.’ Thakur [Sri Ramakrishna] says, ‘God can’t be known by reasoning. Everything comes from faith: jnana, vijnana, vision, intimacy – everything.’”

-- Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita, Volume IV, Section XXXIII, Chapter III

Four Levels of Interpretation

There are four levels of interpretation of scripture and religious teachings in general.

The first level is the literal, or physical, level.

The second level is the psycho-energetic level.

The third level is the noetic, or soul, level.

The fourth is the solar level.

John 14:6: "Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

At the literal, or physical, level, Jesus Christ is stating that to come to the Father, one must literally, physically go 'through' him. Now, how can one go 'through' another person? Does it mean that one must somehow 'meet-and-encounter' Jesus Christ before coming to the Father? Such questions lead us to the other levels of interpretation.

At the psycho-energetic level, John 14:6 means that no one comes to the Father except through adopting the psychological and behavioral practices taught by Jesus Christ. That is, one's psychology and energy must take the way of compassion and wisdom; that one's concept of truth and life must be one centered on loving one's neighbor and loving God, as Jesus Christ suggested.

At the noetic, or soul, level, John 14:6 takes a more radical turn. Just to take one example, let's look at "I am the way". The "I" that Jesus Christ speaks of, is the "I" of each human being, ultimately. For those who have ears to hear, when Jesus Christ speaks of "I am the way", a noetic level of interpretation would interpret this to mean that for each of us, the "I" is the way to the Father. That is, no one can take this path for us. Only "I" can do it.

And finally, the solar level of interpretation. The solar level is the most challenging. "No one comes to the Father except through me." At the solar level, this statement indicates that when the Father is found, there is "no one" who has found the Father. The Father is One, and in His Presence there is only One. There is "no one" else there.