Who am I

April 18th, 2010

You are already enlightened

April 17th, 2010

You are that!

Leonard Jacobson

a message from Leonard Jacobson

Saturday, 17 April, 2010

 

That which you seek, you already are. Just wake up and be that. Then you will be in the truth of life. You will be enlightened. You will be in Oneness and timelessness and so there is no soul, no journey, no separation, no seeking and no finding. Everything dissolves into the moment of NOW. Everything is revealed in Oneness.

The dimension of you that has been seeking enlightenment is the ego and the ego will never arrive at that which it is seeking. There needs to be a relaxation, a letting go. The seeking and striving and trying keeps you goal oriented and away from the doorway of the truth, which is the present moment.

When you are fully awake, there is nothing left of you from the past and nothing of you projecting into the future. Your are utterly here now.

This is the awakened state. It is an exalted state of consciousness.

At the deepest level of this state, separation dissolves and you enter into Oneness. Occasionally, through Grace, the sense of your self as an individual dissolves completely and all that exists is perfect Eternal Presence, Silence, Love and Oneness.

Occasionally, the nothingness at the heart of everything is revealed.

This awakened state of consciousness exists at a level that is transcendent of the mind and ego. When the ego is exposed to this information, it creates a desire in the ego for something that is impossible for the ego to achieve. But the ego will not give up its quest. This has the effect of strengthening the ego, which thrives in an environment of fear, rejection, and struggle. The ego can never awaken. The ego can never arrive at the goal. Awakening occurs when the ego is transcended.

So the question arises as to how to awaken into Oneness. If you cannot do it, then how is it accomplished? How can we still our thoughts and open into silence. A relaxation must occur. Simply bring yourself out of the world of the mind and the ego by becoming fully present. The key to being present is to bring yourself fully present with that which is already present. If you can see it, hear it, feel it, taste it, touch or smell it in this moment, then you can be present with it. The moment you are truly present with something that is here in the moment with you, thoughts will stop. Your mind will fall silent. You will know yourself as the one who exists in this moment and no other. Then you are awake in the truth of life.

But who is awake?
I AM.
No more words.
No more thoughts.
No more concepts.
No more understanding.
Just silence.

Just full, awakened, all embracing Eternal Presence. It is the Presence of pure consciousness. If you awaken into this level of fully awakened consciousness, you cannot function in the world. Quite literally, there is no time. And there is no YOU to function in the world. You would need a team of caretakers to take care of you. I am speaking from personal experience. I have been in this exalted state of consciousness for weeks at a time.

But sooner or later, a sense of individuality will be restored, so that you can function within the world of time. Restoring my sense of individuality took several months, and it was not easy. This does not mean that the ego was restored to dominance in my life. I still have an ego, but it is surrendered. There is nothing wrong with the ego. In fact, to deny the ego its place in your life is to invite it to function unconsciously.

This has happened to many who have had powerful experiences of awakening. They have identified with the enlightenment experience, which then catches them back into the mind.

Beyond all experience is the one experiencing.

To anyone who declares themselves enlightened, I would ask, “Who is enlightened?” The answer is “I AM.” And then only silence remains. Pure consciousness is your true nature. The I AM Presence is your true nature. It is silent. It is eternal. It is impersonal.

But that does not mean that you cannot also exist at the personal level. I do not mean to imply that life at the level of mind should cease. That is not possible, nor desirable. What is possible however is that you become so awake and deeply grounded in the present moment and the awakened state of Presence that you never lose your connection with the present moment, even when you do venture into the world of the mind. In other words, you no longer believe in your thoughts, memories, ideas, beliefs and opinions as the truth. You are no longer identified with any of it. You recognize that life at the level of mind is simply play. It is sometimes happy and sometimes sad, because it is a world of duality. You relax and accept the dual nature of the mind and the world of experience within time. You are no longer for or against anything. You have transcended judgment. Life is accepted fully and so too is death. Joy is accepted fully and so too is pain. But you are so deeply grounded in the moment of now, that you no longer get caught in the movements of the mind and its world of thought and emotion. You are deeply grounded in Oneness. You are able to return to silence and Presence at will. In fact, silence and Presence is always there as the foundation of your existence, and your sense of yourself.

It is time for humanity to awaken at a collective level. Enlightenment can no longer be for just a select few, who no longer participate in the world. If there is to be an awakening at a collective level, we will have to learn to function within the world. This means that we will have to find a balance between the timelessness of the fully awakened state and the world of time.

-Leonard Jacobson

http://spiritlibrary.com/leonard-jacobson/you-are-that

Juicing

April 14th, 2010

Beloved Festival

April 14th, 2010

Great Music Playlist for those of us not wishing to spend 4 days camping in the woods, yet love the music! 

More information about the festival can be found here:

http://www.belovedfestival.com/vision-sacred_music.html

GAYATRI MANTRA – interpretation

March 19th, 2010

GAYATRI MANTRA

scientific meaning of Gaytri Mantra

Gayatri mantra has been bestowed the greatest importance in Vedic dharma.This mantra has also been termed as Savitri and Ved-Mata, the mother of the Vedas.
“Om-bhur bhuvah swah
Tat savitur varenyam
Bhargo devasya dheemahi;

Dhiyo yo nah prachodayat. ”
The literal meaning of the mantra: O God! You are Omnipresent, Omnipotent and Almighty. You are all Light. You are all Knowledge and Bliss. You are Destroyer of fear, You are Creator of this Universe, You are the Greatest of all. We bow and meditate upon Your light. You guide our intellect in the right direction. The mantra, however, has a great scientific importance too, which somehow got lost in the literary tradition. The modern astrophysics and astronomy tell us that our Galaxy called Milky Way or Akash-Ganga contains approximately 100,000 million of stars. Each star is like our sun having its own planet system. We know that the moon moves round the earth and the earth moves round the sun along with the moon. All planets round the sun. Each of the above bodies revolves round at its own axis as well. Our sun along with its family takes one round of the galactic center in 22.5 crore years. All galaxies including ours are moving away at a terrific velocity of 20,000 mile s per second.

And now the alternative scientific meaning of the mantra step by step:
(A) OM BHUR BHUVAH SWAH:
Bhur the earth, bhuvah the planets (solar family), swah the Galaxy. We observe that when an ordinary fan with a speed of 900 RPM (rotations Per minute) moves, it makes noise. Then, one can imagine, what great noise would be created when the galaxies move with a speed of 20,000 miles per second. This is what this portion of the mantra explains that the sound produced due to the fast-moving earth, planets and galaxies is Om. The sound was heard during meditation by Rishi Vishvamitra, who mentioned it to other colleagues. All of them, then unanimously decided to call this sound Om the name of God, because this sound is available in all the three periods of time, hence it is set (permanent). Therefore, it was the first ever revolutionary idea to identify formless God with a specific title (form) called upadhi. Until that time, everybody recognized God as formless and nobody was prepared to accept this new idea. In the Gita also, it is said, “Omiti ekaksharam brahma”, meaning that the name of the Supreme is Om, which contains only one syllable (8/12). This sound Om heard during samadhi was called by all the seers nada-brahma a very great noise), but not a noise that is normally heard beyond a specific amplitude and limits of decibels suited to human hearing. Hence the rishis called this sound Udgith musical sound of the above, i.e., heaven. They also noticed that the infinite mass of galaxies moving with a velocity of 20,000 miles/second was generating a kinetic energy = 1/2 MV2 and this was balancing the total energy consumption of the cosmos. Hence they named it Pranavah, which means the body (vapu) or store house of energy (prana).

B. TAT SAVITUR VARENYAM:
Tat that (God), savitur the sun (star), varenyam worthy of bowing or respect. Once the form of a person along with the name is known to us, we may locate the specific person.Hence the two titles (upadhi) provide the solid ground to identify the formless God, Vishvamitra suggested. He told us that we could know (realize) the unknowable formless God through the known factors, viz., sound Om and light of suns (stars). A mathematician can solve an equation x2+y2=4; if x=2; then y can be known and so on. An engineer can measure the width of a river even by standing at the riverbank just by drawing a triangle. So was the scientific method suggested by Vishvamitra in the mantra in the next portion as under:-
C) BHARGO DEVASYA DHEEMAHI:

Bhargo the light, devasya of the deity, dheemahi we should meditate. The rishi instructs us to meditate upon the available form (light of suns) to discover the formless Creator (God). Also he wants us to do japa of the word Om (this is understood in the Mantra). This is how the sage wants us to proceed, but there is a great problem to realize it, as the human mind is so shaky and restless that without the grace of the Supreme (Brahma) it cannot be controlled. Hence Vishvamitra suggests the way to pray Him as under:
D) DHIYO YO NAH PRACHODAYAT:

Dhiyo (intellect), yo (who), nah (we all), prachodayat (guide to right Direction). O God! Deploy our intellect on the right path. Full scientific interpretation of the Mantra: The earth (bhur), the planets (bhuvah), and the galaxies (swah) are moving at a very great velocity, the sound produced is Om, (the name of formless God.) That God (tat), who manifests Himself in the form of light of suns (savitur) is worthy of bowing/respect (varenyam). We all, therefore, should meditate (dheemahi) upon the light (bhargo) of that deity (devasya) and also do chanting of Om. May He (yo) guide in right direction (prachodayat) our(nah) intellect dhiyo. So we notice that the important points hinted in the mantra are:

The total kinetic energy generated by the movement of galaxies acts as an umbrella and balances the total energy consumption of the cosmos. Hence it was named as the Pranavah (body of energy). This is equal to 1/2 mv2 (Mass of galaxies x velocity2). 2) Realizing the great importance of the syllable OM, the other later date religions adopted this word with a slight change in accent, viz., amen and Ameen.

 

Angel-A

March 10th, 2010

 

Message from Mother Earth – as viewed from the City

February 6th, 2010

 

Heyoka Ken Thornton goes into the heart of the city and reflects upon modern life and awakening to a new world. Music composed, arranged, and performed by Jeffrey Gold.

 

Man in the Mirror

February 2nd, 2010

Man In The Mirror” singer-songwriter Siedah Garrett and the Agape International Choir Honor Michael Jackson in LIVE performance of Worldwide Number One Song.

“I have the distinct honor of writing one of Michael Jacksons all-time favorite songs,” says Saieda Garrett. “Michael’s compassion and generosity taught the world to sing with one voice and his amazing talent lives in the hearts of people everywhere.”

 

“Michael Jackson inspired the world by demonstrating how one person can make a positive impact on the lives of many,” says Rickie Byars Beckwith, director of the 200 voice Agape International Choir. “We are honored to sing in joyous celebration with Siedah Garrett, whose socially responsible lyrics helped bring consciousness to the masses.”

You cannot separate yourself from others – Seth

January 26th, 2010

 

[From "Conversations With Seth" (Vol.2)--from Chap. 20
"Those of you who are affluent may think that it is spiritual, even
sophisticated, to diet, to deprive yourselves, or to go upon a fast so
that you can become spiritually oriented. The starving man can afford no such spiritual luxury—his guts ache until his brain spins!"

Seth looked around at each of us in turn, his eyes wide, dark, and
penetrating. "Again, individually and en masse, you choose your
reality," he continued, his voice now rasping out in a throaty whisper.
"So the starving in India represent something—the part of the planet
that is in pain; the place where beliefs do not mesh; where the
spiritual and the physical are so divorced in practical terms. The gurus
may go on fasting retreats, but in the meantime, they eat well! They do not lie in gutters in their own vomit!

Seth Continues: "Those of you have enough money to live may adapt the garb of the poor. You may disdain what you think of as wealth, yet by those [starving men's] standards, you are indeed each a king!
“What use have those rituals been? And I use the word ‘ritual’ because you understand, in your terms, what you mean by it. There is a ritual in starvation; a ceremony. It is the opposite of the ceremony that takes place with chandeliers and shining silver and china plates. It is the opposite of the ceremony offered by the gurus.”
Seth bent forward in Jane’s rocker, looking quite stern. “There is a
ceremony of the seasons; a ritual of the seasons that is blessed and
exuberant and knows its own order. The guru can well afford to luxuriate in it!

“Here [in class], comfort blankets are taken away from you. Or, rather,
you take them away from yourselves, though now and then you tug for them, and think how lovely one would be, for just a moment!”
Then Seth’s voice really rang out:
“You are your own great ceremonies, as the seasons are their own great ceremonies. If ever there was a time when natural ceremonies should be recognized, the ceremony—indeed, the loving ceremony—of the seasons and of spontaneous song and of spontaneous joy, then this is, in your terms, the time! “It is not the time to set up new rules or regulations or even loving dogmas. In your terms, you have been through that before. Each of you, in your own way, will creatively do your thing, with the material or the Sumari, or your interpretation of it; and that is good. That is what it is for. We give it to you to use as you will. But there will be no new organization, no new church, no new cult. There will he a brotherhood of men and women who know themselves, and who explore the nature of their own reality, subjectively and objectively!” Seth paused in his delivery, and Allan Demming, who had been arguing in favor of a “Seth school,” spoke up. “Are you really telling us that reality is entirely isolated within the individual?” he said. “If so, then that seems to mean that there’s no joyous coming together possible, because—”

“Now, raindrops fall,” Seth interrupted. “They are all individual. They do not stop and together think, ‘We must all fall together upon Elmira, New York, at four o’clock this afternoon!’ Yet, by being themselves, they bring freshness and vitality to the grass and flowers by thus falling.

“You cannot separate yourselves from others or from your world,” Seth
said to the class in general. “Indeed, neither can you immerse your
individuality, as you know, in others. But by being yourself completely,
you are automatically doing what you yourself want to do — fulfilling
the purpose that is your own, and joining with others of like purpose.
And you become, therefore, a force of nature, and in trusting that force
that is yourself, you flow naturally into those areas of your own
interest and the interests of others.

“You are a brotherhood—you do not need to form one! You meet with
other [Sumari] in your sleep. You do not need credentials—none of you! “Now, I understand your need, because of your historical existence, for exterior organization,” Seth went on, his voice now soft and affectionate. “But I say to you that the real organizations are inside. And when you thoroughly understand this, there will be no need for exterior ones, for they will naturally appear, as the raindrops
naturally appear—and you will change yourselves and the world; as
raindrops change the world each time they fall.”

Seth ended this exposition while staring directly at Richie Kendall, who
was sitting next to Mary on the edge of the blue sofa, obviously waiting anxiously for a chance to ask a question. Now he and Seth grinned at one another, and Richie launched into it with his familiar playful intensity. “So,” Richie said, punctuating each word with exuberant gestures, “practically speaking—if I have a desire for a beautiful house, pretty clothes, a beautiful car, et cetera, et cetera, and I fulfill that desire—then, practically speaking, I am in some way acting to actually alleviate a future situation such as exists in India with starving people. Right?” Class roared with laughter…
“Even I have trouble following that reasoning!” Seth bellowed
humorously. Richard Continues: “Well, by being spontaneous,” Richie shouted over the laughter and guffaws, “wherever my spontaneity takes me—Come on, you guys, shut up!-If I’m being spontaneous, then naturally I’m helping the world of which I’m automatically a part of, right?” “You are indeed!” Seth answered.
Richard Continues: “All right, so even though there are people starving
in India and money could be sent there to feed them—if my spontaneity leads me toward buying a beautiful house, a beautiful car, a beautiful–” Seth: “If you allow your spontaneity its own freedom, then you can quite happily have whatever you want!” Seth roared back. “But spontaneity will also lead you to thoughts of love for others; it will lead you to realize that you cannot plunder your planet; and it will lead you to realize that as long as one person is starving, then you are  starving in ways that you are too ignorant to realize!”

Book Text Continues:
Warren Atkinson Said: “Seth, could you give us a comment on this thing going on in the Middle East—where much of our energy seems to be focused, when a few thousand miles to the east, there is this fantastic drought and all these people are dying?” Seth: “To some extent, and, I admit, opaquely, I am discussing that in our present book,” Seth replied. “But each portion of the world, in your terms, has certain meaning, and the people of course accept their own reality, and form it.”
Seth Continues: “Each area—the area of which you are speaking, and
this area in your country, for example—these areas are important focal
points; each working out certain beliefs in exaggerated form. If you
think, those beliefs will come to you, and you will see why the
conditions exist in each area.”
Book Text Continues: Seth withdrew, and class tried, clumsily, to tell
Jane what had been going on. “It just really flips me out,” Richie said,
still perched on the sofa’s edge. “If what Seth is saying really works,
then does that mean it’s really okay to go out and just buy and buy, and throw away, and buy some more, and have twelve kids, even if that means cutting down all the trees to build beautiful houses for everybody to live in—” He stopped in mid- sentence: Jane was removing her glasses again.”—All totally spontaneously, of course!” Richie added hastily.
Seth Continues: “There is abundance,” Seth said, blinking Jane’s
darkened eyes at Richie.
“There is also the fact that you dwell on a physical planet. With a
sense of love and identification, your idea of survival would not
include annihilating other species so that you could live. You would
understand that all of you share this reality, and that all of you are
bound together in a gestalt of creativity . . .”
Seth Continues: “The animals, knowing their own grace, breed with a joy and spontaneity that know their own order. The cow, giving birth, knows how many caterpillars are within a meadow, or a field, or on a
continent; and in your terms—but in your terms only—the other
species gracefully acclimate themselves.
“They give and they take with a graciousness that you are only now
beginning to recognize. They are not gluttons!
“You have chosen a different kind of consciousness. That kind of
consciousness necessitated a different kind of challenge, so that with
your new kind of mind, you would come to different crossroads. You would forget what the animals knew. But with a different kind of
consciousness, you would triumphantly then become aware, but in a
different way, of the animals’ blessed knowledge, and use it again in
new terms as conscious co-creators. You have not as yet reached that
level, but you are working toward it.
“That is a partial answer to your questions,” Seth said, turning to
Richie again. “There is a great conscious revelation that in all
probability can come to each of you, and to those of your species, in
which you understand the nature of your own grace, and your relationship with All-That-Is within the reality that you know; and then you will realize many things.”

In April 1977, during one of the infrequent post-1975 “un-class”
meetings held in Jane and Rob’s new house, Seth continued this theme in a message of springtime: “You cannot help yourself and you cannot help your species by identifying with your own weakness, or with the weakness of your species,” he told us. “When you are safe, you are safe, and you are in a position of strength and you can be in a position of tranquility. Then you have the energy and the exuberance to think and feel clearly, and to help others.
“When you are in a position of safety, you do not help by pretending
that you are not safe, or by taking upon yourself the agony of others.”
Seth Continues: “Your reality, when you are safe, is a reality of
security. From that framework you have strength, validity, grace,
exuberance—additional energy that you can send out to touch the hearts and the realities of other people.
“If you become so frightened of realities that are not your own; if you
take upon yourselves tragedies that do not exist in your reality, in
your moment; then you weaken your position and you weaken the position of those you think you are helping. You look about you and you see only hopelessness and helplessness. You organize your reality according to the tragedies of the newspapers!”
Seth Continues: “The tragedies of the newspapers are symbols,” Seth
continued… “Those symbols represent ‘real’ tragedies, but those
tragedies do not exist in your moment unless you are participating in
them. Those who are involved in such tragedies feel a sense of
hopelessness and the loss of power in the present —and you do not help them by taking on the guise of hopelessness!”

Seth Continues: “What I am saying this evening is indeed simplified . .
but you must operate from strength, not from weakness. When you stand upon a firm shore, you can extend your arm to the man who is in
quicksand. You cannot help him by leaping into the quicksand with him,
for surely both of you will go down — and he will not thank you!”
Warren Asks: “Then we’re doing that as a nation?”
Seth: “Individually— as you read your paper, as you watch your
television,” Seth replied, “whenever you look around you and say, ‘Other men are fools’; whenever you look around you and say The race is ruining itself—it is insane’; you are doing the same thing— you are jumping into the quicksand, and you cannot help.
“Organize your reality according to your strength; organize your reality
according to your playfulness; according to your dreams; according to
your joy; according to your hopes—and then you can help those who
organize their reality according to their fears.”

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sethquotes/message/1500

2010 predictions from…beyond

January 9th, 2010