LIVINGSPARK

The Essence of Divinity

2009-07-12T10:00:00.001+05:30

Writing on his concept of God, Ashok Chopra, a columnist in Times of India says:

“I don’t look for Him and He doesn’t for me. I never found Him in any gurudwara, temple, church or mosque. But, I easily find him everyday in the music of a composer, in the voice of a singer, in the painting of a painter, in the writing of an author. He’s there in a monument, in a sculpture, in a piece of fashion garment, in a manuscript that lands on my desk for publication. I see Him in the innocent smile of that child standing half-naked with nose running in some far off village. I find Him in my friends who have taken me into their lives, their world, who are always there for me, who stand by me, who tolerate my various moods and eccentricities.
You can discover God by reconciling your different selves — the good, the bad and the ugly. Remember Graham Greene’s words: “...If there is a God who uses us and makes his saints out of such material as we are, the devil too may have his ambitions; he may dream of training even such a person as myself...” I guard and protect myself from being influenced by the teachings and preaching of any baba, any guru, any mata, any moral brigade on how to be pious. For me, God is there within; certainly not in the distance, but here and now. I don’t waste time in prayers or in meditation. The only prayer to me is my work. My meditation is not to hurt anyone. It helps me have a clear mind. It gives me a good night’s sleep. And I enjoy the fruits of work to the hilt.”

In a more profound way, the great Indian mystic Aurobindo, in his essays on “Divine and Human” says:

“Yoga is not a modern invention of the human mind, but our ancient and prehistoric possession. The Veda is our oldest extant human document and the Veda, from one point of view, is a great compilation of practical hints about Yoga. All religion is a flower of which Yoga is the root; all philosophy, poetry & the works of genius use it, consciously or unconsciously, as an instrument. We believe that God created the world by Yoga and by Yoga He will draw it into Himself again. Yoga is the birth and passing away of things (“Yogah prabhavapyayau”).
When Sri Krishna reveals to Arjuna the greatness of His creation and the manner in which He has built it out of His being by a reconciliation of logical opposites, he says “Behold my divine Yoga” (“Pasya me yogam aishwaram”). We usually attach a more limited sense to the word; when we use or hear it, we think of the details of Patanjali's system, of rhythmic breathing, of peculiar ways of sitting, of concentration of mind, of the trance of the adept. But these are merely details of particular systems. The systems are not the thing itself, any more than the water of an irrigation canal is the river Ganges. Yoga may be done without the least thought for the breathing, in any posture or no posture, without any insistence on concentration, in the full waking condition, while walking, working, eating, drinking, talking with others, in any occupation, in sleep, in dream, in states of unconsciousness, semiconsciousness, double-consciousness. It is no nostrum or system or fixed practice, but an eternal fact of process based on the very nature of the Universe.”

Yoga stands essentially on the fact that in this world we are everywhere one, yet divided; one yet divided in our being, one with yet divided from our fellow creatures of all kinds, one with yet divided from the infinite existence which we call God, Nature or Brahman.

Love to you all

Identity of the Twin

2009-07-08T10:00:00.003+05:30

The very first verse of the Gospel of Thomas goes as follows:

“These are the secret sayings which the living Jesus spoke and which Didymos Judas Thomas wrote down” And He said “Whoever finds the interpretations of these sayings will not experience death”

Almost all spiritual masters transmitted their deep insight through an oral tradition. Spontaneous dissemination which transcended space and time was their unique character. Jesus himself taught on the steps of the temple, in the field wheat as he was walking with the disciples and in the synagogue. Many scholars interpret ‘secret sayings’ as special messages that was delivered in secret to Thomas and they base their findings on one saying in the Gospel which says “….he took him, and withdrew, and spoke three sayings to him. When Thomas came back to his friends they asked him, “What did Jesus say to you?”………”. But Jesus spoke always to all the disciples as evident from the narration of the Gospels. His transmission was mainly intended for the disciples for he knew that he can not reach out to all the people and it required a well prepared mind to take in what he was saying. Therefore the ‘secret sayings’ has relevance to the capability of the recipient. It can be equated to a radio transmission which is broadcast to all but can be received only when the receiver is tuned to the frequency in which the transmission is broadcast. It is inner preparedness and state of grace that is necessary to fully grasp the meanings of the saying. This can be equated to the Zen Koans which on the face of it appears to be meaningless but on deeper examination reveals subtle meaning.

The next emphasis is on ‘living Jesus’. Why does Thomas pronounce the aliveness of Jesus while the words are spoken? Tau Malachi, the modern Jewish mystic says: “the living Yeshua is speaking in secret within and behind your heart”. This is not a historic event when Jesus spoke certain words to his disciples but a present occurrence that takes place in all seeking souls which live in perennial Christ (divine) consciousness. In divine consciousness the physical name and form is transcended and physical existence or death becomes meaningless. It is the all pervading spirit that operates and as the spirit is immortal the consciousness in which it is operating imparts an immortal attribute to the source of this knowledge as well as to the recipient, hence the words 'living Jesus' and 'Whoever finds the interpretations of these sayings will not experience death'.

Underlying all the above analysis is the subtle message built into the very first verse. The final author of the sayings of Yeshua is Didymos Judas Thomas. Didymos in Greek and Thoma in Aramaic mean twin. If you have to write down the sayings of Yeshua in your heart and live by it, you also have to become the twin. The twin of Yeshua means you also become one with the Father. The double emphasis of the nature of the twin reveals a state “as above so below and as without so within”

Love to you all

Ocean of Immortality

2009-07-05T10:00:00.004+05:30

While instructing the young Narendra, who would later become the great Swami Vivekananda, Swami Ramakrishna Paramahansa advices him in these words.
“Narendra, God is an ocean of nectar. Tell me if you will dive into this sea or not? Well, imagine that there is a bowl full of sugar syrup and you are a fly. Where will you perch yourself and drink the syrup? Narendra said, ‘I will sit on the edge of the bowl, extend my mouth and sip from there; for if I go farther, I will get drowned.’ Then Swamiji said, ‘My son, this is the ocean of Sachchidananda. There is no fear of death in it. It is the ocean of immortality.’ Only the ajnanis (ignorant) say that one should not have excess of the nectar of God’s love and prema. Is there a limit to the love for God? So I say to you: Immerse yourself in the sea of Sachchidananda.”

Swamiji calls the omnipresent Godhead as the ocean of Sachchidananda. Why did he choose this name?
You must go back to the answer given by young Narendra to commence this analysis. Narendra says “I will sit on the edge of the bowl, extend my mouth and sip from there; for if I go farther, I will get drowned”. This is the view of God held by the ignorant as well as by most religious traditions, where we see God as something external, that which is to be tasted, seen and experienced outside of oneself. When we do this we are limited by our capacity which is the product of our senses.
This is the reason that in the Bhagavad-Gita, when asked by Arjuna to reveal his universal form Lord Krishna says:
“But you cannot see Me with your present eyes. Therefore I give you divine eyes. Behold My mystic opulence!” ….. Ch: 11-8.
The great German Christian mystic, Meister Eckhart says:
“The knower and the known are one. Simple people imagine that they should see God as if he stood there and they here. This is not so. God and I, we are one in knowledge”

Swami Ramakrishna admonishes the young student to immerse himself. This immersion into Godhead happens through a three step process. This process is Sat – Chit – Ananda. The first is to be bestowed with divine eyes through which we can perceive the universal truth (Sat means truth in Sanskrit). What does this mean? It means that we have to transcend to a higher level of perception by moving away and remaining unattached to what we normally see as reality. This is an intuitive process brought about by study, contemplation and single pointed meditation.
Chit in Sanskrit means 'to think' but thinking is the result of consciousness and therefore chit really means 'to be conscious of'. In the second step what are we conscious of? A new reality therefore a new consciousness.
Finally, the new consciousness is experienced as bliss (Ananda) that grounds one's being into this new reality. Why is this state called ‘Ocean of immortality’ because this new reality is an all encompassing singularity beyond space and time and never changing.
Meister Eckhart says:
“There exists only the present instant... a Now which always and without end is itself new. There is no yesterday nor any tomorrow, but only Now, as it was a thousand years ago and as it will be a thousand years hence”.

We are all embarked on this journey of imbibing this nectar. This the everlasting thirst of every soul which will never rest until it merges with its source.

Love to you all

Erasing the Thin Divide

2009-07-01T10:00:00.004+05:30

Oscar Levant, a famous pianist and media star of the 1930s and ’40s, battled for decades against mental illness, surviving several painful hospitalizations. He once declared: “There is a fine line between insanity and genius. I have erased that line.”

The late Michael Jackson (MJ) erased the same line—and blurred many other distinctions in the course of his extraordinary career. In his death the pop icon leaves behind a very telling story of human life.
This story unfolds thus:

A talented child is what we are all born. This talent is a birth gift of God or divine creation that every child receives. Those of you who have read Stephen Covey’s book ‘The 8th Habit’ will know in much more clarity the totality of gifts that we receive at birth through the four intelligences (physical, mental, emotional and spiritual).
As we grow into young men and women, we sometime leave these gifts in their original packaging without ever bothering to open it or we open these gifts and fail to use them to their full potential. Many people have their own tainted view of what the gifts are intended for and remould them to suit their own perception of life’s purpose.

The physical intelligence bestows excellent health in everyone. You only need to look at a baby to realize the vitality and vigour. But as we grow we heap abuse on the body. The post mortem on MJ revealed the extent of abuse his body has been subject to. The culture of addiction to junk food through commercial exploitation and the unhealthy life style we go through in our lives constantly deteriorates the physical intelligence with which we are born.

The mental intelligence goes through a spurt of upgrade in the early stages of our lives. You can see it in children’s capacity for learning and this is the stage at which our individual talents become manifest and MJ was a pioneer in introducing a new genre of music and dance to the world. I was always fascinated with his moon-walk. The gliding motion while still rooted to the ground which to me today signifies the frictionless movement of life in a cosmic stream while still rooted to this grounded existence. The emotion that was created in millions of youth was an emotion of ecstasy. But as we progress we get distracted to the superficial values of appearances. There used to be a comedy show in the British television (1990-1994) called “Keeping up Appearances” which portrayed how people take extreme and rediculous measures to be seen as someone different from what they are. This was true in MJ's case. The quality of life degrades.

The emotional intelligence which is focused and nurtured through love goes through gross modification. MJ missed his childhood totally and all that went on in his marriage and the Neverland Ranch scandal was a shoddy attempt to seek authentic and unconditional love.

The ultimate result is that your spiritual intelligence which cannot be altered goes through a period of suppression. Always the spirit calls out to you and I was moved to read the interview which Deepak Chopra, who was good friend and mentor of MJ, gave after MJ's death. Deepak said that MJ was reading Tagore’s poems and was composing songs on climate change. This is the spirit calling out.

It is within our capacity to remain rooted to our true spiritual nature. We are all born geniuses with our different gifts. But it is easy to erase this divide between what is perceived as genius and what we term as insanity. All artificial modes of effecting any so called enhancements to our inherent talents are the tools with which we erase this barrier that prevents a genius from becoming insane.

There have been geniuses like Leanardo Da Vinci, Beethoven, Einstein and many more who understood this great truth and their contribution is none the less valuable.

Love to you all

Language of Nature

2009-06-28T10:00:00.004+05:30

Therefore the greatest understanding lies in the signature, wherein man (viz. the image of the greatest virtue) may not only learn to know himself, but therein also he may learn to know the essence of all essences; for by the external form of all creatures, by their instigation, inclination and desire, also by their sound, voice, and speech which they utter, the hidden spirit is known; for nature has given to everything its language according to its essence and form, for out of the essence the language or sound arises, and the fiat of that essence forms the quality of the essence in the voice or virtue which it sends forth, to the animals in the sound, and to the essentials in smell, virtue, and form.
...... Jacob Boehme

During the tsunami of 2004 not one animal in the wild was killed. They seemed to have a mode of communication and perception of the danger. If we study the Empire Penguins of the Antarctic, after feeding for two weeks in the sea, the returning females can pick up its mate in a colony of over ten thousand birds. Dogs know exactly when the master is returning home.
Nature behaves in a very connected way. They are able to read hidden patterns in magnetic energy fields, minute changes in gravity and many other parameters to which we have become insensitive. They seem to operate in their everyday life on a broader blueprint of existence which is now called ‘Morphic field’. Dr. Rupert Sheldrake, the Cambridge plant biologist, was the major proponent of this concept, through his Hypothesis of Formative Causation in the early 1980s. It is described as consisting of patterns that govern the development of forms, structures and arrangements.
In his book “Dogs that Know When Their Owners are Coming Home, and Other Unexplained Powers of Animals (1999)”, Dr. Sheldrake analyses many case studies involving animals that go to provide unassailable proof of the heightened perception and communication in animals.

Why has man lost this ability in his evolved consciousness? This is mainly due to the rational mind dominated perception of reality. We fragment all our perceptions in a series of logical and sequential steps and reconstruct a reality. The cut and pasting process, in the structuring of reality, uses the glue of ego dominated and heavily altered consciousness. The moment we withdraw from the rational thought process and intuitively look for, as Jacob Boehme says, signatures in our awakened consciousness, a new reality becomes manifest. The native cultures and tribes had this capability as they lived very close to nature.

Let us listen to the language of nature through an intuitive journey into the very core of being.

Love to you all

Beauty Beyond Being

2009-06-24T10:00:00.001+05:30

That, beautiful beyond being, is said to be Beauty – for
It gives beauty from itself in a manner appropriate to each,
It causes the consonance and splendour of all,
It flashes forth upon all, after the manner of light, the
Beauty producing gifts of its flowing ray,
It call to itself,
When it is called beauty.

The above words are classical expression of the sense of beauty in early western mystical tradition by Pseudo-Dionysius in his book ‘The Divine Names’.
St. Augustine testifies to the permanence and eternity of beauty when he writes: ‘Too late came I to love thee! Beauty ever ancient, ever new, too late came I to love thee’.

Human gaze is not a fixed view but of creative and constructive quality through which we perceive every object for its intrinsic as well as extrinsic value. The way we look at things has a great influence on what becomes visible to us. If a house has been closed for a long time then a film of dust settles down on the windows. Decayed residue gradually blocks out all the light. The same happens to the human mind. The moment it is locked up in straight-jacketed thinking based on socio-religious judgemental values, the light of divine wisdom gets blocked out. The beauty of creation and what lays in the inner most depths of manifestation becomes obscured.

Here the words of Dionysius can be appreciated. True beauty lies beyond the perceived qualities and aesthetic assessments of the mind operating in the domain of being.
For example when we look at a Galaxy we see what our eyes are able to comprehend. Therefore we have a limitation in seeing the spectrum of colours but for someone who can see in the infrared and ultraviolet, the picture is grander and evokes a sense of awe. The true manifestation to be appreciated must have an observer who can have attributes far exceeding those that is being observed. This will lead to a harmonious reception in the senses without any attenuation. This is the reason Dionysius observes that ‘It causes the consonance and splendour...’.

There is an uncanny symmetry between the outer and the inner world of man. All restrictive qualities of the mind driven by our evolved consciousness hinder the observation of true inner beauty. When we are able to liberate ourselves from the grid lock of time and memory, we can experience the ‘beauty beyond being’. This is the reason that Meister Eckhart, the great German mystic says: ‘Time makes us old. Eternity keeps us young’.

Love to you all

A Celtic Gayathri

2009-06-21T10:00:00.012+05:30

This post comes on the summer solstice.

Hail to you, Sun of the Seasons,
Banisher of the darkness.
Hail to you, shining one of the sky,
Illuminator of the souls of each of us.
Hail, fire-dancer and earth awakener-
God of a thousand rays,
gilding the green-faced land
and shimmering on the timeless waters
of the mother's wisdom.
............The Celtic Book of Seasonal Meditation

We contemplate the glory of Light illuminating the three worlds:
gross, subtle, and causal.
I am that vivifying power, love, radiant illumination,
and divine grace of universal intelligence.
We pray for the divine light to illumine our minds.
............ Gayathri Mantra - A translation by Sathya Sai Baba

For the Celts, the summer season was the jewel of the turning year, and at its height was the midsummer solstice, the longest day when the Sun reached its zenith. The greatest Celtic fire festival took place around 21st June. It is thought to have been celebrated by druids gathered in the great monolithic circle of Stonehenge. They would greet the first rays of the sun with blowing horns, beating of drums and cheering. Bonfires were lit in honour of the Sun-god and staffs and wands were cut from sacred trees, symbolizing the sun energy imbibed wood as a potent tool of transformation. All their celebration was oriented towards celebrating the potency of the Sun-god. This day was the day of great triumph as the Sun-god overcomes the forces of darkness. This was also the time when the two great trees, the oak and the Holly, contended for the crown and the Oak triumphs in midsummer.

Celtic meditation for this season focuses on mother aspect of the Goddess, fertility, love and marriage, the Sun-god, solar energy and the element of fire. The divine power of the Sun, which was understood and venerated by the Celtic tribes, finds a parallel in the Vedic worship. In the Sanskrit Vedas, numerous hymns are dedicated to Surya/Mitra dev, the Sun personified, and Savitr, "the impeller", a solar deity either identified with or associated with Surya.

Even the Gayatri mantra, which is regarded as one of the most sacred of the Hindu hymns is dedicated to the Sun. The Sun-god in Hinduism is an ancient deity, worthy of immense worship. The Sun is referred to in Sanskrit as "Mitra" or "Friend" down to the invariable warmth, life-giving nature and optimism its light brings to mankind. He is called "Prati-Aksh Devta" meaning "The Seen Divinity" and worthy of much worship and reverence.

On this day, the druids also celebrated the journeying into the Otherworld, the Sidhe (the inhabitants of the mounds, similar to fairies). Though the Sun shines during the day its energy is retained and transferred during the night through the sustaining inertia of Mother Earth, This symbolizes the inner region of one's existence and the nourishment of both the manifest as well as the unmanifest.

Love to you all

Norwich Library

2009-06-19T10:00:00.002+05:30

I am doing the last two posts from the Norwich library and will continue to post from here till the end of the month when I return to Chennai.
It is a temple of learning and a fantastic environment to spend the day in useful pursuit of knowledge.
Three floors with multimedia library, books, newspapers and magazines. Computers on all floors with high speed internet connectivity.
Happy reading.

Love to you all.

Worship of the Divine Feminine

2009-06-17T15:00:00.002+05:30

“O Goddess, remover of affliction, be gracious, be gracious, O Mother of the entire world. Be gracious, O Queen of the universe, protect the universe. You, O Goddess, are the Queen of all that moves and does not move.”..... Devī Māhātmya 11.2

"When I find myself in times of trouble, mother Mary comes to me,
speaking words of wisdom, let it be.
And in my hour of darkness she is standing right in front of me,
speaking words of wisdom, let it be". ..... “Let it be” song by The Beatles

Worship of the divine feminine is one of the most ancient religious expressions in India. It has become a truism among scholars of Hinduism that worship of goddesses has its basis in the Indus Valley civilization ( 2500-1500 B.C.E) or another indigenous Indian culture (Austric or Dravidian) rather than in the Vedic or Brahmanic tradition which was imported into the subcontinent during the second millennium B.C.E. by waves of Aryan immigrants. The general argument, stated with various degrees of refinement, is that the pre-Aryans, being concerned mainly with agriculture, worshiped female (and to a lesser extent male) earth deities who represented fertility, regeneration, and the processes of life and death. The Aryans, on the other hand, being nomadic cattle herders and warriors, worshiped primarily male sky deities. When the Aryans settled in India, the argument continues, they took up agriculture and gradually assimilated the indigenous culture(s); thus, the various philosophical movements and cults that came to be called Hinduism are a synthesis of Aryan and non-Aryan elements.

The early inhabitants of India, in the pre-Aryan era, worshiped the mother godess and the Naga, the snake which was the spiritual symbol of wisdom. The snake as the symbol of wisdom can also be traced to the Sumerian tradition, wherein the first episode of genesis in the Bible has its origin. Later the Sophia in Gnostic tradition symbolised the female wisdom of the cosmic potential which due to the action of the dimiurge (creator deity) descended to to the worldly manifestation. All these point to the need for us to pull back to the original state of recognizing the primary Sophia present in all creation especially in the human species and to fully empower this dimension to raise our consciousness to a cosmic plane.

Today the healing touch of the mother is needed much in this world which is ravaged by alienation from a state of being to a state of greed of having. The earth as the mother which abundantly provides its riches from its very being is the only source of our life.

Be it the ancient mantra of the Devī Māhātmya or the 1970 song of Paul McCartney, there is an inner urge in us to reach out to the divine mother in us, irrespective of the name or iconic symbolism that we may employ.

Love to you all

Defining a Heretic

2009-06-14T15:00:00.004+05:30

Two men were on a cruise ship together and began to talk.
Finally one of them asked, “Do you believe in God?”
He said, “Yes.”
I asked, “Are you a Christian or a Jew?”
He said, “A Christian.” I said, “Me, too!
Protestant or Catholic?” He said, “Protestant.” I said, “Me, too!
What denomination?” He said, “Baptist.” I said, “Me, too!
Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?”
He said, “Northern Baptist.” I said, “Me, too!
Northern Conservative Baptist or Northern Moderate Baptist?”
He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist.” I said, “Me, too!
Are you of the Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region, or Northern Conservative Baptist Eastern Region?”
He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region.” I said, “Me, too!” Are you of the Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1879, or Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912?”
He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912.”
I said, “Die, you heretic!”
(By the way this joke by Comedian Emo Philips is called “the funniest religious joke of all time!”)

As individuals we are steered by our egos and the ego operates through identification. Identification comes from the Latin root “idem” which means “same” and “facere” which means “to make”. The ego operates by the mode of identifying external objects and attributes as belonging to the individual. When we are children the first identification starts with ‘my toy’. At this point of time any toy will do but soon the toy acquires an attribute such as ‘my red remote controlled car’. The older we get we start personalizing more and more things in the material world and in our own personal attributes such as I am tall and handsome, I am successful in business, etc,. The entire thought process in the mind is driven by identification.

The joke sited above, though preposterous, is a good example of how every religion has evolved over its history. Heretic is one who does not conform to an identity as defined by ego and power dominated authority and nothing to do with fellowship of truth or life empowering practice.

In Islamic theology, the Shaytan and his minions are "whisperers", who whisper into the hearts of men and women, urging them to commit sin. This is where the desire to sin comes from, according to Islam.
The whispering is the constant voice in the head promoting thoughts and identities so that you are away from full awareness. A true heretic is one who operates away from a full awareness of our true spiritual nature and who is rooted in identities driven by the ego. Remove the identities and listen to your authentic self.

Love to you all

Law Beyond the Scriptures

2009-06-10T10:00:00.007+05:30

The world of religion thrives on a judgemental mode of deliverance for its flock. The whole idea of good living is driven by what is right and what is wrong based on Vedic pronouncements, Manu Smriti, Moses Law, Islamic Shariat etc,.
Action is sequel to thought unless it is involuntary as when one faces danger. Involuntary actions are driven by our evolutionary consciousness such as survival instincts.
Thought again is conditioned by our nurturing to a large extent. This is where our morality and ethical behaviour takes root.
From early childhood we are conditioned by our parents and religious diktats as to what are perceived as right action.

A broader view was given by Buddha through his ‘Eightfold path’. Ethical conduct was prescribed through: right speech, right action and right livelihood. These three elements of conduct were preceded by right intention. This is where conditioning the mind to operate in the mode of empowerment rather than being judgemental becomes important. A robot can be programmed and controlled based on a set of instructions but man as a spiritual being needs empowerment to reach his higher potential. Each one needs an unique set of programmes based on one's own Karmic backdrop.

In the ‘Gospel of the Essenes’ an Apocryphal text, there is a beautiful saying of Jesus in response to the disciples asking him “We all do the laws of Moses, our lawgiver, even as they are written in the holy scriptures.”
And Jesus answers: "Seek not the law in your scriptures, for the law is life, whereas the scripture is dead. I tell you truly, Moses received not his laws from God in writing, but through the living word. The law is living word of living God to living prophets for living men. In everything that is life is the law written. You find it in the grass, in the tree, in the river, in the mountain, in the birds of heaven, in the fishes of the sea; but seek it chiefly in yourselves. For I tell you truly, all living things are nearer to God than the scripture which is without life. God so made life and all living things that they might by the everlasting word teach the laws of the true God to man. God wrote not the laws in the pages of books, but in your heart and in your spirit. They are in your breath, your blood, your bone; in your flesh, your bowels, your eyes, your ears, and in every little part of your body. They are present in the air, in the water, in the earth, in the plants, in the sunbeams, in the depths and in the heights. They all speak to you that you may understand the tongue and the will of the living God. But you shut your eyes that you may not see, and you shut your ears that you may not hear. I tell you truly, that the scripture is the work of man, but life and all its hosts are the work of our God. Wherefore do you not listen to the words of God which are written in His works? And wherefore do you study the dead scriptures which are the work of the hands of men?"

This thought of Jesus is beautifully reflected in the words of Rumi.

“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
there is a field. I will meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase each other make no sense.”

………. Rumi, from The Essential Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks

Love to you all

Searching for Sujatha

2009-06-07T09:00:00.000+05:30

I just completed reading Deepak Chopra’s “Buddha – A story of Enlightenment”. This book is a historical fiction with characters introduced to develop greater spiritual meaning to the historical Buddha and his teachings.

What impressed me was the way the renunciation of princely life by Siddhartha is handled by Deepak in his book. The young Siddhartha is under constant tutelage of a venerable Brahmin from his early childhood but the teacher is an ally of the father king who wants to hide reality and truth from the young prince. What Siddhartha is taught is paper knowledge and ritualistic obligations. He is never allowed to question and his enquiries are deflected. This conforms to the knowledge slavery that is practiced by organized religions today. But in spite of all this masking there is an innate desire for Siddhartha to know the absolute reality.

The story takes an interesting turn from the original Buddha life story as Siddhartha’s first hold to his materialistic existence, his love interest, disappears from his life. Sujatha is her name and she comes from a poor family in the distant village where the King had banished all infirm and non-valuable citizens of his kingdom. This signifies the banishment of basic human values from one’s life while trying to achieve personal glory and power.
Siddhartha seeking Sujatha is symbolical of one’s search for the true inner beauty. Sujatha in Sanskrit means beautiful.

The prince leaves the palace, on his stallion, with the assistance of a low caste servant who is a stable hand.
The purpose of the rearing of horses was for the King to launch wars. The purpose of Ashvamedha (horse sacrifice), which had to be performed only by the King was to gain glory and power over his enemies. It was a glorified act of a Great king flaunting his superiority by letting loose a well bred horse which was free to go where ever it wanted. When it entered the territory of another ruling king, the king there either challenged the Great king which resulted in war or submitted and paid tribute to him. This defined the Great king’s superiority. Prince Siddhartha performs a different type of Ashvamedha as after reaching the village of Sujatha, an alien territory, he surrenders to a new reality and through this act he gains a new domain of consciousness and the power of insight into seeking a new path. What a high caste Brahmin, symbolizing Jnana, could not impart is brought to the consciousness of Siddhartha through this servant, experiential knowledge. He takes Siddhartha to the place of human reality which is suffering, aging and dying. Even there the prince does not find his Sujatha or the beauty of his inner self. But this experience is the portal through which he makes a transition to a new stage in his path towards self realization.

I highly recommend this book which is written in simple style but with deep meaning.

Love to you all

As Above So Below

2009-06-05T14:00:00.002+05:30

To see a World in a grain of sand,
And a Heaven in a wild flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand,
And Eternity in an hour...
A skylark wounded in the wing,
A cherubim does cease to sing.
The wild deer wandering here and there,
Keeps the human soul from care.
……….. William Blake (1757-1827)- Auguries of Innocence

Today is the ‘World Environment Day’. Newspapers have talked of Green Peace hanging banners from a new bridge in Mumbai and we have doomsday scenario painted by climate change evangelists but where does the fundamental problem lie.

The world will survive all the abuse that we heap on it because it had survived total wipe out of all life forms about 260 million years ago due to a volcanic eruption in the Emeishan province of south-west China. It unleashed around half a million cubic kilometres of lava, covering an area five times the size of Wales, and wiping out marine life around the world.

It is the human race that needs to worry as to what type of world we are going to leave for our progeny.

It is an awakening of consciousness and our inseparability to all existence that we need to address.
Stan Grof, the eminent Psychologist and Systemic thinker, says that there are four stages of evolution in morality and ethical behaviour.

“First is the primitive fear of being caught and punished, second is the conformance to a set of commandments or precepts that have been assimilated into one’s superego. The third step is the discovery of Karma, where one realizes that certain types of actions entail certain consequences. The fourth and the highest form of morality reflect experiential recognition of the unity underlying all of creation, a sense of identity with other sentient beings and an awareness of our own divinity. In this kind of psychospiritual evolution, the changes of our morality reflect the changes in our understanding of ourselves, of the world and our place and role in this world.”
It is only through this highly evolved awareness that we can save ourselves and heal the wounded Gaia.

This is so beautifully reflected in the stanzas of the poem cited above.

Let each one of us contribute towards this awakening through knowledge and action.

Love to you all

Pentecost – A Spiritual Message

2009-06-03T12:00:00.002+05:30

Last Sunday was the feast of Pentecost in the calendar of the Christian church. Today Pentecost evokes very strong memory in people of a sect of Christianity (Ceylon Pentecostal Mission), existing in every continent with nearly 10 million followers, clad in white and strongly and vociferously proclaiming salvation only when baptized in the spirit.

Pentecost (Ancient Greek: πεντηκοστή [ἡμέρα], pentekostē [hēmera], "the fiftieth day") is one of the prominent feasts in the Christian liturgical year.
What is the real significance of this event, as enumerated in the Bible? Historically and symbolically it is related to the Jewish harvest festival of Shavuot, which commemorates God giving the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai fifty days after the Exodus, Pentecost now also commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and other followers of Jesus as described in the Book of Acts, Chapter 2.

The event that is described has to be understood in a more esoteric sense. Jesus was very Eastern in His approach to spirituality and when He promised to send the spirit, He was not speaking of some external third person or entity. The word that Jesus used for the spirit was the Aramaic word ‘Ruah’ which was translated as ‘Pneuma’ (πνεύμα) (an ancient Greek word for "breath.") This finally found its way into the modern Bible as ‘Spiritus Sanctus’ or Holy Spirit. The closest translation for ‘ruah’ can be found in the Sanskrit word ‘prana’, which is the consciousness nurturing energy of the Cosmos. (According to language scholar, Dan Winter, philological investigation points to Hebrew, Sanskrit, Aramaic, Arabic, and other elder dialects having older roots and a parent language of Gaelic and quite possibly an even earlier origin.)

In the human body the seventh Chakra or energy centre is located a few inches above the crown of the head and is known to be the portal of cosmic connectivity. It is the meeting place of Kundalini Shakti and Shiva. It is the merging of the male and female attributes of cosmic consciousness, a portal of pure radiant energy.
In Sahasrara Chakra the prana moves upward and reaches the highest point. The mind establishes itself in the pure void of Shunya Mandala, the space between the hemispheres. At this time all feelings, emotions and desires, which are the activities of the mind, are dissolved into their primary cause. The union is achieved. The yogi is sat-chit-ananda, truth-being-bliss. He is his own real self, and as long as he stays in his physical body he retains non-dual consciousness, enjoying the play of lila without becoming troubled by pleasure and pain, honours and humiliations.

The tongue of fire, above the head of each apostle, is the shinning of this portal that all beholders, who were tuned to this reality, were able to witness. This is a transfiguration that lifted the apostles to a new plane of consciousness as after this event they were neither afraid of the Jews or Romans nor worry about their own pain and humiliation.

Each one of us could reach this state of consciousness but it may not happen in fifty days but surely in fifty eons. Eons here has to be defined as a period of time which would be based on each one's spiritual progress. But we are all destined for our own Pentecost, one in which we do not look for worldly miracles and gift of toungues but where we realize our true spiritual nature.

Love to you all

Gunas in Right Balance

2009-05-31T10:00:00.003+05:30

In Samkhya philosophy a guṇa is one of three "tendencies": tamas, sattva, and rajas. Each of the three gunas is ever present simultaneously in every particle of creation but the variations in equilibrium manifest all the variety in creation including matter, mind, body and spirit.
The following story illustrates the process of attaining this balance.

“Shiva wished to teach a lesson to the Rishis who were proud of their learning. Shiva took the form of a mendicant with a begging bowl in hand, accompanied by Vishnu disguised as Mohini. The rishipatnis (wives of the Rishis) were attracted by the sight of this beautiful pair. While Mohini enticed the sages by her voluptuous dances, the Mendicant appeared before their wives and started teasing them. The wives fell for the Mendicant and the sages went crazy over Mohini and forgot their wives for some time. When they saw their wives completely bowled over by the Mendicant, the sages got angry and scolded the Mendicant for his behavior. The Mendicant stated that he only wanted to lead an ascetic life along with his wife, Mohini, like the sages. He can’t help if the sages and their wives fell for them.
The Rishis grew angry and tried to destroy the pair. They performed a sacrificial fire and raised a tiger from the fire, which sprang at Shiva. Shiva pealed off the skin of the tiger and wrapped it round his waist. Then again the Rishis sent a poisonous serpent and Shiva tied it round his neck. Then the Rishis sent against Shiva an Apasmara Purusha (dwarf), Muyalaka, whom Lord Shiva crushed by pressing him to the ground with his foot.”

This story told many times has a deep significance to our own journey in our human life.
Shiva as the mendicant represents the transformative element of the unsullied human body and Vishnu as Mohini represents divine wisdom which always accompanies the human in this earthly manifestation.

The proud rishis and their consorts symbolize the worldly trappings, both in the physical and intellectual or wisdom dimension. The moment we undertake the earthly journey we come under the coveting influence of the factors that assail our mind and spirit. The higher the resistance we put up the higher the effort of the worldly forces to derail our spiritual progress. This process is attempted through the three gunas and their influence on our consciousness.
The tiger that is launched symbolizes the attribute of Rajas and a spiritual person must use it wisely to wrap it around himself in a single minded focus to attain a higher level of spiritual progress. You cannot allow rajas to devour you or consume you.

This is the reason that Jesus said, "Lucky is the lion that the human will eat (or conquer), so that the lion becomes human. And foul is the human that the lion will eat, and the lion still will become human." .... Gospel of Thomas saying 7

The snake that is produced from the fire symbolizes the worldly wisdom, which though is an integral part of divine wisdon has taken on the poison of illusion, and it has to be contained at the Vishuddha charka (throat) level to communicate divine wisdom through the worldly knowledge whose poison has to be eradicated. This is how sattvic attribute empowers a human to be in balance in this human existence.

Finally the world launches the dwarf Apasmara - Purusha (the man of forgetfulness) who embodies indifference, ignorance and laziness. Creation, indeed all creative energy is possible only when the weight of inertia (the tamasic darkness of the universe) is overcome and suppressed.

Lord Shiva represents the perfect balance of all the three gunas in a spiritually tuned person.

Love to you all

Surrender to Merge

2009-05-27T10:00:00.004+05:30

It is enough that one surrenders oneself. Surrender is to give oneself up to the original cause of one’s being. Do not delude yourself by imagining such a source to be some God outside of you. One’s source is within oneself. Give yourself up to it. That means that you should seek the source and merge with it.
………… Ramana Maharishi

It is the fallacy of religious ‘dogma promoters’ that our source of being lies somewhere else. This is mainly due to the teachings of religions which had located God as the source and outside of oneself. But all original thought leaders in various religious traditions have always insisted that the source is not outside of oneself.

Jesus says “The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'there it is,' because the kingdom of God is within you.” Mark the words of Jesus “the kingdom of God does not come by observation”. Today we are told in Quantum Physics that all physical reality is the result of observation. Minus the observer we live in a universe of possibilities or potentialities. Hence spatially locating any reality including God is an illusion or maya.

Buddha calls all physical reality and subject-object duality as ‘dependent co-arising from the ground of inter-being’. The three dharma seals highlight this tendency and how to attain insight.

The three dharma seals are:
• The relative is impermanent
• The separate Self does not exist
• Nirvana is the ultimate reality

The Three Dharma Seals are inter-related:
• Impermanence is from the point of view of time.
• Non-self is from the point of view of space.
• Nirvana is from beyond space and time.

Nirvana is merging of the self with the source. It is the deepest realization that we are the source and we are all beyond space and time.

Love to you all

Fire in the Heart

2009-05-24T22:00:00.002+05:30

Ah, once more he put a fire in me,
And once more this crazy heart
is craving the open plains.
This ocean of love breaks into another wave
And blood pours from my heart
in all directions.

Ah, one spark flew
and burned the house of my heart.
Smoke filled the sky.
The flames grew fierce in the wind.

The fire of the heart is not easily lit.
So don’t cry out: “O Lord, rescue me
from the burning flames!
Spare me from the army of thoughts
that is marching through my mind!” …………. Jallaudin Rumi

The fire in the heart is not easily lit. This is the process of constant inward cleansing and powering the Chakra energy to rise from the base level and realize its union with the cosmic energy descending from the crown Chakra. The Hebrew word for ‘blessing’ is defined by Sigmund Mowinckel as a ‘power’. Divine blessing is the power of the flesh and the spirit in perfect balance.

This is the reason that the ‘Anahata (heart) Chakra’ is represented by a yantra of two inverted triangles, the Star of David. The cosmic downward flow and the human aspiration or love for union rising upward for a perfect union.
This union is not an act of culmination but a step in the process of continuous creation through its outpouring as beautifully captured by Rumi as “This Ocean of love breaks into another wave, And blood pours from my heart in all directions.”

Rumi also gives us the way to achieve this stage of spiritual development by imploring the divine to “Spare me from the army of thoughts that is marching through my mind!”
Stilling the mind and focusing on this inward journey of the blessings of the flesh and the power of the residing cosmic energy, sets the stage for igniting this powerful spark of creative love which is life affirming.

Love to you all

Stuck in the Classical Mud

2009-05-17T17:00:00.001+05:30

“Those who seek should not stop seeking until they find. When they find, they will be disturbed. When they are disturbed, they will marvel, and will reign over all.” …………. Gospel of Thomas

“Stop asking if the glass is half full or half empty. Instead ask "What's in it? How did it get there? What can I do with it?” ………………..David Kaufman

The classical question of whether a glass is viewed as half full or half empty depends on your genes according to scientist. Variations in a mood altering gene influence whether or not people take a pessimistic or optimistic view of the world, researchers believe. They found that different versions of the gene, which is involved in the transportation of the wellbeing chemical serotonin, affect whether or not we are drawn to negative or positive aspects of the world. Those with a long version of the gene tended to have a "sunny disposition", dwelling on positive aspects of life and deliberately downplayed the negatives. Those with a shorter version did the opposite. The psychologists behind the study believe the findings could help develop new treatments for anxiety and depression.
This finding is a classical mechanistic and Newtonian view and classifies all individuals to a predestined type without examining the possibility and natural ability of individuals to transcend to higher levels of consciousness through which they can alter their psychic predisposition.

It is the malady of the human mind that refuses to travel beyond a point which it arbitrarily determines is its limit of exploration or journey. On the contrary, it is social conditioning and environmental restriction that set the limitation. The liberating words of Jesus echo the process of a fuller journey that we can undertake and thus alter the perceived biological limitations. In the process of seeking all dimensions of our existence must be examined and when the perceived is outside of known parameters disturbance occurs but if we are open to acceptance of those new realities the initial disturbance will then be transformed into a marvel or wonderment. This transformation will give us the power to lead a fuller life.

Do not live just in the head but live through the full potential of your heart, soul and body.

Love to you all

Find Your Own North Star

2009-05-13T16:00:00.002+05:30

“The North Star -- Stella Polaris -- is a fixed point that can always be used to figure out which way you're headed. Explorers and mariners can depend on Polaris when there are no other landmarks in sight. The same relationship exists between you and your right life, the ultimate realization of your potential for happiness. I believe that a knowledge of that perfect life sits inside you just as the North Star sits in its unaltering spot. You may think you're utterly lost, but brush away the leaves, wait for the clouds to clear, and you'll see your destiny shining as brightly as ever; the fixed point in the constantly changing constellations of your life.”
………………. Martha Beck from her book ‘Finding your own North Star’

This suggestion seems pretty simple but in real life situations there are three positions that we can find ourselves. First there is a person firmly positioned on the solid ground or traversing an ocean, second a person could be piloting a plane and needs a reference and finally when a reference is needed in deep space.
The value of the North star as a referral object reduces as we move form the solid earth based plane to the atmosphere and finally into deep space, where all references become highly relative and distorted. The magnitude of dimensions that are needed for reference and their inter-relationship increases as we move from the lower strata to the higher planes of existence. This is very true for our own spiritual lives.

In Bhakthi marga (prayerful devotion) one needs only scriptures, prayers or mantra and image focus. Rituals become the channel of devotion. In Karma Marga one needs unattached service where annihilation of the ego becomes very essential. Nishkamakarma is the next higher plane of existence and here the entire creation becomes the focus one’s devotion through unattached service. The existence at the highest plane for human souls is the Jnana Marga and one needs an intuitive inner journey to find one’s referral point.

This is the reason that 'Para-Brahma Upanishad' of Atharva Veda states that:

“Then to this realized person reality (i.e. true wisdom) constitutes the inner tuft and sacred thread. To the Brahmana desirous of liberation is (allowed) the state of the inward tuft and sacred thread. The wearing of externally visible tuft and sacred thread (is necessary) for the householders engaged in rituals. The characteristic of the inward sacred thread is not clearly visible like external thread; it is the union with reality inwardly.”
……….PB U-3

This inward reality is the North Star by which we must steer our soul

Love to you all

Duck with a Human Mind

2009-05-10T10:00:00.003+05:30

"But how carve way i' the life that lies before,
If bent on groaning ever for the past?"
- Robert Browning, Balaustion's Adventure

The blog title is one of the subsection titles in Eckhart Tolle’s book “A New Earth”.
If you observe ducks in a pond you will notice that sometimes they pick up a fight especially if one is close to another, threatening its private space. The fight is vigorous but lasts only a few seconds. After the fight they go in the opposing direction and vigorously flap their wings to release the tension built up.
If the duck had a human mind then it would start wondering why the other stopped fighting. He will start to wonder if the enemy duck is on to something more sinister. He is flapping the wings to show his strength. At any moment he will turn around and attack again. Forgiveness and forgetting the past is the biggest problem of the human species.

Eckhart Tolle’s book “A New Earth” also sites a Zen story to illustrate the past we tend to carry.
“Zen monks, Tanzan and Ekido, who were walking along a country mud road that had become extremely muddy after heavy rains. Near a village, they came upon a young woman who was trying to cross the road, but the mud was so deep it would have ruined the silk kimono she was wearing. Tanzan at once picked her up and carried her to the other side.

The monks walked on in silence. Five hours later, as they were approaching the Loding temple, Ekido couldn't restrain himself any longer. "Why did you carry that girl across the road?" he asked. "We monks are not supposed to do things like that."
“I put the girl down hours ago.” said Tanzan. "Are you still carrying her?”

Dr. Dorothy M. Neddermeyer, a holistic healer writes “Holding onto regret is analogues to carrying a rock with you wherever you go. Depending how much regret you carry depends on how big the rock is. Carrying this extra weight drains your energy, leaving less available for your present endeavours. Because you are constantly feeding old issues you are continually weighted down. Holding regret creates illness the same way watering a dead plant creates root decay. You know that something new and wonderful can grow if you prepare the soil and plant the seeds you want to grow. Likewise you need to plant the seeds for the life you want to live. You plant the seeds for your life through your thoughts, which creates your feelings—fear, happiness, sadness, anger—which in turn impact everything in your life.”

“Focusing your mind and energy fully in the present allows you to fuel your physical and emotional healing and well-being. This action frees your energy to create the dreams you choose. By bringing the responsibility and action into the present, you release your hold on the past.”

Unload the past walk in the NOW.

Love to you all

Doctrine of Avatars

2009-05-06T15:00:00.005+05:30

Jesus' true position as a Teacher and Saviour of humanity can never be fully appreciated without an understanding of the doctrine of Avatars. An Avatar is one who through his own efforts continued for many ages has finally reached the place where reincarnation is no longer a Karmic necessity. He has gained the right to freedom from rebirth, but deliberately chooses to return to earth for the benefit of suffering humanity.
As Krishna says in the Bhagavad-Gita:
“I produce myself among creatures, O son of Bharata, whenever there is a decline of virtue and an insurrection of vice and injustice in the world; and thus I incarnate from age to age for the preservation of the just, the destruction of the wicked, and the establishment of righteousness.”
The great Avatars appear in definite cycles, and each of the larger cycles includes and influences several smaller ones. The great cycles are those marked by the appearance of Rama, Krishna and Buddha in India, of Menes in Egypt and of Zoroaster in Persia. The Buddha was the last of the great Avatars, and the cycle in which Jesus appeared was one of the smaller ones within the great Buddha-cycle.
The legends surrounding the lives of all Avatars are similar. All of them have a symbolical meaning and should be so interpreted. As Jesus was an Avatar, it is natural that the legends with which we are all familiar should correspond in every way with those of his predecessors.

The mothers of Krishna, Buddha and Jesus are said to have been Virgins. "In the early years of the Kali-Yuga shall be born the son of a Virgin," says the Vedanta. The Gospel of Matthew states: "Behold a Virgin shall conceive and bear a son."
Krishna descended from a royal family, Buddha was the son of a King, and Jesus is said to have come from the royal line of David. Krishna was brought up by shepherds, the first disciples of Buddha were shepherds, and Jesus was worshipped by shepherds at his birth and is called the "Good Shepherd."
Buddha and his cousin Ananda were born at the same time. The visit of Buddha's mother to the mother of Ananda and the mutual greeting of the unborn children is repeated in the Christian story of Mary and Elizabeth.
Krishna was persecuted by the wicked tyrant King Kansa who, hoping to destroy the new prophet, ordered the destruction of all the male children in his realm. According to the Gospels, the same thing happened in Jesus' day as Herod killed all the new born male children.
As a child, Buddha astonished his teachers with his great learning. It is said that Jesus discussed philosophy with the Jewish doctors, "and all that heard him were astonished at his learning."
Buddha went through the temptation of the world, the flesh and the devil as personified by Mara. The Gospel of Matthew records: "Again the Devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showeth him all the kingdoms of the earth, and the glory of them, and saith unto him; 'All these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me."
Krishna, Buddha and Jesus were friends of the poor and humble. Each of them is said to have washed the feet of his disciples. All three are credited with miraculous cures.
Krishna is said to have died on a cross, nailed to it by an arrow. Buddha is represented in many temples as sitting under a cruciform tree, or with a cross on his breast. The crucifixion of Jesus is accepted by all Christians.
After his death, Krishna is said to have ascended into Svarga, Buddha into Nirvana, and Jesus into Paradise.
So what is in a name or religion as all point to eternal truth.

Acknowledgement: THEOSOPHY, Vol. 24, No. 8, June, 1936, (Pages 346-350)

Love to you all.

Lattices of the Lamp

2009-05-03T10:00:00.000+05:30

What are "I" and "You"?
Just lattices In the niches of a lamp
Through which the One Light radiates.
"I" and "You" are the veil
Between heaven and earth;
Lift this veil and you will see
How all sects and religions are one.
Lift this veil and you will ask---
When "I" and "You" do not exist
What is mosque?
What is synagogue?
What is fire temple?
……….Sa'd al-din Mahmud Shabistari (1250 – 1320)

The wisdom of the Sufi saints was profound. To understand this we need to look at the link between Islam and Sufi tradition. The Qu’ran informs us that Islam is not something that began with Prophet Muhammad some 1,400 years ago, but with the creation of the universe in which Adam was the first Prophet. Adam really means primal man, a concept similar to the Vedic Manu. Sufism is the timeless art of awakening the higher consciousness through submission to the Divine Will. The Sufi doctrine goes far beyond history and is rooted in the primordial covenant all unborn souls made with their Creator...

This view point is also reflected in all mystical traditions of the Middle East. Kabbalah states that the world of creation in the tree of life, known as Malchut, is the descended and dimmed light of Adam Kadmon (Primal light of God), which resides in the region of Keter (Crown). This light itself comes from the Ein Sof (Divine fullness). It is the same divine radiance that manifests itself in all creation.

The beauty of the poem cited above authored by the Sufi poet, Sa'd al-din Mahmud Shabistari, reflects this thought. All differentiations are lattices. This is the reason that Islamic architecture so heavily depended on lattices in marble and symmetry in execution. The light that resided inside can be reflected with minimal obstruction.

Every culture has to have its own lattice and the example of the lamp shielded by an external lattice or veil is very apt in depicting the differentiation. If we reside in a very windy area we cannot have an exposed lamp and its need proper glass covering to protect the flame from going out. So also in a terrain where there are moths and insects but the air is still we need latticed cover so that maximum light is available without allowing entry for the insects. If we have a light source that is rugged and provides enough energy to fuel the flame in extreme conditions, we require only a mechanical protection so that the flame does not burn through accidental contact. All great spiritual teachers, like Prophet Mohammed, were lamps that required no lattice or veil. For them differentiation was absent and under the glow of divine love only one Umma (community) was needed. A verse in the Qu’ran, after all, proclaims that Allah has created different “tribes and peoples, so that they should get to know each other”, hence Umma is a spiritual community operating on a higher plane of consciousness and not a religious identity.

Hence all cultural deviance must be given value in understanding the one light that resides in all but it would be foolish to value the cover of the lantern without tending to the need of the flame whose core function is to give light.

Love to you all

Identity of Contraries

2009-04-29T10:00:00.001+05:30

Lionel Giles the author of “Musings of a Chinese Mystic” quotes the Taoist sage Chuang Tzu (Zhuangzi), regarding the dichotomy or duality of all construction of a subjective and objective composition of human perception.

He says take the breath of the universe, what we call the wind, when it is active it sounds as the sigh of the bamboo or the howling in the valley. But when employed in a flute or a pipe it is a melodious music. The effect of the wind upon these various apertures is not uniform. But what is it that gives to each the individuality, to all the potentiality, of sound? It is the same essence of moving air.

In the human body all the parts have various functions. Some may appear extremely complex like that of the brain. Some appear very ordinary like the movement of the hand. But what drives every cell in the body is the same energy.

The subjective and objective duality is the construct of a conditioned thinking through limited knowledge. Only from subjective knowledge is it possible to proceed to objective knowledge. Hence it can be said that the objective emanates from the subjective; the subjective is consequent upon the objective. All actualities are manifest form of potentialities and all potentialities are unmanifest form of actualities.

An undifferentiated view is the axis of Tao. This is lucidly said by Chuang Tzu in the following words:

"And inasmuch as the subjective is also objective, and the objective also subjective, and as the contraries under each are indistinguishably blended, does it not become impossible for us to say whether subjective and objective really exist at all?

"When subjective and objective are both without their correlates, that is the very axis of Tao. And when that axis passes through the centre at which all Infinities converge, positive and negative alike blend into an infinite One. . . Therefore it is that, viewed from the standpoint of Tao, a beam and a pillar are identical. So are ugliness and beauty, greatness, wickedness, perverseness, and strangeness. Separation is the same as construction: construction is the same as destruction. Nothing is subject either to construction or to destruction, for these conditions are brought together into One.”

Root cause for world strife and misery lies in this differentiation. With this knowledge and through deep reflection and meditation, let us move to a higher plane of existence.

Love to you all

Knowledge of God

2009-04-26T10:00:00.003+05:30

As man’s knowledge explodes in the twenty first century, the knowledge of God is increasingly finding an urgent need for redefining if human consciousness needs to evolve to the next higher level through an egalitarian spirituality.
In his book “The Human Side”, edited by Helen Dukas and Banesh Hoffman, Princeton University Press-1946, Einstein wrote:
“I cannot conceive of a personal God who would directly influence the actions of individuals, or would directly sit in judgment on creatures of his own creation. I cannot do this in spite of the fact that mechanistic causality has, to a certain extent, been placed in doubt by modern science. [He was speaking of Quantum Mechanics and the breaking down of determinism.] My religiosity consists in a humble admiration of the infinitely superior spirit that reveals itself in the little that we, with our weak and transitory understanding, can comprehend of reality.”

The main tension between the religious and the scientific community today is the view that one demands unconditional faith and the other a ‘cast in concrete’ proof through reasoning and experimental observation. While this may be the official position of the two warring factions in defining metaphysical attributes, there is a grudging acceptance that there is some validity of perception in each others camp.

The Catholic Church repositioned itself from a purely dogmatic domain through the insights of Pope John Paul II. In his famous document “Fides et Ratio - 1998” (Faith & Reason), he opens his encyclical with the following words:
“Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth—in a word, to know himself—so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves.” (cf. Ex 33:18; Ps 27:8-9; 63:2-3; Jn 14:8; 1 Jn 3:2).

Albert Einstein, the greatest scientific mind of the twentieth century writes about the value of mystical experience as being the foundation of true science in his book “The Merging of Spirit and Science” in the following words:
“The most beautiful and most profound experience is the sensation of the mystical. It is the sower of all true science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead. To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their primitive forms - this knowledge, this feeling is at the centre of true religiousness.”

In his book “God Does Not Play Dice: The Fulfillment of Einstein’s Quest for Law and Order in Nature” by David A Shiang, he writes:

“The question of God is ultimately one of knowledge vs. ignorance, not faith vs. reason. It is possible to be reasonable and have faith at the same time.”

Hence let us all seek this true knowledge through inherent faith in our intuitive reasoning based on the cumulative wealth of scriptural and mystical revelations

Love to you all

Symbiosis in Nature

2009-04-22T12:00:00.001+05:30

“There are no passengers on Spaceship Earth. We are all crew.” ~ Marshall McLuhan, 1964

“I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority.” ~ Elwyn Brooks White, Essays of E.B. White, 1977

Today (22nd April 2009) is Earth Day. Nature can teach us many great lessons. One such lesson is the cooperation between species of different capabilities for healthy mutual co-existence. In a study done by Departamento de Zoologia e Museu de História Natural, São Paulo, Brazil, the following amazing discovery was made in 2004.

At the oceanic island of Fernando de Noronha, off northeast Brazil, the team recorded the hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) visiting cleaning stations tended by the barber pole shrimp (Stenopus hispidus). This seems to be the first record of cleaning symbiosis between marine turtles and shrimps. During their foraging on the reef flat, the turtles regularly visited and posed at the stations. The same stations were visited by a few species of reef fishes, which posed and were cleaned by the shrimps. It is suggested that cleaning symbiosis between turtles and shrimps is widespread and went unrecognised due to the superficial resemblance between a resting turtle and a posing and cleaned one.
In this kind of interaction, the cleaner fishes obtain food, and the turtles get rid of the organisms’ growth on their shells and/or soft body parts.
After foraging for a while, the hawksbill turtle swam directly towards the cleaning station, landed in front of it and adjusted its position to accommodate the left or right portion of its hind-body and limbs under the rocky ledge. Its posture while at the station was very characteristic: its hind limbs were sprawled and the forelimbs were stretched holding its fore body and head elevated. The turtle held this
posture for 50-60 sec after which it moved away. While at the shrimp station the turtle remained watchful and prone to flee at an observer’s close approach.

This Earth Day, this discovery and insight could be a great lesson in our life to become sensitive to the needs of every element of our environment and be a player of earth empowerment in whatever capacity we can.

Love to you all.