Ageless Wisdom: The sum total of the Teachings given by great Spiritual Teachers throughout time. Also referred to as the Ancient Wisdom, the Teaching, the Ancient Teaching.
Akashic Records: Existing in the Higher Cosmic Ethers, the Akashic Records are living records of all experiences and activities that have ocurred in the past, present, and future of this planet and everything in it.
Angelic Kingdom: Refers to beings following different line of evolution than the human family.
Antahkarana: The path, or bridge, between the higher and lower mind, serving as a medium of communication between the two. It is built by the aspirant himself. It is threefold: the consciousness thread, anchored in the brain; the life thread, anchored in the heart; and the creative thread anchored in the throat. More commonly called the Rainbow Bridge.
Arhats: Ancient term designating Fourth Degree Initiates.
Aryan: Refers to the present period of the development of the human race. The Ageless Wisdom divides human development into seven sections, called Root Races. From ancient times to the present, They have been called: Polarian Race, Hyperborian Race, Lemurian Race, Atlantean Race, Aryan Race, Sixth Root Race, and Seventh Rooth Race. The latter two are the future states of human development. (For more information, see Psyche and Psychism by Torkom Saraydarian.)
Ashram: Sanskrit word. Refers to the gather of disciples and aspirants which the Master collects for instruction. There are seven major Ashrams, each corresponsing to one of the Rays, each forming groups or foci of energy.
Astral body: The vehicle composed of astral substance, that in which the emotional aspect of humanity expresses itself. Also known as the subtle body and the emotional body.
Astral plane: The sixth plane of the Cosmic Physical Plane, in which the emotional processes are carried on. Sometimes called the astral or emotional world. Also known as the Subtle World or the Astral Realm or the Emotional Realm.
Atlantis: (Atlantean Epoch). The continent that was submerged in the Atlantis Ocean, according to the occult teaching and Plato. Atlantis was the home of the Fourth Root Race, whom we now call the Atlanteans.
Aura: The sum-total of all emanations from all the vehicles of any living thing.
Black Lodge: See Dark Forces.
Chakra: Energy vortex found in each vehicle, relating to a particular part of the human body. There are seven primary chakras starting from the top of the head: (1) crown, (2) brow, (3) throat, (4) heart, (5) navel, (6) generative organs, (7) base of spine.
Chalice: See Lotus.
Clairaudience: The ability to hear beyond the audible range of vibrations, and also the power to hear astrally, mentally, and intuitively.
Clairvoyance: The ability to see beyond the visible range of vibrations, and also the power to see astrally, mentally, and intuitively.
Core: The essence or spark of God within each being; the Monad.
Cosmic Ethers: The highest four levels of the human constitution are called (from 4 to 1) the Intuitional Plane (Forth Cosmic Ether), the Atmic Plane (Third Cosmic Ether), the Monadic Plane (Second Cosmic Ether), and the Divine Plane (First Cosmic Ether).
Cosmic Heart: See Cosmic Magnet.
Cosmic Magnet: The invisible center of the Universe.
Cosmic Physical Plane: Refers to the totality of the seven subplanes of manifestation, from highest to lowest: Divine, Monadic, Atmic, Intuitive or Buddhic, Mental, Emotional or Astral, and Physical. Each with seven subdivisions, totaling 49 planes of manifestation.
Cosmic Self: That great Entity which pervades and sustains all things on all levels of existence.
Dark Forces: Conscious agents of evil or materialism operating through the elements of disunity, hate, and separativeness.
Deva: See Angelic Kingdom.
Disciple: A person who tries to discipline and master his threefold personality, and manifests efficiency in the field where he works and serves.
Divine Plan: See Plan.
Divine Self: See Monad.
Ectoplasm: The combined emanations of the lymph glands and the human aura. It functions as the communication line between the physical body and the subtle body.
Ego: The human soul identified with the lower vehicles (physical, emotional, and mental) and their false values.
Emotional Body: See also Emotional Plane.
Etheric Body: The counterpart of the dense physical body, pervading and sustaining it. Formed by matter of the four etheric subplanes. The blueprint on which the physical body is based.
Fiery World: Refers to the Mental Plane or above. See Higher Worlds.
Great Ones: Beings who have taken the Fifth Initiation or beyond.
Guardian Angel: See Solar Angel.
Hierarchy: The spiritual Hierarchy, whoso members have triumphed over matter and have comple control of the personality, or lower self. Its members are known as Masters of Wisdom Who are custodians of the Plan for humanity and al kingdoms evolving within the sphere of Earth. It is the Hierarchy that translates the Purpose of the Planetary Logos into a Plan for all kingdoms of the planet.
Higher Centers: Refers to the crown, brow, throat and heart centers or chakras, as well as to the centers in the higher bodies.
Higher Realms: See Higher Worlds.
Higher Self: Refers to the Solar Angel or Transpersonal Self. See also Self.
Higher Spheres: See Higher Worlds.
Higher Worlds: Those planes of existence that are of a finer vibration of matter than the physical plane. Generally refers to the higher mental plane and above.
Initiate: A person who has taken an initiation. See also Initiation.
Initiation: The result of the steady progress of a person toward his life’s goal, achieved through service and sacrifice, and manifested as an expansion of one’s consciousness. It represents a point of achievement marked by a level of enlightenment and awareness. There are total of nine Initiations that the developing human soul must experience in order to reach the Cosmic Heart.
Inner Guide: See Soul.
Inner Presence: The Solar Angel. See Soul.
Karma, Law of : The Law of Cause and Effect or attraction and repulsion. “As you sow, so shall you reap.”
Lemurian Epoch: A modern term first used by some naturalists and now adopted by Theosophists to indicate an era dealing with the period of the continent Lemuria, which preceded Atlantis. The Third Root Race.
Logos, Solar: The Core of the whole Solar System and all that exists in the Solar System. His purpose is to integrate, correlate and synchronize all Centers using His Light, Love, Power – like an electrical energy – to circulate within each atom through all Centers, thus revealing the Purpose for existence and challenging all forms to strive toward the highest form of cooperation.
Logos, Planetary: The Soul of the planet. The planet is His dense physical body to provide nourishment for all living forms.
Lotus: Also known as the Chalice. Found in the second and third mental plane (from the top). Formed by twelve different petals of energy: three love petals, three knowledge petals, three sacrifice petals. The innermost three petals remain folded over ages. They are the dynamic sources of these outer petals. The Lotus contains the essence of all of a person’s achievements, true knowledge, and service. It is the dwelling place of the Solar Angel.
Lower Psychism: The ability to perceive subtle aspects of existence with the aid of the lower centers in the human body. Mediums, channels, etc are considered lower psychics.
Lower self: The personality vehicles of the human soul. See also the self.
Masters: Individuals Who had the privilege to master their physical, emotional, mental, and Intuitional bodies.
Maya: A counterpart of illusions and glamors on the etheric plane. It results in the inability of the physical, emotional and mental bodies to respond clearly to incoming impressions.
Meditation: Techniques to penetrate the mind of the planet and develop creative abilities to manifest that mind in the life of humanity.
Mediumistic: A tendency of certain individuals to astral phenomena and its perception thereof. Mediumistic people can, without guidance, fall into various dangers and traps associated with the astral plane.
Mental Body: The vehicle composed of the substance of the mental plane in which humanity expresses itself through thought.
Mental Plane: There are seven planes through which a human being travels and which make up human consciousness. From the lowest level upward, they are called: Physical, Emotional or Astral, Mental, Intuitional or Buddhic, Atmic, Monadic, Divine. The Mental Plane itself is divided into seven levels. The first three from the bottom are numbers seven, six and five, which form the Lower Mental Plane. Number four is the middle mind or link. Numbers three, two, and one form the Higher Mental Plane.
Mental Unit: A mental mechanism in the 4th level of the mental plane which is formed of four kinds of forces, and relates man to the sources of these four sources through its four spirillae.
Monad: See Self.
Nirvana: The plane of consciousness known as the Atmic Plane.
Occultism: Term used to designate the Ageless Wisdom and its study. See Ageless Wisdom.
One Self: The universal Life Soul pervading all existence.
Permanent Atoms: Each body of a human being has one permanent atom which is the archetype for the construction and constitution of that vehicle.
Personality: Totality of physical, emotional, and mental bodies of man.
Petals: See Lotus.
Plan: The formulation of the Purpose of the Planetary Logos into a workable program – a Plan – by the Planetary Hierarchy for all kingdoms of nature.
Purpose: That which the Solar Logos is intended to achieve at the end of the evolution of the Solar System. The Plan is the formulation of this Purpose for our planet only.
Race: The Ageless Wisdom divides human development into seven sections, called Root Races. From ancient times to the present, they have been called: Polarian Race, Hyperborean Race, Lemurian Race, Atlantean Race, Aryan Race, Sixth Root Race, Seventh Root Race. The latter two are the future states of human development.
self: The small “s” self is the sumtotal of the physical, emotional, and mental bodies of man. Commonly called the ‘lower self’ or personality.
Self: The capital “S” Self is another term used to refer to the Core of the human being. The true Self is the developing, unfolding human soul who is trying to liberate himself, go back to his Father, and become his true Self.
Seven Fields of Human Endeavor: The expression of the Seven Rays in human evolution, each corresponding to a specific Ray. They are: Politics, Education and Psychology, Philosophy, Arts, Science, Religion, Economics and Finance.
Seven Rays: These are the seven primary Rays through which everything exists. They are pure energy, vibrating to a specific frequency and condensing from plane to plane, from manifestation to manifestation. The three primary Rays or Rays of Aspect are: The First Ray of Power, Will and Purpose; The Second Ray of Love-Wisdom; The Third Ray of Active, Creative Intelligence. There are four Rays of Attribute: The Fourth Ray of Harmony through Conflict; The Fifth Ray of Concrete Science or Knowledge; The Sixth Ray of Idealism or Devotion; The Seventh Ray of Synthesis or Ceremonial Order. These Rays indicate qualities that pertain to the seven fields of human endeavor or expression.
Shamballa: Known as the White Island, it exists in etheric matter and is located in the Gobi desert. Shamballa is the dwelling place of the Lord of the World, Sanat Kumara, and is the place where “the Will of God is known”.
Solar Angels: Very advanced beings who sacrificed their life, descending from Higher Worlds to help the evolution of humanity, and guide its steps toward initiation. This happened on our planet at the middle of the Lemurian period. They are also called Guardian Angels, or Flames.
soul: The small “s” soul is the human psyche, the Spark, traveling on the path of evolution having three powers: will-power, attraction, and intelligence to guide its development. Also known as the evolving human soul.
Soul: Also known as the Solar Angel.
Soul Awareness: The human soul’s awareness of the Solar Angel or the awareness of the human soul in the Intuitional Plane.
Spark: Human Monad fallen into matter.
Spiritual Triad: The field of awareness of the human soul. This field comes into being when the magnetic fields of the Mental Permanent Atom, the Buddhic Permanent Atom, and the Atmic Permanent Atom fuse and blend.
Subtle World: Refers to the Astral or Emotional plane.
Three-fold personality: The three vehicles of man. The combined forces and vehicles in which the evolving human soul expresses himself and gains experience during incarnation. These vehicles are the physical body, the emotional or astral body, and the mental body.
Transpersonal Self: The Solar Angel, the Inner Guide.
Treasure House: Symbolic term for the Chalice. Also called the Treasury.
Upanishads: Mystical treatises forming the Veda, said to date approximately from the Sixth Century, B.C. The Upanishads are said to be the source of all six systems of Hindu philosophy.
Vedas: Consists of four collections of writings: the Rig-Veda, the Sama-Veda, the Yajur-Veda, and the Atharva-Veda. The Vedas are the Divine Revelation of the scriptures of the Hindus, from the root viv, “to know” or “divine knowledge”.
-Torkom Saraydarian
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Avoiding the Void
The more you possess, the less you can love. And love is the door. Or, the less you can love, the more you start possessing things. Things become a substitute.
Let us try to understand it. A child is born. If the mother loves him...psychoanalysts have been studying, much research has been done — if the mother loves him, the child never drinks too much milk; never, because he knows, it is a tacit understanding, that the mother is always available and she’s always ready to share. So what is the fear? If the mother loves the child, the child will drink only as much milk as is needed. If the child is loved, you will never see a big belly in the child.
The child will be proportionate. In fact the mother will be constantly worried that the child is not eating or drinking or taking as much food as needed. But the child has understood that whenever the need arises, the mother is there. He can rely on love.
But if the mother does not love the child, then he is afraid for the future. Love is not there, the tacit understanding is not there, so whenever he gets the opportunity he will eat as much as he can, he will drink as much milk as he can. Now he is already becoming a miser; he has already started accumulating things — in the body. He’s afraid. Who knows about tomorrow? This mother is not reliable; he has to accumulate for emergencies. So he will accumulate fat, eat more.
People who have not been loved in their childhood continue to eat more. No dieting can help unless love arises. They will eat; eating has become a substitute for love. If somebody loves them, they will immediately see that their overeating has stopped.
Love and food both come from the mother’s breast. The first experience of love is from the mother’s breast and the first experience of food is also from the mother’s breast. So love and food become associated. If there is less love, it has to be substituted for by more food.
If love is enough, you can afford not to eat much. There is no need. Have you watched it? Whenever you fall in deep love, hunger disappears. You don’t feel hungry. Love fulfills so deeply that you feel full. Then one starts eating less and less.
One woman was talking to me. She was very puzzled. Her husband had died and she told me, “One thing I have been keeping a secret. I have not told it to anybody because nobody will understand. But you may understand, so I’m telling you. And I will be unburdened whether you understand or not. But please don’t tell this to anybody.”
I said, “What has happened?”
She said, “When my husband died, at night I felt so hungry. The corpse was lying in the house. ‘What will people think if I go to eat?’ The whole family was awake, relatives had come and many friends were there together. And I felt such a deep hunger, such as I have never felt.”
So she had to go in her own kitchen like a thief! In the darkness, she ate. And now, since then, she has been feeling guilty. “My husband had died. Was that the time to feel hungry? His corpse was lying there. I was like a thief, eating in darkness in my kitchen.” She asked me, “What happened?”
I said, “It is a simple fact. The person you loved died. Immediately, you felt empty. Now that emptiness had to be filled by something.”
Since then I have been talking to many people and I have come to the conclusion that whenever you are sad, you eat more. Whenever you are in a deep sorrow, you feel more hungry. Whenever you are happy, flowing, cheerful and loving, and love is showering on you, who bothers to eat much? Even a small amount of food is enough nourishment then, because love is giving so much nourishment.
People who can’t love will always become misers: possessive, accumulators of things.
-Osho
http://www.osho.com/magazine/haveataste/emotionalecology.cfm
Let us try to understand it. A child is born. If the mother loves him...psychoanalysts have been studying, much research has been done — if the mother loves him, the child never drinks too much milk; never, because he knows, it is a tacit understanding, that the mother is always available and she’s always ready to share. So what is the fear? If the mother loves the child, the child will drink only as much milk as is needed. If the child is loved, you will never see a big belly in the child.
The child will be proportionate. In fact the mother will be constantly worried that the child is not eating or drinking or taking as much food as needed. But the child has understood that whenever the need arises, the mother is there. He can rely on love.
But if the mother does not love the child, then he is afraid for the future. Love is not there, the tacit understanding is not there, so whenever he gets the opportunity he will eat as much as he can, he will drink as much milk as he can. Now he is already becoming a miser; he has already started accumulating things — in the body. He’s afraid. Who knows about tomorrow? This mother is not reliable; he has to accumulate for emergencies. So he will accumulate fat, eat more.
People who have not been loved in their childhood continue to eat more. No dieting can help unless love arises. They will eat; eating has become a substitute for love. If somebody loves them, they will immediately see that their overeating has stopped.
Love and food both come from the mother’s breast. The first experience of love is from the mother’s breast and the first experience of food is also from the mother’s breast. So love and food become associated. If there is less love, it has to be substituted for by more food.
If love is enough, you can afford not to eat much. There is no need. Have you watched it? Whenever you fall in deep love, hunger disappears. You don’t feel hungry. Love fulfills so deeply that you feel full. Then one starts eating less and less.
One woman was talking to me. She was very puzzled. Her husband had died and she told me, “One thing I have been keeping a secret. I have not told it to anybody because nobody will understand. But you may understand, so I’m telling you. And I will be unburdened whether you understand or not. But please don’t tell this to anybody.”
I said, “What has happened?”
She said, “When my husband died, at night I felt so hungry. The corpse was lying in the house. ‘What will people think if I go to eat?’ The whole family was awake, relatives had come and many friends were there together. And I felt such a deep hunger, such as I have never felt.”
So she had to go in her own kitchen like a thief! In the darkness, she ate. And now, since then, she has been feeling guilty. “My husband had died. Was that the time to feel hungry? His corpse was lying there. I was like a thief, eating in darkness in my kitchen.” She asked me, “What happened?”
I said, “It is a simple fact. The person you loved died. Immediately, you felt empty. Now that emptiness had to be filled by something.”
Since then I have been talking to many people and I have come to the conclusion that whenever you are sad, you eat more. Whenever you are in a deep sorrow, you feel more hungry. Whenever you are happy, flowing, cheerful and loving, and love is showering on you, who bothers to eat much? Even a small amount of food is enough nourishment then, because love is giving so much nourishment.
People who can’t love will always become misers: possessive, accumulators of things.
-Osho
http://www.osho.com/magazine/haveataste/emotionalecology.cfm
The difference between heaven and hell
A holy man was having a conversation with the Lord one day and said, "Lord, I would like to know what Heaven and Hell are like." The Lord led the holy man to two doors. He opened one of the doors and the holy man looked in. In the middle of the room was a large round table.
In the middle of the table was a large pot of stew which smelled delicious and made the holy man's mouth water. The people sitting round the table were thin and sickly.
They appeared to be famished. They were holding spoons with very long handles that were strapped to their arms and each found it possible to reach into the pot of stew and take a spoonful, but because the handle was longer than their arms, they could not get the spoons back into their mouths. The holy man shuddered at the sight of their misery and suffering.
The Lord said, "You have seen Hell."
They went to the next room and opened the door. It was exactly the same as the first one. There was the large round table with the large pot of stew which made the holy man's mouth water.
The people were equipped with the same long-handled spoons, but here the people were well nourished and plump, laughing and talking.
The holy man said, "I don't understand." "It is simple" said the Lord, "it requires but one skill. You see, they have learned to feed each other, while the greedy think only of themselves."
In the middle of the table was a large pot of stew which smelled delicious and made the holy man's mouth water. The people sitting round the table were thin and sickly.
They appeared to be famished. They were holding spoons with very long handles that were strapped to their arms and each found it possible to reach into the pot of stew and take a spoonful, but because the handle was longer than their arms, they could not get the spoons back into their mouths. The holy man shuddered at the sight of their misery and suffering.
The Lord said, "You have seen Hell."
They went to the next room and opened the door. It was exactly the same as the first one. There was the large round table with the large pot of stew which made the holy man's mouth water.
The people were equipped with the same long-handled spoons, but here the people were well nourished and plump, laughing and talking.
The holy man said, "I don't understand." "It is simple" said the Lord, "it requires but one skill. You see, they have learned to feed each other, while the greedy think only of themselves."
Saturday, June 27, 2009
"As the food, so the mind; as the mind, so the thought; as the thought, so the act"
Every activity of man is dependent on the energy he derives from the intake of food. The spiritual sadhanas he ventures upon depends on the quantity and quality of the food taken by the sadhak, even during the preliminary preparations recommended by Patanjali. The most external of the five sheaths that enclose the Atmic core, namely the Annamaya Kosa, has impact on all the remaining four - the Pranamaya, the Manomaya, the Vijnanamaya and the Anandamaya. The Annamaya Kosa is the sheath consisting of the material flesh and bone, built by the food that is consumed by the individual.
Food is generally looked down upon by ascetically minded sadhaks and seekers and treated as some thing which does not deserve attention. But since the body and the mind are mightily interdependent, no one can afford to neglect it. As the food, so the mind; as the mind, so the thought; as the thought, so the act. Food is an important factor which determines the alertness and sloth, the worry and calm, the brightness and dullness. The scriptures classify food as sathwic, rajasic and thamasic and relate these three types to the three mental modes (gunas) of the same names.
Man is the only living being who dislikes raw food found in the natural state. All other animals eat things as they are - grain, grass, leaves, shoots, fruits. Man boils, fries, melts, mixes and adopts various methods of cooking in order to satisfy the cravings of the tongue, the eye and the nose. As a consequence, the food value of these articles is either reduced or destroyed. When the seeds are fried, they do not sprout; that is clear proof that the 'life force' is eliminated. Therefore, uncooked raw pulse just sprouting, is to be preferred. Also nuts and fruits. The coconut, offered to the gods, is a sathwic food, having a good percentage of protein besides fat, starch and minerals. Food having too much salt or pepper is rajasic and should be avoided; so also too much fat and starch, which are thamasic in their effects on the body.
An intake of too much food is also harmful. Simply because tasty food is available and is being offered, one is tempted to over-eat. We have air all around us but we do not breathe in more than we need. The lake is full but we drink only as much as the thirst craves for. But overeating has become a social evil, a fashionable habit. The stomach cries out, 'Enough', but the tongue insists on more, and man becomes the helpless target to disease. He suffers from corpulence, high blood pressure and diabetes. Moderate food is the best medicine to avoid bodily ills. Do not rush to the hospital for every little upset. Too much drugging is also bad. Allow nature full scope to fight the disease and set you right. Adopt more and more the principles of naturopathy, and give up running around for doctors.
The type of food that you consume decides the degree of concentration you can command; its quality and quantity decide how much your self-control is lessened or heightened. Polluted air and water are full of maleficent viruses and germs and have to be avoided at all costs. There are four pollutions against which man has to be vigilant - of the body (removable by water); of the mind (removable by truthfulness), of reason (removable by correct knowledge) and of the self (removable by yearning for God). Vaidya Narayano Harih, the Sruthis declare. God is the doctor. Seek Him, rely on Him, you will be free from Dis-ease.
-Sai Baba
Food is generally looked down upon by ascetically minded sadhaks and seekers and treated as some thing which does not deserve attention. But since the body and the mind are mightily interdependent, no one can afford to neglect it. As the food, so the mind; as the mind, so the thought; as the thought, so the act. Food is an important factor which determines the alertness and sloth, the worry and calm, the brightness and dullness. The scriptures classify food as sathwic, rajasic and thamasic and relate these three types to the three mental modes (gunas) of the same names.
Man is the only living being who dislikes raw food found in the natural state. All other animals eat things as they are - grain, grass, leaves, shoots, fruits. Man boils, fries, melts, mixes and adopts various methods of cooking in order to satisfy the cravings of the tongue, the eye and the nose. As a consequence, the food value of these articles is either reduced or destroyed. When the seeds are fried, they do not sprout; that is clear proof that the 'life force' is eliminated. Therefore, uncooked raw pulse just sprouting, is to be preferred. Also nuts and fruits. The coconut, offered to the gods, is a sathwic food, having a good percentage of protein besides fat, starch and minerals. Food having too much salt or pepper is rajasic and should be avoided; so also too much fat and starch, which are thamasic in their effects on the body.
An intake of too much food is also harmful. Simply because tasty food is available and is being offered, one is tempted to over-eat. We have air all around us but we do not breathe in more than we need. The lake is full but we drink only as much as the thirst craves for. But overeating has become a social evil, a fashionable habit. The stomach cries out, 'Enough', but the tongue insists on more, and man becomes the helpless target to disease. He suffers from corpulence, high blood pressure and diabetes. Moderate food is the best medicine to avoid bodily ills. Do not rush to the hospital for every little upset. Too much drugging is also bad. Allow nature full scope to fight the disease and set you right. Adopt more and more the principles of naturopathy, and give up running around for doctors.
The type of food that you consume decides the degree of concentration you can command; its quality and quantity decide how much your self-control is lessened or heightened. Polluted air and water are full of maleficent viruses and germs and have to be avoided at all costs. There are four pollutions against which man has to be vigilant - of the body (removable by water); of the mind (removable by truthfulness), of reason (removable by correct knowledge) and of the self (removable by yearning for God). Vaidya Narayano Harih, the Sruthis declare. God is the doctor. Seek Him, rely on Him, you will be free from Dis-ease.
-Sai Baba
Friday, June 26, 2009
The mourner limits his loved one
When someone close to you dies - a parent or a friend, for example - you naturally feel the need to hold on to certain keepsakes such as objects, letters or photographs. But these cannot preserve your loved one's presence, for it is not to be found in objects but in his spirit. And as long as you focus on a few objects, you are dealing with matter, not spirit.
It is also natural to go and sit quietly at a graveside, but it is the body there in the grave, not the spirit. The spirit needs freedom and strives to detach from the body and travel in limitless space, which is its true homeland. The mourner who suffers and weeps at a grave, as if the person in the coffin must remain there for eternity, limits his loved one and hinders his desire for freedom. And in any case, it will not bring him back.
If you truly want to be reunited with a loved one, make the effort to seek him where he can be found: far away and very high in the light.
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
It is also natural to go and sit quietly at a graveside, but it is the body there in the grave, not the spirit. The spirit needs freedom and strives to detach from the body and travel in limitless space, which is its true homeland. The mourner who suffers and weeps at a grave, as if the person in the coffin must remain there for eternity, limits his loved one and hinders his desire for freedom. And in any case, it will not bring him back.
If you truly want to be reunited with a loved one, make the effort to seek him where he can be found: far away and very high in the light.
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
The debt to the Divine
We owe a debt of gratitude to the Divine which has not only endowed us with this precious human body but which also sustains it. We shall be able to enjoy these gifts of the Divine only if we discharge this debt to the Divine. How is this to be done? It is by rendering service to other bodies saturated with the same Divine, by doing righteous deeds and consecrating all actions in the service of society.
The debt to the Divine has to be discharged in full in this life itself or during many future lives. The earlier we repay this debt, the sooner we shall realize Divinity.
-Sai Baba
Divine Discourse, October 10, 1983
The debt to the Divine has to be discharged in full in this life itself or during many future lives. The earlier we repay this debt, the sooner we shall realize Divinity.
-Sai Baba
Divine Discourse, October 10, 1983
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Joy is the food of Angels
We are told that Joy is the food of Angels.
Joy draws the attention of angelic hosts and the Great Ones. The emanations of joy enable the Invisible Ones to approach your sphere and directly communicate with you, inspire you, and help you. Your joy convinces Them that you will not misuse Their treasures; you will not bury the 'talents', but make good use of them.
-Torkom Saraydarian
Joy draws the attention of angelic hosts and the Great Ones. The emanations of joy enable the Invisible Ones to approach your sphere and directly communicate with you, inspire you, and help you. Your joy convinces Them that you will not misuse Their treasures; you will not bury the 'talents', but make good use of them.
-Torkom Saraydarian
Animals in our thoughts, feelings and desires
Instead of becoming conscious of the immense role they play in creation and participating in the work of the Creator, human beings confront each other like animals and tear each other apart. Yes, because in reality there are animals still living in them in the form of unbridled instincts: aggressiveness, possessiveness, sensuality, and so on.
Just because human beings have learned to appear more civilized, it does not mean they have rid themselves of their animal impulses. Sometimes, behind the friendly air of someone who smiles at you and says: 'Hello, how are you? What a pleasure to see you!' there lurks a wild beast who wants to pounce on you and devour you. And don't you sometimes find yourself in a similar state of mind?
Animals exist in our thoughts, our feelings and our desires, and our work is to tame them so that they can participate with us in cosmic harmony.
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
Just because human beings have learned to appear more civilized, it does not mean they have rid themselves of their animal impulses. Sometimes, behind the friendly air of someone who smiles at you and says: 'Hello, how are you? What a pleasure to see you!' there lurks a wild beast who wants to pounce on you and devour you. And don't you sometimes find yourself in a similar state of mind?
Animals exist in our thoughts, our feelings and our desires, and our work is to tame them so that they can participate with us in cosmic harmony.
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
Calamities must deepen your courage
Let not your faith and steadiness be shaken by obstacles. Keep them unaffected by the still greater difficulties and disasters that might blow over you. The gale helps to toughen the trunk of the tree. Calamities must deepen your courage, enlarge your faith. Your spiritual practice must be intensified, just when the weather is inclement. In a fair weather, care-free attitude is pardonable, but in foul weather, every precaution is of value.
-Sai Baba
-Sai Baba
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Eating too much and greed
Everyone knows that eating too much is bad for their health. But what they should also realize is that when people eat more than they need they habitually take what was meant for others; and if lots of people do this, with some eating too much and others not enough, the result will be a world out of balance. The root cause of all misunderstanding and confrontation is greed and the lust for possession, the lack of moderation of those who accumulate wealth (food, land, objects) that others are then deprived of.
Yes, a great moral can be drawn from the simple act of eating. The need people have to take and absorb more than they should leads them to enslave others, even to suppress them at the least sign of resistance or opposition. So this need to hoard everything for oneself should be controlled, moderated and dealt with as soon as possible. If it is not watched, it can reach such gigantic proportions in all areas of existence, it will become the source of the greatest injustice and ensuing unhappiness. Each day, several times a day, you must use meal times as opportunities to reflect on this problem.
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
Yes, a great moral can be drawn from the simple act of eating. The need people have to take and absorb more than they should leads them to enslave others, even to suppress them at the least sign of resistance or opposition. So this need to hoard everything for oneself should be controlled, moderated and dealt with as soon as possible. If it is not watched, it can reach such gigantic proportions in all areas of existence, it will become the source of the greatest injustice and ensuing unhappiness. Each day, several times a day, you must use meal times as opportunities to reflect on this problem.
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Causes of earthquakes and natural disasters
What does the Ageless Wisdom say about the causes of earthquakes and various natural disasters?
We know that human negligence is causing much of today's "natural" disasters, but is there a more subtle reason beyond the physical negligence?
Could it be that our physical actions are only an outer manifestation of our emotional and mental attitudes? Could we be triggering the hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis all around the world by the very thoughtforms that we are creating daily? Could all the ugliness, pain and suffering, revenge and killing cause damage to the benevolent energies that can protect us? Could the earth be reacting to all the negativity and violence in our daily lives?
If we can easily prove that human negligence causes disasters, then how much more do we need to do to stretch our minds and understanding to see that behind the actions or lack of actions, stand a huge set of belief systems, thought processes, emotional desires, national and religious hatreds, and separatisms. These form the underlying forces that shape the subtle aspects of our world.
-Torkom Saraydarian
We know that human negligence is causing much of today's "natural" disasters, but is there a more subtle reason beyond the physical negligence?
Could it be that our physical actions are only an outer manifestation of our emotional and mental attitudes? Could we be triggering the hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis all around the world by the very thoughtforms that we are creating daily? Could all the ugliness, pain and suffering, revenge and killing cause damage to the benevolent energies that can protect us? Could the earth be reacting to all the negativity and violence in our daily lives?
If we can easily prove that human negligence causes disasters, then how much more do we need to do to stretch our minds and understanding to see that behind the actions or lack of actions, stand a huge set of belief systems, thought processes, emotional desires, national and religious hatreds, and separatisms. These form the underlying forces that shape the subtle aspects of our world.
-Torkom Saraydarian
Of what avail is it to be a scholar or clever intellectual...
Of what avail is it to be a scholar or clever intellectual, if one does not practice even a fraction of what one knows? Not all the luxuries and pleasures of the world will give man contentment and peace. Only when the Truth is realized that the Spirit will experience true peace and contentment.
-Sai Baba
-Sai Baba
Sunday, June 21, 2009
How to sustain the love
Men and women prize love above all else, and they hope to find the love of their life and to live it for all eternity. Why then do they find it so hard to sustain their love for a few years or even a few months?
Because the moment they discover they love a man or woman, they become fixed on this person. They are not aware that this creature is a channel through whom the beauty, charm and qualities of another world flow, and that their soul thirsts for this other world. So they concentrate on this creature and expect everything from him or her. This is their mistake and the cause of their disillusion and sorrow.
Men and women must learn to consider one another as a point of departure in their search for love's source. Only in this way will they avoid disappointment, for at its source the water of love is always crystal-clear, pure and invigorating.
-Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov
Because the moment they discover they love a man or woman, they become fixed on this person. They are not aware that this creature is a channel through whom the beauty, charm and qualities of another world flow, and that their soul thirsts for this other world. So they concentrate on this creature and expect everything from him or her. This is their mistake and the cause of their disillusion and sorrow.
Men and women must learn to consider one another as a point of departure in their search for love's source. Only in this way will they avoid disappointment, for at its source the water of love is always crystal-clear, pure and invigorating.
-Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov
Resistence to Meditation / Dropping Misery
You offer meditation as a means for my leaving my misery behind and all I do is resist. The thought of being still and silent doesn’t excite me; in fact it scares me.
Could you explain my resistance to meditation?
The thought of stillness and silence excites nobody. It is not your personal problem. It is the problem of human mind as such, because to be still, to be silent, means to be in a state of no-mind.
Mind cannot be still. It needs continuous thinking, worrying. The mind functions like a bicycle; if you go on pedaling it, it continues. The moment you stop the pedaling, you are going to fall down. Mind is a two-wheeled vehicle just like a bicycle, and your thinking is a constant pedaling. Even sometimes if you are a little bit silent you immediately start worrying, “Why am I silent?” Anything will do to create worrying, thinking, because mind can exist only in one way — in running, always running after something or running from something, but always running. In the running is the mind. The moment you stop, the mind disappears.
Right now you are identified with the mind. You think you are it. From there comes the fear. If you are identified with the mind, naturally if mind stops you are finished, you are no more. And you don’t know anything beyond mind.
The reality is you are not mind, you are something beyond mind; hence it is absolutely necessary that the mind stops so that for the first time you can know that you are not mind, because you are still there. Mind is gone, you are still there...and with greater joy, greater glory, greater light, greater consciousness, greater being. Mind was pretending, and you had fallen into the trap.
What you have to understand is the process of identification...how one can get identified with something which one is not.
The ancient parable in the East is that a lioness was jumping from one hillock to another hillock and just in the middle she gave birth to a kid. The kid fell down on the road where a big crowd of sheep was passing. Naturally he mixed with the sheep, lived with the sheep, behaved like a sheep. He had no idea, not even in his dreams, that he is a lion. How could he have? All around him were sheep and more sheep. He had never roared like a lion; a sheep does not roar. He had never been alone like a lion; a sheep is never alone. She is always in the crowd; the crowd is cozy, secure, safe. If you see sheep walking, they walk so close together that they are almost stumbling on each other. They are so afraid to be alone.
But the lion started growing up. It was a strange phenomenon. He was identified mentally with being a sheep, but biology does not go according to your identification; nature is not going to follow you.
He became a beautiful young lion, but because things happened so slowly the sheep also became accustomed to the lion while the lion was becoming accustomed to the sheep. The sheep thought he is a little crazy, naturally. He’s not behaving — a little cuckoo — and he goes on growing. It is not supposed to be so. And pretending to be a lion...but he is not a lion. They have seen him from his very birth, they have brought him up, they have given their milk to him. And he was a nonvegetarian by nature. No lion is vegetarian, but this lion was vegetarian because sheep are vegetarian. He used to eat grass with great joy.
They accepted this little difference, that he is a little big and looks like a lion. A very wise sheep said, “It is just a freak of nature. Once in a while it happens.” And he himself also accepted that it is true. His color is different, his body is different; he must be a freak, abnormal. But the idea that he is a lion was impossible! He was surrounded by all those sheep, and sheep psychoanalysts gave him explanations: “You are just a freak of nature. Don’t be worried. We are here to take care of you.”
But one day an old lion passed and saw this young lion far above the crowd of sheep. He could not believe his eyes! He had never seen such a thing nor had he ever heard in the history of the whole past that a lion was in the middle of a crowd of sheep and no sheep was afraid. And the lion was walking exactly like the sheep, grazing on grass.
The old lion could not believe his eyes. He forgot he was going to catch a sheep for his breakfast. He completely forgot the breakfast. It was something so strange that he tried to catch the young lion. But he was old, and the young lion was young — he ran away. Although he believed that he was a sheep, when there was danger the identification was forgotten. He ran like a lion, and the old lion had great difficulty in catching him. But finally the old lion got hold of him and he was crying and weeping and saying, “Just forgive me, I am a poor sheep.” The old lion said, “You idiot! You simply stop and come with me to the pond.”
Just nearby there was a pond. He took the young lion there. The young lion was not going willingly. He went reluctantly, but what can you do against a lion if you are only a sheep? He may kill you if you don’t follow him, so he went with him. The pond was silent, with no ripples, almost like a mirror. And the old lion said to the young, “Just look. Look at my face and look at your face. Look at my body and look at your body in the water.”
In a second there came a great roar! All the hills echoed it. The sheep disappeared; he was a totally different being — he recognized himself. The identification with sheep was not a reality, it was just a mental concept. Now he had seen the reality. And the old lion said, “Now I don’t have to say anything. You have understood.”
The young lion could feel strange energy he had never felt...as if it had been dormant. He could feel tremendous power, and he had always been a weak, humble sheep. All that humbleness, all that weakness, simply evaporated.
This is an ancient parable about the master and the disciple. The function of the master is only to bring the disciple to see who he is and that what he goes on believing is not true.
Your mind is not created by nature. Try to keep the distinction always: your brain is created by nature. Your brain is the mechanism that belongs to the body, but your mind is created by the society in which you live — by the religion, by the church, by the ideology that your parents followed, by the educational system that you were taught in, by all kinds of things. That’s why there is a Christian mind and a Hindu mind, a Mohammedan mind and a communist mind. Brains are natural, but minds are a created phenomenon. It depends on which flock of sheep you belong to. Was the flock of the sheep Hindu? Then naturally you will behave like a Hindu.
Meditation is the only method that can make you aware that you are not the mind; and that gives you a tremendous mastery. Then you can choose what is right with your mind and what is not right with your mind, because you are distant, an observer, a watcher. Then you are not so much attached to the mind, and that is your fear.
You have completely forgotten yourself; you have become the mind. The identification is complete. So when I say, “Be silent. Be still. Be alert and watchful of your thought processes,” you freak out, you become afraid. It looks like death. In a way you are right but it is not your death, it is the death of your conditionings. Combined they are called your mind.
Once you are capable of seeing the distinction clearly — that you are separate from the mind and the mind is separate from the brain — it immediately happens. Simultaneously, as you withdraw from the mind, you suddenly see that the mind is in the middle; on both sides there is brain and consciousness.
The brain is simply a mechanism. Whatever you want to do with it, you can do. Mind is the problem, because others make it for you. It is not you, it is not even your own; it is all borrowed.
The priests, the politicians, the people who are in power, the people who have vested interests, don’t want you to know that you are above mind, beyond mind. Their whole effort has been to keep you identified with the mind, because mind is managed by them, not by you. You are being deceived in such a subtle way. The managers of your mind are outside.
When the consciousness becomes identified with the mind, then the brain is helpless. The brain is simply mechanical. Whatever mind wants, the brain does. But if you are separate, then the mind loses its power; otherwise it is sovereign. And you are afraid of meditation because of that.
I don’t belong to any religion, I don’t belong to any political ideology, I don’t belong to any nation. I don’t have myself filled up with all kinds of nonsense called “holy scriptures.” I have simply pushed the mind aside. I use the brain directly; there is no need of any conditioning, there is no need of any mediator.
But your fear is understandable. You have been brought up with certain concepts, and perhaps you are afraid to lose them.
-Osho: The Path of the Mystic
http://www.osho.com/magazine/haveataste/emotionalecology.cfm
Could you explain my resistance to meditation?
The thought of stillness and silence excites nobody. It is not your personal problem. It is the problem of human mind as such, because to be still, to be silent, means to be in a state of no-mind.
Mind cannot be still. It needs continuous thinking, worrying. The mind functions like a bicycle; if you go on pedaling it, it continues. The moment you stop the pedaling, you are going to fall down. Mind is a two-wheeled vehicle just like a bicycle, and your thinking is a constant pedaling. Even sometimes if you are a little bit silent you immediately start worrying, “Why am I silent?” Anything will do to create worrying, thinking, because mind can exist only in one way — in running, always running after something or running from something, but always running. In the running is the mind. The moment you stop, the mind disappears.
Right now you are identified with the mind. You think you are it. From there comes the fear. If you are identified with the mind, naturally if mind stops you are finished, you are no more. And you don’t know anything beyond mind.
The reality is you are not mind, you are something beyond mind; hence it is absolutely necessary that the mind stops so that for the first time you can know that you are not mind, because you are still there. Mind is gone, you are still there...and with greater joy, greater glory, greater light, greater consciousness, greater being. Mind was pretending, and you had fallen into the trap.
What you have to understand is the process of identification...how one can get identified with something which one is not.
The ancient parable in the East is that a lioness was jumping from one hillock to another hillock and just in the middle she gave birth to a kid. The kid fell down on the road where a big crowd of sheep was passing. Naturally he mixed with the sheep, lived with the sheep, behaved like a sheep. He had no idea, not even in his dreams, that he is a lion. How could he have? All around him were sheep and more sheep. He had never roared like a lion; a sheep does not roar. He had never been alone like a lion; a sheep is never alone. She is always in the crowd; the crowd is cozy, secure, safe. If you see sheep walking, they walk so close together that they are almost stumbling on each other. They are so afraid to be alone.
But the lion started growing up. It was a strange phenomenon. He was identified mentally with being a sheep, but biology does not go according to your identification; nature is not going to follow you.
He became a beautiful young lion, but because things happened so slowly the sheep also became accustomed to the lion while the lion was becoming accustomed to the sheep. The sheep thought he is a little crazy, naturally. He’s not behaving — a little cuckoo — and he goes on growing. It is not supposed to be so. And pretending to be a lion...but he is not a lion. They have seen him from his very birth, they have brought him up, they have given their milk to him. And he was a nonvegetarian by nature. No lion is vegetarian, but this lion was vegetarian because sheep are vegetarian. He used to eat grass with great joy.
They accepted this little difference, that he is a little big and looks like a lion. A very wise sheep said, “It is just a freak of nature. Once in a while it happens.” And he himself also accepted that it is true. His color is different, his body is different; he must be a freak, abnormal. But the idea that he is a lion was impossible! He was surrounded by all those sheep, and sheep psychoanalysts gave him explanations: “You are just a freak of nature. Don’t be worried. We are here to take care of you.”
But one day an old lion passed and saw this young lion far above the crowd of sheep. He could not believe his eyes! He had never seen such a thing nor had he ever heard in the history of the whole past that a lion was in the middle of a crowd of sheep and no sheep was afraid. And the lion was walking exactly like the sheep, grazing on grass.
The old lion could not believe his eyes. He forgot he was going to catch a sheep for his breakfast. He completely forgot the breakfast. It was something so strange that he tried to catch the young lion. But he was old, and the young lion was young — he ran away. Although he believed that he was a sheep, when there was danger the identification was forgotten. He ran like a lion, and the old lion had great difficulty in catching him. But finally the old lion got hold of him and he was crying and weeping and saying, “Just forgive me, I am a poor sheep.” The old lion said, “You idiot! You simply stop and come with me to the pond.”
Just nearby there was a pond. He took the young lion there. The young lion was not going willingly. He went reluctantly, but what can you do against a lion if you are only a sheep? He may kill you if you don’t follow him, so he went with him. The pond was silent, with no ripples, almost like a mirror. And the old lion said to the young, “Just look. Look at my face and look at your face. Look at my body and look at your body in the water.”
In a second there came a great roar! All the hills echoed it. The sheep disappeared; he was a totally different being — he recognized himself. The identification with sheep was not a reality, it was just a mental concept. Now he had seen the reality. And the old lion said, “Now I don’t have to say anything. You have understood.”
The young lion could feel strange energy he had never felt...as if it had been dormant. He could feel tremendous power, and he had always been a weak, humble sheep. All that humbleness, all that weakness, simply evaporated.
This is an ancient parable about the master and the disciple. The function of the master is only to bring the disciple to see who he is and that what he goes on believing is not true.
Your mind is not created by nature. Try to keep the distinction always: your brain is created by nature. Your brain is the mechanism that belongs to the body, but your mind is created by the society in which you live — by the religion, by the church, by the ideology that your parents followed, by the educational system that you were taught in, by all kinds of things. That’s why there is a Christian mind and a Hindu mind, a Mohammedan mind and a communist mind. Brains are natural, but minds are a created phenomenon. It depends on which flock of sheep you belong to. Was the flock of the sheep Hindu? Then naturally you will behave like a Hindu.
Meditation is the only method that can make you aware that you are not the mind; and that gives you a tremendous mastery. Then you can choose what is right with your mind and what is not right with your mind, because you are distant, an observer, a watcher. Then you are not so much attached to the mind, and that is your fear.
You have completely forgotten yourself; you have become the mind. The identification is complete. So when I say, “Be silent. Be still. Be alert and watchful of your thought processes,” you freak out, you become afraid. It looks like death. In a way you are right but it is not your death, it is the death of your conditionings. Combined they are called your mind.
Once you are capable of seeing the distinction clearly — that you are separate from the mind and the mind is separate from the brain — it immediately happens. Simultaneously, as you withdraw from the mind, you suddenly see that the mind is in the middle; on both sides there is brain and consciousness.
The brain is simply a mechanism. Whatever you want to do with it, you can do. Mind is the problem, because others make it for you. It is not you, it is not even your own; it is all borrowed.
The priests, the politicians, the people who are in power, the people who have vested interests, don’t want you to know that you are above mind, beyond mind. Their whole effort has been to keep you identified with the mind, because mind is managed by them, not by you. You are being deceived in such a subtle way. The managers of your mind are outside.
When the consciousness becomes identified with the mind, then the brain is helpless. The brain is simply mechanical. Whatever mind wants, the brain does. But if you are separate, then the mind loses its power; otherwise it is sovereign. And you are afraid of meditation because of that.
I don’t belong to any religion, I don’t belong to any political ideology, I don’t belong to any nation. I don’t have myself filled up with all kinds of nonsense called “holy scriptures.” I have simply pushed the mind aside. I use the brain directly; there is no need of any conditioning, there is no need of any mediator.
But your fear is understandable. You have been brought up with certain concepts, and perhaps you are afraid to lose them.
-Osho: The Path of the Mystic
http://www.osho.com/magazine/haveataste/emotionalecology.cfm
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Do you want people to be pleased to see you and to spend time with you?
Do you want people to be pleased to see you and to spend time with you? Instead of inflicting your sorrows, worries and ill-humour on others, think how you can bring them joy. People who contaminate the atmosphere with their complaints and recriminations are shunned by others, and, what is worse, they poison their own lives. Sadness is a black smoke that invades the soul and eventually casts its shadow over the entire face. In the end, it even disturbs the proper functioning of the organism and clouds the intelligence.
You will say that good humour and cheerfulness are often a question of temperament, which is difficult to change. This is true, but, by means of thought, by means of love and will-power, you can succeed in doing so.
In order to bring happiness to others, you must first of all fill your own heart with love. Call on love with all your strength, and not only will you be happy, but the happiness you give will return to you magnified.
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
You will say that good humour and cheerfulness are often a question of temperament, which is difficult to change. This is true, but, by means of thought, by means of love and will-power, you can succeed in doing so.
In order to bring happiness to others, you must first of all fill your own heart with love. Call on love with all your strength, and not only will you be happy, but the happiness you give will return to you magnified.
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
Angels and free will
Angels do not have free will. They form an army, and each member of the army obeys the Will of the Most High. Human beings have free will, but only in a certain sense: when their will is fused with the Divine Will. Man must eventually resign from his free will, study the Will of the Most High, and live according to that Will. Christ achieved such a victory when He said, “Not my will but Thine be done”. In that moment He fused His will with the Divine Will. From that point on, He had the most powerful energy under His control but also the pure wisdom to use it according to the direction of the Father.
Angels live in the stream of the Divine Will, and there is no conflict in them.
Humans think that without free will, no one can progress and advance, but they ignore the fact that freedom is not achieved except when one renounces his free will for the Divine Will. It is also true that if a totalitarian controls your will and you renounce your will, you will never advance on the path of evolution. Totalitarianism is not God’s Will. The Will of God manifests as Beauty, Goodness, Righteousness, Joy, Freedom, solemnity, purity and sincerity. Let these qualities control your will if you want to fuse with the Will of the Most High.
-Torkom Saraydarian
Angels and Devas
Angels live in the stream of the Divine Will, and there is no conflict in them.
Humans think that without free will, no one can progress and advance, but they ignore the fact that freedom is not achieved except when one renounces his free will for the Divine Will. It is also true that if a totalitarian controls your will and you renounce your will, you will never advance on the path of evolution. Totalitarianism is not God’s Will. The Will of God manifests as Beauty, Goodness, Righteousness, Joy, Freedom, solemnity, purity and sincerity. Let these qualities control your will if you want to fuse with the Will of the Most High.
-Torkom Saraydarian
Angels and Devas
Friday, June 19, 2009
The concept of humility
Fiery World III, 24. One of the great concepts, often incorrectly interpreted, is precisely the great concept of humility. It has been interpreted as non-resistance to evil; it has been interpreted as good-heartedness, as compassion, but very few accepted it as self-denial. For only self-denial and self-sacrifice can give understanding of humility. Truly, We see the giants of spirit and the heroes who devote themselves fully to the humble tasks for the good of humanity. We know of great experiments being humbly carried out in the earthly laboratories for the benefit of humanity. We know the great fiery experiments of those who dedicate their lives wholly and humbly to the benefit of mankind. We know manifestations on the path to the Fiery World which inspire all surroundings. Truly manifold is humility manifested through self-sacrifice and self-renunciation. Heroism is a manifestation of various aspects of humility. Thus the records of space are filled with great deeds of humility. Invaluable are these fiery flights of the spirit. Thus, verily, the heroes of humility drain the cup of poison for the good of mankind.
-Agni Yoga
-Agni Yoga
What is obsession and possession?
Obsession:
"Obsession is the loss of your control under the pressure of posthypnotic suggestions, habits, subconscious blind urges and drives, identification with impressing events or images, mental or emotional remote control, control by dark entities outside your aura, control by thoughtforms."
"It is a state of mechanicalness. Other forces control you, and you have no control over yourself. In obsession, you may lose control over your physical, emotional, or mental bodies. There are three locations in which obsession takes place. 1: physical mechanism 2: astral mechanism and the lower mental mechanism."
Possession:
"Possession is a state in which your etheric, astral, or mental body is occupied by an entity who controls your muscles, nerves, glands, brain, and so on. During the posession you may be locked in your aura by your [intense desires], or thrown out of your aura and not conscious because the brain is under the control of another entity. Generally, an entity can control the person and his life through the person's weaknesses."
"Total possession by the entity takes place when the mental sex center is occupied. The mental sex center controls the creative activities of the mind. Once the entity is accepted, the person's whole mind is obsessed with sex images. You think, feel, speak, and act under that force. All of his efforts are sexually motivated. This situation is widespread, found all over the world except for a very few countries."
"Obsession leads to possession...."
-Torkom Saraydarian
"Obsession is the loss of your control under the pressure of posthypnotic suggestions, habits, subconscious blind urges and drives, identification with impressing events or images, mental or emotional remote control, control by dark entities outside your aura, control by thoughtforms."
"It is a state of mechanicalness. Other forces control you, and you have no control over yourself. In obsession, you may lose control over your physical, emotional, or mental bodies. There are three locations in which obsession takes place. 1: physical mechanism 2: astral mechanism and the lower mental mechanism."
Possession:
"Possession is a state in which your etheric, astral, or mental body is occupied by an entity who controls your muscles, nerves, glands, brain, and so on. During the posession you may be locked in your aura by your [intense desires], or thrown out of your aura and not conscious because the brain is under the control of another entity. Generally, an entity can control the person and his life through the person's weaknesses."
"Total possession by the entity takes place when the mental sex center is occupied. The mental sex center controls the creative activities of the mind. Once the entity is accepted, the person's whole mind is obsessed with sex images. You think, feel, speak, and act under that force. All of his efforts are sexually motivated. This situation is widespread, found all over the world except for a very few countries."
"Obsession leads to possession...."
-Torkom Saraydarian
Should one avoid worldly involvement?
The world is the bountiful creation of a benevolent God, who means for us to live positively in it, facing karma and fulfilling dharma. We must not despise or fear the world. Life is meant to be lived joyously. Aum Namah Sivaya.
The world is the place where our destiny is shaped, our desires fulfilled and our soul matured. In the world, we grow from ignorance into wisdom, from darkness into light and from a consciousness of death to immortality. The whole world is an ashrama in which all are doing sadhana. We must love the world, which is God's creation. Those who despise, hate and fear the world do not understand the intrinsic goodness of all. The world is a glorious place, not to be feared. It is a gracious gift from Siva Himself, a playground for His children in which to interrelate young souls with the old--the young experiencing their karma while the old hold firmly to their dharma. The young grow; the old know. Not fearing the world does not give us permission to become immersed in worldliness. To the contrary, it means remaining affectionately detached, like a drop of water on a lotus leaf, being in the world but not of it, walking in the rain without getting wet. The Vedas warn, "Behold the universe in the glory of God: and all that lives and moves on earth. Leaving the transient, find joy in the Eternal. Set not your heart on another's possession." Aum Namah Sivaya.
-Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami
http://www.himalayanacademy.com/study/mc/daily_lesson_html/lesson_360.shtml
The world is the place where our destiny is shaped, our desires fulfilled and our soul matured. In the world, we grow from ignorance into wisdom, from darkness into light and from a consciousness of death to immortality. The whole world is an ashrama in which all are doing sadhana. We must love the world, which is God's creation. Those who despise, hate and fear the world do not understand the intrinsic goodness of all. The world is a glorious place, not to be feared. It is a gracious gift from Siva Himself, a playground for His children in which to interrelate young souls with the old--the young experiencing their karma while the old hold firmly to their dharma. The young grow; the old know. Not fearing the world does not give us permission to become immersed in worldliness. To the contrary, it means remaining affectionately detached, like a drop of water on a lotus leaf, being in the world but not of it, walking in the rain without getting wet. The Vedas warn, "Behold the universe in the glory of God: and all that lives and moves on earth. Leaving the transient, find joy in the Eternal. Set not your heart on another's possession." Aum Namah Sivaya.
-Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami
http://www.himalayanacademy.com/study/mc/daily_lesson_html/lesson_360.shtml
Comforts and laziness
Certain basic conveniences are obviously indispensable for us. But if you want to preserve what is truly alive in yourself, don't attach too much importance to comfort, for laziness will lie in wait for you, exposing you to currents that dull your sensitivity and hinder your evolution. Try to dispose of all your weighty baggage, all your concerns about material things that are not absolutely necessary, so you can go ever further, ever higher.
I am not against material progress that makes life easier and more comfortable, but comfort as it is lived by most people is dangerous, because it goes against the work of the spirit. All physical activity is connected to the spirit, and this kind of passivity, this laziness favoured by technical progress, hinders the powers of the spirit.
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
I am not against material progress that makes life easier and more comfortable, but comfort as it is lived by most people is dangerous, because it goes against the work of the spirit. All physical activity is connected to the spirit, and this kind of passivity, this laziness favoured by technical progress, hinders the powers of the spirit.
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
Monday, June 15, 2009
For women
A woman needs to keep her dignity, her beauty and her purity, and increase her magnetism in such a way that the right man is really attracted to her. If a woman increases her talents, her spirituality, her meditation, her solemnity, and her purity, then the right man will find her.
-Torkom Saraydarian
-Torkom Saraydarian
The miser
It is interesting to observe what the words 'give' and 'take' inspire in human beings. There is a story about an old miser who fell down a well. Hearing his cries, a neighbour approached and called to him: 'You poor old thing, how did you happen to fall in this well? Give me your hand, and I'll pull you out!' But there was no sound more disagreeable to the miser's ears than the word 'give', and he refused to budge. The neighbour, who knew him well, understood. 'You don't want to give me your hand? Fine, take mine.' The miser grasped it at once. The same gesture had been made, but the word 'take' sounded much more agreeable to him.
This miser who fell down a well is the picture of humanity as a whole, which only understands the word 'take'! You will say that we must take in order to feed ourselves. Yes, to give and take are indispensable for life, but you have to know where, from whom, how and how much to take. You also have to know where, to whom, how and how much to give.
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
This miser who fell down a well is the picture of humanity as a whole, which only understands the word 'take'! You will say that we must take in order to feed ourselves. Yes, to give and take are indispensable for life, but you have to know where, from whom, how and how much to take. You also have to know where, to whom, how and how much to give.
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
What Is the Source of Good and Evil?
Instead of seeing good and evil in the world, we understand the nature of the embodied soul in three interrelated parts: instinctive or physical-emotional; intellectual or mental; and superconscious or spiritual. Aum.
Evil has no source, unless the source of evil's seeming be ignorance itself. Still, it is good to fear unrighteousness. The ignorant complain, justify, fear and criticize "sinful deeds," setting themselves apart as lofty puritans. When the outer, or lower, instinctive nature dominates, one is prone to anger, fear, greed, jealousy, hatred and backbiting. When the intellect is prominent, arrogance and analytical thinking preside. When the superconscious soul comes forth the refined qualities are born--compassion, insight, modesty and the others. The animal instincts of the young soul are strong. The intellect, yet to be developed, is nonexistent to control these strong instinctive impulses. When the intellect is developed, the instinctive nature subsides. When the soul unfolds and overshadows the well-developed intellect, this mental harness is loosened and removed. When we encounter wickedness in others, let us be compassionate, for truly there is no intrinsic evil. The Vedas say, "Mind is indeed the source of bondage and also the source of liberation. To be bound to things of this world: this is bondage. To be free from them: this is liberation." Aum Namah Sivaya.
-Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami
http://www.himalayanacademy.com/study/mc/daily_lesson_html/lesson_358.shtml
Evil has no source, unless the source of evil's seeming be ignorance itself. Still, it is good to fear unrighteousness. The ignorant complain, justify, fear and criticize "sinful deeds," setting themselves apart as lofty puritans. When the outer, or lower, instinctive nature dominates, one is prone to anger, fear, greed, jealousy, hatred and backbiting. When the intellect is prominent, arrogance and analytical thinking preside. When the superconscious soul comes forth the refined qualities are born--compassion, insight, modesty and the others. The animal instincts of the young soul are strong. The intellect, yet to be developed, is nonexistent to control these strong instinctive impulses. When the intellect is developed, the instinctive nature subsides. When the soul unfolds and overshadows the well-developed intellect, this mental harness is loosened and removed. When we encounter wickedness in others, let us be compassionate, for truly there is no intrinsic evil. The Vedas say, "Mind is indeed the source of bondage and also the source of liberation. To be bound to things of this world: this is bondage. To be free from them: this is liberation." Aum Namah Sivaya.
-Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami
http://www.himalayanacademy.com/study/mc/daily_lesson_html/lesson_358.shtml
Whatever attitudes we use toward ourselves, we will use on others
Whatever attitudes we habitually use toward ourselves, we will use on others, and whatever attitudes we habitually use toward others, we will use on ourselves. The situation is comparable to our serving food to ourselves and to other people from the same bowl. Everyone ends up eating the same thing--we must examine carefully what we are dishing out.
-Bhante Henepola Gunaratana
Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness
-Bhante Henepola Gunaratana
Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness
Friday, June 12, 2009
For men
When a man makes himself beautiful in virtue, successful in life, and powerful in nobility, understanding and wisdom, the woman resigns from being a dominating, pushy, forceful, ‘masculine’ woman and begins to feel really feminine. If the man’s level is not as high as that of the woman, then the woman will act aggressively in relation to him. This is a dangerous situation in a marriage because it upsets the polarity and balance in the home.
-Torkom Saraydarian
-Torkom Saraydarian
Laughing and weeping
Hearing the sound of some laughter issuing from a corner of the office, the Master turned towards one of the devotees and asked, "Do you know how many muscles operate during weeping and how many during laughter?"
He could not answer the question, so the Master said, "Seventy-five muscles during weeping and fifteen during laughter. Such a great amount of energy is wasted during weeping!"
-Swami Sivananda
He could not answer the question, so the Master said, "Seventy-five muscles during weeping and fifteen during laughter. Such a great amount of energy is wasted during weeping!"
-Swami Sivananda
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Dark angels - Torkom Saraydarian
We are told that certain dark entities take the form of angels and appear to those whose vanity they can use for certain purposes. Many false directions have been given by such entities throughout the ages, and many books are channeled by them to their servants. One must be extremely careful to recognize these wolves in sheepskins.
There are many signs by which you can recognize such imposters. Some of them praise you and feed your vanity. Some of them speak about your past lives. Some reveal the secrets of other people. Others advise you to take certain actions to satisfy your desires. Others tell you that you are a Messiah, a Christ, a prophet, to satisfy your desires. Still others try to dominate your will and give you orders. Others stimulate your sexual center or inspire hatred and revenge in your heart. Others create cleavages between you and the source of your vision. It is not strange that they have their followers among human beings who do the same things, following the examples of their bosses.
The dark angels work through their agents if they see that they cannot deceive you themselves. Sometimes it is easier to know them than to know their human agents, who have graduated from the ‘school’ of the art of deception and who usually approach you as a friend, helper, etc.
Real angels are not involved in your personality problems. They are not interested in your past but in the Hierarchy, Shamballa, and the glorious Plan.
Just as there are angels who preside over families, cities, and nations, there are also dark ones who try to establish their own stations to hinder the labor of the real angels. Such dark ones can establish their headquarters in locations where there are whorehouses, gambling places, groups which are separative and criminal, nightclubs where alcohol is used, or places where drugs are used. Through the substance of people present in such places, dark ones come and anchor themselves in cities and towns, and from that date on, crime, sickness, and insanity increases there.
On the other hand, angels inspire Beauty, Goodness, Righteousness, Joy, Freedom, tolerance, gratitude, and striving. They strengthen their positions in a nation, city, or town when a certain amount of people dedicate their lives to the Common Good and the service of humanity. Thus there can be a close interrelation between angels and men if people transform their lives and work for the upliftment of humanity, for the cleaning of pollution, and for progressive achievements toward the Hierarchy of Light.
-Torkom Saraydarian
Angels and Devas
There are many signs by which you can recognize such imposters. Some of them praise you and feed your vanity. Some of them speak about your past lives. Some reveal the secrets of other people. Others advise you to take certain actions to satisfy your desires. Others tell you that you are a Messiah, a Christ, a prophet, to satisfy your desires. Still others try to dominate your will and give you orders. Others stimulate your sexual center or inspire hatred and revenge in your heart. Others create cleavages between you and the source of your vision. It is not strange that they have their followers among human beings who do the same things, following the examples of their bosses.
The dark angels work through their agents if they see that they cannot deceive you themselves. Sometimes it is easier to know them than to know their human agents, who have graduated from the ‘school’ of the art of deception and who usually approach you as a friend, helper, etc.
Real angels are not involved in your personality problems. They are not interested in your past but in the Hierarchy, Shamballa, and the glorious Plan.
Just as there are angels who preside over families, cities, and nations, there are also dark ones who try to establish their own stations to hinder the labor of the real angels. Such dark ones can establish their headquarters in locations where there are whorehouses, gambling places, groups which are separative and criminal, nightclubs where alcohol is used, or places where drugs are used. Through the substance of people present in such places, dark ones come and anchor themselves in cities and towns, and from that date on, crime, sickness, and insanity increases there.
On the other hand, angels inspire Beauty, Goodness, Righteousness, Joy, Freedom, tolerance, gratitude, and striving. They strengthen their positions in a nation, city, or town when a certain amount of people dedicate their lives to the Common Good and the service of humanity. Thus there can be a close interrelation between angels and men if people transform their lives and work for the upliftment of humanity, for the cleaning of pollution, and for progressive achievements toward the Hierarchy of Light.
-Torkom Saraydarian
Angels and Devas
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
Buddha - Let us be thankful
Let us rise up and be thankful,
for if we didn't learn a lot today,
at least we learned a little,
and if we didn't learn a little,
at least we didn't get sick,
and if we got sick,
at least we didn't die;
so, let us be thankful.
-The Buddha
for if we didn't learn a lot today,
at least we learned a little,
and if we didn't learn a little,
at least we didn't get sick,
and if we got sick,
at least we didn't die;
so, let us be thankful.
-The Buddha
Pay attention to how you begin your day
It is important to pay attention to how you begin your day. So many people get out of bed moaning and groaning! It should come as no surprise to them, then, if the entire day continues to unfold on the same note. And when they go to bed at night they are unable to sleep: they toss and turn, put the light on and off and finally take sedatives. Why don't they prepare themselves for sleep before they go to bed? The end of the day, like the beginning, is a sacred moment, because it is the beginning of another activity: sleep.
Disciples know how they must begin their day, if it is to be fruitful and filled with God's grace and if they want to distribute this grace to the creatures around them. They also know how to prepare for sleep, by asking to go to the invisible world where they can be instructed and work for others. In every act, in every undertaking, the beginning is the most important moment.
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
Disciples know how they must begin their day, if it is to be fruitful and filled with God's grace and if they want to distribute this grace to the creatures around them. They also know how to prepare for sleep, by asking to go to the invisible world where they can be instructed and work for others. In every act, in every undertaking, the beginning is the most important moment.
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
"Flickering lights"
"Flickering lights" are those people whose main interests are anchored in the lower planes but who occasionally have flights to higher planes. If you speak to them when they are momentarily resting on the higher levels, you will think that that is their natural level of beingness or consciousness. In this way, you trust secrets and advancing teaching to them, and when they come down to their natural habitat, they use your treasures as nourishment for their vices or as weapons to fight against you. Most enemies of Christ were "flickering lights."
-Torkom Saraydarian
Psyche and Psychism
-Torkom Saraydarian
Psyche and Psychism
Art: recording celestial realities
For the most part, contemporary artists no longer seek inspiration in the higher realms of consciousness. They amuse themselves by manipulating words, sounds, colours and forms and by creating all kinds of combinations. Because they demonstrate a great deal of imagination and originality, people look and listen, but they do not feel transported. And yet some of these artists even claim to be mystics. Well, no, they have no real spiritual criteria.
Those of you with an artistic vocation must be very clear about one thing: before you create, you must strive to rise within yourself into the purity and light, in order to 'photograph' or 'record' celestial realities. Only by doing so will you bring to earth reflections of the harmony and intelligence of the world above.
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
Those of you with an artistic vocation must be very clear about one thing: before you create, you must strive to rise within yourself into the purity and light, in order to 'photograph' or 'record' celestial realities. Only by doing so will you bring to earth reflections of the harmony and intelligence of the world above.
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
Saturday, June 06, 2009
What do angels hate? - Torkom Saraydarian
Angels hate the pollution of the earth, water, air, and Space. Any protection of the environment gives them extreme joy. They do not want people to destroy forests, flowers, or bushes because these are their own creative work which they offer to living forms for their survival and enjoyment. It is through forests, trees, bushes, and flowers that the energy and influence of the angels reach human beings, heal their wounds and impart to their hearts new visions of a better future.
Angels hate for the water to be polluted. Water elementals are the essence of the water. Pollution makes them withdraw, and the water loses its healing and refreshing essence. When water is polluted, it affects the soil, vegetation, and even the air.
Angels do not want wars, disunity, or cleavages between nations, between families, and within families. Any cleavage creates disturbances in the angelic worlds. Unity and harmony give them delight.
Angels hate the pollution of the air. They cannot easily help humanity if people are living in pollution. When devas withdraw from a certain location because of earth, water and air pollution, crime increases there. People lose their source of guidance and inspiration and live an anti-evolutionary life. They fall into vices and slowly lose their sense of values and their sense of direction. They waste their time, energy, bodies, and money, and gladly face the path of degeneration and insanity.
Angels hate the pollution of Space. Through wrong and criminal thoughts, hatred, and bloodshed, people pollute the Space and prevent the currents of light, love, and direction from reaching them.
Angels do not like to be close to those people whose secretions are malodorous and poisonous. Such a condition occurs in people because of their conflicting emotions, guilt feelings, hatred, malice, slander, and treason. Purity of the aura attracts them.
Bedrooms that have various odors repel them. This is why Oriental Sages advise sleeping in the open air if one is not in danger of various pollutions. Sleeping in mountains, deserts, forests, or near the shores of lakes or rivers gives an opportunity to higher beings to come closer to you. Bedrooms must be simple and almost vacant, away from odors, decaying materials, and mechanical noises.
Angels are repelled by places where sewage flows or stagnant water, dead animals, blood, urine, or waste materials exist. They like well-ventilated rooms, where odors and different smells do not exist. They do not like the smell of meat or barbecues. They do not like the smell of burned food. They are also repelled by irritation, anger, and violent emotions. Once when I was angry and irritated, my grandmother said to me, “Do not disturb your invisible friends”.
…
Communication with Higher Worlds gradually becomes more difficult as the moral pollution accumulates. Like a fog around the earth, it hinders the communication between the two worlds and affects humanity in general to such a degree that eventually clearing this moral fog becomes impossible. This leads humanity toward suicide or total destruction.
Just as angels hate the pollution of the earth, water, air, and Space and withdraw further into Space, a similar thing happens in a person when he pollutes his physical body with alcohol, drugs, unhealthy sexual practices, etc; when he pollutes his emotional body through hatred, fear, anger, greed, jealousy, revenge; and when he pollutes his mental body with vanity, prejudices, separatism, pride, and ego. In such conditions, the Inner Guardian withdraws and darkness descends on the path of the person.
Angels love calmness, serenity, gentleness, poise, solemnity, and grace. Whenever they see such qualities in someone, they are attracted to him and pass to him their joy, blessings, and protection.
Some people have angelic elements in their speech, actions and expressions. Beyond what they are, they have something which cannot be put into words: they have an angelic element which is magnetic, graceful, inspiring, and strengthening. Some people are surrounded by a group of angels, and the presence of such people brings joy, solemnity, understanding, gratitude and ecstasy.
Angels affect people through their presence, even if they do not talk. Their invisible influence spreads like a fragrance. Psychic energy is also transmitted by angels. They are powerful transmitters or even sources of psychic energy. When a person is charged with psychic energy, he turns into a source of creative, healing and enlightening energy.
Angels especially help those who teach the pure Teaching of the Hierarchy to increase Beauty, Goodness, Righteousness, Joy, and Freedom in the world. They stand beside such people and strengthen their aura with their angelic emanations. They protect them from dark attacks. They remind them of special events or points in their memory. They can even connect them to higher spheres for greater inspiration and ideas or for energy.
Sometimes a group of angels performs various duties. For example, during a lecture, some angels regenerate the memory. Some of them impart ideas. Some of them charge the words of the lecturer with their own energies. They purify the space over the audience. They insulate the mental lines of certain people who are connected with dark forces. Some of them impart joy, enthusiasm, and the spirit of unity. Thus they uplift the whole audience.
Certain angels serve as connecting links between the lecturer and his Master, or between the mind and the Intuitional Plane of the lecturer. On rare occasions, it is even experienced that they urge the Solar Angel of the lecturer to take control and speak through the lecturer himself instead of through his soul.
…
Angels sometimes even protect holy places or certain houses by standing guard at the door or windows and directing enemies to different paths. In certain cases, they provide money, food, paper, and books. They make you discover lost objects and find people whose addresses were unknown.
People have created ways and means to control angels and use them for their own personal ends. The real Teaching is against such actions. You must provide the right conditions for the angels to help, since they are there to help you.
Angels love the beauty of gardens, flowers, natural colors, music, and fragrance. Music is very important to them. They like to enjoy music or paintings that carry a spiritual charge from the artist. If the artwork is created from a high spiritual level and by a person who is charged with lofty ideas and visions, the music or painting carries a great power for them, a great nourishment and joy. They dwell in those areas where great music and art in various forms are created or performed.
Angels especially love the fragrance of rose, musk, freesias, violets, amber and frankincense. They love the natural fragrance emanating from a person full of joy and ecstasy.
Devas and angels love fountains, waterfalls, rocks, and precious stones. They love beeswax candles, flames, and incense, especially sandalwood and rose. They love live flowers and little plants in your home, especially little pine trees. They love melodious music, paintings, statues built by great artists, and Oriental and Indian carpets.
Noise is very repelling to angels, especially the noise of machinery. They also hate the noise rising from a group or a crowd of people where everyone is talking with everyone else. In ancient times Teachers told us that when people gather together they are allowed to do the following things:
1. Keep silence
2. Meditate
3 Sing together
4. Listen to a lecture or music
5. Pray together in unison
Angels do not like applause. Applause shatters their vehicles and the sphere of electricity which they build over the audience if the audience is in ecstasy and united in the spirit of the lecture or other performance. Very soon applause will be outmoded when a certain number of persons realize the damage done by it.
Angels abhor treason, gossip, malice, and slander. They especially do not forgive a person who denies the Hierarchy or speaks blasphemous words against Great Ones. In such cases, they leave the person to face his dark destiny alone.
-Torkom Saraydarian
Angels and Devas
Angels hate for the water to be polluted. Water elementals are the essence of the water. Pollution makes them withdraw, and the water loses its healing and refreshing essence. When water is polluted, it affects the soil, vegetation, and even the air.
Angels do not want wars, disunity, or cleavages between nations, between families, and within families. Any cleavage creates disturbances in the angelic worlds. Unity and harmony give them delight.
Angels hate the pollution of the air. They cannot easily help humanity if people are living in pollution. When devas withdraw from a certain location because of earth, water and air pollution, crime increases there. People lose their source of guidance and inspiration and live an anti-evolutionary life. They fall into vices and slowly lose their sense of values and their sense of direction. They waste their time, energy, bodies, and money, and gladly face the path of degeneration and insanity.
Angels hate the pollution of Space. Through wrong and criminal thoughts, hatred, and bloodshed, people pollute the Space and prevent the currents of light, love, and direction from reaching them.
Angels do not like to be close to those people whose secretions are malodorous and poisonous. Such a condition occurs in people because of their conflicting emotions, guilt feelings, hatred, malice, slander, and treason. Purity of the aura attracts them.
Bedrooms that have various odors repel them. This is why Oriental Sages advise sleeping in the open air if one is not in danger of various pollutions. Sleeping in mountains, deserts, forests, or near the shores of lakes or rivers gives an opportunity to higher beings to come closer to you. Bedrooms must be simple and almost vacant, away from odors, decaying materials, and mechanical noises.
Angels are repelled by places where sewage flows or stagnant water, dead animals, blood, urine, or waste materials exist. They like well-ventilated rooms, where odors and different smells do not exist. They do not like the smell of meat or barbecues. They do not like the smell of burned food. They are also repelled by irritation, anger, and violent emotions. Once when I was angry and irritated, my grandmother said to me, “Do not disturb your invisible friends”.
…
Communication with Higher Worlds gradually becomes more difficult as the moral pollution accumulates. Like a fog around the earth, it hinders the communication between the two worlds and affects humanity in general to such a degree that eventually clearing this moral fog becomes impossible. This leads humanity toward suicide or total destruction.
Just as angels hate the pollution of the earth, water, air, and Space and withdraw further into Space, a similar thing happens in a person when he pollutes his physical body with alcohol, drugs, unhealthy sexual practices, etc; when he pollutes his emotional body through hatred, fear, anger, greed, jealousy, revenge; and when he pollutes his mental body with vanity, prejudices, separatism, pride, and ego. In such conditions, the Inner Guardian withdraws and darkness descends on the path of the person.
Angels love calmness, serenity, gentleness, poise, solemnity, and grace. Whenever they see such qualities in someone, they are attracted to him and pass to him their joy, blessings, and protection.
Some people have angelic elements in their speech, actions and expressions. Beyond what they are, they have something which cannot be put into words: they have an angelic element which is magnetic, graceful, inspiring, and strengthening. Some people are surrounded by a group of angels, and the presence of such people brings joy, solemnity, understanding, gratitude and ecstasy.
Angels affect people through their presence, even if they do not talk. Their invisible influence spreads like a fragrance. Psychic energy is also transmitted by angels. They are powerful transmitters or even sources of psychic energy. When a person is charged with psychic energy, he turns into a source of creative, healing and enlightening energy.
Angels especially help those who teach the pure Teaching of the Hierarchy to increase Beauty, Goodness, Righteousness, Joy, and Freedom in the world. They stand beside such people and strengthen their aura with their angelic emanations. They protect them from dark attacks. They remind them of special events or points in their memory. They can even connect them to higher spheres for greater inspiration and ideas or for energy.
Sometimes a group of angels performs various duties. For example, during a lecture, some angels regenerate the memory. Some of them impart ideas. Some of them charge the words of the lecturer with their own energies. They purify the space over the audience. They insulate the mental lines of certain people who are connected with dark forces. Some of them impart joy, enthusiasm, and the spirit of unity. Thus they uplift the whole audience.
Certain angels serve as connecting links between the lecturer and his Master, or between the mind and the Intuitional Plane of the lecturer. On rare occasions, it is even experienced that they urge the Solar Angel of the lecturer to take control and speak through the lecturer himself instead of through his soul.
…
Angels sometimes even protect holy places or certain houses by standing guard at the door or windows and directing enemies to different paths. In certain cases, they provide money, food, paper, and books. They make you discover lost objects and find people whose addresses were unknown.
People have created ways and means to control angels and use them for their own personal ends. The real Teaching is against such actions. You must provide the right conditions for the angels to help, since they are there to help you.
Angels love the beauty of gardens, flowers, natural colors, music, and fragrance. Music is very important to them. They like to enjoy music or paintings that carry a spiritual charge from the artist. If the artwork is created from a high spiritual level and by a person who is charged with lofty ideas and visions, the music or painting carries a great power for them, a great nourishment and joy. They dwell in those areas where great music and art in various forms are created or performed.
Angels especially love the fragrance of rose, musk, freesias, violets, amber and frankincense. They love the natural fragrance emanating from a person full of joy and ecstasy.
Devas and angels love fountains, waterfalls, rocks, and precious stones. They love beeswax candles, flames, and incense, especially sandalwood and rose. They love live flowers and little plants in your home, especially little pine trees. They love melodious music, paintings, statues built by great artists, and Oriental and Indian carpets.
Noise is very repelling to angels, especially the noise of machinery. They also hate the noise rising from a group or a crowd of people where everyone is talking with everyone else. In ancient times Teachers told us that when people gather together they are allowed to do the following things:
1. Keep silence
2. Meditate
3 Sing together
4. Listen to a lecture or music
5. Pray together in unison
Angels do not like applause. Applause shatters their vehicles and the sphere of electricity which they build over the audience if the audience is in ecstasy and united in the spirit of the lecture or other performance. Very soon applause will be outmoded when a certain number of persons realize the damage done by it.
Angels abhor treason, gossip, malice, and slander. They especially do not forgive a person who denies the Hierarchy or speaks blasphemous words against Great Ones. In such cases, they leave the person to face his dark destiny alone.
-Torkom Saraydarian
Angels and Devas
Concealed memory - not remembering past lives
Supermundane III, 643. Urusvati knows the necessity for a sealed memory. Many ask why it is necessary for the memory to be sealed. But they cannot imagine the horrors they would endure if humanity could continually remember past lives. A cacophonous choir would emerge, and with such a choir no progress would be possible. It is a wise law that sifts out all that is unfit for perfectment.
Inexperienced people imagine that having a knowledge of their past lives would permit them to better succeed on their path, but in reality only few would know how to properly make use of such memories. Actually, these memories are not lost, but are stored as living accumulations in the Chalice, and sometimes the Voice of the Silence reminds one of the need to draw forth and make use of an old experience. The law of concealed memory is a blessing.
Could anyone now, in this technical age, immerse himself into the mentality of times long past? This would only encumber the path. One can study the culture of antiquity, one can understand the ways in which old problems were resolved, but one cannot climb back into the skin of one's forefathers! And such an attempt would be altogether unnecessary. This is an age of astonishing discoveries, and man must adapt himself not to conditions of the past, but to the future, so as to apply his psychic energy sensibly.
The Thinker predicted, "There will come a time when people will be able to fly, and will strive toward the far-off worlds."
-Agni Yoga
Inexperienced people imagine that having a knowledge of their past lives would permit them to better succeed on their path, but in reality only few would know how to properly make use of such memories. Actually, these memories are not lost, but are stored as living accumulations in the Chalice, and sometimes the Voice of the Silence reminds one of the need to draw forth and make use of an old experience. The law of concealed memory is a blessing.
Could anyone now, in this technical age, immerse himself into the mentality of times long past? This would only encumber the path. One can study the culture of antiquity, one can understand the ways in which old problems were resolved, but one cannot climb back into the skin of one's forefathers! And such an attempt would be altogether unnecessary. This is an age of astonishing discoveries, and man must adapt himself not to conditions of the past, but to the future, so as to apply his psychic energy sensibly.
The Thinker predicted, "There will come a time when people will be able to fly, and will strive toward the far-off worlds."
-Agni Yoga
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
Our identity is a great mystery
One day I received a visit from a young man who had recently become engaged. He had difficulty in expressing what he was feeling but finally said: 'When I gaze into my fiancee's eyes, I don't really know who I'm looking at, and I don't know who in me is looking at her, either.' And it is true; our identity is a great mystery. Who are these entities who live in us and who live in our family members, friends and acquaintances as well? It is impossible to know exactly who it is we have before us.
So, I said to this young man: 'Your fiance is inhabited by entities who give her the qualities you love in her. Ask God to keep these entities from leaving her and leaving you, for if this happens you will lose your love. And pray as well that the entities who inhabit you and make her love you do not leave you.' I sensed he was listening to me very attentively, and he left in a very thoughtful mood.
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
So, I said to this young man: 'Your fiance is inhabited by entities who give her the qualities you love in her. Ask God to keep these entities from leaving her and leaving you, for if this happens you will lose your love. And pray as well that the entities who inhabit you and make her love you do not leave you.' I sensed he was listening to me very attentively, and he left in a very thoughtful mood.
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
Spiritual conversations
Heart 21. Advise conversations about the spiritual. One may observe much that is useful in spiritual recollections. In addition, a spiritual conversation safeguards one from the mire and from irritation. The affirmation of spiritual manifestations will lessen the hatred of the Invisible World. Where spiritual conversations are often held, a special aura is accumulated. Those conversations, even though they be imperfect, proclaim themselves as touchstones to those present.
Different peoples bring their understanding of the principles of spirituality. By this one can judge the fitness of hearts. Moreover, avoid arguments about that which is undeniable. Recently I wondered at the dissension between the followers of Joan of Arc, Sergius, and Moses. Each proclaimed that his Protector did not agree with the other. Whereas, knowing the truth it was sad to hear these inventions, composed for discord. Even if there is no unity, at least let there be no butting of foreheads, because horns will grow!
Now imagine, if those who know Truth were to be harmonious and unite their thoughts, what a power would come into being here on Earth, in spite of all the pressure of the atmosphere! He who triumphs in spirit is already Ours!
-Agni Yoga
Different peoples bring their understanding of the principles of spirituality. By this one can judge the fitness of hearts. Moreover, avoid arguments about that which is undeniable. Recently I wondered at the dissension between the followers of Joan of Arc, Sergius, and Moses. Each proclaimed that his Protector did not agree with the other. Whereas, knowing the truth it was sad to hear these inventions, composed for discord. Even if there is no unity, at least let there be no butting of foreheads, because horns will grow!
Now imagine, if those who know Truth were to be harmonious and unite their thoughts, what a power would come into being here on Earth, in spite of all the pressure of the atmosphere! He who triumphs in spirit is already Ours!
-Agni Yoga
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)