Prayer of the Heart in Christian and Sufi Mysticism by Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee

Prayer of the Heart in Christian & Sufi Mysticism guides the reader through the stages of mystical prayer. Mystical prayer is a way to create a living relationship with the Divine within the heart. Drawing on Christian and Sufi sources such as St. Teresa of Avila, Attar, St. John of the Cross, and Rumi, as well as from his own experience, Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee describes how prayer is first born of need, but then takes one deep within the heart, into the stages of Union and Ecstasy. Through mystical prayer, one is drawn beyond any words into the interior silence of real communion with God. Here, in the silence within the heart, a meeting and merging takes place that carries us beyond our self into the mystery of divine presence, into the secret nature of love’s oneness.

Prayer of the Heart in Christian and Sufi Mysticism explores the inner listening of the heart, and the secret of ‘pray without ceasing’ in which we discover how prayer becomes alive within the heart. Finally there is a chapter on the need at this time to pray for the Earth. How can we pray for the well-being of the Earth? How can we include the Earth in our prayers and our heart?

This little book is an offering of the heart that brings together the Christian and Sufi mystical traditions in the oneness of love to which they belong. It will benefit any practitioner of prayer, anyone who is drawn to discover a relationship with God within their heart.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Rev. Cynthia Bourgeault
Introduction
1. Prayer and Listening
2. Stages of Prayer
3. The Jesus Prayer and the Dhikr
4. The Circle of Love
5. The Heart Prays
6. Prayer for the Earth
7. Personal Prayer

“In our prayers and devotions, we need to reconnect with the sacred substance in creation. We need to place the earth within our hearts, and nourish it with our love, and offer it in remembrance of God.”

Excerpts from chapter 6 in “Prayer of the Heart in Christian & Sufi Mysticism”, a new book by Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee.

We are living in a time of ecological devastation, the catastrophic effect of our materialistic culture on the ecosystem. Our rivers are toxic, the rainforests slashed and burned, vast tracts of land made a wasteland due to our insatiable desires for oil, gas, and minerals. We have raped and pillaged and polluted the earth, pushing it into the dangerous state of imbalance we call climate change. Creation itself is now calling to us, sending us signs of its imbalance, and the soul of the world, the anima mundi, which the ancients understood as the spiritual presence of the earth, is crying out. We can see these signs in all the recent floods and droughts, feel it in the poisoning of the land from pesticides and other contaminants. Those whose hearts are open may hear it too, in the cry of the world soul, of the spiritual being of our mother the earth. It is a cry of need and despair: human beings, who were supposed to be the guardians of the planet, who long ago were taught the sacred names of creation,(95)have forgotten their responsibility and instead have systematically and heedlessly desecrated and destroyed the earth on a global scale.

— ch. 6. Prayer for the Earth, p. 71

Sacred Jewels of Yoga Wisdom from India’s Beloved Scriptures, Teachers, Masters, and Monks ~ Dave DeLuca

Product Description

Millions of Americans today practice the asanas, or postures, of yoga, but many are unaware of the profound spiritual teachings at the heart of yoga’s ancient source scriptures. In this remarkable anthology, acclaimed Vedanta Yoga teacher Dave DeLuca presents 166 sacred passages from some of India’s most revered yoga scriptures — the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, the Yoga Sutras, the Bhakti Sutras, the Astavakra Samhita, and the Srimad Bhagavatam — along with teachings by two of the most beloved yoga masters of the modern era, Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda.

This combination of ancient wisdom and modern commentary makes Sacred Jewels of Yoga an invaluable introduction to the scriptural treasures of ancient India and a priceless resource for inspiration, illumination, and guidance.

Dave has presented thousands of trainings and workshops on all aspects of personal growth during his twenty years as a professional seminar leader. He started his career as a trainer for The Summit Organization. During his time at Summit he led dozens of different courses on an ongoing basis such as Self Esteem, The Power Of Purpose, Decision Making And Effective Choice, Quality Communications, and Life Designs. He went from leading Summit’s introductory weekend seminar, The Power Of Positive Feelings, to writing and leading weeklong workshops at their Hawaii and Southern California resort facilities. One of these was his signature workshop, Healing Family Relationships, which he led for Summit on a regular basis for years in Hawaii.

In 1990, Dave founded Empowerment Systems and began concentrating on writing and presenting new seminars that reflected his increasing focus on his spiritual journey. The results were such courses as Bringing Your Spirit To Life, Self-Esteem As Soul Work, Finding And Living Your Higher Purpose, and Loving The Path. It was also during this time that Dave became devoted to the study of the major religions of the world.

In 1992, his passion for greater spiritual understanding led him to the Vedanta Society of Southern California, where he began his study of ancient India’s Vedanta yoga wisdom with the Swamis of the venerated Ramakrishna Order of India. By 2000 he was an ongoing speaker at the Vedanta Society temples throughout Southern California.

Today on Mind Matters Ajayan‘s guest was Dave DeLuca, author of “Sacred Jewels of Yoga.” The conversation is an exploration of the wisdom of the East as you have never heard it presented before. Discover how the philosophy of Yoga, beyond the poses, can help to inform our active day-to-day lives.To listen to the conversation,
View Here Dave’s interview starts at 16:08

To read some of the Sacred Jewels selection, log on to http://www.davedeluca.com/sacred-jewels-of-yoga/

For more of Radio Talk on the Sacred Jewels of Yoga with David Deluca
by VividLife Radio : Listen Here

The Knowing Heart A Sufi Path of Transformation ~ Kabir Helminski

Overview

As human beings we stand on the threshold between two realities: the world of material existence and the world of spiritual Being. The “knowing heart” is the sacred place where these two dimensions meet and are integrated.

In Sufi teaching the human heart is not a fanciful metaphor but an objective organ of intuition and perception. It is able to perceive all that is beautiful, lovely, and meaningful in life—and to reflect these spiritual qualities in the world, for the benefit of others. Every human heart has the capacity and the destiny to bring that world of divine reality into this world of appearances.

The Sufis, mystics of Islam, have been educators of the heart for some fourteen centuries. Their teachings and methods are designed to help us awaken and purify the heart, to learn to listen to our deepest knowing. In The Knowing Heart, Kabir Helminski presents the Sufi way as a practical spirituality suitable for all cultures and times—and offers insights that are especially valuable for our life in today’s world. In cultivating a knowing heart, we learn to experience a new sense of self, transform our relationships, and enhance our creative capacities. Most important, we learn how to meet the spiritual challenge of our time: to realize our sacred humanness.

Kabir Helminski is the author of Living Presence: A Sufi Way to Mindfulness and the Essential Self, as well as the translator of numerous books of Sufi literature and especially Rumi. He is the codirector, with his wife, Camille Helminski, of the Threshold Society, a nonprofit organization dedicated to sharing the knowledge and practice of Sufism. As the publisher of Threshold Books for some twenty years, he was largely responsible for making Rumi the most widely read poet of our time. As a producer and writer of Sufi music, he has gained recognition for numerous recordings, including his own Garden within the Flames. He is a representative of the Mevlevi tradition founded by Jelaluddin Rumi.

Excerpt from the Interview with Kabir Helminski, Science and Nonduality Anthology

We Are One with Anita Moorjani / Anita speaks with bestselling Author Cheryl Richardson

Anita speaks with bestselling Author Cheryl Richardson
CLICK HERE ?page_id=459 TO LISTEN ( 59 mins )

Namaste

May we all be One, One family, One
NAMASTE

Music 1: Marcomé, Dawn’s Spirit
Music 2: Marcomé, Breathe

http://marcome.com

Images: Google/Photobucket
We Honor the Unknown Artists

©2010 Humanity Healing. Partial Rights Reserved.

Mysticism: Living Love’s Oneness ~ Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee

What is mysticism? How is it different to spirituality? And why is mysticism important at this moment in time?

The spiritual journey can be most simply described as a way to access the light of our soul — the beautiful light with which we came into the world. On this journey we make an inner relationship with this light of our divine nature — the spirit that is within each of us. Through this relationship we come to know our true self and be nourished by the deeper meaning of our soul.

Spiritual paths and teachings give us access to the tools and guidance to do this inner work. For example, the practice of meditation can help to still the mind so that we are no longer distracted by its continual chatter. Psychological inner work can free us from the traumas, anger, anxiety and other feelings that may cover our light. Gradually we come to know more of our true nature, learn to live in the light of our real self. It is said that the goal of every spiritual path is to live a guided life, guided by that within us which is eternal.

The mystical journey may begin with making a relationship with one’s inner light, but the mystic is drawn on a deeper journey toward love’s greatest secret: that within the heart we are one with the divine. The fire of mystical love is a burning which destroys all sense of a separate self, until nothing is left but love Itself. While the spiritual seeker is drawn to the light of this fire, the mystic is the moth consumed by it’s flames. Rumi, love’s greatest mystical poet, summed up his whole life in two lines:

And the result is not more than these three words:
I burnt, and burnt, and burnt.

The mystical path takes us into the center of the heart where this mystery of love takes place. Initially this love is often experienced as longing, a deep desire for God, the Beloved, Divine Truth, or simply an unexplained ache in the heart. Mystics are lovers who are drawn toward a love in which there is no you or me, but only the oneness of love Itself. And they are prepared to pay the ultimate price to realize this truth: the price of themselves. In the words of the 13th century Christian mystic Hadewych of Antwerp:

Those who were two, at first,
are made one by the pain of love.

Gradually we discover that this love and longing slowly and often painfully destroy all our outer and inner attachments, all the images we may have of our self. The Sufis call this process being taken into the tavern of ruin, through which we are eventually made empty of all except divine love, divine presence.

This is an ancient journey in which the heart is awakened to the wonder and beauty, as well as the terror, of divine love. It is celebrated in the Bible in the Song of Songs: “He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.” And over the centuries mystics of all faiths have written their love stories. Some mystics have been persecuted, like the Sufi al-Hallaj who was crucified for publically proclaiming the secret of divine oneness, “I am the Truth.” Known as the prince of lovers, he expressed the mystical reality: “I am He whom I love, He whom I love is me.”

Mystics may be drawn inward, but the oneness of the divine also embraces the outer world. When the eye of the heart is open all of creation reveals its divine nature; everything is seen as an expression, a manifestation of the One Being. Mystics are also involved in the demands of everyday life. One of Christianity’s most loved mystics, St. Teresa of Avila, worked tirelessly founding nunneries and looking after her nuns, while at the same time mystical prayer took her into ever deepening states of inner absorption, oneness and ecstasy. Mysticism does not mean to retire from life, but to live the unitive life. “God,” St. Teresa would say, “lives also among the pots and pans.”

The truth of mystical love is one of humanity’s great heritages. It should not be confused with its cousin, spiritual life. The spiritual journey is a wonderful way to come closer to what is sacred. It a way to live in the light of our divine nature, to be nourished by the mystery and meaning of the soul. It opens the door to what really belongs to us as sacred beings. But mysticism is quite different. The moth who feels the warmth of the fire is on a very different journey to the moth drawn into the flames themselves. This is the ancient journey from separation back to union, from our own self back to a state of oneness with God. Step by step we walk along the path of love until finally we are taken by love into love; we are taken by God to God, and there is no going back, only a deepening and deepening of this love affair of the soul.

Even if we are not all drawn to tread the path of the mystic, we need to be reminded that this note of divine love belongs to all of us. In a time of so much division in the world, it is important to reclaim this primal truth that belongs to our heritage: this great song of the soul that celebrates the oneness that is within the heart of each of us and underlies all of creation. This has particular relevance when we confront our present ecological crisis. We can no longer afford to think of the environment as something separate, outside of us. We need an awareness of the “oneness of being” of which we are all a part, and actions that come from this awareness. This awareness of unity is one of the most important contributions of the mystic at this moment in time.

Within the heart of each of us, within the heart of humanity, is this song of mystical love. It has been present for millennia celebrating the divine unity that is our real nature, and the deepest secret of our relationship with God. Hearing the many voices that today so easily consume our attention, it is easy for us to forget this quiet voice of divine love. And yet it is one of the great secrets of humanity, passed down from lover to lover, needing to be embraced, to be known, to be lived.

Praying for the Earth ~ Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee

Prayer is a way to be with the divine — from the prayer born from need, where we use words to express our needs, to the deeper prayer that takes us beyond any words into the oneness and silence within the heart. This video is about the simplicity of the “Prayer of the Heart”:

PRAYER – Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee

Prayer is the simplest and most natural way to communicate with the divine. Prayer is the heart speaking. There are the prescribed prayers, the rituals of inner communion. But there are also our personal prayers, our way of being with the sacred that is our deepest nature and that of the world around us. In whatever way we are drawn to pray, there is a pressing need at this time to include the earth in our prayers.

We are living in a time of ecological devastation, in which our materialistic culture has had a catastrophic effect on the ecosystem. Our rivers are toxic, the rainforests slashed and burned, vast tracts of land made a wasteland due to our insatiable desires for oil, gas and minerals. We have raped and pillaged and polluted the earth until it is in a dangerous state of imbalance we call climate change. If we dare to listen, creation itself is now calling to us, sending us signs of its imbalance.

We can see these signs in the increasing floods and droughts, feel it in a land that has been poisoned with pesticides, and those whose hearts are open may hear the cry of the world soul, of the spiritual being of our mother the earth. It is a cry of need and despair, that humanity who was supposed to be the guardian of the planet has forgotten its responsibility and instead desecrates and destroys the earth on a global scale.

The earth needs our prayers more than we know. It needs us to acknowledge its sacred nature, that it is not just something to use and dispose. Many of us know the effectiveness of prayers for others, how healing and help is given, even in the most unexpected ways. There are many ways to pray for the earth.

It can be helpful first to acknowledge that it is not “unfeeling matter” but a living being that has given us life. And then we can sense its suffering: the physical suffering we see in the dying species and polluted waters, the deeper suffering of our collective disregard for its sacred nature. Would we like to be treated just as a physical object to be used and abused? Would we like our sacred nature, our soul, to be denied?

For centuries it was understood that the world was a living being with a soul, and that we are a part of this being. Once we remember this in our minds and in our hearts, once we hear the cry of our suffering, dying world, our prayers will flow more easily and naturally. We will be drawn to pray in our own way. There is the simple prayer of placing the world as a living being within our hearts when we inwardly offer our self to the divine.

We remember the sorrow and suffering of the world in our hearts and ask that the world be remembered, that divine love and mercy flow where it is needed. That even though we continue to treat the world so badly, divine grace will help us and help the world — help to bring the earth back into balance. We need to remember that the power of the divine is more than that of all the global corporations that continue to make the world a wasteland, even more than the global forces of consumerism that demand the life-blood of the planet. We pray that the divine of which we are all a part can redeem and heal this beautiful and suffering world.

Sometimes it is easier to pray when we feel the earth in our hands, when we work in the garden tending our flowers or vegetables. Or when we cook, preparing the vegetables that the earth has given us, mixing in the herbs and spices that give us pleasure. Or making love, as we share our body and bliss with our lover, we may feel the tenderness and power of creation, how a single spark can give birth. Then our lovemaking can be an offering to life itself, a fully-felt remembrance of the ecstasy of creation.

The divine oneness of life is within and all around us. Sometimes walking alone in nature we can feel its heartbeat and its wonder, and our steps become steps of remembrance. The simple practice of “walking in a sacred manner,” in which with every step we take we feel the connection with the sacred earth, is one way to reconnect with the living spirit of the earth.

There are so many ways to pray for and with creation, to listen within and include the earth in our spiritual practice. Watching the simple wonder of a dawn can be a prayer in itself. Or when we hear the chorus of birds in the morning we may sense that deeper joy of life and awake to its divine nature. At night the stars can remind us of what is infinite and eternal within us and within the world. Whatever way we are drawn to wonder or pray, what matters is always the attitude we bring to this intimate exchange, whether our prayers are heartfelt rather than just a mental repetition.

It is always through the heart that our prayers are heard, even if we first make the connection in our feet or hands. Do we really feel the suffering of the earth, sense its need? Do we feel this connection with creation, how we are a part of this beautiful and suffering being? Then our prayers are alive, a living stream that flows from our heart. Then every step, every touch, will be a prayer for the earth, a remembrance of what is sacred. We are a part of the earth calling to its creator, crying in its time of need.

The video is an extract from a set of talks on prayer, given by Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee June 2011, Omega Institute.

The Awakened One – Sri Bhagavan

Mind-blowing compilation of the weekly webcast teachings by Sri Bhagavan, co-founder of the Oneness University, a spiritual school established for the full flowering of the human being. The audio teachings presented here were given for contemplation since September 2010, one for each week, and continue to serve their purpose as keys to a deepened Awareness.

“Awakening is a process where you wake up from the dream to reality.
Life this way is so ordinary that it is extraordinary.
One feels that, that is how one has always been.”

~ Sri Amma Bhagavan, from the New Year Message 2011

Sri Bhagavan emphasizes that these teachings are basically there to recognize oneself having “made it” as well as for others to recognize oneself as that. However, to practice them or try to live accordingly would be of no use or benefit to anyone. Grace & Grace alone can take you to “where you have always been”, to realize the “impossibility of change”, since there is nothing one could “do” in order to “get there”. A strong passion for getting released of all suffering and at the same time feeling utterly helpless about it is a highly conducive condition for Awakening to occur, as perfectly directed by one’s own indwelling Presence or Divine Intelligence.

“So what happens? You suddenly discover there is unconditional Love. There’s unconditional Joy. You’re no more moved into the past. You’re no more moved into the future. You are in the Present, not because you are trying to do something. It’s just happening all the time. And suddenly you find that the world is changed. Nothing has happened to the world. You have changed and the world looks very, very different. Where hitherto life had no meaning, no purpose. You were searching for a vision. You were searching for a purpose. Now, you are Living Now. A living being would not ask, “What is the meaning of Life? What is the purpose of Life?” Because he is Living. This very naturally and spontaneously happens when the Awakening does occur, and it has occurred to thousands of people.”

~ Sri Bhagavan

A Time of Transition by Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee.

A 10 min clip from the event series “The Sufi Path of Love & the Secrets of Mystical Oneness” by Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee.

I BELIEVE Peace Will Prevail

There are many places in this world where violence rules over Peace and suffering is more prevalent than Joy. The year 2012 will be pivotal for many.

I BELIEVE Peace Will Prevail.

When we invoke the phrase I BELIEVE, we do more than just make a statement. We send our Intention out into the Universe.

This video is a Pebble in the Pond. If it resonates with you, please watch it a second time and send YOUR Intention out with each I BELIEVE.

Please join your name with others by signing the I BELIEVE Peace Will Prevail petition:

Together, I BELIEVE we can make a difference.

I BELIEVE that each individual has the power to change the world

I BELIEVE that every Action we take can ripple out farther than we realize

I BELIEVE that ordinary people can do extraordinary things

I BELIEVE that Compassion is stronger than hatred

I BELIEVE that Knowledge is stronger than ignorance

I BELIEVE that Understanding is stronger than fear

I BELIEVE that it is possible to see through another’s eyes if you try

I BELIEVE that each of us is connected by our shared Humanity

I BELIEVE that our similarities are more important than our differences

I BELIEVE that all individuals have a right to dignity and respect

I BELIEVE that you should do unto others as you would like others to do unto you

I BELIEVE that Hope is stronger than despair

I BELIEVE that every Random Act of Kindness makes this world a better place

I BELIEVE that while governments make treaties, individuals make Peace

I BELIEVE that it is possible to change the Path you are traveling

I BELIEVE that each individual must make a conscious decision to choose Peace

I BELIEVE that you have to lead by example

I BELIEVE that Peace Will Prevail

I BELIEVE that together, we can Heal the Heart of Humanity

Copyright Christopher B. Buck 27 December 2007

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