The True Spirit of Christmas

“The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.”

In the end of December of every year most of the western world and also many people in the east celebrate the birth of an exceptional man called Jesus the Christ.

This great man is what in the Vedic culture is known by an Avatar or an earthly incarnation of God. And a man who can be called a God is a man who exhibits exceptional qualities and virtues of the human species such as being humane, kind, considerate, understanding, sympathetic, tolerant, approachable, accessible, compassionate, selfless and who ultimately is able to sacrifice himself for the sake of others.

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

God descends from his celestial plane and take human form to teach people by example of behaviour what is expect of  the other men (and of course the women) - in other words, what is expected of the human race as a species. The true followers of such God-Man are those who make all efforts to apply such behaviour and conduct in his daily life, and in such a way, practice his ways towards divinity themselves.

This is the true spirit of Christmas: to follow in essence the teachings of the Christ or to consciously copy his behaviour making his one’s own.

Those who make undue use of commerce, display luxury in manners of dressing & eating and indulge in intoxication of the body and mind are in no ways celebrating Christmas or the birth of Christ or his teachings.

“For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Christmas is time for penance - but not in the sense of self-punishment or mortification - but in the sense of modesty, simplicity and ascetic austerity which allows to introspection and meditation.

These are the essential attributes that will allow the awakening of the divinity sought within.

“Greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world.' I John 4:4”

Let us imbue the true spirit of Christmas in these days of celebration!

Wishing you a Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Daniel & Jeenal

Ahimsa - Non-violence

Yesterday while passing by the village of Naddi I caressed the tender calf who was probably a few days old. I felt a deep connection.

After a while, sitting in the green grass I saw two little..very little bright red bugs with black spots mating. I felt love for them. And in the twilight of the evening, while sitting on the rooftop facing the Himalayas, just below in the courtyard of the villagers house, I saw the mother goat tied with a rope while the little black lamb was free. As the baby lamb would go around a few meters away to explore, the mother goat would attentively and protectively observe the baby. The baby lamb would come hopping back to the mother with a sense of achievement, and the mother goat would lick her baby with love. I thought, this is how all the mothers are, full of loving tenderness..isn't it?

Ahimsa or Non-violence is the first Universal Ethic, one of the first Yama of the Patanjali Ashtanga Yoga, also know as the eight-fold path of Yoga.

The highest moral conduct for a human being is the practice of Non-violence. When we are able to connect closely to all the living beings, be it an animal..big or small, a tiny fish, or a worm, we will realize that they all are seeking for happiness and the wish to live without pain or suffering. Just as you do, just as we all do. We genuinely wish happiness for all the beings when we are able to feel their pain and feel compassionate love towards them. This is the highest path of humanity and the only way towards self- realisation and God. May all beings be happy !!!

Namaskar !!!

With love, Jeenal.

The Middling Stages of Meditation - Part 2

Meditating on Compassion

Before beginning meditation proper one can prepare oneself by cultivating suitable mental states. Suitable states are those which bring calm and peace to the mind and help one to achieve a balanced stated. So the instruction to meditate o compassion is given. Here the word “meditate” should be understood more like “contemplate” or to “think about”. How to do it:

The Outset

Developing Equanimity

“Begin the practice by meditating on equanimity. Try to actualize impartiality towards all sentient beings by eliminating attachment and hatred. […] Begin the meditation on equanimity by thinking of a neutral person and then consider people who are friends and foes. After the mind has develop equanimity towards all sentient beings meditate on loving-kindness. Moisten the mental continuum with the water of loving-kindness and prepare it as you would a piece of fertile ground. When the seed of compassion is planted in such a mind, germination will be swift, proper and complete. Once you have irrigated the mind stream with loving-kindness, meditate on compassion”.

The idea here is to understand how all sentient being are looking forward to be happy and trying to avoid suffering. The feeling of equanimity here is developed when one thinks deeply on how in this beginningless cycle of existence, there is not one sentient being who has not been one’s friend or relative hundreds of times. If one takes this perspective there is no ground for being attached to some and hating others. So one thinks:

“I shall develop a mind of equanimity towards all sentient beings”.

The compassionate mind has the nature of wishing all suffering beings to be free from suffering, so with the base of an equanimous mind one is advised to meditate on compassion for all sentient beings which experience all types of pains and sufferings. Animals suffer from hunger and thirst and experience immense physical suffering: they eat each other, become angry, and are hurt and killed. The human beings too experience various types of suffering:

“Not being able to find what they want, they are resentful and harm each other. They suffer the pain of losing the beautiful things they want and confronting the ugly things they do not want, as well as pain of poverty. There are those whose minds are bound by various fetters of disturbing emotions like craving desire. Others are in turmoil with different types of wrong views. These are all cause of misery, therefore they are only in intense pain like being on a precipice. […] Pervasive misery is what arises under the power of causes characterized by actions and disturbing emotions. It has the nature and characteristics of momentary disintegration and pervades all wandering beings”.

The advice is that whether you are engaged in one-pointed meditation or pursuing your ordinary activities, meditate on compassion at all times, focusing on all sentient beings and wishing that they all be free from suffering.

Developing Loving-kindness

“Begin by meditating on your friends and relatives. Recognize how they experience the various sufferings that have been explained. Then having seen all sentient beings as equals with no difference between them, you should meditate on sentient beings to whom you are indifferent. When the compassion your feel towards them is the same as you feel towards your friends and relatives, meditate on compassion for all sentient beings throughout the ten directions of the universe”.

“Meditation on loving-kindness begins with friends and people you are fond of. It has the nature of wishing that they meet with happiness. Gradually extend the meditation to include strangers and even your enimies. Habituating yourself with compassion you will gradually generate a spontaneous with to liberate all sentient beings. Therefore, having familiarized yourself with compassion as the basis, meditate on the awakening mind of bodhichitta”.

This is getting interesting, isn't it? We shall continue in the next post.

Have a try with this technique and then let me know your comments, please.

Namaskar!!!