Spiritual meditation is used across the globe in countless religions and cultures.

Some use it for stress and relaxation, others use it to clear their minds, and some use it to awaken and deepen their connection to something greater than themselves.

While many scientific studies have looked closely at how meditation can provide relaxation benefits, fewer have looked at its spiritual effects.

This is likely because spirituality isnt easily measured.

Still, theres a significant body of scientific literature that discusses spiritual meditation in many of its different forms.

Traditions worldwide employ spiritual meditation as a way to connect to the divine.

There are thousands, if not millions, of religious and spiritual traditions that include spiritual meditation in many different forms. Just a few examples of spiritual meditation in major religious traditions include:

A spiritual meditation is a meditation practice you partake in with the desire to connect with a higher power, the Universe, God, your Highest Self, etc., says Jen Alico, a certified meditation coach.

According to a 2017 study, spiritual meditation focuses on developing a deeper understanding of spiritual/religious meaning and connection with a higher power.

Unlike other forms of meditation, spiritual meditation is about more than stress reduction or relaxation.

The intention to connect to something greater than yourself is what makes this practice spiritual, says Alico.

Shaman Nisha, a sixth-generation shaman of Southern African and South-East Asian lineage, agrees with Alico.

From my perspective and experience of spiritual meditation, the element of spirituality comes from the connection to ones soul, says Nisha.

Spiritual meditation is a highly individual experience that can feel vastly different for each person.

An important work on the topic in Western thought is The Varieties of Religious Experience, written by philosopher, psychologist, physiologist, and Harvard professor William James in 1902.

According to a 2019 study, qualities of spiritual experience can include:

This list is by no means exhaustive, and reportings of spiritual experiences are incredibly diverse and varied.

Whether you feel an automatic connection to something deeper or feel nothing at all, experts agree you shouldnt try to force it.

With any type of meditation, the more you try the harder it will be to achieve a meditative state, says Alico. If you are just getting into spiritual meditations, I recommend staying away from conversations where other people talk about their spiritual meditation practice experience.

This can prevent unrealistic expectations about what your practice should be.

Everyones experiences will feel different because we are all beautifully unique individuals, says Alico.

Nisha agrees.

In my opinion, this is a practice that cannot be forced nor should any attempt be made to rush into it, he says.

Some people have reported experiencing what is known as awakening.

In Nishas opinion, an awakening experience is an activation of higher consciousness or an increase in our awareness as souls.

Nisha says these events can be triggered by life changing experiences or the conscious choice to make a lifestyle change to become more aligned with the souls energy.

While there is some research dedicated to the study of spiritual awakening, there is no scientific proof that it exists.

Based on his own experience, Nisha shares an extensive list of what he believes are the benefits of spiritual meditation:

Your practice will bring you realizations and then the awareness that you can choose how you experience each moment of your life, says Nisha.

In Alicos opinion, it strengthens the mind-body connection.

Meditation encourages you to do everything with intention. When consistently meditating, you will be able to better listen to what your body needs, she says. When you choose to listen to your body, youre naturally living a more mindful life.

Importantly, Nisha emphasizes that spiritual meditation isnt a quick fix.

The benefits it brings come from dedication to daily practice and the willingness to grow, he says.

A 2020 study and 2018 study noted that spiritual meditation can be an effective complementary treatment for several conditions, including:

A 2019 study noted that spiritual meditation can offer complementary support for children who dont have consistent or reliable access to medical and mental healthcare.

For both Alico and Nisha, the benefits of spiritual meditation are deep and expansive.

I think that the greatest benefit of spiritual meditation is the pure sense of bliss and confidence in who you are. You feel so blissfully confident in the fact that you are doing exactly what youre supposed to be doing in life, Alico says of her experience.

Spiritual meditation may also provide benefits for sleep. A 2019 study found that the use of mind-body medicine, including spiritual meditation, may be an effective modality to ease sleep problems for cancer survivors.

Nisha provides a spiritual explanation for the potential sleep benefits of meditation.

Your sleep improves because you are no longer experiencing unhealthy stress and your awareness of your daily experiences is of a higher understanding, he says.

Alico agrees.

Many of my clients feel a decrease in stress and anxiety from meditating, which is usually what is keeping them up at night, she says.

If youre having trouble sleeping at night, Alico recommends simply focusing on the breath as in step two of her meditation above.

Place your hands on your body and start to connect with the breath the same way you do during your meditation practice, she says. This will help relax the body and release whatever is keeping you up.

Body scan meditation and guided meditation are also recommended strategies to encourage sleep.

As mentioned above, theres no one way to practice spiritual meditation. Below, Alico and Nisha share two methods.

I recommend putting a pillow or cushion under your bottom, its much more comfortable! Alico says.

To close the practice, gently open your eyes and move slowly as you come out of your meditation.

Alico also recommends the Insight Timer app and binaural beats as options for meditation.

According to Nisha, this practice is rooted in Southern African and Southeast Asian heritage.

Start by getting into a comfortable seated position, so that your wrists and ankles are not crossed and your back is upright and not leaning on anything.

Make sure you wont be disturbed and there are no distractions such as phones or music, and give yourself permission to be there for as long as you need.

After your practice, Nisha recommends journaling your experiences and drinking plenty of water.

You can meditate at any time of the day, but Alico believes the morning and evening are best.

These are the times when our body is naturally more open to connecting and receiving, she says. However, if you feel your best doing your meditation at some other point during the day, by all means, do what feels right.

Nisha agrees with this sentiment.

Personally, I think its important that each individual knows themselves well enough to decide their own best time, as then they are likely to commit to a daily practice, he says.

If youre meditating in the morning, Alico suggests journaling beforehand.

Use this time to write out anything your heart desires, some days it may be lengthy. Other days just a paragraph or two will do. This will help clear your mind before your morning meditation, she says.

At night, Alico advises practicing spiritual meditation right before you sleep.

Put your phone on Do Not Disturb mode before meditating and leave it that way until morning. After your meditation, limit your screen exposure and allow yourself to fall to sleep naturally, she says.

Spiritual meditation is a highly individual experience. There is some scientific research to support its benefits, and its practiced in many cultures and traditions around the world.

While spiritual meditation wont give you superpowers, it may help you connect to something that feels bigger than yourself.

Victoria Stokes is a writer from the United Kingdom. When shes not writing about her favorite topics, personal development, and well-being, she usually has her nose stuck in a good book. Victoria lists coffee, cocktails, and the color pink among some of her favorite things. Find her on Instagram.

Read the original post:

Spiritual Meditation: What It Is, Benefits, and How to Practice

Mysticism has been on my mind again lately, in part because of the success of Why Buddhism Is True by my friend Robert Wright. During a mystical experience, you feel as though you are encountering absolute reality, whatever the hell that is. Wright explores the possibility that meditation can induce powerful mystical states, including the supreme state known as enlightenment.

I ventured into thisterritory in my 2003 book Rational Mysticism. I interviewed people with both scholarly and personal knowledge of mystical experiences. One was the Buddhist teacher Stephen Batchelor, a profile of whom I just posted. Another was a professor of philosophy who prefers to remain anonymous.Ill call him Mike. I didnt tell Mikes story in Rational Mysticism, but Im going to tell it now, because it sheds light on enlightenment.

Before I met Mike, I read an article in which he claimed to have achieved a mystical state devoid of object, subject, or emotion. It occurred in 1972, while he was on a meditation retreat. I had been meditating alone in my room all morning, Mike recalls,

when someone knocked on my door. I heard the knock perfectly clearly, and upon hearing it I knew that, although there was no waking up before hearing the knock, for some indeterminate length of time prior to the knocking I had not been aware of anything in particular. I had been awake but with no content for my consciousness. Had no one knocked I doubt that I would ever have become aware that I had not been thinking or perceiving.

Mike decided that he had experienced what the Hindu sage Shankara called unconsciousness. Mikes description of his experience, which he called a "pure consciousness event, baffled me. Can this be the goal of spiritual seeking? To experience not bliss or profound insights but literally nothing? And if you really experience nothing, how can you remember the experience? How do you emerge from this state of oblivion back into ordinary consciousness? How does an experience of nothing promote a sense of spirituality?

Mike, it turned out, lived in a town on the Hudson River not far from my own. Like me, he was married and had kids. I called and told him I was writing a book about mysticism, and he agreed to meet me to talk about his experiences. On a warm spring day in 1999 we met for lunch at a restaurant near his home. Mike had a ruddy complexion, thinning hair, and a scruffy, reddish-brown beard. Eyeing me suspiciously he said, A friend of mine warned me that I shouldnt talk to people like you. His friends advice is sound, I replied, journalists are not to be trusted. Mike laughed and seemed to relax (which of course was my insidious intent).

Grilling me about my attitudes toward mysticism, he compulsively completed my sentences for me. I said that when I first heard about enlightenment, my impression was that it changes your entire personality, transforming you into... A saint, Mike said. Yes, I continued. But now I suspected that you can have very deep mystical awareness and still be... An asshole, Mike said. So that's what you want to think about? he continued, scrutinizing me. You want to think about whether enlightenment is really all that cool?

Mikes edginess lingered as he began telling me about himself. Especially when instructing me on fine points of Hinduism or other mystical doctrines, he spoke with an ironic inflection, mocking his own pretensions. His fascination with enlightenment dated back to the late 1960s, when he was an undergraduate studying philosophy and became deeply depressed. He tried psychotherapy and Zen, but nothing worked until he started practicing Transcendental Meditation in 1969. Introduced to the west by the Indian sage Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Transcendental Meditation involves sitting with eyes closed while repeating a phrase, or mantra.

It was magic, hugely effective, Mike said of TM. Over the next decade, he became involved in the TM organization. I hung out with Maharishi a fair amount. He distanced himself from the TM movement after it began offering seminars on occult practices, notably levitation. I did that technique, Mike said. It was an interesting experience, but it sure as hell wasn't levitating. The Maharishi also proposed that the brain waves emitted by large groups of meditators could reduce crime rates and even warfare. I thought it was silly, Mike said, and I didn't want to be identified with it.

Mike pursued a doctorate in philosophy in the early 1980s so that he could defend intellectually what he knew to be true experientially: Through meditation we can gain access to realms of reality that transcend time and space, culture, and individual identity. Yes, as William James documented, mystical visions vary, but mystics from many different traditions, including Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, and Judaism, have described experiences that are devoid of content. These are what Mike calls pure consciousness events.

If you say all crows are black, all it takes is one white crow and you've blown the thesis, Mike said. We got a whole range of these white crows. Mike noted that if he and I described the restaurant in which we were eating, our descriptions would almost certainly diverge, even though we were seeing the same restaurant. Shankara, Meister Eckhart, and the Zen master Dogen described their pure consciousness events in different ways, but they were experiencing the same deep reality.

Our conversation then took an unexpected turn. I said I was mystified by the notion that enlightenment is nothing more than a pure consciousness event.

That's not enlightenment! Mike interrupted. He stared at me, and when he continued he spoke in clipped, precise tones, as if trying to physically embed his words in my brain. The pure consciousness event is just a stepping-stone, at best, to true enlightenment. Pure consciousness events and other mystical states are fascinating, interesting, very cool things. But they are shifts in perception, not shifts in the structure of perception. And that's, I think, when things get very interesting, when structural shifts take place.

Mike held up his water glass. Normally, he said, when you look at an object like this glass, you sense a distinction between the object and yourself. He set the glass down, grabbed my pen from my hand, and scribbled on his napkin. He sketched the glass, complete with ice cubes and lemon, and an eyeball staring at the glass. During a pure consciousness event, the object vanishes and only consciousness remains, Mike said, drawing an X through the glass.

There is a higher state of awareness, however, in which consciousness becomes its own subject and object. It becomes aware of itself. And there is a kind of, not solipsism exactly, but a reflexivity to consciousness. Bending over his napkin again, Mike drew an arrow that emerged from the eyeball and curled back toward it. It's like there is a self-awareness in a new sort of way.

Our Caesar salads arrived. As the waiter grated parmesan cheese over our bowls, Mike told me about the final state of enlightenment, which he called the unitive mystical state. In this state, your awareness enfolds not just your individual consciousness but all of inner and outer reality. What you are, and what the world is, is now somehow a unit, unified. Mike drew a circle around the eyeball and the glass.

Are there any levels beyond this one? I asked, pointing to the circle. I dont know, Mike answered, looking genuinely perplexed. I haven't read about it, if there is. Some people want to say that there are, beyond here, experiences. But I'm not convinced of that.

So are you enlightened? I asked. As I understand it, yes, Mike replied without hesitating. He had been expecting the question. He scrutinized me, looking for a reaction. See, that's tricky. I just gave you a pretty tricky answer. Because I define this stuff pretty narrowly. He might not be enlightened according to others definitions, but according to his definition he reached enlightenment in 1995.

Mike hastened to disabuse me of various myths about enlightenment. When he started meditating in the late 1960s, he believed that enlightenment was all going to be fun and games. He emitted a mock-ecstatic cry and waved his hands in the air. Just heaven, he added, snapping his fingers, like that. But enlightenment does not make you permanently happy, let alone ecstatic. Instead, it is a state that incorporates all human emotions and qualities: love and hate, desire and fear, wisdom and ignorance. The ability to hold opposites, emotional opposites, at the same time is really what we're after.

Enlightenment is profoundly satisfying and transformative, but the mind remains in many respects unchanged. You're still neurotic, and you still hate your mother, or you want to get laid, or whatever the thing is. It's the same stuff; it doesn't shift that. But there is a sort of deep--he raised his hands, as if gripping an invisible basketball, and uttered a growly, guttural gruntthat didn't used to be there.

Far from fostering humility and ego-death, Mike added, mystical experiences can lead to narcissism. Enlightenment is the biggest power trip you can imagine and an aphrodisiac. When you have a profound mystical revelation, you think you're God! And that is going to have a hell of an effect on people All the little young ladies run around and say, He's enlightened! He's God!

Have you struggled with that problem yourself? I asked. Sure! Mike responded. When he first began having mystical experiences in 1971, he was on top of the world. And after a while they sort of fall away, and you realize you're the same jerk you were all along. You just have different insights. Mike resumed psychotherapy in 1983 to deal with some of his personal problems. It was the best thing I ever did. Been in it ever since. (What would it be like, I wondered, to be the therapist for someone who believes he is enlightened?)

Contrary to what some gurus claim, enlightenment does not give you answers to scientific riddles such as the origin of the universe, or of conscious life, Mike said. When I asked if he intuits a divine intelligence underlying reality, he shook his head. No, no. Then he reconsidered. He sees ultimate reality as timeless, featureless, Godless, and yet he occasionally feels that he and all of us are part of a larger plan. I have a sense that things are moving in a certain direction, well beyond anybody's real control. Maybe, he said, just as electrons can be described as waves and particles, so ultimate reality might be timeless and aimlessand also have some directionality and purpose.

Evidently dissatisfied with his defense of enlightenmentor sensing that I was dissatisfied with it--Mike tried again. He has an increased ability to concentrate since he became enlightened, he assured me, and a greater intuitive sense about people. I can say this without hesitation: I would rather have these experiences than not, he said. It's not nothing.

A few days later, I went running in the woods behind my house. After I arrived huffing and puffing at the top of a hill, I flopped down on a patch of moss to catch my breath. Looking up through entangled branches at the sky, I ruminated over my lunch with Mike. What impressed me most about him was that he somehow managed to be likably unpretentious, even humble, while claiming to be enlightened. Hes no saint or sage, just a normal guy, a suburban dad, who happens to have achieved the supreme state of being.

But if enlightenment transforms us so little, why work so hard to attain it? I also brooded over the suggestion of Mike and other mystics that when you see things clearly, you discover a void at the heart of reality. You get to the pot at the end of the spiritual rainbow, and you dont find God, or a theory of everything, or ecstasy. You find nothing, or not nothing, as Mike put it. Whats so wonderful and consoling about that? Does seeing life as an illusionmake accepting death easier? I must be missing something.

I was still flat on my back when a shadow intruded on my field of vision. A vulture, wingtips splayed, glided noiselessly toward me. As it passed over me, just above the treetops, it cocked its wizened head and eyed me. Go away! I shouted. Im not dead yet!

Further Reading:

Does Buddhism Give Us Answers or Questions?

Can Buddhism Save Us?

Meta-Meditation: A Skeptic Meditates on Meditation

Why I Don't Dig Buddhism.

Research on TM and Other Forms of Meditation Stinks.

Do All Cults, Like All Psychotherapies, Exploit the Placebo Effect?

Cybertherapy, placebos and the dodo effect: Why psychotherapies never get better.

What Should We Do With Our Visions of Heaven and Hell?

Meta-Post: Horgan Posts on Psychedelics

Tripping on Peyote in Navajo Nation

Rational Mysticism: Spirituality Meets Science in the Search for Enlightenment

Original post:

What Does It Feel Like to Be Enlightened? - Scientific American Blog ...

Spiritual liberation, soteriological goal in Hinduism

Moksha (; Sanskrit: , moka), also called vimoksha, vimukti and mukti,[1] is a term in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism for various forms of emancipation, enlightenment, liberation, and release.[2] In its soteriological and eschatological senses, it refers to freedom from sasra, the cycle of death and rebirth. In its epistemological and psychological senses, moksha is freedom from ignorance: self-realization, self-actualization and self-knowledge.[4]

In Hindu traditions, moksha is a central concept[5] and the utmost aim of human life; the other three aims being dharma (virtuous, proper, moral life), artha (material prosperity, income security, means of life), and kama (pleasure, sensuality, emotional fulfillment).[6] Together, these four concepts are called Pururtha in Hinduism.[7]

In some schools of Indian religions, moksha is considered equivalent to and used interchangeably with other terms such as vimoksha, vimukti, kaivalya, apavarga, mukti, nihsreyasa and nirvana.[8] However, terms such as moksha and nirvana differ and mean different states between various schools of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism.[9] The term nirvana is more common in Buddhism,[10] while moksha is more prevalent in Hinduism.[11]

Moksha is derived from the root, muc, which means to free, let go, release, liberate.[12]

The definition and meaning of moksha varies between various schools of Indian religions.[13] Moksha means freedom, liberation; from what and how is where the schools differ.[14] Moksha is also a concept that means liberation from rebirth or sasra. This liberation can be attained while one is on earth (jivanmukti), or eschatologically (karmamukti, videhamukti). Some Indian traditions have emphasized liberation on concrete, ethical action within the world. This liberation is an epistemological transformation that permits one to see the truth and reality behind the fog of ignorance.[web 1]

Moksha has been defined not merely as absence of suffering and release from bondage to sasra. Various schools of Hinduism also explain the concept as presence of the state of paripurna-brahmanubhava (the experience of oneness with Brahman, the One Supreme Self), a state of knowledge, peace and bliss.[15] For example, Vivekachudamani - an ancient book on moksha, explains one of many meditative steps on the path to moksha, as:

Beyond caste, creed, family or lineage,That which is without name and form, beyond merit and demerit,That which is beyond space, time and sense-objects,You are that, God himself; Meditate this within yourself. ||Verse 254||

Moksha is a concept associated with sasra (birth-rebirth cycle). Samsara originated with religious movements in the first millennium BCE.[web 1] These movements such as Buddhism, Jainism and new schools within Hinduism, saw human life as bondage to a repeated process of rebirth. This bondage to repeated rebirth and life, each life subject to injury, disease and aging, was seen as a cycle of suffering. By release from this cycle, the suffering involved in this cycle also ended. This release was called moksha, nirvana, kaivalya, mukti and other terms in various Indian religious traditions.[17] A desire for the release from pain and suffering seems to lie at the root of striving for moksha, and it is commonly believed that moksha is an otherwordly reality, only achievable at the end of life, not during.[18] However there is also a notion that moksha can be achieved during life in the form of a state of enlightenment, known as jivan-mukti, although this is still relient on personal and spiritual endeavours attributed to attaining moksha.[18]

Eschatological ideas evolved in Hinduism.[19] In earliest Vedic literature, heaven and hell sufficed soteriological curiosities. Over time, the ancient scholars observed that people vary in the quality of virtuous or sinful life they lead, and began questioning how differences in each person's puya (merit, good deeds) or pp (demerit, sin) as human beings affected their afterlife.[20] This question led to the conception of an afterlife where the person stayed in heaven or hell, in proportion to their merit or demerit, then returned to earth and were reborn, the cycle continuing indefinitely. The rebirth idea ultimately flowered into the ideas of sasra, or transmigration - where one's balance sheet of karma determined one's rebirth. Along with this idea of sasra, the ancient scholars developed the concept of moksha, as a state that released a person from the sasra cycle. Moksha release in eschatological sense in these ancient literature of Hinduism, suggests van Buitenen,[21] comes from self-knowledge and consciousness of oneness of supreme soul.

Scholars provide various explanations of the meaning of moksha in epistemological and psychological senses. For example, Deutsche sees moksha as transcendental consciousness, the perfect state of being, of self-realization, of freedom and of "realizing the whole universe as the Self".[22]

Moksha in Hinduism, suggests Klaus Klostermaier,[23] implies a setting-free of hitherto fettered faculties, a removing of obstacles to an unrestricted life, permitting a person to be more truly a person in the full sense; the concept presumes an unused human potential of creativity, compassion and understanding which had been blocked and shut out. Moksha is more than liberation from a life-rebirth cycle of suffering (samsara); the Vedantic school separates this into two: jivanmukti (liberation in this life) and videhamukti (liberation after death).[24] Moksha in this life includes psychological liberation from adhyasa (fears besetting one's life) and avidya (ignorance or anything that is not true knowledge).[23]

Many schools of Hinduism according to Daniel Ingalls,[14] see moksha as a state of perfection. The concept was seen as a natural goal beyond dharma. Moksha, in the epics and ancient literature of Hinduism, is seen as achievable by the same techniques necessary to practice dharma. Self-discipline is the path to dharma, moksha is self-discipline that is so perfect that it becomes unconscious, second nature. Dharma is thus a means to moksha.[25]

The Samkhya school of Hinduism, for example, suggests that one of the paths to moksha is to magnify one's sattvam.[26][27] To magnify one's sattvam, one must develop oneself where one's sattvam becomes one's instinctive nature. Many schools of Hinduism thus understood dharma and moksha as two points of a single journey of life, a journey for which the viaticum was discipline and self-training.[27] Over time, these ideas about moksha were challenged.

Dharma and moksha, suggested Nagarjuna in the 2nd century, cannot be goals on the same journey.[28] He pointed to the differences between the world we live in, and the freedom implied in the concept of moksha. They are so different that dharma and moksha could not be intellectually related. Dharma requires worldly thought, moksha is unworldly understanding, a state of bliss. "How can the worldly thought-process lead to unworldly understanding?", asked Nagarjuna.[28] Karl Potter explains the answer to this challenge as one of context and framework, the emergence of broader general principles of understanding from thought processes that are limited in one framework.[29]

Adi Shankara in the 8th century AD, like Nagarjuna earlier, examined the difference between the world one lives in and moksha, a state of freedom and release one hopes for.[30] Unlike Nagarjuna, Shankara considers the characteristics between the two. The world one lives in requires action as well as thought; our world, he suggests, is impossible without vyavahara (action and plurality). The world is interconnected, one object works on another, input is transformed into output, change is continuous and everywhere. Moksha, suggests Shankara,[23] is a final perfect, blissful state where there can be no change, where there can be no plurality of states. It has to be a state of thought and consciousness that excludes action.[30] He questioned: "How can action-oriented techniques by which we attain the first three goals of man (kama, artha and dharma) be useful to attain the last goal, namely moksha?"

Scholars[31] suggest Shankara's challenge to the concept of moksha parallels those of Plotinus against the Gnostics, with one important difference:[30] Plotinus accused the Gnostics of exchanging an anthropocentric set of virtues with a theocentric set in pursuit of salvation; Shankara challenged that the concept of moksha implied an exchange of anthropocentric set of virtues (dharma) with a blissful state that has no need for values. Shankara goes on to suggest that anthropocentric virtues suffice.

Vaishnavism, one of the bhakti schools of Hinduism, is devoted to the worship of God, sings his name, anoints his image or idol, and has many sub-schools. Vaishnavas (followers of Vaishnavism) suggest that dharma and moksha cannot be two different or sequential goals or states of life.[32]Instead, they suggest God should be kept in mind constantly to simultaneously achieve dharma and moksha, so constantly that one comes to feel one cannot live without God's loving presence. This school emphasized love and adoration of God as the path to "moksha" (salvation and release), rather than works and knowledge. Their focus became divine virtues, rather than anthropocentric virtues. Daniel Ingalls[32] regards Vaishnavas' position on moksha as similar to the Christian position on salvation, and Vaishnavism as the school whose views on dharma, karma and moksha dominated the initial impressions and colonial-era literature on Hinduism, through the works of Thibaut, Max Mller and others.

The concept of moksha appears much later in ancient Indian literature than the concept of dharma. The proto-concept that first appears in the ancient Sanskrit verses and early Upanishads is mucyate, which means freed or released. It is the middle and later Upanishads, such as the Svetasvatara and Maitri, where the word moksha appears and begins becoming an important concept.[14][33]

The Katha Upanishad,[34] a middle Upanishadic era script dated to be about 2500 years old, is among the earliest expositions about sasra and moksha. In Book I, Section III, the legend of boy Naciketa queries Yama, the lord of death to explain what causes sasra and what leads to liberation.[35] Naciketa inquires: what causes sorrow? Yama explains that suffering and sasra results from a life that is lived absent-mindedly, with impurity, with neither the use of intelligence nor self-examination, where neither mind nor senses are guided by one's atma (soul, self).[36][37] Liberation comes from a life lived with inner purity, alert mind, led by buddhi (reason, intelligence), realization of the Supreme Self (purusha) who dwells in all beings. Kathaka Upanishad asserts knowledge liberates, knowledge is freedom.[38][39] Kathaka Upanishad also explains the role of yoga in personal liberation, moksha.

The Svetasvatara Upanishad, another middle era Upanishad written after Kathaka Upanishad, begins with questions such as why is man born, what is the primal cause behind the universe, what causes joy and sorrow in life?[40] It then examines the various theories, that were then existing, about sasra and release from bondage. Svetasvatara claims[41] bondage results from ignorance, illusion or delusion; deliverance comes from knowledge. The Supreme Being dwells in every being, he is the primal cause, he is the eternal law, he is the essence of everything, he is nature, he is not a separate entity. Liberation comes to those who know Supreme Being is present as the Universal Spirit and Principle, just as they know butter is present in milk. Such realization, claims Svetasvatara, come from self-knowledge and self-discipline; and this knowledge and realization is liberation from transmigration, the final goal of the Upanishad.[42]

Starting with the middle Upanishad era, moksha - or equivalent terms such as mukti and kaivalya - is a major theme in many Upanishads. For example, Sarasvati Rahasya Upanishad, one of several Upanishads of the bhakti school of Hinduism, starts out with prayers to Goddess Sarasvati. She is the Hindu goddess of knowledge, learning and creative arts;[43] her name is a compound word of sara[44] and sva,[45] meaning "essence of self". After the prayer verses, the Upanishad inquires about the secret to freedom and liberation (mukti). Sarasvati's reply in the Upanishad is:

It was through me the Creator himself gained liberating knowledge,I am being, consciousness, bliss, eternal freedom: unsullied, unlimited, unending.My perfect consciousness shines your world, like a beautiful face in a soiled mirror,Seeing that reflection I wish myself you, an individual soul, as if I could be finite!

A finite soul, an infinite Goddess - these are false concepts,in the minds of those unacquainted with truth,No space, my loving devotee, exists between your self and my self,Know this and you are free. This is the secret wisdom.

The concept of moksha, according to Daniel Ingalls,[14] represented one of the many expansions in Hindu Vedic ideas of life and the afterlife. In the Vedas, there were three stages of life: studentship, householdship and retirement. During the Upanishadic era, Hinduism expanded this to include a fourth stage of life: complete abandonment. In Vedic literature, there are three modes of experience: waking, dream and deep sleep. The Upanishadic era expanded it to include turiyam - the stage beyond deep sleep. The Vedas suggest three goals of man: kama, artha and dharma. To these, the Upanishadic era added moksha.[14]

The acceptance of the concept of moksha in some schools of Hindu philosophy was slow. These refused to recognize moksha for centuries, considering it irrelevant.[14] The Mimamsa school, for example, denied the goal and relevance of moksha well into the 8th century AD, until the arrival of a Mimamsa scholar named Kumarila.[47] Instead of moksha, Mimamsa school of Hinduism considered the concept of heaven as sufficient to answer the question: what lay beyond this world after death. Other schools of Hinduism, over time, accepted the moksha concept and refined it over time.[14]

It is unclear when the core ideas of samsara and moksha were developed in ancient India. Patrick Olivelle suggests these ideas likely originated with new religious movements in the first millennium BCE.[web 1] Mukti and moksha ideas, suggests J. A. B. van Buitenen,[21] seem traceable to yogis in Hinduism, with long hair, who chose to live on the fringes of society, given to self-induced states of intoxication and ecstasy, possibly accepted as medicine men and "sadhus" by the ancient Indian society.[14] Moksha to these early concept developers, was the abandonment of the established order, not in favor of anarchy, but in favor of self-realization, to achieve release from this world.[48]

In its historical development, the concept of moksha appears in three forms: Vedic, yogic and bhakti. In the Vedic period, moksha was ritualistic.[21] Moka was claimed to result from properly completed rituals such as those before Agni - the fire deity. The significance of these rituals was to reproduce and recite the cosmic creation event described in the Vedas; the description of knowledge on different levels - adhilokam, adhibhutam, adhiyajnam, adhyatmam - helped the individual transcend to moksa. Knowledge was the means, the ritual its application. By the middle to late Upanishadic period, the emphasis shifted to knowledge, and ritual activities were considered irrelevant to the attainment of moksha.[50] Yogic moksha[21][51] replaced Vedic rituals with personal development and meditation, with hierarchical creation of the ultimate knowledge in self as the path to moksha. Yogic moksha principles were accepted in many other schools of Hinduism, albeit with differences. For example, Adi Shankara in his book on moksha suggests:

| || ||

By reflection, reasoning and instructions of teachers, the truth is known,Not by ablutions, not by making donations, nor by performing hundreds of breath control exercises. || Verse 13 ||

Bhakti moksha created the third historical path, where neither rituals nor meditative self-development were the way, rather it was inspired by constant love and contemplation of God, which over time results in a perfect union with God.[21] Some Bhakti schools evolved their ideas where God became the means and the end, transcending moksha; the fruit of bhakti is bhakti itself.[53] In the history of Indian religious traditions, additional ideas and paths to moksha beyond these three, appeared over time.[54]

The words moksha, nirvana (nibbana) and kaivalya are sometimes used synonymously,[55] because they all refer to the state that liberates a person from all causes of sorrow and suffering.[56][57] However, in modern era literature, these concepts have different premises in different religions.[9] Nirvana, a concept common in Buddhism, is accompanied by the realization that all experienced phenomena are not self; while moksha, a concept common in many schools of Hinduism, is acceptance of Self (soul), realization of liberating knowledge, the consciousness of Oneness with Brahman, all existence and understanding the whole universe as the Self.[58][59] Nirvana starts with the premise that there is no Self, moksha on the other hand, starts with the premise that everything is the Self; there is no consciousness in the state of nirvana, but everything is One unified consciousness in the state of moksha.[58]

Kaivalya, a concept akin to moksha, rather than nirvana, is found in some schools of Hinduism such as the Yoga school. Kaivalya is the realization of aloofness with liberating knowledge of one's self and disentanglement from the muddled mind and cognitive apparatus. For example, Patanjalis Yoga Sutra suggests:

, |

After the dissolution of avidya (ignorance),comes removal of communion with material world,this is the path to Kaivalyam.

Nirvana and moksha, in all traditions, represent resting in one's true essence, named Purusha or Atman, or pointed at as Nirvana, but described in a very different way. Some scholars, states Jayatilleke, assert that the Nirvana of Buddhism is same as the Brahman in Hinduism, a view other scholars and he disagree with.[61] Buddhism rejects the idea of Brahman, and the metaphysical ideas about soul (atman) are also rejected by Buddhism, while those ideas are essential to moksha in Hinduism.[62] In Buddhism, nirvana is 'blowing out' or 'extinction'.[63] In Hinduism, moksha is 'identity or oneness with Brahman'.[59] Realization of anatta (anatman) is essential to Buddhist nirvana.[64][65][66] Realization of atman (atta) is essential to Hindu moksha.[65][67][68]

Ancient literature of different schools of Hinduism sometimes use different phrases for moksha. For example, Keval jnana or kaivalya ("state of Absolute"), Apavarga, Nihsreyasa, Paramapada, Brahmabhava, Brahmajnana and Brahmi sthiti. Modern literature additionally uses the Buddhist term nirvana interchangeably with moksha of Hinduism.[57][58] There is difference between these ideas, as explained elsewhere in this article, but they are all soteriological concepts of various Indian religious traditions.

The six major orthodox schools of Hinduism have had a historic debate, and disagree over whether moksha can be achieved in this life, or only after this life.[69] Many of the 108 Upanishads discuss amongst other things moksha. These discussions show the differences between the schools of Hinduism, a lack of consensus, with a few attempting to conflate the contrasting perspectives between various schools.[70] For example, freedom and deliverance from birth-rebirth, argues Maitrayana Upanishad, comes neither from the Vedanta school's doctrine (the knowledge of one's own Self as the Supreme Soul) nor from the Samkhya school's doctrine (distinction of the Purusha from what one is not), but from Vedic studies, observance of the Svadharma (personal duties), sticking to Asramas (stages of life).[71]

The six major orthodox schools of Hindu philosophy offer the following views on moksha, each for their own reasons: the Nyaya, Vaisesika and Mimamsa schools of Hinduism consider moksha as possible only after death.[69][72] Samkhya and Yoga schools consider moksha as possible in this life. In the Vedanta school, the Advaita sub-school concludes moksha is possible in this life,[69] while Dvaita, Visistadvaita, Shuddhadvait sub-schools of Vedanta tradition believes that moksha is a continuous event, one assisted by loving devotion to God, that extends from this life to post-mortem. Beyond these six orthodox schools, some heterodox schools of Hindu tradition, such as Carvaka, deny there is a soul or after life moksha.[73]

Both Smkhya and Yoga systems of religious thought are mokshastras, suggests Knut Jacobsen, they are systems of salvific liberation and release.[74] Smkhya is a system of interpretation, primarily a theory about the world. Yoga is both a theory and a practice. Yoga gained wide acceptance in ancient India, its ideas and practices became part of many religious schools in Hinduism, including those that were very different from Smkhya. The eight limbs of yoga can be interpreted as a way to liberation (moksha).[74][75]

In Smkhya literature, liberation is commonly referred to as kaivalya. In this school, kaivalya means the realization of purusa, the principle of consciousness, as independent from mind and body, as different from prakrti. Like many schools of Hinduism, in Smkhya and Yoga schools, the emphasis is on the attainment of knowledge, vidy or jna, as necessary for salvific liberation, moksha.[74][76] Yoga's purpose is then seen as a means to remove the avidy - that is, ignorance or misleading/incorrect knowledge about one self and the universe. It seeks to end ordinary reflexive awareness (cittavrtti nirodhah) with deeper, purer and holistic awareness (asamprjta samdhi).[75][77] Yoga, during the pursuit of moksha, encourages practice (abhysa) with detachment (vairgya), which over time leads to deep concentration (samdhi). Detachment means withdrawal from outer world and calming of mind, while practice means the application of effort over time. Such steps are claimed by Yoga school as leading to samdhi, a state of deep awareness, release and bliss called kaivalya.[74][76]

Three of four paths of spirituality in Hinduism. Each path suggests a different way to moksha.

Yoga, or mrga (meaning "way" or "path"), in Hinduism is widely classified into four spiritual approaches.[78] The first mrga is Jna Yoga, the way of knowledge. The second mrga is Bhakti Yoga, the way of loving devotion to God. The third mrga is Karma Yoga, the way of works. The fourth mrga is Rja Yoga, the way of contemplation and meditation. These mrgas are part of different schools in Hinduism, and their definition and methods to moksha.[79] For example, the Advaita Vedanta school relies on Jna Yoga in its teachings of moksha.[80] The margas need not lead to all forms of moksha, according to some schools of Hinduism. For example, the Ekasarana dharma denies the sayujya form of mukti, where the complete absorption in God deprives jiva of the sweetness and bliss associated with bhakti. Madhavadeva begins the Namghoxa by declaring his admiration for devotees who do not prefer mukti.[81]

The three main sub-schools in Vedanta school of Hinduism - Advaita Vedanta, Vishistadvaita and Dvaita - each have their own views about moksha.

The Vedantic school of Hinduism suggests the first step towards moka begins with mumuksutva, that is desire of liberation.[23] This takes the form of questions about self, what is true, why do things or events make us happy or cause suffering, and so on. This longing for liberating knowledge is assisted by, claims Adi Shankara of Advaita Vedanta,[82] guru (teacher), study of historical knowledge and viveka (critical thinking). Shankara cautions that the guru and historic knowledge may be distorted, so traditions and historical assumptions must be questioned by the individual seeking moksha. Those who are on their path to moksha (samnyasin), suggests Klaus Klostermaier, are quintessentially free individuals, without craving for anything in the worldly life, thus are neither dominated by, nor dominating anyone else.[23]

Vivekachudamani, which literally means "Crown Jewel of Discriminatory Reasoning", is a book devoted to moksa in Vedanta philosophy. It explains what behaviors and pursuits lead to moksha, as well what actions and assumptions hinder moksha. The four essential conditions, according to Vivekachudamani, before one can commence on the path of moksha include (1) vivekah (discrimination, critical reasoning) between everlasting principles and fleeting world; (2) viragah (indifference, lack of craving) for material rewards; (3) samah (calmness of mind), and (4) damah (self restraint, temperance).[83] The Brahmasutrabhasya adds to the above four requirements, the following: uparati (lack of bias, dispassion), titiksa (endurance, patience), sraddha (faith) and samadhana (intentness, commitment).[80]

The Advaita tradition considers moksha achievable by removing avidya (ignorance). Moksha is seen as a final release from illusion, and through knowledge (anubhava) of one's own fundamental nature, which is Satcitananda.[84][note 1] Advaita holds there is no being/non-being distinction between Atman, Brahman, and Paramatman. The knowledge of Brahman leads to moksha,[88] where Brahman is described as that which is the origin and end of all things, the universal principle behind and at source of everything that exists, consciousness that pervades everything and everyone.[89] Advaita Vedanta emphasizes Jnana Yoga as the means of achieving moksha.[80] Bliss, claims this school, is the fruit of knowledge (vidya) and work (karma).[90]

The Dvaita (dualism) traditions define moksha as the loving, eternal union with God (Vishnu) and considered the highest perfection of existence. Dvaita schools suggest every soul encounters liberation differently.[91] Dualist schools (e.g. Vaishnava) see God as the object of love, for example, a personified monotheistic conception of Shiva or Vishnu. By immersing oneself in the love of God, one's karmas slough off, one's illusions decay, and truth is lived. Both the worshiped and worshiper gradually lose their illusory sense of separation and only One beyond all names remains. This is salvation to dualist schools of Hinduism. Dvaita Vedanta emphasizes Bhakti Yoga as the means of achieving moksha.[92]

The Vishistadvaita tradition, led by Ramanuja, defines avidya and moksha differently from the Advaita tradition. To Ramanuja, avidya is a focus on the self, and vidya is a focus on a loving god. The Vishistadvaita school argues that other schools of Hinduism create a false sense of agency in individuals, which makes the individual think oneself as potential or self-realized god. Such ideas, claims Ramanuja, decay to materialism, hedonism and self worship. Individuals forget Ishvara (God). Mukti, to Vishistadvaita school, is release from such avidya, towards the intuition and eternal union with God (Vishnu).[93]

Among the Samkhya, Yoga and Vedanta schools of Hinduism, liberation and freedom reached within one's life is referred to as jivanmukti, and the individual who has experienced this state is called jivanmukta (self-realized person).[94] Dozens of Upanishads, including those from middle Upanishadic period, mention or describe the state of liberation, jivanmukti.[95][96] Some contrast jivanmukti with videhamukti (moksha from samsara after death).[97] Jivanmukti is a state that transforms the nature, attributes and behaviors of an individual, claim these ancient texts of Hindu philosophy. For example, according to Naradaparivrajaka Upanishad, the liberated individual shows attributes such as:[98]

When a Jivanmukta dies he achieves Paramukti and becomes a Paramukta. Jivanmukta experience enlightenment and liberation while alive and also after death i.e., after becoming paramukta, while Videhmukta experiences enlightenment and liberation only after death.

Dada Bhagwan has revealed:

The first stage of Moksha is where you experience a sense of neutrality towards problems and miseries. In the first stage of Moksha, one experiences indifference towards any worldly unhappiness. Even in worldly unhappiness, one remains unaffected. In the midst of suffering imposed upon you by others or external factors, you experience samadhi (free from suffering, to experience the state of ones own bliss). That is the first stage of Moksha. The second stage of Moksha, permanent Moksha, is attained after death. The first stage of Moksha should be attained here and now!

Balinese Hinduism incorporates moksha as one of five tattwas. The other four are: brahman (the one supreme god head, not to be confused with Brahmin), atma (soul or spirit), karma (actions and reciprocity, causality), samsara (principle of rebirth, reincarnation). Moksha, in Balinese Hindu belief, is the possibility of unity with the divine; it is sometimes referred to as nirwana.[100][101]

In Buddhism the term "moksha" is uncommon, but an equivalent term is vimutti, "release". In the suttas two forms of release are mentioned, namely ceto-vimutti, "deliverance of mind," and panna-vimutti, "deliverance through wisdom" (insight). Ceto-vimutti is related to the practice of dhyana, while panna-vimutti is related to the development of insight. According to Gombrich, the distinction may be a later development, which resulted in a change of doctrine, regarding the practice of dhyana to be insufficient for final liberation.[102]

With release comes Nirvana (Pali: Nibbana), blowing out, "quenching", or becoming extinguished of the fires of the passions and of self-view.[103][104] It is a "timeless state" in which there is no more becoming.[105]

Nirvana ends the cycle of Dukkha and rebirth in the six realms of Sasra (Buddhism).[106][note 2] It is part of the Four Noble Truths doctrine of Buddhism, which plays an essential role in Theravada Buddhism.[112] Nirvana has been described in Buddhist texts in a manner similar to other Indian religions, as the state of complete liberation, enlightenment, highest happiness, bliss, fearless, freedom, dukkha-less, permanence, non-dependent origination, unfathomable, indescribable.[113][114] It has also been described as a state of release marked by "emptiness" and realization of non-Self.[115][116][117] Such descriptions, states Peter Harvey, are contested by scholars because nirvana in Buddhism is ultimately described as a state of "stopped consciousness (blown out), but one that is not non-existent", and "it seems impossible to imagine what awareness devoid of any object would be like".[106]

In Jainism, moksha and nirvana are one and the same.[57][119] Jaina texts sometimes use the term Kevalya, and call the liberated soul as Kevalin.[120] As with all Indian religions, moksha is the ultimate spiritual goal in Jainism. It defines moksha as the spiritual release from all karma.[120]

Jainism is a Sramanic non-theistic philosophy that believes in a metaphysical permanent self or soul often termed jiva. Jaina believe that this soul is what transmigrates from one being to another at the time of death. The moksa state is attained when a soul (atman) is liberated from the cycles of deaths and rebirths (sasra), is at the apex, is omniscient, remains there eternally, and is known as a siddha. In Jainism, it is believed to be a stage beyond enlightenment and ethical perfection, states Paul Dundas, because they can perform physical and mental activities such as teach, without accruing karma that leads to rebirth.[120]

Jaina traditions believe that there exist Abhavya (incapable), or a class of souls that can never attain moksha (liberation).[120] The Abhavya state of soul is entered after an intentional and shockingly evil act, but Jaina texts also polemically applied Abhavya condition to those who belonged to a competing ancient Indian tradition called jvika.[120] A male human being is considered closest to the apex of moksha, with the potential to achieve liberation, particularly through asceticism. The ability of women to attain moksha has been historically debated, and the subtraditions with Jainism have disagreed. In the Digambara tradition of Jainism, women must live an ethical life and gain karmic merit to be reborn as a man, because only males can achieve spiritual liberation.[124][125] In contrast, the vtmbara tradition has believed that women too can attain moksha just like men.[125][126][127]

According to Jainism, purification of soul and liberation can be achieved through the path of three jewels: Samyak darana (Correct View), meaning faith, acceptance of the truth of soul (jva); Samyak jnana (Correct Knowledge), meaning undoubting knowledge of the tattvas; and Samyak charitra (Correct Conduct), meaning behavior consistent with the Five vows. Jain texts often add samyak tap (Correct Asceticism) as a fourth jewel, emphasizing belief in ascetic practices as the means to liberation (moksha). The four jewels are called moksha marg. According to Jain texts, the liberated pure soul (Siddha) goes up to the summit of universe (Siddhashila) and dwells there in eternal bliss.

The Sikh concept of mukti (moksha) is similar to other Indian religions, and refers to spiritual liberation.[135] It is described in Sikhism as the state that breaks the cycle of rebirths.[135] Mukti is obtained according to Sikhism, states Singha, through "God's grace".[136] According to the Guru Granth Sahib, the devotion to God is viewed as more important than the desire for Mukti.[136]

I desire neither worldly power nor liberation. I desire nothing but seeing the Lord.Brahma, Shiva, the Siddhas, the silent sages and Indra - I seek only the Blessed Vision of my Lord and Master's Darshan.I have come, helpless, to Your Door, O Lord Master; I am exhausted - I seek the Sanctuary of the Saints.Says Nanak, I have met my Enticing Lord God; my mind is cooled and soothed - it blossoms forth in joy.

Sikhism recommends Naam Simran as the way to mukti, which is meditating and repeating the Naam (names of God).[135][136]

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Moksha - Wikipedia

Karma Yoga is known as the yoga of cause and effect or the yoga of sowing and reaping, but it is really the yoga of action. Karma means action, and for every action, there is a reaction.

Karma Yoga is an attitude toward daily life. The goal of Karma Yoga practitioners is to be active and yet remain free from the results of their actions. They serenely accept the effects of their previous actions and devote their current actions to service.

Swami Vivekananda had a supreme understanding of Karma Yoga. He told his students to work relentlessly and yet not to be attached to their work so that the mind could remain free. He explained that poverty, riches and happiness are all fleeting and temporary; they are not our essential nature, which is not disturbed by misery or success.According to Vivekananda, Karma Yoga is a way of achieving freedom through selflessness and good deeds.

Karma Yoga practitioners need not believe in God, ask piercing questions about the nature of the spirit, or think about philosophical or existential concepts. They have jobs to do and should simply fulfill those jobs without attachment to the outcome.

In his books, Vivekananda poses questions about the good we can do in the world. He says that because of the fleeting and ever-changing nature of the world, we can never do permanent good or induce permanent change. Therefore, Karma Yoga practitioners should simply work for the sake of work, perform good deeds and selflessly serve, even though the fruits of their labor may be temporary.

Buddha appears to have been a true Karma Yoga practitioner and aptly said:

I do not care to know your various theories about God. What is the use of discussing all the subtle doctrines about the soul? Do good and be good. And this will take you to freedom and to whatever truth there is.

According to this yogic philosophy, the world is in perfect equilibrium. Energy taken from one place will resurface in another. All actions produce reactions, and all effects have causes.

There are four kinds of actions that produce different types of reactions.

Sanchita Karma A collection of effects from previous lives and the subconscious mind.

Prarabdha Karma Also known as fate or destiny. The collective reactions or effects of previous actions surface in current life. According to yogic interpretation, this explains why some people are lucky, and others can be unlucky and why little children can show robust character early in life.

Kriyamana Karma Refers to present actions driven by will and desire. It explains how people can affect their future with their actions.

Agami Karma Instant reactions related to current actions, for example, when a person touches a hot stove and gets burned or goes through a tense period and gets a headache.

The idea that everything in the world is in a state of equilibrium and moves to restore balance does not only presuppose that we reap as we sow in this life but also assumes the existence of reincarnation. Even though most religions and philosophies make room for some afterlife, the concept of reincarnation is often met with skepticism and rightly so. There is little evidence to support the claim.Being very practical and earthbound myself, I cannot say with any certainty that I believe in reincarnation, but it is a fascinating philosophy.The concept is highly theoretical and cannot be proved or disproved.

Still, in his book,Yoga Holistic Practice Manual, Yogi Shanti Desai lists nine reasons why understanding and even believing in reincarnation can be beneficial.

1. We are never too old to attempt something new as age is no barrier because life is continuous. We learn new spiritual lessons and grow in wisdom as we grow older.

2. No spiritual effort is ever wasted. Lord Krishna teaches that devotees on the spiritual path are reincarnated into a pious family and a spiritual environment. They inherit good health, have a zeal for spiritual enlightenment, and continue their spiritual journey.

3. We can realize that we are responsible for everything in our life and have created our present situation. We can stop blaming our parents, society, and various situations for our problems. This realization gives deep relaxation. We also can forgive ourselves for making mistakes in the past because we realize that those mistakes were learning experiences.

4. As we become responsible we can take charge of our lives and improve its quality. We stop hoping for someone else to help us and we dont expect miracles. Instead, we realize that we can create our own miracles. For example, people who want to lose weight or stop smoking are successful only when they decide to take charge of their own life. No self-improvement program will help until one takes charge and assumes responsibility for its success.

5. Belief in reincarnation removes the fear of death as we consider death to be part of our total life. It can be thought of as a long night for the soul to rest. Like night and day, death and life cycles go on naturally. There is no fear.

6. It gives us understanding that there is no escape. Drugs, alcohol, etc. allow you to hide from the fact of life only temporarily. Suicide is not an escape as life will not end nor will it improve until we improve it ourselves.

7. We learn to be aware of our thoughts, words, and deeds because we realize that with each thought we are producing karma positive or negative. We should channel our thoughts in a positive direction, avoiding negative thought patterns. These thoughts will become reality in time. We should learn to perform good deeds without becoming discouraged because no one can take away our reward. What we earn will come to us, and we should prevent producing bad karma because we cannot escape punishment for them.

8. We also learn to escape karma by reducing our mental attachments. By letting go of the feeling of doership and working as an instrument of God, we dont register karma in the memory of our biocomputer. As one evolves, reincarnation is experienced as a conviction. The realization comes to us that the world is in perfect balance and completely systematic.

9. Reincarnation increases our love and tolerance for others. Each soul is at a different level of evolution and we should not expect others to be any different. We should remember that we have gone through such experiences ourselves to come to our present level of understanding. It is normal for kindergarten children to learn the alphabet, second graders to read, and high school students to write essays. The world is a school and we are students in different grades learning different lessons. We learn to see the spark of God in everyone in spite of the different human masks they are wearing.

p.s. People can practice most aspects of Karma Yoga without believing in reincarnation.

All actions produce reactions. Sitting around doing nothing is an action in itself and can have both good and bad consequences. Attitude is what matters most. A person can cut another person with a knife for two reasons. One kills, the other saves with a surgical operation. The action, cutting with a knife, is the same, but the purposes are very different. Karma Yoga practitioners strive to be forces for good, instruments of love and light, working for the sake of work, doing for the sake of doing, and letting go of the outcome over which they have no control.

Gudjon BergmannAuthor, Coach, and Columnistwww.gudjonbergmann.com

p.s. I have taught yoga since 19998, studied with Yogi Shanti Desai and Sri Yogi Hari, and am registered at the highest level with Yoga Alliance. This article was curated from my book titled Know Thyself: Yoga Philosophy Made Accessible

Picture: CC0 License

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The Essence of Karma Yoga | Gudjon Bergmann - Patheos

Kim Kardashian and her daughter, North West, 9, were in the spotlight at the Jean Paul Gaultier show during Paris Haute Couture Week.

Not only were they sitting in the front row beside Anna Wintour, the global editorial director of Vogue, but they also accessorised their pattern-co-ordinated outfits with matching silver nose ring chains worn around the left nostril.

Kardashian wore hers conjoined with a metal choker, while North West had hers attached to an earring.

North West and Kim Kardashian wore nose ring chains to the show. Photo: Pascal Le Segretain / Getty Images

This is not the first time North West has worn a nose ring. In 2019, the then-six-year-old rocked up to her great-grandmother MJ Campbells 85th birthday wearing a clip-on hoop on her nose.

While the mother-daughter duo were likely making a style statement, wearing a nose ring has cultural connotations in many parts of the world, most notably India, where a nose ring attached to a chain is called a nath.

Nose rings have a dual significance in India. The ancient Sanskrit text on medicine and surgery, Sushruta Samhita, suggests piercing the nose can have myriad health benefits for women. Chief among them is improved fertility and relief from menstrual pain, especially if the piercing is done at the correct marma pressure point on the left nostril.

The nerves from this side of the nose are said to be directly connected to female reproductive organs, and to not only affect fertility but also help in easing childbirth.

Over time, the excerpt in the Ayurvedic text was adopted by Indian families with daughters of a marriageable age. Girls often had their noses pierced when they hit puberty to suggest they were ready for marriage, and it became customary for brides especially from Hindu families to wear a nath on their wedding day. The more elaborate the jewel (think gold links studded with precious gemstones), the more prosperous a family was thought to be.

A model showcases a bridal outfit with Kishandas & Co jewellery and a Gaurang Shah outfit at Indian exhibition Numaish in Dubai. Photo: Numaish

Tradition also dictates that a woman will give up her nose ring upon the death of her husband.

While many in India choose not to pierce their noses at all in present times, it is still common for modern-day women to clip on a nose ring chain as part of their bridal finery.

Somewhat paradoxically, nose rings have also come to symbolise free-spirited and even rebellious young women, who choose to have their noses pierced to look bold and exercise their freedom of choice (akin to tattoos).

This could be attributed to the hippie movement of the 1960s and 1970s, when international devotees thronged to the ashrams of India in search of spiritual enlightenment. Their attire? Free-flowing robes, bare feet or open sandals, bindis on the forehead (another traditional symbol of a married woman) and simple metal hoop nose rings.

While pop culture may show women from India regularly sporting nose rings and naths, the accessory is thought to have its roots in ancient Australia and Africa. The Aboriginal people and several African tribes were piercing their noses as far back as 44,000 BC and adorning them with animal bones, shells and large metal hoops.

The nose ring is also referred to in the Bible, in The Book of Genesis, when Abraham gives his future daughter-in-law a gold nose ring before she marries Issac.

The nose ring has also been common in various countries in the Middle East, especially Morocco, and other nations that are part of the Indian subcontinent.

Kardashian has often been called out for indulging in cultural appropriation from her Om earrings and maang tikka headpiece (both originating in India), to her Kimono shapewear line and rendition of the Maori haka ceremonial dance on TikTok.

Christian Allaire, author of Power of Style: How Fashion and Beauty are Being Used to Reclaim Cultures, defines the term in his book: "Cultural appropriation is when members of one culture adopt elements of another culture without their consent. This happens often in the fashion world: indigenous design motifs have been long copied or replicated by non-indigenous fashion brands, who often misuse traditional elements or ignore a piece's original purpose."

This contrasts with cultural appreciation. Allaire describes this as buying pieces from indigenous artists or as brands collaborating with artists from these communities instead of touting the craftsmanship as their own. Arguably, cultural appreciation can also be practised by lay fashionistas who are simply acknowledging the aesthetic appeal of a particular accessory.

After all, not every Indian (or Berber or Aboriginal or African) woman pierces her nose, sacred text or no sacred text. Bollywood often puts its characters in nose rings, from brides to brothel keepers (think Alia Bhatt in Gangubai Kathiawadi). And young women are going against their familys strong views against piercing and wearing nose rings, literally, left, right and centre. Is it so harmful if a Kardashian does the same?

Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian, in traditional dirndl dresses, attend Oktoberfest on September 25, 2006 in Munich, Germany. Getty Images

Updated: July 07, 2022, 1:44 PM

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Is Kim Kardashian's India-inspired nose ring another case of cultural appropriation? - The National

INNER JOURNEY: Sri M

By: Mohini Kent

Teacher and reformer Sri M gives meaningful insights in new book

Everyone needs a friend for hand-holding during lifes many crises, and one who can give good directions at the many crossroads we reach.

Who better than a wise and gifted spiritual guru?

The book, The Friend, is the result of my conversations with international spiritual guide Sri M.

I have presented it in the accessible format of Samvad, the ancient Indian tradition of dialogue. He delivers great teachings with a light touch, easily digestible, and always punctuated with humour. The title of the book, The Friend, is a reflection of his own personality as well as his approach. I have to make friends with someone before I can guide them, he says.

I sought a meeting with Sri M in 2016, and travelled to his ashram in Madanapalle, south India, when his secretary Lakshmi offered me an appointment on August 1. It was a hot summer day, and I was surprised to learn that he would arrive the next day specially to meet me. Spiritual relationships are traditionally a personal two-way link, but our internet age has created a weird familiarity without actual physical contact; so I was impressed that he made time for a personal meeting. Meanwhile, I watched small children of the local tribal communities walking up hill in their rubber slippers to attend his free school for them. Seeing an obvious stranger, they quickly tried out their entire vocabulary of English words on me. His Satsang Foundation runs free schools and free healthcare for poor and neglected communities.

We met the next morning. Sri M was welcoming, but I felt he was assessing me, as though marking my report card. We met again in the evening, and he lifted a heavy burden from me.

The tradition of friendship with the guru, and, ultimately, with the divine, has never gone out of fashion in India. It dates back to before the Aryans, who visited India and never left, to before writing was invented, when Vedantic knowledge and secrets were passed down by oral tradition from guru to disciple.

Questions were encouraged by gurus; disciples had to seek and download the truth for themselves. There still is no app for enlightenment.

When I asked him in 2018 if I could interview him for a book, he graciously agreed. We met in London, and in India in Varanasi, Madanapalle and Delhi, and talked for one hour each time, about worldly and spiritual subjects.

Lord Bhikhu Parekh writes, In these insightful interviews with Sri M, Mohini Kent offers a deeply moving account of his life, influences and thoughts on varied subjects, including yoga, friendship, sex, marriage and power.

Dr Karan Singh writes: It is always a pleasure to read Sri M because of his clarity and spiritual articulation.

Sri M urges us to embark on the inner journey now, without delay, in order to reclaim the free and joyous beings that we truly are. I share these excerpts from the book.

What did your guru mean to you?Sri M: My master, Maheshwarnath Babaji, was my father, my mother, my guru, my teacher, my friend, everything rolled into one. He was a great yogi who had transcended form, but he kept his body very young and fit for a purpose.

Babaji trained you in many different traditions. Why do you think that was so?The role of a guru is to wake you up. He trained me in Vedas, Upanishads,meditation and Kriya yoga. He would also send me to others. He sent me to a Naga Baba who was naked and smoked a chillum with some form of cannabis. As his apprentice, I had to take off my clothes too and smoke.

After two months, I pleaded with Babaji to call me back. He taught me (to) have a good character. Without that, other practices do not give results. So, purify your Yama Niyamas first, follow the dos and donts, the rules and regulations.

What are the other important things you feel you imbibed from him?Babaji taught me to have great respect for nature. The mountains, rivers and trees are our primary gods. He taught me to respect water and food, to conserve energy.

Is it essential to have a living spiritual teacher or can one do it alone?Theres nothing better than a good teacher. The law of spiritual life is that the sincere aspirant will find the right guidance on the path. But you must have the burning desire. The spiritual path is not for window shoppers.

How does one keep youthful?Youth is also a quality of the mind. Learn to see things in a new light. That is as important as physical age. While there is physical wear and tear, people also grow old because of abusing their bodies too much food, too much drink, too much activity, too much worry and depression, all of which have an impact on physical ageing.

Yoga has become a buzzword today. What according to you is it actually, at its true yogic core?Yoga is not otherworldly philosophy. It is meant for the here and now, and offers a practical way of living in the world. The ancient yogis had done a deep study of yoga. They were spiritual scientists. Dont hypnotise yourself into believing in your limitations. Our source is completeness. Poornamidam.

What is the significance of marriage in the 21st century? Marriage is a challenge. Theres no such thing as a perfect marriage. Couples marry for their own reasons. Much before getting married, we need to train our minds. Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa put it simply: Before cutting or preparing the jackfruit, we apply oil so our hands wont become sticky. That applies to everything.

Its been a mans world for many centuries. What do you feel is the position of women today?Women have something special in them. They have an extraordinary role to play in society because they are different. Women have to be helped to get self-esteem. Otherwise, we are controlling their freedom. It should be easier in India where the female shakti, the dynamic cosmic energy, has been worshipped. But women have not been treated well here, and Swami Vivekananda said many of the difficulties faced by India is because its women have not been treated well.

Sex had been used in advertising to sell everything from ice-cream to soap. How does one resist such allure?Sex is only entertainment. The sex instinct is in-built by nature. Money came later. Power is used to obtain the other two.

Money is a major energy in the world, but what is its actual meaning for us?The new spiritual evolution is not sworn to poverty. In the modern world we cannot go back to the days of renunciation. Take the vow of plenty. Just give up exclusivity. Have. Share. Give.

We pray when in difficulty. Who will help us?If youre having difficulties in your life, it is no good theorising whether God created them or not. Take a good, hard look at the situation and ask, How can I solve it? That should be your attitude.

Are men at an advantage on the spiritual path?Atma has no sex. There is no gender there.

Why is death so frightening?You fear death because you fear loss. The illusion is that life will be a smooth, beautiful, continuously happy movement. That is not so. There can be a little sunshine of happiness, but then the sun sets, as all suns in all universes set at some time or the other. The problem is that we think all this is permanent when it is an ever-changing impermanent movement. The Upanishads say deep down in your subconscious you know there is some entity in you which will survive the death of the body.

The Friend is published by Penguin India. It is available on Amazon.

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A 'friend's thoughts' on yoga, spirituality and life - EasternEye - Eastern Eye

For some believers, a holiday from work and other daily responsibilities doesnt mean a vacation from spirituality. This weeks clergy discuss travels that included visits to holy sites, meditation at sea and a reminder that one may find spirituality in surprising places.

Isma H. Chaudhry

Board of trustees co-chair, Islamic Center of Long Island, Westbury

A few years back, our family decided to go for umrah, a nonobligatory pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina. It was an unconventional vacation for us, as our favorite places have generally been popular tourist destinations, such as the Caribbean.

This was the first vacation where we as a family indulged in in-depth discussions on faith and religion. We visited museums rich with Islamic history and Abrahamic culture. We performed the ritual of sai to commemorate the sacrifices of Hagar, Prophet Ishmaels mother, and visited the holy sites that have inspired the faithful for centuries. We discussed the inspirations of various rituals, prayed together as a family, sat together in humility and awe, immersed in deep spirituality, looking at the Kaaba shrine inside the Masjid al-Haram mosque in Mecca, the holiest site in Islam.

We discussed womens rights, justice and equity in Islam as revealed in the holy Scriptures, the Quran and guided by the teachings of Prophet Muhammad. We walked the streets in the footsteps of the great prophets of the Abrahamic tradition.

We also shopped, went to restaurants and hiked the rocky trails. This was the first vacation, however, where despite doing everything together, our young children did not find us overbearing and annoying.

Rabbi Jack Dermer

Temple Beth Torah, Westbury

My wife and I were recently blessed to go on a trip to Ireland. Having spent so much time in Israel, we were happy to have a change of pace. While the land known for whiskey and bagpipes is quite different from the land of milk and honey, we are grateful for the wonderful friends we met along the way, and the opportunity to experience the Sabbath, not in synagogue as we usually do, but amid the green rolling hills and bleating sheep of rural western Ireland.

One of Gods promises to the patriarch Jacob in the Bible is the assurance, I will be with you, wherever you go. (Genesis 28:15) Jewish tradition points us to a recognition that God can be sought not only in the highest heavens, but in the depths of the human heart, wherever we may find ourselves.

When we hear the words spiritual vacation, we might imagine a yoga or meditation retreat, but the truth is, anywhere we remain open to experiencing the grandeur of Gods creation in nature, in fascinating foreign cities, in the eyes of another person we can make our travels spiritually enriching.

I pray that wherever you find yourself this summer, and whatever form your journey takes, you will seek opportunities for growth in appreciation, relaxation and discovery.

Bob Yugi Festa of Huntington

Zen practitioner

Buddhism is dedicated to ending dukkha (suffering or dissatisfaction) in ones life. The Buddha taught that the way to do this is to practice the eightfold path to enlightenment, so the Buddhist practice is a spiritual formula of how one lives ones life. It permeates ones every thought and action.

In other words, there is no way to take a vacation that doesnt have a faith component because you are living your faith 24/7.

I had a perfect example of this a number of years ago when I was on my first cruise. On the first day at sea, I decided it was a good time to sit in meditation using a stick of incense. I was sitting for five minutes, and there was a knock on the door. It was a crew member telling me that I could not smoke in the cabin. Apparently, shipboard fires are frowned upon, so there is a monitoring device in each cabin to detect smoke.

There were many cruises to follow, but I learned I could avoid the suffering of being embarrassed by a crew member knocking on my door if I meditated without incense.

DO YOU HAVE QUESTIONS youd like Newsday to ask the clergy? Email them to LILife@newsday.com.

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Asking the Clergy: Vacations that come with a faith component - Newsday

The word Bhakti means devotion. Originally, the Bhakti Yoga approach was based on human emotions, which is why it is also calledthe yoga of love. Bhakti Yoga encourages the practice of devotion directed towards a higher power. Practitioners recite prayers, meditate and devote their lives to God as they understand God.

As you can see, the line between religion and yoga is blurred in this yogic approach. Still, Bhakti Yoga focuses on personal practice and devotion. In contrast, organized religion has other purposes and is often involved in political conflicts and other practices that can hardly pass for spiritual practice.

Even though it originated in Hinduism, Bhakti Yoga makes no distinction between religions. It doesnt matter how practitioners define their higher power, as long as they cultivate a relationship through prayer and meditation.

This kind of religious tolerance is relevant today.

For reference, I want to share a short speech Swami Vivekananda made at the world parliament of religions in Chicago on September 11, 1893.

Sisters and Brothers of America,

It fills my heart with unspeakable joy to rise in response to the warm and cordial welcome which you have given us. I thank you in the name of the most ancient order of monks in the world; I thank you in the name of the mother of religions; I thank you in the name of millions and millions of Hindu people of all classes and sects.

My thanks, also, to some of the speakers on this platform who, referring to the delegates from the Orient, have told you that these men from far-off nations may well claim the honor of bearing to different lands the idea of toleration. I am proud to belong to a religion which has taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance. We believe not only in universal toleration, but we accept all religions as true.

I am proud to belong to a nation which has sheltered the persecuted and the refugees of all religions and nations of the earth. I am proud to tell you that we have gathered in our bosom the purest remnant of the Israelites, who came to Southern India and took refuge with us in the very year in which their holy temple was shattered to pieces by Roman tyranny. I am proud to belong to the religion which has sheltered and is still fostering the remnant of the grand Zoroastrian nation.

I will quote to you, brethren, a few lines from a hymn which I remember to have repeated from my earliest boyhood, which is every day repeated by millions of human beings: As the different streams having their sources in different places all mingle their water in the sea, sources in different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to Thee.

The present convention, which is one of the most august assemblies ever held, is in itself a vindication, a declaration to the world of wonderful doctrine preached in the Gita: Whosoever comes to Me, through whatsoever form, I reach him; all men are struggling through paths which in the end lead to me.

Sectarianism, bigotry, and its horrible descendant, fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful earth. They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often with human blood, destroyed civilization and sent whole nations to despair. Had it not been for these horrible demons, human society would be far more advanced than it is now. But their time is come; and I fervently hope that the bell that tolled this morning in honor of this convention may be the death knell of all fanaticism, of all persecutions with the sword or with the pen, and of all uncharitable feelings between persons wending their way to the same goal.

Even though progress has been made since Vivekananda made this speech, it could just as easily have delivered been yesterday. There is still much work to be done if we want to reach the ideal that Vivekananda describes.

Concepts of God are human attempts to understand the universe and our role in it. Wrapping our heads around the galactic universe is near impossible; trying to understand the maker and sustainer of creation is even harder.

Lets take a look at how yogic philosophy approached this impossible task.

In yoga, the concept of a higher power has two major distinctions.

One is the concept of Brahman, the one without a second, which rhymes very well with the modern understanding of physics; a connective field of consciousness that underlies the energy field of atoms.

According to yoga philosophy, nothing exists but Brahman.

Everything is Brahman.

The other concept has a closer link to modern religious definitions. Because Brahman has all qualities, it has no distinctive qualities. From that lack of distinction, the concept of Ishwara was born.

Ishwara is divinity with qualities.This means that as soon as people ascribe any qualitiessay that their divinity, he/she/it, is good, bad, the creator, full of love or anything else for that matterthen they are referring to Ishwara, not Brahman.

Ishwara exists within Brahman.

For further distinction, Ishwara was divided into three parts related to birth, life and death. These three qualities or distinctions appear in mythology as three separate Gods, the creator Brahma (not to be confused with Brahman), the sustainer Vishnu and the destroyer or transformer Shiva, sometimes called Mahesh.

When Ishwara (divinity with qualities) sends messengers to the people of Earth, they are called Avatars (Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, etc.).You see how far removed the concept of Avatar has become in our society today through movies and video games, which is one more example of how the overuse of a specific term taken out of context can dilute its meaning.

Because of these distinctions, many people think that both yoga and Hinduism preach polytheism. But the concept of Brahman is at the core, so the approaches are monotheistic.

Understanding Bhakti Yoga in this way, everyone should be able to find a devotional aspect that fits their upbringing and personality. Prayers can be directed towards an undefined higher power, God, Jesus, Shiva, Vishnu, Krishna, Buddha, Allah or any other version of Ishwara. In Bhakti Yoga, the emphasis is on strengthening ones relationship with a higher power through various devotional methods, creating a personal relationship with an Avatar or divinity with qualities.

Because of the Hindu connection, many prayers and mantras within Bhakti Yoga are directed towards Hindu deities, reflecting Brahman. Some Western practitioners of yoga welcome these new distinctions, while others conservatively hold on to their current definitions of God. Both work equally well.

As an example of choosing one path, Gandhi made an effort to practice various religious pathways before settling into his devotion to Rama, using the Bhagavad-Gita as his vehicle for spiritual inspiration.

As an example of choosing many paths, Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekanandas teacher, invested many years of practice in each of the major religions and is said to have reached the state of enlightenment in all of them.

What then is true worship?

From the standpoint of Brahman, it is seeing the spark of the divine in everything, experiencing the interconnectedness of the universe and experiencing the love that binds it all together.

The spark of Brahman, Atman (soul, self, spirit), is within all of us, no matter what we call it. It is in people of all races, nationalities and religions. The yoga practitioners who engage in the practice of Bhakti Yoga become sources of love and compassion because they see the divine in everything.

Practitioners must continuously elevate their emotions towards love and compassion through prayer and meditation before the loving state becomes permanently available. Even then, they must work on maintaining it. While progressing towards this state, loving emotions can rise and subside.

A Tibetan monk described it this way. One moment he experiences himself as a source of love and feels the interconnectedness of all life; the next moment, he doesnt understand how anyone can love the limited and often irritating human beings surrounding him.

Many Western yoga students raised within Christianity ask how it is possible to practice Bhakti Yoga and remain devoted to Jesus. There is no contradiction between the two. According to yoga philosophy, true worship of Jesus would consist of following his teachings and directing all prayers and rituals toward the father, son, and holy spirit (the trinity connection is another interspiritual thread that I may pull on at a later date).

Bhakti Yoga is a path of love. It is the easiest of the four major pathsRaja, Karma, Bhakti, and Gnanabecause it focuses on elevating human emotions. All the practices within Bhakti Yoga focus on raising vibrations from basic animal instincts to divine love and compassion.

With that in mind, even atheists could adhere to some of these principles. They would not have to believe in God or an architect of the universe, but could instead cultivate kindness, gratitude, tolerance and ethical behavior.

That is what the practice of Bhakti Yoga produces.

Gudjon BergmannAuthor, Coach, and Columnistwww.gudjonbergmann.com

p.s. I have taught yoga since 19998, studied with Yogi Shanti Desai and Sri Yogi Hari, and am registered at the highest level with Yoga Alliance. This article was curated from my book titled Know Thyself: Yoga Philosophy Made Accessible

Picture: CC0 License

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The Essence of Bhakti Yoga | Gudjon Bergmann - Patheos

There was a flurry of articles after the last census results came out about the demise of institutional religion, Christianity in particular. The data showed that just 44% of Australians now identify as Christian, down from 52% in the last census. And on the flip side, 39% of the population now identify as non-religious. The move away from reported Christian faith has been happening for a while but has accelerated over the last decade. Quite a few commentators raked over the entrails of these results in an effort to discern what it all meant.

Some writers focus on the disenchantment of young people with institutional religion to exemplify the drift away from Christianity. But researchers from the National Church Life Survey point out the findings are a bit more nuanced that that. They note other NCLS research which shows that young adults aged 18-34 years are the most frequent attenders at religious services. One in three of that age group (32%) attend services at least once a month. The least attending group is actually 50-64 years olds (only 11% attend once a month or more). The neglect or outright complicity of the church in institutional abuse of children is seen to have undermined faith and trust in religion. Sydney Anglican Minister Michael Jensen agrees this behaviour has eroded the churchs moral authority. But he also sees a loss of trust and confidence in institutions of all kinds political parties, banks, trade unions as well as churches. He makes a distinction between belief in God and active spirituality, with religious affiliation. Anecdotally, he claims that people are still open to things spiritual, are intrigued by the person and teachings of Jesus and still look for meaning beyond the routines of work and consumption. There is some support for this perception from other NCLS research, which shows that 40% of Australians think it is part of the churchs role to give meaning and direction to life and 51% believing it should encourage good morals.

Journalist Stan Grant views the Census results through a broader and more historical lens. He sees the decline in Christian belief as part of a widespread drift in the west away from religion to other forms of faith and identity. He traces the evolution to secularism back to the time of the enlightenment and its division between the immanent (the world of politics and the social order) and the transcendent (the world of spirituality and religion). He agrees the church has been stripped of moral authority by the scandal of child sexual abuse and has alienated others by its position on issues like divorce, abortion and same sex relationships. But he also argues secularisation runs the risk of replacing the sacred with the cult of individualism, an ugly nationalism and a soulless consumerism. He quotes historian Tim Stanley who writes that across the west, there is a dearth of purpose and spirit: we cant agree on who we are or what we are about, or even if these big existential questions matter.

Peter Senge, the systems scientist who became a guru of organisational learning was once asked at a large US Christian ministers conference, why books on Buddhism outsold books on Christianity in a certain bookshop. He responded that perhaps it was because Christianity presented itself largely as a system of beliefs, while Buddhism was seen more as a way of life. He advised the ministers at the conference to rediscover and help others rediscover Christianity as a way of life. Its interesting that the earliest Christian creed was simply Jesus is Lord (no separation of the transcendent from the immanent there) and that the first Christians called themselves Followers of the Way. Perhaps the challenge and opportunity for the Christian churches from these latest census results, is to be less institutionally focussed and be more concerned with following the way of Jesus, or in the words of the prophet Micah, to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God.

Jon OBrien, Uniting Advocacy team

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What do the census findings on religious belief tell us? - Insights News

Right now, every week I visit my friend who suffered the swarm of strokes. We are past being able to talk. Instead I read the psalms to him.

A couple of weeks ago it appears he had another stroke. As hes now in hospice there is no formal diagnosis. His involvement in my visiting and reading the Psalms to him is pretty much limited to trying to repeat the last few words of each psalm.

These are hard moments. And. And so many things.

Among them Im becoming intimate with those psalms, and the deity that is at the center of them. This has led to a flood of feelings and thoughts.

God was actually my first great spiritual crisis.

I wasnt far into my adolescence, maybe I was thirteen or possibly fourteen. And religious questions burned hot for me. Among them the question that burned hottest was, is God real? I had serious doubts. Was God simply the figment of, well, of all sorts of very human needs? Or not?

I had other problems, but they mainly had to do with the Bible and its glaring inconsistencies. This mainly mattered because in my childhood religion the Bible was supposed to be Gods inerrant word. Actually. Gods Word with a very capital W. However, all one had to do was compare the gospels to know there were problems. Grownups who showed how the four versions could be reconciled without someone making a mistake, or were simply wrong, were clearly playing intellectual games, even to my thirteen or fourteen years-old mind.

But, the real deal, and I got that quickly was God. And rather specifically the God of the Bible. Although there appeared to be several versions available. So, most specifically, the God that my people said was the God of the Bible.

It took me a couple of years. Eventually, in a world where there is so much that I dont know, I became pretty clear about one thing. There is no being like a human being but much bigger, who exists outside of the world and from time to time intervenes in history. I dont recall when I stumbled upon Xenophanes famous quote, but, well:

If cattle and horses, or lions, had hands, or were able to draw with their feet and produce the works which men do,horses would draw the forms of gods like horses, and cattle like cattle, and they would make the gods bodies the same shape as their own.

Bit by bit the whole core structure of the Christian story fell away. No timeline from creation to judgment, no heaven, no hell. For some of my friends that was it, and they settled comfortably into atheism, or if they werent annoyed and were being rigorous about what can and cannot be known, into agnosticism.

But that wasnt my experience. The catch for me was when I resolved whether God was real in that very specific sense used in my fundamentalist Christian world, God didnt simply go away. For me the question morphed. If God was not anthropomorphic projection, was something else that deserved the word?

It didnt take a wide reading of the worlds religions to understand there were many ways to approach the profound messiness of what is. And it felt to me like this quest was terribly important.

It was elusive for me. But quickly I found the hint for it was in how Hinduism seeks moksha, and Buddhism seeks awakening. For me as a child of the West, as someone who didnt believe in a God out there, I began to believe I had the question wrong. It wasnt is there a God. Rather it was What is God? What if God was moksha or enlightenment?

With that question I found my great quest. And I began to look for a method. A path. A way.

Something I read fairly early on was the story of Heinrich Schliemann. Schliemann read Homer and thought it likely the story was based in fact. He found the site, and he dug through the various layers. But he did it rough, and as I read the account in fact Schliemann dug right through the layer that would be the most likely Troy.

While this version of Schliemann and Troy requires more nuance, I personally found a hint for me on my spiritual quest. There is a Goldilocks place in religious quest. On the one side its the history of humans owning and despoiling the world. On the other side, its all atoms and quarks. There is some place, some right place, where one can find something.

I intuited it would need to be some sort of middle way, something that excluded neither head nor heart. I wouldnt have been able to put it like that, but I was stumbling along in the dark, and intuitively I found I needed both hands, brain and feeling.

With Zen I found the method. Witnessing. Bare attention. On the other side of my scrambling mind, when I attend things happen. The Zen master Eihei Dogen warned if we project our consciousness, if we look out, that is the delusive world. But, if we simply (such a rich and difficult word), if we simply let the world come to us, that is awakening.

Ive applied this approach to my life for a lifetime.

And things began to unfold.

Back when I was in seminary I observed how God is a hole in the language into which we throw our fears and hopes. One of my professors heard that and said, Yes, James. God is whole in the language into which we throw our fears and hopes.

It was a small linguistic trick, but it was also a pointer.

Im good with either. Id go farther than that these days. God is a perfectly good word for the sum of it all. The whole of the many moving, rising, falling, parts. God is the birthing of things. God is the sustaining of things. God is the dying of things.

So, at the very least Spinozas God.

But is there something more? I felt in my bones the answer is yes.

And, as I approach the mystery, as I have approached the mystery, as I continue to do so, out of this raw encounter I reach for words. The Zen tradition of practice calls us to the ordinary. A constant pushing away from conceptual traps. In furthering this attempt at unleashing the restrictions of our ideas,one of its conceits in language often is to use abuse as praise. As we get closer to the heart of the matter it is even more important not to be trapped in the tangle of words.

And God is a most tangling word.

In Zen, contrary to what some casual readers might think, ordinary language or language of the ordinary very important.But, within the way words and language also begins to mutate and take its own shape. Prose begins to dissolve, and poetry begins to replace it.

And here the traditional language of the West and its God appear. Or reappears. For me, anyway.

When we look honestly and barely things arise and fall in complex intimacy. Everything is causally connected. Everything is encountered intimately. And, when we front into the empty, what are we encountering? Here I find God.

I dont find a God in that classic Western understanding of an entity with a human-like consciousness which starts the whole ball rolling, occasionally reaching into the works, and will in time bring it all to a close. So, in that sense Im a nontheist. Although it acts that way in my dreams. As a human being I find my encounter so intimate that all those ancient human-like words, and feelings, all the feelings noble and base, are part of it. And in that sense, I find myself a theist.

When Mohammed said God is closer to you than your jugular vein, I get it. Totally. Completely. Down to the beating of the blood in my jugular vein. Here in this place there is no separation.

The West has a long tradition of a nondual, where our encounters are all relational. The Zen line comes to mind, you are not it. But, in truth, it is you. That thing. That place. Totally ordinary. And, it calls forth hymns of praise. Lots of alleluias in the face of the mystery. Like a fire.

Albert Camus once said I shall tell you a great secret my friend. Do not wait for the last judgment, it takes place every day. A hint and a pointer. Heaven and hell exist, but they belong here, in our lives and minds and hearts. The God that is quick to anger and punishes and rewards exists. Here. Now.

We understand this, and the ancient languages of East and West, all fall short, and all point. Life and death join. Not one. Not two. And from that a great fire.

In Carl Barks poetic paraphrase of the Sufi master Rumi.

The wakened lover speaks directly to the beloved,You are the sky my spirit circles in,the love inside love, the resurrection-place.

The words rolled from my mouth. All the sorrow of it. All the memories piled inside that skull, and mine, too. All the words that cant be said. All of those things.

the Islamic tradition that tells us God is love, lover, and beloved.

Ishq Allah Mabud Lilah

Sorrow and joy woven fine. Longing and finding not separate. And alive. And personal.

God.

And my reading the psalms to my friend.

And the God of the psalms. It has something to do with a deity separate from the world. But mostly these feeling sung out of the psalms are angles we humans have when we open into the mystery. Maybe not angles, but angels.

At those moments of grace where we genuinely touch the not one, not two, we experience it as we are. As humans. As creatures of hate and love. Mutable. Fragile. Dying from the moment we are born. Filled with longing. And with embraces, if were lucky, with embraces.

All of it more intimate than words can say.

And at some point we need words. We are creatures of words.And, a word for this, the all of it, is love. And a word for this love is God. The God that is love, lover, and beloved. That God. All the dancing energies that manifest in this birthing and dying world.

Intimate.

Read more:

My Zen God: Some Near Random Thoughts While Reading the Psalms to an Old Friend - Patheos

Justice shall be done to the memory of my Hamilton.

According to her daughter, this was the compounding yearning of Eliza Hamilton in the fifty years she survived her husband, after his tragic, and dishonorable, death in an affair of honor. In the summer of 1804, he took a duel with Aaron Burr Jr., the sitting Vice President and grandson of Jonathan Edwards. Alexander Hamilton, citing Christian conviction, threw away his shot by not firing at his opponent. Burr, however, took aim and struck his political rival. Hamilton died 31 hours later on July 12, 1804.

Not only had the controversial circumstances of his death tarnished her Hamiltons reputation, but so too had an another affair made public in 1797. And after Hamiltons death in 1804, rivals John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both lived another 22 years to strengthen their own founding legacies, and bury Hamiltons.

Remarkably, Ron Chernows 800-page biography in 2004 some 150 years after Elizas death in 1854 began the work of doing justice to Hamiltons memory in the twenty-first century. More than a decade later, Lin-Manuel Mirandas musical, inspired by the biography, and with Chernow as historical consultant, sent Hamilton skyrocketing back into broader American awareness just in time to save his face on the ten-dollar bill.

Of Christian interest, Hamilton appeared to have experienced a remarkable conversion, under Reformed teaching, as a teen when the Great Awakening came to his native West Indies in the early 1770s. Presbyterian minister Hugh Knox, who had studied at the College of New Jersey (where Edwards had been president briefly in 1758) mentored the 17-year-old Hamilton. When a hurricane passed through the Caribbean in August of 1772, Hamilton wrote markedly Christian reflections on the event. Knox read them and, impressed with the teens ability, guided them to press in the local paper. Enough readers took notice of the words from a Youth of this Island that it became an occasion for Knox to raise money to send Hamilton to New Jersey to study.

Hamilton soon left the West Indies, never to return, and arrived in New Jersey as the revolutionary spirit was fomenting. With his unusually able brain and pen, he was swept up into the Revolution and found himself at the heart of American politics from 17751800, perhaps surpassed only by George Washington in that quarter century. His Christian interests, however, seemed to cool as they were eclipsed by political ambition and zeal for his work as Washingtons aide-de-camp, then in establishing a law practice in New York, and climactically as the nations first Secretary of the Treasury from 17891795. Alongside James Madison, Hamilton proved to be one of the great intellects of the founding generation. And while being every bit Madisons match in political thought (if not exceeding him), Hamilton far surpassed Madison, and the other leading founders, in economics.

Yet in his late forties, before dying in the infamous duel at age 49, Hamilton experienced a succession of great humblings, which appear to have prompted him, doubtless with the encouragement of his enduringly faithful evangelical wife, to blow again on the embers of the Christianity of his youth. Chernow, for one, recognizes that Hamiltons late-life preoccupation with spiritual matters . . . eliminates all doubt about the sincerity of his late-flowering religious interests (707).

As the United States celebrates 246 years of independence, and Americans newly remember the ten-dollar founding father, what might Christians learn from the rise and fall, and redemption, of the wandering and reticent Alexander Hamilton?

Politically speaking, we could identify many important insights from a recovery of Hamiltons legacy, but far more important, as Christians, whether American or not, is learning from his spiritual journey into the far country. And these are not the kind of lessons we might glean even from a man who professed, say, deism or atheism throughout his life. Rather, Hamilton, by all accounts, evidenced a vibrant Christian faith in his teens and gave clear affirmations of faith in Christ on his deathbed. However, sadly, he was a prodigal of sorts captured by politics and establishing himself in the world for much of his twenties and thirties. His meteoric rise to political power appears to have eclipsed the fires of his fledgling teenage faith. Yet he did, it seems, come to himself, once humbled, and eventually return home seeking the arms of a Father.

His 1772 published letter that proved to be his way out of the West Indies viewed the hurricane as a divine rebuke to human vanity and pomposity (Chernow, 37). The storm thundered, according to the 17-year-old Hamilton, Despise thyself and adore thy God. Yet Hamilton, in his faith, found safety.

See thy wretched helpless state, and learn to know thyself. Learn to know thy best support. Despise thyself, and adore thy God. . . . [W]hat have I to dread? My staff can never be broken in Omnipotence I trusted. . . . He who gave the winds to blow, and the lightnings to rage even him have I always loved and served. His precepts have I observed. His commandments have I obeyed and his perfections have I adored.

That same year, he wrote a Christian hymn, one that Eliza would come to prize and cling to during the half century she outlived him. There he confessed, O Lamb of God! thrice gracious Lord / Now, now I feel how true thy word.

However, his way with words was soon put to other purposes. Once in America, his wordsmithing would propel him into revolutionary leadership, then to Washingtons side, and eventually to the most powerful seat in the first executive administration from 1789 until 1795.

Hamiltons long-standing relationship with Washington proved to be a stabilizing force. In hindsight, his most productive (and least self-destructive) work came when he was most proximate to Washington, leading to the first of four lessons.

Chernow observes, After Alexander Hamilton left the Treasury Department [in 1795], he lost the strong, restraining hand of George Washington and the invaluable sense of tact and proportion that went with it. Washington was magnanimous. Few were willing to stomach such personal offenses as he endured without retaliating. The fatherless and insecure Hamilton badly needed this stabilizing presence. Hamilton had been forced, as Washingtons representative, to take on some of his decorum. Now that he was no longer subordinate to Washington, Hamilton was even quicker to perceive threats, issue challenges, and take a high-handed tone in controversies. Some vital layer of inhibition disappeared (Chernow, 488).

But it was not only Washington, whose guidance was political, but also Eliza, whose influence was gently but relentlessly spiritual. As a woman of deep spirituality, Eliza believed firmly in [Christian] instruction for her children, and it would prove to have effects on her husband as they raised them together, and particularly as his great humblings came in late 1799, throughout 1800, and into 1801. She endured his wandering and, in the end, it appears, won him with her life and conduct (1 Peter 3:1).

In the Parable of the Sower, Jesus tells about seed sown among thorns: They are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful (Mark 4:1819).

Hamilton, admirably, was not undone by the deceitfulness of riches his financial integrity was sterling but the cares of the world and desires for other things haunted his extended season of spiritual reticence (from his seeming indifference to Christianity from 1777 to 1792, to his opportunist use of it for party purposes until 1801). Fatherless since age 10, and orphaned at 14, Hamilton seemed bent on proving himself in his new country. The flame and striking warmth of his teenage faith cooled as cares of this world began to energize him first the Revolution, then becoming a respected New York lawyer, then rescuing the fledgling nation from its inadequate Articles of Confederation, and finally trying to preserve his power once Washington left office.

Such a story is not his alone. Countless Christian youths, flames burning bright, have found themselves crashing on the hard rocks, and hard knocks, of adult life. How might it have been different? That leads to a third lesson.

Chernow notes that Hamilton had been devout when younger, but he seemed more skeptical about organized religion during the Revolution (132). Perhaps circumstances from his childhood, and particularly his mothers death, help to explain a mystifying ambivalence that Hamilton always felt about regular church attendance, despite a pronounced religious bent (25). Recently, historian and pastor Obbie Tyler Todd has written that Hamilton, from his arrival in America, was a man torn between two denominations (Presbyterian and Episcopal) while finding no real home in the communion of believers.

In Hamiltons case, the ominous absence of the church may be the clearest warning sign we can point to. At 17, Hamilton seemed to thrive under Hugh Knoxs pastoral influence. But without the strengthening and constraining influence of a local church, a faithful evangelical wife was not enough to keep him from wandering, even if she would be vital to his late-life renewal.

Hamiltons 1791 adulterous affair with Maria Reynolds showed how far he had wandered and reminds us of the delusion of power and success. There once was a great king in Israel who, as a prelude to infidelity, remained in the city when others went to war (2 Samuel 11:1). So too the 36-year-old Hamilton, at the height of his power and with so much work to do stayed in New York while his family summered upstate.

That summer a 23-year-old woman approached him telling of an abusive husband and asking for help. Later, in the notorious Reynolds Pamphlet, his extended public confession in 1797, written to vindicate his financial reputation, he would write that he came to her door with monetary assistance and, Some conversation ensued from which it was quickly apparent that other than pecuniary consolation would be acceptable. This is the first of several 1790s instances about which Chernow, even as the cool-headed biographer, appears stunned by Hamiltons folly:

Such stellar success might have bred an intoxicating sense of invincibility. But his vigorous reign had also made him the enfant terrible of the early republic, and a substantial minority of the country was mobilized against him. This should have made him especially watchful of his reputation. Instead, in one of historys most mystifying cases of bad judgment, he entered into a sordid affair with a married woman named Maria Reynolds that, if it did not blacken his name forever, certainly sullied it. From the lofty heights of statesmanship, Hamilton fell back into something reminiscent of the squalid world of his West Indian boyhood. (362)

For Christians, the stakes are far greater than political reputation. Hamilton knew better not only as a man and stateman, but as one who had professed faith in Christ. Perhaps he thought, for six years, that he had gotten away with it (politically speaking), with only the checks it took to pay off her husbands blackmail. But the whispers were proclaimed from rooftops in 1797 and threatened not only to undo his future prospects, but also his past work.

The late Adams administration held one humbling after another. Adams broke from his cabinet (and Hamilton) and sought peace with France in October of 1799. Two months later, Washington died suddenly. By February 1810, it became clear the Federalist party was turning from Hamilton to Adams. Then, by the end of April, Burr and his opposing coalition won control of New York. In a matter of months, Hamiltons political power and influence crumbled.

To top it all off, in the election of 1800, his old cabinet rival Jefferson won the presidency and with Burr as vice president. As Douglass Adair and Marvin Harvey wrote in 1955, Perhaps never in all American political history has there been a fall from power so rapid, so complete, so final as Hamiltons in the period from October, 1799 to November, 1800 (Was Alexander Hamilton a Christian Statesman? 322). Devasted, he began to consider again the God of his youth. Then it was in late November 1801 that he endured his greatest trial, when his 19-year-old son, Philip, was shot in a duel and died 14 hours later. Later he wrote to a friend that Philips death was beyond comparison the most afflicting of my life.

Yet by late 1801, as part of his late-flowering religious interests, Hamilton was taking solace in Christianity and Philips profession of faith. It was the will of heaven and [Philip] is now out of the reach of the seductions and calamities of a world full of folly, full of vice, full of danger, of least value in proportion as it is best known. I firmly trust also that he has safely reached the haven of eternal repose and felicity.

Hamiltons spiritual renewal is too pronounced to ignore, whether in a biography or on Broadway. His re-awakening appears to have preceded (and prepared him for) Philips death, even if Miranda captures it in the aftermath of his loss, in the culminating song Quiet Uptown:

I take the children to church on Sunday,A sign of the cross at the door,And I pray.That never used to happen before.

What may be a grace too powerful to name on Broadway is precisely the name we know as powerful, and we name: Jesus.

In July of 1804, on the night before his own deadly duel, he would write,

This letter, my very dear Eliza, will not be delivered to you unless I shall first have terminated my earthly career to begin, as I humbly hope from redeeming grace and divine mercy, a happy immortality. . . . The consolations of [Christianity], my beloved, can alone support you and these you have a right to enjoy. Fly to the bosom of your God and be comforted. With my last idea, I shall cherish the sweet hope of meeting you in a better world. Adieu best of wives and best of women.

Todds recent work focuses on those final 31 hours after the duel, and Hamiltons clear affirmations of (what Chernow calls) his late-flowering religious interests. Not only did Hamilton there confirm, in general, I am a sinner: I look to his mercy, but more specifically, I have a tender reliance on the mercy of the Almighty, through the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ.

His end-of-life confessions were as clear as his teenage faith was warm. But for those of us who grieve his long, tragic journey into the far country of seeming political success and pride, we redouble our resolve to live now for what matters eternally, and welcome Gods humbling hand if we realize ourselves to have cooled and wandered.

Lest Hamiltons late-life Christian faith contribute to a distorted impression of the nations founding, were wise to concede that this, meager as it is, may be one of the clearer affirmations of evangelical faith among the inner circle of the founders. You will not find such in Franklin, Washington, Adams, Jefferson, or Madison. (One exception, among others, is Hamiltons longtime friend and collaborator, and first Supreme Court Chief Justice, John Jay.) And this is not to make much of Hamiltons reticent and late-flowering faith, but to own how unevangelical was the nations founding.

On July 4, we remember a nation founded far more in step with the life Hamilton lived in his twenties and thirties, than his teenage profession and late-life renewal. However, from its dawning, the nation has not been able to shake its Puritan roots that grew up together with its deep Enlightenment influences. We do celebrate a nation that, however secular its founding, provided the soil in which the Second Great Awakening could grow and flourish in the first half of the nineteenth century and change the landscape, a nation still enduring under the worlds oldest active codified constitution, a nation we pray will again see future awakenings, even as it still today, with every new dawn, provides space for countless personal conversions to the true God, in Jesus Christ.

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American Prodigal: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of Alexander Hamilton - Desiring God

Founded in the mid-1950s, you may never have heard of The Aetherius Society. It has supporters all over the world and there was one branch in England that most people may not know exists.

Described as a 'UFO religion' and a 'New Age' belief system, there's a temple in Yorkshire on the A61, Sheffield Road. The religion was founded by a man called King George, a 'master of yoga' who claimed to have been in contact with extraterrestrial intelligence, also known as 'Cosmic Masters', Yorkshire Live reports.

Fast forward 70 years and the religious movement has spread across the globe, though the penetration into Yorkshire appears to be fairly modest, with reference on the Society's website to supporters in Barnsley and Hull.

However, one location in Yorkshire appears to have played a significant role in the development of George King's outlook. It was at Roseberry Topping - sometimes jokingly called Yorkshire's Matterhorn - that King visited in 1978 on a 'mystical pilgrimage'.

A photograph of King atop the 1,049ft Roseberry Topping in North Yorkshire is featured on The Aetherius Society website. King says he had a profound 'realisation' while during that 'bright sunny morning in June'.

According to King, his mission on earth was to act as an 'agent' for the Gods and to help "Goddess Earth Herself in her sacrifice for humanity."

In 'The King who Came to Earth', a biography of George King, chapter six deals with a mission that "moved into a dark and dangerous phase of transmuting the powerful evil forces in the lower astral realms of Earth."

Over in Barnsley, the branch organiser is Bipin Patel who says he came across The Aetherius Society through his brother who was for a time living in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, and later a university student in London.

Mr Patel has been in Barnsley nearly a year now and says the branch is one of the larger ones. Members meet up three or four times a week, with services such as 'The Twelve Blessings' aimed at changing the world with spiritual energy.

Members also take part in 'Operation Prayer Power' in which spiritual energy is directed into a "spiritual energy battery" described as "a special piece of apparatus which can store spiritual energy for release in times of need to bring about healing, peace and upliftment," according to the Society's website.

Mr Patel admits that the concept of storing spiritual energy in a 'battery' may sound "a bit crazy" and radical.

I ask him what's inside the battery but he cannot say.

"The exact design of the battery is classified information. It's a crystalline material to store energy. Specialist apparatus can discharge it."

The energy produced can, he says, be released in the event of a natural disaster such as an earthquake, or to help bring about peace during wartime.

Mr Patel says The Aetherius Society appeals to people who are interested in spirituality and worried about humanity.

Asked about contact with Gods from space, Mr Patel says: "The primary contact was through Dr George King. He was a very unusual person who did 8-10 hours of yoga a day for 10 years while in full-time employment. He became a master of yoga through exceptional dedication."

Mr Patel, who is Hindu, says members of the Society come from various backgrounds including Christianity and Islam.

"To me, it all blends in perfectly. We think there is only one God. We think all different religions are the same God with different names."

Asked about UFOs, Mr Patel says that these are real and that "they are spacecraft of extraterrestrial origin. There have been lots of different sightings."

"The Aetherius Society is an international spiritual organization dedicated to spreading, and acting upon, the teachings of advanced extraterrestrial intelligences," the Society's website explains.

"In great compassion, these beings recognize the extent of suffering on Earth and have made countless sacrifices in their mission to help us to create a better world.

"The Society was founded in the mid-1950s by an Englishman named George King shortly after he was contacted in London by an extraterrestrial intelligence known as 'Aetherius.' The main body of the Societys teachings consists of the wisdom given through the mediumship of Dr King by the Master Aetherius and other advanced intelligences from this world and beyond.

"The single greatest aspect of the Societys teachings is the importance of selfless service to others. The Societys motto is 'Service is the jewel in the rock of attainment.'

"The Society does not regard itself as the one and only path to enlightenment or salvation. It maintains that all the great religions are simply different expressions of the one essential timeless reality that is the Divine Source."

Service to others is known as 'karma yoga' and is "the greatest spiritual practice anyone can perform."

Karma, it says, is not about punishment, but about learning.

"Due to the wrong thought and action of humankind for millennia, the balance of world karma at present is not good. This prevents more direct intervention from the Cosmic Masters, such as an open landing in a major city.

"Much of The Aetherius Societys work is done specifically in order to improve world karma, especially through the Cosmic Missions it is instrumental in performing."

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The unknown temple where members believe in 'space gods' and go on mystical journeys - Wales Online

Guru Purnima 2022 date. Pic credit: istockphoto

Guru Purnima pays ode to Gurus (teachers/mentors and everyone who guides and trains us).

Interestingly, the Sanskrit word Guru is derived from Gu and Ru, where Gu means ignorance/darkness and Ru refers to elimination/removal. Therefore, the Guru is hailed as the one who dispels darkness-like ignorance by showering light-like knowledge. Hence, people pay tributes to their teachers' matchless contributions.

Moreover, Guru Purnima is observed on the Purnima Tithi (Full Moon Day) in the month of Ashadha, a day commemorating the birth anniversary of Veda Vyasa, the author of the great Indian epic, Mahabharata.

Guru Purnima 2022 date

This year, Guru Purnima will be celebrated on July 13.

Guru Purnima 2022 Tithi timings

The Purnima Tithi will remain in effect from 4:00 AM on July 13 to 12:06 AM on July 14.

Significance of Guru Purnima

Ved Vyasa

Ved Vyasa, one of the most extraordinary men ever to walk the earth, was born on the Purnima Tithi, Ashadha month. He was the son of Sage Parashar and Devi Satyawati and is known for playing a crucial role in the Mahabharata, an epic he authored. Interestingly, Lord Ganesha is said to have documented it in a written format as the Sage narrated it.

Ved Vyasa is also said to have classified the Vedas into four - Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda and Atharva Veda. And his legacy was carried forward by his disciples Paila, Vaisampayana, Jaimini and Sumantu.

Therefore, he is hailed as a powerhouse of knowledge and is revered by devotees.

Lord Shiva -The Adiyogi and the Saptarishis

Interestingly, according to the Yogic sect, Lord Shiva is the first Guru or Yogi who imparted knowledge to the Saptarishis (the seven sages). He is said to have assumed the form of a Yogi to share his wisdom with the sages and bless them with Yogic knowledge. And since he is the first Guru, he is hailed as Adiyogi.

Mahavira and Indrabhuti Gautam

Interestingly, Guru Purnima is also an important day for those who follow Jainism. And this is because Lord Mahavira, the 24th Jain Tirthankara, made Ganadhara Indrabhuti Gautam (Gautam Swami) his first disciple after attaining Kaivalya.

Gautam Buddha's first sermon

The Guru Purnima Tithi is significant for followers of Buddhism because Gautam Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, delivered his first sermon at Sarnath after attaining enlightenment. Hence, Buddhists celebrate Guru Purnima to pay tributes to Gautam Buddha.

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Guru Purnima 2022 date, tithi timings and other important details - Times Now

Jigardan Gadhvi aka Jigraa's soulful voice has always enchanted his devoted fans. The artist has not only won hearts with his romantic songs but has also built a name for himself with devotional tracks. Jigraa has now released a recreation, ETimes contacted the singer, and here is what he has to say."This Bhajan comes from Saurashtra and is one of my favorites. Gangasati, the original creator of this bhajan, was a medieval saint-poet of the bhakti tradition of western India who composed several devotional songs in the Gujarati language. She composed this bhajan with a theme and spiritual messages in mind, such as the value and grace of the Guru, the life of a devotee, nature, and Bhakti. They are composed according to Panbai's directions," Jigraa shares.'Meru To Dage' is still popular in Saurashtra and is typically performed by devotional singers. It highlights several facets of the path to spiritual enlightenment. I have recreated this bhajan within the soul that remains intact," he adds."Gujarati folk fusion is a new way to reconnect with our culture. My fans have loved my efforts with Gujarati recreational music, I hope they shower their blessings and love this time too as this one is a very special song in my life," elated Jigraa smiles and concludes the conversation.

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Jigardan Gadhvi on 'Meru To Dage': It highlights several facets of the path to spiritual enlightenment - Times of India

Shyam Selvadurai (Credit: George Pimentel)

After nearly a decade, bestselling author of Funny Boy and The Hungry Ghosts Shyam Selvadurai returns with a sweeping new novel set in ancient India. It introduces readers to Siddhartha Gotama the man who would become Buddha and Yasodhara, the woman who married him.

One fateful night, at the request of Maharaja Maha Kosala, a young Siddhartha meets with an ascetic who preaches of a suffering that ends all further suffering. Even though he is repulsed by the ascetics fanaticism, Siddhartha finds himself drawn to the mans underlying philosophy. In order to escape what he considers a fresh defect within himself, Siddhartha decides a wife of practicality will rein him in, and he asks for his cousins hand in marriage.

Sixteen-year-old Yasodhara, unaware of her cousins attraction to this new spiritual philosophy, agrees to marry Siddhartha. She quickly spots his tendency to brood, but chalks it up to his temperament. Soon after their wedding, Siddhartha is stationed as the governor in Mudgala in the north, and Yasodhara is uprooted from the sheltered life shes lived as a well-born female. Bearing the lot of women, Yasodhara is forced to reinvent herself and she does. She becomes an expert in cultivating the paddy fields and takes satisfaction in the feel of the earth in her hands, the sense of power in growing the food they ate. And she thrives. Despite Siddharthas success, his thoughts return to the impermanence of life, a fixation renewed by an unexpected visit from an old friend.

Things are no better back in the royal city of Kapilavastu, and soon Yasodhara is unable to bridge the chasm between her and her husband, despite her desperate attempts. In a heartbreaking sequence, she confronts Siddhartha about the robe, razor, and begging bowl she finds in his private quarters. He finally tells her the truth, beginning with that night so many years ago, and admits this search for spiritual enlightenment is a calling he can no longer leave unanswered. After presiding over the naming ceremony of his son, Rahula, Siddhartha disappears from Yasodharas life without saying a word.

Divided into three parts called dukkha, a term that covers everything from dissatisfaction to irritation and tragedy, Mansions of the Moon is a deeply intimate novel. The dukkhas, each of which begins with a vignette of Yasodhara in the narrative present and recalls the hardships she endured after Siddharthas abandonment, trace their marriage as life takes them across India, from the mountains of Mudgala to the grandeur of Kapilavastu and the soil of Licchavi in the Kathmandu Valley.

Selvadurai has created a captivating look at Yasodhara, who has remained largely hidden in Buddhist literature. Although she is submerged by change, swept away and drowned in it due to the decisions the men in her life make, here, in these pages, we see her struggle, hear her fears, and understand her pain. We know whats coming next and want to shelter her from the blow a testament to Selvadurais extraordinary empathy and storytelling. Narrated using many Pali words, this is an epic story of Yasodharas journey to find her own path forward.

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Mansions of the Moon - Quill & Quire

As a land administration lecturer, I consider my lectures on the concepts of land one of the most important sessions in shaping students understanding of what land is and is not. I always state that land can be viewed from different lenses e.g. from spatial, economic, social, environmental, community, social, political, cultural, heritage, nature, human rights and spiritual perspectives. For obvious reasons, students tend to pick more interest in the land as an economic commodity aspect. Some equally essential parts of what land means, at least to us Africans, that students have less interest in are the perspectives of land as nature, deity and heritage. Another aspect they tend to find funny, and sometimes laughable, is the aspect of land as spirituality. The times I have insisted on teaching students about the deep spiritual meanings of land (a part of their curricula), I have received some passive backlash. In face-to-face classes, some students would act as though I was inspiring them to dump their Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha and many other religious figures they hold dear to embrace ancestral worship or juju. In online (virtual) classes, I faced warning silence and respectful notifications of some people logging off from my class. I want to use this article to emphasise why the spiritual aspect of land is as important as the economic and other aspects.

WHY LAND REMAINS SACRED

Traditional beliefs in customary communities in Africa is that land is a gift from God, passed on to us from our ancestors. This notion makes sense when one considers God to be that divine force that created the land we live in. We hold this divine force so great that it is hard to describe it that we simply give it many names. Ancestors are those from whom we descended and inherited our land as a heritage. So, land is a gift from God that our ancestors have used and left for us (women, boys, babies, girls and men) to continue to use.

In Africa, spirituality is expressed in individuals or communities recognition of a belief that there is a force greater than the self. It is a consciousness of a supernatural power capable of rescuing us in times of grief, sorrow and despair. There are many reasons why spirituality cannot be isolated from land ownership in Africa. Several practices allude to the sacredness of land all over Africa. This is because land is the home of our ancestors (that is, where our ancestors have been buried). In many African communities, the umbilical cords of newborns are also buried. Also, when boys are circumcised in many communities, their foreskins are buried. Many ethnic groups all over Africa stand or kneel barefoot when they want to communicate with their ancestors. This they do through libations to revere the land where their ancestors lie. These practices make us spiritually attached to land.

Traditionally, land is considered a source of food, shelter, health and materials that enable better living conditions for people. This is not different from how it is conventionally conceived. During libations (traditional prayer) to God (directly) or ancestors (as intercessors), the importance of land as an embodiment of all human needs is usually chanted. This is because spirituality is part of the essential element in the existence of African communities. This spirituality is expressed in how we own land communally to show that no one person is superior, but only God. It is present in the grandeur and simplicity of African architecture. It is infused in our music, customs, tales, sayings, dances or art forms that relate to our use of land and natural resources. It also relates to divinity in how and for what we use the land. The absence of divinity in land affairs is viewed as disrespect to the creative force (God) that allows communities to use the land for living and sustenance.

Land and spiritualities are interwoven and embedded issues. The protection and use of land as an object of spirituality is heritage possible through generational transfer. It should not be caricatured. It should be the basis for social and cultural identities within African countries. Every genuine seeker of spiritual enlightenment has a longing to enter deeper communion with their God, and it is not different in Africa. That is why sacred places form a crucial part of popular and unpopular religions. Buddhists consider Bodh Gaya, near the banks of the Falgu River in India, one of their most essential lands (among many others). Shintoists have the Ise Grand Shrine in Japan as their sacred place. Judaists (and even Christians) consider their Holy Land, Jerusalem, sacred. Muslims embrace Mecca as their Holy City. African traditionalists make efforts to embrace their shrines. Still, they are usually (and unfairly) discouraged from having a place of their own or Holy Land. This is born out of the growing ignorance concerning the spiritual role of land in traditional African communities.

Religion aside, the veneration of land (part of the appreciation of nature) is the foundation for agricultural production, forest management and communal land governance in Africa. Long before mentioning sustainable development in the world in the United Nations Brundtland Reports of 1987, Africans have always sought sustainability through their spiritual engagements on land. Since time immemorial, spirituality in land use has been a principle for Africas conservation and protection of natural resources. It has been the basis of sustainability in Africa: caring for the land for our dead (ancestors), our living (us) and the unborn (future generation). This context of land and spirituality is not to be laughed at. In fact, it has been integrated into conventional sustainability studies and sold back to Africans as new knowledge called sustainable development.

* Uchendu Eugene Chigbu is an Associate Professor (Land Administration) in the Department of Land and Property Sciences (DLPS) at the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST). The views expressed in this article are entirely his, and not that of NUST.

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Opinion - On the spiritual concept of land in Africa - New Era

The First Flight Out of the Cult of Celebrity You Have a Friend in 10A

Im told I went catrastic for the first time in 1984, when JeromeShin (yes, the director) took me up to my bathroommy gaudychildhood bathroom with the big pink Jacuzzi and mirrors on allfour wallsand cut me my first line and asked me to hold his ballswhile he jerked off. The request was casual, like my stepmothertelling me to hold her purse while she fixed her lipstick. Just holdthem? I said.

Yeah, he said, pulling down the top of my dress and lookingskeptically at my half-grown tits. Just hold them.

The pouch sat on my palm like rotten fruit while he worked hissad, skinny dick. It was a year or so after his young wife drowned.He must have been in his early forties then. I was fourteen.

Now tug them! he barked, scrunching up his face.

Startled, I tugged until he came onto my thigh and the hem ofmy dress. (My stepmothers dress. I returned it to her closet without cleaning it.) My fathers party murmured through the floor andthe pipes. All those people milling around, trying to out-fabulouseach other, talking about green lights and opening grosses and sex.Probably every bathroom in the house was hosting some variationon our theme. Jerome cast me in his next movie.

My agent said we had to change my name. No one uses theirreal name, he said, and yours is terrible. We were at the PoloLounge; he was eating a Cobb salad. He reached over with his forkand knocked my hand away from my fries. Actors names are justlabels you stick on a fantasy, he said. You know, like Armani orsomething. But itd be nice to keep some reference to your father.So I went from being Allison Lowenstein-Karr to being Karr Alison. No one could ever explain why we dropped the second l. Itsa no-brainer, my agent told me. Go with it.

In retrospect, I dont think I felt catrastic in the bathroom withJerome. I remember feeling flattered and grossed out and highand sophisticated. Still, my Helpers identified that night as whenmy system first became seriously susceptible to degradons, whenI started to lose track of my Esteem. Jerome, they told me, wasa Usurperwhich Ive never quite been able to sort out becauseJeromes movie is what made me famous, and the Church onlyever liked me because I was famous. Jefferson Morris himself toldme that the Founder says the important moments in life arent justpoints along a single straight line but are moving, swiveling hubswithin a three-dimensional web and belong to multiple trajectories, both ascending and descending. When I held Jeromes balls, Iwas beginning my descent into fucked-up druggie despectum, butId also hooked into that steep skyward line that would bring meto Billy and Jefferson and the teachings of the Founder. But thenthere was everything else, too. Like I said, I cant sort it out.

Businessman, computer businessman, Steelers fan, Asian grandmother, clean-cut guy whos probably a pervert, sullen punk kid,guy with big gold jewelry, retired couple with too much luggage,harried couple with too many children, Texan. They file past myseat, departing souls taking slow zombie steps down a fluorescenttunnel. Well, I guess its hurry up and wait, an older blond ladysays to no one in particular. Were all in this together, she is saying.A flight attendant squeezes past to get to the harried couple, whoseem defeated by the overhead compartment, by their bags anddiaper bags and childrens suitcases bursting with pointless junk.Dont mind us, says the blond lady. But I like the flight attendants, their big hair and sexy blue vests and shiny red nails. Theguy in the middle seat doesnt seem to recognize me, which is justas well. I look out the window at the odd vehicles racing aroundthe tarmac, the shadowy people behind the terminal windows, the transparent flutter of jet exhaust.

I am going to my mothers house. An act of desperation. Thelast time I saw her, three years ago, we got in a fight before I couldeven get through the door

Wheres Helena?

With Billy.

You left her with that loon?

Dont even talk to me about leaving. And hes not a loon.

Hes a loon. Him and that Jefferson Starship guy and their Looney Tunes religion.

Its my religion, too.

Its not a religion. Its a roach motel for idiots.

You dont know. You dont know anything about the Founder.Youre just a blip.

Whats a blip?

Someone who doesnt know anything about the Founder.

Youre brainwashed.

Youre a Nazi.

and then she slammed the door in my face, and I lifted up themetal flap of the mail slot and hollered through it that she was acunt and a Usurper and I hoped she and her degradons had a verynice life together. But now Ive left the Church, or the Churchhas left me, or we left each other, and Billy of course left me, andQuentin is dead, and I spent all my money trying to get Helenaback and failed, and I tried to be in a play, and my friends finally,nicely, suggested I should look for my own place to live.

Im in coach but near the front, and I see a tall man in a whiteuniform take a seat in first class. My heart flies up like a flusheddove but gets caught and tangled in a net. If I were hooked up to anAurograph, it would be going crazy. I remind myself that Quentinis dead. Most everyones settled down and buckled up now, exceptfor a paunchy guy whos going to break the plane apart trying tostuff his huge suitcase into the overhead, his round belly assaultingthe face of the woman in the aisle seat, sweat stains in his armpits.A flight attendant comes and splays her red nails across the suitcaseas though calming a frightened animal. She lifts it down and takesit away. The pilot comes out of the planes little locked brain andshakes the hand of the man in white, bending down, nodding andsomber as they exchange a few words.

There are all kinds of stories about me and Billy. The Churchbought me for him; hes gay; Im gay; I was impregnated with theFounders frozen sperm; I was impregnated by Jefferson Morris; Iwas impregnated by Quentin; I was never pregnant at all.

Id only been out of Cloudvista a couple of months when myagent called, all excited. Billy Bjorn wants a meeting. Wear something classy. Dont swear. Be sugar sweet, and try not to act like ajunkie.

Whats the script? I asked.

Who the fuck cares?

Arent you coming?

He wants to meet you alone. They specified.

Billy is not tall, but he wasnt as short as I expected. He movedaround his office with the same gymnastic energy as the commando squirrels I watched out the window at Cloudvista whilethey leapt and dangled and corkscrewed, raiding the bird feeders. He has strong, active hands, and I imagined an invisible tailwhirling behind him as he poured me a glass of mineral water,then darted to the window to point out a jet taking off from SantaMonica (Ive been thinking about getting one like that myselfwhat do you think? Do you like it?), then fiddled with papers onhis desk, then flopped down beside me on a long white couch andunleashed his grin. Everyone knows Billys smile, but you cantreally understand its effect until youre confronted by it in person.You lean toward those teeth, swim upstream, struggle closer tothe origin of all that dazzle, that gush of stardust. Suddenly I wasSuzanne in Tin Can Palace. I was that bitchy lawyer in Pleadingswho doesnt want to be charmed by him but is. I wasnt a washedup twenty-year-old with a pill problem. I was inside a glorioussphere of light. I was a glorious sphere of light.

You, he said. You are special. I can tell. Ive always liked youon-screen, but now, talking to you in person, just sitting here looking at youhe broke off and gave his famous trill of incredulouslaughter. Just look at you, he said, taking my hand. You justyouyou have so much to give. Theres something about you.I didnt expect to react this wayI mean, I wasnt planningbutjust look at you!

I echoed his laugh and tried to amp up my smile. My smile isnot my strong suit, though, and remembering that, I faltered andlooked away. He put a finger under my chin and turned my faceback. And youve still got a sweet shyness, he said. Great.Really great.

Im just so happy to meet you.

Yeah? He shook his head and laughed again, staring at me,giddy. Yeah. Am I crazy here? Are you feeling this, Karr? BecauseIm feeling somethingwhewsomething big.

I had to turn away again. On a side table stood a framed picture of a young man in a white uniform with gold braid and colorful rows of ribbons. Is that your son? I asked, knowing it was.Quentin was the product of Billys first marriage, to his highschool sweetheart. After her, he married an ethereal movie star,and after her, he married a model from Ecuador, and after her, hemarried me.

Quentin, yeah. My boy. He sprang off the couch and pickedup the photo, staring at it for a moment before he dropped backbeside me, closer now, our thighs touching. I felt thrilled andtwisted. I felt something big. I felt like I was a shred of myselfcaught on a sharp hook. I felt like a gust of wind. I felt desperate toget high and certain I would never want to be high again.

I didnt know he was in the navy, I said, looking at Quentinsface, which was a distorted version of Billys square bullet of masculinity, narrower and softer.

Hes not. Billy took my hand. Listen, Karr. Do you ever feellike you need help?

What do you mean? Dont act like a junkie, dont act like a junkie.

Do you ever have doubts? Do you ever worry about rejection?Do you feel like there are people trying to bring you down?

I thought about the men in suits who had greeted me in the lobbyand ridden with me in the elevator to Billys office. They had askedafter my father and stepmother by name. I said theyd moved toHawaii and opened a Zen center, but the men already knew. Witha pair of synchronized winks they mentioned an interview I gavewhen I was seventeen in which I had said I wanted to marry Billy.

I just got out of rehab, I said to Billy. So. Yeah.

His eyebrows squeezed his forehead into a rift of concern. Hisgaze fried me like light through a magnifying glass. Just when thetension was about to break me, he said, softly, I can help you.

Ladies and gentlemen, the pilot says in that twangy, folksypilot voice, today we have the honor of transporting the remainsof Petty Officer First Class Reginald J. Roberts, who was killed inaction in Afghanistan and is being escorted home to his family byLieutenant Commander Howard Stanton. Out of respect to ourfallen warrior, I ask that you remain seated upon arrival until Lieutenant Commander Stanton has deplaned.

Everyones attention goes to the windows. We are curious for aglimpse of the casket being loaded. I cant see anything. The officer has taken off his white hat, and his bald spot peeks over theback of his seat.

Do you know anyone whos died in the war? the blip next tome says. He looks like hes in his late twenties but might as well beolder. Central casting has printed Middle Management on theback of his head shot. A book on how to be an effective leader isstuffed in his seat pocket.

No.

I do. A high school friend of mine. He went into a house andshot a guy who was wired to blow up. Bits of the other guys tissue got embedded in him and caused all kinds of infections. Thatswhat killed him eventually. Imagine having pieces of a dead personrotting inside you, someone you killed, someone who didnt evenspeak your language and whos going to take you with him. Makesme sick. Its like a horror movie.

Hes basically describing degradonsinvisible little pellets ofbad feelings from Usurpers that stick to your body and make theirway into your Esteembut I remind myself that I dont believein degradons anymore. I probably never did, not really, but thelanguage of the Church has rooted in me like a fake accent I cantshake. Awful, I say. Im sorry.

Its weird to think of that poor guy down in the cargo holdwith our bags and everything. He looks at me, and I can see hewants something but I dont know what. Its weird to think offlying after youre dead.

Holding his gaze, I uncoil the cord of my earphones fromaround my phone and put them in my ears.

A word about the Aurograph. People say its nothing more thangoofy science-fiction wishful thinking, but I can tell you theresmagic in it. You focus on your life, and energy flows out of yourbrain and through the electrode bonnet into the monitor. Greenwaves appear on the black screen, spiking when you hit a catrasticmoment, showing where your spirit has gotten all gunked up, andwhen that happens, you get excited; your Helper gets excited; youfeel like undersea explorers whove just found a wreck. To maximize your Esteem, you have to isolate all those moments and letyourself be helped through them. You are a hot air balloon, Billytold me on one of our first nights, his hand on my belly, his breathin my ear, and all around you are invisible tethers held by peopleon the ground, people who are trying to hold you down, usurpyour Esteem. They dont want to let go, Karr. They wont. But youhave to snip those tethers. You have to cut yourself loose so youcan fly. You can do itI know you can. You just need a little help.

Think about something that has troubled you recently, myHelper said after my wedding.

I had planned to think about the helicopters that hovered abovethe chteau day and night and the paparazzi who clamored at thegates like angry peasants, but instead, Quentin welled up in mymind, standing at the window where I first saw him. A green lineclimbed the monitor.

Okay, said my Helper, the Aurograph has registered yourdistress. What were you thinking about?

The night before the wedding, I said.

What in particular?

We had a big dinner for everyone. I was getting ready to comedown to the ballroom, and I was alone in my room after I got myhair done, and I thought I heard someone calling my name. So Iwent and opened the door, and there was Billys son.

He was calling your name?

No. He was at the other end of the hall, looking out the window. Id never met him before, actually. Hed been away on theEsteem.

Who was calling your name?

No one.

Why does this memory trouble you?

(Quentin? I said, and he turned. He was wearing his whiteFounderCorps dress uniform, the one he wore in the picture inBillys office. Even from the other end of a long hallway, I couldtell Quentin was different from Billy. Everything flows out fromBilly, whooshing and blasting you back, and you fight to get closer.But everything pulls toward Quentin, and I felt queasy, like Ishould brace away.

Should I call you Mom? he said, not sarcastically but sadly. Iwas twenty-one. He was twenty-six.)

I just wish, I told my Helper, Id had the chance to meet himearlier so we could have felt like more of a family at the wedding.

Already I had begun to understand that the infallibility of Billywas a cornerstone of the Church, and my Helper looked uncomfortable. Quentin has very important work to do on the Esteem.He helps people reach the highest levels of study.

The Esteem is the last of the Founders ships. According toJefferson Morris, the Founder says the ocean is the place wherewe are most open and compassionate. Anyone who wishes to bereally and truly free of degradons must spend time studying onthe Esteem. I said, I know. I dont mean to be critical. It was justa little awkward.

Do you resent Quentins obligations to the Church?

No.

Do you wish your husband paid less attention to the Churchand more attention to you?

Sometimes.

Im going to recommend a class for youits called Overcoming Selfishness for the Sake of the Self. Theres an intensiveversion available at the Ranch.

Okay.

Can you think of another moment in your past that troubledyou in the same way?

I reached, as I often did during Helping sessions, for the yearsbetween Jerome Shin and Billy.

Youve seen my first movie, the one Jerome put me in. I think itholds up pretty well. Kind of gritty but still kind of a caper. Not asgood as Jeromes last movie, but Jerome was one of those peoplewho knew hed do his best work while he was dying.

When we started filming, I didnt want anything from himcertainly I had no pressing urge to be reunited with his scrotumbut I was still offended he didnt try anything with me. He wassoft-spoken and professional. He made sure I put in my hours withthe set tutors. Allie, are you comfortable with this? he askedbefore we filmed my scene in the bath.

Eventually I figured out he was boinking Genevieve Henry. Herbeauty didnt register with me back then. I thought my knobbyknees and flat ass were what every man wanted, not Gennysmouth like a fat berry and her weary eyes. I ditched my chaperoneand went to her trailer and asked if we could talk. She was sprawledon a love seat in a black silk bathrobe patterned with white orchids,reading a paperback spy novel. Sure, baby, she said, tenting thebook on her chest.

A bottle of white wine stood open in an ice bucket on her table.Can I have some of that?

Sure, baby.

I poured a glass and took a dramatic swig. As I told her what hadhappened with Jerome, she kept smiling as though I were somepleasant scene she had paused to admire: a childrens playground,a pretty sunset, a string quartet playing Vivaldi.

When I was done, she said, Thats all?

Well, I said, I guess so. I had never told the story before,and out loud it sounded flimsy and quick. I just thought youshould know Jeromes a child molester.

She swung her small mouth off to one side and studied me.

Finally, she said, Youre not a child. Youre already a bad littlechick. She twisted her lips around some more and looked at herbook for a minute. Then she turned a page and said, Baby, ifyou want to be in the business, you should think about how muchyoure willing to put up with, because if you think youve beencreamed on for the last time, youre wrong.

What did she see when she looked at me? When I rewatch thefilm, I see a gangly, eager girl pretending to be jaded. I see a littlecircus pony, a raw nugget of pure ego. Those movie people snortedme and smoked me; they cooked me in a spoon. Now they say Imweak. They say Im unfeeling to abandon my child to a cult. Butyou try getting out of that prenup, the one where you agreed toforfeit any claim to your husbands tens of millions in case of infidelity, where you certified that any and all of your children wouldbe raised in accordance with the Founders teachings, regardless ofyour own status within the Church. And you wanted your child togrow up happy and secure, sheltered from doubt, able to fly aboveour despectulated world, and you signed it, not knowing youwould be labeled a Usurper, and since your child must be raisedin accordance with the teachings of the Founder, and the Foundersaid children must be shielded from Usurpers at any cost . . . Well,you try getting out of that one. Especially if Helena wont eventalk to you. She knows better than to talk to Usurpers.

It was true I hadnt been creamed on for the last time. Peopleput me in more movies. My father was getting into drugs, so I didtoo, the way other fathers and daughters joined Indian Princessesor went out to brunch after church. At first it wasnt anythingmajor. Wed sit by the pool and share a joint when my stepmotherwasnt around. Kiddo, hed say, tell Daddy how it feels to bea star. And Id say something random like, Daddy, it feels likebiting into a dead mouse or Daddy, it feels like really bad gas,and hed howl, hed nearly fall off his chaise. But then my stepmother was around less and lessshe couldnt quite bring herself to leave him, not that she had such a high horse anyway, OurLady of Dexedrineand we took our show on the road, drivingout to house parties in Bel Air or Malibu, Dad looking like DonJohnson in his blazer and T-shirt behind the wheel of his Corvette (ice blue with a caramel interior, speedometer flickering likea flame as he accelerated). Wed cross the threshold together andpart like strangers, wading through shadow worlds where the airwas thick with bodies and ash and stardust, neither wanting to witness the others search for relief. Catch you on the flip side, hedmurmur.

Those were times I was catrasticno question. I had a trickwhere I could squeeze the insides of my knees against my ears sohard I created suction. I would do it in cars, bent forward, trying not to puke, and I would do it on my back when I got boredwith getting fucked. I could see but not hear the guy say, Youre soflexible. I was walking around covered with a thick fur of degradons, and I didnt even know it. But I also remember the way thenight sky looked from the quiet bottom of a glowing blue swimming pool, the shifting membrane of light that separated me fromthe darkness, the drunks who drifted and murmured like ghostsaround the edges.

In the mornings, my father and I would drink coffee in painedsilence until our shame burned off like early fog. Soon wed beback out by the pool, riding the fizz of my stepmothers speed backto civility, sharing a copy of Variety and a pitcher of mimosas andgossiping about the night before, pretending I hadnt been a limpand addled baby bimbo and he hadnt spilled a baggie of coke andmorphed into a crawling, snuffling thing, an anteater with a plasticstraw proboscis, hoovering up white dust from the grout of someones Spanish tiles.

I remember a party at the Chateau Marmont after I got firedfrom what would have been my fifth film and someone pulling medown from a balcony railing when I pretended I was going to jump,and then the Corvettes speedometer was flickering and Dad wassaying I was a star and fuck em, just fuck em, and I yelled at himto go faster because faster was hilarious until the spinning began,a real spinning and not just the world running around trying tocatch up with me. They found me sitting on the crumpled hoodand smoking a cigarette, barefoot, loopy, apparently unmoved bythe moans coming from the drivers seat. His left leg had to beamputated above the knee.

Just try keeping that out of the papers.

A movie star, especially when he has divorced you and stolenyour child with his lawyers and his prenup and his riches, is likeGod. Omnipotent, omnipresent. His huge grinning face looksdown over the road to the airport. He waves his invisible squirreltail on the little TV in the taxi, talking to Regis, pumping his fistin the air about something while the driver dubs him with whatever guttural language hes chortling into his phone. At the airport, he walks across the newsstands, holding his new girlfriend byone hand and your daughter by the other. He flickers across seatback screens. His voice whispers out of a hundred cheap headsets.The man beside you has recognized you after all; he gives a quicksideways glance when the guy in the aisle seat chooses Billys latest. A buddy comedy. It lost money. Billy can be funny, but self-seriousness clings to his humor like mildew. His career is suffering,not catastrophically but noticeably. People think his zeal for theChurch is off-putting. They think he is controlling, a megalomaniac, but they dont feel sorry for me. They only think I am evenmore of a fool.

A movie star, especially when he has divorced you and stolenyour child with his lawyers and his prenup and his riches, is likeGod. Omnipotent, omnipresent.

The naval officer stands and walks to the lavatory at the frontof the plane. I am relieved to see he is not watching Billys movie.Maybe hes not supposed to partake of the in-flight entertainment. Maybe hes supposed to sit and think about the guy in thebox whos soaring on his back over the Great Plains. For threeyears Ive felt like I should be sitting and thinking about Quentin. Iwasnt allowed to go when they scattered his ashes off the Esteem.Jefferson Morris made an official announcement that the Founderhad asked Quentin to cast off his body and move into a new dimension, embarking on a fact-finding mission into the afterlife. He isexpected to report back as soon as he is able.

Most gossip within the Church centers around whether theFounder is alive or dead. Jefferson Morris says he is in exile, thathe wishes to communicate only through Jefferson so as not tointerrupt his state of perfect Esteem. Dozens of blip reporters anddisgruntled ex-Church members have tried to track down theFounder, to prove he is dead, but the trail goes cold in 1970, afterhe sailed away on a solo round-the-world trip. His first communication reached Jefferson Morris five months later, announcing hehad found perfect Esteem and declaring his intention to remain inexile. No wreckage was ever found; no SOS call was ever received.There is a photo from an Italian newspaper (June 20, 1973) in whicha man sitting at a caf in the background is either the Founder orhis long-lost Florentine twin. The FounderCorps keeps an officewaiting for him at every Church center and a house for him at theRanch, dusted every day and made up with clean sheets and towelsjust in case he decides to return. I have nothing I can keep ready forQuentin except myself.

On our honeymoon, Billy woke me up in the middle of thenight. Karr, he whispered. Karr. I know the secret.

What secret? I asked, woozy, disoriented by the gilded ceilingof our hotel suite.

About the Founder.

See original here:

The First Flight Out of the Cult of Celebrity - Electric Literature

The Great Ven. Bopta, the top monk at the Eunhaesa temple, speaks at his residence in Yeongcheon, North Gyeongsang Province.Photo @ Hyungwon Kang

Some of lifes questions for humanity have always been Who am I? and Where am I going?

In Korean Buddhism, Chamseon, which means participating in Seon meditation, the goal is to reach enlightenment.

You must know who you are first, before you know where you are headed in life, said the Great Ven. Bopta, the top monk at the Eunhaesa temple in Yeongcheon, North Gyeongsang Province, which was founded in the year 809.

Enlightenment is the perfection of wisdom. When youre enlightened, the state of nirvana becomes a state of joy and a feeling of eternal peace, said Bopta, who said he first experienced reaching the so-called happy place in his 20s. It was like the sun was rising. The world was a bright place, clear, full of joy, an eternal peace. It was a nirvana, said Bopta.

Korean Buddhism teaches that by nature, we are born a Buddha, and the lifelong goal is to return to that natural state of being a Buddha -- to be freed from greed and obsessions, and escape from the burden of the cycle of reincarnation by becoming an enlightened one.

Chamseon, also known as the Seon meditation, is a unique Korean tradition, with many Great Monks having reached enlightenment in Koreas 2,000-year Buddhism history.

There are people who reflect daily on their spiritual history, life memories, and unresolved issues. While not all choose to look inward to examine their life choices, for Chamseon practitioners, introspection is one of the possible paths to enlightenment and they take self-reflection to another level.

The goal of Chamseon is not to understand lifes complex questions but to be enlightened with an experience of our innermost self, called bonseong, a true natural state. Everything else besides bonseong in life is just a series of phenomena, said Bopta.

Great Ven. Haekook, one of the Great Monks in Korean Buddhism and a Chamseon master, is pictured with temple dog Bori at Namgukseonwon on Jeju Island.Photo Hyungwon Kang

Buddha means the enlightened one, or awakened one. Siddhartha was the physical embodiment of the sage whose teachings led people from the pain of suffering and rebirth toward the path of enlightenment, and later became known as the Buddha.

One can reach the state of being enlightened to become a Buddha through studying Buddhist scriptures and teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha, or one can reach the enlightened bonseong, through the practice of Chamseon.

According to Chamseon master Great Ven. Haekook, one of the Great Monks in Korean Buddhism, our body is a like a little universe of its own, containing innumerable possibilities, having won against all kinds of odds -- from the way in which its conceived to the final shapes of our body and features, making us who we are.

Haekook says Chamseon is not knowledge to be learned, rather is experiencing being enlightened.

A person can be enlightened through the practice of Chamseon in one of three clearly articulated paths:

First, the Hwadu method, which is a practice in which Chamseon practitioners get to the bottom of an unsettled or unresolved subject in mind through breathing exercises.

Second, the Silent Zen meditation, which was popularized in the English-speaking world by Japanese Buddhists.

Third, by chanting, which at times is combined with meditation.

A scene from the musical The Life of Siddhartha depicts the life of Siddhartha Gautama, better known in Korea as Shakyamuni Buddha.Photo Hyungwon Kang

Junggoong says when you dig deep into Seon meditation, through long sustained breathing, I feel my brain cells open up. Things I usually dont remember come up. At the same time, I feel my own manipulation of facts, I mean Im trying to cheat myself, there are things that Im fooling myself. Thats when I call it out. Its you! Dont move! That is gyeonseong, a view of oneself removed from oneself.

Gyeonseong, such as this subjective experience, may have something to do with self-rationalization and confirmation bias, which we all use to justify our actions as a form of self-preservation. In psychology, it is called cognitive dissonance, according to Korean American clinical psychologist Dr. Yangja Chung.

While most life experiences are subjective, being able to look back on our life experiences objectively from time to time always provides valuable insight.

People think theres no such thing as an objective view, but there never was an objective or subjective thing or a wall between them. Inside and outside can only be divided by a wall, but if theres no wall, theres no distinction between the inside and the outside, said Haekook, who burned his fingers in reaching enlightenment.

Enlightened means perfection of wisdom and to stay alert and awake in life, said Bopta. The path of the enlightenment can be excruciatingly painful, sitting desperately for hours and days until near death. At other times, awakening happens when you experience a physical shock.

Bopta recalled one of his first moments of enlightenment when he was deployed to fight in the Vietnam War in his 20s, with eight months of military training under his belt. He was part of the reconnaissance team in the White Horse Division, the ROK Army 9th Infantry Division

I was carrying a heavy rucksack weighing at least 30 kg with four additional hand grenades plus my weapons and ammo. On my first helicopter ride and of course, my first mission was jumping from a helicopter, as I was hesitating from jumping about 2 meters down to the ground -- in the middle of a jungle in Vietnam -- a US soldier kicked me off the helicopter yelling, Son of a b----! he said.

Thats when I had an enlightened moment. I did not feel the weight of my rucksack, landing softly on the ground on my feet, while bullets were flying everywhere, said Bopta.

By Hyungwon Kang (hyungwonkang@gmail.com)

---

Korean American photojournalist and columnist Hyungwon Kang is currently documenting Korean history and culture in images and words for future generations. -- Ed.

By Korea Herald (khnews@heraldcorp.com)

Read this article:

[Visual History of Korea] Reaching enlightenment, perfection of wisdom through Chamseon - The Korea Herald

Though we may wonder about such difficult good luck, we can be grateful to live in the saha worldthe place where Shakyamuni appeared and continues to teach us. In Sanskrit, saha means enduring or withstanding. There are myriad other buddha-fields in which enlightenment is brought about by a rain of bright blossoms, by drinking sweet nectars, or hearing celestial voices. Where we live, in this saha world, its a little different. Here, we are caught in samsara. There is good and evil, joy and sorrow, and the rolling wheel of birth and death. Enlightenment is dependent our ability to endure, to be patient, and to maintain our composure, our response-ability even in the midst of great difficulty

Since I often think in song, here is a relevant number: Ive Endured by the late Ola Belle Reed, a force-of-nature musician whom I was fortunate to know a little in the 1970s.

This week, as I began writing my column for Buddhistdoor Global, the ground shifted here in the US and I had to throw out what I had already written. On the evening of 2 May, news sources reported a leaked draft opinion by the Supreme Court which would overturn Roe vs. Wade, the landmark ruling on a constitutional right to abortion that has been the law of the land for 50 years. Talking about endurance, it is painful to endure the erosion of long-established laws and human rights, to watch the wheels of democracy stall and roll backwards. To consider the impact that such a ruling will have on womens lives.

In the 1960s and 1970s, the Supreme Court established a bold pattern of legal precedents with landmark rulings on abortion, due process, segregation, voting rights, pornography, and the separation of church and state. In the mundane world, these are acts of liberation. Todays court, with a six-to-three conservative majority, is just beginning to flex its restrictive ideological power in areas of campaign financing, political redistricting, immigration reform, limiting of voter rights, environmental protection, and, of course, abortion. By punting these issues back to the individual statesmany of whose legislations are under a determined conservative siegethe court is in essence promoting a worldview of social control and repression of human rights, while pretending ideological innocence.

In the case of Roe vs. Wade and abortion, just last week an ABC/Washington Post poll found that 58 per cent of Americans would uphold Roe, while 28 per cent would reverse it. Seventy per cent felt that the decision to have an abortion should be left to a woman and her doctor, while 24 per cent believed the decision should be regulated by law. So the court, with its conservative majority, stands in contradiction to popular opinion. These are statistics, and I understand that abortion is a highly charged moral issue that reasonable people can disagree about. Admittedly, in many Asian Buddhist cultures the practice of abortion carries an ethical stigma. But remember that for many forms of traditional Buddhism, birth itself is not a blessed event, but the first step on another cycle of samasara. Some years ago, theDalai Lamadescribed abortion as a negative, but that there are exceptions to be considered. He added: I think abortion should be approved or disapproved according to each circumstance.

The issue, however, is not essentially about abortion or about the impossible determination of the precise moment when life and consciousness begin. To my mind it is about social control versus access to a life in which women can determine their own lives, where people have the right to full expressionpersonal, political, economic, spiritual; where the fate of the Earth is the concern of all; where multinational corporations and repressive governments do not run our lives for their own benefits.

So here we arestill in the saha world. Patience and endurance do not mean resignation and stasis. Again and again, I return to the teaching of a Tang dynasty Chinese Zen master. A monk asked Master Yunmen: What are the teachings of a whole lifetime? Yunmen said:An appropriate response. Conditions of suffering and difficulty call upon our essential stability, but they also call forth our essential goodness. Enlightenment manifests in action in the world we live in, in an appropriate response. Otherwise, enlightenment is just a blissful state of mindpleasant but not useful.

In the face of oppressionwhether that is in the form of a judicial or governmental abridgements of rights, or in the bombs and bullets raining on sisters and brothers in the Ukraine, in Myanmar, or elsewherewe awaken in wise action. There is no enlightenment. There is only enlightened activity.

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Spoiler warning: The following article discusses both major and minor plot details of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and is intended to be read after youve seen the movie. If youre looking for less spoiler-y Strange stories, check out our review and report from the world premiere on the movies connections to WandaVision.

A whole cosmos of comic-book elements are introduced or re-introduced in pivotal ways into the Marvel Cinematic Universe by Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, now playing in theaters nationwide. Heres a handy-dandy A-Z (or A-W) guide to the most important and their comics origins.

If WandaVision bore a large-strokes resemblance to the epic 2005 Marvel Comics crossover event House of M (Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch suffers a nervous breakdown triggered by personal loss in the comics, her children; on TV, her husband and creates an entirely new reality), Multiverse is very roughly analogous to the epic crossover event Avengers Disassembled (2004), which preceded House of M. In Disassembled, Wanda distraught over the loss of her magical children goes bananas and kills a whole bunch of heroes. Thats about it, comparison-wise, but thats a pretty big It.

Mentioned in passing in Multiverse of Madness by alternate Christine Palmer (Rachel McAdams), the comics version is a government think-tank tied to the origins of the Fantastic Four. In the 2015 Fantastic Four movie, The Baxter Foundation is the brainchild of Sue Storms father, Franklin, and provides the scholarship/job to Reed Richards that sets this whole super-thing in motion. It may or may not pop up in the MCUs Fantastic movie currently in development; either way, the Baxter Building serves as the Fantastic Fours headquarters.

Rachel McAdams as Dr. Christine Palmer, Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr. Stephen Strange, and Xochitl Gomez as America Chavez explore another strand of the MCU in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

(Marvel Studios)

If ever there were a Marvel element meant for a Sam Raimi movie, its this compendium of evil magic committed to parchment made of flesh. It was written by a very bad person, the Elder God/later demon Chthon, and serves as a kind of conduit for his not-very-nice power to Earth. Its also called The Book of Sins, which sounds fun, but its chapters always seem to come to unhappy endings.

This bad, bad book first materialized in Marvel Spotlight No. 4 in 1972 (it was mentioned, but not shown, in No. 3). Since, it has appeared onscreen in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Runaways and WandaVision, in which it passed from the hands of Agatha Harkness to Wanda Maximoff.

The short version is Earth-616" houses the main continuity of Marvel Comics. Not that the term is often used, as some Marvel editors have derisively likened it to competitor DCs use of Earth-One and Earth-Two (primarily to explain why some of DCs heroes were around in the 1940s) but its canon, like it or not. Much of Multiverse of Madness, as again mentioned by Dr. Palmer, takes place on Earth-838.

Apart from eventual Young Avenger America Chavez trans-universe-porting into the MCU and the end-credits scene finally bringing in Doctor Stranges enduring love from the comics, Clea (and probably also explaining why Charlize Theron wasnt cast as Thena in Eternals), the sequels most-attention getting introduction will be that of The Illuminati.

This group of solemnly overconfident eggheads manifests here as Earth-838s Sorcerer Supreme Mordo, Inhumans leader Black Bolt, Captain Marvel, Captain Carter (as previously seen on Disney+s animated What if ...?), Fantastic Four leader Reed Richards and X-Men leader Professor X (played by Patrick Stewart in one of the most explicit connections yet between the Fox Marvel movies and mutants and the MCU).

As in the comics, The Illuminati seem to exist as a cautionary tale against unelected elites secretly making momentous decisions for everyone (see the World Security Council, et al). There are differences between this iteration and the classic cabal that first appeared in New Avengers No. 7 in 2005 (notably excluding Namor and Tony Stark here), but they remain every bit as effective and likeable as on the page. As my 14-year-old son said before watching the film, The Illuminati are incompetent fools. They suck.

No. This isnt in the comics. Why is it in the movie? Talk about hitting a sour note. This silly symphony lands in infamy with a thud, right beside the Raimis Spider-Man 3" dance sequence.

Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr. Stephen Strange in Marvel Studios Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

(Marvel Studios)

During the siege of Kamar-Taj, we briefly meet a couple of wizards who stand out among the rest. One is hard to miss because hes a green minotaur. This would be Rintrah, from the extra-dimensional planet RVaal. You asked. Anyway, hes a longtime ally and acolyte of Stranges.

The other Kamar-Taj wizard of note is Sara, played by Sheila Atim (who appeared notably in Halle Berrys directorial debut, Bruised). Considering the moment she gets onscreen with Wong, this may be Sara Wolfe, Wongs love interest in the comics. In the comics, however, shes of Cheyenne descent and not a wizard, but Stranges secretary. So maybe, maybe not.

The Third Eye or Minds Eye is an ancient concept from multiple spiritual traditions involving perception beyond what can be normally experienced by the five senses. There are many ways to interpret this, from the mystical/supernatural to enlightenment or simple mindfulness.

In Marvel Comics, Stranges third eye is a manifestation of the Eye of Agamotto, which was introduced in the MCU as a containment vessel for the Time Stone. In the comics, among its powers is a truth-revealing light (which would come in handy when those pesky Skrulls show up in the MCUs upcoming Secret Invasion).

In Multiverse, we first see a third eye appear on the forehead of a version of our hero who bears a stark resemblance to Strange Supreme, the warped iteration of Strange who causes a universe-ending incursion in the animated What if ...? TV series. That implies it might be an artifact from the Strange Supreme-wielded Darkhold, which might freak out some fans when it shows up on 616 Stranges forehead at the films conclusion. But worry not; he seems cool with being a triclops when he returns mid-credits, implying this third eye is more like the comics version simply a gateway to greater perception with a few extra abilities thrown in for kicks.

None of this explains, however, how the Eye of Agamotto is around 616 Stranges neck years after Thanos crushed it in Avengers: Infinity War. Is there, like, a magical item repair shop in Greenwich Village? Maybe Etsy to the rescue? (Theres actually a likely answer in that not just the Time Stone, but the Eye Thanos destroyed in Infinity War may have been a fake, though the MCU has not established that.)

Benedict Wong as Wong is held captive in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

(Marvel Studios)

Wundagore Mountain is a longstanding location in Marvel Comics (dating back to Thor No. 134, 1966). Its where the Elder God/demon Chthon wrote the Darkhold and where he was later imprisoned by Morgan le Fay (yes, that Morgan le Fay, so theres some Black Knight sprinkled in here, too). It was also the base of operations of the High Evolutionary, one of the coolest-looking characters in all of Marvel. Anyway, its apparently where Wanda and Pietro Maximoff were born, so its a fitting final resting place for well, you know who if youve seen the film.

Read more from the original source:

'Doctor Strange 2' explained: From the third eye to Illuminati - Los Angeles Times