Sacred Words

(My suggestion is to read only one section a day and ponder/remember/think about/meditate on/ each sacred word.)

(1.)             “The desert evokes the Arabic language, which bears the memory of its origins. In every Arabic word, there is a bit of flowing sand.” – Nacer Khemir

In The Dove’s Lost Necklace, the second film of Nacer Khemir’s desert trilogy, Hassan, a student of Arabic calligraphy, comes across a fragment of a rare manuscript and sets off in search of the missing pieces believing that they will reveal all the secrets of love. In the story, we learn that there are over sixty different words for the one word that we call love. We learn that words have power, but not only that, each letter has power. We are told that a famous calligrapher spent thirty years copying a single letter!

Upasani Maharaj said, “Repetition of the Bhagavad Gita and similar books has the same value as the Vedas, and should be repeated daily, with due observation of all-round purity, without any show whatever, and without trying to understand its meaning.” Trying to understand the meaning of such texts only leads to incorrect conclusions; repetition alone, however, will eventually, and in its own time, lead to the real meaning and all manner of spiritual and temporal happiness, and ultimately, Infinite Bliss. Why? Because the words themselves hold the power of transformation—repeat the words and their power will automatically transform you, but try to pull out their meaning, and you will only drag the words down to your own faulty level of understanding, thereby nullifying their real power.

All I am saying here is to introduce the blog called Sacred Words. I will begin with words and terms used by Upasani Maharaj in his published talks. Since these are Sanskrit words I will include Upasni’s own explanations, not with an intention to define, but only to orient the English speaking mind to the Sanskrit words:

                         

                              Ahamkara

(Ahamkara is the state of ignorance, false consciousness, and the pride of that state. Ahamkara exists because of the existence of the mind in the state of false thinking.)

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(2.)            There is a difference between the definition of a word and the meaning of a word. Definitions can be given, but meaning can only be revealed through the alchemy that takes place when the outer meets the inner and becomes one.

“In the beginning, I misunderstood, but now I’ve got it, the word is good…

Say the word, and you’ll be free…

Say the word, love.” – Beatles

“Baba wants us to love Him, and yet, on our own, we are not capable of loving God. So Baba tells us, ‘Say you love Me,’ knowing that if we simply say it, in obedience to His wish,

whether we feel it or not, our very saying it in obedience, will help it come true.” – (Eruch Jessawala, That’s How it Was, pp. 376-377 Copyright 1995 AMBPPCT)

                                                

       Jivatma

“That pure celestial soul, identified with the projections of the mind” – Upasani Maharaj

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(3.)            In his talks, Upasani Maharaj explains that meditation is the act of bringing one’s mind to an object. The object can be an idol of God, a person, a place, etc.; the object can be a concept, an idea, a sound, a word, a letter; in short, the object of meditation can be anything—or nothing. Upasani goes on to say that the mind is very impressionable—literally so; whatever it is made to dwell on, it, the mind, begins to become that object and exhibit its qualities.

The object of meditation can be anything; it does not have to be a ‘spiritual’ thing. One who constantly thinks about money, eventually attracts money—becomes money—become wealthy. But with this wealth comes all the impressions of money. Money is an instrument of exchange and carries with it all the desires, greed, anger, etc. that it embodies. Ultimately, money disturbs and agitates the mind. The object can be a woman or a man. Since the human form is finite, destructible, and transitory, the mind of one whose object of meditation is the human form begins to imbibe the qualities of finite, destructible, and transitory, that also, like the qualities of money disturb and agitate the mind.

Now consider the attributes of God; infinite and eternal knowledge (existence), power (consciousness), and bliss. Meditating on God, on any of the attributes of God, or on an individual who has become God—a God Realized soul, Perfect Master, or the Avatar—makes the mind like them—like that.

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(4.)                          Prasad

 “The word Prasad means that God comes to one’s self and sits in the heart. ‘Prasadastu Prasannata’ – When God is pleased with us, what happens? He comes and sits in our heart – always. What is the purpose? It is done for the attainment of the ultimate Bliss, the purification of the mind, and for absolving one’s self from karma-parabdha which makes one suffer for births on end.” – Upasani Maharaj

Traditionally, prasad is taken in the mouth or in an appropriate form, applied to the forehead or physical body.

Some common mediums are; bukka (black scented coal powder) for the prasad of Vithoba of Pandapur (a form of Krishna), or turmeric powder for Kandhoba (one of the incarnations of Shankara).

Sanskrit and Classical Arabic—there may be some other languages as well—are unique because the letters and words don’t just represent things, they are those things, and that is where their power lies.

Take the Sanskrit word Om (Aum). Om is the first sound that issued from the eternal, infinite silence of the Beyond State of God. Before Om there was no Creation—no movement—no vibration—no consciousness. Om therefore represents the transformation of the Impersonal Beyond state of God into form—into Creation.

The word Om not only represents this phenomenon, it is this phenomenon. Seekers intone this word in order to become this sound and all that it represents—all that it is. If Om is the first sound, the first vibration, the first manifestation of Creation, then it is also the last sound, the last vibration, the last manifestation of Creation after the soul (God) acquires and perfects consciousness of itself—“I am God.”

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 (5.)    Mukti

(Liberation—the state of being free from the bonds of the world—the state of the Infinite—the Infinite Bliss.)

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(6.)

Avatar

Parvardigar

Vishnu

The Christ

                              The Saviour

                                          The Ancient One

                                                Rasool

                                                Saheb-e-Zaman

                                             

  The Light that comes before the dawn

“Age after age, when the wick of Righteousness burns low, the Avatar comes yet again to rekindle the torch of Love and Truth. Age after age, amidst the clamour of disruptions, wars, fear and chaos, rings the Avatar’s call:

                                                 ‘COME ALL UNTO ME.’” – Meher Baba’s Call

“The Avatar is always One and the same because God is always One and the same, the eternal, indivisible, infinite One who manifests Himself in the form of the Avatar, as the Messiah, as the Buddha, as the Ancient One,—the Highest of the High. This eternally One and the same Avatar is made to repeat His manifestation from time to time, in different cycles, adopting names and different human-forms, in different places, to reveal Truth in different garbs and different languages, in order to raise humanity from the pit of ignorance and help free it from the bondage of delusions.” – Meher Baba – God Speaks

          

            Avatar

                                            The light that comes before the dawn

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 (7.)    So-Ham

As the breath is taken in, silently say So with the feeling of I.

As the breath is released, silently say Ham with the feeling of am.

Would you say that your chair is you?

Or, would you say that your chair is yours?

It is a matter of consciousness—what do you identify with?

Now, what about the body?

Would you say that your body is you?

Or, do you say that your body is yours?

It is a matter of consciousness—what do you identify with?

And then, what about the mind and its manifestations of thought and feeling?

Would you say that your thoughts and feelings are you?

Or, do you say that your thoughts and feelings are yours?

It is a matter of consciousness—what do you identify with?

     So-Ham

In the Gurdjieff work, much was made of the exercise of self-observation—observing oneself—how one walks, talks, does things—in order to learn—about oneself and that thing we call attention.

But there was something else; it was what Gurdjieff called Self-remembering. Self-remembering is one of those things that the more one talks about it, the further one gets from it. Let’s just simply say that self-remembering is a state of remembering the self—feeling the self.

    So-Ham

I am.

Breathe in with the feeling of I. Breathe out with the feeling of am.

On the cover of a recent cd called Music of George I Gurdjieff by The Gurdjieff Folk Instruments Ensemble – by Levon Eskenian—a cd I highly recommend—there is a black and white photo of Gurdjieff sitting on a bench. He is wearing a heavy black coat and hat. He is leaning slightly forward, head somewhat down, both feet flat on the ground. His left hand is on his thigh, the right a little out in front of his body in a gesture that looks like he could be holding something between his thumb and fingers. If you squint your eyes a little, he could appear to be like a large, heavy, black rock. For me, Gurdjieff is demonstrating a posture of self-remembering—feeling himself.

When I am identified with my body—when my body is me, not mine;

When I am identified with my thoughts and feelings—when they are me not mine;

Then I am not remembering myself, not feeling myself—I am a ghost; I am asleep; I am lost.

As the breath is taken in, silently say So with the feeling of I.

As the breath is released, silently say Ham with the feeling of am.

     So-Ham

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(8.)           Ever look at the Arabic script for Allah (God)? Sometimes simple, sometimes embellished, the basic form is consistent. A letter, somewhat like a softly written   w with the end of the last line shaped like a blade. Next to the w is a straight line with another blade top stretching above the w beside it. Above the mid-point of the w is another w, this one much smaller than the first. You can easily find the script on-line if, if you wish to see it for yourself.

In fact, the Arabic script for Allah is made up of at least five different symbols. But to meditate

on the script, no knowledge of Arabic or its symbolism is necessary. Just opening to the script is

all that’s needed. There is a feeling of up-liftment, of beauty, of calm, of peace; and with regard to the two w’s, there is conveyed a sense of the Cabalistic formulation, “As above, so below.”

Many years ago, when I began writing this blog –Embedded with the Kali Yuga—I was motivated by what I perceived of as a great imbalance between attention to the world (illusion), and knowledge (awareness) of reality.  There were, of course, endless news reports concerned with wars, economic conditions, murders, politics, etc., but where was the news regarding reality? I mused, where were the daily reports about how many embodied souls (jiv-atmas) achieved God-Realization that day? Which advanced souls progressed to a higher plane? How many embodied souls progressed from the condition of reincarnation to involution of consciousness?

Of course, I was not personally privy to that information, nor did I know of anyone who was, but my idea was to create a blog that would continually remind people—those people who shared a burning desire, or wish, to remember—themselves, or God in any of His names and forms. To all those who do, I repeat the words of Shams-e-Tabriz (Perfect Master and master of Rumi), “Come, come, come; whoever you are; wanderer, worshiper, lover of leaving; it does not matter who you are; ours is not a caravan of despair; though you may have broken your vow a thousand times; come, come yet again, come!”

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(9.)

Prayers and wishes to one and all. May you all achieve, by God’s grace, the state of:

   Jamal-e-ahadiyat

                         (The beauty of Absolute Oneness) – translated by Meher Baba, God Speaks.