Secret Science OF INSEEING
(i)
Come with me, I shall reveal
the secret of divining
our ancestors knew.
I shall take you to the hallowed spots
where stand pyramids and astrofields
to show you the rim of the cosmic orb
where existed an observatory for all space.
These hieroglyphs tell of a lost civilization
of those who could commune through signs,
masters of geometric anagrams and schemes.
No thinking pigmies
like the jet-set, computer-brained, robots,
no automatons sans feeling or emotion,
who worship only the machine.
The aborigines possess to this day
the knowledge of invisible paths;
locked in their secret science
the treasury of ancient wisdom.
No unfeeling savages
but visionary beings
who knew where to build
the great pyramids.
Who knew the unified field
of quadrangles and triangles
that form the invisible grid
encircling the globe.
Who knew well the movements
of prevailing winds,
of cosmo-oceanic currents,
of hidden forces of the cosmos.
Who knew the spots of magnetic power
to locate the precise spots
for the countless megalithic structures
to predict the rising and setting of the sun;
made the magnetic field retain the sunstones
in the ordained positions.
Who had the ability to commune
with beings from far-off constellations
we are still struggling to find.
Many a mysterious sign on the ground
be it a bridge over the sea
or an airfield
or the markings of Nasca-
tell of the intelligence
behind the perfect architectural plan
of astroports
for visitors from outer space
to land to consummate
an unknown mission.
The mystery of Ande lines too
points to the invisible hand
of the unknown denizens
from far-aff galaxies.
(ii)
Ancient men possessed
the unerring intuition
to locate the spots
for their minarets and pagodas,
their circles and parabolas.
They had the innate ability
to catch supranatural frequencies
a power modern man has lost.
Sensate values have taken a toll
a sure sign of man's fall.
Knew that from coarse erotica
to archetypal myths,
from racial memory-roots of aborigines
to the consciousness of superman,
dreams span the legendary lore.
We sleep to dream,
we dream to sleep
till we are shaken
by a knock at the door.
We shuttle from bliss to horror
breaking the sequence of space-time,
hourly undergo a sea change.
We leave the corporeal frame
to travel by the astral pathways.
After a spell of relaxation,
go to sleep again.
Many a time have I dreamt
in a wakeful state,
seen and thought three-dimensionally,
oblivious of my fourth dimension,
the basis of all creativity
that guides the artist's insight,
lets him see the hidden beauty
in the darkest night.
Sleep is a relaxation
a state of receptive passivity,
for paranormal communication,
for entering a trance.
I climb the chestnut,
become the tree,
stand with my peers,
proud of my ancestry.
Oblivious of the hallowed past
that gave meaning to my thoughts,
beneath the banyan I lie.
My roots go back in time,
I recollect each one
who stood there.
I become the wood,
bound to every one ,
stretching my arms in every direction.
I understand the heart
of cyclones and storms,
of creativity and creation,
in my soul's calm.
Travel from trunk downards
far away in space-time,
in my crystal costume
I become all that I see.
Breathing the air of new skies
hopping from sphere to sphere,
buffeted by electromagnetic waves,
I cross
many a sound barrier,
many a starlit dome,
winging from the earthly roof
to my celestial home.
there I meet my father,
my father's father
and onto the Father.
In His lap I rest a while
to take my place with the pole-star
to guide the stranded.
Go back home
to know the source
I strayed from
to live my mortal destiny.
(v)
In my trances,
in nine circles of the moon
I unrolled the scroll
of my previous lives.
I re-lived the crucial roles
of my previous births,
having a bearing on my present,
as if I were acting in a film.
Till my thirties I was a witness
to disjointed episodes
from my previous lives
reflected on a screen.
Suddenly, in early thirties,
a strange dispassion entered my being:
I started shunning all men
retreating to lonely spots
for meditations deep and long
till I was summoned to shirdi
by a celestial call.
There I met a realized soul
who transferred the yogic powers
to create and uncreate at will,
to see beyond space-time,
to commune with spirits divine,
to hear the first sermons
of ancient saints and divines
in their original tongues.
My precognition in that state
was marked by precision,
my prophecies were fulfilled,
I was the star of the great.
I heard Christ's golden sermon
in his own sonorous voice
in a language alien to my ear;
its music haunts.
I was roused
from the sleep of ignorance
to tread the seeker's path
played in my previous births.
Dattatreya and Sai
Gurcharan and Golak
Zen patriarchs and Babaji
wrapped in effulgence,
entered my inmost being;
I was filled with translucent light.
They awakened me to my mission,
conferred the mystic sight
to bear the godly light,
to carry the cross of human woes.
From the meshes of worldliness freed,
longing to walk by His light
making it burn into a steady slame,
in my dark cavern I dwell.
Hear the call
to join my voice
to the choir of God.
I sing of the faith,
of the earth as one family,
of unity permeating all,
of service as love made visible:
the destination of every man,
of soul's deliverance,
of its merger with the One,
the source supreme.
(vi)
Ecstasy is a gateway to eternal
from the void of oblivion
to eternities of memory.
It is an invitation
to life divine.
The sages of yore
who sing philosophies to redeem,
prophet, poet and philosopher, rolled in one,
to them I look for inspiration.
Science has to be a hymn to the Creator,
no more a preserve of godless men
or it will become a device
heaping untold miseries upon men.
Reason and spirit interacting mould
the force of personality
that ordains the route mankind will take
when the spirit is caught in a fix.
" To be or not be" is not a question
confined to a mythical person
but the haunting obsession of every epoch
in search of a breakthrough.
No forecast is possible in reverse,
neither about the past nor the future.
History is a graveyard of all prophecies,
of all " ifs" and " buts".
Spirituality is the last retreat
for science and religion to meet;
when clash of creeds alarms,
realization has to drawn.
The savage and the scientist share
the same substratum of intelligence,
the same gene,
yet in the chain of natural progression
savage remains the archetypal man.
Psychokinesis and clairvoyance
belong to every man
in psychic reservoir locked.
What you need is the right intelligence
to attune yourself
to the unified field
of human awareness,
encircling the universe,
hissing for recognition.
I travelled to distant lands,
unknown to my physical mind,
in contemplation firm-fixed
yet moving faster than light.
A mental falcon following,
retaining the memory of things I see,
of the sights and sounds
that lapped around me;
reviving the ability or remote -seeing,
natural to every one.
I have experienced levitation,
materialized out of thin air
sultanas and sacred ash.
Also, solid balls out of nothing,
and let them fall to the ground
without bouncing or making a sound.
Twisted metal spans and knives,
made eerie signs.
Pulled out fires from the walls,
saw flowerpots hanging in midair,
automatic writing on a clean slate,
a shadowy presence in the room.
(vii)
What we do in this life
determines what we gain
in the next.
Good or evil we do
forsakes us not
on our journey to the unknown,
neither in the course of flight
nor on reaching the destination.
What we are, we shall be,
all determined by our deeds.
The universe is not a game of dice
but a mathematical paradigm.
Each and every step of the design
squares well with the pattern of the theorem.
Everything depends on our actions.
Karma and reincarnations
monitor the cosmic mechanism.
Cryptompesia explains
the truth of transmigration,
our turning away from the sun,
our striving for salvation,
an integral aspects of total organism
that inheres in the cosmic unconscious:
the extension of microcosmic self.
We cannot explain
the totality of the human person
by physio-neurology alone,
the truth lies in prenatal existence.
Many a time
meeting a person,
passing through a situation,
or reading some piece,
the sensation of " already seen"
haunts us
as if our double had been to the place
and had met the person.
(viii)
Stuck by weightlessness
I levitate in space in a state of trance.
In my upward glide swill,
turning in air itself,
into the tunnel,
cross the little hill,
to arrive where my father sleeps.
I too shall sleep there
after I shuffle off my worn-out coil,
cut the umbilical cord that joins
the causal to the mental-physical sheath,
all over the globe to fly.
I follow the music,
cross the astral paths,
the sun and the moon,
cross the river of mortality
needling my way through invisible tunnels,
through inaccessible mountain passes
dotted by sunspots and black shadows,
well-marked by ethereal poles.
Out-of-the-body experience is not the same
as the fact of being out of the body
but an altered state of consciousness.
(ix)
The spirit never dies,
in various incarnations it survives
drinking the bliss sip by sip
till we attain nirvana.
I know reincarnation to be a fact
fro sage Bhrigu unfolds the scroll
of my previous births
spanning many aeons.
In one birth I was King Yayati,
the ancestor of the solar race.
I carry with me Brighu's curse
for my infidelity
to Devayani,
daughter of the mighty sage.
She cried
for restoration of her conjugal rights,
for her son's succession to the throne,
brought upon my head
decrepitude too soon
and a straw bed.
Twenty-nine births from the present one
I was the sage Madan
and lived
in the Hemkund mountains
absorbed in Sat Chit Anand.
In my last birth
was I a scholar-saint
honoured by courts and kings.
In this life reborn to the one
who was no God-man
but true man of God,
free from the taint of worldliness.
The Jiwan Mukta, by Brighu proclaimed,
the liberated while living
and not to be born again.
Father bade me stop
the out-of-body journeys
to confine myself
to ordained duties and affections,
to quicken the liberation of man,
to imbibe earth consciousness,
to make earth-citizens,
to re-live the religion of man.
Father touched me by chance,
instantly I went into a trance:
neither a sleep nor a dream was it
but the light of bliss.
Through many a secret pathway
I travelled to unreachable realms
shortening distances
of many million light years.
Suddenly I see something flicker
with a pair of eye-glasses
in a far-off gloom,
my sense of discernment returns.
I retrace my steps ;
a black dog,
tucking at my knees,
coaxes me home.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Monday, December 29, 2008
ZEN GITA
ZEN SUTRA
The road to truth runs straight,
the twists and turns,
only prolong the quest.
Every fish breathes the needed air,
in low or high tide,
oblivious of ocean wide.
The wheeling universes
always on the run,
longing for soulful union.
Tired with turning beads
the realized know only one word,
love.
Love’s flame
shall open the secret door,
one step more shall make you free.
Fling these piles of books
in passions’ raging fire
to be the Zen.
Continence
the root restraint
on the path of ascent.
Calm of mind,
a heart that craves not,
makes you free, the living Zen.
Where you get to know who you are,
all your questionings cease,
fixed are you in your Buddha nature.
Futile this search
if it fails to give you equipoise,
the peace of Nirvana.
To obey the inner call,
to pass into life immortal,
death-in-Zen, the way.
No danger to go astray
on the path of Zen,
only caution, no vacillation.
Only intense love makes you see
Life’s hidden mystery,
lets you enter the deathless realm.
Zen will bestow the sight,
the ear to hear the unheard melody,
the joy of living creatively.
Not by ritual purification
but searching within,
the gates of illumination open.
Darkness lets us see
our true essence,
our Buddha nature.
A ceaseless yearning
to be out of the tunnel,
to see the Light.
Prayer is bathing
in pure waters of Zen
to wash the soul clean.
What you lose by excess,
recoup it by restraint,
zest once gone cannot return.
A prayer awakens in you
the hidden melody of existence,
flowers a whole spring within.
What holds the worlds together,
keeps the cosmic balance,
none but love.
Between man and man
the earth and heaven,
only love is.
Love the guide,
love the voyager,
love the destination.
Birth, death, love, time,
points in a unitive scale
to orchestrate life’s harmony.
Each speck in the macrocosm
has an appointed role,
no luminous sun without a black hole.
Life’s lustre lies
in living courageously
from moment to moment.
To the one in love
the whole world wears
the look of a royal feast.
Each one has to step
on one’s dead self,
to rise on to higher planes.
Dig up this fort of lower self
from the very roots,
to dig in the foundation of the higher self.
Smite with Zazen
all chords of your self
to let them emit sweet melodies.
The cross is not
what once shone in Bethelham,
but what shines in every soul.
Where no sense of separateness
there truth shines resplendent,
that's the moment for enlightment.
Light the pyre
to recover the immortal self,
to be filled and fulfilled.
Now and now alone,
descent ends, ascent begins,
the realisation dawns.
Who yearns for the whole
being flooded,
becomes the whole.
Heaven and hell within,
in-between an infinitesmal hair,
now the one, now the other.
Once on the vulture peak
you know the bliss of ordinariness,
your new found majesty.
No quivering restlessness,
no greed,
when dispassion sets in.
The sage enlightner
sets ablaze the fire divine,
burns away the karmic chains.
Close to the creator
in one plunge
touch the roof in one kick.
Renunciation,
of all acquisitiveness,
the way to Zen.
The way to deliverance
within every being,
only if he dives deep.
Your whole being a temple
effulging with loving devotion
the ladder to the ultimate.
The realm,
where forever flows the song,
where the eternal lights a million lamps.
Who tastes truth but once
he savours
its flavoured essence in every sip.
Every order, human or divine,
revolves round love’s nave,
it’s the very logos of life.
Love’s alchemy turns
every base metal into gold,
makes a new man.
The soul’s paradise
only for those who tread
on the razor-edge of life.
Past the flowing stream,
feel the light of bliss,
in all-enveloping darkness.
A million-eyed lotus
in every soul blooms
a thousand miracles in every wink.
Life acquires meaning
passing through love’s crucible
even death becomes divine.
Every moment a star of surprize
the questing soul’s choicest prize
a glow on the face .
The easiest way, the golden mean,
the avoidance of all extremes,
the key to all realisation.
The road to truth runs straight,
the twists and turns,
only prolong the quest.
Every fish breathes the needed air,
in low or high tide,
oblivious of ocean wide.
The wheeling universes
always on the run,
longing for soulful union.
Tired with turning beads
the realized know only one word,
love.
Love’s flame
shall open the secret door,
one step more shall make you free.
Fling these piles of books
in passions’ raging fire
to be the Zen.
Continence
the root restraint
on the path of ascent.
Calm of mind,
a heart that craves not,
makes you free, the living Zen.
Where you get to know who you are,
all your questionings cease,
fixed are you in your Buddha nature.
Futile this search
if it fails to give you equipoise,
the peace of Nirvana.
To obey the inner call,
to pass into life immortal,
death-in-Zen, the way.
No danger to go astray
on the path of Zen,
only caution, no vacillation.
Only intense love makes you see
Life’s hidden mystery,
lets you enter the deathless realm.
Zen will bestow the sight,
the ear to hear the unheard melody,
the joy of living creatively.
Not by ritual purification
but searching within,
the gates of illumination open.
Darkness lets us see
our true essence,
our Buddha nature.
A ceaseless yearning
to be out of the tunnel,
to see the Light.
Prayer is bathing
in pure waters of Zen
to wash the soul clean.
What you lose by excess,
recoup it by restraint,
zest once gone cannot return.
A prayer awakens in you
the hidden melody of existence,
flowers a whole spring within.
What holds the worlds together,
keeps the cosmic balance,
none but love.
Between man and man
the earth and heaven,
only love is.
Love the guide,
love the voyager,
love the destination.
Birth, death, love, time,
points in a unitive scale
to orchestrate life’s harmony.
Each speck in the macrocosm
has an appointed role,
no luminous sun without a black hole.
Life’s lustre lies
in living courageously
from moment to moment.
To the one in love
the whole world wears
the look of a royal feast.
Each one has to step
on one’s dead self,
to rise on to higher planes.
Dig up this fort of lower self
from the very roots,
to dig in the foundation of the higher self.
Smite with Zazen
all chords of your self
to let them emit sweet melodies.
The cross is not
what once shone in Bethelham,
but what shines in every soul.
Where no sense of separateness
there truth shines resplendent,
that's the moment for enlightment.
Light the pyre
to recover the immortal self,
to be filled and fulfilled.
Now and now alone,
descent ends, ascent begins,
the realisation dawns.
Who yearns for the whole
being flooded,
becomes the whole.
Heaven and hell within,
in-between an infinitesmal hair,
now the one, now the other.
Once on the vulture peak
you know the bliss of ordinariness,
your new found majesty.
No quivering restlessness,
no greed,
when dispassion sets in.
The sage enlightner
sets ablaze the fire divine,
burns away the karmic chains.
Close to the creator
in one plunge
touch the roof in one kick.
Renunciation,
of all acquisitiveness,
the way to Zen.
The way to deliverance
within every being,
only if he dives deep.
Your whole being a temple
effulging with loving devotion
the ladder to the ultimate.
The realm,
where forever flows the song,
where the eternal lights a million lamps.
Who tastes truth but once
he savours
its flavoured essence in every sip.
Every order, human or divine,
revolves round love’s nave,
it’s the very logos of life.
Love’s alchemy turns
every base metal into gold,
makes a new man.
The soul’s paradise
only for those who tread
on the razor-edge of life.
Past the flowing stream,
feel the light of bliss,
in all-enveloping darkness.
A million-eyed lotus
in every soul blooms
a thousand miracles in every wink.
Life acquires meaning
passing through love’s crucible
even death becomes divine.
Every moment a star of surprize
the questing soul’s choicest prize
a glow on the face .
The easiest way, the golden mean,
the avoidance of all extremes,
the key to all realisation.
Friday, December 26, 2008
CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM
There is an insightful write up entitled "Can mysticism lead to God?"
by Richard Bennett (former Catholic priest)which offers a new light on orthodox Christianity.
Mysticism is an attempt to gain ultimate knowledge of God by a direct experience that bypasses the mind. The strong influence of Catholic mysticism has helped immensely to transform the New Age Movement from being merely a counter-culture sub-culture to becoming a new source of spiritual vision for the world. Catholic mysticism has very effectively and subtly invaded many facets of life without being recognized or critically examined.
This has been actively promoted through self-help medical, educational and psychological programs employing methods such as meditation, philosophical programming, and self-hypnotic contemplation.
In melding Eastern subjective spirituality with Western self-assurance, Catholic mysticism has done much to effectively hijack public and private religious life and to invert core beliefs and values of the West. Mystical God consciousness is an attempt to replace Christ's redemption and salvation.
Catholicism, Pagan Religions and Pantheism
For centuries, the Roman Catholic Church has assimilated to herself the mystery elements of pagan religions. Subjective religious experience, or mysticism, continues to be the meeting point of pagan religions and Catholicism, particularly so since Vatican Council II, when Rome changed her major strategy in an attempt to bring Protestants back under the papal fold.
The marriage between Romanism and paganism is documented in official statements from Rome. For example, in Vatican Council II documents she states,
"…In Hinduism men explore the divine mystery and express it both in the limitless riches of myth and the accurately defined insights of philosophy. They seek release from the trials of the present life by ascetical practices, profound meditation and recourse to God in confidence and love. Buddhism in its various forms testifies to the essential inadequacy of this changing world. It proposes a way of life by which man can, with confidence and trust, attain a state of perfect liberation and reach supreme illumination either through their own efforts or by the aid of divine help. …The Catholic Church rejects nothing of what is true and holy in these religions." [1]
Jesuit priest William Johnston explains how it happened,
"Then came the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). Overnight the Catholic Church which had been a Western institution exporting its wares to the East became a world community. Asian and African bishops and theologians assembled in Rome and, with their European and American confreres, acknowledged that the Spirit of God is at work in all peoples and in all religions. Since then, most theologians recognize non-Christian religions as 'valid ways'." [2]
It is on such a quagmire that Catholicism stands hand-in-hand with Buddhism and Hinduism, and out of which well-known Catholic mystics such as William Johnston and Thomas Keating have emerged. For example, Johnston describes the effect of enlightenment,
"Self-realization lies at the very heart of BuddhismIn self-realization I become one with God just as the object is one with the mirror and just as Jesus is one with his Father." [3]
The famous mystical monk, Thomas Merton, developed this pantheistic identification with God, as does his present day devotee, William Shannon. Merton states,
"now I realize what we all are. And if only everyone could realize this! I suddenly saw all the secret beauty of their hearts, the depths of their hearts where neither sin nor desire nor self-knowledge can reach, the core of their reality, the person that each one is in God's eyes. If only they could or see themselves as they really are. If only we could see each other that way all the time. There would be no more war, no more hatred, no more cruelty, no more greed… I suppose the big problem would be that we would fall down and worship each other." [4]
[See: What is Monism and Pantheistic Monism?]
Shannon endorses the idolatrous self-identification with God and cites his mentor, Merton,
"A person of true faith travels, not without difficulty, towards the heart of mystery. Such a person, as Merton puts it, 'works his way through the darkness of his own mystery until he discovers that his own mystery and the mystery of God merge into one reality, which is the only reality.' DQ 180." [5]
These quotations are standard descriptions of the pantheistic myth that we are all in God. In their own minds, Merton and Shannon have literally transmuted God Himself into their own image, having exchanged Him for human beings as an object of worship. Have they not, in the words of Romans 1:23,
"changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man"?
Leading Buddhists acknowledge Soul Unity with Catholicism
Leading Buddhists recognizes the marriage of Rome and paganism. Thich Nhat Hanh, states,
"Buddhists and Christians know the nirvana, or the Kingdom of God, is within their hearts [sic]. The Gospels speak of the Kingdom of God as a mustard seed planted in the soil of consciousness [sic]. Buddhist sutras speak of Buddha nature as the seed of enlightenment that is already in every one's consciousness. The practices of prayer and meditation help us touch the most valuable seeds that are within us, and they put us in contact with the ground of our being." [6]
The Buddhist leader Dalai Lama on visiting the grave of Thomas Merton at Gethsemane Abbey prayed, "Now our spirits are one." [7] It is an appalling blasphemy to affirm of the thrice-Holy God that the Kingdom of God is "as a mustard seed planted in the soil of consciousness" and that "meditation help[s] us touch the most valuable seeds that are in us" and that it "put[s] us in contact with the ground of our being."
Listen to the razor-sharp words of the Redeemer,
"Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." [8]
The Holy Spirit's unique office is to lead true believers into all truth by convicting us of "sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment." [9] It is not by the darkness of meditation on "the ground of our being" that leads us to the kingdom of Christ; rather in the words of Scripture, it is the Father "which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son." [10]
“Evangelical” Endorsement of Pantheism
A leading Evangelical, Richard Foster, lauds this pantheistic identification with God. Foster states,
"Contemplative Prayer immerses us into the silence of God. How desperately we in the modern world need this wordless baptism!Progress in intimacy with God means progress toward silence." [11]
Foster asks rhetorically, "What is the goal of Contemplative Prayer?" And he answers,
"To this question the old writers answer with one voice: union with God. Bonaventure, a follower of Saint Francis, says that our final goal is 'union with God,' which is a pure relationship where we see 'nothing.'" [12]
Seeing "nothing" and the "wordless baptism" are just an Evangelical rehashing of Catholic irrational superstitious myth. Rather, as II Corinthians 4:3 states,
"But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."
The Catholic priest Thomas Keating agrees with Foster as he writes,
"Contemplative Prayer is the opening of mind and heart - our whole being - to God, the Ultimate Mystery, beyond thoughts, words and emotions." [13]
Thus Keating depersonalized God to the nameless "Ultimate Mystery" in mythology. This impersonal, "Ultimate Mystery" is a non-speaking, non-judgmental, "god." Is Keating in the twenty-first century any better off than the men on Mars Hill to whom Paul spoke regarding their "altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD, whom therefore ye ignorantly worship"? [14] Nor is any morality derived from Keating's "Ultimate Mystery".
Thus Keating Merton and Shannon with their pantheistic identification with God have attempted destroy God's self-sufficiency as Creator, and the Lord God Almighty. They have endeavored to clone God into the image of humans. According to Romans 1:25, have they not…
"changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever"?
No wonder Merton admits,
"If only they could or see themselves as they really are… I suppose the big problem would be that we would fall down and worship each other."
In the place of the true worship of God, they have set about to establish pantheistic idolatry.
The Pope's Approval
In an official "Apostolic Letter" the Pope has endorsed Rome's own mystical tradition and the "great mystical tradition of the Church both East and West." His official teaching is,
"we are greatly helped not only by theological investigation but also by that great heritage which is the 'lived theology' of the saints. The saints offer us precious insightsthrough their personal experience of those terrible states of trial which the mystical tradition describes as the 'dark night'. Not infrequently the saints have undergone something akin to Jesus' experience on the Cross in the paradoxical blending of bliss and pain. In the Dialogue of Divine Providence, God the Father shows Catherine of Siena how joy and suffering can be present together in holy souls:
'Thus the soul is blissful and afflicted: afflicted on account of the sins of its neighbour, blissful on account of the union and the affection of charity which it has inwardly received. These souls imitate the spotless Lamb, my Only-begotten Son, who on the Cross was both blissful and afflicted'.
What an illuminating testimony!Is it not one of the 'signs of the times' that in today's world, despite widespread secularization, there is a widespread demand for spirituality, a demand which expresses itself in large part as a renewed need for prayer? Other religions, which are now widely present in ancient Christian lands, offer their own responses to this need, and sometimes they do so in appealing ways.The great mystical tradition of the Church of both East and West has much to say in this regard. It shows how prayer can progress, as a genuine dialogue of love, to the point of rendering the person wholly possessed by the divine Beloved" [15]
This is a brilliant piece of political bridge building on the Pope's part. By citing experiences of "saints", he attempts to make these experiences universal standards of deep and authentic spirituality. Then he grants approval to other religions by stating that they meet the "renewed need for prayer" in ways which are "appealing", affirming the idea that the process of prayer can become so consuming that it "render[s] the person wholly possessed by the divine Beloved."
High thoughts, vain imaginations, and carnal reasonings about the greatness of human efforts have always exalted themselves against the knowledge of God. If "a progress, as a genuine dialogue of love, to the point of rendering the person wholly possessed by the divine Beloved" were true, there would have been no need of salvation by the Redeemer. Scripture declares the reality and truth, "not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us." [16]
In 1986, Pope John Paul II seized the inter-faith initiative by gathering 160 of the world's religious leaders for a prayer summit at Assisi, Italy. They flew in from around the globe, Islamic Mullahs from nine nations, the Dalai Lama, (traditionally regarded by Buddhists as a living deity), native American Shamans and Indian cultists, African animists, Hindus, Zoroastrians, Catholics and, of course, Protestants. "We will stand side by side asking God to give us peace," declared the Pope.[41]
The grand encore to this initial dramatization of Luciferian unity occurred in January 2002, as Pope John Paul II led 200 leaders of different religions once again at Assisi, Italy. By public demonstration, by official sanction, in countless books and seminars, as well as Web pages with broad ecumenical support, Popedom has set a mystical agenda, which the world loves and accepts. Any believer or confessing fellowship group that remains silent in the face of such bald-faced blasphemy inevitably lends credence to the Pope's deceit. For Rome still assumes her ancient legal principle to stand, "He who is silent is understood to consent."[42]
Truth Contrasted to Crafted Mythology
True Christianity is unique among the religions of the world in that it is a rational-historical faith. For the Christian, salvation is based on something entirely outside of man. Salvation is found in the faithfulness and perfect sacrifice of the Christ of history. Catholic and Eastern mystics claim to discover God in the depths of their being. The true Christian looks away from himself to the righteousness of Christ Jesus.
Before God, Christ's satisfaction for sin is a reality that is all-sufficient. It does not need to be supplemented by any other reality. God's verdict of justification is not grounded on any state of being within the believing sinner, rather it is established on Christ Jesus alone. The principle that man can save himself by his experience and by his own life has been the foundation of every pagan religion, as it is of Catholicism. What is so sinister about the present communion of Rome with paganism is that it is contaminating our entire society.
The deadly deceptions of mysticism arrogantly advertise a way of direct access to the All Holy God and thereby repudiate any need of the Lord Jesus Christ, the One Mediator between God and men. The believer's worship and approach to God is in the Lord's own words to be with "all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." [17]
In the words of the Apostle Paul,
"I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also." [18]
The same Apostle warned believers,
"Let no man beguile you of your reward intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind." [19]
The censure of the Lord God remains on those who have issued lies,
"Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!" [20]
Because of this debasement of Christ and His Gospel we again outline the essentials of historical faith.
Objective Salvation in the Lord of Glory
As Mediator, Christ Jesus is the only means of union between God and man,
"that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; in him." [21]
Christ Jesus is exalted to "the right hand of the Majesty on high" [22] as the One Savior. He and His Gospel are objective and real! This Gospel is not an idle tale, nor a piece of incomprehensible mysticism; rather it is the proclamation of the awesome historical work of redemption accomplished by God Himself.
The Father appointed Christ Jesus as the guarantee of real salvation. Christ Jesus was glorified in finishing the Father's mightiest work. In Christ's own words, "I have glorified thee on earth; I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do." [23] He had fulfilled all the Father's will and so gloriously honored the Father. As Savior He is exalted high above "all principality and power, and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come." [24]
He alone, and not some mystic charm of Rome or Buddha, has been given all authority in heaven and in earth. He has been given power over all flesh that He should in His own words, " give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him." [25] He alone has been given a name, which is above every name, "that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." [26] It is God's commandment that we trust on Christ, "This is His command, that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ." [27]
True faith involves a repudiation of the self-deceit of experiential mystical means of reaching God, "for there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." [28] The Lord Jesus stands ready to receive every sinner who will throw away his rebellion and pride and trust in Him alone for salvation!
Preaching the real historical Christ and His Gospel is the answer to the mindless adumbrations of Rome and the ecumenical mystics. Thus alone can the true Church, God's People "go forth fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners." [29] The Gospel is a mighty deliverance from the groveling religious subjectivism of Rome and her pagan mistresses. To know God is life itself to a Christian, in the words of the Lord Himself, "this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." [30]
Knowledge of God, and faith in Him, are the means whereby all spiritual supports and comforts are conveyed to the true believers.
"According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue." [31]
The Fulfillment of the New Age Aspiration?
The goal of the New Age Movement has consistently been to bring in the Age of Aquarius when all will recognize "the God with themselves". A major step towards this in the words of the New Age prophetess Alice Bailey, is "the regeneration of the churches." [32] Her vision was that…
"The Christian church in its many branches can serve as a St. John the Baptist, as a voice crying in the wilderness, and as a nucleus through which world illumination may be accomplished." [33]
In a word, she desired the time when the "Christian churches" would embrace the New Age concepts of illumination and self-realization. The New Age plan to bring in world peace cannot fully establish the Golden Age of Aquarius until Biblical Christianity is outlawed or destroyed.
Now that the Church of Rome has entered into liaison with paganism, she has again concocted another successful work of syncretism. As Catholicism has become the religion of the European Union,[34] the desires of New Age leaders appear to be coming true. Even at the local parish level according to William Shannon "contemplative spirituality" has now widely replaced old-style Catholicism.[35]
With New Age convictions being voiced by leading Catholics and Evangelicals, it appears that the desired goal is closer to being achieved. The New Age aspiration to establish a one-world order lead by "a Christ Leader" is being met by the Pope and his Church. All of this ought not to surprise any believer, for the Bible has persistently warned believers of the enormity, growth and prevalence of the apostate church system and her mistresses.
The ruin of the Antichrist's kingdom is declared by the Apostle Paul,
"Because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved, and for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness."[36]
Conclusion
What has been shown here regarding Catholic mysticism's outright invasion of Evangelicalism and its commandeering of New Age verbiage and paraphernalia, should cause serious individuals to examine carefully the foundation upon which his or her hopes are built. A mere "I hope I am saved" is not enough, nothing short of the full assurance of faith on the solid Rock, the Lord Christ Jesus, will suffice. It is in God's light, and in it only, that "we see light."[37]
True Christians interpret all religious experience by the normative revelation of God recorded for them in the Holy Bible. The wicked love darkness; but God's people love the Light! Mystics have not scrupled openly to equate the true God with "the god" within. They have thought to divest themselves of God Himself by turning to inward self-realization and enlightenment. Rather, the values that they set are based on personal inner feelings that are often incapable of reasoned explanation.
The Gospel is the exact opposite, the historical message of the Cross of Christ for a lost world. The Gospel proclaims Christ Himself, and the God and Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who in His love gave His Son to die for sinners. There is no valid excuse for true believers to be deceived by "false apostles," who transform themselves into the "apostles of Christ," "for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light."[38]
There are many false prophets gone out into the world, if we study diligently these things, which God has recorded for our safeguard against the subtle deceptions of Satan, we will not mislead nor be misled. True believers in Christ must take to heart solemn warnings of the Apostle Paul,
"Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you."[39]
"And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them."[40]
Footnotes and References
1. Vatican Council II Documents, No. 56, Nostra Aetate, "Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions,", 28 Oct. 1965, Vol. I, Para. 2, p. 739.
2. William Johnston, The Mirror Mind (New York: Fordham University Press, 1990) p. 7.
3. Ibid., p. 33, 39.
4. Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander, Image edition Dec. 1989 (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1966) pp. 157, 158. This book has official Roman Catholic approval.
5. William Shannon, Seeds of Peace Contemplation and Non-Violence (New York: Crossroad Publ. Co, 1996) p. 73.
6. Thich Nhat Hanh, Introduction to Contemplative Prayer by Thomas Merton, Image Book edition (New York, NY: Doubleday, 1996) p. 5.
7. http://www.americancatholic.org/Messenger/Jan1997/feature1.asp 10/8/2002 The website also states that Merton died in Bangkok, Thailand, in 1968, apparently electrocuted by a faulty room fan.
8. John 3:3
9. John 16:8
10. Colossians 1:12-13
11. Foster, Richard J., Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home (San Francisco: Harper, 1992) p. 155.
12. Ibid., p 159.
13. Thomas Keating, "The Method of Centering Prayer" http://www.thecentering.org/centering 10/22/02.
14. Acts 17:23
15. OFFICIAL APOSTOLIC LETTER OF POPE JOHN PAUL II "NOVO MILLENNIO INEUNTE" www.vatican.va/holy_fa ther/john_paul_ii/apost_letters/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_20010106_novo-mill ennio-ineunte_en.html+Novo+Millennio+Ineunte - Para 27, 33 Bolding in any quotation indicates emphasis added in this paper.
16. Titus 3:5
17. Matthew 22:37
18. I Corinthians 14:15
19. Colossians 2:18
20. Ezekiel 13:3
21. Ephesians 1:10
22. Hebrews 1:3
23. John 17:4
24. Ephesians 1:21
25. John 17:2
26. Philippians 2:10-11
27. I John 3:23
28. I Timothy 2:5
29. Song of Solomon 6:10
30. John 17:3
31. II Peter 1:3
32. Alice Bailey, Problems of Humanity (New York, NY: Lucis Publ. Co., 1964) p. 152.
33. Alice Bailey, The Externalization of the Hierarchy (New York, NY: Lucis Pub. Co., 1957) p. 510.
34. This fact of syncretism in the EU we wish to deal with in our next newsletter.
35. Shannon, Seeds of Peace, p 25.
36. II Thessalonians 2:10b-12
37. Psalm 36:9
38. II Corinthians 11:13-14
39. II Corinthians 6:14,15,17
40. Ephesians 5:11
41. L'Osservatore Romano, English version of the official Vatican newspaper, Oct. 27, 1986, p. 1.
42. "Qui tacet consentire videtur."
43. Ephesians 2:3
44. 2 Corinthians 10:5
45. Malachi 3:18
http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/mysticism-bennett.html
by Richard Bennett (former Catholic priest)which offers a new light on orthodox Christianity.
Mysticism is an attempt to gain ultimate knowledge of God by a direct experience that bypasses the mind. The strong influence of Catholic mysticism has helped immensely to transform the New Age Movement from being merely a counter-culture sub-culture to becoming a new source of spiritual vision for the world. Catholic mysticism has very effectively and subtly invaded many facets of life without being recognized or critically examined.
This has been actively promoted through self-help medical, educational and psychological programs employing methods such as meditation, philosophical programming, and self-hypnotic contemplation.
In melding Eastern subjective spirituality with Western self-assurance, Catholic mysticism has done much to effectively hijack public and private religious life and to invert core beliefs and values of the West. Mystical God consciousness is an attempt to replace Christ's redemption and salvation.
Catholicism, Pagan Religions and Pantheism
For centuries, the Roman Catholic Church has assimilated to herself the mystery elements of pagan religions. Subjective religious experience, or mysticism, continues to be the meeting point of pagan religions and Catholicism, particularly so since Vatican Council II, when Rome changed her major strategy in an attempt to bring Protestants back under the papal fold.
The marriage between Romanism and paganism is documented in official statements from Rome. For example, in Vatican Council II documents she states,
"…In Hinduism men explore the divine mystery and express it both in the limitless riches of myth and the accurately defined insights of philosophy. They seek release from the trials of the present life by ascetical practices, profound meditation and recourse to God in confidence and love. Buddhism in its various forms testifies to the essential inadequacy of this changing world. It proposes a way of life by which man can, with confidence and trust, attain a state of perfect liberation and reach supreme illumination either through their own efforts or by the aid of divine help. …The Catholic Church rejects nothing of what is true and holy in these religions." [1]
Jesuit priest William Johnston explains how it happened,
"Then came the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). Overnight the Catholic Church which had been a Western institution exporting its wares to the East became a world community. Asian and African bishops and theologians assembled in Rome and, with their European and American confreres, acknowledged that the Spirit of God is at work in all peoples and in all religions. Since then, most theologians recognize non-Christian religions as 'valid ways'." [2]
It is on such a quagmire that Catholicism stands hand-in-hand with Buddhism and Hinduism, and out of which well-known Catholic mystics such as William Johnston and Thomas Keating have emerged. For example, Johnston describes the effect of enlightenment,
"Self-realization lies at the very heart of BuddhismIn self-realization I become one with God just as the object is one with the mirror and just as Jesus is one with his Father." [3]
The famous mystical monk, Thomas Merton, developed this pantheistic identification with God, as does his present day devotee, William Shannon. Merton states,
"now I realize what we all are. And if only everyone could realize this! I suddenly saw all the secret beauty of their hearts, the depths of their hearts where neither sin nor desire nor self-knowledge can reach, the core of their reality, the person that each one is in God's eyes. If only they could or see themselves as they really are. If only we could see each other that way all the time. There would be no more war, no more hatred, no more cruelty, no more greed… I suppose the big problem would be that we would fall down and worship each other." [4]
[See: What is Monism and Pantheistic Monism?]
Shannon endorses the idolatrous self-identification with God and cites his mentor, Merton,
"A person of true faith travels, not without difficulty, towards the heart of mystery. Such a person, as Merton puts it, 'works his way through the darkness of his own mystery until he discovers that his own mystery and the mystery of God merge into one reality, which is the only reality.' DQ 180." [5]
These quotations are standard descriptions of the pantheistic myth that we are all in God. In their own minds, Merton and Shannon have literally transmuted God Himself into their own image, having exchanged Him for human beings as an object of worship. Have they not, in the words of Romans 1:23,
"changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man"?
Leading Buddhists acknowledge Soul Unity with Catholicism
Leading Buddhists recognizes the marriage of Rome and paganism. Thich Nhat Hanh, states,
"Buddhists and Christians know the nirvana, or the Kingdom of God, is within their hearts [sic]. The Gospels speak of the Kingdom of God as a mustard seed planted in the soil of consciousness [sic]. Buddhist sutras speak of Buddha nature as the seed of enlightenment that is already in every one's consciousness. The practices of prayer and meditation help us touch the most valuable seeds that are within us, and they put us in contact with the ground of our being." [6]
The Buddhist leader Dalai Lama on visiting the grave of Thomas Merton at Gethsemane Abbey prayed, "Now our spirits are one." [7] It is an appalling blasphemy to affirm of the thrice-Holy God that the Kingdom of God is "as a mustard seed planted in the soil of consciousness" and that "meditation help[s] us touch the most valuable seeds that are in us" and that it "put[s] us in contact with the ground of our being."
Listen to the razor-sharp words of the Redeemer,
"Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." [8]
The Holy Spirit's unique office is to lead true believers into all truth by convicting us of "sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment." [9] It is not by the darkness of meditation on "the ground of our being" that leads us to the kingdom of Christ; rather in the words of Scripture, it is the Father "which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son." [10]
“Evangelical” Endorsement of Pantheism
A leading Evangelical, Richard Foster, lauds this pantheistic identification with God. Foster states,
"Contemplative Prayer immerses us into the silence of God. How desperately we in the modern world need this wordless baptism!Progress in intimacy with God means progress toward silence." [11]
Foster asks rhetorically, "What is the goal of Contemplative Prayer?" And he answers,
"To this question the old writers answer with one voice: union with God. Bonaventure, a follower of Saint Francis, says that our final goal is 'union with God,' which is a pure relationship where we see 'nothing.'" [12]
Seeing "nothing" and the "wordless baptism" are just an Evangelical rehashing of Catholic irrational superstitious myth. Rather, as II Corinthians 4:3 states,
"But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."
The Catholic priest Thomas Keating agrees with Foster as he writes,
"Contemplative Prayer is the opening of mind and heart - our whole being - to God, the Ultimate Mystery, beyond thoughts, words and emotions." [13]
Thus Keating depersonalized God to the nameless "Ultimate Mystery" in mythology. This impersonal, "Ultimate Mystery" is a non-speaking, non-judgmental, "god." Is Keating in the twenty-first century any better off than the men on Mars Hill to whom Paul spoke regarding their "altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD, whom therefore ye ignorantly worship"? [14] Nor is any morality derived from Keating's "Ultimate Mystery".
Thus Keating Merton and Shannon with their pantheistic identification with God have attempted destroy God's self-sufficiency as Creator, and the Lord God Almighty. They have endeavored to clone God into the image of humans. According to Romans 1:25, have they not…
"changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever"?
No wonder Merton admits,
"If only they could or see themselves as they really are… I suppose the big problem would be that we would fall down and worship each other."
In the place of the true worship of God, they have set about to establish pantheistic idolatry.
The Pope's Approval
In an official "Apostolic Letter" the Pope has endorsed Rome's own mystical tradition and the "great mystical tradition of the Church both East and West." His official teaching is,
"we are greatly helped not only by theological investigation but also by that great heritage which is the 'lived theology' of the saints. The saints offer us precious insightsthrough their personal experience of those terrible states of trial which the mystical tradition describes as the 'dark night'. Not infrequently the saints have undergone something akin to Jesus' experience on the Cross in the paradoxical blending of bliss and pain. In the Dialogue of Divine Providence, God the Father shows Catherine of Siena how joy and suffering can be present together in holy souls:
'Thus the soul is blissful and afflicted: afflicted on account of the sins of its neighbour, blissful on account of the union and the affection of charity which it has inwardly received. These souls imitate the spotless Lamb, my Only-begotten Son, who on the Cross was both blissful and afflicted'.
What an illuminating testimony!Is it not one of the 'signs of the times' that in today's world, despite widespread secularization, there is a widespread demand for spirituality, a demand which expresses itself in large part as a renewed need for prayer? Other religions, which are now widely present in ancient Christian lands, offer their own responses to this need, and sometimes they do so in appealing ways.The great mystical tradition of the Church of both East and West has much to say in this regard. It shows how prayer can progress, as a genuine dialogue of love, to the point of rendering the person wholly possessed by the divine Beloved" [15]
This is a brilliant piece of political bridge building on the Pope's part. By citing experiences of "saints", he attempts to make these experiences universal standards of deep and authentic spirituality. Then he grants approval to other religions by stating that they meet the "renewed need for prayer" in ways which are "appealing", affirming the idea that the process of prayer can become so consuming that it "render[s] the person wholly possessed by the divine Beloved."
High thoughts, vain imaginations, and carnal reasonings about the greatness of human efforts have always exalted themselves against the knowledge of God. If "a progress, as a genuine dialogue of love, to the point of rendering the person wholly possessed by the divine Beloved" were true, there would have been no need of salvation by the Redeemer. Scripture declares the reality and truth, "not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us." [16]
In 1986, Pope John Paul II seized the inter-faith initiative by gathering 160 of the world's religious leaders for a prayer summit at Assisi, Italy. They flew in from around the globe, Islamic Mullahs from nine nations, the Dalai Lama, (traditionally regarded by Buddhists as a living deity), native American Shamans and Indian cultists, African animists, Hindus, Zoroastrians, Catholics and, of course, Protestants. "We will stand side by side asking God to give us peace," declared the Pope.[41]
The grand encore to this initial dramatization of Luciferian unity occurred in January 2002, as Pope John Paul II led 200 leaders of different religions once again at Assisi, Italy. By public demonstration, by official sanction, in countless books and seminars, as well as Web pages with broad ecumenical support, Popedom has set a mystical agenda, which the world loves and accepts. Any believer or confessing fellowship group that remains silent in the face of such bald-faced blasphemy inevitably lends credence to the Pope's deceit. For Rome still assumes her ancient legal principle to stand, "He who is silent is understood to consent."[42]
Truth Contrasted to Crafted Mythology
True Christianity is unique among the religions of the world in that it is a rational-historical faith. For the Christian, salvation is based on something entirely outside of man. Salvation is found in the faithfulness and perfect sacrifice of the Christ of history. Catholic and Eastern mystics claim to discover God in the depths of their being. The true Christian looks away from himself to the righteousness of Christ Jesus.
Before God, Christ's satisfaction for sin is a reality that is all-sufficient. It does not need to be supplemented by any other reality. God's verdict of justification is not grounded on any state of being within the believing sinner, rather it is established on Christ Jesus alone. The principle that man can save himself by his experience and by his own life has been the foundation of every pagan religion, as it is of Catholicism. What is so sinister about the present communion of Rome with paganism is that it is contaminating our entire society.
The deadly deceptions of mysticism arrogantly advertise a way of direct access to the All Holy God and thereby repudiate any need of the Lord Jesus Christ, the One Mediator between God and men. The believer's worship and approach to God is in the Lord's own words to be with "all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." [17]
In the words of the Apostle Paul,
"I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also." [18]
The same Apostle warned believers,
"Let no man beguile you of your reward intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind." [19]
The censure of the Lord God remains on those who have issued lies,
"Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!" [20]
Because of this debasement of Christ and His Gospel we again outline the essentials of historical faith.
Objective Salvation in the Lord of Glory
As Mediator, Christ Jesus is the only means of union between God and man,
"that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; in him." [21]
Christ Jesus is exalted to "the right hand of the Majesty on high" [22] as the One Savior. He and His Gospel are objective and real! This Gospel is not an idle tale, nor a piece of incomprehensible mysticism; rather it is the proclamation of the awesome historical work of redemption accomplished by God Himself.
The Father appointed Christ Jesus as the guarantee of real salvation. Christ Jesus was glorified in finishing the Father's mightiest work. In Christ's own words, "I have glorified thee on earth; I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do." [23] He had fulfilled all the Father's will and so gloriously honored the Father. As Savior He is exalted high above "all principality and power, and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come." [24]
He alone, and not some mystic charm of Rome or Buddha, has been given all authority in heaven and in earth. He has been given power over all flesh that He should in His own words, " give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him." [25] He alone has been given a name, which is above every name, "that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." [26] It is God's commandment that we trust on Christ, "This is His command, that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ." [27]
True faith involves a repudiation of the self-deceit of experiential mystical means of reaching God, "for there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." [28] The Lord Jesus stands ready to receive every sinner who will throw away his rebellion and pride and trust in Him alone for salvation!
Preaching the real historical Christ and His Gospel is the answer to the mindless adumbrations of Rome and the ecumenical mystics. Thus alone can the true Church, God's People "go forth fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners." [29] The Gospel is a mighty deliverance from the groveling religious subjectivism of Rome and her pagan mistresses. To know God is life itself to a Christian, in the words of the Lord Himself, "this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." [30]
Knowledge of God, and faith in Him, are the means whereby all spiritual supports and comforts are conveyed to the true believers.
"According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue." [31]
The Fulfillment of the New Age Aspiration?
The goal of the New Age Movement has consistently been to bring in the Age of Aquarius when all will recognize "the God with themselves". A major step towards this in the words of the New Age prophetess Alice Bailey, is "the regeneration of the churches." [32] Her vision was that…
"The Christian church in its many branches can serve as a St. John the Baptist, as a voice crying in the wilderness, and as a nucleus through which world illumination may be accomplished." [33]
In a word, she desired the time when the "Christian churches" would embrace the New Age concepts of illumination and self-realization. The New Age plan to bring in world peace cannot fully establish the Golden Age of Aquarius until Biblical Christianity is outlawed or destroyed.
Now that the Church of Rome has entered into liaison with paganism, she has again concocted another successful work of syncretism. As Catholicism has become the religion of the European Union,[34] the desires of New Age leaders appear to be coming true. Even at the local parish level according to William Shannon "contemplative spirituality" has now widely replaced old-style Catholicism.[35]
With New Age convictions being voiced by leading Catholics and Evangelicals, it appears that the desired goal is closer to being achieved. The New Age aspiration to establish a one-world order lead by "a Christ Leader" is being met by the Pope and his Church. All of this ought not to surprise any believer, for the Bible has persistently warned believers of the enormity, growth and prevalence of the apostate church system and her mistresses.
The ruin of the Antichrist's kingdom is declared by the Apostle Paul,
"Because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved, and for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness."[36]
Conclusion
What has been shown here regarding Catholic mysticism's outright invasion of Evangelicalism and its commandeering of New Age verbiage and paraphernalia, should cause serious individuals to examine carefully the foundation upon which his or her hopes are built. A mere "I hope I am saved" is not enough, nothing short of the full assurance of faith on the solid Rock, the Lord Christ Jesus, will suffice. It is in God's light, and in it only, that "we see light."[37]
True Christians interpret all religious experience by the normative revelation of God recorded for them in the Holy Bible. The wicked love darkness; but God's people love the Light! Mystics have not scrupled openly to equate the true God with "the god" within. They have thought to divest themselves of God Himself by turning to inward self-realization and enlightenment. Rather, the values that they set are based on personal inner feelings that are often incapable of reasoned explanation.
The Gospel is the exact opposite, the historical message of the Cross of Christ for a lost world. The Gospel proclaims Christ Himself, and the God and Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who in His love gave His Son to die for sinners. There is no valid excuse for true believers to be deceived by "false apostles," who transform themselves into the "apostles of Christ," "for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light."[38]
There are many false prophets gone out into the world, if we study diligently these things, which God has recorded for our safeguard against the subtle deceptions of Satan, we will not mislead nor be misled. True believers in Christ must take to heart solemn warnings of the Apostle Paul,
"Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you."[39]
"And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them."[40]
Footnotes and References
1. Vatican Council II Documents, No. 56, Nostra Aetate, "Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions,", 28 Oct. 1965, Vol. I, Para. 2, p. 739.
2. William Johnston, The Mirror Mind (New York: Fordham University Press, 1990) p. 7.
3. Ibid., p. 33, 39.
4. Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander, Image edition Dec. 1989 (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1966) pp. 157, 158. This book has official Roman Catholic approval.
5. William Shannon, Seeds of Peace Contemplation and Non-Violence (New York: Crossroad Publ. Co, 1996) p. 73.
6. Thich Nhat Hanh, Introduction to Contemplative Prayer by Thomas Merton, Image Book edition (New York, NY: Doubleday, 1996) p. 5.
7. http://www.americancatholic.org/Messenger/Jan1997/feature1.asp 10/8/2002 The website also states that Merton died in Bangkok, Thailand, in 1968, apparently electrocuted by a faulty room fan.
8. John 3:3
9. John 16:8
10. Colossians 1:12-13
11. Foster, Richard J., Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home (San Francisco: Harper, 1992) p. 155.
12. Ibid., p 159.
13. Thomas Keating, "The Method of Centering Prayer" http://www.thecentering.org/centering 10/22/02.
14. Acts 17:23
15. OFFICIAL APOSTOLIC LETTER OF POPE JOHN PAUL II "NOVO MILLENNIO INEUNTE" www.vatican.va/holy_fa ther/john_paul_ii/apost_letters/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_20010106_novo-mill ennio-ineunte_en.html+Novo+Millennio+Ineunte - Para 27, 33 Bolding in any quotation indicates emphasis added in this paper.
16. Titus 3:5
17. Matthew 22:37
18. I Corinthians 14:15
19. Colossians 2:18
20. Ezekiel 13:3
21. Ephesians 1:10
22. Hebrews 1:3
23. John 17:4
24. Ephesians 1:21
25. John 17:2
26. Philippians 2:10-11
27. I John 3:23
28. I Timothy 2:5
29. Song of Solomon 6:10
30. John 17:3
31. II Peter 1:3
32. Alice Bailey, Problems of Humanity (New York, NY: Lucis Publ. Co., 1964) p. 152.
33. Alice Bailey, The Externalization of the Hierarchy (New York, NY: Lucis Pub. Co., 1957) p. 510.
34. This fact of syncretism in the EU we wish to deal with in our next newsletter.
35. Shannon, Seeds of Peace, p 25.
36. II Thessalonians 2:10b-12
37. Psalm 36:9
38. II Corinthians 11:13-14
39. II Corinthians 6:14,15,17
40. Ephesians 5:11
41. L'Osservatore Romano, English version of the official Vatican newspaper, Oct. 27, 1986, p. 1.
42. "Qui tacet consentire videtur."
43. Ephesians 2:3
44. 2 Corinthians 10:5
45. Malachi 3:18
http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/mysticism-bennett.html
Thursday, December 25, 2008
THE SUFI MYSTICISM IN SUFIS’ WORDS
Sufism is defined as “truth without form,” and the Sufi aspires to become “featureless and formless,” to be so lost in God that only He remains. But there are certain qualities that belong to these travelers on the path of love.
The Sufis are folk who have preferred God to everything, so that God has preferred them to everything.( DHÛ-L-NÛN )
The Sufi is he who aims, from at first, at reaching God, the Creative Truth. Until he has found what he seeks, he takes no rest, nor does he give heed to any person. For Thy sake I haste over land and water; over the plain I pass and the mountain I cleave and from everything I turn my face, until the time when I reach that place where I am alone with Thee. (AL-HALLÂJ )
When Abû Sa‘îd ibn Abî-l-Khayr was asked what Sufism entailed he replied: “Whatever you have in your mind— forget it; whatever you have in your hand—give it; what¬ever is to be your fate—face it!” (ABÛ SA‘ÎD IBN ABÎ-L-KHAYR)
“Dervishes” is a term which refers to holy poverty: “the poor man is not he whose hand is empty of provisions, but he whose nature is empty of desires.” (HUJWÎRÎ)
Dervish is a Persian term referring to a state of spiritual poverty. The early dervishes were wandering ascetics.
A dervish wearing a sackcloth coat and woolen cap once came to meet Master Abû ‘Alî. One of Abû ‘Alî’s disciples tried to humor him, saying, “How much did you purchase that sackcloth for?”
The dervish answered, “I purchased it for the sum of the world. I was offered the hereafter in exchange, but refused to trade.” (ABÛ ‘ALÎ AD-DAQQÂQ )
Four thousand years before God created these bodies, He created the souls and kept them beside Himself and shed a light upon them. He knew what quantity each soul received and He showed favor to each in proportion to its illumination. The souls remained all that time in light, until they became fully nourished. Those who in this world live in joy and agreement with one another must have been akin to one another in that place. Here they love one another and are called the friends of God, and they are brothers who love one another for God’s sake. These souls know one another by smell, like horses. (ABÛ SA‘ÎD IBN ABÎ-L-KHAYR)
There was a king, who, one day, entering his royal court, observed one person who among all those present, was not bowing down before him. Unnerved by the impudent act of this stranger in the hall, the king called out: “How dare you not bow down before me! Only God does not bow down before me, and there is nothing greater than God. Who then are you?” The tattered stranger answered with a smile, “I am that nothing.” (ANONYMOUS)
You too put your best foot forward. If you do not wish to, then follow your fantasies. But if you prefer the secrets of the love of your soul you will sacrifice everything. You will lose what you consider valuable, but you will soon hear the sacramental word “Enter.”(‘ATTÂR)
An intending disciple said to Dhû-l-Nûn, the Egyptian: “Above everything in this world I wish to enroll in the Path of Truth.”
Dhû-l-Nûn told him: “You can accompany our caravan only if you first accept two things. One is that you will have to do things which you do not want to do. The other is that you will not be permitted to do things which you desire to do. It is ‘wanting’ which stands between man and the Path of Truth.”( DHÛ-L-NÛN )
Know that when you learn to lose yourself, you will reach the Beloved. There is no other secret to be learnt, and more than that is not known to me.
(AL-ANSÂRÎ)
A man came to Abû ‘Alî ad-Daqqâq and said, “I have come to you from a very distant place.”
Abû ‘Alî ad-Daqqâq replied, “Attaining knowledge of the path has nothing to do with traversing great distances and undergoing journeys. Separate from yourself even by one single step, and your goal will be reached.”(ABÛ ‘ALÎ AD-DAQQÂQ)
In your own land seek the hidden flame…. It is unworthy of man to borrow light from elsewhere. (AL-HALLÂJ)
When you seek God, seek Him in your heart—
He is not in Jerusalem, nor in Mecca nor in the hajj. (YÛNUS EMRE )
The minute I heard my first love story I started looking for you Not knowing how blind I was.
Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere. They’re in each other all along.(RÛMÎ)
When truth has taken hold of a heart she empties it of all but Herself.
(AL-HALLÂJ)
One day a man from Mount Locam came to visit Sarî al-Saqatî.
“Sheikh So-and-So from Mount Locam greets you,” he said.
“He dwells in the mountains,” commented Sarî. “So his efforts amount to nothing. A man ought to be able to live in the midst of the market and be so preoccupied with God that not for a single minute is he absent from God.”(SARÎ)
The perfect mystic is not an ecstatic devotee lost in contemplation of Oneness, nor a saintly recluse shunning all commerce with mankind, but “the true saint” goes in and out amongst the people and eats and sleeps with them and buys and sells in the market and marries and takes part in social intercourse, and never forgets God for a single moment. (ABÛ SA‘ÎD IBN ABÎ-L-KHAYR)
Everything in the world of existence has an end and a goal. The end is maturity and the goal is freedom. For example, fruit grows on the tree until it is ripe and then falls. The ripened fruit represents maturity, and the fallen fruit, freedom.
The final goal is returning to one’s origin. Everything which reaches its origin has reached its goal. A farmer sows grain in the ground and tends it. It begins to grow, eventually seeds, and again becomes grain. It has returned to its original form. The circle is complete. Completing the circle of existence is freedom.(NASAFÎ)
The inner pilgrim wraps himself in the light of the holy spirit, transforming his material shape into the inner essence, and circumambulating the shrine of the heart, inwardly reciting the name of God. He moves in circles because the path of the essence is not straight but circular. Its end is its beginning.
(‘ABDU’L-QÂDIR AL-GÎLÂNÎ)
Dhû-l-Nûn was asked, “What is the end of the mystic?”
He answered, “When he is as he was where he was before he was.” (DHÛ-L-NÛN )
Do not take a step
on the path of love without a guide.
I have tried it
one hundred times and failed. (HÂFIZ)
Abû Sa‘îd was asked, “If someone wishes, is it possible to travel the mystic path without a teacher?”
The Sheikh replied, “It is impossible because someone is required to guide him along the way, someone who has already reached the goal travelling that path, who will tell him what are faults and what are virtues on this path. At each stage he will say this is the such-and-such stage, here one must remain a little longer. And if there is a dangerous place somewhere, he will tell him to be on his guard, and will give him kindly encouragement, so that travelling that path with a strengthened heart, he may reach the goal.
“When he has reached the goal he will find peace.” (ABÛ SA‘ÎD IBN ABÎ-L-KHAYR)
Abû Sa‘îd was asked, “Who is the spiritual guide who has attained to Truth, and who is the sincere disciple?”
The Sheikh replied, “The spiritual guide who attained to Truth is he in whom at least ten characteristics are found, as proof of his authenticity:
First, he must have become a goal, to be able to have a disciple.
Second, he must have travelled the mystic path himself, to be able to show the way.
Third, he must have become refined and educated, to be able to be an educator.
Fourth, he must be generous and devoid of self-impor¬tance, so that he can sacrifice wealth on behalf of the disciple.
Fifth, he must have no hand in the disciple’s wealth, so that he is not tempted to use it for himself.
Sixth, whenever he can give advice through a sign, he will not use direct expression.
Seventh, whenever he can educate through kindness, he will not use violence and harshness.
Eighth, whatever he orders, he has first accomplished himself.
Ninth, whatever he forbids the disciple, he has abstained from himself.
Tenth, he will not abandon for the world’s sake the disciple he accepts for the sake of God.
If the spiritual guide is like this and is adorned with these character traits, the disciple is bound to be sincere and a good traveller, for what appears in the disciple is the quality of the spiritual guide made manifest in the disciple.”
As for the sincere disciple, the Sheikh has said, “No less than the ten characteristics which I mention must be present in the sincere disciple, if he is to be worthy of discipleship:
First, he must be intelligent enough to understand the spiritual guide’s indications.
Second, he must be obedient in order to carry out the spiritual guide’s command.
Third, he must be sharp of hearing to perceive what the spiritual guide says.
Fourth, he must have an enlightened heart in order to see the spiritual guide’s greatness.
Fifth, he must be truthful, so that whatever he reports, he reports truthfully.
Sixth, he must be true to his word, so that whatever he says, he keeps his promise.
Seventh, he must be generous, so that whatever he has, he is able to give away.
Eighth, he must be discreet, so that he can keep a secret.
Ninth, he must be receptive to advice, so that he will accept the guide’s admonition.
Tenth, he must be chivalrous in order to sacrifice his own dear life on the mystic path.
Having these character traits, the disciple will more easily accomplish his journey and more quickly reach the goal set for him on the mystic path by the spiritual guide.” (ABÛ SA‘ÎD IBN ABÎ-L-KHAYR)
It should be borne in mind that the function of the disciple is to focus a stream of energy of some special kind upon the physical plane where it can become an attractive center of force and draw to itself similar types of ideas and thought currents, which are not strong enough to live by themselves or to make a sufficiently strong impact upon human consciousness.(IRINA TWEEDIE )
Love cannot be more or less for the Teacher. For him the very beginning and the end are the same; it is a closed circle. His love for the disciple does not go on increasing; for the disciple, of course, it is very different; he has to complete the whole circle…. As the disciple progresses he feels the Master nearer and nearer, as the time goes on. But the Master is not nearer; he was always near, only the disciple did not know it. (BHAI SAHIB)
God is nowhere. God can only be known through the Master. If you are being merged into the Teacher, you will know God. Only the Teacher is important for you. Only the Teacher. The Divine Master is complete in every way. By simply becoming like him one becomes complete in every way…. (BHAI SAHIB)
I am transcendent reality, and I am the tenuous thread that brings it very close. I am the secret of man in his very act of existing, and I am that invisible one who is the object of worship…. I am the Sheikh with the divine nature, and I am the guardian of the world of human nature. (JÎLÎ, ON KHIDR)
Saints are like rivers, they flow where they are directed…. If a Hint is there, I have to do it, and if I don’t, I am MADE to do it. A Divine Hint is an Order. Sometimes the Saints have to do things the people will misjudge, and which from the worldly point of view could be condemned, because the world judges by appearances. One important quality required on the Path is never to judge by appearances. More often than not things look different from what they really are. There is no good and evil for the Creator. Only human society makes it so. A Saint is beyond good and evil, but Saints are people of the highest morality and will never give a bad example. (BHAI SAHIB )
The saints of God are known by three signs: their thought is of God, their dwelling is in God, and their business is with God. (MA‘RÛF AL-KARKHÎ)
O you who stab the selfless one with the sword, you are stabbing yourself with it. Beware!
For the selfless one has passed away, he has become a mirror: naught is there but the image of another’s face.
If you spit at it, you spit at your own face; and if you strike the mirror, you strike yourself.
And if you see an ugly face in the mirror, ‘tis you; and if you see Jesus and Mary, ‘tis you. He is neither this nor that: he is pure and free from self; he puts your image before you. (RÛMÎ)
The Sufis are folk who have preferred God to everything, so that God has preferred them to everything.( DHÛ-L-NÛN )
The Sufi is he who aims, from at first, at reaching God, the Creative Truth. Until he has found what he seeks, he takes no rest, nor does he give heed to any person. For Thy sake I haste over land and water; over the plain I pass and the mountain I cleave and from everything I turn my face, until the time when I reach that place where I am alone with Thee. (AL-HALLÂJ )
When Abû Sa‘îd ibn Abî-l-Khayr was asked what Sufism entailed he replied: “Whatever you have in your mind— forget it; whatever you have in your hand—give it; what¬ever is to be your fate—face it!” (ABÛ SA‘ÎD IBN ABÎ-L-KHAYR)
“Dervishes” is a term which refers to holy poverty: “the poor man is not he whose hand is empty of provisions, but he whose nature is empty of desires.” (HUJWÎRÎ)
Dervish is a Persian term referring to a state of spiritual poverty. The early dervishes were wandering ascetics.
A dervish wearing a sackcloth coat and woolen cap once came to meet Master Abû ‘Alî. One of Abû ‘Alî’s disciples tried to humor him, saying, “How much did you purchase that sackcloth for?”
The dervish answered, “I purchased it for the sum of the world. I was offered the hereafter in exchange, but refused to trade.” (ABÛ ‘ALÎ AD-DAQQÂQ )
Four thousand years before God created these bodies, He created the souls and kept them beside Himself and shed a light upon them. He knew what quantity each soul received and He showed favor to each in proportion to its illumination. The souls remained all that time in light, until they became fully nourished. Those who in this world live in joy and agreement with one another must have been akin to one another in that place. Here they love one another and are called the friends of God, and they are brothers who love one another for God’s sake. These souls know one another by smell, like horses. (ABÛ SA‘ÎD IBN ABÎ-L-KHAYR)
There was a king, who, one day, entering his royal court, observed one person who among all those present, was not bowing down before him. Unnerved by the impudent act of this stranger in the hall, the king called out: “How dare you not bow down before me! Only God does not bow down before me, and there is nothing greater than God. Who then are you?” The tattered stranger answered with a smile, “I am that nothing.” (ANONYMOUS)
You too put your best foot forward. If you do not wish to, then follow your fantasies. But if you prefer the secrets of the love of your soul you will sacrifice everything. You will lose what you consider valuable, but you will soon hear the sacramental word “Enter.”(‘ATTÂR)
An intending disciple said to Dhû-l-Nûn, the Egyptian: “Above everything in this world I wish to enroll in the Path of Truth.”
Dhû-l-Nûn told him: “You can accompany our caravan only if you first accept two things. One is that you will have to do things which you do not want to do. The other is that you will not be permitted to do things which you desire to do. It is ‘wanting’ which stands between man and the Path of Truth.”( DHÛ-L-NÛN )
Know that when you learn to lose yourself, you will reach the Beloved. There is no other secret to be learnt, and more than that is not known to me.
(AL-ANSÂRÎ)
A man came to Abû ‘Alî ad-Daqqâq and said, “I have come to you from a very distant place.”
Abû ‘Alî ad-Daqqâq replied, “Attaining knowledge of the path has nothing to do with traversing great distances and undergoing journeys. Separate from yourself even by one single step, and your goal will be reached.”(ABÛ ‘ALÎ AD-DAQQÂQ)
In your own land seek the hidden flame…. It is unworthy of man to borrow light from elsewhere. (AL-HALLÂJ)
When you seek God, seek Him in your heart—
He is not in Jerusalem, nor in Mecca nor in the hajj. (YÛNUS EMRE )
The minute I heard my first love story I started looking for you Not knowing how blind I was.
Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere. They’re in each other all along.(RÛMÎ)
When truth has taken hold of a heart she empties it of all but Herself.
(AL-HALLÂJ)
One day a man from Mount Locam came to visit Sarî al-Saqatî.
“Sheikh So-and-So from Mount Locam greets you,” he said.
“He dwells in the mountains,” commented Sarî. “So his efforts amount to nothing. A man ought to be able to live in the midst of the market and be so preoccupied with God that not for a single minute is he absent from God.”(SARÎ)
The perfect mystic is not an ecstatic devotee lost in contemplation of Oneness, nor a saintly recluse shunning all commerce with mankind, but “the true saint” goes in and out amongst the people and eats and sleeps with them and buys and sells in the market and marries and takes part in social intercourse, and never forgets God for a single moment. (ABÛ SA‘ÎD IBN ABÎ-L-KHAYR)
Everything in the world of existence has an end and a goal. The end is maturity and the goal is freedom. For example, fruit grows on the tree until it is ripe and then falls. The ripened fruit represents maturity, and the fallen fruit, freedom.
The final goal is returning to one’s origin. Everything which reaches its origin has reached its goal. A farmer sows grain in the ground and tends it. It begins to grow, eventually seeds, and again becomes grain. It has returned to its original form. The circle is complete. Completing the circle of existence is freedom.(NASAFÎ)
The inner pilgrim wraps himself in the light of the holy spirit, transforming his material shape into the inner essence, and circumambulating the shrine of the heart, inwardly reciting the name of God. He moves in circles because the path of the essence is not straight but circular. Its end is its beginning.
(‘ABDU’L-QÂDIR AL-GÎLÂNÎ)
Dhû-l-Nûn was asked, “What is the end of the mystic?”
He answered, “When he is as he was where he was before he was.” (DHÛ-L-NÛN )
Do not take a step
on the path of love without a guide.
I have tried it
one hundred times and failed. (HÂFIZ)
Abû Sa‘îd was asked, “If someone wishes, is it possible to travel the mystic path without a teacher?”
The Sheikh replied, “It is impossible because someone is required to guide him along the way, someone who has already reached the goal travelling that path, who will tell him what are faults and what are virtues on this path. At each stage he will say this is the such-and-such stage, here one must remain a little longer. And if there is a dangerous place somewhere, he will tell him to be on his guard, and will give him kindly encouragement, so that travelling that path with a strengthened heart, he may reach the goal.
“When he has reached the goal he will find peace.” (ABÛ SA‘ÎD IBN ABÎ-L-KHAYR)
Abû Sa‘îd was asked, “Who is the spiritual guide who has attained to Truth, and who is the sincere disciple?”
The Sheikh replied, “The spiritual guide who attained to Truth is he in whom at least ten characteristics are found, as proof of his authenticity:
First, he must have become a goal, to be able to have a disciple.
Second, he must have travelled the mystic path himself, to be able to show the way.
Third, he must have become refined and educated, to be able to be an educator.
Fourth, he must be generous and devoid of self-impor¬tance, so that he can sacrifice wealth on behalf of the disciple.
Fifth, he must have no hand in the disciple’s wealth, so that he is not tempted to use it for himself.
Sixth, whenever he can give advice through a sign, he will not use direct expression.
Seventh, whenever he can educate through kindness, he will not use violence and harshness.
Eighth, whatever he orders, he has first accomplished himself.
Ninth, whatever he forbids the disciple, he has abstained from himself.
Tenth, he will not abandon for the world’s sake the disciple he accepts for the sake of God.
If the spiritual guide is like this and is adorned with these character traits, the disciple is bound to be sincere and a good traveller, for what appears in the disciple is the quality of the spiritual guide made manifest in the disciple.”
As for the sincere disciple, the Sheikh has said, “No less than the ten characteristics which I mention must be present in the sincere disciple, if he is to be worthy of discipleship:
First, he must be intelligent enough to understand the spiritual guide’s indications.
Second, he must be obedient in order to carry out the spiritual guide’s command.
Third, he must be sharp of hearing to perceive what the spiritual guide says.
Fourth, he must have an enlightened heart in order to see the spiritual guide’s greatness.
Fifth, he must be truthful, so that whatever he reports, he reports truthfully.
Sixth, he must be true to his word, so that whatever he says, he keeps his promise.
Seventh, he must be generous, so that whatever he has, he is able to give away.
Eighth, he must be discreet, so that he can keep a secret.
Ninth, he must be receptive to advice, so that he will accept the guide’s admonition.
Tenth, he must be chivalrous in order to sacrifice his own dear life on the mystic path.
Having these character traits, the disciple will more easily accomplish his journey and more quickly reach the goal set for him on the mystic path by the spiritual guide.” (ABÛ SA‘ÎD IBN ABÎ-L-KHAYR)
It should be borne in mind that the function of the disciple is to focus a stream of energy of some special kind upon the physical plane where it can become an attractive center of force and draw to itself similar types of ideas and thought currents, which are not strong enough to live by themselves or to make a sufficiently strong impact upon human consciousness.(IRINA TWEEDIE )
Love cannot be more or less for the Teacher. For him the very beginning and the end are the same; it is a closed circle. His love for the disciple does not go on increasing; for the disciple, of course, it is very different; he has to complete the whole circle…. As the disciple progresses he feels the Master nearer and nearer, as the time goes on. But the Master is not nearer; he was always near, only the disciple did not know it. (BHAI SAHIB)
God is nowhere. God can only be known through the Master. If you are being merged into the Teacher, you will know God. Only the Teacher is important for you. Only the Teacher. The Divine Master is complete in every way. By simply becoming like him one becomes complete in every way…. (BHAI SAHIB)
I am transcendent reality, and I am the tenuous thread that brings it very close. I am the secret of man in his very act of existing, and I am that invisible one who is the object of worship…. I am the Sheikh with the divine nature, and I am the guardian of the world of human nature. (JÎLÎ, ON KHIDR)
Saints are like rivers, they flow where they are directed…. If a Hint is there, I have to do it, and if I don’t, I am MADE to do it. A Divine Hint is an Order. Sometimes the Saints have to do things the people will misjudge, and which from the worldly point of view could be condemned, because the world judges by appearances. One important quality required on the Path is never to judge by appearances. More often than not things look different from what they really are. There is no good and evil for the Creator. Only human society makes it so. A Saint is beyond good and evil, but Saints are people of the highest morality and will never give a bad example. (BHAI SAHIB )
The saints of God are known by three signs: their thought is of God, their dwelling is in God, and their business is with God. (MA‘RÛF AL-KARKHÎ)
O you who stab the selfless one with the sword, you are stabbing yourself with it. Beware!
For the selfless one has passed away, he has become a mirror: naught is there but the image of another’s face.
If you spit at it, you spit at your own face; and if you strike the mirror, you strike yourself.
And if you see an ugly face in the mirror, ‘tis you; and if you see Jesus and Mary, ‘tis you. He is neither this nor that: he is pure and free from self; he puts your image before you. (RÛMÎ)
SUFI MYSTICISM
Sufism is a mystical path of love comprising seekers known as “Wayfarers on the Mystical Path.” Their deep yearning for God led them to realization that Truth was “The Beloved,” and they “The Lovers of God.” Since they wore white woolen garments (Sûf ), and known for their purity of heart (Safâ’ ) they in time came to be called Sufis. An eighteen century phenomena among Muslims,these seekers gathered around spiritual teachers in small numbers and, in course of time, grew into fraternities and orders, bearing the name of its initiator.
The Sufi experience of God-realization was handed down from teacher to disciple in an uninterrupted chain of transmission. This way certain practices and principles of each Sufi order and teacher were passed on to seekers on the path and thus kept their passion and fire burning within their hearts and their attention firm-fixed in their goal attention attention firm-fixed on the goal.
“The teaching and writings of the Sufis offer us the richest and most impassioned understanding of the relationship of lover and Beloved, what in
essence is at the core of every mystical path. The mystical path is the soul’s journey from separation back to union. On this homeward journey the seeker is seeking his own innermost essence, the pearl of great price that lies hidden within the heart.
The Sufi travels three Journeys—the Journey from God, the Journey to God, and the Journey in God.”
They reveal to us the way to realize our eternal essence and that our Beloved reveals Himself to us in our moment of dire need : He who had seemed so far away is discovered so near, indeed even “closer to you than yourself to yourself.” They let us realize the essential oneness of all life and, in a simple direct way bring home the paradoxical nature of this mystical journey which in essence is beyond time, space, and all form. The Sufi masters remind us of our divine nature and provide signposts on the way back to our home, our innermost self.
This select Sufi sayings are offered as inspiration to pilgrim-seekers on whatever path since the Sufi says that there are as many ways to God as there are human beings, “as many as the breaths of the children of God.” This journey on whatever path the seeker has chosen to follow is mankind’s most cherished dream and the deepest purpose of life. The new wayfarers on this journey have beckoning examples of all those masters who have gone before them and it is their footprints that shall blaze the path.
The Sufi experience of God-realization was handed down from teacher to disciple in an uninterrupted chain of transmission. This way certain practices and principles of each Sufi order and teacher were passed on to seekers on the path and thus kept their passion and fire burning within their hearts and their attention firm-fixed in their goal attention attention firm-fixed on the goal.
“The teaching and writings of the Sufis offer us the richest and most impassioned understanding of the relationship of lover and Beloved, what in
essence is at the core of every mystical path. The mystical path is the soul’s journey from separation back to union. On this homeward journey the seeker is seeking his own innermost essence, the pearl of great price that lies hidden within the heart.
The Sufi travels three Journeys—the Journey from God, the Journey to God, and the Journey in God.”
They reveal to us the way to realize our eternal essence and that our Beloved reveals Himself to us in our moment of dire need : He who had seemed so far away is discovered so near, indeed even “closer to you than yourself to yourself.” They let us realize the essential oneness of all life and, in a simple direct way bring home the paradoxical nature of this mystical journey which in essence is beyond time, space, and all form. The Sufi masters remind us of our divine nature and provide signposts on the way back to our home, our innermost self.
This select Sufi sayings are offered as inspiration to pilgrim-seekers on whatever path since the Sufi says that there are as many ways to God as there are human beings, “as many as the breaths of the children of God.” This journey on whatever path the seeker has chosen to follow is mankind’s most cherished dream and the deepest purpose of life. The new wayfarers on this journey have beckoning examples of all those masters who have gone before them and it is their footprints that shall blaze the path.
Best Rendering Of Psalms By David L Frost
PSALM 1
1 Happy are they who have not walked
in the counsel of the wicked, *
nor lingered in the way of sinners,
nor sat in the assembly of the scornful!
2 Their delight is in the law of the Lord, *
and they meditate on his law day and night.
3 Like a tree planted by streams of water
bearing fruit in due season,
with leaves that do not wither; *
whatever they do, it shall prosper.
4 As for the wicked, it is not so with them; *
they are like chaff which the wind blows away
from the face of the earth;
5 Therefore the wicked shall not be able to stand in the judgement,*
nor the sinner in the congregation of the righteous.
6 For the Lord upholds the way of the righteous, *
but the way of the wicked shall perish.
PSALM 2
1 Why are the nations in tumult? *
and why do the peoples devise a vain plan?
2 The kings of the earth rise up,
and the rulers take counsel together, *
against the Lord and against his Anointed.
3 `Let us break their bonds asunder *
and cast away their cords from us.'
4 He who dwells in heaven shall laugh them to scorn; *
the Lord shall have them in derision.
5 Then shall he speak to them in his wrath *
and terrify them in his fury.
6 `Yet have I set my king * upon my holy hill of Zion.'
7 I will proclaim the decree of the Lord; *
he said to me: `You are my Son; this day have I begotten you.
8 `Ask of me
and I will give you the nations for your inheritance *
and the ends of the earth for your possession.
9 `You shall break them with a rod of iron *
and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.'
10 Now therefore be wise, O kings; *
be prudent you judges of the earth.
11 Serve the Lord with fear,
and with trembling kiss his feet; *
Lest he be angry and you perish from the way,
for his wrath is quickly kindled.
12 Happy are all they * who take refuge in him!
PSALM 3
1 Lord, how many are my adversaries! *
Many there are that rise up against me!
2 Many there are who say of my soul, *
`There is no help for him in his God.'
3 But you, O Lord, are a shield about me; *
you are my glory, and the one who lifts up my head.
4 When I call with my voice to the Lord *
he will answer me from his holy hill;
5 When I lie down and sleep,*
I rise up again, for the Lord sustains me.
6 I will not be afraid of tens of thousands of the peoples *
that are set against me all around.
7 Rise up, O Lord and deliver me, O my God! *
O that you would strike all my enemies upon the cheek,
and break the teeth of the wicked!
8 Salvation belongs to the Lord: *
May your blessing be upon your people!
PSALM 4
1 Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness; *
you set me at liberty when I was hard-pressed;
have mercy on me and hear my prayer.
2 `How long will you people dishonour my glory; *
how long will you love vain things and seek after falsehood?'
3 But know that the Lord has chosen to himself the one that is faithful;*
When I call upon the Lord, he will hear me.
4 Stand in awe, and sin not;*
commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still.
5 Offer the sacrifices of righteousness*
and put your trust in the Lord.
6 There are many that say, `Who will show us any good?'*
Lord, lift up the light of your countenance upon us.
7 You will put gladness in my heart,*
more than when their corn and wine and oil increase.
8 I will lie down and sleep in peace;*
for it is you, Lord, only who make me dwell in safety.
PSALM 5
1 Give ear to my words, O Lord; *consider my lamentation.
2 Hearken to the voice of my crying, my King and my God, *
for to you I make my prayer. 3 In the morning, Lord,
you will hear my voice; *
early in the morning I make my appeal to you, and look up.
4 For you are the God who takes no pleasure in wickedness*
no evil can dwell with you.
5 The boastful cannot stand in your sight; *
you hate all those that work wickedness.
6 You destroy those who speak lies; *
the bloodthirsty and deceitful, O Lord, you abhor.
7 But as for me, through the greatness of your mercy,
I will come into your house; *
I will bow down towards your holy temple in awe of you.
8 Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness,
because of my enemies; *
make your way straight before my face.
9 For there is no truth in their mouth;
in their heart is destruction; *
their throat is an open sepulchre;
they flatter with their tongue.
10 Declare them guilty; O God; *
let them fall through their own machinations.
11 Because of their many transgressions cast them out*
for they have rebelled against you.
12 But let all who take refuge in you be glad; *
let them sing out their joy for ever.
13 You will shelter them, *
so that those who love your name may exult in you.
15 For you, O Lord, will bless the righteous; *
and with your favour you will defend them as with a shield.
The Liturgical Psalter © 1976, 1977, David L. Frost, John A. Emerton, Andrew A. Macintosh.info@aquilabooks.co.uk.
1 Happy are they who have not walked
in the counsel of the wicked, *
nor lingered in the way of sinners,
nor sat in the assembly of the scornful!
2 Their delight is in the law of the Lord, *
and they meditate on his law day and night.
3 Like a tree planted by streams of water
bearing fruit in due season,
with leaves that do not wither; *
whatever they do, it shall prosper.
4 As for the wicked, it is not so with them; *
they are like chaff which the wind blows away
from the face of the earth;
5 Therefore the wicked shall not be able to stand in the judgement,*
nor the sinner in the congregation of the righteous.
6 For the Lord upholds the way of the righteous, *
but the way of the wicked shall perish.
PSALM 2
1 Why are the nations in tumult? *
and why do the peoples devise a vain plan?
2 The kings of the earth rise up,
and the rulers take counsel together, *
against the Lord and against his Anointed.
3 `Let us break their bonds asunder *
and cast away their cords from us.'
4 He who dwells in heaven shall laugh them to scorn; *
the Lord shall have them in derision.
5 Then shall he speak to them in his wrath *
and terrify them in his fury.
6 `Yet have I set my king * upon my holy hill of Zion.'
7 I will proclaim the decree of the Lord; *
he said to me: `You are my Son; this day have I begotten you.
8 `Ask of me
and I will give you the nations for your inheritance *
and the ends of the earth for your possession.
9 `You shall break them with a rod of iron *
and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.'
10 Now therefore be wise, O kings; *
be prudent you judges of the earth.
11 Serve the Lord with fear,
and with trembling kiss his feet; *
Lest he be angry and you perish from the way,
for his wrath is quickly kindled.
12 Happy are all they * who take refuge in him!
PSALM 3
1 Lord, how many are my adversaries! *
Many there are that rise up against me!
2 Many there are who say of my soul, *
`There is no help for him in his God.'
3 But you, O Lord, are a shield about me; *
you are my glory, and the one who lifts up my head.
4 When I call with my voice to the Lord *
he will answer me from his holy hill;
5 When I lie down and sleep,*
I rise up again, for the Lord sustains me.
6 I will not be afraid of tens of thousands of the peoples *
that are set against me all around.
7 Rise up, O Lord and deliver me, O my God! *
O that you would strike all my enemies upon the cheek,
and break the teeth of the wicked!
8 Salvation belongs to the Lord: *
May your blessing be upon your people!
PSALM 4
1 Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness; *
you set me at liberty when I was hard-pressed;
have mercy on me and hear my prayer.
2 `How long will you people dishonour my glory; *
how long will you love vain things and seek after falsehood?'
3 But know that the Lord has chosen to himself the one that is faithful;*
When I call upon the Lord, he will hear me.
4 Stand in awe, and sin not;*
commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still.
5 Offer the sacrifices of righteousness*
and put your trust in the Lord.
6 There are many that say, `Who will show us any good?'*
Lord, lift up the light of your countenance upon us.
7 You will put gladness in my heart,*
more than when their corn and wine and oil increase.
8 I will lie down and sleep in peace;*
for it is you, Lord, only who make me dwell in safety.
PSALM 5
1 Give ear to my words, O Lord; *consider my lamentation.
2 Hearken to the voice of my crying, my King and my God, *
for to you I make my prayer. 3 In the morning, Lord,
you will hear my voice; *
early in the morning I make my appeal to you, and look up.
4 For you are the God who takes no pleasure in wickedness*
no evil can dwell with you.
5 The boastful cannot stand in your sight; *
you hate all those that work wickedness.
6 You destroy those who speak lies; *
the bloodthirsty and deceitful, O Lord, you abhor.
7 But as for me, through the greatness of your mercy,
I will come into your house; *
I will bow down towards your holy temple in awe of you.
8 Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness,
because of my enemies; *
make your way straight before my face.
9 For there is no truth in their mouth;
in their heart is destruction; *
their throat is an open sepulchre;
they flatter with their tongue.
10 Declare them guilty; O God; *
let them fall through their own machinations.
11 Because of their many transgressions cast them out*
for they have rebelled against you.
12 But let all who take refuge in you be glad; *
let them sing out their joy for ever.
13 You will shelter them, *
so that those who love your name may exult in you.
15 For you, O Lord, will bless the righteous; *
and with your favour you will defend them as with a shield.
The Liturgical Psalter © 1976, 1977, David L. Frost, John A. Emerton, Andrew A. Macintosh.info@aquilabooks.co.uk.
Monday, December 22, 2008
zen wisdom
What Zen Truly Is
Zen is a walk through the garden....an effortless practice of being here now. It is one of the most ancient practices to attaining enlightenment and reaching a higher level of consciousness. It is the most simple and effortless path to total liberation, that involves no-effort, no-thought, and literally no-mind.
A Zen mind is not a dull, bored mind...it is quite the opposite. It is so vigilantly focused in the NOW its sharper than a sharpest razors edge. It is a mind that is free from worry, and is present only to what experience, thought, and sensation that is happening in the now. It is a mind that is full of awe and wonder for this Universe as it sees the REAL world that is overflowing with simplicity, joy and a profound happiness.
A Zen life finds an inner balance within every situation and person. It is free from desires, yet still enjoys the experience of wanting something. The Zen being is truly the master of his/her existence, liberated from the mind and its perpetual grasping for something.
To the Zen Masters the pure mind is the eternal Buddha - nature. To attain enlightenment, to be aware of one's own Buddha - nature, we need to go beyond his ordinary thoughts. Only by becoming free from our own projections and ideas, we can be aware of the Buddha Reality which is all pervading.
" Confused by thoughts,
we experience duality in life.
Unencumbered by ideas,
the enlightened see the one Reality."
- Hui - Neng
The goal of Zen cannot adequately be described in words. Great Zen Masters often appear to be talking in riddles while guiding their students towards their Buddha nature - A consciouness that is all pervading though yet eluding our grasp.
" It is present everywhere.
There is nothing it does not contain.
However only those who have previously
planted wisdom - seeds will be able
to continuously see it."
- Dogen
Zen sutras are compact and terse in nature. For enlightenment cannot be attained by studying complex scriptures, indeed it comes through inner practise.
" I have not heard of a sinlge Buddha, past or present,
who has been enlightened by sacred prayers
and scriptures."
- Bassui
There is nothing lacking in you!
You are no different than a Buddha.
-Zen Master Tao-Hsin
Only by accepting that the ego is a fabricated
illusion do we walk the Buddha's way. - Dogen
Enlightenment is beyond concepts.
No one has ever attained it. -Ying-an
When everything is seen as One, we return to the Source
and stay where we have always been.. -Seng-t'san
Here it is - right now.
Start thinking about it and you miss it. -Huang-po
If you love the sacred and despise the ordinary,
you are still bobbing in the ocean of delusion - Linji
Zen is a walk through the garden....an effortless practice of being here now. It is one of the most ancient practices to attaining enlightenment and reaching a higher level of consciousness. It is the most simple and effortless path to total liberation, that involves no-effort, no-thought, and literally no-mind.
A Zen mind is not a dull, bored mind...it is quite the opposite. It is so vigilantly focused in the NOW its sharper than a sharpest razors edge. It is a mind that is free from worry, and is present only to what experience, thought, and sensation that is happening in the now. It is a mind that is full of awe and wonder for this Universe as it sees the REAL world that is overflowing with simplicity, joy and a profound happiness.
A Zen life finds an inner balance within every situation and person. It is free from desires, yet still enjoys the experience of wanting something. The Zen being is truly the master of his/her existence, liberated from the mind and its perpetual grasping for something.
To the Zen Masters the pure mind is the eternal Buddha - nature. To attain enlightenment, to be aware of one's own Buddha - nature, we need to go beyond his ordinary thoughts. Only by becoming free from our own projections and ideas, we can be aware of the Buddha Reality which is all pervading.
" Confused by thoughts,
we experience duality in life.
Unencumbered by ideas,
the enlightened see the one Reality."
- Hui - Neng
The goal of Zen cannot adequately be described in words. Great Zen Masters often appear to be talking in riddles while guiding their students towards their Buddha nature - A consciouness that is all pervading though yet eluding our grasp.
" It is present everywhere.
There is nothing it does not contain.
However only those who have previously
planted wisdom - seeds will be able
to continuously see it."
- Dogen
Zen sutras are compact and terse in nature. For enlightenment cannot be attained by studying complex scriptures, indeed it comes through inner practise.
" I have not heard of a sinlge Buddha, past or present,
who has been enlightened by sacred prayers
and scriptures."
- Bassui
There is nothing lacking in you!
You are no different than a Buddha.
-Zen Master Tao-Hsin
Only by accepting that the ego is a fabricated
illusion do we walk the Buddha's way. - Dogen
Enlightenment is beyond concepts.
No one has ever attained it. -Ying-an
When everything is seen as One, we return to the Source
and stay where we have always been.. -Seng-t'san
Here it is - right now.
Start thinking about it and you miss it. -Huang-po
If you love the sacred and despise the ordinary,
you are still bobbing in the ocean of delusion - Linji
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Lamp-post
He was a man with a lantern,
never scared of gloom,
he wore sun in his forehead
to conquer the world.
What remains
is a fragment or his dream,
no flicker of flame,
all under the debris buried.
He still wears the sun,
even thought turned into a post.
You see his ghost
holding the lantern.
never scared of gloom,
he wore sun in his forehead
to conquer the world.
What remains
is a fragment or his dream,
no flicker of flame,
all under the debris buried.
He still wears the sun,
even thought turned into a post.
You see his ghost
holding the lantern.
My turn
Shadows thicken fast,
something withers in my heart.
I feel a pungent smell,
someone calls with arms outstretched.
I see my shadow shrink
into a dark hole,
am I entering a street
where illusion and reality meet?
How to say goodbye
to my long-time host,
without him I too shall not be;
he has been my holy ghost.
Every night I hear the knell
and count the executions
of my companions.
Is it my turn, now?
something withers in my heart.
I feel a pungent smell,
someone calls with arms outstretched.
I see my shadow shrink
into a dark hole,
am I entering a street
where illusion and reality meet?
How to say goodbye
to my long-time host,
without him I too shall not be;
he has been my holy ghost.
Every night I hear the knell
and count the executions
of my companions.
Is it my turn, now?
Ideas
Ideas hypnotize,
cause explosion,
tear asunder the veil,
illumine the dark caverns.
Ideas let you escape
the ugly human condition ,
create a new world
of golden dreams.
Ideas are a magnet,
draw the splinters
to form a macrocosm.
Ideas revive the dead,
offer a glimpse of life beyond,
bestow the elixir of immortality.
Ideas turn hell into heaven,
light up a vision of paradise.
Ideas create and uncreate,
dematerialize and demystify,
the realm of magic and myth,
of legend and lore.
cause explosion,
tear asunder the veil,
illumine the dark caverns.
Ideas let you escape
the ugly human condition ,
create a new world
of golden dreams.
Ideas are a magnet,
draw the splinters
to form a macrocosm.
Ideas revive the dead,
offer a glimpse of life beyond,
bestow the elixir of immortality.
Ideas turn hell into heaven,
light up a vision of paradise.
Ideas create and uncreate,
dematerialize and demystify,
the realm of magic and myth,
of legend and lore.
Death-inspired
Wrapped in relativity,
your position you choose
to play the role.
What calculation,
what precaution,
what rules of the game
to preserve equilibrium !
Play the fool
to the king of time,
make excuses to abuse
the freedom.
Aren't prophets and popes,
gods and goddesses,
lore's and legends,
reasons and revelations,
all death-inspired ?
your position you choose
to play the role.
What calculation,
what precaution,
what rules of the game
to preserve equilibrium !
Play the fool
to the king of time,
make excuses to abuse
the freedom.
Aren't prophets and popes,
gods and goddesses,
lore's and legends,
reasons and revelations,
all death-inspired ?
Silhouetted
Sweeps of sky blue
on silver canvas I paint
with streaks of crimson
mellowed by sunset hues.
Swirling cloud elephants,
springing tigers and dolphins,
across sunlit space
with freak figures swinging.
Rainbow-ribboned sky,
reflected in perfumed crystalline waters,
overflows in pleited golden dome
inset with many a celestial scene.
Moonlit pastures, starlit lakes,
unending rose valleys,
long-forgotten spiked depths of hills,
cloud shadows on the skyline.
All rising at the end of a trial :
weedy clumps, saggy hillocks,
yellow plains dotted by beaks and wing-whirls
and interlocking clusters of trees,
silhouetted against the sky.
on silver canvas I paint
with streaks of crimson
mellowed by sunset hues.
Swirling cloud elephants,
springing tigers and dolphins,
across sunlit space
with freak figures swinging.
Rainbow-ribboned sky,
reflected in perfumed crystalline waters,
overflows in pleited golden dome
inset with many a celestial scene.
Moonlit pastures, starlit lakes,
unending rose valleys,
long-forgotten spiked depths of hills,
cloud shadows on the skyline.
All rising at the end of a trial :
weedy clumps, saggy hillocks,
yellow plains dotted by beaks and wing-whirls
and interlocking clusters of trees,
silhouetted against the sky.
Friday, December 12, 2008
WHAT IS ZEN
Zen is the mystical branch of Mahayana Buddhism. Zen is a highly individualistic religious discipline.
Zen done in a group is not Zen at all. True Zen is done alone. Zen is a sanskrit word which means meditation. The sanskrit D-H-Y-A-N pronounced as duh yen first becomes dh-yen,Jen and then Zen.
When our mind truly abides in or meditates upon something we're practicing Zen. Meditation is not mere pondering a subject, musing or mulling it over. Meditation involves orderly discipline that leads us into total absorption.
Entering the Nirvanic realms or the state of samadhi, or experiencing incomparable bliss of that state, is the goal of any spiritual practice. Prayer and meditation are personal and private. As Jesus says, "But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly."
In meditation You undergo total transformation and You radiate joyous effulgence.
Zen meditation technique called mind-blanking is an advanced technique and should be attempted only by someone who has already experienced Samadhi and a few other exalted states of consciousness. Yet people are prompted to practice it since the instructions are so simple that everyone feels competent to try them. All what is required of you is that you sit down and stop thinking. Every time a thought arises in your mind you erase it, the object being to attain a thought-free mind. Each thought arising in mind is but a speck of dirt that soils the mind and so you are duty bound to polish it off immediately.
But this continuous friction in trying to making your mind blank by thinking about nothing can have serious consequences. For the normal person can't remain thought-free for more than a few seconds at best and soon reverts to mentations. Responding to peer pressure and religious fervor may drive one to surrender to mass-hysteria and mass-hypnosis.
Any quietism he comes to experience is just a stuporous blandness, a wretched, numb and passive state which is far from reasoned equanimity. Certainly it is not tranquility but a bout of mere vegetative dullness.
What is necessary in Zen is a realization that life can be brutish and cruel and for this none but we ourselves are largely responsible as also for all the mess we find ourselves in. Until we practice passionate ratiocination we shall not understand our predicament. Escaping from life is hardly an answer nor mechanical attempts to obliterate our minds by cushioning ourselves and closing our eyes to the sorry state of affairs around us.
Zen Quotations
Close your eyes and you will see clearly.
Cease to listen and you will hear truth.
Be silent and your heart will sing.
Seek no contacts and you will find union.
Be still and you will move forward on the tide of the spirit.
Be gentle and you will need no strength.
Be patient and you will achieve all things.
Be humble and you will remain entire.
Taoist meditation
Ye suffer from yourselves.
None else compels.
None other holds you that ye live and die,
And whirl upon the wheel,
And hug and kiss.
It's spokes of agony,
It's tire of tears,
It's nave of nothingness.
Buddha Gautama (born 563 B.C.)
Neither is there Bodhi-tree,
Nor yet a mirror bright;
Since in reality all is void,
Whereon can the dust fall? Under the sword lifted high,
There is hell making you tremble;
But go ahead,
And you have the land of bliss.
Miyamoto Musashi
(Trans. Suzuki)
When they curiously question thee, seeking to know what It is,
Do not affirm anything, and do not deny anything.
For whatsoever is affirmed is not true,
And whatsoever is denied is not true.
How shall anyone say truly what That may be
While he has not himself fully won to What Is?
And, after he has won, what word is to be sent from a Region
Where the chariot of speech finds no track on which to go?
Therefore, to their questionings offer them silence only,
Silence — and a finger pointing the Way.
Buddhist verse
(Alan Watts, "The Spirit of Zen", 1958)
Hui Neng (638-713)
(Alan Watts, "The Spirit of Zen", 1958)
Zen done in a group is not Zen at all. True Zen is done alone. Zen is a sanskrit word which means meditation. The sanskrit D-H-Y-A-N pronounced as duh yen first becomes dh-yen,Jen and then Zen.
When our mind truly abides in or meditates upon something we're practicing Zen. Meditation is not mere pondering a subject, musing or mulling it over. Meditation involves orderly discipline that leads us into total absorption.
Entering the Nirvanic realms or the state of samadhi, or experiencing incomparable bliss of that state, is the goal of any spiritual practice. Prayer and meditation are personal and private. As Jesus says, "But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly."
In meditation You undergo total transformation and You radiate joyous effulgence.
Zen meditation technique called mind-blanking is an advanced technique and should be attempted only by someone who has already experienced Samadhi and a few other exalted states of consciousness. Yet people are prompted to practice it since the instructions are so simple that everyone feels competent to try them. All what is required of you is that you sit down and stop thinking. Every time a thought arises in your mind you erase it, the object being to attain a thought-free mind. Each thought arising in mind is but a speck of dirt that soils the mind and so you are duty bound to polish it off immediately.
But this continuous friction in trying to making your mind blank by thinking about nothing can have serious consequences. For the normal person can't remain thought-free for more than a few seconds at best and soon reverts to mentations. Responding to peer pressure and religious fervor may drive one to surrender to mass-hysteria and mass-hypnosis.
Any quietism he comes to experience is just a stuporous blandness, a wretched, numb and passive state which is far from reasoned equanimity. Certainly it is not tranquility but a bout of mere vegetative dullness.
What is necessary in Zen is a realization that life can be brutish and cruel and for this none but we ourselves are largely responsible as also for all the mess we find ourselves in. Until we practice passionate ratiocination we shall not understand our predicament. Escaping from life is hardly an answer nor mechanical attempts to obliterate our minds by cushioning ourselves and closing our eyes to the sorry state of affairs around us.
Zen Quotations
Close your eyes and you will see clearly.
Cease to listen and you will hear truth.
Be silent and your heart will sing.
Seek no contacts and you will find union.
Be still and you will move forward on the tide of the spirit.
Be gentle and you will need no strength.
Be patient and you will achieve all things.
Be humble and you will remain entire.
Taoist meditation
Ye suffer from yourselves.
None else compels.
None other holds you that ye live and die,
And whirl upon the wheel,
And hug and kiss.
It's spokes of agony,
It's tire of tears,
It's nave of nothingness.
Buddha Gautama (born 563 B.C.)
Neither is there Bodhi-tree,
Nor yet a mirror bright;
Since in reality all is void,
Whereon can the dust fall? Under the sword lifted high,
There is hell making you tremble;
But go ahead,
And you have the land of bliss.
Miyamoto Musashi
(Trans. Suzuki)
When they curiously question thee, seeking to know what It is,
Do not affirm anything, and do not deny anything.
For whatsoever is affirmed is not true,
And whatsoever is denied is not true.
How shall anyone say truly what That may be
While he has not himself fully won to What Is?
And, after he has won, what word is to be sent from a Region
Where the chariot of speech finds no track on which to go?
Therefore, to their questionings offer them silence only,
Silence — and a finger pointing the Way.
Buddhist verse
(Alan Watts, "The Spirit of Zen", 1958)
Hui Neng (638-713)
(Alan Watts, "The Spirit of Zen", 1958)
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Haiku
A contrite heart,
no less sacred than Kaaba,
no less than manas lake.
From its arctic home
a choir is coming,
time for the spring ball.
Swallows at my door,
a choir,
the ambrosial hour.
The lotus
within my crown,
a million moons.
What beauty
in spangled silence
moon-lit.
no less sacred than Kaaba,
no less than manas lake.
From its arctic home
a choir is coming,
time for the spring ball.
Swallows at my door,
a choir,
the ambrosial hour.
The lotus
within my crown,
a million moons.
What beauty
in spangled silence
moon-lit.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
PROLOGUE TO DATTATREYA GITA
The Supreme Purusha
the witness, the approver, the worker,
the enjoyer, the Lord, the Purushottama,
the One with myriad attributes.
The knowledge immortal
all-pervading like space infinite,
Ultimate-Truth without a change,
Supreme Light forever free.
Thou deviseth the celestial ladder,
its seven rungs
for seeker’s ascension
to realm of abiding bliss.
Avadhuta-Gita is the hymn of the hermit,
the enlightened self-less recluse
who having broken all chains
at the acme of self-realization, reveals.
Beyond the wheel of Sansara,
beyond the cycle of birth and death
in bliss eternal ensconced
Avadhuta sings of Self-existent light.
With a body dust smeared,
but a mind freed from dross;
and rooting in regions requiring no checks,
enlightened Avadhuta will slumber no more.
Sated with throbbing of One without a second
least allured by cravings carnal
or desire-fulfilling duties
the Avadhuta wears the crown eternal.
Having trodden the paths of worldly glory,
Having risen above them unenticed,
Avadhuta stands above the thought of worldly gain,
up, above all aspirations for heavenly boons.
His message is plain and simple
meant for ordinary man
distracted by gnawing doubts
that pertain the nature of existence.
Whether the reality is one,
within an easy reach of everyone,
whether self-realization is the beginning or the end
in the seeker's path?
Knowledge of truth within you dawns
When your whole being is drowned
In ecstasy’s ocean,
When fruit has mellowed and is willing to fall.
PROLOGUE TO JAPUJI SAHIB
The revealed Word is Japu Ji
charting Ascent Divine,
Guru’s elixir of Grace,
ambrosia for human race.
Inspired word it is
from the One Formless Supreme,
blazing way to the Eternal Truth,
the Abode where He dwells.
A chosen prayer is Japu Ji,
to be recited at an early morn
when everyone is attuned
to the Divine Harmony.
Ultimate Revelation it is
of Nirgun Nirankar Par Brahm,
Mystic Ladder to Truth’s Realm,
The pathway to Home of Om.
Japu Ji enshrines Essence Sublime,
Visible Form of Light Divine
from the Home of Eternal Calm,
Nad Brahm beyond name and form.
It’s the True Arc of Grace,
the Beacon Star for human race,
the Sole Saviour That never fails
in the darkest hour of the soul.
Of its Thirty Eight Steps of Eternal Light
each step guides the soul’s flight ,
spurred by yearning and devotion
the soul ascends to Lord’s Mansion.
Mool Mantra has the Seed
of Truth’s Revelation,
Light- Bliss-Consciousness,
the Garland of God’s Attributes.
Mool Mantra is a vibrant string,
each word or phrase a swirling sling,
Nad-Shabad vibrating Order Supreme
within the Earth, Heaven and Space in-between.
Standing at the head of Jap
Eternal Truth crowns the top,
recited it is at initiation time,
on each auspicious time.
None but He is Absolute True,
Eternal, Source of Light
In every form Imageless,
Self-Existing , self-Effulgent too.
No sage, no scripture can His glory fathom,
Author is He of grand illusion,
Far above Wheel of Time
far above Timeless Chime.
To awake He shakes a soul
but reveals not His face.
Inscrutable mystique is Divine Grace,
Himself knowing how fetters break.
Path to Divine Grace is arduous long,
but if He Willeth, it becomes a song,
the fruit of everything is in Divine Hand,
upto Him, who shall perish, or who shall land.
Guru’s Word is His Visible Form,
Its meaning dawns through His Naam,
Way to God realization is Word,
that unveils all illusions.
If you seek the Guru’s Sight
bow before the Book for Light,
dwell on its Text with pious heart
and commune with Guru’s Thought.
“The Word is the Guru’ and you the disciple
hearing best”, so say the text.
As the Word is revealed,
World’s wounds are healed.
Seeker soars on sound-light wings
to Heaven-of-Truth’s eternal spring,
Unstruck Melody guides his flight
blazed by Word, informed by Light.
Naam is the Ultimate Reality,
Naam is the Highest Truth,
Naam is the Almighty,
Naam is the Formless First.
Freed from world–wheel of shame,
steeped in Harmony of Holy Name,
the spirit soars to its Original Home
where God abides as Formless Om.
Shabad pervades Lord’s creation infinite,
Shabad monitors manifestation of Light,
through Shabad universe comes into being,
through Shabad it would vanish.
Shabad is vesture that Creator wears,
the Mystic Sound is what seeker hears,
Shabad is Light of Truth That unveils
the Meaning of Meaning Eternal.
While Communing with Word Divine
Your other channels lose,
and you return to the origin
from where the journey was begun.
Man’s destiny is cast not in erratic fashion,
inexorable is law of Karmic retribution,
Karma is seed we sow for the preferred harvest to reap,
all choice is ours, of bed of roses or of thorns to sleep.
To law of Karma every one is bound,
no one is immune from worldly rounds ,
each one reaps what he sows,
and to hell or heaven he goes.
In Guru’s Law of Karma is the solid base,
devotion being prelude to Divine Grace,
if Karma is highway for a pilgrim to ply
Grace is skyway for His soul to fly.
Though law of karma inexorably operates
Divine Grace, still remains great,
predestination or free will, what is true state?
why are some liberated ,others on Wheel gyrate?
No one can translate or transcreate
the Word which is Immaculate,
its rhythm intricate, its poetry sublime,
no one can recreate its mystique divine.
charting Ascent Divine,
Guru’s elixir of Grace,
ambrosia for human race.
Inspired word it is
from the One Formless Supreme,
blazing way to the Eternal Truth,
the Abode where He dwells.
A chosen prayer is Japu Ji,
to be recited at an early morn
when everyone is attuned
to the Divine Harmony.
Ultimate Revelation it is
of Nirgun Nirankar Par Brahm,
Mystic Ladder to Truth’s Realm,
The pathway to Home of Om.
Japu Ji enshrines Essence Sublime,
Visible Form of Light Divine
from the Home of Eternal Calm,
Nad Brahm beyond name and form.
It’s the True Arc of Grace,
the Beacon Star for human race,
the Sole Saviour That never fails
in the darkest hour of the soul.
Of its Thirty Eight Steps of Eternal Light
each step guides the soul’s flight ,
spurred by yearning and devotion
the soul ascends to Lord’s Mansion.
Mool Mantra has the Seed
of Truth’s Revelation,
Light- Bliss-Consciousness,
the Garland of God’s Attributes.
Mool Mantra is a vibrant string,
each word or phrase a swirling sling,
Nad-Shabad vibrating Order Supreme
within the Earth, Heaven and Space in-between.
Standing at the head of Jap
Eternal Truth crowns the top,
recited it is at initiation time,
on each auspicious time.
None but He is Absolute True,
Eternal, Source of Light
In every form Imageless,
Self-Existing , self-Effulgent too.
No sage, no scripture can His glory fathom,
Author is He of grand illusion,
Far above Wheel of Time
far above Timeless Chime.
To awake He shakes a soul
but reveals not His face.
Inscrutable mystique is Divine Grace,
Himself knowing how fetters break.
Path to Divine Grace is arduous long,
but if He Willeth, it becomes a song,
the fruit of everything is in Divine Hand,
upto Him, who shall perish, or who shall land.
Guru’s Word is His Visible Form,
Its meaning dawns through His Naam,
Way to God realization is Word,
that unveils all illusions.
If you seek the Guru’s Sight
bow before the Book for Light,
dwell on its Text with pious heart
and commune with Guru’s Thought.
“The Word is the Guru’ and you the disciple
hearing best”, so say the text.
As the Word is revealed,
World’s wounds are healed.
Seeker soars on sound-light wings
to Heaven-of-Truth’s eternal spring,
Unstruck Melody guides his flight
blazed by Word, informed by Light.
Naam is the Ultimate Reality,
Naam is the Highest Truth,
Naam is the Almighty,
Naam is the Formless First.
Freed from world–wheel of shame,
steeped in Harmony of Holy Name,
the spirit soars to its Original Home
where God abides as Formless Om.
Shabad pervades Lord’s creation infinite,
Shabad monitors manifestation of Light,
through Shabad universe comes into being,
through Shabad it would vanish.
Shabad is vesture that Creator wears,
the Mystic Sound is what seeker hears,
Shabad is Light of Truth That unveils
the Meaning of Meaning Eternal.
While Communing with Word Divine
Your other channels lose,
and you return to the origin
from where the journey was begun.
Man’s destiny is cast not in erratic fashion,
inexorable is law of Karmic retribution,
Karma is seed we sow for the preferred harvest to reap,
all choice is ours, of bed of roses or of thorns to sleep.
To law of Karma every one is bound,
no one is immune from worldly rounds ,
each one reaps what he sows,
and to hell or heaven he goes.
In Guru’s Law of Karma is the solid base,
devotion being prelude to Divine Grace,
if Karma is highway for a pilgrim to ply
Grace is skyway for His soul to fly.
Though law of karma inexorably operates
Divine Grace, still remains great,
predestination or free will, what is true state?
why are some liberated ,others on Wheel gyrate?
No one can translate or transcreate
the Word which is Immaculate,
its rhythm intricate, its poetry sublime,
no one can recreate its mystique divine.
PROLOGUE TO ASHTAVAKRA GITA
A unique song of the self,
born of the deeps of contemplation
verbalizing the mystical experience of the adept
who has gone over the way of the supreme transcendence
in bliss everlasting and perfect equipoise of being to abide.
It sings of the ultimate reality
being the Supreme self as seen by the in seeing eye,
expresses spontaneously the ebullition of delight
on seeing it as the unending ocean of light.
A work of dialogic imagination
like the dialogues, of the Tao, the king,
the Bhagwat Gita and Plato, this song
of Ashtavakra records the universal vision,
emanating from insight and revelation.
Ashtavakra presents the supreme realization
in respect of the cosmic self
in the form of dialogues with Janaka,
the scholar king of Videha.
Ashtavakra is that eight-curved bodied sage
so glowingly celebrated in the Mahabharata.
Janaka, his disciple here, is the king seer of Videha
whose daughter was Rama’s loved wife,
who stimulates a metaphysical debate
with Ashtavakra, the highest of the sage teachers.
Ashtavakra Gita is the song celestial
it is all about the quest and the vision of the Self, boundless as space
in comparison to which the phenomenal world is like a water pot,
it instructs the king seer in the truth of the Supreme Self.
Ashtavakra sees the Self as all-pervasive
subtle, formless, undecaying, undying
that great unborn immortal fearless Brahman
boundless and stainless as the sky.
The Ashtavakra Gita provides the goal of a truly liberated man,
be he a king or a beggar,
in his unattachment and dispassion he shines,
a Jivanmukta, the liberated in life.
born of the deeps of contemplation
verbalizing the mystical experience of the adept
who has gone over the way of the supreme transcendence
in bliss everlasting and perfect equipoise of being to abide.
It sings of the ultimate reality
being the Supreme self as seen by the in seeing eye,
expresses spontaneously the ebullition of delight
on seeing it as the unending ocean of light.
A work of dialogic imagination
like the dialogues, of the Tao, the king,
the Bhagwat Gita and Plato, this song
of Ashtavakra records the universal vision,
emanating from insight and revelation.
Ashtavakra presents the supreme realization
in respect of the cosmic self
in the form of dialogues with Janaka,
the scholar king of Videha.
Ashtavakra is that eight-curved bodied sage
so glowingly celebrated in the Mahabharata.
Janaka, his disciple here, is the king seer of Videha
whose daughter was Rama’s loved wife,
who stimulates a metaphysical debate
with Ashtavakra, the highest of the sage teachers.
Ashtavakra Gita is the song celestial
it is all about the quest and the vision of the Self, boundless as space
in comparison to which the phenomenal world is like a water pot,
it instructs the king seer in the truth of the Supreme Self.
Ashtavakra sees the Self as all-pervasive
subtle, formless, undecaying, undying
that great unborn immortal fearless Brahman
boundless and stainless as the sky.
The Ashtavakra Gita provides the goal of a truly liberated man,
be he a king or a beggar,
in his unattachment and dispassion he shines,
a Jivanmukta, the liberated in life.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
OM
Om, the first emanation,
Om, the object of all meditation,
Om, the tongue of every revelation,
Om, the truth beyond contemplation.
Om, the mystic flame
pervading the whole creation,
every word and chant,
the resonance that forever haunts.
Om, the celestial eyed,
the all-creating Spirit,
the ear of every psalm
the eye of every vision.
In every swell heave Om,
in every sound hear Om,
in every speck see Om
in every breath breathe Om,
Om, the fire,
Om, the fuel,
Om, the flesh,
Om, the cross.
Om, the wick, Om the oil, Om the light,
Om, the soul of everything bright,
Om, the yearning of the ocean-tide,
Om, the love-longing of the bride.
Om, the night of nihil,
Om, the dawn eternal,
Om, the deathless flame,
Om, the all-redeeming pain.
Om, the golden egg of origin,
Om, the dream of creation,
Om, the dance of dissolution,
Om, the beginning, Om the termination.
Om, the root, Om, the fruit,
Om, the seed and sprout,
Om, the all-creating Light,
Om, the morning star of night.
Om, the lonely tread of the lone,
Om, the pilgrim of the unknown,
Om, the triumphal march of time,
Om, the Song of Song sublime.
Om, the Truth of Truth for ye all to know
beyond suffering, beyond every human woe,
Om, whence come all beings and things,
Om, where do they go borne on the swing.
Om, the formless first,
Om, the causeless cause,
Om, the wordless word
whence have flowed the entire.
Om, the object of all meditation,
Om, the tongue of every revelation,
Om, the truth beyond contemplation.
Om, the mystic flame
pervading the whole creation,
every word and chant,
the resonance that forever haunts.
Om, the celestial eyed,
the all-creating Spirit,
the ear of every psalm
the eye of every vision.
In every swell heave Om,
in every sound hear Om,
in every speck see Om
in every breath breathe Om,
Om, the fire,
Om, the fuel,
Om, the flesh,
Om, the cross.
Om, the wick, Om the oil, Om the light,
Om, the soul of everything bright,
Om, the yearning of the ocean-tide,
Om, the love-longing of the bride.
Om, the night of nihil,
Om, the dawn eternal,
Om, the deathless flame,
Om, the all-redeeming pain.
Om, the golden egg of origin,
Om, the dream of creation,
Om, the dance of dissolution,
Om, the beginning, Om the termination.
Om, the root, Om, the fruit,
Om, the seed and sprout,
Om, the all-creating Light,
Om, the morning star of night.
Om, the lonely tread of the lone,
Om, the pilgrim of the unknown,
Om, the triumphal march of time,
Om, the Song of Song sublime.
Om, the Truth of Truth for ye all to know
beyond suffering, beyond every human woe,
Om, whence come all beings and things,
Om, where do they go borne on the swing.
Om, the formless first,
Om, the causeless cause,
Om, the wordless word
whence have flowed the entire.
I SHALL COME AGAIN
Reverberating the galaxied resonance
of serenading heavens--
countless earths, star systems and suns,
in gloried splendor I forever dwell.
Freed from tearing travails
my soul takes wings
and soars to celestial heights
where silence rings and sings.
None there to disturb my sleep,
enchanting the silence deep,
reflecting on what liberates
I raise a stair to the ultimate.
A whisper from infinite:
"I shall come again
to hew a heaven on earth
dear me! keep aloft your spirit
let it be not put out."
"I am not alone
many others before me
in different tongues have sung
of family of one earth.
My mission,
to sow seeds of this timeless truth
on the earth entire
to awaken the new dawn of spring.
of serenading heavens--
countless earths, star systems and suns,
in gloried splendor I forever dwell.
Freed from tearing travails
my soul takes wings
and soars to celestial heights
where silence rings and sings.
None there to disturb my sleep,
enchanting the silence deep,
reflecting on what liberates
I raise a stair to the ultimate.
A whisper from infinite:
"I shall come again
to hew a heaven on earth
dear me! keep aloft your spirit
let it be not put out."
"I am not alone
many others before me
in different tongues have sung
of family of one earth.
My mission,
to sow seeds of this timeless truth
on the earth entire
to awaken the new dawn of spring.
I AM LIGHT
Racing heavens ever attuned,
heart-throb of galactic glens
where lord-borne cattles go grazing,
I am the wombing void.
In my musical scale many a near and distant sun,
in benighted chaos
orchestrate the musical band
on eternity's symphonic scale.
My live orchestra is hidden
in dense forests of stars
in frenzied flight of flaming skies
in giddied motion of whirling galaxies.
I am fire of life in ashen gloom,
the symphonic song of spheres,
the aching mystery of black holes,
the timeless void of creativity.
heart-throb of galactic glens
where lord-borne cattles go grazing,
I am the wombing void.
In my musical scale many a near and distant sun,
in benighted chaos
orchestrate the musical band
on eternity's symphonic scale.
My live orchestra is hidden
in dense forests of stars
in frenzied flight of flaming skies
in giddied motion of whirling galaxies.
I am fire of life in ashen gloom,
the symphonic song of spheres,
the aching mystery of black holes,
the timeless void of creativity.
I AM SELF
Deathless is my spirit
by no fire singed,
no water wetted,
no wind dried,
no weapon slain.
I am Self
all-pervading,
knowing all,
seeing all,
beyond words,
unfathomable, unbounded, forever free.
by no fire singed,
no water wetted,
no wind dried,
no weapon slain.
I am Self
all-pervading,
knowing all,
seeing all,
beyond words,
unfathomable, unbounded, forever free.
BUDDHA -CHRIST
All revelations
flow from world's travails,
all crescents and crosses.
Lotussed cross,
the key to life divine,
the arc of grace.
Buddha-Christ,
the heroic bringers of light
from the tyranny of soul-killing might.
Truth on cross hanging,
Yet the felicity of it you will know
through crucifixion and resurrection.
flow from world's travails,
all crescents and crosses.
Lotussed cross,
the key to life divine,
the arc of grace.
Buddha-Christ,
the heroic bringers of light
from the tyranny of soul-killing might.
Truth on cross hanging,
Yet the felicity of it you will know
through crucifixion and resurrection.
SELF'S LIGHT
When all lights go off
the Self's light is awake,
when utter darkness prevails,
the lamp of self never fails.
Amidst lightning flash
wheel of fire whirling,
in golden letters effulging
the divine commandments.
The rule of right,
the kingdom of truth,
the dawn of peace shall come
when everyone joins the ministry of love.
the Self's light is awake,
when utter darkness prevails,
the lamp of self never fails.
Amidst lightning flash
wheel of fire whirling,
in golden letters effulging
the divine commandments.
The rule of right,
the kingdom of truth,
the dawn of peace shall come
when everyone joins the ministry of love.
THE ULTIMATE REVELATION
A lotus grown in muddy lake,
Truth's self forever awake
on whose whisper doors are flung open,
I am the ultimate revelation.
I unfold the creator's perfect plan
inscribed in the heart of every man,
hourly relayed on the film of time
by the scale of spherical chime.
No mystery, no truth beyond my eyes,
no mystic realm, no glen of paradise,
the nodal point of starry systems,
the compass of heavenly revolutions.
I keep a count of every mishap,
deviant orbits, discordant taps,
a lone meteor's fall
chance straying of a star.
My vision encompasses
worlds of humans and gods,
my saga the epic stuff of bards.
of laurels won and kingdoms lost.
Truth's self forever awake
on whose whisper doors are flung open,
I am the ultimate revelation.
I unfold the creator's perfect plan
inscribed in the heart of every man,
hourly relayed on the film of time
by the scale of spherical chime.
No mystery, no truth beyond my eyes,
no mystic realm, no glen of paradise,
the nodal point of starry systems,
the compass of heavenly revolutions.
I keep a count of every mishap,
deviant orbits, discordant taps,
a lone meteor's fall
chance straying of a star.
My vision encompasses
worlds of humans and gods,
my saga the epic stuff of bards.
of laurels won and kingdoms lost.
THE PERFECT ARCHITECT
I shape the dome of the sky,
the invisible pillared diadems,
fix in space the eternal points of light.
Introduce motion in all what I make:
gases, minerals, elements,
skies and spheres in space.
I design and create every form and thing:
the multitudinous worlds,
the interstellar spaces and cosmic seas.
I set swirling lights in galaxied darkness,
launch lucent ships of many a resonance
in boundless ocean of space-time.
Roar and thunder in tempestuous tides,
cause cataclysmic upheavals in cosmic seas,
inhere in dark void as the HIranyagarbha.
the invisible pillared diadems,
fix in space the eternal points of light.
Introduce motion in all what I make:
gases, minerals, elements,
skies and spheres in space.
I design and create every form and thing:
the multitudinous worlds,
the interstellar spaces and cosmic seas.
I set swirling lights in galaxied darkness,
launch lucent ships of many a resonance
in boundless ocean of space-time.
Roar and thunder in tempestuous tides,
cause cataclysmic upheavals in cosmic seas,
inhere in dark void as the HIranyagarbha.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
COSMIC RESONANCE
Even if there be one who lives
the bliss of consummation,
transforms everyone into a beacon
in the world's oceanic darkness.
Silence laps all nature,
in supernal splendor,
all crannies it interfuses
with bliss of oneness.
On life's sounding board
all discords
blend into harmony
of cosmic resonance.
the bliss of consummation,
transforms everyone into a beacon
in the world's oceanic darkness.
Silence laps all nature,
in supernal splendor,
all crannies it interfuses
with bliss of oneness.
On life's sounding board
all discords
blend into harmony
of cosmic resonance.
MYSELF TO MYSELF
MYSELF TO MYSELF
Only One remains
throughout the enoic time
weaving on His desire loom
new creations in succession.
The maker of the plot
himself knows the hidden suspense,
its cloak-dagger intrusions,
the ensnaring stratagems.
He, the puppeteer pulls puppets' string,
knows when to launch which one,
how long to make it strut on the stage,
at what moment to clamp the curtain.
The magic shadow-show has been on
since the beginning of time,
this play of hide and seek,
no chance it will ever cease.
Who is searching whom
when there is no second,
yet such zest in the quest!
myself to my Self!
Only One remains
throughout the enoic time
weaving on His desire loom
new creations in succession.
The maker of the plot
himself knows the hidden suspense,
its cloak-dagger intrusions,
the ensnaring stratagems.
He, the puppeteer pulls puppets' string,
knows when to launch which one,
how long to make it strut on the stage,
at what moment to clamp the curtain.
The magic shadow-show has been on
since the beginning of time,
this play of hide and seek,
no chance it will ever cease.
Who is searching whom
when there is no second,
yet such zest in the quest!
myself to my Self!
GAYATRI, MANTRA OF MANTRA
GAYATRI, MANTRA OF MANTRA
Om, what precedes everything under the sun,
what sustains varied orders of creation,
what guides us to Truth's sacred seat.
Om, the origin of all speech,
the first emanation of Brahm
that shall last till the end of time.
Om, enshrines the three powers of the Great Being,
creation, preservation and dissolution,
the beginning, the middle and the end of all that is.
Om, the ultimate power supreme,
manifests in myriad orders sublime
space, time, forms, kinds and colours.
Om, the origin of origin, whence all mantra begin
spanning the three periods of manvantra
and the three powers of the God-Self who alone is.
Om Bhur, Bhuvah, Swaha, the power of the Sun,
the order of Truth permeating the three worlds
as Light of Universal Intelligence in all beings.
Gayatri is all-creating intelligence,
the dawn of Self's illumination
irradiated by the true sun.
Gayatri is Brahma, Gayatri is Vishnu,
Gayatri is Shiva, Gayatri is Surya,
Gayatri is Vedas, Gayatri is deities all.
The five-faced one, seated on the lotus throne,
wears crown on each of her five heads,
Her hallowed hand lifted to bless all beings.
The four heads of the Mother are the four Vedas
the fifth one is the Lord Supreme Himself
Vishnu's loved symbols adorn her ten hands.
Nine gems of purest ray serene adorn her crown
emiting lustre of light divine
guiding the aspirant to Her golden throne.
Gayatri scans the cosmos with her ten eyes
of them the sky and the earth keep a track
of universes on the run in spangled heaven.
Gayatri is Mantra of Mantra, a prayer to Savitur
pervading every speck and sphere
permeating our whole being with pure intelligence.
Constant repetition of Gayatri Chant
Builds a stairway to heaven
Opening the door of liberation.
This all-surpassing Mantra, the essence of all Revelation
revealed to sage Vishwamitra in Gayatri Chhand
twenty four syllable vedic metre with a triplet each of eight syllables,
Gayatri burns away all our karmic remains
to let us see the radiant Self in all beings,
the Truth's realization like a windless flame.
Gayatri is the crown of all mantric chants,
the invocation to Cosmic Intelligence,
the bestower of Bliss, Knowledge and Intuition.
Gayatri is the dawn effulging after midnight,
the soulful chant to the God of Light
unfolds beauty and order in existence.
Om, what precedes everything under the sun,
what sustains varied orders of creation,
what guides us to Truth's sacred seat.
Om, the origin of all speech,
the first emanation of Brahm
that shall last till the end of time.
Om, enshrines the three powers of the Great Being,
creation, preservation and dissolution,
the beginning, the middle and the end of all that is.
Om, the ultimate power supreme,
manifests in myriad orders sublime
space, time, forms, kinds and colours.
Om, the origin of origin, whence all mantra begin
spanning the three periods of manvantra
and the three powers of the God-Self who alone is.
Om Bhur, Bhuvah, Swaha, the power of the Sun,
the order of Truth permeating the three worlds
as Light of Universal Intelligence in all beings.
Gayatri is all-creating intelligence,
the dawn of Self's illumination
irradiated by the true sun.
Gayatri is Brahma, Gayatri is Vishnu,
Gayatri is Shiva, Gayatri is Surya,
Gayatri is Vedas, Gayatri is deities all.
The five-faced one, seated on the lotus throne,
wears crown on each of her five heads,
Her hallowed hand lifted to bless all beings.
The four heads of the Mother are the four Vedas
the fifth one is the Lord Supreme Himself
Vishnu's loved symbols adorn her ten hands.
Nine gems of purest ray serene adorn her crown
emiting lustre of light divine
guiding the aspirant to Her golden throne.
Gayatri scans the cosmos with her ten eyes
of them the sky and the earth keep a track
of universes on the run in spangled heaven.
Gayatri is Mantra of Mantra, a prayer to Savitur
pervading every speck and sphere
permeating our whole being with pure intelligence.
Constant repetition of Gayatri Chant
Builds a stairway to heaven
Opening the door of liberation.
This all-surpassing Mantra, the essence of all Revelation
revealed to sage Vishwamitra in Gayatri Chhand
twenty four syllable vedic metre with a triplet each of eight syllables,
Gayatri burns away all our karmic remains
to let us see the radiant Self in all beings,
the Truth's realization like a windless flame.
Gayatri is the crown of all mantric chants,
the invocation to Cosmic Intelligence,
the bestower of Bliss, Knowledge and Intuition.
Gayatri is the dawn effulging after midnight,
the soulful chant to the God of Light
unfolds beauty and order in existence.
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