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Pure spirituality has no requirements, obligations, dependencies, attachments, neediness, or other evidence of specialness, nor the imposition of control, such as signing up, members for classes or trainings. Commitment is to the core of truth itself and is free of seduction by proselytization or secrecies. There are many attractive, aberrant spiritual groups, techniques, practices, and teachings that become glamourized, popularized, peddled, and even litrerally marketed. All these attractions signify the seeking of a gain by their promotion. In contrast that which is integrous is self fulfilled and therefore does not need promotion. All that is necessary are a curiosity and attraction to truth, which is complete, total, and self sufficient.
The teachers, teachings or groups that are found to be attractive or meaningful depend on the stage of evolution of the seeker’s level of consciousness at any given time. Therefore, this potentiality and likely eventuality should be prepared for in advance.
Article by Dr, David R, Hawkins.
On Resurrection Day, the sun and moon are released from service:
and the eye beholds the Source of their radiance,
then it discerns the permanent possession from the loan,
and this passing caravan from the abiding home.
If for a while a wet nurse is needed,
Mother, return us to your breast.
I don’t want a nurse; my Mother is more fair.
I am like Moses whose nurse and Mother were the same.
Rumi
“I don’t claim anything of the work.
It is his work. I am like a little pencil in his hand.
That is all. He does the thinking.
He does the writing.
The pencil has nothing to do with it.”
- Mother Teresa
“Nature’s beauty is the beauty of God’s creation which shines best when there is no impurity and artificiality”
- Ron Ragel
> This prayer is said by all the volunteers who gather at the Mother
> House before going out to volunteer with the Missionaries of Charity
> in Calcutta (Kolkata), the Order created by Mother Theresa. A photo
> of it is posted in the Files cabinet of this site.
>
>
> Dear Lord the Great Healer,
> I kneel before You, Since
> every good and perfect gift
> must come from you. I pray
> give skill to my hands, clear
> vision to my mind, kindness
> and meekness to my heart.
> Give me singleness of purpose,
> strength to lift up a part of the
> burden of my suffering fellow men
> and true realization of the privilege
> that is mine. Take from my
> heart all guile and worldliness
> that with the simple faith of a
> child, I may rely on You.
> Amen
An Artist remaining true to himself is not content in creating works extraneous to him. Hence they are not judged just on their writings, painting or music but on what they have actually become. For the things that man creates outside his own being never truly belongs to him. He leaves those all behind when he dies. Whereas the work on himself is remembered for all eternity. So a true artist spends their life time refining and fine tuning their own being becoming more alive even in death and even more luminous. Such an artist that looks to seek and create their art and themselves in the image of God does not look for raw materials down below in the sordid levels of life. They have learned to discriminate and know that down below is not the best. So why not seek for elevated experiences in other areas and then discover the beauty of nature, love, the realities of heaven and the welcoming smile of God and his Universe.
In the Bhagavad Gita Ch 8.6 it is said what ever the soul is thinking at the time of death, having been constantly thinking about or meditating upon something with the mind fully absorbed it the soul will attain the same in the next life.
Only that which is good and auspicious in Upanishadic literature should be revered and practised, the rest should be left behind for further introspection. Upanishadic knowledge has been experienced by the great sages and is not confined to a society, natutre or caste
These questions that have eternally come up for mankind cannot be answered by the mind at all. Because the mind is not the source of life, the answers cannot be found there hence man has been looking in the wrong place. These questions can only be answered by looking into the source of mind which is consciousness, without which mind would not exist and there would be no mind to know that man had a mind. Mind is not a fundamental but epiphenomenon of consciousness with a limited range of usefulness and reliability. Hence as mind is a secondary phenomenon then it is essential to understand its Source in detail, its nature and its origins.
Wherever there is life, in however an insignificant form there is consciousness. Every life form is conscious in some degree or another. We can say that consciousness is a graded capacity and in man consciousness rises to levels unlike other life forms. Even though present everywhere consciousness is not manifest in every being or place to the same level. Its manifestations are greatest in the great souls, the divine incarnations.
(It has been said in the Indian spiritual traditions that from the amoeba state to that of an enlightened being takes 8.4 million manifestations and an earthly abode of 96.4 million years).
Buddha has said to be born human is a rarity. (I have explored this statement in previous posts).
Curiously in the West not until recently was mankind really aware of the field of consciousness itself or its importance. Only the great Sages and Avatars that took their birth in the East had made mention of it. Later whilst philosophy and psychology explored the mental content of consciousness (i.e. the mind), it did not however address the basic substrate of the mind itself (consciousness/awareness), by which mentalization could be subjectively discerned and experienced. Because the energy field of consciousness is invisible and nonlinear it was not recognized as important to study except by the enlightened sages. This changed with the work of Heisenberg who won the Noble peace prize in the early 30 ties. The important Heisenberg Uncertainty principle noted that merely observing an experiment changed the outcome and thus for the first time the subject of consciousness itself as well as intention entered scientific theory and discussion. Today the nature of consciousness remains a hot topic in scientific circles.
The nature of consciousness, its very source and what it is becomes apparent from the study of its evolution. In spiritual terminology consciousness can be said to be the radiance of Divinity, the light of God referred to in “Genesis” in the Bible. The energy of consciousness in its contact with matter actualized the potential of biological life which has evolved to where it’s greatest manifestation has been expressed in the life of the great avatars and evolved souls.
A characteristic of the energy field of consciousness is its innate propensity to evolve to higher and higher levels in order to give expression to the highest potentialities. The great souls have shown humanity the highest levels that can be reached. They have not only been at the highest levels they all have laid principles and guidelines in how to reach that state.
Ron Ragel
article by ronni ragel
The overall purpose of meditation is to transcend the body/mind and to realize our true Self. In Buddhist terminology it is called “searching for our selflessness” or “searching for that which is illusive within”. In everyday life most practitioners say they are bombarded with thoughts, ideas and concepts and the minds activities are ceaseless. Music can be seen as a good prerequisite to relax and calm the mind. The music carries us to areas of consciousness that we would not normally reach. The intent of meditation therefore is detachment, especially from the idea that the thoughts are mine or they represent me. The idea of ownership comes from personalization of the thoughts and giving the thoughts importance. When we inspect the thoughts it turns out the only value is the value that we have given them. How much anything is valued is determined by the emotional response to it whether real or imagined. Once they are depersonalized and devalued they will gradually lose value. So in our meditation practice we withdraw all interest, value and importance form all thoughts that come up. A good mantra to keep repeating is “I am not these thoughts, not these feelings, I am not this body, not this mind, I hand them over to God, I am the pure Spirit”. One cannot actually silence the mind it stops of its own accord when we stop giving it food, when the energy if interest is removed. So as previously stated it is best to disown it and the identification with it as “my mind”. Ramana Maharshi the great Indian sage said “thoughts are a unique capacity of the Self.” They are just automatic consequences of different levels of consciousness plus individualization by which they are given value and importance. With giving up the attachment to the mind one lives in the moment rather than the past or anticipation of the future. So mind stops when it is not energized any more. Keep repeating the aforementioned mantra. Let the music carry you upwards to higher states of love, joy and bliss.
Q. What about mediation on an image.
- Training the mind to concentrate on one point or an image is useful without being distracted. Whilst images are inspiring and uplifting they too have to be given up as dependence.
Q. A. What then are the values of mantras?
The music and the mantras carry the person to higher energy fields or states of consciousness. As repeated mantras can bring about hypnotic states they can be an obstruction as well and are merely transitory as this is not the purpose of meditation. They are useful as preparatory stages in the meditation practice as the music and mantras soothe and uplift, and carries the practitioner to highly charges fields.
A good practice is to use music of higher consciousness for charging the field as a preparation. When we feel this point has been reached allow yourself to enjoy the silent stillness. When thoughts arise observe how they begin as a vague kind of a feeling, then they are individualized and quickly a story forms out of it. With focus, decline the invitation to get involved with the thought. With practice the process is identified earlier and earlier, (that is the identification with the thought). Repeat the mantra ‘not this thought please” Do not give any energy to the thoughts. They will gradually fade away. Eventually awareness only prevails and is spontaneous and of a non dualistic nature.
In a good book of meditation by Samdhong Rinpoche he said certain conditions are absolutely necessary for a beginner to establish a good meditation practice. For instance a suitable place to live in that must be calm and peaceful where the person can sit without fear of intrusion, or mental stress for fear any kind is not conducive to good meditation. Ones life should be clean, physically and especially morally. Contentment in living a simple life and subduing desires for luxury should be abandoned. We must stop thinking about getting better and getting more and more material goods because all these thoughts disturb and distract the mind. In order to curb and quieten the mind we should give attention to our daily routine. This means rising, eating, sleeping etc and following a strict timetable. Simple food in moderation is recommended. Livelihood should never be involved with immoral earnings. A person living a busy life rushing from here to there will find it difficult to prepare for meditation.
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