Picture: Thomas touching the wounds of Jesus

There are times in every aspirant’s journey when doubt works into the mind and soul. This oppositional force acts with vicious efficiency, wiping out every memory of spiritual enlightenment that had been previously experienced.

These “crisis” moments will come, and depending on what you do with them they either act to propel you to your goal or they be a weight that will sink you in a sea of ignorance. Even in the lives of great avatars storms of doubt railed against them: Rama while in the forest and separated from Sita, Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, Buddha during his night of testing. Doubt in your purpose, doubt in a higher reality, doubt in your teacher/guru, doubt will surround you like a dark clouded veil.

Through this taxing time you must recognize it as a test, and despite the lack of light at such a time faith makes you continue forward. You need not pretend to know anything you do not know, only that your faith that the test is a test, and that by remaining loyal to God and guru you will eventually pass through it.

The path to enlightenment will strip you of everything you know and what you think you know. This empties the cup of the human mind so that you may be born anew in Spirit. When you find that doubt enshrouds you, remember that faith, loyalty and perseverance are your allies that will see you through any dark night the soul may encounter. Having traversed this transit of shadows and demons you will once again merge into light, expansiveness and a knowing oneness with your beloved Creator; you will once again be your true Self.

Picture by Gargi (Lakshmi): Krishna telling Uddhava: “Satsang–the company of enlightened ones–helps the devotee to break all attachments.

An interesting documentary tells how a magician was able to duplicate the feats of Uri Geller (famous entertainer who “psychically ” bends spoons, etc.), he also intercepted radio feeds to a healer/minister Peter Popoff from his wife, who was telling him in an earpiece the names and conditions of people who attended his mega-church (attendees turned in cards with names, addresses and medical conditions they wanted healed when they entered the church). This magician, James Randi, even coached others to fool academics studying psychic abilities (he also simultaneously coached the academics to be more rigorous as well, but they oftentimes failed to follow his advice).

This all brought to my mind skeptics of God, the spiritual path itself and the results claimed by spiritual masters. Let us set aside any claims of the miraculous, which all true spiritual masters minimize even though we all enjoy stories of extraordinary dimensions concerning God and saints. Instead, we will focus on what is essential to all the great teachings: being established in the true self (which feels to have an eternal nature), to have a clear and expanded consciousness, and to be in a state of mind that is blissful; what in India is called sat-chid-ananda.

Take away the notions of a transcendent God—the simple discovery that man has the capacity to experience transformative peace, bliss and clear consciousness without the use of drugs, alcohol or other stimulants would be of vast importance. In fact, as reported by all those who attain states of sat-chid-ananda, all other experiences that many people use to find happiness (drugs/alcohol, sex, gambling, etc.), all pale into insignificance by comparison.

Here is the interesting problem for skeptics of God; there is a universal tendency that experiences in sat-chid-ananda make one convinced of a Supreme Being and Consciousness, even if he or she was a skeptic before. In addition, for the attainment of these states of mind, faith in just such a Divine Being accelerates entering into this healthy beatific awareness.

For psychologists, sociologists and anthropologists there are many studies (just a few of these are Michael King of UCL, Sbarra at the University of Arizona, Canadian and British Journals of Psychiatry) that speak of the salubrious effect of going to church and having faith in God. For instance those who regularly attend church report a greater rating of happiness than those who do not; belief in God boosts the immune system, decreases blood pressure, increases life expectancy, and decreases acts of suicide; the more intimate and loving God is perceived, the greater the effect.

This all speaks to the fact that if you want to maximum happiness and health then belief in God and regular attendance of spiritual services are the ways to reach that goal. Make God more intimate and loving and you greatly accelerate the outcomes.

I was fascinated to watch this debunking documentary; the search for truth is a common ground upon which we can all meet. It offended this magician to see others claiming that what they did could only be done through telekinesis or telepathy, when he could he could easily duplicate them as a magician. And when the conditions were properly set to foil a magician’s tricks, those claiming higher powers could not perform.

However, I see no substitute for achieving the same results of attaining peace, consciousness, and bliss sans being in a close and loving relationship with God. You need not, nor should you, suspend your reasoning mind when entering your spiritual quest, but happily, reason tells you that faith in a Supreme Being greatly accelerates your attaining the goal of lasting happiness.

Ganesha Writing the Mahabharata

Everyone has a narrative about their own lives and its meaning. You can hear it in the stories that are told, the tone and tenor as well as the content; how those events are selected and interpreted makes up your narrative.

When two people encounter a similar situation they will each have unique understanding. An atheist looks out at the world and sees random chaos devoid of higher meaning. A lover of God sees those same events and knows that it is the hand of the Divine that guides every circumstance. Each sees the same event, both have radically different narratives.

I have met those who I have not seen in some time, and they will lead the conversation with, “Let me tell you my latest disaster.” In dramatic fashion they will list all the things that have gone wrong in their own lives, or lives of others they know about.

News organizations make it their business to sell bad news, with dramatic interpretations of whatever has occurred, glorifying the salacious, bloody and tragic in life. Bad news sells, good news—well—doesn’t.

We need to be conscious of what we focus our attention upon and how we interpret events. When Swami Ramdas walked the earth he saw everything as God, and he was in bliss. When Paramhansa Yogananda looked out upon this creation he saw the face of God in every flower, tree, mountain, even a blade of grass. When Jesus stood in front of the supreme temporal power in his world, Pontius Pilot, he declared that Pilot would have no power over him if it had not been given from above; in his narrative he knew that God is the ultimate power.

You love to read about saints and the great epic spiritual stories, whether it is Krishna, Jesus, Hanuman, St. Francis or Rama. What made each of them heroes is the fact they faced great challenges, but transcended circumstances by keeping their minds upon God alone. Your coming into contact with these heroes awakens the sleeping God that resides in you. Then you take that story and weave it into your own. Your narrative of life takes on new meaning and you see familiar events in life in completely new ways, even as your epic heroes did.

Now you are not merely going to work, but you are in service to God through what you do. You are not just sitting in meditation trying to focus, but you have joined a pantheon of yogis who are merged in a sea of bliss.  The obstacles and challenges in your life are not mere irritants, but God testing you to look to Him first, then heroically striving to overcome them. You no longer feel isolated and alone, rather you have a river of love flowing through you to all that you meet; and you feel complete.

It is vital that you get a hold of the narrative of your life that you tell yourself daily. If you leave it to the habits of the past you will go in circles and arrive back where you started, or even in a worse condition. But when you conform to the highest Light within, you rise to new heights and join the greatest of realized Beings who have ever lived.

Make your life an epic in which Light triumphs over darkness, you discover vast realms of Spirit within, and you are a blessing to all whom you meet; now that is a story worth telling, and a life  worth living!

Picture: Yogi performing an inner Fire Rite

My first job for pay was cutting asparagus from 4:00 to 7:00 a.m. before school during the spring when I was in the 4^th, 5^th and 6^th grades; all for 35 cents an hour. Hard physical work was a big part of my life all the way through my twenties. Into my 3^rd decade this changed as I entered the fields of counseling and mediation; Mother started this change by asking me to counsel those in the spiritual group and to give spiritual talks for Service.

It’s tempting for a “blue collar” kind of a guy to think that helping others to work through the mysteries of the mind or resolving conflicts with others is not really work, but that is looking at it from the outside. Having been on both sides, knowing what hard physical work is, and what hard work is as an agent of change I can say that both can be extremely challenging.

Whether it is digging a ditch by hand with a shovel, or working with someone with over a hundred multiple personalities, or doing a neighborhood mediation with six families from a cul-de-sac in conflict, it can all be hard work in different ways, that also has immense satisfaction—in different ways.

In fact it can seem that the less it looks like on the outside, the more effort is required on the inside. The theoretical physicist may not look like he or she is doing anything other than daydreaming, but what colossal Causal creations come to mind with single minded concentration.

This could not be more true than when doing spiritual work for myself, or in helping others to do theirs. One can sit in meditation in a half-daze while watching the time, or you exert yourself with all of your heart, mind a soul; think of Master or Mother with tears in their eyes—demanding God to reveal Himself. On the outside you may not tell that much difference between the two, but one way gets you results and other does not.

To do this work that God and Gurus have given me is the greatest challenge I can imagine. There is no clocking in or out, the effort and cost is tremendous, but so are the rewards. When an aspirant has worked, and worked and worked, and finally the results of peace, bliss and ever-new joy radiates within and without it is the greatest feeling for him or her, and for me.

The aspirant struggles through every obstacle, often wondering if it will come—will it come? And then the shift comes and it all starts to flow. Like a boat that in lower speeds plows through the water, great effort is required and it makes a big wake, but then suddenly the boat pops up and planes over the surface, same effort or even less and now it is skimming over the top; it feels like flying! I could not think of anything better than to be a part of this work, there is nothing higher or more fulfilling; in short, it is the best job—ever!

Today we in America mark the signing of the Declaration of Independence. While many may not see how revolutionary the ideals set out at the time really were (most the rest of the world simply did not believe this form of government would work), it was a time that set a new course for all people looking to have a just system of rules and government, not just Americans. These ideals have survived many stern tests, and in general have continued on a course of improvements.

No system of government will ever be perfect, for man is imperfect. However look to these words set out from the beginning in the Declaration, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men were created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

By and large these Founders were deeply religious men; many of them were unique thinkers when it came to religion, not at all slaves to the past interpretations. The ideals set out in the Declaration, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights are all tremendous, and our task has been to bring these ideals to fruition for all people of this country, and that basic, unalienable Rights should be enjoyed by all mankind. And that these rights are not derived from governments, but from God.

Let us all strive to make these words of truth and hope be true for one and all, and that we might do that by living life as our Creator has wanted us to do. These Founding Fathers were deeply inspired by the teachings of Jesus, and he placed the greatest principles before us. Without the general populace living by such principles, no government will succeed in securing the Rights of all, no matter how lofty the ideas are articulated.

Let us live as Jesus expressed the most fundamental laws of thought and behavior:

Matthew 22:

³⁶ Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

³⁷ Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

³⁸ This is the first and great commandment.

³⁹ And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

⁴⁰ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

When we as individuals determine to live in just such a way as spoken by the great Master, then we will enjoy true freedom.

In closing today, I would like to quote from the sage Erma Bombeck: “You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4th, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism.” Let us all think upon the meaning of true freedom today, and enjoy the potato salad before it gets iffy!

P.S. As I just finished this posting, a single eagle flew over the house, gliding on majestically.