SOUL AND SATVA - Sermons of Life

Instead, love and accept this troublesome aspect of yourself for what it is: the finite part of you wanting to be in control. Laugh at your ego (affectionately, of course), and ignore its perceptions. It is not the voice of your essential self, and it does not convey the truth. When you listen to your ego, you become consumed with negativity and fear. It will disturb your spirit with its endless insecurities, demands, and threats, which only grow if you pay attention to it for any length of time. Rather than focusing on this false counsel, become attuned to your Divine Immortal Spirit. It will guide you to the truth that you are precious and that God, the Universe, your guides and angels, and we Emissaries adore you. As a blessed child of the spirit, you are made only of love. Learn to cherish yourself as God does-fully, freely, and unconditionally. You are here on Earth to accept and master this truth. Rita then lapsed into a fit of despair. "Oh Lord, some days I just want to give up," she said. I waited a moment or two for her emotions to calm down, and then asked if her mom had ever said the same thing. "Every day of her life," she answered with a tone of resentment. 'And your daughter?' I asked. "How about her? Does she ever say she wants to stop trying?" "Now that you mention it, yes, she does-all the time," Rita answered. "It enrages me when she's so negative." 'And you?' I continued. "Are you pessimistic?" "I never thought myself to be, but I guess I have to say I am." 'And when you feel bad, you eat, right?' 'Of course I do. It softens the pain for a minute." "From what my guides show me," I continued, "you and your daughter are simply creating the same pattern your mother modeled. Your weight issue is a thought pattern you've inherited and then passed along." 'All the women in my family are overweight,' she said, and then laughed. "I guess we all learned the same thing." "Yes, and here's the good news. Just as you've manifested this, you can produce something else as well-but not willfully, using your ego alone. You must co-create with the Universe in order to succeed. You have the power to generate unhappiness and misery-or health and joy. Just ask for help from your Divine assistant when designing your life, and things will improve." Rita was silent for a minute or so, then took a breath and said, "I know you're right. I said I was skeptical, but the truth is that my own inner voice, 'What did you say?' I asked. "I pointed to his big ears and said that they pulled on those instead. He was delighted." Appreciate and even marvel at the work of art that is your physical vehicle. Without conscious effort on your part, your brain fires, your heart pumps, your organs cleanse and nourish you, your stomach digests, your skin breathes, and a million other amazing functions flow naturally. Your body allows you to speak, think, sing, move, feel, express, and take full pleasure in the Earth plane. It is a miraculous and perfect instrument for your soul's evolution; and is to be completely loved, respected, and enjoyed. Be grateful for all the wonderful things your physical self affords you. It is an incredible tool for growing your spirit, and it mirrors your choices so that you can see, feel, and experience exactly what you are manifesting at all times.

Living Liberation in Hindu Thought, 1996

Peter Lang, 1994

Preface and republication notice of THE SOUL by Adrian Kuzminski (Peter Lang, 1994), full text now available on Academia.edu: https://viasat.academia.edu/AdrianKuzminski

The Spiritual Seek, 2025

The following short inspirational stories are designed to guide you on a journey of self-reflection and spiritual growth. Drawing on the wisdom of ancient philosophical traditions, they will provide you with a peaceful space to

2017

Indian spiritual autobiographies pivot on the idea of spiritual enlightenment: by transcending the ego, the self puts an end to the cycle of reincarnation. On the one hand these works reflect an individual experience, and on the other hand they mirror the society and culture that forms its background. In this paper I examine two “enlightened” autobiographies, Paramhansa Yogananda’s Autobiography of a Yogi (1946) and Osho Rajneesh’s Glimpses of a Golden Childhood (1984), from the viewpoints of ideational content and rhetoric, in order to show the difference between Yogananda’s sacred outlook, which G.K. Shandya interprets from a post-colonial vantage point, and Osho’s secular spiritual perspective, which has a cross-cultural character and includes key aspects of the Western worldview. In the field of spiritual life writing no less than in general, the movement from the cultural moment of 1946 to 1984 reflects the modernization of the Indian tradition and consists in a change of empha...

Ḥiddushim: Celebrating Hebrew College's Centennial, 2022

All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware. 1-Martin Buber The spiritual journey is a long trip. Moreover, your experience will seem to recycle and you'll feel that you are back to where you started and haven't made any progress at all. Recycling is like climbing a spiritual staircase. You seem to be returning to the point from which you started, but in fact you are at a higher level. An eagle rising toward the sun keeps returning to the same place on the horizontal plane, but to a higher place on the vertical plane.

2024

The chapter explores the journeys of three souls—Joel, a Christian from Zimbabwe; Anushay, a Muslim from Pakistan; and Sameer, a Hindu from Nepal. Despite our cultural differences and positionalities guided by diverse lived experiences, spirituality has brought us together. On the other hand, the chapter will focus on the spiritual realm that engages the dimension of life beyond human understanding. Some people do not connect this dimension with the concept of divinity and prefer to think of it in terms of a sense of meaning rather than spirituality. Though we started this journey as unfamiliar strangers, spirituality’s ultimate strength joined us together through the “ancient and abiding human quest for connectedness with something larger and more trustworthy than our egos” (Parker Palmer in Dei et al., Removing the Margins: The Challenges and Possibilities of Inclusive Schooling. Toronto, Canadian Scholars’ Press, 2000, p. 93). We are connected by the energy within ourselves—connecting, sharing, and interacting. The world around us (Cajete, Look to the Mountain: An Ecology of Indigenous Education. Kivaki Press, 1994) helps us create a shared narrative that allows us to live and work in harmony and reverence (Wangoola, Indigenous Knowledges in the Global Contexts: Multiple Readings of the World. University of Toronto Press, 2000). This unique perspective of three religions and spirituality—distinct yet intersecting, diverse yet harmonious—creates the space for multiple readings of the journeys shared in this chapter.