Spiritual Emancipation
"The winds of grace are always blowing; all we have to do is raise our sails."~ Sri Ramakrishna
What is Love but Grace; and Grace is Love.
Last month, January 1 marked the 151st anniversary of President Lincoln's proclamation of emancipation. It was an executive order proclaiming the freedom of slaves in the 10 states that were in rebellion. We all know it took a lot more then this executive order to bring about equality for all, but it was an amazing and, in some ways, spiritual feat.
I reflected on this around the beginning of the New Year and wondered about what it is that brings about "Spiritual Freedom...Spiritual Independence." Something that plainly does not exist in one sense, but in another, I think you can see that what I speak of.
How does someone liberate themself from bondage of entanglement? Maybe a better question for some is: What are those chains or shackles of entanglement?
For each of us, it will start off differently and there are different ways of going about liberation.
In Sikhism, Mukti is a derivative of the word Mukt. It means absolution, deliverance, freedom, emancipation, liberation, pardon, release or salvation. The word Mukti generally refers to liberation from bondage of the five influences of ego (lust, anger, greed, attachment and pride) that disconnects the one from their soul/spirit/God.
They sound similar to the seven deadly sins (lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and pride), don't they?
When Jesus of Nazareth came, many of the Jews did not accept him because the Messiah was to release them from bondage. But the bondage Jesus of Nazareth was dispelling was not from the Romans, but from the lower self...the material bondage.
In Buddhism you have the Five Mindfulness Trainings that a devoted one brings into their lives: 1)Awareness of the suffering caused by destruction of life (Anger); 2) Awareness of the suffering caused by exploitation, social injustice, stealing and oppression (Greed); 3) Awareness of the suffering caused by sexual misconduct (Lust); 4) Awareness of the suffering caused by unmindful speech and the inability to listen to others (Pride); and lastly 5)Awareness of suffering caused by unmindful consumption (Gluttony).
Basically, all the religions speak of the same spiritual path. In order to become aligned with Spirit, we need to arise above those things that entangle us and keep us down.
Each of us is on our own spiritual journey. Mine is different then Liz's, and hers different then mine. If I try to force my "way" onto to her, you can see that I am being prideful, thinking I know better then her and God. Because her own path to God is just that: hers. Not mine.
This is a place where religions do get tripped up on. It's "our way or the highway" or you're going to hell, etc.
Each of the Avatars' incarnations all spoke from their own place.
The Buddha, Jesus, Krishna all have said their way is the way. And it is. If you follow their teachings and don't water them down, you will experience Liberation, and Spiritual Emancipation.
Recently, I have been re-reading The Sermon on the Mount, According to the Vedanta by Swami Prabhavanda.
This little book is so delicious. I do hope that you too will experience the nectar in this piece of spiritual bliss.
What made it so special was that in early sobriety, my sponsor in Brooklyn gave me a real education of how Alcoholics Anonymous was started.
Before there was the textbook, "The Big Book" of AA, the spiritual text that Dr. Bob and Bill Wilson drew their spiritual foundation from was Emmet Fox's 'Sermon on the Mount." This little book on The Beatitudes was the basis of the spiritual 12 steps programs of today.
As many of you know, although I was raised a Catholic, I later became a Hindu monk for a few years, which saved my life at that time. So the combination of the Vedas and the teaching of Jesus of Nazareth came together very naturally for me.
Over the next couple of weeks, please join me in exploring The Beatitudes. I will recap and perhaps expound a bit on what is being said.
With deep appreciation to all of you.
In Peace & Love,
Michael
After we left the resort, we went to Guatemala to see Tikal, the largest Mayan ruin in all of Central America. Caracol was amazing and the guides for the ruins were experts. Tikal was mind blowing. We were there only for about 24 hours but did two different tours. We arrived about 8am and had a 9am tour scheduled. In this tour, the guide actually grew up in the ruins of Tikal. His father was part of the late 1950s explorers and found one of the temples. So the guide hung out with his dad during the years of uncovering these ruins from the 1950s onward. He knew this great city like the back of his hand.
On one of the clear nights (and there were not many of them), we did a sunset tour on a catamaran. That night was the night of the full moon, which happened to be the year's smallest full moon, called the "little full moon." So as the sun went down in the east, moments later the full moon rose in the west. The sky was clear from horizon to horizon and it was simply amazing.
