An Internal Threat To One's Constitutional Freedom
When considering one's spiritual identity and constitution, ancient wisdom texts reveal that each soul is a unit of transcendent consciousness and simultaneously part of a unified greater whole.
Just as a particle of sunlight individually shines, being radiated from the sun, each individual is a quanta of spiritual light radiated from a single Universal/God/Source.
Just as a particle of sunlight individually shines, being radiated from the sun, each individual is a quanta of spiritual light radiated from a single Universal/God/Source.
Further revealed is that each spark of consciousness in it's pure form, has a non-material essence or constitutional position and function. Freed from material conditioning, each spirit/soul has a non-material body formed of eternity, knowledge and bliss - a body and personality of pure spirit.
The individual spirit/soul's constitution is a vehicle of transcendent knowledge, containing realization of both self and Source. Each soul, expanded like sunlight, has the purpose and function to dance in loving harmony with Godhead - the fountainhead of all personal and energetic manifestations.
The individual spirit/soul's constitution is a vehicle of transcendent knowledge, containing realization of both self and Source. Each soul, expanded like sunlight, has the purpose and function to dance in loving harmony with Godhead - the fountainhead of all personal and energetic manifestations.
As constitutional sparks of the Supreme Spirit, we are made in the image of God as mentioned in the Bible as well as Eastern conceptions. We embody the same divine characteristics as the Supreme, but in minute quantity when compared with the totality of Godhead/Source.
As the Supreme Lord is supremely independent, so each soul also carries a minute amount of God-given independence and some freedom of choice.
Because we are inextricably part of a greater system of spiritual unity, even when we fall into the illusion of apparent separation from spirit - due to material embodiment, we can choose to re-ignite our constitutional spiritual identity, freedom and qualities.
This happens when we remember our essential purpose - that we were created for expanding love.
Understanding who the Supreme is, and how to love Him, is revealed internally and externally by the numerous mystic agencies of the Supreme. Described by some as the Holy Spirit, and by others indwelling Lord in the heart or the Supersoul sitting next to the individual soul, divine downloads can be received through the medium of one's consciousness. The same consistent message can also be received from empowered spiritual guides and genuine scriptures.
As the Supreme Lord is supremely independent, so each soul also carries a minute amount of God-given independence and some freedom of choice.
Because we are inextricably part of a greater system of spiritual unity, even when we fall into the illusion of apparent separation from spirit - due to material embodiment, we can choose to re-ignite our constitutional spiritual identity, freedom and qualities.
This happens when we remember our essential purpose - that we were created for expanding love.
Understanding who the Supreme is, and how to love Him, is revealed internally and externally by the numerous mystic agencies of the Supreme. Described by some as the Holy Spirit, and by others indwelling Lord in the heart or the Supersoul sitting next to the individual soul, divine downloads can be received through the medium of one's consciousness. The same consistent message can also be received from empowered spiritual guides and genuine scriptures.
There are many branches of the Vedic scriptures recorded in Sanskrit 5,000 years ago One branch is the Upanishads, containing the Sri Isopanisad, Below are a few of the 18 verses of this Upanishad translated below by a modern day saint and spiritual master, AC Bhaktivedanta Swami. (1896-1977)
Invocation
oṁ pūrṇam adaḥ pūrṇam idaṁ
pūrṇāt pūrṇam udacyate
pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya
pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate
TRANSLATION
The Personality of Godhead is perfect and complete, and because He is completely perfect, all emanations from Him, such as this phenomenal world, are perfectly equipped as complete wholes. Whatever is produced of the Complete Whole is also complete in itself. Because He is the Complete Whole, even though so many complete units emanate from Him, He remains the complete balance.
Sri Sri Radha-Krishna
Mantra 1
Everything animate or inanimate that is within the universe is controlled and owned by the Lord. One should therefore accept only those things necessary for himself, which are set aside as his quota, and one should not accept other things, knowing well to whom they belong.
Mantra 2
One may aspire to live for hundreds of years if he continuously goes on working in that way, for that sort of work will not bind him to the law of karma. There is no alternative to this way for man.
Mantra 5
The Supreme Lord walks and does not walk. He is far away, but He is very near as well. He is within everything, and yet He is outside of everything.
Mantra 6
He who sees everything in relation to the Supreme Lord, who sees all living entities as His parts and parcels, and who sees the Supreme Lord within everything never hates anything or any being.
Mantra 7
One who always sees all living entities as spiritual sparks, in quality one with the Lord, becomes a true knower of things. What, then, can be illusion or anxiety for him?
Mantra 8
Such a person must factually know the greatest of all, the Personality of Godhead, who is unembodied, omniscient, beyond reproach, without veins, pure and uncontaminated, the self-sufficient philosopher who has been fulfilling everyone's desire since time immemorial.
Mantra 11
Only one who can learn the process of nescience and that of transcendental knowledge side by side can transcend the influence of repeated birth and death and enjoy the full blessings of immortality.
Mantra 16
O my Lord, O primeval philosopher, maintainer of the universe, O regulating principle, destination of the pure devotees, well-wisher of the progenitors of mankind, please remove the effulgence of Your transcendental rays so that I can see Your form of bliss. You are the eternal Supreme Personality of Godhead, like unto the sun, as am I.
PURPORT
The sun and its rays are one and the same qualitatively. Similarly, the Lord and the living entities are one and the same in quality. The sun is one, but the molecules of the sun's rays are innumerable. The sun's rays constitute part of the sun, and the sun and its rays conjointly constitute the complete sun. Within the sun itself resides the sun-god, and similarly within the supreme spiritual planet, Goloka Vṛndāvana, from which the brahmajyoti effulgence is emanating, the Lord enjoys His eternal pastimes, as verified in the Brahma-saṁhitā (5.29):
cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa-
lakṣāvṛteṣu surabhīr abhipālayantam
lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama-sevyamānaṁ
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
"I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, the first progenitor, who is tending the cows fulfilling all desires in abodes filled with spiritual gems and surrounded by millions of wish-fulfilling trees. He is always served with great reverence and affection by hundreds of thousands of Lakṣmīs, or goddesses of fortune."
The brahmajyoti is described in the Brahma-saṁhitā as the rays emanating from that supreme spiritual planet, Goloka Vṛndāvana, just as the sun's rays emanate from the sun globe. Until one surpasses the glare of the brahmajyoti, one cannot receive information of the land of the Lord. The impersonalist philosophers, blinded as they are by the dazzling brahmajyoti, can realize neither the factual abode of the Lord nor His transcendental form. Limited by their poor fund of knowledge, such impersonalist thinkers cannot understand the all-blissful transcendental form of Lord Kṛṣṇa. In this prayer, therefore, Śrī Īśopaniṣad petitions the Lord to remove the effulgent rays of the brahmajyoti so that the pure devotee can see His all-blissful transcendental form.
Mantra 18
O my Lord, as powerful as fire, O omnipotent one, now I offer You all obeisances, falling on the ground at Your feet. O my Lord, please lead me on the right path to reach You, and since You know all that I have done in the past, please free me from the reactions to my past sins so that there will be no hindrance to my progress.
oṁ pūrṇam adaḥ pūrṇam idaṁ
pūrṇāt pūrṇam udacyate
pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya
pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate
TRANSLATION
The Personality of Godhead is perfect and complete, and because He is completely perfect, all emanations from Him, such as this phenomenal world, are perfectly equipped as complete wholes. Whatever is produced of the Complete Whole is also complete in itself. Because He is the Complete Whole, even though so many complete units emanate from Him, He remains the complete balance.
Sri Sri Radha-Krishna
Mantra 1
Everything animate or inanimate that is within the universe is controlled and owned by the Lord. One should therefore accept only those things necessary for himself, which are set aside as his quota, and one should not accept other things, knowing well to whom they belong.
Mantra 2
One may aspire to live for hundreds of years if he continuously goes on working in that way, for that sort of work will not bind him to the law of karma. There is no alternative to this way for man.
Mantra 5
The Supreme Lord walks and does not walk. He is far away, but He is very near as well. He is within everything, and yet He is outside of everything.
Mantra 6
He who sees everything in relation to the Supreme Lord, who sees all living entities as His parts and parcels, and who sees the Supreme Lord within everything never hates anything or any being.
Mantra 7
One who always sees all living entities as spiritual sparks, in quality one with the Lord, becomes a true knower of things. What, then, can be illusion or anxiety for him?
Mantra 8
Such a person must factually know the greatest of all, the Personality of Godhead, who is unembodied, omniscient, beyond reproach, without veins, pure and uncontaminated, the self-sufficient philosopher who has been fulfilling everyone's desire since time immemorial.
Mantra 11
Only one who can learn the process of nescience and that of transcendental knowledge side by side can transcend the influence of repeated birth and death and enjoy the full blessings of immortality.
Mantra 16
O my Lord, O primeval philosopher, maintainer of the universe, O regulating principle, destination of the pure devotees, well-wisher of the progenitors of mankind, please remove the effulgence of Your transcendental rays so that I can see Your form of bliss. You are the eternal Supreme Personality of Godhead, like unto the sun, as am I.
PURPORT
The sun and its rays are one and the same qualitatively. Similarly, the Lord and the living entities are one and the same in quality. The sun is one, but the molecules of the sun's rays are innumerable. The sun's rays constitute part of the sun, and the sun and its rays conjointly constitute the complete sun. Within the sun itself resides the sun-god, and similarly within the supreme spiritual planet, Goloka Vṛndāvana, from which the brahmajyoti effulgence is emanating, the Lord enjoys His eternal pastimes, as verified in the Brahma-saṁhitā (5.29):
cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa-
lakṣāvṛteṣu surabhīr abhipālayantam
lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama-sevyamānaṁ
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
"I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, the first progenitor, who is tending the cows fulfilling all desires in abodes filled with spiritual gems and surrounded by millions of wish-fulfilling trees. He is always served with great reverence and affection by hundreds of thousands of Lakṣmīs, or goddesses of fortune."
The brahmajyoti is described in the Brahma-saṁhitā as the rays emanating from that supreme spiritual planet, Goloka Vṛndāvana, just as the sun's rays emanate from the sun globe. Until one surpasses the glare of the brahmajyoti, one cannot receive information of the land of the Lord. The impersonalist philosophers, blinded as they are by the dazzling brahmajyoti, can realize neither the factual abode of the Lord nor His transcendental form. Limited by their poor fund of knowledge, such impersonalist thinkers cannot understand the all-blissful transcendental form of Lord Kṛṣṇa. In this prayer, therefore, Śrī Īśopaniṣad petitions the Lord to remove the effulgent rays of the brahmajyoti so that the pure devotee can see His all-blissful transcendental form.
Mantra 18
O my Lord, as powerful as fire, O omnipotent one, now I offer You all obeisances, falling on the ground at Your feet. O my Lord, please lead me on the right path to reach You, and since You know all that I have done in the past, please free me from the reactions to my past sins so that there will be no hindrance to my progress.
The Original Divine Feminine and Divine Masculine Form - Srimati Radharani and Sri Krishna
One's Constitution As Foundational
Sometimes it is observed that one's individual struggles are reflected in the collective.
In the present age, we tend to forget that we were created with a purpose - to be an agent of love in union with Source of all creation.
Presently, the United States other countries are facing internal challenges of fundamental constitutional rights given to every citizen in respect to freedom of speech and other free-will choice options. Humankind has a history of the strong trying to enslave the weak, which continues to this day in various forms, using economic, political, social pressure as the slave-chains of choice.
By Vedic estimation, 5,000 years ago humankind entered the age of "Kali Yuga" known as the age of quarrel and hypocrisy, also known as the age of science and technology - which can also be infused with unfortunate quarrels and hypocrisy of various types in various arenas.
In the present age, we tend to forget that we were created with a purpose - to be an agent of love in union with Source of all creation.
Presently, the United States other countries are facing internal challenges of fundamental constitutional rights given to every citizen in respect to freedom of speech and other free-will choice options. Humankind has a history of the strong trying to enslave the weak, which continues to this day in various forms, using economic, political, social pressure as the slave-chains of choice.
By Vedic estimation, 5,000 years ago humankind entered the age of "Kali Yuga" known as the age of quarrel and hypocrisy, also known as the age of science and technology - which can also be infused with unfortunate quarrels and hypocrisy of various types in various arenas.
Presently, conflict between sexes, races, cultures, and nations are highly amplified and politicized by special interest elites, trying to achieve and propagandize their own agendas. Some media moguls subscribe to the policy of a self-entitled, perverted golden rule viewpoint: "those with the gold, make the rules".
Their intentional goal is that of subjugating others for fulfilling their own desires and whimsical plans. They happily think of themselves the Darwinian "fittest" entitled to devour the weak, rather than to uplift others through a spiritual vision of equality.
This is not new, but it seems our world may be at a turning point - and this is also not new as individual always have the sovereignty choose at every moment what is best in that moment.
Their intentional goal is that of subjugating others for fulfilling their own desires and whimsical plans. They happily think of themselves the Darwinian "fittest" entitled to devour the weak, rather than to uplift others through a spiritual vision of equality.
This is not new, but it seems our world may be at a turning point - and this is also not new as individual always have the sovereignty choose at every moment what is best in that moment.
Each individual armed with proper knowledge, has the option to reject all selfish propaganda from competing outlets, in order to observe and function on the spiritual level. The spiritual level that is beyond skin color, sexual identity, or social affiliations - which some external agents attempt to utilize to divide, conquer and contract individual sovereignty.
The spiritual level is one where the unified constitution of each individual is realized on the platform eternity, knowledge and bliss, fixed in a loving relationship with the Supreme Lord, and all creation.
The spiritual level is one where the unified constitution of each individual is realized on the platform eternity, knowledge and bliss, fixed in a loving relationship with the Supreme Lord, and all creation.
As per the Vedas, this divine love with the Supreme originates in the original divine masculine form of Godhead known as Krishna. Krishna expands into the divine feminine form named Radharani, specifically for expressing and reciprocating love.
From these divine personalities, more male and female expansions flow, to populate the cosmos.
For the expansion of loving exchanges, Krishna expands Himself in unlimited forms with a variety of capacities, including individual small sparks of Godhead known as individual "jivas" or spirit souls such as you and I. You and I as divine sparks, are players in the divine symphony of spirit.
From these divine personalities, more male and female expansions flow, to populate the cosmos.
For the expansion of loving exchanges, Krishna expands Himself in unlimited forms with a variety of capacities, including individual small sparks of Godhead known as individual "jivas" or spirit souls such as you and I. You and I as divine sparks, are players in the divine symphony of spirit.
In the scope of eternity, as beings with a measure of free will, we can choose to harmonize in a cooperative sense and purpose of unity in love - or strike out on our own to imitate the Supreme Lord as a separate enjoyer in the bubble of our own little universe. For this facility of temporary separation from Godhead, the material cosmos and various forms of material bodies and planets become manifest as a matrix of material energetic qualities of goodness, passion and ignorance, which bind the spirit like ropes to the wheel of continual birth and death.
Since the cosmos is in continual phases of creation and destruction, no one can find lasting happiness or love in the changing illusion of separation from Godhead. Until deciding to return to one's eternal source and constitutional position of being a loving part and parcel of the Supreme whole, one remains stuck in the continual cycle of birth and death, revolving through various species of life.
One's constitutional, true spiritual ego/identity has all potential to experience that highest love, just beyond the veil of material misconceptions. When we are willing to reciprocate as vessels of unconditional love in a relationship to the all-pervading Supreme Lord, the door will open to gradually enter eternity which is full of variety, bliss and love, as offered and reciprocated by the Supreme Personality of Godhead who resides within and without.
Since the cosmos is in continual phases of creation and destruction, no one can find lasting happiness or love in the changing illusion of separation from Godhead. Until deciding to return to one's eternal source and constitutional position of being a loving part and parcel of the Supreme whole, one remains stuck in the continual cycle of birth and death, revolving through various species of life.
One's constitutional, true spiritual ego/identity has all potential to experience that highest love, just beyond the veil of material misconceptions. When we are willing to reciprocate as vessels of unconditional love in a relationship to the all-pervading Supreme Lord, the door will open to gradually enter eternity which is full of variety, bliss and love, as offered and reciprocated by the Supreme Personality of Godhead who resides within and without.
May we all be steadfast in remembering our internal constitution, and the fundamentals of the values we hold dear - respecting one's own God-given free will, and rights of others to do the same.
The Star Spangled Banner
A Woodstock /
JIMI HENDRIX-style cover
A Woodstock /
JIMI HENDRIX-style cover
The World Has Talent
We were all created by a loving Source, endowed with a special individual talent - talent meant to be perfected when offered in loving service to a greater reality.
Sometimes we sidetrack that potential for selfish ends. Other times we offer our talents freely with no expectation of return - which is the mood goodness, or more deeply the mood of the divine feminine energy, the personality Srimati Radharani, as described by Vedic texts.
Fortunately, the divine masculine form of Godhead, is eternally and infinitely grateful for any service offered, and never fails to respond to such a loving devotional mood. Thus Godhead, having unlimited names describing divine qualities, is sometimes described as Sri Krishna the "All-Attractive".
Even if in perhaps a shadow form in this world, the beautiful concept of unconditional love can inspire...
Little Wing by Jimi Hendrix:
..When I'm sad she comes to me
With a thousand smiles, she gives to me free
It's alright she says, it's alright..
Take anything you want from me
Performed by Eric Clapton, Sheryl Crow, - featuring a smokin' sax solo by Dave Sanborn :-)
We were all created by a loving Source, endowed with a special individual talent - talent meant to be perfected when offered in loving service to a greater reality.
Sometimes we sidetrack that potential for selfish ends. Other times we offer our talents freely with no expectation of return - which is the mood goodness, or more deeply the mood of the divine feminine energy, the personality Srimati Radharani, as described by Vedic texts.
Fortunately, the divine masculine form of Godhead, is eternally and infinitely grateful for any service offered, and never fails to respond to such a loving devotional mood. Thus Godhead, having unlimited names describing divine qualities, is sometimes described as Sri Krishna the "All-Attractive".
Even if in perhaps a shadow form in this world, the beautiful concept of unconditional love can inspire...
Little Wing by Jimi Hendrix:
..When I'm sad she comes to me
With a thousand smiles, she gives to me free
It's alright she says, it's alright..
Take anything you want from me
Performed by Eric Clapton, Sheryl Crow, - featuring a smokin' sax solo by Dave Sanborn :-)
The Sweet Nectar of Devotion
Below is an offering written by former Beatle, George Harrison, performed in a tribute concert organized by Eric Clapton, celebrating his friend George on the year anniversary of his passing.
My sweet Lord....I really want to know you, I really wanna go with you, but it takes so long my Lord..
Halleluah...
.... Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare
Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama....
My sweet Lord....I really want to know you, I really wanna go with you, but it takes so long my Lord..
Halleluah...
.... Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare
Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama....
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