In Yoke

The wise attain eternity when,  freed from pride and delusion they have conquered their love for the things of sense, when, renouncing desire and fixing their gaze on the Self,  they have ceased to be tossed to and fro by the opposing sensations,  ...like pleasure, and pain. Bhagavad Gita 15:5 Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way. If you don’t know what you’re doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You’ll get his help, and won’t be condescended to when you ask for it. Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. People who “worry their prayers” are like wind-whipped waves. Don’t think you’re going to get anything from the Master that way, adrift at sea, keeping ...

...the self controlled soul, who moves among sense objects free from either attachment or repulsion, wins eternal peace. Having attained peace, it becomes free from misery, for when the mind gains peace, right discrimination follows. Right discrimination is not for one who cannot concentrate. Without concentration, there cannot be meditation. one who cannot meditate must not expect peace, and without peace, how can anyone expect happiness? Bhagavad Gita 2:64-66 didn't learn this in Sunday School...

ar·ro·gance , noun --an insulting way of thinking or behaving that comes from believing that you are better, smarter, or more important than other people If there is one passage of ancient scripture that rings true throughout the ages it is the word of the wise King, Solomon--found in Proverbs 3:34:- "He (YWVH) has no use for conceited people, but shows favor to those who are humble." The brother of Jesus, "old camel knees"-James quotes it: James 4:6 - "But the grace that God gives is even stronger. As the scripture says, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” As does the first pope, Peter, in I Peter 5:5: "Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resists the proud, and gives grace to the humble." Humility is a quality upon which the favor of the Creator rests.

This diagram illustrates a vision I have had of the way psychic energy is aligned in our universe. To the right of the spectrum, "the gamma"--represents the eternal "light"--of "G-d, creation"  In this blinding unapproachable light, the universe is made manifest by its powerful psychic energy's emanation and transmission.  The psychic power to think, "Let there be Light" and light to manifest ---indeed,  that is some serious psychic power. For humans to create, even in our limited capacity, is a manifestation of the psychic power of G-d. This is one aspect of how we are created in His Image.( I use the term "his" due to the scriptural references from Christ...this is for the lack of a better pronoun. I could use the term "her", interchangeably.)  Our capacity to expand our psychic energies and to create is a Godlike quality. It is a manifestation of the quality of life we call "hope". For me, creati...

"You shall be holy, for I, YHVH, am holy."                                                                    -Leviticus 20:26 From Rabbi Rami Shapiro: "You are holy as  God is holy; your true nature is God's nature. Think of the Self as the rose of the rose bush. It is the nature of the bush to blossom the rose, yet the rose cannot blossom on its own. So it is the nature of God to blossom as the Self, the nature of the infinite to blossom as the finite, the nature of the One to blossom as the many, but the self, the many, cannot blossom on their own. Blossoming is not yours to control. It is the gift of grace arising naturally from the nature of God. " "As above, so below" . - from the Emerald Table of Hermes Trismegistus Our natures are of God, in essence. We do have an opportunity to manifest God's nature...

He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he  that rules his spirit than he that takes a city. -------------------------------------Proverbs of Solomon Sri Easwaran muses: I n the interest of good health, in the interest of a long life, in the interest of loving relationships, it is essential to learn how to deal with our anger creatively and constructively. If we do not, in time it will no longer be isolated outbursts of anger; we will become the victims of an unending stream of rage, seething just below the surface of life, with which no human being can cope. Through meditation and the mantram every one of us can learn to reduce the speed of our thinking, and install a reliable speedometer in our mind. Then, whenever the speed of thinking goes over, say, fifty-five, one of those recorded voices will automatically whisper, ?Be careful. You may not be able to keep your car on the road.?   Positive thoughts travel slowly, leisurely. The slow mind...

"Each day is a little life; every waking and rising a little birth; every fresh morning a little youth; every going to rest and sleep a little death."       -Arthur Schopenhauer From Sri Easwaran: My grandmother, my spiritual teacher, used to tell me that the pain we associate with the great change called death arises from our innumerable selfish attachments. One day she illustrated this in a simple way by asking me to sit in a chair and hold tight to the arms. Then she tried to pull me out of the chair. She tugged and pulled at me, and I held on tight. It was painful. She was a strong person, and even though I held on with all my strength, she pulled me out. Then she told me to sit down again, but this time not to hold on anywhere, just to get up and come to her when she called. With ease I got out of the chair and went to her. This, she told me, is how to overcome the fear and pain of death. When we hold onto things: houses, cars, books, guitars, our antique silv...