Love is the Fulfilling of the Law
ON LOVE; PART CCXLIII
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•Α
GoodWill IS Love in Action
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•Α
Tomorrow IS the day of the Wesak Full Moon and we thought that since this occurs mid-day in the Eastern Part of the US where we write from, that it would be wise to publish our Wesak story in today’s essay rather than wait until after the Full Moon as we normally post at the end of the day. The actual time of the Full Moon is reported as: Taurus full moon April 25, 2013, 2:58 p.m. US EST, 07:58 p.m. GMT; this should give enough information to calculate this in any local time and we should consider here that one hour should be added wherever Daylight Savings Time is observed. As our story goes, the events that are reported occur at the time of the Full Moon and there is likely some benefit to our observance of this time, perhaps in thought and in prayer. We discussed recently our thoughts on invocation and on prayer and we add here that the esoteric teaching on this tells us that it IS in the mass appeal, the similar invocations of many people, that real change can we wrought out in the world. We interpret this in the understanding that the thoughts of many can permeate the very mental and emotional ‘fabric’ of the world thereby lifting it higher, into heaven if you will, and it IS within this mental and emotional ‘fabric’ that the individual’s own mind and emotions function. This ‘fabric’ is the source for world thought and emotion and plays an instrumental part in those changes that bring about that newness that we can constantly see as affecting the human family. Most importantly here in this context is that these realities are hidden from view; they are at work behind the physical scene, in that realm of thought and feeling that science is just beginning to see and to understand and which we KNOW can have both positive or negative effects upon the physical being of man. And, while we may not KNOW that this idea of mass invocation can help, we can be sure that it CAN NOT hurt.
Continuing on, this is the story of Wesak as it is said to occur every year a the time of the Taurus Full Moon:
There is a valley, lying at a rather high altitude in the foothills of the Himalayan-Tibet ranges. It is surrounded by high mountains on all sides except towards the northeast, where there is a narrow opening in the mountain ranges. The valley is bottle-shaped in contour, with the neck of the bottle to the northeast, and it widens very considerably towards the south. Up towards the northern end, close to the neck of the bottle, there a huge flat rock. There are no trees or shrubs in the valley, which is covered with a kind of coarse grass.
Approaching the time of the full moon of Taurus, pilgrims from the surrounding districts begin to gather. The holy men and the lamas find their way into the valley and fill the southern and the middle parts, leaving the northeastern end relatively free. There, so the legend runs, gathers a group of those great Beings Who are the Custodians on Earth of God’s Plan for our planet and for humanity. By what name we call these Beings does not greatly matter. The Christian believer may prefer to speak of Christ and His church, and regard Them as constituting that great Cloud of Witnesses Who guarantee to humanity ultimate salvation. The esotericists of the world may call them the Masters of the Wisdom, the planetary Hierarchy, Who in Their varied grades are ruled and taught by the Christ, the Master of all Masters, and the Teacher alike of angels and of men. Or we can call Them the Rishis of the Hindu Scriptures, or the Society of Illumined Minds as in the Tibetan teaching. They are the Great Intuitives and the Great Companions of our more modern presentation, and are the aggregate of perfected humanity who have followed in Christ’s steps and have entered for us within the veil, leaving us an example that we should do as They have done. They, with Their wisdom, love and knowledge, stand as a protective wall around our race, and seek to lead us on, step by step (as They Themselves were led in Their time) from darkness to light, for the unreal to the real and from death to immortality.
This group of knowers of divinity are the main participants in The Wesak Festival. They arrange Themselves in the northeastern end of the valley, in concentric circles, and prepare for a great act of service. In front of the rock, looking towards the northeast, stand Those Beings Who are called by Their disciples The Three Great Lords. These are The Christ, Who stands in the center; the Lord of living forms, The Manu, Who stands at His right; and The Lord of Civilization, who stands to His left. These three face the rock upon which rests a great crystal bowl, full of water.
Behind the grouped Masters, adepts, initiates and senior workers under God’s Plan are to be found the world disciples and aspirants in their various grades and groups (either “in the body” or “out of the body”), who at this time constitute the New Group of World Servers. Those present in their physical bodies have found their way there by ordinary means. Others are present in their spiritual bodies, and in the dream state. The “dream,” which they later relate, has been uniformly registered by people throughout the world, and bears the testimony to the recollection of an inner spiritual happening.
As the hour of the full moon approaches, a stillness settles down upon the crowd, and all look towards the northeast. Certain ritualistic movements take place, in which the grouped Masters and Their disciples of all ranks take up symbolic positions, and form on the floor of the valley such significant symbols as the five-pointed star, with The Christ standing at the highest point; of a triangle, with The Christ at the apex; or a cross, and other well known formations, all of which have a deep and potent meaning. This is all done to the sound of certain chanted words and esoteric phrases, called mantrams.
The expectancy in the waiting, onlooking crowd becomes very great, and the tension is real and increasing. Through the entire body of people there seems to be felt a stimulation or potent vibration which has the effect of awakening the souls of those present, fusing and blending the group into one united whole, and lifting all into a great act of spiritual demand, readiness, and expectancy. It is the climax of the world’s aspiration focussed in this waiting group. These three words ~ demand, readiness and expectancy ~ best describe the atmosphere surrounding those present in this secret valley.
The chanting and the rhythmic weaving grows stronger, and all the participants and the watching crowd raise their eyes towards the sky in the direction of the narrow part of the valley. Just a few minutes before the exact time of the full moon, in the far distance, a tiny speck can be seen in the sky. It comes nearer and nearer, and grows in clarity and definiteness of outline, until the form of The Buddha can be seen, seated in the cross-legged Buddha position, clad in his saffron-colored robe, bathed in light and color, and with his hand extended in blessing.
When The Buddha arrives at a point exactly over the great rock, hovering there in the air over the heads of The Three Great Lords, a great mantram, used only once a year, at The Festival, is intoned by The Christ, and the entire group of people in the valley fall upon their faces. This Invocation sets up a great vibration or thought current which is of such potency that it reaches up from the group of aspirants, disciples and initiates who employ it, to the Being we know as God. It marks the supreme moment of intensive spiritual effort throughout the entire year, and the spiritual vitalization of humanity and the spiritual effects last throughout the succeeding months.
The effect of this great Invocation is universal or cosmic, and serves to link us up with that cosmic center of spiritual force from which all created beings have come. The blessing is poured forth, and The Christ, as the representative of humanity, receives it in trust, for distribution.
Thus, so the legend runs, The Buddha returns once a year to bless the world, transmitting renewed spiritual life, through The Christ. Slowly then The Buddha recedes into the distance, until again only a faint speck can be seen in the sky, and this eventually disappears. The whole ceremonial blessing, from the time of the first appearance in the distance until the moment The Buddha fades out of view, takes just eight minutes.
The Buddha’s annual sacrifice for humanity (for He comes back only at great cost) is over, and He returns again to that high place where He works and waits. Year after year He comes back in blessing; year after year, He and His great brother, The Christ, work in the closest cooperation for the spiritual benefit of humanity. In these two great Sons of God have been focussed two aspects of divine life, and They act together as Custodians of the highest type of spiritual force to which our humanity can respond. Through The Buddha, the wisdom of God is poured forth. Through The Christ, the love of God is manifested in humanity, and it is this wisdom and love which pour forth upon humanity each Wesak full moon.
When The Buddha has again disappeared, the crowd rise to their feet; the water in the bowl is distributed in tiny portions to the Masters, initiates and disciples, and they then go their way to their place of service. The crowd, who have all brought their little cups and vessels of water, drink of them and share with others. In this beautiful “water ceremony of communion” is portrayed the symbol of the new age which is upon us, the Aquarian Age, the age of the Water Carrier.
In this ceremony is perpetuated for us the story of the universality of God’s love, the need for our individual purification, and the opportunity to share with each other that which belongs to all. The water, which has been magnetized by the presence of The Buddha and of The Christ, carries certain properties and virtues of a healing and helpful nature.
Thus blessed, the crowd silently disperses.
In this story we should see the right understanding that we should have of the relationship between the Buddha and the Christ and we should understand here as well that the opinions of those who have formulated the doctrines and those who follow them ARE NOT in accordance with any sense of reality of this relationship. For any to assume that there could be any animosity or dislike or conflict of any kind between these two Great Avatars of Love and Wisdom is sheer folly and in understanding this one should be able to see the folly in any sense of conflict between their respective religions or the teachings as well. And, we should add here that any perceived conflict between the teachings of the Buddha and the Christ are based in ignorance which in its turn is based in the illusion and the glamour and the vanity of Life in this world. In this area of inter-religion philosophy the idea of glamour is the more prevalent problem as in this, much like in national allegiance, there is that emotional sense that what view of religion one adheres to MUST be the right choice and that it IS the other guy who IS in error. In this perplexing problem of humanity we have not only the religions we speak of here but ALL religions and even the subdivisions within each react to each other in similar fashion; and, as we KNOW, this is not only a conflict of mind and emotion, it is not only a conflict of doctrinal approach to God, but it IS a conflict that erupts into radicalism and violence which have led to many wars throughout the history of the race.
As we proceed we should remember this: that the view of Buddhism by the Christian and the view of Christianity by the Buddhist are based in the doctrinal concepts and in each of these religions there are numerous denominations and sects that do not yet even agree with each other. As one comes to that point of awakening a different dynamic take effect and the man sees through this illusion and this glamour and thus he sees clearly that there is Truth in ALL world religions, ALL take a man to his objective which we call the Kingdom of God and which others call by a variety of names such as the Nirvana of the Buddhist and this is of course as based in their culture. Whether we consider the reality of the Soul, the God and the Christ Within, working and living though the form as awakening leading to the awakened state or Transformation leading to the Transformed state does not matter to the man who has progressed beyond the limiting factor of the carnal mind and emotions as it is this change that eliminates the personality as the center of the Life of the man in the world. Considering this Truth we should be able to see the futility of ALL that precedes this in the Life of the man in the world and that it IS in this state of being awakened or Transformed that we ARE free from the illusion and the glamour, the vanity as the Apostle Paul tells us; it is here that we are free from the wiles of the world and are at the strait gate which we can see clearly. In this clarity we can see the reality of the True man, the Soul, and can understand the ongoing plight of the man in form especially from our own experience and proximity to that plight. It IS in this clarity that we can see men as in the eyes of Paul who tells us as disciples to:
“And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all. Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved , bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as *Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful” (Colossians 3:10-15).
This is the reality of that Transformation that leads us to being Transformed, that awakening that leads us to being awakened; here we no longer see each other in that worldly sense but rather we see the Truth that “Christ is all, and in all” and regardless of religious affiliation this Christ IS God and this Christ IS the Soul.
It is the Christian habit of interpreting scripture according to the self serving ways of illusion and glamour that has created the great divide between Christianity and ALL other religions and this is not unlike the Jewish belief that they are God’s chosen people. Both of these doctrinal philosophies are based in the view that each takes from the individual scriptures that seemingly say what it is that they want to hear and which IS NOT necessarily the Truth. This is of course compounded by the disagreement that exists even within each of these religions and this is a factor in most every world religion, that denominations and sects appear because the Truths that they purport to uphold and teach are not seen as Truths by others. And this IS our point, that a Truth that is removed from the doctrinal debate, a Truth that has naught in it for the benefit of the group that originates it, a Truth that approaches Life from the perspective of God that we have ofttimes used which tells us that “there is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:11) and a Truth that considers the words that we use above from Paul’s Epistle to the Colossians above, IS a real Truth and anything contrary to this type of scrutiny is but the worldly thoughts and emotions that are fueled by the illusion and the glamour in which we ALL live.
Early on in our series of essays we made this statement which repeat for its value in understanding our perspective as well as our motivation; we said:
And so it becomes our duty to study the words of Jesus and to define, though His words, the proper doctrine to which we ourselves should adhere. Many of the churches are lost in a sea of doctrines and theologies and dogmatic pronouncements that swallow up many of their followers in the traditions of men that they follow and this while each proclaims that they are the way. Disagreement abounds and it is in this disagreement that we see, and they should see, that these varied paths are wrong and divisive; they divide the very Christ that they preach. The church of today teaches theology instead of the words of the Master, it worships Him instead of following Him and it uses its self created doctrines to define life and salvation. Much of what is taught and believed regarding atonement, judgment, resurrection, sin, heaven and hell and our salvation is steeped in the traditions of the church fathers, in Old Testament superstitions and the interpretation of the writings of the Apostles to match. We know that it is in the words of Christ that the truth is to be found and that the Apostles writings should be so interpreted to match this and not any preconceived ideas.
We have repeated these ideas in different words many times but this paragraph above seems to combine most ALL of our understanding in a concise way and this should be read in the context of the general theme of this blog. We close today with this from the writings of our Tibetan brother which we have posted before. We should see here that by changing the words a bit we can make this apply to most any religion.
The church today is the tomb of the Christ and the stone of theology has been rolled to the door of the sepulchre.
We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.
| Aspect of God |
Potency |
Aspect of Man |
In Relation to the Great Invocation |
In relation to the Christ |
|
GOD, The Father |
Will or Power |
Spirit or Life |
Center where the Will of God IS KNOWN |
Life |
|
Son, The Christ |
Love and Wisdom |
Soul or Christ Within |
Heart of God |
Truth |
|
Holy Spirit |
Light or Activity |
Life Within |
Mind of God |
Way |
Note on the Quote of the Day
This daily blog also has a Quote of the Day which may not be in any way related to the essay. Many of these will be from the Bible and some just prayers or meditations that may have an influence on you and are in line with the subject matter of this blog. As the uote will change daily and will not store with the post, it is repeated in this section with the book reference and comment.
Our Quote of the Day below can be seen in relationship to our text above as we must awake and see past the illusion and the glamour of Life in form; before we can begin to progress, we must be able to recognize that this illusion exists and that it has always existed can help us in our understanding. We should understand here as well that the master that is spoken of is one’s own True self, one’s own Soul.
If you are awake in the presence of a master
One moment will show you the way.
The fool is his own enemy.
The mischief is his undoing.
How bitterly he suffers!
Why do what you will regret?
Why bring tears upon yourself?
Do only what you do not regret,
And fill yourself with joy.
For a while the fool’s mischief
Tastes sweet, sweet as honey.
Bit in the end it turns bitter.
And how bitterly he suffers!
For months the fool may fast,
Eating from the tip of a grass blade.
Still he is not worth a penny
Beside the master whose food is the way.
Fresh milk takes time to sour.
So a fool’s mischief
Takes time to catch up with him.
Like the embers of a fire
It smolders within him.
Whatever a fool learns,
It only makes him duller.
Knowledge cleaves his head.
For then he wants recognition.
A place before other people,
A place over other people.
“Let them know my work,
Let everyone look to me for direction.”
Such are his desires,
Such is his swelling pride.
One way leads to wealth and fame,
The other to the end of the way.
Look not for recognition
But follow the awakened
And set yourself free. 5
The above is from the the sayings of the Buddha in the Dhammapada, from the section entitled The Fool. Fool here should be seen as reflecting the person who follows the worldly ways and this regardless of one’s intended spiritual nature or standing if this can be so expressed. This is a lesson in following one’s master who we look at as the Master, the Christ, and all those disciples of Christ that have come before us; they KNOW the way that we, being seekers, should follow. In this is a lesson on being humble and meek, the antithesis of pride.
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!
- 5 The Dhammapada Translated by Thomas Byrom
- From the Wesak Festival; A Technique of Spiritual Contact booklet; distributed by the Arcane School, NYC, NY
