Between Death and Life / ‘Volunteer’ Souls, Past Lives & ETs ~ Dolores Cannon

Dolores explores the different levels of existence in the spirit realms beyond our Earthly plane, offering tremendous comfort to those in fear of death and providing invaluable insight to those with a healthy curiosity into what happens after we pass.

Dolores Cannon – ‘Volunteer’ Souls, Past Lives & ETs

Kevin Moore was joined by author and Past-life regressionist Dolores Cannon, she discussed the waves of people known as “volunteers,” aliens in human form, who are coming to Earth in increasing numbers, and other “lost knowledge” she derived from her hypnosis sessions with clients placed in deep trance. While ETs seeded the planet, and developed the human race from monkeys, it is only in the last 50 years or so, that volunteer souls from other planets and spiritual dimensions have been coming to Earth to be born in human bodies, she explained. The timing of this relates to the development of nuclear weapons in the 1940s, and the aliens’ concern that humanity might destroy itself, she continued. Because the ETs have a policy of non-interference, they felt that bringing new souls, without previous karma, to Earth could bring about a positive change from within, she said.

She delineated three waves of volunteers:

First Wave– These people would be in their 40s and early 50s now, finally adjusting to life after going through turbulent early years of feeling they didn’t belong here. A number tried to commit suicide or were treated for depression.

2nd Wave– Presently in their 20s and 30s, these folk had an easier time, and have been called “channels, generators, and antennas,” and project positive energy. Many have chosen not to have children, as this creates karma, and they don’t want to have to return to Earth after this life.
3rd Wave– The New Children are coming into the world with altered DNA, so they can function in a different reality (vibrations are pushing Earth into a new dimension).

Everything has consciousness,” and people have lived previous lives vibrating at different frequencies as plants, rocks, and even air, she declared. The ETs involved in alien abductions are among the “archaic ones” who created mankind—they’re monitoring humans over health and environmental concerns, Cannon said. Their original plan was to create a perfect species who could live forever, without disease, but a meteor hit Earth bringing bacteria and illness, she noted.

She also spoke about 2012 in terms of being a dimensional shift into “the New Earth,” and touched on her work with Nostradamus. She believes she communicated across time with the great seer, who told her the future is not set in stone, but there are certain “nexus points” (an event or personality) that have to happen.

Heaven: Our Enduring Fascination With The Afterlife ~ Lisa Miller

What is heaven? Eighty percent of Americans say they believe in heaven, yet very few of them can articulate anything specific about their belief. Numerous questions surrounding the concept of heaven have existed for ages, and Americans continue to grapple with these ideas. In her new book, Heaven: Our Enduring Fascination with the Afterlife (Harper; March 23, 2010; Hardcover; $25.99), Newsweek Religion editor Lisa Miller provides a groundbreaking history of the afterlife and offers a new understanding of this cherished spiritual ideal.

Notions of what heaven is vary widely, but the desire for afterlife has remained universal across all religious traditions throughout history. In Heaven, Miller journeys back over 2000 years to explore the roots of different beliefs in heaven. Drawing on her interviews with religious leaders, academics, and everyday Americans, Miller sheds light on many of the intriguing topics that influence our perceptions of heaven, including the ideas of resurrection, prophets and visionaries, and salvation. By exploring the earliest biblical conceptions of the afterlife and ancient theologies as well as modern-day views of Jewish, Muslim, and Christian believers, Miller examines what exactly these beliefs in the afterlife are, how they have impacted one another, and how they have evolved to meet the needs of their followers – for both good and evil – throughout the ages.

In tackling the many intriguing and enduring questions about the afterlife, Heaven addresses this complex notion in an accessible and engaging manner. Miller’s enlightening work offers a definitive look at a shared religious ideal and allows Americans to reflect on how their own views of heaven compare to both traditional and popular ideas on the afterlife.

Lisa Miller
Lisa Miller, author of “Heaven: Our Enduring Fascination With The Afterlife,” is a senior editor at Newsweek. She oversees all of the magazine’s religion coverage and writes the weekly “Belief Watch column. She also is a regular contributor to the Washington Post’s “OnFaith,” an online global conversation about religion and faith

Same Soul, Many Bodies: Discover the Healing Power of Future Lives Through Progression Therapy by Brian L. Weiss, M.D.

We all have lived past lives. We all will live future ones. What we do in this life will influence our lives to come as we evolve toward immortality. Dr. Weiss encourages this important recognition because recently he has not only regressed his patients into the past, but has progressed them into the future. And what they have discovered is that our futures are variable, so the choices we make now will determine the quality of life when we return.

Among the many patients who have benefited from the therapies are:

Samantha, whose failures at school were overcome when she revisited her life as a Greek architect and later saw her future life as a great physician.

Hugh, a psychic, tortured in the Middle Ages as a heretic, whose journey to the future brought him peace.

Gary, whose glimpses into the future evaporated his depression and thoughts of suicide.

Christina’s past life and future memories enabled her to heal her relationship with her father and to finally find professional success and personal happiness.

Evelyn was able to release her fears and prejudices after reliving a past life as a Nazi officer and a future life as a teenage Arab girl.

Paul, whose love of Alison transcended past and future, transforming his current life and helping Alison to overcome a dangerous disease.

Same Soul, Many Bodies is a revolutionary book, building on Dr. Weiss’s discoveries about the past, a book that will take his millions of readers into an individual and collective future that they themselves will create. In the process, their present lives will be profoundly transformed, and they will find more peace, more joy, more healing.

“I’m thrilled to present this new Afterlife TV episode featuring Dr. Brian Weiss. Brian is the author of Many Lives, Many Masters, Through Time Into Healing, Only Love Is Real, Messages From The Masters, Same Soul, Many Bodies, and more.

In this interview, Brian Weiss talks about whether we reincarnate as animals (or animals as humans), how many lifetimes most people have experienced, if past-life regression can cause issues in addition to healing them, what to do when we experience a traumatic past-life memory, how often we regress to a lifetime that is relevant to our current issues, and Dr. Weiss’ viewpoints on ‘old souls’ and ‘soul mates.’ I had a lot of fun interviewing Brian, and I think you’ll enjoy it as much as I did.” ~

As a traditional psychotherapist, Dr. Brian Weiss was astonished and skeptical when one of his patients began recalling past-life traumas that seemed to hold the key to her recurring nightmares and anxiety attacks. His skepticism was eroded, however, when she began to channel messages from “the space between lives,” which contained remarkable revelations about Dr. Weiss’s family and his deceased son. Using past-life therapy, he was able to cure the patient and embark on a new, more meaningful phase of his own career.

A graduate of Columbia University and Yale Medical School, Brian L. Weiss M.D. is Chairman Emeritus of Psychiatry at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami. Dr. Weiss conducts national and international seminars and experiential workshops, as well as training programs for professionals.

Additional Note: You can also listen to the 12 parts of Dr. Weiss’s audio interview on the similar subject title of the Book, Same Soul, Many Bodies
Brian Weiss – Same Soul, Many Bodies 1/12

The Sacredness of the Soul By Ingrid Van Mater

Immortality is a word which stands for the stability or permanence of that unique and precious quality we discern in the soul, which, if lost, leaves nothing worth preservation in the world. — W. Macneil Dixon

“What a piece of work is man!” We are all souls on the way to recognizing and becoming the divine Self within: the magnitude of our whole nature is beyond our present comprehension, for we are to a large degree a mystery to ourselves and to one another. Human life is surrounded by mystery from the moment of conception to the wonder of death. Although seasoned travelers, having experienced countless births and deaths and rebirths on this planet, we have merely begun to scratch the surface of our complex being. We belong to the sun, moon, and stars, to the vast universe, and can embrace the immensity of it and universes beyond in our consciousness.

Earth is our home base, so to speak, our center of learning and opportunity for the soul’s expansion and awakenment, yet we should not forget that we are at home in many mansions. When we fall asleep we enter into a different awareness than our ordinary waking state, yet retain our identity, as we do after death, when the soul travels through many dimensions of experience.

With each incarnation we bear the fruits of past causes, while sowing new seeds which will find karmic harvest in this or some future life. Because as self-conscious beings we fashion our own destiny we must assume full responsibility for the quality of our thoughts and actions. We are a blend of physical, emotional, mental, psychological, and spiritual-intuitional energies, to name but a few, and the combination of negative and positive aspects of these varies with each individual.

This duality is a spur to inner growth, and through conflicts and suffering we learn discernment, gain equilibrium, patience, and fortitude, awaken compassion for others, and all the necessary qualities for our further evolution. As the seed holds the promise of the plant to be, so we have latent potentials within that hold the promise of the illumined human being we will one day become.

The words of Jesus provide a key to our spiritual destiny: “I (the Christ spirit or divinity) am the way, the truth, and the life.” Each one of us is the pathway to our divine source. There is a paradox here, because divinity permeates all but must be pursued individually; only through each one’s effort and readiness will the “way” become evident.

Central to us is our divine Self, our “Father within,” or Guardian Angel, that is with us in death as in life. It is a guiding light, a source of strength and wisdom, the Warrior that is continually prodding us to make the bigger, less personal choices. How do we become aware of it? For each one the answer may be different. Sometimes it is a feeling of peace and reassurance that steals in on one in the silence, and with it comes faith in the presence of a protective force beyond our ordinary understanding.

Knowledge of the enduring spirit and the continuity of existence brings a broader vision and sense of purpose into our lives. It reduces fear of death by letting us see the experience as following the universal pattern, a rest time of assimilation and inner fulfillment rather than a finality; it strengthens confidence in our true Self and in the realness of others rather than focusing on the personality; and replaces despair and futility with optimism and hope.

Sincere commitment to spiritual principles makes the difference between merely existing or automatically reacting to circumstances, and living with selfless motivation and inner awareness. Such is the justice of karma that we receive from every experience the quality of what we bring to it.

It is difficult to understand how one can believe that we come to an abrupt end after one life, when everything around us, in all of nature’s kingdoms, reveals the beauty of the divine urgency of life to express itself. Of what value are our struggles and triumphs, sufferings and joys, complex natures, when we are still such unfinished expressions of our true humanhood? It would be a mockery if all our efforts, all our deepest aspirations, close associations with those we love, and accomplishments, were for naught or were to come to no resolution at some future time.

Through the centuries intuitive writers have left a legacy of reflections reminding us of our spiritual heritage. The poet Wordsworth was convinced from childhood of preexistence and of the immortality of the soul, and felt impelled to preface his “Ode on Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood” with these observations:

Nothing was more difficult for me in childhood than to admit the notion of death as a state applicable to my own being. . . .

. . . But it was not so much from feelings of animal vivacity that my difficulty came as from a sense of the indomitableness of the Spirit within me. . . . I was often unable to think of external things as having external existence, and I communed with all that I saw as something not apart from, but inherent in, my own immaterial nature. . . .

All too soon, a child’s hopes and dreams, spontaneous joy and imagination, “fade into the light of common day,” buried within the confining walls of doubt and fixed mental patterns that often come with maturing years. Sometimes, however, as in the case of Wordsworth, great artists and thinkers through the ages, and others who retain glimmerings of their youthful reveries, those shadowy recollections are “master light of all our seeing, . . . which nothing can utterly abolish or destroy.”

There is no question but that the childhood state, close to the heart of life, is an important phase of human experience and, when rightly nurtured, leads to richer insights and greater freedom of thought in the adult years. It also reveals more transparently our spiritual orientation as human beings, as well as giving obvious indication of the contradictory elements in us that seek to gain the upper hand.

At the other end of the scale the elderly who have given of themselves to worthwhile endeavors, reflect their inner light as the body grows frail and the mind is enjoying the distilled essence of experience while gradually withdrawing from inconsequential things. Birth and death, coming at the beginning and ending of a life’s sojourn, are transitions between worlds which evoke feelings of the sacredness of the soul and intimations of invisible influences that shape our lives.

The path of self-discovery is at best a rough road, different for each of us. Yet as we become more aware of our multi-leveled nature and its conflicting elements, we begin to discriminate between negative desires and thoughts on a purely emotional level and the more unselfish ones, between the personality and the individuality, between the physical senses and the more penetrating perceptions of the higher mind and intuition, and the wisdom of the heart.

Victor Hugo’s lovely verse appeals to the eternal hope in each of us:

Be as the bird that in its flight
Lighteth on bough too slight,
Feels it give way beneath it,
Yet sings, knowing it hath wings.

In liberating our mind and emotions, the soul, like a bird released from its cage, is free to wing its way into the regions of the real Self, and beyond.

(From Sunrise magazine, April/May 1990. Copyright © 1990 by Theosophical University Press.)

When we violate the laws of nature then we suffer ~ Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Transcript of Satsang with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.

Q: What is the significance of Arghya (offering water to the sun)?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Water is symbol of love. In fact, in Sanskrit, it is synonymous to love. ‘Apa’ means water and it also means love. That is why, someone very close to you, what do you call them? Apta – means very dear. Apa and Apta are very close. So, giving water is not important, feeling the connection with the sun is important.

What people used to do was they used to hold water in their hands and let the water leak out of the hand slowly, and for that much time they used to do sun gazing. You look at the sun, gaze and allow the water to seep down. So you need to know timings – It will take a couple of minutes, maybe two or three minutes for the water to leak out. Till that time, you gaze at the sun and let the water leak out and you will see that your body gets energized. That was the technique behind it. Not just giving water to the sun like that, it will not work.

Q: Guruji, you had said that this universe was created by the union of Prakriti (nature) and Paramatma (Supreme Being/God). So going back to the Paramatma, who is Poorna Anand (supreme and absolute bliss) how did this sankalpa (thought/intention) arise in Him?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes, it is there in the Upanishads that earlier there was only Paramatma and He felt that He was alone, and He wanted to become many, so He became many. The intention happened on its own ‘ekoham bahusyama’. Sankalpa is not a deviation. It is not considered as a deviation. When a seeker (sadhak) transcends from the small mind to the Big Mind, then he considers sankalpa as a hindrance. But from the point of view of the Big Mind, it is a step to go further. So if you think why did sankalpa arise in the Paramatma, He should remain unwavering (nirvikalpa) – this is not so. Sankalpa is also Paramatma, nirvikalpa is also Him and vikalpa is also Him. Like in an ocean, waves arise on their own, in Paramatma, a thought arose to become many, so He became many. Different types of nature, different types of people and different types of intelligence were created.

Day before yesterday, I was watching a National Geographic documentary on the creation of Earth. It said that about 400 billion years ago, there was only gas. Gas started spinning and fire erupted. Then from fire, water arose and then the Earth was formed. I suddenly realized, ‘Oh this has been said in the Vedas! What new have they said?

In our Vedic knowledge, it is said in the form of shloka – In the space, first there was air, from the air fire arose, from fire water, and from water earth was created. The idea behind giving water to fire is that we go back to ourselves. From water to fire, fire to air and then, we do pranayama after giving arghya to the sun – we go to the air element. From the air we go to the space and then sit in meditation. All these are different types of stories; examining them more deeply reveals something new.

Q: It is said that we should not keep the photographs of our deceased parents along with the pictures of the gods and goddesses whom we worship. Some people also say that we should not even hang the photographs of deceased parents on the walls of our home. Is it true?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: No, there is no problem with it. You can keep the photographs of your departed parents along with the pictures of god, it is fine. If it is a sanyasi, even his picture can be placed with that of God, even when he is alive. If he is leading a grihastha (married) life, then we do not keep his photograph, such is the practice.

Q: Guruji, please explain the reason for suffering?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Okay, suppose I tell you, you should eat five masala dosa tonight, what will happen to you? Suppose you are force fed five masala dosa or 20 pooris, what will happen to you? First of all, you will suffer. Tonight you cannot sleep, right? It will create headache, stomach ache and then all types of aches.

Firstly, when we violate the laws of nature, then we suffer. Second, ignorance – if you don’t know what you are eating and you eat some wrong things, then also you will suffer, right? Third is, if you have violated some laws at some time in the past, in the previous life, that also can bring some karma. So karmaja, agyanaja, and pragyaparadh; three things bring suffering. How to remove the ignorance? Through knowledge and understanding; Asking questions like you are doing.

Q: How to forgive truly?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Truly? Is there any false forgiveness?
I don’t know false forgiveness. I know only true forgiveness. Forgive means forgive, that’s it. Gone is gone, people did mistakes, finished. Move on.

You know why something comes back is because of your attachment to some pleasure. That is not the other’s mistake. Suppose you had some pleasure, someone had given you some pleasure, and then they have cheated you or they did a mistake, you can forgive that mistake, but what comes back is your craving for pleasure. When you see that it is just an illusion, you become more centered.

Q: What is special in 2012?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You know for us every day is special, every year is special. According to the Hindu calendar, the next year is called ‘nanda’. ‘Nanda’ means happiness. The year of ‘Ananda’.

The past year which ends on March 23rd, is called ‘khara’. ‘Khara’ means for sure, certainty. Before that, it was the year of uncertainty and this year is of certainty, surety. Next year is happiness.

Q: Does the soul experience happiness and sorrow, or the mind experiences it?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Only the mind experiences. All the experiences are of the mind. The experience of the soul is also at the level of the mind. When the mind is calm, then the soul is experienced. The soul is an embodiment of joy. Mind experiences sorrow. When the mind dissolves, then joy is experienced.

Q: Where is the boundary for the mind and soul? Until where is the mind, from where does the soul start?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Like there are waves and the ocean. Just as there are waves in the ocean, mind is in the soul. So the mind is not a different entity. It is the wave of the ocean. It comes up a little bit and then calms down, again comes up and then calms down.

Q: Guruji, why do some people have to suffer throughout their life? Some people are born in slum areas and keep suffering, whereas some are born in good homes and lead a comfortable, happy life? I want to know. I see others, as well as myself, suffering.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Are you suffering? Tell me if it is your suffering or others’ suffering. Ans – I am suffering too. You too? But you are smiling! Looking at your face, it doesn’t seem that you are in great suffering! Only this is needed! When you are doing sadhana, don’t you see a smile on your face? You smile in difficult times also, that is life.
Every difficulty comes to go away. It goes as soon as it comes. No problem stays forever. It comes and goes.

Q: Guruji, is there rebirth?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Absolutely!

Q: Guruji, what should I do to become your favorite disciple?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Just keep doing whatever you are doing, you are already my favorite! Do seva, sadhana, keep coming to satsang, become a teacher. Do good to others.
My disciple itself means my favorite. There is nothing like favorite disciple and non-favorite disciple, okay?

Karma and Reincarnation – Vedantic Society of S. California

Human suffering is one of religion’s most compelling mysteries: Why do the innocent suffer? Why does God permit evil? Is God helpless to act or does he choose not to? And if He chooses not to act, does that mean he is cruel? Or merely indifferent?

Vedanta takes the problem out of God’s court and places it firmly in our own. We can blame neither God nor a devil. Nothing happens to us by the whim of some outside agency: we ourselves are responsible for what life brings us; all of us are reaping the results of our own previous actions in this life or in previous lives. To understand this better we first need to understand the law of karma.

The word “karma” comes from the Sanskrit verb kri, to do. Although karma means action, it also means the result of action. Whatever acts we have performed and whatever thoughts we have thought have created an impression, both in our minds and in the universe around us. The universe gives back to us what we have given to it: “As ye sow, so shall ye reap” as Christ said. Good actions and thoughts create good effects, bad ones create bad effects.

Mental Imprints
Whenever we perform any action and whenever we think any thought, an imprint—a kind of subtle groove—is made upon the mind. These imprints or grooves are known as samskaras. Sometimes we are conscious of the imprinting process; just as often we are not. When actions and thoughts are repeated, the grooves become deeper. The combination of “grooves”— samskaras—creates our individual characters and also strongly influences our subsequent thoughts and actions. If we anger easily, for example, we create an angry mind that is predisposed to react with anger rather than with patience or understanding. As water when directed into a narrow canal gains force, so the grooves in the mind create canals of behavior patterns which become extraordinarily difficult to resist or reverse. Changing an ingrained mental habit literally becomes an uphill battle.

If our thoughts are predominantly those of kindness, love, and compassion, our character reflects it, and these very thoughts will be returned to us sooner or later. If we send out thoughts of hatred, anger, or pettiness, those thoughts will also be returned to us.

Our thoughts and actions aren’t so much arrows as boomerangs—eventually they find their way back home. The effects of karma may come instantly, later in life, or in another life altogether; what is absolutely certain, however, is that they will appear at some time or other. Until liberation is achieved, we live and we die within the confines of the law of karma, the chain of cause and effect.

Reincarnation
What happens at death if we haven’t attained liberation?

When a person dies, the only “death” is that of the physical body. The mind, which contains a person’s mental impressions, continues after the body’s death. When the person is reborn, the “birth” is of a new physical body accompanied by the old mind with the impressions or “grooves” from previous lives. When the environment becomes conducive, these samskaras again reassert themselves in the new life.

Thankfully, this process doesn’t go on eternally. When we attain God-realization or Self-realization, the law of karma is transcended, the Self gives up its identification with the body and mind, and regains its native freedom, perfection and bliss.

An Absurd Universe?
When we take a hard look around us, the world doesn’t seem to make much sense. If we go by appearances, it would seem that countless people have escaped the noose of fate: many an evil person has died peacefully in bed. Worse, good and noble people have suffered without apparent cause, their goodness being repaid by hatred and torture. Witness the Holocaust; witness child abuse.

If we look only on the surface, the universe appears absurd at best, malevolent at worst. But that’s because we’re not looking deeply; we’re only viewing this lifetime, seeing neither the lives that precede this one nor the lives that may follow. When we see a calamity or a triumph, we’re seeing only one freeze frame of a very, very long movie. We can see neither the beginning nor the end of the movie. What we do know, however, is that everyone, no matter how depraved, will eventually, through the course of many lifetimes and undoubtedly through much suffering, come to realize his or her own divine nature. That is the inevitable happy ending of the movie.

Karma=Fatalism?
Doesn’t the law of karma make Vedanta a cold and fatalistic philosophy?

Not in the slightest.

Vedanta is both personally empowering and deeply compassionate. First, if we have created—through our own thoughts and actions—the life that we are leading today, we also have the power to create the life that we will live tomorrow. Whether we like it or not, whether we want to take responsibility or not, that’s what we are doing every step of the way. Vedanta doesn’t allow us to assign blame elsewhere: every thought and action builds our future experience.

Doesn’t the law of karma then imply that we can be indifferent to our fellow beings because, after all, they’re only getting what they deserve?

Absolutely not. If a person’s karma is such that he or she is suffering, we have an opportunity to alleviate that suffering in whatever way we can: doing so would be good karma. We need not be unduly heroic, but we can always offer a helping hand or at least a kind word. If we choose not to do whatever is in our limited power to alleviate the pain of those around us, we’re chalking up bad karma for ourselves. In fact, we’re really hurting ourselves.

Oneness is the law of the universe, and that truth is the real root of all acts of love and compassion. The Atman, my true Self, is the same Spirit that dwells in all; there cannot be two Atmans. Consciousness cannot be divided; it’s all-pervasive. My Atman and your Atman cannot be different. For that reason Vedanta says: Love your neighbor as yourself because your neighbor IS yourself.

Dalai Lama Reincarnation: Tibetan Spiritual Leader Says He Will Spell Out Own Details

Exiled Tibetan spiritual leader The Dalai Lama gestures as he delivers a speech during a Tibetan religious conference in Dharamshala on September 23, 2011. Tibet’s spiritual leader the Dalai Lama said September 23 he was in ‘no hurry’ to decide how his reincarnation might be chosen, but stressed the final word lay with him, not China. (STRDEL/AFP/Getty Images)

DHARMSALA, India — The Dalai Lama said Saturday if he is to be reincarnated he will leave clear written instructions about the process, but that the matter is unlikely to come up for a number of years.

The Tibetan spiritual leader said in a statement that when he is “about 90″ he will consult Buddhist scholars to evaluate whether the institution of the Dalai Lama should continue at all. He is 76.

The statement came after a meeting between the Dalai Lama and the leaders of the four Tibetan Buddhist sects, the first since he transferred his political role earlier this year to an elected prime minister.

China reviles the Dalai Lama as a separatist, although the Nobel Peace Prize laureate insists he is only seeking increased autonomy for Tibet. Beijing has left little doubt that it intends to be deeply involved in choosing the next Dalai Lama. That concern has led the current Dalai Lama to contemplate ideas that break with the ancient system in which each dead Dalai Lama is reincarnated in the body of a male child.

In May, the Dalai Lama formally stepped down as head of the Tibetan government-in-exile, giving up the political power that he and his predecessors have wielded over Tibetans for hundreds of years. Though he remains the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, his decision to abdicate is one of the biggest upheavals in the community since a Chinese crackdown led him to flee Tibet in 1959 into exile in India.

China insists that religious law requires that the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation be born in a Tibetan area under Chinese control. However, the Dalai Lama has said his successor will be born in exile and has even floated the idea of choosing his own successor while still alive – perhaps even a woman.

In his statement Saturday, he said if the institution of the Dalai Lama were to continue, then he would leave behind “clear written instructions about it.”

“Bear in mind that, apart from the reincarnation recognized through such legitimate methods, no recognition or acceptance should be given to a candidate chosen for political ends by anyone, including those in the People’s Republic of China,” he said.

The Dalai Lama has lived in the Indian hill town of Dharmsala since fleeing Tibet. China says Tibet has always been part of its territory, but many Tibetans say the region was virtually independent for centuries.

Eckhart on Karma

Q: You talk about Presence and Being as the keys to enjoying form, and creating positive circumstances, or softening circumstances. How does karma fit into all of that?

ET: Everybody is born into a certain external environment. Also, everyone is born with certain predispositions – they may be partly genetic, they may be other things. A person is born with certain patterns, in other words. We don’t need to examine where they come from, but the fact is that a human being is born into a certain environment. It may be violent, or it may be relatively peaceful. A person is born with inner patterns that you inherit. Even painbody is partly inherited.

There’s a whole set of conditioning that happens when you come into an environment. The environment conditions you further, and there’s no choice involved – it’s just influences. You find yourself in this world with certain unconscious patterns that have become the conditioning of who the person is. Karma, as I see it, is the unconscious conditioning that runs your life. Karma is partly collective, and partly personal. You can only understand karma not as an abstract subject external to yourself, you can only understand it by observing yourself, and then you know many other things. If you want to understand karma, you need to look at yourself.

I began to understand what karma is when something arose that was not part of karma at all. Here is the key – the arising of consciousness, or Presence, or spiritual awakening, is not part of karma. It is another dimension that breaks into the karmic realm. You do not become awakened by accumulating, as they sometimes say in the East, “good karma”. That’s fine on this level, you can make the walls or furniture in your prison a little more comfortable, but there’s something totally from beyond karma, that can come into your life at any point.

Re-birth is of course part of karma. The deeper meaning of re-birth is identification with form. We don’t need to even believe in transmigration, or whatever, you can look at re-birth in your own life. Every time you identify with a thought that arises, which is form, you are born into that thought. Your identity, your sense of self is in it. That’s karma. Your karma is the unconscious identification with these patterns that you have inherited – the conditioned. It is complete identification of consciousness with the conditioned patterns. Consciousness is dreaming, one could say. That is why we use the word “awakening” in many spiritual traditions. Consciousness is awakening, consciousness is in a dream-like state, when you are identified with the unconscious patterns. Many times a day, you are re-born into an emotional or mental reaction, into thoughts that arise.

Karma creates, in the external, confirmation that it is correct. So if you think the world is full of evil people, you will meet many evil people – in other words, unconscious people. Even people who are halfway between being conscious and unconscious, your belief will pull them into unconsciousness. Karma is the complete absence of conscious Presence. It is automatic. It plays itself out.

Time does not free you of karma. That is a misperception, that if you only spend enough time, eventually you can become free of karma. Karma renews itself and repeats itself. The only thing that can free you of karma is the arising of Presence. At any point in the wheel of karma, Presence can come in. It can happen to a criminal in prison, condemned to death. It can happen to somebody who’s never heard of anything spiritual. It can happen to somebody who’s been meditating for thirty years.

Presence frees you from karma. Not all at once. Karma has an enormous momentum. The thought patterns, the emotional patterns, the reactive patterns. As Presence arises, gradually karma diminishes and you will experience a fading out of those patterns. Not that it matters that much anymore, because once you are present, those thought patterns may still arise, but it is no longer problematic. They no longer cause the suffering that they would have caused before, because they are seen in the light of awareness. In the light of awareness, the patterns no longer dominate your life.

Painbody is part of karma, which may be strong in some and not so in others. As Presence arises, you are freed from karma. Then you have another completely different factor coming into your life. For example, for a person to become free of collective karma, you need a considerable amount of Presence for that to come in. It then will remove you, either internally or you may find yourself somewhere else.

For a person who is born into vast collective karma, it requires considerable Presence for one not to be drawn into that. When Hitler came into power, not many people were able to remove themselves. Some were, and they left. They could see what was happening and they were strong enough not to be identified with the collective. To take yourself out of that collective karma requires considerable Presence – and some people had it. It is our destiny, then, to go beyond karma by being the receptacles for Presence.

Everyone who is awakening will find that sooner or later that they become a kind of teacher to others. What a spiritual teacher does is point out the possibility of awakening out of identification with unconscious patterns. The spiritual teacher teaches you to go beyond karma. That is your function, and will become increasingly so, whether you become a formal teacher, or an informal teacher.

Spiritual awakening and stepping out of karma are the same thing. Many people will be drawn to you. Anybody who is going through the awakening process is already a teacher. Teaching means you find yourself listening from spaciousness, when somebody speaks or asks a question, or tells you about their problems. You may find that the answer comes out from that Stillness in which you listen. You don’t have a sense that “I’m going to teach this person now”. You will find that teaching is spontaneous. You will help people to step out of identification with unconsciousness, which means going beyond karma. This applies to everybody who is awakening.

As you teach, Consciousness is becoming aligned with your mind. Your mind is able to tune in to the deeper Consciousness and can be used as an instrument. Then the words come out of your mouth. There is ultimately really only one teacher, the awakened Consciousness is the teacher. It can only teach those in whom there is a degree of readiness. The teaching needs to be received. If there is only a density of mind, the teaching won’t happen.

You will be amazed when people are drawn to you – people who are ready – and you find yourself saying something that you didn’t even know yourself. It’s only when the question was asked, that the Consciousness responded. As you teach, you learn. Realizations come. Teaching and learning is the same process. A deepening happens, as you teach. You are here to help people go beyond karma.

The important thing to know is that time does not free you of karma. The egoic mind says “I need more time to become free”. The only thing that people may need more time for is that they need time to realize that they do not need time”. It may be another twenty years of suffering for them to realize that they do not need time. They may need to suffer a bit more before they realize the power of the timeless. The timeless is of course the end of karma.

KARMA AND REINCARNATION Unlocking Your 800 Lives to Enlightenment By Barbara Y. Martin and Dimitri Moraitis

Many of us use the word “karma”. We may accept our misfortunes as karmic retribution for past mistakes, or welcome small blessings as a reward for our previous kindness. Yet, do we really understand what karma means? Do we know where it comes from and how it can manifest itself in our lives?

Barbara Y. Martin and Dimitri Moraitis explain everything we need to know in their accessible new book, Karma and Reincarnation: Unlocking Your 800 Lives to Enlightenment. An internationally respected clairvoyant and metaphysical teacher, Martin was one of the first mainstream lecturers on the aura and human energy field. Along with co-author Moraitis, she founded the Spiritual Arts Institute in Los Angeles and instructs thousands on spiritual energy.

In this practical guide, the authors….

*Outline the mechanics of the reincarnation cycle

*Clarify the implications our past lives can have on our current life

*Empower us to pinpoint and resolve karmic conflicts

*Help us identify our karmic purpose and act on our spiritual goals

*Share transformative meditations and strengthening prayers

*Explain what happens on the other side, based on clairvoyant observations

Comprehensive in scope, Karma and Reincarnation covers all facets of our lives and our world, from how karma affects our relationships, careers, and physical health to karma’s power over entire nations.

To illuminate their teachings, Martin and Moraitis incorporate reincarnation stories from their many students as well as examples of prominent historical figures. Highly readable and informative, this definitive volume answers countless karmic questions for readers from all spiritual traditions.

Q&A with authors of Karma and Reincarnation

Many of us use the word “karma”. We may accept our misfortunes as karmic retribution for past mistakes, or welcome small blessings as a reward for our previous kindness. Yet, do we really understand what karma means? Do we know where it comes from and how it can manifest itself in our lives? Barbara Y. Martin and Dimitri Moraitis explain everything we need to know in their accessible book, Karma and Reincarnation: Unlocking Your 800 Lives to Enlightenment. They discuss the book in this Q&A…

Many people throw the word karma around without truly understanding what it means. What do you think our biggest misconceptions are about karma?

Not understanding how it works. Many people don’t realize the full scope of our past lives. They think that karma is a form of reward or punishment. Karma is a harmonizing law. The goal is to bring life back into balance and harmony. When you initiate a destructive action you disturb that natural harmony. Karma is the retuning process which can be painful at times. A constructive action accentuates the natural law of harmony creating more beauty in your life.

The other misconception is thinking everything that happens in life is karma. Karma is certainly a big part of our life but not everything that happens is karmic. There are other dynamics such as free will that come into the picture.

Karma and Reincarnation is a complete guide. What can readers learn here that has been absent from other books on the subject?

There has not really been an accurate depiction of the reincarnation process based on actual clairvoyant experience. All the material in this book is based on personal observations and interactions over a lifetime of study.

It is our hope the reader comes to understand the central part karma and reincarnation plays in the process of spiritual evolution. The soul takes approximately 800 lifetimes to reach maturity. In that time, we experience the joys and sorrows, the triumphs and tragedies of earth life. This builds character, making us rich and well-rounded. In addition, the book attempts to cover the board range of karma from personal to national and
even world karma.

You discuss how karma can impact entire nations. Does America have good karma?

It presently has both good and bad karma. The inception of America was built as a result of very good world karma. America is meant to be an example as to the potential that all countries have in the evolution of civilization. The global age is inevitable as humanity is growing and slowly, yet still painfully at times, heading into a more cooperative age. America has been at the forefront of this through its principles of liberty, equality and fairness.

Unfortunately, there have been times when America has taken advantage of its privileged position, and this creates negative karma. The recent economic crisis, although global in nature, definitely bears the mark of national karma. The actions we are taking now will determine whether we, as a nation, have learned the karmic lessons that these economic challenges have presented to us.

In Chapter 9, you analyze the karma of nature. What are the karmic implications of our current relationship with nature?

Nature is not there to use as we please. As with any relationship, there is give and take. Nature gives of its bounty to serve humanity and in return humanity is meant to help nature in its spiritual evolution. For example, how we treat animals is essential. When we show love and care to animals we help them in their own evolution. When we help animals, we are also helping ourselves to evolve. It’s our responsibility to treat them well. When we mistreat animals, we lose spiritual power and may find ourselves being mistreated in some way, not by animals, but by situations as a way to open our hearts.

Barbara, you’ve been to the other side and can recall your previous lives. What have you learned from those experiences? How have they informed the book?

The privilege of being taken consciously to the other side can only be described as sacred and holy. We are all familiar with the other side, but most of us do not bring back conscious memory. I have developed this skill over many years and it is always done as part of my own spiritual growth or in service to others, never just for the sake of curiosity. You realize there is so much more to life that you thought. You are never alone and there is a tremendous spiritual support system working with you at all times.

It is incredible to realize you have lived before and will live again. There is always wonder that such a thing is possible. Knowledge of past lives has given me much greater respect for life and for my own actions. You do not need to remember your past lives to progress, but you do need to make the most of your time here on earth.

What do you hope readers take away from Karma and Reincarnation?

To realize that karma and reincarnation is real. Too many people are not resolving their karmic challenges because they don’t realize what is going on. When you have the opportunity to resolve your karma but you turn away or react negatively, it gets tougher. So why wait? By working on your karma now, you progress faster and the karma is easier to handle. It is the hope that the reader will learn how to better use the gift of free will to make better choices that are in harmony with their divine purpose.

Miracle of Being and Becoming By Grace F. Knoche

Mountains Reflected in a dragonfly’s eye. — Issa (1762-1826)

This exquisite Haiku brought to mind the striking words of a Japanese sage that “the very mountains can become Buddha.” If mountains have a buddha-nature, then the host of lives that compose a mountain — boulders, waterfalls, trees, shrubbery, grasses, lichen, and the thousand and one creatures that aerate its soil — must each have a buddha-nature which, in the course of ages, could become Buddha. And the dragonfly? Surely its metamorphosis from larva to the lovely winged thing that swoops low across meadows and ponds is an epitome of being and becoming.

What is the impelling force behind the process of becoming? This is a large theme, and elicited from contributors to our 1995 Special Issue on “Evolution: Miracle of Being and Becoming” a number of articles bearing directly and indirectly on this absorbing topic, each open-ended so as to leave our readers free to weave the varying strands of thought into a harmonious whole by the light of their own intuitive wisdom. Abandoning an either-or approach, they have sought viewpoints which embrace neither the stance of creationists nor that of materialistic evolutionists. The questions are as challenging today as they were 150 or more years ago: Did man ascend gradually from the monkeys to the apes, with mind, spirit, and consciousness as by-products of a series of chance mutations? Or is each of us the handiwork of a Supreme Being, a Personal God who continues today as since the Garden of Eden to create a new soul for every human being born on earth, so that there is no evolutionary history behind each individual soul? Are there other alternatives?

Addressing the scientific view, the article reviewing The Hidden History of the Human Race should be read by the evolutionist only if he seek truth uncluttered by prejudice, while microbiologist Catherine Roberts challenges the California State Board of Education to “recognize the inseparable link that exists between biological considerations and spiritual questions of ultimate cause and purpose.” The theory of “an inherent evolutionary impulse” rings truer today than when Alfred Russel Wallace first proposed it in 1858; a few avant-garde scientists are searching out “the hidden face of consciousness as the motivator” behind all evolution and beginning to perceive our earth as a living, sentient being, whose rhythmic processes move in harmony with solar and galactic cycles.

Along religious lines, the story of Adam and Eve and the Serpent receives fresh and appealing interpretation; instead of blaming Eve, Adam, or the Serpent, the Garden of Eden episode becomes a triumph of self-awakening. Other traditions view this event in terms of higher beings than ourselves lighting the fires of mind in early humans, and depict human sexuality in an evolutionary context where the methods of reproducing our kind have varied from “ethereal nonsexual beings, to more material androgynous ones, to today’s sexual mankind,” with a probable return over millions of years to androgynous and nonsexual forms of human reproduction.

What keys are offered to elevate the human race, a part of our nature still animal-like, another part portraying traits and qualities of soul and spirit that might outshine the angels? “Know Thyself!” said the Oracle at Delphi. Did we have knowledge of ourselves, we would glimpse in broad strokes not only our beginnings when divine beings imparted to us the elements of harmonious and creative living, but also something of our wondrous future as co-workers with the gods. The times are demanding that we view ourselves and every portion of the cosmos from within out. Regardless of outer form, we and every entity, micro and macro, are essentially beings of light, “sparks of eternity,” imbodying on earth as part of an aeons-long journey of self-discovery.

All the articles in this issue, while delineating different approaches to the Evolution theme, have as their basic motif the ultimate attainment of full self-awareness and godhood. Consciousness — whether we call it life, divinity, mind-stuff, or whatever — is viewed as “the ground of all being,” composing a chain of “interrelated consciousness-centered beings,” which undergo the full range of possible evolutionary experiences before ultimately returning home “to unconditioned be-ness consciousness.” Underlying all is the “irresistible urge” within its heart that propels every entity to find its “spiritual identity with the divine Self of the universe.” As the dynamic cause of evolution, consciousness undergoes a “constant ebb and flow of various activities of life, cosmic to human,” with destruction and regeneration of form being vital to progress and the means of releasing our spirit-soul to higher realms. Of great import is our need for “role models with a unified vision, a worldview that allows us to . . . sense the fundamental inner unity of all life.”

In truth, could we perceive the full death-and-birth cycle of every atom in nature we would see enacted before our inner eye the awesome miracle of divinity infusing and suffusing every portion of the universe. All is in motion, urged ever forward and onward by an impelling force that keeps every being, from protozoon to human, seeking to better itself and its environment, as it strives toward humanhood on its way eventually to imbody in full awareness the light, power, and energy of godhood.

(From Sunrise magazine, April/May 1995; copyright © 1995 Theosophical University Press)

Grace F. Knoche

Grace F. Knoche was born in 1909 at the theosophical headquarters, then at Point Loma, California, and attended the Raja-Yoga School and Academy founded by Katherine Tingley. She joined the TS in 1929 shortly before Mrs. Tingley left on her last tour to Europe. Under G. de Purucker as Leader, she worked at the headquarters as a compositor in the Press, in the Secretary General’s office, and on the Leader’s secretarial staff. She assisted Dr. de Purucker in revising the Encyclopedic Glossary, and was on the committees responsible for reorganizing his Esoteric School materials, later published as The Dialogues of G. de Purucker (1948) and Fountain-Source of Occultism (1974). She continued her studies at Theosophical University, receiving a Ph.D. in 1944. At various times from 1933 to 1946 she taught violin, Greek, Sanskrit, Hebrew, Bible translation, and Qabbalah at Theosophical University, and painting and sculpture at the Lomaland school.

During the Cabinet administration after Purucker’s death in 1942, Grace served as private secretary to the Chairman of the Cabinet, continuing as private secretary to the next two Leaders, Colonel Arthur Conger and James A. Long. She worked closely with James A. Long on his new magazine, Sunrise, begun in 1951.

On Mr. Long’s death in 1971, Grace assumed leadership of the TS and became editor of Sunrise. For almost 35 years she encouraged the membership to assume responsibility for directing the course of their lives along universal principles, stressing that the same compassionate life currents that build and shape the evolution of the cosmos also inform the patterns of everyday experience. Always a collaborator at heart, Grace worked to establish a spirit of cooperation among the various theosophical organizations. She died in Altadena, California, on February 18, 2006, at the age of 97.
Books by Grace F. Knoche published by Theosophical University Press:

The Mystery Schools (Full-text online)
To Light a Thousand Lamps (Full-text online)
Theosophy in the Qabbalah (Full-text online in PDF format)