Today: “Obstacles are lessons about how to relate with situations.  Easy or hard, assess how your solutions satisfy the responsibilities you are given.” – from the I Ching

Obstacles are lessons about how to relate with situations.  Easy or hard, assess how your solutions satisfy the responsibilities you are given.  Be a leader rather than a self-serving egotistical pedant.

Meditation: TCH36-1-A00713 – Pain and Ecstasy – Triangle of Knowledge

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Today: I Ching – Previous Readings

Personal I Ching readings

Read the text from Richard Wilhelm's and subsequent translations of the I Ching

#39, line 3, #59

The southwest is the region of retreat, the northeast that of advance. Here an individual is confronted by obstacles that cannot be overcome directly.   In such a situation it is wise to pause in view of the danger and to retreat. However, this is merely a preparation for overcoming the obstructions. One must join forces with friends of like mind and put himself under the leadership of a man equal to the situation: then one will succeed in removing the obstacles. This requires the will to persevere just when one apparently must do something that leads away from his goal. This unswerving inner purpose brings good fortune in the end. An obstruction that lasts only for a time is useful for self-development. This is the value of adversity.

Water on the mountain:
The image of OBSTRUCTION.
Thus the superior man turns his attention to himself
And moulds his character.

Difficulties and obstructions throw a man back upon himself. While the inferior man seeks to put the blame on other persons, bewailing his fate, the superior man seeks the error within himself, and through this introspection the external obstacle becomes for him an occasion for inner enrichment and education

…this line shows the man who must act as father of a family or as head of his kin. If he were to plunge recklessly into danger, it would be a useless act, because those entrusted to his care cannot get along by themselves. But if he withdraws and turns back to his own, they welcome him with great joy.

Religious forces are needed to overcome the egotism that divides men. The common celebration of the great sacrificial feasts and sacred rites, which gave expression simultaneously to the interrelation and social articulation of the family and state, was the means employed by the great rulers to unite men. The sacred music and the splendor of the ceremonies aroused a strong tide of emotion that was shared by all hearts in unison, and that awakened a consciousness of the common origin of all creatures. In this way disunity was overcome and rigidity dissolved. A further means to the same end is co-operation in great general undertakings that set a high goal for the will of the people; in the common concentration on this goal, all barriers dissolve, just as, when a boat is crossing a great stream, all hands must unite in a joint task.
But only a man who is himself free of all selfish ulterior considerations, and who perseveres in justice and steadfastness, is capable of so dissolving the hardness of egotism.

The wind drives over the water:
The image of DISPERSION.
Thus the kings of old sacrificed to the Lord
And built temples.


In the autumn and winter, water begins to freeze into ice. When the warm breezes of spring come, the rigidity is dissolved, and the elements that have been dispersed in ice floes are reunited. It is the same with the minds of the people. Through hardness and selfishness the heart grows rigid, and this rigidity leads to separation from all others. Egotism and cupidity isolate men. Therefore the hearts of men must be seized by a devout emotion. They must be shaken by a religious awe in face of eternity – stirred with an intuition of the One Creator of all living beings, and united through the strong feeling of fellowship experienced in the ritual of divine worship. .

Meditation:  TCH36-1-A00713 – Pain and Ecstasy – Triangle of Knowledge

Yogi Bhajan
TCH36 1 A00713
Pain and EcstasyTriangle of Knowledge July 13th, 2000 – Espanola, NM, USA #TCH36-1

Sit straight in a cross-legged position. Place the tip of the right index finger over the tip of the left index finger—right palm facing down, left palm facing up—holding the remaining fingers with the thumbs. Raise the hands in front of the the heart center with the elbows relaxed down. Eyes are focused at the tip of the nose. Sit as straight as the greatest incarnation of Lord Buddha—be saintly, concentrate. Sing from the navel Aad Sach, Jugaad Sach, Hai Bhee Sach, Naanak Hosee Bhee Sach.

While pronouncing sach, strike the upper palate toward the rear, in the soft part (saying sat…), then role the tongue forward (…producing chhh)

Tune your inner ears so that the hammering of the hammer bones in the inner ears enables your brain to analyze the sound as you hear it. Continue for 2 1/2 hours. Relax. The mudra allows the infinite energy to come through. Chanting the mantra stimulates the upper palate with the tip of the tongue, tuning the thalamus and hypothalamus. Focusing on the tip of the nose causes the frontal lobe, which controls the personality, to become like lead. At one point the pain can become so unbearable, you cannot stand it. Then it breaks, and you have found what you are looking for, and that is forever. Nobody can take it away. Otherwise, you are a yo-yo, a floater—you see, you do not see, you love, you do not love, you hear, you have not heard. To grow roots, you must open yourself up.

Lecture
In life, we enter heaven through the gate of death, and must pay right on the spot—but you do not want to. This refusal to “pay-in” is the cause of pain in all its forms. Conquer pain through your power to achieve, knowing there is sunshine after every rainy day. See it as a process you are going through. When you do not latch onto maya or pain, you descend from the heights to renew, nurture yourself and bloom again, and experience Infinity as you again ascend. Slowly and gradually the psyche uplifts you to the heights and you are in bliss. Pain is a vehicle to achieve that. Pain is as powerful a part of life as ecstasy is. Love is expansion and fear is contraction. Both these forces create barriers. Love in its finite expression is a dead end—maya, the world. Love must be mixed with Infinity before you can reach ecstasy. As an apprentice to this process, you offer yourself in surrender to receive the Master’s Touch. You stand on the roots of the tree like a little bear, who reaches up to hold the trunk and climbs to the top-most branch to get to the bee hive, unaware of bee stings—intent on getting the honey. He drinks the honey, is satisfied, and descends to the ground, falling through branches which break his fall. After stretching and nurturing himself, the little bear remembers the taste of honey and the sense of achievement. He goes up the tree again and again, reaching that achievement in ecstasy, and nothing else matters. Life is a lie if you do not achieve your Self for yourself. That is your honey, your sweetness. You must achieve that Infinity where your identity is such a non-identity that it merges in Everything. Once you are that, you bless everybody. You are honored and in bliss—limitless, with no confinement, no territory, no demands, no requests. In this process you provoke, offer, surrender, achieve, and descend. Provoke, because everything is provocation, either to control or to receive. Offer, because you must decide how to offer, or present yourself. Surrender, because when you surrender, your working self becomes zero, shuniya. Surrender is the highest power to gain all that you want to gain. Achieve, because once you have a sense of achievement and say, “My God!”, if you convert that “My God!” into, “My Soul!” you have already found God. You have a soul—achieve it! When you find your soul for yourself, you are complete. Descend, because like a forklift, you may descend, go into the dirt and move it up. This descent is the highest state of mind and spirit. When the Age of Aquarius comes and people seek you out, you will have no time but to touch them and say, “Bless you!” to bring the entire psyche and being of a person into balance. That touch will create a state of, “Aad Sach, Jugaad Sach, Hai Bhee Sach, Naanak Hosee Bhee Sach,” original Truth,Truth through time, Truth now, and forever Truth. These must prevail through one touch. This mantra will give you the power of the Master’s Touch. There is no power or magic on this planet that can stop it. It has a permutation, combination, projection and power which brings the entire Prakirti, the existence, into the being of Purkha, the divinity. You will serve the creation of God, you will see God in everybody, in yourself, and in every facet of life.

 

Today: “If you achieve righteousness throughout your life and conversation, it doesn’t matter who you are or to whom you belong. The goal is achieved.” Yogi Bhajan

“If you achieve righteousness throughout your life and conversation, it doesn’t matter who you are or to whom you belong. The goal is achieved.” Yogi Bhajan

Sat Nam!
Ram Anand

Meditation: NM0163 – Feel God Within You, The Kindness in You

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