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.