How many people complain: 'I seek the light. I pray every day, but God does not hear me. I have so many problems, I am unhappy and sick, and my life has no meaning.' Whose fault is that? If you are struggling with so many problems, it means you have attracted them. 'But this is not what I wanted, I did not know.' Whether you knew or not, you have transgressed laws and are now suffering the consequences.
Ignorance is never an excuse. If you do not respect the rules of the road, the police arrive and give you a ticket, and it is useless to say: 'But, Officer, I did not know.' He calmly continues to write the ticket and does not want to hear whether you knew or not because, as far as he is concerned, it is your duty to know. From now on, therefore, try to bring your behaviour into greater harmony with your spiritual aspirations. Since you no longer have the excuse of not knowing, when you fail to do so you will be doubly guilty and will suffer.
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
On abortion - Helena Roerich
Letters Of Helena Roerich I, 19 June 1933. And now let us turn to the subject of abortion. To deal with this problem now is quite timely. There appear currently the most disgusting articles about it and some of them are written with the approval of the clergy. On this subject I shall quote some paragraphs from the Teaching:
"The spirit is connected with the embryo at the moment of conception. It begins to enter in the beginning of the fourth month when the first nerve and brain channels are being formed. The formation of the vertebral column brings in the next degree of possession of the body. Wonderful is the moment of birth, when the consciousness of the spirit flashes up brightly and then blends with matter. There are even cases when words are pronounced at birth. The final possession of the body takes place at the seventh year of a child's life." It is also said, "Even as hunger directs toward food, so the spirit is directed toward incarnation, as only matter can give the new impulses."
Therefore, it is not hard to imagine how much suffering the spirit that is ready to incarnate endures from the forced interruption of life already begun, or from the averting of an incarnation even planned by karma. What a difficult karma the ignorant and criminal parents prepare for themselves!
Letters Of Helena Roerich I, 17 April 1934. 3. You mentioned a most painful problem of today's life-the question of the legality of abortion. Of course, there are no two opinions on this subject: abortion is most definitely murder. Therefore, only in cases where the mother's life is in danger should it take place. But it is wrong to think that a woman who is guilty of abortion always attracts low spirits. The karma of the whole family should be taken into consideration. Often we can notice that in a family where one of the children is worthless the other children are not bad. Karma ties groups of people for long, long thousands of years. And often, even a high spirit has not unimpeachable, irreproachable parents. And it is significant that the dark forces are especially against the reincarnation of highly developed spirits, and they try their best to prevent the reincarnations that are dangerous for them. And, once more, it is not the purgatory of the Subtle World that prevents spirits from reincarnating, but only the crime of the parents. There is not a more powerful purgatory than the earthly life, if all the potentialities of the individuality are intensified. It is said in the Teaching, "As the one who hungers longs for food, even so, the spirit that is ready to incarnate longs for the new incarnation." Therefore, one can imagine what suffering the spirit undergoes by reason of artificial prevention. The spirit is connected with the embryo at the moment of conception, and gradually enters the body in the fourth month when the nerve and brain channels are being formed. Therefore, abortion is permissible only in exceptional cases.
Letters Of Helena Roerich I, 17 April 1934. 4. Of course, woman should not only be a giver of physical life; she has her other high duties. And for that purpose there is the most natural abstinence, which can easily be practised and the increase of the family thus regulated. This is quite possible when high interests occupy the head and the heart. Of course, I expect plenty of opposition; still, I insist on it. No doubt, in the present state of the family it is quite difficult, but already there are such families and they will increase in the future. In remote antiquity, people knew how to regulate their families by the phases of the moon. Later on this was considered black magic, but nowadays even such measures would be better than the dreadful abortions that cripple women and therefore the coming generations.
Letters Of Helena Roerich I, 17 April 1934. 7. Certainly, I approve of the fight against abortion, but how will you fight this evil? There are no laws which can either preserve or forbid anything. That is why I, personally, think that first of all you must battle by uplifting the level of consciousness of the growing generations, directing it toward the right comprehension of the human cosmic mission in general and that of motherhood in particular. Thoughts should be directed toward creative work and broad problems of the General Good on a cosmic scale. It is important to establish the world's scale. Again, we return to the same fundamental question: upbringing and education. As the Great Mind expressed it, "The source of all suffering is ignorance," which is so true; and the history of humanity, with all its dark pages of persecution of the best representatives of knowledge, proves it.
"The spirit is connected with the embryo at the moment of conception. It begins to enter in the beginning of the fourth month when the first nerve and brain channels are being formed. The formation of the vertebral column brings in the next degree of possession of the body. Wonderful is the moment of birth, when the consciousness of the spirit flashes up brightly and then blends with matter. There are even cases when words are pronounced at birth. The final possession of the body takes place at the seventh year of a child's life." It is also said, "Even as hunger directs toward food, so the spirit is directed toward incarnation, as only matter can give the new impulses."
Therefore, it is not hard to imagine how much suffering the spirit that is ready to incarnate endures from the forced interruption of life already begun, or from the averting of an incarnation even planned by karma. What a difficult karma the ignorant and criminal parents prepare for themselves!
Letters Of Helena Roerich I, 17 April 1934. 3. You mentioned a most painful problem of today's life-the question of the legality of abortion. Of course, there are no two opinions on this subject: abortion is most definitely murder. Therefore, only in cases where the mother's life is in danger should it take place. But it is wrong to think that a woman who is guilty of abortion always attracts low spirits. The karma of the whole family should be taken into consideration. Often we can notice that in a family where one of the children is worthless the other children are not bad. Karma ties groups of people for long, long thousands of years. And often, even a high spirit has not unimpeachable, irreproachable parents. And it is significant that the dark forces are especially against the reincarnation of highly developed spirits, and they try their best to prevent the reincarnations that are dangerous for them. And, once more, it is not the purgatory of the Subtle World that prevents spirits from reincarnating, but only the crime of the parents. There is not a more powerful purgatory than the earthly life, if all the potentialities of the individuality are intensified. It is said in the Teaching, "As the one who hungers longs for food, even so, the spirit that is ready to incarnate longs for the new incarnation." Therefore, one can imagine what suffering the spirit undergoes by reason of artificial prevention. The spirit is connected with the embryo at the moment of conception, and gradually enters the body in the fourth month when the nerve and brain channels are being formed. Therefore, abortion is permissible only in exceptional cases.
Letters Of Helena Roerich I, 17 April 1934. 4. Of course, woman should not only be a giver of physical life; she has her other high duties. And for that purpose there is the most natural abstinence, which can easily be practised and the increase of the family thus regulated. This is quite possible when high interests occupy the head and the heart. Of course, I expect plenty of opposition; still, I insist on it. No doubt, in the present state of the family it is quite difficult, but already there are such families and they will increase in the future. In remote antiquity, people knew how to regulate their families by the phases of the moon. Later on this was considered black magic, but nowadays even such measures would be better than the dreadful abortions that cripple women and therefore the coming generations.
Letters Of Helena Roerich I, 17 April 1934. 7. Certainly, I approve of the fight against abortion, but how will you fight this evil? There are no laws which can either preserve or forbid anything. That is why I, personally, think that first of all you must battle by uplifting the level of consciousness of the growing generations, directing it toward the right comprehension of the human cosmic mission in general and that of motherhood in particular. Thoughts should be directed toward creative work and broad problems of the General Good on a cosmic scale. It is important to establish the world's scale. Again, we return to the same fundamental question: upbringing and education. As the Great Mind expressed it, "The source of all suffering is ignorance," which is so true; and the history of humanity, with all its dark pages of persecution of the best representatives of knowledge, proves it.
Psychic 'insects'
"By observing insects we can make very interesting discoveries about our psychic life. For example: if we leave a little food on a table, right away insects such as flies, ants and wasps appear. By what intuition or power of divination are they able to detect from afar the presence of these crumbs? And if we clean them up, the insects leave.
Well, the same law applies to the psychic realm. Here, too, all sorts of 'insects' sense from afar the impurities that human beings accumulate in themselves, and they come to feed off them. Everywhere, in all realms, everything is food for something else. Dark and evil creatures need to eat, as do luminous and divine beings. Therefore, beware of the entities which your thoughts and feelings attract to you!"
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
Well, the same law applies to the psychic realm. Here, too, all sorts of 'insects' sense from afar the impurities that human beings accumulate in themselves, and they come to feed off them. Everywhere, in all realms, everything is food for something else. Dark and evil creatures need to eat, as do luminous and divine beings. Therefore, beware of the entities which your thoughts and feelings attract to you!"
-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
Birthdays and continuity of consciousness
Torkom Saraydarian from birthdays from Other Worlds, chapter 46 - Birthdays:
"...The birth process and the process of death are much easier for those individuals who have continuity of consciousness because, for them, life is a continuum and they remain in constant contact with higher levels and with advanced souls..."
"...We must try to build this consciousness if we want to escape the tragedy of losing consciousness at birth and at death...To overcome this kind of tragedy, you need to learn meditation..."
"...The birth process and the process of death are much easier for those individuals who have continuity of consciousness because, for them, life is a continuum and they remain in constant contact with higher levels and with advanced souls..."
"...We must try to build this consciousness if we want to escape the tragedy of losing consciousness at birth and at death...To overcome this kind of tragedy, you need to learn meditation..."
Pleasure puts you to sleep and pain wakes you up
Once you have grasped the truth that the world is full of suffering, that to be born is a calamity, you will find the urge and the energy to go beyond. Pleasure puts you to sleep and pain wakes you up. If you do not want to suffer, don't go to sleep. You cannot know yourself through bliss alone, for bliss is your very nature. You must face the opposite, what you are not, to find enlightenment.
-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
Karma and reincarnation
Karma is not punishment for ill-deeds but a supreme way for nature to heal wounds created by our actions. 'Reincarnation' is the belief that the human soul is eternal and lives on its journey to return to its Divine Source.
Sometimes karma works in the following way. Suppose you went close to a porcupine and he projected ten needles into your body. Karma is like taking them out of your body, οne by one, αnd releasing you from the pain that afflicts you.
'Karma is the Law of Cause and Effect. There is no effect without a cause; there is no child without a parent. Whatever you sow, you reap. This applies not only to that which we see around us, but it also applies to our emotions, thoughts, actions and words. Whatever cause we create, we will receive effects. If there is an effect, there must be a cause; if there is a cause, there will be an effect.'
'For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction in the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual realms. How conscious are we going to be? What actions are we going to release and what reactions can we expect in return?'
-Torkom Saraydarian
Sometimes karma works in the following way. Suppose you went close to a porcupine and he projected ten needles into your body. Karma is like taking them out of your body, οne by one, αnd releasing you from the pain that afflicts you.
'Karma is the Law of Cause and Effect. There is no effect without a cause; there is no child without a parent. Whatever you sow, you reap. This applies not only to that which we see around us, but it also applies to our emotions, thoughts, actions and words. Whatever cause we create, we will receive effects. If there is an effect, there must be a cause; if there is a cause, there will be an effect.'
'For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction in the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual realms. How conscious are we going to be? What actions are we going to release and what reactions can we expect in return?'
-Torkom Saraydarian
Reversing Karma
People wonder why they were born in a certain family, why they became members of a particular group or organization, why they were born in a certain nation. They wonder why they feel that they stand alone no matter where they are and do not feel any affiliation with anybody, any group, any nation.
Two kinds of karma bring people together:
1. Karma which is built by harmful actions toward each other
2. Karma which is built through service and cooperation
Groups can be the result of these two kinds of karma.
Harmful action can be divided into many parts:
1. Physical harm
2. Emotional harm
3. Mental harm
4. Actions that prevent the spiritual progress of others
These kinds of activities pull people together to work out their karma — to pay or receive the bills or checks for their past deeds.
Karma as a result of service or cooperative action for good can also be divided into categories:
1. Service related to the physical plane
2. Service related to the emotional field
3. Service related to the spiritual needs of people
4. Cooperative work to enlighten, to protect, to lead people
Such actions create a very powerful personality or spiritual ties between people, and life after life it brings them together in group formation to render greater service for humanity and the Divine Plan.
Another factor which brings people together is devotion directed to the same Teacher or to the same Teaching. This creates very strong ties between people, and for centuries and many incarnations this tie continues with advancing mutual benefit. For example, those who are in Ashrams for a long time followed the same Teacher, the same principles, or the same Teaching.
Karma formed by hatred, crime, and harmful actions brings many parties together. Usually people do to others as others did to them. We can see this in families, groups, and nations. Wars and conflicts among nations originate from past causes. And sometimes on battlefields the cause is dissolved if the nations are led by Sages to reverse the karma.
The reversing of karma is a very interesting fact. Christ gave the clue to this when He said, “Pray for those who do harm to you.” Buddha said something similar: “Hatred cannot be dissolved by hatred, but hatred can be dissolved by love.” These can work in group, family, and individual cases too. Because of the wisdom gained from the Teaching, people do not exercise “an eye for an eye” method but use love, understanding, and power so as not to allow the formation of similar karma.
Karma created by service and cooperation creates those groups who are born together, life after life, in order to bring enlightenment and beauty to humanity all over the world.
Often they act in groups in one location. Sometimes they are scattered all over the world as individuals and groups. In the seven fields of human endeavor you see the result of their united cooperative labor. It is such individuals and groups that lead humanity from chaos to beauty.
As people advance in service and cooperation, they go closer to the source of their light, their Ashrams. Gradually, because of their service and cooperation, they build a karma that leads them directly into Ashrams and into the ashramic activities. It is at this stage that they turn into sources of inspiration and impressions for those who are engaged in building karma through service and cooperation.
The greatest victory of our life is to be a part of a group that serves the highest good of all humanity.
Karma not only creates positive or negative groupings but also creates those conditions in which certain people feel aloof, detached, indifferent, within or outside of any group. The Teaching says that these people lived in the past only for themselves without trying to help or harm others, and karma gave them what they wanted.
Does such a condition continue indefinitely? The Teaching says that it can, and it cannot. It can if the individual continuously isolates himself and forms a tumor in the body of humanity. On judgment day he is operated on and thrown into the forces of chaos. It cannot because the pain and the pressure of aloneness reach such a degree that he eventually relates himself to people through harmful actions or through cooperation.
The same law works in astral and mental worlds. People are divided into these three camps. In the higher mental world all groups are engaged in cooperative work. In the lower mental plane there are divisions because parties do not yet see the causes of their differences.
In the higher astral plane there are groups for pleasures, ecstasy, and love. In the lower astral planes there are oppositions.
Lonely people often are seen in etheric planes. Aloofness creates an energy field around them which repels the attraction of higher realms. Their ego and vanity build a wall around them,and this wall becomes the cause of their future suffering and their breakthrough.
Usually these lonely people who make a breakthrough go directly to higher levels of the mental plane if they accumulated much knowledge and wisdom to be used for the common good of humanity.
People think that karma can be changed only if the bill is paid. This sounds right, but the payment of a bill can take many forms. For example, you killed me in one of my lives. We meet again in another life to get even — which means I have an innate urge to kill you. But instead, I kill within you the urge, the tendency, to commit crimes. I enlighten you and annihilate your obessession or possession — thus gaining great merit.
There is no higher action than the action that reverses karma. That is why Christ said, “Love your enemies.” But these words are mistranslated. To have an enemy means to reverse the karma by enlightening your enemy, by cultivating in him greater virtues, and eventually bringing his consciousness to the level where he will pay his own karma by heroic sacrifices for you to fulfill the Law of Righteousness. The greatest friendship is built between people who reversed their karma. Their friendship will never end.
Do good for others that do evil to you. All progress and merit are gained by our actions, on all levels, by our good karma. All our suffering and pain, failures and defeats came upon us as the result of our past bad karma.
One day in a study group our Teacher addressed the students, “All your knowledge, information, positions, possessions, and your certificates will not benefit you if you do not have the power of discrimination between what is good for your future and what is bad for your future. It is this distinction that will enable you to be aware and alert every minute of your life to choose the path of the good: — the good for you — the good for others — the good for all sentient beings “It is this discrimination and choice of good that will decide the level you achieved on the path of your evolution. Once the path of good is chosen, all your virtues and achievements will cooperate with you to lead you to the highest bliss.
“But if you choose the wrong path, all your education and knowledge and positions will not help to bring you back into light and into the path of joy and bliss.”
Then he spoke about how we must develop discrimination in all that we do, say, feel, and think.
The first thing we must learn and teach is karma. Once we learn about it we must choose the action that liberates us, expands our consciousness, and opens an unlimited contact with the Universe.
-From Karma and Reincarnation by Torkom Saraydarian.
Two kinds of karma bring people together:
1. Karma which is built by harmful actions toward each other
2. Karma which is built through service and cooperation
Groups can be the result of these two kinds of karma.
Harmful action can be divided into many parts:
1. Physical harm
2. Emotional harm
3. Mental harm
4. Actions that prevent the spiritual progress of others
These kinds of activities pull people together to work out their karma — to pay or receive the bills or checks for their past deeds.
Karma as a result of service or cooperative action for good can also be divided into categories:
1. Service related to the physical plane
2. Service related to the emotional field
3. Service related to the spiritual needs of people
4. Cooperative work to enlighten, to protect, to lead people
Such actions create a very powerful personality or spiritual ties between people, and life after life it brings them together in group formation to render greater service for humanity and the Divine Plan.
Another factor which brings people together is devotion directed to the same Teacher or to the same Teaching. This creates very strong ties between people, and for centuries and many incarnations this tie continues with advancing mutual benefit. For example, those who are in Ashrams for a long time followed the same Teacher, the same principles, or the same Teaching.
Karma formed by hatred, crime, and harmful actions brings many parties together. Usually people do to others as others did to them. We can see this in families, groups, and nations. Wars and conflicts among nations originate from past causes. And sometimes on battlefields the cause is dissolved if the nations are led by Sages to reverse the karma.
The reversing of karma is a very interesting fact. Christ gave the clue to this when He said, “Pray for those who do harm to you.” Buddha said something similar: “Hatred cannot be dissolved by hatred, but hatred can be dissolved by love.” These can work in group, family, and individual cases too. Because of the wisdom gained from the Teaching, people do not exercise “an eye for an eye” method but use love, understanding, and power so as not to allow the formation of similar karma.
Karma created by service and cooperation creates those groups who are born together, life after life, in order to bring enlightenment and beauty to humanity all over the world.
Often they act in groups in one location. Sometimes they are scattered all over the world as individuals and groups. In the seven fields of human endeavor you see the result of their united cooperative labor. It is such individuals and groups that lead humanity from chaos to beauty.
As people advance in service and cooperation, they go closer to the source of their light, their Ashrams. Gradually, because of their service and cooperation, they build a karma that leads them directly into Ashrams and into the ashramic activities. It is at this stage that they turn into sources of inspiration and impressions for those who are engaged in building karma through service and cooperation.
The greatest victory of our life is to be a part of a group that serves the highest good of all humanity.
Karma not only creates positive or negative groupings but also creates those conditions in which certain people feel aloof, detached, indifferent, within or outside of any group. The Teaching says that these people lived in the past only for themselves without trying to help or harm others, and karma gave them what they wanted.
Does such a condition continue indefinitely? The Teaching says that it can, and it cannot. It can if the individual continuously isolates himself and forms a tumor in the body of humanity. On judgment day he is operated on and thrown into the forces of chaos. It cannot because the pain and the pressure of aloneness reach such a degree that he eventually relates himself to people through harmful actions or through cooperation.
The same law works in astral and mental worlds. People are divided into these three camps. In the higher mental world all groups are engaged in cooperative work. In the lower mental plane there are divisions because parties do not yet see the causes of their differences.
In the higher astral plane there are groups for pleasures, ecstasy, and love. In the lower astral planes there are oppositions.
Lonely people often are seen in etheric planes. Aloofness creates an energy field around them which repels the attraction of higher realms. Their ego and vanity build a wall around them,and this wall becomes the cause of their future suffering and their breakthrough.
Usually these lonely people who make a breakthrough go directly to higher levels of the mental plane if they accumulated much knowledge and wisdom to be used for the common good of humanity.
People think that karma can be changed only if the bill is paid. This sounds right, but the payment of a bill can take many forms. For example, you killed me in one of my lives. We meet again in another life to get even — which means I have an innate urge to kill you. But instead, I kill within you the urge, the tendency, to commit crimes. I enlighten you and annihilate your obessession or possession — thus gaining great merit.
There is no higher action than the action that reverses karma. That is why Christ said, “Love your enemies.” But these words are mistranslated. To have an enemy means to reverse the karma by enlightening your enemy, by cultivating in him greater virtues, and eventually bringing his consciousness to the level where he will pay his own karma by heroic sacrifices for you to fulfill the Law of Righteousness. The greatest friendship is built between people who reversed their karma. Their friendship will never end.
Do good for others that do evil to you. All progress and merit are gained by our actions, on all levels, by our good karma. All our suffering and pain, failures and defeats came upon us as the result of our past bad karma.
One day in a study group our Teacher addressed the students, “All your knowledge, information, positions, possessions, and your certificates will not benefit you if you do not have the power of discrimination between what is good for your future and what is bad for your future. It is this distinction that will enable you to be aware and alert every minute of your life to choose the path of the good: — the good for you — the good for others — the good for all sentient beings “It is this discrimination and choice of good that will decide the level you achieved on the path of your evolution. Once the path of good is chosen, all your virtues and achievements will cooperate with you to lead you to the highest bliss.
“But if you choose the wrong path, all your education and knowledge and positions will not help to bring you back into light and into the path of joy and bliss.”
Then he spoke about how we must develop discrimination in all that we do, say, feel, and think.
The first thing we must learn and teach is karma. Once we learn about it we must choose the action that liberates us, expands our consciousness, and opens an unlimited contact with the Universe.
-From Karma and Reincarnation by Torkom Saraydarian.
Τhere is no eternal "rest"
Letters Of Helena Roerich II, 11 October 1935. 1. In reality, man cannot rid himself completely of karma, for karma is life. But the fulfillment of a cycle of karma, of whatever duration, depends upon our spiritual growth, and also on the mission we have undertaken upon a certain planet. This means that, having acquired a certain knowledge of the Teaching, and after an interval of time (a vacation, so to say), we have to commence the next, higher degree, and so on ad infinitum. These "vacations" may be that very place of rest, where there are no "tears or sighs." But no vacation continues forever, though it may be prolonged for thousands of years, therefore there is no eternal "rest."
Astrological influences activate unresolved energies
If you do not clear out your own energy fields beyond the body, then all energies coming in from an external environment activate the unresolved energies in your own personal Qi. This causes you to be somewhat manipulated like a puppet by the energy emanating from the huge Qi fields of the stars. This creates a pattern that comes back in. That is what astrology is based on. At the level of clearing out the emotions, the emotional factors involved with astrology should be able to be overridden.
-Bruce Kumar Frantzis
An Informal Discussion on Taoist Meditation
-Bruce Kumar Frantzis
An Informal Discussion on Taoist Meditation
The inner voice, the quiet voice of Heaven
Make an effort to develop discernment, to be more attentive, and you will sense that at every important moment of your life, whether it be a meeting, a journey, a job, or a decision, an inner voice is there advising you. Why do you pay no attention to it? Because you hear only clamour and turmoil. In order for this inner being who speaks to you to be heard, it must make a lot of noise; if it speaks softly, you will not hear it. You must nevertheless understand that when the higher beings speak to you, they say only a few words in a voice which is barely audible.
When, through your own fault, misfortune befalls you, you sometimes say to yourself: 'Yes, of course, something did warn me, but this voice was so weak, so faint.' In the future, therefore, do not trust the voices which speak a great deal and very loudly in order to lead you astray, and try to listen more carefully to the quiet voice of Heaven."
Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
When, through your own fault, misfortune befalls you, you sometimes say to yourself: 'Yes, of course, something did warn me, but this voice was so weak, so faint.' In the future, therefore, do not trust the voices which speak a great deal and very loudly in order to lead you astray, and try to listen more carefully to the quiet voice of Heaven."
Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Initiation is going beyond barriers
"Every initiation is a breaking down of barriers that exist on the way of our total freedom. These barriers can be our own creation, as the sound barrier of a jet plane. They can also be our accumulated karma on many levels or the seven vehicles which we use. Initiation is going beyond barriers."
-Torkom Saraydarian
-Torkom Saraydarian
Concentration in meditation
"As soon as they embark on the spiritual life, most people are confronted with the problem of meditation: they do not know how to concentrate. Why? Because they have not learned how to choose subjects for meditation; they throw themselves into it blindly, with no method. You must be very clear about this. The first rule, of course, is to choose a subject of a spiritual nature, and the second is that this subject should be something heartfelt. The love you have for a person or an object is what attaches you to him or it. When you do not love, you are, if I dare say so, like a stamp without glue: you will not stick!
Beginners make the mistake of wanting to concentrate at once on the most abstract, philosophical and mystical matters: truth, eternity, infinity, the Absolute, or the Supreme Being. This is a mistake. Begin by concentrating, for example, on a pure, beautiful image that you love, an image of nature or art. Your mind will get into the habit of concentrating in this way, and gradually you will be able to meditate on more abstract subjects. To get results in the spiritual life, you must know how to use the marvellous power of love. "
- Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
Beginners make the mistake of wanting to concentrate at once on the most abstract, philosophical and mystical matters: truth, eternity, infinity, the Absolute, or the Supreme Being. This is a mistake. Begin by concentrating, for example, on a pure, beautiful image that you love, an image of nature or art. Your mind will get into the habit of concentrating in this way, and gradually you will be able to meditate on more abstract subjects. To get results in the spiritual life, you must know how to use the marvellous power of love. "
- Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
Initiation and Fear
Initiations are the result of victory over fear. Fear is the sign that you are attached to matter. No one can advance while he is controlled by matter.
Fear is hidden in matter; fear is hidden in objects. Whoever identifies with matter, identifies with fear.
In every initiation your control over fear increases.
Ancient initiation ceremonies had to do with something fearful. If the initiate was afraid, he failed.
We are told that each plane is surrounded by forces which prevent entrance into that plane. These forces are mostly forces of fear and the initiate must pass through them to enter that plane. In any major initiation you confront such forces of fear.
Immortality is the destruction of fear. The greatest immortals were those who overcame fear.
Fearlessness makes you virtually immortal even in the memories of people.
Each victory over fear is an initiation.
Fearlessness is of two kinds: One is fearlessness of the personality; the other is the fearlessness of the soul.
The personality appears “fearless” under the influence of fear. Someone may say that he was fearless and killed a man, insulted his teacher, broke the law, or destroyed a city.
The soul on the other hand operates with fearlessness because he is over the fears of the personality.
A fearless person has the following qualities:
He liberates.
He sacrifices.
He uplifts.
He expands.
He protects people from dark attacks.
He risks his life.
He sacrifices his possessions.
He acts under the Divine Will.
Any harmful activity under the guise of fearlessness proves that the person has either emotional attachment, is the slave of his habits and posthypnotic suggestions, or he is mentally unstable or insane.
Fearlessness is the virtue of a healthy mind and healthy, loving emotions.
-taken from Initiation by Torkom Saraydarian
Monday, November 10, 2008
Irritation, the Destructive Fire
Here is a list of causes of irritation from the book "Irritation, the Destructive Fire" which is an area which each should hold in vigilance:
1. Agitation of the astral body
2. Stress of temper
3. Hatred, dislike. prejudice, continuous rejection of a person, group or idea
4. A sense of being abused or a sense of being deceived or exploited
5. Reaction to things which do not agree with one's own way of doing things - resentment
6. Thoughts of revenge or plans of destruction
7. Complaining
8. Self-interest, self-sufficiency, and self-satisfaction
9. Criticism, gossip, quarreling
10. Ingratitude
11. Demanding, forcing, intolerance
12. Inferiority complex
13. Impatience and hurry
14. Conscious distortion of facts
15. Intensification of the astral body
16. Noise
This is a most startling list of causes of irritation. And serves as a reminder of a need for daily meditation, contemplation and weekly retreat. Some in this list sorely stand out as a common-daily factors: "Noise," "Complaining," and "agitation of the astral body" to name a few.
T.Saraydarian suggests to watch people who always complain. They develop various disorders and eventually are caught in serious health problems. "A joyous and happy heart does not follow the formation of imperil."
1. Agitation of the astral body
2. Stress of temper
3. Hatred, dislike. prejudice, continuous rejection of a person, group or idea
4. A sense of being abused or a sense of being deceived or exploited
5. Reaction to things which do not agree with one's own way of doing things - resentment
6. Thoughts of revenge or plans of destruction
7. Complaining
8. Self-interest, self-sufficiency, and self-satisfaction
9. Criticism, gossip, quarreling
10. Ingratitude
11. Demanding, forcing, intolerance
12. Inferiority complex
13. Impatience and hurry
14. Conscious distortion of facts
15. Intensification of the astral body
16. Noise
This is a most startling list of causes of irritation. And serves as a reminder of a need for daily meditation, contemplation and weekly retreat. Some in this list sorely stand out as a common-daily factors: "Noise," "Complaining," and "agitation of the astral body" to name a few.
T.Saraydarian suggests to watch people who always complain. They develop various disorders and eventually are caught in serious health problems. "A joyous and happy heart does not follow the formation of imperil."
Transformation
Transformation and transfiguration are key "action" words in the world of striving. "Transformation is carried on within our body through kindling and fanning the 'fire by friction,' the latent fire in matter.
The ways this transforming fire is "fanned"
labor
sacrificial service
dedication to a group cause
meditation
The flame that is within our body, in the center at the base of the spine, must be raised along the spinal cord and united with the fire of prana, the fire of mind, and the fire of spirit to complete the transformation of the outer person.
As the fire climbs, it manifests
-in the base of spine center as stability
-in the sexual center as the power of procreation
-in the solar plexus as healing
-in the heart center as cooperation
-in the throat center as creativity
-in the ajna center as leadership
-in the head center as leadership, synthesis, and sacrificial service
-Torkom Saraydarian
Sunday, November 09, 2008
Dangerous methods
Interest in psychic faculties is growing nowadays. All too often, however, the methods used are not the best and some concentration and visualization exercises are even dangerous. Not to mention the use of drugs, based on recipes borrowed from the American Indians and the shamans of Siberia. Leave those methods to the people who have inherited them through thousands of years of tradition. They are not meant for us. You should work with the methods of wisdom and love, and try each day to triumph over your weaknesses. This is how you will activate all these subtle centres within you and they will put you in contact with the spiritual world.
- Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
- Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
Thursday, November 06, 2008
Self-actualization
Our Inner Divinity is trying by all possible means to have a birth, to come into existence. To be in existence does not mean to have a body, feelings, and thoughts; to be in existence means to be Self-actualized, to make our divinity manifest in our life.
People do not realize that most of the time they do not exist. Their body exists, but if you search for their True Self, you meet imitations of It in their emotions and thoughts. The True Self is absent.
To be absent means to have no existence. Most of the people on earth live like vacant houses.
Once I said to a man, "Where are you?"
"I am sitting here."
"That is your body," I said. "It is your body that is sitting there, your emotions are sitting there, your thoughts are sitting there, but someone else is sitting in your body. Where are you? You are imitating someone. Someone is acting through you. An imitated image is sitting in you. Where are you, the Self, the Eternal Witness? Is it the Eternal Witness that exists in you, or is it your mechanism that is running by itself? - and you are calling such a mechanical life, 'This is the way I live!' Where is that I?"
People like to imitate movie stars. For example, when an actress changes her hair style, the next day two million girls try to imitate her. If you ask, "What are you doing?" they will say, "I like this kind of hairdo." Do they like it or are they victims of imitation? You run away from your "home" and make your image of imitation live there instead of you. If you find out why you are imitating, you will be closer to Self-actualization.
We are going to come into existence; that is what evolution is. Evolution is the process of coming into existence as divine beauty. Unless we fulfill the purpose of our life and come into existence as the Self, we will become the failures of nature.
In reality, Christ was the manifestation of God. God was successful at coming into manifestation through Christ. The whole mission of Christ was to teach us this fact and to urge us to manifest divinity on earth, to bring God into existence in our lives.
Trying to be joyful is one of the best methods of Self-actualization. Whoever brings joy to the world is the greatest benefactor of humanity because joy is the radiance of God's presence. Whoever is destroying the joy of people is the enemy of his Self. The more joy you bring to yourself and others, the more communication you will have with the Most High, in you and in the Universe.
The actualization of joy is not so easy. You fill yourself with joy. Then a small bug comes and takes away all your joy. But if one wants to actualize his True Self, he will never give up until joy continuously flows down from the mountain of his Self, bringing life and glory to all his thoughts, words, actions, and relationships.
There is the joy of achievement, service, devotion, and purity. There is the joy of sacrificing yourself for a great cause. There is the joy of the awareness of immortality. There is the joy of the awareness that people have forgotten you or did not recognize your service with gratitude. There is the joy of being forgotten. There is the joy of contact and communication with Higher Worlds. There is the joy of paying debts for others. There is the joy of expansion of consciousness, the joy of contacting your Core. All these are phases of Self-actualization.
Joy is the oil of your physical, emotional, and mental mechanisms. Without joy, they burn out and perish. Strangely enough, people sometimes feel happy when they deprive others of joy.
Can you try not to let anyone, anything take your joy away? Can you live in a way that you do not destroy the joys of others? This is a way of kindling the divinity in others.
People lose their joy when they lose their teeth, when their hair becomes white, or when their face wrinkles in old age. Can you keep your joy intact? We have died many times and will die again and again until we come into our true existence, until we actualize our True Self. As long as we do not exist as a Self, we will continuously die and be born. Once we really exist, death will be conquered and we will be immortal.
Unfortunately, we are very often absent. We talk with each other, but we are not there; we shake hands, but we are not there; we eat our breakfast and dinner, but we are not there; we are in the news, in the papers, in our failures, defeats, hatreds, jealousies; yet we are not there.
Who is shaking the hand? Who is talking with that friend? Who is eating that dinner, if you are not there? Very probably you are obsessed and possessed, and you are absent. Try to exist. Try to be present. Try to be there in your actions, talks, and thoughts.
Try to eat your food and do not let an entity in your body eat it, or an anxiety or a hatred eat it. Your food becomes poison when you do not eat it but let "others" in you eat it.
You hug your wife but you are not there. Your wife says, "Honey, you are not real." You say, "I love you," but she says, "Where are you?" If you do not exist, you are a machine. The machine cries, the machine loves, the machine hates, the machine makes love, and the machine eats and watches the news.
Unless you exist, you cannot enjoy life. Joy makes you real, and whatever you do with joy, that deed affects people's lives because you are in your deed. If you are not real, everything in the world has no real value for you, and you misuse everything, manipulate everything, accumulate everything, just to feel that you exist.
How free are you from your body; how free are you from your emotions and thoughts? How much freedom do you have from your vanity and ego and self-interest? The less freedom you have, the less existence you have. Slaves do not exist for themselves but for others. Except you belong to your Self, you do not have a Self.
-Torkom Saraydarian
(Breakthrough to Higher Psychism)
Sunday, November 02, 2008
Spiritual progress and psychic powers
"The spiritual life is a discipline which requires a great deal of time and effort. Therefore, if someone comes along and begins by promising that, as his disciple, you will obtain clairvoyance and psychic powers very quickly and easily, you must mistrust him. And mistrust him all the more if he asks for money in exchange for such rapid results. For the truth is that money is of no use whatsoever when it comes to spiritual progress.
Your daily efforts to learn self-control, to be considerate of others, and to unite with God through prayer and meditation...all this costs nothing, it is free. But it is a long process, and as human beings are both lazy and impatient to achieve success, they are immediately attracted by someone who promises them miraculous results, even if the price is high. But in this case they should not complain if they are swindled. When you look for a spiritual master you must know what to expect of him: illusions or truth."
Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
Your daily efforts to learn self-control, to be considerate of others, and to unite with God through prayer and meditation...all this costs nothing, it is free. But it is a long process, and as human beings are both lazy and impatient to achieve success, they are immediately attracted by someone who promises them miraculous results, even if the price is high. But in this case they should not complain if they are swindled. When you look for a spiritual master you must know what to expect of him: illusions or truth."
Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
When one wastes a resource, one is wasting God
The reason is not that I do not have the desire to remove all the suffering. But how can full reward be given to partial devotion? Swami has great desire to impart happiness to all mankind. If you wish so, God's grace can change your fate. All things good or bad are the reflections of different actions of mankind.
The world is not mere sand and earth. People also inhabit it. The people and the earth are inseparably related. Today, man has inculcated useless habits. He destroys the resources of the earth - water, food, sound, light and numerous others. For example, when soft words are enough, he talks loudly. He overeats and wastes food. When one bucket of water will do, he uses two bucketfuls. When a little light is sufficient, why is electricity wasted by the use of powerful lights?
All the energy and resources of the earth are the light of the Supreme Spirit. When one wastes a resource, one is wasting God. Every action of man has a reaction, resound and reflection.
The world is not mere sand and earth. People also inhabit it. The people and the earth are inseparably related. Today, man has inculcated useless habits. He destroys the resources of the earth - water, food, sound, light and numerous others. For example, when soft words are enough, he talks loudly. He overeats and wastes food. When one bucket of water will do, he uses two bucketfuls. When a little light is sufficient, why is electricity wasted by the use of powerful lights?
All the energy and resources of the earth are the light of the Supreme Spirit. When one wastes a resource, one is wasting God. Every action of man has a reaction, resound and reflection.
-Sai Baba
Saturday, November 01, 2008
Fire, the best protection
"People who have spent time in the desert or forest know that one of the best protections against wild animals is fire. These creatures have a great fear of fire, sensing in it a formidable power that it is best not to approach. And it is the same with the inner life: those who know how to light the sacred fire within themselves possess the best protection against the 'wild beasts', the dark spirits. These creatures feel this fire emanating from the eyes, the hands, and the entire body of a true son or daughter of God, and they flee in fear. The aura is also a manifestation of this fire which protects human beings from evil spirits. This is why you must work on your aura, so as to make it ever more powerful and luminous."
Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
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