ContentsEditorial + Have I Excelled + Inspired and Guided Living + Swami Replies + Understanding Each Other + Merudanda Prana Rudra Mudra Asana + Christmas Symbolism + Angelite + Understanding Energy + The Art of Leadership + Jesus Christ + The Greatness of Fasting + Gnosticism + ABC of Life + Music, Meditation and Spirituality + Inspiration + GitaScendence + Science and Power of Gayathri + Truth 4 Youth
Selected Articles
Editorial
Namasté all.
Calvin Coolidge said: ‘Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas.’ This is a mindset that should be maintained by everyone all year round - so we should actually be celebrating Christmas every day! Wouldn’t that be great?
With this issue we say goodbye to 2006 but look forward to sharing with you all again next year. We hope that you will continue your enjoyment, support and interest in our little offering. Thank you, everyone who has contributed to the continued circulation of Transcendence.
There was some feedback and concern last month over a letter pertaining to Guru’s well-being, that was included in November’s Transcendence. Perhaps it made many realize how blessed they are to spend even a small amount of time in the presence of Swami Shankarananda. Any questions in this regard should be addressed to Swami Directly.
As December celebrates the month of Christmas, we have included an interesting historical account of the Life of Jesus - with the respective MasterCard for your altar or sanctuary. You will also find an article explaining the symbolism of various aspects of Christmas, plus numerous Christmas sayings and verses scattered throughout the mag.
We find out about Angelite in the Jewel Box, and how to use Sweet Violets in healing (Tending the Temple). A mystical sect of Christianity called Gnosticism is uncovered in Faith, and we discover what matter is made of in Healing from Within.
Understanding Each Other teaches the ladies how to get men to listen, and Swami Shankarananda shares with us some valuable lessons on Inspired and Guided Living in Part One of His new series of articles. Swami Murugesu explains the importance and purpose of Fasting while Suren contributes an uplifting article on Music, Meditation and Spirituality (Meditation).
Please take a look at our back cover before you go rushing out to do your Christmas shopping. There are many great spiritual buys for family and friends - and at the same time you will be supporting a good cause as all proceeds go to the Jadatharaya Institute for the furthering of Spiritual teachings. The following gift suggestions should also be taken to heart: give to your enemy the gift of forgiveness; to an opponent, tolerance; to a friend, your heart; to a customer, service; to all, charity; to every child, a good example and to yourself, respect.
May you all have a blessed holiday.
In Love and Service always,
Editor
jo.petzer@mweb.co.za
* * * * * * *
Message from the Master
Have I Excelled?
Man, O man, yes you have excelled!
You have excelled in violence, but failed in peace;
You have excelled in hate, but failed in love;
You have excelled in injury, but failed in healing;
You have excelled in intelligence, but failed in knowledge;
* * * * * * *
Message from the Master
Have I Excelled?
Man, O man, yes you have excelled!
You have excelled in violence, but failed in peace;
You have excelled in hate, but failed in love;
You have excelled in injury, but failed in healing;
You have excelled in intelligence, but failed in knowledge;
you have excelled in gossip, but failed in prayer.
Yes, you have excelled, excelled, excelled,
but also failed, failed, failed.
Without change, 2007 is another year of failure for you.
Do something about it.
Stop some of the negative things that you enjoy.
* * * * * * *
My Beloved,
Remember each of us was given free will at birth, we need to make a concise effort to invite the Divine into our life. As all the great Masters have said, the divine mother wants nothing more than for each person to return the love to the Divine as does a child return the love he experiences from his or her earthly mother in the form of love, hugs and laughter. Inviting the mother to take charge in your life is the end to misery and loneliness in your life. The mother is the comforter in your life, the grace and the guidance, walking with you in everything you do.
Deenadayalan
* * * * * * *
Swami Says
Do not feel that you are separated from God at any time. This is a mistaken feeling; you must always remember that you are with God and that God is present in your wholeness. Always talk to God about your needs and aspirations. After some time you will find that this continuous request from God and this God Consciousness will eventually increase daily.
Ask God always to guide and help you when you are in great need… to help you to develop and attain courage, wisdom and success on your spiritual path and your material journey. Have continuous awareness of God, by inviting him into your life and living ways. By doing this He will help you progress from where you are now to higher states of consciousness. This being done, you will find that your spiritual qualities and power will be acknowledged by these entities unveiling themselves to you, thereby increasing your powers of perception and extraordinary abilities you may have not known about. This will improve your personal status making Self- and God-realization easy for you.
The longer you meditate, the deeper you go within yourself ,resulting in a deeper knowledge and understanding of God, whereby you will acquire deep understanding of the Self ... this is Truth. Always be attentive and wise, understand your experience with God, I know you will do it.
Mentally affirm to yourself... “ I settle within myself in the solitude and wisdom of God, the total understanding of His Omnipotent, Omnipresent and Omniscient Reality. I Love God.”
Do not at anytime think or believe that you are a material being with flaws. Always accept and divinely acknowledge firstly, that you are a flawless spiritual being, let this be your divine thought. Acknowledge that you are part of the Supreme Reality, Intelligence, and Light that is God. Yes, you are a mortal creature, but only in body. The real you is beyond the body. You are immortal and eternal. Do not be guided by any limitations. You are beyond such limitations. Remember these limitations are either mind set or society set.
Since you now acknowledge that you are immortal, you also need to understand that the immortal state lies in the deepest self, making you pure, complete and divine. Only the awareness of the body can change or be modified... not the inner self. By acknowledging that you are the Self, your awareness is divinely enhanced to completeness and love.
Now that you have acknowledged that you are a heavenly creature with the presence of God within you, acknowledge and respect that very presence of God in every being and entity. This in regard is most essential in your spiritual journey.
Meditate to calm your mind and the emotions. Only when calmness surrounds the mind and emotions are settled or absent, can you firmly enjoy and rejoice in the awareness of self and God. This state is your ‘Green Light’. Be firmly set in the awareness of that Supreme Intelligence.
There must be continuous activity and remembrance in the name of the Infinite. This helps to keep the relationship with self- and God-knowledge active at all times. Let all your faculties of the body and Self relate to others on a Divine level. This can be done by remembering God all the time.
Do not ‘show off’ to attract attention for your spiritual serva or devotions. Always look into other beings as divine atma. When you think that you are spiritual and Divine, think the same of others.
* * * * * * *
Christmas Symbolism
The story of the Christ birth is for the Occident what the birth of Krishna is for the Orient. For the spiritual aspirant, Christ’s words “No man cometh to the Father save by Me,” carry a transcendent meaning. The entire story of Christmas is a universally applicable symbol. It is found in all accounts of avataric births in all races and nations. Krishna, Mithra, Horus, Orpheus, Hermes, as well as countless heroes, gods, and saviours, were born in ‘mangers,’ wrapped in swaddling clothes, visited by wise men bearing gifts, worshipped by shepherds, and shone as stars of redeeming light for their peoples and nations.
December twenty-fifth is the date of the birth of Earth’s physical light-bringer, the Sun. Jesus, representative of the universal Christ, the Light of the world, is the spiritual Light-bringer to mankind, and His birth date should properly be the solar date for the sun’s birth. In its Cosmic sense, the Christmas birth celebrates the descent of the Divine Light, Spirit penetrating and permeating matter. In the human sense it is the descent of the Son of God (Spiritual Light) into matter, the descent of the Ego into the physical body.
Christmas Eve, December 24-25, is considered the holiest night of the year because on this midnight spiritual influences are strongest. In the Mysteries, the candidate, in spiritual vision, saw the mystic Star of Bethlehem, the spiritual Sun that shone on Holy Night, which guided him to the inner Christ.
* * * * * * *
My Beloved,
Remember each of us was given free will at birth, we need to make a concise effort to invite the Divine into our life. As all the great Masters have said, the divine mother wants nothing more than for each person to return the love to the Divine as does a child return the love he experiences from his or her earthly mother in the form of love, hugs and laughter. Inviting the mother to take charge in your life is the end to misery and loneliness in your life. The mother is the comforter in your life, the grace and the guidance, walking with you in everything you do.
Deenadayalan
* * * * * * *
Swami Says
Do not feel that you are separated from God at any time. This is a mistaken feeling; you must always remember that you are with God and that God is present in your wholeness. Always talk to God about your needs and aspirations. After some time you will find that this continuous request from God and this God Consciousness will eventually increase daily.
Ask God always to guide and help you when you are in great need… to help you to develop and attain courage, wisdom and success on your spiritual path and your material journey. Have continuous awareness of God, by inviting him into your life and living ways. By doing this He will help you progress from where you are now to higher states of consciousness. This being done, you will find that your spiritual qualities and power will be acknowledged by these entities unveiling themselves to you, thereby increasing your powers of perception and extraordinary abilities you may have not known about. This will improve your personal status making Self- and God-realization easy for you.
The longer you meditate, the deeper you go within yourself ,resulting in a deeper knowledge and understanding of God, whereby you will acquire deep understanding of the Self ... this is Truth. Always be attentive and wise, understand your experience with God, I know you will do it.
Mentally affirm to yourself... “ I settle within myself in the solitude and wisdom of God, the total understanding of His Omnipotent, Omnipresent and Omniscient Reality. I Love God.”
Do not at anytime think or believe that you are a material being with flaws. Always accept and divinely acknowledge firstly, that you are a flawless spiritual being, let this be your divine thought. Acknowledge that you are part of the Supreme Reality, Intelligence, and Light that is God. Yes, you are a mortal creature, but only in body. The real you is beyond the body. You are immortal and eternal. Do not be guided by any limitations. You are beyond such limitations. Remember these limitations are either mind set or society set.
Since you now acknowledge that you are immortal, you also need to understand that the immortal state lies in the deepest self, making you pure, complete and divine. Only the awareness of the body can change or be modified... not the inner self. By acknowledging that you are the Self, your awareness is divinely enhanced to completeness and love.
Now that you have acknowledged that you are a heavenly creature with the presence of God within you, acknowledge and respect that very presence of God in every being and entity. This in regard is most essential in your spiritual journey.
Meditate to calm your mind and the emotions. Only when calmness surrounds the mind and emotions are settled or absent, can you firmly enjoy and rejoice in the awareness of self and God. This state is your ‘Green Light’. Be firmly set in the awareness of that Supreme Intelligence.
There must be continuous activity and remembrance in the name of the Infinite. This helps to keep the relationship with self- and God-knowledge active at all times. Let all your faculties of the body and Self relate to others on a Divine level. This can be done by remembering God all the time.
Do not ‘show off’ to attract attention for your spiritual serva or devotions. Always look into other beings as divine atma. When you think that you are spiritual and Divine, think the same of others.
* * * * * * *
Christmas SymbolismThe story of the Christ birth is for the Occident what the birth of Krishna is for the Orient. For the spiritual aspirant, Christ’s words “No man cometh to the Father save by Me,” carry a transcendent meaning. The entire story of Christmas is a universally applicable symbol. It is found in all accounts of avataric births in all races and nations. Krishna, Mithra, Horus, Orpheus, Hermes, as well as countless heroes, gods, and saviours, were born in ‘mangers,’ wrapped in swaddling clothes, visited by wise men bearing gifts, worshipped by shepherds, and shone as stars of redeeming light for their peoples and nations.
December twenty-fifth is the date of the birth of Earth’s physical light-bringer, the Sun. Jesus, representative of the universal Christ, the Light of the world, is the spiritual Light-bringer to mankind, and His birth date should properly be the solar date for the sun’s birth. In its Cosmic sense, the Christmas birth celebrates the descent of the Divine Light, Spirit penetrating and permeating matter. In the human sense it is the descent of the Son of God (Spiritual Light) into matter, the descent of the Ego into the physical body.
Christmas Eve, December 24-25, is considered the holiest night of the year because on this midnight spiritual influences are strongest. In the Mysteries, the candidate, in spiritual vision, saw the mystic Star of Bethlehem, the spiritual Sun that shone on Holy Night, which guided him to the inner Christ.
The Christmas tree itself is a universal symbol. Antedating the Christian era, it originated in Egypt during the worship of the Goddess Isis. A palm tree with twelve short shoots on it, representing the twelve months of the year, was used at the time of the winter solstice. In northern regions a fir tree was used instead of a palm. The origin of exchanging gifts occurred in early medieval days. In some countries the custom of foretelling the future from cakes is celebrated on Christmas Eve.
Gifts were brought to the birth of Jesus in the shepherd’s cave-precious gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh: spiritual power, love-wisdom, and intelligence were poured upon the newborn Child, the Christic Light atom in the human heart, the babe in its mother’s arms, the great earth mother which carries, nurtures, and preserves the tiny life vehicle.
Mary, the mother, was the focus of light, the holy etheric crucible in which the transmutation of the elements took place. She represents the ideal of purity, devotion, and humility, which makes possible the incarnation of the most evolved of human egos.
The shepherds who saw the Star typify the inward vision of Divine Fire as it comes to those on the earth plane whose piety opens the window of the soul and activates clairvoyance. Their discernment enabled them to see the glory in the heavens and to feel the spiritual impulsions radiating from the wondrous Star.
In one sense it was a material star. In a higher sense it was the flame of forces concentrated to bring into material manifestation a physical presentment of the Logos, the world’s Saviour.
Especially during this Christmastide shall we not focus our thought upon these truths? Shall we not meditate upon the true interpretation of the sublime Christmas narrative, deepening and enlivening our knowledge and understanding of this mystic event? Shall we not centre our effort upon expanding our power to serve? Let us celebrate this Christmas by rendering to the Christ Child the love and homage which is His due and our gift and blessing.
* * * * * * *
Understanding Energy
What is Matter made of?
by Yvonne Jarvis
The ancient Greeks wondered what would happen if you took some solid matter, like stone or metal, and kept grinding it finer and finer. Some believed it was smooth right through and could be divided up endlessly, and others believed it was made of separate hard lumps called atoms (which is Greek for ‘can’t be cut’), and these were the smallest particles there were. For 2200 years nobody had anything new to say on the subject.
Then in 1803 John Dalton, an English schoolteacher began to study atoms seriously. He weighed and measured compounds until he began to find rules for ways in which atoms are linked and separated. Some might be surprised to hear that an atom - even an atom in the steel armour-plating of a warship, or an atom of carbon in a diamond - is mostly empty space. The big, solid world around us is not solid at all! It is made of tiny spots of matter hanging or whirling quite far apart in open space. Your hand does not go through the table because strong electrical forces between the whirling spots hold them away from each other.
Scientists have put together the facts gathered about the atom. It looks a bit like our solar system, with the sun in the middle hanging in empty space, and planets like Venus and Jupiter orbiting in paths like circles pulled out of shape. In the middle of the atom, hanging in empty space, is the nucleus (from the Latin name for a pip in a piece of fruit), and tiny particles called electrons spin around it in orbits like circles pulled out of shape.
No one has actually seen an atom. One hundred million of them would take up less than an inch. The atom is so small that if you had the same number of strawberries as atoms in one drop of water, you could cover the whole world with a layer of them 25 metres deep! If the nucleus were the size of a strawberry, and placed in the middle of a football field, the electrons would be in orbits way past the spectators’ heads. The nucleus makes up almost all the mass of the atom, so a nucleus the size of an atom would weigh about 75 million tons. If you did put it on a football field, the earth could not hold it. It would crush its way through sand and rock, to the earth’s core.
The nucleus is mostly made of 2 kinds of particles, protons and neutrons. There are 2 kinds of electricity: positive and negative. Two things with the same electrical charge push each other away; opposite charges attract. In the nucleus, the proton has a positive charge and the neutron no charge. The electrons, which are about 1800 times lighter than the other two particles, are negatively charged to the same degree. The pull of the nucleus keeps the electrons in orbit, and the opposite charges balance each other out.
One may wonder why the positive nucleus does not just pull the negative electrons right into it and collapse the atom. The reason: the speed of the electrons makes them keep trying to fly off, away from the nucleus. Another question is why the protons in the nucleus do not repel each other and fly off in all directions. Binding energy, which comes from mass, holds it together. No one knows how a nucleus converts some of its own mass into energy in order to hold itself together, but scientists agree that this is what happens, and this can be proved.
References: The How and Why Book of Atomic Energy by Dr Paul E Blackwood
* * * * * * *
Music, Meditation and Spirituality
by Suren Pillay
Everywhere you go today, you hear music of some nature or another. Some types of music appear soothing, others more violent, and others enlivening. There is a belief that different types of music lead one to experience certain moods or feelings. Indeed, many people’s identifications with certain life experiences are associated with certain songs. When a loving married couple identify with an old song that might have been prevalent while they were still dating and deeply in love with other, that song may bring back memories of their deep love for each other. Some couples even have a particular song that both of them identify with as being special to them.
So, how does music link up to spirituality and meditation? Music is extremely important in the vedic Sastras. In India, music was primarily a creative expression through which one could reveal his love for God. Songs sung in praise of God are the highest type of music for they awaken within a person latent spiritual faculties and memories of His Divine Nature. Such music elevates consciousness and produces healing effects not only for the individual but for the environment as a whole.
In Ayurveda (ancient Vedic science of medication), there is a special type of music known as Gandharva music. This music is known to heal patients suffering from various disorders, within a reasonable frame of time. Gandharva music is used in Ayurveda as part of healing treatments in addition to medications and massages. The music is so powerful that the area in which it is played, continues to affect people in positive ways even after the music has stopped playing.
If one continuously listens to music, ones subconscious will start to vibrate with that rhythm and he will unconsciously start to sing those songs in the waking state. If we listen to music very calmly, and with focus toward a certain part of the music, we can quickly reach a state of meditation and complete silence. Divine music, especially, has the ability to alter the vibratory rate of the cells, such that healing on a physical and mental level occurs.
Music that is abusive, violent or promiscuous in nature will have the effect of promoting those qualities among its listeners. It would thus not be shocking that a man who is brutal in his actions and words is a lover of violent and abusive music. Negative music thus reinforces whatever negativity a man already has within himself.
It would thus serve all men to listen to music that brings remembrance of the Divine, that heals and brings calmness. Such soothing music will have a positive effect not only on the listener, but also on the environment. In this regard, satsangs are invaluable, as they bring calmness, inner joy and healing to the listener instantaneously.
For one who wishes to grow spiritually, he should be careful of the music to which he listens for violent and abusive music may awaken within him negative qualities which will inhibit his growth. If one listens to one Divine song every day, he will be a better person for it, as the song will promote the Divine qualities within him, and make him more peaceful and healthy.
My message to readers this month is to attend satsang and listen to music that is elevating. Such music can only bring positive effects on your life, and may you attain health, inner peace and joy through the path of music!
Invitation to the Father
By Suren
In the face of numberless obstacles, conflict and disagreement,
Your beauty remains hidden in the altar of silent perception.
When shall Thy nature be revealed?
When shall I soak in Thy waters of beatitude and grace?
When shall You come and visit this vessel of flesh and blood?
Come Father, come into my house and
by Yvonne Jarvis
The ancient Greeks wondered what would happen if you took some solid matter, like stone or metal, and kept grinding it finer and finer. Some believed it was smooth right through and could be divided up endlessly, and others believed it was made of separate hard lumps called atoms (which is Greek for ‘can’t be cut’), and these were the smallest particles there were. For 2200 years nobody had anything new to say on the subject.
Then in 1803 John Dalton, an English schoolteacher began to study atoms seriously. He weighed and measured compounds until he began to find rules for ways in which atoms are linked and separated. Some might be surprised to hear that an atom - even an atom in the steel armour-plating of a warship, or an atom of carbon in a diamond - is mostly empty space. The big, solid world around us is not solid at all! It is made of tiny spots of matter hanging or whirling quite far apart in open space. Your hand does not go through the table because strong electrical forces between the whirling spots hold them away from each other.
Scientists have put together the facts gathered about the atom. It looks a bit like our solar system, with the sun in the middle hanging in empty space, and planets like Venus and Jupiter orbiting in paths like circles pulled out of shape. In the middle of the atom, hanging in empty space, is the nucleus (from the Latin name for a pip in a piece of fruit), and tiny particles called electrons spin around it in orbits like circles pulled out of shape.
No one has actually seen an atom. One hundred million of them would take up less than an inch. The atom is so small that if you had the same number of strawberries as atoms in one drop of water, you could cover the whole world with a layer of them 25 metres deep! If the nucleus were the size of a strawberry, and placed in the middle of a football field, the electrons would be in orbits way past the spectators’ heads. The nucleus makes up almost all the mass of the atom, so a nucleus the size of an atom would weigh about 75 million tons. If you did put it on a football field, the earth could not hold it. It would crush its way through sand and rock, to the earth’s core.
The nucleus is mostly made of 2 kinds of particles, protons and neutrons. There are 2 kinds of electricity: positive and negative. Two things with the same electrical charge push each other away; opposite charges attract. In the nucleus, the proton has a positive charge and the neutron no charge. The electrons, which are about 1800 times lighter than the other two particles, are negatively charged to the same degree. The pull of the nucleus keeps the electrons in orbit, and the opposite charges balance each other out.
One may wonder why the positive nucleus does not just pull the negative electrons right into it and collapse the atom. The reason: the speed of the electrons makes them keep trying to fly off, away from the nucleus. Another question is why the protons in the nucleus do not repel each other and fly off in all directions. Binding energy, which comes from mass, holds it together. No one knows how a nucleus converts some of its own mass into energy in order to hold itself together, but scientists agree that this is what happens, and this can be proved.
References: The How and Why Book of Atomic Energy by Dr Paul E Blackwood
* * * * * * *
Music, Meditation and Spirituality
by Suren Pillay
Everywhere you go today, you hear music of some nature or another. Some types of music appear soothing, others more violent, and others enlivening. There is a belief that different types of music lead one to experience certain moods or feelings. Indeed, many people’s identifications with certain life experiences are associated with certain songs. When a loving married couple identify with an old song that might have been prevalent while they were still dating and deeply in love with other, that song may bring back memories of their deep love for each other. Some couples even have a particular song that both of them identify with as being special to them.
So, how does music link up to spirituality and meditation? Music is extremely important in the vedic Sastras. In India, music was primarily a creative expression through which one could reveal his love for God. Songs sung in praise of God are the highest type of music for they awaken within a person latent spiritual faculties and memories of His Divine Nature. Such music elevates consciousness and produces healing effects not only for the individual but for the environment as a whole.
In Ayurveda (ancient Vedic science of medication), there is a special type of music known as Gandharva music. This music is known to heal patients suffering from various disorders, within a reasonable frame of time. Gandharva music is used in Ayurveda as part of healing treatments in addition to medications and massages. The music is so powerful that the area in which it is played, continues to affect people in positive ways even after the music has stopped playing.
If one continuously listens to music, ones subconscious will start to vibrate with that rhythm and he will unconsciously start to sing those songs in the waking state. If we listen to music very calmly, and with focus toward a certain part of the music, we can quickly reach a state of meditation and complete silence. Divine music, especially, has the ability to alter the vibratory rate of the cells, such that healing on a physical and mental level occurs.
Music that is abusive, violent or promiscuous in nature will have the effect of promoting those qualities among its listeners. It would thus not be shocking that a man who is brutal in his actions and words is a lover of violent and abusive music. Negative music thus reinforces whatever negativity a man already has within himself.
It would thus serve all men to listen to music that brings remembrance of the Divine, that heals and brings calmness. Such soothing music will have a positive effect not only on the listener, but also on the environment. In this regard, satsangs are invaluable, as they bring calmness, inner joy and healing to the listener instantaneously.
For one who wishes to grow spiritually, he should be careful of the music to which he listens for violent and abusive music may awaken within him negative qualities which will inhibit his growth. If one listens to one Divine song every day, he will be a better person for it, as the song will promote the Divine qualities within him, and make him more peaceful and healthy.
My message to readers this month is to attend satsang and listen to music that is elevating. Such music can only bring positive effects on your life, and may you attain health, inner peace and joy through the path of music!
Invitation to the Father
By Suren
In the face of numberless obstacles, conflict and disagreement,
Your beauty remains hidden in the altar of silent perception.
When shall Thy nature be revealed?
When shall I soak in Thy waters of beatitude and grace?
When shall You come and visit this vessel of flesh and blood?
Come Father, come into my house and
bless it with the fragrance of Wisdom and Love
To subscribe to a set of 2006 Transcendence issues, email Deepak.Folly@uec.co.za