by Michael Mamas | Friday, June 29, 2012 | Spirituality |
In a late entry to the Heaven and Hell blog comments, Charlie asked if there was any humor in the Veda. Really, Charlie?? Of course, that is why we all love Charlie. Such sincere well-intended innocence.
Every single thing in the Veda has an incredibly hilarious component:
- The very fact that this is all maya… illusion… get it??
- Truth lies in the gap between perspectives… hilarious… right??
- The only true knowing is knowing that you know nothing… wow that’s a real knee slapper if ever I heard one!!
- Ever read the Jaimini sutras? Every statement is followed by an, “On the other hand…” Really great stuff.
You see, the Cosmic Joke is not a one liner. It is woven in to the very fabric of all that is. Grasping the ungraspable… Looking outward for lifetime after lifetime for what actually dwells inside you… on and on.
The Zen Masters had really great senses of humor… The sound of one hand clapping, for example. Now that is a fall down, laugh out loud, belly buster!! Great fun!
No humor in the Veda??? Really?? When the entire field of opposites come together… good and evil… right and wrong… up and down… then it all cancels and you are left with no-thing-ness. At the deepest level of that unification, right when it all dissolves into the transcendent… right at that moment, what have you got? Pure, infinite happiness. It is called BLISS. At that point, you just got the cosmic joke. It is a physiological thing. You may have touched into it during a “great meditation.”
On course, until you get the cosmic joke… well, the joke is on you. During that time you strive so hard for happiness and try for humor or anything to make you smile. The intent is so pure, but so desperate. Reaching so hard to grasp that ungraspable ice cream cone in the sky. So wanting the Norman Rockwell paintings to depict real life. Come on now! Where is your sense of humor??
I do so love you all. I do so wish you could see the humor in all this… get the cosmic joke… which is to say, find the resolution of all this paradox in the depth of your own being. Of course, there is no punch line here that, once stated, finalizes the joke. To love it, you need to transcend it.
There’s that cosmic joke again…
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Saturday, June 23, 2012 | Favorites, Mount Soma, Personal Growth, Spirituality |
Each of us has a world we live in. Of course, in the deepest sense, you have no limit. However, on the level of daily life we each have a certain size to our sphere of awareness, activity and influence… our world. Our global group mentality, too, is a world… a group consciousness… a self perpetuating system.
The other morning at the temple, around 4 a.m., sitting in front of the linga, I saw the size of our world – the group consciousness of humanity. It was represented as the size of the linga before me. Then my awareness went to the bigger invisible linga that reached infinitely up and out of the temple and into the earth, engulfing the physical linga before me. It was as if the physical linga was a small gateway to its greater nature. It started with a mudra that took me over, raised back my head, pushed back my arms, and showed me what was always there, but not yet physiologically lived by humanity.
To accomplish our goal for Mount Soma, the group sphere of awareness is expanding to this size. This is not a conceptual shift but a physiological shift. As your sphere of influence expands, your world expands – your physiology expands.
We are all ever-expanding – always opening to new horizons. But to open further, you must be willing to open. If not, the process is resisted and constrained. But to want to open is not to know what that really means or to see what direction it leads… what it feels like in the physiology, in the psyche. Even among those wanting to open, few are willing to open, preferring that it would conform to notions of how it should be… conform to your current sphere, world, mentality.
Even a small glimpse of that new world is a wonderful gift pointing in a direction and opening the way. Each sphere, each world you may for a time be living in, seems small, cloistered, and constricted in contrast to the next. Yet the physiology must be prepared before the next shift can take place. Otherwise, the individual can not hold it… like a lotto winner who can not deal with the world they find themselves thrown into… or an overnight success in the entertainment business unable to live in the new world they find themselves in. When done in this balanced manner, each successive sphere brings with it greater joy, wisdom, happiness, evolution, positive influence, and vision. It is like the successive blossoming of a flower. Through proper meditation and discernment, you culture your physiology for expansion. When done by even one individual, it supports the future expansion of global consciousness.
There is no end to expansion. It happens gradually, yet with phase transitions along the way. The next stage of expansion of our global mentality is on its way. A glimpse, of not just the conceptual details but the physiological experience of an expanded global mentality, changes lives. It will be quite something when it happens globally. We are most fortunate to be living at this time of great transition.
Now it is important to make it clear that each individual’s role will expand as the global awareness expands. Those leading the way will expand to take on greater roles, opening the doors for all others. The shift in the linga size represents the shift in each individual’s role.
The other night this expansion from the physical to the bigger linga was experienced as the expansion of my own personal role that will, and needs to, take place. It may or may not look dramatically different on the surface. That will depend upon the perceiver. However, inside, where it really matters, the shift will be huge.
I invite you to join me.
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Friday, June 15, 2012 | Personal Growth, Spirituality |
Just keep in mind that juggling does not mean, “figuring it all out”. Nor does it mean having no cynicism, anger, fear, etc. It means awakening to the place deep within that holds all of these things… holds everything… and is beyond the touch of any of it.
Oneness does not mean one with all the things you like and elimination of all the things you do not. Oneness means oneness.
The course of action is eternally unfathomable. You never figure everything out. You juggle… everything remains up in the air. That is why they call it ‘relativity.’ No bottom line. No figuring it all out.
To juggle means to have a healthy relationship with… which means to under-stand, not over-stand. Humility, innocence, not knowingness, are all built right into it, while concurrently, at the depth, you are awake to all knowingness, infinite stability, infinite flexibility, infinite peace, etc.
The nature of the depth and the nature of the surface are two very different things. The error of ‘cross realm projection’ is to try to transfer qualities of one upon the other.
In enlightenment, they exist concurrently… the surface along with its nature, and the depth along with its nature. Yet the surface, from the perspective of your depth, is then experienced as virtual… just lightly etched on the face of the absolute.
The root is stable, the leaves juggle in the wind.
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Thursday, June 14, 2012 | Favorites, Personal Growth, Spirituality |
Most aspire to a state where everything in their life is tucked away nicely in place. No dangling ends. No unresolved situations. No problems. No worries. No fears. Everything settled and solid and safe.
Of course life is not like that. There are always many ‘balls in the air” and plates at the end of poles that you need to keep spinning lest they fall to the ground and shatter. So many spend their lives trying to catch all the balls and stash them away and grab all the plates and pack them up snuggly.
In other words there is a longing for stable ground. The longing is actually good, but it is misdirected. The stability you long for is not on the surface of life. It is in the depth of your being. Trying to attain it on the surface is a fool’s play, like a cat pawing at its own reflection in pursuit of contact. Or like an ostrich burying its head in the sand.
The juggler finds stability within. This is what allows him to enjoy and excel at his craft. The art of juggling maps on to, i.e. parallels, the art of accomplishment in life. The fulfillment it brings is the stability one feels when established in the transcendent even in the midst of great activity. At first that solid stability is felt only for a moment here and there during meditation. Imagine it being there all the time… during the greatest hardships and greatest joys. Imagine tossing more and more balls in the air and spinning more and more plates, without fear of losing the stability of the inner Self. That is the art of juggling.
You cannot just meditate your way to enlightenment. Enlightenment is the integration of silence with dynamism… of activity and rest… of the absolute with the relative… of inner oneness and outer multiplicity. The Guru can help you with that. It is what a Guru does. Yet along the way, many decide they have it figured out and know better and aspire to catch one moonbeam or dangling carrot or another as per their own choosing.
But listening to the Guru does not mean attending an isolated lecture here and there, or being inspired by a lovely quote and then going about your business. It means listening and living life accordingly. Very few are willing to do that. After all, you did not come here to learn to juggle… or did you?
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Wednesday, June 13, 2012 | Favorites, Personal Growth, Spirituality |
Deep inside, you already know everything. Yet, it is shrouded by your conditioning.
You are conditioned, programmed, to believe a certain way and in certain things. Those conditioned impressions are called Samskaras. Though samskaras overshadow the Divine depth of your being, they do not entirely block your connection with it. You still sense it. When you hear truth, it resonates with that depth. Yet however erroneous, the surface (the samskaras) are what you habitually return to, and cling to, for a belief system, safety, familiarity, and comfort. Samkaras are like that old tattered coat, though aged and worn there is just something about it that keeps you coming back.
Life goes on. Truth, time and again, presents itself, resonates with your depth, is aspired to, and then abandoned once again, in the name of that old tattered coat called samskara. With dedication, through reflection, self-honesty, meditation, and the hard knocks of life… slowly, slowly you move in the direction of truth. Yet the path is seldom a straight line. It winds, turns, curves back on it self, freezes, slips, slides, entices, seduces, distracts, is rejected, doubted, feared, loved… on and on. The Guru is there always. Yet the Guru, as the embodiment of that path, is also loved, resented, aspired to, drawn to, feared, hated, rejected, longed for… on and on.
But you keep going. Just as all water necessarily returns to the ocean, in time you overcome your overshadowing samskaras to rest in the depth of your being to become unshakably established in that. Until that tipping point is reached, your allegiance remains to the surface. Truth is just a faint cry from the distance at first, hidden away in a deep, dark, pathless jungle. Evade as you may, it is undeniable in its steadfast presence and haunting allure. The Guru is there always, holding up the beacon that lights the way. While your samskaras are in control, the Guru can be experienced as an annoyance… a thorn in your side. And the rationalizations then abound. After all… he is just a man, right?
He knows full well that, in time, you will awaken to your Truth… the Universal Truth… the Divine that underlies, birthed, and eternally upholds all of life, no matter where you journey, what you choose to believe, or how you are feeling. Like gravity, the Grace of the Guru is eternally present. And in time, you will find Him at the heart of your own being… within you, as you. For in reality, he does not exist on the surface. He is the embodiment of the depth. The One, Universal, Eternal You, Me, all that is.
You will find that One Truth within yourself, just as surely as every drop of rain, in time, returns to the ocean.
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Wednesday, June 6, 2012 | Personal Growth, Spirituality |
The following quote, when misunderstood, can lead to a common misbelief:
“The deeper sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.” – Kahlil Gibran
An inexpensive stereo system does not reproduce the high and low frequencies well. If you look at a graphic reproduction of the sound pattern, you would see the highs and lows ‘flat line’ or cut off at some point. This can have quite an undesirable effect on the listener.
As you evolve, your ability to feel the full range, the highs and lows, of human emotions expands. You feel more deeply. You do not ‘flat line.’ Flat lining is an intense experience: the lows feel like fingernails scratching a chalkboard… very painful. The highs too are as if unmanageable or intolerable. Though those feelings are intense, they are limited. You have no doubt seen people flat line. Words like intolerable hysteria come to mind. It is as if the psyche crumbles or buckles over.
In contrast, the ability to feel the full range of emotions is a more highly evolved state. The ability to feel deep sorrow does not enable one to feel deep joy. The capacity to feel both develops simultaneously as one evolves. Expansion occurs in all directions simultaneously.
Now at first glance, this may sound undesirable. Who wants to be able to feel more sorrow? However, it is not like that. As you evolve, the cosmic cushion of the depth of your being is more and more fully experienced. That is to say that you awaken to a place deep within your being that remains untouched by sorrow or joy. It is like the tail of a kite that enables you to soar higher without tumbling.
On the other hand, flat lining is an overwhelming experience. The Self is overshadowed. Integration breaks down. Irrationality consumes ones being. Be it due to great sorrow or joy, flat lining is an undesirable and limiting state.
It is valuable to note that even Lord Rama, fully established in the Self, fell to his knees and sobbed when he learned his beloved wife, Sita, was kidnapped. The equanimity of the enlightened is not a zombie-like state. Great emotions are felt. Yet the Self, the tail of the kite, is not lost. The emotions soar higher. They do not flat line.
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Sunday, June 3, 2012 | Spirituality |
As you evolve, your sense of Self grows to include all that is. As that occurs, you become overtaken by the Cosmic Flow… the Unified Motion of the Divine, which permeates and includes all that is… an “unbounded ocean of consciousness in motion”.
It is not a Selfless state as some claim. It is in fact the opposite.
The following quote alludes to this state, though is only a mere echo of it. This is beautiful in that it speaks of the inner sense within all humanity that points in the direction of the Divine – the destiny of all to awaken to who and what they truly are… one with God.
“Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.” – Albert Einstein
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Thursday, May 31, 2012 | Personal Growth, Spirituality |
So many do not move forward with their lives because they are afraid of what may lie around the corner. This is why so many attain much less than is their potential. The following quote elegantly says it another way.
“Never mistake a clear view for a short distance.” ~ Paul Saffo
Attaining great things in your life begins with a deep inner feeling… an abstract sense, not a well defined road map.
Set your course beyond the horizon of what is clearly visible, and then go there. Fear of the unknown is the next great hurdle of human evolution. No great artist ever knew exactly what a painting would look like before they finished it.
Why spend your life scrounging for crumbs? Your domain is the universe. Enlightenment is not a notion to be put in a shoebox in your closet to be taken out and marveled over only upon occasion. It is what lies just beyond the horizon. Aspire to that. It is your birthright.
Can you see how the following two quotes relate?
“Generosity with strings is not generosity. It is a deal.” – Marya Mannes
“Success is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.” – Winston Churchill
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Tuesday, May 8, 2012 | Spirituality |
In the recent San Francisco class I discussed how consciousness twists and bends relative existence. From different angles, the following two quotes beautifully refer to this same principle:
“As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.” – Einstein
“A fanatic is one who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject”. – Winston Churchill
Reality is a gradient. The trick is not to straighten out Nature – nor is it to try to force Nature to conform to your twists.
It is to live in harmony with the twists and turns of the fabric of reality as it flows to the tune of the song of life… of Nature… of Natural Law.
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Thursday, May 3, 2012 | Spirituality |
When words are translated and repeated without a full understanding of the meaning, over time the meaning becomes more and more detached from the words. This is why the knowledge is lost over time.
Knowledge is not contained in books… in words. Knowledge only dwells in the awareness of the enlightened.
Yet so many spiritual devotees cling with great devotion to the words. Their intent may be heartfelt and sincere, but the result is the loss of the teachings… generation after generation.
Mother Nature feels that strain in the world. That strain compels nature to provide one to come who revives the true understanding of the words. This is a mechanic. It is a law of the science of existence. It is action and reaction on a cosmic level. That cosmic principle is straightforward and scientific, just as bending a stick causes a tension to be created that in time compels the stick to spring back.
This is the history of life in a nutshell. The actors may change. The principle does not.
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
