Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.
- Albert Einstein
“The highest wealth of a man is contentment” – Buddha
The following are the liner notes of track 8 called “mercy” from our album “sacred ragas” and the inspiration for the music. Track 8- Mercy Track 8 – raag bageshri was the basis of the composition here using the kyrie chant. The raga corresponds to the sixth chakra and represents the sixth stage of man’s evolution. It has been influenced by the writings of C S Lewis, who tells an interesting story in his book, “The Great Divorce.” A busload of ghosts is making an excursion from hell up to heaven with a view of remaining there permanently. They meet the citizens of heaven and one very big ghost from hell is astonished to find there a man, who on earth, had been tried and executed for murder. “What I would like to know,” he explodes, “is what are you doing here, you a murderer, while I a pillar of society, a self-respecting decent citizen am forced to walk the streets down there in smoke and fumes and must live in a place like a pigsty.” His friend from heaven tries to explain that he has been forgiven, that both he and the man he had murdered have been reunited before the judgment seat of Christ. But the big ghost from hell replies, “I just can’t buy that!” “My rights!” he keeps shouting, “I have got to have my rights the same as you!” “Oh no!” his friend from heaven keeps reassuring him, “It’s not as bad as all that! You don’t want your rights! Why, if I had gotten my rights, I would never be here. You’ll not get your rights; you’ll get something far better. You will get the mercy of God.” This is why we pray ,”Lord, have mercy. Christ have mercy ’ or” Kyrie eleison”, Christe eleison”. This prayer, uttered with faith, opens the way for us to enter the final destination with God’s forgiveness and for the coming of His kingdom in our hearts. See website for album detail
Full understanding can come to you only through an inexpressible mystery. The approach to it is called the Gateway of the Stillness beyond all Activity. If you wish to understand, know that a sudden comprehension comes when the mind has been purged of all the clutter of conceptual and discriminatory thought-activity. Those who seek the truth by means of intellect and learning only get further and further away from it. Not till your thoughts cease all their branching here and there, not till you abandon all thoughts of seeking for something, not till your mind is motionless as wood or stone, will you be on the right road to the Gate. ” ~ Huang Po
Blessings~
Isn’t this a beautiful reminder to us parents from the great Indian, Mahatma Gandhi, “Every home is a University and the parents are the teachers. There is no school equal to a decent home and no teachers equal to honest parents” Ron Ragel
According to the thinkers of the East, there are five different intoxications: of beauty, youth and strength; then the intoxication of wealth; the third is power, command, the power of ruling; and there is the fourth intoxication, which is the intoxication of learning, of knowledge. But all these four intoxications fade away just like stars before the sun in the presence of the intoxication of music. The reason is that it touches that deepest part of man’s being. Music reaches farther than any other impression from the external world can reach. And the beauty of music is that it is both the source of creation and the means of absorbing it. In other words, by music was the world created, and by music it is withdrawn again into the source which has created it. Hazrat Inayat Khan (1882-1927) Sufi mystic and musician
When one is spiritually oriented the tendency is to value all of life in all its expressions and see them as opportunities to evolve spiritually whilst still living in the world This can be done without the neccesity for a formal religion or identification with a religious group which can be seen to be too sectarian, restrictive and decisive.Such a person generally identifies with a diverse range of spiritual practices.
“When we are using our gifts and talents we are operating on a higher more powerful energy field, than when we are doing anything else” RR.
A daily reminder is to remind ourselves that we are living in the Garden of Eden, a highly charged energy field and in a state of innocence and always under the total protection of the Almighty. Remember the only admonition he has given us is the same he gave to our ancestors Adam and Eve and that is not to eat of the tree of knowledge which can be translated as not to buy in to “duality”. Adam and Eve bought in to duality, right and wrong and good and evil. Always remember the One Reality. In a world of Love there is no Duality. This moment is all that exists. What is in the past is no longer a Reality. The One Reality has been described over millennia by the great avatars, saints, enlightened sages and spiritual giants who have collectively agreed upon an experiential confirmable Reality. Not only did they agree on the One Reality but taught humanity various processes by which spiritual realities can be subjectively and experientially confirmed. When they bought into “duality” Adam and Eve saw themselves as bodies and came in to guilt and shame, low states of consciousness. So from a high energy field they fell into a field where they were looking at their bodies as bodies and became conscious of their body ness. So we have the birth of problems especially sexual. Historically if this event happened or not is not important, psychologically it is an event that has happened to mankind. As I went for my early morning walk to the rising of the birds it was a timely reminder to know that they are well cared for by the Divine. Nature provides for them. They are in the total care of Divinity. Man on the other hand has been given free will and an ego that gets us into all sorts of problems. The purpose of life is to transcend the state of duality that then leads us to higher states culminating in states of enlightenment and giving us our rights to enter the divine kingdom, the Garden of Eden… (Myths, allegories, fables stories, parables and legends have often been used as a teaching tool to allegorically illustrate abstract concepts of truths in more simplistic formats. The same applies to the use of humour, poetry, art and music that also uses similar metaphorical communicative styles along with paradox to highlight abstract principles and concepts) The message of truth is always the same throughout history. What one can do is to take them and supplement them with ones own Realizations and then become a Prophet unto others. There is not a single organization that has an exclusive possession of the Truth. If they claim exclusivity on the truth they can be seen to be violating basic spiritual precepts by justifying actions based on gross misinterpretations and obscure teachings. We can never say this religion is better than that. We all have different mental dispositions. In order to satisfy this there are different methods to approach it and they all have the same potential to transform the mind. This attitude allows us to develop respect towards all other major spiritual traditions. from Webster’s New Twentieth Century Dictionary, Unabridged innocence, noun [L. innocentia, harmlessness, integrity, from innocens (-entis), harmless, innocent.] 1. the quality or state of being innocent; specifically, (a) freedom from sin, evil, or guilt; (b) freedom from knowledge of evil; (c) freedom from guile or cunning; simplicity; (d) silliness; foolishness; (e) incapability of harming, injuring, or corrupting. innocent, adjective 1. free from sin, evil or guilt; specifically (a) doing or thinking nothing morally wrong; pure; (b) not guilty of a specific crime or offense; guiltless; (c) free from evil or harmful effect or cause; that cannot harm, injure, or corrupt; (d) not malignant; benign; as, an innocent tumour. 2. (a) knowing no evil; (b) without guile or cunning; artless; simple; (c) foolish; ignorant. If one looks at the garden of Evil one can see that the serpent was aware of an intrinsic innocence within Eve’s belief systems. So although they were warned by God the serpent knew that in the unconscious is the innocence of the child who readily believes what is said. The child as it grows up cannot tell the difference between truth and falsehood and evil. So this basic innocence and trust that is within the unconscious results in man getting into all sorts of trouble and being savaged and utilized by that which has no integrity. Non integrity, negativity, falsehood knows that within the unconscious of everyone is the unsuspecting innocence of the child. A transformation is needed. What brings about transformation is the adherence to three things, Spiritual alignment, dedication and the right intention. The results are automatic as a consequence of the rising “field effect” and are not caused by the personal will which is limited. Daily life then is seen as a progressive change. Importantly the incorporation of spiritual values in ones life should be for its own sake rather than trying to control the outcome or for some imaginary gain which can then be an obstruction to the primary intention. How does one know that inner transformation is taking place is the subtle inner pleasure, peace and joy that it brings that always accompanies true spiritual endeavour. The inner knowing that one is finally on the way and is ”homeward bound” is immeasurable from the world defined by the ego, the small self to the expanded Awareness of the big Self. The constant nagging that comes from spiritual guilt that accompanies spiritual negligence and wilful indulgences of the ego’s demands and desires for gain are relieved and transcended as the transformation takes a firm hold.
What brings about transformation is the adherence to three things, Spiritual alignment, dedication and the right intention. The results are automatic as a consequence of the “field effect” and are not caused by the personalwillwhich is limited. Daily life then is seen as a progressive change. Importantly the incorporation of spiritual values in ones life should be for it’s own sake rather than trying to control the outcome or for some imaginary gain which can then be an obstruction to the primary intention. How does one know that inner transformation is taking place is the subtle inner pleasure it brings that always accompanies true spiritual endeavour. The inner knowing that one is on the way ”homeward bound” is immeasurable from the world defined by the ego, the small self to the expanded Awareness of the big Self. The nagging from spiritual guilt that accompanies spiritual negligence and wilful indulgences of the ego’s demands and desires for gain are relieved and transcended as the transformation takes a firm hold.
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