by Michael Mamas | Wednesday, August 15, 2012 | The Gods |
My family and I just returned from the beach yesterday. Due to a cracked car wheel, a two-night jaunt became a five-night excursion. It was a blessing to have the opportunity to really talk with my kids while bobbing in the ocean and walking the beach. They grow up fast. Time to share our thoughts and feelings is precious.
My favorite time at the beach is early morning. Then the five elements seem to be in perfect balance.
Akasha (space), ruled by Vishnu, is the open sky above… cool and brisk in the early a.m.
Air, ruled by Surya, is delicately palpable as the rays of the sun twinkle the air and radiate gentle beams upon which Surya’s seven horses run… looking just like the pictures of Him on his chariot coming straight out of the sun.
Fire: The rising sun creating a display of liquid golden clouds in the horizon… Mother Divine’s soft presence of celestial fire causing every beach goer to stop for a least a moment to gaze in awe.
Water: Ganesh, the ocean, thrives before you… feeling His presence lively… abundant… dynamic… powerful, yet pacifying.
Earth: the solid sandy terra beneath your feet and between your toes connecting your being to solid earth… Shiva.
Walking on the beach pacifies the five elements within and all around you.
Returning home to Mount Soma was a joy. The air was sweet, the mountains pristine, the vegetation lush and thriving. Even my younger daughter smiled at how we all delighted and commented on the serenity of the mountains as we drove the last mile and through the gate upon our return home.
Shiva dwells in these mountains. Parvati is known as the Goddess of the Mountains. Here, late at night and in the early morning, you can even feel Sat Yuga whispering the promise of its return.
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Monday, August 6, 2012 | Clarifying Confusion, Spiritual Evolution |
Why do you meditate, go to the temple, and do acts of service? It is commonly done for spiritual growth, eradication of bad karma, or other forms of personal gain such as health, wealth, happiness, etc. That is understandable and a good thing. Some may even wonder why else anyone would possibly do such a thing.
However, that is not why I created Mount Soma. It is not why I meditate or go to the temple. It is not my motivation. To know your motivations is not as easy as you may think. You must look deeply into your heart to know your motivations. It is also natural to project your motivations onto others… to think what motivates you is what motivates them. Such projection is so instinctual, so spontaneous, so automatic, as to go unnoticed. Your projections are not something you usually think about, question, or are even aware of. They are so fundamental to how you function that they cannot be identified without a great deal of disarming introspection and self-honesty.
Beyond personal gain lies the motivation involving kindness, compassion, love, service to the world, to humanity, and to the universe. I am speaking here of a level that transcends even the good feelings you may experience through acts of kindness, etc. It is not about what you get in exchange for your actions. This is what nonattachment to the fruit of your actions is all about. Your actions come from being overtaken by the Divine flow underlying all of life. The flow then occurs through your persona, but transcends the persona. The motivation does not involve the persona. In that sense, you cease to exist. Only the Divine exists. The Divine overtakes the small persona. You realize that you are not the persona. You are one with God… the Divine Flow. The term used to encompass that level is called Krishna. Imagine using that term unencumbered by any current notions you may have regarding its meaning. This meaning and the word “Krishna” are inextricable from one another. They are inherently one, each defining the other, complete with the personified correlate. To really live life in that way is not an attitude or philosophy. It is a level of consciousness. However, it is of great value to reflect on this. Doing so will help clear the way for your future growth.
So the next time you meditate, go to the temple, or perform some form of service, take a moment to reflect upon your motivation… not as a self-judgement tool but as a means of inspiration and aspiration. Divine motivation is not an attitude, philosophy, or belief system… though religions of attitude, philosophy, and beliefs are built around it. Such things are qualities of the persona. Divine motivation lies beyond the persona.
What you long for lies beyond the persona. It is called liberation. It is called emancipation. It is called evolution. It is called enlightenment.
It is a state of physiology.
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Thursday, August 2, 2012 | Clarifying Confusion |
“A love for tradition has never weakened a nation, indeed it has strengthened nations…” – Winston Churchill
This decade of American history will be remembered as a time of great loss of cultural tradition and integrity. Today there is a great deal of confusion concerning such things. Cultures must change with the in breath and out breath of time. Yet the fabric is delicate and must not be torn.
I am an American. Those traditions feed my soul. It is natural for me to feel most comfortable in that domain. I honor the fact that other traditions do the same for their corresponding cultures. The next great step in human history will include the honoring of cultural integrity… be it of our own or of other nations. Only when done, will nations rise to truly support one and other. Current attempts to do so often result in a blurring of cultures and thereby a dilution of integrity or in the tolerance of one and other. However, I am speaking here not of mere tolerance but of love… love for humanity must include love of cultural diversity.
Vedic tradition has come to us through the veil of the Hindu culture. My interest is not in making more Hindus. My interest is in make better Hindus, better Christians, better Jews, and so on. The fact that Vedic Knowledge comes to humanity through one culture is a gift… an opportunity to cultivate respect for one and other. Real respect is rooted in love.
Yet Vedic tradition transcends mere cultural affinity, just as the science of why a cell phone works transcends cultural bias. The depth and breadth of Vedic Science encompasses so much that it is not possible for the casual observer to discern where the science leaves off and the cultural orientation takes over. Yet once the individual sheds the need for mere tolerance and awakens to the state of love for humanity, the question is muted. Then we are afforded the grace of time to evolve ourselves and our world.
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Sunday, July 22, 2012 | The Gods |
The picture of the leaf in the “Anger” blog interested me. Note how the shape corresponds to the shape of Ganesh’s head. This is no coincidence. The forms, the shapes, of the Gods are not arbitrary. They are the geometric correlate to the mathematical structure of the underlying fabric of nature emerging as Oneness (pure consciousness, the unified field) interacts with itself birthing creation. Those shapes permeate all existence and manifest on all levels in diverse ways… even the shape of a leaf or a cross section of the brain.
Looking at the forms of the Gods enliven the connection of the depth of your being with the surface. The result is integration of the physiology. Integration of the physiology is call evolution.
At the depth of your being, you are one with God. Evolution means more and more fully embodying that. All things gravitate back to oneness. Back to God. The diverse Gods are various aspects of the One God. All are One.
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
by Michael Mamas | Wednesday, July 11, 2012 | The Veda |
The Veda is the underlying essence and structure of creation. Born of the Self-interacting dynamic of Oneness, consciousness, its structure is the language of nature… infinitely rich and all pervading. Every word is abundant with meaning and knowledge. Each word embodies the wholeness of knowledge from which it was born. Through Vedic cognition, the hymns of the Veda have come to us. Yet the translation and interpretation of those hymns is as elusive as is nature Herself. No wonder that the sublime knowledge of existence is so easily lost.
One verse of Rig Veda is usually interpreted as a prayer to retrieve lost cows. Maharshi has interpreted the lost cows to be the senses. To retrieve them is to bring them home to the transcendent… to unify them with the one essence of existence. This means to retire from relativity and return to the transcendent. The term used in the verse is Nivartadhvam… interpreted to mean ‘retire’. It is found in Rig Veda 10.19.1 and also in the Srimad Bhagavatam 8.21.19.
Yet Nivartadhvam is everywhere. The very pulsation of an electron, the rising and setting of the Sun, the creation and dissolution of the universe… all of existence is in a cycle of retiring from one thing to the next… Nivartadhvam. For anything to be created, the former must be retired from… sometimes said to be destroyed. However the word “destroy” has connotations that may mislead. In that sense, Shiva, the destroyer, may be better referred to as the transcendent… that to which all retires or rests into. It is easy to see how readily the knowledge is lost when we attempt to grasp the ungraspable… to define the unbounded value of anything.
Vedic studies are permeated with translations and interpretations. In so doing, the underlying essence, the true meaning is readily lost. As a result, over time, people cease to appreciate it. The knowledge slips through the fingers of humanity. This is why Adi Shankara said the knowledge must be purified generation after generation. We are fortunate to live in a time when that purification of the knowledge is taking place.
Jai Guru Dev
Jai Shiva Shankara
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
