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“Among the things our leaders seem to be missing is a comprehension of the staggering speed at which these change epidemics occur: one bank fails, then fifty; one country develops an atom bomb, a dozen try to follow; one computer or one child comes down with a virus, and the speed of its spread is incomprehensible.” (Ramo, 2009, p. 10)
“We are entering a revolutionary age. And we are doing so with ideas, leaders, and institutions that are better suited for a world now several centuries behind us.” (Ramo, 2009, p.8)
“What we face isn’t one single shift or revolution, like the end of World War 2 or the collapse of the Soviet Union or a financial crisis, so much as an avalanche of ceaseless change.” (Ramo, 2009, p. 8)
Joshua Ramo is accurately describing the challenges we are facing in our daily lives in a time of rapidly accelerating change and uncertainty. Our present leaders are as disoriented and confused as we are and not able to identify the problems now facing us, let alone solve them. We need to find our own way to survive, and thrive, through the chaos.
Fortunately, there is a surprisingly simple solution. Sahaja Yoga is uniquely suited to giving us the ability to cope and even find peace of mind and enjoyment during these difficult times. Sahaja Yoga is a meditation practice developed in 1970 and described by its founder, Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi, as the final step in the evolution of human beings. It allows us to be still like the hub of a wheel while the outside spins and whirls dizzyingly around us.
Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi
Practising Sahaja Yoga meditation helps us to see the true situation clearly by getting rid of our biases and prejudices and allowing us to make an accurate assessment of the situation as it is. Unless we see the truth, we will not be able to develop an effective action plan, both personally and as a society.
Until now, too much emphasis has been placed on details and logical thinking and rationality – all activities of the left hemisphere of the brain – in making decisions, to the exclusion of the input of the right hemisphere. Better, more livable solutions are more likely to come from the right hemisphere: the emotional, the personal, the particular, the natural world, the vision of the whole, and intuition and inspiration. Sahaja Yoga meditation brings the left and right hemispheres of the brain into balance so that they interact effectively in decision-making in individual and collective issues.
Creativity is essential for finding workable solutions to the new and unprecedented challenges of our present age. Some of our old solutions may be able to be combined in new and creative ways to solve present problems. It is often in meditation that inspiration comes to us. Being in a state of silence, without thoughts, allows the inspiration to flow through.
Resilience is important in allowing us to cope well with whatever adversity comes our way. If we live a life that is grounded, well-adjusted and emotionally stable and we lead a healthy lifestyle, we are setting the groundwork to be able to withstand many upheavals. If we are flexible, adaptable and not attached to particular ways of doing things, and can live without whatever we don’t have, our chances of surviving various crises are much enhanced. In addition to helping us to achieve the above, Sahaja Yoga meditation gives us hope and quiet optimism and an acceptance that whatever happens is for the best.
So often, when stress in society becomes too great, the rule of law breaks down, and morals and decency disappear. Practising Sahaja Yoga meditation automatically makes you a moral person. During meditation you find out for yourself how you should behave. You don’t need anyone to tell you, and you know it so clearly, so thoroughly, so deeply within your own being that you don’t want to go against it. The meditation also gives you the strength to act only for the right, to be a moral person even when there is enormous pressure to act otherwise.
Sahaja Yoga is the ideal adaptation to an environment of constant change now prevalent in our society. It is a living process; it is not static. It is not based on a set of rules, but is fluid and intuitive and flexible, and gives us the opportunity to adapt to whatever circumstances are prevailing, always within a totally moral framework. It is not a break from the moral precepts of the past, but a progression towards their logical conclusion. It is not in competition with the institutions of the past, merely the next step in their evolution to a higher, more complete and integrated manifestation. Sahaja Yoga meditation is all you will ever need to survive and thrive in “the age of the unthinkable”.
Kay Alford
Ramo, JC. The Age of the Unthinkable, Little, Brown and Co, 2009.
Let this Diwali enlighten you with light of love. You yourself are the lamps which burn high and don’t get pressed by the cover. They become much more powerful than the cover. It is their own asset. When they are hit upon, they are disturbed and extinguished.
Why are our lamps disturbed? You should think over it. Is there no transparent sheath around them? Have you forgotten your Mother’s love and therefore you are so disturbed? As the glass protects the lamp, in the same way my love will protect you. But the glass should be kept clean.
How can I explain? Have I to say like Shri Krishna, “Leave all religions and surrender to me,” or as Shri Jesus, “I am the way. I am the door.”? I want to tell that I am that destination. But will you people accept it? Will this fact go to your hearts? Although what I say is distorted, the truth will always stand. You cannot change what it is….
Diwali is the day of real aspirations. Invoke the whole universe. Many lamps have to be lit, and looked after. Add the oil of love – Kundalini is the wick – and awaken the Kundalini of others with light of the spirit within you. This flame of Kundalini will be kindled, and one within you will become the torch. Torch is not extinguished. Then there will be spotless sheath of my love. It will neither have any limits nor any end. I will be watching you. My love for you is showering as many, many blessings.
Excerpt from a letter from Shri Mataji to Sahaja yogis in New York in 1976
“And all the men gathered around Jesus, and their faces shone with the desire to hear the words which would come from his lips. And he lifted his face to the rising sun, and the radiance of its rays filled his eyes as he spoke: …”
“And the Communions are fourteen in number,
As the Angels of the Heavenly Father
Number seven,
And the Angels of the Earthly Mother
Number seven.
And just as the roots of the tree
Sink into the earth and are nourished,
And the branches of the tree
Raise their arms to heaven,
So is man like the trunk of the tree,
With his roots deep
In the breast of his Earthly Mother,
And his soul ascending
To the bright stars of his Heavenly Father.
And the roots of the tree
Are the Angels of the Earthly Mother,
And the branches of the tree
Are the angels of the Heavenly Father.
And this is the sacred Tree of Life
Which stands in the Sea of Eternity.”
From ‘Communions’ in the Gospel of the Essenes, translated from the original Hebrew and Aramaic texts by Edmond Bordeaux Szekely.
- Dead Sea Scrolls
These words are taken from some of the manuscripts of the Essene Brotherhood which were buried about 2,000 years ago in caves on the shores of the Dead Sea. These manuscripts contain the original words of Jesus Christ, written down at the time, by people who heard them first hand – people like John, the Disciple. The words are inspired, and inspiring. The power, the majesty and the immediacy of the words are compelling. The subject matter is mystical but not purely fanciful, as Jesus goes on to describe in detail the seven Angels of the Earthly Mother and the seven Angels of the Heavenly Father and how we should commune with them in the morning and the evening and the beneficial effects this will have.
About ten percent of the texts of the Essenes are identical with texts in the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, about twenty percent are similar and about seventy percent are completely different.
The Essene Brotherhood lived during the last two or three centuries BC and the first century of the Christian era at the Dead Sea in Palestine. They lived a communal way of life, away from cities and towns. They lived in tune with nature and were able to grow many types of fruits and vegetables in areas with comparatively little water, due to their intimate knowledge of crops, soils and climate.
All people were equal in the Brotherhood and they had no servants or slaves. They had their own economic system, based wholly on the Law (i.e. God’s Law). They studied astronomy and were known to be great healers using plants and herbs. They lived to 120 years or more and had enormous strength and endurance. They led a simple life, working in the fields, and spending their free time in prayer, study and communion with the heavenly forces, devoting their whole lives to living in accordance with the Law.
Membership of the Brotherhood was difficult to attain and entailed one year’s probation, three years’ initiatory work, followed by seven more years before being admitted to the full inner teaching.
The Essenes were also prophets; Elijah, John the Baptist and John the Beloved were members of the Essene Brotherhood. Jesus Christ himself also lived with the Essene Brotherhood for some time.
As they were being persecuted after the death of Christ, they buried all their manuscripts in caves near the Dead Sea. Some of these manuscripts were not found until the late 1940s and early 1950s and are known as the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Had the Essenes not been persecuted and killed, I think Christianity would have evolved in a very different way.
Kay Alford
(Photograph: faculty.etsu.edu)
I have been practising Sahaja Yoga for more than twenty years, and I am still amazed and humbled by the experiences that it brings. Sahaja Yoga truly connects us to an entirely new dimension. Our brains wrestle with this concept. We still think that we have to solve our problems, especially the mundane ones. However, if we surrender and truly believe that, just as Shri Mataji says, we are protected and that the Divine is just waiting to help us, then every little thing that is good for our ascent is taken care of in ways that our brains could not even imagine. These two experiences show just how the Divine is aware of everything, even our most basic, mundane needs.
I am on what I used to call “a very tight budget”. As a result, I found myself with two very hungry dogs and no money to feed them. I also desired to eat chicken soup from the local Malaysian restaurant. I had no money to buy either and began to feel stressed about the dogs (not so much about the soup).
I realised that I had forgotten once more that our needs are taken care of. I drove to the local pet shop and stopped my negative thoughts. I stood in the aisle where the dog food was. Just as I began to wonder what on earth I expected to happen, the owner of the store approached me.
He stood beside me and took down a large bag of dog food, saying, “I am so sorry, but I mixed up the order this week, and we don t have your usual dog food. Here, take this one – on the house.”
The old me would have panicked and blurted out the fact that I couldn’t afford it, but this new me just stayed silent and let him do all the speaking.
I walked out feeling totally humble and filled with joy. My ignorant brain was thinking that things could not get any better. Little did it know!
I started driving home when I received a text message. I stopped the car to read it. The text was from a friend who lived above the local restaurant that made the soup which, by now, I had forgotten all about. The restaurant had made too much of this soup that I desired and had given her the surplus which was too much for her to eat. She wanted me to come to her house to get some! I drove home, totally humbled, with enough soup for two and enough dog food to last for two weeks.
The other experience involved a food processor. I hadn’t had one for more than twelve months, and I really wanted to buy one as I missed the meals I used to prepare with it.
Finally, I had enough money to buy one and they were on special. I felt that another desire was being taken care of, but somehow it didn’t feel right to go ahead with buying it.
The next morning a lady who had been coming to the Sahaja Yoga programs at the local library rang and asked me to go to an exhibition at an art gallery. The following morning, we met at my house for meditation. We were chatting over a cup of tea when she began to talk about cooking and recipes. I mentioned my plans to buy a food processor. She asked why I wanted one, and I explained that I missed making hummus and falafels. She said that she had a food processor that she never used and that she would like me to have it because she always felt bad that it was never used.
Within half an hour I owned a food processor! My gut feelings had been correct: I wasn’t meant to buy a food processor; I was simply meant to “get” one.
Since then I never refer to my tight budget. I don’t have a tight budget at all. I simply have a Divine one!
Lisa Barron
(Photograph: causak.com)