Sacred Heart of the Divine . . .

Click on the title above, online,
to view the source site:
_
_

_

. . . that . . .
EMBRACES ALL

*

The sacred energy
of love and compassion,
the Great Heart of the World,
embraces us all, without condition,
unifying all of life, unifying the whole creation
within the warm spirit of
kindness, appreciation
and concern.
_
With good fortune,
we may meet people in whom this unfettered love
shines strongly, allowing all around
to bask in its light.
_
_________________________
_____________
_
_
_

The "Cloud of Unknowing" Treatise

ClIck on the title above, online,
to view the source site:
_
_

The Cloud of Unknowing

Anonymously written around the year 1375, The Cloud of Unknowing — a lucid and deceptively simple manual on contemplative spirituality — offers a fascinating glimpse into the practical side of medieval mysticism. It remains important and valuable in our day not only because of its historical value, but because of how surprisingly relevant and up-to-date it remains, even here in the twenty-first century.

The Cloud of Unknowing appears to have been written for a young person who is just beginning a life devoted to contemplation, either as a monk or a solitary. Its author may have been a priest, or may have himself been a monastic, but unfortunately we can do little more than speculate on the matter. So effective is his cloak of anonymity that we know virtually nothing about him (or her). The author of The Cloud also wrote or translated several minor works, including a richly paraphrased translation of a work by the late fifth-century Syrian mystical theologian now known as Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. Arguably the most important Christian mystic of his age, Pseudo-Dionysius advocated an apophatic (or “imageless”) spirituality anchored in the sheer mystery and unknowability of the Divine. Following Pseudo-Dionysius, this “negative” spirituality that stresses the unknowability and supra-rational darkness and transcendence that prevents us from ever knowing God fully has remained a perennial (if little-known and little-understood) stream in the waters of the Christian experience. Following Pseudo-Dionysius, mystics such as Meister Eckhart and John of the Cross; modern spiritual teachers like Peter Rollins and Maggie Ross, and — of course — The Cloud of Unknowing all fall within the magnificent, if virtually imprenetrable, vein of spirituality.

____________________________________

_______________

_

_

Needed ! A New Version of COU !

_
_

A

NEW

CLOUD OF UNKNOWING

for all
_
_________
_
_
We need today a new version of
COU
that will appeal to people of all religions and cultures
without appearing to bear the stamp
of being an exposition of the tenets
of any one religion.
_
For,
while this book actually teaches principles
that appeals to votaries of all religions of the world,
it appears as if it was a work of the votary of one religion
preaching on the subject of
God
only to the members of the religion
owned by him.
_
God is for all.
Pathways to God are for all.
_
Any one,
to whichever religion or faith he may belong to,
has the spiritual democratic freedom to choose
any pathway to God that a competent preacher
may show to him.
_
Such pathways need not bear the stamp
of any one religion and be restricted
only to those who belong
to the religion of
the preacher.
_
For,
an organised religion is only a platform
for a prophet or seer of the past,
built by him to launch his followers
towards God.
_
These
principles for launching
may be employed with equal efficiency and perfection
on any suitable platform that appeals
to the common man of today.
_
______________________
_______________
__________
_
_
_

C.O.U : A Summary

Click on the title above, online,
to view the source site:
_
_

THE CLOUD OF UNKNOWING
summarized in
modern English
_
_
If you want to have
a relationship with God's love,
you have to read this book
with your heart.
_
Being smart or well educated
will not help you
understand
this.
_
God
responds to humility and love,
not
pride.


Between
you
and
God,
there is a
cloud of unknowing.

You cannot know
God
with words or ideas.
_
You
can only know
God
with
love.
So humble yourself and seek
God
with the prayer of
your heart.
_
You were created in
God's
image
and
prayer
of the heart
will help heal
your relationship with him.


If your prayer
is not from humility and love,
your relationship will be a fantasy
that will exist only in your imagination.
Some people can imitate humility and love,
but they are deceived and may fall into strange behaviors.
So be careful you don't pray only in your imagination.


When you come to
this
cloud of unknowing
in
prayer,
put everything and everybody you know
under
a cloud of forgetting,
and focus your thoughts on
the
Lord
himself and his
love
and
your relationship with him.

When you are in love with someone,
you are not thinking about
what you are going to get from them.
-
So forget about anything
God
is going to do for
YOU.
Forget about God making you rich, or happy,
or healing your hurts, or healing your relationships.
_
Put all that stuff behind
a
cloud of forgetting.
_

God
is a lot smarter than you are,
and if you turn your life over to him
and trust him,
he will do a much better job
of running your life
than
you ever can..
_
____________
_______________________
_________________________________

We Are One !

Click on the title above, online,
to view the source site:
_

UNITED COMMUNITIES
of the
SPIRIT
_
*
For us,
_
the ancient Sanskrit blessing
_
Namaste!
_
is a perfect expression.
_
*
It translates as:

I honour the place in you
in which the entire universe dwells.
_
I honour the place in you
which is
_

of Love
of Truth
of Light
and
of Peace

_
When
you
are in that place in you
and
I
am in that place in me,
_
We are One.
_
____
________________
________
_
_
_

An Ancient Teaching . . .

" moordhni jyothishu siddha darshanam " |
-paatanjala yoga sutras: vibhuti paada )

_
_

. . . for . . .
THE MODERN AGE
_
_
Peace, that passeth understanding,
Of Nirvana, the penultimate stage,
On the road to Highest of the High,
Beyond desire, stills anger and rage.
_
The spiritual seeker's true destiny,
Leading towards its ultimate goal,
Finds all the siddhas at this station
Ocean of Peace: here swims the soul.
_
Rests herein the key that awakens
Primal seed of the World of Peace
To sprout in the hearts of all men,
From suffering, to bring them ease.
_
Meditating on the holy descent
Of Light from the higher planes,
The meditator can soon discover
This peace following in its train.
_
Tapping the siddhas' peace ocean
Men can bring peace to the world
Social Nirvana will ripen on earth
To feed man, hungry restless bird.
_
Diving in the ocean, rising above,
He can sprinkle peace everywhere.
Its droplets shining in its own light,
A Holy Festival, the world to share.
_
This bright Light of Peace, shining ,
Within hearts of all men on earth,
Will awaken Love and Compassion,
Fill the world with light and mirth.
_
All men will live happily together,
With a joint investment in Peace:
Compassion will engulf the earth,
Bickering and violence will cease.
_
_______________
______
_
_
_

Balamuralikrishna & Bhimsen Joshi