On this Easter morning we mark the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. In the dictionary we read the definition of resurrection: the act of causing something that had ended or been forgotten or lost to exist again, to be used again. In the telling of the life of Jesus, it is the physical ending of his life when crucified upon a wooden cross, and then his miraculous rising back to life.

Resurrection from death is an event that occurs in the vast majority of the world’s religions, and it has deep significance for all of us. In a worldly sense someone may have his career, marriage, or a friendship resurrected after, to all appearances, it had ended or died. Emotionally and psychologically we may have resurrection when we recover from a trauma, and subsequently died to a meaningful part of ourselves, only to have it come alive once again.

Spiritually speaking, which is the primary purpose of Easter and the story of Jesus, resurrection takes on an even greater meaning. While the above mentioned resurrections are deeply significant to a person’s life, they pale in comparison to the spiritual dimension for you and for me.

We know from the scriptures that Jesus went through many profound experiences before he came to the crucifixion. He was baptized by John the Baptist, and God’s voice proclaimed him His son and a Light broke over him; he was tempted in the desert and overcame all obstacles; he selflessly served humanity through healings, teachings, and on many occasions working to the point of exhaustion, then finding renewal in isolation on a mountain top. These are just a few of the glimpses we have of the Master from the writings that have been preserved.

All of these experiences are leading to a kind of grand finale; a moment of great transformation. From the time Jesus consciously and voluntarily puts himself into harm’s way by returning to Jerusalem, through the moving events of the last supper and his total surrender to God in the Garden of Gethsemane, we follow the Master step by step finally leading to his crucifixion. Through Mother and Master we know that this description is the symbolic story of every aspirant as he or she seeks transformation from the human to the Divine.

Thus the inner or Mystical Crucifixion is a specific set of experiences everyone can expect to go through in their own spiritual ascent when the time is right. Resurrection occurs after the soul has gone through the crucifixion experiences necessary to purify body, mind and soul.

From death in the heart center a blocking stone is rolled away leading to a resurrection in which Divine Love now flows through the heart from an unending Source. Death in the fifth chakra, the throat center, purifies the Astral/electrical body of all impurities and now truth and radiance shines from the inner soul. Ascending to the Causal sixth center, the Christ Center, a resurrection of the pure intelligence of God now flows through the brain, bringing Light, Truth and Love from sacred Omniscience, God the Father. And finally, complete death, not just of the body, but of the all human sense of a separate self, leads to the  ascendancy of a son of man to becoming a Son of God; nay, more than that, the resurrection of God-hood.

This resurrection, as you will surmise, is not just for one man who lived two thousand years ago, but is the story of every individual making this ascendancy. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life; he leads you in the Way that completely transforms your life. It may come as a comfort for some to think that Jesus did all the heavy lifting and they can just ride along on his coattails. However, for the intrepid soul who recognizes the truth, resurrection must be a deeply meaningful transformation in his or her own life. The life of Jesus is a road map for the resurrection of Divine Consciousness in the sincere aspirant.

There has been something that has been forgotten, it is God-experience. There is something that has been lost, it is the realization of your eternal Self that is ever-conscious and is bliss itself. The resurrection of this state of Being means that it once again exists in your life in all of its fullness and glory, and for you to use it to help others achieve that same risen state. Easter is here to remind each one of us of this great and central Truth.

For those with eagle-hearts confinement to a limited body consciousness is too imprisoning, too suffocating to endure. Fortunately, we may learn to soar in spiritual skies and experience unbounded freedom, even as we yet remain living in the body.

Last night in our Kriya Class we explored that endless freedom. It starts with the mind’s power to create images, or imagination. Imagination is often derided as a false reality. And, it is a fact some can imagine many things, both true and false, and call it all true. But that should not take away from the reality that imagination can create a doorway to higher Reality; imagination is not that higher Reality, but it can trigger a true experience.

We started with what we were aware of in our normal conscious experience, ourselves in our bodies. Then closing our eyes we were aware of our breathing, for breathing is a vital part of our body-mind-Spirit connection. As we breathed, we inwardly saw our spirits expand beyond just the body and felt ourselves to grow out to the auric field, about arm’s length out, all around the body (imagine this for yourself even as you read this). We felt that we were expanded to that degree and we experienced the vitality, the peace and the Light of our Being was now larger.

Then we expanded out to the size of the room we were in, and all the people in that room. Gradually we continued to grow, and identified with the community we were in, and that the spirit of light, love, peace and bliss was permeating all that we encompassed. Then we saw ourselves beholding this world as if looking at it from a distance, and that Satchidananda (pure being, conscious awareness and bliss) was saturating the earth and all its beings.

We continued further to expand out to encompass the solar system, then the galaxy, and island galaxies, even out to this entire universe, and island universes, and the vast Astral Realm beyond material creation, then (if we dared!), to encompass the much more expanded field of the Causal Realm, and finally into the unlimited Spirit of God. And then to remember what it was like to be limited to the little body, how tiny and cramped this was in comparison to the vast expansion of Spirit.

No wonder we balk at the notion that the body and the material world are all that we are. And it also makes it understandable why souls get lost along the way and use drugs and alcohol in a vain attempt to experience that great freedom (and what a poor and dangerous imitation that attempt is!).

Afterward, even while driving the car home I continued in that expanded state of mind, and I told those in the car, “Not bad driving for one who is still out amongst the stars!” I had only a toehold on the body, enough to operate safely here on earth. And now, in the early morning hours, my Spirit continues to soar in the freedom of endless expansion and bliss.

We all can merge thinking into Being with practice and purification; and oh what we may be as we explore our true Being! Can you not sense the call of freedom tugging at you, an open breeze that seeks to fill the sails of your Spirit and take you into unending Bliss? It can start with your imagining this reality unfurling those closed tight sails, but then entering the doorway, finding yourself moving into the Reality of freedom loving Divinity within you, and all about you. Even now, do you not hear the call?

Health update: With practice one can move from oceanic consciousness to the little pond of body consciousness, without losing the freedom of the eternal Self. So, to shift subjects, this body continues to feel perfect recovery. Blood tests show that I am on the cusp of no longer being anemic; I do not notice any current signs of fatigue from the previous very low blood numbers.

I received my first vaccine injection that only contains my own cells, a combination of sterile tumor cells along with concentrated white blood cells. Other than some tiredness in the afternoon since the injection was received, I have had no other reaction. The idea is to target the immune system onto those cancerous cells in the early stages of formation. This is the second phase of the study for this vaccination. In the first phase (a test of a fewer number of participants), the three or four participants who had stage 4 cancer and had these injections have not had a recurrence of tumors. The few numbers of people in this category is not conclusive, but encouraging.

Also I have consulted one of the nation’s best oncological naturopaths and he said that melanoma is the top cancer for being responsive to naturopathic treatment. He took blood samples and I will meet with him again in a couple of weeks. In the meantime he recommends eating large servings of vegetables, half of a plate of food are vegetables, a palm size amount of protein, and a half to a cup of complex carbohydrates (such as quinoa). Use the Vitamix daily to liquefy an apple, a carrot, and a mixture of green vegetables, whatever is in the frig such as kale. Also he has prescribed large doses of curcumin in capsule form, some other supplements, and to drink Sei Mee green tea, whose ground leaves are equal to 20 cups of ordinary green tea in antioxidant power. He will have other recommendations after he gets the results from the blood tests.

In the meantime I feel the vitality of perfect health, and most of all, of course, God and Gurus grace continues to fill me with the unbounded freedom of the Divine Presence.

Picture: Jesus in complete surrender in the Garden of Gethsemane

There are layers to the brain that we can trace from the most primitive to the most sophisticated. The amygdala in the limbic system is involved with instinctual, core reactions and emotions. The limbic system controls basic emotions such as fear, anger and pleasure, and drives hunger, sex, dominance and care of offspring. These deep, instinctual emotions and drives are part of body consciousness and can operate completely separate from, and in opposition to, higher emotions and thought process; they are what is called in yoga, “animal consciousness.”

As aspiring yogis we often come up against the operation of these lower parts of the brain and it drives us to action that runs contrary to our goals as yogis; and over which we must become masters. If we are driven by these basic impulses we will be ignorant of higher brain reasoning and the intuition of Divine Consciousness.

There are two basic ways for attaining mastery over these lower forces, and they may be used in tandem. The first is through strong mental will and keeping the mind on God, and the second is through dispassionate observation. James said, “Submit yourself, and then to God, and resist the devil and he shall flee from you, come near to God and he will come near you.” [James 4:7] Then Jesus said, “But I tell you, resist not an evil person.” [Matt 5:39] One may interpret these two sayings to say, “Firmly turn your mind away from evil, putting your full attention on God (and the contrary impulses will leave you), and the second is to be the dispassionate observer, giving no power to evil.

There are two instances that have recently come to me. One happened earlier this week and the other occurred a week and a half after I had the operation. After I had the tumors removed and was in recovery I experienced three days of a deep grief welling up inside of me. It was the body grieving for what it had recently undergone. I observed the grief flowing through me, moving moving through until it finally expended itself. My mind was clear as the emotions came up, and it felt itself watching the grief, like a river flowing through me.

The second occurrence happened this past week. I had traveled back to the Northwest and received the vaccination that had been prepared for me. The vaccination had nothing but my own cells; tumor cells that had been sterilized and my own white blood cells. But body consciousness was triggered by the vaccination that included tumor cells (even though they were sterilized), a strong feeling of not wanting tumors to grow again came bubbling up from someplace deep inside of me. When I told Carla of this reaction she said the vaccination had not only tumor cells, but also the white blood cells, the good guys. She thought of the white blood cells as Hanuman and the millions of monkeys and bears that fought for Rama! This thought made me smile, and a good feeling spread over me; however this good feeling coexisted with the feeling of dread by the body for the next day and a half. Eventually the dread left and only the feeling of Hanuman and the millions of monkey-white-blood-cell-warriors continued afterward.

Jesus faced a great trial on the eve of his crucifixion. He knew what was to come, and everything inside of him was demanding, “Oh my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.” Then turning his mind to God in complete surrender, he said, “Nevertheless, not as I will but as Thou wilt.” [Matt 26:39] It is at this point of total surrender that the story comes full circle. It all began when Adam and Eve went against Divine Will, giving into the serpent force for their own pleasure and the promise that they should not die. [Genesis 3:4] This error by Adam and Eve (reason and feeling) is rectified when the son of man totally gives himself to Divine Will for certain suffering and death; as well as eventual resurrection and glory.   

We can trace our own journey going out from God when we to chose to go against God’s inner direction and became subject to the primitive components of the brain; no longer living by Higher Consciousness alone. Once those lower impulses came alive they dominated our thinking and we entered into the great ignorance: maya and avidya.

Our way back is through dispassion toward the lower impulses, keeping our full attention upon God, and being in complete surrender to His will. Jesus demonstrated this in his own life, as do all the fully-realized spiritual masters. We follow in the great ones footsteps and are flawlessly led to our eternal oneness with our Divine Mother and Heavenly Father.