12 Signs, 12 Stones, 12 Tribes

The Declarations of YisraEl

Yakov (Jacob) calls his children:
Gather yourselves together
I’ll tell you what will befall you in the end of days
Listen to YisraEl your father:

Let us gather ourselves together and be uplifted together
In this way we experience that we are YisraEl, the oneness
Also the none-ness

Rubin, my first-born, my might and my strength
Excellence of dignity and excellence of power
Rubin is our loving nobility, our concern for all others

Beware of instability like water
Rubin, don’t let your heart “completely” run the show

Shimon and Levi, a kinship with weapons of violence
Avoid such council or you cannot unite with my glory
Beware anger and willfulness that slay men
And cripple animals

Because their sister Dinah was dishonored
Levi and Shimon killed the perpetrator
And all the men of his tribe
And cut the hamstrings of their cattle

Anger is fierce and wrath is cruel
You will be divided and spread through all the tribes

Shimon becomes the personification of our strength
And our wisdom. Levi becomes the priesthood
The musicians and the truth warriors
Even most terrible sinners can rise up to be great saints

Yehudah (Judah) you’ll be praised
Victorious over your enemies. Your relatives will bow
Before your majesty. You’re a lion
Who holds the scepter and the ruler’s staff

You’ve bound yourself to the sacred vine
The most choice wine. You bathe in sacraments
Your ensign is red and white. Teeth white as milk
Eyes red with the intoxication of God

How cruel Yahudah was; how noble has he become
He’s a k’shatriyah, a selfless king
Whose eternal commitment is for the welfare of his people

Zebulon, treasure-finder
You dwell at the shores of the seas
Shipping master, skillful merchant who supports

Issachar solid and strong who sees the resting place
And couches down in there knowing the goodness
The pleasant land. You bow your shoulder and live to serve

What a pair these two Issachar and Zeb
Issachar sees the Sabbath and charts the heavens
Zebulon knows the infinite depths

Dan is the wise and neutral judge for his people
Also the creative energy, a serpent in the way

Who bites the horses’ heel protecting the people
So the enemy rider falls backward

The kundalini (power energy) rises up through the spine
To the crown, illuminating the supreme court
The sentence is always fair. The guidance is always useful
The enemy rider is our selfishness

YisraEl sees a fiery chariot approaching. He raises his hand
O' God, I await your deliverance --
And completes the blessings

Warrior Gad, protector of the innocent, a troop may attack
But you will troop on them and see them scatter and run
A warrior-leader, invincible protector of the innocent

As for Asher – abundance, wisdom and wealth of royalty
The majestic kingdom of the divine presence; we call this Asher

Naphtali runs free in the fields (of consciousness)
He passes on the dharma with words of beauty and victory

The poet, the artist, the story-teller
The puppet and the puppet-master

All these qualities are in us. Each has its own totem
As we choose, we draw on them and bring them forward

Yosuf is a fruitful vine by a spring (the living waters)
Though attacked and tested, his resolve never falters

Empowered by the almighty one, by the shepherd
By the stone of YisraEl, by God of your fathers and mothers

Who blesses you with the heavens and the infinite depths
With the breasts and womb of the goddess
With succor, Eros and progeny who live honorably

To the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills
His arms are strong. Her hands are skillful
You are the crown, the head, the prince of our family

Tamar and Yosuf (Joseph) are male and female personifications
Of our foundation, the illumined sage at our core
The miraculous ability to reproduce, to be reborn
To love each other unconditionally. This is our inheritance

Benjamin’s totem is the victorious wolf
Who devours his prey in the morning and at night
Divides the spoil

Benjamin shares the wealth with all
Benjamin is our generous heart
Our most powerful weapon. We ride in the victor’s chariot

These are the twelve tribes of YisraEl
Twelve aspects of our illumination
As our father declares unto us and blesses us
Each of us according to the cut of our own blessings
From Genesis 49

Eight Mystery Nights

o’ nobly born,
it's in the darkness that magic happens and creation occurs
who we each are is nothing filled with everything
nothing is the womb of creation
in the darkness is the hidden light

Eight Mystery Nights

First day, grey cloud sun white cloud mountain
Looking down into a dark valley
Speckled with Hanukah and Christmas lights.
Cold north wind blowing south
The wind is a messenger calling out:
"All instruments, come forward"

Second night, three lights burning.
The server light illumines the others and is not diminished
Go into the Tent of Meeting. How? Offer yourself up
And keep your eyes open for miracles
The everyday becomes miraculous

Third night. Four angels visiting.
The miracle of planning a future together
'Stead of "just goin' along"
Choose the life you want to have

Fourth night we're served wine while the candles are burning
Fifth night miracle: As the last light extinguishes
A great mystery becomes clear:
The Hanukah candle and the light in the fireplace
It's all the same light

Sixth night visions in the flames: the teacher's face
Becomes a black goddess with fire eyes
Leaping-mountain-fire-ram, the sixth day
A ram caught in the thicket are we

Seventh night, eight candles burning, including the shammos
The Illuminator, the remover of ignorance.
Eight is infinity.These are the mantras:

Seven years of plenty
The land produces in abundance
Lay open all that is within

New moon, new beginnings
Eighth night a palace of light. If I haven't told You already
Thanks for guiding us to kindle these lights of peace
Let's sound the cymbals, the loud-sounding symbols
The message: How to purify the sacred temple within
Simply re-dedicate our lives for everyone's benefit

With Your light, we see light. But You are not diminished. Look -
A bush is burning, but the leaves and branches

Are not consumed. Let's check this out ...

* * *

When I first approached my teacher, he was seated on a carpet
A flower arrangement and a bowl of fruit beside him
I went forward to offer a tape cassette I'd made
My knees buckled; I fell headfirst before him, Abrech
One is simply moved to kneel
We celebrate the light and the dark for without the dark
We cannot discern the light

I lit two menorahs and two Sabbath candles
Twenty angels in the living room
Twenty-seven Buddhas in the flower blossoms
The serving candle is now a small red coal

There beside the menorah and the flowers is his photo
He’s sitting beside a tiger
His hand gently resting on the tiger's paw
Once he put his hand on mine the same way

Smoke shoots up; spirit flying free. Even in the dark it's visible
The Server returns to the all

My teacher is gone like the shammos
His light is in me now and he is not diminished

A Certain Place

From Be’er-sheba to Haran
Via the well of the Seven Infinite Depths
We come to the land of Auspiciousness

This is story of a person on his path of awakening. We find Yakov (Jacob) having just left his home and family and running for his life. Exhausted and bereft of almost all possessions, he’s crossed the river and in the open countryside finds a place to lie down and sleep.

He comes upon a certain place (makom)
That seems familiar, takes stones of that place
Puts them under his head, sleeps and dreams

A certain place [place, makom, one of the names of God]
Take stones from the places you like and consider them runes
Investigate the 22 stones, 22 letters, 22 power symbols

A dream, a ladder, a stairway
Angels of God ascending and descending
Suddenly Yah (God) is standing beside him
Saying: “I am with you”

Yakov (Jacob) awakens, declaring
God is surely in this place (makom)
How awe-inspiring is this place; it must be God’s temple
This is a gate into heaven (In this temple is the holy of holies)

This place: the very place you are right now
Take off your shoes; you’re on holy ground

He sets the stone up as a pillar (as an altar)
First a pillow then a pillar, declaring:

If I return safe to my father’s house, then
This stone set up as a pillar is God’s abode
And I’ll always set aside a tithe (a tenth) for you
Cut a deal with God; strike a covenant; get into relationship

He goes briskly to the land of the people of the East
Let’s join him and we also will go along on this adventure into
The infinite depth of the East, Dawn, Tiferet
Entrance to the temple

Look, a well in the open and a stone
On the mouth of the well
Do you wonder which stone, which letter, which number?

Friends from Haran (auspiciousness) and Laban’s daughter
Rachel, a shepherdess

Rachel, the shepherdess, and David, the shepherd
In scripture are personifications of the infinite depth of Malkhut
The majesty and kingdom of God, also the mouth of the divine

Yakov rolls the stone off the mouth of the well
And waters Laban’s flock
And kisses Rachel

Giving water to the other’s animals is a symbol-image
Signaling a sacred partnering, lovemaking and fertility
Unasked, Rebekah gave water to Isaac’s camels
Yakov water’s Rachel’s sheep, and later
Moses waters Zipporah’s flock

Laban runs to greet Yakov (his nephew) and kisses him
Declaring: you are truly my bones and flesh
What shall your wages be

Laban’s two daughters: Leah and Rachel
Leah has beautiful eyes
Rachel has beautiful form

Beautiful eyes see beauty everywhere
Beautiful form is an image and symbol of the divine
In Sanskrit, a moorti

Yakov loves Rachel and for her serves seven years
Which seem but a few days because of their love

Give me my wife for my time is fulfilled
Laban gives Yakov also his daughter Rachel as wife

Yakov’s wages are the two daughters of Laban
And their two handmaidens, Bilhah and Zilpah
These are the mothers of the twelve tribes of Yisra-El
For these four wives, Yakov serves fourteen years

Yah (God) sees Leah is unloved and opens her womb
Leah bears a son and names him Ruben –
“A son of seeing!” My husband will love me

Whoever has beautiful eyes surely bears beautiful children
Leah’s world is filled with the glory of God’s beauty
“She walks in beauty,” as the Navahos say

She conceives again and bears Shimon, “God hears”
The highest hearing is two-way hearing
You hear the voice of intuition, perceive the revelation
And like Yakov, also your voice is heard on high

She conceives again and bears a third child
My husband and I are forever connected
Yakov names the child Levi (attached, connected)

Married or divorced, dead or alive, we are always connected
Together having brought these souls to earth
We’ll always share this blessing

Again she conceives, has a son and says
“Let me praise God”
She names him Yehudah (Judah, praise)

As one can see, our mother Leah
Enjoys a rich devotional intimacy with God
To which we each are heir

The practice of Bhakti Yoga gives us beautiful eyes
Yoga means yoking finite awareness to infinite awareness
There are several paths or technologies for doing so
Bhakti Yoga is the path of devotion.
Leah is a master of devotion

More to kome …

from notes on Genesis 28-29 Nov 25, 2007
Lunar month of Kislev (November-December) 5768

Take One of the Stones

From the Adventures of Jacob Genesis 28:10-17
Jacob leaves Be’er-shiva and heads for Haran
From Be’er-Shiva, the well of the seven infinite depths
To Haran, the land of auspiciousness

Taking one of the stones (power-letter symbols) of that place
He puts it under his head and dreams of a ladder
A stairway going from earth to heaven
Suddenly, Yah (God) stands beside him speaking

If we meditate on any one of the ancient runes, those early Hebrew letter symbols, we too will come to see the pathway uniting earth and heaven, which is also along our own spine, our tree of life, seven chakras (centers of consciousness) and ten sefirot (infinite depths). In the Ajna chakra, at the third eye center, where Hokhmah and Binah meet, (Revelation and Comprehension), we're blessed with a personal vision of God. Beyond that – at the crown -- is just the oneness, Diamond Consciousness, the Thousand-Petaled Lotus.

I give this place to you and your descendents
Spread out west, east, north and south
Remember I’m with you and protecting you

We are both Jacob and Jacob’s descendents.
God’s timeless gift to us we remember now:
This very place and this very moment is the gate of awakening
Transcendence, from dust and water babies into our fullness:
Everything and everyone are we; this realization is the blessing

Now take it wherever you go –
Up, Down, West, East, North and South

Jacob awakens and declares:
Surely God (Yah) is in this place and I didn’t realize it
How awesome. This is the abode of God
And gateway to heaven

Seven infinite depths, seven double letter symbols:
Up and Down, East and West, North and South
And precisely in the center: a Holy Palace of Light
Yes indeed, spread out in all directions

Stories of Isaac and Rebekah

from Genesis 25-26

This is the story of Yitzak (Isaac)
Son of Avraham and Sarah

At 40 Yitzak marries Rebekah
Yitzak pleads with God on the behalf of his wife
Yah (God) responds and Rebekah conceives
Pleading to God for another is often effective

During the pain of her pregnancy
Rebekah asks, “Why do I exist?”
This is a useful investigation and meditation for us each

Yah replies: Two nations are in your womb
Two peoples apart while in your body
Our selflessness and our selfishness

Let the elder serve the younger
And let the younger thus learn and serve the elders

Twins are born, Esau and Yakov (Jacob)
The boys grow up. Esau becomes a skillful hunter
And an outdoorsman. Yakov is mild and stays in the camp

There’s famine in the land Famine: a code and sign for
Going down into the dangers and blessings of this material plane

God appears to Yitzak and says:
Stay in the land I show you. Reside in this land
I will be with you and bless you

Yitzak stays in Gerar. When men ask him about his wife
He says, she’s my sister, thinking: the men might kill me
On account of Rebekah because she’s beautiful
Beauty, alas, stirs up covetousness

Yitzak sows in the land and reaps a hundred fold
Yah blesses him. “The man grows richer and richer”
(Mantra) Until he’s very wealthy

One hundred, the power symbol K’uf on the tree of life
A pathway between the kingdom and the glory

The Philistines stop up all the wells
Dug by Avraham’s servants filling them with earth

Abimelech says: Go away from us
For you have become far too big for us
Wealth, alas, stirs up envy

Yitzak departs from there, encamps and settles
In the valley. He digs wells anew
His servants find a well of spring water

For all us water babies, water is life itself and in arid lands
Water is nearly invaluable and therefore also a symbol
Of the dharma, the eternal wisdom that brings immortality

Local herdsmen quarrel with him saying
That water is ours. He calls that well Esek, contention

They dig another well and there is dispute over that also
He calls this well Sitnah, enmity

He moves from there, digs another well
There is no quarrelling. He calls it Rehoveth, spaciousness

Saying, “Yah grants us ample space to increase the land”
This too is a mantra. All these places are also within us
We have to dig deeper and deeper to reach the wide open place

Yitzak goes to Beer-sheva (the well of seven)
Yah appears to him that night saying

I am the God of your father and mother
“Be fearless; I'm with you and I'm blessing you” (a mantra)

These people and places are parts of us, including the quality
In each of us that can actually see and hear the Absolute

Yitzak builds an altar there and invokes God’s name
God's essence is in God's name

There too he pitches his tent
We too can pitch our tents at the altar of conscious devotion

An Evening with Shefa Gold and Friends

At a recent evening program in Washington, D.C., Rabbi Shefa led chanting of short phrases of scripture and liturgy followed by moments of meditation interspersed with occasional teachings and comments. The chanting (in both Hebrew and English) refined consciousness which bought about intuition and revelation. Shefa accompanied the chants with a sruti box (a small harmonium) and a hand drum. Three of her friends and students also played drums. Another led movement for some of the chants. The room filled. Between chants Shefa said:

We prepare for prayer by chanting: “Oh pure soul, in you I see endless possibilities.” Go inside and see yourself when you were a little baby, an infant, and bless that baby with all potential, with every conceivable possibility.

“O’ God, show me my end, and what is the measure of my days? (from Psalm 39.5) Go beyond the tyranny of time. Go way into the future, to the end of your days, when you’re wise and mature. See yourself then. Now invite that wise elder who is you to come here now and comfort and guide you and bless you in what you are up to these days. You can go back also from here all the way to the time of your infancy and small childhood, and let go any clusters of protection from bruising that may have occurred and is still being held by the body somewhere. Worries marry and have babies.

Remember that there is the one who comforts and delights our soul, despite all the concerns and worries that sometimes bubble up in these dry days between Sabbaths. What does that wise elder in you say and advise you today?

During our great adventure in awakening inside this palace of existence, the art is practicing balancing intention with surrender: over and over again use the will with focused, forthright intentionality while simultaneously surrendering fully to the unknown, to the great mystery.

In the silence after a chant, focus on the breath; breathe into the heart. Open up and let go. Be a channel of that great love. Inside God’s names is the essence. Let that essence in us blossom and flow through us ever more and more.

“From the moment of birth unto death, Hallelu-Yah.” (from Psalm 150.6) I hear sambas and tangos, congas and djembes. I see dark-haired dancing goddesses.

“When worries multiply within me, your comfort soothes and delights my soul.” (from Psalm 94.19) In the teachings of the prophet Isaiah are amazing guidelines for breaking free.

Go back to a place and time when your heart was overflowing with love, light and joy -- and feel that love for God now. Also go back in time to the occasion when you felt devastated by a great loss and hurt and grief and sorrow

“He transforms her wilderness into delight, her wasteland into a divine garden.” (from Isaiah 51.3) Look inside. See that divine garden flourishing. What plants, bushes, flowers and trees are there. Look and see.

God is saying to each of us, “You’re engraved on the palm of MY hand.” (from Isaiah 49.16) We are the lines on God’s hands. So let’s do what we can to lead a noble life. We are that close; we are never forgotten.

And look at the lines also on “our” own palms. Let us touch palms with one another and then look at our hands. Now we are forever touched, transformed, merged with the other. There are symbols on our palms. (ancient runes?) Look -- on our hands are the ten teachings, ten words, ten power symbols, five opposite five.

And now journey into the heart: “Unify our hearts to love and to be in awe of your name, your essence.” (from Psalm 86) It’s not just awe. The translating scribe added love to the line.

Go back to a time when you experienced so much love, light and joy and feel that love for God now. Go back in time also to when you were trembling in the presence of something so amazing, so overwhelming, so terribly vast and powerful, and also feel that awareness now before this vast presence. Marry these two acknowledgements inside your heart.

What great devastation in your past do you still harbor? Bring this love to that place and melt that knot of sorrow and dismay so you can be like a little babe again – overflowing with infinite possibilities and all magnificent potential.

For more, see: RabbiShefaGold.com

You Are the Elect of God

Selections from In the Beginning, Chayei/Sarah Lives, Genesis 23-25
In this scripture the goddess of wisdom and artistry
Appears as Sarah, Prophetess and partner
Of the patriarch Avraham, mother of Isaac
And godmother of Ishmael who is born on her lap

Sarah lives 127 years and dies in Hebron. While mourning
Avraham speaks to the descendents of Het
127, 1+2+7=10, as in ten infinite depths, as in ten words
As in ten power symbols on two tables of stone
Five opposite five

You are the elect of God, say they
Who gives himself or herself utterly to God
Becomes the elect of God

Bury your dead in the choicest of sites
In the cave of Makpelah
In the field of Ephron facing Mamre

The cave of Makpelah is the double cave
The cave inside the cave
Entrance to Eden, says the Zohar, the Book of Splendor

Avraham gives Ephron 400 silvers
Sarah is buried in the cave of the field of Makpelah
“Field” usually indicates a state of refined consciousness

Four hundred silvers is code, O’ ye reapers of the field
Silver indicates the infinite depth of the north
From whence flows the dharma, the Torah, the eternal wisdom

400 is the power symbol Tahv on the tree of life
Pathway 'tween the kingdom of God and the foundation stone
Which, O’ Nobly Born, is your illumination

Avraham takes anther wife Ketorah (Spice)
Who bears Avraham (more) descendents
Hagar (the stranger) matures into Ketorah
Who weds her beloved

He wills all he owns to Yitzak and while alive gives gifts
To his other children by directing them (us)
To the land of the East

Isaac (Yitzak) receives the mantle of leadership
We are each evolving to become Isaac:
Laughter, joy, bliss personified. But how?

By going to the land of the East, dawn
Entrance to a sacred temple of light, wisdom and love
Avraham's gift to us: Rise at dawn, worship and meditate
Enter the shrine

The life span of Avraham is 175 when he breathes his last
Dying at a good ripe age, old and contented
1+7+5=13 1+3=4. On the tree of life, the power symbol Dalet
A pathway between revelation and deep understanding

His childen Yitzak (Isaac) and Ishmael bury him
In the cave of Makpelah
Where to this day our matriarchs and patriarchs lie sleeping

After Avraham’s death Eloheem blesses Yitzak
The Goddess blesses Isaac

Mantra: You are the elect of God

Is Anything Too Hard or Amazing for God

Selections from Vayera in B’re-sheet/Genesis 18

Sitting at the entrance of the tent of meeting
Yah (God) appears by the trees
“By the trees” is the entrance to a meeting place
With Yah, if one dares continue such a journey as this

Three high beings standing near (appear)

My Lord, don’t pass by your servant
He touches the ground

Avraham can see something of their magnificence
He knows of whom they are, and speaks
As if speaking to God, while thinking:
How can I graciously welcome them
I know they’re not men and women
Nor do they bathe in water or eat what we eat
I’ll behave as if they are my human guests

Please, let a little water be brought to you
Bathe your feet
Recline under the tree

Do as you say, they reply
Avraham shows us how to host
Angels show us how to be guests

Sarah makes bread
The Goddess, nature is the Provider

I will return to you when life is due
Sarah laughs (You laughed. I didn’t. You did)
Is anything too hard or amazing for God Gen: 18.1-15

One informs Sarah she will become pregnant
She laughs, both because it’s so outrageous
At their ages, and because she’s so delighted
He catches her laughing. She denies it
Playing with him (So they’ll call the baby
Yitzak, Isaac, laughter, joy. Gen 21.3)

Is anything too hard or amazing for God!?
This a mantra passed on to us each from Sarah and Avraham
It’s also a question, a consideration and a meditation

Get Going!

Selections from In the Beginning/Lech Lecha Genesis 12

Yah (God) says go forth from your native land
To the land that I’m showing you
All the families of earth will bless themselves by you

Avram sets out from Haran (auspiciousness)
For the land of Canaan (humility)
God appears to Avram and promises this land
(This consciousness) to his offspring (all of us)

Avram moves to the hill country
And pitches his tent near Bethel
Let’s all of us pitch our tents near the house of God, bet’ El

He builds an altar there to God and invokes God’s name
A quality of God. By honoring and using various sacred names
We may perceive and draw on various facets of the divine

Famine in the land
Avram goes down to Egypt, mitzra-eem.

This is a code and sign. Famine indicates entering
The material realm with all its risks and attractions
These are the straits, mitzra-eem, in this scripture: Egypt
We must pass through this stage on our journeys home

As Avram is about to enter the straits
He says to his wife Sarai
I’m aware that you’re beautiful
We are spiritual sister and brother; please declare this

In Egypt Sarai is praised before the King
And carried to his palace
Sarai is the goddess riding on the vehicle of God

We remain alive thanks to one another
Because of Sarai, it goes well with Avram
He acquires plenty

Yah afflicts Pharaoh and his house with big plagues
Pharaoh can be seen as the ego, the decider, who at first
Wants whatever looks good, which can be misleading

We begin to learn that selfishness brings a mess of trouble
This in turn detaches us from chasing after only material successes
The material realm begins to lose its grip on us

All this is a blessing from the Goddess Sarai, wife of Avram

Notes from Noah: How to Live Forever

Selections from B’re-sheet/In the Beginning, Genesis 6.9-9.1

These are the generations of Noah
A man righteous and wholehearted; Noah walks with God

When the earth becomes corrupt and full of violence
Body ages, begins breaking down, readies to dissolve
God says to Noah The Noah part of us hears the inner guidance

Make a wooden ark with compartments
300 long, 50 wide, 30 high Each numeral is a power symbol
Create light at the top in your ark "Let there be light"
With an entrance on its side and with three decks (levels)
Visualize this ark in your heart and mind

I’m bringing the flood. Except for you
The breath of life from under heaven is perishing
What happens when we leave our physical bodies

But I’m establishing my covenant with you
And your companion and your children. Enter the ark

Noah is a name for our soul. The ark is our covenant with God
A pact made between us and our maker. Even as we agreed
While still undifferentiated, to play the game of separate identities, we will never forget who we really are
This is the covenant

Take also into the ark every living thing of all flesh
Both male and female who come unto you to keep them alive. Take food for yourselves and for them.

These body cells contain all species of life. The parts of us
Made of elements of earth return to their elementary nature
Meanwhile, Noah, our soul, continues to be safe and sound
Even in the presence of the angel of death to all flesh

In the 2nd month (Iyar/Apr-May/Taurus)
The fountains of the great deep burst apart
The windows of heaven break open
Waters of the flood are on the earth

Rain falls forty days and forty nights
Forty-forty repeats the letter symbol M, mayim
The element of water. The mother’s waters break --
The flood. We’re about to enter a new world: rebirth

Blotted out from earth is every living substance above ground. Only Noah and those with him remain

There are three decks in the ark, three levels of faith
Standing on the top deck everything in the world disappears
Pure consciousness alone remains

A wind passes over the earth. The waters assuage
In the 7th month (Tishri/Sept-Oct/Libra)
The ark comes to rest on Mt Ararat

The 10th month (Tevet/Dec-Jan/Capricorn) mountaintops
Can be seen. Noah sends out a raven and a dove
Which toward evening returns with a plucked olive leaf

On the first day of the new year (Nisan/Mar-Apr/Aries)
Noah removes the covering from the ark

In the second month (Iyar/Apr-May/Taurus) the earth is dry
God says to Noah: you and your family go forth from the ark. Bring every living thing. Be fruitful and multiply
Replenish the earth

Go forth from the ark
Be fruitful and multiply
Replenish the earth
As we pass on what we’re given, we increase a thousand-fold

Noah builds an altar unto God (and so can we)
In all generations you may re-establish your covenant

With me. The sign of our pact is my rainbow in the clouds

When we see it, you and I, remember the pact between us
See a rainbow and remember this covenant with your divinity

Where Are You?

Selections from In the Beginning/B’re-sheet Genesis 1.1-3.21

In-the-beginning creates El (God and Goddess)
The heavens and the earth

Let there be light and separate it from darkness
All living creatures be fertile and increase

Let’s make humanity in Eloheem’s (in the Mother’s) image
Creating male and female with plants for food

This is the story of heaven and earth:
The seventh day, we declare it holy

YHVH (God) forms humans from dust of the earth (adamah)
Breathing into our nostrils the breath of life

We are living beings!
(We awaken in the palace of existence)

A garden is planted in Eden in the east
With a tree of life in the middle
Also knowledge of right and wrong (duality)

A river from Eden waters the garden,
A land of gold and lapis lazuli

We’re free to eat from every tree in the garden
If we eat the fruit of duality, we get both life and death

All alone? Let’s make a helpmate, birds and animals too.
A deep sleep, now fashion woman, now fashion man

Bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh (Wow!)
Naked and unself-conscious, two become one flesh

For clothing God has made us garments of skin (of light)
(The entire universe is our home)

God is calling to us now, saying “Where are you?”
(You have only limited time here.
What are you doing with your life?)

Eleven Treasures – A Vast Wealth Within

Selections from Devarim/Words in V'zot Habracha Deuteronomy 33.1-34.12

God comes from Sinai with lightning flashing (revelation)
The tribes are assembling (Draw forth these treasures)

Let Ruben live and not die. Let his people be numbered
(Ruben is our immortality. Each day we dedicate – counts!)

Hear the voice of (King) Judah (Genuine prayer enthrones us)
Levi, your breastplate is filled with faith, your prayer
A sweet aroma (Levi is the sincere devotee in us each)

O Benjamin, you dwell forever between the shoulders of God
(God dwells between our shoulders in our Benjamin heart)

For you Joseph, the dew of heaven, the best of worlds
Everywhere treasures in the everlasting hills
(Joseph, our foundation stone, is the illumined sage within)

Rejoice Zebulon on your journeys and Issachar in your tents
Sacrifice in the mountains. Draw riches from the infinite depths
(Issachar charts the heavens. Zeb gets wealth from the seas)

Gad, a mighty one of valor, fulfills God’s design
Blesses and enlarges us. Gad is a fierce lion protector
Tearing arm and scalp, expanding east. (Gad is our integrity)

Dan, a lion’s whelp springing forth (a power goddess)
(Eden, headwaters of the Jordon is Dan, a fountain of Torah)

Naftali is the land of opportunity awash in God’s blessings
Everywhere gold (compassion), everywhere wisdom
(Naftali is the wish-fulfilling gem)

Most blessed is Asher who dips his foot in oil, favorite of his kin
Secure all his days. (Generosity, meditation, silent service --
Asher is our children and this is our wealth)

The ancient one is our refuge. Be happy, O’ YisraEL
Ye disciples of holiness, We are supported by everlasting arms

Be fearless now. Ascend the heights
And view the lands that God is giving you

Torn to Pieces -- Conversations with my Guru

Be Clear and Straight 1971 Before we had an Ashram, I was on the Yogaville (Satchidananda Ashram) planning committee. We came up with a motto and a goal. I was in charge of getting lots of round pins made that we could wear on our shirts and blouses with Let’s Will Yogaville printed on them. These we would distribute to be worn by those who were taking on this intention. At that time my guru, Swami Satchidananda, the Founder of Integral Yoga, told me, “Make the letters clear and straight.”

Over the years I’ve taken his guidance -- make your letters clear and straight -- also to mean: Make your words clear and straight. Make your sentences clear and straight. Make your conversations clear and straight. And make the teachings clear and straight.


Sing a New Song 1976 As a writer and editor, I listened carefully to the things Sri Gurudev said to us about how to write. “Don’t just collect the writings of others and string them together for an article or a book,” he said. “Use your own experiences, your own interpretation. This is your contribution.”

In the Psalms the shepherd David says, we are each called to “sing a new song” unto God.


Completion 1978 A number of us were traveling on a pilgrimage to holy places in India with Sri Gurudev. We’d been visiting holy temples and sites where great saints had lived and taught. Recently we’d visited the village and ashram of a local, much beloved guru who was the spiritual head of the whole town. He had sat and talked with our Gurudev and showed where his leg was hurting. Gurudev held our host’s leg and stroked it gently. The sage gave us each a treasure, a white top cloth that we could wear as we chose or carry folded over one shoulder. I really loved it.

So thickly populated was this land that everywhere we went in India there were people. Even in the countryside and on rural roadsides there were always people around. But one occasion was different. Soon after our visit with the local sage, we were driving across south India not far from where Gurudev was raised as a child. He stopped our cars and beckoned for us to get out and walk with him silently across a dry, wide barren expanse of open land and rocks. As far as the eye could see, not a soul was anywhere in sight in all directions. We traversed flat dry ground of rocks and stony hollows for some time. Gurudev led us to the edge of a deep crevice or pit in the earth. Looking down into the steep well of jutting stones, all we could see far below was the harsh bottom of the pit. Gurudev then told us a story from his youth.

A local man had disappeared from the community for some time and could not be found. If he was alive, his family had been abandoned. If dead, no one knew and there was no completion, no funeral – just worry and alarm.

As youths, Gurudev and a friend had chosen to go exploring – far beyond the safe areas their parents had given them permission to go. After some time they had come to this very place, and there down at the bottom of this pit they had found the body of the missing man.

He pointed where the body had been lying. I leaned forward and looked down over the edge. At just that moment a slight wind arose and lifted the folded top cloth off my shoulders. I reached out, but missed it as it floated and fell before our eyes -- straight down to the bottom of the pit where Gurudev was pointing. It was a gift from a holy man. As I considered climbing down. Gurudev said. “Leave it.” And that’s just what we did.


Zen Master, Zen Students 1980 I accompanied Sri Gurudev on a visit to the Providence, R.I. Zen Center of the late, ever ebullient Korean Zen master, Rev. Seung Sahn. In traditional robes of Zen monks, his American disciples, heads and chins clean-shaven, listened attentively to Sri Gurudev’s talk. Afterwards they approached him and, curious about his long hair and beard, said: “You’re a monk, are you not?” Why don’t you cut your hair?

He sliced the fingers of his right hand across the fingers of his left. “I could cut my fingers all the same length too,” he replied.

There were no more questions.

There are many ways and styles of carriage one may take on as a stand for what one believes and does.


A Gift from God 1986 Over a long period of time I was editing the Living Gita for publication. Finally, I turned it in to Publications. A few days later, Sri Gurudev called me and asked if my part of the writing and editing of the book was completed.

“Yes, I think so,” I said hesitantly, wondering if I’d missed something.

“Are you sure?” he continued.

I couldn’t think of anything else. “Yes,” I said.

Two days later he had Publications send me a check for a several thousand dollars – which was quite a surprise. I’d done the whole job over the years as Karma Yoga, as a service to the community. He waited until my part was complete so all my efforts were without expectation of financial reward. He helped me make a pure offering.

I called him. “I can’t accept this, Gurudev.”

“Yes, you can,” he said. “You’re householder; you have to earn money for your family. You can accept it.”

That night at a Saturday satsang, a gathering of the community and guests to hear the timeless teachings, Gurudev told us that when God gives you a gift, don’t question it: “Am I really worthy of this or not?” A gift from God – you "accept it immediately," he said.

No questions asked. No justification. Amazing grace, like the old song goes.


My Dad 1989 It was Father’s Day at the Virginia Ashram. I had been invited to give a short talk before Sri Gurudev’s satsang – a sharing of the wisdom. My dad had passed away a year before and I missed him a lot. I told some stories of things I learned from my father when I was growing up, and then stories of things I’d learned from my spiritual father, from Sri Gurudev over the years.

After Gurudev’s talk later that evening, he came over, put his hand on my shoulder and whispered in my ear. “Your father was here tonight,” he said.


Torn to Pieces “Even the pious avoid a perfect saint,” said Rumi, the wonderful 13th century mystic poet. “Someone that surrendered and free is a lion,” the Sufi master continued. “Try to be friends with one and you’ll be torn to pieces instantly. In fact, you’ll become a lion. If you want to stay a cow, then stay away.”

After Gurudev had left his body, I dreamed one morning I was in his house talking with him. I told him the mistake I made was trying to get close to him through Shanti.

“You used another’s friendship to be my friend?” he remarked.

“Yes,” I admitted. Then we hugged.

In the dream his children came running, a boy and a girl. “Father, someone is buying our house.” We noticed that the roof needed some support. He looked over at me for assistance. Quickly I called a few people. “Friends, can you spare a few moments to help us shore up this roof?” People came right over and we shored the roof laughing. (It took us awhile to let go each other, so closely were we bonded.)

Half-waking from this dream, I remembered Rumi saying, if you try to be friends with a lion, you’ll be torn to pieces. Someone asked: “Did you try to be friends with a lion?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Are you a lion now yourself?”

“I don’t know, but I have been torn to pieces.”
.

The Eagle – A Call to Return

Selections from Devarim/Words in Ha’azinu Deut. 32.1-52

Heaven and earth are called to hear these words
Which come down as rain showering on young growth

Remember the days of old. Ask your ancestors to inform you
Your spiritual elders will teach you

Is it not God, our father and mother, who made us
And establishes us, even now having us endure

A Rock (solid foundation) whose actions are perfect
Whose ways are always just

Like the eagle rousing its nest, hovering above its young
God empowers and hovers over us

When we become course and extravagant, we lose sight of you
I hide my countenance. I can reduce you to nothing
Leaving not a trace of your existence (Ayin, no-thing, just this!)

Our enemy is false perception thinking: “There is no God
I’m the one who deserves the credit.” No discernment
And as for the demons who pursue us
(Selfishness, greed, lust, anger and hatred) Disaster is nigh

Now clean the land and all nations bear witness:
My arrows are drunk with blood. My sword devours
(Look straight into these power images. This is an entrance)

Sweeping misfortune, bloated by famine, ravaged by plague
Deadly pestilence and the attack of fanged beasts let loose
Poisonous serpents creeping and striking from the dust

The terror within and from without -- death dealt by the blade
To everyone: young men and maidens, the aged and babies

Who God vindicates is vindicated
God’s portion are those who choose God. We are God’s people
The strength of our enemies wanes even now

See, there is none other than I
I deal death and give life. I wound and heal
And I live forever (I am the I am)

Enter the Covenant - Cross over the Jordan

Enter the Covenant
Selections from Devarim/Words in Nitzavim Deuteronomy 29.9-30.20

We stand this day all of us before God
Let us enter again into the sacred covenant

(“If you’ll be our God, we’ll be your people”
“If you’ll be my people, I’ll be your God”)

Thus God is established as our beloved
And we are established as God’s people

As we return to God and heed these teachings
With all heart and soul, God restores our fortunes
(As we walk the Blessing Way, we too are blessed)

God is bringing us together from the four corners of the earth
Into the land our ancestors occupied
(An awakened state. All our parts come together in oneness)

As we walk in these teachings
God opens our hearts to love all and serve all

We experience abounding prosperity in all our undertakings
God delights in our well-being

Set before us this day is life or death, prosperity or adversity
Heaven and earth are called and present to witness our choices

Surely this isn’t baffling to you – or beyond your reach
Choose life, choose love, choose the Lord your God

Walk in the way of these teachings; thrive and increase

By following these teachings and holding fast to their source
We will live and long endure in this Promised Land

Which is the awarenesses of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
(Of loving-kindness, courage and perfected faith)

Cross Over the Jordan
Selections from Devarim/Words in Vayelech Deuteronomy 31.1-30

As you cross over the Jordan, God crosses at your head
(As we transcend, we are crowned with divinity)

Destroying the nations already there (Fear, worry, greed

Dullness, criticism, sense of lack and self-righteousness)

And Joshua (the invincible) goes over before you
Now be strong and of good courage
It’s Yah who goes with you and God doesn’t fail or forsake you

To the Joshua (in us) God says:
Go with the people into the land and cause them to inherit it
I go before you; fear nothing

Teach this song to your children and students
A song of witnessing (observing without judging)
A song bringing us into a land flowing with milk and honey

A song never forgotten for all generations, revealing
God is the witness, the omniscient and the omnipresent

Assemble all the people and speak these teachings
That all may hear and have awe before God
And be moved to walk in the Way

And children to come will also hear and learn the Way
In doing this, you will live long in the land over the Jordan
(A Promised Land -- of illumination)

Take this book of wisdom-instruction and put it (in your heart)
Beside the Ark of the Covenant with God

Eat your fill. As you wax fat (be careful not to)
Turn to other gods (but look within for) the Levities
(The holiness within) bearing the Ark of the Covenant

Assemble all your elders and leaders and call heaven and earth
To witness (this revelation that) I am alive and in your midst

Moses is writing the song of the Torah this very day
Teaching the letters and words to us even now
(And listen:) Singing this song into our ears and into our hearts

Paint This Story on the Stones

Selections from Devarim/Words in Ki Tavo Deuteronomy 26.1-29.8

You are standing this day before God

Cross over the Jordon and enter the land God is giving you
(Come into the land of awakening)

Make an altar of unhewn stones
A place to re-dedicate your life to God
(Love all and serve all)

Set up great stones. Paint this story on the stones
Plaster and write on them the words of God’s teachings
(The story is in the stones, in the letters. Each is a symbol)

We cry out and with a strong hand
God brings us forth from the straits

To this place -- a land of milk and honey
(Nirvanna, mind-nakedness, nothing lacking)

Listen to the voices of God

Chop wood, carry water (Do your work, do your calling)
Tithe the tithe of your increase (Steady on, steady on)

Consecrate your home
By sharing with people so they won’t be in need

See what God does before our very eyes
Delighting in making us prosperous and multiplying us

With our abundance let us serve all in joy and gladness
(Say aloud) “My father was a wandering Aramean”

A treasured people are we who walk in the Tao
Along the natural way

In the glory of God’s praises we are uplifted to be holy

Now call out to God: Look forth from your sacred abode
And bless your people and this land!

Fulfill the Words that Cross your Lips

Selections from Devarim/Words in Ki Tetze Deuteronomy 21.10 -25.9

Wherever you go and wherever you are
This is the camp of the Lord

When you say you’ll do something, do it!
Fulfill the words that cross your lips
(This is empowering)

If you feel impure, bathe in clean water
And re-dedicate yourself to your most noble intentions

Use honest weights and measures
With no alternate weights in your pouch
In this way endure in the land of your sacred inheritance

Don’t be indifferent to another’s difficulties or losses
Assist however you can

You’re always free to divorce (No one owns another)
When you marry, consider it forever
Give happiness to the person you marry

Don’t regularly dress yourself as someone you are not

Don’t prostitute yourself
Even for what you consider a sacred cause

Lend to relatives and friends without charging interest
Thus, God blesses you in all your undertakings

Never defame anyone
Or speak disrespectfully of their intimate life

Whoever takes sexual advantage of an innocent woman or man
Must stand face to face before our mother and father in heaven

Don’t abhor or exclude anyone who may derive from
Another culture, ethnic background or nationality
Including those from races or lands where we were persecuted

Remember to forget Amalek
(“Beware of pride until your dying day.” – Baal Shem Tov)

Kabbaklah for Beginners Only (4) -- God Has Given You Treasure

Out of envy, Yosuf was strippd of his coat of many colors and sold into slavery by ten of his brothers, all but Rubin and Binyamin (Benjamin) who weren't present. He was carried down to Egypt, but over the next 17 years he rose up to become the Prime Minister, second only to Pharoah. During a long famine his father Jacob sends his brothers to Egypt for grain. They come to Yosuf, but don't recognize him and he imprisons one of them, Shimon, and sends them home loaded with grain, but won't see them again, he says, until they bring Binyamin, the favorite after Yosuf disappeared. Yakov is hesitant but he is the sheik of an extended family community whose children are facing starvation. Reluctantly Yakov sends Binyamin along on the second trip to Egypt, praying that no tragedy will befall them.

With the gifts and double money in our hands -- and Binyamin
We rise up and go down to Egypt (into the straits)

We stand before Yosuf (the governor of Egypt, the magician)
Who sees Binyamin (his brother) and says,
Prepare the meal. They’ll dine with me at noon

Fearful, we are brought into Yosuf’s house. To the steward
We say: We found our money in the mouth of our sacks
We’ve brought it back and other money also -- to buy food

He says: Peace be to you. Fear nothing.
The God of your fathers and mothers -- and your God
Has given you treasure in your sacks

Surely this is a beautiful Torah mantra we can affirm and repeat
“Be peaceful. Fear nothing. God has given me treasure in my sack”

He brings Shimon (to us) and gives us water for bathing
We wash our feet and food is given to our animals
Shimon looks good. Shimon is quiet and peaceful, and glad to see us

When Yosuf arrives we present our gifts and bow flat out
(Through an interpreter) He asks, Is your father well? We say

Yes, he’s still alive. Yosuf says, is this your youngest brother
God be gracious to you, he says to Binyamin, and hurries away
To weep for his heart so yearns for his brother. Then he returns

Now set on bread (the meal), he commands
He is served at his table and we at ours, for the Egyptians
Do not dine with the Hebrews

Hebrews, descendents of Eber, a patriarch-sage appearing
In the ten generation geneology from Noah to Abraham

We marvel to see that our places have been set in an order
From the first-born unto the youngest

Portions from before the Prime Minister are taken to us each
Binyamin’s portion is five times so much as any of ours
We drink with (the governor of the land) and are happy

Note that the brothers are not envious of Binyamin
Who appears to be the Prime Minister’s favorite
Yosuf was given a coat of many colors
Binyamin gets five times as much as the others Gen 43.34


Stealing Silver, Stealing Gold

Yosuf commands that our sacks be filled with food
And he puts every person’s money in the mouth of his sack

He says to also put his own silver goblet in Binyamin’s sack
At morning light we are sent away with our donkeys

When we have gone not far from the city, he tells his steward
Follow, overtake them and say: Why reward evil for good
Is not this in which my lord drinks and divines

We are overtaken and reply: Far be it from us to do such a thing
How could we ever steal silver or gold from the lord’s house
If you find it here, that person shall die and we’ll be your slaves

Silver and gold are literal examples of wealth, and also symbols
Silver and gold are the infinite depths of courage and compassion
They must be earned. They can never be stolen

Just as you say: In whose possession (the goblet) is found
Will be my bondsman (slave) and the rest of you will be blameless

Hurriedly we take down our sacks and open them
He searches beginning at the eldest to the youngest
In Binyamin’s sack the goblet is found

We tear our clothes (in grief), reload our animals and return to the city
We fall on the ground before Yosuf, who demands
What have you done? Don’t you know that I see the future

God has found out our iniquity, says Yahudah. What can we say
How do we clear ourselves? We are your bondsmen

Far be it from me to do so, replies Yosuf. Just the man
In whose hand the goblet has been found. He’ll be my slave
But the rest of you -- go in peace unto your father Gen.44.17

The test is before us every moment
Give up your cleverness

More to come. See: Kabbalah for Beginners, Parts 1-3 posted earlier

Give the Best You Have

Selections from Devarim/Words in Shoftim Deut. 16.18-21.9

Give the best you have to God
This is an offering without blemish

Who chooses God is chosen by God

Let Yah, God, (Yud-Heh-Vahv-Heh) put thoughts in our minds
Words in our mouths and actions in our hands

Enter the land God is giving you; occupy and settle it

Pursue justice and righteousness and in this way
Thrive and occupy the land of your holy inheritance

If something is baffling to you, go to a sacred place
Present your bafflement as an offering
Listen for wise guidance

What you hear from your intuition and conscience
Do it right away

Respect others’ boundaries

Don’t take bribes or gifts that blind you from wisdom
And pervert your words from speaking the way

Put judges and officers at all your gates
Watching what’s coming in your ears, eyes, nostrils, mouth
And what’s going out

Be fearless in battle even against overwhelming odds
God is with you

Never set yourself above anyone
Walk the middle path
Reign in enlightenment

Be wholehearted with God. With your life
Write your own Torah
Live that your life may become scripture

By keeping these letters near and looking daily into these teachings,
All through your life you will be enthroned

Kabbalah for Beginners Only (3) -- What is God Doing to Us?

Jealous of their father's love for Yosuf (Joseph), his brothers ambush him, strip him of his coat of many colors, throw him in a pit and then sell him into slavery. He is taken down into Egypt, but over the next 17 years he rises up to become the Prime Minister to Pharaoh.

God Makes Me Fruitful

Yosuf marries the priestess Asenath (Zuleika)
And travels through the land

She wins his heart. (See the Qur’n) Sufi mystics tell a great love story
Between Yosuf and the woman who had him thrown into the dungeon
She repents and after her husband dies, takes on many austerities
Becoming ever more purified until her inner beauty
Becomes so evident and radiant, Yosuf can no longer resist her

In the seven years of plenty the earth brings forth in heaps
He gathers and lays up all the food in the cities and the fields
So much as the sand of the seas until they leave off counting

Before the famine two children are born to Asenath and Yosuf
Manasseh meaning God makes me forget my toil
And Ephraim meaning God makes me fruitful (a mantra)

Children as named in scripture are often fruits or qualities described
That we may draw on also. What a blessing to let go the past
What a blessing to be fruitful and prosperous for the benefit of all

In all the lands the seven years of famine begin
But there’s bread (food) in Egypt

When the land of Egypt is famished, the people cry to Pharaoh
Go to Yosuf, he says. Yosuf opens the store houses

All the countries come to Egypt to buy corn (grain) Gen. 41.57
They come to Yosuf who's called Zaphenat-Paneah
Food-Man-of-the-Living (the Provider). He’s feeding everybody



Provisions for the Way

There’s famine in the land of Canaan.
Yakov (Jacob) learns there’s corn in Egypt and says,
Why look at one another
Go down there and buy some that we may live and not die

Yosuf’s ten brothers go down to Egypt, but not Benyamin
Lest harm befall him, says Yakov. The sons of YisraEl (Yakov) go

Yosuf is governing the land and selling food to all the people
His brothers come and bow before him faces to the earth

He sees and knows them, but makes himself strange to them
He remembers his dreams and says: Where do you come from

He is dressed and bearded as an Egyptian noble
He uses an interpreter to speak with them

From Canaan to buy food. Maybe you’re spies, he says
To see the nakedness of the land. My lord, we’re your servants

We’re all one man’s sons and upright men, twelve brothers
The youngest is with our father and one is not.

To see if there’s truth in your words, says Yosuf.
One of you go get your brother. Until then you’ll be bound here
He imprisons them all together

The tradition calls Yosuf a tzaddik, a righteous one
And an enlightened spiritual master. In that context
Observe how Yosuf is leading his brothers toward redemption

On the third day Yosuf says, because I’m in awe of God
If you’re truly upright men, let one of you be bound in prison
But go, take food for your families and bring your brother back

They speak to one another: Concerning our brother
Surely we’re guilty. We saw his distress. He besought us
But we would not hear. Thus has this distress come upon us

I said, don’t sin against the youth, says Rubin,
You wouldn’t hear. Now his blood is required of us

Ever since Yakov’s grief overwhelmed him – and all of them
Yosuf’s brothers sorely repented their cruel jealousy and envy
Since then, their conspiracy has bound them in guilt
They are not surprised by their fate, even accepting of it

Not realizing Yosuf can understand them (There’s no interpreter)
He turns away to weep. Then he returns and says
Take that one (Shimon) and bind him before their eyes

Each of us gets just what we need for our illumination and fullness
This is not always obvious and calls forth our faith
Shimon has a magnificent destiny. But in his unenlightened youth
He is strong and very proud. When his humility arises, he will awaken

(Unbeknownst to them) Yosuf commands:
Fill their vessels with food. Restore every man his money
And give them provisions for the way Gen 42.26



What is God Doing to Us?

We depart and at a lodging place on the way open our sacks
See our money in the mouths of our sacks and trembling
Exclaim: Our money is restored. What is God doing to us
A question that we all wonder at one time or another

We come to Yakov our father in Canaan and report it all:
He said, bring your youngest brother I’ll know you’re not spies
And look, every man’s bundle of money was in his sack

Yakov: You’ve bereaved me of my children Yosuf and Shimon
And now you’d take away Benyamin (Benjamin)? Rubin urges him
Slay my two children if I don’t bring Benyamin back to you
Sure, Yakov will kill his own grandchildren? Rubin’s wasting his breath

His brother is dead. My son will not go down with you
If harm befalls him, you'll bring down my grey hair to the grave

Yosuf and Benyamin are the only children of Yakov’s beloved Rachel
Who died giving birth to Benyamin. Yosuf seemed to be the favorite
Now Benyamin, the youngest of them, all is especially dear

But famine is sore in the land and the food from Egypt is eaten
Go again, says Yakov, buy a little food. Yahudah (Judah) speaks
The man said we won’t see his face less our brother be with us

Send the young man with me that we may live and not die
Also our little ones. I’ll be surety for him.
If I don’t bring him to you, I’ll bear the blame forever

What good is blame? says Yakov, will that bring back the dead?
And yes, I know you and Rubin will try to protect him

YisraEl (Yakov illumined) says:
Take of choice fruits of the land as a present
Also balm, honey and spices and double money in your hand

Yisra-El literally translates: the one who wrestles with God
And/or: the one who goes straight to God

Also take your brother and arise. Go to the man
And God Almighty give you mercy. And as for me
If I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved Gen. 43.14

Sometimes in life there’s only one choice
And God Almighty give you mercy

More to kome See Sections 1 and 2 also

Who Does God Worship?

Here's a story my guru Swami Satchidananda used to tell:

Once Lord Vishnu was walking around the palace carrying a small wooden box, looking into it with great interest and holding it very closely, like a precious treasure, again and again peering in very closely, even reverently. His wife Lakshmi saw his going about like that and became curious. "What's in the box, dear?” she asked.

"Oh nothing, nothing," he said and quickly hid it behind his back. But she saw him do that and got up and came over.

"Come on now, what's in that box, honey?"

"Nothing at all to concern yourself with," said Lord Vishnu. But then he looked in the box again very closely.

"Okay, give it to me," demanded his wife, putting her hand out.

"No, no," said Vishnu. But after all, Lakshmi is the Goddess. So she simply reached over and took it out of his hands.

He stood still and watched her. Lakshmi opened the box and peered inside.

Nothing. She couldn't see anything. She peered very closely. Then she said, "Why there's nothing in here but some dust." And she leaned close pursing her lips to blow it out.

"No, stop!" cried Vishnu. She froze. Gently he took the box from her hands and held it before her. "See, this is dust from my devotees' feet," he said. "It's the most precious of all that I have."

“Look at that,” said Gurudev, “the Lord worshipping the dust of his devotees' feet. That shows you how precious to God is your devotion.”

Don’t Come Empty-Handed

Selections from Devarim/Words in Re’eh Deuteronomy 11.26-16.17

This day I set before you a blessing or a curse
Hearken to God’s teachings or ignore the wise guidance

Pass over the Jordan; go in and possess the land
God is expanding your borders
(Your holdings and your understanding)

Destroy the nations you are dispossessing
Who have been serving lesser gods
(Vanity, self-image, greed, selfishness, gossip, anger, etc.)

God is blessing you and causing you to rest
From all your enemies round about you
(Those old thought patterns)
Dwell in safety

Rejoice before God with your sons and daughters
And also with those who serve you
And with the Levite (the holiness) within your gates

Love God with your heart and soul
Do what is right and good in God’s eyes

We are a people consecrated to God
Rejoice before God in all that you put your hand unto

Set aside every year a tenth part of the yield
Spend the money as you want

Don’t harden your heart before the needy
Rather open your hand; give readily without regrets
Feed outsiders, orphans, widows and widowers

Remember we were enslaved
Remember the day of our departure from bondage

Sacrifice in the evening at sundown
Don’t come before God empty-handed

We each bring our own gift
According to the blessings God is bestowing on us

Hand in Hand with the Beloved

The world you see is all a projection of your mind. Everything you actually see is seen inside your head on the back of your retina in an upside-down image. Your mind turns the perceptions over and makes a story out of it. The story is a lot what you inherited.

You may be attached to this world of survival, right and wrong, devils and angels, the righteous and the sinners. You are right and the evil ones are wrong. Without realizing it, most of us most of the time would rather be right than eat.

The time is ripe to let go those old stories and declare yourself free.

Death is not necessarily an evil. Death is a doorway, perhaps to a sweeter land. And sin -- sin is “missing the mark.”

Since the God we love and worship is both omnipotent (almighty) and compassionate (all-loving), then certainly it must be God's will that people sometimes suffer, including me and you. It must be part of the great mystery of life. At least something good comes from our suffering -- you and other great souls are touched and filled with compassion and dedicate your lives to the benefit of everyone else.

How about the martial arts -- judo and karate, even Tai Chi. Will they completely disappear in heaven? And chess too -- no books on how to play chess better? All gone when war goes away? Don't you think, like peace, war is also part of God's design?

God's holy mountain is Zion, the realm of active belief, faith. The prophet painted a picture of paradise -- when the wolf eats grass and the lion lies down with the lamb. The wolf eats the grass of the field when he's feeling sick and needs to throw up. Otherwise, in wolf heaven, he'd prefer something else to dine on, I assure you. The prophet should have said, "... then the cattle will eat the grass of the field..." That's more like it, the way heaven ought to be, don't you agree?

Make your life into myth; write your own legend. Include peace for all, if that's the world you choose to live in. No more "very soons." No more "hopefully’s." Don't wait any longer. Be bold. Go for it. Step into it. Declare it so and live it yourself. Gandhi said, "Live the possibility you want for others." Jesus says, "You will all do even more than I am doing. Here, stand up on my shoulders ..."

The war of good versus evil, with evil ultimately vanquished by the victorious Godhead -- was useful for some years, but is not always useful to you. Consider other games in the unfolding of your life. Write your own myth with your own life.

A time comes when you declare yourself no longer a "seeker." Declare yourself "the finder!" Of course, you can always take refuge at the feet of the shepherd. But look and listen – you are being called now to swing out through the stars, hand in hand with your beloved.

In the Land of Nothing Lacking

Selections from Devarim/Words in Ekev, Deuteronomy 7.12-11.25

Listen YisraEl (put your own name here)
You are (to transcend) pass over the Jordan “this day”

Only this is required: Respect God with awe. Walk in the Tao
Love and serve all (God in manifestation)

Don’t be stiff-necked. Cut away the thickness about your heart
(Don’t be proud; be soft-hearted and compassionate)

Yah (God) tests and proves us to (let us) see what’s in our hearts
Hardships strengthen us like a father trains his children

Ascend the mountain and receive the tablets of stone
Tablets of the Covenant inscribed with the fingers of God

With your own eyes -- see the glory is everywhere!

Don’t ever think it’s your doing. Remember, it’s God
Who gives us power to get wealth and fulfill the Covenant

God brings us to a good land of brooks, fountains and depths
Of fruitful vines, trees and honey, a land of nothing lacking

Eat and be satisfied, and give thanks to God
For bringing us here and giving us this good land

God separates the tribe of Levi to bear the Ark of the Covenant
To stand before, minister to and bless in God’s names
To this day Yah (the Lord) is Levi’s inheritance
(The Levite in us supports holy places and teaches the Way)

Practice these instructions.
They empower you to possess the land (of non-duality)
And occupy the land of nothing lacking

Lay up these words in your heart and soul.
Set them as signs on your hands and symbols on your forehead
(Meditate on these letters and teachings)

Thus we dislodge all ignorance in us
And see that everywhere we tread is our home

Be fearless. God is in our midst. None can stand against us

A Strong Hand

Selections from Devarim/Words in Va-Ethannan Deuteronom 3.23-7.11

Scattered among the peoples – seek God with all heart and soul
Listen YisraEl (all truth wrestlers getting it straight)
The Lord your God is the oneness of everything everywhere

I am Yah El (the Lord your God). I hear the pleas of my people.
I’m bringing you up from the narrow places
Be careful and walk the way I’m showing and teaching you

Now see with your own eyes:
A mountain flaming high into a dark dense sky
A mighty voice speaking out of fire and thick clouds

Becoming ten sounds, ten words
Ten symbols inscribed on two tables of stone

With a strong hand God rescues us from blinding bondage
Out of the midst of fire, Yah (God) speaks with us face to face
And strikes a covenant with us

I am beyond any manner of likeness one could draw or engrave
I show mercy for thousands of generations

Honor your parents and long endure and increase greatly
Sacred is the Sabbath, a seventh day – make it so

(Of course) don’t murder people or be adulterous
Or steal from each other or bear false witness against anyone
Or covet your neighbor’s spouse or home or vehicles or wealth

Ten words Alef, Bayt, Gimal, Dalet, Heh,
Vahv, Zayin, cHet, Tet, Yohd

Impress them in the hearts of your children
Bind them as a sign on your hands and between your eyes
On the doorposts of your house and write them on your gates
(They are your gates)

If you make God your treasure, you’ll find God’s love is on you
Be a nation who has God close at hand

Go the mountain top. Strike a covenant with God.
Inherit the good land

The Angel Fish

I asked the captain of the Icebreaker to lay over for awhile. My men and I leapt into the icy arctic waters wearing drysuits, rubber mittens and booties inside our long fins and even rubber head gear. Only our faces outside our facemasks were exposed to the ice water. Thus we swam across the Arctic Circle.

There’s a cave mentioned in the Book of Genesis, where the patriarchs and matriarchs lie buried, the Cave of Makpela, which means the double cave, the cave inside the cave, an entrance to Eden.

I was missing my old swim buddy. Jack and I went through Navy Frogman training together. He was one of those guys that things always seemed to go right for. He was a great swimmer, a fine athlete, light-haired and light-hearted, wiry and strong. An easy-going, handsome Navy Seal and a very laid back guy. The girls loved him. I was a bit envious. He was raised in Florida and very much at home in the oceans of the world.

I took off the rubber mittens just for a minute to check my depth gage and the knife on my belt. When I tried to climb the roap-ladder back onto the ship – I had to be hauled aboard. I’d lost so many heat calories through my hands in just that one minute, I was nearly out of strength. Learn and live.

We were on our way toward the north pole to the Distant Early Warning Site, riding for a few weeks on this Icebreaker ship that was bringing supplies to the men who manned that station on 18 month assignments in the frigid north. But this was summer and the ship could almost get into shore. Some icebergs in the harbor blocked the way. Good job for Frogmen with plastic explosives.

Hard to believe just a few weeks ago I was in the Caribbean swimming with dolphins, going on deep water scuba dives with Jack, blowing up cliff sides on a deserted island to practice making landing ramps for Marines who would want to hit the beach running.

One day – just for fun –- we re-mixed the gas in our air tanks, lowering the oxygen percentage so if we went way down we wouldn’t absorb too much oxygen and get drunk down there – Raptures of the Deep, they call it – and it’s dangerous. Swimmers have been known to take off their bottles and mouthpieces and hand them to fish passing by.

A mile or so off the coast of St.Thomas we swam way, way down 300-350 feet. We found an old wreck and several thick glass oval-shaped beer or ale bottles that the sailors must have tossed over a century or more before. I still have one. Just then in the deep -- a huge, but gossamer thin angel fish swam between us. It was as big as we were were. I could see Jack’s outline through the translucent body of the angel fish, very cool. The Caribbean water is clear as glass for hundreds of feet; it’s so beautiful.

On the way back to the surface we had to stop about 20 feet down for about 15 minutes and decompress -- letting the compressed air out of our blood streams, back into our lungs and exhaled out into sea. We’d get the bends if we went right up to the surface after being that deep for that long. While we were hovering there waiting, a school of yellow sharks swam over and began to circle around us.

Fish in the sea won’t usually attack anything their size or bigger. Those sharks looked plenty big to me. Underwater everything always appears about one fifth larger than it really is. Maybe they were just four feet long, but they looked strong and menacing -- and they were sure checking us out. We slid the large metal air tanks off our backs and, wrapping the straps around our right arms, held them as shields. before us. Behind us, we gripped each others’ left arm drawing our backs together, moving our fins gently to stay in place. Let those ugly monsters circle round and round. If they attacked, all they’d get would be a mouthful of metal – I hoped. We definitely had each others’ backs.

I looked over at Jack. The man was smiling. When you smile underwater ocean water gets inside the face mask and that looks pretty funny. I couldn’t believe the guy was smiling.

Five more minutes seemed like an hour to me. I kept looking at my watch. But we got out of the water and climbed up on a waiting ship where the sailors were holding loaded rifles to shoot at the sharks if they attacked us. I didn’t think those bullets would have done anything at that depth.

Legend has it that the Cave of Makpela is where all babies who die go; where warriors who die in noble warfare go; and where all martyrs go at death. This is their gateway home.

Swimming underneath an iceberg is something you never forget. It’s like a gigantic crystal with the sun rainbowing through the ice in a magnificent color spectrum. You just didn’t want to blow up these babies. Also, in the arctic during the summer, sunset and sunrise are the same thing at the same time. It never really gets dark.

It was fun up there. I goofed around with some native Eskimos in their hunting kayaks who lifted their javelins as if they’d found a huge strange sea creature coming up out of the water. We laughed and laughed together -- the only language that we shared. They invited us to their igloos to meet their kids and wives.

But there was a gnawing in my gut and an emptiness. Just a few weeks back on a Saturday afternoon Jack had gone with a date to the white sand beach and beautiful blue waters of Magen’s Bay in St. Thomas. A freak thing happened. A white hammerhead shark, a really big one -- somehow found its way into this popular swimmers’ beach – hungry, and struck – of all people -- my swim buddy. He cried out. His girl and others began to run in to get him. But Jack shouted at them, “No, don’t come in. Don’t come in.” And he was struck again -- and again. And killed.

And I wasn’t there to cover his back. Immediately they sent me away to the Arctic to blow up icebergs because my swim buddy was killed in St. Thomas and there was nothing I could do about it.

The whole team went out to Magen’s Bay the next day and went into the water with weapons and found that big hammerhead and killed it. They found Jack’s arm inside the shark’s belly with his Rolex underwater watch still on his wrist running just fine.

Did you know that Iceland is green and Greenland is white and icy? Who woulda thought that?

After clearing the way for the Icebreaker, I forged some orders to get us out of there and caught us a flight with some Air Force pilots heading back to the States. When I got back to our base in Little Creek, Virginia, one of Jack’s girlfriends hit on me a little – I was the closest thing to him she could find. She was very attractive; I wanted to go with it. But we felt like siblings and neither of us could get into it.

For Jack Gibson of sacred memory