An artist’s depiction of possibly the first historical mention (Bible) of the cool breeze https://wemeditate.com/subtle-system/kundalini (“Wind of the Holy Spirit”) and flowing waves of light (“Tongues of Flames”) above the heads of Self-realized human beings:
Posted in 21st century trend, alert mental silence, benevolence, collective consciousness, dynamic inner silence, enlightenment, freedom, fulfillment, grace, gratitude, happiness, hope, humanity, joy, Kundalini, life, light, meditation, peace, reality, smile, spirituality, thoughtless awareness, well-being, wisdom, wonder, yoga means 'UNION'
Tagged 21st century trend, cool breeze, inner freedom, Pentacost, Sahasrara Chakra, self-realization, Tonques of Flames, Wind of the Holy Spirit
We all seem to be climbing a great mountain, some slower, some quicker. Up here near the summit we discover that we are free from the bindings of our egos, conditionings and physical bodies — that we exist permanently above and beyond these limitations. In Rhonda Byrne’s new book, The Greatest Secret, I was happy to hear that deep experiences I’ve been having for almost forty years, through the teachings of Shri Mataji and the practice of Sahaja Yoga meditation, are becoming mainstream. This isn’t because of mass media, but because human beings are asking the right questions and feeling reality within themselves.
But I find that this new book, although it beautifully describes thoughtless-awareness and natural detachment from internal and external complications, is missing much of the detail that so many of us have experienced through daily, actual meditation. Among the most prominent phenomena is the amazing ‘cool breeze’ that flows in our central nervous systems when human beings attain joyful equilibrium. Also missing are the details of the workings of our subtle-systems of energy centers and channels, and the benevolent Kundalini energy in our spines.
Of course, the highest priority is the deep, silent meditation itself, a natural, essential state that should be achieved by all. But The Greatest Secret is only a glimpse through the window of enlightenment.
Just sayin’.
https://wemeditate.co
Posted in 2021, 21st century trend, alert mental silence, benevolence, books, collective consciousness, enlightenment, freedom, fulfillment, grace, gratitude, happiness, health, hope, humanity, inspiration, joy, Kundalini, life, light, love, meditation, mental silence, peace, reality, Sahaja Yoga Meditation, Shri Mataji, silence, smile, spirituality, thoughtless awareness, well-being, wisdom, yoga
Tagged harmony, inner freedom, inner peace, inner silence, joy, kundalini, meditation
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Dear Friend!
Year 2020 will be the last one of the age of materialism…
✨“The biggest and grandest alignment comes on December 21, 2020 when Jupiter joins Saturn in what’s referred to as the great conjunction. “✨
✨“These grand conjunctions come every 20 years, but this meeting has extra gravitas. It marks the end of a 200-year cycle of unions in earth signs that’s brought the age of materialism, banking, capitalism and corporations.”✨
✨“December 2020 kicks off a new 200-year cycle of unions in air signs. What that will bring isn’t entirely clear yet, but early indications are that thought, philosophy and truth will prevail. This is going to be a big shift.”✨
Posted in 21st century trend, alert mental silence, collective consciousness, courage, creativity, don't panic, enlightenment, forgiveness, freedom, friendship, fulfillment, fun, grace, gratitude, happiness, heart, hope, humanity, innocence, inspiration, joy, Kundalini, life, light, love, meditation, peace, Shri Mataji, synchronicity, the new Roaring Twenties, timelessness, togetherness, well-being, wisdom, wonder, yoga
Tagged 2020, new age, new Roaring Twenties
“Happy Diwali 2018!”
Festival of Light
🌞💗🌞💗🌞💗🌞
(benevolent grace in Greece)
If the ancient waters and coastlines could speak, what amazing tales they could tell us!
Have you ever spontaneously flown somewhere, not knowing what to expect but feeling a rare thrill rising in your heart? When my wife first heard that many of our friends were booked to fly to Greece to celebrate Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Light, she took out her smart-phone and booked two seats for us.
I’d never been down to that fabled peninsula in the Mediterranean Sea, but my first impression was similar to that of India, an ancient world that I’ve had the privilege of visiting many times. This initial intuition that began when my wife came home and announced that we would soon be going there, was boosted when we eventually boarded an airliner half full of laughing, singing, childlike Indian women, all of whom had also strongly felt the calling.
My first impressions there were that everything was familiar. It was easy to get around in, like any other Western country. The freeways were almost empty and everyone seemed to drive slowly, which was very relaxing (although it did occur to Brigitte and me that maybe due to the economic hardships the locals are experiencing, not many can afford to speed, or even to drive). Then a massive wall of dark grey-purple cloud rose up and washed the landscape clean with a brief rain. We found it to be a significant welcome for all the pilgrims showing up that weekend, and I was reminded of the ancient demigods who were believed to inhabit this land in prehistory. (Human beings, in particular one or two ‘poets’, long ago wrote perverted interpretations of these titans’ lives on Earth, lowering them to the level of incest and murder, ideas unfortunately still generally accepted today.)
My wife’s favourite thing in life is to wake up early near a beach and go for a long walk and foot-soak there. We were sheltered near the scenic end of a bay, and because it was outside of the busy summer season, there was hardly anyone around. In Greece, even the stray dogs and cats seem at peace as they stretch out beside strangers and give the impression of being completely fulfilled (when actually they’re cleverly making friends to get something to eat!). Every morning our hearts would stretch out to the distant islands and mysterious waters so our souls could consume the vast beauty and deep history around us. We attended colourful Diwali functions, enjoyed ourselves immensely with many new and old friends, and even ascended the ancient inland hills to the Centre of the World, the Navel of Creation! (Weeks later, Brigitte hasn’t lost the inspiring heart-boost that she still rides on daily.)
They say that Zeus, king of the demigods, in order to determine the centre of the world, sent two great eagles flying, one from each extreme, east and west. They met in the place that was later named Delphi. A most magical place! I really felt like I was back in India where everything began thousands of years ago, not in young Europe any more. There’s even a natural free-standing stone in the original centre of the sacred grounds, recognizable as the Hindu child-god, Ganesha, emitting amazing vibrations (light and cool).
All two-hundred-and-fifty of us felt light and joyous, many reminded of the old tours of central India that we used to go on in the nineteen-eighties. In contrast to the great subtle significance of this location, Brigitte pointed out that the manmade history was just full of ego. Pompous conquerers would display statues of their officers there to show the gods and all the world how very important they were. Even down in the so-called civilized nation-state of Athens, such a great, benevolent genius (I would go so far as to say divine messenger) like Socrates was killed by men-on-ego. And here we are, thousands of years later, repeating the same patterns in our heads, hearts and actions.
Descending back down to the twenty-first century at the end of the day, I remembered how, as a twelve-year-old child in Canada in 1970, I had suddenly been overwhelmed to write a long Social Studies essay on the Greek gods, accompanied by a hand-drawn wall mural; and in Art class I passionately attempted to carve a plaster-of-Paris bust of Socrates. I didn’t know what overcame me at that time, but now I guess it was personal insight into a higher realm of existence. Forty-eight years later I’ve breathed those essential airs and walked upon the very roots of legend that send the restless mind up into soothing meditation.
If you’ve never been to Greece, go there soon — with an open mind and heart.
Best wishes (pure desires),
Ed
Delphi:
The eternal watch of Pallas Athena
Ed initializes time warp
“Beam us up!”
One eagle from the West …
… and one from the East
Ganesha!
“HAPPY DIWALI!”
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more photos here:
https://www.facebook.com/edward.saugstad/media_set?set=a.10156077110191545&type=3
Posted in 2018, 21st century trend, enlightenment, friendship, fun, Ganesha, Greece, Happy Diwali!, holiday, hope, India, inspiration, joy, life, light, love, meditation, smile, timelessness, wisdom
Tagged gods, Greece, Happy Diwali!, Pallas Athena, Socrates, time travel
~e.s.
Posted in alert mental silence, enlightenment, freedom, life, timelessness, wisdom
Tagged AUM
Ω
Posted in alert mental silence, enlightenment, freedom, fulfillment, happiness, health, heart, hope, humanity, joy, Kundalini, life, love, meditation, peace, reality, silence, smile, thoughtless awareness, well-being, wisdom
Tagged inner peace, last line of defense, meditation, world peace
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Posted in alert mental silence, Christmas, enlightenment, forgiveness, freedom, friendship, fulfillment, heart, holiday, hope, humanity, joy, life, meditation, peace, thoughtless awareness, togetherness, Uncategorized, well-being, wisdom
Tagged alert mental silence, Christmas, freedom, friendship, happiness, hope, joy, love, silence
I’ve just returned from three-and-a-half months in the shadow lands. (Sorry for the lack of blog posts, but my literary lights were dimmed.) At the beginning of September, after weeks of amazing emotional revelations ranging from euphoria to utter despair, I got physically sick and didn’t really recover until now, four days before Christmas 2012, and the very day that the Mayan calendar runs out — whatever that historic milestone may prove to imply. There were three or four days (and intensely dark, suffocating nights) in which I was convinced that my time on Earth was almost over, and that I had reached a humiliating and unexpectedly sudden demise. After three decades of daily yoga meditation I never get sick any more, but it seems I still had some deeper, traumatic issues to work out before the unprecedented personal and collective events of 2013.
In the ancient language of Sanskrit, Maya means illusion. Not only has mankind marched steadily into the most morally confused time of our evolution, but the point of highest spiritual opportunity as well. Somewhere behind all the mumbo-jumbo about cosmic cataclysm and last chances, there lies the simple truth that we have all been on a very long journey, and it’s high time to harvest the fruits of that struggle.
Not long ago there were two buddies who used to get together in a Cambridge pub once a week to discuss life and literature. One was a booming evangelist, the other a more soft-spoken Christian. It seems that they both had a subtle, inner connection to reality that expressed itself very differently through each. J.R.R. Tolkien considered the bible the greatest epic tale ever told, but chose to only hint at the image of Jesus Christ — archetype of the greatest of kings who fell and rose again in supreme benevolence — in his now classic novel series, The Lord of the Rings. C.S. Lewis on the other hand (often to Tolkien’s displeasure) would shout his admiration for the Son of God from the rooftops, especially after his kundalini suddenly rose up his spine while he rode a Cambridge public bus to work one morning, causing him to write Surprised by Joy. He also praised the Divine, albeit without naming names, in his (also now classic) children’s series, The Chronicles of Narnia.
The other morning I woke up after hearing myself say, in a dream, “I wonder how well Narnian vegetables would sell in our local market”. (This was a few days after I woke up to a Voice that softly reassured me that, “His love for you is unlimited. It just flows,” which I understood to refer to Jesus … or Aslan?) C.S. Lewis had an uncanny knack of being able to accurately describe the attributes and effects of divinity and the shadowy lack of it, which we sometimes call evil. Bearing that in mind, I’ve come to pay special interest to the end of the adventures in Narnia, when paradise is overrun by destructive shadow, and a magical door appears in the midst of danger and chaos, leading to a new, somehow better, more colorful, wider, higher Narnia.
It was the unicorn who summed up what everyone was feeling. He stamped his right fore-hoof on the ground and neighed and then cried:
“I have come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it till now. The reason why we loved the old Narnia is that it sometimes looked a little like this. Come farther up, come farther in!”
… “The farther up and the farther in you go, the bigger everything gets. The inside is larger than the outside.”
Lucy looked hard at the garden and saw that it was not really a garden at all but a whole world, with its own rivers and woods and sea and mountains. But they were not strange: she knew them all.
“I see,” she said. “This is still Narnia, and, more real and more beautiful than the Narnia down below, just as it was more real and more beautiful than the Narnia outside the Stable door! I see … world within world, Narnia within Narnia …”
“Yes,” said Mr. Tumnus, “like an onion: except that as you go in and in, each circle is larger than the last.”
And Lucy looked this way and that and soon found that a new and beautiful thing had happened to her. Whatever she looked at, however far away it might be, once she had fixed her eyes steadily on it, became quite clear and close as if she were looking through a telescope. She could see the whole southern desert and beyond it the great city of Tashbaan: to eastward she could see castle Cair Paravel on the edge of the sea and the very window of the room that had once been her own. And far out to sea she could discover the islands, island after island to the end of the world, and, beyond the end, the huge mountain which they had called Aslan’s country. But now she saw that it was part of a great chain of mountains which ringed round the whole world. In front of her it seemed to come quite close. Then she looked to her left and saw what she took to be a great bank of brightly-colored cloud, cut off from them by a gap. But she looked harder and saw that it was not a cloud at all but a real land. And when she had fixed her eyes on one particular spot of it, she at once cried out, “Peter! Edmund! Come and look! Come quickly.” And they came and looked, for their eyes also had become like hers.
“Why!” exclaimed Peter. “It’s England. And that’s the house itself — Professor Kirk’s old home in the country where all our adventures began!”
“I thought that house had been destroyed,” said Edmund.
“So it was,” said Tumnus the Faun. “But you are now looking at the England within England, the real England just as this is the real Narnia. And in that inner England no good thing is destroyed.” (The Last Battle, by C.S. Lewis)
It has now been clinically proven that the state of alert mental silence produces an ideal equilibrium throughout the human organism. This state is so powerful that it can naturally correct any healable ailment in us, and remove causes such as anxiety. The effects on society are not yet documented, but it’s easy to foresee a harmonious collective environment free from the violence and suffering that has come to be synonymous with so-called civilization. Anyone who has clearly experienced this state may have noticed the light, soothing flow of energy (kundalini) that passes up the spine and out through the limbic area of the brain, referred to long ago in Sanskrit as the Sahasrara Chakra, or the thousand-petal portal to the Kingdom of Heaven. This integrating connection was called yoga, meaning union.
There’s a lot of talk at the moment about divine councils and portals and what-not, that tend to turn most of us off to the possibility that each of us is able to reach a transcendent state of deep peace and understanding about our existence. Actually, meditation is the least complicated of all things we can reach and benefit from, needing no explanation and thought-producing concepts. I would just like to express my feeling here that our jolly old Cambridge professor may have unconsciously been describing the transformation of human consciousness with his magical door to a better world — a liberating passageway that allows us to see and feel life as it really is: beautiful and fulfilling. A very real state that enables us to perpetually improve ourselves and our planet, instead of destroying them.
I took the liberty this morning of consulting the I Ching about the spiritual state of mankind in 2013. It said that examples should be set by those who are wise and brave, revealing the deepest spiritual connection (meditation) that can be shared by all:
‘Thus a hidden spiritual power emanates from them, influencing others without their being aware of how it happens.’
The hexagram Kuan represents an observation tower. Those who sit on top of it can see far and be seen by all. Amazingly, the individual line that was selected for detailed reference was the top one — that very position of highest perception:
‘Contemplation of his life. The superior man is without blame. Here in the
highest place everything that is personal, related to the ego, is excluded. The picture is that of a sage who stands outside the affairs of the world. Liberated from his ego, he contemplates the laws of life and so realizes that knowing how to become free of blame is the highest good.’ ‘He has not yet forgotten the world and is therefore still concerned with its affairs.’
(It has been said that the ultimate time of Judgement is when every human being will have the clear inner perception to look within and judge — understand and correct — themselves.)
The I Ching then pointed out, with hexagram Pi / Holding Together, that just as water will always flow to a collective meeting place, human beings will gather with like human beings.
‘Holding together calls for a central figure around whom other persons may unite. To become a center of influence holding people together is a grave matter and fraught with great responsibility. It requires greatness of spirit, consistency and strength. Therefore let one who wishes to gather others together ask whether he/she is equal to the undertaking, for anyone attempting the task without a real calling for it only makes confusion worse than if no union at all had taken place. But when there is a real rallying point, those who at first are hesitant or uncertain gradually come in of their own accord. Late-comers must suffer the consequences, for in holding together the question of the right time is also important. Relationships are formed and firmly established according to definite inner laws. Common experience strengthen these ties, and one who comes too late to share in these basic (inner) experiences must suffer for it if, as a straggler, he/she finds the door locked. If one has recognized the necessity for union and does not feel strong enough to function as the center, it is one’s duty to become a member of some other organic fellowship.’ (I Ching ~ The Book of Changes, translated by Richard Wilhelm and Cary F. Baynes)
This may sound quite black-and-white, but the inner evolution of each of us is determined simply by our desires. It’s not unimaginable that the nature of that stream of wishes will ultimately carry us toward the opportunity to attain a higher, lighter state of wellbeing; or into a meaningless dead-end. We’ve been blessed with freedom to choose our way and our destination. No one can be forced to strive for liberating collective consciousness.
May the delicious, enlightening vegetables and fruits of the new Narnia nourish us in the upcoming Harvest.
Wishing you and yours a very merry Christmas and joyous New (kind of) Year,
Edword
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AWAKENING
(author unknown)
In a mother’s belly there were two babies. One asks the other:
“Do you believe in life after birth?”
“Of course! Something must exist after birth. Maybe we are here because we need to prepare for what we will become later.”
“Ridiculous! There is no life after birth! How do you think this life would be?”
“I don’t know, but surely there will be more light than there is here. Maybe we will walk on our own two feet and we can feed ourselves through our mouths!”
“That is absurd! Walking is impossible. And eat through our mouths? How ridiculous! The umbilical chord is how we are fed. Let me tell you something: There can’t be life after birth. The umbilical chord is too short.”
“Well I believe there must be something. And it could be just a little bit different than what we are used to here.”
“But nobody has ever returned from the other side after birth. Birth is the end of life. All in all, life is nothing more than a stressful existence in the dark that does not lead to anything.”
“Well, I don’t know how it will exactly be after birth, but surely we will see Mother and she will take care of us.”
“Mother? You believe in Mother? And where do you think she is?”
“Where? All around us! We live inside her and through her. Without her this whole world would not exist!”
“Well I don’t believe it! I have never seen Mother so, logically, she does not exist.”
“Yes but sometimes when we are very silent, we can hear her singing or feel how she caresses our world. You know, I think there is a real life waiting for us, and that right now we are just preparing ourselves for it.”
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Posted in 2012, 2013, alert mental silence, blogging, Christmas, courage, enlightenment, freedom, friendship, fulfillment, grace, hope, humanity, I Ching, joy, Kundalini, life, love, meditation, peace, silence, smile, spirituality, synchronicity, togetherness, well-being, wisdom, yoga
Tagged 2012, 2013, C.S. Lewis, Christmas, enlightenment, I Ching, joy, kundalini, meditation, mental silence, Narnia, Tolkien, yoga
~(CLICK in between the blue and the yellow Easter eggs)~
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(and be sure to check out the video and the link underneath it at the page bottom)
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Posted in alert mental silence, Easter, enlightenment, freedom, fulfillment, grace, happiness, hope, India, Kundalini, life, meditation, peace, spirituality, thoughtless awareness, wisdom, yoga
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There are moments when we encounter an idea powerful enough to pull us firmly into focus, into the unlimited awareness of where we actually stand here and now. Some of these revelations are interesting, some fascinating — and some can forever change the way we see ourselves and the world we live in.
Here is one such revelation:
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Posted in books, enlightenment, hope, humanity, I Ching, Kundalini, love, mental silence, spirituality, wisdom
Tagged enlightenment, humanity, I Ching, Sahaja Yoga, Shri Mataji
Our Earth has a heart that beats and loves.
It’s time to find that rthymn inside ourselves and reciprocate Her love.
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The Coming of the Three Kings …
Oh, hi – so glad you could drop in!
I was just doing a bit of surfing and was overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of messages out there. Unfortunately, those trillions and zillions of statements don’t always steer a person in a constructive direction. The web of words can be our downfall, as our history has so clearly pointed out. If we can just climb up to a higher vantage point to get our bearings, then our life takes on a meaningful pattern and we can head out in the right direction.
As May 5th becomes a specially significant anniversary in the lives of more and more self-realized persons, I would like to offer my best wishes (pure desire) to you on this most illuminating of days. May you have the personal, golden opportunity to reach into the Source – into the Silence – where peace and clarity will recharge your worn batteries. Welcome to the soothing Sahasrara.
As-Salamu Alaykum
Posted in blogging, enlightenment, life, peace, spirituality, thoughtless awareness, Uncategorized, well-being, wisdom, yoga
Tagged Add new tag, enlightenment, life, peace
We get a great variety of small birds here in our corner of the Vienna Woods, but this morning brought an eerie stillness. Just one tiny fellow made his way nervously through the garden, 
grabbing a quick last meal before the storm hits.
As the ominous wind begins to rise, we’re once again reminded of the delicate balance that exists between us and our perishable environment. Throughout this day, as blasted trees sever human power lines, and roofs are torn from human homes, we can look ahead and worry; or we can look within and change.
My young son mentioned yesterday, how dramatically the world is splitting between the very positive and the very negative. On the one hand, people are religiously killing themselves, children, and even the Earth, as if life no longer has value – and the corrupt just keep getting more selfish and powerful; and on the other hand, universal cooperation, communication and understanding is at a record high. If we could just go a little bit deeper into the vast reservoir of wisdom inside ourselves, the benefits would spill out into this life that we know and love. We give our children presents on religious holidays and birthdays, but do we give them that basic requirement – the obvious – a safe future on an abundant planet?
Climate is a reflection of our collective, inner state. It’s time to tidy up in there.
Posted in children, freedom, hope, humanity, life, meditation, nature, synchronicity, well-being, wisdom, yoga
Posted in children, enlightenment, forgiveness, freedom, friendship, fulfillment, grace, hope, humanity, innocence, joy, life, love, mother, peace, poetry, spirituality, well-being, wisdom, yoga
quickly relieve the body from harmful imbalance and tension. One need not have a degree in medicine to heal many of the simple complications that trouble us. There are of course a wealth of other useful methods, but the two important things that we need to begin are the sensitivity to subtle vibrations, and frequent freedom from thoughts, both of which come naturally through self-realization (awakening of the kundalini) and regular meditation to maintain the yoga, union.
Posted in enlightenment, freedom, fulfillment, grace, hope, humanity, joy, life, meditation, peace, spirituality, thoughtless awareness, well-being, wisdom, yoga
Tagged kundalini, Sahaja Yoga Meditation, secret, thoughtless-awareness
Hi . . .
This is just a little Christmas greeting – taking an opportunity to wish you well at a special moment in time. For some, this particular moment won’t seem significant, that is, if you find in yourself no particular reason to especially enjoy the birthday of Jesus Christ, possibly because of other religious beliefs or out of disdain for the materialistic attitudes it brings out. Personally, I also respect and enjoy the special days set aside to honor others who deserve our admiration and gratitude: Buddha, Mohammed, Nanak, Moses, Krishna, Lao Tse and the many more who came, in indescribable compassion and wisdom, to guide us on the long road.
But I take this moment to honor the universal child in us – Shri Ganesha and Lord Jesus – with the sincere hope that we may all soon enjoy the unlimited joy and clarity that only a balanced child can know. And I honor universal motherhood. There are many who look forward with dread and insecurity. When I look forward, I look also inward, and I know that there is much to be enjoyed coming our way. That’s not a hunch but a certainty. I wish for you this comforting light, not just at this moment, but for always. It’s growing in our midst, uniting and strengthening us. The road leads to inner freedom. That is the wondrous beginning.
Posted in children, enlightenment, forgiveness, freedom, fulfillment, Ganesha, grace, hope, humanity, innocence, joy, life, love, mother, peace, spirituality, thoughtless awareness, Uncategorized, well-being, wisdom
Tagged childhood, Christmas, motherhood
Did you know that you have a built-in Jeeves – a compassionate and intelligent butler who can gently lift you out of any tangle? By Jove – by Jeeves – you do indeed! It’s been rumored that we are using only a fraction of our brain power. Some think that by pumping and pampering (pumpering) of the ego, we can ascend to greater heights of skill in dealing with life. This line of thought leads to a solid dead-end. The only way to unleash that vast potential is to activate a specific energy at the base of the spine, whose purpose it is to rise up and open the pearly gate at the apex of the brain, thus connecting said brain to the power that created it. The more this energy is strengthened through appropriate meditation, the more this connection is expanded, and the more our brain is enlightened. In fact, our whole nervous system then becomes increasingly aware of subtler phenomena, and the dignified genius in us generously supplies answers to life’s many complications. You don’t have to be Bertie Wooster to have access to the ideal solver-of-problems. You become your own indispensable, wise best friend.
You: “Jeeves! What on earth am I to do about this incessant mental rambling?”
Your-Own-Inner-Jeeves: “Sir?” (or “Madam?”)
“This unsolicited, unproductive thinking, Jeeves! Is there no stopping it? Is humanity to be driven off the brink of its remaining sanity by this relentless inner train?”
“There is a simple way to ascend comfortably above these disturbing trains of thought, Sir.”
“Well, out with it, Jeeves! What is this satisfying, cerebral secret that you’ve been withholding from the waiting world?”
“The answer is simultaneously simple and profound, Sir, and readily available to anyone, from any walk of life – it sleeps in each of us at the base of the spine.”
“Do you mean to insinuate, Jeeves, that my Aunt Agatha, among others, is presently sitting on the solution to mankind’s greatest problem?”
“Indeed, Sir. In fact, no single person on the planet is exempt from this common trait. Os sacrum, or hieron osteon, the ‘sacred bone’, was so named by the early Greek mystics because of the enlightening energy coiled there, necessary to connect the individual awareness to the all-pervading power that created us.”
“And you have proof that this benevolent something can free us from the noise within, thereby lifting the willing subject into a sort of golden, wise halo of silence?”
“Indeed, Sir. It is a purely natural phenomena which occurs spontaneously when this Kundalini energy awakens due to contact with the subtlest of universal vibrations, manifested, causing her to gently rise up the spine to the fontanel, thus opening the door to collective consciousness. This evolutionary breakthrough was available to very few in the past, but it seems that we have all reached an important threshold which allows anyone to ‘dance liberated into the light’, as the poet so aptly put it.”
“So you’re saying that the moment I make the magic wish to ascend beyond my miserable, human bonds, I’ll be ready to pass by a smiling cherubim radiating these fine vibes that will inevitably cause my being to lift off like a Nasa space-shuttle at the end of count down?”
“The experience is somewhat subtler than that, but you have the gist of the matter, Sir. It is the promised yoga, that is, union. May I demonstrate?”
“Demo away, Jeeves! I have cast my wish into the fountain of hope. What do I stand to lose?”
“What indeed, Sir? Place your hands, palms upwards, comfortably on your lap. You may close your eyes, and sincerely, in your heart, ask the universal Mother for your Self-realization.”
“Ask the what for my what?”
“Addressing this Kundalini energy, Sir, simply request that you may know your true, universal nature. I will expedite the process by lifting my open hand parallel to your spine to a point above your head. This will help the Kundalini to rise in response to the familiar vibrations.”
“As I’ve always conjectured, Jeeves — so you are an angel!”
“No more so than any other Self-realized person, Sir. Are you feeling anything yet?”
“I am. My goodness, you know? I really am . . . This is even better than whiskey, Jeeves. Have I lived all these years without knowing joy? I feel, well, I feel as light as a feather, as focused as a hawk, and . . . what is all this breezy coolness? It’s pouring out of my hands, and the top of my head feels like a fountain! May I open my eyes, or will it all fade like a beautiful dream on waking?”
“You may open your eyes, Sir, and I can assure you that it will not fade away. These are the Vibrations of which I spoke. They are the powerful Breath of Life which have been referred to throughout history in various cultures and religions as the Chi, Ki, Chaitanya, Prana, Ruach, Ruh, Pneuma and Spiritus, as well as the Wind of the Holy Spirit.”
“This is marvelous! Only a laughing, well-fed baby cuddling at its mother’s warm breast could know how I’m presently feeling! Who was it that rejoiced about the coming Age, calling every breeze sacred incense, Jeeves?”
“That would be Lionel Johnson in Vita Venturi Saeculi, Sir. ‘Let green woods wave thee welcome, and blue seas laugh welcome, and each breeze be sacred incense round thee: peace appear through crystal atmosphere, impassioned, perdurable, omnipotent; given by God, not lent, foretaste of Heaven, ere Heaven be all in all, come to the vexed world’s call!’ “
“That’s the one! Yes, I’m gushing with goodness – woods and waters – maybe a bit like those bliss-sharing Kalpa-thingy trees in the Indian proverb!”
“You must be referring to the passage from the Gyaneshwari, Sir: ‘Such men/women are the moving forests of Kalpataru trees. They are mines of wish-granting living jewels. They are vocal oceans of nectar.’ It is but one early description of realized souls, Sir.”
“All this enlightening has made me thirsty, Jeeves. Would you be so kind?”
“Certainly, Sir. Would you like your usual whiskey and soda?”
“Not today — I don’t want to come down. Bring me pure water. This new connection can use some meditative nurturing. I think someone has just answered my prayers.”
“‘Holy mother, hear my prayer, somehow I know you’re still there. Send me please some peace of mind; take away this pain.’“
“Shakespeare?”
“Eric Clapton, Sir.”
“Thank you, Jeeves.”
“The pleasure is all mine, Sir.”
Posted in enlightenment, forgiveness, freedom, friendship, fulfillment, grace, hope, humanity, innocence, joy, life, meditation, mother, peace, spirituality, thoughtless awareness, well-being, wisdom, yoga
Tagged enlightenment, Jeeves, kundalini, meditation, self-realization, Wooster
Have you loved your Heart this day?
Held it like a tender Child,
Beheld pure Innocence at play,
Shared Its laughter, bold yet mild?
Have you turned your eyes within?
Seeing Goodness spread Its wings,
Breathing deep the cool, soft Wind,
Thanking Love for all good things?
Have you felt Her Lotus Hands
Carress the Child who dwells within,
Bathing It in Amrit sweet,
That flows as joy from Love’s Ocean?
Have you loved your Heart this day?
Have you sung Its Song of Bliss?
Take this moment now to pray
That we may all now share in This.
– Edward Saugstad 1985
(This poem ‘came’ to me in a special location, overlooking the North Shore Mountains in downtown Vancouver, one day when I worked in the city streets there. I stopped and sat down on a bench, located about where the heart of the Ganesha would be in this photo, and jotted down these soothing lines. For some reason I always felt my heart open and my attention become calm and clear when I passed through this area, despite the city congestion.)
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Posted in children, creativity, enlightenment, freedom, fulfillment, grace, hope, humanity, innocence, joy, life, love, meditation, mother, peace, poetry, smile, spirituality, thoughtless awareness, well-being, wisdom, yoga
Tagged love, poetry, self-realization, spirituality
Hum-dee-dum, tra-la, tra-la . . .
Now, where were we – oh, my gosh! Is it so late already? Almost eight years passed the twentieth century? How time does fly when you’re having fun.
When I was young, I earnestly believed that a pandemic of fun could save mankind. Funny – now that I think of it – I still do, although my outlook has become somewhat more refined. The youthful images of reckless abandon have been replaced by a majestic movie in which every person shines with a child’s countenance, bubbling with the champagne of wise innocence. In this age of global communication and friendship across all borders (let’s just ignore the racists, fundamentalists, fed-up-ists, megamerger-swallowtheworld-industrialist-capitalists and political-power-activists for the moment) we find the ideal setting for the kindergarten birthday party utopia, where care is no longer an ulcer-giving demon in the back of the mind, but a magical, benevolent whim that spontaneously brings luck to others. By ‘fun’, I’m of course referring to the stuff that shines from the pearl of joy, not its wannabe, temporary copy that sometimes emits from the fickle happiness/unhappiness coin. (More on that somewhere below: Just scroll down this site to investigate.)
Things were a lot different back in the days of my great-grandfather, Reverend Christian Saugstad. Not only were those guys bereft of Internet, I don’t think even fun had been invented yet! Imagine leading your followers over one-and-a-half thousand rugged miles to a new, puritan home in the wilderness (from Minnesota to British Columbia). That was hard work back in 1894; no jumbojet-getaway! But I’m sure they experienced something resembling fun after the men spent the first fall and winter on the freezing coast chopping trees, shoveling snow and building log cabins, and then all their wives and children ferried up from the capital in the spring thaw. Well, I guess if reincarnation is the norm, we all bin there; dun that. I ain’t sayin’ that the plastic smell of computers is more inspiring to collective understanding and integration than a five hundred year old cedar rainforest, but the invention of mass-communication terminals and networks have brought us a long way in appreciating each other. Old Rev. C. didn’t even want his people to marry non-Norwegians, not to mention Muslims, Hindus or Jews (although they did somehow manage to get in among the more enlightened aboriginals). 
His son, my grandfather the sea captain, was more evolved in this respect. He brought home his bride from Devon after WW1, Norwegian or no. Why, she wasn’t even a conformed Christian. Surviving witnesses in the old Vancouver neighbourhood may still recall the public argument she had one day across the picket fence with Mr. Bible-Thumper next door, insisting that reincarnation of human beings is a natural and inevitable process (“and-you-can-jolly-well-put-that-in-your-pipe-and-smoke-it!”). And that was well before the New Age Revolution began in the sixties. Um . . . Grandma’s reincarnation> Devon> Sea captain> Indians> the old Rev.> . . . ah, yes – the Internet: It’s obvious to me, after twenty-five years of daily personal subjective, and international objective experience in Sahaja Yoga, that this new level of global communication is a result of an accelerated inner process of collective consciousness. Naturally, these deep, evolutionary, spiritually powerful, expanding awareness thingies do tend to find ways of manifesting appropriate tools, so it’s no wonder that super-fast, super-portable, super-affordable gadgets and systems have sprouted into common use for the greater goodness of getting everyone universally chummy. I’m also convinced (und ich wuerde meinen rechten Arm darauf verwetten) that as soon as all this evil and bullying and perversion and smug complacency has been played out, that wave of – yes, in your face – LOVE is going to wash over the stage, and we’ll be in for one hell-of-a (oops), I mean, one wonderful show!
You may sayyy I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one . . . And whatever desire you hold on to, is the direction you move toward. It seems we’re shifting into a whole new mode*.
(Stay tuned for further fun ‘n’ fascinating features . . .)
Now, I really must get back to my wood chopping. (I do find it fun!)
(And I truly do admire the seeking spirit of my fore-fathers/mothers, including my own parents, whose appetites for shared goodness and truth, in times of such pervading spiritual darkness, have been encouraging.)
~click on the gigantic stump to experience more~
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Posted in blogging, enlightenment, freedom, friendship, fulfillment, hope, humanity, innocence, joy, life, love, meditation, mouse, nature, peace, people, spirituality, Uncategorized, well-being, wisdom, yoga
Tagged Bella Coola, British Columbia, collective consciousness, Internet, love, Sahaja Yoga Meditation, Saugstad
There are a lot of concepts about meditation. But for those who’ve experienced the real thing, it’s obvious that meditation is the state in which all limited concepts are exposed for what they are, and a new kind of insight becomes the norm.
Meditation is the state of thoughtless-awareness reached when the human attention rises above the mental turmoil to perceive everything as it really is, above thoughts. This state allows one to experience in a direct, actual way, without the filter of conditionings and projections. That may sound over-simplified and unlikely, but it is in fact a very natural, essential evolution of our consciousness.
Even after twenty-five years of daily moments of meditation, I’m still often surprised and delighted by my personal experiences, which sometimes come unexpectedly and in new, varied ways. One becomes aware of the subtle ‘vibrations’ that emit from persons, places, things or occurrences. The other day I sat behind a mother playing with her laughing baby on a public bus. My mind was filled with clear silence, and my body became light, joy-filled and pleasantly cool. In contrast, as I later strolled along the sidewalk and passed two angry motorists exchanging hot words over a minor accident, I experienced a short but vivid wave of heat, tension and noise inside. On such occasions, I usually take a moment to direct the very subtle, cool vibrations, that indicate and can even activate a deeply healthy and constructive state, into the fray, so to speak. This can be done with a simple implementation of the attention, or by using the hands. Once, when confronted by a raging clerk who had grown impatient with my innocent questions, I simply asked her to hold out her hands, palms up, to see what she feels. Taken aback by my request, she spontaneously complied and shortly replied that she felt waves of heat pouring out of them. I put my hand above hers, mentioning that we all have a special energy in the sacrum bone at the base of the spine, which easily rises at contact with certain cool, subtle vibrations, clearing stubborn obstacles to our well-being. 
Suddenly, her hands emitted a soft, cool breeze, and her tense face broke into a lovely smile. She then felt the same cool wind coming out of the top of her head, indicating that this energy, kundalini, had risen up the spine to the fontanel. We were mutually grateful for this wonderful moment, which had bonded us in a way previously unknown and unreachable to average human beings.
In the simple practice of Sahaja Yoga meditation, which I and my family have enjoyed daily for over a quarter century, a natural process unfolds within the body, expanding the normally dwarfed human awareness. This is easily verifiable by anyone with an honest inclination to feel truth – and I don’t mean emotionally. Once the human nervous system is enlightened, it’s possible to literally feel the difference between goodness and harmfulness, constructiveness and destructiveness. It’s the closed, biased circuit of our personal thought processes that keeps us in the shell of insecurity and ignorance. The benefits I’ve experienced and seen would (and inevitably will) fill a book. I find it shameful – indeed tragic – that a handful of malicious persons invest their time in defaming this unprecedented, universal gift, thereby misleading earnest seekers. It’s an old story, I guess. History is full of the scars from dark hearts which couldn’t stand the light – individuals who cleverly don the robes of would-be righteousness. It’s always been easier to rally under the banners of hatred and suspicion, than to proudly plant the flags of common goodness. At last we’re able to equip ourselves with the inner tools to perceive reality and establish clarity. Now that we all stand on the threshold of a beautiful, new opportunity, I sincerely hope that you will recognize the difference when your moment comes.
You can try, just now.
Open your hands, palms upward, and ask quietly in your heart
for your Self-realization.
You can close your eyes or else look at the picture above this text.
Within a few seconds you should feel something in your hands
and on top of your head.
Take a few moments to enjoy this change.
This is the beginning.
Posted in enlightenment, forgiveness, freedom, friendship, fulfillment, grace, hope, humanity, innocence, joy, life, love, meditation, peace, people, spirituality, thoughtless awareness, Uncategorized, well-being, wisdom, yoga
Tagged Sahaja Yoga Meditation, self-realization, thoughtless-awareness, Vibrations
I was visiting friends the other day. Their daughter, who I know since babyhood, just graduated from high school. She is now tall and smart, but just as much a free-spirited child as she always was. She has always nurtured her spiritual ascent, meditating regularly to enjoy the daily inner clearing and centering effect that this inbuilt connection, this sahaja yoga, has on her. Her classmates never showed any particular interest in her. But on the last day of classes, she was approached by the other girls who had been shocked to hear that she was not going with them on the graduation field trip. She was moved to tears when they started crying with dismay at the prospect of never seeing her again. They probably didn’t know themselves why they were so overwhelmed with emotion at this loss. The subtle vibrations that emit from such a person, like a comforting, familiar fragrance, sooth the energy centers and channels in others. This is not a theory, but a well documented phenomena which has been occurring with increasing frequency. I remember when another born-realized toddler made friends with an elderly lady on a return flight from India. Leaning against her knees, he sweetly smiled up into her face, radiating joy and thoughtless awareness. Then he played nearby, sometimes involving her in his games. By the end of the journey, the woman was beside herself with mirth. As they wheeled her from the plane, she was heard to exclaim, “I don’t know what has come over me. I feel so good!”
Such is the nature of the higher state we are approaching – a state of boundless benevolence that benefits everyone, regardless of race, age or social class. Its range of influence is limited by only one factor: human free will. A person with an honest and humble desire to attain freedom from blinding conditionings and misleading ambitions – one who feels, or at least hopes, that there is something more to life than what we’ve known so far – is destined to attain this treasure. It’s easy to reach, but sometimes a challenge to maintain in this chaotic world. At work and school we have to engage our brains in mundane, and often frustrating, routine. And the landslides of thoughts that bury our attention don’t vanish of their own accord when we come home to rest*. This key to freedom from random mental chatter is only ours to use when it once rises from its hiding place at the base of the spine to open the highest door at the top of the head. With minimal daily effort of the newly enlightened attention, you can permanently escape the burdens of the past and future, and settle into the playful present. If this is such a universal principal, why don’t we learn it in school and practice it in the workplace, you might justly ask. This knowledge and technique is now being implemented in many such institutions, but you know what they said about the early inventions of radio and television (and the later innovation of Apple digital devices): amazing, but will they ever be accepted into common use? Sometimes we humans stick to the old familiar and try to ignore the improvements we could embrace. May the essential joy and inner peace become the familiar that we get hooked on, leaving behind the dead-weight and noise that holds us down. Absolute freedom is just a breath away.
(*In sleep we can step out of this mental traffic, but the third state, that of meditation, is by far more deeply nurturing and liberating, in a permanent way.)
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Posted in children, creativity, enlightenment, freedom, friendship, fulfillment, grace, hope, humanity, innocence, joy, life, love, meditation, peace, people, spirituality, thoughtless awareness, thoughts, well-being, wisdom, yoga
Tagged enlightenment, Sahaja Yoga Meditation, thoughtless-awareness
In the morning I was down near the creek. I suddenly heard a deep, dangerous sound like a thunder clap rising out of the earth. I stood still and peered in the direction from which it came. As I watched, just eight or nine meters upstream from where I stood, rooted to the spot, an eighty year old cherry tree cracked in the middle of its wide trunk, and came ripping and crashing down onto my bank of the small river. Then all was silent and sunny again. Although it was rather a sad and shocking sight to see this old, proud member of the forest lying there, fatally broken, never to enjoy the water in her roots and sun and birds in her branches again, I understood that nature had run her course and that the saplings sprouting out of the rich earth nearby would rise up to take her place.
The same is true in the world of humans. It’s not a shame to pass away and be born again as something higher – someone richer in love and 
experience – but it is regrettable to shatter one’s inner foundations through frivolous free will, thereby scarring the face of future possibilities.
I recently read a reader’s short statement in a city newspaper, written by a simple, sensible woman, pleading for a move to balanced sexual relations between human beings in our modern society. It was a refreshing plea. We tend to be a society of addicts. Whatever feels good is used and abused to extremes until – like a drug whose effects we numb to, forcing us to take more to feel it – it dominates our senses and our true freedom. I imagine that this concerned citizen caught a distinct glimpse of this break down of common sense, and wondered why two people united in mutual, collectively sanctioned love, could not share this sacred and magical experience privately, without hearing and seeing the topic advertised around every corner like a circus event. Not all that is natural and personal should be hung out on your front door. There is sublime dignity, and there are deep, natural guidelines to a thriving existence, rooted inside each of us.
Back in the early twentieth century, someone* came up with an absurd, twisted theory about sexual feelings between children and their parents (recently exposed as being unfounded) and certain followers of this concept, certain of their cause in making sex an open forum (in effect, watering down the potency of this special, intimate act) shouted from the roof tops that, because there are the nazi-like, or old-fashioned minded who try to repress us in our natural expression, we must run full speed in the other direction to avoid disaster. The individual and collective damage done in such a misguided venture is mostly subtle, but there appear obvious signs of weakness and decline which we tend to ignore. We, as a race, are very slow learners.
It’s time to adjust to the center and rebuild our inner foundations. The experiences of the left and the right extremes are sensational, but not sustainable, and certainly not constructive in the long term. Maybe we’re conditioned now by politics, believing that the ‘center‘ represents a sterile, diplomatic void where nothing concrete can be achieved. The inner center is actually the source of power and creativity. It is the eternal present, abundant in joy and resonant experience. It is built into our subtle beings, and easily accessible through spontaneous self-realization. There springs the love and innocence that make sex, and all other tender exchanges in a dedicated relationship, fulfilling.
Okay, we’ve tried all the cheap extremes. Now let’s get to the potent essence.
~
(*One of his students, Carl Jung, went on to discover more realistic and helpful facts about the human psyche.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5drUNviakdk
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Posted in creativity, enlightenment, freedom, fulfillment, Ganesha, hope, humanity, innocence, joy, life, love, meditation, nature, people, spirituality, thoughts, well-being, wisdom, yoga
Tagged common sense, fulfillment, Jung, sex
God dreamed,
And in Her dreams She saw
The Perfect Form
To reveal Her Love:
In soft
And tender, rosy limbs;
In gentle, curious,
Tickling buds;
In plump
And soothing curves that glow
With generous, happiest
Harmony;
With bright
Caressing, sunny eyes,
And ears to hear
What’s pure and dear;
With tiny,
Shiny lips and tongue
Which taste and sing
And breathe sweetness.
Into
One simplest, gracious Form,
The Best from God
Was humbly born.
And with
Each murmur, smile and wink,
The Mother’s Heart
Did bound and leap!
With each
Fumbling, curious grasp,
The Mother’s Voice
Was heard to laugh!
And when
That Child was sleeping sound,
The Mother’s tears
Of Joy ran down . . .
No flower,
No hill, nor moonlit sea
Can match that deep
Serenity.
Those soft
Eyelids, so calm in sleep,
Do lull to peace
The whole world’s grief,
As, cool
And clear, comes from Above,
That heartfelt Sigh
Of Mother’s Love.
– e. e. saugstad, 1996
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Posted in children, creativity, Ganesha, grace, hope, humanity, innocence, joy, life, love, mother, peace, poetry, smile, spirituality, thoughts, Uncategorized, well-being, wisdom
The two most crippling attitudes in our so-called advanced culture are guilt and un-forgiveness. These are the two sides, one dark and the other glaring, of an unlucky coin. The more guilty and insecure we feel, the more we try to justify our existence through unnecessary aggressiveness. On returning home to Vancouver after fifteen years in Vienna, I was surprised to discover how many old friends had completely stopped talking to certain family members because of some minor disagreement between them. When a sliver of inferiority is imbedded deep inside of someone, it’s impossible to maintain the flow of love that would normally generate in the heart. (The internal energy center in a human being that is directly handicapped by guilty feelings, the left vishuddhi chakra, is located just above the heart.) This is how most marriages shatter. When your own unconscious image of yourself is that of a kicked dog, it’s difficult to feel the goodness in others. Once the raging motor of ego kicks in (right agnya chakra), the chances of slipping back into a natural state of benevolence are not likely. Wouldn’t it be great to have a button to push, that would shift your machine back into a smooth gear? You have one.
There is a benevolent, motherly energy in each of us that, once awakened, nurtures the intricate affairs of our subtle insides. With the simplest sincere wish to know ones true self, combined with the slightest contact with the subtlest vibrations, the subatomic building blocks of Creation which can be felt via the human nervous system as a cool breeze, one can instantly reach the state in which we are linked to the all-pervading power that will constantly recharge our worn batteries. You change from a closed, stagnant system, to a plugged-in instrument with all the same valuable attributes as that unlimited Source. This is the first button. Then you get a whole range of active keys and switches that were previously only dormant.
One of these keys is that which selects a healthy, constructive self-image. Normally, an affirmation or prayer is something spoken (with good intentions) into a disconnected phone. After self-realization, you have your own, personal connection to the inexhaustible reservoir whose nature it is to answer promptly and fix without cost – more efficient and user-friendly than the best on-line device! I’ve been married for twenty-one years, and sometimes I’d like to give my wife a brain transplant when she’s disagreeing with me. Sometimes we walk away angry. But, with a childishly simple correction of the vibrational imbalance, fun and humor can be instantly restored. (And when I’m driving, there are moments in the line of fire of an aggressive motorist when I wish I had a James Bond car that fires rockets. But, with a wave of the hand and a gentle re-orientation of the attention, the cool, calming balance washes in, dispelling the fiery illusion.) It’s very easy to decode subtle obstacles to well-being with an enlightened nervous system. As soon as the inner festive tree-lights are turned on, all your beautiful decorations are discovered. It only takes a few minutes a day of regular meditation to feel and learn how to use all the inherent tools that are built in. The key that removes unnecessary feelings of guilt has many options, and can lift you out of countless complex dead-ends. The same with the switch that deals with your sometimes naughty Mr. Ego. These methods are possible because the hands and the attention become powerful instruments that are capable of directing these vibrations to correct any troublesome problem. Sounds too easy? When you’ve tasted the juice of thoughtless-awareness, a fruit like no other, you’ll never go back to cheap soft-drinks. Just try it and see what happens after you’re connected. The difference will overwhelm you.
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Posted in enlightenment, forgiveness, freedom, friendship, fulfillment, grace, hope, humanity, innocence, joy, life, love, meditation, peace, spirituality, thoughtless awareness, well-being, wisdom, yoga
Tagged chakra, Sahaja Yoga Meditation, self-realization, spirituality, thoughtless-awareness
We are entering the Age of Miracles, a time when the word miracle loses its familiar meaning – a time when the full potential of human beings is realized and that wondrous splendor spills out to enhance all living experience. (For some, this statement will produce the following reaction: ho-hum, I think I’ll click over to eBay for a cheap camera. Another might rave: yeah, far out, it’s all, like, so WOW! Most – hopefully – will take a moment to peek inside themselves to find out if any hidden treasures lie buried there.)
We’ve heard all the apparently fantastic proclamations: The day of the Last Judgement is nigh; the Comforter and Counselor is coming; watch for the time of Kiyama; the New Age of Aquarius has dawned. . . . Is the highway we’re driving down leading to something permanently better, or just to bumpier disappointment?
Something essential gets overlooked in most of our presumptions about our collective future: whatever shape it takes depends on what’s happening inside each individual. If everyone’s banging their heads against the Wall of Life, the future is bound to be a headache. If everyone is running in circles and complaining about it, we’re definitely in for a dizzy, grumpy trip. If, on the other hand, we can find out if there’s something important inside of us that has till now escaped our attention – something positively revolutionizing – we could be greeted by a very promising landscape indeed. The problem is, the solution seems too simple for our complicated insides. Looking around, we see worrying results of that inner fragmentation. Internal integration is the key.
A good heart (considered by some as a sign of weakness) is a good start, but even benevolent intentions can only take us so far. Still missing is that jump to light-speed that takes us instantly from confusion to clarity. The Force is with us, but how to tap its precious resources? Believe it or not, it’s a natural, built-in germination. Unlike most natural things, it can’t be exterminated through human folly. It’s born of Love, the most powerful force in the universe. It’s tangible. Take a look – it’s inside you.
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Posted in enlightenment, freedom, fulfillment, grace, hope, humanity, joy, life, love, meditation, peace, people, spirituality, thoughtless awareness, well-being, wisdom, yoga
Tagged age of miracles, self-realization, spirituality, well-being
Over forty summers ago, at the neither-here-nor-there age of fourteen, I picked up my bongos, stuck out my thumb, and followed the long-haired trail of freedom through Western Canada. My middle-class traveling companions and I ended up in the middle of a hippy community in a public park in central British Columbia. 
One sultry evening, a long, cool black man showed up introducing himself as John Lee Hooker’s brother – they were in town for an upcoming concert. He took out his guitar and played to the awestruck gathering. Unfortunately, I sat down nearby and pounded on my bongos. Despite the gentleman’s encouraging smiles in my direction, my wine-drenched mind just wouldn’t allow me to keep pace. (The following morning, an acutely annoyed banjo-playing hippy, who had also tried accompanying the star guest in the park, threw a beer bottle at me when I picked up my bongos to tap along.) This was my early introduction to a liberal, but not entirely liberating, life-style. I went in and out of hippy circles over the following decade, eventually cutting off my freak-flag (long hair) and escaping out of alcohol and drug abuse. (When my fourteen-year-old son recently put his hand on my shoulder and declared, ‘wouldn’t it be great if we could go back to the sixties!’ I couldn’t keep my lip and eyebrows from curling in honest resentment to the sentiment.)
I didn’t become a corporate executive, military commander or gambling-empire tycoon (I prefer working with my hands – wood is nice), but the wild ways of the beautiful children of nature also didn’t draw my allegiance. It’s funny how life’s many complications actually come out of two simple mistakes: right turns, and left turns. Did you know that your governing nervous system is made up of a distinct left and a right side? I say governing, because we’re normally victims of our pendular moods – domination of the left and right sides of our brain (ego and superego). There’s also something very important and little understood called the para-sympathetic, which automatically animates the various functions of the body. After self-realization, this benevolent caretaker glides in, like a first-class customer service, to make life more fulfilling. From this point on, you become your own *manager, gravitating always to the optimum *center, for maximum efficiency and enjoyment. (*not to be confused with corporate manager, and political center!)
…
Just to set the record straight: Hippies and other social drop-outs are not always left-sided; and public leaders are not always right-sided. I’ve seen ambitious hippies playing a marathon world-domination board-game, which made me glad that they didn’t really hold the reigns of power; and I’ve met a couple of military officers (Russian and Indian) who write poetry and pray for world peace.
(Here in Austria, there are some pretty intense vibrational elements from the two extremes, from Nazi attitudes to Freud and Catholic ghosts.)
Posted in creativity, enlightenment, freedom, friendship, fulfillment, hope, humanity, joy, life, love, meditation, peace, people, spirituality, thoughtless awareness, well-being, wisdom, yoga
Tagged hippies, John Lee Hooker, self-realization, spirituality
Natural Innocence, like absolute Love, is the very foundation of life. It can’t be destroyed, only clouded over in one’s awareness. There are those who would accuse Innocence of being a limiting state that should be grown out of. In fact, it is of the Essence, and a priceless asset to every living thing. It is the fragrance that makes life worth living. If its light is smothered in us, we lose the vitality, the spark of joy, that fills our life with meaning.
I’ve worked on city streets and seen old children, working in the sex trade, hanging on corners with shriveled skin and hollow eyes, like burnt tree trunks in a once lush forest. There are religious organizations that would have us live in states of guilt and darkness, or of egoistical pride and fiery aggression, and the world seems to be run now by ravenous corporations bent on monetary profit at any sacrifice. Most of the daily bad news that bombards us is the result of, directly or indirectly, the decline of Innocence. But Tagore wrote: “Every child born brings the message that God is not yet discouraged of men.” We’re (still) in luck.
Innocence lives in each of us, and supports us, emanating from our Mooladhara center and our heart. We love to hear a child laugh (if we’re not too stressed); to see a puppy play, or the sun rise on a landscape, and sometimes we miss that certain something that seemed to have died in us when we left childhood. It didn’t die, and it is easily unearthed. There’s a simple experience that can be reached effortlessly by any human being, that allows that essential light to shine powerfully inside of us. It’s not a pay-for formula or a trick of the mind. It’s something built-in and it’s waiting, like a present on your birthday. It’s time to open it.
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Posted in children, creativity, enlightenment, freedom, fulfillment, Ganesha, grace, hope, humanity, innocence, joy, life, love, meditation, peace, spirituality, thoughtless awareness, thoughts, well-being, wisdom, yoga
One fine morning, down the street,
An elephant I chanced to meet:
“Good day,” I said, and trying to pass
Spoiled my shoes in the dewy grass.
(For he filled the sidewalk, where
He stood without a thought or care.)
“Excuse me sir, I’m late for work!”
I shouted up, a bit berserk.
“If I’m not there by half-passed eight
“I’ll loose my job for being late!”
(But he pretended not to hear
And simply smiled from ear to ear.)
“What’s wrong with elephants these days?!”
I cursed, my liver now ablaze.
“Don’t you watch the stock-exchange?!”
“Time is money! Life is change!”
(He waved his ears and gave a yawn
And nodded to the rising sun.)
“I’ve sweated all my life to be
“Important in the company!
“No elephant will make me stop
“My ardent race to reach the top!”
(With his trunk he picked a rose
And pushed it up against my nose.)
“Listen here you thoughtless brute,
“Perhaps you think you’re being cute,
“But you’d better face the fact:
“You’re holding evolution back!”
At this remark he seemed to grow
And over me, a shadow throw;
A shadow cool and comforting . . .
I wondered what was happening.
Just then I noticed in his eyes
A clear blue depth, like endless skies.
And did, or did I not there see
All life, all hope, all destiny?
Suddenly I seemed to wake
And gave myself a good, strong shake.
“What is . . . where am . . . how did . . .?” said I.
“Where is that god who made me cry?”
(Then wiping tears from both my eyes
I stepped back in great surprise.)
For there before me on the walk
A little child stood looking up.
With head just slightly to one side
He sweetly watched my melting pride.
(I felt embarrassed by his gaze
Which read me like the sun’s pure rays.)
With smile playing on his lips
He quickly turned, and off he skipped.
Was it my heart that, by his whim,
Ran that day along with him?
~
That was a long, long time ago.
And though today I’m gray and old
I feel that child within me still.
And gratefully, I always will.
– Edward E. Saugstad, Cambridge, summer of ’87
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Posted in children, creativity, enlightenment, forgiveness, freedom, fulfillment, grace, hope, innocence, joy, life, peace, poetry, spirituality, Uncategorized, well-being, wisdom
Tagged enlightenment, innocence, poetry
The human heart is a highly underestimated instrument. It’s quite famous for pumping blood – sometimes uncomfortably fast or slow. It is indirectly responsible for countless love songs and romance novels. It is the source of unforgettable emotional stimulation, i.e., the ecstatic falling-in-love, and the somewhat less agreeable heart-break (falling-out-of-love). And it is universally notorious for the part it plays in the guaranteed end, when, with dramatic finality, it stops, to usher in the mysterious state of death. But what do we really know about our precious hearts?
Without getting too esoteric, there is a simple way of getting to really know your best friend, that rhythmic pal in your chest that channels life and love. The first important step is to establish the actual connection with your self. That sounds like a lot to do, especially if you’ve read countless spiritual self-help manuals. In fact it is easy, quick, and infinitely enjoyable, and happens spontaneously when a certain benevolent energy, designed and provided exclusively for that special purpose, eagerly rises from the ‘sacred bone’ at the bottom of your spine to the fontanel bone at the top of the head. But don’t take my word for it; try it for your self. (For the Web-disoriented, that was a hint to click on the underlined phrase, try it 😉 )
Now, once you’ve gotten to that all-important link (no pun intended) with your self through the awakening of kundalini and it’s subsequent ascent up to the sahasrara chakra, there opens up for you a whole new realm of hither-to unexpected possibilities. You will inevitably find, through the simple, regular practice of sahaja yoga meditation, the proof in the universal pudding that you are much, much more than you ever guessed you are. As the limited human attention steps out into the endless fresh air of pure, unlimited Spirit (as your kundalini spontaneously opens the seventh center at the top of your head), an amazing thing happens. Your heart, a normally clouded mirror, starts to clear and catch more reflection of that joyful sky or sea of absolute love that, although supporting all life, is usually just beyond our perception. Through the carefully designed instrument of your central nervous system, your spiritual modem, you get a first concrete glimpse of the Divine Internet. Don’t be surprised to discover that there is no noise and chaotic chatter there: that connection will fill you with beautiful Silence, the source of all creativity. And That is your very own.
Oh, yeah – this was supposed to be about joy and emotional intelligence. But reading about joy is about as en-joyable as being told about a delicious club sandwich – it just doesn’t hit the spot. Joy has to be lived – and emotional intelligence inevitably follows. Try it. You’ll love it.
(Spirituality = Inherent Joy. It is not a commodity to be bought or sold or in any way controlled by a third party! It can only be a direct connection.)
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Posted in creativity, enlightenment, freedom, fulfillment, grace, hope, innocence, joy, life, love, peace, spirituality, thoughtless awareness, Uncategorized, well-being, wisdom
Tagged emotional intelligence, heart, joy, kundalini, Sahaja Yoga Meditation, spirituality
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Self-Help 