We are often in battle.
So often defending every side of the fort,
It may seem, all alone.

Sit down, my dear.
Take a few deep breaths,
Think about a loyal friend.
Where is your music,
Your pet, a brush?

Surely one who has lasted as long as you
Knows some avenue or place inside
That can give a sweet respite.

If you cannot slay your panic,
Then say within
As convincingly as you can,
“It is all God’s will!”

Now pick up your life again.
Let whatever is out there
Come charging in,

Laugh and spit into the air,
There could be holy fallout.

Throw those ladders like tiny match sticks
With “just” phantoms upon them
Who might be trying to scale your heart.

Your love has an eloquent tone.
The sky and I want to hear it!

If you still feel helpless
Give our battle cry again,

Hafiz
Has shouted it a myriad times,

“It is all,
It is all the Beloved’s will!”

What is that luminous rain I see
All around you in the future

Sweeping in from the east plain?

It looks like, O it looks like
Holy fallout

Filling your mouth and palms
With Joy!

Taken from The Gift:Poems by Hafiz. Translated by Daniel Ladinsky.

When disaster strikes, whether it is on a personal level or on a mass scale, like it is in Haiti today, we have the opportunity to contemplate our interconnectedness. When there is pain and suffering anywhere, we are all affected, even though we may not be aware of it.

As we contemplate our interconnection, we can easily see how our actions affect everything around us. Awareness leads to  consciousness that elicits behavior that is compassionate towards the welfare of all beings. When  ignorance prevails, we act in ways that cause disharmony to our environment and its eventual destruction.

Reiki Help Blog has written a post on this subject and well articulates the sentiments that some of us have been expressing. I invite you to take a look at an alternate view that empowers us to make change happen, not just on the physical but on other levels.

When I was growing up, I learned that God is in heaven above, and when we die, if we have followed his laws, we will join him again in heaven. What if I was taught a different myth about God, would my life have been different in keeping with an alternate belief system about God? I have written many posts in the past about my beliefs that God is everywhere. The one Consciousness has taken form as everything, animate and inanimate. I found this wonderful quote in a book on an anthropological look at healers in the Mexican culture, They All Want Magic by Elizabeth De La Portilla:

When you know the truth, you are free…when I knew and I learned that the meaning of God, the meaning of God is life, es la vida, el amor, la verdad, la inteligencia, la unidad, el espirito, y el principio, and I learned the meaning of God…el principio. Es la vida, in my heart, in myself, and God can do everything. And then I ask myself, “What is the problem?”                                    —Golondrina

Isn’t this an uplifting principle by which to live? God is life, God lives in our hearts. Everyone and everything is an expression of God. When we learn this truth about life, we are empowered to live from our highest potential. There is no more need for self-doubt and all of its ensuing unwanted emotions. As Golondrina said, “What is the problem?” We are free!

This teaching is liberating, yet we continue to live life from the programs we have that tell us otherwise. These programs are deeply ingrained, perhaps even from past lives. Even when we learn the truth, we have to continuously practice remembering. We have to keep coming back to center. We have to keep renewing our connection to Source that expresses through us. This is the path of the spiritual healing journey. Through spiritual practices, we keep a constant vigilance against  delusion, and remain awake to the truth. Be aware!

How are your New Year’s resolutions coming along? I did not make any; I do have an ongoing  resolve to stay centered. This I believe is the basis of all life. No matter what we want to achieve, we have to be centered to access the resources within, to put forth the best of what we can be and do in that endeavor. This  applies to all that we create, whether it is our own state of mind, or  the manifestations of our relationships with family and friends, our careers, or the creative outlets of  our artistic inclinations.

To be centered means to be at peace within, to sit in stillness no matter how chaotic everything  is around us. Moving outward from that still center, we work from a foundation of balance which is strong and steady. We are not blown away by the winds of  angry words of the disgruntled. We are not sucked into fixing the dysfunction of the world at the risk of loosing the integrity of our own center. We are not dependent on accolades from the world to maintain our self-esteem. From the still center of beingness we are able to feel our own wholeness and can access the fountain of peace, strength and courage, to help those whose lives we touch. In these times of outer turmoil it is easy to feel hopelessness and despair. I believe that we are called to make a difference where we can, within the vicinity of our own lives. If we can each be the  pillar of strength within our own families and communities, it will magnify and collectively affect all of humanity on a mass level. It begins from within our own inner center.

How do we become centered? There are endless resources available everywhere, including free information on the internet. We have only to be committed to give this gift to ourselves. The secret to sticking with a method for reminding ourselves to become centered is to choose what resonates with us. It may not initially be fun, but how it makes us feel after practicing is what matters. We  all function better in a particular modality. Some of us are more visual, auditory or kinesthetic. We would be inclined to stick with a practice that matches our personality. Making time at the start of our day for some kind of practice is the most beneficial. We come in contact with our energy source, feeling refreshed and grateful for  the wonder of this life. We can then move into our day with a dynamic enthusiasm, expressing the joy we touched upon in our practice.

Meditation is perhaps the most common tool for centering. There are many forms of meditation ranging from sitting  and focusing on our breath, to more active forms such as Tai Chi and Hatha Yoga, or engaging in some form of ritual that draws us into the sacredness of life. Writing down the stream of consciousness made famous by Julia Cameron in The Artist’s Way can be another form of centering. In this practice, the first thing in the morning, we write down all our thoughts in an unedited stream for a half to one hour. This clears our mind and makes room for focusing on the stillness within. Taking a walk by ourselves preferably in nature, loosing ourselves in making something that requires a focus, dancing, singing, or any activity where mindfulness draws us to the still center within, are good ways to return to our center.

The beauty of returning to the still center is that we create the state of mind that we want. How often do we feel tired, confused or scattered, not knowing the source of our distress? I believe that we are magnets for all of the energies that are emanating all around us, for example in the office, the subway, or the media. We are constantly being bombarded with the thought forms that are swirling around  our environment. How we stay afloat within this swirling soup of fear, anger, frustration and all its counterparts, depends on how centered we are. We can become hooked in by these feelings, identifying them as our own if we are not aware. Being centered helps us to distinguish what is our own state of mind and to keep refreshing that state of connection to our source.

Here is one of my favourite poems that speaks of the still center. It is by Rabindranath Tagore.

Break Open the Door

When the heart is hard and parched up,
come upon me with a shower of mercy.
When grace is lost from life, come with a burst of song.
When tumultuous work raises its din on all sides
shutting me out from beyond, come to me, my lord of silence,
with thy peace and rest.
When my beggarly heart sits crouched,
shut up in a corner, break open the door, my king,
and come with the ceremony of a king.
When desire blinds the mind with delusion and dust,
O thou holy one, thou wakeful,
come with thy light and thy thunder.

I came across a book on stories and poems about Kuan Yin and was quite amused to read that in some Buddhist and Taoist temples, people worship statues and paintings of Monkey, Pigsy, and the  pilgrim, Tripitaka. The authors suggest that they are based on a religious text that was originally written as a humorous novel called Journey to the West in the 16th century in China. The novel was based on an actual pilgrim, Hsuan Tsang (c. AD 596-664) who journeyed to India to fetch the Mahayana Buddhist scriptures to bring them back to China. The author of the novel added  stories of the Monkey king, Pigsy and other characters as protective companions to the pilgrim. The novel was  written for the Buddhist scholarly class who patronized such works in that period during which the literary arts thrived. It was not about actual beings and was never intended to be a religious text. The wonderful characters invented for the novel have now become a part of the pantheon of gods, inseparable from the historical pilgrim and are worshiped  by people today.

This anecdote reminded me of a story one of my teachers used to tell. In short, it is about how some rituals come into being,  empty of meaning but are  blindly practiced without questioning their origin. The humorous story tells of the ritual of tying up a cat to a tree in the yard  whenever  students  gather for spiritual discourses. In the early days  when their master was still alive, he owned a cat that made loud noises, disturbing the master and the students. He ordered that the cat be tied up outside before the students arrive for the discourses. Since then, even after the cat and the master died, a cat was always tied up before discourses began.

These thoughts led to a lively discussion in our house about how a myth creates a culture. There are many cultures based on a myth that has become the basis of reality for that culture. In the West, it is Christianity, in the East, it is predominantly Buddism, Taoism, Hinduism and Islam. Though today, the myth of political and economic power has largely replaced religion in the West and is beginning to erode the traditional cultures in Asia.

The discussion continued on to the ridiculous notion, that perhaps many centuries from now, Harry Potter would be worshiped as the protector of young people. This led to another discussion on how saints and other deities come to be. We wondered how much of the ability to bestow miracles come from the power invested in them by their worshipers.

Joseph Campbell said “The gods and goddesses then are to be understood as embodiments and custodians of the elixir of Imperishable Being but not themselves the Ultimate in its primary state. What the hero seeks through his intercourse with them is therefore not finally themselves, but their grace, i.e., the power of their sustaining substance. This miraculous energy-substance and this alone is the Imperishable; the names and forms of the deities who everywhere embody, dispense, and represent it come and go. This is the miraculous energy of the thunderbolts of Zeus, Yahweh, and the Supreme Buddha, the fertility of the rain of Viracocha, the virtue announced by the bell rung in the Mass at the consecration, and the light of the ultimate illumination of the saint and sage. Its guardians dare release it only to the duly proven.”

Many miraculous stories are recorded about people who invoke Kuan Yin and are protected from disaster even though there is  confusion around this deity. It is said that Kuan Yin who is widely worshiped in Asia as the goddess of compassion today, is the same masculine deity, Avalokita the Bodhisattva of Compassion of Indian and Tibetan lore. When Buddhism came to China, Avalokita was called Kuan Yin and worshiped as a male deity. Years later, Kuan Yin was depicted in a female form by artists and since then, Avalokita has been visualized in this female form and confused with the legendary Chinese Princess Miao Shan, a compassionate being.  The Princess Miao Shan legends have since been assimilated into the legends of Kuan Yin. Perhaps the deities such as Kuan Yin have extraordinary power because so many people over the centuries hold the belief of their divinity and have therefore become  the vehicles for the bestowal of grace. Does it matter if people pray to Kuan Yin or the Monkey god, Pigsy or the pilgrim, Tripitaka? And is it our search for the miraculous that create the manifestations of such visitations as the Lady of Guadeloupe which then becomes a powerful cult based on the vision of one person?

This is a fascinating subject and I reflect on what the Dalai Lama said in the movie, Short Cut To Nirvana, that people should not convert from one religion to another because they are all the same. Thich Nhat Hanh has also said that changing religions is not advisable because our grounding is shaken when we separate from our family roots. This topic continues to play in my mind about religion and its origins. Does it matter what religion we participate in since it is the “elixir of Imperishable Being” we are after?

It is that time again when we reflect on the past year and either make resolutions or wish-lists for the coming year. This year I am taking heed of the many teaching stories that remind us to have resolve. For there is much to be distracted by, along the way to manifesting  what it is we are intending to create. One of my favorite stories on this theme is the Hindu myth about the churning of the ocean to create Amrita, the nectar of the gods.

In this myth, the gods have been at war with their enemies and were unable to defeat them. They approached the Lord and asked him for a boon to conquer their enemies. The Lord told them that first they should make peace with their enemies until He gave them the ability to become stronger and invincible. The nectar, Amrita that can make the gods victorious,  could only be obtained by churning the ocean with the help of their enemies. The Lord’s advice was that the gods should allow their enemies to have anything that fancied them that was churned out of the ocean and that He would take care of the rest.

The churning began and many delightful beings and things, as well as the unpleasant and poisonous, came out from the ocean before the appearance of the Amrita. The enemies as well as the gods were  enamored of the beautiful nymphs and treasures that came out, each side taking what they desired. Along with the pleasant there was also  poison which was compassionately swallowed by the great Lord Shiva to protect his people. A few drops of it dropped on the ground and were taken up by some plants and snakes.

While the gods and their enemies were distracted by the bounty that was being created from the ocean, the Lord transformed himself into a most irresistible  woman, Mohini. Everyone was so lured by her dazzling light and beauty, that when the Amrita showed up, the enemies of the gods were sure that she could be trusted to share the Amrita equally. While their enemies were entranced in Mohini’s charm, they did not notice that she was only offering the nectar to the gods. Only one of them, Rahu realized what was happening and tricked Mohini by pretending to be a god. When the gods were alerted to what happened, they cut off his head. Rahu’s body died and only his head lived and in revenge, he became a planet in the heavens and each year he sucked the sun and the moon at different intervals creating a total darkness in the skies.

This story is a wonderful metaphor for being mindful of our creations, that there is much that is delightful and pleasant but not necessarily in our best interest. There are  many lessons to be gleaned from this myth and one that really stands out for me right now, is that life is a mix of the pleasant and the unpleasant.

In the churning that takes place in the ocean of the unconscious, there are many kinds of  thoughts, feelings and experiences  that will be thrown up. We ask for the nectar of life that will give us peace, joy and light. On the way to receiving that gift, we first have to make peace with all the enemies of the mind. We make friends with the ego and all of its desires.  The path of moderation, not denying the ego, being mindful of the goal, not caught up in illusions of good and bad, even poisonous thoughts and feelings would be absorbed by the compassionate self to bring clarity.  Along the way, we do encounter the stray bits of poison and the pleasant distractions, but when we just let things be, not fighting them, our energies are free to focus on what we do want. We are filled with resolve to accept  the gift of our birthright. With practice we come to identify with our divine aspect, our true nature. Through the gift of grace, we realize eternal love, peace and truth.

On this eve of the new year, may you be blessed with the gift of resolve to unfold the greatness of the truth of who you are.

Happy New Year!

Namaste!

I woke up this morning, in that time between sleep and waking, to a whisper in my ear from my muse: ” nine weeks.” I surmised that she is taking a break. I looked at the calendar and saw that it will take us to the start of the new year. Perfect! That will give me a break too. Perhaps she will be occupied with visiting others for the next nine weeks. Who knows, she might even drop in to see you. If she does, please pay some attention to her, she does not like to be ignored. If she speaks to you, you need to listen or else she sulks and goes away, then you’ll have to really coax her to come back.

How will I spend the next nine weeks? I will start with a trip to the city to visit the folks for a week. When I return I will have to help Seeta with the yard clean-up. See her there in the photo, getting a head-start on me. Then I will hunker down to figure out what my dreams have been telling me these last few nights. Last night I was driving on the road that I used to travel every day to school, except this time there was a turnstile where only one car can enter at a time. The scenery was like some mythic land, dim lit, a verdant green everywhere. I pointed out to my fellow traveller, “look, the ocean used to be there.” The landscape was very different from when I was a child. Now the ocean had receded and there were new low lying lands with marshes that came right up to the road. My friend pointed out to an animal swimming in the water.

So I will be signing off from the blogosphere for now. I might even be reading some of my old posts; there is a lot of inspired material there that I am sure can benefit me during this time of “hunkering down.” I am often amused that I write this stuff, then again it’s not me but a-muse.

In case I don’t show up before the new year which is likely, I have learned to pay attention to these pre-awake messages, I want to wish you Godspeed on the journey. Have a contemplative Fall and Winter, and celebrate the gift of this life with family and friends over the holidays. I am learning that the journey is about enjoying what is here in front of me, my life as it is,  nature around me, my family and friends. There is no seeking outside of this but looking deeper into the love that is already all around and within. The everyday sacred, the secret to a life well lived, is to see God in all beings, all places and things. Divinity is in this moment in whatever comes into consciousness. In each thought there is the possibility of seeing the aspect of divine presence. Our bodies are the vehicles through which Consciousness expresses itself, we are contained within Consciousness. We are one with our environment, through which the one Consciousness expresses, when we move, the environment moves with us. Play with this awareness and experience the presence of God everywhere, in you , as you.

Namaste!

He fumbles at your soul
As players at the keys
Before they drop full music on.
He stuns you by degrees,
Prepares your brittle nature
For the ethereal blow
By fainter hammers further heard,
Then nearer, then so slow
Your breath has time to straighten,
Your brain to bubble cool,
Deals one imperial thunderbolt
That scalps your naked soul.

When winds take forests in their paws
The universe is still.

by Emily Dickinson

Happy Autumn!!!

This past weekend I had much to contemplate about the role of monetary wealth in spirituality. I pondered whether it is an issue to be concerned about, if seekers are receiving a lot in return. It is interesting to me that in one week, three different incidents have come to my attention, making me think deeply about this. I have been concerned about a friend spending an outrageous sum of money to be with a guru in India, close to ten thousand dollars. Last week I wrote about the spiritual warrior event in Sedona, to which sixty four people paid almost ten thousand dollars to attend. On Saturday night I watched a documentary about a day in the life of a spiritual leader. He is a very charismatic man with a huge congregation and an opulent church. He seems to be wealthy, dressed in very expensive looking clothes, drives a luxury car and owns a home in an upscale area. After the movie we all had various comments, some people were in awe of what they saw, a man who has a beautiful message of hope for humanity. Some people were immediately put off by the affluence and were not open to him and his message.

The contemplation for me this week is, “What does money have to do with it?” Am I being biased against some spiritual teachers because they ask for a lot of money in return for their teachings, or that they are interested in empire building? Many of us have an idea of spirituality that it should be given freely. The scene in the bible where Jesus drives the business men out of the temple comes to mind, or the barefooted holy men wandering the length and breath of India. On the other hand, some of us believe in giving wholeheartedly for the gift of spiritual knowledge, through the exchange of energy that money represents.

I liked the comment that was made by one person in the group that watched the movie, that when we enter a forest and see many types of trees, we do not judge the oak tree for being less or more than the fir. They both appear in different forms, some of us prefer oaks, some of us like firs better. Nevertheless, they both serve some purpose, expressing the varieties of nature. One is not bad because we do not like how it looks.

Perhaps there are different types of teachers for the different personalities of the spiritual seekers. One who is an ascetic would hardly be drawn to that opulent church with the flashy looking teacher. And the seeker who does not want to give up his luxuries to live the life of a hermit may not be attracted to a zen type of spiritual teacher.

If seekers get what they need from the teachers who ask to be compensated abundantly and they can afford to, is there any harm in that? Fortunately, there are also a lot of the other variety of teachers for those who are able to pony up a modest exchange. Maybe the lesson for me here is that everything is perfect as it is, that there is enough for everyone, that no one is being unjustly deprived. We all have the freedom to choose. If a seeker goes into debt to be with a teacher, they are learning about money issues and discrimination. No harm done except to my egoistic beliefs that teachers should all live modestly and walk lightly on the earth.

As my contemplation continues, I remember the practice of tithing where we make offerings, usually a monetary one out of gratitude for our spiritual teacher and our community. We consciously give what we can afford to support the community we belong to, out of love for what we have received, wanting to give back in return. It is a beautiful practice that engenders love for the spiritual path, expressing  honor to our teachers and our community. It is a practice that is metaphoric, we can choose to engage in it as a way of perpetuating the cycle of giving and receiving. That said, if we look upon the fees for an event as tithing, it is a gift. If we cannot afford this gift, there are endless other ways to participate.

For now, I relinquish my judgement, my bias, and I bless all who want to participate in spirituality, paying however much they wish to, monetarily or otherwise. It is all good!