What does it mean to be reflective? Is it simply natural for everyone? Is it spontaneous? Or is it an art form? Are there obstacles to being truly reflective? Sometimes I think my favorite part of Easter is the movies shown on television. Currently, I am watching Barabbas. So many thoughts are evoked: How little people have changed through the ages. How rigidly people hold to the worldview they were born into. How self-righteously they judge all else accordingly. How certain they are of their perspective of what Jesus taught, of who He was, of who He is. How resistant they are to taking a deeper look at his words. How they mold his words to conform to their current worldview.
Let the word of this day be ‘humility’. If I were to tell you that you do not know everything, you would quickly agree. But do you live your life that way? The opposite of humility is judgment. Replace your judgment with discernment. Know that a major component of discernment is humility. Look beyond your horizon. Look your worldview directly in the eyes. Take a step back from it. Question it. Dare to see its limitations. Have the courage to not call your judgment by the name discernment.
In a word, consider that the essence of the teachings of Jesus is ‘freedom’. Freedom from what? Freedom from a limited and confined worldview. You have only to look beyond your current worldview. Yet those who believe they do so adhere to their newfound notions and judge accordingly.
Freedom through humility is the message of Easter. Yet it is not a philosophy or perspective. It is a state of physiology… a state of being. It cannot be taken on as a new set of clothes. As the centuries go by, humanity rearranges the same old furniture and calls it evolution. Yet the state of the psyche, the state of the psychophysiology, remains unchanged. Real freedom and humility is attained through true evolution. Aspire to that. Think big. You have the potential to unlock the deepest teaching of Jesus. But it is not a simplistic task. I implore you to look beyond your current horizon. It has the potential to reveal what has been called the Kingdom of Heaven.
The Sun rises and you notice that the seat of your garden bench warms up. At the same time, you notice that the driveway asphalt warms up. That is a simple example of correlation.
It would be a mistake to think that if you warmed up the garden bench, your driveway asphalt would warm up… causation. The cause of the warmed up asphalt is, of course, the Sun… not the warm garden bench.
For a more interesting example: Yesterday, Bill and I placed a Shiva Linga in the waterfall. I told Bill that should bring some good luck. Then with a smile, I told him I was going to make a phone call to see if it worked. For months, I was hoping for a particular thing to happen and I would call and see if there was any good news about it. And then, eureka, it in fact happened! The phone call brought the good news.
Now here we need to be careful. Firstly, the good event actually happened BEFORE we placed the Linga, so causality between the two is not a possibility. Secondly, of course, we do not know for sure that it was not just a coincidence; so we certainly do not KNOW that a correlation phenomena occurred. That is to say, both the Linga placement and the good event could have occurred as the result of some other causal event they had in common (similar to the Sun rising causing multiple things to warm up); or it could have just been a coincidence.
However, this sort of thing happens a lot. We do a havan and come home to good news regarding the intent of the havan. Or as happened recently, someone receives a gemstone recommended by his jyotishi and immediately the desired result occurs. At some point, you have to begin to understand the principle of correlation on a more cosmic level than the garden bench and driveway example.
Then the inevitable question arises: Would the good news have come if the Linga was not placed? Would the desired result have occurred if the gemstone was not received? Well, just ask yourself this: Would the driveway have warmed up if the garden bench did not?
There is one God. Each Deity is the personification of a different aspect of God, as if God puts on a different attire to present another quality of His/Her divine nature. The Gods are the laws of nature, the mechanisms of existence. You are one with all that is, with the source of all existence, with God. Each aspect, each personification, of God is within you.
Generally, your relationship with the Gods starts with viewing God as if outside of yourself. You revere God as distant… as something beyond you. However, your relationship with God culminates in becoming one with God… in finding the Gods within you. This, of course, is not done through the superficial personality level, but instead within the depth of your being. The different Gods then are different aspects of your psyche and of your physiology. Cultivate your relationship with God with the intent of moving in that direction instead of holding God at a distance.
There will be a time when you actually have a choice of taking that final step of mergence with God, or keeping the very slightest separation so that you can revere God as other. However, that is another subject entirely and one that is not possible to really understand until that time comes.
For now, lean in the direction of finding God within you. But know it is a process. It evolves and grows over time, just as it takes time for the seed to become the tree. Patiently sit before each aspect of divinity and explore your relationship with that God or Goddess. In time you will merge. You will find that divinity in you as you… as some aspect of your being, your psyche, your physiology.
This is indeed a subtle process. For example, finding Karthikeya within you will not mean your personality transforms into what you may think a Commander and Chief of the Army of the Gods would be like. How He emerges through you will be unique to you. For example, some will remain soft-spoken and appear meek. Others may be commanding in their demeanor. To find Karthikeya within you will transform you in profound yet subtle ways.
Such discovery is attained primarily through meditation, yet proper reflection and discernment will facilitate the process… very much so.
A beloved member of the Mount Soma community recently passed away. At such emotional, delicate and tender times, one naturally wonders why. How could such a thing have happened? What are we to do with our grief? Why would a person with so much to live for be taken away? What is the nature of life and death?
To honestly speak of such a thing, I can only come from a place deep within myself. To do so is not so simple in such a sensitive time. I hope my words are understood and well received.
To ask why someone passes when they do, it is best to remember Lord Krishna’s words from the Bhagavad Gita, “The course of action is unfathomable”. It is not even so simple as to claim it is karmic. The are times when one can be ‘called’ upon to do some work on some other level that gives them the opportunity to move more rapidly forward with their evolution. We are not to second-guess such things or even pretend to know the answer. We can only remain humble with respect to the possibilities. From our side, of course, life is always precious. It is natural and appropriate to protect all life. We do our best to support the lives of one and other always. However, to understand the mechanics of incarnations, I feel offers great comfort in such times. To view the matter from a worldly perspective is natural and appropriate, but humility regarding the cosmic scheme of such things is wise and does, I believe, also offer comfort to the grieving who are willing to be with that understanding.
For myself, the loss of a dear friend or loved one is an inward time. It is a time when I feel their soul deeply. It is a time when I desire to be with them in my silence. It is a time when I feel I have some sense of how they are doing and can offer my love and assistance during their time of transition.
Traditionally, it is a time when the grieving come together to mourn. I do understand that, but it is not my way. For me, it is a time properly spent in relative silence with the deceased, not with the living. I understand this may even offend some, but for me it is not proper to attend a funeral. Or perhaps better said, a funeral is a quiet inward and alone time. That is just how I am, and I feel it is important for the deceased that I do so.
It is important to understand also that only the physical body dies. The soul lives on. There is much anecdotal evidence of this, but for me that understanding came another way. As I child, I remembered. But I did not understand how I could remember. But it was a memory. Only in later life when I first heard of reincarnation did I then understand how I could be remembering. So for me, the notion of reincarnation is self evident and unquestionable.
Many wonder what happens after death. I can best say that the possibilities are endless and depend largely upon the ‘angle of entry’. It is said that when one is meditating regularly, they naturally go to the transcendental level, to the highest heaven. I have no doubt that is true. Of course, there can certainly be a brief time of confusion. However, that would be sorted out rather quickly and quite naturally.
I know there are many questions about reincarnation, life after death, and so on. However, I feel now is the time for me to be with our beloved friend. So if you have questions, please feel free to post them, but also please understand if I, for now, choose not to respond to some or all. This is a delicate and heartfelt time. Please forgive anything that may seem improper or unclear. At this time, I can only speak of such things from deep within myself, from a level that is difficult to express in writing. I trust these words will offer some comfort and understanding.
Why are some people lucky and some not? What is luck? As I contemplate my life, both past and present, I realize I’m a very “lucky” person. I have been so fortunate. Good fortune just seems to drop in my lap. Some people I know haven’t been so fortunate. Why am I so lucky?
To which I respond:
Strictly speaking, there is no such thing as luck. Life has two components: Karma and Dharma.
Karma is quite simply action. The laws of karma (action) are simply the laws of cause and effect. The effect is not always immediate. It can take even more than one lifetime for the fruits of your action to affect you. The effect can be there for an entire lifetime or a period of time or in a moment. What we think of as good luck is more accurately viewed as the result of some action in the past for which the effect is happening.
Dharma means life in harmony with nature. As you evolve, you live more and more in harmony with nature and thereby receive the support of nature. As with karma, that is often called luck.
It is not so easy to know what is karma and what is dharma or lack of dharma in your life. This is particularly true because of the time lag between cause and effect. You can be a very dharmic person but experiencing the unpleasant effect of a much earlier karma. Or you may be a person living a non-dharmic life but being carried by a wave of fruitful karma from long ago. This is one reason why the puzzle of life is not so easy to unravel.
So if you are lucky this lifetime, do not squander it. As the saying goes, make hay while the sun shines. Meditate, look deeper, live a good life, and evolve.
"Take the time to reflect on what is said here. If you find yourself associating this material with things you have heard elsewhere, please take the time to diligently explore how they are different. This knowledge is elusive. I share it here because I have seen how much this knowledge helps people – the potential is enormous." – Michael Mamas
"True knowledge slips through the fingers of those not willing to ponder…" – Michael Mamas
"Take what I say and work with it to develop a deeper understanding of life, rather than taking what I say and forcing it into the mold of your current relationship with life." – Michael Mamas
"Evolution means change." – Michael Mamas
"Your disposition is the tone with which you hold yourself, your cells, your psyche, your beliefs. More than anything else, it determines your life." – Michael Mamas
What does it mean to be reflective? Is it simply natural for everyone? Is it spontaneous? Or is it an art form? Are there obstacles to being truly reflective? Sometimes I think my favorite part of Easter is the movies shown on television. Currently, I am watching Barabbas. So many thoughts are evoked: How little people have changed through the ages. How rigidly people hold to the worldview they were born into. How self-righteously they judge all else accordingly. How certain they are of their perspective of what Jesus taught, of who He was, of who He is. How resistant they are to taking a deeper look at his words. How they mold his words to conform to their current worldview.
The Sun rises and you notice that the seat of your garden bench warms up. At the same time, you notice that the driveway asphalt warms up. That is a simple example of correlation.
I was asked the following question:
