Spirit and Matter in Sufism January 28, 2014

image by axinia

From the scientific standpoint, spirit and matter are quite different from each other, but according to the philosophical point of view they are one.

Spirit and matter are different, just as water is different from snow; yet again they are not different, for snow is nothing other than water. When spiritual vibrations become more dense they turn into matter, and when material vibrations become fine they develop into spirit.

For a Sufi at the beginning of his training the spiritual life is desirable, but after mastering it, material and spiritual lives become the same to him, and he is master of both.

Hazrat Inayat Khan A Sufi Message of Spiritual Liberty

My feeling of Oneness April 18, 2012

Oneness is a spiritual phenomenon suggesting that All is One, that all living creatures and materia are tightly connected and we can percept and enjoy that.

Some people get fantastically beautiful experiences of Oneness, I posted already the story by Daniil Andreev, let me quote it:

“Everything on Earth and everything that must exist in the heavens poured exultantly and noiselessly through me in a single stream. In bliss barely supportable by the human heart, I felt as if slowly revolving, graceful spheres glided through me in a universal dance, and everything I could think of or imagine merged in a jubilant oneness.

The ancient forests and clear rivers, the people sleeping by the fire, the peoples of countries near and far, cities waking up and busy streets, cathedrals with sacred icons, seas tossing tirelessly, and steppes with blowing grass— everything indeed was within me that night, and I was within everything. I lay with eyes closed, and beautiful white stars, large and blossoming, not at all like those we are used to seeing, also floated along the world-turned-river like white water lilies.

 Although the sun was not visible, it was as if it, too, were flowing somewhere just outside the range of my vision. Everything was suffused not by its glow but by a different light, one I had never seen before. Everything flowed through me and at the same time rocked me, like a child in a cradle, with all-soothing love.”

I am in awe of that overwhelming feeling! I could never experience that, at the most just the feeling of dissolving in the sorrounding.. Another stunning experience of Oneness I found in the book I reviewed recently here.

My personal experience of Oneness is much more modest, but luckily ongoing. 

What and whom you cannot forgive April 1, 2012

Forgiveness has become a popular topic. Sooner or later you come across this word on the way of personal development.  Many psychologists, healers, spiritual leaders and practitioners will tell you: If your head is full and you are suffering from unclear emotional heaviness you just have to forgive. 

In the classical sense one can/should forgive if one was badly injured (physically or emotionally, often in cases like betrayal). Luckily not everyone has experienced such heavy pains. But the head is still full and life has no joy…what’s the reason then?

I fount out that Forgiveness has a much wider relevance.

 Basically you need to forgive

• when you keep coming back to a certain situation, keep analyzing or criticising others or your own behaviour

• when you keep arguing in your head with a person you had a serious talk even when days, weeks or months already passed

• when you regret you did not find the right word in a situation and you think !oh, i should have said that…next time I will say so and so”

In fact what happens is that your head gets stuck like a computer when it hangs. It just cannot continue working properly!  – Just think of it every time you catch yourself on perpetual one-thought thinking.

How to attain peace, wealth and power? March 19, 2012

Man wants peace, wealth, power, etc., but God is the origin of all these. 

Then why should there not be the desire for God?

Shri Mataji 

 

Expecting to Fly (Book): exciting spiritual experiences January 26, 2012

As I mentioned earlier in my posts, I read little nowadays. I used to read a lot in my childhood and youth but then got fed up with books. I wanted my real experiences instead of someone else’s wise or stupid ideas. Today I try to pick up true jewels for I have no time for just good things.

A book “Expecting to Fly” is one of such diamonds. The rare beauty of it lays in the fascination and depth of author’s experiences. Yes, it is all about experiences on the seeking path. Ultimately it is all what really makes sense I belive.

The book “Expecting to Fly” is autobiographical, Patrick Sheridan is a classical seeker from the 60- 70-s with heavy alcohol and drug background. I found it an intriguing read to learn about his journey which came out to be quite spiritual. This was all totally unfamiliar to me. I always had  a natural dislike for all kinds of chemical substances like cigarets, alcohol and drugs  – never tried and never wanted them. I have been that kind of intellectual seeker who searched for Truth only on the mental level. Ultimately I found out that the Truth is something beyond the mind and can be experienced rather mundane even as a physical sensation…Yes, generally my seeking approach was of a totally different art than that of Patrick. That is why I was keen on reading about some different experiences which led a great seeker to – surprise, surprise! – the same Truth.

The author depicts his life beginning with childhood, stept by step unfolding his seeking nature. The excessive drinking and drug consume of his youth are quite impressive – although there are lots of people practicing it too, I find it remarkable to read that someone has done all that and is still alive and flourishing…trully amazing. The author stated that in fact it was his drug experiences (in particular LSD) which let him first experience the high state of consciousness and realize that there is something beyond the reality we think we live in. The LSD trips had such an impact on the author that the descriptions of it could almost be taken for a drug advertisement. However later on he admits that the occasional highs are leading nowhere because of lack of system behind and dramatic health and subtle system damage.

What comes after 2012? What the Mayan Elders are Saying About It. January 8, 2012

There is much fuss over the end of 2012 and many people are confused and scared. Among endless articles on this tpic I came across one really interesting one which I would like to share with you.

Carlos Barrios, Mayan elder and Ajq’ij (is a ceremonial prieCarlos Barrios, Mayan elder and Ajq’ij (is a ceremonial priest and spiritual guide) of the Eagle Clan. Carlos initiated an investigation into the different Mayan calendars circulating. Carlos along with his brother Gerardo studied with many teachers and interviewed nearly 600 traditional Mayan elders to widen their scope of knowledge.

Carlos Barrios: “Anthropologists visit the temple sites and read the inscriptions and make up stories about the Maya, but they do not read the signs correctly. It’s just their imagination. Other people write about prophecy in the name of the Maya. They say that the world will end in December 2012. The Mayan elders are angry with this. The world will not end. It will be transformed.”

Well indeed many commentors speak also of transformation on the spiritual level.

He continues: “Humanity will continue, but in a different way. Material structures will change. From this we will have the opportunity to be more human. We are living in the most important era of the Mayan calendars and prophecies. All the prophecies of the world, all the traditions are converging now. There is no time for games. The spiritual ideal of this era is action.”

At sunrise on December 21, 2012 for the first time in 26,000 years the Sun rises to conjunct the intersection of the Milky Way and the plane of the ecliptic. This cosmic cross is considered to be an embodiment of the Sacred Tree, The Tree of Life, a tree remembered in all the world’s spiritual traditions.

Some observers say this alignment with the heart of the galaxy in 2012 will open a channel for cosmic energy to flow through the Earth, cleansing it and all that dwells upon it, raising all to a higher level of vibration. Carlos reminds us: “This process has already begun. Change is accelerating now and it will continue to accelerate.

If the people of the Earth can get to this 2012 date in good shape without having destroyed too much of the Earth, we will rise to a new, higher level. But to get there we must transform enormously powerful forces that seek to block the way.”

And now here comes a note which I already addresses in some earlier posts, I was wondering why good people do not join together? It’s interesting how the Mayan Elder gets to that too:

How to meditate: a greate piece of advice and a terrific experience August 15, 2011

image by axinia

This is an amazing story I have got from a friend who is practising Sahaja meditation. However the coolest thing about it is that this meditation technique can be applied apart from any spiritual practice, for it works perfectly FOR EVERYONE, especially for those who find it difficult to meditate. There is no strain about it, no concentration is needed and yet it gives you the perfect effect of thoughtless awareness/mental silence, the true goal of any meditation…

Here is the story: Please read, try it out and share your experiences!

“I had a pretty interesting experience last year I’d like to share. Back in 1996 I was lucky enough to travel to Hong Kong with Shri Mataji and one morning when all the yogis were out, she called me in and said, ‘I’ll teach you how to meditate.’ I was quite excited by this…face to face with my Guru, learning the art of silence directly from her.

‘Just watch your thoughts’, she said. To watch them, she added, your attention peels away from the thought process and the two waves (the thought wave and the attention wave) hit each other and cancel out (reverse oscillation she called it).

Then the vilambha state begins. She said that you can do this anytime…driving your car, washing the dishes and you can be in total detached silence.

… It worked amazingly well. I was able to hold the thoughtless state for as long as I liked.

Now, cut to last year and I was going through a tough time at work. I really lost my cool a lot and was as undetached as you can get (sorry to say). The crunch came when my boss, a hard living, heavy drinking, chain smoking English guy told me to be detached!

Sufism on educating an Infant April 29, 2011

A highly insightful and interesting not only for parents read from Hazrat Inayat Khan.

It is never too soon in the life of a child for it to receive education. The soul of an infant is like a photographic plate which has never been exposed before, and whatever impression falls on that photographic plate covers it; no other impressions which come afterwards have the same effect. Therefore when the parents or guardians lose the opportunity of impressing an infant in its early childhood they lose the greatest opportunity.
In educating the child the first rule that must be remembered is that one person must educate it, not everybody in the family. It is a great mistake when everyone in the family tries to train the infant or to take care of it, because that keeps an infant from forming a character. Each one has his own influence and each influence is different from the other. But most often what happens is that the parents never think of education at all in infancy. They think that is the age when the child is a doll, a toy; that everyone can handle it and play with it. They do not think that it is the most important moment in the soul’s life; that never again will that opportunity come for a soul to develop.

Should the father or the mother educate the child? A man’s life demands all his attention in his work; the mother is born with the sense of duty towards her child, and therefore the mother has the first right to educate it. The mother can also quiet the child in the first days of its life, because the child is a part of the mother, and therefore the rhythm of the mother’s spirit is akin to the rhythm of the child’s spirit. The soul that has come from above is received and is reared and taken care of by the mother; and therefore the mother is its best friend. If there is anything that the father can do, it is to help the mother or the guardian to educate the child. If the child in its infancy were given entirely into the hand of the father, there would be little hope that it would come out right; because a man is a child all his life, and the help that is needed in the life of an infant is that of the mother. Nevertheless, later in the life of a child there comes a time when the father’s influence is equally needed; but that time is not in infancy. As the Brahmin says, the first Guru is the mother, the second Guru is the father, and the third Guru is the teacher.

There are five different subjects in which an infant must be trained in the first year: discipline, balance, concentration, ethics, and relaxation.

What does Jesus Christ mean to you? April 25, 2011

 

I grew up as an atheist and considered any church building to be merely an object of architecture. I must admit that seeing Christ’s images on icons never arose any feeling in me (and actually who said that he really looked like that?). Neither was I impressed by the story of him. I tried to read the Bible at 18 and could not make more than 10 pages, found it too boring and wired.

Obviously I felt no connection and saw no importance of the amazing figure of Christ… untill I took to Sahaja Meditation. When my Kundalini was awakened, I learned on my central nervous system how the whole  Spirituality is reflected within and what the impact of every spiritual leader/founder of a religion has on my own subtle body.

When I take the name of Christ or say his prayer “Our Father” the tension removes from my head and I can feel how the Kundalini pierces through the Agnia chakra (on my forehead). One of the most powerful Christ’s messages was Forgiveness and same effect I feel when I just say “I forgive”.

This is how I know what Jesus really means to me. I know it not from books or preachings, but simply from my own spiritual experience. His message and subtle work seems to have installed some precious qualities in our collective body and it works in each and everyone either we are aware of that or not.

Laotzi’s wisdom February 8, 2011

image by axinia

When people see some things as beautiful,
other things become ugly.
When people see some things as good,
other things become bad.

Being and non-being create each other.
Difficult and easy support each other.
Long and short define each other.
High and low depend on each other.
Before and after follow each other.

Therefore the Master
acts without doing anything
and teaches without saying anything.
Things arise and she lets them come;
things disappear and she lets them go.
She has but doesn’t possess,
acts but doesn’t expect.
When her work is done, she forgets it.
That is why it lasts forever.
(verse 2., Tao Te Ching by Laozi).