Focus on Spirituality: Easter/Passover Messages
Easter Sunday is a joy to have the inner Christ energy activated and burning in our souls. Passover is later this year, starting on Monday, April 22. During the Passover Seders of the past few years, I have been reminded of the symbolism of freedom from slavery and the rebirth and renewal that occurs through God’s grace in escaping from Egypt. It is also a reminder that we move from the bondage of ignorance to action. A free personal journey toward soul liberation and divine revelation.
Spiritual Thoughts:
1) We are here to enjoy ourselves, not to take ourselves to the grave. Financial and material desires force us to give up precious time with friends and family. Seniors who are dying are often asked what they regret, which is that they worked too much and didn’t spend enough time with their families.
2) We are not here to repeat the same mistakes of the past.I often think of my favorite movies groundhog day With Bill Murray. Will we make the same mistakes endlessly and wake up to the same nightmares, or will we make new choices and wake up to a new life of joy and enthusiasm? If we have bad relationship karma, do we take responsibility for what we did wrong and do it better this time?
3) We must stay awake and not make the same mistakes, which means choosing kindness and compassion over blame, faultfinding, and complaining. You have no right to complain about it endlessly if you’re not willing to address it and take action.
4) We must see the subtle ego games that Mars plays, the desire to be right at all costs, or to compare with others in order to make oneself better, or to outshine others in conversation.
5) We must make moral judgments. In the age of Rahu, deception, corruption and scams are the norm and we must strive to do the right thing, even if it is not easy. I miss those stories in the news where people find lost money and find a way to track down the owner and return it.
6) We must find Jupiter and defeat Rahu and not accept government corruption as the norm. We must get back to teaching moral values at home and in the classroom and not allow our children to be corrupted by the violence and glorification of evil that has become the norm on television. It’s time to turn off your TV, let your kids play playground games only with other kids, get them away from violent video games, cell phones, and get back to old-fashioned values.
7) We need to get back to simplicity, take care of others, share, and instead of spending our time addicted to drugs and numb to violent TV, take time to make a difference in the lives of others.
8) We are here to practice kindness and compassion. I’m reminded of a wonderful story by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, who interviewed a man who had experienced death and then been resurrected on the operating table. She remembered that as she ascended, her whole life flashed and reviewed before her, but she only saw the times when she practiced unconditional love and kindness. She remembers helping a girl in a wheelchair at an overnight camp and being there for her when everyone went to camp, and is a great reminder of her sacrifice and love.
All of this requires us to make significant changes, choose new patterns, and create new paths in life. It can be done, but it takes conscious effort and active choice. We must remain vigilant and awake to do this.
We are put on this planet to give, to love, to share, to help others. In the time of Rahu, we are not about accumulating new gadgets as much as possible, wasting our lives or numbing our emotional pain, hurting anyone or anything, or spending our time condemning others or demonizing those who disagree with us.
A little yoga, meditation, conscious awareness and mindful action can make a difference. Find time to transform your life through spiritual practice.
Easter is coming. It’s time to be reborn, renewed and do things differently. You can make a difference in your own life and the lives of others. It’s time to love!
Happy holidays to everyone. Today, enjoy and complete your rebirth with good deeds.
It will end with a wonderful quote from Yogananda about the birth of Christ at Christmas, but Easter also brings to mind rebirth:
Paramahamsa Yogananda:
Every day, every hour, every golden moment, Christ knocks on the door… Now, in this solemn and holy dawn, Christ comes specifically to answer the call of your heart and awaken the omnipresent Christ consciousness within you.
This omnipresent Christ is sleeping in the arms of eternity; He loves to be reborn anytime and anywhere, especially in the warmth of your true love. While the infinite Christ exists in every corner of space as the radiance of eternal new wisdom and creative expression, you can never see Him unless He chooses to be seen in the cradle of your continual giving. The cozy crib of your heart has long been small, housing only self-love; now you must make it huge so that the social, national, international and cosmic love of Christ can be born there and become one love.
The Infinite Christ is omnipresent; worship His birth in temples of Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, Muslim, Jewish and other true religions. Every expression of truth originates from the all-pervading Christ-sense, so learn to worship the Divine Universal Wisdom in every pure religion, faith, and doctrine. Since the Cosmic Christ dreamed of the existence of the divine being of humanity, you should celebrate the birth of Christ with your newly awakened equal love for every people and race. “
Excerpted from “The Cradle of Christ Everywhere” from The Second Coming of Christ
(Special thanks to Juliana Swanson for reminding me of this wonderful quote)