An amazing speech by a female aboriginal elder

“Today we are facing a new Era. The ancient Mayan culture speaks of this change, the ending of their old calendar in 2012, and the beginning of a new age. They, along with many other Indigenous cultures, also speak that these times as one of a more feminine nature, based in the heart and unconditional love.

But women in our modern world have a problem. We have begun to become financially and professionally empowered. Yet the most important need, for spiritual empowerment, is often neglected or ignored.

Our world is already in the time of transition and it will be a difficult time until the new era blossoms into an age of peace and understanding. If our world is to survive, spiritually empowered women must take their place in helping. It’s time for us to step up and step out. The time of hiding is over.

Most “aware” people know that it is necessary to heal our Mother Earth if we are to survive. However, it is equally as imperative to also heal ourselves and each other through unconditional love, compassion and respect. Moreover, women also need to help our men and boys develop their own feminine aspects of gentleness and sensitivity, compassion, nurturing, and kindness. We need to help our male counterparts learn to work from the heart.

It won’t be easy but if we don’t do all of this, we can’t help our planet and humanity risks extinction.

Women you are powerful – truly powerful, with unique gifts that are far-reaching. That is why we are considered a threat by so many male-dominated modern cultures and religious hierarchies. Women are especially tuned to walk in both the spiritual world and the everyday world. I have been taught that we are born spiritual; men have to strive hard to attain that state.

We are particularly adept at creating energy and change. Our great capacity for bonding has made us especially empathic and gifted at understanding and seeing past surface levels. Ultimately, our roles as caretakers and nurturers have opened our hearts and awareness to many levels of the universe. Our spiritual gifts are profound.

Unfortunately, women today have begun to lose that understanding of their gifts as they have grappled to survive in the callous male dominated societies of today. Many live tentative, cold, and fragmented lives as victims of violence, victims of unspeakable offenses against honour. Too often, their hearts and spirit have become uncertain and lost, awash in grief and fear. They have forgotten who they are. They have forgotten their original instructions as human beings and as women.

Yet, most Indigenous cultures recognised the unique and powerful qualities of women. In many cultures we were revered and respected. In some, the entire societal structure was Matriarchal. In others, the special spiritual gifts of women are recognised and we were considered to be the nurturing connection to the Divine. Throughout the Indigenous world, women often held the honoured roles of leaders, advisors, or wisdom-keepers. Often, we are the community healers and seers, although in many cultures this role is reserved for women in their post-menopausal years.

So it’s time that we start looking at our power, our bodies, and our moon-cycles with respect instead of as a “curse.” It’s vitally important that we choose to heal ourselves and regain the understanding of our own unique gifts; to re-claim our own power and ourselves. Then it will be up to each of you, your beliefs, and your own personal, spiritual journey as how to best walk with it all. You need to find your unique way to walk with spirit and continue to succeed with your professions and enterprises.

To quote an ancient Indigenous song, “Women of the earth, take courage. You carry the teaching of a people who look to you for guidance. Be mindful of your walk.”

You are the ones we have been waiting for. It’s time to step up. And yes, I’m speaking to each of you.”

Bilawara Lee, Larrakia Elder

Interview with Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi

Here is a link to a video of an interview with Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi on the BBC in 1985
in which she explains a little about her unique method of Sahaja Yoga and Kundalini awakening:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mA4xu5kVgS4&feature=player_%20embedded

Letter to a brother

Dear brother,

Whilst on the airplane , flying far above the clouds in the inmensity of the beautiful blue sky, I remembered the answer I had forgotten - have forgotten for a long time- and had forgotten to tell you : It is to go beyond; to go beyond the limitations of our mind.

At a mental level sometimes things appear not to have a solution or simply we can't see it ,and we go round and round within our mind. As if beneath a clouded sky or immersed in those very clouds, we can't see the sun or the clear blue sky above them; the clear blue sky of unlimited possibilities , freedom and Joy.

Flying far above a city, we are reminded of how small our lives are down there , how minute the daily problems we fret about ...to go beyond is to go above the limited mind , like the airplane when it goes beyond the barrier of clouds , and like the substance of clouds, we can transcend the vapours of our thoughts... just mental vapours that cloud our perception of Reality, that higher scope of things where problems just fall away, limitations just evaporate ... Our awareness needs to go beyond the mind.

Sajad : The next morning

The next morning was Saturday .Sajad awoke in a happy , tranquil mood .He felt as if his sleep had been complete ; he felt fully rested and regenerated . He flung open the shutters of his window and gazed out at the clear blue sky . There were only a few small clouds ,far ,far above .

Within his soul he felt the joy of creation , the innocent, serene joy of nature ; he felt happy like a child with a present .

Later he went to have breakfast in his favourite café. He sat down at a table outside under a large red parasol . The waiter brought him a milk coffee and a croissant .

As he was having his breakfast gazing out across the plaza at the sunlight playing in the leaves of the trees, making some leaves glow a bright vivid green contrasting with the darker green of the leaves in shadow , he began to remember the great emerald forest in the land where he was born , and then memories suddenly came flooding back to him of an experience he had had many years ago .

The memory of the experience had seemed to have got silted over with the layers of every day life , but now it was as if someone had suddenly flung the doors of memory wide open.
He remembered how he had met an Indian man who had spoken to him of the Primordial Mother , the Adi Shakti.


He recollected how at the time it had felt a little strange to him when this man had spoken of God as a female personality , as a Mother, and not as a Father as he was accustomed to .The Indian man had explained to him how he should pray to the Primordial Mother for Her to manifest within him, to awaken Her dormant energy within him, the energy known as the Kundalini ; a small part of Her energy within him, which resides in every human being , just waiting to be awakened.


He had then shown Sajad an old black and white photo of an Indian lady sitting in a meditation posture with one hand raised with open palm . He had then explained that this lady was an avatar of the Adi Shakti , an incarnation of the Primordial Mother on this earth , and that she had found a way to awaken the Kundalini en mass by means of a simple method. This state of re-connexion with the All Pervading Primordial Mother was known as Self Realization, or the state of yoga or union with the Divine.
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The Indian man had asked him if he would like to have this experience and Sajad had accepted . He had closed his eyes and followed the guided meditation exercise lead by the yogi. At first, as they had begun the exercise , he had felt as if there was some kind of tension within some areas of his being , then towards the end of the meditation he experienced his Kundalini rising as a strong column of cool vibrations within him .His physical body had felt less real , less solid than this wide column of powerful , soothing vibrations which seemed to have replaced the centre of his body and poured out from the centre of the top of his head , cascading all around his head like a majestic fountain. The yogi had named the area at the top of the head as the fontanel bone area , suddenly the name fontanel as referring to this area at the top of the head became very meaningful .

Later that evening he had returned home in state of total bliss. He somehow knew without needing words or concepts that he had arrived at the destination of his seeking. He had felt completely whole , completely satisfied ,so much so that he hadn’t even felt the need to eat or drink.


However, after this initial experience , whenever he had sat down to meditate , in the early morning and in the evening , as the Indian man had indicated , although he had felt peaceful , happy and relaxed , he hadn’t had a reoccurrence of the initial experience; he had simply felt calm and at peace with himself.

But that had all been a long, long time ago , and since then he had gradually stopped meditating , for no particular reason that he could remember . And then the daily clouds of the illusionary world , the “ maya” , as the Indian man had called it , and the sands of time had done the rest.

Then he fell to remembering how Ajit-Atta , the shaman of his people had predicted this meeting shortly before he had departed from his home in Al-Ghadir , the hidden city in the great emerald forest .He had told him he would meet a man of a darker tone of skin than theirs , and even though not of his tribe , he would be able to call him brother ; a man not moved by greed or the need to make money, a pure soul he would be able to call an elder brother ; a man that would give him the key to unlock the true meaning of his life that he was seeking; a man that would give him the vidya, the pure knowledge, the sacred knowledge of the Tree of Life , the true knowledge of all things , bad and good .

And he had told him that this man would give him the Usma-Ata ,the supreme gift , the Meraj ,as their forefathers had named it .

At the time Sajad had not been able to understand, but now with a flash he suddenly realised the significance of that experience he had with the yogi ; it was indeed the fulfilment of the prophecy of the shaman , but at the time he had not realised the connexion…

Sant Jordi ‘s Day ( Saint George’s Day ) in Catalonia

On the 23 rd of April the streets of Barcelona and any Catalan city , town or village are filled with red roses and book stalls . The tradition is for the men to give their fiancé or their wife a red rose, and for her to give him a book .

The popular medieval legend tells how Saint George slays the dragon who is about to devour a princess . And how a rose bush bearing red roses grows out of the blood of the dragon. Thus the tradition of giving women a red rose.

There are similar legends and traditions in various European countries . What I find most interesting about this tradition is the archetypical value of this legend and its deep symbolism : My interpretation would be that the dragon is the archetype that represents the darkness of ignorance and negative tendencies, which is defeated by Saint George , the archetype also known as the archangel Michael in Christianity or Shri Bairava in Hinduism, representing the light of goodness and bravery, and the pure desire to protect the purity , the chastity and the goodness of the principal of the eternal feminine , represented by the princess.
I would suggest that this archetypical battle takes place within each human being in the area of our consciousness which in yoga is known as the left side channel , or ida nadi , representing of our desires and emotional energy that culminate in our subconscious plane, the area of our “ shadow “ as described in Carl Jung’s psychology.


The dragon then represents the type of energy that is primitive , brutal , dark that clouds our awareness and pure desire to evolve and become a higher being and can manifest also in the form of the ugly anger of frustration to fullfill negative tendencies or desires .

The way the blood of the dragon , the very sap of his existence , turns into beautiful flowers would symbolise the potential of the energy of the left side channel, the energy of our desire to manifest as beauty and Love, to transform the human being into a fragrant flower .

The fact that the man gives a flower to the woman would seem to acknowledge that this represents the battle within man to bring out the best in him . The offering of a flower being one of the most valid ways for man to approach a woman . A woman being the archetype of love and beauty , and evolution. It is the desire power of a woman that can move the man to defeat his negative tendencies and uncover love and beauty within himself , and thus evolve .

She gives him a book , which would be a symbol of pure knowledge, knowledge of universal values , that can help trigger the pure desire power within his left side channel , and dispel the clouds of ignorance ; kindle the desire to grow into a beautiful being .

And Heaven in a Wild Flower ...

To see a World in a Grain of Sand,

And heaven in a Wild flower,

Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand,

And Eternity in an hour.

poem by William Blake

From here to Divinity

Open Minds: Both scientists and theologians need a new way of understanding God, argues Tim Lott.

As soon as I lost my faith in God at around the age of 14, I started looking for something to fill the God-shaped hole. Just a few years later I discovered the spiritual possibilities of science after stumbling on a remarkable book called An Index of Possibilities. Eschewing equations and textbook pedantry in favour of cartoons, humour and wild graphics, the book explained in layman’s terms the remarkable philosophical and theological implications of relativity, quantum theory, gravity and other science fundamentals.

Index suggested that what I had thought a tiresome academic discipline could actually stimulate the imagination rather than murder it. Over the decades that followed, I joined in the growing public fascination with popular science, and it occurred to me eventually that the real question was not “Is there a God?”, but “What does science tell us about the modern meaning of the idea that the word ‘God’ points towards?”

For there can be as much narrow-mindedness in scientific circles as there is in religious circles. Many scientists are not only reluctant to acknowledge that there might be valid forms of knowledge outside the scientific method but blind to the godlike implications of what modern science has revealed to us. Perhaps because new-age “magical thinkers” have misinterpreted much of the evidence to come up with spurious and irrational conclusions. However, the new-agers are right about one thing. The universe is profoundly weird, and even godlike. The Big Bang itself, entirely inaccessible to the tools of scientists, is an extraordinarily theological phenomenon — a whole creation emerging out of nothing in an instant. And why should there be anything at all, rather than nothing, for ever? It would be much less trouble to have no events, no stuff. Yet here we are, millions of years on, evolved from that formless energy into you reading and me writing. Why? Science is silent.

The queerness of the universe goes much further than this. For instance, it isn’t really there in the sense of which we think of it. The amount of actual “stuff” in the human body, for example, can be contained in a grain of salt — the atoms and molecules that we are made of consist almost entirely of space. Of course, we feel solid, but at the most fundamental level there’s almost nothing there. We are such stuff as dreams are made on.

Furthermore, at a subatomic, quantum level, matter springs in and out of existence in a kind of “quantum froth”. Something all the time is coming from nothing then reverting to nothing again. And it is scientifically unquestionable that the mighty cosmos, from one distant corner to another, including the particles that make up you and me, is all made of the same stuff/energy — the same stuff/energy, down to the last infinitesimally small particle, created all those millions of years ago in the Big Bang. Not a single iota has been destroyed or created since. We are, literally and factually, both all one and eternal.

Since all is one, the universe is you — or at least expressed through you. The universe is dead without human beings to conjure it into life — to give it colour, meaning, shape. In that sense, we are still at the centre of the universe. Science, in its constant breaking down and measuring, obscures the truth that there are not multitudes of events — just one event. Not many things — just one thing. And that event, that thing, could be described as the unfolding of “God”. It’s a God that has nothing to say about morality, or judgment, or heaven. But it is unquestionably real — and it is evidenced in our ability to imagine and perceive. We are the universe become conscious of itself.

These are all extraordinarily godlike ideas, and yet as factual, as “real”, as the dinner you eat or the road you walk upon. The trouble is that science gives us no way to feel these miracles as lived realities. The human soul is left unnourished by equations and syllogisms. Science needs a dose of humility before it can start working out what a scientific God might look like — and feel like. Science hates God because it shows that scientific powers are limited in the face of an ultimately unfathomable universe. But scientists need to take note of the Zen nostrum, “If you ask where the flowers come from, not even the god of spring knows.” Or, as Sir Arthur Eddington put it when talking about fundamental particles, “Something unknown is doing we don’t know what.”

Science respects ignorance and “the cloud of unknowing” in a way that religion based on sacred scriptures often does not. But we shall not move towards a new vision of God until science acknowledges the limits of its own disciplines and makes the poetic leap from measurement and analysis to meaning and synthesis. This is perhaps a job more for poets than scientists. If so, poets need to read science books more — and scientists need to understand what poetry is for and the irrefutable realities of which it, too, speaks.

Article by Tim Lott published in The Times Online , 05 April 2009