Spiritual Progress

One's Spritual progress can be judged by one's to Love, to Serve , to Adjust and to Adapt

His Holiness Swami Shantanand Saraswathi

I am Nothing

The Greatest Acquisition Of Power is The Realisation

I Am Nothing

By His Holiness Swami Shantanand Saraswathi

What is Spirituality

What makes us human? Is it the ability to walk on two feet and think? Is it the complexity of emotion that permeates our lives like an ocean fog? Who are we really? Even when we define ourselves as a soul, what are we talking about? Is it some mysterious connection with an inner self that few human beings have access to while others simply live their lives in robotic imitation or denial?

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience, said somebody once, but spiritual beings having a human experience. Most of us have had peak experiences in our lives where we can identify with this spiritual being , but few of us feel able to sustain this awareness. Meanwhile, all kinds of dogmas, rituals, and religions have grown up around this awareness of our inner self, which have unfortunately done more to clutter than to illuminate the truth, leading to a painful disconnection from our inner being, with each other, and with all life on Mother Earth.

In this short essay, I wish to define spirituality in a multi-dimensional, evolutionary context. Who we are is a vast ocean of awareness seeking to find a reflection of itself in physical form. Whether we call this atman, soul, essence, spirit, being, monad, or divine spark, we are awesome beings eternally powerful and self-aware. At a certain point, we chose to experiment with physical matter, created physical bodies for self-expression, and entered the playground of form. It was a delicate operation, for while the potential existed for a greater exploration of diversity in the incredible beauty of physical form, there was also the danger that we would somehow get lost in matter. It was rather like a pearl diver plunging into the ocean depths hunting for pearls and finding that his lifeline had become tangled in the weeds.

From an evolutionary perspective, it is the DNA of our physical form that holds the memories of who we are, as well as the potential of what we can become. Our DNA was imprinted as a perfect reflection of spirit in the worlds of form. At a certain point in history, for reasons that I won�t elaborate at this point, our DNA experienced distortions, and our lifeline was broken. We experienced ourselves as marooned in bodies of matter, disconnected from the worlds of our origins. We became lost in matter, and experienced separation from our vast identity as spirit. We became identified ourselves with our bodies, with our brief sojourn in matter. Our minds, instead of serving as a link to the infinite worlds of multi-dimensional expression, became locked into a rigid sense of separate material identity. Disconnected from the truth of our inner being, we fragmented ourselves, and our bodies began to age, suffer, and die.

How do we reverse this sad state of affairs? In order to discover again who we truly are, we first need to recognize who we are not. We are NOT this sorry excuse for humanity that clothes itself in pathetically narrow religious, cultural, or historical identities. We are NOT a cancerous, murderous species out to devour the world. We are NOT the static within our minds that keeps us hooked into a pointless robotic existence. We are NOT bodies separate from our souls, nor hearts disconnected from our minds. And we are NOT alone in the universe.

The great Indian freedom-fighter, yogi, and avatar, Sri Aurobindo, spoke about a new force that is beginning to move through human affairs. The Divine that we are in our true essence is beginning to move towards the fractured divinity of our embodied form. He referred to this as the supramental descent. It is a unifying force that is beginning to permeate our collective human drama, reverse our distorted identification with physical form, and awaken our true potential within the fields of matter. It is a new evolutionary force that is here to create a new species of humanity as different from humans today as we are from the apes. It is a Divine Force that is re-splicing the very basis of our DNA so that we can fully express our Infinite Universal Self within transformed bodies of light capable of multi-dimensional access.

What we refer to as enlightenment is the first step in this journey. It is a neurophysiological process whereby the mind is linked with heart, which, yoked together, link with the dimensions of soul. It is only the first step, however. As our DNA begins to respond to these linkages, the physical body begins to mutate. The cells begin to absorb nourishment directly from the cosmos, the mind allows increasing access to higher dimensions, and the soul finds fuller expression in body of purified matter. Eventually the body becomes a clear, perfect reflection for the intent of spirit, and soul can incarnate fully within the body. Some call this process ascension. (Perhaps a more appropriate term would be "descension"!)

For the masses of humanity, this is still to come, however. It may not be till certain shifts take place in the energetic balance of Earth that we become fully capable of living as limitless spiritual beings in human bodies. As we come closer to the end of linear time as reflected in the Mayan calendar, the energetic balance on Earth will go through a profound shift. Until then, we can begin with contemplating our true potential, and awakening from the illusions of who we are not. Once we recognize who we are not, our souls can work more directly to illumine our bodies and minds. Although the mass enlightenment and ascension of humanity may not happen until later, each of us can begin our individual journey here and now.

For long eons, humanity has slumbered in unconsciousness, and has come close to destroying forever its own habitat. We have wandered deep into a prison of our own making, and have tried desperately to cut off all traces of our true origins and destiny. Our DNA has been distorted, and we have genetically engineered ourselves almost to extinction. However, we are at a moment in time when we are preparing to awaken from this deep slumber and take our place as fully conscious, mature, spiritual beings in the vast playground of created universes. After all our wanderings, we are preparing to finally come home to ourselves, and to truly know that place for the first time. May we journey well!

By Kiara Windrider

Aura Balancing

Sometimes known as aura therapy this is a type of energy work where the practitioner perceives some imbalance in the aura, sometimes using various equipment, and places their hands on or near the patient in an attempt to redress it. A few use their own energy but it is much more usual to channel energy from healersexternal source such as the earth, God etc. as used in Spiritual healing . This has the dual advantages of not depleting the practitioner and lessening the chance of the practitioner taking on any of the negative energy of the patient. Another method of balancing the aura is for the therapist to use his or her powers of visualisation. The therapist might visualise a ‘soothing blue’ going into and transforming an ‘angry red’ in a client’s aura or simple visualising energy flooding into the patient and ‘shoring up’ any week spots.

In much esoteric literature the human body is made up of various bodies in addition to the physical body. The four ‘densest’ of these, the ‘astral’, ‘etheric’, mental and emotional bodies overlap the physical body slightly and it might be these that are the main constituents of the aura or ‘energy field’ around a person’s body. There also seems to be a direct connection between the aura and the chakras, so for instance if someone’s aura appeared to be somewhat ‘top heavy’ it might indicate that they were ‘insufficiently grounded’ or had an underactive or blocked root chakra’

Even those who cannot see the aura can sometimes be aware of it. If you have just met someone and feel an instant dislike for them this could be from picking something up from their auras. There are also various aids to seeing the auras such as aura goggles, which are really just coloured glasses, aura photography, a relatively new development involving a camera and a personal computer, and kirlian photography. If you are trying to see auras for the first time it can help to put someone a few feet away from a plain background and squint at them in semi-darkness paying particular attention to an area from 6 inches to a foot away from them. Failing that many people claim to be able to feel the aura. Simply running your fingers at various distances around a person’s, or animal’s, outline and ‘tuning in’ is the normal method.

The aura is said to be influenced by many things but mostly your physical health and mental state. In fact it has been suggested that this might be a mechanism for how one’s mental state might affect the physical body. For example if someone’s lifestyle were particularly mentally stressful, that stress would directly affect the mental body, since it would be overworked, and the emotional body, which would be fed up about it. This could cause an energy imbalance which would feed back to the physical body, leading to illness. Other things that are said to affect the aura are diet, environment, spirituality and even the earth’s magnetic field.

An aura balancer or therapist could detect an imbalance and diffuse it before it had a chance to harm the body, or correct the imbalance and strengthen that part of the aura that was vulnerable. Needless to say the cause of the stress should be looked at or you would only be deferring the problem. Imbalances in the aura can be perceived in many ways. The various colours of the aura all tell a tale. The various associations of the colours are generally those used in colour therapy other than lighter colours in an aura would be preferable to darker ones. A dull or dark coloured patch in the aura could be indicative of some form physical ailment. A raggedy edged aura might indicate an emotional exhaustion or a giving too much of oneself. A particularly hard edged aura could suggest that the patient might be overly defensive. Shoots of light, normally coming from the head, could indicate anger or hysteria. In her book ‘hands of light’ Barbara Ann Brennan has many pictures of auras in various imbalanced states. An important point to note, however, is that not everyone perceives the aura in exactly the same way. Furthermore, the mental state of the viewer can not only affect how he or she perceives the aura but can directly affect the patient’s aura itself.

Farewell to Mr. Sajith at SivaSanta Clinic

Redirecting Stressful Energy

Stress is energy without direction.

Taking the undirected energy of stress and applying it useful relieves stressful feelings.

At the first sign of distress we can take a moment to breathe in deeply and then let go while relaxing on the out-breath. Controlled breathing cuts the edge off agitation.

Next, change activity and surroundings. Focusing the mind on another activity redirects stressful energy. Choosing to live for the highest good directs our energy in a positive manner

The Timeline of Healing

As we close in on Reality, we see that the Healer and healed are one. That our thoughts of love for others heal us during the very process of caring.

This self-healing by the Self of All happens when we are energized by joy. Joy felt in meditation. Joy felt in loving unconditionally. Joy felt in each moment of personal radiance.

Healing is usually an ongoing process over what we experience as a time line. And with each of us the time line is longer or shorter according to what we pack into each moment. According to the degree of love in attitude, thought, and action that we pack into each moment.

When we love all with the same unconditional love we feel for ourselves we are healed.

Healing occurs when we love with full vibrancy Purging away remaining traces to experiencing Oneness with the Healer Oneness with our Creator-Sustainer-Healer.

By Susan Kramer