Adityam: Avatar Jesus Buddha Catholicism

New Year's Gift: The Real Ring

2012-01-01T17:30:00.000-05:00

It was late on New Year's Eve. I was sitting on a mat, and, by the light of a lamp, was sorting through the contents of an old ebony box. The box, whose wood shone with natural lustre, had been in my family for years, and the objects it contained, even longer. These were precious heirlooms.

My mood at that moment was, however, more frantic than reverent, for among the old scarves, kerchieves, and pouches, which flooded my mind with thoughts of my ancestors and parents, one object of particular importance was missing. In desperation, I was unfolding and folding, untying and tying, opening and closing, searching for that one thing I could not find.

"What are you looking for so intently?" I heard a voice say from behind me.

I knew it was You, but because of my anxiety, I answered, without turning my head, "Excuse me for a minute. Please sit down." Immediately, I felt ashamed. I looked at You, and You were smiling at me without admonishing my folly.

I gathered most of the precious hoard between my hands and shoved it into the box, collected a few stray odds and ends and threw them in after, with the exception of two small pouches, one of which I distractedly jammed into my shirt pocket. I closed the lid on the box, and then turned to show You the piece that I had kept out. This was a very old, very fine silk pouch with a pink rose embroidered on it. Your eyes lit up when You saw it, and You expressed Your admiration of it.

"I embroidered the pink rose on it myself last year," I informed You, not without some pride. "Unfortunately, the thing I made it to hold isn't here. I haven't been able to find it anywhere. That's what I've been searching for this past hour.

"And what is it?" You asked.

"A ring," I answered sadly.

"A valuable ring?"

"Valuable! The best of its kind! It was an heirloom, my most precious possession! It was made of seven metals! It was set with gems in the pattern of the rising sun! Very charming and very auspicious too!"

"But why did you happen to be looking for it tonight, at the last hour of the year?"

"Because," I explained, "it is my custom to hold that ring in my hand at the beginning of every New Year. It seems to help me let go of the stress of the year passed, and to fill my heart with joy and energy for the coming year. It is a very significant symbol for me, and now that I have lost it, I feel as though my dream has died."

You looked probingly at me, seeing my turmoil. Then You asked calmly, "Is it the loss of the ring — the symbol — that distresses you? Or your attachment to it that worries you?"

The question stumped me. "Sorry," I said. "I'm not sure I understand You. Is there something wrong with the symbol of the rising sun?"

"The symbol is not bad, but your dependence and attachment to it is not good. When you imbue any symbol with rigid meaning, a personal interpretation, and isolate yourself in your fancies, the significance of the symbol is defiled."

"Perhaps there is something wrong with symbolism altogether," I ventured.

"I never condemn anything," You replied. "I am everything. But I want you to understand the proper role of symbols in your life, so that you will neither over- nor underestimate their importance."

"You are saying that I don't have a balanced view of this. But how am I to acquire it?"

"By not allowing the symbols to dominate you. The loss of your ring — the heirloom — should not have disturbed you so much. The One who gives symbols knows when to take them away. The right attitude toward symbols is to understand that they are directing you to something real that is beyond them. So don't try to fill your life with them, or cling to them, but when they come to you, respect them without being overly influenced by them."

"Are there certain categories of symbols which are especially significant?"

"Countless, but you have to have an eye to discern them. Then a time may come when every pebble can be a jewel for you, and its shape and color convey unspoken messages."

This was too much for me, and it must have shown in my expression, because You smiled indulgently.

"What I mean," You continued, "is that you shouldn't become bound by ideology, of which there are many. Ideology constricts your understanding of the real potential of symbols."

I still felt I was in over my head. "Your words often land me in deep waters," I said, shaking my head hopelessly.

You looked amused. "But if you know how to swim, you may dive as deep as you can and return to the surface, bringing the significance with you as part of your life."

"Maybe I'm grasping at straws while I should be diving, but could you just tell me, of all the symbols, is there one in particular which is the greatest?"

"Yes," You answered at once, and with a natural east. "There is. And you already have it."

I was amazed. "I have it? Are You joking?"

"I am not. The greatest symbol of all is the ring."

"The ring? What sort of ring?"

"You always look outward, and so you are not aware of it, for this ring is within you, within everyone. At the time of birth, I breathe life, My Spirit, into your being. The ingoing and outgoing breath that circles and sustains your life is the ring and the matchless symbol. If this breath continues to circle in My remembrance, it becomes the Real Ring, truly worth seeking. It is this to which all symbols, and all signs, are pointing."

Radiantly beautiful, Your gaze fell upon me benignly. I sat there gaping, speechless, overwhelmed by Your presence.

You broke the mood by asking, offhandedly, "By the way, what's that green string hanging out of your shirt pocket?"

I glanced down and noticed a strand of dyed wool cord with a ball and tassel at the end of it. "An empty pouch," I answered, feeling glum again. "I must have stuck it in my pocket while I was putting things away." Saying this, I took the pouch out of my pocket, and, to my amazement, felt something solid inside of it.

"Oh my God! Oh my God! Eureka! It's here! It's here!" I cried.

"What?"

"The ring that I was desperately searching for!"

My spirits soared. I remembered in a flash that while I had been embroidering the pink rose on the silk pouch the year before, I had placed the ring in this other, plainer one, and obviously forgotten it.

"Are you happy now?" You asked.

"Happy! I'm ecstatic!"

And You responded casually, with a remark that has stayed with me every since. "The end of real seeking is to know that nothing was ever lost."

I still have not fathomed the depths of its meaning.

Then You smiled and added, "If you are happy, may I go now?"

Almost at once, my eyes clouded with tears. "How can You ask me that? How could I wish You to leave? But ... yes, goodbye. But don't stay away too long. And please forgive me for my impudent greeting." Tears of sadness were now mingled with tears of joy and gratitude. "Today You have disclosed to me the Real Ring You gave me at my birth. Please guide me to be aware of it in my day to day life in Your playful remembrance."

You gave me a smile of reassurance which transmitted absolute certainty. Like a soft feather, it gently touched the breath sustaining my being, and I felt the real Ring circling within me. At that very moment, the bells in the tower chimed in the New Year. What a peerless New Year's gift!

With your grace may I be worthy of it!

The bells were ringing loudly
to herald the New Year.
My heart was singing softly,
ushering in a new rhythm, so sure.

-- Bal Natu, Conversations with the Awakener (Myrtle Beach, South Carolina: Sheriar Foundation, 1991), 92-98.

Hail Mary, Eastern Form

2011-10-21T11:11:00.001-04:00

The Angelic Salutation, from the East:

Θεοτόκε Παρθένε, χαῖρε, κεχαριτωμένηΜαρία, 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, ourFriend is with you.

Blessed are you amongwomen,

and blessed is the fruitof your womb,

for you have borne a Guruof our souls.

Judge for Yourselves

2011-10-21T10:43:00.006-04:00

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

2011-10-21T10:35:00.003-04:00

Brothersand 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 Christour Friend.

-- Rom 7:18-25a

27 Nakshatras and 108 Padas

2011-10-21T04:15:00.001-04:00

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)

2011-10-19T15:25:00.002-04:00

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

2011-10-01T06:57:00.002-04:00

"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

2011-02-28T20:10:00.000-05:00

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

2011-02-24T19:52:00.004-05:00

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

2011-01-31T12:16:00.001-05:00

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

2011-01-01T10:19:00.000-05:00

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

No Thought

2010-12-31T00:42:00.000-05:00

No thought or figure or any perception arising in the mind is, in itself, God. No thing, no body, no moment or place, in itself, is God. Rather, every moment, place, thing, body, or state of mind inheres in God. Whatever arises should be recognized in God, not idolized as God. Then all conditions become Reminders that draw us into the ecstatic presumption of the Mysterious Presence of the Living One.

-- Da Free John

Prapatti

2010-12-29T01:44:00.002-05:00

When Bhakti becomes intensified, it leads to whole-hearted surrender to God. This final stage is called Prapatti.

-- M. Narasimhachary

The Beginning of Spiritual Life

2010-12-28T01:14:00.000-05:00

When I began to take up my teaching work, I clearly understood that I was going to have to bury myself in the world in order to awaken devotees. If there were to be devotees ultimately, I would have to pass through the lower, ordinary life with them, and make lessons in that play with them, make lessons out of all the possibilities of conventional fulfillment. That conventional fulfillment includes everything from typical life pleasures to conventional, so-called spiritual and psychic enjoyment. So all of my work has been a process of engaging in play with people on the basis of conventional possibility, living it, exploiting it, allowing it to show itself altogether as experience, as consequence, in order ultimately that you might enjoy that revulsion to the destiny of this birth that would enable you to take up the spiritual process truly.

There is no spiritual culture here, practically no culture whatsoever. Look at the street you came up out of tonight. That is where you all come from, and that is where I teach. Not in order to recommend all of that bullshit, all of that terror and disease and delusion and stupidity and obsession and craving and torment, but to live with people in such a way that they might enjoy a revulsion to all possibility in itself, all fulfillment, high or low, that is latent in the tendencies of this birth. And so, at various stages in my play with individuals, you have seen me live and work in every possible way. At one or another time, everything from the most exotic psychic and conventional experience to the most ordinary fulfillment of social life was, in one or another way, represented, communicated, lived among you, and never at all for the sake of those things in themselves.

You have not understood me if that is what you thought I was up to. These experiences are not the point, they are not Truth. Every way of life that you pursue on the basis of experience, high or low, making experience the principle of your future, is ordinary destiny, the usual life leading to death. It is not spiritual in any sense whatsoever, whether its content is psychic and more subtle or very gross. The lessons of your life with me should be very clear to you in your own body-mind. And yet I do not think they are very clear to all of you, because I see so many of you intending to persist, righteously persisting, in a way of life that has nothing whatever to do with spirituality.

Everything is passing, all this flesh, all this mind. There is no freedom from rebirth and illusion unless while alive you are literally existing in another dimension. Literally! Such an existence is not a matter of philosophy, of feeling good, of all the conventional horseshit that people put together. You may return to this human kind of birth after your next death, if you are lucky, but you will return to it without any recollection, without any more capacity than you now enjoy, driven as you are now, confused, obsessed, without the least distance in you from this arising here, bound to it, craving on the basis of it, having no capacity whatsoever to be distinguished from this body-mind. This will be true of you unless while alive you literally begin to exist in another condition, in another "place." Then, at death, and also while alive, you may go there and not come back here.

But, you see, in Truth it is not a matter of just being able to go to some dimension or other. There are countless dimensions above and below this! The Truth of the matter is to come to rest in God, not in this ego-soul, the separate one that is your destiny until the heart is broken. Other worlds have no significance whatsoever. They are equally tormenting after you have been there a few moments! There is a great struggle in every being that comes into contact with the Divine demand, because the Divine does not fulfill this life. The Divine Power draws you out of this life, draws attention out of it, reduces the mind to nothing, frees you of the illusion of being identical to this body, not just philosophically, but literally. The Law is sacrifice. If you do not fulfill it, you will become a sacrifice in any case, grudgingly, unconsciously. You will be eaten.

Until the Divine Power, Grace, and Demand is accepted, you will not fulfill the Law. You will not become a sacrifice of the whole body mind. Until this heart comes to rest, there is only contraction, this separate and separative consciousness, whose mind is separative, obsessive, bewildered, pursuing fulfillment on the basis of what is apparently possible in the midst of this puny limitation we wake up to each day. To take up a Divine life, a spiritual life, you must yield that principle of separation, but not just philosophically and not through conventional willfulness. Your yielding must be a real process, and it must represent real adaptation in you.

-- Bubba Free John

The Maharshi and His Message

2010-12-27T02:27:00.001-05:00

It seems to me that the presence of men like the Maharshi ensures the continuity down history of a divine message from regions not easily accessible to us all. It seems to me, further, that one must accept the fact that such a Sage comes to reveal something to us, not to argue anything with us. At any rate, his teachings make a strong appeal to me, for his personal attitude and practical method, when understood, are quite scientific in their way. He brings in no supernatural power and demands no blind religious faith. The sublime spirituality of the Maharshi’s atmosphere and the rational self-questioning of his philosophy find but a faint echo in yonder temple. Even the word “God” is rarely on his lips. He avoids the dark and debatable waters of wizardry, in which so many promising voyages have ended in shipwreck. He simply puts forward a way of self-analysis, which can be practised irrespective of any ancient or modern theories and beliefs which one may hold, a way that will finally lead man to true self-understanding.

-- Paul Brunton, on Ramana Maharshi

Desire and Anger

2010-12-26T02:45:00.002-05:00

Desire and anger are objects of the mind, but the mind is not yours, nor ever has been. You are choiceless awareness itself, unchanging - so live happily.

-- Ashtavakra, the Crippled Boy

Compassion

2010-12-19T10:36:00.002-05:00

Therefore, if one has seen and felt and Understood the common and universally tormented state of living beings, one should surrender to the Truth and practice the Way of the Radiant Transcendental Consciousness. Compassionate Understanding of the fear and delusion of all living beings moves one to practice this Way. Thus, one may, by one's manner of living, support the illusions and intensify the torment of living beings, or one may transcend all illusions and bring Transcendental Peace into the world.

-- Santosha Da

The Practice

2010-12-18T00:59:00.007-05:00

Happiness is the responsibility.

Freedom is the discipline.

-- Bubba Free John

The Only Way

2010-08-30T20:11:00.000-04:00

The statement that Christ is the Only Way, is not contradictory to the statement that Muhammad is the Last Prophet, that the Noble Eightfold Path is the only Path to Nibbana, that the Fullest Avatar is Krishna. Such statements of exclusivity are not statements of empirical fact. Such statements of exclusivity are statements of intention, attitude, and energy: they are meant to focus one’s intention on God and Truth, to direct one’s attitude towards surrender of self, to intensify one’s energy in sadhana. Such statements are statements of Spiritual Warfare, not statements of merely intellectual and philosophical curiosity. Let all such statements increase the intensity of your own sadhana.

August 24, 2010: Feast of Saint Bartholomew, Apostle

2010-08-24T16:34:00.001-04:00

Philip found Nathanael and told him,
“We have found the one about whom Moses wrote in the law,
and also the prophets, Jesus son of Joseph, from Nazareth.”
But Nathanael said to him,
“Can anything good come from Nazareth?”
Philip said to him, “Come and see.”
Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him,
“Here is a true child of Israel.
There is no duplicity in him.”
Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?”
Jesus answered and said to him,
“Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.”
Nathanael answered him,
“Rabbi, you are the Avatar of Śiva; you are the King of Israel.”
Jesus answered and said to him,
“Do you believe
because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree?
You will see greater things than this.”
And he said to him, “Amen, amen, I say to you,
you will see heaven opened and the angels of Śiva
ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

(Jn 1:45-51)

Wednesday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time

2010-08-18T19:31:00.001-04:00

The word of Śiva came to me:
Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel,
in these words prophesy to them to the shepherds:
Thus says Śivāyavē: Woe to the shepherds of Israel
who have been pasturing themselves!
Should not shepherds, rather, pasture sheep?
You have fed off their milk, worn their wool,
and slaughtered the fatlings,
but the sheep you have not pastured.
You did not strengthen the weak nor heal the sick
nor bind up the injured.
You did not bring back the strayed nor seek the lost,
but you lorded it over them harshly and brutally.
So they were scattered for the lack of a shepherd,
and became food for all the wild beasts.
My sheep were scattered
and wandered over all the mountains and high hills;
my sheep were scattered over the whole earth,
with no one to look after them or to search for them.

Therefore, shepherds, hear the word of Śiva:
As I live, says Śivāyavē,
because my sheep have been given over to pillage,
and because my sheep have become food for every wild beast,
for lack of a shepherd;
because my shepherds did not look after my sheep,
but pastured themselves and did not pasture my sheep;
because of this, shepherds, hear the word of Śiva:
Thus says Śivāyavē:
I swear I am coming against these shepherds.
I will claim my sheep from them
and put a stop to their shepherding my sheep
so that they may no longer pasture themselves.
I will save my sheep,
that they may no longer be food for their mouths.

For thus says Śivāyavē:
I myself will look after and tend my sheep.

(Ez 34:1-11)

Jesus told his disciples this parable:
“The Kingdom of heaven is like a landowner
who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard.
After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage,
he sent them into his vineyard.
Going out about nine o’clock,
he saw others standing idle in the marketplace,
and he said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard,
and I will give you what is just.’
So they went off.
And he went out again around noon,
and around three o’clock, and did likewise.
Going out about five o’clock,
he found others standing around, and said to them,
‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’
They answered, ‘Because no one has hired us.’
He said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard.’
When it was evening the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman,
‘Summon the laborers and give them their pay,
beginning with the last and ending with the first.’
When those who had started about five o’clock came,
each received the usual daily wage.
So when the first came, they thought that they would receive more,
but each of them also got the usual wage.
And on receiving it they grumbled against the landowner, saying,
‘These last ones worked only one hour,
and you have made them equal to us,
who bore the day’s burden and the heat.’
He said to one of them in reply,
‘My friend, I am not cheating you.
Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage?
Take what is yours and go.
What if I wish to give this last one the same as you?
Or am I not free to do as I wish with my own money?
Are you envious because I am generous?’
Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

(Mt 20:1-16)

Tuesday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time

2010-08-17T13:52:00.003-04:00

The word of Śiva came to me: Son of man,
say to the prince of Tyre:
Thus says Śivāyavē:

Because you are haughty of heart,
you say, “An immortal am I!
I occupy a godly throne
in the heart of the sea!”—
And yet you are a man, and not an immortal,
however you may think yourself like an immortal.
Oh yes, you are wiser than Daniel,
there is no secret that is beyond you.
By your wisdom and your intelligence
you have made riches for yourself;
You have put gold and silver
into your treasuries.
By your great wisdom applied to your trading
you have heaped up your riches;
your heart has grown haughty from your riches–
therefore thus says Śivāyavē:
Because you have thought yourself
to have the mind of an immortal,
Therefore I will bring against you
foreigners, the most barbarous of nations.
They shall draw their swords
against your beauteous wisdom,
they shall run them through your splendid apparel.
They shall thrust you down to the pit, there to die
a bloodied corpse, in the heart of the sea.
Will you then say, “I am an immortal!”
when you face your murderers?
No, you are man, not an immortal,
handed over to those who will slay you.
You shall die the death of the uncircumcised
at the hands of foreigners,
for I have spoken, says Śivāyavē.

(Ez 28:1-10)

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Amen, I say to you, it will be hard for one who is rich
to enter the Kingdom of heaven.
Again I say to you,
it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle
than for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of Śiva.”
When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and said,
“Who then can be saved?”
Jesus looked at them and said,
“For men this is impossible,
but for Śiva all things are possible.”
Then Peter said to him in reply,
“We have given up everything and followed you.
What will there be for us?”
Jesus said to them, “Amen, I say to you
that you who have followed me, in the new age,
when the Son of Man is seated on his throne of glory,
will yourselves sit on twelve thrones,
judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
And everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters
or father or mother or children or lands
for the sake of my name will receive a hundred times more,
and will inherit eternal life.
But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.”

(Mt 19:23-30)

Monday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time

2010-08-16T13:19:00.003-04:00

The word of Śiva came to me:

Son of man, by a sudden blow

I am taking away from you the delight of your eyes,
but do not mourn or weep or shed any tears.
Groan in silence, make no lament for the dead,
bind on your turban, put your sandals on your feet,
do not cover your beard, and do not eat the customary bread.
That evening my wife died,
and the next morning I did as I had been commanded.
Then the people asked me, “Will you not tell us what all these things
that you are doing mean for us?”
I therefore spoke to the people that morning, saying to them:
Thus the word of Śiva came to me:
Say to the house of Israel:
Thus says Śivāyavē:I will now desecrate my sanctuary, the stronghold of your pride,
the delight of your eyes, the desire of your soul.
The sons and daughters you left behind shall fall by the sword.
Ezekiel shall be a sign for you:
all that he did you shall do when it happens.
Thus you shall know that I am Śiva.You shall do as I have done,
not covering your beards nor eating the customary bread.
Your turbans shall remain on your heads, your sandals on your feet.
You shall not mourn or weep,
but you shall rot away because of your sins and groan one to another.

(Ez 24:15-23)

A young man approached Jesus and said,
“Teacher, what good must I do to gain eternal life?”
He answered him, “Why do you ask me about the good?
There is only One who is good.
If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.”
He asked him, “Which ones?”
And Jesus replied, “You shall not kill;
you shall not commit adultery;
you shall not steal;
you shall not bear false witness;
honor your father and your mother;
and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
The young man said to him,
“All of these I have observed. What do I still lack?”
Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go,
sell what you have and give to the poor,
and you will have treasure in heaven.
Then come, follow me.”
When the young man heard this statement, he went away sad,
for he had many possessions.

(Mt 19:16-22)

Foundation and Fulfillment

2009-08-17T19:54:00.003-04:00

Adityam, or Avatar Jesus Buddha Catholicism, is an esoteric Christianity. There is no esotericism, or fulfillment, without exotericism, or foundation. The foundation is fulfilled, or accomplished, through Matter, Mind, the Heart, and the Divine Sun.

Aum Avatar Buddha Christ Guru Avadhut Rasul Rabbi Tirthankara Fuzi Laozi Sant Mazdayasni Swaha!

A Catholic Priest

2009-08-04T12:23:00.000-04:00

A Catholic priest met Murshid in a park and asked him if he was Catholic. "Yes," said Murshid, "by religion, not by the Church."

The Transitioning of Rev. Ike

2009-07-30T22:17:00.001-04:00

“Close your eyes and see green,” Reverend Ike would tell his 5,000 parishioners from a red-carpeted stage at the former Loew’s film palace on 175th Street in Washington Heights, the headquarters of his United Church Science of Living Institute. “Money up to your armpits, a roomful of money and there you are, just tossing around in it like a swimming pool.”

His exhortation, as quoted by The New York Times in 1972, was a vivid sampling of Reverend Ike’s philosophy, which he variously called “Prosperity Now,” “positive self-image psychology” or just plain “Thinkonomics.”

The philosophy held that St. Paul was wrong; that the root of all evil is not the love of money, but rather the lack of it. It was a message that challenged traditional Christian messages about finding salvation through love and the intercession of the divine. The way to prosper and be well, Reverend Ike preached, was to forget about pie in the sky by and by and to look instead within oneself for divine power.

“This is the do-it-yourself church,” he proclaimed. “The only savior in this philosophy is God in you.”

One person who benefited from this philosophy of self-empowerment was Reverend Ike himself. Along with Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart and Pat Robertson, he was one of the first evangelists to grasp the power of television. At the height of his success, in the 1970s, he reached an audience estimated at 2.5 million.

In return for spiritual inspiration, he requested cash donations from his parishioners, from his television and radio audiences, and from the recipients of his extensive mailings — preferably in paper currency, not coins. (“Change makes your minister nervous in the service,” he would tell his congregation.)

He would also, in return, mail his contributors a prayer cloth.

His critics saw the donations as the entire point of his ministry, calling him a con man misleading his flock. His defenders, while acknowledging his love of luxury, argued that his church had roots both in the traditions of African-American evangelism and in the philosophies of mind over matter.

Whether legitimately or not, the money flooded in, making him a multimillionaire and enabling him to flaunt the power of his creed with a show of sumptuous clothes, ostentatious jewelry, luxurious residences and exotic automobiles. “My garages runneth over,” he said.

Fantastic Four

2009-07-30T16:06:00.006-04:00

Islam: Man and God totally separate. (Ben Grimm)

Christianity: Man and God separate, but God unites with Man. (Reed Richards)

Buddhism: Man and God separate, but Man unites with God. (Johnny Storm)

Hinduism: Man and God always not-separate. (Susan Storm)

Unity: Trevor Hall and Matisyahu

2009-07-23T13:19:00.003-04:00

Lyrics

Trevor Hall

Ishta Devata

2009-07-21T17:21:00.002-04:00

There is a saying in Sanskrit “ Ekam Sat – Vidwaan Bahutaa vadantii” meaning that “Truth is One (God is One) – Learned Ones of Yore have explained it in different forms!” Though it is true that Almighty is One, it is also equally true that meditating or praying to the Formless, Blemishless Paramaatmaa is not within the mental maturity level of most common persons. The concept of a Personal God (Called Ishta Devataa) helps persons to relate better to Divine....

Here in comes the concept of “Phalana Devataa” (The Divine Form that gives manifest good results to a native). Phalana Devataa is the Form of Divinity that best relates to a human being’s inner psyche and thus gives fast results for mundane activities. We can say that these Phalana Devataas are the guardian angels of a person. Astrology does give valuable clues to find out which of the various Forms of Divine can give best results to a native. Based on these clues if a person does worship to that Deity Form, manifest results can be obtained. This will strengthen the belief system of a person towards occult matters, and when all material desires get fulfilled by the help of that Deity Form, the person may progress to Higher Forms of Meditation and Philosophy which will pave the way for Ultimate Salvation (Mukhti)....

What I have given here is only “indicative” or “suggestive.” If you have already received “Deeksha” from holy persons, they might have relied upon other processes for short-listing the best worship procedures for you. Again, one’s Family Deity (kula Devataa) should be Honoured before one does worship of one’s own Guardian Deity indicated above. On no account should one abandon the worship of Family Deities ( a Deity that has been worshipped continuously in the Family for at least 3 generations becomes the Family Deity of the Family. In most cases, there will be an unbroken line of worshippers of a Deity going back to even 100s of generations! Such Deities as Family Deities over many generations will be powerful, and mostly the Guardian Deity as shown by horoscope will be the same as Family Deity in such cases. These Deity Forms are easily pleased and it is really one’s good luck to be born in such spiritual families). If you are already in a Family of Upaasakaas (Serious Worshippers of a Particular Divine Form), you need not check the astrological indications; you can just follow the path of your ancestors in serious worship. By the Grace of the Family Deity, you will be led to Higher paths – if necessary!

Balance

2009-07-18T23:36:00.003-04:00

There are four traditions that balance one another:

Buddhism balances Christianity

Hinduism balances Islam

Buddhism: realization of the Transcendent

Christianity: realization of the conditional

Islam: There is One God

Hinduism: There is Only God

Contradictions

2009-07-18T09:18:00.003-04:00

There is no inherent contradiction:

between Christianity and Buddhism

between Buddhism and Islam

between Islam and Hinduism.

There are contradictions, of course:

Love contradicts lust

Light contradicts anger

Logic contradicts ignorance

Life contradicts fear

Those are contradictions I can live with.

Cubed Interpretation

2009-07-16T20:20:00.002-04:00

The Four Types of Religious Statements:

Physical-Interpretation is a statement that may be interpreted literally. “You shall not murder....” (Mark 10:19)
Psychology-Interpretation is a statement that may be interpreted psychologically. “If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off....” (Mark 9:43).
Noetic-Interpretation is a statement that may be interpreted noetically. “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.” (Mark 6:50)
Solar-Interpretation is a statement that may be interpreted solarly. “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” (Mark 4:41)

The Fourth Mark

2009-07-10T19:08:00.003-04:00

The Fourth Mark of Conditional Events:

Sabbe sankhara rocana: All conditional events are luminous, shining, and bright. The Divine Sun shines behind, through, and as all conditional events.

The Three Marks

2009-07-06T11:54:00.004-04:00

The Three Marks of Conditional Events:

Sabba sankhara anicca: All conditional events are impermanent

Sabbe sankhara anatta: All conditional events are not self-contained, are incapable of independent existence, are inherently tantric, or are inherently "relational"

Sabbe sankhara dukkha: All conditional events are subject to lust, anger, ignorance, and fear; are subject to apparent divorce from Radiance

(See the tilakkhana of traditional Buddhism, especially in the Dhammapada.)

The Buddha and the Siddha

2009-07-04T20:07:00.004-04:00

There are two Paths. The Lokuttara Path is the path that takes you out of the conditional cosmos altogether. Jainism, Buddhism, and various other traditions were founded upon the Lokuttara Path, even if most of the members of those traditions do not actually aim for transcending the conditional cosmos altogether. Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism and various other traditions were founded upon the Lokiya Path, the path that aims for the fulfillment of the conditional cosmos, even if some of the members of those traditions may actually aim for the transcendence of the conditional cosmos altogether.

The Lokuttara Path may be called the Path of the Buddha, the Buddha being one who has 'awakened' to the transcendent realm.

The Lokiya Path may be called the Path of the Siddha, the Siddha being one who has 'accomplished' the fulfillment of the conditional realm.

In that sense, Jesus of Nazareth was a Siddha, and Christianity is a Siddhic tradition.

Another name for Siddha is Tantrik.

God and Buddhism

2009-06-29T12:52:00.004-04:00

The most essential meaning of "God" is quite simple: "God" is a person or event of greatest significance. As such, Buddhism does teach about God.

The Buddha is God. This would also imply that the Bodhisattas (those who are on the path to Buddhahood) are also God. (The Buddha corresponds to God the Son of Christianity.)

The Dhamma is God. "Dhamma" doesn't simply mean the Teaching of the Dhamma. "Dhamma" also means the Reality that the Buddha realized: Nibbana, as well as the abandonment of greed, hatred, and delusion, and the perfection of giving, love, and wisdom. (The Dhamma corresponds to God the Father in Christianity.)

The Sangha is God. Sangha is the community (infinite in number) of those who have realized, to one degree or another, what the Buddha taught. The Sangha includes both monastics and laypersons. (The Sangha corresponds to God the Holy Spirit in Christianity.)

The Buddha is ever-present, never absent, because the Dhamma is always True, and the Sangha is always practicing.

The Four Boundless States of Mind

2009-06-28T16:15:00.001-04:00

The Eighty-Four Mahasiddhas and the Path of Tantra

Attainment of this union in Mahamudra, entails elimination of the barriers between oneself and other people. Suddenly the social field opens up as the siddha empathizes totally with his fellow beings, and since he has attained the powers of mind-reading and prescience (as a direct result of uniting self and other) he is capable of guiding them in their sadhanas. And also, simultaneously with the attainment of the ultimate mystical experience, the siddha is imbued with compassion ("suffering together"), and automatically he acts spontaneously to fulfill the Bodhisattva Vow, which is the commitment to serve others without prejudice in whatever way necessary. Loving kindness, sympathetic joy, compassion and equanimity, the four boundless states of mind, constitute a preparatory meditation that cultivates the feeling of oneness with all beings; the Mahamudra union generates these social virtues, and feelings such as love induce that union. The siddhas of the legends were renowned for their spontaneous effusion of emotion, whether it was for a beautiful woman or a starving puppy, and the songs of the siddhacaryas are full of profound sentiments of love for woman.

Without Buddha I Could Not Be A Christian

2009-06-25T16:23:00.009-04:00

(From the back cover:) Honest and unflinching, Without Buddha I Could Not Be A Christian narrates how estreemed Catholic theologian, Paul F. Knitter overcame a crisis of faith by looking to Buddhism for inspiration. From prayer to how Christianity views life after death, Knitter argues that a Buddhist standpoint can encourage a more person-centered conception of Christianity, where individual religious experience comes first, and liturgy and tradition second. Moving and revolutionary, this book will inspire Christians everywhere.

Knitter's basic argument is that being a student, even a disciple, of Shakyamuni Buddha can indeed make you a better Christian. Knitter's ultimate commitment is to Jesus Christ and the Christian tradition, and he sees no ultimate incompatibility with Buddhism and Christianity. Heck, he has even taken Refuge in the Triple Gem, which is comparable to being baptized.

Lokiya-Magga

2009-06-22T15:30:00.003-04:00

Theravada Buddhism distinguishes between the path of liberation and the path of worldly well-being. This corresponds loosely to the Western distinction between spiritual and secular concerns. The Pali words for these two are literally the ultimate path (lokuttara-magga) and the mundane or worldly path (lokiya-magga). No absolute separation exists, and teachers vary in the degree of distinction or non-distinction they see between them. Even when a strong distinction is upheld, the spiritual and the secular paths are seen as being mutually supportive of each other. The path of liberation is concerned with selflessness and nibbana, which in and of itself does not belong to the conventions, contents or conditions of the world. The path of worldly well-being is concerned with how to engage with these conventions and conditions so as to create as much personal, familial, social, economic and political health as possible.

Siddhartha Boddus

2009-05-25T12:30:00.002-04:00

Interesting, educated speculation never ceases to amaze:

...[In] the Greek kingdom of Bactria, the word Buddha was spoken as Boddo (ΒΟΔΔΟ), which based on my notes is a masculine, singular ending. Now, Latin borrows heavily from Greek, and always has, so rather than borrowing from Sanskrit (the Romans had no direct contact with India), I assumed the Latin word would be a transliteration from Greek, therefore, I transliterated Boddo to Boddus (2nd decl, masc.). From there, it is a simple matter of changing Boddus to the genitive case Boddi, or “of the Buddha”.

One

2009-05-23T14:25:00.002-04:00

There's only one Christ.

Christ in matter.

Christ in mind.

Christ in the soul.

Christ in the Sun.

Ever going out.

Ever returning in.

The Giver.

The Taker.

The Lover.

The Beloved.

The Ascetic Tantrik.

Four Levels of Sadhana

2009-05-23T04:17:00.005-04:00

There are, as seen before, four levels of interpreting sacred texts:

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.

Associated with each level of interpretation, is a level of sadhana (or "practice"):

Physical sadhana (ritual, hatha yoga, selfless service, e.g.)

Mental sadhana (discrimination, breath-awareness, radiating compassion, e.g.)

Noetic sadhana (inquiring into the location of "I", contemplation of "I am", e.g.)

Solar sadhana (living under the assumption, or realization, that all this is God, e.g.)

Sacred scripture can be interpreted on many levels. Sacred scripture also can act as a guide to sadhana.

The four levels of interpretation and the four levels of sadhana correspond to the four basic 'elements' of psycho-spirituality: (1) matter and energy; (2) mental factors (feelings, thoughts, intentions); (3) the center of awareness; (4) the Divine (Nirvana; Ain Sof; Parasiva; Allah).

Infinity and Finity

2009-05-06T14:11:00.004-04:00

Perfection belongs to man becoming God or God becoming man

Perfection does not belong to God as God, nor does it belong to man as man. We get perfection when man becomes God or when God becomes man. The finite being who is conscious of his being finite is obviously short of perfection; but when he is conscious of being one with the Infinite, he is perfect. That is what happens when man gives up the illusion of being finite and attains Godhood by realising his divinity.

If by the Infinite we mean that which is opposed to the finite, or that which is away from the finite, and necessarily other than the finite, that Infinite is already limited by its being unable to assert itself in and through the finite. In other words, perfection cannot belong to such an Infinite. The Infinite, therefore, has to discover its unlimited life in and through the finite without getting limited by this process. God's perfection is revealed only when He manifests Himself as man. The conscious descent of God into the limited form of man is known as Avatar. This again is a case of perfection.

Thus we have perfection when the finite transcends its limits and realises its infinity, or when the Infinite gives up its supposed aloofness and becomes man. In both cases the finite and the Infinite do not stand outside each other. When there is a happy and a conscious blending of the finite and the Infinite we have perfection. Then we have the Infinite revealing itself through the finite without getting limited thereby, and we have the finite transcending its sense of limitation in the full knowledge of its really being the revelation of the Infinite.

-- Meher Baba, Discourses, Vol I., 119-120

I'll leave it as an exercise to the reader to determine the two Avatars who form the foundation of the Christian Tradition.

Planetary Mantras

2009-04-23T22:17:00.011-04:00

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

2009-04-22T20:15:00.003-04:00

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

2009-04-20T19:13:00.003-04:00

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

2009-04-16T15:17:00.002-04:00

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

2009-04-14T13:42:00.001-04:00

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

2009-04-12T01:46:00.009-04:00

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?

2009-04-07T13:45:00.002-04:00

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

2009-04-04T18:29:00.004-04:00

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.

Orthodoxy and Heresy

2009-03-28T16:15:00.001-04:00

No one form of religion will do for all. Each is a pearl on a string. We must be particular above all else to find individuality in each. No man is born to any religion; he has a religion in his own soul. Any system which seeks to destroy individuality is in the long run disastrous. Each life has a current running through it, and this current will eventually take it to God. The end and aim of all religions is to realise God. The greatest of all training is to worship God alone. If each man chose his own ideal and stuck to it, all religious controversy would vanish.

-- Swami Vivekananda

Vivekananda is not simply arguing that each person should be its own religion. Vivekananda himself remained a Vedantan, while at the same time creatively constructing his own vision of what Vedanta means, drawing deep inspiration from his Guru, Ramakrishna. More orthodox Hindus criticized Vivekananda, and understandably so, but one might argue that orthodox Hinduism's very survival was strengthened as a result of the work of Vivekananda and Ramakrishna. Creating one's own spiritual path, choosing one's ideal, I would suggest, can be done, and is best done, within a framework that includes orthodox. It's the mutation that allows for evolution to occur, for the species' survival. The mutation occurs in the context of stability, and stability occurs in the context of mutation.

Every statement of orthodoxy contains implicit within it, the existence of heresy as its pre-condition and reason for being. The complementarianism of opposites is the source of life. Adam and Eve. Yin and Yang. Yahweh and Shekhinah. Linga and Yoni.

The orthodox need the heretic. And the heretic would do well to recognize its need for the orthodox.

Christic Yogas

2009-03-12T21:59:00.006-04:00

The Christ is a Person, true. But the Christ is not limited to personality.

The Christ is a Person, to whom one can be in devotional relationship, in the form of Bhakti Yoga.

The Christ is a Fire, the process of tapasya, of atonement, in the form of Raja Yoga.

The Christ is an Insight, the understanding of the nature of reality, in the form of Jnana Yoga.

The Christ is a Work, the sacrificial action of compassion and wisdom, in the form of Karma Yoga.

Qualites of the Dhamma

2009-03-11T20:22:00.007-04:00

From the Gotami Sutta (Anguttara 8.53):

I have heard that at one time the Blessed One was staying at Vesali, in the Peaked Roof Hall in the Great Forest.

Then Mahapajapati Gotami went to the Blessed One and, on arrival, having bowed down to him, stood to one side. As she was standing there she said to him: "It would be good, lord, if the Blessed One would teach me the Dhamma in brief such that, having heard the Dhamma from the Blessed One, I might dwell alone, secluded, heedful, ardent, & resolute."

"Gotami, the qualities of which you may know, 'These qualities lead to passion, not to dispassion; to being fettered, not to being unfettered; to accumulating, not to shedding; to self-aggrandizement, not to modesty; to discontent, not to contentment; to entanglement, not to seclusion; to laziness, not to aroused persistence; to being burdensome, not to being unburdensome': You may definitely hold, 'This is not the Dhamma, this is not the Vinaya, this is not the Teacher's instruction.'

"As for the qualities of which you may know, 'These qualities lead to dispassion, not to passion; to being unfettered, not to being fettered; to shedding, not to accumulating; to modesty, not to self-aggrandizement; to contentment, not to discontent; to seclusion, not to entanglement; to aroused persistence, not to laziness; to being unburdensome, not to being burdensome': You may definitely hold, 'This is the Dhamma, this is the Vinaya, this is the Teacher's instruction.'"

That is what the Blessed One said. Gratified, Mahapajapati Gotami delighted at his words.

In this sutta, the Blessed One, Siddhartha Gautama the Buddha, outlined the qualities that arise in the presence of the true teaching (Dhamma) of the Buddha and the true discipline (Vinaya) of the Buddha. If these qualities arise within oneself, know that you are in the presence of the true teaching and true discipline. Really, though, these are qualities that arise in the presence of the true teaching and discipline of all the Buddhas, including the Christ, the Avatar, and the Rasul. Some clarifications should be made, though, for the sake of the house-holder spiritual practice. "Passion" refers to an addictive grasping. "Accumulating" refers to unnecessary intellectual curiosity. "Entanglement" refers to excessive dependence upon others.

N.B. "Dhamma" is Pali. The Sanskrit form is "Dharma".

The Ultimate Birth and Death

2009-03-07T21:19:00.006-05:00

Historically, Christianity has most often taken a certain position on death:

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.

There are many points that could be made regarding the issue of reincarnation and Christianity. I would suggest that reincarnation, properly understood, is not antithetical to Christianity (just as it is not antithetical to Judaism, or Islam). For instance, it is true, as many Christians believe, that "there is no reincarnation after death". At the same time, it is also true, as quite a few Christians believe, that there is reincarnation after death. Now, the reader may be puzzled, and begin to ask, "How can A and B both be true, when A and B make opposite claims?" The reader may then ask, "How can both reincarnation and non-reincarnation be true?"

A certain Sufi teacher, Bawa Muhaiyaddeen, suggested one way in which both can be true. (In fact, many Sufis make the same or a similar type of suggestion.) The human person is one, of course, but death signals a separation of the components of the human person. The human person is composed of body, mind, and the Very Self. The elements of the body form, exist, and transform into some other form. The atom in your thumb, for instance, once existed in another form, perhaps another person, and in the future, that atom will exist in another form. In short, that atom will "reincarnate". The elements of the mind (thoughts, feelings, intentions, e.g.) likewise exist in your consciousness. These elements of the mind also existed in some other form previously, and will exist in another form at some time in the future. Thus, the mental elements also "reincarnate".

Some person, after your own physical death, will inherit your physical atoms, as well as your mental elements. Thus, that person would be, in some sense, a reincarnation of previous persons, including yourself.

However, the human person is not just body, and not just mind. The human person also is the Very Self, that which makes awareness of the body and the mind possible. This Very Self (known to the Hindus as the Atman) does not change, even while associated with the constantly changing body and mind. While the body and mind undergo their alterations, the Very Self does not "appear" and it does not "disappear". While the body and mind are born and die, the Very Self never takes birth, and the Very Self will never die. The Very Self does not incarnate, and thus does not re-incarnate.

Nonetheless, according to the Sufis, the Very Self did take birth once, and it will indeed "die" once. The Very Self was born at the moment Very God created it, and the Very Self will "die" when it finally returns to Very God.

To say that man is born once and dies once, is to refer to the Very Self arising from God and returning to God. Such a process happens once and only once. To say that man reincarnates, is to refer to the elements of the body and of the mind. Since man is body, mind, and Very Self, man both reincarnates and does not reincarnate.

The Promised Infallibility

2009-03-05T00:02:00.004-05:00

The issue of infallibility is thus defined:

890 The mission of the Magisterium is linked to the definitive nature of the covenant established by God with his people in Christ. It is this Magisterium's task to preserve God's people from deviations and defections and to guarantee them the objective possibility of professing the true faith without error. Thus, the pastoral duty of the Magisterium is aimed at seeing to it that the People of God abides in the truth that liberates. To fulfill this service, Christ endowed the Church's shepherds with the charism of infallibility in matters of faith and morals. The exercise of this charism takes several forms:

891 "The Roman Pontiff, head of the college of bishops, enjoys this infallibility in virtue of his office, when, as supreme pastor and teacher of all the faithful - who confirms his brethren in the faith he proclaims by a definitive act a doctrine pertaining to faith or morals. . . . The infallibility promised to the Church is also present in the body of bishops when, together with Peter's successor, they exercise the supreme Magisterium," above all in an Ecumenical Council. When the Church through its supreme Magisterium proposes a doctrine "for belief as being divinely revealed," and as the teaching of Christ, the definitions "must be adhered to with the obedience of faith." This infallibility extends as far as the deposit of divine Revelation itself.

The doctrine of infallibility operates on two levels: definition and inclusiveness. The definition of infallibility is a negative definition: being preserved from "deviations and defections", teaching doctrine "without error". For instance, to say "the sun is a star" is to say an infallible statement, a statement that is error-free. The statement "the sun is big" can also be seen as infallible, without error, since the sun is indeed big under many standards of measurement. Even though the sun may not look big when seen from earth, or when compared to even larger celestial objects, to say "the sun is big" is not to say something in error. Thus, an infallible statement is true, but an infallible statement is not necessarily the last word on the subject.

And that leads to the second level of infallibility: inclusiveness. An infallible statement, though without error, is not exclusive, or exhaustive. An infallible statement may be without error, but being without error is different from being an exhaustive statement that says everything that can be said about the subject. To say "humans are animals" may be without error, but it doesn't say everything that there is to say about humans, or animals, for that matter. An infallible statement need not be the last word on an issue.

So, the Church's doctrine of the infallibility of, say, the Roman Pontiff, is restricted to issues concerning "matters of faith and morals". Whatever the Pontiff says about faith and morals need not be infallible, though. Only certain statements concerning faith and morals, under defined conditions, are considered infallible. And even these infallible statements, though without error, are not the final words on the subject.

The Immaculate Conception

2009-03-04T22:36:00.005-05:00

The CCC explains the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception:

491 Through the centuries the Church has become ever more aware that Mary, "full of grace" through God, was redeemed from the moment of her conception. That is what the dogma of the Immaculate Conception confesses, as Pope Pius IX proclaimed in 1854:

The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin.

There are many ways to understand the Immaculate Conception. One way is to understand Mary as an Avatar, Daughter of Durga, who took birth as the Mother of Jesus, in order to perform the work She needed to accomplish in conjunction with Jesus. By stating that Mary was kept free from the original forgetfulness (or original sin), the Church is stating that Mary was an Avatar. By stating that her initial and subsequent freedom from original forgetfulness was a result of the "merits of Jesus Christ", the Church is stating that Mary took birth as human form before Jesus did, but only because of the work both Mary and Jesus were to accomplish.

Hail Mary, Full of Grace
The Lord is with You.
Blessed are You among women,
And blessed is the fruit of Your womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
Pray for us sinners,
Now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.

The Christ Guru

2009-03-03T14:41:00.005-05:00

In Christian theology, Jesus is called "the Christ", and "the Son of God":

441 In the Old Testament, "son of God" is a title given to the angels, the Chosen People, the children of Israel, and their kings. It signifies an adoptive sonship that establishes a relationship of particular intimacy between God and his creature. When the promised Messiah-King is called "son of God", it does not necessarily imply that he was more than human, according to the literal meaning of these texts. Those who called Jesus "son of God", as the Messiah of Israel, perhaps meant nothing more than this.

442 Such is not the case for Simon Peter when he confesses Jesus as "the Christ, the Son of the living God", for Jesus responds solemnly: "Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven." Similarly Paul will write, regarding his conversion on the road to Damascus, "When he who had set me apart before I was born, and had called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles..." "and in the synagogues immediately [Paul] proclaimed Jesus, saying, 'He is the Son of God.'" From the beginning this acknowledgment of Christ's divine sonship will be the centre of the apostolic faith, first professed by Peter as the Church's foundation.

In Dharmic terms, Jesus the Christ is also known as the Avatar, the Buddha, the Bhagavan. The Avatar is the descent of the Divine into human form. The Buddha is the awakener, the realizer. Bhagavan is the Blessed One. The Hebraic "son of God" refers to someone with a close relationship to God, and Jesus would certainly fit the bill and more. The Christian "Son of God" refers to someone who has realized his fullness-in-God, to the point of being one with God consciously and embodiedly.

In Dharmic terms, the Son of God would be a Sat-Guru, someone capable of bringing others into the state of fullness-in-God, to the point of being able to confess "I and the Father are One". Many followers of Jesus the Christ believe that Jesus is the Only Son of God; many followers believe otherwise. In any event, the important point is that whichever Sat-Guru would follows, one should be aware of the nature of such a relationship. The Divine Physics of that relationship flourishes in the context of the recognition of the very Divine Incarnation of the Sat-Guru. Sts. Peter and Paul recognized that Divine Incarnation in Jesus. Arjuna recognized it in Krishna, the Avatar. Sariputra recognized it in Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha. Khadijah recognized it in Muhammad, the Rasul.

Thus, Christianity is based on Guru-Bhakti Yoga, or the Spiritual Practice of Devotion to the Divine-Human Person. Swami Sivananda outlined some of the laws inherent in Guru-Bhakti Yoga:

1. To learn cooking, you need a teacher; to learn science you need a professor; to learn any art you need a master. Is not Guru necessary to learn Atma-Vidya?

2. Guru indeed is the sole refuge to take you across the Samsaric deluge.

3. On the thorny path of Truth to guide you there is none but Guru.

4. Guru’s Grace can work wonders.

5. In all your struggle of daily life, Guru will guide and protect you.

6. Guru is the torch-bearer of wisdom.

7. Guru, Isvara, Brahman, preceptor, teacher, Divine Master, etc., are synonymous terms.

8. Salute your Guru first before you salute God, because he takes you to God.

9. Take Mantra Diksha from your Guru. This will inspire and elevate you.

10. Guru will not do Sadhana for you. You will have to do it yourself.

11. Guru will show you the right path.

12. Guru can select the right Yoga for the disciple.

13. By Guru’s grace, the disciple can overcome obstacles and doubts on the path.

14. Guru will lift the disciple from the pitfalls and snares.

15. Sacrifice your body and life to serve your Guru. Then he will take care of your soul.

16. Don’t expect a miracle from your Guru to lift you up into Samadhi. Do rigorous Sadhana yourself. A hungry man will have to eat himself.

17. If you cannot get a Satguru you cannot progress in the spiritual path.

18. Be patient and wise in selecting your Guru, because you cannot divorce your Guru afterwards. It is the greatest sin.

19. Relation between Guru and Chela is sacred and lifelong. Understand this point very well.

Original Sin

2009-03-02T14:30:00.005-05:00

The Christian theology of original sin:

397 Man, tempted by the devil, let his trust in his Creator die in his heart and, abusing his freedom, disobeyed God's command. This is what man's first sin consisted of. All subsequent sin would be disobedience toward God and lack of trust in his goodness.
398 In that sin man preferred himself to God and by that very act scorned him. He chose himself over and against God, against the requirements of his creaturely status and therefore against his own good. Constituted in a state of holiness, man was destined to be fully "divinized" by God in glory. Seduced by the devil, he wanted to "be like God", but "without God, before God, and not in accordance with God".

Original sin may also be understood in Buddhist terms. "Sin" itself would be an act of violence, untruth, dispossession, inebriation, or sensual infidelity; all five of these sins correspond to the five precepts of the Buddhist. The "devil" would correspond to the demon "Mara", who is often believed to be a personification of one's own temptations. The "Creator" refers to the very nature of reality, and how that very nature of reality was something our ancestors had complete trust in. Somehow, along the way, we've lost that basic trust in reality, in life. After losing trust, or "faith", in life, we disobeyed, or "forgot", what life had to tell us. To forget what life itself has to tell us, is to turn our attention away from life and toward our own limited ego-selves, thus preferring our ego-selves over and against life itself. It was our destiny to live in trust of life, and thus enter into greater and greater depths of life and living. But we forgot the big picture, and began to focus on the immediate gratification of the small picture, the small ego-self, thinking that the ego-self was somehow divine in and of itself. Whereas, the truth is that the ego-self can only realize its own divinity, by forgetting its own small self, and remembering life itself. The infinite growth into life, a journey that has no one end, is called "theosis" in Christianity, and "nirvana" in Buddhism.

Yudha et Shanti

2009-03-01T15:29:00.005-05:00

Yudha Mantras ("Mantras of Spiritual War"):
1. Durga!
2. Jesus!
3. Skanda!
4. Allah!

Shanti Mantras ("Mantras of Spiritual Peace"):
1. Aum Namah Shivayah
2. Jesus Buddha
3. Buddha
4. La ilaha il Allah

Mantras

2009-02-27T18:57:00.004-05:00

Aum Namah Shivayah is the offering (yajna) mantra.

Jesus is the seed (bija) mantra.

Buddha is the root (mula) mantra.

And Allah is the fruit (phala) mantra.

Reincarnation in Judaism

2009-02-17T16:18:00.002-05:00

Reincarnation is part of some Jewish mystical traditions.

Job 1:21:

He said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, And naked I shall return there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD."

Sins, Gifts, and Virtues

2009-02-16T12:07:00.002-05:00

Astrological symbolism exists regarding the seven capital (or "deadly") sins, the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, and the seven virtues.

Stars and Saints

2009-02-12T14:59:00.000-05:00

One might observe astrological and religious parallelism.

First Rule of MWS

2009-02-10T16:41:00.001-05:00

Modern Western Science (MWS) is a game, a game that when played well, results in useful, practical knowledge that can be used to explicate, control, and predict events in the empirically observable and quantifiable universe of matter and energy. The track record of MWS in helping the human species live longer and healthier lives is non-debatable. (Whether MWS has helped humanity live more moral lives, well, you can debate that if you choose. Morals isn't quantifiable.)

And the game of MWS has rules. The first rule of Fight Club...uh, I mean, the first rule of Modern Western Science is (1) you do not invoke what is not empirically observable and quantifiable in order to explain what is empirically observable and quantifiable. The second rule of MWS is (2) you DO NOT INVOKE what is not empirically observable and quantifiable in order to explain what IS empirically observable and quantifiable. The third rule of MWS is (3) if you do invoke what is not empirically observable and quantifiable in order to explain what is empirically observable and quantifiable, then you are no longer playing the game of MWS. At which point, you are playing SOME OTHER game -- perhaps philosophy, perhaps aesthetics, perhaps theology, but you are no longer playing the game of MWS.

It's OK to not play the game of MWS.

It's totally fine to not play the game of MWS.

You are not a bad person if you are not playing the game of MWS.

The game of MWS is not superior or inferior (necessarily) to any other particular game.

The game of MWS will not (in itself) make you happy.

The game of MWS will not (in itself) lead to nirvana.

The game of MWS will not (in itself) open the door to salvation.

But the game of MWS has rules, those rules make the game work, and if you're not playing by the rules, you are simply not doing MWS.

The Karmic Remedy

2009-01-28T19:04:00.005-05:00

“The three degrees of karmic intensity which may apply to one, many, or all areas of a person’s life are:

Dridha (fixed) Karma
Dridha-Adridha (fixed/non-fixed) Karma
Adridha (non-fixed) Karma

Dridha Karmas give fixed results because they are so difficult to change that they are practically non-changeable. These karmas, pleasurable or painful, are destined to be experienced because of the intensity of their causes.

Dridha-Adridha Karmas, good OR bad, can be changed through the concentrated application of creative will, though considerable effort is required.

Adridha Karmas are said to give non-fixed results because they are easily altered.
Upaya (Sanskrit for ‘method’ or ‘remedy’) refers to future and current actions that remedy adverse Karmas (that is, that remedy the adverse results of previous actions). When the karma is non-fixed, one may expect immediate change on commencement of an upaya. If the karmas are fixed/non-fixed, results are anticipated after some concentrated efforts, often after a period of forty days. But even for those who do persevere, transformation of fixed karmas may not necessarily be expected during this lifetime, though a slight modification of results will perhaps be secretly anticipated. So long as the upayas are patiently and consistently resorted to over the course of this incarnation, however, they will act as well-planted seeds whose crop of desired results will be reaped during a future incarnation.

Remedies are designed to prevent or to correct undesirable results of previous actions. Often the best remedy of all is to worship an ishta devata, one’s chosen deity. An ishta devata makes it easier to live a life in which you act of your own volition, instead of being perpetually driven by your karmas, or by the karmas of others, to act in frequently undesirable ways. When you worship an ishta devata, your focus restrains the fluctuations of your mind, which permits a little spark of Reality to flow from your deity to you. It is this spark that appears in your awareness as intuition. Though the worship of an ishta devata may seem to some an exercise in idolatry, the deities are really representatives of the One Reality. When you worship a personal deity, you indirectly worship the Absolute One, the Singularity who manifests as the personal deity. The personal relationship you cultivate with an ishta devata plugs you in to a personal relationship with the One Reality, the source of all questions and all answers.

-- Hard de Fouw and Robert Svoboda. Light on Life: An Introduction to the Astrology of India. Twin Lakes, Wisconsin: Lotus Press, 2003. 24-36. [Some editing included.]

Two Basic Mistakes

2009-01-26T12:10:00.003-05:00

What do you take to be the character of the religiosity of a society like Japan vis-à-vis a society like the United States or France or England? If Inglehart isn’t picking this up, what precisely is it that he’s not seeing?

It’s very syncretistic. People see no problem going to a Shinto shrine on certain seasons of the year, being married in a Christian-like ceremony, and being buried by a Buddhist monk. This eclecticism is not just apparent in Japan—it’s in all of East Asia; China is similar in that respect. It’s very different from Western notions, which probably come from monotheism. You either believe or you don’t believe. There’s a Japanese philosopher by the name of Nakamura who wrote a book. I’ve forgotten everything about it except one sentence in it in which he says that the West has been responsible for two basic mistakes. One is monotheism—there’s only one God—and the other is Aristotle’s principle of contradiction—something is either A or non-A. Every intelligent Asian, he said, knows that there are many gods and things can be both A and B. Well, those are deep-seated cultural habits of mind, and they make both religion and secularity where it exists take on a very different form.

One of the Pagan Priests

2009-01-22T14:17:00.000-05:00

Abba Olympus said this. "One of the pagan priests came down from Scetis one day and came to my cell and slept there. Having reflected on the monks' way of life, he said to me, 'Since you live like this, do you not receive any visits from your God?' I said to him, 'No.' Then the priest said to me, 'Yet when we make a sacrifice to our God, he hides nothing from us, but discloses his mysteries; and you, giving yourself so much hardship, vigils, prayer and asceticism, say that you see nothing? Truly, if you see nothing, then it is because you have impure thoughts in your hearts, which separate you from your God, and for this reason his mysteries are not revealed to you.' So I went to report the priest's words to the old men. They were filled with admiration and said that this was true. For impure thoughts separated God from man."

God-Incarnate Seeks a Guru

2009-01-19T17:37:00.002-05:00

John the Baptist, son of the priest Zacharias and his wife Elizabeth, had, in accordance with angel Gabriel’s prophecy begun to baptize people and to prepare them to receive the Light of the Lord Jesus. Lord Jesus was now about thirty years of age, and sought John to be baptized by him on the banks of the river Jordan. John recognised Jesus’s Divinity and asked: “Dost Thou come to me, when I have need to be baptized by Thee?” But the Lord had determined to set an example to mankind: spiritual illumination can be had through a Guru (Preceptor). The moment the baptism was complete, Lord Jesus saw a vision of God’s spirit descending like a dove and alighting upon Him, and He heard a heavenly voice say: “Thou art my beloved son, I am well pleased with thee.”

Even John the Baptist had often declared that Lord Jesus was greater than he. But look at the Lord’s devotion to His Preceptor! He said: “Of those born of women there has not arisen a greater than John the Baptist.” Devotion to the Guru (Preceptor) is the key that unlocks the realms divine: and even the Supreme Being, the Mass of supreme Consciousness, when He descends upon this earth, sets a great example in Guru-Bhakti.
-- Swami Sivananda