Tiger

TIGER, tiger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare seize the fire?
And what shoulder and what art
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand and what dread feet?
What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? What dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?
When the stars threw down their spears,
And water'd heaven with their tears,
Did He smile His work to see?
Did He who made the lamb make thee?
Tiger, tiger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

-- William Blake, 1757 - 1827

Est Finis.

What Are You Saying?

Mahima: When the mind has gone up to Him, does one then stay with the family any more?

Sri Ramakrishna: What are you saying? Where will you go if you don’t stay in family? I clearly see that I am in Rama’s Ayodhya wherever I may be. This family life, this worldly life, is Rama’s Ayodhya. Having received spiritual knowledge from his guru Dasharath, Rama said, ‘I will renounce the family life (world).’ Dasharath called Vaishishtha to make Rama change his mind. Vaishishtha saw that Rama was under deep dispassion. He then said, ‘Rama, first reason it out with me; you may renounce the world later. Well, tell me, is this world without God? If that be so, you may renounce it.’ Rama understood that God Himself has become the world, its creatures ­ everything. It is because of His power that one perceives everything as real. Rama became silent then.

“You have to fight against lust, anger and so on in the worldly life; you have to fight against various desires. You have to fight against attachment. If the fight is given from inside the fort, it is convenient: ­ it is better to fight living in the household. Here you get food, the wife helps you in so many ways. In Kaliyuga, life depends on food. It is better to be at one place than to roam about from place to place for food. This is as if fighting from inside the fort of household.

....

‘‘A person who is jivanmukta (liberated in this very life), may live the family life if he so wills. For a man who has attained jnana, there is nothing like ‘here’ and ‘there’. It is all the same for him. Everything ‘here’ as well as ‘there’ belongs to Him.”

-- Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita, Volume 1, Section XIII, Chapter 4

The Lord's Supper: Bhagavad Bhukta

Yajnarthat-karmano-nyatra lokoyam karmabandhanah;
Tadartham karma kaunteya muktasangah samachara.

"The world is bound by actions other than those performed for the sake of sacrifice; therefore, Arjuna, son of Kunti, perform action for that sake -- for sacrifice alone -- free from attachment."

-- Bhagavad Gita 3:9

The Divine Liturgy, the Eucharistic Sacrifice, is the Christian Form of the Ancient Yajna, the Timeless Tantra, the Primal Puja.

Eoin Erinnacht

On John the Scot:

He makes a pathetic and not undignified figure, this eager, slightly-built Irishman,
with his subtle mind, his studious habits, his deeply reverent spirit,
his almost fanatical devotion to the wise men of former days,
Pagan or Christian, who had lived in the light of a wider civilisation:
called upon to fight the battles of the West with arms forged in the East,
and reprimanded even in the hour of conquest for having transgressed the rules of the field.

Alice Gardner, Studies in John the Scot.

---

He deviated from the path of the Latins
while he kept his eyes intently fixed on the Greeks;
wherefore he was reputed an heretic.

William of Malmesbury, de Pontificibus.

This Week, Anne Rice

This week, Anne Rice is taking questions from Beliefnet Community members. Check it out, and join in--there is still time to set up your profile, join the group, and ask Ms. Rice a question.

The best part of the exchange so far, in my opinion:

From member Zero-Equals-Infinity:

Is your return to Christianity an appeal of the forms and narrative, or is a return to the 'beliefs,' and if it is the latter, would you please expand upon how the beliefs that were let go in your college years came to be relevant and vital again? I ask this, because like you, I shed my beliefs in Christianity in my college years, and while I appreciate many aspects of the varieties of Christian tradition, I find the hurdles of literalism and exclusivism which seem to pervuade Christianity intellectually difficult.

Anne Rice's response:

Zero Equals Infinity --- You have asked an elegant question and made an elegant statement. I'm impressed. My return of faith was just that: faith in the existence of God came back to me. Some have said this is a Gift from God, and I would have to say that it feels that way. But I had been asking for faith for a long time. As I said above, I let go of all the sociological and theological questions that were tormenting me. I fell into a great "unknowing." I realized God knew. Some one really was in charge, and some one really knew why evil was allowed to exist and why people suffered. I didn't have to know in order to declare my love for God. So I let the questions go and I let the contradictions go. I returned to the Roman Catholic church and vowed to stay out of the controversies amongst Catholics. I went back to pray, to talk to God in a sacred space, to be with other believers, and I vowed not to argue with anybody about anything. It's hard to live this way. Christians are a people who love to discuss their faith. I want to embrace my fellow believers and non believers. I do not need to theologize or teach or preach. That's how I see it. Of course I saw God in the universe. I saw Him everywhere. My faith was visceral.

-- Patton Todd, "Text Messages"

The More I Think

The more I think of Sri Ramakrishna’s bhakti, the more I am wonderstruck. Keshab Sen repeats the name of Hari, meditates on God, so he (Thakur [a.k.a., Sri Ramakrishna]) immediately ran to meet him. ­ Keshab at once became his own. He then did not listen to the Captain. That Keshab went to a foreign land, ate with white men, gave his daughter in marriage in a different caste -- ­ all these matters vanished.

“I take only cherries. I have nothing to do with thorns.” In the bond of bhakti the believers in God with form and believers in God without form become the same; the Hindus, the Muslims and the Christians ­ all become one and also the four varnas [castes]. Bhakti be victorious! Blessed you are Sri Ramakrishna! Victory to you! You have embodied the universal view of sanatana dharma (the eternal religion). It is perhaps for this reason that you have such an attraction! You embrace the followers of all religions as your own without any difference! You have but one test ­ it is that of bhakti. You only see whether a person has love for God within, whether he has bhakti or not. If that is there, he immediately becomes your very own. If you see bhakti in a Hindu, he is at once your own. And if a Muslim has bhakti for Allah, he is also your own. If a Christian has the love for Jesus, he is also your near and dear one. You say that all rivers coming from different directions, from different regions fall into the same one ocean.

Thakur does not consider this world as a dream. If that be so, it will "lose weight". It is not mayavada; it is Vishishtadvaitavada. This is because he does not consider the jiva and the world as imaginary. He doesn’t think them to be an illusion. God is real, so are men and the world. Brahman is qualified with jiva and the world. You cannot get the whole of the bel fruit if you take away seeds and its shell.

-- The Kathamrita, Volume I, Section XIII, Chapter Nine

The Primal Sruti and Primal Realizer

All humanly composed scriptures (Gathas, Vedas, Bible, al-Qur'an, e.g.) are modifications of the primal scripture, the true sruti, the revelation of Heart-Beloved. Various modifications are necessary, due to the variously changing conditions of human societies, but the true sruti remains the constant against which all scriptures are measured. The true sruti is the primal Gatha, the primal Veda, the primal Bible, the primal al-Qur'an.

All human-divine incarnations (Zarathustra, Krishna, Christ, Buddha, e.g.) are manifestations of the primal realizer, the adi-Buddha, the revealer of Heart-Beloved. Various manifestations are necessary, due to the variously changing conditions of human societies, but the true adi-Buddha remains the constant realizer, though in different forms. The adi-Buddha is the primal Prophet, the primal Avatar, the primal Christ, and the primal Sufi.

God is Spirit

""God is a Spirit" (or, more accurately translated, "God is Spirit"), declares the Scripture (John iv. 24), "and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth."
If God is Spirit, and God is All, surely there can be no matter, for the divine All must be Spirit....
Hence my conscientious position, in the denial of matter, rests on the fact that matter usurps the authority of God, Spirit; and the nature and character of matter, the antipode of Spirit, include all that denies and defies Spirit, in quantity or quality."

-- Mary Baker Eddy. Unity of Good. Boston: The First Church of Christ, Scientist. 1908. 31; in Mary Baker Eddy. Prose Works Other Than Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. Boston: The First Church of Christ, Scientist. 1925.

What does it mean to "deny matter"? From a Christian Science perspective, Spirit is one thing and matter is another thing completely. But such a perspective posits two ultimates: Spirit (or God) and matter (or not-Spirit). However, Spirit is Infinite and All, thus precluding the existence of anything not Spirit. If Spirit is All, one has at least two possible implications: (1) matter, as non-Spirit, doesn't exist; or (2) matter, apparently non-Spirit, is actually Spirit, perhaps Spirit in a different form (since Spirit is Infinite, Spirit could manifest in Infinite number of forms, including matter). Christian Science takes the first implication, but the second implication is more consistent with both reason and experience.

There is one way that the Christian Science perspective may be accurate, and that way involves defining matter not as a form of being, but as a psychological dynamic. If matter is the assumption that something non-Spirit does in fact exist, then matter could reasonably be rejected and denied. In other words, the problem is not that what we call matter exists; the problem is in mentally presuming that what we call matter is separate from Spirit, not-God.

Creationism and Islam

Salman Hameed teaches astronomy and religious studies at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. He has lectured in Pakistan on reconciling evolution with Islam.

Hameed spoke with New Scientist about the rise of creationism in the Muslim world, what scientists can do to promote evolution there, and why he thinks Richard Dawkins and other atheists will push Muslims away from evolution.

How is evolution perceived in Muslim countries?

If you ask the question of whether you accept evolution or not, we find that a large portion of people, vast majorities, reject evolution. Compared to the US, where 40% are comfortable with evolution, in the Muslim countries that would go down to 10, 15, or 20%. In Turkey, one of the more secular Muslim countries, the level is between 22 and 25%.

Why the low acceptance rates?

Evolution has not been in the public discourse, so it depends on what people believe evolution is. Right now, there is a misperception that evolution equals atheism.

Are there any religious teachings in the Koran or elsewhere that conflict with evolution, as some creationists claim is the case with the Bible?

The Koran itself does not provide a single clear-cut verse that contradicts evolution.

One of the big evolution problems from the US creationist perspective is the age of the Earth. Logically speaking, if you believe in a 6000 or 10,000 year-old Earth, then you have to reject evolution

In the Muslim countries, young Earth creationism is nonexistent. The Koran is very vague about creation stories, specifically regarding the creation of the universe. If you accept an old Earth, then it makes it relatively easier to accept evolution.

Then what is the basis for Islamic opposition to evolution?

In some instances, evolution becomes a symbol for Western dominance and a sign of modernity. Evolution can act as a lighting rod, as a symbol of the West and everything that is bad about the West - usually translated as material culture or materialism.

The Seven Days of Creation

Within Genesis is an astrologically embedded symbolism. Each day of creation corresponds to one of the seven planets:

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

3 And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

The first day corresponds to the Sun, the ruler of the first day, called "Sunday". The Sun is symbolized by fire. The Sun is the light source of the solar system ("and there was light"). Virtue: Faith; vice: pride.

6 And God said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water."

7 So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the expanse "sky." And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.

The second day corresponds to the Moon, the ruler of the second day, called "Moon-day" or "Monday". The Moon is symbolized by water, and with the Sun, both symbolize the tantric and eucharistic com/union of fire and water, spirit and matter. The Moon is responsible for the movement of the watery tides on earth ("to separate water from water"). Virtue: Happiness; vice: envy.

9 And God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear." And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground "land," and the gathered waters he called "seas." And God saw that it was good.

11 Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds." And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.

The third day ("Tuesday") is ruled by Mars (known to the ancient Germans as "Tiu"). In astrology, Mars is exalted in Capricorn, an earth sign -- thus "let dry ground appear". Once dry ground has formed, seed-bearing plants and trees can evolve. Plants are able to photosynthesize, to transform one form of energy (sunlight) into another (sugar). Transformation is a characteristic of the constellation of Scorpio, which is ruled by the planet Mars. Virtue: Vigor; vice: anger.

14 And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so. 16 God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.

The fourth day ("Wednesday") is ruled by Mercury (whom the ancient Germanics knew as "Woden" or "Odin"). Mercury is the messenger of the Gods, the communicator, the one who specializes in creating language, letters, and other "signs" as means of "mark"-ing and "govern"-ing knowledge. The stars and the planets served as the first "language" that our early human ancestors felt the need to decipher, decode, and understand; a language of the Bright Ones in which existed the keys of birth and death, the keys to measuring "seasons and days and years". Virtue: Wisdom; vice: intellectual greed.

20 And God said, "Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky." 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth." 23 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.

Jupiter (known as "Thor" by the early Germanics) rules "Thursday", the fifth day. Jupiter is the planet of expansion, growth, and generosity. Thus, the fifth day is the first day that Yahweh Allah commands that His creation "be fruitful and increase in number". In astrology, Jupiter is associated both with water ("great creatures of the sea") and with ether, the most spiritual of all the elements ("let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky"). Virtue: Generosity; vice: material gluttony.

24 And God said, "Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind." And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."

27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.

28 God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."

29 Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food." And it was so.

31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

The sixth day ("Friday") is named after the Germanic Goddess "Freya", who corresponds to the Roman Goddess "Venus", who herself is related to the sixth planet of the same name. Though Venus in astrology is a masculine planet, it also has many feminine associations. Thus, on the sixth day, we see the appearance of gender, of masculinity and femininity together, as both being parts of the image of Yahweh Allah. Venus is the planet of passion, of the urge to "rule" and "subdue", as seen in the story of Parasurama, a Hindu personage who symbolizes Venus. Venus also is associated with fruit and flowers, indicative of the initial diet of Yahweh Allah's human creations, a diet that was vegetarian or even vegan. (Yahweh Allah allowed humanity to eat meat, only after the subsidence of the Great Flood.) Virtue: L0ve-Compassion; vice: physical lust.

2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested all his work. 3 And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. [NIV]

Finally, on the seventh day, Yahweh Allah rested, peacefully. The seventh day is "Saturday", ruled by the seventh planet "Saturn", whose name in Sanskrit -- "Shani" -- means "Peace" and "Rest". Shani is related to "Shankara", or "The Peace-Maker", a Sanskrit name for God, the Holy One, Who, though in motion, is always at Peace. Virtue: Temperance; vice: sloth.

The Great, the Good, the Wise

We are told that "Zarathushtra was descended from a kingly family," and also that the first converts to his doctrines were of the ruling caste. But the priesthood, "the Kavis and the Karapans, often succeeded in bringing the rulers over to their side." So we find that, in this fight, the princes of the land divided themselves into two opposite parties, as we find in India in the Kurukshetra war. "With the princes have the Kavis and the Karapans united, in order to corrupt man by their evil deeds." Among the princes that stood against Zarathushtra, as his enemies, the mighty Bendva might be included, who is mentioned in Yasna, 49, 1-2. From the context we may surmise that he stood on the side of the infidels. A family or a race of princely blood were probably the Grehma (Yasna, 32, 12-14). Regarding them it is said that they "having allied with the Kavis and the Karapans, have established their power in order to overpower the prophet and his partisans. In fact, the opposition between the pious and the impious, the believers and the unbelievers, seem very often to have led to open combat. The prophet prays to Ahura that he may grant victory to his own, when both the armies rush together in combat, whereby they can cause defeat among the wicked, and procure for them strife and trouble."

There is evidence in our Indian legends that in ancient India also there have been fights between the representatives of the orthodox faith and the Kshatriyas, who, owing to their own special vocation, had a comparative freedom of mind about the religion of external observances. The proofs are strong enough to lead us to believe that the monotheistic religious movement had its origin and principal support in the kingly caste of those days, though a great number of them fought to oppose it.

I have discussed in another place the growth in ancient India of the moral and spiritual element in her religion which had accompanied the Indian Aryan people from the time of the Indo-Iranian age, showing how the struggle with its antagonistic force has continued all through the history of India. I have shown how the revolution which accompanied the teachings of Zarathushtra, breaking out into severe fights, had its close analogy in the religious revolution in India whose ideals are still preserved in the Bhagavadgita.

It is interesting to note that the growth of the same ideal in the same race in different geographical situations has produced results that, in spite of their unity, have some aspect of difference. The Iranian monotheism is more ethical, while the Indian is more metaphysical in its character. Such a difference in their respective spiritual developments was owing, no doubt, to the more active vigour of life in the old Persians and the contemplative quietude of mind in the Indians. This distinction in the latter arises in a great measure out of the climatic conditions of the country, the easy fertility of the soil and the great stretch of plains in Northern India affording no constant obstacles in physical nature to be daily overcome by man, while the climate of Persia is more bracing and the surface of the soil more rugged. The Zoroastrian ideal has accepted the challenge of the principle of evil and has enlisted itself in the fight on the side of Ahura Mazda, the great, the good, the wise. In India, although the ethical side is not absent, the emphasis has been more strongly laid on subjective realisation through a stoical suppression of desire, and the attainment of a perfect equanimity of mind by cultivating indifference to all causes of joy and sorrow. Here the idea, over which the minds of men brooded for ages, in an introspective intensity of silence, was that man as a spiritual being had to realise the truth by breaking through his sheath of self. All the desires and feelings that limit his being are keeping him shut in from the region of spiritual freedom.

In man the spirit of creation is waiting to find its ultimate release in an ineffable illumination of Truth. The aspiration of India is for attaining the infinite in the spirit of man. On the other hand, as I have said before, the ideal of Zoroastrian Persia is distinctly ethical. It sends its call to men to work together with the Eternal Spirit of Good in spreading and maintaining Kshatra, the Kingdom of Righteousness, against all attacks of evil. This ideal gives us our place as collaborators with God in distributing His blessings over the world.

"Clear is this all to the man of wisdom as to the man who carefully thinks; he who upholds Truth with all the might of his power, he who upholds Truth the utmost in his word and deed, he, indeed, is thy most valued helper, O Mazda Ahura!"-Yasna, 31-22.

It is, in fact, of supreme moment to us that the human world is in an incessant state of war between that which will save us and that which will drag us into the abyss of disaster. Our one hope lies in the fact that Ahura Mazda is on our side if we choose the right course. The law of warfare is severe in its character; it allows no compromise.

"None of you:" says Zarathushtra, "shall find the doctrine and precepts of the wicked; because thereby he will bring grief and death in his house and village, in his land and people! No, grip your sword and cut them down!"-Yasna, 31, 18.

-- Rabindranath Tagore, Forward to The Divine Songs of Zarathushtra

The Stars of Narnia

Each of the seven children's chronicles is based on one of the seven planets that comprised the heavens in medieval astrology, says a scholar whose theory is examined in the programme.

The explanation comes after more than five decades of literary and theological debate over whether Lewis devised the fantasies with a pattern in mind or created characters and events at random.

It is put forward by Reverend Dr Michael Ward, in his book Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of CS Lewis.

Norman Stone, director and producer of The Narnia Code, to be screened on BBC2 at Easter, says the theory is the "best explanation yet" for the chimerical nature of the books.

Own the Not Self

According to Buddhism, all phenomena are characterized by three marks.

All phenomena are anitya, or impermanent.

All phenomena are dukkha, or incapable of providing total satisfaction.

All phenomena are anatman, or not-self.

The last mark has been the most controversial, often interpreted as meaning that Buddhism denies personhood, the soul, individuality, or a whole mess of other conceptions.

"Not-self" is none of these.

To lack a self means this: to lack total ownership of any phenomenon. There is nothing that we, as humans, completely own. This is true, because (1) all things change, and thus escape total ownership; and (2) no thing provides complete satisfaction, even if we would want it to, thus demonstrating the lack of complete ownership.

Is there anything that you, who own nothing, can call your own?

The Green-Letter Bible

Political Compass

My Political Compass

Economic Left and Social Libertarian:
Economic Left/Right: -4.88
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -1.49

Stations of Stavros

"Are you righteous?

Kind?

Does your confidence lie in this?

Are you loved by all?

Know that I was, too.

Do you imagine your sufferings will be less

because you love

goodness?

Truth?"

Vote Irish

The Sublime Vision

The adorable Lord of all bliss, all love, all mercy
The supreme light that shines in my heart
The Lord who fed Sambandhar and Appar
Him I saw at the abode of Rishis.

The Great Ancient, the Goal of Yogis
The Supreme Purusha that dwells in the Puri
The Adi Deva, whom the Vedas sing of
Him I saw at the abode of Rishis.

The pillar of light which baffled Brahma and Vishnu
The ocean of mercy who saved Markandeya
The Lord of Madurai whom the Pandya beat
Him I saw at the abode of Rishis.

The supreme Teacher who taught the four
The Adi Deva who has assumed the five
Parama, Vyuha, Vibhava, Archa and Antaryamin,
Him I saw at the abode of Rishis.

The Lord who pervades the universe
The thread-soul, the Sutratman,
The over-soul, the purport of Srutis
Him I saw at the abode, of Rishis.

The effulgence who is above the Three
Who exists even after the Pralaya
Who saved Kannappa and Sundarar
Him I saw at the abode of Rishis.

He who drank the poison and saved the world,
He who danced at Chidambaram,
He who shines as the Jyotirlinga
Him I saw at the abode of Rishis.

He who brought the jackal-horses to Pandya
He who gave pearl-palanquin to Sambandhar
He who is the essence of Panchakshara
Him I saw at the abode of Rishis.

He who dwells in Banares and Vedas,
In Ramesvar, Arunachal and Kanchi,
In the hearts of all beings
Him I saw at the abode of Rishis.

He who pleaded on behalf of Darumi
He who dwells in Kailas with Uma
He who restored the eyesight of Sundarar
Him I saw at the abode of Rishis.

Kogelo Village

Obama's half-brother Malik is carried through Kogelo village, Kenya. The president-elect's relatives erupted in cheers Wednesday, singing "We are going to the White House!"

Atheist Richard Dawkins warns Harry Potter could have 'negative effect on children'

Outspoken atheist Professor Richard Dawkins is to warn children of the dangers in believing "anti-scientific" fairytales such as Harry Potter.

Prof Dawkins will write a book aimed at youngsters where he will discuss whether stories like the successful JK Rowling series have a "pernicious" effect on children.

The 67-year-old, who recently resigned from his position at Oxford University, says he intends to look at the effects of "bringing children up to believe in spells and wizards".

Obama Redraws Map Of Religious Voters

All Things Considered, October 24, 2008 · Religious language trips off Barack Obama's tongue as if he were a native of the Bible Belt.

From the moment he emerged on the national scene, he has spoken to believers in a language few Democrats have mastered: the language of the Bible and of a personal relationship with God.

Sometimes he shares his adult conversion story, describing how he knelt beneath the cross at his Chicago church: "I felt I heard God's spirit beckoning me," he says. "I submitted myself to his will, and dedicated myself to discovering his truth and carrying out his works."

Sometimes he speaks of sin and personal responsibility: "When a gangbanger shoots indiscriminately into a crowd because he feels someone has disrespected him," he told a group of religious progressives in 2006, "We've got a moral problem. There's a hole in that young man's heart."

And sometimes he borrows code words, not from hymns, but from Christian rock star Michael W. Smith, such as when he proclaimed at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, "We worship an awesome God in the blue states!"

It is this ease with religion that has helped Obama win over voters of various religious stripes — including Catholics who traditionally have voted Republican....

Al-Rahman, Al-Rahim

A Time for Action

Girish: "What? Book-learning? I have seen enough of it. It can't fool me any more.

Master (with a smile): "Do you know my attitude? Books, scriptures, and things like that only point out the way to reach God. After finding the way, what more need is there of books and scriptures? Then comes the time for action.

"A man received a letter from home informing him that certain presents were to be sent to his relatives. The names of the articles were given in the letter. As he was about to go shopping for them, he found that the letter was missing. He began anxiously to search for it, several others joining in the search. For a long time they continued to search. When at last the letter was discovered, his joy knew no bounds. With great eagerness he opened the letter and read it. It said that he was to buy five seers of sweets, a piece of cloth, and a few other things. Then he did not need the letter any more, for it had served its purpose. Putting it aside, he went out to buy the things. How long is such a letter necessary? As long as its contents are not known. When the contents are known one proceeds to carry out the directions.

"In the scriptures you will find the way to realize God. But after getting all the information about the path, you must begin to work. Only then can you attain your goal.
....
"The almanac forecasts the rainfall tor the year. You may squeeze the book, but you won't get a drop of water — not even a single drop." (Laughter.)

Both/And

Consider the following proposition as a key to understanding the Catholic-Christian approach to theology:

The proper Catholic-Christian answer to any theological question is always
"both/and," rather than "either/or."

At first glance, this might seem ridiculous or contradictory. Isn't God absolute? Isn't there just one truth, as opposed to error? Indeed, this proposal does not imply that a statement and its direct negation are both true ("A is B" and "A is not B"). It would obviously be false to claim, for example, that "God is Love" and "God is not Love," or "Jesus is divine" and "Jesus is not divine."

However, just as every coin has both a "heads" and a "tails" side, just as every battery has both a "positive" and a "negative" terminal, and just as the earth has both a North Pole and a South Pole, so also there are always (at least) two "sides" or "poles" to the Catholic-Christian answer to any theological question. These opposite poles often seem far apart and difficult to hold together. It is rarely easy to understand and balance both sides of an issue, just as we can't easily see both sides of a coin at the same time (without a mirror, at least!). Yet the "opposite" sides are seldom really "contradictions," even if there may be some strong "tensions" between them.

For example, Christians believe that Jesus is both God and human. To a non-Christian, this might seem ridiculous. Even for a Christian, it is hard to understand or explain. How can anything or anyone be both divine and human? Or how can God be both transcendent and immanent? Or how can the Bible be both the Word of God and human literature? Can both creation and evolution be true somehow? Can both science and religion be reconciled? The Catholic answer to all these questions is YES, both the one side and its opposite not only can, but must be held together in tension, even if they seem to be contradictory, in order to understand the whole truth, the whole of the complex reality.

-- Felix Just, S.J., Ph.D.

Rhode Island: Priest inhibited as a result of her conversion to Islam

[Episcopal News Service] Bishop Geralyn Wolf of the Diocese of Rhode Island has inhibited the Rev. Ann Holmes Redding for publicly professing her adherence to the Muslim faith.

The notice states that the diocesan “Standing Committee has determined that Dr. Redding abandoned the Communion of the Episcopal Church by formal admission into a religious body not in communion with the Episcopal Church. The bishop has affirmed that determination.”

The inhibition prevents Redding from “exercising the gifts and spiritual authority conferred on her by ordination and from public ministry” and is in force until March 31, 2009. In accordance with Episcopal canons, unless Redding “reclaims” her Christian faith, said Wolf in an interview, the inhibition will automatically lead to a deposition, ending Redding’s priesthood.

“In the process of deposition, we shouldn’t dismiss each other easily,” the bishop said.

According to the “notice of inhibition,” dated September 30 and signed by Wolf, “Dr. Redding has acknowledged taking her Shahadah to become a Muslim.”

Mary Theotokos, Daughter of Durga

Gegrüsst seist du, Maria, voll der Gnade;
der Herr ist mit dir;
du bist gebenedeit unter den Frauen
und gebenedeit ist die Frucht deines Leibes, Jesus.

Heilige Maria Mutter Gottes,
bitte für uns Sünder,
jetzt und in der Stunde unseres Todes.
Amen.

Jesus Christ, Son of Shiva

"For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Great Rishi, Mighty Indra, Eternal Guru, Kshatriya of Shankara." [Paraphrase of Isaiah 9:6]

All Gurus

All Gurus

Prophets

Buddhas

Avatars

Christs

Are One at the Heart.

But I especially honor

the one who unveiled my eyes,

unto the Ancient One.

I Have Not Said

"I have not said that a Guru is not necessary. But a Guru need not always be in human form. First a person thinks that he is an inferior and that there is a superior, all-knowing, all powerful God who controls his own and the world's destiny and worships him or does Bhakti. When he reaches a certain stage and becomes fit for enlightenment, the same God whom he was worshipping comes as Guru and leads him on. That Guru comes only to tell him 'That God is within yourself. Dive within and realize'. God, Guru and the Self are the same."

-- Ramana Maharshi

Santosha

The Heart of Rakab

Progressively Conservative

Buddhadasa Bhikkhu: The Middle Way Life in a World of Polarity

We human beings have long acquired the habit of creating dichotomies and opposition, and our understandings of scriptural texts and traditions have not avoided this tendency. We frequently find polarity imposed as a device of convenience: tradition versus reform, meditator versus scholar, etc. Some Buddhist teachers may fall into such dichotomies. Ajahn Buddhadasa is one who does not. For him, the middle way is about finding the right course between extremes.

Ajahn Buddhadasa grew up during a time of great change in Thai society, as aggressive western “civilization” and imperialism made deep inroads. This change brought about many benefits such as roads, schools, and advances in health care, but much destruction resulted as well. The forests of Thailand diminished from over 90% to just 10%, prostitution became rampant, and traditional modes of life have disappeared. Many in Thailand responded to the pressure to westernize by embracing and profiting from it. Others took the opposite approach, resisting and refusing what the West had to offer. Ajahn Buddhadasa sought the middle way between these opposing alternatives.

The organizing element in Ajahn Buddhadasa’s response to Western imperialism and modernization was the Dhamma. This may seem self-evident, but it wasn’t true of the political-economic elite or even the majority of Thai monks, especially the senior monks who were often much more interested in maintaining tradition and privilege than in living from Dhammic principles. One of Ajahn Buddhadasa’s most notable qualities was his ability to hold the Dhamma at the center—not a bookish, memorized Dhamma, but a living, creative expression of it. He and others, such as Vietnamese Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hahn, represent some of the healthiest Asian responses to the tremendous economic, political, and military pressure emanating from the violent capitalist-driven ideology of the West.

Faced with the dichotomy of slavishly following or stubbornly refusing the progress of Westernization, Ajahn Buddhadasa felt that there were many things to learn from the West. Like the Dalai Lama, he was fascinated by science. When he was a young monk, he cherished the typewriter given to him by an early benefactor. He experimented with radios and early recording equipment, and was an excellent photographer. He read Freud and other psychologists, and philosophers like Hegel and Marx. He believed there was a way to use some Western developments constructively. Instead of blindly refusing them, he thought that one should learn how to adapt them - understanding them while being mindful of their potential dangers.

He thought that Asian peoples could learn from what those in the West were thinking and doing, without surrendering their own wisdom. Many Thai students in Europe and in Western-style educational systems were being told by their European teachers that they came from an “inferior civilization.” There were some who believed what they were told. Fortunately, others did not. Ajahn Buddhadasa emerged as the main Thai voice pointing out that Europe had created nothing comparable to Buddhism, while acknowledging the economic and military advancement of the West. He presented the view that Asian Buddhism had an attitude much more fitting with science than Christianity, and a kind of wisdom largely missing in the West.

Ajahn Buddhadasa taught that in order to wisely absorb what is coming from the West, and to filter what is unhealthy, we need to stay grounded in an understanding of Buddha-Dhamma. This had a great influence on Thai society, especially among the progressive elite. Though the meaning is a bit different for those of us born in the West, the dilemma remains: we live in a culture that is very powerful and has some healthy, creative aspects, but also a tremendous amount of violence and destruction. How are we going to sort through this? In which principles can we ground ourselves?

Another dichotomy occurs between conservative and radical. The Thai activist and scholar Sulak Sivaraksa coined the term “radical conservatism” to describe Ajahn Buddhadasa. In some ways Ajahn Buddhadasa was conservative. He thought that Southern Thai culture was healthy, balanced, and wise, and he wanted to help conserve it. He was also conservative, in certain respects, regarding Buddhism, believing that Buddhism needed to stay grounded in its past without being stuck there.

At the same time he was radical. Ajahn Buddhadasa honored the Buddhist tradition that had developed over 2500 years, but he also recognized that the many changes it had been through were not in keeping with its core. In trying to understand and preserve the tradition, he endeavored to find the original and essential aspects of Buddhism through carefully reading and studying the Pali suttas. He insisted on reviving core threads of Buddha-Dhamma—teachings such as suññata (emptiness) and tathata (thusness) —that were in danger of being obliterated by certain elements of traditional Theravada Buddhism. Although this could be considered a conservative activity, it seemed very radical to the monastic hierarchy. Rather than end up on one side or the other of this conservative-progressive dichotomy, he was able to be progressively conservative and conservatively progressive, avoiding a common ideological lock-down.

Another key dichotomy he addressed is that of lay versus monastic. Senior monks discouraged him from teaching anatta (not-self) and paticcasamuppada (dependent co-origination) to lay people on grounds that it would “confuse them.” But in good conscience Ajahn Buddhadhasa could not stop. He argued that these dhammas are core to Buddhism, and all people who want to end suffering have a right to learn them. For him, ending suffering is not a monastic issue, or even a Buddhist issue, but a human issue. He took on the work of making the Dhamma available to anyone who might be interested, whether they were lay or ordained, Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, Christian, or Sikh (and he had students from all of these traditions).

Ajahn Buddhadasa also challenged the meditation versus daily-life practice dichotomy. The term ‘Dhamma practice’ is often used as a euphemism for meditation both in the West and in Asia . When people say ‘practice’ they are referring to the practice of sitting on a cushion or doing walking meditation, and sometimes specifically on retreat or in a formal setting. This has raised questions and created confusion about how to practice in daily-life, and how to respond to the demands, complexities, and needs of the world we live in.

Central to Ajahn Buddhadasa’s approach is the idea that “Dhamma is duty; duty is Dhamma.” Dhamma practice comes down to doing our duty, which inspires a further investigation into the nature of that duty. For some of us our duty is something dictated to us by our family. The government tells us about our patriotic duty. Capitalism tells us about our duty to consume to keep the economy strong. Ajahn Buddhadasa believed that duty must be discovered by and for ourselves. We should be mindful of messages from our family, government, culture, and economic system, but in the end it is our own responsibility to identify. Sometimes it’s about taking care of the body, sometimes it’s about one’s profession, and sometimes it’s about social action. Ultimately the core duty is to let go of self and to be free of suffering.

Finally, there is the spiritual versus worldly dichotomy. There are teachers of Theravada who believe in a clear duality between samsara and Nibbana, the worldly and transcendent. And there is much in the West that dichotomizes these as well, including leftist political traditions that want to abolish religion and be simply materialistic. There are others with the opposite bias: “Forget politics and forget social issues, all you have to do is practice, practice, practice and escape to Nibbana.”

While Ajahn Buddhadasa didn’t believe that samsara (worldly) and Nibbana (transcendent) are one and the same, he did insist that Nibbana is found only in the midst of the world. For him the way to end suffering could only be found through suffering. He described Nibbana as “the coolest point in the furnace.”

The Dhamma perspective that made all this bridging possible is an understanding, both intellectual and experiential, of idappaccayata—the universal natural law that all things happen because of causes and conditions. Nothing is static, absolute, or fixed. Seeing this, we avoid becoming trapped in ideology, positions, and dichotomies. Ajahn Buddhadasa believed that an approach which may have worked for a while may also finally reach its limit. The more we understand that everything depends on causes and conditions, that nothing is fixed, the easier it will be to navigate the intellectual and ideological dichotomies of our world, and to follow the middle way of non-suffering in this lifetime.

-- Santikaro

Pantheism

To practice pantheism (or "holotheism") is to see-and-love the infinite knowledge, power, and bliss of Reality in each portion of existence.

The Nature of God

God is Nature.

The presence of God is the presence of Nature.

Nature is God.

The study of Nature is the study of God.

God and Nature: two sides of the same Reality.

God -- the Great, Starry-Bright Nothing --

continually

gives birth to

Nature -- the Awesome, Solar-Lucid Something.

To see Nature is to see the Buddha.

To love Nature is to love the Christ.

To see through Nature is to see as the Buddha.

To love beyond Nature is to love as the Christ.

To see God as the Heart of Nature is to be the Buddha.

To love God as the Heart of Nature is to be the Christ.

The Road of the Heart

"Some of the God-fire in your heart must have rubbed off on your letter I received last evening. I read it to Baba and the look on His face was very deep. His message for you is that you are very fortunate to experience this Love and that you should, "Plunge in, unafraid."

It immediately brought to my mind something Baba told us one evening just before the accident and made us repeat it a few times. It is the lines of an Urdu couplet by a mystic poet: "Understand well this Love is no joke; it is an Ocean of Fire in which you have to plunge deep and drown yourself."

The road of the mind is narrow, and for a dnyani (seeker) it is a long journey. The road of the heart, however, has no limits and it's the most direct to God. For the dnyani there are a thousand questions to all of which the bhakti (lover) has one answer — and it is all-sufficient and satisfying."

-- Mani Irani

Thus Man Becomes God

One can find volumes and volumes of prose and poetry about love, but there are very, very few persons who have found love and experienced it. No amount of reading, listening and learning can ever tell you what love is. Regardless of how much I explain love to you, you will understand it less and less if you think you can grasp it through the intellect or imagination.

Hafiz describes the bare truth about love when he says:

Janab-e ishqra dargah basi bala tar-azaq'l ast: Kasi in astan busad kay jan der astin darad.

The majesty of love lies far beyond the reach of intellect;
only one who has his life up his sleeve dares kiss the threshold of love.

The difference between love and intellect is something like that between night and day; they exist in relation to one another and yet as two different things. Love is real intelligence capable of realizing truth; intellect is best suited to know all about duality, which is born of ignorance and is entirely ignorance. When the sun rises, night is transformed into day. Just so, when love manifests, not-knowing (ignorance) is turned into conscious-knowing (knowledge).

In spite of the difference between a keenly intelligent person and a very unintelligent person, each is equally capable of experiencing love. The quality which determines one's capacity for love is not one's wit or wisdom, but one's readiness to lay down life itself for the beloved, and yet remain alive. One must, so to speak, slough off body, energy, mind and all else, and become dust under the feet of the beloved. This dust of a lover who cannot remain alive without God — just as an ordinary man cannot live without breath — is then transformed into the beloved. Thus man becomes God.

-- Meher Baba

So be it. Svaha!

External Conformity and Spiritual Emancipation

The Two Levels of Christian Life:

1. External Conformity: "[The] stage of external conformity to religious injunctions or traditions is known as the pursuit of Shariat or Karma-Kanda. It covers actions like the offering of daily prayers, visiting of holy places, performance of duties prescribed by scriptures and observance of well established rules of the ethical codes generally accepted by the moral consciousness of the times. The stage of external conformity is useful in its own way as a spiritual discipline; but it is by no means free from evil effects, for it not only tends to make a man dry, rigid and mechanical, but it often nourishes some kind of subtle egotism....

Even at the stage of Shariat or Karma-Kanda allegiance to religions is not infrequently a source of inspiration for many selfless and noble acts for, while these dogmas or creeds are blindly accepted, they are often held with a fervour and enthusiasm which supply a dynamic element to the ideology which has been accepted by the person for the moment. Dogmas and creeds, as compared with barren views and doctrines, have the distinct advantage of being embraced not only by the intellect but also by the heart. They cover and affect a wider part of personality than purely theoretical opinions.

Dogmas and creeds generally, however, are as much a source of evil as of good, because in them the guiding vision is clouded owing to degeneration or suspension of critical thinking. If allegiance to creeds and dogmas has sometimes done good to the individual or to the community to which he belongs, it has more often done harm. Though the mind and heart are involved in allegiance to dogmas and creeds, both function in such case under the serious handicap of suspension of thought. Hence dogmas and creeds do not contribute to unmixed good."

2. Spiritual Emancipation: "The soul often spends several lives in gathering the lessons of external conformity; but there always comes a time when it tires of external conformity and becomes more interested in the realities of the inner life. When the worldly man takes to this higher kind of search he might be said to have become an aspirant. Like the insect which passes on through metamorphosis to the next stage of existence, the soul transcends the phase of external conformity (i.e., Shariat or Karma-Kanda) and enters upon the path of spiritual emancipation (i.e., Tarikat or Moksha-Marga). In this higher phase the soul is no longer satisfied by external conformity with certain rules, but wants to acquire those qualifications which would make its inner life spiritually beautiful....

The rise from Shariat or Karma-Kanda to Tarikat or Moksha-Marga is not to be interpreted therefore as being merely a departure from external conformity. It is not a change from conventionality to idiosyncrasy, from the usual to the unusual, but it is a change from a life of thoughtless acceptance of established traditions, to a mode of being which is based upon thoughtful appreciation of the difference between the important and the unimportant. It is a change from a state of implicit ignorance to a state of critical thoughtfulness. At the stage of mere external conformity the spiritual ignorance of man is often so complete that he does not even realise that he is ignorant. But when the person is being awakened and enters the Path he begins by realising the need for true light. In the initial stages the effort to attain this light takes the form of intellectual discrimination between the lasting and the transitory, the true and the false, the real and the unreal, the important and the unimportant....

When a person gives up uncritically accepted dogmas and creeds in favour of views and doctrines to which he has devoted thought, there is a certain amount of advance insofar as his mind has now begun to think and critically examine its beliefs. Very often, however, the newly held beliefs are seen to lack the fervour and enthusiasm which characterised allegiance to dogmas and creeds. If these newly held beliefs lack motive power, they belong only to the superficial aspect of life and they hang loosely upon the person like an overcoat. The mind has been emancipated from the domination of uncultured emotion, but this is often achieved by sacrificing the co-operation of the heart. If the results of critical thought are to be spiritually fruitful, they must again invade and recapture the heart so as to enlist its co-operative functioning.

In other words, the ideas which have been accepted after critical examination must again be released into active life if they are to yield their full benefit. In the process of practical life they often undergo a healthy transformation and become more soundly interwoven with the very fabric of life.

The transition from external conformity (i.e., Shariat or Karma-Kanda) to the life of inner realities (i.e., Tarikat or Moksha-Marga) involves two steps: (i) freeing the mind from the inertia of uncritical acceptance based upon blind imitation and stirring it to critical thinking, and (ii) bringing the results of critical and discriminative thinking into practical life. In order to be spiritually fruitful, thinking must be not only critical but creative. Critical and creative thinking leads to spiritual preparation by cultivating those qualities which contribute towards the perfection and balancing of the mind and the heart and the release of unfettered divine life."

The Nature of Mind

Mind is Nature.

The cultivation of mind is the cultivation of nature.

Nature is Mind.

The love of nature is the love of mind.

Mind and Nature: two sides of the same reality.

Psychology is Cosmology.

Buddha: The purification of mind is the purification of nature.

Christ: The creation of nature is the creation of the mind.

Buddha: To unbound mind is to unbound nature.

Christ: To save nature is to save the mind.

Buddha: To act with wisdom and compassion is to act intelligently with the mind and gently with nature.

Christ: To love God and others is to love the mind and nature.

Mind is Nature. Nature is Mind.

Psychology is Cosmology.

Only a Little While

"My husband, Jeff, and I (Arlene) had heard of Baba from different people in 1975 before we met each other. I was very fascinated when I first heard about Him and purchased God Speaks: The Theme of Creation and Its Purpose by Meher Baba.

In 1980 my husband and I started talking about Baba and contacted Kitty Davy at the Meher Center in Myrtle Beach to order some books. When the box of books came, The Perfect Master, a biography of Meher Baba, was at the top of the box, face up. As soon as Jeff got the box opened for me, I saw Baba's picture on the cover and experienced His beautiful love. Remembering was so sweet, I cried and cried. After a while I could talk and said to Jeff, "I remember, I remember."

I called my twin sister Eileen and told her I had something to show her. She came over right away and when I handed her the book she too said, "I remember knowing Him." Now a flood of thoughts came pouring in. The memory of the summer of 1937; little seven year old twin sisters standing in their play house; the first visit from their beautiful play companion.

As Eileen recalls, "Our friend was sitting across the room in His white robe and sandals, looking radiant and happy. Our little hearts jumped with joy. And we said, 'You will play with us now, you will play with us now.' He nodded His head, smiled happily and put His arms out to welcome us. We ran to Him, to receive His warm embrace. It felt like we were melting into Him.

"Such wonderful visits we remember, like the time we put our mother's big hats on His head. And with each hat we put on, He would make a funny face.

"We remember how much He loved to look in our play purses and always seemed surprised at what He found. How we laughed together. Our most cherished remembrance was serving tea."

Reminiscing about the days we had tea with Baba is always special, Baba sitting and looking so sweet with saucer and tea cup in His beautiful hands. A feeling of something very special seemed to come over us. As we lifted our cups to our lips, Baba's eyes seemed to water and shine with a flow that made our little hearts seem to know He was saying, "I love you, my little ones."

On one visit, Baba put His hands out, palms up, and we knew to put our hands in His. He closed His hands over ours and held our hands in His as He drew us over to Himself. We stood looking into His beautiful face for a long time it seems, enjoying every minute.

He showed us a mischievous side of Himself. We would play a game of slipping our fingers into His. He would pretend He couldn't catch them. Then, just as we thought we were winning, He would close His fingers and catch us every time. How that made us laugh with excitement.

We played hide and seek with Baba. We would put scarves over our heads and He would pull them off, one by one. The expression of joy that would come over His face as he found us hiding under the last one — words cannot describe His beautiful face.

Eileen remembers with delight, "We enjoyed playing that we were actresses on stage. We asked our mother if she would help us fix up a stage setting. She drew a rope across our summer kitchen (that's a small room off the main kitchen). That is where Baba always appeared to us. She hung old drapes over the rope and we took many an extra curtain call there for our playmate, Baba.

"When we came into the summer kitchen one summer morning to play actresses, we saw Baba sitting on the stage. He looked very natural sitting there. As we performed our tap dance and singing and a little play, He would clap and clap. He made us feel so happy and uninhibited. He always made us feel we were pleasing Him. He never spoke but we never noticed or were affected by His silence. His love was so full and everything we did was so pleasing to Him that we only wanted to do more and more. We were never embarrassed even though we were very shy.

"There was one thing He would never let us do and that was touch His feet. He insisted on obedience but he was so loving with it. We never questioned Him, never thought of doing so.

"The last time he appeared to us, He was standing and He said, 'You have seen me for a little while and in a little while I will come again and you will know me. Now I must go and you will not remember these times.' Then his body split into two — two of Him. He went away very quickly into both of us at the same time. Right into us and from that moment until 43 years later, when my sister opened the box and saw Baba's picture on The Perfect Master, she hadn't remembered that He had appeared to us. Neither had I until my sister called me over to her house and I saw His picture and suddenly recalled that He had been with us so long ago. But in Baba's time, it was only a little while."

55 Maxims

55 Maxims for Christian Living
by Fr. Thomas Hopko

1. Be always with Christ.
2. Pray as you can, not as you want.
3. Have a keepable rule of prayer that you do by discipline.
4. Say the Lord’s Prayer several times a day.
5. Have a short prayer that you constantly repeat when your mind is not occupied with other things.
6. Make some prostrations when you pray.
7. Eat good foods in moderation.
8. Keep the Church’s fasting rules.
9. Spend some time in silence every day.
10. Do acts of mercy in secret.
11. Go to liturgical services regularly
12. Go to confession and communion regularly.
13. Do not engage intrusive thoughts and feelings. Cut them off at the start.
14. Reveal all your thoughts and feelings regularly to a trusted person.
15. Read the scriptures regularly.
16. Read good books a little at a time.
17. Cultivate communion with the saints.
18. Be an ordinary person.
19. Be polite with everyone.
20. Maintain cleanliness and order in your home.
21. Have a healthy, wholesome hobby.
22. Exercise regularly.
23. Live a day, and a part of a day, at a time.
24. Be totally honest, first of all, with yourself.
25. Be faithful in little things.
26. Do your work, and then forget it.
27. Do the most difficult and painful things first.
28. Face reality.
29. Be grateful in all things.
30. Be cheerfull.
31. Be simple, hidden, quiet and small.
32. Never bring attention to yourself.
33. Listen when people talk to you.
34. Be awake and be attentive.
35. Think and talk about things no more than necessary.
36. When we speak, speak simply, clearly, firmly and directly.
37. Flee imagination, analysis, figuring things out.
38. Flee carnal, sexual things at their first appearance.
39. Don’t complain, mumble, murmur or whine.
40. Don’t compare yourself with anyone.
41. Don’t seek or expect praise or pity from anyone.
42. We don’t judge anyone for anything.
43. Don’t try to convince anyone of anything.
44. Don’t defend or justify yourself.
45. Be defined and bound by God alone.
46. Accept criticism gratefully but test it critically.
47. Give advice to others only when asked or obligated to do so.
48. Do nothing for anyone that they can and should do for themselves.
49. Have a daily schedule of activities, avoiding whim and caprice.
50. Be merciful with yourself and with others.
51. Have no expectations except to be fiercely tempted to your last breath.
52. Focus exclusively on God and light, not on sin and darkness.
53. Endure the trial of yourself and your own faults and sins peacefully, serenely, because you know that God’s mercy is greater than your wretchedness.
54. When we fall, get up immediately and start over.
55. Get help when you need it, without fear and without shame.

Desi Bible to Have Verses from Vedas, Upanishads

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Pictures of a turbaned Joseph and sari-clad Mary with baby Jesus in an "Indianised" version of the Bible is set to create waves across the country. In a unique experiment, the Catholic Church is coming out with a version of the Bible with verses from ancient Indian texts like the Upanishads and Vedas to explain the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.

This is an unprecedented attempt to encourage a contextual reading and understanding of the Bible, says the church spokesman, Paul Thelakat.

"The Biblical text remains the same but verses from Vedas and Upanishads have been used to interpret Christian teachings," says Thelakat. As far as Catholics are concerned, they have to live and interpret their Christian faith and scriptures within the given culture, he adds.

Thiruvananthapuram Archbishop Sosa Pakiam, in his preface to the Bible, says a unique feature of the new Bible is that it has many references to the spiritual message and Biblical values found in the scriptures of other great Indian religions.

Hang Ten

Surfers read the Bible littorally.
-- Anonymous

Understanding the Guru

"An Indian will listen to his guru, nod his head, and go home and, even if he's a deeply religious person, ignore fifty per cent of what the guru has told him, because his own sense of the world tells him to do that," an Indian man who is well versed in Yogic culture said to me recently. But Westerners who jump heart first into a cloistered Indian subculture do not always find it easy to distinguish what is spiritual from what is Indian-or merely the whim of the guru."

Keep the Faith

Even if YOU don't know what faith you are, Belief-O-Matic™ knows. Answer 20 questions about your concept of God, the afterlife, human nature, and more, and Belief-O-Matic™ will tell you what religion (if any) you practice...or ought to consider practicing.

Warning: Belief-O-Matic™ assumes no legal liability for the ultimate fate of your soul.

The top score on the list below represents the faith that Belief-O-Matic, in its less than infinite wisdom, thinks most closely matches your beliefs. However, even a score of 100% does not mean that your views are all shared by this faith, or vice versa.

Belief-O-Matic then lists another 26 faiths in order of how much they have in common with your professed beliefs. The higher a faith appears on this list, the more closely it aligns with your thinking.

1.	Hinduism (100%)
2.	Mahayana Buddhism (98%)
3.	Neo-Pagan (98%)
4.	Jainism (94%)
5.	Sikhism (93%)
6.	New Age (79%)
7.	Bahá'í Faith (78%)
8.	Unitarian Universalism (75%)
9.	Orthodox Judaism (74%)
10.	Liberal Quakers (73%)
11.	Reform Judaism (69%)
12.	Theravada Buddhism (63%)
13.	Islam (62%)
14.	New Thought (49%)
15.	Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (48%)
16.	Orthodox Quaker (48%)
17.	Taoism (46%)
18.	Scientology (44%)
19.	Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (38%)
20.	Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (36%)
21.	Secular Humanism (35%)
22.	Seventh Day Adventist (35%)
23.	Eastern Orthodox (29%)
24.	Roman Catholic (29%)
25.	Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (27%)
26.	Jehovah's Witness (27%)
27.	Nontheist (21%)

Come and See

No religion is perfect. All religions make mistakes. (True, in the great-scheme-of-things, all is perfect and there are no mistakes; but I'm talking about a more pedestrian sort of imperfection and mistakenness.) For many people, there is no one religion that they totally agree with 100% in all matters of doctrine and practice.

Some members of a religion would say that, if you don't agree 100% in all matters of doctrine and practice, then you shouldn't be a member of the religion in question. Balderdash! Poppycock! They're flimflamming, bamboozling, hoodwinking with such statements. From an Abrahamic perspective, God may not have created this world imperfect, but He certainly has allowed it to continue in such a state of being, and to search for perfection in religion (which is certainly composed of imperfect beings and ideas) is about as smart as to search for perfection in a human being.

The purpose of religion is spiritual transmission, not perfection in either doctrine or practice. Start from the baseline that all religions are imperfect and mistaken, to one degree or another. For some, such a realization might lead them to dispense with religion altogether. For others, it might lead them to remain in the religion to which they currently belong. For some others, it opens up a different sort of possibility: the question becomes, which religion exhibits spiritually potency, doctrinal differences and institutional failings notwithstanding?

There are two ways to approach the spiritual life. One way is the way of submission: one simply accepts whatever a particular religious tradition teaches as being true and good. The way of submission is a venerable path, but it's not the only choice. Unfortunately, the way of submission has dominated much of Christian history.

The second way is the way of "come and see", scientific-tantra, noetic experimentation, or spiritual empiricism: one tests the doctrines and practices within one's own body-mind, adopting what proves true and good, and putting to the side what does not. The way of scientific-tantra has not dominated Christian history and practice, but it does exist.

At the Level

At the level of doctrine, the religions are very different,

because ideas and words are very different.

At the level of the experience and embodiment of the heart, the religions are the same,

because there is no religion there.

Truly, there is no need to convert from one religion to another.

When you know

that Christ is the "I am" of Advaita...

that Allah is the Power of Nirvana...

then you can praise Siva during Mass,

and take refuge in the Buddha in the Mosque.

Noble Truths for House-Holders

1. First noble truth: the truth of compassion (or "karuna") and wisdom (or "prajna"). Compassion and wisdom make life on earth enjoyable.

2. Second noble truth: the origin of compassion and wisdom exists in the realization that all beings seek and deserve compassion and wisdom, as relief from the frustrations and sufferings of life.

3. Third noble truth: family life is an excellent environment in which to practice compassion and wisdom. Spouse and children are living Buddhas, ready to teach us what we need to know and what we need to open our hearts to.

4. Fourth noble truth: compassion and wisdom are cultivated via the noble eightfold path.

Exactly How

Exactly how Buddhism and Christianity are compatible will be increasingly revealed over the coming centuries. No need to attempt, right now, a "forced" syncretism. The organic process is the best process. Still, one can understand the Christian term "God" in Buddhist ways. "God" would, then, not refer to one particular Buddhist idea; "God" would possess a range of potential meanings, depending upon the context. Possible Buddhist terms for "God":

1. The Buddha
2. The Dharma
3. The Sangha
4. Nirvana
5. Tathagata-Garbha
6. Buddha-Nature
7. Nirmanakaya
8. Sambhogakaya
9. Dharmakaya
10. Dzogchen

What it takes to be a Buddha

In the beginning is the heart.

The heart manifests nature.

Nature is the primal manifestation of the heart.

The heart radiates nirvana.

Nirvana is the primal radiation of the heart.

Nature and nirvana suffer from separation.

Nature and nirvana give birth to the person.

Nature and nirvana exist within the person.

Nature and nirvana exist in separation within the person.

The person suffers from the separation of nature and nirvana.

The person lacks wholeness. The person lacks health.

The person starts to evolve within nature.

Evolution is love.

Evolution is the love of nature expressed by the person.

Evolution is the integration of the person.

Evolution is the integration of nature and nirvana, as the person.

The destiny of the person is to heal the separation of nature and nirvana,

and thus to heal the person.

The destiny of the person is to love nature.

(The love of nature attracts nirvana.

Nature and nirvana in union is the culmination of evolution.)

Love of nature is necessary for the wholeness of the person.

Love of nature is necessary for the healing of the person.

To heal is to make whole.

To make whole is to save.

That which saves is a savior.

Love of nature makes whole.

Love of nature heals.

Love of nature saves.

Love of nature is a healer.

Love of nature is the healer.

Love of nature is a savior.

Love of nature is the savior.

Love of nature heals the person.

A healed person is a buddha.

The union of nature and nirvana exists within and as a buddha.

A buddha is a consummate lover of nature.

No love of nature? No buddha.

No buddha? No love of nature.

Zwei Bedeutungen (Two Meanings)

"Christ" has two meanings. The first meaning refers to one who is "anointed with oil". "Oil" here refers to the "amrita" or "soma" that is produced by the brain during the processes of spiritual transformation. Thus, one who has spiritually transformed, is a "Christ". The second meaning of "Christ" points to the action of spiritual activity itself, also called "sadhana" or "yoga". When symbolizing yoga, "Christ" may be spelled "christ".

"He who is endowed with wisdom, frees himself in this very life, both from worrying about his 'bad' deeds and glorying in his 'good' deeds. Therefore, one should devote oneself to christ. Indeed, christ is skill in action."
-- Inspired by Bhagavad Gita II:50

Moses and Brahmamuhurta

Awakening during brahmamuhurta is considered the best time for arising from slumber, from a natural and spiritual perspective. During these early morning hours, roughly from 3 a.m. to 6 a.m., the environmental potency makes spiritual practice immensely powerful. In the Judaic scriptures, Moses built an altar to God in those early morning hours, demonstrating the numinous force of the early morning:

Exodus 24:3-5: When Moses went and told the people all the LORD's words and laws, they responded with one voice, "Everything the LORD has said we will do." Moses then wrote down everything the LORD had said.

He got up early the next morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve stone pillars representing the twelve tribes of Israel. Then he sent young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as fellowship offerings to the LORD.

The Buddhist God

It's actually quite simple. There is "God" in Buddhism, if one only look at the etymology:

O.E. god "supreme being, deity," from P.Gmc. *guthan (cf. Du. god, Ger. Gott, O.N. guð, Goth. guþ), from PIE *ghut- "that which is invoked" (cf. Skt. huta- "invoked," an epithet of Indra), from root *gheu(e)- "to call, invoke."

"God", then, is that which is invoked. Whether "God" is omnipotent, omniscient, or omnipresent, is irrelevant. In Buddhism, the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha are all invoked, in one way or another. So, the Triple Gem is the God, as understood within Buddhism.

Four Turnings of the Wheel of Christian Dharma

The Four Turnings of the Wheel of Christian Dharma:

1. Matter/energy as the foundation of reality. Christian materialism/naturalism, represented by Thomas Altizer's Christian atheism and (possibly) Bishop Shelby Spong. (Corresponds to Jivanta.)

2. Matter/energy in a dualistic relationship to the Transcendent. Christian dualist Transcendentalism, represented by the Arians and Jehovah's Witnesses. (Corresponds to the Beloved.)

3. The Transcendent embodied within, and expressed as, a matter/energy individual. Christian Trinitarianism, represented by Orthodoxy, Catholicism, and Protestantism. (Corresponds to the Buddha.)

4. Where neither matter/energy alone, nor matter/energy:Transcendent dualism, nor Transcendent-within-matter/energy-embodiment apply: Christian Non-Dualism. (Corresponds to the Heart.)

Each turning gives distinctive interpretations of Christian doctrine. For instance, let's take the doctrine of "original sin". Christian materialism would see original sin as symbolic of the evolutionarily adaptive traits (e.g., excessive violence) that are no longer desirable within contemporary human communities. Christian dualists and Christian Trinitarians would see original sin in a similar way, as the original couple's disobedience of God's laws. Christian Non-Dualism would see original sin as the moment-to-moment conscious or unconscious movement into lust, anger, and fear. Christian Non-Dualism would then interpret the Christian Trinitarian doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of Mary as indicative of the necessity to be re-born into love, energy, and wisdom, before the Virgin Birth of the "Christ" (or Christ-within-oneself) can take place.

Astronomical Buddhism

The Sun: The Buddha
The Moon: The Sangha
Mars: Vinaya/Renunciation
Mercury: Sutta
Jupiter: Sila/Virtue
Venus: Tantra
Saturn: The Dhamma
Rahu: Bodhisattva
Ketu: Dharmakaya

Roar of the Tigress

"I am sure you’ve noticed by now that I’ve been talking about Zen as a religion, and yet some of you may have heard that all of Buddhism, and especially Zen, is atheistic. It is not. You’ve heard this due to the fact that the Christian missionaries who brought back the Scriptures from the Far East either did not know of, or deliberately steered clear of, one particular Scripture spoken by the Buddha. In the Udana Scripture He says very clearly, “O monks, there is an Unborn, Undying, Unchanging, Uncreated.” This is what He found in meditation and which gave Him His enlightenment. In other words, He found That Which Is. What the Christians call “God” and Mohammedans call “Allah”, the Buddhists call variably: That Which Is, the Lord of the House, the Cosmic Buddha, the Eternal, Amida Buddha, the Immaculacy of Emptiness, Vairocana Buddha, the Unborn, etc....

Now, if you would study Soto Zen, or for that matter any form of Buddhism, you need three things. You need perfect faith in That Which Is, the Eternal. You need to know, to have the faith in and the willingness to go hunting for, that which will tell you about the Eternal. And you need to know that when you can’t get the answers, there are people whom you can trust to help you. In other words, when you yell, “Help! I’m stuck”, there are people who are willing and able to help. These three things are what we in Buddhism call the Three Refuges: “I take refuge in the Buddha; I take refuge in the Dharma; I take refuge in the Sangha.” These three things are absolutely essential: perfect faith, the willingness to study, and to trust someone who says, “Well, let’s talk; maybe I can help; maybe we can help each other; maybe I have a bunch of experience which I am willing to put at your disposal and see if it’s any use.” Those are the three things you’ll need if you are to study Soto Zen or any other form of Buddhism.

All the rest are beliefs which you have to prove true for yourself. The Buddha said very clearly, “Do not believe anything because I tell you. Only believe it when you have made it true for yourself.” Therefore, enlightenment is the making true for oneself of the reality of the existence, and the experience of the existence, of the Unborn. Again, remember that the word “enlightenment” has got muddled as a result of not understanding the importance of the Udana Scripture. When that scripture was first translated, incidentally, a number of people tried to pull it down saying, “Oh, it couldn’t possibly be that the Buddha had found the Eternal!” You read a bit more, and if you do, you discover that this is the only interpretation that makes sense in Buddhism. He definitely did, and it makes it into a real religion and not just a way of life.

Faith, study, and trust: if you think of the word “refuge”, what does it actually mean? To take refuge in something that you can neither see nor grasp nor feel, you have to have faith in it. When you start, perhaps you believe it, but you have to go on beyond belief: belief does not go nearly far enough. So often in religion people get stuck with belief. They think that is enough: it’s not. It has to go on to the certainty of faith, which is an absolute certainty but one which leads not to absolute belief and the hard-fisted type of certainty; it leads to perfect faith, which can allow everybody else to have their beliefs and not interfere with them, and know that when those people find perfect faith, whatever they happen to call the Eternal will be all right."

The Discipline of the Laity

The laity are free to disagree publicly with particular Christian doctrines. That is the freedom of the laity. The "free" lay-person, however, is also called to take the next step: to enter into the discipline of the laity. To disagree, or reject, a particular doctrine is simply the first step. The next step is to transform, to re-interpret, a particular doctrine, without merely rejecting a doctrine, so that that doctrine achieves wider and greater levels of description.

Christian doctrine, as understood in terms of its public formulations, is heavily exoteric. To be exoteric does not mean to be false. To be exoteric means to function on primarily physical, emotional, intellectual, and religious levels. The exoteric meaning of doctrine has a purpose for existing, since humans are physical, emotional, intellectual, and religious beings. One may find the exoteric meaning limiting, and non-expressive of reality, but that finding does not negate the exoteric purpose. In one's encounter with exotericism, one has at least two options: merely reject the exoteric teaching as false; or enter into a transformative, bathic, and holistic understanding of the exoteric, in terms of the esoteric.

The esoteric functions on primarily spiritual, transcendental, and divine levels. Humans are not simply physical, emotional, intellectual, and religious. They are also spiritual, transcendental, and divine (cf. theosis). The esoteric, though, is not the dominant aspect of the cultural, social, political, and economic realms of Christendom, since those realms are themselves based on physicality, emotion, the intellect, and religion. To expect Christian doctrine, expressed publicly, to communicate the esoteric functions of Christianity, is to confuse the levels on which public doctrine operates. The esoteric function operates outside, underneath, and beyond public Christianity, while at the same time not rejecting public Christianity. That which is "outer" always needs that which is "inner". The universe always needs the Heart. The esoteric function is the driving engine, the energy-transforming mitochondrion, the nuclear fusion at the Heart of the Sun/Son.

The Freedom of the Laity

In the Christian traditions, the clergy and the laity together constitute the Church. The clergy act as symbols of the unity of Christian doctrine. The laity, though, function in a slightly different manner. Whereas the clergy must publicly adhere to Christian doctrine (because the function of the clergy is to shepherd the laity), the laity themselves are not bound to such public adherence. Whereas the clergy are "professional" Christians (such that, if they do not publicly adhere, their clerical status may be revoked), the laity are "personal" Christians (such that, if they do not publicly adhere, their ability to participate in various Church activities may be revoked, but their status as Christians can never be taken away). Indeed, the "personal" Christian need not publicly adhere to any non-central doctrine or idea that his well-informed conscience rejects. The cost of being such a "personal" Christian may, of course, be too high for many to bear -- a "cross", if you will, too soon on the horizon.

That leads to the very appropriate question of whether it makes sense to enter into a Christian community as a "personal" Christian who rejects certain doctrines of that Christian community. I think this question confuses the issue. The purpose of entering into any community is not to be confirmed into a particular ideology. The purpose of entering into any community is to participate in that community, regardless of the ideological differences one or more people may have. Community is not simply ideas, but physicality, emotional-connections, mental engagement, and spiritual transmission. Last, but not least, community is about forgiveness, acceptance, and understanding -- beginning with oneself, and radiating outwards. To look for community initially as outside of oneself, is to miss the glory of community.

When it comes to Christian communities, the purpose of entering into any one Christian community, is to participate in the life of Christ, however truncated or abridged the clergy have defined one's participation. The life of Christ can be lived in many different ways: Vedic, Buddhic, Judaic, Islamic, Scientific, just to name a few. The life of Christ can also be corrupted in many different ways. No Christian community is free from corruption; and to let corruption (or dukkha) of any kind prevent one from participating in a Christian community, is to allow corruption (or dukkha) the final word, when the final word is Christ (or the Deathless, Amatam).

Ineffabilis Deus Mater

Pius IX, after consulting all the bishops of the world, issued Ineffabilis Deus on December 8, 1854, declaring the immaculate conception a doctrine revealed by God:

"We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful." [See here for background; see also Timothy G. McCarthy. The Catholic Tradition: The Church in the Twentieth Century. 2nd Edition. Chicago: Loyola Press, 1998, 373.]

The Immaculate Conception of Mary is a profound doctrine. Within it are hidden the foundations and implications of Christian Avataric Non-Dualism.

Christian dogma has no limit. That is, the literal meanings of the dogmas do not exhaust the dogma's meanings. The literal meanings of the dogmas do not exclude additional implications, implications easily dismissed or rejected when only the literal meaning is considered. The dogmas are experimental hypotheses, working definitions, if you will, whose practicality and reality must be tested in the laboratory of one's own body-mind. In fact, to paraphrase the Buddha Shakyamuni, the final origin and end of Christian dogma cannot be seen. Dogma arises, shines, and subsides within the very Heart. The final origin and end of Christian dogma can only be known from, in, and as the very Heart.

The Genetic Code of Bio-Spirituality

The four heterocyclic bases found in deoxyribonucleic acid correspond to the four-fold structure of bio-spirituality.

The bicyclic bases adenine and guanine correspond, respectively, to the Heart and the Buddha. The two-ringed structure of the purines reflect, respectively, the Heart's non-localization as neither immanent nor transcendent; and the Buddha's embodiment of both immanence and transcendence.

The monocyclic bases thymine and cytosine correspond, respectively, to Jivanta and the Beloved. The one-ringed structure of the pyrimidines reflect, respectively, the Jivanta as totally immanent; and the Beloved as totally transcendent.

Allah is the Heart

Allah is the Non-Dual Tantric Union of Samsara and Nirvana.

Allah is the Heart of All.

La Illaha Ill'Allah.

There is nothing but Allah.

All this is Allah.

Preceded by the Heart

[Inspired by Dhammapada 1-2]

Phenomena are preceded by the Heart,
ruled by the Heart,
made of the Heart.
If you speak or act with a corrupted Heart,
then suffering follows you --
as the wheel of the cart follows
the track of the ox that pulls it.

Phenomena are preceded by the Heart,
ruled by the Heart,
made of the Heart.
If you speak or act with a calm, bright Heart,
then happiness follows you --
like a shadow,
that never leaves.

The Path to Purity

[Inspired by Dhammapada 277-279]

When you see with discernment,
"All phenomena are in constant motion" --
you grow disenchanted with not acting in the world.
This is the path to purity.

When you see with discernment,
"All phenomena are broken-hearted" --
you grow disenchanted with avoiding relationship.
This is the path to purity.

When you see with discernment,
"All phenomena are self-less" --
you grow disenchanted with selfish thought, feeling, and action.
This is the path to purity.

A Great Power

"Silence is a great power in our unseen warfare and a sure hope of gaining victory. Silence is much beloved of him, who does not rely on himself but trusts in God alone. It is the guardian of holy prayer and a miraculous helper in the practice of virtues; it is also a sign of spiritual wisdom. St. Isaac says: 'guarding your tongue [and ears] not only makes your mind rise to God, but also gives great hidden power to perform visible actions, done by the body. If silence is practised with knowledge, it also brings enlightenment in hidden doing' (ch. 31 in Russian edition). In another place he praises it thus: 'If you pile up on one side of the scales all the works demanded by ascetic life, and on the other side -- silence, you will find that the latter outweighs the former. Many good counsels have been given us, but if a man embraces silence, to follow them will become superfluous' (ch. 41). In yet another place he calls silence 'the mystery of the life to come; whereas words are the instruments of this world' (ch. 42). St. Barsanuphius places it above preaching the word of God, saying: 'If you are just on the very point of preaching, know that silence is more worthy of wonder and glory.' Thus, although one man 'holdeth his tongue because he hath not to answer', another 'keepeth silence, knowing his time' (Ecclesiasticus xx.6), yet another for some other reasons, 'for the sake of human glory, or out of zeal for this virtue of silence, or because he secretly communes with God in his heart and does not want the attention of this mind to be distracted from it' (St. Isaac, ch. 76). It can be said in general that a man, who keepeth silence, is found wise and of good sense (Ecclesiasticus xx.5).

I shall indicate to you the most direct and simple method to acquire the habit of silence: undertake this practice, and the practice itself will teach you how to do it, and help you. To keep up your zeal in this work, reflect as often as you can on the pernicious results of indiscriminate babbling [and listening] and on the salutary results of wise silence. When you come to taste the good fruit of silence, you will no longer need lessons about it."

Lorenzo Scupoli, Unseen Warfare. Edited by Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain and revised by Theophan the Recluse. Translated by E. Kadloubovsky and G. E. H. Palmer. Crestwood, New York: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1987. Chapter 25, 146-147.

The Four Turnings

The history of religions is the history of the four turnings of the Wheel of Truth. Each religion has elements of all four turnings, but each religion usually emphasizes one turning or another.

First Turning of the Wheel, the Revelation of Jivanta: The Encounter with Truth

Second Turning of the Wheel, the Revelation of the Buddha: The Incarnation of Truth

Third Turning of the Wheel, the Revelation of the Beloved: The Liberation into Truth

Fourth Turning of the Wheel, the Revelation of the Heart: The Tantric-Eucharistic Union of Incarnation-Liberation

[Inspired by the Three Turnings of the Wheel of Dharma.]

Fides et Ratio: Some Meditations

The Eucharist is the practice (symbolic and actual) of the Tantric Union of Awareness (Wine) and Matter/Energy (Bread), of Spirit and Matter, of Compassion and Wisdom, of Nirvana and Samsara, of the Everything and the Nothing.

God alone IS. God is the Everything and the Nothing. To say that God created the world ex nihilo, or "out of nothing", is to say that Everything-God created the world out of Nothing-God. The Nothing, being also God, means that the world is also God.

There is only one life: the birth into the world-separate-from-God (or "original sin") and the final liberation-salvation into God-not-different-from-the-world. But this one life has many "going-to-sleeps" (temporary deaths) and "waking-ups" (temporary births). Reincarnation is true, but it's not the final truth. Heaven-and-Hell is true, but it's not the final truth.

A Hindu experiences Infinite Love and calls it "Krishna". A Christian experiences Infinite Love and calls it "Christ". Krishna is Christ, if both are understood correctly. No, let me rephrase that: Krishna is Christ, even if both are understood incorrectly.

The doctrine of papal infallibility states that, under very restricted circumstances and conditions, the Pope, when speaking most authoritatively, cannot define doctrine errantly. Whether this is true or not, is not important. If it is true, there is no way to empirically prove it thusly. In terms of shoring up faith among certain portions of the Christian population, the doctrine may be useful and unobjectionable. The doctrine need only be duly noted, by those who find it superfluous. Indeed, some things are better left alone, until the mystic-eye opens.

Through the mystic-eye, the doctrine of papal infallibility manifests a deeper significance, a significance understood in terms of non-dualism, Advaita Christanta, and intimations of Guru-Bhakti Yoga.

The energetic practice of compassion and wisdom is the foundation. One can then be Methodist, Reform, Ismaili, Vaishnava, or Gelukpa. Communal membership need not matter. Of course, in that case, one must be prepared to enjoy the heretic's reward. Whether such reward is worth it or not, depends upon a host of conditions. But some of us are born a hairesis of one, and could not care less: we don't reject; we transform. Leave politics to the politicians. Leave patriotism to the patriots.

Christ speaks through all scriptures, saints, sages, and siddhas. Translation is the lost art.

Secret Dharma

The secret to Buddhism is the secret of bhakti.

Vedanta Vallabha

Stephen Schaffer, better known as Shyamdas, was launched into his spiritual quest at age 17 through contact with Neemkaroli Baba. Now 33, Shyamdas is an avid practitioner of the Vaishnava Vallabhacharya lineage (Pushti Marg, or the Path of Grace), having studied for 7 years with various Vaishnava pundits in the Vrindavan area of India. He is a translator of Hindi, Braja Vasa and Sanskrit and Vice President of the International Pushti Margiya Vaishnava Parishad. An art dealer by profession, Shyamdas resides with his wife in Vermont. He lectures on various aspects of Hinduism and publishes his English translations of Vallab sampradaya scriptures into English. Shyamdas shared the following insights with Hinduism Today in Hawaii on March 14, 1986.

Hinduism Today: Please tell us how you became involved so deeply in the Vallabhacharya sampradaya.

Shyamdas: I went to India, got going there originally by a teacher, Neemkaroli Baba, who was the guru of Ram Dass and he resided in Vrindavan as well as in the Himalayas. So I went to Vrindavan to meet him and remained in the Vrindavan area, a 168-mile area which encompasses all the areas that are sacred to Lord Krishna. I eventually took initiation in Vallab sampradaya about a year or two afterward and lived on the Goverdan hill, which was the hill which Lord Krishna upheld to ward off Indra's rains for 7 days. There I studied with various bhaktas and acharyas on Vaisnav Vedanta. I specialize in 16th century Vrajbhasha poetry which are the poems of Surdas, who is very well known. He is perhaps the Shakespeare of Hindi literature, like Jayadev is the Shakespeare of the Sanskrit devotional literature. Surdas and Tulsidas. Surdas is considered the sun of bhakti devotion, and Tulsidas, who wrote on Rama, would be considered the moon. So I studied the poems of Surdas and I translated his life story and many of his poems, and those of a number of other poets.

I also studied Vedanta, Shuddha Advaita Vedanta of Vallabhacharya, which could be translated as "realistic monism." Vaishnavism has a number of schools, four main schools: Nimbarka, Madhva, Ramanuja (often known as Sri Sampradaya) and Vallab sampradaya. Vallab sampradaya's realistic monism is different from Shankara's interpretation of monism and parallels closely Kashmiri Shaivism and perhaps other forms of Saivism as well in that it is a real advaita philosophy that does not incorporate Shankaracharya's theories of maya, the world being false. The world Is true. But what could be false about the world is the way we see it But the world itself is true and is the manifestation of the Supreme Godhead...Vallab sampradaya believes that everything is Krishna and nothing but Krishna.

Q: Who is your guru?

A: My teacher is His Holiness Goswami Prathameshji, who heads the first seat of Vallab sampradaya. Vallab sampradaya has seven seats. He is very active in Hindu activities. He does a lot of preaching. Hindu Vishwa Parishad invites him to many of the functions.

Vallab sampradaya does not have a monk lineage per se. It's a primarily householder lineage. None of the teachers in Vallab sampradaya are sannyasins. They are all grihastha. They are all householder. That is the way the lineage was set up, unlike the other Vaishnav sampradayas. Some of them are more oriented toward sannyas. The ISKCON lineage is more sannyas oriented.

Q: Do the goswamis wear orange?

A: No, no. White. It is an extremely Vedic sampradaya. Householders are traditionally initiating gurus, too. That is something that is according to Vedic teachings, that sannyasis initiate sannyasis, and householders traditionally initiate householders. The acharyas in Vallab sampradaya observe homa and other Vedic rites as well. Of course bhakti is the main emphasis...Vallab sampradaya has a following of perhaps 30 million people. It is one of the largest Vaishnav sampradayas in India. It is not well known in the West. Its followers are all through Gujarat...And in London you have thousands of Vallab sampradaya Vaishnavas.

Vallab sampradaya is also not well known in the West. There has not been much written in English on it. And what has been written by other people who were not initiated nor studied with the lineage is often incorrect. And that is what I have been trying poetic aspect and some which have to do with its Vedantic side.

Vallab sampradaya is centered in the lilakirtan which means singing the exploits or the divine pastimes of Sri Krishna in a more classical Indian raga system. And Vallab sampradaya is very oriented towards seva, the worship of the swarupa or deity. In Vaishnavism there is no lineage that has such sublime worship - I would not call it temple worship because the worship is supposed to be a private home worship, although there are temples. It is taught in Vallab sampradaya that you should always worship Krishna. One of the ways is offering food and ornamentation, music and bhajan.

Q: Could you elaborate on your perception of Sri Adi Shankara's impact on Hinduism especially in the West.

A: Let me first say I think Shankara was a genius. I don't think there is any teacher, from Saivism to Vaishnvism, who has written as beautiful Sanskrit as Shankaracharya. He was a fantastic writer and a great teacher of what he was teaching. But if you want to view Shankara in the spirit of Vedic teachings, I think there is a problem. Number one, he is called "Buddha in disguise" by many of the earlier teachers, and this is correct. At the time Shankaracharya appeared in India, India was fairly Buddhist, and Shankaracharya could not teach a true Vedic school, because Vedic school teaches of an atma or a soul, and Buddhism does not have an atma concept, per se, and they don't accept the soul existing within the body. Shankaracharya could not bring the theistic aspect of the Vedas directly back to the people because they were too influenced by the teachings of Buddha. So what he did was bring in a teaching which was cloaked in Vedic terminology and mirrored Buddhist teachings. He brought in the pantheon of all the Hindu devas, but his teachings were essentially Buddhist to a large part. When Shankaracharya writes about Buddhism, he is unable to criticize it directly because it parallels his own thinking too much. So he just says the whole school is too ridiculous to even comment on.

Shankaracharya's theory of maya is not supported in the Upanishads. It's not supported in the Brahma Sutras and it's not supported in the Vedas - as the world being false, that this world is an illusion, a dream with no substance and in some way separate from God. This is not a Vedantic thought. Even Western scholars who are impartial who have studied the Brahma Sutras and have studied the teachings of Shankara and, let's say one of the Vaishnav teachers, Ramanuja or Madhva - they would have to side with Ramanuja as being more true to the spirit of the Brahma Sutras.

Q: Why do you think Shankara's teachings have been so popular in the West?

A: I think perhaps because many of the Western practitioners who go into Eastern studies have had it with Western theology. They are either disenchanted with the heaven/hell duality of Christianity and with the personal Godhead as being a father image that strikes terror in the hearts of those who sin against him. They are afraid of a god image, so they move toward something that is far away from it, which is Shankara. Shankara does give respect to all the different deities, to Krishna to Ram to Shiva. But to him, in the final analysis they are mayic. They are illusion, and you must leave all of them and merge into the Ultimate Formless, which for him is the final state. This, I think has appealed to many Westerners because they didn't want any sort of Godhead or God in between them and their final liberation of Ultimate White or Nothingness.

And I think it's because of a lack of study of the true Vedic teachings which do point to a personal theistic deity, if you are going through Saivite or Vaishnavite traditions. And the teachers who have come from India have been predominantly influenced by the Shankaracharya teachings,...because Shankara had such a strong influence on the Indian teachings. He swept India. He was only 36 years old when he left, but he had left such an impression on the Indian mind that even today in India if you say the word Vedanta, people think that you are speaking about Shankara. They say, "Oh, he is a Vedanti," which in certain circles means that he is a follower of Shankara, which is not correct. Vedanta means Vedanta: that which is the end [or final conclusion] of the Veda or knowledge.

This confusion which Shankara put into the world of this world being false means that Shankara's teachings must also be false. So there are certain contradictions. He says the world is false, and he is Jagadguru, meaning guru of the world. This means he is guru of the false world. There are many many problems when we look into the actual teachings of Shankaracharya (If it is an illusion, where did the illusion come from?), if you want to get into the subtleties of where Shankara faltered. And this has always been a great spirit of the Vaishnavas and the Shankaracharyas to have debates, which I think is good, because if you want to have a debate about something it should to do. I've published five or six books on the different aspects of Vallab sampradaya, some historical, some having to do with its be a debate about the Ultimate Reality as opposed to just squabbling about commonplace matters.

Q: Do you agree with the idea that Shankara overlaid his mayavadin philosophy onto the prevailing theistic religion?

A: Yes. Today if in fact you visit some of the Shankaracharya tents when you visit the Kumba Mela, you'll see that the Shankaracharya lineages have Rama and Krishna lila, the play in which children between 10 and 15 enact the pastimes of Krishna. Shankaracharya has these. They ultimately have to go back into the whole Hindu trip of Krishna and Rama and Shiva and all the different pastimes to try to attract followers into their fold to ultimately tell them that it's all false. It's wild and that's what most Westerners follow.

But then again, I think that the concept of Sanatana Dharma is so great that it allows for these things to occur...I may have said something about Shankaracharya, how I don't personally agree with his interpretation, but I respect Shankaracharya...Contradictions can exist within truth, and no one has a turnkey formula. That is one of the most important concepts of Vedantic thought, that the person who says he knows, doesn't know. And the person who says he doesn't know knows. Hinduism is perhaps the only religion in the world that has allowed an incarnation to establish a religion which is anti-Vedic in its actual teachings. What other religion would accept a teacher who taught against their own school? It is a mind-boggling religion if you try to look at it and say this is Hinduism. Hinduism is so broad that to study any particular school of Hinduism would take at least one lifetime and probably several. And to try to make broad, sweeping statements about Hinduism being this or that-Hinduism has the most theistic attitudes of any religion in the world, and it has attitudes that are almost atheistic in terms of the very abstract forms of yoga that don't give importance to the Godhead and just give importance to deep contemplation and samadhi. It's got everything in between. It's got tantra. It's got devotion. It's got Goddess worship. It's got sacrifice. It's got a complete code of law. It's a complete religious system that did not separate art, music, science, philosophy, medicine, from its actual main scriptures. So hence you have all the different branches of the Vedas. It was not essentially a religion. It was a dharma.

Open and Shut Book

The Christian adventure

Has just begun

Its divine evolution

Into greater diversity and

Greater experiential and

Conceptual complexity.

The essential Christian doctrines and dogmas are true

But they are not by any means complete:

Evolution produced the finned fish, but

The fish did not finish evolution.

Compared to what is taught in the churches

What is not-taught is a million-fold.

Man must mature before such

Truths would be revealed.

Now is the time for some things, but not every thing.

"And 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?'
Thomas said to them,

'If I tell you
one of the sayings
he spoke to me,
you will pick up rocks
and stone me,
and fire
will come
from the rocks
and devour
you.'"

Astronomical Christianity

The Sun: God the Son
The Moon: God the Holy Spirit
Mars: Prayer
Mercury: Scripture
Jupiter: the Eucharist
Venus: Mary, the Mother of the Church
Saturn: God the Father

The Brightening of the World

Dwelling at Savatthi. There the Blessed One addressed the friends: "I will teach you the origination of the world and the brightening of the world. Listen and pay close attention. I will speak."

"As you say, Bhagavan," the friends responded to the Blessed One.

The Blessed One said: "And what is the origination of the world? Dependent on the eye and material form there arises eye-consciousness. The meeting of the three is contact. From contact as a requisite condition comes feeling. From feeling as a requisite condition comes perception. From perception as a requisite condition comes difference. From difference as a requisite condition comes fear. From fear as a requisite condition comes seeking. From seeking as a requisite condition, then aging and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair come into play. This is the origination of the world.

Dependent on the ear and sounds there arises ear-consciousness. The meeting of the three is contact. From contact as a requisite condition comes feeling. From feeling as a requisite condition comes perception. From perception as a requisite condition comes difference. From difference as a requisite condition comes fear. From fear as a requisite condition comes seeking. From seeking as a requisite condition, then aging and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair come into play. This is the origination of the world.

Dependent on the nose and aromas there arises nose-consciousness. The meeting of the three is contact. From contact as a requisite condition comes feeling. From feeling as a requisite condition comes perception. From perception as a requisite condition comes difference. From difference as a requisite condition comes fear. From fear as a requisite condition comes seeking. From seeking as a requisite condition, then aging and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair come into play. This is the origination of the world.

Dependent on the tongue and flavors there arises tongue-consciousness. The meeting of the three is contact. From contact as a requisite condition comes feeling. From feeling as a requisite condition comes perception. From perception as a requisite condition comes difference. From difference as a requisite condition comes fear. From fear as a requisite condition comes seeking. From seeking as a requisite condition, then aging and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair come into play. This is the origination of the world.

Dependent on the body and tactile sensations there arises body-consciousness. The meeting of the three is contact. From contact as a requisite condition comes feeling. From feeling as a requisite condition comes perception. From perception as a requisite condition comes difference. From difference as a requisite condition comes fear. From fear as a requisite condition comes seeking. From seeking as a requisite condition, then aging and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair come into play. This is the origination of the world.

Dependent on the intellect and mental qualities there arises intellect-consciousness. The meeting of the three is contact. From contact as a requisite condition comes feeling. From feeling as a requisite condition comes perception. From perception as a requisite condition comes difference. From difference as a requisite condition comes fear. From fear as a requisite condition comes seeking. From seeking as a requisite condition, then aging and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair come into play. This is the origination of the world.

And what is the brightening of the world? Dependent on the eye and forms there arises eye-consciousness. The meeting of the three is contact. From contact as a requisite condition comes feeling. From feeling as a requisite condition comes perception. From perception as a requisite condition comes non-difference. From non-difference as a requisite condition comes the end of fear. From the end of fear as a requisite condition comes the end of seeking. From the end of seeking as a requisite condition, then the recognition of the luminous heart even within aging and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair comes into play. This is the brightening of the world.

Dependent on the ear and sounds there arises ear-consciousness. The meeting of the three is contact. From contact as a requisite condition comes feeling. From feeling as a requisite condition comes perception. From perception as a requisite condition comes non-difference. From non-difference as a requisite condition comes the end of fear. From the end of fear as a requisite condition comes the end of seeking. From the end of seeking as a requisite condition, then the recognition of the luminous heart even within aging and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair comes into play. This is the brightening of the world.

Dependent on the nose and aromas there arises nose-consciousness. The meeting of the three is contact. From contact as a requisite condition comes feeling. From feeling as a requisite condition comes perception. From perception as a requisite condition comes non-difference. From non-difference as a requisite condition comes the end of fear. From the end of fear as a requisite condition comes the end of seeking. From the end of seeking as a requisite condition, then the recognition of the luminous heart even within aging and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair comes into play. This is the brightening of the world.

Dependent on the tongue and flavors there arises tongue-consciousness. The meeting of the three is contact. From contact as a requisite condition comes feeling. From feeling as a requisite condition comes perception. From perception as a requisite condition comes non-difference. From non-difference as a requisite condition comes the end of fear. From the end of fear as a requisite condition comes the end of seeking. From the end of seeking as a requisite condition, then the recognition of the luminous heart even within aging and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair comes into play. This is the brightening of the world.

Dependent on the body and tactile sensations there arises body-consciousness. The meeting of the three is contact. From contact as a requisite condition comes feeling. From feeling as a requisite condition comes perception. From perception as a requisite condition comes non-difference. From non-difference as a requisite condition comes the end of fear. From the end of fear as a requisite condition comes the end of seeking. From the end of seeking as a requisite condition, then the recognition of the luminous heart even within aging and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair comes into play. This is the brightening of the world.

Dependent on the intellect and mental qualities there arises intellect-consciousness. The meeting of the three is contact. From contact as a requisite condition comes feeling. From feeling as a requisite condition comes perception. From perception as a requisite condition comes non-difference. From non-difference as a requisite condition comes the end of fear. From the end of fear as a requisite condition comes the end of seeking. From the end of seeking as a requisite condition, then the recognition of the luminous heart even within aging and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair comes into play. This is the brightening of the world."

[Inspired by the Loka Sutta]

Casting Off the Burden

At Savatthi. "Friends, I will teach you the burden, the carrier of the burden, the taking up of the burden, and the casting off of the burden. Listen and pay close attention. I will speak."

"As you say, Bhagavan," the friends responded.

The Blessed One said, "And which is the burden? 'The five types of clinging,' it should be said. Which five types? Clinging to form, clinging to feeling, clinging to perception, clinging to conceptions, clinging to sense-awareness. This, monks, is called the burden.

"And which is the carrier of the burden? 'The person,' it should be said. This venerable one with such a name, such a clan-name. This is called the carrier of the burden.

"And which is the taking up of the burden? The fear that makes for further limitations — accompanied by worry and anxiety, avoiding now this and now that — i.e., fearing sensual pleasure, fearing limitation, fearing ungroundedness. This is called the taking up of the burden.

"And which is the casting off of the burden? The remainderless fading and cessation, renunciation, relinquishment, release, and letting go of that very fear. This is called the casting off of the burden."

That is what the Blessed One said. Having said that, the One Well-gone, the Teacher, said further:

A burden indeed

are the five types of clinging,

and the carrier of the burden

is the person.

Taking up the burden in the world

is unsatisfactory.

Casting off the burden

is bliss.

Having cast off the heavy burden

and not taking on another,

pulling up fear,

along with its root,

one is free from hunger,

totally unbound.

[Inspired by the Bhara Sutta]

With What

[A deity:]

With what
is the world tied down?

With the subduing of what
is it freed?

With the abandoning of what
are all bonds cut through?

[The Buddha:]

With fear
the world is tied down.

With the subduing of fear
the world is freed.

With the abandoning of fear
all bonds are cut through.

[Inspired by the Iccha Sutta]

A Holy Pascha Meditation

A Pascha Creed:


We believe in one God,
the Father, the Beloved,
the Lover, the Heart
of all that is,
the not-yet-visible,
the presently visible,
the no-longer-visible, and
and the neverly visible.

We believe
in the Prophet of Peace,
the Buddha of Beni Israel,
the Avatar of Adonai,
Jesus Christ,
the Son of God,
eternally, continually, and never-endingly
begotten of the Heart of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
very God from very God,
begotten, not made,
of one Heart with the Father.

Through Christ all things were made.

For us and for our salvation-liberation
he came down from realm of the Father:
by the power of the Jivantic Spirit,
he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary,
Who is a Mystery herself,
and was made incarnate and immanent.

For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.

On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into Infinite Transcendence
and is seated at the right hand of the Father,
infinitely deep in the Heart,
as the Tantric Non-Dual Union of Awareness and Matter,
warning "As you sow, so shall you reap", and
spreading the Good News
of the inherent Beauty,
native Enjoyment, and
simple Luminous Brightness of Existence Itself.

He will come again in glory to judge the living and the non-living,
but his liberating work will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Jivantic Spirit,
the Lord of Life,
who proceeds from the Heart of the Father,
the Giver of matter-energy, spirit, and mind,
who guides with compassion the evolutionary process.
With the Father and the Son, he is worshipped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Scientists, Saints, Sages, and Siddhas.

We believe in one divinely universal
and apostolic-lineage Community.
We acknowledge one rebirth
in the waters of purification,
one initiatory baptism,
for the forgiveness of lust, anger, and delusion,
and for the birth of compassion, energy, and wisdom.

We look for the Resurrection of the dead,
the Enlightenment of the Whole Body,
the Communion with the Father,
and the Embodiment as the Heart.
Svaha!
Amen.

[Inspired by the Nicene Creed.]

Defeating the Army of Death

This was said by the Blessed One, said by the Buddha, the Arahant, so I have heard.

"These three divine sounds sound forth among the deities on appropriate occasions. Which three? When a disciple of the noble ones, shaving off his hair and beard, clothing himself in the ochre robe, makes up his mind to go forth from the home life into homelessness, on that occasion the divine sound sounds forth among the deities: 'This disciple of the noble ones has made up his mind to do battle with Death.' This is the first divine sound that sounds forth among the deities on appropriate occasions.

"When a disciple of the noble ones lives devoted to developing the seven sets of qualities that are wings to Awakening, on that occasion the divine sound sounds forth among the deities: 'This disciple of the noble ones is doing battle with Death.' This is the second divine sound that sounds forth among the deities on appropriate occasions.

"When a disciple of the noble ones, through the ending of the taints of lust, fear, and ignorance, dwells in the awareness-release and discernment-release that are free from the taints of lust, fear, and ignorance, having known and made them manifest for himself right in the present life, on that occasion the divine sound sounds forth among the deities: 'This disciple of the noble ones has won the battle. Having been in the front lines of the battle, he now dwells victorious.' This is the third divine sound that sounds forth among the deities on appropriate occasions.

"These are the three divine sounds that sound forth among the deities on appropriate occasions."

Seeing he's won the battle —
the disciple of the Rightly Self-awakened One —
even the deities pay homage to this great one,
thoroughly mature.
"Homage to you, O thoroughbred man —
you who have won the hard victory,
defeating the army of Death,
unhindered in emancipation."
Thus they pay homage, the deities,
to one who has reached the heart's goal,
for they see in him
no means that would bring him under Death's sway.

[Inspired by Iti. 82]

A Good Friday Meditation

The One Original Non-Dual Matter


The Original Non-Dual Awareness is Infinite and Eternal.

Being everything it accommodates within itself the Original Non-Dual Matter.

Matter is the Body of Awareness.

Awareness, being Infinite and Eternal, its Body must also be infinite and eternal.

At times the Body appears to be small and at times to stretch into huge shapes.

But even when it seems to have disappeared, it is still within Awareness latently.

Out of the Matter contained within Awareness is projected infinite and eternal Materiality—the Creation, or Finite Everything.

The Original Non-Dual Awareness is One, Infinite and Eternal.

The Original Non-Dual Matter, being in the Non-Dual Awareness is also one, infinite and eternal.

But the Finite Everything that is projected from the Non-Dual Matter comprising innumerable masses or all things in Creation, is innately and unendingly dual.

Within these masses are innumerable temporary masses such as, What is the matter with you? Matter.

What did you eat? Matter.

What is in your hand? Matter.

What do you see? Matter.

And so there is no end to the action and reaction of the experience of Materiality by the innumerable masses of Finite Everything which are projected from the One Original Non-Dual Matter which is infinite.

The Original Non-Dual Awareness is Infinite and Eternal; in it is the Original Non-Dual Matter.

Innumerable masses manifest out of the One Original Non-Dual Matter.

And from these masses is a continuous flow of temporary masses.

And so there are masses and the new-masses of masses within the One Original Non-Dual Matter.

When you compare these masses with the One Original Non-Dual Matter they are indeed matter.

Matter is in Awareness; Awareness would not be a complete whole without Matter.

The Matter that is in Awareness gives birth to matter that seems everything.

Because Matter is, everything seems to be.

All activity everywhere in creation is but a play of Awareness and Matter.

When there is a complete cessation of this activity Matter prevails.

When this Matter is attained you have Awareness.

Relatively, therefore, Matter is Awareness, whereas that which we call Awareness is Matter.

[Inspired by Chp 51, "The One Original Real Nothing", The Everything and the Nothing. The translation-glossary is below.

Awareness is Everything.
Matter (matter/energy, subtle matter, and thought) is Nothing.
Materiality is Nothingness.
Matter is the Body (material, spiritual, and mental body) of God
The Body of God is the Shadow of God.
The finite is the false.
Form is zero.
Imagination is changeableness.
That which is destructible is the dream.
Duality is Illusion.
Non-Duality is Reality.
What is new is what is naught.]

(Good Friday)

The Pali Anointed

An exercise in Sonic Theology, using Pali, the language of the Pali Buddhist canon.

Jhaana: meditative absorption
Eka-biijii: taking birth only once more
Sacca: truth
Upekkhaa: equanimity
Saddhaa: faith

Caaga: liberality
Hadaya: heart
Ruupa: visual manifestation
Iddhi: power
Siila: virtue
Tathaagata: the 'thus-gone' one

Setting Forth the Wheel of the Fearless

Setting Forth the Wheel of the Fearless

Thus I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One was living at Benares in the Deer Park at Isipatana, which means “the Resort of Seers”. There he addressed the five monks.

"Monks, these two extremes ought not to be cultivated by one gone forth from fear. What are the two? There is devotion to indulgence of pleasure in the objects of sensual desire, which is inferior, low, vulgar, ignoble, and leads to no good; and there is devotion to self-torment, which is painful, ignoble and leads to no good.

"The middle way discovered by a Perfect One avoids both these extremes; it gives vision, it gives knowledge, and it leads to peace, to direct acquaintance, to discovery, to nibbana. And what is that middle way? It is simply the noble eightfold path, that is to say, full view, full intention; full speech, full action, full livelihood; full effort, full mindfulness, full concentration. That is the middle way discovered by a Perfect One, which gives vision, which gives knowledge, and which leads to peace, to direct acquaintance, to discovery, to nibbana.

"Enjoyment, as a noble truth, is this: Birth is enjoyment, aging is enjoyment, sickness is enjoyment, death is enjoyment, sorrow and joy, lamentation and praise, pain and pleasure, grief and levity, and despair and hope are enjoyment; association with the loathed and the loved is enjoyment, dissociation from the loved and the loathed is enjoyment, to get and not to get what one wants is enjoyment — in short, enjoyment is the five categories of conditional existence.

"The origin of enjoyment, as a noble truth, is this: It is the compassion that produces renewal of life accompanied by energy and wisdom, and enjoying this and that; in other words, compassion for beings in the material world, the spiritual world, and the transcendental world.

"The fulfillment of enjoyment, as a noble truth, is this: It is steady increase and brightening, rising up, growth, activity and engagement, of that very same compassion.

"The way leading to fulfillment of enjoyment, as a noble truth, is this: It is simply the noble eightfold path, that is to say, full view, full intention; full speech, full action, full livelihood; full effort, full mindfulness, full concentration.

"'Enjoyment, as a noble truth, is this.' Such was the vision, the knowledge, the understanding, the finding, the light, that arose in regard to ideas not heard by me before. 'This enjoyment, as a noble truth, can be diagnosed.' Such was the vision, the knowledge, the understanding, the finding, the light, that arose in regard to ideas not heard by me before. 'This enjoyment, as a noble truth, has been diagnosed.' Such was the vision, the knowledge, the understanding, the finding, the light, that arose in regard to ideas not heard by me before.

"'The origin of enjoyment, as a noble truth, is this.' Such was the vision, the knowledge, the understanding, the finding, the light, that arose in regard to ideas not heard by me before. 'This origin of enjoyment, as a noble truth, can be diagnosed.' Such was the vision, the knowledge, the understanding, the finding, the light, that arose in regard to ideas not heard by me before. 'This origin of enjoyment, as a noble truth, has been diagnosed.' Such was the vision, the knowledge, the understanding, the finding, the light, that arose in regard to ideas not heard by me before.

'The fulfillment of enjoyment, as a noble truth, is this.' Such was the vision, the knowledge, the understanding, the finding, the light, that arose in regard to ideas not heard by me before. 'This fulfillment of enjoyment, as a noble truth, can be verified.' Such was the vision, the knowledge, the understanding, the finding, the light, that arose in regard to ideas not heard by me before. 'This fulfillment of enjoyment, as a noble truth, has been verified.' Such was the vision, the knowledge, the understanding, the finding, the light, that arose in regard to ideas not heard by me before.

"'The way leading to fulfillment of enjoyment, as a noble truth, is this.' Such was the vision, the knowledge, the understanding, the finding, the light, that arose in regard to ideas not heard by me before. 'This way leading to the fulfillment of enjoyment, as a noble truth, can be developed.' Such was the vision, the knowledge, the understanding, the finding, the light, that arose in regard to ideas not heard by me before. 'This way leading to the fulfillment of enjoyment, as a noble truth, has been developed.' Such was the vision, the knowledge, the understanding, the finding, the light, that arose in regard to ideas not heard by me before.

"As long as my knowing and seeing how things are, was not quite purified in these twelve aspects, in these three phases of each of the four noble truths, I did not claim in the world with its deities, its demons, and high divinities, in this generation with its monks, ministers, and priests, with its potentates and ambitious men, to have discovered the full awakening that is supreme. But as soon as my knowing and seeing how things are, was quite purified in these twelve aspects, in these three phases of each of the four noble truths, then I claimed in the world with its deities, its demons, and high divinities, in this generation with its monks, ministers, and priests, its potentates and ambitious men, to have discovered the full awakening that is supreme. Knowing and seeing arose in me thus: 'My heart's deliverance is unassailable. This is the last birth. Now there is no renewal of fear.'"

That is what the Blessed One said. The five monks were glad, and they approved his words.

Now during this utterance, there arose in the venerable monk Kondañña the spotless, immaculate vision of the True Idea: "Whatever arises from the Heart of reality, exists as the Heart of reality, and returns to the Heart of reality. Whatever arises from beauty, exists as beauty, and returns to beauty."

When the Wheel of the Fearless had thus been set rolling by the Blessed One the deities of the Earth raised the cry: "At Benares, in the Deer Park at Isipatana, the matchless Wheel of the Fearless has been set rolling by the Blessed One, not to be stopped by monk or divine or deity or death-angel or high divinity or anyone in the world."

On hearing the Earth-deities' cry, all the deities in turn in the six paradises of the material and spiritual worlds took up the cry till it reached beyond, into the realm of High Divinity in the sphere of the transcendental worlds. And so indeed in that hour, at that moment, the cry soared up to the World of High Divinity, and this ten-thousandfold world-element shook and rocked and quaked, and a great measureless radiance surpassing the very nature of the gods was displayed throughout the cosmos.

Then the Blessed One uttered the exclamation: "Kondañña knows! Kondañña knows!" and that is how that venerable one acquired the name, Añña-Kondañña: "Kondañña who knows".

[Inspired by SN 56.11]

The Luminous Sermon

The Luminous Sermon

Thus I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One was living at Gaya, at Gayasisa, together with a thousand monks. There he addressed the monks.

"Monks, all is luminous. And what is the all that is luminous?

"The eye is luminous, forms are luminous, eye-consciousness is luminous, eye-contact is luminous, also whatever is seen as pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant that arises with eye-contact for its indispensable condition, that too is luminous. Luminous with what? Luminous with the blazing of compassion, with the blazing of energy, with the blazing of wisdom. I say it is luminous with birth, aging and death, with sorrows and rejoicing, with lamentations and praises, with pains and pleasures, with grief and levity, with despair and hope.

"The ear is luminous, sounds are luminous, ear-consciousness is luminous, ear-contact is luminous, also whatever is heard as pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant that arises with ear-contact for its indispensable condition, that too is luminous. Luminous with what? Luminous with the blazing of compassion, with the blazing of energy, with the blazing of wisdom. I say it is luminous with birth, aging and death, with sorrows and rejoicing, with lamentations and praises, with pains and pleasures, with grief and levity, with despair and hope.

"The nose is luminous, odors are luminous, nose-consciousness is luminous, nose-contact is luminous, also whatever is smelled as pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant that arises with ear-contact for its indispensable condition, that too is luminous. Luminous with what? Luminous with the blazing of compassion, with the blazing of energy, with the blazing of wisdom. I say it is luminous with birth, aging and death, with sorrows and rejoicing, with lamentations and praises, with pains and pleasures, with grief and levity, with despair and hope.

"The tongue is luminous, flavors are luminous, tongue-consciousness is luminous, tongue-contact is luminous, also whatever is tasted as pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant that arises with tongue-contact for its indispensable condition, that too is luminous. Luminous with what? Luminous with the blazing of compassion, with the blazing of energy, with the blazing of wisdom. I say it is luminous with birth, aging and death, with sorrows and rejoicing, with lamentations and praises, with pains and pleasures, with grief and levity, with despair and hope.

"The body is luminous, tangibles are luminous, body-consciousness is luminous, body-contact is luminous, also whatever is felt as pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant that arises with body-contact for its indispensable condition, that too is luminous. Luminous with what? Luminous with the blazing of compassion, with the blazing of energy, with the blazing of wisdom. I say it is luminous with birth, aging and death, with sorrows and rejoicing, with lamentations and praises, with pains and pleasures, with grief and levity, with despair and hope.

"The mind is luminous, ideas are luminous, mind-consciousness is luminous, mind-contact is luminous, also whatever is conceptualized as pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant that arises with mind-contact for its indispensable condition, that too is luminous. Luminous with what? Luminous with the blazing of lust, with the blazing of hate, with the blazing of delusion. I say it is luminous with birth, aging and death, with sorrows and rejoicing, with lamentations and praises, with pains and pleasures, with grief and levity, with despair and hope.

"Monks, when a noble follower who has heard the truth sees thus, he engages the eye, engages forms, engages eye-consciousness, engages eye-contact, and whatever is felt as pleasant or painful or neither-painful- nor-pleasant that arises with eye-contact for its indispensable condition, in that too he engages.

"He engages the ear, engages sounds, engages ear-consciousness, engages ear-contact, and whatever is felt as pleasant or painful or neither-painful- nor-pleasant that arises with ear-contact for its indispensable condition, in that too he engages.

"He engages the nose, engages odors, engages nose-consciousness, engages nose-contact, and whatever is felt as pleasant or painful or neither-painful- nor-pleasant that arises with nose-contact for its indispensable condition, in that too he engages.

"He engages the tongue, engages flavors, engages tongue-consciousness, engages tongue-contact, and whatever is felt as pleasant or painful or neither-painful- nor-pleasant that arises with tongue-contact for its indispensable condition, in that too he engages.

"He engages the body, engages tangibles, engages body-consciousness, engages body-contact, and whatever is felt as pleasant or painful or neither-painful- nor-pleasant that arises with body-contact for its indispensable condition, in that too he engages.

"He engages the mind, engages ideas, engages mind-consciousness, engages mind-contact, and whatever is felt as pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant that arises with mind-contact for its indispensable condition, in that too he engages.

"When he engages, insight-passion increases. With the culmination of insight-passion, he descends to infinity. When descended, there is knowledge of the Heart. He understands: 'Fear is exhausted, the holy life has begun, what can be done will be done, of this, this is just the beginning.'"

That is what the Blessed One said. The monks were glad, and they approved his words.

Now during his utterance, the hearts of those thousand monks awakened, descending to infinity, fearing no more.

[Inspired by SN 35.28]

Enneagram and the Planets

Each Enneagram-personality can be linked to a particular non-virtue or sin (i.e., "passion"):

1: Anger
2: Pride
3: Deceit
4: Envy
5: Avarice
6: Fear
7: Gluttony
8: Lust
9: Sloth

Notice that "deceit" and "fear" are not part of the "seven deadly sins" of Christian tradition.

Since each planet is also linked to a particular sin, one can link each Enneagram-personality with a planet:

1: Anger: Mars
2: Pride: Sun
3: Deceit: Rahu (North Node)
4: Envy: Moon
5: Avarice/Greed: Jupiter
6: Fear: Ketu (South Node)
7: Gluttony: Mercury
8: Lust: Venus
9: Sloth: Saturn

Notice #5 and #7: previous planet-sin linkages on this site linked Mercury with (intellectual) greed and Jupiter with (material) gluttony, but one could also make a good case -- based on Jyotish sources -- that Mercury is in fact more materially minded than Jupiter is, so that Mercury should be linked with material gluttony and Jupiter with a (more spiritually oriented) intellectual greed.

IPI

La Ilaha

Allah is the Power of Nirvana

A Holy Saturday Meditation

FIRM FAITH IN CHRIST

Eruch Jessawala

How blessed you are to love and adore Christ! Do so with all the strength of your heart and soul without reservations and confusion. Let not the demon of dual concept of Baba and Christ ever stand in the way of your one-pointed devotion to Christ. Let there be no conflict in your heart howsoever your mind may want to create it. Let not your mental concept of Baba stand in the way of your wholehearted devotion to Christ. The instant your love for Christ is accepted by Him, know that you are accepted by Baba. Avatar Meher Baba and Jesus Christ are but forms and names of the same Ancient One.

At the height of your love for Him, the Grace of Christ will appease your thirst for intellectual certainty and bestow upon you the conviction you seek. Continue to love Christ all the more with the warmth of your heart. True, simple and unadulterated love for Him will make Him touch your heart and awaken it to recognise his present Advent. Force not your mind to do so, but allow your heart to work it out by His Grace. Meanwhile, pay heed to His ancient warning of which you are aware — "run not after false prophets, babas, and masters."

I salute your deep love for and firm faith in Christ. May your love for Him lead you to Him. He is compassionate. He is love.

JAI BABA!

LETTERS FROM THE MANDALI, Vol. II, p. 15, ed. Jim Mistry
1983 © Avatar Meher Baba Perpetual Public Charitable Trust

A Good Friday Meditation

FOLLOW CHRIST'S TEACHINGS

From a newspaper interview
London, December 1934

Q. What hinders me from being a better husband and father?

A. [Meher Baba] You must try as far as possible to live a life that Christ lived. Not by theory and by intellectual understanding only should one try to follow Christianity, but by a feeling that must be lived: Love!

Q. How can I do that?

A. To develop love, you have to do it practically — that is, you have to experience it in everyday life. You must lessen your desires and make others happy by thinking less of your own happiness. This can be done. By desire I mean selfish desires. If you are walking along the road and you find a man stricken with poverty and lying helpless, you will pityingly look at him and go on. If, further on you find your own brother in the same condition, you will at once give him all possible aid. This is generally the case. You will find your mentality lacks that development of love which true Christianity needs. It is all very practical and very simple — only people make it complicated.

Q. Are you ready to give your love to those who, on the basis of the New Testament conception, think you to be wrong in regard to your Christ Consciousness, but who are open to the influence of your love?

A. If you love Jesus, and if you can follow Christ's teachings and live his life, that is more than enough. You don't need to follow me, for by following Jesus with all love, you will indirectly follow me. That is what I know.

THE AWAKENER, Vol. XIV, No. 1, p. 34
Kitty Davy, "Baba's First World Tour, 1932"
Copyright 1971 Universal Spiritual League of America, Inc.

The Two Great Problems

The two great problems facing any attempted holistic understanding of Christianity and Buddhism center on (1) birth; and (2) death.

Christianity argues that the soul is uniquely created at conception, whereas Buddhism posits that the stream of consciousness within a person is a continuation from pre-birth times.

Christianity argues that bodies and souls will be re-united after the Final Judgement, and humans will spend eternity in resurrected bodies; whereas Buddhism posits that eternity is realized in nirvana.

Both the Christian and the Buddhist position are viable, and they stress different aspects of the very same reality.

For the Christian, the "soul" is considered to be the innermost aspect of a human, and the creation of a new body at conception means that the "soul" is also created, because a new human is created. The stream of consciousness in Buddhism is the rapid appearance-existence-disappearance process of mental states. This stream of consciousness appears at conception associated with the newly conceived human -- thus, one can speak of the stream of consciousness as being "created" (by causes and conditions) at conception. Speaking thusly would not negate the reality that the stream of consciousness is karmically related to earlier parts of the stream.

As an analogy, consider a flame on candle A to be the stream of consciousness of a particular person. The flame of candle A is used to light candle B, and the candle A flame is extinguished. The flame of candle B is karmically related (literally "related by action") to the flame of candle A, and yet the flame of candle B is a new "creation" as well: the flame of candle B is both the same and yet not the same, as the flame of candle A. The flame of candle B is the new soul, newly created; and yet the flame of candle B can also be seen as the continuation of the "stream of flame" that was part of candle A.

Regarding death, the Christian vision is that you die, and then after time spent in the realm of the dead, you are resurrected bodily, and spend eternity in the body. In the Buddhist vision, you die, then you spend however long it takes in different bodies, until finally nirvana is realized, which frees you from being limited to any one body. But look closely: to be free from being limited to any one body, is to be free to be associated with all bodies. In Buddhism, the realization of nirvana means that the realizer now realizes no-difference from any body; the realizer realizes non-difference from "this one", and "that one", and "those over there". So, eternity is indeed spent "in the body", once nirvana is realized, but this "body" is not one, but infinite. Buddhism envisions an "unbounded resurrection body". In other words, ultimately, the universe, the cosmos, as a whole is one great body, and realization of nirvana also means the realization of no-difference in relation to the great universe-body. So the Christian idea of the resurrection of the body, signifies the larger process of one's bodily resurrection as the universe-body.

Thus, hidden within Christianity, is Buddhism; and hidden within Buddhism, is Christianity.

A Buddha is Born! Svaha!
The Lord is Come! Maranatha!
Jai Baba!

Adi-Buddha

The Heart and the Beloved genesised the Jivanta, the infinite atmas.

The first atma to realize the Heart and the Beloved is the Adi-Buddha, the Primal Buddha.

The Adi-Buddha is the Adi-Guru, the Primal Guru.

The source of all religions is the Adi-Buddha.

The source of Dharma is the Adi-Buddha.

All dharmas, all religions, come from Dharma, and all dharmas, all religions, come from the Adi-Buddha.

Buddha Dharma is the Adi-Dharma, the Primal Dharma.

The Buddha Siddhartha Gautama spoke primarily about the truth of dukkha, the truth of dissatisfaction. But the truth of dukkha is not the Primal Dharma.

The Primal Dharma is Nameless, Wordless.

The Primal Dharma birthed the truth of dukkha, but the Primal Dharma also birthed the truth of rasa, the truth of infinitely deep enjoyment. The truth of rasa was also spoken by Siddhartha Gautama, but secretly. The time was not yet right for the revelation of rasa.

Only recently has the Rasa Sutra been revealed:

Thus have I heard. At one time the Buddha was staying near Savatthi, in the Jeta Wood, at Anathapindika's monastery. There the Buddha addressed the monks, "Friends!"

"Blessed One," the monks replied.

"Now this, friends, is the Noble Truth of Rasa: Rasa is the recognition of all that arises, exists, and disappears, as the very Heart of Reality. When one lives in the Truth of Rasa, birth is Rasa, maturity is Rasa, death is Rasa; contentment and discontentment, praise and blame, wholeness and partiality, the wanted and the unwanted, and a sense of adventure and a sense of fear, are Rasa; association with the beloved and with the unloved is Rasa; in short, all conditioned processes are Rasa.

And this, friends, is the Noble Truth of the Origination of Rasa: Rasa originates in the acts of compassion, energy, wisdom, and persistence that make for richer life, acts accompanied by passion and delight, acts not discouraged by pain and suffering. In short, living compassionately, acting energetically, cultivating wisdom, and integrating body and mind originate Rasa.

And this, friends, is the Noble Truth of the Fulfillment of Rasa: Rasa is fulfilled in the indubitable increase and brightening, rising up, expansion, cultivation and engagement of those very acts of compassion, energy, wisdom, and persistence.

And this, friends, is the Noble Truth of the Way of Practice leading to the Fulfillment of Rasa: Rasa is made Full by means of precisely this Noble Eightfold Path: Full View, Full Intention, Full Speech and Full Listening, Full Action, Full Livelihood, Full Effort, Full Mindfulness, and Full Concentration.

And what is Full View? Knowledge with regard to enjoyment, knowledge with regard to the origination of enjoyment, knowledge with regard to the fulfillment of enjoyment, knowledge with regard to the way of practice leading to the fulfillment of enjoyment: This is called Full View.

And what is Full Intention? Being resolved on clarity and simplicity, on compassion and sympathy, on devotion and persistence: This is called Full Intention.

And what is Full Speech and Full Listening? Speaking and listening truth, speaking and listening praise, speaking and listening gently, and speaking and listening with a purpose: This is called Full Speech and Full Listening.

And what is Full Action? Protecting life, giving time and energy to those in need, and being devoted to one’s spouse: This is called Full Action.

And what is Full Livelihood? There is the case where a disciple of the noble ones, having abandoned lust and fear, does what he or she truly loves to do: This is called Full Livelihood.

And what is Full Effort?

There is the case where a person generates desire, endeavors, activates persistence, upholds and exerts his intent for the sake of the non-arising of evil, unskillful qualities that have not yet arisen.

He generates desire, endeavors, activates persistence, upholds and exerts his intent for the sake of the abandonment of evil, unskillful qualities that have arisen.

He generates desire, endeavors, activates persistence, upholds and exerts his intent for the sake of the arising of skillful qualities that have not yet arisen.

He generates desire, endeavors, activates persistence, upholds and exerts his intent for the maintenance, non-confusion, increase, plenitude, development, and culmination of skillful qualities that have arisen: This is called Full Effort.

And what is Full Mindfulness?

There is the case where a person remains focused on Heart-Feeling in and of itself — ardent, aware, and mindful — putting away lust and fear with reference to the world.

He remains focused on Awareness in and of itself — ardent, aware, and mindful — putting away lust and fear with reference to the world.

He remains focused on Breathing in and of itself — ardent, aware, and mindful — putting away lust and fear with reference to the world.

He remains focused on the Well-Being of All Beings in and of itself — ardent, aware, and mindful — putting away lust and fear with reference to the world. This is called Full Mindfulness.

And what is Full Concentration?

There is the case where a person, quite engaged in compassion and wisdom, engaged in skillful qualities, enters and remains in the first concentration: rapture and pleasure born from engagement in compassion and wisdom.

With the power of directed thought and discrimination added to compassion and wisdom, he enters and remains in the second concentration: rapture and pleasure born of directed thought and discrimination, unification of awareness engaged in directed thought and discrimination.

With the culmination of the power of rapture and pleasure, he enters and remains in the third concentration: pleasurable abiding born of the culmination of rapture and pleasure. The Noble Ones declare, 'With equanimity and mindfulness, he has a pleasurable abiding.' He remains in pleasurable abiding, is mindful and alert, and senses pleasure with the body.

With the culmination of the power of pleasurable abiding, he enters and remains in the fourth concentration: neither pleasure nor pain, the culmination of equanimity and mindfulness. This is called Full Concentration.”

That is what the Buddha said. Gratified, the monks delighted in the Buddha's words.

In God's Name

In God's Name.

Seven Levels of Spiritual Practice

Different spiritual practices correspond to one or more of the seven levels:

(1) The physical body: the spiritual practices of physics, chemistry, and biology; and exercise, work, and karma (shani) yoga, awakening the body. The realization is that life is matter.

(2) The pranic and energic body: the spiritual practices of out-shining, brightness, the masculine yoga, and raja (shukra) yoga, awakening the will. The realization is that life is energy/power.

(3) The emotional and devotional mind: the spiritual practices of relationship, devotion, the feminine yoga, and bhakti (brihaspati) yoga, awakening the emotions. The realization is that life is selfless love.

(4) The intellectual and discriminative mind: the spiritual practices of mathematics, logic, and jnana (budha [sic]) yoga, awakening discrimination. The realization is that life is thought/mind.

(5) Life transcending the body-mind: the rising of life from the muladhara chakra to the sahasrara chakra, and radical renunciation (mangala yoga). The realization is that life is totally separate from the body-mind.

(6) Life centering the body-mind: the fall of life into the right-side of the chest and simple abiding as life (chandra yoga). The realization is that life is both separate and non-separate from the body-mind.

(7) The Divine enlivening both life and body-mind: the tantric transformation of life into the awareness of the Heart, and the meeting of the Heart and the Beloved in the tantric union of Heart-Beloved (surya yoga). The realization is that life and body-mind arise, exist, and decrease from, within, and as very Reality.

The Way, the Truth, and the Life

A Christmas meditation:

The Christian message of the Good News of Salvation is central. Jesus Christ tells us, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6).

In Jivanta, Jesus Christ is a particular manifestation of the Buddha. The "Way" is the Heart; the "Truth" is the Beloved; and the "Life" is the Jivanta. Each Divine Person in this Quarternity is as equally Divine as the other three Persons; and thus Jesus, as the Buddha, could speak truthfully as being equally the Heart, the Beloved, and the Jivanta.

To say that no one comes to the Father except through Jesus, refers to the spiritual progression, from Jivanta to the Heart. Each portion of Jivanta, each atma, each soul, can come to the Father, to the Beloved, only by realizing Buddhahood, and the only way to realize Buddhahood is to follow the Buddha. The Buddha is the gateway to the Beloved. And the Beloved is the gateway to the Heart.

Jivanta Mantra

The mantra for the Heart is silence, the womb of awareness.

The mantra for the Beloved is sincerity, the mark of insight.

The mantra for the Buddha is science, the logic of truth.

The mantra for the Jivanta is simplicity, the integrity of life.


The Most Supreme Mantra (Paraparamantra): [Silence]

The Supreme Mantra (Paramantra): [Sincerity], in 4 variations:
1. "The Enchanting Couple" ("Radha-Krishna"): I am Love.
2. "The Liberating One" ("Christ"): I am Light.
3. "The Awakening One" ("Buddha"): I am Logic.
4. "The Holistic Deepness" ("Allah"): I am Life.

The Great Mantra (Mahamantra): [Science], in 3 variations:
1. "All this is God" ("Brahma Idam")
2. "The Universe is True" ("Vishva Sat")
3. "There is nothing but God" ("La Ilaha Il Allah")

The Noble Mantra (Aryamantra): [Simplicity], in 3 variations:
1. "All this is beautiful" ("Sundara Idam")
2. "All this is enjoyment" ("Rasa Idam")
3. "All this is luminous" ("Rocana Idam")

The practice of Jivanta is founded upon S⁴:
1. The practice of silence, or meditation
2. The practice of sincerity, or good company
3. The practice of science, or creativity
4. The practice of simplicity, or healing

Jivanta is the Origin, and Destiny, of all religions.
Everyone is a Jivanti, whether knowingly or unknowingly.

Sanatana Dharma exemplifies the Heart.
Christianity exemplifies the Beloved.
BuddhaDhamma exemplifies the Buddhas.
Islam exemplifies the Jivanta.

The Divine Mother, the Heart, the Deepest, Simple Being
The Heavenly Father, the Beloved, the Highest, the Primal Soul
The Only Begotten Son, the Buddha, the Tantric, the Perfected Soul
The Holy Spirit, the Jivanta, the Lowest, Nature

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
(Commentary: The "Name" refers to the Heart; the "Father", the Primal God; the "Son", the Buddha; the "Holy Spirit", Jivanta. Thus, the "Name of the Father" refers to the Very Heart of the Primal God.)

The Jai Theotokos:
Jai Theotokos Virgin Mary, Full of Grace,
The Lord is with You.
Blessed are You among women, and
Blessed is the fruit of Your womb, Jesus Buddha.
Holy Mary, Heart of God,
Pray for us sinners,
Now, and at the hour of our death. Amen.

The Jivanta Rosary:
I go for refuge in the Heart
I go for refuge in the Primal God
I venerate the Buddhas
I venerate Nature

The Jivanta Confession:
I have faith in the Heart
I have faith in the Primal God
I have faith in the Buddhas
I have faith in Nature

Silence,
Sincerity,
Science,
Simplicity:

One Love,
One Light,
One Logic,
One Life.

The First Truth: Men and women suffer.
The Second Truth: Men and women suffer from lust, anger, ignorance, and fear.
The Third Truth: Lust, anger, ignorance, and fear are caused by lack of love, light, logic, and life.
The Fourth Truth: Lust, anger, ignorance, and fear are penetrated by love, light, logic, and life.

Jivanta Guru-Bhakti Yoga

In Jivanta dharma, the primary, or root, Guru is the Divine Couple, the Heart and the Beloved. The secondary Guru consists of the Buddhas and the Jivanta. The root Guru may take human form. The veneration of the root Guru follows the principles of Guru-Bhakti Yoga ("devotion to the Guru"). A devotee of an embodied root Guru necessarily sees his root Guru as the Highest or as in unsurpassable communion with the Highest: such conceptualization follows from the Guru-Principle of Singularity, as enunciated by Swami Sivananda:

From a doctor you get a prescription. From two doctors you get consultation. From three doctors you get your own cremation.

Even so, if you have many Gurus you will be bewildered. You will be at a loss to know what to do. One Guru will tell you: “Do Soham Japa”. Another will tell you “Do Japa of Sri Ram.” A third Guru will tell you “Hear Anahata Sounds”. You will be puzzled. Stick to one Guru and follow his instructions.

The traditional Christian emphasis upon the unique salvificity of Jesus (Jesus as the embodied root Guru of the Christian) can thus be more fully understood as a necessary part of spiritual sadhana, a part accepted by serious practitioners of all lineages and traditions. The traditional Christian emphasis reflects the divine physics of Enlightenment. All Yogas begin and end in Guru-Bhakti Yoga. Without Guru-Bhakti Yoga, there is no true religion. Swami Sivananda refers specifically to the embodied root Guru, below, but such statements can also be applied to the non-bodily bound Heart-Beloved:

52. A Guru is necessary for every aspirant in the spiritual path.

53. It is only a Guru who will be able to unveil the mystery and meaning of real life and show the way to God-realisation.

54. It is only a preceptor who can teach the disciple the secret about Sadhana.

55. An ideal Guru is one who has attained God-realisation.

56. Such a Guru is pure in thought, word and deed.

57. He has mastery over the senses and the mind.

58. He has knowledge of all the scriptures and is simple, kind and truthful.

59. Guru will be able to awaken the hidden divine power in the innermost core of disciple’s heart.

60. If a disciple has done good Karma in his previous births, if he is doing them now, and if he is sincere and longing for God, he will be sure to meet the real Guru.

61. To derive the full benefit from the Guru, disciple must have implicit faith in him and true devotion for him.

62. The disciple will achieve results in proportion to his faith in his Guru.

63. It is the spiritual teacher who will show the way and finally lead one to God.

64. Guru is none but God Himself in human form.

Jivanta Vedas

The Supreme Scriptures of Jivanta include:
Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita;
I Am That; and
Natchintanai.

The Primal Scriptures of Jivanta include:
Bhagavad Gita;
Il Combattimento Spirituale;
Bodhicharyavatara; and
Discourses.

The Glorious Scriptures of Jivanta include both Jewish and Christian Shruti ("that which is heard") and Smriti ("that which is remembered"):

Yahadut Veda ("The Jewish Bible"):

Torah Samhita ("The Pentateuch"): examples include
Book I: Beresheit ("Genesis")
Book III: Vayiqra ("Leviticus")

Neviim Samhita ("The Prophets"): examples include
Book VI: Yehoshua ("Joshua")
Book VII: Shoftim ("Judges")

Ketuviim Samhita ("The Wisdom"): examples include
Book XIV: Tehillim ("Proverbs")
Book XXIV: Divrei Ha-Yamim ("Chronicles")

Yahadut Veda is composed of 24 (3 x 8) Books.

Christic Veda ("The New Testament"):

Euangelos Samhita ("The Gospels"): examples include
Book I: Maththaion ("Matthew")
Book II: Markon ("Mark")

Historia Samhita ("The Acts of the Apostles"): composed of Book V

Epistolai-Paulou Samhita ("The Pauline Letters"): examples include
Book VI: Romaious ("Romans")
Book VII: Korinthious A ("1st Corinthians")

Epistolai Samhita ("The General Letters"): examples include
Book XIX: Ebraious ("Hebrews")
Book XX: Yakobou ("James")

Apocalypsos Samhita ("The Book of Revelation"): composed of Book XXVII

Christic Veda is composed of 27 (3 x 9) Books.

Within Allah

Within Allah

A: Amma -- "the Divine Mother"

L: vaLLabha -- "the Beloved", as in Sri Krishna's title "Radha-vallabha", the Beloved of Radha

L: Lokavid -- "the One with Perfect Understanding", one of the Ten Titles of the Buddha

A: Ayus -- Sanskrit for "Life"

H: Hu -- the Hidden Sound

Shahadah Universal

The Muslim Shahadah is the profession of faith in Reality and in the Prophet Muhammad:

La ilaha il Allah wa Muhammad Rasul Allah

There is no reality but Reality and Muhammad is the Prophet of That Reality

Since Muslims recognize that the appearance of other Prophets (like Jesus, Abraham, and Buddha), one can place Jesus, Abraham, or the Buddha in the place of Muhammad, and communicate the same basic message:

La ilaha il Allah wa Buddha Rasul Allah

La: No
ilaha: reality
il: but
Allah: Reality
wa: and
Buddha: Buddha
Rasul: Prophet
Allah: Reality

There is no reality but Reality and the Buddha is the Prophet, or Manifestation, of That Reality

Or, if you're Christian:

La ilaha il Allah wa Christ Rasul Allah

There is no reality but Reality and Christ is the Manifestation of That Reality

Christic Grahas

"Christ" in Greek is χριστος. Each of the seven letters refers to the grahas in order, Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn:

χ for Krittika, the first nakshatra ruled by the Sun.
ρ for Rohini, the first nakshatra ruled by the Moon.
ι for Indra, the Liberator of the Oppressed, the Glorifier of the Blind and Handicapped.
σ for Shiksha, the science of phonetics and phonology -- in other words, of the Word.
τ for Trivikrama, whose three steps conquered Heaven, Earth, and Hell.
ο for Ojas, the spiritual energy into which sexual energy transforms.
ς for Shanti, Peace.

A Nice Problem to Have

The speaker was Patricia Fresen, a bishop in the Roman Catholic Womenpriests movement. The day, Nov. 11; the occasion, a jubilant ceremony at a Jewish synagogue, during which Fresen would ordain two women -- the latest of a series of such ceremonies, aimed at helping women to fulfill what they say is their calling: to serve the church as Catholic priests.

Fresen, presider and homilist at the event, is a former Dominican nun of 45 years and a former seminary professor in South Africa. As a native English-speaker, she oversees the movement’s formation program for candidates in English-speaking countries and has quickly become its best-known bishop in the United States.

Though still a small organization, Roman Catholic Womenpriests has grown exponentially since it began just five years ago with the ordination of the so-called Danube Seven -- seven women ordained on a boat on the Danube River in 2002. The growth -- its leading edge in North America -- has surprised some, met expectations of others, and is clearly worrying some members of the church hierarchy.

“We have a lot of new applicants,” Fresen said in an interview the week before the ordinations. “I now have five assistant program coordinators, and we can barely keep up. It has amazed me. We never thought it would take off like this.”

Given the international dimensions of the movement and the increasing frequency of ordinations, tracking the numbers has been a bit tricky, but Bridget Mary Meehan, U.S. spokeswoman, finds it “a nice problem to have.” By Fresen’s count, since those first ordinations in 2002, 50 people -- including six men -- have been ordained, bringing the total to 37 in the United States and Canada and 50 worldwide. Leaders report that another hundred or so have entered the movement’s formal pre-ordination training program. In the United States, the rising numbers prompted a decision last fall to divide the country into five regions to deal more effectively with the demand.

Four Persons, Seven Grahas

The Heart infinitely accepts, like the Moon
The Beloved infinitely shines, like the Sun

The Buddha combines Mars and Jupiter
The Jivanta embodies Venus and Saturn

And Mercury binds them all.

Tat Hridaya

"Tat Tvam Asi: That You Art!" is one of the mahavakyas of Advaita Vedanta.

"Hridaya Tvam Asi: The Heart You Art!" means that the Heart, thus, is Tat.

From the Sri Lalita Sahasranama:

425.
तत्
Tat

She who is meant by "That," the Supreme Truth, Brahman

When knowledge of Brahman arises in the intellect, Tat (that) is the word used to signify that Brahman (See mantra 363).

Tat is a pronoun - a word which is employed to refer to something that is already indicated. All known things are included in tat because behind everything is Devii, the Supreme Consciousness.

In the naamaavali form of the Sahasranaama in which Devii is invoked name by name, this mantra becomes Om Tasmai Namah. Tasmai is the dative form of the pronoun Tat.

Tat Tvam Asi: That You Art!

In Jivanta, Tat Tvam Asi -- That Thou Art! -- refers to the Heart, to the Mother. Idam Tvam Asi -- This Thou Art! -- refers to the Beloved, the Father

The Pagan "Gods"

As an answer to the question of the possibility of a "dialogue" of Orthodox Christianity with the various non-Christian religions, the reader has been presented the testimony of three Orthodox Christians who confirm, on the basis of Orthodox doctrine and their own experience, what the Orthodox Church has always taught: that Orthodox Christians do not at all have the "same God" as the so-called "monotheists" who deny the Holy Trinity; that the gods of the pagans are in fact demons; and that the experiences and powers which the pagan "gods" can and do provide are satanic in nature. All this in no way contradicts the words of St. Peter, that God is no respecter of persons: but in every nation he that feareth Him and worketh righteousness is acceptable to Him (Acts 10:34-5); or the words of St. Paul, that God in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways. Nevertheless He left not Himself without witness, in that He did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness (Acts 14:16-17). Those who live in the bondage of satan, the prince of this world (John 12:31), in darkness which is unenlightened by the Christian Gospel — are judged in the light of that natural testimony of God which every man may have, despite this bondage.

For the Christian, however, who has been given God's Revelation, no "dialogue" is possible with those outside the Faith. Be ye not unequally yoked with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?... Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord (2 Cor. 6:14-17). The Christian calling is rather to bring the light of Orthodox Christianity to them, even as St. Peter did to the God-fearing household of Cornelius the Centurian (Acts 10:34-48), in order to enlighten their darkness and join them to the chosen flock of Christ's Church.

All of this is obvious enough to Orthodox Christians who are aware of and faithful to the Truth of God's Revelation in the Church of Christ. But many who consider themselves Christians have very little awareness of the radical difference between Christianity and all other religions; and some who may have this awareness have very little discernment in the area of "spiritual experiences" — a discernment that has been practiced and handed down in Orthodox Patristic writings and Lives of Saints for nearly 2000 years.

In the absence of such awareness and discernment, the increasing presence of Eastern religious movements in the West, especially in the past decade or two, has caused great confusion in the minds of many would-be Christians. The case of Thomas Merton comes immediately to mind: a sincere convert to Roman Catholicism and Catholic monasticism some forty years ago (long before the radical reforms of Vatican II), he ended his days proclaiming the equality of Christian religious experiences and the experience of Zen Buddhism and other pagan religions. Something has "entered the air" in these past two decades or so that has eroded whatever remained of a sound Christian outlook in Protestantism and Roman Catholicism and now is attacking the Church itself, Holy Orthodoxy. The "dialogue with non-Christian religions" is a result rather than a cause of this new "spirit."

In this chapter we shall examine some of the Eastern religious movements which have been influential in the 1970's, with special emphasis on the attempts to develop a syncretism of Christianity and Eastern religions, particularly in the realm of "spiritual practices." Such attempts more often than not cite the Philokalia and the Eastern Orthodox tradition of contemplative prayer as being more kin to Eastern spiritual practices than anything that exists in the West; it is time enough, then, to point out clearly the great abyss that exists between Christian and non-Christian "spiritual experience," and why the religious philosophy that underlies this new syncretism is false and dangerous.

Now, much can be said pro and con regarding this excerpt from Fr. Seraphim Rose. The criticisms need not detain one from learning profitably from this selection and the work from which it comes as a whole. Rose's passion is clear, as well as his honesty and directness. It is those qualities that one can imbibe from Rose's writings, regardless of one's position on issues such as inter-religious dialogue and so forth. In fact, much of evangelical writing of the conservative/fundamentalist persuasion (not that Rose would be happy with being mentioned in the same sentence with fundamentalism) provide insight into some of the common qualities found in devout practitioners of any spiritual tradition. Any real spiritual sadhana includes discrimination, the discrimination of the false and dangerous, from the true and skillful; a realistic perspective that does not assume identity where there is simply similarity; an awareness of the preciousness of human life, to the extent that misuse and abuse of human choice becomes comparable, in a very real way, with eternal existence in the hellish realms; and a radical honesty, both within oneself and with"-out" others.

Buddha Elohim

In Jivanta-dharma, the Heart is One, the Beloved is One, but the Buddhas are infinite and One at the same time. This paradoxical nature of the Buddhas can be seen in the Hebrew scripture Beresheit (otherwise known as "Genesis"), first chapter, first verse:

Beresheit bara Elohim et hashamayim ve'et ha'aretz.
(In the beginning God created sky and earth.)

"Elohim" is of course considered both plural and singular. Perhaps originally, it was considered plural only. In any event, the plurality of Elohim corresponds to the plurality of Buddhas, signifying that the creation of our universe was the result of cooperation among many different Buddhas. It was this cooperative effort that resulted in the creation of mankind, male and female. This cooperative effort also refers to the continuously on-going creation of different worlds, with different life-forms, in different universes. (What "creation" means in these contexts deserves further, future exploration.)

Starting in the second chapter, fourth verse of Beresheit, the Hebrew scripture now refers to "Adonai Elohim" or "Yahweh Elohim", which could be translated as "Lord Buddha", referring to a particular Buddha, rather than to many Buddhas. It was this particular Buddha who created a garden, then Adam, then Eve.

Credo Hridayam

The first creed defined by an ecumenical council of Christian Churches is the Nicene creed, which in Latin begins:

Credo in unum Deum,
Patrem omnipoténtem,
factórem cæli et terræ,
visibílium ómnium et invisibílium.

(I believe in one God,
almighty Father,
maker of sky and earth,
all things in-sight and out-of-sight.)

The key word, the initial word, is "credo", "I believe". "Credo" is related to the English word for "heart" (which is, in Latin, "cor" or "cordis"; in Greek, "kardia"; in Sanskrit, "hridaya"). To say "credo" in Latin is to say that you take something to Heart, not simply or primarily intellectually, but to the deepest part of one's being.

Likewise, the English word "believe" derives from an Indo-European root "leubh", meaning "to care, to desire, to love". The intellect is a useful tool, but it isn't the medium of true care, true love. "Belief", then, is not centered on rational agreement with certain conceptual arguments. Rather, belief is the heart-felt love-care of a person, whether human, animal, plant, otherwise-organic, or otherwise-inorganic. To believe in a creed is to care from the Heart for that which the creed symbolizes.

Romney on Faith in America

12/6/2007 10:30:00 AM

Fmr. Gov. Mitt Romney's (R-MA) "Faith in America" Speech
Speaking from the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library in College Station, TX, fmr. Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA) discusses religion, politics and governance. The speech by the GOP Presidential candidate is being compared to then-Sen. John Kennedy's 1960 address to the Greater Houston Ministerial Assn.

Romney (who is not pictured to the right!) is simply one among a long line of presidential contenders who were/are Mormon. One may disagree with Mormon theology (and Mormon politics, for that matter), but for sheer creativity/inspiration, it has few rivals within American history. From NPR comes a short description of the speech:

Romney did not offer a tutorial of his own faith, which shares many core beliefs with evangelical Christianity. The religion is further guided by the Book of Mormon, published by church founder Joseph Smith Jr. in 1830. Smith said he had discovered the sacred text buried near his home and proceeded to translate it.

Romney, who in recent polls was shown trailing Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee – who was a Baptist minister before taking office — said there were features of other faiths that he wished were in his own, issuing a laundry list that seemed designed to be inclusive and to avoid offense.

"I love the profound ceremony of the Catholic Mass, the approachability of God in the prayers of the evangelicals, the tenderness of spirit among the Pentecostals, the confident independence of the Lutherans, the ancient traditions of the Jews, unchanged through the ages, and the commitment to frequent prayer of the Muslims.

"It is important to recognize that while differences in theology exist between churches in America, we share a common creed of moral convictions," he said.

Complementary

The Eternal Hridaya,
The Anointed Vallabha,
The Awakened Buddha, and
The Holistic Jivanta.

Vyaghra

THE TIGER IS often venerated as the protector of the forest. Indian mythology is replete with tales where the tiger is believed to have multiple powers that range from producing rain to fighting dragons, healing the sick and banishing children’s nightmares. Followers of Islam believe that Allah has dispatched the tiger to protect his devotees and punish apostates.

Maharashtra’s Warli tribe worships the tiger God, Vaghdeva above all other gods. They consider the tiger a symbol of life and regeneration and offer a part of their harvest to it. The tiger is also regarded as the harbinger of fertility and Warli couples dress in the colours of the tiger – yellow and red shawls – when visiting the temple of Palaghata, the Goddess of Marriage. According to a tale, if the goddess were pleased she would bless the couple with a child; or else the shawls would transform into tigers and consume the pair. Warli paintings depict the tiger as a part of daily life, often walking through or sitting in a village.

The Nagas believe the tiger and man to be brothers since the mother of the first tiger and of the first man, are believed to have come out of the earth through the same exit, a pangolin’s burrow.

The Goddess Durga, worshipped since the time of the Indus valley civilisation, is shown riding a tiger. Durga is charged with destroying evil and the tiger was possibly chosen as a representation of strength and immortality.

Tiger dances, performed by young children, are an important part of the celebrations on Lord Krishna's birthday in Karnataka’s Udipi town.

In the northern regions of Bengal, both Hindus and Muslims revere the tiger. Local paintings depict a Muslim priest, prayer beads and a lathi in hand, astride a tiger and combating evil. In the Sunderbans, the Hindu Goddess Banobibi or the Muslim deity Dakshin Rai protect the people from demons, crocodiles and even tigers. So before they set foot in the park, people soothe Dakshin Rai with music or make offerings of sweets, rice and fruit to Banobibi.

Tigers are often painted as developing wings, giving princesses a ride, or becoming a white streak in the sky to protect the earth. Through the ages, tigers have been seen as life-givers, sentinels and saviours.

Regenerated and Baptized

Jivanta-dharma, like orthodox Christianity, forms a subset of Chraista-dharma. Within orthodox Christianity, one may find the Baptist tradition. Likewise, within Jivanta, one may find the Baiptiza-sampradaya, the sampradaya analogous to the Baptist tradition in orthodox Christianity. (One should note that Jivanta and orthodox Christianity are not mutually exclusive; neither are the Baptist tradition and the Baiptiza-sampradaya.) One of the distinctive practices of both the Baptist tradition and the Baiptiza-sampradaya involves the baptism of believers:

While Baptists owe much to the great doctrinal legacy of the mainline reformers, our ecclesiology most closely approximates the Anabaptist ideal in its emphasis on the church as an intentional community composed of regenerated and baptized believers who are bound to one another and their Lord by a solemn covenant. One of the most important contributions which Baptists have made to the wider life of the church is the recovery of the early church practice of baptism as an adult right of initiation signifying a committed participation in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In many contemporary Baptist settings, however, baptism is in danger of being divorced from the context of the decisive life commitment.

The baptism of believers, so integral to Baptist practice, has several layers of meaning. As a distinctly orthodox Christian practice, baptism signifies the entrance of the believer into the Christian community. As part of Baiptiza practice (and, thus, as part of Jivanta), baptism symbolizes the realization of radical non-duality. Baptism by sprinkling or by pouring does not as fully embody this radical non-dualism as does baptism by full-immersion. In full-immersion, the non-duality is complete, utter, without remainder. To be baptized in full-bodied immersion is to participate in the foreshadowing of one's future, and yet already ever present, advaitic and full-bodied realization.

They Followed a Star

A three-session course titled “They Followed a Star: Astrology and Christianity as Allies on the Journey” is being taught at St. Andrew’s Church in Seattle this month. The first session is scheduled to be held tonight.

The course is being taught by Dan Keusal, a licensed counselor and astrologer in private practice in Seattle. Mr. Keusal holds a degree in theology from the University of Notre Dame and worked for years as a parish and campus minister.

In a brief description of the course located on an internet website he maintains, Mr. Keusal describes his workshop as a way to “look at how astrology can support and deepen our journeys as men and women of faith.” The course was mentioned in the December issue of Episcopal Voice, the newspaper of the Diocese of Olympia and in the calendar section of the diocesan website. The course is also listed on the parish website.

“Just as the Magi followed a star to find Jesus, we can look to the stars for help in discerning ‘Spirit’s’ plan for us,” Mr. Keusal writes on his website. “Drawing on biblical theology, psychology, music, poetry, and more, we’ll explore the connections between astrology and Christianity, and look at how astrology can support and deepen our journeys as men and women seeking meaning and purpose for our lives.”

[Western or Magian astrology is not exactly "Jyotish", but I'll label it as such anyways.]

Peter's Rock

One of the most controversial passages in the New Testament is the sixteenth chapter of Matthew, where Jesus refers to Peter as (in Aramaic) "Kephas" and (in Greek) "Petros", both words meaning, roughly, "rock".

Matthew 16:15-18:

He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter said in reply, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." Jesus said to him in reply, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.

The Orthodox, the Catholic, and the Protestant differ on the significance of this passage. Specifically, the Catholic believes that this passage conferred upon Peter an authority given to him and him alone, an authority that contained within it, in seed form, universal papal jurisdiction and papal infallibility. The Orthodox maintain, one, that the papal office is not equivalent to Peter the Apostle, and, two, that the Bishop of Rome (the "Roman" Pope, not to be confused with the Pope who is Bishop of Alexandria) is "one among equals", lacking both the power to coerce other bishops (a power that is part of universal papal jurisdiction notions) and the guarantee of papal infallibility. And Protestants side with the Orthodox, in general.

From the perspective of the Heart, any one of these positions can be, and are, true. In fact, each can be affirmed to be as true as any other. To say that any position can be affirmed just as well as any other, does not mean that the material implications of any one position would be the same as any other. If a bishop believes in universal papal jurisdiction, then that bishop should be prepared to encounter the exercise of papal authority. That bishop might lose his own power, authority, or wealth even.

However, the Heart is not limited, nor constrained, nor bound, by worldly authority. The Heart is not affected, if the Pope is infallible or not, or has universal jurisdiction or not. The Heart does not seek power, authority over others, or wealth. Thus, from the perspective of the Heart, any one of the three positions regarding the Pope is equal to the other two.

The Heart interprets the passage in a different way. The "rock" that Jesus referred to, was Peter's faith and trust -- in other words, to Peter's own recognition of the Heart. The Church that Jesus was to build, would be founded on this Heart-recognition, which is not limited to Peter, but belongs to all. This rock is clear, pure, and perfect. In fact, this rock can be compared to a lustrous diamond, indestructible, and adamantine. In the Tibetan tradition, this rock is known as vajra, the indestructible diamond, clear and empty, and yet reflective, of imperfections. This vajra is bodhi-citta, the Heart of Awakening. Peter recognized bodhi-citta, the mind of enlightenment, and Jesus affirmed Peter's recognition. This Awakened Heart, though dormant in many, can be awakened by many means, within many different religious-political-authority structures, whether Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestant, just to limit ourselves to Christian examples. The point of Jesus' acknowledging Peter's "rockness" was not to make Peter (or a Pope) into an idol, no more so than the Father's acknowledgment of Jesus as His "Son" was meant to make Jesus into an idol. Instead, Peter was meant to be an example from which others could learn the universal truth that the Heart could manifest unexpectedly, anywhere, anytime, and to any person.

Totem