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Category Archives: Spiritual Enlightenment

What's On Saturday 21st Jun

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Talk: by Trish Simmons There are 19 mountains, made holy because they were charged with spiritual energies by Cosmic Intelligences through Dr. George King, Western Master of Yoga. Learn how to contact the power within these new Age batteries which are available to al who wish to help humanity, and to help bring peace and enlightenment to our troubled world.

Enjoy a guided tour with one of our Gardeners around Wortley Halls grade II listed Italianate gardens. You will have the opportunity to learn more about the gardens history and development , then finish off with a meal in the restaurant. Arrive 5.30pm for 6.00pm walk. 23.50 pp

Coinciding with Uncommon Ground: Land Art in Britain 1966 1979, David Nash returns to YSP in 2014 following his major 2010 exhibition at the Park. Two contrasting works, White Planting and Black Dome, overlook the Park's historic lakes demonstrating the artist's eloquent understanding of trees and the different properties of wood. Echoing Nash's famous Ash Dome, planted in 1977, White Planting comprises 49 Himalayan birch trees, which, planted in seven rows of seven, will grow to form a white cube on the lake's embankment. Referencing the natural cycle of wood, Black Dome is made from coal and charred oak. The work complements Nash's site specific Seventy-one Steps, a commission on the walking route to Longside Gallery.

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What's On Saturday 21st Jun

President opens Bauddhaloka Mawatha dansela, Manning Market pandal

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As the country celebrates Vesak, the Birth, Enlightenment and the Parinibbana of The Buddha with people making material offerings and engaging in spiritual rituals, President Mahinda Rajapaksa shared the joys of the people by opening the Vesak Pandal at Manning Market in Pettah yesterday. The President shared pleasantries with the large crowds that thronged the area.

The President also opened the Danselas at Bauddhaloka Mawatha and at the Diyawanna Oya. Record numbers of people flooded the streets of Colombo for Vesak sightseeing. The Vesak Kalapaya on Bauddhaloka Mawatha, and other places in the city were a sea of heads as the large number of Danselas offered food, soft drinks and ice cream for every visitor who came to the city. According to sources, there are about 4,800 Dansals around the country.

Buddhists gathered at temples across the country to commemorate Vesak Full Moon Poya Day, marking the religious, social and cultural importance of this day. The streets are replete with Vesak decorations adding more colour to the festivities.

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President opens Bauddhaloka Mawatha dansela, Manning Market pandal

What is Spiritual Enlightenment – By Spiritual Now Editor

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The three stages of enlightenment Spiritual enlightenment is the fundamental goal of most spiritual practices that you undertake. Enlightenment marks the culminating point of your practice you feel unity of soul with everything, all the mental and physical engagements are left aside. Spiritual enlightenment is the possession of highly evolved souls. Spiritual masters from all over over the world experience spiritual enlightenment, and help others on there own paths.

Spiritual enlightenment is often categorized into levels for practical purposes. The highest stage of spiritual enlightenment marks the attainment of unity with God or being one with everything. But can still there are certain levels through which the individual needs to evolve. In a similar way that man has evolved from more primitive animals, the human concisiness or soul also evolves. For our practical purpose, put them in stages and analyze the state of being in each stage:

The first stage of spiritual enlightenmentAt the very first level of enlightenment, the individual starts experiencing reality as it is. It means that your mind ceases to interfere with what you are experiencing. We are engaged in continuous talk, gossip, analyzing the environment around us, planning about future, or worrying about the past. When you are in a state of spiritual enlightenment you are completely in the present moment. You stop judging and labeling the world. Your mind is calm, quite and still. You are very awake, and aware of the current moment right now.

The second stage of spiritual enlightenmentAt the second stage of enlightenment, you feel apart of yourself in everything around you. You feel a connection with every object and individual in the world. The borders between yourself and the world around you dissipate. Your soul begins to merge with Supreme Soul. You feel that you are not individual anymore and not separate from anything. You feel that you are in everything and everything is just a part of the Supreme Soul from where you also have emerged. Many people describe this feelings of completeness and love.

The third stage of spiritual enlightenmentThe third stage of enlightenment, you no longer feel connected to everything but realize you are everything. You the experience the oneness of God and are not separate from anything in the universe. This stage of enlightenment is a direct experience of oneness.

Spiritual enlightenment is the fruit that sets you free, as you lose all wants and wishes to receive the fruits of your actions. You feel the bliss of completeness and true love. At first itgives you the feeling that you need "Light". At the next stage, you feel that you are merging in "Light". And in the final stage you and the "Light" are one.

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What is Spiritual Enlightenment - By Spiritual Now Editor

What Is Spiritual Enlightenment | Dr. Puff

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With so many spiritual gurus and meditation techniques mentioned in the media, and with so much talk about spirituality, it is first necessary to learn precisely what spiritual enlightenment and spiritual awakening are In short, enlightenment is the discovery of our true, eternal self. Beginning at birth, we take on a number of labels about ourselves that we think are real. But since they are in fact impermanent and transitory, these labels cannot be our ultimate self. The only truth is that we are. everything else changes. That which changes cannot ultimately be our real selves. Spiritual enlightenment is the discovery of our real or true self.

Spiritual enlightenment is waking up to who we really are. We can become falsely identified with that which changes. Anything that changes cannot be the true, ultimate reality of what is. When we wake up to who we are, to the eternal being-ness from which everything comes and will return to, we realize that we dont have to suffer and that we can live in the here and now. Mental suffering exists because we falsely identify with our egoistic, mental self. Our real self is eternal, non-dual, and never changing. This discovery of these truths is called spiritual awakening.

One widely accepted tenet is that we all have the spark and potential for spiritual awakening. The state of realization differs. Not every minor realization can be linked to spiritual awakening. Then how do we interpret the meaning of enlightenment? It is more of an experience to be lived than a concept to be understood. It is more nourishing to eat a balanced diet than to read about it. The experience differs, differ from person to person. What we must understand is that the experience of spiritual enlightenment is exclusive for every individual and must be experienced rather than explained.

What exactly leads to the ultimate experience of spiritual enlightenment is also a complex question. When one morning, you see a rose blossoming in your garden, its beauty fascinates you. Have you ever wondered how the flower happened? What were the stepping stones of its existence? Did it originate when the seed sprouted to a bush and the bush started growing, or did it begin then when the bush was being watered? You cant link the roses incredible grace to its origin. If you trace it back to its starting point, you soon realize that there were number of factors which finally led to the blossoming of the rose. Each factor was closely knit with the others, and each factor was indispensible from the whole. In the same way, the journey to spiritual enlightenment is a flowering of the consciousness. The divine mystery is incomprehensible, and is an outcome of many and various outcomes. No one can pinpoint when the flower of spiritual enlightenment will sprout.

Spiritual awakening happens when a human becomes fully conscious of his or her true nature. There are various cosmic forces at work when a soul strives for spiritual enlightenment. The awakening unleashes feelings which were never felt before. You realize that you are beyond your body and in extreme harmony with the universe. With spiritual awareness, your ego is peeled back and you emerge as a more refined person. The deeper you get into your inner self, the deeper the silence gets. The constant clutter of thoughts cease with spiritual awareness and certain joy and serenity engulfs your being. The shackles of mundane desires are broken with spiritual awareness.

Spiritual enlightenment is undoubtedly the primary goal of most of the spiritual practices we undertake. With spiritual awakening, we start accepting reality as it is and stop interfering with what is happening around us. We cease to be judgmental, and start experiencing life in its purest form. Spiritual Enlightenment sets us free to reap the fruits of our actions, uncluttered by too many empty desires. Darkness can only be removed by light, and the light of spirituality illuminates our life with unprecedented knowledge. It banishes all ignorance and casts a spell of eternal joy. Spiritual enlightenment is a shift in awareness where we encounter the non-dual nature of reality and achieve perfect harmony with the world around us.

There is no definitive path to spiritual enlightenment. Some achieve it through meditation, some by fasting, and others by occult means. The ways are different, but the goal is the same: finding answers to lifes basic questions. That is the very reason why so many people are embracing spirituality in todays world of science and rationality. Once the quest to spiritual awakening rises in a person, all the cosmic forces gather to escort him.

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What Is Spiritual Enlightenment | Dr. Puff

May 5th World Realization Day, 44 Years of Sahaja Yoga Meditation

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TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - May 5, 2014) - May 5, 2014 marks the 44th anniversary of the momentous beginning of the Sahaja Yoga movement, founded by Her Holiness Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi (1923 - 2011). Sahaja Yoga is a simple, spontaneous experience of meditation which triggers the spiritual dimension within the human being, leading to harmonious integration of the individual's emotional, physical and mental aspects.

A fully enlightened person from birth, Shri Mataji had total mastery over the workings of the subtle energy centres and channels within human beings, knowledge chronicled by great souls and sages throughout the ages. When endowed with this divine knowledge, the individual becomes empowered to overcome obstacles preventing their growth into a higher, spiritually-evolved being.

Shri Mataji aspired from a young age to discover a method for bestowing spiritual awakening en masse to human beings and enable them to understand the subtle knowledge of the spirit. On May 5, 1970, while meditating on the shores of Nargol, India, Shri Mataji, through Her command of the primordial energy known as the Kundalini, awakened mankind's collective energy centre of the Sahastrara.

As a result of this happening, it became possible for spiritual seekers to receive from Shri Mataji the divine blessing of Self-Realization-the awakening of the Kundalini energy, previously dormant in the sacrum bone at the bottom of the spine. When awakened, the Kundalini energy rises along the spinal column and pierces through the Sahastrara Chakra in the limbic area, connecting the human being to the all-pervading power. The seeker's sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems become relaxed and balanced, producing a natural state of meditation marked by thoughtlessness, alertness, a profound sense of peace and bubbling joy within.

Shri Mataji travelled around the world for over 30 years bestowing the experience of Self-Realization, never with monetary charge, to audiences often large enough to fill stadia. She maintained that it was every person's birthright to receive their Kundalini awakening and cautioned against the dangers of false gurus preying on honest spiritual seeking. Today, established practitioners of Sahaja Yoga in over 100 countries continue to spread the experience of Self-Realization to seekers searching for the answer to their thirst for spiritual enlightenment.

Each year, on May 5, the Sahaja Yoga movement honours Shri Mataji's historic discovery of Sahaja Yoga, Her dedication to humanity and tremendous legacy. More information on Shri Mataji, the founder of Sahaja Yoga, and our free meditation programs worldwide can be found at http://www.freemeditation.com and http://www.shrimataji.org.

Vishwa Nirmala Dharma Educational Society/Sahaja Yoga International is a world-wide non-profit organization dedicated to teaching and spreading the art of meditation around the world as well as to provide education on our collective spiritual roots. The principles on which Sahaja Yoga International is based are morality, spirituality, mutual help in our evolution, search for truth, and healing our problems using our inner potential on an individual and collective level. Free classes are offered throughout Canada and the world. Information on locations and times can be found on our website: freemeditation.com.

Canada: http://www.freemeditation.com; Worldwide: http://www.sahajayoga.org; Shri Mataji's Life: http://www.shrimataji.org

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May 5th World Realization Day, 44 Years of Sahaja Yoga Meditation

Rowing is a network of spiritual kinship

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Essay

It is quiet out here on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia at 5:30 a.m. The sun is just beginning to rise above the trees. The rhythmic slicing of oars in and out of the water from magna-cum-serious rowers in sleek shells breaks the still of silence. I am in the Temple University crew coach's boat ripping alongside the heavyweight eight boat. Gavin White is barking coaching advice to his team through a bullhorn. Me? I'm searching beyond the physical dimensions of the sport, to understand more about its spiritual components, because, in my way of thinking, rowing is imbued with definite spiritual overtones.

The athletes are digging into the depths of their souls to surmount the suffering of the physical challenge -- the exhaustive anaerobic effort, the hard burn of muscles, the rough, choppy current, the cold, windy weather, all of which can drive even the most determined hearts and minds into surrender. But these rowers don't quit. The dissonance of the suffering finds consonance in the love of the sport. They share a communion with the water. Like baptism, the water is cleansing, the forgiving part of a tough, physically hard journey.

The training session is over in 90 minutes. A rower for Temple in the early 1980s, Charlie Bracken, said rowing can change the perception of life, the same change in perception discovered from watching a sunset by the sea or smelling a fresh rose. Philosophers call such enlightenment "qualia" a term that alludes to an inner quality of experience.

In life on the water, rowers must forget that they are individuals, but instead recognize at once they must be a collective amalgam of muscles and bones with a consciousness of faith and trust in each other. This reach for perfect simpatico cannot be achieved by applied mathematics, but by the light of the heart.

It is the only way that rowers are able to never waiver in their feelings of love for their sport, for the water, for their teammates. This creed sticks to their souls like a first kiss sticks to their lips, for rowing embraces the sacred, the transcendent and the faith.

"The National Catholic Reporter is an honest place, filled with honest people. I read it regularly, especially now that we Protestants find that we love the new Pope." - Donna Schaper, contributor

Rowing is more than sport; it is a network of kinship. Catholics are taught from a very young age to stand in a sacred kinship with their bloodlines, those things that help to tie us together, and, yes, save us: a death in the family, a marriage ceremony, the honest faith and zeal of a parish priest, the birth and baptism of children, high school reunions, and, most of all, love and loyalty to family. All these waves of kinship are as contagious as the traditions they have built.

With rowers, kinship is evident more than in any other sport. Sweeping always into their conversations are stories of moms and dads, grandmoms and granddads who have gone before them in this sport. In a culture that reveres youth -- and staying young -- sometimes our young can have the sensitivity of sandpaper when it comes to their elders. The sport of rowing rejoices in its renewal of the past and the present circling back upon each generation to find the sacredness of connections to each other and to themselves. It brings about a sense of place and belonging. It brings about sacred kinship.

A popular quote puts it best: "Prayer works when all else fails." The best attempts of materialists through the centuries have failed to reduce the irreducible power of prayer. These days so many athletes in other sports -- baseball, football, basketball, tennis, golf -- pursue with wrong-pointed passion the meretricious rewards of money, glory and power. Often this pursuit results in perditions of the soul, and often these athletes find themselves at a terminus where nothing is left but emptiness, a kind of precipice with nothing out there but a fall.

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Rowing is a network of spiritual kinship

Gifts for Moms from Gifted Moms: Viva Editions Authors Share Their Own Experiences of Motherhood for Mother's Day

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(PRWEB) May 01, 2014

Celebrate all the possibilities and gifts of motherhood this Mother's Day. Viva Editions moms share the secrets to a more inspired life, along with their own stories of motherhood that range from newborn infants to teenagers. From stay-at-home moms trying to make the house a little greener to full-career women, from spiritual seekers to writers and bloggers, these mothers share their experiences along with advice on everything from eco-living to spiritual enlightenment.

All You Need Is Less The Eco-Friendly Guide to Guilt-Free Green Living and Stress-Free Simplicity by Madeleine Somerville Top eco-blogger and new parent Madeleine Somerville has gathered completely original ideas on how to save money and the planet, and have fun in the process, in All You Need Is Less.

Lemons and Lavender The Eco Guide to Better Homekeeping by Billee Sharp Bursting with ways to downshift, simplify, preserve resources, and honor the planet, Lemons and Lavender will give readers tools to reclaim a purer, tastier, healthier and less expensive way of life.

Getting to 50/50 How Working Parents Can Have It All by Sharon Meers and Joanna Strober Sharon Meers and Joanna Strober are two working moms who believe that everyone wins when men are full parents and women have full careers. They know that families thrive not in spite of working mothers, but because of them.

Jump-Starting Boys Help Your Reluctant Learner Find Success in School and Life by Pam Withers and Cynthia Gill Filled with reassurance and support, Jump-Starting Boys has heart-warming true stories, take-action checklists and over 200 helpful tips.

Everything I Needed to Know I Learned From My Six-Month-Old Awakening To Unconditional Self-Love in Motherhood by Kuwana Haulsey Everything I Needed to Know I Learned from My Six-Month-Old fuses memoir, spirituality and self-development in a moving tribute to the lessons Kuwana's infant son taught her.

Imperfect Spirituality Extraordinary Enlightenment for Ordinary People by Polly Campbell Pulling a raisin out of a two-year-old's nose probably wasn't on Buddha's path to enlightenment, but it was an aha! moment for author Polly Campbell. In Imperfect Spirituality, Campbell shows readers how to integrate those everyday moments with traditional spiritual techniques.

Viva Editions are books that inform, enlighten, and entertain. Viva books open hearts and minds. Viva authors are practical visionaries: people who offer deep wisdom in a hopeful and helpful manner.

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Gifts for Moms from Gifted Moms: Viva Editions Authors Share Their Own Experiences of Motherhood for Mother's Day

Dear Abby: Couples find common ground on different spiritual paths

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Published: 2:00 AM - 05/01/14

Dear Abby: I'm writing to support "Feeling Coerced in San Diego" (Feb. 14), who is uncomfortable attending church with her husband. I understand her feelings because I, too, am an atheist in a relationship with a religious man.

There is another option besides abstaining from church or attending only on major holidays, and that would be for "Coerced" and her husband to try a different church. One religion that embraces atheist church members is Unitarian Universalism.

UU congregations are often made up of people from different backgrounds Christian, Jewish, atheist and more. The focus of the sermons is on living a good life, treating other people and our planet with respect, and following one's own path to spiritual enlightenment. It's likely that "Coerced" and her husband could both feel at home in such a congregation. Chelsea in Wichita

Dear Chelsea: Thank you for your suggestion it's one that was echoed by many other readers. I have mentioned the Unitarian Universalist denomination and its website (uua.org) before in my column. Readers' comments were enlightening:

Dear Abby: I, too, am in a "mixed marriage." I'm religious and my husband is an atheist. We agree to disagree on the matter. Religion (or lack of it) is a very personal thing, and however we feel, we owe each other respect for our different views.

"Coerced" is great for trying to accommodate her husband, but now that they see it didn't work, he should stop pressuring her. She can refrain from going to services, but should consider attending the church's social events. This solution worked well for us. My husband and my church friends get along well.

Of course, this depends on the nature of the church. Mine happens to be one of the more progressive. It's worth a try. Kathryn in Ottawa, Canada

Dear Abby: I knew my husband was atheist when we married. Our spiritual journeys are different, and we're not going to change each other.

We agreed I would raise our kids Catholic. I never expect him to be at church with us on Sundays, but on important sacraments (baptism, first communion, confirmation), he is there with the whole family because he realizes these events are important for his kids and me. He has become friendly with some of my clergy and fellow congregants, who accept him for the wonderful person he is.

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Dear Abby: Couples find common ground on different spiritual paths

Lelaki Teruja a gift to Christians

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MIRI: There is a great need for more spiritual or religious books in Bahasa Malaysia to meet the increasing demand in the country, especially in Sarawak.

Baram parliamentarian, Anyi Ding said currently, most Christians books available are in English where as Bahasa Malaysia is the national language.

It is high time more Christian or religious books in Bahasa Malaysia be published here since our national language is Bahasa Malaysia.

In this challenging world, this book Lelaki Teruji is very appropriate and could be used as a guide for Christians to consolidate their faith, he said when launching the book entitled Lelaki Teruji on Monday at SIB Church in Miri.

The authors were husband and wife, Pastor Rosmaida Sianigar and Dr Justin Wan, who is chairman of SIB Miri.

Dr Justin said the book was their second religious book, written as a gift to Christians in Sarawak.

Pustaka Putera Kenyalang, the publisher launched the book in conjunction with this years World and National Book Festival to encourage more people, especially the younger generation to read.

General manager of Pustaka Putera Kenyalang, Jaya Ramba said the book is very unique, written in two beautiful languages Bahasa Malaysia and Indonesia -like the marriage of Dr Justin himself (local Kayan) with her Indonesian wife.

It is of high quality and a gift to Christians especially in this country. Besides, it is locally published and this helps enhance the development of the book industry in Sarawak.

Reassured, our company will support any local writer to publish their books, said Jaya who is one of the states prolific local writers, Former parliamentarian, Mutang Tagal and medical practitioner, Dr Roland Mattu who both reviewed the book, agreed with the authors that spiritual enlightenment plays a vital role in human development.

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Lelaki Teruja a gift to Christians

Newly Released: J.K. Bailey's Book on the End of Suffering

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St. Paul, MN (PRWEB) April 29, 2014

Rich with insights drawn from his own experience, J.K. Bailey shows readers how, by stopping and turning to a simple inner presence, they can find serenity and an absence of emotional suffering. This, he says, is the remarkable gift of presence.

"Already on Holy Ground: Beyond Bliss, Awakening & Enlightenment" reveals how to experience the presence in ordinary life. The presence, Bailey suggests, is available to all. Its not, he says, about some remote spiritual awakening for the select few. Nor is it about getting caught up in what he calls "the enlightenment game," with its chakras, guardian angels, and robe-wearing gurus.

As Bailey puts it, The potential for awareness of presence is as much there with mechanics in the grease and grime at the local Amoco station as it is with Zen monks at a monastery in Kyoto.

Why pay attention to presence, some might ask? When we abide in presence, we discover a profound inner serenity, says the author. In my case, lifes roller coaster of ups and downs smoothed out. Old worries, fears, and judgments faded. Overall, theres an ongoing sense all is well.

In the first chapter of his book, Bailey tackles the enlightenment myth. About the quest for spiritual awakening, the author should know. On his 30-year journey, Bailey did it all: Workshops on how to get enlightened,desert treks with shamans at midnight, balancing the chakras with charismatic gurus, watching auras and past lives unfoldthis was the stuff of his journey.

But the bliss rarely lasted more than a day or two, at most a few weeks. Then hed be back full of doubts and worries, looking for the next spiritual book or awakening seminar. Or the most enlightened spiritual teacher.

Ultimately, the mind-blowing experiences fell short. Wonders that at first seemed breathtaking and exotic, turned out to be as short-lived as an evening breeze. The more gurus I met, the more New Age fireworks I witnessed, the emptier I felt, he says. Something was missing.

What was missing, says Bailey, was the simple presence. It doesnt matter how many miraculous experiences or glimpses of enlightenment weve had. None of it is worth the price of an iTunes download if theres no awareness of presence. Yet right now its available to us all. At first it may seem remote. Yet if we abide in it, we can know without doubt that its real. Whats more, it can radically change us so we feel that nothing is wrong anymore.

Bailey's new website and blog also explore awareness of presence.

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Newly Released: J.K. Bailey's Book on the End of Suffering


  1. Spiritual Enlightenment