7-27-14 Lucifer











































































































Lucifer and Hope:  The Story Behind the Lucifer Project

Lucifer:

My twin flame and I are the soul children of Sananda and Nada, born millions of years ago, before Earth was designated as the Paradise it was to become, before humankind was created, but our parents and others of the Kumara family wished to create a close and loving tribe who would live in service to the Great Creator.  Our adopted home was on Venus, but we spent many eons traveling the Universe, incarnating in many different forms in order to experience the feelings and thoughts of various life forms in preparation for the anticipated Great Experiment, which was the opportunity to incarnate in human bodies.

It was a joint effort between many species of humanoid beings - the precursors of human beings, who offered their DNA to create a being who would possess the finest qualities which they saw as their most God-like virtues and physical attributes.  In the process, many races took part in the creation of Humanity, and some liked the result so much that they adopted some of the new DNA combinations to enrich their own.  So, you see, the creation of humankind was an experiment which went on for eons, and as a result, you have many cousins across the Cosmos who carry similar DNA to your own.

Lest your imagination carry you away, let me assure you, there are no Annunaki or Archon beings who are here now to "steal your DNA" or to do you harm in any way.  The process I am describing took place thousands of years ago.  It had nothing to do with the modern-day black-ops "experiments" which were designed to frighten people into thinking "aliens" were dangerous enemies, here to threaten your safety and your way of life.  It was a very effective program to instill fear of the unknown, and to skim off trillions of dollars to create the Star Wars program, which was actually a full-blown space program designed to use technologies from the Reptilian and Greys to create cosmic dominance for the 13 families who controlled most of Earth's resources.

This, Beloved Ones, is where your tax dollars went for more than 60 years.  Now, why do I mention this as part of my life story?  Because of course, it was one of the dreadful programs I came here to oversee and keep tabs on.  I incarnated over and over again, first in a Reptilian body to earn credibility, and then in human bodies of the 13 family bloodline as part of my infiltration into the closed and very paranoid system.  I was able to convince them, finally, that my unusual energy of Light was a clever ruse I had developed to trick humankind into doing my/our bidding.  

They saw my actual power, the power of Light, and because of my many incarnations among them, began to see me as their ultimate leader - a dark one who was clever enough to "pass" as "one of them."  It was a difficult time for me, because of course, the Reptilians are cruel and manipulative parents, and I had to learn to submit to their dark lessons without revealing my true identity.  It was not an attitude which came easily to one who is of the Light, as you know.  

At times a flash of my Light would seep out, especially under duress, but I was able to teach them that it was a brilliant anomaly, one which could be seen as a sign of my power as a Dark Force.  This is how the myth of Satan, or the Devil, came to be.  I learned that when I was beaten, I could flash red fire, and they would back off.  They then began to worship me and my "magic powers."  

You see, it is dangerous, but not really so difficult to dupe the dark beings, because they do not have the experience or the ability to assess anything with their hearts.  This means that they will believe anything that is presented to them as a well-crafted argument.  It doesn't have to bear any resemblance to reality, because to them, reality is whatever you say it is, especially if it sets off alarm bells of fear in the telling of it.  

Think of the times you were treated to "ghost stories" around a campfire.  Were you more likely to believe in ghosts after you had a terrific fright?  Of course, and the same goes for boogie men and ghouls.  Children can easily be initiated into dark thinking by combining any information with a threat of physical or psychic danger.  It was a trick of the dark ones to use these seemingly harmless tactics to initiate children - especially the ones whose parents were of the LIght - into dark thought forms.  In recent years, there are more effective tools like video games, movies, television and internet to teach the propaganda of the cabal - the dark ones of Planet Earth who incarnated in human bodies.

This was the dark world I inhabited for thousands of years.  It was a lonely existence to be without my beloved family of the Light there with me, but I was in constant contact with them in my heart.  I was able to communicate directly with the Company of Heaven and to report to them all the nuances and possibilities of where we might weaken their hold.  

I was helped at times by the presence of our dear Portia and St. Germain, who incarnated with me to help sustain me.  It became clear that they could not hide their Light when they were together, so they separated in order to live in secret close to me, as the maid in my household, or the butler who attended to my needs.  Their acting skills and their deep knowledge of how to "pass" among the dark ones helped us all to remain undetected in our reverse deception - pretending to be dark when we were secretly acting in service to God and all humankind.  These talents and deep understanding of the dark ones' ways are serving them well now as they teach others to see clearly and to remove all darkness from their lives.  We were trained "in the trenches," as you might say.

I longed to be with my Twin Flame, to experience her sweet companionship here with me in a body, but I did not wish for her to have to experience the brutality of a life as a dark one.  I also knew that if we were seen together, we could not possibly hide the Light we generated with just a touch of our hands. 

To ease our longing, we arranged incarnations to experience life together as aspects of our souls, while I still continued to incarnate among the dark ones.  In this way, we had the solace of being together while still continuing what we called "The Lucifer Project."  It did not carry the same "pow" feeling as when a primary incarnation who carries the greater part of the soul energy meets their match, but it was a relief for me to feel the gentle sweetness of the one who is my feminine counterpart, the love of my life.  

All the while, her Higher Self worked with my Higher Self to help me remain true to my promise and my duty as Lucifer, the Light One. The Reptilians were not aware of my ability to be in several bodies at the same time.  It is the power of a Light Master which the Reptilians cannot accomplish, so they did not suspect that it might be my own soul incarnation on the opposite side of the battle field.

Lifetimes among the darkest of the dark began to wear on my soul.  It was a struggle at times, especially when I had to witness the cruelty and destruction being waged by my dark "family."  You can imagine how difficult it was not to cry out in pain when I learned of new atrocities and war plans.  I learned to release a breath of fire, which they took as anger toward "our" enemies, and they were persuaded of my dedication to the cause, in spite of the times when I engineered great failures in battle.  I could blame Fate, or the luck of the other side, and they believed in my well-practiced "rant" against the enemy.

My goal was not necessarily to defeat the dark, but rather to try to at least maintain a balance between Light and dark, to prevent the planet from sinking completely into the hands of the dark ones, until the Lightworkers would be able to regain their rightful place as loving protectors of Mother Earth.  We were preparing the way for our beloved Sananda's coming to represent the Christ Consciousness on Earth, when we hoped the turning point would bring her back to the Light.

I will pause here to tell you how this began, and why.  It was after the fall of Atlantis, when the Council of One met to discuss whether we could rescue Mother Terra from the folly of humanity, which had begun to be caught in the grip of dark and warlike ideas.  They were now ripe for a complete takeover of the Planet by the lower-dimensional dark races who had their eye on Earth as their next Center of Operations.  We saw the coming devastation which would have destroyed another planet, as her Twin Flame had been destroyed, and saw too the end to the place which had been the source of nurturance and great possibility for humankind.  The whole picture looked very bleak.

It was discussed at length whether there was any hope for humankind, or whether the whole experiment should be scrapped, dissolved, for the good of the greater Universe.  The part you may be familiar with was that it was Sanat Kumara who made an impassioned plea to give humankind the chance to right itself, and he agreed to hold the Light on Planet Earth for as long as it took to allow them to discover their Divinity.  

Sananda agreed to go to lead the "boots on the ground," in cooperation with the other great Kumara family members, whom you now know as your beloved Ascended Masters.  Among them were the ones you now call St. Germain and Portia, Lucifer and Hope, Ashtar/Athena, Michael/Celeste, Raphael/Auri, Kuan Yin/LaoTsu and many others.  And so began the great project which was to eventually become the Ascension of Planet Earth. 

Thousands of years passed, a new civilization was born, but the invasion of the dark ones became a consummate problem.  At the darkest time, the times which are portrayed in the Old Testament as the time of Sodom and Gomorra, when humankind was fully under the sway of the mentality of the dark invaders and even the Masters who incarnated had trouble maintaining their connection to God, it looked as if the entire  project had completely failed, another Council meeting was called to decide how to end the hopeless disaster.  

It was then we hatched the plan to infiltrate the dark forces as the only way to overcome them.  Since the Lightworkers would not use their same dirty tricks, they were at a disadvantage which was proving to be fatal without intervention.  I volunteered to be the one who would come to Earth to wheedle my way into the ranks of the dark ones in order to weaken them from within, while keeping the lines of communication open to our beloved Company of Heaven.  None of us really convinced it was likely to succeed, but it was worth one last try.  I left my loving soul family and my beloved Twin, who was known as Hope, to incarnate in lower dimensions as long as necessary. 

Now I return to my story, and the preparation for Sananda's coming as what you now know as the Jesus Project, although he was known by different names then.  Jesus was the soul combination of Sananda, St. Germain and El Morya (also a combination of Ashtar and Kuthumi).  Mary Magdalene, who was to be his wife, was the complement of Jesus, the feminine counterparts who would join together as one to create the Magdalene Project.  I took my place among the disciples to portray Judas, while I continued to incarnate as the Dark One.  

We knew from the beginning what my terrible responsibility might be if it should come to pass as one of the timelines predicted.  I was prepared to do whatever my Father needed, under any circumstances.  He knew I could be trusted, and he knew I loved him beyond words.  I also had learned the lesson over and over that darkness cannot win over the Light.  I knew that our souls had lived in harmony for eternity, and I was not afraid.  

The Jesus Project was a great success, in that it taught so many to connect with God once again, and it gave hope and joy where there had been only despair.  The legend of the Radiant One lived on and continued to grow for 300 years, carrying the Truth that God is Love.  Although there were detractors, and Paul, who had appointed himself as an Apostle took it upon himself to redefine the mission to create what he decided was a new religion, his teachings did not take hold in a far-reaching way until Constantine decided for his own reasons to create the Bible.  

I was on that committee, as a dark advisor to the Emperor.  I watched as they sliced and mangled the writings of those who had truly loved Jesus, and who had written accurately of his life and work.  Large tracts, like the writings of Mary Magdalene and Thomas, were declared false, illegitimate, while many of the copious writings of Paul were adopted wholesale.  It was all I could do to convince the committee that the beautiful passages describing tenderness, healing and joy among the community of followers were harmless, meaningless in the long run, and helpful in the context of the story they had constructed to try to create a picture of a weak and ineffectual leader.

It was an effective effort on their part, given that they wished to provide a worldly contrast between their powerful, aspiring Emperor and the spiritual leader who was disconnected from worldly pursuits.  Jesus was intended to be used as a palliative for the people, in mild contrast to the growing power of the throne.  The emphasis on his crucifixion (which was not true as it was told) helped to create the legend of sadness and defeat (which is a gross misinterpretation of the true story).  And so we struggle to this day to tell the world the Truth.  We have sent our incarnations here to teach and to celebrate the present and final defeat of the darkness.  Sananda has dictated The New Scriptures through this channel, which appear on www.whoneedslight.org, and will be published as a small book soon.

You, Beloved Masters, are the ones who will bring this story to completion.  I returned at last to the higher dimensions, and told the story of my emotional return on July 27, 2013 on BlogTalkRadio.com/ChannelPanel.  The round-up and warnings to the Reptilians began at that time and were completed on Aug. 22, 2013, with the celebration of their departure.  I cannot describe in words the relief I felt when this chapter of life on Planet Earth was closed. I have no regrets about the thousands of years I spent in the company of the dark ones; I have always sent them Love and Light for their recovery and return to God.

Now it is our work to remove the remnants of their atmosphere and their ideas from the fiber of our lives.  I am here to help you with that, a Master of the Dark who knows only too well how to recover from their damaging ways.  I offer myself in service, and gladly.  

Now I will turn this message over to my beloved Twin Flame, who will tell you something of her view of the story of the Lucifer Project.  I am your Lucifer, in Love.

Hope:

Beloved Lucifer, what can I say about all those years you were immersed in the danger and darkness, reincarnating over and over again with the Reptilians?  You make it sound easy, looking back, knowing what you know now.  And in one regard, it was easy.  We had our Faith, and the certainty that what you were doing was for the greater good.  We knew that one day it would be over, and we would be reunited.  

I had nothing but overwhelming Love for you as I watched over your carefully choreographed waltz with the dark ones.  I knew that a less experienced soul could have been overwhelmed by lifetime after lifetime of unremitting abuse, alternating with hero worship, but you remained strong and dedicated in spite of the times when it seemed so hopeless.

Yes, there were times when we doubted whether it was worth it, times when we talked late into the night as I sent you my loving caress and light-energy straight from my heart to yours.  Always we decided, even as you lay on your deathbed, that one more try would be worth the effort.  And again you stayed, foregoing the comfort of returning to the arms of your loving family between lives, without the rest and recovery time that sustains a soul and prepares one to try again, to take on the challenge of a life on Earth.

Now it is done, that part of the Project, and you have had this year of healing.  We have had our quiet time together, and celebrations of joy and homecoming every day.  Even though we do not count time in the higher dimensions, we had become used to the rhythm of days and nights, lifetime after lifetime, as we both lived intensely focused on your challenges there on the ground.  It is a great luxury and pleasure to rest in the flow of Love energy and companionship here in our true Home.

We are now able to dedicate ourselves to overseeing our beloved incarnated representatives there, and we anticipate with great eagerness and joy the time when they will meet and experience the pleasure of being One.  It is a delight to see them evolving and growing, raising their vibrations to such a degree that they are connecting with us, feeling our presence, becoming us.  This exciting process of merging - body, mind, soul, higher soul, hearts beating as one, is as thrilling in its own way as merging with your Twin Flame.  Both are possible for those who are now learning to reach for the highest level of their I AM Presence.

No one could be more excited and happy than I am at the beginning of this New Golden Age.  I see the Light growing and spreading across the planet, and I rejoice every single time we see a small light begin to blink on, indicating the awakening of another soul.  It has been a cumulative process, the work of thousands of dedicated Masters, millions of angels, and billions of incarnated souls reaching for the awareness of their Divinity, for thousands of years.

We have come so far, Beloved Ones, so far.  The days of darkness and danger are behind us.  Together we have come through the darkest times, and we have gained our freedom - out hard-won freedom.  In our human bodies, we have persevered.  In our soul bodies, we endure.  This is a time not only of spiritual growth and human progress.  It is a joining of spirit and body, soul and mind, as we raise ourselves to create a new fusion of Light/body which will now carry us to new and glorious levels of experience. 

This is our time, Beloved Ones.  I invite my beloved incarnate, the one known as Gabriella, to carry forward the Divinely inspired mission to become One, with God, with me, with her beloved Twin Flame and with All That Is.  Together we will carry the message of Love and Light, as we raise ourselves ever higher.  There are no limits in God's Creation for our path to pure and perfect Love. We will know when we feel it; we will arrive when we are ready.  We are One.  We only need to see it.

I am your Sister in Love, Compassion and Joy.  I am Hope.


Transcribed by Kathryn E. May, July 26, 5 PM,  Quebec



Permission is given to copy and share this message, providing it is given in its entirety without additions or deletions, and credit is given to the channel and to the website, www.whoneedslight.org.

Heavenletters™, bringing Earth closer to Heaven.
HEAVEN is here to reach every soul on earth to reawaken:
* Our connection to God *
* Our belief in ourselves *
* Our awareness of our shared worthiness to God *
* Peace on Earth *
God is always bringing us closer to Him.

Heavenletter #4993 Mr. Fix-It, July 27, 2014 

God said: 

One thing you may be learning is to leave well enough alone. This is a good thing to learn.
 
It is not always true that where there is smoke, there is fire. Often in your excitement in life when you think you must exert effort or control, you are like the boy who cried wolf. You feel urgent. You feel urgent about this today and urgent about something else tomorrow.
 
Sometimes you really really do need to learn that life can take care of itself without your panting. You may well use up too your energy on fires whose embers are already going out.
 
It is like this: You worry about a rash, dear ones, and you want to eradicate it. To you, this is an urgency in life when a rash will leave with or without your effort.
 
Urgencies in life are relative. Today it is a broken fingernail. What a tragedy. Tomorrow, you could have a real one. Dear Ones, even broken hearts repair themselves.
 
Choose the battles you will fight. This is good advice. Regardless, you don’t have to get huffy about situations. You waste your energy. Find something uplifting to put your attention on. Let go of the faults you see that you must change right away or what, or what, beloveds? What will happen? How many of what you see as difficulties can you wipe out in a day? Difficulties most often go away by themselves.
 
Your thoughts are powerful. You create with your thoughts. Perhaps you like urgencies. Perhaps you like to react. Perhaps you could have been an emergency surgeon or a fire fighter or a policeman who respond immediately to all reports.
 
Yet, if you are an accountant, you take care of what you can take care of. If someone you know overspends, you still sleep nights. You can’t intervene in everything. You can state your point of view, and then let it go. There is no need to communicate your insecurity. You don’t have to pass it on. What but your own insecurity would make you see so many details as potentially fatal? There is more to life than your trying to fix it.
 
By and large, it is necessary to leave others’ responsibilities to themselves. When you take a cab, you tell the driver where you want him to take you. Unless he asks, you don’t tell him how to get there. You don’t worry him with your worries. You don’t want to pass on your anxieties to the cab driver.
 
There are matters you have to let take care of themselves. If today is Monday, by what law must a seeming urgent situation have to be fixed today? What if it is taken care of Wednesday? So I am asking you, My beloved children, what’s wrong with a situation being fixed Wednesday? Who are you to say when something must be fixed? This sense of urgency isn’t a characteristic you want to develop or spread.
 
There can be positive urgency as well. A young child cannot wait for Christmas Eve or Christmas morning. He can’t wait for his birthday. He can’t wait to go the beach. In that sense, the urgency is a kind of delicious joy.
 
When there is truly a fire to report to the Fire Department, report it. However, every bonfire is not an emergency. Every delay is not an emergency. Beloveds, right the wrongs you make and not worry so much about other misdemeanors. If you must demand perfection, demand it of yourself! Give some slack to others. Give some slack to yourself as well. Why upset yourself over what, in the big picture, is not yours to be upset over and what may not really be such a big deal. Know the difference between a mountain and a mole hill.

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Self-Love – The New Earth Corner Stone

by lifetapestrycreations

Life Tapestry Creations - Blog Banner LTCLife Tapestry Creations - Brenda Black Photo

Channeled by Brenda Hoffman for http://www.LifeTapestryCreations.com



Dear Ones,

Let us begin with what you have been pining for for eons - the love and joy of new earth. Yet, you continue to forget or ignore the basic new earth building block - loving yourself.

Of course, you believe you love yourself - and perhaps you do to a certain extent. But do you love your body, your emotions, your very being? Or is that love saturated with, "I'm not smart enough. I'm not thin enough. I'm not healthy enough." or any other phrase that tells you and others your love is limited to what your culture defines as perfect?

Your self-limitation talk is based on what you learned and accepted in your former 3D world and has little to do with who you are now. 

Such is so for a reason only you know...or at least knew. You are you for reasons you perhaps cannot yet understand - but you will. And you will be amazed once you learn how aptly you designed your being.

Perhaps you are tired of reading or hearing phrases such as, "Love yourself." But please know that until you truly do - not merely voice that you do, but truly love yourself - you cannot and will not fully assume your new earth role. 

Most of your concerns about defining your new earth role are more about your ego than your true self.

Perhaps you beg to differ. You wish to save the world or help the world move into new earth. A wish no different than any care taking role. It is just on a larger scale.

You cannot save a drowning swimmer if you do not know how to swim. In a similar fashion, you cannot fully play your new earth role if you do not understand and/or accept yourself. 

Perhaps if you wish hard enough, you will lose weight, win money or find a mate. All wishes that tell you that you are not complete in yourself.

This indeed is the time to start fulfilling your dreams. But those dreams need to be clarified. Are they of your 3D ego or of your heart? So it is that you must fully understand yourself before your accept those dreams.

Perhaps such a thought makes you angry. Why must you do anything to accept your dreams/joy? Such is true. But if you accept dreams in your 3D self-contempt being, those dreams will soon not mean anything to you or new earth.

It is time to truly love you - warts and all. You created your being with all the difficulties that have been part of your 3D life for a reason. Allow yourself to accept that. And then allow yourself to accept that you will understand why in the not-too-distant future. 

But for now, focus on loving yourself and the rest will fall into place.

Perhaps you do not know how to better love yourself. You have tried nurturing yourself. You have stopped care taking those who always seem to require care taking, yet you find yourself disliking your body, intelligence level, lack of like-minded friends and on and on.

All indicators that parts of you are not complete or right in your current view.

Stop and ask your inner-being for assistance.

Even though you understand the concept of self-love, you have difficulties practicing it. Ask for assistance from your wise inner-being. Perhaps you wish to use the 'what' and 'why' concept, "What is it about myself I do not love and why?"  Perhaps you merely wish to ask for assistance and allow that assistance to redirect you.

Just know that it is time for gifts from the Universes for your new being - a being that cannot be fully developed until you love yourself. 

Now there are those who contend that such a promise is yet another carrot in your new earth life. Such is not true.

You will receive the gifts whether you love yourself more completely than is true now. The difference is that those gifts will be ego instead of self-love based.

You do not need to live in a cardboard shack to prove you are worthy of love. Instead, claim your mansion if that is who you are in your new being. For you have denied yourself your true dreams for eons by claiming those things and people your culture decided were right for you.

It is finally time to claim those gifts that are right for you - the gifts you declared important before you entered earth in this lifetime. And only you what those gifts are. So be it. Amen

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Are Spiritual Practices Necessary?

By

Sri Swami Chidananda

Introduction
The Need for a Purified Mind
The Transforming Power of Spiritual Practices

Introduction

We speak of the necessity of an awakened awareness. We speak of the necessity of a higher awareness which alone will make our life genuine and authentic. Until that awareness becomes firmly established in our heart, our life is still counterfeit, our life is still, if you want to put it more charitably, apurna, inadequate. It is not fully the life we are supposed to live; it is not a spiritual life.

A spiritual life is based upon spiritual consciousness. A spiritual life is based upon spiritual thinking; it is based upon a spiritual approach to all things. It is based upon a spiritual vision of the universe in which we live; it is based upon a spiritual awareness of oneself, a divine awareness of oneself. It is a transcendence of one’s present, limited body-mind-bound and time-space-oriented human personality. It is a going beyond this present earth consciousness, this psychophysical human consciousness, which by its very nature is temporary, changeful and inadequate. For, in every cycle of 24 hours, this human consciousness is extinguished. It is simply not there. It has a recurring death every day during deep sleep, and this is not philosophy or metaphysics or speculation. It is the fact of experience of all, be he king or beggar, donkey or dog. That being the case, when this human consciousness appears and disappears every 24 hours, how can it be called truly real?

Therefore, spiritual life begins from this central point, this subjective starting point: How do you know yourself? What is your awareness of yourself? From morning till night, what is the awareness of yourself that pervades your consciousness, that dominates your heart, that fills your mind and that directs the manner in which your intellect functions?

If spiritual life is to be authentic, genuine, true, and, therefore, go on yielding spiritual results, it is this which is the very key. You are what your inner awareness is. Hence the great prayer to the effulgent Light of lights beyond all darkness, Narayana, shining as this Light of lights: "dhiyo yo nah prachodayat—May my inner being—mind, intellect, thought, emotion, sentiment—all become characterised by an effulgence, by a certain radiance, a certain brightness. May Your light of inner spiritual vision bring a flood of light into my intellect." Hence, again and again, this prayer is offered.

Thus, it is true that the essence of spiritual life is an awakened and alert awareness, an unfolded inner consciousness of yourself upon a higher dimension, upon a higher plane. It is true. But then, what relevance, what meaning, what significance, what relationship, what place, do processes such as japa, kirtan, formal worship, study, pilgrimage, Ganges bath, mantra writing have? What do these various sadhanas, various aspects of practical spiritual life, have to do with this awareness?

Are they irrelevant? Are they meaningless? Are they a superstition? Are they an unnecessary burden we are carrying—unscientific, irrational, illogical, outmoded? Or, do they have a role to play in our spiritual life? Do they have some practical value? Do they even have a central, important place in our spiritual life and sadhana?

One way of answering this and understanding it is very direct. It is supra-logical, direct. Had they no importance, if they did not have any real, vital link, some relationship, some connection, with this inner awareness, some definite role to play, some very indispensable function, then great souls like Gurudev Swami Sivanandaji would never have endorsed them, supported them or made provision for them, would never have built a temple, a Bhajan Hall, instituted akhanda nama sankirtan or written books calledJapa Yoga and Philosophy of Idol Worship. All these Swami Sivanandaji would not have done unless they had some great significance and value. So this is enough answer. Had these things not a relevance, a purpose and a value, he would not have endorsed them. And no one in his senses would say that Swami Sivananda was a superstitious person.

Similarly, a great spiritual phenomenon like Sri Sri Anandamayi Ma would not have endorsed japa, kirtan, havans and various other worships. Neither would Papa Ramdas by bell, book and candle have proclaimed the supremacy, the supreme efficacy of the Name: OM SRI RAM JAI RAM JAI JAI RAM. And mind you, none of these people were orthodox in the conservative sense of the term. They were modern people, of our own times, who were aware of all the new trends of thought. And yet they meticulously followed certain outer forms. That is enough answer.

The Need for a Purified Mind

But then, if you want a different answer, more along the modern line of thinking, it is that such an awakened awareness, such an unfolded spiritual awareness, an active divine awareness, needs a certain medium, a certain field through which and in which to manifest, wherein to abide, just as any force needs some medium to manifest itself in and through. And the point lies here: this subtle, alert, awakened awareness, divine awareness, is an extremely subtle state of consciousness that can manifest only in a refined inner instrument, in a purified mind.

Such a very subtle state of mind and intellect is conspicuous by its absence in the vast majority of present day global mankind. They are steeped in rajas and tamas. For them, this gross world of names and forms alone is real, and they live to satisfy sense appetites and to fulfil desires. They are firmly bound down to a lesser, grosser level of being, of thinking, feeling and acting. In such beings, the mind-stuff, the chitta, is gross; it vibrates in a very rajasic and tamasic way. It may be able to make scientific discoveries and inventions, but it is ego-bound. It is bound to dehatma Buddhi—"I am the body" awareness. Even the slightest concept of the abstruse, the purely abstract principle as Spirit, is not there at all. They will mouth certain words; it may be part of their vocabulary, but it is not part of their thought frame; it is not part of their inner content.

This being the case, an awakened awareness, an alert awareness upon a spiritual level, is well nigh impossible to them. The utmost that one could say is that through intelligence and study, some of them may come to have a relatively or comparatively awakened awareness. Psychologically, they may be able to understand some of their moods and emotions, their neuroses and their inner complexes. So, having an intellect, they may be able to have some psychological awareness, which does make them different from the vast majority of their fellow beings in whom even this is absent. But then, psychological awareness is one thing, spiritual awareness is totally another thing.

Spiritual awakening and awareness require chitta suddhi (a pure mind). They require an abundance of sattva. They require a purified intellect. They require purity of heart, a total inner purity. Then alone the mind becomes an adequate and a suitable instrument for this heightened spiritual consciousness to manifest itself in, to dwell in and to be supported by.

And herein it is that the relevance of japa, meditation, nishkama paropakara seva (selfless service), study, pilgrimage etc., becomes clear. It is through such processes alone that the interior is purified and uplifted, made subtle, becomes an instrument par excellence as it were—very suitable, very appropriate, very fitting—to harbour and retain and invoke this higher state of consciousness, this radiant inner spiritual awareness. Thus the role of all the various observances, the various items of sadhana, as we know them, is to bring about in your being a totally purified interior; it is to bring godliness into your feeling about yourself. When this is achieved then all talk of an awakened awareness, spiritual awareness, becomes meaningful.

To elaborate further: Not any mind can meditate. Not any mind can enter into higher awareness. Not any mind can become a fit framework for God-consciousness, Divine-awareness. The gross mind, the mind filled with tamas, the mind filled with rajas, is unfit. It cannot hold this consciousness; it cannot help in bringing about this awareness. In the classical Vedantic sense, such a mind is impure even if it is pure in an ordinary sense. Because, according to classical Vedantic terminology, impurity constitutes not only ordinary impurity such as impure desires, anger, avarice and greed, infatuated attachment, arrogance etc., but also a lack of subtlety, a non-refined state of mind containing certain defects.

The outgoing nature of the mind is an impurity. It is an inveterate bad habit; it is an impurity of which the mind should be cleansed. Worldly thinking, jagat chintana, is an impurity. Gluttony is an impurity. The inability to trust others, always doubting, always suspecting, is an impurity. Pettiness is an impurity. Drowsiness is an impurity. And, egotism and selfishness are the greatest dirt, the most impure of all impurities of the mind.

Therefore the interior has to be transformed to make it fit for the higher awareness. There is need for what is known as an inner alchemy. Gross metal has to be transmuted into pure gold. This is spiritual life. This is spiritual sadhana. This is everything about yoga. And this is brought about by the various yoga practices, each working upon some scientific base, invoking some scientific principle.

The Transforming Power of Spiritual Practices

For example, a devotee will worship God every day. He may use an image of his ishta devata (chosen Deity) and worship It. He may sit before It for an half an hour or an hour. He bathes It, clothes It, ornaments It, puts sandal paste and kumkum on It, offers incense and waves lights, sings hymns and chants Its Name, prays to It and prostrates himself before It. All the time, his eye is fixed upon the divine form. All the time, his mind is thinking about his ishta devata and Its divinity. All the time, his heart is directed towards It in a stream of devotion, in pious holy thought.

So, the constant dwelling upon a thing, day after day, in a regular way, gradually brings about a transference into the worshipper of whatever is sublime, noble and divine in that thing; the worshipper becomes like the object worshipped or the ideal worshipped. This is a definite law, a specific law. That is the way in which a worshipper gradually becomes holy, pure and divine.

It is the same when you repeat the Name, do japa. The holy Name is a mass of Divinity. The Name is a repository of the infinite power of God. The constant repetition of the Name penetrates into the deepest recesses of our being. It even changes samskarasand vasanas (subtle tendencies and desires) from asubha into subha (inauspicious into auspicious) and brings in an abundant influx of sattva guna (the quality of purity). Because the Name is pure sattva, one hundred per cent suddha sattva. We can even call it super sattva because it fills you with sattva, overcoming rajas and tamas. That is how japa brings about a transformation.

They say: "As a man thinketh, so he becometh." Therefore, constant intake of sublime, life-transforming, thrilling, inspiring ideas, constantly putting them inside, also gradually brings about a complete transformation in the fabric of the antahkarana (inner being). That is why the great scientific sage, Maharshi Patanjali, included svadhyaya (spiritual study) as a specific item in his graduated, systematised yoga science. Similarly, unbroken remembrance of God has been advocated everywhere, in all scriptures.

From one point of view these practices are dispensable. If you attain Self-realisation they are dispensable. And these practices must be done with the awareness that their purpose is to bring about an inner transformation. If done for this purpose and with the right perspective, then they are not superstition. There may be superstition in the Hindu religion. There may be superstition in Hindu customs and practices, but there is no superstition in Hindu spirituality. There is no superstition in Hindu yoga science no matter what a thousand critics may say.

But if these practices are done mechanically, as a dull routine, just because someone has said they should be done, or if they are done with some lesser objective, like getting a desire fulfilled or attaining some petty earthly end, then they deserve to be criticised. If people make their entire religion a process of petty bargaining with God through worship, fasting, prayer, pilgrimage, bathing etc., then it becomes a puerile and mundane affair. They bring religion into a lower level, a lesser level.

However, it must be admitted that religion starts at this lesser level for everyone. Because no one is suddenly endowed with higher understanding. One gradually graduates from lesser understanding, erroneous understanding to better understanding, correct understanding, the right perspective. This is also a process, an evolutionary process.

Therefore, everything has a place. When properly understood and properly practised with the right attitude and right approach, everything will help. However, don’t get stuck in any process. Know that this is also a stage that one has to pass through, transcend. But don’t take it for granted or presume that you have already transcended it, passed beyond it. That may land you in error. Know that all these sadhanas are meant to bring about this total transmutation of the human nature, so that the human instrument, the mind, intellect and heart become fit channels for the Divine.

That is our task. That is why we have come here. If we are seriously engaged in this task, our life will move towards our own highest good, towards supreme blessedness. If we deviate, not only is the Goal lost, but one lands up in a mess which can result induhkha, great sorrow.

So this is how it is. Take what you will. We have to evoke these scientific principles and in an understanding manner engage in these various processes of yoga and bring about this inner alchemy, a total transmutation. Divinity can enter into Divinity. A godly individual can enter into God-consciousness, into God. We have to become like that which we are trying to attain. Sometimes we may fail, but if we persist, success is sure to be ours. If you persist it must yield results, because that is the great law. Perseverance always pays.

Therefore, one who perseveres and practises yoga in an understanding way, in a wise way, will reap a golden harvest of bliss, peace, divine perfection and liberation. May God’s grace and Gurudev’s choicest blessings enable you to see this clearly and enable you to live a life of heightened awareness and spiritual consciousness! God bless you all!


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God Exists
By Swami Sivananda

Doubt in the very existence of God has been raised
in the mind of the common man, by the evil-doers
for fulfilling their nefarious ends. The modern
atheist has his omnipotent and omniscient
scientific research laboratory; and that whose
existence cannot be proved there does not exist!

Once this faith in the existence of God is shaken,
man loses his moorings and is thrown at the mercy
of all kinds of evil forces, within and without.

Sage Sivananda has proclaimed the existence of God
and the soul-force behind his Word has awakened the
faith in millions of people all over the world. He
has brought forth interesting illustrations and
illuminating logic to support his declaration, to
convince even a confirmed atheist of the existence
of God. They have all been brought together in this
volume which is a boon to the spiritual
propagandist, the teacher, and people all over the
world--the believers and the non-believers.


For more information, please visit:
http://www.dlshq.org/books/es57.htm

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Rudy

http://www.heartcom.org/ShiftNews7-25-14.htm


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