Great Mystery

 

Wakan Tanka, Great Mystery

 

teach me how to trust my heart, my mind, my intuition,

 

my inner knowing, the senses of my body, the blessings of my spirit.

this delusional state

Once in our yoga seminar one of the students asked Rajo, my first teacher, about something that had happened to her the evening before in her room. She said that she was just looking at the wall when suddenly it started to move and she asked what was the reason for that, and if it was something to be alarmed about. He replied that she had in that moment had a glimpse of reality because actually nothing is as fixed as it appears in our perception. After the couple of days in the yoga seminar breathing deeply and doing the exercises that bring us into a more tranquil state she was able to relax the programming of the psycho-somatic system and was able to see through the projected version of reality to the actuality. 

unthought thought

Artist: Donald Zolan - The Thinker

I have a meditation coloring book of my own creation. In it I usually draw some few words that are significant for my morning meditation on each day. About six weeks ago I had the three words "no thought thought" which were a connection for me to a sense of the mind in abeyance. It was the feeling of being poised on the verge of a thought but with a fine restraint so that the mind energy did not form into an actual thought.

life without cause

There is really no way to express the sense of relief and of total relaxation that arises with the realization that all of life, all of existence is without cause. All anxiety and trepidation are based in the false perception that there is a primal cause to existence and to our life, your life, my life.

falling in love ~

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I fell in love with myself

“We do not believe in ourselves

until someone reveals that deep inside us something is valuable,

worth listening to, worthy of our trust, sacred to our touch.

Once we believe in ourselves we can risk

curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight

or any experience that reveals the human spirit.”

~ e.e. cummings

I started a couple of days ago with the practice of affectionate perception in every situation I was in. I felt that I was not only blessing every person I met with the energy of affection but every situation and every movement I made.

The quality of this perception is the energy of complete acceptance , combined with an attitude of warmth and approval. Not approval as in a sense of denial of some movement or behavior that I recognize as disruptive or destructive but simply seeing it as “what is” and “approving of” the fact that existence is showing itself “like this right now.” In other words, I have no resistance to or judgment of what is observed. I have a sense of melding with what I observe. It is observation -- becoming one with -- what is observed and there is an embracing of it, like a mother holding a child close to her bosom. It is an owning of all I encounter as “me.” And thus there is no disapproval: “This is not as it should be, not what I want.”

Affectionate perception is always in the now moment, because it is based in the direct perception of what is happening. There is a focus of observation that excludes thoughts of anything that is not here, now. This observation sharpens as I begin to sense a strong interest in what I perceive. It is as if I am using this energy as my light beam, like a flashlight in a dark room revealing what is in the space. Affectionate perception reveals to me the world in a never-before-seen way.

Affectionate perception originates in me. I understand there is an energy called “love” that I am the source of. Affectionate perception is a way of looking upon anything with love. Consciously looking at the world with this love affects the world as I look upon it. Affectionate perception perseveres in beaming affection, acceptance, compassion and caring, even in the face of a world that appears to be unreceptive or unresponsive to this form of love energy.

It is deeply empowering to be active in this way, as I am exercising my innate ability to choose willfully how I want to interface with manifested, physical reality. The focused attention that goes hand in hand with affectionate perception gives me the feedback that I am affecting my world directly. I see people’s faces soften, their eyes twinkle and their voices and actions mellow. Of course, I also take in the perception of those who are in such suffering or discomfort that they seemingly are not receptive of this energy from me. Then, compassion lights up in me and my heart opens even more, sending to them what I can to soothe their hurt.

This understanding led to yesterday’s experience of the pure energy of observation.

When observation is free of prejudice, preference or value judgments of any kind, then its quality is as a beam of light of pure awareness. It is as if awareness is closing the circuit of energy flow between the expressions of consciousness as Source-in-form and itself as the observer. Then the two merge and meld. The observer is no longer separate from the observed. This happens spontaneously, as one focuses on pure observation, pure direct perception. Here, too, there is no space for thoughts of yesterday or tomorrow. No space for regrets or hopes. All energy is focused in this present moment, in this place here. This focus is not concentration or effort but rather like a child fascinated by a bug crawling in the grass. The child enters into the bug’s world, in which blades of grass are tall trees. Due to his interest in taking in the newness and freshness of the bug’s world, the child’s attention is naturally drawn there. And so, I am enthralled with the freshness and aliveness I perceive; this experience is me as the experience of the world. Yet, I am the subject, together with all around me and I set the tone, the frequency: all is good; all is life; all is caring; all is love.

Today my focus is drawn to my closest world – me. I am pulled into (willingly) the world of my 70 Trillion cells I call “me.” I feel the weight of each foot on the ground, of my limbs as I move about, of my thoughts and images, of each breath. Then something wonderful happens: I am good. I am more than good; I am amazing, magnificent and that feeling includes every little ache and pain, every discomfort I sense, as I begin to move after the night’s rest. I am in love with myself! Yes, this is the basic taboo, the spell we succumb to at some point during childhood: you should not – you dare not – love yourself. That is bad!

What a joy to unreservedly and uninhibitedly fall in love with myself, with all I am, physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. To meld with my own beingness and finally enjoy my self! With this experience of my closest world as something exquisitely delightful, I move and connect with – merge with – other spheres of this one being in the correct frequency. Now, all makes sense and there is a supreme order to everything, which has its foundation in me. I have discovered the order, the falling-into-place of heretofore disjointed elements of myself. Now I am whole, not through any action or change of behavior but through right seeing of what is and has always been. I was merely blinded by the error in my own self-perception. By giving my whole attention to this distortion of “seeing,” it is released and seeing is clear once again. And the clearing of seeing, through pure observation, is a way of life that calls for perpetual diligence. Some call it meditation. Some call it bliss. Some call it Oneness. Some call it Love.

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inter-being - honor all my relations

Original post

Our Interconnectedness with All that Is

"Mitakuye Oyasin refers not just to the interconnectedness of all that exists – plant, animal, mineral – but also includes the elements such as rain, wind, and lightening. Honoring all phenomena in this way allows us to appreciate not just the sky, nature, and living beings, but the rhythms and cycles of the natural world. We can  tap into the Lakota Sioux concept of “Mitakuye Oyasin,” or “all my relations,” and appreciate the fact that everything is connected to everything else, making all that is truly one family.
From the origins of the universe, to the evolution of life on earth, we can celebrate our shared origins."

no sin, no guilt, no retribution

"In the end you know

that there is no sin, no guilt, no retribution,

only life in its endless transformations.

With the dissolution of the personal 'I',

personal suffering disappears.

What remains is the great sadness of compassion,

the horror of the unnecessary pain."

~ Nisargadatta

I like the simile of the simple light bulb. Of course, keep in mind that a light bulb is not actually all that simple and it is the result of complex thought by many over considerable time. Being mindful of what it took in the development of humanity on this planet to have all of the materials for a light bulb available and then to have the understanding of how it could function in order to produce light, it is quite remarkable and wonderful.

The simile I use is to see the light bulb as an inanimate object that 'comes alive' when the electrical current flows through it. The older ones I grew up with are the incandescent bulbs that give off light because a fine wire filament creates resistance to the flow of electrical energy and thus heats up and glows brightly. Similarly, our body-mind-spirit complexes that are based in the physical body, experience Source energy flowing through them and thus they come alive and 'light up'. Seen in this context our lives actually consist of Source energy flowing through inert objects that create resistance to this flow and thus appear to 'come alive', to move, speak, think and, to some degree or the other, 'light up'.

We, as Source energy, are enthralled and fascinated by these 'objects' of our own creation that now appear to be 'alive', like children at Christmas playing with the remote control of a new battery-run dump-truck or locomotive. We actually lose track of the fact that we are actually the energy flow Itself, and not the object that is moved by It. We feel ourselves as the objects, the body-mind-spirit complexes. Wow, amazing! To feel ourselves as actually being the creations of our own 'hands'. Like the artist who, through magic, slips into the painting and lives in the paint-world portrayed on the canvas.

Now, back to the light bulb: at some point the fine wire filament has been heating up and glowing for many, many hours and it becomes brittle. One more burst of energy comes through and "ping"! it snaps, no longer able to sustain the flow of the current. We say then that "the person has died".  The current (Source energy) doesn't mind at all. As soon as the cosmic janitor comes and screws in another fresh, young light bulb, It begins to flow again and the bulb comes alive - the baby's heart beats and then it breathes, talks, thinks and loves.

Now we come to the most fascinating part: the Source energy carries in It all impressions of all "lives" lived by all forms that It has animated throughout all of "time". Each new form that takes on "life" has the capacity to consciously connect with any or all of these impressions. It is a vast data bank that every aspect of Source energy has access to. Which data I connect with depends on my individual propensities and depends on how far I have developed my ability to be sensitive enough to receive the subtle transmissions from the Great Server in the Sky. When this perspective dawns in a person, we say that person has transcended the personal 'I', and personal suffering disappears. It then becomes painfully clear that all suffering is due, simply, to a fatal error in perception of what is real, and what is just a form that is a vehicle for that which is real.

Now all of this is not a linear process and each of 'us' has a highly individual configuration of our body-mind-spirit complex, and that is to be taken literally: it is "complex"! Therefore, I, as one of the cosmic "workstations", will be supported in my functioning by some memories of another 'life', and may very well have the sense that I am connecting with "my past life". Indeed, I am, but the question remains, "who am I"? and thus, what is "mine"? Realizing that I am actually Source appearing in a multiplicity of forms, yes, indeed, all lives are "mine". Of significance is that I relate to the lessons such a memory can impart to me and live that lesson so that I may function more smoothly and thus experience more joy.

It is also my experience that the non-linearity of this process expresses itself as "me" being in a state of consciousness that has transcended the personal "I" to a high degree for quite a while, and then, moments later, I find myself again in a state of consciousness that is characterized by the sense of limitation and suffering as a personal "I". If I can follow the advice of the ancient wisdom texts and, as Matt Kahn says, "Whatever arises, love that", suffering dissipates and I once again find myself as Source consciousness experiencing life in its "endless transformations", and am able to gratefully join in the dance of Life. See you There!

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mind in love

'With a few flowers in my garden, half a dozen pictures and some books, I live without envy.' ~ Lope de Vega :: Art by Bonnie Joy Bardos

A mind that is in Love is a smiling mind; it is happy and feels buoyant, cheerful and playful. When in Love, the quality of its seeing is full of affection for everything in its field of perception. The cloak of heavy, dark or broken thoughts is dissipated.


Like the sun burning off the fog, Love clears all congested feelings and thoughts. Where does this Love come from when I am not feeling It right at this moment in my life? It comes from nowhere, which is a good thing because that shows me that It isn’t dependent on any circumstance or condition. If there were a formula that would always work, It would be limited. However, It is unlimited and a mystery, therefore whatever I do is not enough, and yet it may be enough. Grace means a blessing that comes from nowhere. All I can do is be ready and open at all times. I can refrain from that which closes me down. Easier said then done, but that is the practice for me.

“It comes out of me” is one way of putting it. That means It is always available since I am always here. It is a force that I feel when I put my attention on It. How does it happen that I all of the sudden put my attention on It? I think that is because It wants me to look at It, so It can see, can feel Itself.

I must be ready to drop everything, all past impression and thoughts and feelings at any moment. That it the practice: ending. Good luck!

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breathing and freedom

"If you are concentrated on your breathing you will forget yourself, and if you forget yourself you will be concentrated on your breathing. I do not know which is first."

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Shunryu Suzuki

Our respiratory system is part of the involuntary nervous system and also of the voluntary nervous system. Therefore by breathing consciously with awareness we also affect our complete nervous system in a beneficial way. If our awareness is on our breathing there is no place for anything else and thus we experience relief from the hamster cage of our monkey mind.
This is how Shunryu Suzuki speaks of it:

“If you seek for freedom, you cannot find it. Absolute freedom itself is necessary before you can acquire absolute freedom. That is our practice. Our way is not always to go in one direction. Sometimes we go east; sometimes we go west. To go one mile to the west means to go back one mile to the east. Usually if you go one mile to the east it is the opposite of going one mile to the west. But if it is possible to go one mile to the east, that means it is possible to go one mile to the west. This is freedom. Without this freedom you cannot be concentrated on what you do. You may think you are concentrated on something, but before you obtain this freedom, you will have some uneasiness in what you are doing. Because you are bound by some idea of going east or west, your activity is in dichotomy or duality. As long as you are caught by duality you cannot attain absolute freedom, and you cannot concentrate.

Concentration is not to try hard to watch something. In zazen if you try to look at one spot you will be tired in about five minutes. This is not concentration. Concentration means freedom. So your effort should be directed at nothing. You should be concentrated on nothing. In zazen practice we say your mind should be concentrated on your breathing, but the way to keep your mind on your breathing is to forget all about yourself and just to sit and feel your breathing. If you are concentrated on your breathing you will forget yourself, and if you forget yourself you will be concentrated on your breathing. I do not know which is first. So actually there is no need to try too hard to be concentrated on your breathing. Just do as much as you can. If you continue this practice, eventually you will experience the true existence which comes from emptiness.”
Source: Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginners Mind, p. 112, 113

I like how Shunryu gives us a taste of the playfulness of Zen that may not often be sensed in most of the basic classic Zen texts. "Just do as much as you can." This expresses the Zen attitude that each of us must find our own true way. It cannot be found in any teaching of book. Enjoy!

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soul breathing

Not only is our breath where the voluntary and the involuntary nervous system intersect, but also more deeply there is a connection to our soul. The flow of the breath is more than merely the physical intake of oxygen with the air – vital energy, qi or prana flows through our energy system in rhythm with the breath. This flow of prana increases in a direct ratio to the intensity of our awareness while breathing. When we visualize and begin to ‘feel’ the qi-flow in rhythm with our breath, qi fills our energy field increasingly.


Similarly the place from with the flow originates cannot be grasped by the physical senses or the mind: it is a mystery. WE inhale, pause, exhale and pause. Each active phase of the breath-flow is preceded by a lack of activity, or emptiness. We can say that the in-breath comes from emptiness and flows into emptiness, and the same for the out-breath. This emptiness in the pause between each active phase of the breath is the Unknown. Herein we find the soul connection.

I don’t know what the soul is. Many say that the soul is our individual stream of consciousness that has continuity beyond the physical death and that this “soul” merges, so to speak, with a new physical body at each re-birth. I am aware of the power of our concepts to create reality and thus I do not discount those experiences of re-birth of a ‘soul’ throughout repeated incarnations. I am also aware of the stasis of the ground of Being that is free of participation in incarnations and yet is connected to all physical experiences while at the same time being absolutely unattached. This Ground is of a dimension beyond being and non-being and yet is not different from both of these. Thus it is called Mystery within Mystery.

Nonetheless I do experience a soul connection when breathing mindfully. For me this soul connection has the quality of opening myself up to the influx of the vast spaciousness of the Mysterioso, as a friend of mine is fond of calling It. Thus, “soul-breathing” entails putting my attention on the felt connection to the Unknown, the Mysterioso, and the unlimited vastness that accompanies that quality from which all existence is sourced. Others may say that this is the direct connection with Source or with our own Heart. Whatever words are used, the essence for me is spaciousness. Perhaps most suffering in human life comes from a lack of spaciousness, a kind of congestion on a very deep soul level. If we are able to breathe from our soul, from this place of Mystery, then everything around us opens up, even when in the midst of seeming turbulence and conflict.

The practice is then to put all of my attention, all of my mind-body-spirit on the breath and to accompany the entire flow of the in-breath from beginning to end with my complete attention. In this way there is no place for anything else in my mind. Then I remain with my full attention on the breath while in the space of emptiness between the in-breath and the out-breath. I then am merged with the flow of the out-breath from beginning to end, keeping my attention alive more and more deeply and intensely. With this increased intensity of awareness I experience the pause and the space between the out-breath and the beginning of the next in-breath.

If I am able to keep my attention on the breath for five whole cycles, or the count of the fingers on one hand (touching each finger with the thumb to keep track), I will have consciously opened up to the influx of the soul into my energy field and a deeply restorative spaciousness will permeate my perception. I will begin to feel how the breath has a life of its own and it is not ‘I’ who is breathing, but I am being ‘breathed’. I begin to simply release more and more tension and so I allow the body, the rib-cage, the diaphragm etc. to open and make space for the breath to fill me. Then I release again and allow the physical structure of my body to ‘collapse’ and contract naturally and effortlessly more and more, releasing the flow of the breath until completely emptying itself again. In this space after the out-breath there may appear a longer phase of ‘no-breath’ and of effortlessness. Just watch for it and be happy when that happens. If it does, allow this space to expand as long as it feels comfortable. Enjoy, for that is the space where you sit uninterrupted alone in the company of your soul!

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related post: freedom and concentration - zen

stop the sound - zen

"step by step

I stop the sound

of the murmuring brook."

 

Shunryu Suzuki

How can I stop the sound of the tumultuous river we are now immersed in and find Peace, if I cannot stop the sound of the murmuring brook of my own thoughts? Peace is the key to freedom. 

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In my experience I don't so much "stop" my thoughts as that I step out of the stream of conditioned consciousness, of the dualistic perspective as me and objects that surround me. Stepping out of this "murmuring brook" I simply release my interest in any thoughts and where they might lead me. Any "problems" to solve are left for later, and soon I find myself in a space of peace. This space is always available and it is for me always a new experience to find myself in it. I do know that I am never in that space when there is much tension built up in my mind-body-spirit complex, so to relax is always good.

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We say, “Step by step I stop the sound of the murmuring brook.” When you walk along the brook you will hear the water running. The sound is continuous, but you must be able to stop it if you want to stop it. This is freedom; this is renunciation. One after another you will have various thoughts in your mind, but if you want to stop your thinking you can. So when you are able to stop the sound of the murmuring brook, you will appreciate the feeling of your work. But as long as you have some fixed idea or are caught by some habitual way of doing things, you cannot appreciate things in their true sense.

source: Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginners Mind, p. 112

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fifteen minutes of 24 hours – Anandamayi Ma

"God gives us 24 hours a day, can't we give Him fifteen minutes of quiet meditation ?"

Sri Anandamayi Ma

Anandamayi Ma – excerpt from the biography by Richard Lannoy

“Throughout Indian history, this pattern of instruction ensured the transmission of knowledge from one generation to the next. In the case of Anandamayi who did not herself have a Guru, but was self-initiated, the traditional model of the teacher and the taught has, in certain respects, taken on new life, but in other equally important respects she radically departed from tradition.

“Her role as a revered Brahmin divine was by no means orthodox since this was a departure from the traditional status parameters of the married woman; further, for some 50 years as a widow and thus a member of the lowliest rank of Indian society, she was at the same time one of the most sought after of all spiritual teachers.
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“In the case of Anandamayi, it has become obvious, indeed widely known, that we are dealing with a level of spiritual genius of very great rank; her manifestation is extraordinarily rich and diverse.

“She lived for 86 years, had an enormous following, founded 30 ashrams, and travelled incessantly the length and breadth of the land. People of all classes, castes, creeds and nationalities flocked to her; the great and the good sought her counsel; the doctrine which she expounded came as near to being completely universal as is attainable by a single individual.

“Though she lived for the good of all, she had no motive of self-sacrifice in the Christian sense: "there are no others," she would say, "there is only the One". She came of extremely humble rural origins, though from a family respected over generations for its spiritual attainments.

“In the course of time she would converse with the highest in the land, but draw no distinction between the status of rich and poor, or the caste and sectarian affiliations of all who visited her. She personified the warmth and the wide toleration of the Indian spiritual sensibility at its freshest and most accessible.

“The fact that she was a woman certainly accentuates the distinctive features of her manifestation. Female sages as distinct from saints capable of holding sustained discourse with the learned are almost unheard of in India. Her femininity certainly imparts to the heritage of Indian and global spirituality certain qualities of flexibility and common sense, lyricism and humour not often associated with its loftiest heights.

“Her quicksilver temperament and abundant lila sacred play are in stark contrast with the serenity of that peerless exemplar of Advaita Vedanta, Sri Ramana Maharshi of Tiruvannamalai, the quintessence of austere stillness. That a woman of such distinction and wide-ranging activity should emerge in India in the 20^th century, the century of world-wide feminism and reappraisal of feminine phenomenology hardly seems a coincidence

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“I believe Anandamayi has added a whole new spiritual dimension to the re-awakening awareness of women to their own inheritance. As an exemplary figure, she emanates a feeling of complete ease, warmth and secure confidence in her femininity.

“Anne Bancroft, in her line study of modern women mystics, Weavers of Wisdom, quotes this moving statement by an English woman: "I felt she loved me so utterly that I could never be the same again. Although I only saw her a few times, I have never lost that feeling and her presence is always with me. She was a person who had a vision of life and reality which she could transmit in such a way that, since seeing her, I have always known that there is harmony and purpose in the universe."

“In the wisdom and profundity of Anandamayi's discourse we recognize the true voice of the sage. But she was more than just a wise person, although when it comes to defining exactly what this special extra dimension to wisdom and spiritual goodness was, adequate words are hard to find. She was, I believe, just about as near perfect a human simulacrum of the divine as we are ever likely to encounter on this planet. I chose the word 'simulacrum' with care for the simple reason that I do not know what a divine human being really is. I am agnostic to this degree, whereas the majority of her followers are devotees, bhaktas, and for them she is, without qualification, truly a Divine Being.”

Source: Richard Lannoy, Anandamayi, Her Life and Wisdom, p. 7, 8

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Who Is Anandamayi Ma?

Anandamayi Ma was a 20th-century avatar: a direct emanation of wisdom, born totally awake. By her own testimony, Ma manifested in response to the prayers of sentient beings for a female incarnation of the divine. While accounts of her extraordinary lila, or enlightened activities, are legion, she lived her life as a householder in unusually close contact with her devotees, advising them about all aspects of life, laughing with them, comforting them, singing and simply allowing all those who came to find refuge in her presence. Her guiding presence is still available to anyone who wishes to seek it out. Although Ma had little formal education, she directly embodied enlightened wisdom to such a degree, she was able to convey the subtlest teachings to tens of thousands of followers from all walks of life. Her teachings are precise, playful, gutsy, down-to-earth, inspiring and deeply moving. Jaya Ma!

source

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perfect resignation - a portal

Perfect resignation

“Losing hope is losing all indeed. … Perfect resignation gives the deepest joy of all. Accept it as your sole resource.” Verse 21, Matri Vani I Anandamayee Ma

What a strange path I am on. Yes, my first awakening was catalyzed by LSD. That chemical took over my nervous system. About 30 minutes after ingestion I said to myself (with a terrible sinking feeling in my stomach) “I really did it this time. I have lost my mind.” Nothing in my surroundings looked like it did before. All was one undulating and pulsating scintillating sea of energy that was moving like one immense being.

“I” was not - and it surprised me that any memory of “Tom” had at all survived this death of the ego personality. At one point I took out my billfold with my ID, money etc. and my key ring and flung them far into the surrounding bushes, saying to myself “Why do I need these?” Luckily my buddies retrieved them and returned them to me the next day. I recognize now the surrender to the effect of the chemical that I had ‘forced’ upon myself. Once ingested, there is no turning back and whatever the chemical does I had to accept.


Decades followed in which I endeavored to understand “what” had happened so that I could find my way back to that beatific state of being merged with the primordial sea of energy in manifestation, the one being that all this reality is. Many time I experienced bursts of clarity that gave me insights, confirming the fact of this being one interconnected living and intelligent whole. Often I experienced viscerally this unicity and inter-being, as Thich Nhat Hanh terms it. Nonetheless the sphere of my explorations was predominantly the mental sphere in which my mind relentlessly strove to ‘put together all the pieces’ of Humpty Dumpty, who had obviously been fragmented beyond repair long, long ago.

Extended episodes of surrender to the ‘Unknowing’ also occurred and these have always been like a bath in a clear pool, cooling my mind and refreshing my soul. One such phase of my life was connected to my stay in India during which I was blessed to have met two living sages who had realized the Eternal Presence. One of these was Yogi Ramsurat Kumar who lived at that time in Tiruvannamalai where I stayed for a few weeks and thus I was able to see him daily in a small circle of local people who met with him on his front porch. The direct transmission of his energy infused me to the bone and is present in me to this day, 30 years later. This was combined with the impact of staying in Tiruvannamalai at the ashram of Sri Ramana Maharshi, the modern sage who died in 1950, the year of my birth and whose spirit still infuses every stone of each building, the trees and the devotees living there. 

The second sage was a woman who sat in silence in a house not far from the ashram. I was invited to come and sit in her presence and once there, I felt the deep peace and solace she radiated to all who were open to it. I felt that I could have remained there forever, but something moved me to return to the West as there was still much for me to clear in order to be in that state myself which has always been my intent and not be dependent on another.

During my time in India I opened to the energy of bhakti (devotion), which for me felt like opening to the emotional field of spirituality and allowing my heart to be infused with the connection to the divine force. I took on the practice of puja, of worship, and went to many of the powerful Siva temples of Southern India, together with my teacher’s nephew, Rajeesh, who introduced me to the various rituals. After our travels together through Southern India we returned to his hometown of Madras (now Chennai) where I was staying with his family. 

A priestess of the Hindu deity ‘Green Mother” – Paciaa Amma, was a friend of the family and one day she initiated me to the Green Mother. She gave me a mantra and a green precious stone as connection to the Mother. At the initiation ceremony she acted as my proxy and she had a bout of retching, which I felt as her cleansing me of my impurities. I was deeply humiliated, but only because in that moment I recognized the arrogance that I had assumed over the years.

These various elements of my time in India combined to infuse me with a new understanding of what devotion actually means. I had been brought up in a large American Roman Catholic family and all religious rituals had taken on a bad taste for me. As the modern day saint Anandamayee Ma says: "Worship is not a ritual: it is an attitude; it is an experience." She adds that the attitude required to become aware of the Self is "desperate eagerness". The India experience allowed me to enter into a new, more personal relationship with the Divine. During my return voyage from India I had a striking experience that lasted several days in which I perceived everything around me, the walls, the floors, the ground, the trees and the sky as the Heart. I felt I was “inside the Heart”.

Upon my return to Germany, where I then lived, I began to experience the one being as the sacred in all of life, in every aspect of manifestation, and it was intensely personal. My practice was to speak the mantra of the Green Mother many times each day and to re-kindle the light of the fire of devotion I had been infused with in India. I set aside regular times for yoga and devotion daily. Decades more passed since then and, although Truth was always alive in me and known to me as the unquenchable inner Effulgence, it was as coals that glow under a bed of ash.

This is the background upon which this statement by Anandamayee Ma, comes into my life: “Losing hope is losing all indeed. … Perfect resignation gives the deepest joy of all. Accept it as your sole resource.” Her term 'perfect resignation' points to a resignation that has nothing to do with passivity or despondence. It is an attitude of the ego surrendering in the face of something so immense and powerful. I feel her spirit calling me to once again to open my heart to its burning desire for Eternal Presence. The insights into eternal Truth now must come alive with the fire from the heart that is aflame with the hunger for the Beloved. The passion that burns so deep is for the return to the state of naked awareness free of all speech and images. It is the wild Nature of raw and pure beingness that is raising its proud head - untamed through the eons of evolution that seemed to have numbed us to our original Self. Its roar silences all of the voices of the human person. Its burning flame of pure Seeing consumes all thought, all names. Its form is the form of eternal Flux.

No thing survives its force as the ultimate Destroyer, grinding apart every creation into disintegration. There is no tolerance for attachment of any kind. All hope that phenomena in this world could fulfill any desire is crushed. Indeed, the sage’s words point the way: accept perfect resignation as your sole resource! This deep resignation leaves me naked in all of my knowledge. The only substance is There, not here in the dusty world. This mystery of There means to leap free of the seduction of this shadow world. This leap requires all of my mind-body-spirit tensed and ready to explode – and then… Explode from the center! Give no thought to consequences and reputation. Burst the bonds of the controlled mind asunder with ultimate surrender to that which is There!

Question:

“What is the means of entering the tide?”

Anandamayee Ma:

“To ask this question with desperate eagerness.

If you say you have no faith, this body insists that you should try to establish yourself in the conviction that you have no faith. Where 'no' faith is, 'yes' is potentially there as well.
Worship is not a ritual: it is an attitude; it is an experience.”

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Related post: the incredible Hulk and spirituality

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the incredible Hulk and spirituality

The thought of God, of that which is beyond, is the activity of the mind that awakens the desire to know what I really am.

That desire is akin to a surge of energy felt within that can spark the leap beyond the mind. The desire to know what I really am means the visceral urge to BE THAT, and has nothing to do with the intellect. It is an inner dynamic similar to the transformation of the Marvel Comics character Bruce Banner into the comic book hero Hulk. The angrier Hulk gets, the stronger he gets, and his capacity for physical strength is potentially limitless due to the fact that the Hulk's strength increases proportionally with his level of great emotional stress. In difference to Hulk, the emotional charge of one with this urge to BE the undying SELF has a limitless potential for deeper and deeper inner connection with our true primordial nature - what we are prior to the projection of the phenomenal world by the mind.

In this dynamic all levels of my being - physical, emotional, mental and spiritual, are triggered to drop their inhibiting patterns and open in an instant to the Immensity and Imponderable that I Am. In each moment it is a renewed shaking off of habit energy that clouds and entangles my spirit, so that naked awareness can flood my perception. I open the flood-gates in that surrender, not knowing what will result. I am resigned to the inevitability of merging with the Infinite even as my finite being screams: “Danger!” But to no avail, because all else is now clearly a shadow life in a shadow world. At this point there is no choice: disillusionment is complete. Ram! Ram! Ram! The cry to Eternal Presence to take me, I am Yours!

“But man‘s special duty, which is the thought of God, the activity of the mind that awakens the desire to know what you really are, on this you should concentrate; and it is most important to make a special effort in this direction. … If circumstances will not permit any other exercise, let it be only the remembrance of Him — the purpose of it all being the realization of the One Who is manifested in all forms and in all modes of being.”

“That in which there is no question of form or formlessness, of beyond form and attributes, of transcending even the beyond--—that alone is worthy of human aspiration.”

…
“Only actions that kindle man‘s divine nature are worthy of the name of action, all the rest are non-actions - a waste of energy. Any line of behavior that fails to quicken the divine in man should be eschewed, no matter how enticing it might-appear; but any that helps to awaken man‘s inherent divinity must be resolutely adopted even though it be seemingly uninviting. Man‘s calling is to aspire to the realization of Truth, to tread the excellent path that leads to immortality. What appears delightful to the senses later develops into a hotbed of poison, generating inner turmoil and disaster, for it belongs to the realm of death.”

Annandamayee Ma, Matrivani Verses 22, 24,

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Inter-Species Relations — The Desert Project

My Comments:

Our Elder Brothers, the Sasquatch, and others who are watching over the present leap in Humanity's evolution, are asking us to open up to the inter-connectedness of all life. They even say all that is manifest is  an expression of the one Consciousness. My wife, Alia, wrote down a delightful and enlightening vision she received some years ago. Enjoy her portrayal of our potential here on our Home Planet!

link to original post

link to the first part of Aurora - The City Of Light

Alia's Comments:

I have posted this before, as part of my series "Aurora -- City of Light," first shown to me in a vision in the spring of 2012 and "recorded" by me over the next six months or so.

Upon reading the Sasquatch material recently posted here, I remembered that I had addressed this topic of inter-species relations from a "post-disclosure" perspective. While reading the "Messages for Humanity" from the Sasquatch "Elder Brothers," I began to think that perhaps I was remembering a time in Earth's history when we lived in harmony with numerous species (both Earthly and Extra-terrestrial in origin) on our dear Mother Planet, Gaia.

In any case, I have come to understand that "time" is an illusion and "events" that may appear to roll out sequentially in 3D are actually playing out simultaneously in the rest of the dimensions, so it matters not whether these things occurred in our past or await us in the future. The important thing is that we begin to return balance, respect, acceptance of all our relations (regardless of appearance) and remember how to hold all beings as sacred and equal in the Greater Circle of Life.
That is the purpose of the Desert Project. Envision the possibility.

The Desert Project – Part I

I have grown to love the desert. In my last lifetime in the Old 3rd Dimension I had enjoyed looking at the desert scenery — driving past it or driving through it — but I did not quite resonate with the heat, the dryness or the animals who inhabited that environment to spend any length of time there. So I am one of those citizens for whom the “Desert Project” was created.

Our Environmental Planning Council (with input from Aurora’s Collective) chose to dedicate one fourth of our surrounding landscape (the entire southern quadrant) to remain as desert. As I explained earlier, we decided this for a number of reasons: to restore honor to desert environments and practice stewarding that which had gone unloved by so many; to cultivate new, equal and respectful relationships with desert animals, that we might interact and learn from one another; to cultivate an honoring relationship with the mineral kingdom, which we had considered “dead dirt and rock” in our previous life in 3D.

To promote our ability to accomplish these goals, we co-created “The Desert Project.” The project has many aspects and no one is required to participate. However, the Environmental Planning Council (EPC) actively encourages all citizens and visitors to come and experience desert life for any length of time that one chooses. Thus, one can get his/her “toe in the sand” on a day trip or spend a month or more in one of the many desert

retreats/sanctuaries learning, growing, communing with the plants, the minerals, the animals and the land. There are so many opportunities for participation in this project that I will confine my description to a recent experience I had when I spent a week (we refer to time loosely here) in one of the more stark and undeveloped areas of the Southern Desert.

Now WHY, you might ask, would I choose to go to the most desolate part of the Southern Desert for my first experience in the Desert Project? A valid question. It took me several moon cycles and much pondering to make this decision. I deliberately chose this point of entry for my participation with the Project in order to acquaint myself with the subtle landscapes and the smaller forms of life represented in the plant, animal, insect and reptile kingdoms. In this environment nothing grows very large. Nothing is very brightly colored. Sounds are quiet. Colors are quiet. Minds tend to become quiet in these surroundings. So one of the immediate advantages I saw was the opportunity to make a base camp at the amazing Desert Hermitage, take very few belongings, keep my food choices and preparation minimal and embark on a Fast/ Pray/Learn retreat of my own creation.

I arrived by hovercraft at the Hermitage just as dusk was settling over the desert. The mesas in the distance glowed garnet with a purplish glaze marking the border of the Southern Desert and Echadon. To the west the sky was putting on its nightly display of blazing colors as the  Great Helios lowered Himself closer and closer to the horizon over the Lemurian Sea. Although I could not see the sun or the ocean, I let my imagination take me for a moment back to Aurora and up to the Observation Deck. I sent a quick telepathic message to Alai (my consort in Aurora) letting him know I had reached my destination safely and wishing him a beautiful evening. His reply came back instantly that he was watching the sunset from the Observation Deck with some dear friends. They all wished me a beautiful and profound retreat.

The hovercraft left and I entered the room at the Hermitage that would be my home for the duration of my stay in the Southern Desert. I stowed my belongings and poured myself a tall glass of fruit and vegetable juice (dinner) found a lounge chair outside to relax in and watched the purple glaze deepen on the Mesa, as night descended and the stars and planets introduced themselves to me, individually and in groups. I made a few stellar “friends” that first evening. The lights of Aurora mask many of the stars. It is only when we leave the city and venture into the surrounding land that we receive the full impact of our galactic neighbors.  The moon rise over the Mesa dimmed the brilliance of the stars somewhat but brought its own enchantment to my evening. Suddenly, I realized that I had been serenaded for a while. The desert insects were making quite a chorus, joined by sporadic croaks, chirps and way in the distance a larger animal howled. I had been so spellbound by the stars and the moon; I hadn’t really opened my awareness to the sounds of the night. I sat and felt deeply this new and unfamiliar environment. I felt so welcomed by the desert. What a warm and friendly place, I found myself thinking. So different than I had imagined! My head bobbed and I realized I had fallen asleep. Time to take my body inside for the night. There would be so much to discover in the morning but my arrival was a rich experience of sensuous consumption.

There were only a couple of other guests staying at the Hermitage, so I was truly on retreat, in my own rhythm and following my impulses. During the days I enjoyed long leisurely walks through the low growing plants, taking note of the plentiful varieties of cacti, small flowering bushes and grasses of all kinds. The air was hot and arid; often well above 100 degrees Fahrenheit. I thought back to my desert experiences in 3D and how I used to suffer in the heat. Not anymore! In the higher dimensions we have the ability to control our body temperatures no matter what the external environment might be. So I traverse the desert on foot at a comfortable 75 – 80 degrees F. I do take plenty of water with me and some light food. However, after only a couple of “days” I have begun to become familiar with those plants that provide food and those that supply moisture (not water, exactly, but something that quenches thirst.) When I first discovered this, I was quite surprised to say the least. It happened as I walked calmly, meditatively, as has become my custom. As I approached a low shrub with pale blue flowers on it, the plant spoke to me. Even though I had heard that this might happen, I was still caught off guard. I stopped and looked at the plant. “Hello” I said silently. “Did you just address me?”

“Yes,” replied the plant. “I want to introduce myself and my fellows to you. We are a community of plants that love the dry, desert climate. We share resources – nutrients, water, light and soil. We are connected over long distances and communicate continually as one being, although you may see us as individual plants or groups of plants. This is how we THRIVE in such harsh conditions. We share, we appreciate, we radiate our essence unconditionally. This is the key to our health and the continuance of our community. We have always known this; it was not learned by us. It is a knowing within us that by these means we maintain our glory and pristine nature. We are happy that you have stopped by to meet and learn with us. We have so much to share with you and we know that you have much to gift to us in return. There is always a balance, you understand. Nothing goes only one way.”

“Wow!” I thought. That was a lot to receive from a plant. Well, I came here to learn, to grow, to expand my understanding of life in other forms than my human one. So how could I best use this opportunity, I wondered? “What would you like me to know?” I asked. “I came here to expand my understanding of all life forms. What is your gift, your contribution to the Whole?”

“We are happy you have asked that question, as it allows us to share many things with you. First, we are very blessed by this interaction with a human, for you have a consciousness that travels cosmic distances and therefore, our interaction will be transmitted to destinations beyond what our community is ordinarily capable of. For this we are extremely grateful. Through the human consciousness, our consciousness is amplified and extended to places we might not venture, if such an interaction did not take place. But let us answer your question about our gift, our contribution to Oneness.  One of our gifts is to provide food for desert animals. Our flowers are edible for small reptiles and mammals. The pollinators are attracted to our nectar and carry away our pollen to other members of our community. You may eat us, you see. Our pollen is quite a substantial food, even for humans. We are beautiful, fragrant and edible. That in itself is a wonderful contribution, is it not?”

I found myself smiling broadly and noted that I did not think I could ever eat a plant that had spoken to me. I had seen the thousands of bees, butterflies and other winged insects hovering, landing and sipping from these flowering shrubs as I walked between them on my daily treks. I hadn’t realized how valuable they were, to what extent they provided a base of nourishment for so many beings.

“We see that you have absorbed the understanding of our purpose, our gift to Life,” remarked the bush. “We cannot ask for more than that, as this understanding is now a part of the human collective and thus will be broadcast throughout all eternity, as that is what the humans do – you broadcast your understanding, however great or small – unconditionally, omni-directionally, forever.”

“Thank you for speaking with me,” I responded. “I feel blessed to carry this understanding and broadcast it near and far. I am grateful to meet you and learn with you. You have given me much to integrate. I will take your leave for now, although I see you are everywhere. You are One being, no matter how far I walk or how sparse the vegetation becomes. I understand your connection as One. I also see your generosity, as you provide food for so many here. There is great abundance in a place that at first glance appears desolate but is actually teeming with vitality. I wish you Good Life.”

“Good Life to you also,” the plant replied. “We give you a parting gift. In this part of the desert, there is a plant that grows close to the ground like a vine. It spreads out in all directions. It is a succulent with small, flat, round nodules. These nodules contain a liquid that refreshes physical bodies and balances the moisture in the cells. It is not water, as you know it, but it will re-hydrate the tissues of your body. Look for these plants as you cross the land. Ask permission before you take from the plant. It will joyfully give you its liquid; that is its purpose. You may notice other animals making use of this plant, biting on its foliage. The animals return their droppings to the ground, nourishing the plants in return. There is always an exchange. As we said before, the gift of the human is the broadcasting of their understanding. That is a great gift and we are so very grateful when this exchange takes place.”

I bowed and thanked the community. The Mesa beckoned in the distance. Tonight I would sleep under the stars in the mineral kingdom of the red rocks.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.  Copyright ©2012,2013 Susan Alia Chandler, All rights reserved. Creative Commons License by which author and publishers grant permission to copy, distribute and transmit this particular work under the conditions that use be non-commercial, that the work be used in its entirety, not added to, nor subtracted from, and that it carry author’s name and this full copyright notice.For other uses, Permissions: aliachandler48@gmail.com

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