Posts Tagged ‘Mahatma Gandhi’

Dealing With Death and Dying
~ Ron’s Memoirs

“In order to know through experience what happens beyond death,
you must go deep within yourself.
In meditation, the truth will come to you.”
~ Shri Dhyanyogi Madhusudandas
“As we lose our fear of leaving life,
we gain the art of living life.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“Face death to live life.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“Death is a vacation –
Eternal Life-force vacating a transient vehicle –
“a space-time soul suit”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“It is in dying to ego life,
that we are reborn to Eternal Life.”
~ Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi (edited by Ron Rattner)


Whats-Really-Real

Ron’s Introduction to Dealing With Death and Dying

Physical death is inevitable and natural. But when I grew up it was largely a taboo subject in American society. Most Americans feared death, believing it ended life. They usually died in hospitals or other institutions, and not at home surrounded by family. And mostly they used euphemistic language to describe death.

Though the mystery of inevitable bodily death has long been a central religious and philosophical issue, my Chicago public school and Madison Wisconsin college courses, did not encompass that mystery – nor did my Jewish education.

Both my grandmothers had died before I was born. My paternal grandfather who I hardly knew died while I was quite young and I was not brought to his funeral. Not until later adulthood did I suffer loss of any other dear person or pet, or think much about death.

Until my mid-life spiritual awakening, I self-identified only with my mortal body, its thoughts and its story, and I assumed that death of the physical body ended life. So I had no knowledge, opinion or belief concerning reincarnation or afterlife in ‘heaven’ or ‘hell’, or of an immortal “soul”.

During college days in Madison, Wisconsin, while imprudently and unskillfully swimming too far from shore in Lake Mendota, I nearly drowned and unforgettably experienced a mostly subconscious fear of death. Fortuitously, in the nick of time, I was sighted and rescued by boaters.

For many years thereafter, as a (non-swimming) relatively young and healthy person, I neither consciously confronted nor philosophically considered that innate fear of death.

Then in my early forties, I had transformative experiences of spiritual self-identity and afterlife: I realized that I was not merely my body, its thoughts and story, but eternal and universal awareness. And I began seeing visions of apparent past lives, and inner and outer appearances of deceased people, including my maternal grandfather and Mahatma Gandhi, my first perceived inner spiritual guide.

So, I began accepting perennial Eastern ideas of reincarnation and transmigration of an eternal soul, while gradually losing fear of inevitable physical death. Then, on meeting my beloved Guru, Shri Dhyanyogi Madhusudandas (on the luckiest day of my life), I learned that from childhood he had been preoccupied with two perennial puzzles: “Who am I?” and “What is death?”; that at age thirteen, inspired by irresistible inner longing, Guruji had run away from home in search of experiential answers to those eternal questions.

Inspired by Guruji, I became religiously transformed from

“Secular Hebrew” to “Born-again Hindu” to “Uncertain Undo” and “Beyond”.

And I developed a deep curiosity and philosophical interest in the spiritual significance of death and dying, reincarnation, and karma.

Elsewhere, on SillySutras.com I have shared many experiences, essays and poems on these subjects. (See, for example, https://sillysutras.com/category/afterlife/; also https://sillysutras.com/death-afterlife-rebirth-easter-reflections-on-resurrections/)

Ultimately I concluded that cosmically there is no death; that

“Birth and death are virtual, while Divine Life as LOVE is perpetual”.

(See e.g. https://sillysutras.com/know-death-to-know-life-know-death-to-know-that-there-is-no-death/ )

Consequently, I became ever more detached and less fearful about my own inevitable (and perhaps imminent) bodily death. But, my detachment about my own demise did not negate my compassionate concern for loss of others – especially dear ones – and my wish for their auspicious transitions. This became evident when at age sixty-one I was, at long last, confronted with my dear father’s last illness and passing.

Here is what happened.

Dealing with my dear father’s last illness and death

My dear father, Harry, came into this world on December 14, 1904, with a very strong body which served him well and without serious disease or disability until age 88. Then beginning in 1993 he had a series of ailments which proved terminal.

First he suffered an extremely painful and protracted case of herpes shingles for which he was treated with Prednisone, a powerful immune system depressant, which weakened him. Soon after recovering from that affliction, while already debilitated he had an intestinal hernia injury, so painful that he was hospitalized and suffered greatly before and after emergency abdominal surgery. Then he soon developed congestive heart disease with lungs filling with liquid and mucus. And finally he was diagnosed with lung cancer – a terminal disease which he had averted despite being a three pack a day cigarette chain smoker from teen age until age sixty. Amazingly, he had will power to immediately quit smoking cigarettes on publication of the 1964 US Surgeon General’s report confirming cigarette carcinogenicity and toxicity.

My Dad had enthusiastically enjoyed his long life, especially after his retirement and move from Chicago to the California Bay Area, near his children. But he was not anxious to prolong that life while he suffered painful terminal disease. Once, when I visited him in the John Muir Hospital, sadly he confided in me: “Ron, they put dogs and cats out of misery, but make people suffer. If Doctor Kevorkian was in this area and not Michigan, he’d be my doctor.”

Though, as a law-abiding “born-again Hindu” I had mixed emotions about euthanasia, I felt great compassion for my father and wanted to do whatever would be spiritually appropriate to mitigate his suffering and assure his most auspicious possible transition. So, I consulted my Brahmin Vedic pundit-astrologer friend Pravin Jani, father of Guruji’s successor, Shri Anandi Ma.

Pravinji recommended that I recite certain Sanskrit mantras and that I make two extraordinary charitable donations dedicated to my father: first, that I give to a chosen charity a gift of actual gold – not money; and second, that I purchase and give a holy cow to an Indian ashram. So, with heartfelt compassion for my father, I began reciting the mantras and arranged the unusual donations in his honor.

First, I donated rare American eagle gold coins to New Dimensions Foundation, where I was a Board member. Then, through arrangements by my daughter Jessica who was then living on Ammachi’s Kerala ashram, I acquired and donated to the ashram a holy cow, where it was gratefully received.

“Why” you may ask “was it considered propitious to donate a cow to an Indian ashram?” Because in India cows were revered as sacred animals by millions of Hindus. Hindus believed that their Divine Avatar Krishna incarnated 5,000 years ago as an enchanting cowherd. He is often described as Bala-Gopala, “the child who protects the cows.” and as Govinda, “one who brings satisfaction to the cows.”

I learned about holy cows during my 1982 sacred pilgrimage to India. One of my most memorable images of that trip, was of stray cows roaming free and obstructing traffic on busy Calcutta streets as our tour bus approached the downtown hotel where we were staying. Later, in the holy city of Rishikesh, I communed with and kissed one of the sacred small cows on the Sivananda, Divine Life Ashram.

Holy Cow at Rishikesh 1982.1

Ron Kissing Holy Cow at Rishikesh, 1982


Many Indian ashrams and rural Indian families have at least one dairy cow, using it for milk, curds, butter, ghee and dung as fuel for pujas (ritual ceremonies). Thus, the cow remains a protected animal in Hinduism today, revered by most Hindus, who do not eat beef.

When I stayed at Ammachi’s ashram in 1992, the ashram had one cow. It’s limited dairy products were used mostly for feeding Ammachi and some swamis, but were insufficient to supply other ashram residents. However, with special dispensation, for a few days Jessica obtained for me one morning cup of curd (yoghurt) which helped heal the severe intestinal upset with which had I arrived at the ashram, suffering food poisoning from a Brahmin wedding feast in Ahmedabad. So the following year I was especially happy to repay that ashram cow’s blessing by donating another sacred cow to be its companion.

Apparently my bovine and gold donations and prayers did not prolong my father’s life. But I have faith that they helped his transition to a heavenly afterlife. When it became evident that Dad’s days here were numbered, at his request he was released from hospital to hospice care at home in March 1994.

To help, I started sleeping at my parents’ Walnut Creek apartment. On the night of March 10, 1994, sensing that Dad’s death was imminent, I stayed awake reciting Sanskrit mantras, especially a mantra recommended by Guruji for auspicious transitions of those destined to die. As I fervently recited mantras, I felt enhanced subtle energies and entered a clairsentient state. Then, though Dad was sleeping in another room, I felt the departure of his spirit. The next morning he was gone, and I helped my mother with required post-death arrangements.

My experiences after my dear father’s transition, and concluding comments about Death and Dying

That night, exhausted by the stress of prior days, I returned to San Francisco where I slept soundly in my ‘high-rise hermitage’. Just before awakening, and while I was in a semi-sleep state, my dear father fleetingly appeared in a vivid inner vision. He looked as he did during the prime of his life, rather than as a debilitated old man. Telepathically he assured me he was fine and then disappeared.

Later, when I told Indian friends what happened, they informed me that Dad had died on Maha Shivaratri (the ‘Great Night of Shiva’) considered the most auspicious holy night of the year by millions of Hindus.

Soon afterwards I received another extraordinary assurance of Dad’s favorable transition as I was driving to Shri Anandi Ma’s home in Antioch for a weekend meditation program. En route, I had picked up as passengers Anandi Ma’s parents and brother Umesh at their Berkeley apartment. Like his revered sister, Umesh then spent many hours daily in deep meditation often communing with Guruji’s ishta devata, Hindu monkey-God Lord Hanuman, considered an incarnation of Shiva.

As we traveled to Antioch, Umesh said to me: “Ron, I have a message for you from Hanumanji.” With extreme curiosity, I asked about that message. Whereupon, Umesh replied: “Hanumanji says, don’t worry about your father, we’re taking care of him.”

Six months later, on August 29, 1994, Guruji took mahasamadhi at age one hundred sixteen, and joined the heavenly host caring for my father and countless others. So, heeding Hanumanji’s assurance, I’m not concerned about my father. Instead, as I too approach the end of this precious lifetime, it is my heartfelt aspiration to help through self-purification and compassion not only family dear ones but all other suffering sentient beings with whom we energetically remain inseparably connected.

And so may it be!

Ron Rattner

Living Life, Teaching Peace

“My life is my message.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi
“You must be the change
you want to see in the world.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi
“In a gentle way you can shake the world..”
~ Mahatma Gandhi
“You may never know what results come of your actions,
but if you do nothing, there will be no results.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi
“Whatever we think, do, or say,
changes this world in some way.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings





Ron’s Introduction to “Living Life, Teaching Peace”

Dear Friends, 

The following “Living Life, Teaching Peace” sutra-verses, were largely inspired by Mahatma Gandhi’s legendary declaration that “My life is my message” in response to an inquiry about his ‘message for the world’.

Gandhi, who was trained in England as an attorney, became a renowned advocate for civil rights and social justice, who was recognized as father of Indian democracy. During his lifetime he was loved by the Indian people and known worldwide as “Mahatma”, an honorary Sanskrit term meaning “Great Soul”, like the term “Saint” in Christianity. Gandhi helped change the world by being the change he wanted see. His nonviolent activism and relentless pursuit of Truth have inspired millions, and continue to influence the history of our times.  

Gandhi was my first known inner spiritual guide who appeared while I was in meditative states, long after his 1948 assassination. Only after his inner appearance did I synchronistically learn of Gandhi’s history as a nonviolent civil rights lawyer pursuing spiritual Truth.

Later, after receiving shaktipat initiation as a Hindu Rama devotee (like my Guruji), Gandhi became and has ever since remained for me an especially important spiritual icon and inspiration. (See memoirs posts re “Silva Mind Control” and “Gandhi the Man”)

In comments after the following “Living Life, Teaching Peace” sutra-verses I will explain their spiritual principles, with the aspiration that Gandhi’s exemplary life may encourage and inspire us to live in harmony with those principles.

And so may it be!

Ron Rattner


Living Life, Teaching Peace

On the Earth branch
Of the great Cosmic University,

We are all students,
And we are all teachers.

We are all learning Love.

And, as Gandhi observed,
Our lives are our teachings.

So, as we live,
And as we learn,

We each may teach –

Peace, love, and compassion.

And so it shall be!



Ron’s audio comments and recitation of Living Life, Teaching Peace

Listen to




Ron’s Explanation of “Living Life, Teaching Peace”

Knowingly or unknowingly we all influence others, often at imperceptibly subtle energy levels, whether or not we are famous people like Gandhi.

“Whatever we think, do, or say,
changes this world in some way.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings

Not only do we affect people we know or meet, or think about, but in our space/time ‘reality’ where everyone/everything is energy – E=mc2 – we are metaphorically like vibrating and radiating energy vortices, ‘broadcasting’, receiving, and transducing energy “vibes”, which influence all Earthlife everywhere.

So – though we’re not famous like Mahatma Gandhi – our lives are our message.

When we are loving and compassionate, we help others to harmoniously resonate those ways of being in the world. Conversely our negative behaviors and emotions such as fear, anger and hatred invariably impede earthly love and compassion.

So in skillfully and mindfully living life with Loving behaviors and “vibes”, we each reach and teach as well as learn from others.

Invocation

While we ‘matriculate’
on ‘the Earth branch of the great Cosmic University’,
may we mindfully live loving lives harmonious with Nature.
May our deepest intuitions and aspirations
encourage and inspire us
each to learn and to teach
peace, love and compassion.


And so may it be!

Ron Rattner


Synchronicity Story: Dr. King, Alice Walker, Mumia Abu-Jamal, and “If I Was President”

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality,
tied in a single garment of destiny.
Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

“We must learn to live together as brothers
or perish together as fools.”
“The choice is not between violence and nonviolence,
but between nonviolence and nonexistence.”
~ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
“If I was President
The first thing I would do
is call Mumia Abu-Jamal.”
~ Alice Walker
Dare to be a nonconformist.
Society rewards conformers.
But, posterity honors reformers.
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
Let us elevate our aspirations,
from the bottom line to the highest good.
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
In these critical times,
we need a critical mass
to solve our critical mess.
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. – January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968


Ron’s Introduction.

Dear Friends,

Today’s posting honors American hero and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on his 95th birthday anniversary.

Sixty years have passed since Dr. King’s 1963 “dream” speech, and his later assassination at age 39. Yet, as discussed in my following commentary, the US population still endures most of the flagrant societal injustices Dr. King addressed – and which were noted by Alice Walker in today’s synchronicity story about her poem “If I Was President”, including unjust imprisonment of countless political truth-tellers and societal reformers, like Mumia Abu-Jamal.

Nonetheless, I again share this amazing synchronicity story with the deepest faith that together we can and will awaken the world from its present fearful ‘nightmare’ to realize Dr. King’s prophetic ‘dream’:

That ‘free at last’, we will honor the equality and divinity of everyone everywhere, and thereby transcend exploitation and discrimination against the world’s most vulnerable people, using our common-wealth for our common-weal to end the iniquity of inequity in our society.

And so may it be!

Ron Rattner

Synchronicity Story.

One January morning I received an email notice of an archived lecture about departed hero Dr.Martin Luther King, Jr. given by poet, author, and Buddhist peace activist Alice Walker, in Atlanta in 2006. The lecture was entitled “We Are The Ones We Have Been Waiting For.” [a YouTube video is linked below]

Because of my great respect for Dr. King as a national hero, and for Alice Walker’s wisdom, artistic genius and exemplary engagement in non-violent peace activism, I listened to the lecture. It was eloquent and moving.

At one point Alice Walker noted the posthumous persistence of social problems addressed by Dr. King before he was assassinated, and she cited as emblematic of our continuing societal injustices the political incarceration and threatened execution of brilliant truth teller journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal, following his egregiously wrongful political conviction for a crime committed by someone else.


Mumia Abu-Jamal


Especially, because I regard Abu-Jamal as an unjustly imprisoned ‘great soul’ who was subjected to an extraordinarily unjust trial, I had been amongst the millions world-wide protesting his political incarceration and threatened execution.

Synchronistically, a couple of hours after I listened to the Alice Walker lecture mentioning Abu-Jamal, I received a rare phone call from Prison Radio, a charitable organization dedicated to recording and distributing worldwide weekly radio commentaries by Abu-Jamal then telephoned from death row. (If interested you can listen to those commentaries at the Prison Radio website http://www.prisonradio.org/.)

The caller, Sharyn, invited me to a house party at which Abu-Jamal’s current legal situation was to be be discussed in depth. I told Sharyn that I had just been thinking about Mumia because of Alice Walker’s reference to him in her eloquent Atlanta talk about Dr. King. In response, Sharyn told me that shortly before she called me, Prison Radio had that day just received a new poem written and sent by Alice Walker from Mexico about Mumia and other prominent political prisoners.

Entitled, “If I Was President”, the opening lines of the poem say:


“If I was President
The first thing I would do
is call Mumia Abu-Jamal.”

 

Alice Walker

Synchronicity Questions and Reflections.

So why did the universe decide to synchronistically communicate with me that day through Dr. King, Alice Walker and Prison Radio about Mumia Abu-Jamal? It is a mystery, and a reminder of how little we understand our miraculous world “reality”.

From space/time perspective, synchronicities are noteworthy or meaningful coincidences in time. But from a cosmic perspective serial time is just an illusory way we think. So Albert Einstein has said:

“People … who believe in physics, know that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.”

Inspired by Einstein I have tentatively explained such synchroncities this way:

“Synchronicities are noteworthy “coincidences” in time,
which show us that in Nature,
there is no time and there are no “coincidences –
that everything that is, was, or will be is NOW;
that everything happens in harmony and synchrony
concurrently, not coincidentally.
Synchronicities are like Nature’s positive “bio-feedback’ or ‘radar’ signals showing when we are existing out of time and in the eternal NOW.”

And here is an interesting quote from Deepak Chopra:

“According to Vedanta, there are only two symptoms of enlightenment, just two indications that a transformation is taking place within you toward a higher consciousness. The first symptom is that you stop worrying. Things don’t bother you anymore. You become light hearted and full of joy. The second symptom is that you encounter more and more meaningful coincidences in your life, more and more synchronicities. And this accelerates to the point where you actually experience the miraculous.”

How do you explain synchronicities in your life?

Whether or not we can ever really explain mysterious synchronicities, may they ever infuse us with feelings of awe and gratitude for our interdependence with all miraculous and mysterious Life on this precious planet.


Alice Walker: “We Are The Ones We Have Been Waiting For.”


Ron’s Commentary Honoring Dr. King.

Dear Friends,

On the 95th birthday anniversary of departed hero Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., let us join countless others worldwide in honoring and ardently following his visionary legacy of nonviolently seeking world peace and social justice with forgiveness and Love.

Regrettably realization of Dr. King’s vision of world harmony still seems distant, as societal problems he addressed more than half a century ago perilously persist. Moreover, threats of nuclear and ecological holocaust appear more imminent than ever before, as the US empire continues to insanely squander more than than half its budget on wars and weapons, while neglecting the human rights of most of its own citizens, as well as countless other innocent victims worldwide.


Dr. King’s history.

Dr. King was a fourth generation Baptist preacher and non-violent peace and social justice activist especially inspired by Jesus and Mahatma Gandhi.  He honored and followed Gandhi as “guiding light  …. of nonviolent social change’’, and in 1959 journeyed to India to study Gandhian methods.  On arrival there, King said:

“To other countries, I may go as a tourist,
but to India, I come as a pilgrim.” 

Afterwards, inspired by Jesus and Gandhi, Dr. King ardently preached non-violence, saying 

“We must learn to live together as brothers
or perish together as fools.”
“The choice is not between violence and nonviolence but between nonviolence and nonexistence.” 

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

Ultimately, Dr. King’s life paralleled Gandhi’s life.  Each began as an outspoken advocate of inter-racial equality and social justice in racially segregated societies:  Gandhi as a South African civil rights lawyer; and King as a Southern-Baptist preacher.  Gradually their missions expanded to encompass universal peace, freedom and social justice for everyone everywhere.  

Gandhi ultimately inspired independence of the entire Indian subcontinent from almost a century of colonial domination and exploitation by the British raj. 

Dr. King conscientiously  and eloquently decried the fraudulent and immoral US war in Viet Nam, and the entire exploitive US corporate capitalist economic system which fostered perpetual war for perpetual profit of a privileged few, to the undemocratic detriment of an impoverished majority.  He said:


“I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today: my own government.”

“Capitalism does not permit an even flow of economic resources. With this system, a small privileged few are rich beyond conscience, and almost all others are doomed to be poor at some level. That’s the way the system works. And since we know that the system will not change the rules, we are going to have to change the system.”

“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.”

“Don’t let anybody make you think God chose America as His divine messianic force to be a sort of policeman of the whole world.” .. “We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.”

“The choice is not between violence and nonviolence but between nonviolence and nonexistence.” 


Like Jesus and Gandhi, Reverend King preached love and forgiveness, saying:

“At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love.”

“We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love.”

“The time is always right to do what is right.”

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”


1964 Nobel Peace Prize.

In 1964 Dr. King was awarded and humbly accepted the Nobel Peace Prize, as ‘trustee’ for countless unknown others. And he cited Mahatma Gandhi’s success in India as a key precedent encouraging nonviolent civil rights activism in the USA, saying:

“This [nonviolent] approach to the problem of racial injustice …. was used in a magnificent way by Mohandas K. Gandhi to challenge the might of the British Empire and free his people from the political domination and economic exploitation inflicted upon them for centuries.”

And Dr. King described how (because of technological advances which threaten global nuclear/ecological catastrophe) the survival of humanity depends upon our nonviolently solving

“the problems of racial injustice, poverty, and war” by “living in harmony” with “all-embracing and unconditional love for all men”.


Eloquently he explained unconditional love as

“that force which all of the great religions [Hindu-Moslem-Christian-Jewish-Buddhist] have seen as the supreme unifying principle of life. . . . the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate Reality.”


Dr. King’s 1968 Martyrdom.

Like Jesus and Gandhi, Reverend King was martyred at the pinnacle of his powers.   Dr. King (like President John F. Kennedy) was assassinated by the US military/industrial secret government when his expanding influence became an intolerable barrier to their psychopathic war plans for Viet Nam and beyond.

Concluding Dedication and Invocation.

To honor Dr. King’s lasting legacy as one of the greatest Americans who ever lived, I have shared this posting with deepest faith that together we can and will awaken the world from its present fearful ‘nightmare’ to realize Dr. King’s visionary ‘dream’ of worldwide peace and justice, with love and forgiveness. 

That ‘free at last’, we will honor the equality and divinity of everyone everywhere, and thereby transcend immoral exploitation and discrimination against the world’s most vulnerable people, using our common-wealth for our common-weal to end the iniquity of inequity in our society.

So that as Abraham Lincoln envisioned:

“Under God, [we] shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

 
And so may it be!

Ron Rattner

Day Of The Dead
~ An Ancient Celebration of Eternal Life


“Life is eternal. There is no death.
If people correctly understood death,
they would no longer have any fear of the unknown”. .
“What we think of as life and death are merely transitions,
changes in the rate of vibration in a continual process of growth and unfoldment.”

~ Betty Bethards – “There is No Death” pp. 90-91

“We are born and reborn countless number of times,
and it is possible that each being has been our parent at one time or another.
Therefore, it is likely that all beings in this universe have familial connections.”

~ H. H. Dalai Lama, from ‘The Path to Tranquility: Daily Wisdom”

“Reincarnation is not an exclusively Hindu or Buddhist concept,

but it is part of the history of human origin.

It is proof of the mindstream’s capacity to retain knowledge of physical and mental activities.

It is related to the theory of interdependent origination and to the law of cause and effect.”

~ H. H. Dalai Lama (Preface to “The Case for Reincarnation”)

“The soul never takes birth and never dies at any time,
nor does it come into being again when the body is created.
The soul is birthless, eternal, imperishable and timeless
and is never destroyed when the body is destroyed.
Just as a man giving up old worn out garments accepts other new apparel,
in the same way the embodied soul giving up old and worn out bodies
verily accepts new bodies.”
“The soul is eternal, all-pervading, unmodifiable, immovable and primordial.”
~ Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 2, Krishna to Arjuna

“Overcoming the fear of death changes our whole perspective on life.
Everything we do and think and feel takes on new meaning.
When we realize that we are not limited by the physical,
we begin to get the idea that we are really master of our own destinies
and we more fully align ourselves with the eternal nature of our beings.”

~ Betty Bethards – “There is No Death” pp. 82-83

“To be afraid of dying
is like being afraid of discarding an old worn-out garment.”

~ Mahatma Gandhi

“God is love in all religions,
so the more we live love
the closer we are to God”.
~ Betty Bethards

“In order to know through experience what happens beyond death,

you must go deep within yourself.

In meditation, the truth will come to you.”

~ Shri Dhyanyogi Madhusudandas

“Birth and death are virtual,

but Life is perpetual.”

~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings

“As we lose our fear of leaving life,

we gain the art of living life.”

~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings

“Evolution of consciousness is the central motive of terrestrial existence.”
~ Sri Aurobindo

“All existence is a manifestation of God.”
~ Sri Aurobindo


Diego Rivera ~ “Día de los Muertos”



Day Of The Dead ~ An Ancient Celebration of Eternal Life

Ron’s Introduction to Day Of The Dead

Dear Friends,

This posting describes “Day Of The Dead” – “Día de los Muertos” – an ancient Meso-American celebration that began 3000 years ago. It’s above quotations and following explanations are dedicated to helping everyone everywhere find ever greater inner happiness by transcending fear of death.

Discussion

When the Spanish arrived five centuries ago in territory now known as Mexico, they found indigenous persons practicing what seemed to be a gruesome ritual that mocked death.

Although the Catholic Church attempted to eliminate this religiously unsanctioned ceremony, they were unsuccessful. Thus the “Día de los Muertos” tradition continues in Mexico, and has spread to other parts of the world where mostly persons of Mexican heritage persist in lovingly and joyfully honoring people and pets whose souls have passed and persist in other dimensions.

Though based on perennial wisdom truth beyond time, this Day Of The Dead festival is annually observed mostly on November 1st and 2nd, just after Halloween.

Rather than being premised on pagan ignorance, this ritual is rooted in instinctive human insight celebrating and honoring our true Spiritual Reality and common Identity, as Eternal Life, Light, and Divine LOVE – a timeless Reality which never dies.

So it pertains to all souls everywhere, not merely to those of pre-Hispanic Mexican heritage.

Conclusion and Dedication

At age ninety one, losing fear of death has greatly helped me experience ever-increasing inner happiness in this precious human lifetime.

So I’ve often posted writings about transcending all such death fears, and all other illusionary ego-mind fears of non-existence.

For example my July 23rd, 2022 tribute to my friend Betty Bethards summarizes universal teachings about supposed death because it contains a verbatim summary of Betty Bethards’ excellent book titled “There is No Death”.

Furthermore my recent Human Potential Differential? posting reveals that every incarnate human earth being, and every other sentient earth being is, and has always been without exception, a manifestation of ONE Divine LOVE.

And it explains how as each unique soul awakens to its true identity, it evolves to ever ascending energy planes; that from third dimension [3D] illusory space/time duality reality, it transcends all ego-mind fears to exist lovingly and dharmically, ever free of unhappiness and disharmony, until it is dissolved as destined into Mother/Father/God, as ONE LOVE.

Dedication

Thus, this Day Of The Dead posting is deeply dedicated
to awakening and inspiring us
to live fearlessly, lovingly and dharmically,
until we inevitably transcend all fearful ego-mind thoughts and behaviors
as Universal Divine LOVE.


And so may it be!

Ron Rattner

New Paradigm-ism

“I consider myself a Hindu, Christian, Muslim, Jew, Buddhist, and Confucian.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi
“I have learned so much from God
That I can no longer call myself
a Christian, a Hindu, a Muslim, a Buddhist, a Jew”
~ Hafiz
“Not Christian or Jew or Muslim,
 not Hindu, Buddhist, Sufi or Zen.
Not any religion, or cultural system.
 I am not from the East or the West,nor out of the ocean or up 
from the ground,
not natural or ethereal, not composed of elements at all.
I do not exist, am not an entity in this world
 or the next,
did not descend from Adam and Eve 
or any origin story.
My place is placeless, a trace of the traceless.
 Neither body nor soul.
I belong to the beloved
 have seen the two worlds as one 
and that one call to and know,
First, last, outer, inner, only that 
breath breathing human.”
~ Rumi, ‘Only Breath’
“Wherever I look, I see men quarreling in the name of religion — Hindus, Mohammendans, Brahmos, Vaishnavas, and the rest.
But they never reflect that He who is called Krishna is also called Siva, and bears the name of the Primal Energy, Jesus, and Allah as well–
the same Rama with a thousand names.
A lake has several ghats.
At one the Hindus take water in pitchers and call it ‘jal’; at another the Mussalmans take water in leather bags and call it ‘pani’. At a third the Christians call it ‘water’.
Can we imagine that it is not ‘jal’, but only ‘pani’ or ‘water’?
How ridiculous! The substance is One under different names, and everyone is seeking the same substance;
only climate, temperament, and name create differences.
Let each man follow his own path. If he sincerely and ardently wishes to know God, peace be unto him!
He will surely realize Him.”
~ Sri Ramakrishna, The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna
“The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion.
It should transcend personal God and avoid dogma and theology.
Covering both the natural and the spiritual, it should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things natural and spiritual as a meaningful unity.”
~ Albert Einstein
“Today, … any religion-based answer to the problem of our neglect of inner values can never be universal,
and so will be inadequate.” . . .
“[T]he time has come to find a way of thinking about spirituality and ethics that is beyond religion.”

~ Dalai Lama
“Irrevocable commitment to any one religion is not only intellectual suicide;
 it is positive unfaith because it closes the mind to any new vision of the world.”
~ Alan Watts
“The constant assertion of belief is an indication of fear.”

~ J. Krishnamurti
“If there is love in your heart you don’t have to worry about rules.”
~ Shri Dhyanyogi Madhusudandas
“Your task is not to seek for love,
but merely to seek and find
 all the barriers within yourself
that you have built against it.”
~ Rumi
“Follow dharma, not dogma.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings





Ron’s Introduction to “New Paradigm-ism”

Dear Friends,

Soon after my midlife spiritual awakening I began wondering with concern why Western monotheistic fundamentalism had often resulted in religious crusades, inquisitions, and jihads against alleged heretics or nonbelievers in a supposed one true Messiah or God.
And I soon learned that some Eastern religions have violent fundamentalist sects. [see https://sillysutras.com/monistic-musings-reflections-and-questions-on-god-and-divinity/]

The following sutra essay/poem (with mp3 recitation) is about our need for a new societal paradigm of universal kindness and compassion beyond religion.
Composed long before launching of the SillySutras website, it was later posted online with the above quotations, encouraged by publication of the Dalai Lama’s book Beyond Religion: Ethics For A Whole World.

On composing and later posting this sutra/poem, with quotations, I was concerned about unjust racist, religious, political, and economic ideologies, which are explained in the poem, and in my following dedication comments urging that humankind harmoniously live together as LOVE.

And so may it be!

Ron Rattner


New Paradigm-ism

Let’s get beyond
Catholicism – Protestantism – Judaism – Mohammedanism –
Hinduism – Buddhism – Taoism – Confucianism – Shamanism

And all other belief “isms”.

It’s time to end
religious ism schisms.

It’s time to blend religion-ism
with syncretism.

So, let us transcend
Ism dogmatism

And live ismlessly as

LOVE!



Ron’s audio explanation and recitation of “New Paradigm”-ism

Listen to



Ron’s explanation and dedication of “New Paradigm”-ism

As explained in the above Introduction, “New Paradigm-ism” was first posted with concern about evils perpetrated in the name of fundamentalist religious beliefs.
And as a deeply dedicated social justice advocate I’ve long been bothered by
unjust racist, religious, political, and economic ideologies, that also foment ignorant fears and violence, because (as wisely written by Dr. Martin Luther King while wrongfully jailed in Selma, Alabama), “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

This is so because:

In religion and politics people’s beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second-hand, and without examination, from authorities who have not themselves examined the questions at issue but have taken them at second-hand from other non-examiners, whose opinions about them were not worth a brass farthing.
~ Mark Twain, Autobiography


Thus this posting is respectfully dedicated to inspiring our compassionate beliefs and behaviors, learned from our unique life experiences, that advance humankind’s inevitable transcendence of unjust racist, religious, political, and economic ideologies, so we may harmoniously live together as LOVE.

And so may it be!

Ron Rattner

Gandhi’s Words of Wisdom

“My life is my message”
~ Mahatma Gandhi


Mahatma Gandhi
(October 2, 1869 – January 30, 1948)


Introduction

Mohandas K. Gandhi was born in India on October 2, 1869, one hundred fifty four years ago. He came to be known and loved by the Indian people and worldwide as “Mahatma”, an honorary Sanskrit term meaning “Great Soul”, like the term “Saint” in Christianity.

During his lifetime, he was recognized as father of Indian democracy, a monumental accomplishment achieved through non-violent relentless pursuit of Truth as God (satyagraha). Gandhi changed himself to change the world by being the change he wanted see.

Though Mahatma Gandhi realized that his life was his message, he often wrote (or was quoted about) his philosophical ideas on subjects of perennial importance. Because Gandhi walked his talk authentically, peacefully, and universally, his words – like his humble life – will be remembered for centuries, and will continue to inspire and actuate countless millions of people worldwide.

So, in tribute to this great soul, let us recall some of his inspiring words of wisdom:

Gandhi’s Words of Wisdom

“My life is my message”

“[T]he world will not change if we don’t change.”

“In a gentle way you can shake the world..”

“You may never know what results come of your actions,

but if you do nothing, there will be no results.”

“If we are to make progress,
we must not repeat history but make new history.
We must add to inheritance left by our ancestors.”

“An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind.”

“A man is but the product of his thoughts; what he thinks, he becomes.”

“Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed. Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well.”


“Happiness is when what you think, what you say,
 and what you do are in harmony.”

“Nobody can hurt me without my permission.”

“It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.”

“I do not want to foresee the future. I am concerned with taking care of the present. God has given me no control over the moment following.”

“Civil disobedience becomes a sacred duty when the state has become lawless or corrupt. And a citizen who barters with such a state shares in its corruption and lawlessness.”

“There are many causes that I am prepared to die for but no causes that I am prepared to kill for.”

“An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching.”

“Prayer is not an old woman’s idle amusement. Properly understood and applied, it is the most potent instrument of action.”

“Prayer has saved my life, without it I should have been a lunatic long ago. I feel that as food is indispensable for the body so was prayer indispensable for the soul. I find solace in life and in prayer. With the Grace of God everything can be achieved. When His Grace filled one’s being nothing was impossible for one to achieve.”

“Prayer is nothing else but an intense longing of the heart. You may express yourself through the lips; you may express yourself in the private closet or in the public; but to be genuine, the expression must come from the deepest recesses of the heart…”

“It is my constant prayer that I may never have a feeling of anger against my traducers, that even if I fall a victim to an assassin’s bullet, I may deliver my soul with the remembrance of God upon my lips.”

“All the religions of the world, while they may differ in other respects, unitedly proclaim that nothing lives in this world but Truth.”

“My religion is based on truth and nonviolence. Truth is my God. Nonviolence is the means of realizing Him.”

“Nonviolence succeeds only when we have a real living faith in God.”

“My faith runs so very much faster than my reason that I can challenge the whole world and say, ‘God is, was and ever shall be’.”

“Spiritual relationship is far more precious than physical. Physical relationship divorced from spiritual is body without soul.”

“A man with a grain of faith in God never loses hope, because he ever believes in the ultimate triumph of Truth.”

”Nonviolence is the greatest force man has been endowed with.

Truth is the only goal he has. For God is none other than Truth.

But Truth cannot be, never will be, reached except through nonviolence…

That which distinguishes man from all other animals is his capacity to be non-violent.

And he fulfills his mission only to the extent that he is non-violent and no more.“

“I consider myself a Hindu, Christian, Moslem, Jew, Buddhist and Confucian.”

“Truth is by nature self-evident. As soon as you remove the cobwebs of ignorance that surround it, it shines clear.”

“I look only to the good qualities of men. Not being faultless myself, I won’t presume to probe into the faults of others.”

“I claim to be a simple individual liable to err like any other fellow mortal. I own, however, that I have humility enough to confess my errors and to retrace my steps.”

”Constant development is the law of life, and a man who always tries to maintain his dogmas in order to appear consistent drives himself into a false position.”

“I cannot think of permanent enmity between man and man, and believing as I do in the theory of reincarnation, I live in the hope that if not in this birth, in some other birth I shall be able to hug all of humanity in friendly embrace.”

“Nonviolence, which is the quality of the heart, cannot come by an appeal to the brain.”

“Nonviolence is not a cloistered virtue to be practiced by the individual for his peace and final salvation, but it is a rule of conduct for society. To practice nonviolence in mundane matters is to know its true value. It is to bring heaven upon earth. I hold it therefore to be wrong to limit the use of nonviolence to cave dwellers [hermits] and for acquiring merit for a favored position in the other world. All virtue ceases to have use if it serves no purpose in every walk of life.”

“It is no nonviolence if we merely love those that love us. It is nonviolence only when we love those that hate us. I know how difficult it is to follow this grand law of love. But are not all-great and good things difficult to do? Love of the hater is the most difficult of all. But by the grace of God even this most difficult thing becomes easy to accomplish if we want to do it.” (From a private letter, dated 31-12-34.)

“To see the universal and all-pervading Spirit of Truth face to face, one must be able to love the meanest of all creation as oneself.”

Ahimsa is not the crude thing it has been made to appear. Not to hurt any living thing is no doubt a part of ahimsa. But it is its least expression. The principle of ahimsa is hurt by every evil thought, by undue haste, by lying, by hatred, by wishing ill to anybody. It is also violated by our holding on to what the world needs.”

“I do not believe…that an individual may gain spiritually and those who surround him suffer. I believe in advaita, I believe in the essential unity of man and, for that matter, of all that lives. Therefore, I believe that if one man gains spiritually, the whole world gains with him and, if one man falls, the whole world falls to that extent.”

“I do not believe that the spiritual law works on a field of its own. On the contrary, it expresses itself only through the ordinary activities of life. It thus affects the economic, the social and the political fields.”

“Those who say religion has nothing to do with politics,

do not know what religion is.”

“Suffering, cheerfully endured, ceases to be suffering and is transmuted into an ineffable joy.”

“The goal ever recedes from us. The greater the progress the greater the recognition of our unworthiness. Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment. Full effort is full victory.”

“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible, but in the end they always fall — think of it. Always.”

“In the dictionary of the seeker of truth there is no such thing as being ‘not successful’. He is or should be an irrepressible optimist, because of his immovable faith in the ultimate victory of Truth, which is God.”

“What do I think of Western civilization?
I think it would be a very good idea.”


Dedication and Invocation

As a blessing, may we deeply reflect on Gandhi’s enduring philosophy and exemplary life.

Thereby, like this Great Soul, may we be inspired “from the deepest recesses of the heart” to live in “in a gentle way” that nonviolently blesses all life everywhere as Truth and LOVE.  

And so may it be!

Ron Rattner

Human Potential Differential?
~ Ron’s Memoirs


“You are not a drop in the ocean.
You are the entire ocean in a drop.”
~ Rumi

“Our destiny is Divinity.”

~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings

“We are what we think.
All that we are arises with our thoughts.
With our thoughts, we make the world.”
~ Buddha

“A wise man, recognizing that the world is but an illusion,
does not act as if it is real, so he escapes the suffering.”
~ Buddha

“Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.”
“Our separation of each other is an optical illusion of consciousness.”
~ Albert Einstein

“When I despair, I remember that all through history
the way of truth and love has always won.

There have been tyrants and murderers
and for a time they seem invincible,

but in the end they always fall — think of it. Always.”

~ Mahatma Gandhi

“All is a play in consciousness.
All divisions are illusory.

You can know the false only.
The true you must yourself be.”

~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

“This earth is nothing but movies to me.
Just like the beam of a motion picture.
So is everything made of shadow and light. 
That’s what we are. Light and shadows of the Lord.
Nothing else than that.
There’s one purpose. To get to the beam.” 

~ Paramahansa Yogananda-Autobiography of a Yogi, Chapter 30

“This whole creation is essentially subjective,
and the dream is the theater
where the dreamer is at once:
scene, actor, prompter, stage manager, author, audience, and critic.” 

~ Carl Gustav Jung

“Cultivate compassion;
harvest happiness.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings

“Give, and it will be given to you.
~ Luke 6:38


“For it is in giving that we receive.”

~ St. Francis of Assisi, peace prayer

“The wicked earns deceptive wages,
but one who sows righteousness gets a sure reward.”
~ Proverbs 11:18

“Sow for yourselves righteousness;
reap steadfast love”
~ Hosea 10:12

“A faithful man will abound with blessings,
but whoever hastens to be rich will not go unpunished.”
~ Proverbs 28:20

“Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy!”
~ Psalm 126:5

“Evolution is an endless process –
from nescience to gnosis to apotheosis;
from bestial to celestial.
We ever evolve as our boundaries dissolve.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings






Ron’s Introduction to Human Potential Differential

Dear Friends,

At age ninety, I’m continuing to update my memoirs with perspectives learned so far from this precious human lifetime.

Beginning thirty years ago, during a long post-retirement secluded period of meditation, introspection, and prayer, I began wondering whether human ignorance was leading us to unavoidable ‘end-times’; whether human evolution on Earth was inevitable, or just optional. 

I observed people in various stages of evolution – from barbarians to Buddhas – and questioned whether Earthly humans who were selfish, violent, or warlike might ‘condemn’ us all.

So I began composing (and continuing to amend) the following Q and A sutra-essay titled “Human Potential Differential?”, which I still deem important, in light of my recent “Best Things in Life are Free” memoirs posting, the above sutras, quotations, and the following explanations.

Like “Best Things in Life are Free”, this “Human Potential Differential” posting is deeply dedicated to inspiring each of us
to lovingly follow our Sacred Heart until it is dissolved as destined into Mother/Father/God, as ONE LOVE

Please enjoy and consider it accordingly.

Ron Rattner


Human Potential Differential?

Q.  Can humankind transform:

From bestial to celestial?
From infernal to supernal?
From barbarians to Buddhas?
From sinners to saints?
From selfishness to selflessness?
From immorality to immortality?

A.  YES, YES, YES !!!!

As medieval alchemists transmuted lead into gold,

Mother/Father/God will transform Humanity
into ONE LOVE.

Transformation is inevitable,
but advent of ultimate realization
depends upon each unique soul’s chosen thoughts and behaviors, whether selfish or loving.

We ‘reap as we sow’,
and as we cultivate compassion;

we harvest happiness.

Ultimately, we are each dharmically destined
to Awaken as an Infinite Ocean of ONE Eternal LOVE,
rather than existing as mere ego-mind “I” drops
in that limitless Divine Ocean.

By lovingly following our Sacred Heart
We will melt and disappear timelessly –
into the Mystery of Divinity –

as Eternal LOVE.





Ron’s Recitation of Human Potential Differential

Listen to


Ron’s Comments on Human Potential Differential?

Dear Friends,

During thirty years of post-retirement solitude, I’ve deeply questioned and reflected on whether human ignorance is leading us to unavoidable ‘end-times’; whether human evolution is inevitable, or just optional.  Ultimately, I’ve concluded that human evolution is inevitable but that its rate differs for each unique soul.

Recognizing that dharmically and karmically we reap as we sow, and inspired by Jesus Christ, I’ve given my irrevocable ‘power of attorney’ to the law of cause and effect to non-judgmentally forgive all moral ignorance.

In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus repeatedly taught forgiveness.

“Do not judge, and you will not be judged.
Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned.
Forgive, and you will be forgiven.”
~ Luke 6:37

“But I say unto you, Love your enemies,
bless them that curse you,
do good to them that hate you,
and pray for them which
despitefully use you, and persecute you”
~ Matthew 5:44; Luke 6:27


And even as he was dying on a cross in excruciating pain, Jesus beseeched God’s forgiveness of those who crucified him:

And Jesus said,
“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
~ Luke 23: 34

In emphasizing “they know not what they do” Jesus invoked Divine forgiveness in response to apparent unwitting (rather than malevolent) sins of the Roman soldiers who crucified him.

Human Potential Differential in current turbulent times

For the following reasons, even in this era of unprecedented global warfare, suffering and turmoil, I’m spiritually optimistic about survival of Human Earth-life, despite dire “end times” predictions of its cataclysmic collapse:


1) I’ve realized that “Our destiny is Divinity” because we’re not what we think we are, but Infinite Eternal Awareness!

2) As unique immortal souls we are each dharmically destined to be dissolved in timeless Eternal ONENESS as Divine LOVE beyond unavoidable third dimension space/time duality[3D] Earthly ego-mind fears and illusions. We each transcend inescapable ego-mind fears and illusions at rates dependent upon whether our unique thoughts and behaviors are loving or selfish – helpful or harmful.

3) Moreover, there is no death. Death is just an energy transition, until we’re formlessly dissolved as ONE LOVE. It’s an illusory belief that our lives end when our mortal bodies no longer function.

4) Karmically, as each unique soul evolves to ever ascending energy planes, it transcends all ego-mind fears to exist lovingly and dharmically, forever free of unhappiness and disharmony until dissolved in timeless Eternal ONENESS as Divine LOVE beyond unavoidable third dimension space/time duality[3D] Earthly “realty”.

5) While subjected to ego-mind, we unavoidably exist with karmic cause and effect sufferings from the earthly illusion of space/time/duality “realty”. But the more we intentionally lovingly follow our Sacred Heart the more we enjoy happy lives, and the less we suffer from perpetually unknown karmic causes and conditions.

6} Ultimately, we’ve never been separated from our Eternal Source Mother/Father/God. So we have nothing to fear – EVER

Conclusion and Dedication

As each unique soul evolves from illusory space/time duality third dimension [3D] to ever ascending energy planes, it transcends all ego-mind fears to exist lovingly and dharmically, forever free of unhappiness and disharmony until it is dissolved as destined into Mother/Father/God,
as ONE LOVE.

This “Human Potential Differential” posting is deeply dedicated to encouraging and inspiring each of us to live fearlessly, lovingly and forgivingly, until we inevitably transcend all fearful ego-mind thoughts and behaviors as Universal Divine LOVE

Invocation

May today’s Human Potential Differential
verses, quotations and explanations
help us hasten our inevitable process
from nescience to gnosis to apotheosis.
 
Remembering that we reap as we sow,
may we ever more choose to cultivate compassion
and harvest happiness
for everyone everywhere,
until as destined we are dissolved

As an Infinite Ocean
of ONE Eternal LOVE.


And so may it be!

Ron Rattner

Awakening

“Spiritual awakening is the most essential thing in man’s life, and it is the sole purpose of being. Is not civilization, in all its tragic forms, a supreme motive for spiritual awakening?”
~ Khalil Gibran
“Your own Self-realization is the greatest service you can render the world.”
~ Sri Ramana Maharshi
“The greatest obstacle to enlightenment is getting past your delusion that you are not already enlightened.”
~ Sri Ramana Maharshi
“A quiet mind is all you need. All else will happen rightly, once your mind is quiet. As the sun on rising makes the world active, so does self-awareness affect changes in the mind. In the light of calm and steady self-awareness, inner energies wake up and work miracles without any effort on your part”
~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
“Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is enlightenment.”
~ Lao Tzu
“When you demand nothing of the world, nor of God, when you want nothing, seek nothing, expect nothing, then the supreme state will come to you uninvited and unexpected.”
~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
“Meditation is the process of understanding your own mind.”
~ J Krishnamurti
“In Buddhism, mindfulness is the key. Mindfulness is the energy that sheds light on all things and all activities, producing the power of concentration, bringing forth deep insight and awakening. Mindfulness is the base of Buddhist practice”
~ Thich Nhat Hanh
“The discipline which I have imparted to you will lead you when I am gone. Practice mindfulness diligently, to attain the goal of awakening.”
~ Gautama Buddha
“All the Buddhas of all the ages have been telling you a very simple fact:
Be — don´t try to become.
Within these two words, be and becoming, your whole life is contained.
Being is enlightenment, becoming is ignorance.”
~ Osho”
“NOW is the only reality. All else is either memory or imagination.”
~ Rajneesh
“God is not in heaven – God is in the present moment.
If you are also in the present moment you enter the temple.”
~ Rajneesh
“God is the ultimate experience of silence, of beauty, of bliss, a state of inner celebration.”
~ Rajneesh
“In meditation, silently and serenely, all words are transcended.
In Illumination, all things appear as is.
Silence is the ceasing of ego-grasping. Illumination is the functioning of the wonder of wisdom.
The unity of these two is awakening to Buddha Nature.”
~ Zen Master Sheng-yen
“Those whose spiritual awareness has been awakened never make a false move. They don’t have to avoid evil. They are so replete with love that whatever they do is a good action. They are fully conscious that they are not the doer of their actions, but only servants of God.”
~ Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa
“When the love of God comes to you,
it will overwhelm your heart with a fulfillment
unequaled by the nectar of a thousand million human loves.
Overflowing all boundaries, that Love embraces everyone and everything.”
~ Paramahansa Yogananda
“Divine desperateness is the beginning of spiritual awakening
because it gives rise to the aspiration for God-realisation.”
~ Meher Baba
“Love has to spring spontaneously from within And it is no way amenable to any form of inner or outer force. Love and coercion can never go together; But though love cannot be forced on anyone, It can be awakened in him through love itself. Love is essentially self communicative; Those who do not have it catch it from those who have it. True love is unconquerable and irresistible, And it goes on gathering power and spreading itself, Until eventually it transforms everyone whom it touches.”
~ Meher Baba
“You are a Buddha, and so is everyone else. I didn’t make that up. . . the Buddha himself said so. He said that all beings have the potential to become awakened.”
~ Thich Nhat Hanh
“To go from mortal to Buddha, you have to put an end to karma,
nurture your awareness, and accept what life brings.”
~ Bodhidharma
“There is a power now slumbering within us, which if awakened would do to evil what light does to darkness.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi
“What we usually call human evolution is the awakening of the divine nature within us.”
~ Peace Pilgrim
“That is the real spiritual awakening, when something emerges from within you that is deeper than who you thought you were. So, the person is still there, but one could almost say that something more powerful shines through the person.”
~ Eckhart Tolle
“To offer no resistance to life is to be in a state of grace, ease, and lightness.”
~ Eckhart Tolle
“Only by awakening can you know the true meaning of that word.”
~ Eckhart Tolle
“Spiritual Awakening is awakening from the dream of thought.”
~ Eckhart Tolle
“All arts lie in man, though not all are apparent.
Awakening brings them out.
To be taught is nothing; everything is in man waiting to be awakened.”
~ Paracelsus
“The purpose of our lives is to give birth to the best that is in us. It is only through our own personal awakening that the world can be awakened. We cannot give what we do not have.”
~ Marianne Williamson
“Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.”
~ Carl Jung
“The path of awakening is not about becoming who you are. Rather it is about unbecoming who you are not.”
~ Albert Schweitzer
“Awakening is not changing who you are, but discarding who you are not.”
~ Deepak Chopra
“Waking up to who you are requires letting go of who you imagine yourself to be”
~ Alan Watts
“Enlightenment or awakening is not the creation of a new state of affairs but the recognition of what already is.”
~ Alan Watts
“There is none dwelling in the house but God.
When a man is awakened he melts and perishes.”
~ Rumi
“We are here to awaken from the illusion of our separateness.”
– Thich Nhat Hanh
“Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart.
Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens.”
~  Carl Gustav Jung
My friends, it is through the establishment of the clarity of mindfulness
that you let go of grasping after past and future,
overcome attachment and grief,
abandon all clinging and anxiety,
and awaken an unshakable freedom of heart,
here and now.
~ Buddha [the Awakened One]
“Those who awaken never rest in one place.
Like swans, they rise and leave the lake.
On the air they rise and fly an invisible course.
Their food is knowledge.
They live on emptiness.
They have seen how to break free.
Who can follow them?
~ Buddha [the Awakened One]
“If you want to awaken all of humanity,
then awaken all of yourself.
If you want to eliminate the suffering in the world,
then eliminate all that is dark and negative in yourself.”
~ Lao Tzu , Hua Hu Ching
“The most fundamental message of Gautama the Buddha is
. . . freedom: freedom absolute, total, unconditional.
He does not want to give you an ideology,
because every ideology creates its own slavery.”

~ Osho
“An Awakened person is someone who finds freedom in good fortune and bad.”
~ Bodhidharma





Introduction to “Awakening”

Dear Friends,

Thirty years ago, during a long post-retirement secluded period of meditation, prayer, and introspection, I “channelled” the following sutra-poem about “Awakening” to Buddhahood.
It was inspired by very rare beings (like Jesus, Gautama Buddha, and Krishna) who intentionally incarnated in mortal earthly bodies to teach and help Humanity.
They appeared as Awakened beings in an Infinite Ocean of Divine LOVE, rather than as mere Ego “I”-drops in that limitless Divine Ocean.

Because we’re now experiencing extraordinary global wars, fears, and sufferings, the “Awakening” verses seem more crucial now than when they were “channelled” thirty years ago. So they are re-published today with additional explanatory sutras, quotes, and comments, consistent with most recent postings about “Interdependence” and “Egocide”.

Those postings explained that although we can’t avoid ego illusion upon physical incarnation in low energy Third Dimension [3D] space/time and duality, we can choose to hasten our elevation to higher dimensions beyond fear and suffering with thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors that are loving and helpful, not selfish and harmful.

Therefore, let us now choose to live loving and helpful lives, so that with all life forms everywhere we can consciously exist cooperatively and interdependently, not selfishly and exploitively; and so may we hasten our destined realization of Being immortally ONE with Divine SELF as LOVE.

And so may it be!

Ron Rattner

Awakening

Through eons of ignorance,
we have been asleep –

Dreaming “I am a body,
a name, a form, a story” separate from
the rest of “reality”.

Now, blessed with a precious human
existence and truth teachings,
we are awakening gradually,

And experiencing ever more
moments of living truth.

But still, from the habits of countless
lives of ignorance,
we suffer a kind of spiritual narcolepcy –
involuntarily falling asleep again and again.

Only when those habits are
totally transcended,
will we awaken –

FOREVER!



Ron’s audio recitation of “Awakening”

Listen to



Ron’s “Awakening” Sutra Sayings

“Bliss abides when thought subsides.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings

“Mind and memory are “then”,

But–
Life is NOW,

ever NOW,
n
ever then!”

~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings

“Life is NOW

Ever NOW

Never then.”

~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings

Life is NOW or never,

Life is NOW forever.

Life is NOW

Ever NOW

Never then.

~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings

“There’s nothing to say,

but words point the way.”

~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings

When no one’s a “doer”

nothing’s undone.”

~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings

“Tao is now,

Tao is one,

Tao is doer,

Tao will be done.

Tao will be done,

So let Tao do it.”

~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings

Everything’s NOW,

So nothing is new.

~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings

Time is how we measure NOW,

and spaces

are for places
where we think we are in time.

~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings

“Remember God, forget the rest.

Forget who you think you are,

to know what you really are.”

~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings

“We are not merely mortal drops

in an ocean of ephemeral forms,

but the eternally Infinite Ocean of Universal Awareness,

appearing as drops!”

~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings

“As ego goes,

consciousness grows,

until it Knows –
Its-SELF.”

~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings


“Cultivate compassion; harvest happiness.”

~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings

“Love blesses the world; 
fear afflicts it.”

~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings

“You are not a mortal; you are immortal.

So never fear being a non-being.”
 
***

“Our deepest fears
 hide our highest potentials.”
 
***

“As we lose our fear of leaving life,

we gain the art of living life.”

~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings

“The Witness and the witnessed are ONE.”

~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings

“This world is wrought with naught but thought.”

~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings

“Thought divides Awareness as a prism divides light.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings

“Thinking and Being can’t coexist.

So stop thinking and start Being.”

~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings

“Forget who you think you are

to Know what you really are.”

~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings

“Spirit speaks when mind is mute.”

~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings

“Theory Of Everything:

Consciousness = Subject = Object = Self”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings


“We’re whole,
we’re whole,
we’re whole.
Nothing ever
can dissever our soul.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings


“We are shackled by illusory bonds of belief.

Freedom is beyond belief.”

~ Ron Rattner – Sutra Sayings

“May we bless the whole

as we play our role

in the cosmic theater of life.”

~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings



Ron’s Dedication of “Awakening”

As recognized by the above sutras and quotes, awakening from the illusion of existing separate from our innate Divinity is the essential purpose of spiritual evolution.

Thus the word “Buddha” is not just a name but an honorific title, meaning in Sanskrit “one who is awake” to Reality.

So the foregoing verses gratefully honor and are dedicated to all “awakened” boundless beings – whether historically known or unknown – who help other beings awaken from a fearfully persistent illusion of individual mortality to joyous realization of our deathless ONENESS as Eternal Divinity.

May such ‘Awakened Ones’ inspire our uniquely destined realizations of eternal oneness of Life as LOVE, in this precious lifetime.

Embedded below is four minute YouTube video of H.H. the Dalai Lama’s July 6th, 2023, 88th Birthday Message that eloquently expresses The Buddhist Bodhisattva’s aspiration for happiness of all sentient beings and powerfully summarizes the purpose of this “Awakening” posting.

Let us enjoy and deeply reflect on it.

And so may it be!

Ron Rattner


His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s 88th Birthday Message, July 6th, 2023

Fear

“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear,
. . . . and the one who fears is not perfected in love.”
~ 1 John 4:18
“Deep down, at our cores, there are only two emotions:
love and fear.
All positive emotions come from love,
all negative emotions from fear.
From love flows happiness, contentment, peace, and joy.
From fear comes anger, hate, anxiety and guilt.”
~ Elisabeth Kubler-Ross & David Kessler – When You Don’t Choose Love You Choose Fear
“The choice that frees or imprisons us
is the choice of love or fear.
Love liberates. Fear imprisons.”
~ Gary Zukav
“Love is what we were born with.
Fear is what we learned here. 

The spiritual journey is the relinquishment
– or unlearning – of fear
and the acceptance of love back into our hearts.”
~ Marianne Williamson
“Fear arises through identification with form, whether it be a material possession, a physical body, a social role, a self-image, a thought, or an emotion. It arises through unawareness of the formless inner dimension of consciousness or spirit, which is the essence of who you are. You are trapped in object consciousness, unaware of the dimension of inner space which alone is true freedom.”
~ Eckhart Tolle
“Those who fear suffering, suffer from fear.”
~ French Proverb
“To be afraid of dying
is like being afraid of discarding an old worn-out garment.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi
“Love blesses the world; 
fear afflicts it.
”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“Fear of death is fear of life;
so face death to live life.”
 ***
“You are not a mortal; you are immortal.
So never fear being a non-being.”
 ***
“Our deepest fears
hide our highest potentials.”
 ***
“As we lose our fear of leaving life,
we gain the art of living life.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings

“There is a light that shines beyond all things on Earth,
… beyond the highest, the very highest heavens.
This is the light that shines in your Heart.”
~ Chandogya Upanishad 3.13.7
“Love is the only freedom in the world
because it so elevates the spirit
that the laws of humanity and the phenomena of nature
do not alter its course.”
~ Khalil Gibran, Broken Wings





Ron’s Introduction and Explanation of “Fear”

Dear Friends,

Beginning thirty years ago, during an extended post-retirement secluded period of meditation, introspection, and prayer, I “channeled” and wrote many spiritual aphorisms, essays, and sutra-poem verses. Later, some of these spiritual insights were digitized, recorded on computers, and published on the SillySutras website after it was launched thirteen years ago.

Today’s posting about “Fear” augments, explains and republishes some of those writings. Because of unprecedented worldwide post-pandemic deaths, warfare, anxiety and fear of global catastrophe, these insights now seem particularly important.

Background

For eons, masses of Earthly humans (experimentally forgetting their common Divine birthright as Eternal beings of love and light, and thus believing themselves separate in space and time from each other and Nature), have been hierarchically ruled through religious, military, or political dogma by a few self-proclaimed rulers who’ve been extremely rich, royal, or purportedly enlightened, omniscient, or infallible beings.

As explained in previous memoirs I’ve found persuasive evidence that some of these rulers have been very intelligent but evil and demonic Luciferian beings with undemocratic and tyrannic intentions, who are afflicted and dominated by subhuman malignant energies which psychotically and parasitically polarize, divide and exploit humankind, by provoking anger, anxiety, and fear. I’ve also referred to these mental parasites or energy vampires as “archons”, a term used in the Gnostic traditions.

As psychopaths without morality, they’ve become rulers of most major human governments and empires. And most people have accepted and followed these leaders without questioning their motives.

But gradually a growing number of people have morally refused to follow these evil rulers, unless intimidated.

And such refusals are becoming crucial because these Luciferians or Archons can exist only in low energy biospheres, like Earth’s third density illusory world of space, time, and duality. They cannot exist in elevated biosphere energies of infinitely potential fifth dimensions and above. So these evil rulers keep frightening and intimidating people to prevent their energetic ascensions to higher dimensions.

Coordinated False Declarations of a (non-existent) Deadly Coronavirus Pandemic.

Starting in 2019/20, these tyrannic rulers decided to falsely frighten their societies with coordinated declarations by individual and institutional world leaders of a (non-existent) deadly coronavirus pandemic requiring worldwide social and business lock-downs and alleged urgent need for repeated life-saving anti-viral vaccinations.

For example, Henry Kissinger (former secretary of state and national security adviser in the Nixon and Ford administrations) declared in a pre-vaccine Wall Street Journal Op Ed that “The Coronavirus Pandemic Will Forever Alter the World Order”. and that

“The [alleged] coronavirus has struck with unprecedented scale and ferocity. Its spread is exponential: U.S. cases are doubling every fifth day. At this writing, there is no cure. Medical supplies are insufficient to cope with the widening waves of cases. Intensive-care units are on the verge, and beyond, of being overwhelmed. Testing is inadequate to the task of identifying the extent of infection, much less reversing its spread. A successful vaccine could be 12 to 18 months away.”


Thereafter, several (Bill Gates Foundation financed) anti-coronavirus experimental mRNA vaccines were “miraculously” developed (without long-term safety testing), patented, and sold to Archon dominated governments, which mandated them for their citizens’ purported protection.

But despite urgently coordinated and repeated global administration of these (alleged) life-saving anti-viral vaccinations, and worldwide enactments of unconstitutional, immoral and irrational laws and edicts preventing normal travel, business activities, and religious and social life, there is little believable evidence supporting these purported anti-pandemic procedures.

Instead, as of June 2023, there exists MUCH credible – but main media censored – official, actuarial, and medical expert evidence that already over 600 million human beings have been unnecessarily killed or injured by alleged anti-coronavirus vaccines, and that such deaths and injuries are continuing.

THE UNVACCINATED | “Nobody is Safe!”

Embedded below is a recent 11 minute video from Matt Orfalea’s YouTube channel which humorously documents the entire coordinated vaccination intimidation campaign with many audio/video clips from major media monopolies controlled by Luciferian Archons.



Because pervasive fear precludes humans from energetically ascending to higher dimensions where Archon Luciferians can’t exist, this is an important video.

Please enjoy and reflect on it, and thereafter read (and listen) to my original sutra-verses about “Fear” (republished below) and deeply consider the profound Love versus Fear quotations and sutras posted above.


Fear

We’ve nothing to fear but fright;
fright which hides our light.

For just beyond our darkest fright
shines our brightest light –

The Eternal light of LOVE.



Ron’s audio recitation of “Fear”

Listen to



Conclusion, Dedication, and Invocation

We now live in a fear-pervaded low energy biosphere
of third dimension time, space, and duality,
where love and fear cannot co-exist.

The spiritual insights about Fear, expressed in the foregoing key quotations, sutras and brief poem, are deeply dedicated to furthering our destined transcendence of all infinitely potential biospheres
mentally separate from our Eternal existence as ONE Divine LOVE.

Invocation

May these writings about Fear
Inspire our Self-identification as spirit,

While ending our worldly anxieties
Of bodily death or disease,

Thereby inspiring us to fearlessly BE
– Karma FREE – Eternally

As ONE Divine LOVE.



And so may it be!

Ron Rattner