Let's be sensible about eating and fasting.
Fasting has several useful effects on our bodies and minds. 1) During a fasting period, the body begins cleaning house and immediately starts eliminating toxins long stored which is healthy (and sometmes uncomfortable). 2) Fasting also shifts and refines consciousness, which of course is powerfully useful during times of inner reflection and worship; 3) Fasting is an austerity which purifies the mind and develops will power. And finally 4) when millions of people all around the globe choose to fast together with an uplifting and spiritual intention, this seems to have real effect on the worlds we live in and on our day-to-day lives.
Now -- about eating both before and after a fast: It doesn't matter too much what you eat before a one day fast, but drink a good bit of water if your fast includes no liquids. You could actually eat nothing all day before a one day fast and still fast the next day, which would be a two day fast. (Many people do three day, seven day and 30-day fasts as regular spiritual pratices -- but almost always "with" water.) So, it doesn't really matter what you eat "before" a fast day.
However, there's a tendency to gorge one's self after the fast. This is not advised because you have arrived at an uplifted and altered state of consciuousness, and stuffing youself will bring you down into the trough of day-to-day life. It's hard not to gorge ourselves at a big break-the-fast dinner where the vibe very soon becomes eat-eat-eat! This is no big sin; it's sort of fun. But we do lose the high. However if you fast a long time (3 days or more), it's quite dangerous for your body to eat heavily as you begin to break your fast.
A common Yoga practice is to do a liquid fast one day each week or every two weeks.
Rumi says fasting will turn a crust of bread into a seven-layered dessert.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Monday, October 6, 2008
Israel Journal
August 29, 2008
Friday night in Tel Aviv one block from the sea
After forty years here I am back in Israel
Watching the red sun set west into the Mediterranean
It’s hot here, also lovely. This Sabbath night
I’m heading for the sea
This Tel Aviv is a modern hip Mediterranean city
The streets are safe enough, I see
For women to walk here and there alone in the dark
It feels both strange to be here, and home again also
12:30 at night I’m walking down to the beach
(5:30 in the afternoon back in Virginia)
Okay, here I am (he-nay-nee) send me, use me
Gentle waves rolling in loud, standing in the sound
A cool summer breeze blowing over soft sand
Batches of grey beneath a dark blue night sky
The taste of eons, timeless time
Beyond history, beyond names and countries
And newspaper headlines -- just this open sea
Out there is Africa and Europe, Turkey, Italy and Greece
Egypt, Spain and Morocco. When I was a young Navy frogman
I used to swim in these waters. Now I’ve come back
To this holy land on another octave. O my God
Let me be a clearing for peace, an ocean of love and light
August 29, 2008
Friday night in Tel Aviv one block from the sea
After forty years here I am back in Israel
Watching the red sun set west into the Mediterranean
It’s hot here, also lovely. This Sabbath night
I’m heading for the sea
This Tel Aviv is a modern hip Mediterranean city
The streets are safe enough, I see
For women to walk here and there alone in the dark
It feels both strange to be here, and home again also
12:30 at night I’m walking down to the beach
(5:30 in the afternoon back in Virginia)
Okay, here I am (he-nay-nee) send me, use me
Gentle waves rolling in loud, standing in the sound
A cool summer breeze blowing over soft sand
Batches of grey beneath a dark blue night sky
The taste of eons, timeless time
Beyond history, beyond names and countries
And newspaper headlines -- just this open sea
Out there is Africa and Europe, Turkey, Italy and Greece
Egypt, Spain and Morocco. When I was a young Navy frogman
I used to swim in these waters. Now I’ve come back
To this holy land on another octave. O my God
Let me be a clearing for peace, an ocean of love and light
Notes on the Akeda - The Binding of Isaac
Abraham builds an altar there, lies the wood in order
Binds Isaac his son and lays him on the altar
Abraham stretches forth his hand and takes the knife …
-- from Genesis 22
Not all images in scripture are pretty or easy to swallow. But if we put aside our old fix on it – if just for awhile – and open up to the possibility of new understanding and insight – then our psyche’s are open for renewal, healing and transformation.
Rabbinic sages selected this terrible/wonderful story, or set of Tarot images in Genesis (B’rei-sheet) – where the wise old mature patriarch goes up on the mount and offers his son as a burnt offering to God. Questions arise immediately: why would a loving and just God ask such sacrifice? How could a loving devoted father ever make such a sacrifice? What is happening to Isaac during this story? And what do these power images bring to our own hearts and psyches as we investigate this tale – with neutrality and an open mind?
See the story in Genesis; look it over. What happened just before with Hagar and Ishmael? What does Abraham have to “prove?” What do we each have to prove – and for what reason? Why is this in scripture?
Abraham’s will becomes one with God’s will; in blessing others, God is blessing through him, which is our destiny also and our heritage.
In truth there is no one correct meaning to this scriptural portion. In fact there is no one innate, unadulterated meaning to anything in the world or in life. Nothing has any innate meaning in and of itself; things just are what they are. “I am that I am,” God tells Moses and tells us. We put the meanings on everything. Since that’s so –- look to see a magnificent meaning to put on these images. Consider that you’re investigating a power dream and every character in the story here is a part of your own self.
Here are some meanings one might “try on.” But you too can and should try on some of your own meanings and share them with others. This is just to prime your pump:
Previously (Geness 21) Abraham is asked to let go his wife Hagar and their son, his first born, Ishmael and send them off into the wilderness with just a loaf of bread and skin of water. Sarah tells him to do so. He inquires of God and is told to do what Sarah says. It’s a sacrifice that is hard for him. He argues with Abimelek (desert chieftain and Father-King) about a well of water taken away from him. Abimelek says, consider it never happened. Hagar is called on by an angel of God. Her eyes are opened. She become enlightened, illumined, sees a well of water and raises her son as an archer to be a father of great nation. Abraham plants a tamarisk tree and passes onto us a new name and quality or attribute of God, symbolized by the tamarisk tree.
In this section Abraham uses an important Torah mantra three times, Heenayni. Here am I (being absolutely present, ready to hear and do immediately). The final test: let go your attachment to your most cherished one. If we would be truly free and achieve self-mastery, we can have no other attachments before our attachment to God.
Even so, we might well sacrifice self-mastery and freedom to spare the life of our most beloved. Probably Abraham, who has already gone through eleven earlier tests, has become so surrendered to God’s will by this point in the evolution of his soul – that his will is really merged with God’s will (but he doesn’t quite realize it yet) -- which is the only way, I believe, he could go through with such an awful, awe-filled test – and pass it. His faith, his active belief, is very mature. He has just seen that when he let go Hagar and Ishmael, which appeared to be cruel and unreasonable at the outset, it turned out that Hagar found her own faith and became illumined, and her son set off into his own noble destiny. The early rabbinic commentators all say one of the two young men who Abraham and Isaac left back with the donkey is Ishmael. Abraham has gotten back what he sacrificed. In fact, later we will see that after Sarah’s death, Abraham remarries Hagar who has matured to become Keturah and they have many children together.
Rashi reminds us that God never tells Abraham “to slaughter” Isaac, only to take him up to Moriah and offer him as sacrifice. Abraham tells the two young men: “We’ll worship and come back to you.” How does he know that? Hasn’t he been told to offer his son as a burnt offering? Probably this man of great faith, who has seen all his sacrifices return to him 100 times over, believes in the inexplicable and indefinable love and justice of this God he worships so full out.
Meanwhile, Isaac isn’t really a lad or a youth. Bible scholars counting genealogies figure Abraham is 134 years old when this happens, and Isaac is 34. He’s still a youth in the eyes of his father however – and that must be sacrificed utterly in order for Abraham to pass the baton, the torch of leadership, the robe and the bowl -- to the next patriarch. The patriarch Isaac is called forth in this section. His faith is tested also – and he too passes the test, which is why the rabbis call this section, the Akeda, or the Binding of Isaac on the altar.
When Isaac asks his father where is the sacrifice animal, Abraham tells him God will present one. This is when Isaac “knows,” say our sages, and immediately Isaac agrees. His father is also his teacher, his rebbe, and he aligns himself 100 percent with Abraham: “They both go together,” is repeated twice in this section.
Torah sages explain that when a name or word or line is repeated in scripture, it is a sign of great affection and love from God. When Abraham stretches forth his hand and takes the knife, an angel of God calls to him saying: “Abraham, Abraham.”
Isaac comes up the mountain as a mature disciple, and comes down a realized sage and patriarch of a great religious tradition. Yah (God) proves or tests Abraham, (tests, proves;NiSSaH) also means “uplifted.” Abraham was uplifted by his own power, which is the meaning of “the trial," as Midrash says (quoting Psalm 60.6): “You give those who revere you trials by which they uplift themselves as banners.” (They do it on their own...) When God calls to him later: “Abraham, Abraham,” [this shows] he now has become whole, cleaving to the root of that Abraham-above aspect [his true nature, his higher Self], which is why the sages say, “The patriarchs are the chariot” [our lower, human selves and personalities are “the seat” for our upper hidden Self. -- R’ Art Green].
The entire ritual is transformational for both Abraham and Isaac, which is offered to us in scripture for our own transformation. The offering by both of them takes them to another level of consciousness, into another realm, as it were, where everything in the world is visible, where everything we could ever want or need is visible and available to be taken and used. Thus Abraham sees a ram with its horns caught in a thicket, and substitutes that for his son Isaac. Historically one might say this is the moment when humanity wakens to a more evolved state and human sacrifice, which at one time was commonplace, is dropped altogether. Eventually, animal sacrifice is also replaced by prayer and self-sacrifice.
The life of Abraham as reported in scripture bestows upon us yet another attribute of God. Abraham calls this place, this awareness, Adonoi-jireh, the place where God sees, or the place where God is seen, or where everything is visible. God is invisible after all. But God can be realized. We can experience samadhi, super-consiousness. We enter a state of oneness at that level of consciousness and thus -- see through God’s eyes, as it were.
Binds Isaac his son and lays him on the altar
Abraham stretches forth his hand and takes the knife …
-- from Genesis 22
Not all images in scripture are pretty or easy to swallow. But if we put aside our old fix on it – if just for awhile – and open up to the possibility of new understanding and insight – then our psyche’s are open for renewal, healing and transformation.
Rabbinic sages selected this terrible/wonderful story, or set of Tarot images in Genesis (B’rei-sheet) – where the wise old mature patriarch goes up on the mount and offers his son as a burnt offering to God. Questions arise immediately: why would a loving and just God ask such sacrifice? How could a loving devoted father ever make such a sacrifice? What is happening to Isaac during this story? And what do these power images bring to our own hearts and psyches as we investigate this tale – with neutrality and an open mind?
See the story in Genesis; look it over. What happened just before with Hagar and Ishmael? What does Abraham have to “prove?” What do we each have to prove – and for what reason? Why is this in scripture?
Abraham’s will becomes one with God’s will; in blessing others, God is blessing through him, which is our destiny also and our heritage.
In truth there is no one correct meaning to this scriptural portion. In fact there is no one innate, unadulterated meaning to anything in the world or in life. Nothing has any innate meaning in and of itself; things just are what they are. “I am that I am,” God tells Moses and tells us. We put the meanings on everything. Since that’s so –- look to see a magnificent meaning to put on these images. Consider that you’re investigating a power dream and every character in the story here is a part of your own self.
Here are some meanings one might “try on.” But you too can and should try on some of your own meanings and share them with others. This is just to prime your pump:
Previously (Geness 21) Abraham is asked to let go his wife Hagar and their son, his first born, Ishmael and send them off into the wilderness with just a loaf of bread and skin of water. Sarah tells him to do so. He inquires of God and is told to do what Sarah says. It’s a sacrifice that is hard for him. He argues with Abimelek (desert chieftain and Father-King) about a well of water taken away from him. Abimelek says, consider it never happened. Hagar is called on by an angel of God. Her eyes are opened. She become enlightened, illumined, sees a well of water and raises her son as an archer to be a father of great nation. Abraham plants a tamarisk tree and passes onto us a new name and quality or attribute of God, symbolized by the tamarisk tree.
In this section Abraham uses an important Torah mantra three times, Heenayni. Here am I (being absolutely present, ready to hear and do immediately). The final test: let go your attachment to your most cherished one. If we would be truly free and achieve self-mastery, we can have no other attachments before our attachment to God.
Even so, we might well sacrifice self-mastery and freedom to spare the life of our most beloved. Probably Abraham, who has already gone through eleven earlier tests, has become so surrendered to God’s will by this point in the evolution of his soul – that his will is really merged with God’s will (but he doesn’t quite realize it yet) -- which is the only way, I believe, he could go through with such an awful, awe-filled test – and pass it. His faith, his active belief, is very mature. He has just seen that when he let go Hagar and Ishmael, which appeared to be cruel and unreasonable at the outset, it turned out that Hagar found her own faith and became illumined, and her son set off into his own noble destiny. The early rabbinic commentators all say one of the two young men who Abraham and Isaac left back with the donkey is Ishmael. Abraham has gotten back what he sacrificed. In fact, later we will see that after Sarah’s death, Abraham remarries Hagar who has matured to become Keturah and they have many children together.
Rashi reminds us that God never tells Abraham “to slaughter” Isaac, only to take him up to Moriah and offer him as sacrifice. Abraham tells the two young men: “We’ll worship and come back to you.” How does he know that? Hasn’t he been told to offer his son as a burnt offering? Probably this man of great faith, who has seen all his sacrifices return to him 100 times over, believes in the inexplicable and indefinable love and justice of this God he worships so full out.
Meanwhile, Isaac isn’t really a lad or a youth. Bible scholars counting genealogies figure Abraham is 134 years old when this happens, and Isaac is 34. He’s still a youth in the eyes of his father however – and that must be sacrificed utterly in order for Abraham to pass the baton, the torch of leadership, the robe and the bowl -- to the next patriarch. The patriarch Isaac is called forth in this section. His faith is tested also – and he too passes the test, which is why the rabbis call this section, the Akeda, or the Binding of Isaac on the altar.
When Isaac asks his father where is the sacrifice animal, Abraham tells him God will present one. This is when Isaac “knows,” say our sages, and immediately Isaac agrees. His father is also his teacher, his rebbe, and he aligns himself 100 percent with Abraham: “They both go together,” is repeated twice in this section.
Torah sages explain that when a name or word or line is repeated in scripture, it is a sign of great affection and love from God. When Abraham stretches forth his hand and takes the knife, an angel of God calls to him saying: “Abraham, Abraham.”
Isaac comes up the mountain as a mature disciple, and comes down a realized sage and patriarch of a great religious tradition. Yah (God) proves or tests Abraham, (tests, proves;NiSSaH) also means “uplifted.” Abraham was uplifted by his own power, which is the meaning of “the trial," as Midrash says (quoting Psalm 60.6): “You give those who revere you trials by which they uplift themselves as banners.” (They do it on their own...) When God calls to him later: “Abraham, Abraham,” [this shows] he now has become whole, cleaving to the root of that Abraham-above aspect [his true nature, his higher Self], which is why the sages say, “The patriarchs are the chariot” [our lower, human selves and personalities are “the seat” for our upper hidden Self. -- R’ Art Green].
The entire ritual is transformational for both Abraham and Isaac, which is offered to us in scripture for our own transformation. The offering by both of them takes them to another level of consciousness, into another realm, as it were, where everything in the world is visible, where everything we could ever want or need is visible and available to be taken and used. Thus Abraham sees a ram with its horns caught in a thicket, and substitutes that for his son Isaac. Historically one might say this is the moment when humanity wakens to a more evolved state and human sacrifice, which at one time was commonplace, is dropped altogether. Eventually, animal sacrifice is also replaced by prayer and self-sacrifice.
The life of Abraham as reported in scripture bestows upon us yet another attribute of God. Abraham calls this place, this awareness, Adonoi-jireh, the place where God sees, or the place where God is seen, or where everything is visible. God is invisible after all. But God can be realized. We can experience samadhi, super-consiousness. We enter a state of oneness at that level of consciousness and thus -- see through God’s eyes, as it were.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Earthquake!
Nineteenth day in the month of Shivan
In the year 5768 (since we’ve been counting)
Notes from the Sefer Yetzirah, the Book of Creation
month of sivan (may-june); constellation gemini
four power symbols in this order: y v h h
tribes of levi and zebulon
we begin in the east
at sunise
About Korah
"Even the greatest person, when he's just for himself --
In the year 5768 (since we’ve been counting)
Notes from the Sefer Yetzirah, the Book of Creation
month of sivan (may-june); constellation gemini
four power symbols in this order: y v h h
tribes of levi and zebulon
we begin in the east
at sunise
About Korah
"Even the greatest person, when he's just for himself --
What is he?" asks the Sefat Emet
Earthquake!
With 250 elect chieftains, many also from tribe of Ruben
Korah of Levi rises in the face of Moses, saying
All the congregation are holy
Why do you lift yourself up
Moses falls on his face and says
In the morning God will show you
O Levi, singers of joyous praises
and warriors for truth
Don't take on too much
Just carry your part of the boat
In your songs and dances of devotion
You draw very near
But now you want to be the High Priest
Let's each of us take our fire pans and incense burners
and let us light them and make our offerings
This brings us to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting
With so much fire burning and incense rising
The glory of God is experienced by all present
Moshe and Aharon pranam (prostrate) full out
With 250 elect chieftains, many also from tribe of Ruben
Korah of Levi rises in the face of Moses, saying
All the congregation are holy
Why do you lift yourself up
Moses falls on his face and says
In the morning God will show you
O Levi, singers of joyous praises
and warriors for truth
Don't take on too much
Just carry your part of the boat
In your songs and dances of devotion
You draw very near
But now you want to be the High Priest
Let's each of us take our fire pans and incense burners
and let us light them and make our offerings
This brings us to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting
With so much fire burning and incense rising
The glory of God is experienced by all present
Moshe and Aharon pranam (prostrate) full out
On the face of the earth
Datan and Abiram come out and stand at the door
with their wives and children
A hand moves the earth
Earthquake!
Opening and devouring Korah and many more
A plague of fear begins to spread
Aaron runs into the midst of the assembly
Stands between the living and the dead
And stays the plague
Write Aharon's name on the rod of Levi
Put the rod of Aaron beside the Torah
Take refuge in the dharma
The testimonies of what's eternally so
* * *
When you receive my prasad, the grace gift for you
Set apart of it a gift for God
a tithe of the tithe
[a tenth of the tenth]
This is recorded to you:
the corn of the threshing floor
the fullness of the wine press
Set apart the very best for God
Selections from Korah Numbers 16.1-18.32
Datan and Abiram come out and stand at the door
with their wives and children
A hand moves the earth
Earthquake!
Opening and devouring Korah and many more
A plague of fear begins to spread
Aaron runs into the midst of the assembly
Stands between the living and the dead
And stays the plague
Write Aharon's name on the rod of Levi
Put the rod of Aaron beside the Torah
Take refuge in the dharma
The testimonies of what's eternally so
* * *
When you receive my prasad, the grace gift for you
Set apart of it a gift for God
a tithe of the tithe
[a tenth of the tenth]
This is recorded to you:
the corn of the threshing floor
the fullness of the wine press
Set apart the very best for God
Selections from Korah Numbers 16.1-18.32
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Being Peaceful with Money in Daily Life
As told by Swami Satchidananda of Integral Yoga
The commercial world greatly encourages you to spend and spend. Don’t get caught in that. In order to spend, to save and to give, you should have it first.
Don’t try to live up to some expected or presumed standard of living. The real standard is your joy of life. And that comes from a peaceful, happy mind with self-dignity.
Don’t earn ten dollars and spend fifteen, which is often the way people live, thinking “Oh, I have to have this and that.” The agony of trying to pay such bills certainly outweighs the joy of buying.
Comfort is not in the house, the bed, the clothes or the food; it’s in the mind. When you spend too much and then worry how to pay the bills, there’s no comfort at all.
If you find it difficult to pay all the bills, that means you have spent more than you earned. In such a situation you can’t even enjoy your family, because of constant grumbling, “Oh, how can I pay these bills?”
It will be very easy to pay all the bills if you spend according to your income. So let’s learn to live the simple life. We can do it; everything is possible.
Don’t try to live up to some expected or presumed standard of living. The real standard is your joy of life. And that comes from a peaceful, happy mind with self-dignity.
Don’t earn ten dollars and spend fifteen, which is often the way people live, thinking “Oh, I have to have this and that.” The agony of trying to pay such bills certainly outweighs the joy of buying.
Comfort is not in the house, the bed, the clothes or the food; it’s in the mind. When you spend too much and then worry how to pay the bills, there’s no comfort at all.
If you find it difficult to pay all the bills, that means you have spent more than you earned. In such a situation you can’t even enjoy your family, because of constant grumbling, “Oh, how can I pay these bills?”
It will be very easy to pay all the bills if you spend according to your income. So let’s learn to live the simple life. We can do it; everything is possible.
Make Money
In the Ramayana epic, when the villain was wounded and bleeding, the author Valmiki writes: Ravana’s mind was “shaking like that of a debtor.”
Make money. It doesn’t matter what the job is. No job is more menial than to be a debtor. We shouldn’t hesitate to take any job available. A poor man need never lose his dignity, but a debtor loses his dignity.
Until you pay back your debts, cut back on all your expenses. Live with what you have now, or even if you have to –- sell some things.
Make money. It doesn’t matter what the job is. No job is more menial than to be a debtor. We shouldn’t hesitate to take any job available. A poor man need never lose his dignity, but a debtor loses his dignity.
Until you pay back your debts, cut back on all your expenses. Live with what you have now, or even if you have to –- sell some things.
God is Giving You a Lot, Always Save a Little
says Thiruvalluvar in the Tirrukkural. If you earn ten dollars, make sure you put one dollar in savings. In your budget, consider savings as one part of your expenses – because anything might happen. You may lose your job or fall sick. You save yourself.
God has given you a lot. Save some. Even the poorest man can save a little.
Try to keep a few dollars to save. If you make $1,000, don’t let your spending exceed $900. It’s always better to save a little from what we earn. Even ants save a little food for a rainy day.
Don’t even depend on insurance companies. Remember there may be a rainy day.
If you get more money than you need through your salary or a bonus, don’t go spend it all immediately and come back empty-handed. Put it in savings.
God has given you a lot. Save some. Even the poorest man can save a little.
Try to keep a few dollars to save. If you make $1,000, don’t let your spending exceed $900. It’s always better to save a little from what we earn. Even ants save a little food for a rainy day.
Don’t even depend on insurance companies. Remember there may be a rainy day.
If you get more money than you need through your salary or a bonus, don’t go spend it all immediately and come back empty-handed. Put it in savings.
How Many Breaths Remain?
Some Yoga scriptures say you’ve been sent here with just a certain number of breaths. You have to budget your life according to that amount of breaths.
Budget your life – and not only your money, but in everything: your hours, your days, your entire life could be budgeted.
An intelligent person simply asks and looks: “How much am I making and how much can I afford to spend?” If necessary, cut down drastically. Budget your life.
Sage Thiruvalluvar says, householders should divide their money into five parts: some to honor departed souls; some for God [manifesting in all living beings]; some for guests; some for relatives; and some for one’s self. Then still, some also for a rainy day.
Budget your life – and not only your money, but in everything: your hours, your days, your entire life could be budgeted.
An intelligent person simply asks and looks: “How much am I making and how much can I afford to spend?” If necessary, cut down drastically. Budget your life.
Sage Thiruvalluvar says, householders should divide their money into five parts: some to honor departed souls; some for God [manifesting in all living beings]; some for guests; some for relatives; and some for one’s self. Then still, some also for a rainy day.
Selections from Swami Satchidananda on Family Finances
Published by the Yogaville Federal Credit Union
These selections compiled and edited by Prahaladan
(Philip David Mandelkorn) May 2008
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Passover
Dear friends,
Loving greetings of peace and congratulations on being invited to a Passover Seder, which is a ritual dinner with matzah (unleavened) bread, wine and other goodies. Lord Jesus was celebrating and leading a Passover Seder with his disciples at the Last Supper. When he told them, "This is my body and this is my blood," he was holding up the matzah and the wine used during the Seder ritual -- which is an annual retelling of the Exodus from bondage in Egypt (three thousand years ago) across the Red Sea, through the wilderness and into the Promised Land.
This festival meal and telling of the tale is enjoined on us in scripture -- each generation shall tell of this to your children, "how we were slaves in Egypt and God freed us with an outstretched arm and a strong hand."
Whether this ancient tale (The Ten Commandments) is legend, myth or history is not as important as is its allegorical meaning to those today who choose to embrace this ritual. For we are all in bondage to any number of old programs running through our minds somewhat automatically if anything sets them off -- like repeating tape loops And often these hard-wired reaction patterns are of no use to us or anyone else whatsoever. To be freed from this bondage is in fact to be in a state of freedom, liberation and joy -- which is the Promised Land, and which is our true heritage.
That's what the Passover ritual dinner is really all about. Keep that in mind as you enjoy the meal and re-telling of the exodus from Egypt.
Passover begins at sundown Saturday and goes for eight days. Seder dinners are celebrated on the first and often the second evening of Passover.
What if?
Egypt in scripture is the material world
Pharaoh is the ego
Moses is the ear that hears intuition
and the eye that sees revelation
Blood on the doorway is the dedication of our own lives
The death of the first born is the first negative thought
that clusters like grapes and like yeast
into our on-going complaints and worries
Waiting for bread to rise is procrastination
Miriam is the well of devotion in our hearts
Aaron is the love in our hearts
Crossing the Red Sea is transcendence,
The promised land is enlightenment and liberation, and
The children of Israel are the white cells
the healing truth seekers
And what if
Our bondage is what runs us from behind
Old wiring that we need only see and put out in front of us
And thank it for sharing
But today we're choosing more noble possibilities.
And what if
The ten plagues are the other side of the ten commandments
Ten words, ten sacred letter symbols, and
What if all the letters in the Torah are one long name of God
And each letter is a pathway
And every two letters make a gateway that
We pass through just by meditating on the letters.
And what if
Elijah is that person who came over the other day and
Helped get your car started when it wouldn't go.
And what if
Drinking wine with a blessing is playing the game of faith,
Eating matzoh is playing the game of passing over, and
What if you're the lamb of sacrifice, so your entire life is
For the benefit of everyone everywhere.
Loving greetings of peace and congratulations on being invited to a Passover Seder, which is a ritual dinner with matzah (unleavened) bread, wine and other goodies. Lord Jesus was celebrating and leading a Passover Seder with his disciples at the Last Supper. When he told them, "This is my body and this is my blood," he was holding up the matzah and the wine used during the Seder ritual -- which is an annual retelling of the Exodus from bondage in Egypt (three thousand years ago) across the Red Sea, through the wilderness and into the Promised Land.
This festival meal and telling of the tale is enjoined on us in scripture -- each generation shall tell of this to your children, "how we were slaves in Egypt and God freed us with an outstretched arm and a strong hand."
Whether this ancient tale (The Ten Commandments) is legend, myth or history is not as important as is its allegorical meaning to those today who choose to embrace this ritual. For we are all in bondage to any number of old programs running through our minds somewhat automatically if anything sets them off -- like repeating tape loops And often these hard-wired reaction patterns are of no use to us or anyone else whatsoever. To be freed from this bondage is in fact to be in a state of freedom, liberation and joy -- which is the Promised Land, and which is our true heritage.
That's what the Passover ritual dinner is really all about. Keep that in mind as you enjoy the meal and re-telling of the exodus from Egypt.
Passover begins at sundown Saturday and goes for eight days. Seder dinners are celebrated on the first and often the second evening of Passover.
What if?
Egypt in scripture is the material world
Pharaoh is the ego
Moses is the ear that hears intuition
and the eye that sees revelation
Blood on the doorway is the dedication of our own lives
The death of the first born is the first negative thought
that clusters like grapes and like yeast
into our on-going complaints and worries
Waiting for bread to rise is procrastination
Miriam is the well of devotion in our hearts
Aaron is the love in our hearts
Crossing the Red Sea is transcendence,
The promised land is enlightenment and liberation, and
The children of Israel are the white cells
the healing truth seekers
And what if
Our bondage is what runs us from behind
Old wiring that we need only see and put out in front of us
And thank it for sharing
But today we're choosing more noble possibilities.
And what if
The ten plagues are the other side of the ten commandments
Ten words, ten sacred letter symbols, and
What if all the letters in the Torah are one long name of God
And each letter is a pathway
And every two letters make a gateway that
We pass through just by meditating on the letters.
And what if
Elijah is that person who came over the other day and
Helped get your car started when it wouldn't go.
And what if
Drinking wine with a blessing is playing the game of faith,
Eating matzoh is playing the game of passing over, and
What if you're the lamb of sacrifice, so your entire life is
For the benefit of everyone everywhere.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Set Free in the Open Country
The ritual for a leper to be cleansed:
Leprosy, afflictions have come to the surface
When the priest or priestess outside the camp
Sees a leper is healed of scaly affection
(Infection and affliction)
Once we face it clearly and take responsibility completely
Without blaming anyone, even ourselves
The healing has begun
Bring two live clean birds, cedar wood
Crimson and hyssop leaves
Also freshwater in an earthen vessel
Gather the elements for a ritual
Dip all in the water
Sprinkle that water seven times on the one to be cleansed
Now set the birds free in the open country
Ritual is playing with God to alter consciousness
Be free in the open country (mantra)
You who were sick can now go wash your clothes
We wear our actions like a coat of colors
Selfless actions wash our clothes
Shave your hair
Re-dedicate one’s life to God, serving all
Bathe in pure water
Investigate scripture
Be clean and enter the camp
Thus we are purified for service in the family of humanity
But stay outside your tent for seven days
Your tent is code for The Tent of Meeting
Which is realizing you are the oneness of everything always
Let's prepare seven days for this reunion on the eighth day
The day of infinity, the day beyond time and space
Selections and Notes on Leviticus 14 Metzora
Leprosy, afflictions have come to the surface
When the priest or priestess outside the camp
Sees a leper is healed of scaly affection
(Infection and affliction)
Once we face it clearly and take responsibility completely
Without blaming anyone, even ourselves
The healing has begun
Bring two live clean birds, cedar wood
Crimson and hyssop leaves
Also freshwater in an earthen vessel
Gather the elements for a ritual
Dip all in the water
Sprinkle that water seven times on the one to be cleansed
Now set the birds free in the open country
Ritual is playing with God to alter consciousness
Be free in the open country (mantra)
You who were sick can now go wash your clothes
We wear our actions like a coat of colors
Selfless actions wash our clothes
Shave your hair
Re-dedicate one’s life to God, serving all
Bathe in pure water
Investigate scripture
Be clean and enter the camp
Thus we are purified for service in the family of humanity
But stay outside your tent for seven days
Your tent is code for The Tent of Meeting
Which is realizing you are the oneness of everything always
Let's prepare seven days for this reunion on the eighth day
The day of infinity, the day beyond time and space
Selections and Notes on Leviticus 14 Metzora
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
The Temple Keeper and the Sleeping Man
Once there was a gathering of holy men and women in the courtyard of a south Indian Temple, which was maintained by Namdev, a great devotee of God. He could and would regularly go into the inner sanctum and talk intimately with the deity enshrined there.
Meanwhile in the courtyard, Jnanadev (pronounced yahna-dave), who was something of a rascal, was lining up all the other saints and sages for a fun game. “We’ll have this potter saint here,” he said, pointing to an old man leaning against the wall of the temple, “come forward and thump us all on the head and tell us as he goes along how baked we each are. The most baked one gets the first piece of cherry pie.” Everyone clapped, but Namdev, who thought the whole enterprise was frivolous and quite disrespectful to the sacred presence in the temple and the courtyard.
But he was ignored. And the potter saint began walking around bunking people on the head with a wooden stick and calling out, “Two-thirds baked,” “Half-baked;” “Three-fifths baked;” and so on. As the potter approached, Namdev turned and quickly strode away trailed by jeers and laughter.
He went into the inner sanctum and poured out his heart. “How can they joke about things like this?” he said, overcome with disappointment and humiliation. Then an inner voice spoke to him, saying, My beloved child, go out of the temple by the rear entrance, into the forest and out to the three gold hills that you know. There on the third hilltop you will find a wise one who will reveal everything.
Immediately Namdev ran into the forest, through the paths he knew and up to the three hills. He passed over the first and second, then slowly ascended the third gold hill.
At first it seemed no one was there. But when he looked more carefully he saw a rag-muffin sort of fellow lying on his back in the grass dozing. As Namdev slowly drew closer, he saw that the man’s bare feet were propped up on a Shiva-lingam, which is a smooth oval stone, a form considered by many a most sacred image of the Absolute oneness, of the divine. One does not even point one’s feet toward such an altar; perhaps in moments of great devotion, one’s head or hands might touch -– but NEVER one’s feet.
Quickly Namdev walked over to the Shiva-lingam, knelt down and ever so gently removed the sleeping man’s feet from the altar, carefully setting his legs and feet down onto the grass while trying not to wake him. But lo, immediately under the man’s feet -- there again was another perfectly beautiful Shiva-lingam. Quickly Namdev knelt and removed the man’s feet again shifting them the other way. Immediately another Shiva-lingam was visible under the bare feet of the sleeping one. Namdev put his head down on the ground next to the Lingam and lifted the sleeper’s feet, this time setting them gently onto his own head.
At that moment Namdev became one with everything and everyone. He was overwhelmed with joy and fullness. All the questions and answers about life he’d ever wondered were sparkling with wisdom like stars in the night sky.
How long he lay there beside the sleeping man, he never knew. A time came when he did get up and walk back to his own house, where he remained for two days off and on in blissful meditation.
At the beginning of the second night there was a knock at his front door. When Namdev opened the door, there stood the deity of the temple right at his doorstep. Where have you been, Namdev? You haven’t come to visit with me for some time.
“Oh, my Lord,” said the saint, “You’re everywhere always, and I know it. Thank you. Thank you so much. Won’t you please come in and have some chai.”
Meanwhile in the courtyard, Jnanadev (pronounced yahna-dave), who was something of a rascal, was lining up all the other saints and sages for a fun game. “We’ll have this potter saint here,” he said, pointing to an old man leaning against the wall of the temple, “come forward and thump us all on the head and tell us as he goes along how baked we each are. The most baked one gets the first piece of cherry pie.” Everyone clapped, but Namdev, who thought the whole enterprise was frivolous and quite disrespectful to the sacred presence in the temple and the courtyard.
But he was ignored. And the potter saint began walking around bunking people on the head with a wooden stick and calling out, “Two-thirds baked,” “Half-baked;” “Three-fifths baked;” and so on. As the potter approached, Namdev turned and quickly strode away trailed by jeers and laughter.
He went into the inner sanctum and poured out his heart. “How can they joke about things like this?” he said, overcome with disappointment and humiliation. Then an inner voice spoke to him, saying, My beloved child, go out of the temple by the rear entrance, into the forest and out to the three gold hills that you know. There on the third hilltop you will find a wise one who will reveal everything.
Immediately Namdev ran into the forest, through the paths he knew and up to the three hills. He passed over the first and second, then slowly ascended the third gold hill.
At first it seemed no one was there. But when he looked more carefully he saw a rag-muffin sort of fellow lying on his back in the grass dozing. As Namdev slowly drew closer, he saw that the man’s bare feet were propped up on a Shiva-lingam, which is a smooth oval stone, a form considered by many a most sacred image of the Absolute oneness, of the divine. One does not even point one’s feet toward such an altar; perhaps in moments of great devotion, one’s head or hands might touch -– but NEVER one’s feet.
Quickly Namdev walked over to the Shiva-lingam, knelt down and ever so gently removed the sleeping man’s feet from the altar, carefully setting his legs and feet down onto the grass while trying not to wake him. But lo, immediately under the man’s feet -- there again was another perfectly beautiful Shiva-lingam. Quickly Namdev knelt and removed the man’s feet again shifting them the other way. Immediately another Shiva-lingam was visible under the bare feet of the sleeping one. Namdev put his head down on the ground next to the Lingam and lifted the sleeper’s feet, this time setting them gently onto his own head.
At that moment Namdev became one with everything and everyone. He was overwhelmed with joy and fullness. All the questions and answers about life he’d ever wondered were sparkling with wisdom like stars in the night sky.
How long he lay there beside the sleeping man, he never knew. A time came when he did get up and walk back to his own house, where he remained for two days off and on in blissful meditation.
At the beginning of the second night there was a knock at his front door. When Namdev opened the door, there stood the deity of the temple right at his doorstep. Where have you been, Namdev? You haven’t come to visit with me for some time.
“Oh, my Lord,” said the saint, “You’re everywhere always, and I know it. Thank you. Thank you so much. Won’t you please come in and have some chai.”
Monday, March 31, 2008
A Perpetual Fire
Here are some teachings from the Scroll of Leviticus, a scripture giving us guidance how to stay in touch with a sacred presence in our lives and to work together as a holy community.
O ye priests and priestesses,
Here is the burnt offering ritual:
Leave that offering on the altar through the night
Until morning while the fire of the altar (consumes it)
We offer ourselves, and wait overnight until morning
To see if we might be accepted into this sacred service
One more day
Dressed in linen
Carry the ashes of the burnt offering to the altar
In everyday clothes
Take the ashes outside the camp to a clean place
Sometimes your service is visible; sometimes invisible
Keep the fire in that altar burning; don’t let it go out
Every morning feed it with wood
Our passion for life is the fire on the altar
Daily we feed it with love given to us by The Beloved
Present your burnt offering
Turn into smoke the fat parts of the offering
The fat is fuel. With sincerity our offerings become the fat parts
And now the offerings are smokin’!
A perpetual fire is burning in the altar (of your heart)
It’s inextinguishable -- from Levicus 6.2-6
This selection from a Leviticus portion 6.1-8.36 known as
Tzav/Command
The Book of Tao reports:
When a great leader leads
People don’t know they’re being led
There’s an art to being an effective Commander
The first words of this portion begin:
Command Aaron and his sons ... -- Lev. 6.1
O ye priests and priestesses,
Here is the burnt offering ritual:
Leave that offering on the altar through the night
Until morning while the fire of the altar (consumes it)
We offer ourselves, and wait overnight until morning
To see if we might be accepted into this sacred service
One more day
Dressed in linen
Carry the ashes of the burnt offering to the altar
In everyday clothes
Take the ashes outside the camp to a clean place
Sometimes your service is visible; sometimes invisible
Keep the fire in that altar burning; don’t let it go out
Every morning feed it with wood
Our passion for life is the fire on the altar
Daily we feed it with love given to us by The Beloved
Present your burnt offering
Turn into smoke the fat parts of the offering
The fat is fuel. With sincerity our offerings become the fat parts
And now the offerings are smokin’!
A perpetual fire is burning in the altar (of your heart)
It’s inextinguishable -- from Levicus 6.2-6
This selection from a Leviticus portion 6.1-8.36 known as
Tzav/Command
The Book of Tao reports:
When a great leader leads
People don’t know they’re being led
There’s an art to being an effective Commander
The first words of this portion begin:
Command Aaron and his sons ... -- Lev. 6.1
Saturday, March 1, 2008
The Work of a Weaver
The Work of a Weaver in Colors
Selections from Names/Shemot in Vayakhel Exodus 35.1-38.20
Selections from Names/Shemot in Vayakhel Exodus 35.1-38.20
This is the title I have given to a series of scripture selections from the book of Exodus, which in Hebrew is called Shemot, Names.
Six days work, but make the seventh day holy
Throughout your habitations enjoy a Sabbath of complete rest
Kindle no arguments (fires. Instead) take gifts to God
God is advising the children of YisraEl (Israel) how to pattern their lives in order to cross the wilderness on a journey from bondage to the promised land of liberation. It is also a map for all spiritual seekers today.
Whoever is moved by an inner spirit to make wave offerings
Before God, come forward bringing your offerings
Think of this scripture as a powerful dream, and a mirror. We are invited to bring offerings to the feet of the Lord.
The leaders bring lapis lazuli, onyx stone and other gems
As we bring freewill offerings, we become royalty
We are the precious stones for setting
In this part of the timeless story we are about to construct a movable tabernacle or sanctuary in the wilderness, like a mobile Lotus Temple. We bring our precious stones as offerings. On another level, through such devotion it begins to seem like we ourselves are the precious stones.
Yah (God) calls Betz’l-el’s name
Filling that name with ruah Elohim, divine spirit
Full of wisdom, understanding and knowledge
In all craftsmanship for teaching others
Meditate on these letter symbols: B Tz L A L
Drawing forth the skillful artist within
Bayt Tzade Lamed Alef Lamed
God singles out two spiritually gifted artisans to construct the sanctuary accouterments. Betz’l-El and Oholibama. Mystics say the entire Torah is one long sacred name of God. Certain configurations of letter symbols, when focused on, are quite empowering, such as the letter symbols making up the names of these gifted artists.
Morning after morning we continue to bring freewill offerings
Each according to our own calling
Sunset and sunrise are auspicious periods of the day. We are directed to make our offering in the mornings – for this blesses our day. We are each called to offer what we are naturally good at. We may also offer up our foolish habits.
Our gifts offered up are more than enough for all the service needed
In the realm of the miraculous there is always more than enough
The Torah reports that the people kept coming forward bringing free will offerings, so many that Moses had to say, “Stop, stop – there’s more than enough here to construct this sanctuary.”
With gold clasps (love), couple all the units to one another (us)
So that the Sanctuary becomes whole and one (a hole in 1)
Under God’s directions we are shown a design, a meditation- visualization for constructing a sacred temple and meeting place with God in our own hearts. In the devotional consciousness that arises from making sincere offerings to the Beloved, and in the midst of our visualizations, we sometimes go into Samadhi. In such superconscious states it seems like we ourselves are the very partitions and instruments of this amazing sanctuary.
Make a wooden ark overlaid with pure gold within and without
And cover it with pure gold (infinite compassion)
Kabbalists use images and language in scripture as a code indicating certain pathways to and from various realms of refined consciousness. Gold, for example, indicates loving compassion, one of ten infinite depths on the tree of life.
Let us make (of ourselves) vessels of pure gold to offer libations
The bowls, ladles, jars and jugs in the sanctuary (are we)
We are already a stand of seven lights, of seven chakras or centers of energy and consciousness. As we become ever more compassionate, our light is ever more illuminating.
Make also an altar of incense and sacred anointing oil
Setting a crown of gold round about
The incense is our praises and prayer
The anointing oil comes from meditating on the oneness
Thus we are crowned with love
Sages say the heartfelt prayers we make are a sweet savor before God. And our inner meditations create the invisible oil of silent service as priest and priestess for the people.
Let everyone in whose heart Yah has put wisdom and skill
To carry out God’s words – come near and do it!
The screen for the gate of the court is the work of a weaver in colors
Of blue, purple and scarlet revealing the cherubim design
With all the colors, beauty and pathos of this world
God creates a veil of illusion
The weaver of colors is, of course, the one who has created us. During selfless service there are certain colors of majesty that appear in one’s aura. In Psalms, the Shepherd David sings: “Enter God’s courtyard with thanksgiving.” The scripture points to the gate of this courtyard and says that it’s covered by a screen, the work of a master weaver who also weaves images of cherubs into this vast panorama. Such sacred forms and images, moortis (in Sanskrit), are also entrances into the courtyard of God’s sanctuary.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Bring Forth the Holy Artist in You
Selections from Names/Shemot in Ki Tissa Exodus 30.11-34.35
We're crossing the wilderness in the second scroll of the Old Testament. God is passing the dharma to us, the eternal wisdom, in practical language and instruction. We are encouraged to tap our intuition and artistry. We are instructed how to direct our devotion effectively and powerfully. And we are invited into a sacred contract with divinity.
God singles out Bezalel and Oholiab
Endowing them with refined awareness
Ability, craftsmanship and knowledge
Bring forth the holy artists in yourself
How quickly one turns aside from the way God shows us
We tend to bow and sacrifice to golden calves
Thinking God can be defined by one form or another
Prostrate and pray: pardon my iniquity
We remember your vow to our ancestors
Take us for your own and go in our midst
In the morning present yourself to me
And I’ll pass before you revealing compassion
Kindness, truth, omnipotence, patience and vast love
Remembering your good deeds, and for the repentant
Forgiving sins, rebellion and error
God says, hereby I make a covenant with you
Take a count of your numbers (This is empowering)
You Israelites (all seekers of truth) keep my Sabbaths
As a sign between us forever to know you’re consecrated
Give some money as an offering
To support the Tents of Meeting
Always give something to support sacred places
Redeem every firstborn
Don’t come before me empty-handed
Every child is our firstborn. Come before God with offerings
Don’t offer sacrifices to me with leaven (pride)
When you’re stiff-necked, I don’t go in your midst
Lest you be destroyed. So leave off your finery (vanity)
Don’t boil a kid in its mother’s milk
Have compassion for all animals
Come down from the heights bearing the covenant
Two tables of stone (letter symbols) inscribed on both sides
The work and writing of El (of God)
Write down these teachings (and live them)
For with them you strike a covenant with God
We're crossing the wilderness in the second scroll of the Old Testament. God is passing the dharma to us, the eternal wisdom, in practical language and instruction. We are encouraged to tap our intuition and artistry. We are instructed how to direct our devotion effectively and powerfully. And we are invited into a sacred contract with divinity.
God singles out Bezalel and Oholiab
Endowing them with refined awareness
Ability, craftsmanship and knowledge
Bring forth the holy artists in yourself
How quickly one turns aside from the way God shows us
We tend to bow and sacrifice to golden calves
Thinking God can be defined by one form or another
Prostrate and pray: pardon my iniquity
We remember your vow to our ancestors
Take us for your own and go in our midst
In the morning present yourself to me
And I’ll pass before you revealing compassion
Kindness, truth, omnipotence, patience and vast love
Remembering your good deeds, and for the repentant
Forgiving sins, rebellion and error
God says, hereby I make a covenant with you
Take a count of your numbers (This is empowering)
You Israelites (all seekers of truth) keep my Sabbaths
As a sign between us forever to know you’re consecrated
Give some money as an offering
To support the Tents of Meeting
Always give something to support sacred places
Redeem every firstborn
Don’t come before me empty-handed
Every child is our firstborn. Come before God with offerings
Don’t offer sacrifices to me with leaven (pride)
When you’re stiff-necked, I don’t go in your midst
Lest you be destroyed. So leave off your finery (vanity)
Don’t boil a kid in its mother’s milk
Have compassion for all animals
Come down from the heights bearing the covenant
Two tables of stone (letter symbols) inscribed on both sides
The work and writing of El (of God)
Write down these teachings (and live them)
For with them you strike a covenant with God
Sunday, January 27, 2008
From the Teachings of Yitro
In the first scroll, Genesis we went from a pradise into Egypt, which in this scripture represents the snares of the material realm. In the second scroll, Exodus, we found outselves enslaved by our attachments. We cried out and were led out of bondage into freesom. We began to cross the wilderness toward a promised land of non-duality, fullness and peace. On the third month after crossing over the Reed Sea and beginning our adventures in the wilderness, Yitro (Jethro), Moses' mentor and father-in-law appears and instructs Moses and all of us how to carry ourselves in this purification journey of awakening. This portion of scripture is known as the heart of the heart of the Torah. This is Sinai, the revelation of the eternal wisdom.
Selections from Names/Shemot in Yitro, Exodus 18.1-20.23
Yitro hears all. With loving respect Moses prostrates before him
A fountain of blessings is God, says Yitro, who is freeing you
Draw up from within yourself the capable one
Humbled before the vastness, who loves straight-forwardness
Let this, your nobility, govern you through all seasons of life
In three days God’s coming to meet you (Start counting now)
Sanctify yourselves by washing your garments (your actions)
Men and women stay apart three days (Build vitality)
Set boundaries about the mount
By respecting one another’s boundaries, thus we ascend
Morning of the third day -- look at the mountain
It’s altogether billowing smoke as if from a great furnace
Bolts of thunder tearing open the heavens
Lightning flashing all about and fire coming down
The mountain is trembling. God’s descending in fire
Everything’s shaking (and so are we, can’t talk, can’t move)
The sound’s getting louder (We enter its silence and hear)
I am the Lord your God who brings you out of bondage
Out of the straits, out of narrow-mindedness
I am God. I show thousands of generations of mercy
Take my names and use them wisely
The seventh day celebrate the oneness
Bring honor to your parents (and teachers with an honorable life)
Don’t kill off anyone (with put-downs, including yourself)
And don’t adulterate (the purity in you)
Whenever you steal, you steal from yourself; so don’t bother
And no false witnessing – (say what you see, no more, no less)
When you covet anything that someone else has
That stops your own estate from manifesting
Make an earthen altar (Make an altar of this earth)
A fountain of blessings is God, says Yitro, who is freeing you
Draw up from within yourself the capable one
Humbled before the vastness, who loves straight-forwardness
Let this, your nobility, govern you through all seasons of life
In three days God’s coming to meet you (Start counting now)
Sanctify yourselves by washing your garments (your actions)
Men and women stay apart three days (Build vitality)
Set boundaries about the mount
By respecting one another’s boundaries, thus we ascend
Morning of the third day -- look at the mountain
It’s altogether billowing smoke as if from a great furnace
Bolts of thunder tearing open the heavens
Lightning flashing all about and fire coming down
The mountain is trembling. God’s descending in fire
Everything’s shaking (and so are we, can’t talk, can’t move)
The sound’s getting louder (We enter its silence and hear)
I am the Lord your God who brings you out of bondage
Out of the straits, out of narrow-mindedness
I am God. I show thousands of generations of mercy
Take my names and use them wisely
The seventh day celebrate the oneness
Bring honor to your parents (and teachers with an honorable life)
Don’t kill off anyone (with put-downs, including yourself)
And don’t adulterate (the purity in you)
Whenever you steal, you steal from yourself; so don’t bother
And no false witnessing – (say what you see, no more, no less)
When you covet anything that someone else has
That stops your own estate from manifesting
Make an earthen altar (Make an altar of this earth)
Monday, January 14, 2008
A Lifetime High
Dear one,
New moon, new beginning
Highly auspicious time
What can we bring to the altar?
What is there to give up?
Good time to let go something really sleazy
(food indulgences, mind weaknesses
inconsiderations and presumptions
any sense of entitlement,
and all put-downs, including self put-downs)
Ah, good food for God
New moon and here's the offering
God doesn't want your good things, say the sages
Give God your petty, not pretty things
And shazam ~ Transformation!
I listened to Swami Satchidananda on YouTube
[Thanks to Sraddha, the one with active belief]
He was saying -- do actions for everyone
Without expecting anything back
Without looking to get the fruits
Not even a thank you
Okay, yes, accept fruits if they come to you
But don't be looking for them
Otherwise, you lose
The joy of having given something
The month of Shevat is the January-February time
A cluster of symbols: Aquarius, the water-bearer,
The angelic quality of GabriEl, also the Tribe of Asher
Bringer of the dharma, the fountain of eternal youth
The power name: Hey Yohd Vahv Hey
[Not pronounced, visualized]
As for Asher – abundance, wisdom and wealth of royalty -- Genesis 49
The majestic kingdom of the divine presence; we call this Asher
Bring an Offering Mystics say every new moon can be a mini-Day of Atonement, Attunement, At-one-ment. But to get the blessing of a clean slate, of a clear mind, of a new beginning blessed with auspiciousness and fulfillment, one must come before the altar (in one's heart) with a genuine offering.
Scripture details several types of acceptable offerings before the divine: thanks-giving offerings, peace offerings, fire offering (tapas, the burning of self–discipline and suffering offered up), free will offerings, sin offerings, guilt offerings and wave offerings (waving light and incense before the altar; waving tree branches under the heavens).
To walk away with an empowering blessing that's lasting, one must be willing to dig deep and find some old sleazy habit of mind that's been running it's tape loop for some time now; take full responsibility for that -- which is copping to it (without adding any self put-down); and bring that as an offering. Yes, the sages say God doesn't want your good stuff; bring God your not nice stuff.
Does God really want your sleazy stuff?
New moon, new beginning
Highly auspicious time
What can we bring to the altar?
What is there to give up?
Good time to let go something really sleazy
(food indulgences, mind weaknesses
inconsiderations and presumptions
any sense of entitlement,
and all put-downs, including self put-downs)
Ah, good food for God
New moon and here's the offering
God doesn't want your good things, say the sages
Give God your petty, not pretty things
And shazam ~ Transformation!
I listened to Swami Satchidananda on YouTube
[Thanks to Sraddha, the one with active belief]
He was saying -- do actions for everyone
Without expecting anything back
Without looking to get the fruits
Not even a thank you
Okay, yes, accept fruits if they come to you
But don't be looking for them
Otherwise, you lose
The joy of having given something
The month of Shevat is the January-February time
A cluster of symbols: Aquarius, the water-bearer,
The angelic quality of GabriEl, also the Tribe of Asher
Bringer of the dharma, the fountain of eternal youth
The power name: Hey Yohd Vahv Hey
[Not pronounced, visualized]
As for Asher – abundance, wisdom and wealth of royalty -- Genesis 49
The majestic kingdom of the divine presence; we call this Asher
Bring an Offering Mystics say every new moon can be a mini-Day of Atonement, Attunement, At-one-ment. But to get the blessing of a clean slate, of a clear mind, of a new beginning blessed with auspiciousness and fulfillment, one must come before the altar (in one's heart) with a genuine offering.
Scripture details several types of acceptable offerings before the divine: thanks-giving offerings, peace offerings, fire offering (tapas, the burning of self–discipline and suffering offered up), free will offerings, sin offerings, guilt offerings and wave offerings (waving light and incense before the altar; waving tree branches under the heavens).
To walk away with an empowering blessing that's lasting, one must be willing to dig deep and find some old sleazy habit of mind that's been running it's tape loop for some time now; take full responsibility for that -- which is copping to it (without adding any self put-down); and bring that as an offering. Yes, the sages say God doesn't want your good stuff; bring God your not nice stuff.
Does God really want your sleazy stuff?
I personally don't think God "wants" anything. However that transcendent consciousness seems to interact with our less illumined selves according to certain recognizable and dependable laws of the universe. Somehow, by being "willing" to look at our own junk and cop to it 100% and offer it up – lo, it turns inside out. That's when we say, God has accepted our offering and we've been given a blessing.
By uncovering one of our foolish attitudes from the past (the sleazy stuff); seeing it for what it is and taking responsibility for it (not blaming Mom or Dad, or the government or the culture we're in, or our gender. or our race or our religion), that itself is a genuine act of honesty and power. And that itself brings a blessing. (Yes, God wants your sleazy stuff.)
And when we get a blessing, we feel good; we feel high -- for a day or so usually; then it often slides back into the trees again ...
Unless ...
we're willing to "be" that blessing out in the world. To walk the talk, to stand up and be counted -- no matter what it may look like to others, no matter what we may look like.
That is, it takes courage to go uncover some sleazy stuff from the past, cop to it and offer it up. And it takes courage to receive the blessing deeply and walk the talk of the blessing, "to be that" in the world on-goingly. Then it's not just a two day high; it's a lifetime high.
By uncovering one of our foolish attitudes from the past (the sleazy stuff); seeing it for what it is and taking responsibility for it (not blaming Mom or Dad, or the government or the culture we're in, or our gender. or our race or our religion), that itself is a genuine act of honesty and power. And that itself brings a blessing. (Yes, God wants your sleazy stuff.)
And when we get a blessing, we feel good; we feel high -- for a day or so usually; then it often slides back into the trees again ...
Unless ...
we're willing to "be" that blessing out in the world. To walk the talk, to stand up and be counted -- no matter what it may look like to others, no matter what we may look like.
That is, it takes courage to go uncover some sleazy stuff from the past, cop to it and offer it up. And it takes courage to receive the blessing deeply and walk the talk of the blessing, "to be that" in the world on-goingly. Then it's not just a two day high; it's a lifetime high.
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