New Year's Gift: The Real Ring

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

The Angelic Salutation, from the East:

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

Theotokos Virgin, Rejoice!

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

Blessed are you among women,

and blessed is the fruit of your womb,

for you have borne a Guru of our souls.

At Every Depth

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

-- Da Love-Ananda

Secret Message

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

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

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

The Man of Understanding

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

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

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

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

-- Franklin Jones

All Conditions

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

-- Bubba Free John

No Thought

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happiness is the responsibility.

Freedom is the discipline.

-- Bubba Free John

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.

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 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.

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