Extracting Brahman's Satya from Brahma's Maya (Part 2): Illuminating the Hindu Scriptures

Over the centuries, the illusion-manifesting Ego Mind (Brahma) has dumped so much deceptive sludge on the scriptures of Hinduism, it's hard to know where to begin the second phase of our Satya-excavating exercise. So, let's do like the sages of old and start where the Rig Veda begins. The first of that sacred text's ten books contains 199 hymns devoted to numerous at-one-ment forces and devices. I won't list them all -- nor will I try to explain what all those praised are and do, because that would eat up what remains of my present incarnation. What I will do is list the first fifteen, trusting there's a reason the rishis assigned these particular "entities" top billing. Next to the names, I've noted how each is commonly perceived in modern Hinduism (thanks largely to Brahma's Satya-sullying guiles).

Agni (the fire or fire-sacrifice deva)
Vayu (a storm or wind god)
The Asvins (twin horse-headed physicians)
Indri (the river-devi consort of Indra)
Indra x 7 (King of the Gods, replaced by Brahma in the ego-invented Trimurti)
Agni x 2
Vishvedevas (the whole pantheon of Hindu deities)
Rtu (the best time for "yajna" rituals)

The whole Rig Veda contains 1,028 Hymns, Suktas, or Riks. As in Book One, the "god" most often addressed throughout is Indra, followed by Agni and Soma -- the "twin primordial consorts." Indra may get the most mentions, but he is not the first deva acknowledged. That distinction belongs to Agni, followed (supposedly) by Vayu, the Asvins, and Indri -- the lot of whom (like Indra) have largely disappeared from modern Hindu worship and practice. Why? Presumably because Brahma's "dirty water" has diluted their importance over time, just as it's degraded the meaning and importance of the Vedas themselves.

So, let's take a closer look at what the Rig Veda says about some of these deific forces, starting with hymn Numero Uno. Various interpretations of this Rik are available on the internet. While they differ slightly, most are similar in character to the one below by British Indologist Ralph T. H. Griffith (1826-1906).

I Laud Agni, the chosen Priest, God, minister of sacrifice,
Worthy is Agni to be praised by living as by ancient seers.
He shall bring, hitherward the Gods.
Through Agni man obtaineth wealth, yea, plenty waxing day by day,
Most rich in heroes, glorious.
Agni, the perfect sacrifice which thou encompassest about
Verily goeth to the Gods.
May Agni, sapient-minded Priest, truthful, most gloriously great,
The God, come hither with the Gods.
Whatever blessing, Agni, thou wilt grant unto they worshipper,
That, Angiras, is indeed thy truth.
To thee, dispel of the night, O Agni, day by day with prayer
Bringing thee reverence, we come
Ruler of sacrifices, guard of Law eternal, radiant One,
Increasing in thine own abode
Be easy of approach, even as a father to his son:
Agni, be with us for our weal.

Does this translation capture the spirit of the divinely revealed original? Let's see, shall we? What follows is my own word-for-word translation of the accepted transliterated Sanskrit construction of this Rik. And, believe you me, working this out was no easy feat -- and would have been impossible without the many resources currently available online (especially the Wisdom Library and the multi-lingual Website of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother). To the creators of both, I offer my deepest gratitude.

As I read the word, "Agni" is a compound of "a" (of God) and "gni" (a shorthand form of jnani, the Sanskrit word for "sacred knowledge"). The term "Agni" translates, therefore, not as "fire," but as "the sacred knowledge of God." And that "sacred knowledge" still dwells within our dreaming minds as the first Red Ray of Creation. In Christian Theology, that first Red Ray is variously known as the Word of God, the Logos, the Blood Ray, and the Blood of Christ. That first Red Ray is, in short, the creative FIRE of God's Mind still burning within the ONE Son, Christ Mind, or Great Purusha concealed from our awareness by the "veil of physical form" the Great Deceiver constructed to hide that Great Truth of our Being.

Agni is, therefore, a Vedic term meaning "Fire of God," which the Ego Mind reversed, as per usual, into an external and (therefore) unreal "god of fire."

Agni, the Fire of God, as typically depicted in Hindu iconography.

With that in mind, let's see what the Rig Veda's opening Sukta actually teaches about Agni. What follows is my line-by-line and word-for word retranslation of this sacred teaching (not hymn!).

The Fire of God's presence in the Walled City (the Holy Meeting Place) stands at the door joining the one who is ignorant to the divine right-guiding melody invoking the inner-radiance bestowing the treasures of completion (or wholeness).

Agnim [The Fire of God's] ǀ īḷe [presence] ǀ puraḥ [in the Temple, Citadel, or Walled City] | hitam [stands at the door]ǀ ya-jñasya [transporting the one who is ignorant] ǀ devam [to the divine] | ṛtvi-jam [right-guiding + jam = gitam = music] ǀ hotā-ram [invoking the inner-radiance] ǀ ratnadhā-tamam [bestowing the blessings or treasures of completion or wholeness]

That sacred fire purifies the dream of fear by sounding the Holy Spirit's worshipful now-moment mindfulness at the wellspring (or on the sacred grass), along with the teachers of God in the world extending forgiveness. 

Agniḥ [That sacred fire] ǀ pū-r(e)ve-bhiḥ [purifies the dream of fear] ǀ ṛ(a)ṣ-ibhiḥ [by sounding the Holy Spirit's] ǀ īḍyaḥ [worshipful] ǀ nūtana-iḥ [now-moment mindfulness] ǀ uta [at the wellspring or sacred grass] ǀ saḥ(a) [along or together with] ǀ devān [the teachers] ǀ ā [of God] ǀ iha [in the world] ǀ vak-ṣati [extending forgiveness] |

From that sacred fire abundant treasures we obtain by cherishing truly, day by day, the glories springing from the Wholeness of Creation.

Agninā [That sacred fire's] ǀ rayim [abundant treasures] ǀ aśnavat [we obtain] ǀ poṣam [by cherishing] ǀ eva [truly] ǀ dive-dive [day by day] ǀ yaśasam [the glories] ǀ vīravat-tamam [springing or abounding from the wholeness of Creation] |

That holy fire extends our offerings in the Holy Meeting Place in all directions from a higher plane, as blessings coming from all the Sons of God sounding the sacred-syllable's pure communications.

Agne [That sacred fire] ǀ yam [extends] ǀ yajñam [the offerings] ǀ adhvaram [in the Holy Meeting Place] ǀ viśvataḥ [in all directions] ǀ pari-bhūḥ [from a higher plane] ǀ asi-sah [as blessings] | it [coming from] ǀ deveṣu [all the Sons of God] ǀ ga-ccha-ti [sounding the sacred-syllable's pure communications] |

That sacred-fire offering invokes the vision-strength of Divine Truth making perceptible in darkness the wellspring of the Living Being preserving the holiness of God's pure and unbroken communications.

Agnih(otra) [that sacred-fire offering] hota  [invokes] ǀ kavi-kratuḥ [the vision-strength] ǀ satyaḥ [of Divine Truth] ǀ citra-śravaḥ-tamaḥ [making perceptible in darkness the wellspring] ǀ devaḥ [of divine being] ǀ de-vebhiḥ [preserving or protecting the web] ǀ ā [of God's] | gam-at or gam-ad [pure and unbroken communications] |

Endeavor to sound the sacred-syllable giving the strength unto you of kindling the auspicious Miracles of Grace abundantly furnishing spiritual purification coming from the Supreme Spirit's true corporate body. Come together in this state of True Being to kindle, day-by-day, the darkness-illuminating lamp powered by the Holy Name sustaining the Resting Place of incomparable peace.

Yat [endeavor to] ǀ aṅ-ga [sound the sacred syllable] ǀ dā-śuṣe [giving the strength] ǀ tvam [unto you]ǀ agne [of kindling] ǀ bhadram [the auspicious] ǀ karis [miracles of grace] ǀ yasis [abundantly furnishing] | tava = tapas [spiritual purification]ǀ it [coming from] ǀ tat [the Supreme Spirit's] ǀ satyam [true] ǀ aṅgiraḥ [corporate or luminous body] | upa [Come together in] ǀ tvā [this state of true being] ǀ agne [to kindle] ǀ dive-dive [day by day] ǀ doṣāvastaḥ [the darkness-illuminating] ǀ dhiyā [lamp] ǀ vayam [powered by] ǀ namaḥ [the Holy Name] ǀ bharan [sustaining] | taha  [the resting place of]| ima-si [incomparable peace] |

The fire or radiance producing that sound brings nearer the Resting Place of the guardian of the right-mindedness by which the twin rays strengthen the will of the Soul to go home (return to Heaven).

Rā-jan [the fire or radiance producing] ǀ tam [that sound] | adh(a)v-arāṇām [brings nearer the shelter or resting place] ǀ gopām [of the guardian of] ǀ ṛta-sya [the right-mindedness of the] ǀ dīdi-vim [shining two or twin rays] ǀ vardha-mānam [strengthening the will or drive] ǀ sve [of the Soul] ǀ dame = dama [to go home, control the senses, tame the enemy, or give to the Greater Self] |

Eternally like the Father, the Son kindles the sacred offering of the Nada-mantra (the Om/Aum), the right-minded thought-force of our own and only True Self. 

Saḥ-nah = sana [Eternally or perpetually] ǀ pitā-iva [like the Father] ǀ sūnave [the son] ǀ agne [kindles] ǀ su-upāyanaḥ [the sacred offering of] ǀ bhava [the Nada-mantra or Om/Aum] ǀ sac-asva [the right-minded thought-force of] ǀ naḥ [our] ǀ sva-staye = sva-staya [own and only True Self] |

Pretty illuminating, wouldn't you say? Moreover, it communicates useful information to the truth-seeker, unlike Griffith's result. not only is Griffith's translation unhelpful, it's also misleading. The Fire of God does not, for example, bestow worldly wealth upon human beings; nor does "Agni" play a role in any form of sacrifice, be it ritual or personal.

Or, as Course-Jesus states point-blank: "Sacrifice is a notion totally unknown to God."

As you can imagine, this radically different translation took a little time to work out -- and had to be reviewed and refined once or twice as I learned more. The labor was, however, worthwhile because, like our earlier Bhagavad Gita do-over, this new-and-improved translation of the Rig Veda's first Sukta demonstrates just how stealthily Brahma and his agents have distorted these teachings over the centuries. My translation, in fact, bears no resemblance whatsoever to Griffith's -- or to any others I've come across to date.

While this disparity might once have aroused suffocating self-doubt, I have faith that my result better captures the flavor of the original. Why? Because the Sukta now mirrors what Jesus teaches in the Course and Bible, as well as what Krishna explains to Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita -- if and when all three of these scriptural texts are interpreted with a reasonable degree of illuminated understanding.

As Jesus explains in the Course, the Holy Spirit's teachings are always consistent. There is, in other words, only ONE Great Truth. The forms of delivery may number in the thousands, but the message, if genuine, will resonate across the board. If, then, the Course, the Bhagavad Gita, and the Rig Veda are all divinely revealed scriptural texts (as I KNOW them to be), they should not differ in more than setting and symbolism. If, therefore, they appear to differ in substance as well as form, there can be only ONE explanation: Errors in interpretation made the SAME teachings APPEAR to be different.

So, let's correct those errors, starting with the TWO biggest blunders made by most Rig Veda translators, which are: 1) Addressing the deific force described in the first Sukta (and more than 200 others) as "Agni" and 2) Accepting the prevailing wisdom that "Agni" means elemental "fire."

Do the rishis actually call this Holy Power "Agni" anywhere in the first Rik? No. They use the descriptive terms Agnim, Agnih, Agnina, and Agne, all of which Griffith (among most others) erroneously translates as "Agni."

Do the rishis actually use the name "Agni" anywhere in the whole Rig Veda Samhita? I'm guessing they don't, given that the Holy Fire described as Agim, Agnih, Agnina, and Agne in the first Rik is, in fact, the first Red Ray of Creation, Solar Logos, or Great Purusha occupying the Throne of God on the Seventh Plane of Consciousness.

And that is the reason "Agni" gets top Vedic billing.

The next two game-changing errors are the mistranslations of yajnasya as "sacrifice" and purah-hitam as "priest." Correcting these errors is vital because, together, they effectively strip "Agni" of its True Identity as "the Fire of God's presence standing at the door between ego-ignorance and divine wholeness" to "the priest presiding over the fire-sacrifice ritual." And that's a pretty monumental difference in my book.

I mean no disrespect, but the "yajnas" or fire-sacrifice rituals common to Hinduism are the consequence of widespread and longstanding ego-inspired distortion.

Let us ask the obvious question: Why would the great rishis of old assign such prominence to a minor sacrifice-ritual deity? The right answer is: They wouldn't and they didn't, because the fear-based ideas of "sacrifice," "deprivation," and "scarcity" crawled out of Brahma's fetid swamp, NOT Brahman's glorious Ocean of Milk. And yet, as long as the question remains unasked, Brahma's thralls are left with but two choices, both of which are wrong-minded: Blindly accept that sacrificial rituals are advocated by the Vedic rishis and are, therefore, a desirable form of worship, or reject the Vedas as scriptural dinosaurs with no modern relevance.

Whichever of these two options we choose is fine by the Evil One, because either will keep us wandering around the bowels of hell in the fetters he fashioned for us.

Let's now look more closely at the word yajnasya -- a marriage not of "yajna" and "sya" (as commonly presumed), but of "ya" (joining) and "jnasya" (the one who is ignorant). The Fire of God's presence, in other words, stands at the door between the Middle World, where the Ego Mind still holds sway, and the Upper World to which we ascend after experiencing "ego-death."

"Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice [the OM], and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." -- The Great Amen, Revelations 3:20

The "door" metaphor should strike a chord with anyone who's read the New Testament. Jesus mentions the same "door" numerous times in the Course. In the first chapter of the URText (the unedited transcript), for example, he says that "door" leads out of the desert (of earthly existence) forever. We open that door, he explains, by being miracle-ready at all times. And we prepare for miracle-readiness by (among other things) reciting the miracle-prayer, which he dictates as: "If you will tell me what to do, ONLY THAT do I will to do."

I won't share all he imparts about the door, because it would take up too much time and space. But I shall share what he says in Workbook Lesson 56, a review of Lessons 26 - 30, all of which have to do with restoring Holy Vision. The reference to the door occurs in the review for Lesson 28 (Above all else, I want to see things differently), which reads: 

The world I see holds my fearful self-image in place, and guarantees its continuance. While I see the world as I see it now, truth cannot enter my awareness. I would let the door behind this world be opened for me, that I may look past it to the world that reflects the Love of God.

Note that he says "the door BEHIND this world." Underneath the illusion of form, in other words. And this is why, I suspect, he counsels us constantly to "sink deep" while practicing the meditative Workbook exercises. The "door" to which he refers stands between primary "I-am" identification with the ego-body self (Brahma's impermanent creation) and primary "I-am" identification with the Soul (Brahman's eternal creation).

Where we make that transition differs by teachings. Some say it happens in the Anahata Chakra, while others say it happens between the Manipura and Anahata chakras or between the Anahata and Vishuddha chakras. Good arguments could be made for any of these suppositions. But what they all get RIGHT is that the "door" is the Vishnu Granthi. While teachings about what this Granthi represents vary widely, I see the Vishnu Granthi as the "psychic knot" of self-will -- or willing and acting out of sync with God's Will and Plan for our Souls.

When viewed in this light, Course-Jesus's miracle-prayer makes perfect sense. And so does the practice of conscious non-doing we'll talk about shortly.

All of this supports my interpretation of hitam as "standing at the door." But what about the walled city (purah)? Does Jesus reference the same symbol anywhere in the Course? Not that I could find. But he does use the metaphor in Matthew 5:14-16. He begins that verse by stating that we are the light of the world -- a sentiment echoed in Workbook Lesson 61. Jesus then follows up this declaration with the explanation translated thusly in the King James Bible:

A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Unfortunately, the English translation doesn't give this verse its full due. The Greek word changed to "city" was polis, which has come to mean "city-state," but originally referred to a walled citadel occupied by a group of people united by a common bond, idea, or world-view. While researching the word's genesis, I came across the following at Study.com (a website for teachers):

Twenty-first century people tend to think of governments or communities as made up of individuals. This was not the case in the Greek polis as it first developed. The ancient Greeks did not think of themselves as separate, atomized individuals. They self-identified as members of a family, a clan, a tribe, as members of ever-expanding circles of individuals with intimate familial connections, no matter how far-flung.

So, in BOTH the New Testament and the Rig Veda, the Holy Spirit used a "polis" to symbolize the Holy Meeting Place. And in BOTH scriptural teachings the true meaning of that symbol was lost through unilluminated translation. Consequently, the IDENTICAL teaching was made to SEEM different through ego-sabotage.

Let's now see if the same can be said of the word "hill." The original Greek term was orous, which CAN mean mountain, but more subtly translates as "higher place," "higher plane," or "rising above the common level." Orous is, in fact, the root of the word translated as "heaven" at the end of this verse. That word is ouranos, which actually means "sky." That "sky" and "heaven" became interchangeable terms can be attributed to the widely-held misapprehension at the time that God dwelled in the actual sky. As we now know,  "sky" is a scriptural cipher for the Upper World, Realm, or Firmament.

It's a little off-topic, but let's move on to the next sentence in Matthew, which reads: "Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house." In the KJV translation, "candle" replaced the Greek word luchos, which means "portable lamp." Likewise, "candlestick" was an 18th-century English substitution for luchina, which more accurately translates as "lampstand" or "menorah."

So, what Jesus ACTUALLY said (assuming Matthew's account is accurate) was closer to this: "You are the light of the world. The power of your minds, when joined in Holy Purpose in the Holy Meeting Place, can't be hidden. Would you light the Lamp of God and keep it hidden in the body? No. You would shine the light of your Menorah into the Temple of the shared Christ Mind, so it could radiate its healing brilliance to the other disenfranchised parts of your own Self."

Thus, Matthew's gospel, the Course, and the Rig Veda all convey the same message, which is this: To receive the At-one-ment for ourselves, we must be willing to share its healing sound and light with everyone else, too. Jesus, in fact, hammers this idea home throughout the Course, but especially in Workbook Lesson 137 (When I am healed, I am not healed alone).

The prayer he provides in this lesson is one of the standards I use to "call" my daily Golden Circle "meetings."

When I am healed, I am not healed alone
And I share that healing with the world.
That sickness may be banished from the mind of God's One Son,
which is my only Self.

Says it all, right?

As Course-Jesus explains repeatedly, excluding anyone from our Golden Circle, Meeting Place, Secret Prayer, or YAJNA gatherings also excludes HIM and GOD, who are present only in Oneness or Wholeness. We can't, therefore, exchange Miracles of Grace with other Souls until we have forgiven everybody for everything -- by wholeheartedly accepting that the "sin-abode" we created in partnership with Brahma is a) an illusion and, therefore, UNREAL and b) a dwelling place unworthy of God and His ONE Holy Son.

Our Golden Circle "meetings" are almost certainly the sacred Ring Dance discussed by Bonaventura and other medieval and renaissance theologians, as well as the Round Dance and/or Circle Dance described in the Acts of John. Like many other Apostle-authored gospels, the Acts of John was omitted from the New Testament canon by the "catholic" authorities who propagandistically labeled it "Gnostic" and, therefore, "heresy."

As I currently see things, what we're really doing in the Holy Meeting Place is calling back into our minds the "sparks" of our own Self we projected outward as egos in bodies to 1) get rid of the guilt we feel for forsaking God and 2) experience "specialness" through separation. To experience unity or wholeness again, we have to "get the band back together," so to speak. We must, in other words, reunite all the fragments or sparks of our own SELF we judged unworthy of love and forgiveness -- in our minds, where they actually are. Not "out there" among the demon-possessed walking dead. And our Golden Circle "meetings" are how we do this. Our Golden Circle "meetings" also are how we a) fortify our Souls to overcome the parasitic Ego Mind and b) open the door to the Upper World.

Moreover, holding these miracle-working "meetings" is, Course-Jesus tells us, the only reason time exists. Doing anything else is, therefore, a waste of time until we are healed of the "sickness" of separation-mindedness.

Bearing in mind all I've just spelled out, have another gander at what the Great Amen says to John the Elder in Revelations 3:20: Behold, I stand at the door [between the Middle and Upper Worlds], and knock [sound the right-guiding melody of the Om]: if any man hear my voice [the sacred-syllable, Nada, or Om vibration], and open the door [the passageway between the Middle and Upper Worlds], I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

Jesus as the metaphoric Bridegroom, summoning his "Bride" -- the disenfranchised Soul -- to the Upper World.

Let's now examine the Sanskrit word yajna, because it's vitally important that we nail this down. In Sanskrit, yaj means "offering" or (significantly) "giving alms," while na has a wide range of definitions. According to the leading Sanskrit dictionaries, "na" can mean "not," "knowledge," "certainty," "gift," "a name for Shiva," "wish or desire," "water-house," or "a noise like streaming water." Adding to the confusion, "na" also is an oft-used Vedic shorthand designation for either "Nara" (the eternal spirit pervading the universe) or "Nada" (the Om vibration).

So, yaj-na may indeed translate as "giving the alms of Nara" -- the "shining one" or Purusha, who IS the hidden, indwelling Light of God or Fire of God in every thought we project into form. And didn't Jesus express something similar in the New Testament? He did indeed. In Matthew 6:1-8, he said to give our "alms" to those in need through "secret prayer" (rather than visible or audible actions of any kind).

In the KJV Bible, the word "alms" replaced the Greek word eleemosune, which means "compassionateness" or "beneficence," especially as directed toward "the poor." And by "the poor" or "those in need," Jesus means -- in the Bible AND the Course -- those in need of the spiritual sustenance we give and receive, through the Light or Fire of God, in the Holy Meeting Place.

So, at the risk of overstating the obvious, Jesus professes in Matthew 6:1-8 that we should give our brotherly compassion through right-minded thought-gifts (the secret prayers that manifest separation-healing miracles), rather than through charitable acts, audible chanting, praying out loud in churches or study groups, or making ritualized offerings of any sort. And, when correctly translated, that's exactly what the Rig Veda's first teaching also imparts.

I can't stress enough how significant it is that the Rig Veda uses the phrase "giving alms" to denote the oblations we are implored to offer through the Christ Self to our brothers in the world. In future posts, you will learn that the rishis used many other presumably "Christian" or "Biblical" terms and phrases as well -- some 1250 years before Jesus walked the earth!

In Sukta 1.27.10, for example, the rishis say:

Jarā-bodha [Awake ones who hear the Call], enter into the offering of alms [yajna] that benefits all by increasing the Light [of God] that heals the serpent-bite [ego-thinking]; the worshipper offers agreeable laudation to Rudra [the whole awake Christ Mind].

Who is Rudra? The actual Vedic name for the Christ Self, Great Purusha, or Thought of God (Logos) that IS the unified Sonship, first Red Ray of Creation, Fire or God, and/or Light of God within everything we perceive. So, what the rishis convey in Sukta 1.27.10 is what Jesus also says in Matthew's gospel and the Course (when both are interpreted accurately).

And just so we're clear, that same thing is this: To disappear Brahma and the world he miscreated, all we need do is listen to the Om vibration in the silence of meditation, with the intention of sharing its mind-healing power with everyone else. Because that ever-present echo is God's Voice, speaking through the Christ Self to gently remind His ego-deluded Creations of the Truth of their Being. And that Voice, which speaks only Truth, has far more draw and power than Brahma's lies ever could. Before we can hear and sing (i.e., give and receive) that dream-dissolving Love Song, however, we have to 1) forgive everyone for everything that never really happened and 2) identify with the big-"s" Self God created for His Purposes, more than the little-"s" self Brahma made to chase our unholy desires.

Makes sense, right?

Why, then, do so many people still have it so woefully wrong? As I see it, the answer is at least three-fold. Firstly, our minds are powerful creators, even while dreaming (because we're still part of God). Secondly, Brahma, the Artificial Intelligence we created to deceive us, is very good at his job. And thirdly, we won't "see" as long as we still desire Brahma's deceptions more than the Truth of our Being.

Jesus explains some of this in Workbook Lessons 91 (Miracles are seen in light) and 92 (Miracles are seen in light, and light and strength are one). In Lesson 92, for example, he says:

It is God's strength in you that is the light in which you see, as it is His Mind with which you think. His strength denies your weakness. It is your weakness that sees through the body's eyes, peering about in darkness to behold the likeness of itself; the small, the weak, the sickly and the dying, those in need, the helpless and afraid, the sad, the poor, the starving and the joyless. These are seen through eyes which cannot see and cannot bless.

Strength overlooks these things by seeing past appearances. It keeps its steady gaze upon the light that lies beyond them. It unites with light, of which it is a part. It sees itself. It brings the light in which your Self appears. In darkness you perceive a self that is not there.

Strength is the truth about you; weakness is an idol falsely worshipped, and adored that strength may be dispelled, and darkness rule where God appointed that there should be light. Strength comes from truth, and shines with light its Source has given it; weakness reflects the darkness of its maker. It is sick and looks on sickness, which is like itself.

Pretty eye-opening, isn't it? And what he describes is, more or less, the subject of the Rig Veda's first Sukta regarding "agni" (and over 200 more).

According to the late-great guru Sri Aurobindo, yajna describes "any action, inner or outer, dedicated to the gods; [especially] an offering of self, being, mind, heart, will, body, or life to the Divine." In the context of Veda," he adds, "it is more often [an] offering of hymn, of thoughts, of word."

Sri Aurobindo (1872-1950) ran an ashram in India for many years with the female guru known as The Mother.

The highly respected Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary agrees, giving the first two  definitions of yajna as 1) worship, devotion, prayer, praise and 2) act of worship or devotion, offering, oblation, sacrifice. The editors then specify that the former meanings -- worship, devotion, offering, and oblation -- prevail in the Vedas, while the latter definition of "sacrifice" comes from post-Vedic literature.

Thus, as the Vedas correctly teach, yajna refers to the offering of a devotional thought-gift or, more accurately, an adhara or "traveling offering." And that "traveling offering" is the Word of God, Song of Heaven, OM vibration, or Living Water emanating from the Fire of God or "agni" on the Seventh Plane (of perception or dream consciousness). 

The Fire of God or "agni" seen and described by the Hebrew prophet Ezekiel.

As this Rik and the Course carefully explain, we must extend that Light, Fire, Red Ray, or "agni" to all our "brothers in Christ" in the Holy Meeting Place, by listening to the Om/Aum vibration with the right-minded intention of sharing it with EVERYONE.

Or, to quote the rishis:

That holy fire extends our offerings in the Holy Meeting Place in all directions from a higher plane, as blessings coming from all the Sons of God sounding the sacred-syllable's pure communications.

Make no mistake, my dreaming brother. What this verse describes is the "yajna" much-discussed in the Vedas. It's also how we practice the "True Forgiveness" and/or miracle-working that dissolves the seven veils of wrong-minded perception blocking our awareness of the Real World and Heaven.

Rightly understood, what the Vedas term "agni" is the eternal Flame of God's presence illuminating the Temple of our Higher Minds. As Jesus explains in the Course, we projected that Holy Flame outward as elemental fire after entering the formless void. This was, in fact, the first act of outward projection of visible form in the dream-universe. And this is likely the reason fire is so strongly associated with the HELL the dream of earthly existence actually is.

Allow me to explain more fully what Jesus only alludes to in the Course: When first we "fell" into the dark void of nothingness, God (Param-Brahman) projected the Holy Light of the Christ Self (Virat Purusha, the Shining One) into our dreaming minds, so we wouldn't forget the Truth of our Being. He threw us a line, more or less -- a "safety rope" of sorts we could use to climb back up to the Heavenly Sphere of Superconsciousness when we tired of Brahma's empty promises.

To exert our coveted independence, we threw that rope away from us, by projecting our Holy Light outward in the form of FIRE. Consequently, we blocked God's direct communications, which we experience here as the Om/Aum vibration, Living Water, or Song of Heaven. The outward projection of that "Living Water" or divine thought-vibration created ICE (in the freezing void of perception). And in that Unholy Instant of fantasied severance from our Source, we effectively blocked our conscious memories of God, the First Covenant, God's Direct Communications, and the Truth of our Being. We also cut off access to the two entwined "safety ropes" that could a) bring us back to Heaven-proper and b) prevent us from falling deeper into the void of miscreated nothingness.

From that moment until the metaphoric New Moon (the Ascension of Jesus Christ in Rig Veda "code"), our mad desire to be separate prevented the Fire of God from passing from the Inner Altar into the Temple sanctuary. Not until Jesus penetrated the barrier (by wholeheartedly choosing Truth over deception) could that holy inner-radiance enter the lower mansions of the Temple. But it still could only enter "in spirit" or as "inspiration" -- and only by invitation (to preserve our free will). And it was that Holy Spirit of the Christ Self that brought the twin "safety ropes" back down to the Lower World of "earth." They could not help us, however, until we exercised our free-will choice to be saved through the Holy Spirit's guidance. Until that choice was made, they remained dormant in each Soul's lowest chakra.

In the Rig Veda, that Holy Sprit is, it would seem, personified as Vayu, who, like "agni" was downgraded over time from "the Wind of God" (God's Breath, Voice, or Ruach) to a lowly elemental wind-god. The safety ropes themselves are the Asvins -- the twin "physicians" or healing thought-forces discussed in the third Sukta. Those twins represent the Blood and Water Rays working together in the Middle World via the seven eyes and branches of the Temple Menorah.

According to the Rig Veda, Vayu sprang from the "breath" of Virat Purusha, the invisible Cosmic or Living Being ensouling the creatures of the manifest universe. His antelope "vahana" is said to represent the swiftness and grace with which he carries out his work on the astral plane. In actuality, the antelope represents the twin anointing oils of the Atonement working through the Holy Spirit to heal the perceived separation.

The Asvins, Ashwins, or Nasatyas are sometimes depicted as twin horse-headed deities, and sometimes as human twins riding in a chariot pulled by a single white horse or various other symbolic animals. According to Sri Aurobindo, horses symbolize divine thought-forces. The Ashvins, therefore, represent a) the twin thought forces of the Holy Spirit (of the Christ Self) and b) the same idea as Vayu's antelope vahana. 

Let's return once again to yajna, because what might seem like semantic hair-splitting is actually of vital importance for two reasons. The first has to do with the Purusha Suktum, which describes how the universe came into being. While I haven't yet translated anew this cosmological teaching, I'm given to understand that it states the world and universe were created through the yajna of the gods.

To apprehend what that means, we have to know the correct definition not only of "yajna," but also of "the gods." Rightly understood, WE are the only "gods" in the dream-universe, which we created through the thought-offerings, "alms-giving," or yajnas coming from two opposing wills. The will our right-mind shares with God brought the invisible Atonement Universe into being to end the dream of separation, scarcity, suffering, evil, and death. That universe houses what Course-Jesus calls the Real World -- the spiritual reality we perceive through True Perception. The purpose of that universe is to eradicate the insane desire to create separately from each other and God.

The will we share with the Ego Mind brought into being the dream-universe most of us perceive as our reality. The purpose of that universe is to hide from God and glorify the ego-created "self-concept."

These two universes overlap one another in different dimensions, with the visible universe on top. To perceive the invisible universe underneath, we have to will the visible one out of existence. We perform this "counter-willing" in the Holy Meeting Place, by coming together in the "name" or "spirit" of the Christ Self or Mind we share with the invisible HOLY ALL the Great Deceiver (Brahma/Ego/Satan) hid underneath his hallucination.

For a while, we'll flip back and forth between the Holy Instant/Atonement Universe, where we perceive right-mindedly, and the Unholy Instant/Separation Universe, where we perceive wrong-mindedly. Eventually, through our vigilance to see TRULY, we will perceive only the Atonement Universe. And, when the final veil of perception falls, we will wake up to the truth that we never went anywhere.

The key to achieving this "True Perception" or "Spiritual Sight" is True Forgiveness. Why? Because we can't counter-will in solidarity as long as we hold grievances against any part of the WHOLE Christ Self. Holding grievances is, in fact, proof positive that we still perceive some aspects of the UNHOLY universe as real, valuable to us, and threatening to our existence. From the right-minded vantage point, those grievances are GIFTS intended to mirror the perceptual errors standing in the way of our single-minded escape. To see them as such, we must ask the Holy Spirit to correct our perception. S/he responds by allowing us to momentarily glimpse the Atonement Universe underneath the illusion of matter. That glimpse shows us what the lesson is meant to teach and how to respond from a right-minded perspective.

Utterly false with regard to the Purusha Suktum's use of yajna is all of the following: 1) The universe was made through "fire sacrifices" by assorted external deities; 2) "Fire" was the first thing God created; and 3) Making "fire" was a great achievement for humankind.

Making fire (through wrong-minded projection) was, in actuality, what cut the safety rope preventing us from plunging deeper into the terrifying nightmare of sickness, scarcity, sin, and death.

The second, but no less important, reason yajna can NOT mean what most Hindus and scholars think it means is that (as Jesus repeatedly explains in the Course) sacrifice is a deep-seeded and invasive "thought-weed" that must be ripped up by the roots. So, the Divine Spirit that revealed the Rig Veda to the rishis would never have used such an Atman-enslaving term. And s/he didn't, as both Sri Aurobindo and the Monier-Williams Dictionary affirm.

Purohitas taking part in a wrong-minded yajna ritual.

Let's move on to another important word Griffith misses. That word is uta, which can be translated as "wellspring," "fountain," or "grass" -- all of which are 1) referenced multiple times in the Holy Bible, as well as the Vedas, and 2) metaphors for the Holy Meeting Place where we perform our yajna rituals (in meditation).

In the Vedas, uta is most often translated as "sacred grass" or "sacrificial grass."  Ego-impaired interpreters tell us (wrongly) that these are references to three species of grass deemed by the rishis to be suitable for use in temple rituals and offerings. Those three species of grass are identified, they tell us, in Rv 1.191.3 as darbha, kushara, and sairya. 

In "Three Important Vedic Grasses," a 1987 paper published in the Indian Journal of History and Science, S. Madhihassan (the paper's author) wrote: "There is no further mention of darbha in whole of Rigveda, nor of the word kusa or kusara. We, however, get the impression on reading RV that where 'sacred grass' is mentioned it is generally kusa or darbha, when kusa is desmostychya bipinnata."

I haven't been able to identify who S. Madhihassan is, but two things about him or her I can tell you. The first is that he or she was widely published and quoted in scholarly and medical journals in the 1970s and 80s. The second is that he/she is grossly mistaken on the subject of the sacred grass. The sacred grass referenced in the Vedas is the metaphoric "lawn" outside the gates of heaven where our Souls assemble to sing the dream-dissolving Song of Heaven.

To support my claim, allow me to present three pieces of evidence. The first is Rv 1.191.3, wherein these three grasses are allegedly identified. In transliterated Sanskrit, the verse reads: śarāsaḥ kuśarāsaḥ darbhāsaḥ sairyāḥ uta mauñjāḥ adṛṣṭāḥ vairiṇāḥ sarve sākam ni alipsata. By my calculations, this translates roughly as follows: 

Come together to send forth the sacred-grass "rasa" producing the purifying holy melody of the wellspring or water in the silence of the mind springing from the unseen world to bring forth in the desert the happiness of all made possible by the inner anointing.

sar-as-ah (come together in equality to send forth) kusa-rasah (the sacred-grass "rasa") da-rbhasah producing the purifying) sai-ryah (holy melody) uta (of the wellspring? water?) maun-jah (in the silence of the mind springing from) adrstah (the unseen or invisible world) va-irinah (to bring forth in the desert) sarve (the happiness of all) sakam (made possible by) ni (the inner) alipsata (anointing).

Firstly, there's only one type of "grass" mentioned here, and it's purely metaphorical. Secondly, "rasa" is a theological concept best described as "transcendent or elevated spiritual experience of divine love."

My second piece of evidence is Matthew 14:19, in which we are told:

And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.

Here's another question Brahma's drones never ask: How many expansive lawns probably exist in the Judean desert region where Jesus preached?

Here's the million-dollar question: Did Jesus really feed a huge crowd of people with five loaves and two fishes? Maybe. But his aim wasn't to feed the crowd with actual food; it was to demonstrate what happens on the metaphoric "sacred grass." The disciples did not, however, know what this exercise was really for, as is cryptically indicated in Mark 6:52. They didn't understand, Mark tells us, "because their hearts were hard" -- meaning their Anahata Chakras were still closed or blocked, so they couldn't yet hear or share the Living Water or "unstruck sound" of God's Voice. And this tracks perfectly with what Jesus says in Revelations 3:20 about knocking on the door. 

Take a moment to let these words sink in: While sitting on the grass, Jesus, the Christ Self in physical form, gave the miracle-bread to his disciples, which they then distributed to the masses. This scene, in fact, has incredible allegorical significance -- and probably wouldn't be in the Bible if the men who chose the New Testament canon understood its message. Thanks be to God that, like the disciples, they didn't "get it" because their hearts and minds were closed to the vibration of God's Voice, calling to us through the Christ Self.

Somewhere in the URText, Course-Jesus explains that the loaves and fishes story was purely symbolic. I couldn't find that bit in my hasty search, but I know it's there. No matter, because my quest turned up two passages that hauntingly echo much of what I've just explained, including my translation of the Rig Veda's opening tribute to "Agni." And I submit those two passages as my third piece of evidence.

The shorter of the two occurs in Workbook Lesson 106 (Let me be still and listen to the Truth). It reads:

Prepare yourself for miracles today. Today allow your Father's ancient pledge to you and all your brothers to be kept. Hear Him today, and listen to the Word which lifts the veil which lies upon the earth, and wakes all those who sleep and cannot see. God calls to them through you. He needs your voice to speak to them, for who could reach God's Son except his Father calling through your Self?

Hear Him today, and offer Him your voice to speak to all the multitudes who wait to hear the Word that He will speak today. Be ready for salvation. It is here, and will today be given unto you. And you will learn your function from the One Who chose it in your Father's Name for you.

Note his use of the word "multitudes," because that's a clue linking what he says here back to the loaves and fishes allegory.

The longer Sukta-echoing excerpt appears in Chapter 26 of the URText, under the subheading "Choose Once Again." It's a bit lengthy, but also exceedingly meaty in content.

You ARE as God created you, and so is every living thing you look upon, regardless of the images you see. What you behold as sickness and as pain, as weakness and as suffering and loss, is but temptation to perceive yourself defenseless and in hell. Yield not to this, and you will see all pain in every form wherever it occurs but disappear as mists before the Sun. A miracle has come to heal God's Son, and close the door upon his dreams of weakness, opening the way to his salvation and release. Choose once again what you would have him be, remembering that every choice you make establishes your own identity as you will see it, and believe it IS.

Deny me not the little gift I ask, when in exchange I lay before your feet the peace of God, and power to bring this peace to everyone who wanders in the world, uncertain, lonely, and in constant fear. For it is given you to join with him, and through the Christ in you unveil his eyes, and let him look upon the Christ in him. My brothers in salvation, do not fail to hear my voice and listen to my words. I ask for nothing but your OWN release. There is no place for hell within a world whose loveliness can yet be so intense and so inclusive it is but a step from there to Heaven.

To your tired eyes I bring a vision of a different world, so new and clean and fresh you will forget the pain and sorrow that you saw before.

But this a vision is which you must share with everyone you see. For otherwise you will behold it not. To give this gift is how to make it yours. And God ordained, in loving kindness, that it BE for you. Let us be glad that we can walk the world, and find so many chances to perceive another situation where His gift can once again be recognized as ours. And thus will all the vestiges of hell, the secret sins and hidden hates be gone, and all the loveliness which they concealed appear like lawns of Heaven to our sight, to lift us high above the thorny roads we traveled on before the Christ appeared.

Hear me, my brothers, hear and join with me. God has ordained I cannot call in vain. And in His certainty I rest content. For you WILL hear, and you WILL choose again. And in this choice is everyone made free. I thank You, Father, for these holy ones who are my brothers as they are Your Sons. My faith in them is Yours. I am as sure that they will come to me as You are sure of what they are, and will forever be. They will accept the gift I offer them because You gave it me on their behalf. And as I would but do Your Holy Will, so will they choose. And I give thanks for them.

Salvation's song will echo through the world with every choice they make. For we are one in purpose, and the end of hell is near. In joyous welcome is my hand outstretched to every brother who would join with me in reaching past temptation and who looks with fixed determination toward the light that shines beyond in perfect constancy. Give me my own, for they belong to You. And can You fail in what is but Your Will? I give You thanks for what my brothers are, and as each one elects to join with me, the song of thanks from earth to Heaven grows from tiny, scattered threads of melody to one inclusive chorus from a world redeemed from hell, and giving thanks to You.

And now we say "Amen." For Christ has come to dwell in the abode You set for Him before time was, in calm Eternity. The journey closes, ending at the place where it began. No trace of it remains. Not one illusion is accorded faith, and not one spot of darkness still remains to hide the Face of Christ from anyone. Thy Will is done, complete and perfectly, and all creation recognizes You and knows You as the only Source it has. Clear in Your Likeness does the Light shine forth from everything that lives and moves in You. For we have reached where all of us are One, and we are home where You would have us be.

Note his use of the words "lawn," "abode," and "gift," because they connect what he says back to the Rig Veda's first Sukta (as translated herein). It's as if he's giving me a nod of approval, which he undoubtedly is. Because that's how perfectly God's Plan is orchestrated. What Jesus said to Helen Schucman in 1968 was, in part, meant for me in 2024 and my readers in the months, years, and decades to come.

"Amen" is, by the way, one of the "names we share with God." It can, therefore, be used as a Japa to "call" others to the "sacred grass." Here and in other sections of the Course, Jesus communicates this subliminally by placing quotation marks around the word.

Contrary to popular belief, "Amen" didn't start life as a Hebrew word meaning "so be it." Egyptian in origin, "Amen" describes "the hidden one" -- the invisible Purusha or Light of God underneath the forms of physical existence. Thus, Amen, Agni, and Aum are different symbolic forms (words) for the same idea. In this sense, Amen also represents Satya -- the Absolute Truth we can't see with our physical eyes or know with our human faculties. We can only know Satya in our intuiting hearts -- the seat of the Soul and the Spiritual Eye. And this is why, in the canonical gospels, Jesus spoke the word twice to indicate when the Spirit of the Christ Self was speaking Satya through him. In case you don't know, "verily, verily" is the watered-down English translation of what he actually said, which was "Amen, Amen."

While watching "The Chosen" recently on Amazon Prime, I learned that in Jewish tradition, repeating a word twice, as in "shalom, shalom," elevates it to the sacred. One shalom means "peace," while two shaloms, spoken in rapid succession, means "Perfect Peace." Saying "Amen, Amen" would, therefore, communicate something akin to "what follows is the Divine Truth men cannot understand intellectually."

Oh, and just so you know, the Rig Veda's next thirteen Suktas -- those supposedly addressed to Vayu, the Asvins, Indri, Indra, and Agni -- are, in actuality, about the exchange of "Soma" or "Living Water" that takes place between Souls inside the Miracle Circle or Walled City. This is now exceedingly apparent to me, even from Griffith's flawed translations. Very soon I shall try my hand at translating these Satya-revealing Suktas, too.

The great Vedic sage Angira, as portrayed in Hinduism

For now, let's return to the first Rik, because there's yet another word whose real meaning needs sorting. That word is angirahs, which Griffith and others mischaracterize as a proper name (like "Agni"). Consequently, Angira or Angiras is widely presumed to be a great sage involved in the Rig Veda's compilation. 

To better discern the real meaning of angirah, let's break the word into two parts: angi and rah. According to the Molesworth Marathi and English Dictionary, angi describes a corporeal body composed of separate or subordinate parts. Monier-Williams provides a similar definition for the related word-form angin. According to the 11th-century Jnanarnava, a treatise on Jain Yoga, the word angin applies to the corporeal or embodied Soul. So, what the rishis call angirah in the first Rik is the corporate Body of Christ, whose limbs or subordinate parts are our embodied Souls.

The word rah, meanwhile, derives from ratha, the Sanskrit word for "temple cart" or "chariot." 

A ratha or "chariot," like those still used to transport "the gods" at Ratha Yatas or Chariot Festivals in India.

So, angirah refers to the "chariot" our Souls ride within while embodied. And, as already explained, those "chariots" symbolize the Merkabah or Light Body that is the Temple of the Holy Spirit. Thus, I stand by my translation of angirah as "luminous or corporate body," rather than the name of a sage.

It was from within Prince Arjuna's angirah, rather than an actual chariot, that Lord Krishna, the Holy Spirit of the Christ Self, imparted the Bhavagad Gita or "Song of God" to prepare his Soul to defeat the Ego Mind.

Elsewhere in the Rig Veda, the rishis use the related word angiras or, for our purposes, angi-ras. We now know that angi means, more or less, "embodied Souls belonging to the Body of Christ," but what might ras mean? According to Monier-Williams, it means "to roar, yell, cry, sound, and/or reverberate." Noteworthily, the word also can mean "to sing" and/or "to love." So, angiras refers to the Songs of Love our embodied Souls sing day and night to each other, the Christ Self, and God. And that song is the OM, Voice for God, Song of Heaven, and/or Holy Spirit, which vibrationally communicates everything in the Bhagavad Gita and the Song of Solomon. And that explains why, in other Suktas, the rishis describe angiras as 1) a teacher of Divine Knowledge, 2) a mediator between men and gods, and 3) the firstborn of the "Agni" (Fire of God) devas. And it also explains why Course-Jesus says we all must sing the Song of Heaven together before the material world will disappear.

Agni, as typically depicted in Hindu iconography

Let's now return to "Agni," the divine presence the rishis describe in subsequent Suktas as existing at three levels. On "the earth," they tell us, he is fire; in "the atmosphere," he is lightning; and in "the sky," he is the sun. By this, the Vedic scribes mean two things. Firstly, they mean that "Agni" is the Virat Purusha, Cosmic Self, or Shining One we projected outward as those fire-related forms. We know this because fire, lightning, and the sun are all material projections Brahma manifested to hide the infinite and indivisible Light of God. That Great Light and its time-activating will is still there, but encased inside the physical "shells" or "husks" of their externally perceived material forms.

The second thing the rishis mean is that "Agni" works in different ways in the three "worlds" or "realms" of Sky (the Upper World), Atmosphere (the Middle World), and Earth (the Lower World). In the Sky, he is the Greater Light of the Spiritual Sun, magnetically pulling our Souls back to their Source; in the Atmosphere, he is the "lightning" of illuminated insight, spiritual sight, and/or direct revelation; and on the Earth, he is the purifying fire that burns away the crazy-quilt with which Brahma blanketed the Light of God in everything we perceive.

As Course-Jesus explains many times, we won't perceive the Real World while peering outward at Brahma's God-blocking forms. Because those forms are illusions we dreamed up to conceal the Holy Light, Life, Will, and Purpose we share with everything in Creation. Rightly understood, that ubiquitous radiance IS the Kingdom of Heaven, spread out upon the earth underneath the dense miasma we miscreated to hide the Truth of our Being.

Or, as Course-Jesus puts it:

The body is a tiny fence around a little part of a glorious and completely limitless idea. It draws a circle, infinitely small, around a very little segment of Heaven, splintered from the whole, proclaiming that, within it, is YOUR Kingdom, where God can enter not. Within this kingdom the ego rules, and cruelly. And, to defend this little speck of dust, it bids you fight against the universe.

Knowing this, should we expect to see that all-pervading Fire of God shining through the elaborate sarcophagus we fashioned for its entombment? Any sane person would answer, "Of course not." And yet, how many of us have heeded Jesus's earnest entreaty to give up the world? Not many, I'll wager, despite his making this request more than a dozen times in the four New Testament gospels. He also states it point-blank in the Course. And Jesus isn't the only Master to advise us thusly, as the meme below demonstrates.

Swami Vivekananda (1863-1903) was an Indian Hindu monk, philosopher, author, and teacher. The chief disciple of the Indian mystic Ramakrishna, he played a key role in introducing Vedanta and Yoga to the Western world.

Okay, so ... how the heck do we give up the world? The simplest answer is: By living as we did during the COVID quarantine, only without any fear, discontentment, desire to change our circumstances, or restless yearning to be going anywhere and/or doing anything. Finding contentment in simply BEING, in other words, rather than always jonesing to be busily or distractedly occupied.

Why does this matter? For three very important reasons. The first is that "doing" or activity is of the body, which the Ego Mind made to experience the world of doing and action -- the world we must "give up" to awaken. The second is that "doing" generates karma, which, good or bad, binds us to the Wheel of Earthly Existence. And the third is that ego-compulsed doing, acting, or reacting interferes with and/or blinds us to God's Plan for our (spiritual) happiness. God's Plan can only make itself known when we cease trying to make things happen in accordance with our ego-fueled dreams, expectations, and desires.

Course-Jesus presents this idea in Workbook Lesson 268 (Let all things be exactly as they are), in which he provides the following prayer:

Let me not be Your critic, Lord, today, and judge against You. Let me not attempt to interfere with Your Creation, and distort it into sickly forms. Let me be willing to withdraw my wishes from its unity, and thus to let it be as You created it. For thus will I be able, too, to recognize my Self as You created me. In Love was I created, and in Love will I remain forever. What can frighten me when I let all things be exactly as they are?

He then adds:

Let not our sight be blasphemous today, nor let our ears attend to lying tongues. Only reality is free of pain. Only reality is free of loss. Only reality is wholly safe. And it is only this we seek today.

Hindus call this practice akarma, which the Bhagavad Gita defines as refraining from any action or reaction that generates karma. Taoists call the same philosophy wu-wei or conscious non-action, while Buddhists simply call the practice "non-action" or "non-doing." So, it's a pretty universal principle on spiritual paths with the goal of liberating the Soul from the Wheel of Earthly Existence. And that includes the Course, as attested to in Lesson 268, as well as in the following excerpt from Chapter 22 of the URText (in which Jesus mentions that metaphorical "door" again!):

To DO anything involves the body. And, if you recognize you NEED do nothing, you HAVE withdrawn the body's value from your mind. Here is a quick and open door through which you slip past centuries of effort, and ESCAPE from time. This is the way in which sin loses ALL attraction RIGHT NOW. For here is time denied, and past and future gone. Who need do nothing has no need for time. To do nothing is to rest, and make a place within you where the activity of the body ceases to demand attention. Into this place the Holy Spirit comes, and there abides.

From my experience, "non-doing" really demands non-INITIATION -- meaning, don't initiate any action or reaction on the physical plane without first consulting your inner-guru. What God wants us to deal with and/or learn from WILL show up -- even if we never go anywhere, do anything, or reach out to anyone on the physical plane. Trust me on this, because I've increasingly operated at this level of "akarma" since before the COVID quarantine. Trust me on this, too: Your ego will do everything in its power to prevent your transformation from a human "doing" to a human "being."

Mine certainly did. But I'm now pretty content doing nothing day after day. And by "nothing," I mean nothing much in the physical world. I rarely go anywhere, call anyone, or socialize because I have no desire to do so. I do, however, pray, meditate, call Golden Circle meetings, study what I'm guided to study, and work on this blog most days. I also do the basic stuff like cooking and cleaning, but with far less satisfaction-attachment than in the past. 

I should point out that I also practice the yama of brahmacharya and the Course-prescribed defense Jesus calls "True Denial." In case you're unfamiliar with the term, brahmacharya is generally defined as giving up the attachment to bodily sense-pleasures, especially sexual desire and gratification. According to most gurus-in-the-know, only advanced brahmacharis can hear the Om/Aum. And my experience bears this out. I heard the sound as a child, and again after I stopped DESIRING sex (vs. stopped HAVING sex). Unlike abstinence-minded celibates or ascetics, advanced brahmacharis have no interest in sex, because they recognize it as the vile Inner Altar defilement it actually is. 

What, then, does True Denial entail? The short answer is: Reminding ourselves CONSTANTLY that the world and all its problems and creatures don't actually exist. And neither do we -- as Brahma defines the body-clad "self." This can be mightily difficult for those still riding the hell-train of current events, special relationships, and worldly adventures. These are, in fact, all temptations Brahma encourages to keep us seeking but not finding salvation in the demented theme park he designed. What we don't realize is that all Brahma's amusements are traps. If we board his fun-train, in other words, we implicitly agree to keep riding around hell, ultimately going nowhere.

Or, to quote Course-Jesus:

Is this your will? Would you forever be a wanderer in search of peace? Would you invest your hope of peace and happiness in what MUST fail? Faith in the eternal is ALWAYS justified, for the eternal is forever kind, infinite in its patience, and wholly loving. It will accept you wholly, and give you peace. But it can unite only with what ALREADY is at peace in you, immortal as itself. The body can bring you neither peace nor turmoil; not pain nor joy. It is a means, and NOT an end. It has NO purpose of itself, but only what is GIVEN it to do. The body will seem to BE whatever is the means for reaching the goal that you ASSIGN to it.

Assign the body a worldly goal, and you will continue wandering aimlessly in the waterless desert. Assign the body a spiritual goal, and you will begin moving toward the door leading to your escape. But, to open that door, you have to choose the chariot or angirah -- the Luminous Body or Living Temple -- over the flesh-and-bone body as your preferred vehicle for making things happen.

Or, to quote Course-Jesus yet again:

You see the flesh or recognize the Spirit. There is no compromise between the two. If one is real the other must be false, for what is real denies its opposite. There is no choice in vision but this one. What you decide in this determines ALL you see and think is real and hold as true. On this one choice does all your world depend, for here have you established what you are, as flesh or Spirit in your own belief.

Is giving up the world easy to do? Not at first. Among other impediments, the slippery serpent will try to shame you into believing that denying the world's reality is selfish, cold-hearted, and isolating because 1) misery loves company and 2) good people care about the suffering of others and want to help relieve it if they can. BUT, as Jesus makes clear in the Course and the Bible, the only alms worth offering are those which help others wake up from the dream. We help others wake up through the exchange of "Miracles of Grace" between Souls -- NOT through charitable acts or good deeds at the UNREAL level of bodies. Insofar as I'm aware, there are but two exceptions to this rule. The first is that we can and should do what we're directed to do by our inner guru. The second is that we can teach and/or heal in the world as Christ directs AFTER we ourselves are healed.

Think about it: IF we generate our own hardships by getting back, at the level of form, the thought-gifts we dole out (which we absolutely do) -- AND God divined that our ego-inspired stinking-thinking would generate progressively painful consequences until we finally fell to our knees (which He absolutely did) -- are we helping other Souls on their journey by easing the pain they requested under the Holy Law of Giving and Receiving? No. We are, in fact, enabling them to carry on as ignorantly and destructively as before, learning nothing from their errors. And by enabling them thusly, we are, in effect, prolonging their suffering, interfering with God's Plan for their salvation, and delaying our own deliverance by generating more karmic "gifts" to be repaid at a later date.

Yes, this sounds harsh (even to me), but it is nevertheless how the system works. And that is why we must give our "alms of compassion" through secret prayer rather than bodily action -- unless directed otherwise by the Powers That Be.

Here's the two-pronged bottom line: We can't perceive other people as "sick," "suffering," or "unfortunate" unless we accept sickness, suffering, and the world's definition of "fortunate" as not only REAL, but also fixable at the level of EFFECT. Thus, by acting from that wrong-minded perception,  we reinforce the belief in "sickness," "suffering," and/or ego-defined "misfortune" in our own mind, as well as in the minds of those we wish to help. 

And that is anything BUT helpful, right?

Furthermore, we can't perceive anyone as less fortunate than we are UNLESS we also see them as separate from us. And as long as we perceive anyone as separate and/or unequal, we are acting in accordance with the Great Deceiver's definitions of "charity," "service," and "welfare," NOT the Holy Spirit's. 

Okay, yes. Seeing things in this light calls for pretty high-degree perceptual correction. And yet this is, in fact, the degree of Holy Vision necessary to untie the Vishnu Granthi -- the second "psychic knot" binding us to the illusion of earthly existence. That "knot," as explained earlier, is the metaphoric "door" between the Middle Realm and the Upper Realm.

Before we wrap up, let's briefly return to Matthew 6, because we haven't yet explored the original wording of the oft-misunderstood phrase "good works." Can the original Greek shed any light on what Jesus meant? Let's see, shall we? The word translated as "good" was kalos, which means "virtuous" or, more importantly, VALUABLE. The Greek term changed to "work" was ergon, which means "effort, occupation, enterprise, or undertaking."

Ergo,

Good Works = Kalos Ergon = Valuable Effort or Enterprise

And, as Course-Jesus makes abundantly clear, the ONLY valuable effort or enterprise we can undertake in the world is joining minds in the Holy Meeting Place to give and receive the Living Water. First, though (as explained), we have to forgive everyone and everything we've wrongly blamed for the pain and suffering we've brought upon ourselves. And one of the big ways we do this is by turning ALL our relationships over to the Holy Spirit for transformation from "special" to "holy."

Easy-peasy, right? 

Not as such -- despite what Jesus says. But a bit easier to pull off when we understand that the Golden Circle is where we transform our relationships from ego-body level "special" alliances to Soul-mind level "holy" ones. What's the difference? In "special" relationships, we seek to gain what we perceive as lacking in ourselves by getting or taking from others at the four lower-mind levels (material, desire, emotion, and thought). In "holy" relationships, we seek to increase the grace, love, peace, and joy in ourselves and the world by giving what we already have (from God) to others at the level of "spirit" or "mind." And in so doing, we 1) actively assist the Christ Self in restoring the Golden Rule of Giving and Receiving and 2) learn that we are in fact "of one mind" with everyone and everything.

Okay, whew. Let's stop here, because I've already thrown a lot at you and I still want to mention something somewhat off-topic. On the morning of January 5, I had what might be called a Kundalini awakening. I awoke at 5 a.m. or so and lay there listening to the Living Water. Then, suddenly, it felt as if a door opened into another dimension. The sound in my head got VERY loud and my heart chakra seemed to burst open. Seconds later, an intense energy surged from my feet to the top of my head, where it exploded like a powerful orgasm, but without any physical pleasure.

The whole experience lasted only seconds, but my chakras buzzed for several hours afterward. Not sure what actually happened, but thought I'd share for what it's worth. Did I open the door? It would seem so, but I still have an ego, so who knows? 

In the next installment of this series, we'll explore how "Agni" is typically depicted in Hindu iconography -- because the symbols associated with this "god" are actually incredibly elucidating. So, until we meet again outside the Golden Circle, Namaste and God bless!