Hail Mary, Eastern Form

The Angelic Salutation, from the East:

Θεοτόκε Παρθένε, χαῖρε, κεχαριτωμένη Μαρία, ὁ Κύριος μετὰ σοῦ. εὐλογημένη σὺ ἐν γυναιξί, καὶ εὐλογημένος ὁ καρπὸς τῆς κοιλίας σου, ὅτι Σωτήρα ἔτεκες τῶν ψυχῶν ἡμῶν

Theotokos Virgin, Rejoice!

Mary, Full of Grace, our Friend is with you.

Blessed are you among women,

and blessed is the fruit of your womb,

for you have borne a Guru of our souls.

Judge for Yourselves

Jesus said to the crowds,
“When you see a cloud rising in the west
you say immediately that it is going to rain -- and so it does;
and when you notice that the wind is blowing from the south
you say that it is going to be hot -- and so it is.
You hypocrites!
You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky;
why do you not know how to interpret the present time?

Why do you not judge for yourselves what is right?
If you are to go with your opponent before a magistrate,
make an effort to settle the matter on the way;
otherwise your opponent will turn you over to the judge,
and the judge hand you over to the constable,
and the constable throw you into prison.
I say to you, you will not be released
until you have paid the last penny.”

     -- Luke 12:54-59

Willing and Ready

Brothers and sisters:
I know that good does not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh.
The willing is ready at hand, but doing the good is not.
For I do not do the good I want,
but I do the evil I do not want.
Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it,
but craving that dwells in me.
So, then, I discover the principle
that when I want to do right, evil is at hand.
For I take delight in the law of Śiva, in my inner self,
but I see in my members another principle
at war with the law of my mind,
taking me captive to the law of craving that dwells in my members.
Miserable one that I am!
Who will deliver me from this mortal body?
Thanks be to Śiva through Jesus Christ our Friend.

     -- Rom 7:18-25a

27 Nakshatras and 108 Padas

27 Nakshatras and 108 Padas

1.       Asvini (1-4)

2.       Bharani (5-8)

3.       Krittika (9-12)

4.       Rohini (13-16)

5.       Mrigashira (17-20)

6.       Arudra (18-24)

7.       Punarvasu (25-28)

8.       Pushya (29-32)

9.       Ashlesha (33-36)

10.   Magha (37-40)

11.   Purvaphalguni (41-44)

12.   Uttaraphalguni (45-48)

13.   Hasta (49-52)

14.   Chitra (53-56)

15.   Swati (57-60)

16.   Vishakya - Radha (61-64)

17.   Anuradha (65-68)

18.   Jyestha (69-72)

19.   Mula (73-76)

20.   Purvashadha (77-80)

21.   Uttarashadha (81-84)

22.   Shravana (85-88)

23.   Dhanishtha (89-92)

24.   Shatavishakya -Shatataraka (93-96)

25.   Purvabhadrapada (97-100)

26.   Uttarabhadrapada (101-104)

27.   Revati (105-108)

Papal Infallibility (I)

The following is a short summary of the doctrine of papal infallibility

When the Pope (1) intends to teach (2) by virtue of his supreme authority (3) on a matter of faith and morals (4) to the whole Church, he is preserved by the Holy Spirit from error. His teaching act is therefore called "infallible" and the teaching which he articulates is termed "irreformable".

To be free "from error" does not mean that one is "totally correct" or that one has spoken "the last and complete word on the topic".  It means that one has made a statement that corresponds, to one degree or another, to the relevant reality (in this case, the "matter of faith and morals").

What this also means is that, the very doctrine of papal infallibility, free "from error", is not "the last and complete word on the topic".

To be "irreformable" is to be free from being reformable. However, to be "irreformable" is not to be free from being clarified, or more deeply understood, or incorporated within a larger philosophical framework.

At Every Depth

"You must trust the process of your own life, whether it is to go mad, to become ill, to work, to succeed, or to die. Be free of fear. Surrender to the Person of God, the actual Living God. Trust the Divine altogether. Give yourself up emotionally to God. Do it to the point that the physically based fear of death vanishes on the basis of trust alone. Practice complete devotion and absolute surrender. Do not just tread the path of gradual attainment in your emotional and ceremonial approaches to God. Give yourself up completely in this moment. Give up everything at every depth and in every area of your life. Allow life to be the theatre of God, in which what seems to be appropriate and necessary in your case will be accomplished spontaneously. Allow all of life to be God’s business. Whatever arises, high or low, such a life will simply be surrendering to the point of happiness, giving up to God completely. If you will do what I urge you to do, then this instruction is sufficient. You do not really need to know all the technicalities of yoga and the cosmic subtleties of the higher planes of the phenomenal worlds. You need not know anything. You need not become convinced of anything except that you are suffering a contracted state of existence. Feel the force of that contraction, its emotional force, its physical force. Feel the quality of contraction and realize that it is your own action. Realize that you can exist in a totally different condition merely by recognizing your own separative activity and transcending it in each moment. Just surrender emotionally and completely."

-- Da Love-Ananda

Secret Message

Mani — I feel that the three persons are indeed one – Jesus Christ, Chaitanyadeva and you – are one person.

Sri Ramakrishna — Of course, one. What is there except one? It is He alone who dwells in this body.

After saying this, Sri Ramakrishna points to his own body – as if to say that the Lord has incarnated Himself and is dwelling in his body.

The Sefirot

Correspondences between the Sefirot and Jyotish:

Keter: Ketu

Chokhmah: Sun

Binah: Moon

Chesed: Mars

Gevurah: Venus

Tiferet: Saturn

Netzach: Jupiter

Hod: Mercury

Yesod: Rahu

Malkut: Lagna

The Man of Understanding

The man of understanding is not entranced. He is not elsewhere. He is not having an experience. He is not passionless and inoffensive. He is awake. He is present. He knows no obstruction in the form of mind, identity, differentiation and desire. He uses mind, identity, differentiation and desire. He is passionate. His quality is an offense to those who are entranced, elsewhere, contained in the mechanics of experience, asleep, living as various forms of identity, separation and dependence. He is acceptable only to those who understand.

He may appear no different from any other man. How could he appear otherwise? There is nothing by which to appear except the qualities of life. He may appear to have learned nothing. He may seem to be addicted to every kind of foolishness and error. How could it be otherwise? Understanding is not a different communication than the ordinary. There is only the ordinary. There is no special and exclusive communication that is the truth. There is no exclusive state of truth. But there is the understanding of the ordinary.

Therefore, the man of understanding cannot be found. He cannot be followed. He can only be understood as the ordinary. He is not spiritual. He is not religious. He is not philosophical. He is not moral. He is not fastidious, lean and lawful. He always appears to be the opposite of what you are.

He always seems to sympathize with what you deny. Therefore, at times and over time he appears as every kind of persuasion. He is not consistent. He has no image. At times he denies. At times he asserts. At times he asserts what he has already denied. At times he denies what he has already asserted. He is not useful. His teaching is every kind of nonsense. His wisdom is vanished. Altogether, that is his wisdom.

-- Franklin Jones

All Conditions

No matter what is arising in your life, within, without, in between, every instant of it is another condition in which understanding is appropriate. Under no conditions is obsessive involvement, positive or negative, with conditions. themselves appropriate. All conditions are sadhana for one who is understanding, and all are forms of bondage to one who does not understand. You must begin to become a little sensitive to your capacity for illusion, your capacity for fascination, for obsession, for distraction, for unconsciousness. You must begin to be responsible for that.

-- Bubba Free John