Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Enlightenment and Earth Changes

Following is an article written in early 2000.

Enlightenment and Earth Changes
by Dharma Dharini

Enlightenment or mukti can be simply described as liberation. This leads to an important question: liberation from what? According to ancient tradition, enlightenment is considered to be liberation from suffering. To understand this, there must be the realization that ignorance is the parent of all suffering. Suffering can be likened to the symptom of a disease, a disease called ignorance. Little can be done to obliterate suffering if approached directly, as suffering is a constant, however the ignorance which is at the root of the suffering can be obliterated.

I am often asked what impact enlightenment would have on the environment of this planet. With the ecological and environmental disasters and threat of Earth Changes due to global warming and other factors, why we would focus on such an apparently frivolous subject as enlightenment? How can enlightenment help the ecology of Earth?

One simple factor is to look at what is at the core of mankind. The core of man is not peace, love, kindness, or bliss. Suffering has become the core of man. Do you know that you are suffering?

Perhaps it is with some physical suffering such as disease, disfigurement, obesity, pain, or perhaps not having enough to meet your physical needs such as proper food or shelter. Maybe it is some psychological suffering that is generally experienced when things do not go our way. Feelings such as anger, frustration, jealousy, grief, guilt, greed, craving to be loved or recognized, along with a whole host of other psychological miseries. Or perhaps you are suffering from the most terrible and hardest to bear suffering of all: the existential suffering of man or simply put, “spiritual suffering.”

This spiritual suffering is characterized by boredom which we see so evident in even very young children. It is also characterized by loneliness, the sense of separate existence so brutally suffered by our seniors. And it is a sense of meaninglessness. An example would be the one who wins an Olympic Medal after years of training and the following day wakes up and thinks, “So what?” It is the sadness or let-down often experienced after a realized dream.

An important realization in the journey to liberation from suffering is that suffering is constant. To help you understand, I will use a mathematical example and tell a story of a man who is very ill. Imagine for a moment that the constant of suffering in this patient equals a total of 10 points. When a being is very ill or in pain, he becomes almost totally self- consumed as the physical body is fighting for survival. So we can put 9 of his 10 total points of suffering in the realm of physical suffering. Perhaps he is a bit afraid or is experiencing some anger at his condition so we will give 1 point to psychological suffering. Boredom, loneliness, or a sense of meaninglessness are virtually non-existent at this phase of his illness, so! we will give 0 points to spiritual suffering.

As he begins to recover, suddenly he becomes very demanding. He is very angry that people did not come to visit him or care for him as he thought that they should. He is furious at the feeding tubes and IV’s and tries to rip them from his body. He is angered at having to be cared for like a baby and becomes a miserable patient. His physical suffering is now at 3, his psychological suffering is at 6, and he is beginning to experience some boredom. We can put his spiritual suffering at 1. A week goes by and he is feeling quite well, though still confined to his bed per the doctor. His physical suffering is at 1. He is still angry and feeling quite unloved as no one now comes to visit him as they did when they thought he was dying, so we will give him a 4 in the psychological suffering category. He is also very bored and lonely. Crossword puzzle books litter the room. He is always on his cell phone or watching TV to manage the! boredom and loneliness. 5 points can be allocated to the category of spiritual suffering. By the end of the week his boredom and loneliness becomes very intense, and an intense sense of meaninglessness comes. It becomes very very difficult to bear, and begins to trickle down into the realm of psychological and physical suffering. He has a relapse or perhaps his allergies flare up, or he begins to get indigestion. Physical suffering-7, psychological-3, spiritual-1.

Physical suffering, considered to be the lowest form of suffering, is the least difficult to bear. When psychological or spiritual suffering become too intense, it will pour down to the physical realm - much like the saucer which accommodates the cup of over-poured coffee.

How do we handle or anger, our loneliness, our boredom, our craving to be loved, our stress? What is a Sunday drive? What is a movie theater, a video arcade, a bar, a sporting event, a shopping mall, a beauty salon, a health spa? Fun! damentally they places we go or things that we do to manage our sorrow. Reflect on your life for a few moments. How is it with you when someone hurts you, when you have had a bad day at work, when you are lonely? Perhaps you pick up the phone and call someone, take a drink or a pill, turn on the computer or the television. Or maybe you run to the refrigerator or go to the mall. Generally what we call suffering is merely running from suffering.

Shelter in many areas or the world is a physical necessity. A house in the best neighborhood is a psychological need. Food is a need of the physical body. Dinner at a favorite restaurant is a psychological need. Clothing can be a physical necessity. Designer label is a psychological need. What is all this? It is nothing more than man's psychological suffering, his craving to be loved. Not able to find the seldom discovered state of unconditional love, man has settled for conditional love. Securities and images must be built to pe! rpetuate and retain conditional love. The beauty industry is an illustration of this tragic compromise. This conflict between what one is and what one wants to be is perhaps the oldest and most terrible battle that man has ever waged. It is responsible for untold insecurity, guilt, and self-hatred, and is responsible for much of the misery in the history of mankind.

If we would stop for a moment and see how we manage our suffering, tremendous realization would occur. Perhaps in your life there is non-stop shopping, non-stop working, non-stop worrying, non-stop eating, non-stop pill taking - supplements included, non-stop talking, non-stop gambling, non-stop whoring, non-stop praying, non-stop reading, non-stop social or volunteer work. Perhaps we collect things. Maybe little things, or maybe fast cars, fine horses or house pets. If we could only stop and see how we are reacting to stress, to hurt, to loneliness or boredom, we would come to the realization that a great portion of our daily existence can be summed up in just two words, "Sorrow Management".

Consider for a moment if all of mankind was to suddenly be liberated from suffering - enlightened in the ancient sense of the word. What if there was no more boredom, loneliness, or craving to be loved? What if man were to suddenly be able to determine what was necessary for his survival on this planet during this time and what was irrelevant? Can you realize the impact that this would have on the environment?

Consider for a moment the amount of fossil fuel that goes into the heating and lighting of these places of sorrow management such as malls, restaurants, video arcades, sporting arenas, etc. What about the driving here and there to manage the boredom - the quintessential Sunday drive? How much is drained from the Earth and how much toxicity or pollution is poured back into the Earth in the manufacture of items used to manage our sorrow? So much is taken so that we can f! eel better for a time, so that we can build some security. Consider any industry. It that manufactured item a necessity? Or was it created to help someone somewhere manage a suffering? The solutions have become the problems. If a man was enlightened, if he no longer suffered he would be able to determine what is necessary for survival in this time on this planet and what is irrelevant. View the items around you and consider for a moment if they are necessary for your survival. Consider again how much energy and natural resources went into the manufacture of each item. What was the sacrifice?

The outer world, particularly in the USA, has become a virtual paradise. Pick up a telephone and someone brings food to the door. The drinking straw even bends in the middle so we do not have to learn over so far to take a drink. Yet for all the outer world changes and technology there has been little or no advancement in the spiritual realm of man. He is still suffering.

The human body was originally designed to experience bliss. True experience, to truly touch, to hear, to see, to smell, to taste is bliss. What we now call “experience” is quite often merely the constant commentary of the mind. See for a moment what this ancient storyteller is telling you today. Are you One with what you see, in a state where there is no difference between the experience and the experiencer? Is there bliss in smelling garbage as well as the sweet perfume of a flower? Or is there judgment and constant commentary such as “Oh what a beautiful sunset. I wonder what is for dinner?” Perhaps you is not even there at all. Like a monster, the commentary of the mind has swooped down and dragged you away to some future projection such as what should be done tomorrow or to a memory of the past.

Think for a moment if man as a whole could experience various states of enlightenment. If you were in a state were you could see God in everything (not merely a concept b! ut if you were actually experiencing this) would you need to go to the movies or to a boxing match? Or would you be kiss the grass in the garden because there was grass in the garden? What if you attained a state devoid of judgment where you were liberated from the constant commentary of mind and could truly experience reality as it is? Would you then go the mall or eat a pizza, drink several beers and a consume a box of chocolates? What if you were in that state of non-judgement and suddenly realized the dependently arising nature of the Universe and suddenly were able to see the entire Universe in everything you saw? Would need to leave your backyard? And what is you were in a state where you were one with everything you saw? Would you still take Prozac or Zoloft?

The suffering of man has become so intense that the Earth does not seem to have much to offer anymore. He no longer experiences bliss at the sight of a dandelion, the flight of a bird, the bark of a dog, the feel of rain. He no longer takes solace in a sunset, a rising moon, the touch of a leaf. A great sage once said that a man (in his current condition of suffering) trying to reach God through nature is much like trying to relate to a carpenter by talking to a chair.

The Earth can no longer heal mankind if it chooses to remain in a degenerate and fallen state of suffering. We have become like a disease to the Earth. The Earth is now fighting for survival. What can she do but shake man off like so many fleas? There are some 6 billion inhabitants oblivious to her needs. Hear her weeping. Hear her screaming. You will not have to listen very hard or very long.

Many factors, some planetary, make it possible for many to experience states of enlightenment. The very first step is knowing that a permanent, irreversible state of enlightenment is possible for all who seek. This means you. You do not have to be a righteous person or a saint or a guru or a mystic. Enlightenment is in fact a very natural state of consciousness. Suffering is the abberation. The second step is realizing your condition. The journey must begin from where you are and not from where you want to be. Authenticity is the key in this phase. This will involve the often nightmarish task of confronting oneself, but it is necessary if you are to be liberated from suffering.

The future of the planet depends on your personal liberation. The macrocosm is affected greatly by the microcosm. As more and more reach a state of mukti, mankind on the whole moves one step closer to enlightenment. So much depends on you.

It is Ignorance and its terrible spawn, Suffering which is destroying the planet. I have but two questions that may help you to decide whether or not to seek liberation. They are: Are you suffering? And: Do you want to be free of that suffering?

http://www.byregion.net/articles-healers/Enlightenment.html

Friday, December 4, 2009

The Pratyangira Temple Photos

There are photos of a Pratyangira Temple at http://ekatvam.org/yatra-blogs/mother-pratyangira.html

Locations of Pratyangira Temples

Ayyavadi(Aivar Padi) near Kumbakonam in South India). She is lion faced with 18 hands.

Vedian Enthal a village near Manamadurai in South India

In the the Karumariamman Temple in Chennai

The End of the World As We Know It Again

Before Haley's Comet came around after the turn of the last century they sold anti Comet pills for $1,00 each. It was somehow determined that there was poisonous cyanide gas in the tail and without the anti Comet pill you could be overcome when the tail passed over the Earth.

An editorial in the Boston American for May 18th, 1910 read:

One of our readers, Mr J.J. Sanders of Prescott, Arizona, refuses to accept this newspaper's assurance that the comet won't hurt anybody. He writes: "I may be wrong, but I do not think so. I have warned our people to look for earthquakes on the night of May 18."

Others believe that if the comet doesn't cause earthquakes it will cause diseases or fill our atmosphere with deadly gas and kill us all off. None of these things will happen. The comet will end its visit to our solar system as it has done hundreds of thousands of times before in the history of our young earth. Then it will go off, carrying with it its tail, twenty to forty millions miles long, and we shall get over our excitement.


A Mayan Shaman speaks about the Mayan Calendar and 2012 at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyDy_wT87dg