Foundation and Fulfillment

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

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

“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

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

Lyrics

Trevor Hall

Ishta Devata

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

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

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

The Four Types of Religious Statements:

1. Physical-Interpretation is a statement that may be interpreted literally. “You shall not murder....” (Mark 10:19)
2. Psychology-Interpretation is a statement that may be interpreted psychologically. “If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off....” (Mark 9:43).
3. Noetic-Interpretation is a statement that may be interpreted noetically. “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.” (Mark 6:50)
4. 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

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

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

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

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

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

(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

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

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

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

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

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

Sun: Raam

Moon: Soom

Mars: Ram

Mercury: Aim

Jupiter: Shriim

Venus: Hriim

Saturn: Kriim

Rahu: Duum

Ketu: Keem

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

Last Man Standing

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Signs of God

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

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

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

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

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

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

Says Kabir:

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

The Healing of Genesis

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The M-Word

The M-Word

Dom Bede Griffiths

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

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

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

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

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

The Rebirth of Reincarnation

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

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

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

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

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

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

Has Anyone Seen God?

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

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

Four Levels of Interpretation

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

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

The second level is the psycho-energetic level.

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

The fourth is the solar level.

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

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

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

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

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

Orthodoxy and Heresy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Stars and Saints

One might observe astrological and religious parallelism.

First Rule of MWS

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

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

1. Dridha (fixed) Karma
2. Dridha-Adridha (fixed/non-fixed) Karma
3. 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

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

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

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