Extracting Brahman's Satya from Brahma's Maya (Part 1): The Truth about the Hindu Trimuti (and plenty more)

Before we get started, let me say that in no way do I consider myself an expert on Hinduism. On the contrary, the  deeper I wade into the Makara-infested waters of that religion's multi-headed dogma, the more I wish I'd stayed on the beach. Why didn't I? Because Jesus urged me to go in -- and to keep moving forward, however treacherous the undertow might seem. Presumably, it's one of those Workbook Lesson 25 things, as in: I don't need to know the purpose; I just need to trust that my sojourn into Hinduism, confounding and labyrinthian as it feels at times, will prove fruitful in the long run.

With that said, do fasten your seatbelt, because we're going to cover a lot of ground very quickly in this post. Let's start by shooting down what is probably the BIGGEST misnomer attached to Hinduism: the widely held FALSE belief that it is a polytheistic and, therefore, "heathen" religion. In actuality, what appears to be an extensive and complex pantheon of "deities" is simply various personified aspects and attributes of TWO creative thought-forces. One of these forces is divine and helpful to humans, while the other is deceptive and harmful. The divine force is called BRAHMAN or PARAM-BRAHMAN, while the deceptive force is called BRAHMA.

An unworshipped "god" in Hinduism, Brahma represents the maya-manifesting Ego Mind

The image above depicts Brahma in typical fashion, as a four-headed man riding a Hamsa -- a mythical swan-like bird with the miraculous ability to separate milk from water when the two liquids are mixed together. Symbolically, the milk and water represent cognition. The milk is the desirable Holy Thought the God Mind shares with the Christ Mind, while the water is the "unholy" or fear-based thoughts generated by the Ego Mind. Thus, Brahma riding the Hamsa symbolically communicates that, even with the Ego Mind's parasitical infection, our minds still possess the power to choose the "milk" of Higher Truth over the water of oblivion.

Maa Sarasvati, the milk-supplying deva of Transcendental Awareness

Significantly, the same symbolic Hamsa is associated with Sarasvati, the alleged goddess of music and higher learning. Why "alleged"? Because Sarasvati is the "mother" of intuitive perception, Higher Reason, or Transcendental Awareness. Rightly understood, she is the "spirit," "lamp," or "shakti" whose ego-stripping "song" makes us increasingly aware of the Great Stream, Ocean of Milk, or Upper Waters of Higher Thought flowing underneath the material illusion. Expressed another way, Sarasvati supplies the "music" of Higher Reason that frees the Hamsa from Brahma's lock-down mentality of spiritual denial. Hindus call this dream-imprisoning mindset "Brahma's Granthi." It is, in fact, the first of three "psychic knots" we must undo along the path to awakening.

The Granthis are three significant perceptual "knots" we must untie as we tread the Royal Road toward enlightenment. We untie those knots by making the right choice at critical stages. Those three knots and the choices they represent are: 1) Brahma Granthi = the choice between material and spiritual values; 2) the Vishnu Granthi = the choice between the ego-body self-concept and the Soul Self-Concept); and 3) the Rudra Granthi = the choice between the individual Soul Self-Concept and the unified Christ Self-Concept.

As I see it, the Hamsa associated with both Brahma and Sarasvati represents the part of the human mind capable of learning Higher Truth. That part is referred to in various wisdom-schools as the Buddhi, Witness, Decider, and/or Higher Manas. In the Course, Jesus simply calls this part of the mind "reason." Whatever we call it, that reasoning aspect of the intellect makes liberation from ego-enslavement possible. The Buddhi cannot, however, make the leap from understanding to knowing or from sensing to being. Our reasoning capabilities must, therefore, be laid down before we can experience the higher levels of restored Self-Knowing.

Maa Sarasvati, liberating the Buddhi with the heavenly music of her veena.

We'll talk more about Maa Sarasvati and her fellow "mothers" later in the series. For now, let's stick with Brahma, the presumed head honcho of the Hindu Trimuti. What is the Trimuti? The perceived Holy Trinity of Hinduism, basically. The three "gods" making up that triune unit -- and their cryptic and extraordinarily MISLEADING designations -- are:

Brahma = the creator
Shiva = the destroyer and rebuilder
Vishnu = the all pervasive preserver

To understand what these three INTERNAL forces are and do, we must accurately apprehend what Brahma creates, what Shiva destroys and rebuilds, and what Vishnu pervades and preserves. Most explanations I’ve read are off-base because they erroneously presume Param-Brahman either created or authorized the creation of the material universe for His own egoic purposes. And, as in most other ego-distorted religious teachings, that gaffe knocks everything else on its ear. So, to clarify the functions of these three “powers,” I’ve expanded their designations as follows:

Brahma = the creator of Brahmanda, the illusory realm of material existence
Shiva = the destroyer of Prakriti (illusion) and restorer of Riti (Divine Law and Order)
Vishnu = the all-pervasive Purusha or Cosmic Being whose presence preserves the Brahma-deluded Son of God's Holy Relationship with the other parts of its Self

As Hinduism rightly teaches, Brahmanda or "Brahma's Egg" is the subjective reality, illusion, or "maya" each person constructs through their defective lower-mind programming and prejudices -- all the chitta-baggage and karmic markers, basically, we've acquired in this and past lives. What we take in through our senses is objective enough, Hinduism correctly espouses, but we then contaminate or distort that data with our ingrained biases and judgments, both positive and negative. These encoded preferences can arise from individual, familial, or societal attitudes and influences (all the modes of worldly learning we must "undo" to awaken). Whatever their source, this chitta-conditioning distorts everything we observe, think, experience, remember, dream, and do in Brahmanda.

Brahma's Egg, with Vishnu floating inside with the tools needed for liberation

Because each of us constructs our own chitta-tinted version of reality, we are all complicit with Brahma in making Brahmanda. We are all, in fact, Brahmas ourselves, because we, too, are mis-creators of MAYA (the projected material illusion). Understanding this explains why the names Brahman and Brahma are so similar -- and also why Brahma is an unworshipped god in Hinduism. Their names may be alike, but the creative functions of Brahman and Brahma are as different (quite literally) as Day (Yin) and Night (Yang).

In a nutshell:

Brahman = Son of God as Perfect Co-Creator through the shared extension of Love
Brahma = Son of God as deluded miscreator through the separate projection of fear and guilt

The contrived Hindu Trimurti, composed of (from left) Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva

When considered in this light, we begin to see that the Trimuti represents the three facets of the Christ or Purusha Self we experience in the dream-realm: Brahma, who perceives the I and Thou as separate sinful selves pursuing their own interests; Vishnu, who perceives the I and Thou as separate Holy Selves pursuing related interests (healing separation-mindedness); and Shiva, who perceives the I and Thou as ONE Holy Self pursuing a single shared interest with God (Perfect Creation).

Clearly, the Hindu Trimuti is NOT analogous with the Christian Trinity. Attempts to liken the two are, therefore, an egoic exercise in futility. A more accurate synthesis of the chief powers of Hinduism and Christianity would look something like this:

Param-Brahman = God the Father in Heaven
Brahma = The Evil One or Satan deceiving us on earth
Shiva = The Son of God as Good Shepherd and Savior
Vishnu = The Holy Spirit as pervasive guide, comforter, and teacher

Although a vast improvement, this assimilation is still a case of two wrongs merging to make another muddled wrong, because neither the Hindu nor Christian trinities portrays what's really going on. Why? Because the at-one-ment process is all about SELF knowledge, which we restore or remember at graduating levels of perception as we advance through the curriculum. And Christianity, which erroneously insists Jesus is the ONLY Son of God, misses this point entirely. Hinduism sort of gets it -- or did once upon a time -- BUT, like everything else Brahma touches, the baseline Satya got buried over the ages under a slagheap of deception.

And, just to be clear, this happens to all religious and spiritual teachings. In most cases, the Truth is still there, but perverted beyond recognition by egoic obscuration. To exhume that core Truth, we have to dig through all the rubbish Brahma and his interfering agents introduced to cover it over. We must, in other words, question everything we presume to be true -- because it probably isn't. We then must return to the original scriptural source of the Truth under investigation. Because the Ego Mind adulterates all Higher Truth over time, the original source of anything of a spiritual nature will generally be the purest and most reliable. That's why I rely on the URText of the Course and the first English translation of the Holy Bible -- with the original Greek and Hebrew concordances as vital accuracy checkers.

Four ancient texts of varying ages comprise the Holy Vedas of Hinduism. Those four sacred texts are the Rig Veda, Sama Veda, Yajur Veda, and Atharva Veda.

What are the earliest -- and, therefore, most trustworthy -- scriptural texts of the Hindu religion? The short answer is: the four Vedas. The longer answer might be: the body of texts grouped under the heading Shruti -- a Sanskrit word meaning "that which is heard."  As the term implies, the Shruti corpus was passed down through word-of-mouth for many centuries before being written down. Originally revealed to "seers," "sages," or "rishis" as far back as 1250 BCE, those Shruti texts include the Vedas (Rig, Sama, Yajur, and Atharva) and their embedded post-Vedic or "Vedantic" collections: the early Upanishads, the Samhitas, the Brahmanas, and the Aranyakas.

I won't go into what those auxiliary collections contain at this time. What I will say is that, if compared to the Course, the Vedas would be the Text and auxiliary Song of Prayer, the Upanishads would be the Workbook for Students, and the Brahmanas would be the Manual for Teachers and Clarification of Terms.

As the earliest and most authoritative of the Shruti texts, the Vedas make up the foundational canon of Hindu theology. And, within that canon, the Rig Veda is universally regarded as the most ancient and sacred of the four. Despite this well-earned distinction, the Rig Veda is not the most widely studied among the Hindu scriptures. Why? For two reasons, in my estimation. The first is that it was composed in ancient Sanskrit, which (like Aramaic and Latin) is a "dead" language. The second is that, like most TRUE scriptural texts, the Rig Veda employs highly figurative language.

And when I say highly figurative, I mean symbolic language that makes the Old Testament read like Dick and Jane. 

Thus, only the very few who've studied Sanskrit and/or have the gift of illumination stand any chance of correctly interpreting the original Rig Vedic hymns or suktas. The rest have to make do with error-riddled translations and, if they're wise, a trustworthy Sanskrit dictionary or lexicon. And this largely explains why the slightly newer and marginally less reliable Upanishads have surpassed the Vedas as influencers of Hindu thought and tradition.

Of the 108 known Upanishads, the first twelve or so are considered the most important. These Mukhya or main Upanishadic texts are found mostly in the concluding sections of the Brahmanas and Aranyakas. For centuries, each generation memorized and passed down these teachings orally.

Yes, this is pretty dry stuff, so I'm keeping it brief. BUT my quick-and-dirty overview of the Hindu scriptures would be incomplete without at least a cursory mention of the secondary canon. That younger group of texts is categorized as Smriti -- or "that which is remembered." The major difference, apart from age, is that this body of texts is attributed to particular authors -- rather than anonymous rishis. The Smriti corpus includes the two great epics -- the Mahabharata (which contains the Bhagavad Gita) and the Ramayana -- as well as the Puranas. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali are, I believe, also part of the Smriti corpus.

Although widely available in English, accurate translations of the Bhagavad Gita are hard to come by, as you'll discover later in this post.

Okay, so ... why am I boring you with all this academic stuff? For a couple of reasons. The first is that it will provide some context when I rattle off the names of these texts in this and future posts. The second and more immediate reason is that Brahma isn't mentioned in the Vedas -- and neither is the Trimurti. Both are, therefore, later contrivances -- inspired, no doubt, by the Great Deceiver himself (in his tireless campaign to replace Brahman as supreme "creator").

The earliest references to the Trimurti occur in the Mahabharata epic and the Maitreyan Upanishad -- a medieval addition to the Vedantic body of literature. In both cases, the word is mentioned only once. And, as a related footnote, the Maitreyan Upanishad also is the earliest Hindu text to mention Brahma by name.

Later perhaps we'll explore what the Maitreyan Upanishad says about Brahma; for now, I want you to open your mind to the indisputable FACT that both Brahma and the Trimurti are latter-day constructions that were shimmed into Hindu theology in the medieval period. And, from that day to this, that pesky little wedge has slanted everything else.

So, to square things up again, let's take with a grain of salt everything Hinduism professes about Brahma and the Trimurti. Yes, it's a tall order, but a necessary one in our ruthless quest for Satya. And if the Trimurti are suspect -- as they certainly are -- then so are their "consorts" or "wives."

In modern Hinduism, the three "wives" or "consorts" of the Trimuti "gods" are known collectively as the Tridevi. Individually, they are (from left) Lakshmi, Parvati, and Sarasvati.

Before we begin to scrape the Evil One's scales off the Hindu devi, let me state again that I do NOT profess to be an expert. I simply intuit what I intuit -- or rather, I recognize Satya shining through egoic conflation and trickery in whatever I'm guided to study.

When the Trimurti and Tridevi are paired as husbands and wives, Brahma is typically partnered with Sarasvati, Shiva with Parvati, and Vishnu with Lakshmi. Except that, confoundingly, Vishnu is also sometimes "married" to Sarasvati instead of Lakshmi, or to yet another devi named Mohini (who is, in fact, the personification of egoic desires).

So, what gives?

What gives, in part, is that the whole matchmaking exercise is a monumental fail because Brahma isn't a helpful deva. And having this imposter in the mix creates two major problems. The first is that it excludes Indra, the Hindu version of the Aleph or Father's Will aspect of Elohim. The second is that it forces an incompatible partnership between the Evil One and Sarasvati. If Brahma imprisons the Hamsa and Sarasvati helps free it, how can they rightly co-exist in marital bliss?

Sarasvati and Brahma, as sometimes partnered in Hinduism

When paired with Brahma, Sarasvati’s four arms are said to “mirror” her husband's four heads. In these ego-infected tales, Brahma’s role as “creator” is conflated with Brahman’s. What the Great Deceiver's four heads ACTUALLY represent are 1) conscious lower-mind thought and sensory perception (Manas); 2) the intellect's reasoning capacity (Buddhi or Higher Manas); 3) the unconscious part of the lower-mind storing our wrong-minded impressions, resentments, conditioning, judgments, and experiences (Chitta); and 4) the ego-body self-concept and individual sense of “I-am-ness” (Ahamkara).

As the Vedanta schools (those based on the Upanishads, rather than the Vedas) correctly profess, these four "veils" of the false self-concept must be released or dissolved as we cross, climb, or build the Bridge or Antahkarana between "heaven" and "earth."  As these wisdom schools also get right, that channel houses the chakras. How these teachings typically characterize the chakras is not, however, consistent with my understanding of these at-one-ment devices. As I understand them, the chakras are the metaphorical "windows" or "eyes" through which we see the world. If we look outward, through the Ego Mind's two eyes, we perceive a physical world plagued by war, famine, pestilence, and death. To see the world as the Soul-saving academy it actually is, we have to open the Spiritual Eye of the Christ Self. And that symbolic "single eye" looks inward, into the Temple of the Holy Spirit -- the shared Mind of the Atonement.

That seven-lidded "eye" restores our Holy Vision. But to reclaim that natural attribute of the Soul, we first have to dissolve the seven veils the Ego Mind manufactured to render that "single eye" sightless. And that is the function the chakras serve as we cross, climb, or build the Antahkarana.

The chakras are also, I strongly suspect, the eye-covered Tetrahedrons seen and described by the Hebrew prophet Ezekiel. Those wheels act like clockwork gears to turn the Dharmachakra, the Wheel of Earthly Existence. The outer rings (I believe) turn the wheel forward (clockwise), while the inner wheels turn the wheel backward (counterclockwise). I might be wrong about this, but I don't think so.

The specific meaning of the word Antahkarana is described somewhat differently in various dictionaries and schools of Hinduism. Based on my studies, the term refers to the inner organ or instrument via which the Soul returns to the Heart of its Being and True Purpose. And, just so we're clear, the Soul's True Purpose in the world is two-fold: First, it must forgive all the parts of its Greater Self for choosing separation and deception over Wholeness and Satya, and then it must join with those forgiven fragments to restore its Greater Self to Wholeness and Satya.

Does Jesus mention the Antahkarana in the Course? He does indeed -- BUT he calls it the "Bridge to the Real World," the "Bridge to Eternity," and the "Bridge of the Return." As the channel along which the chakras are supposedly set like gemstones, that same ethereal "Bridge" is what Yoga schools call the Sushumna "nadi." According to these teachings, that "nadi" forms the "spiritual spine" up which the mind-purifying "liquid-fire" (Kundalini) uncoils in serpentine fashion.

Kundalini is formed, I believe, when the Blood and Water Rays mix together or "marry" inside the Sushumna. 

In the Shandilya Upanishad, one of the Yoga Upanishads attached to the Atharva Veda, this same channel or Bridge is called the "Raja Path" or "Royal Road." More interesting still, the word "taro," as in Tarot, is a compound of the Egyptian words "tar" (road) and "ro" (royal). Thus (as I've said all along), the Tarot is meant to help us follow the Royal Road leading back to Self-Knowledge. This is affirmed by the appearance of the word "Taro" on the WHEEL OF FORTUNE card in the Rider-Waite deck. Rightly understood, that wheel symbolizes the Antahkarana.

THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE

And so does the Temple Menorah, whose central channel is the Bridge along which the first four chakras lie more or less in the manner shown below:

Moving forward, we'll discuss how the Menorah functions in much more detail.

So essentially, Brahma's heads represent the four levels of consciousness we must rise above to liberate ourselves from his "Cosmic Egg." The objects Sarasvati holds in her four hands aren't, therefore, intended to "mirror" Brahma's four heads; they're meant to lop them clean off. More to the point, the objects associated with Sarasvati represent the four "pillars" or "legs" of Dharma -- the righteous path we must follow in our quest for the Holy Grail of Self-Knowledge.

Like Sarasvati's objects, Nandi, the white-bull "vahana" of Lord Shiva, represents the four "pillars" or "legs" of dharma.

In the Rig Veda, dharma is also (allegedly) anthropomorphized as a cow that provides the "milk" of Transcendental Awareness our Souls require for liberation.

In many Hindu texts, including the Rig Veda, dharma is equated with a bull or cow who stands on four legs. Which four virtues those legs represent varies between sects. Generally, they are said to be 1) Austerity or Simplicity, 2) Cleanliness or Purity (especially sexual purity), 3) Truthfulness, and 4) Kindness. For Course students, the ideological legs upon which we tread the Royal Path are probably the first four characteristics of Advanced Teachers of God, as listed and described in the Manual for Teachers. Those four characteristics are (in order) Trust, Honesty, Tolerance, and Gentleness.

At another time, we'll explore the nuances of these dharmic "modes of being." For now, be aware that Hinduism encourages the development of these same four qualities. They are not, however, tidily grouped together anywhere I looked. So, it took some rooting around to find the best-fit terms and practices. The correspondences below might not be bang-on, but they should be pretty close:

Trust = Sraddha (total faith in God, the scriptures, and our intuitive guidance)
Honesty = Satya (complete authenticity in thought, word, and deed)
Tolerance = Samata (equanimity and non-judgment toward all beings)
Gentleness = Ahimsa (harmlessness or non-injury toward all beings in thought, word, and deed)

 

Indra, the Hindu "king of the gods," astride his white-elephant "vahana," Airavata.

Let move on to the god Brahma usurped when he appointed himself to the made-up Trimuti. As mentioned earlier, that god is Lord Indra, who the Rig Veda (allegedly) praises as the highest god in no fewer than 250 hymns. So, he must be pretty important, right? -- and, therefore, a major threat to Brahma's power over us (hence the Great Deceiver's deliberate erosion of Indra's importance over time).

If there were a Trimurti in the dream-realm, Indra would be the top dog -- hence, his designation as "king of the gods" in the Holy Vedas. He is not, however, the chief Atonement Power in the dream-universe. In the Hindu pantheon, that distinction belongs to Surya, the so-called "sun god." As already explained (I think), Surya represents the Greater Light of God, making him the Hindu equivalent of Elohim. Thus, Indra is to Surya what Aleph is to Elohim. We'll explore what the Rig Veda says about Surya and Indra in the future. For now, let's stick with the Trimuti, which would look like this, if such a patriarchal trio existed in the make-believe universe:

Indra = Aleph 

Shiva = Lamed 

Vishnu = Hey 

 

But wait -- because this contrived ensemble actually represents the three higher stages of restored Self-Awareness all Souls pass through on the Royal Road back to Heaven proper (Knowledge or Superconsciousness). And, working together on our behalf, these three "devas" of our own Higher Self produce the Living Water that progressively uncovers the Truth of our Being. As I currently envision the system, those threer "devas" of increasingly purified Self-Knowing and their Elohim equivalents are:

Indra = Aleph = God-Realization (we are one in God)

Shiva = Lamed = Christ-Realization (we are one Christ-Soul)

Vishnu = Hey = Vishvedeva-Realization (we are connected to the Souls in each other through Christ)

Below these three "deva-selves" are three evolving egoic "modes of being," which the Hindu scriptures refer to as "Gunas." To avoid total derailment, we'll talk about the Gunas in more depth at another time. For the sake of our current discussion, think of the Gunas thusly: 

Sattva = Discipleship or Vigilant Devotion to Satya Dharma (Piety)
Rajas = Initiation into Satya Dharma (Desire for Betterment)
Tamas = Rejection of Satya Dharma (Total Ignorance/Spiritual Denial)

 

Not sure how accurate this is in terms of where the Gunas fall on the wheel. What resonates is Lord Krishna playing the Call to Awaken on his flute and the snake-eating peacock peeking out from behind the wheel. 

Let's now plug the chakras into our evolving paradigm. As I presently perceive the framework, the correspondences are these:

Indra/Aleph Self-Knowing = Sahasrara or Crown Chakra
Shiva/Lamed Self-Knowing = Ajna or Brow Chakra
Vishnu/Hey Self-Knowing = Vishuddha or Throat Chakra
Yama/Yod Self-Knowing = Anahata or Heart Chakra
Sattva Guna = Manipura or Solar Plexus Chakra
Rajas Guna = Svadhishthana or Sacral Chakra
Tamas Guna = Muladhara or Root Chakra

Let's now check this line-up against the Holy Vedas. Do they support my conjectures? The short answer is: Sort of. Of the four, only the Atharva Veda mentions the Gunas by name (tribhir guebhi in transliterated Sanskrit), but this is good enough for now. What that Holy Text says in this regard is actually quite interesting:

There is a nine-gated lotus, covered under three bands of Gunas, in which lives the Spirit with the Atman within, that the Veda-knowers know.

Allow me to explain: The nine-gated lotus is also the nine-gated city mentioned in other Hindu scriptures. Presumably, that lotus or city is the Temple's Inner Altar, Fire Altar, or Holy of Holies, wherein dwell the Holy Spirit of the Christ Self and its dreaming Soul-fragments (the Atman). We know that the Divine Spark resides at the center of that Altar because Jesus says so in the Course. As the Atharva Veda explains, that Holy Place is "covered under" by the three Gunas, which encase it in the manner of bands or rings. Jesus describes something similar in the Course, without using the term Gunas. And finally, that "the Veda-knowers know" means that only those who sincerely seek Veda or (Self) Knowledge will know this Holy Place is within them.

What the nine gates represent is a discussion for another time (as I've only just come across this intriguing little rabbit hole). What the Atharva Veda says about the Gunas does, however, confirm that my conceptual framework is reasonably accurate. How so? Because those bands surrounding the lotus are almost certainly the gaps between the arms of the Temple Menorah (as the image below indicates). 

As "modes of being," the Gunas presumably span the distance between their foundational chakra and the one above. The Sattva Guna, for example, reaches from the Manipura to the Anahata Chakra, wherein the Buddhi and the Soul reportedly battle for domination.

A few paragraphs back, I split the seven levels of restored Self-Knowing between Devas and Gunas. That is not, however, the order presented in the Rig Veda. In that Holy Text, the dream-world is divided into three spheres, which are:

Upper Realm or World (Sky or Heaven)
Middle Realm or World (Atmosphere or Ether)
Lower Realm or World (Earth)

Before I attempt to diagram where the chakras fall on the Menorah, I should point out that our symbolic lampstand represents only the lower half or southern hemisphere of the actual Inner Instrument. In totality, the Spiritual Body's skeletal structure looks something like this:

  

Now we can better see how the Gunas encircle the Anahata or Heart Chakra in the manner of bands or rings (the gray spaces). We can also detect the cross formed by the chakra-bearing Bridge and the Seven Lamps. The black circles, meanwhile, represent the channels or "rivers" through which the Living Water travels around this at-one-ment apparatus. When viewed on a horizontal plane, this wheel or disc supports the Inner Altar, which descends inward from the center, like an inverted pyramid. The overshooting base of each Menorah forms the northern and southern points of the six-pointed Shaktona, Seal of Solomon, or Star of David, as shown below:

When viewed as a three-dimensional object, the Shaktona becomes a Merkabah -- a Hebrew word with Egyptian roots meaning "chariot." So, the chariots described in the various scriptures are in fact Merkabahs rather than actual animal-drawn vehicles. In the Old Testament, the word "chariot" was, in fact, an English replacement for the Hebrew word Merkabah. Thus, even the Chariot Throne of God is a Merkabah.

In this Merkabah rendering, we see the upside-down Prakriti triangle, the right-side up Purusha triangle, and the pyramidical Inner Altar jutting out of the center of the Purusha triangle. What we don't see is the skeletal double-menorah underneath -- or its mechanical lamps and chakras.

We'll talk more about these inner-space double-wheeled "chariots" in future posts. For now, be aware that the three syllables of Merkabah are said to break down as Light (Mer), Spirit (Ka), and Body (Bah). To be clear, Merkabah refers to the Spirit's Light Body, not anything physical. And, as I understand it, our Souls inhabit those traveling Light Bodies in-between physical incarnations (not all of which take place on earth).

With all that potentially new information crackling in your synapses, let's quickly survey a few other ways our "double-menorah" wheel is commonly portrayed.

In many schools of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, the same structure is the twelve-spoked Dharmachakra -- the Wheel of Right-Minded Living

The Bhavacakra -- a pictorial depiction of the teachings of Buddhism -- bears a remarkable resemblance to our double-menorah (with much more detailed symbolism)

In the Vedanta schools of Hinduism, the Antahkarana is sometimes depicted as a wheel.

In some areas of India, the various devas are assigned positions on Surya's Wheel in the manner depicted above.

Pretty interesting, right? And that's just a small sample.

Before closing today's discussion, I want to share something from the Bhagavad Gita allegedly referring to this revolving Dharmachakra -- and also interpret the surrounding verses with more acumen than can be readily found on the internet. This might get a bit tedious, so please bear with me.

In Chapter 3, verse 14, Krishna says to Prince Arjuna (in transliterated Sanskrit): Annat bhavanti bhutani parjanyat anna sambhava yanjnat bhavati parjanyo karma-samudbhavah.

Generally, this is translated more or less as follows:

All living beings subsist on food, and food is produced by rains. Rains come from the performance of sacrifice [yajna], and sacrifice is produced by the performance of prescribed duties.

Before I disclose what Krishna ACTUALLY said, let me ask this: Why would the Holy Spirit of the Christ Self (meaningfully assuming the form of Krishna as "charioteer") bother to explain to Arjuna that rains produce the grains we eat? I mean, honestly. Isn't that pretty mundane worldly intelligence? Furthermore, how is it even remotely helpful to a Soul preparing to battle the Ego Mind for dominance?

The answer is: it isn't the least bit useful because Krishna said nothing of the kind. Based on my own investigation, what he says in Bg 3:14 is more along these lines:

From purest minds [annat] in the present moment [bhavanti], all beings created by God [bhutani] offer a rainlike vibration [parjanyat] generated through thought-offerings [yajnas]. From these thought-offerings comes into being [bhavati] and makes possible [samudbhavam] the activity [karma] of Yanjnat (Lord Vishnu, the water-director or Holy Spirit).

The rain or, rather, rainlike vibration to which Krishna refers is, of course, the Om vibration, NOT physical rain -- which the next line bears out, when interpreted correctly. That line (Bg 3:15) reads: karma brahmodhavam viddhi brahm-akshara-samudbhavam tasmat sarva-gatam brahma nityam yagne pratishthitam.

This verse is commonly mistranslated as something akin to this:

The duties for human beings are described in the Vedas, and the Vedas are manifested by God Himself. Therefore, the all-pervading Lord is eternally present in acts of sacrifice.

The prevailing misapprehension that Brahma is the creator-god has seriously clouded the minds of most Gita translators -- even those purporting to be advanced swamis. So has the light-blocking idea that God demands sacrifices from those seeking divine assistance. Nothing is, in fact, further from the Truth because God only gives, in accordance with His own Holy Law of Giving and Receiving. To receive, we must give what we desire. And the egoic idea of sacrifice casts God in the unholy role of taker -- a role our Heavenly Father is utterly incapable of assuming. In my next post, I'll expand on my reasons for changing yajna from sacrifice (as commonly misinterpreted) to "thought-gift" (as the word actually means)

For now just be aware that this verse, in point of fact, says nothing whatsoever about sacrifice or the Vedas. Bringing the Vedas into the picture is the result of two major errors in understanding. The first of these is the presumption that brahmodhavam is a marriage between the words "Brahma" and "udbhavam," which means "produced or generated by or from." The second colossal faux pas is equating Brahma with the Vedas, when the two are, in fact, like oil and water. In the context of Hindu thought, Brahma rightly means "error, mistake, illusion, confusion, or perplexity" in reference to the fallibility of human perception. In Sanskrit, the word or name is a marriage of "brah" (solid form) and "ma" (to produce or create). So, Brahma refers to the wrong-minded thinking that produces solid form.  Veda, meanwhile, means "Knowledge."

And, when it comes to perverting the Bhagavad Gita's meaning, this is only the tip of Brahma's iceberg of deception.

In actuality, brahmodhavam isn't traceable as a Sanskrit word. So, the author of the Gita probably used some archaic form of Brahmodya, which refers to a Vedic ritual in which priests question their disciples to test their knowledge of the scriptures. Literally translated, Brahmodya means "to be spoken about Brahman." So, Brahmodhavam could mean "to speak about, praise, or invoke Brahman." Brahm-akshara, meanwhile, refers to the sacred syllable Om -- NOT to the divine sourcing of the Vedas. 

So, what Krishna actually says in Bg 3:15 is something closer to this:

Through the action [karma] of praising God [brahmodhavam] do we come to know [viddhi] the sacred syllable Om [Brahm-akshara]; and from that all-pervading [sarva-gatam] and eternal [nityam] thought-offering [yajna] everything is established in truth [pratishthitam].

The non-word brahmodhavam might also be an earlier spelling of brahmotsavam, which is a marriage of the words "brahm" and "otsavam." In this context, "brahm" means "grand," while "otsavam" translates as "special occasion" or "festival." And brahmotsavam is indeed the name given the major multi-day celebrations held on various special occasions at Hindu temples. Owing to Brahma's Truth-blocking cunning, the word is wrongly presumed to mean "Festival of Brahma." Brahma is not, however, the object of worship at these festivals. Typically, they are characterized as "cleansing ceremonies" honoring Lord Vishnu.

A statue of Vishnu astride Garuda being carried through the streets during a brahmotsavam procession in India.

If the word in verse 3:15 is indeed brahmotsavam, the passage would read: 

Through the action [karma] of the celebratory and cleansing Temple ceremonies [brahmotsavam] do we come to know [viddhi] the sacred syllable Om [Brahm-akshara]; and from that all-pervading [sarva-gatam] and eternal [nityam] thought-offering [yajna] everything is established in truth [pratishthitam]. 

And brahmotsavams are, of course, physical re-enactments of the Golden Circle "meetings" we hold in the Temples of our Higher Mind, wherein we give and receive the Holy Spirit's mind-purifying Living Water. And it is surely those "meetings" to which this verse refers, rather than their physical reflections. 

This brings us to verse 3:16 -- the one about the Dharmachakra. In transliterated Sanskrit, that passage reads: Evam pravartitam chakram anu-varta-yati ya aghayar indri-yar-amo mogham partha sa jivati. 

Below are two different but similar translations of this verse found on Bhavagad Gita websites hosted by swamis who, if truly enlightened, would know better:

O Parth, those who do not accept their responsibility in the cycle of sacrifice established by the Vedas are sinful. They live only for the delight of their senses; indeed their lives are in vain.

My dear Arjuna, a man who does not follow this prescribed Vedic system of sacrifice certainly leads a life of sin, for a person delighting only in the senses lives in vain.

How anyone came up with these outrageous misinterpretations is nothing short of astonishing. How the verse reads, word-by-word, is closer to this: Evam [thus] pravartitam [causing to turn] chakram [wheel] anu-varti [the obedient follower or fettered Soul exchanges] yati [through airborne extension or amplification] aghavar [the choice for fear, sin, pain, misery] indri [the five senses] yar [choice] amo [pleasure] mogham [uncertainty] partha [Arjuna] sa [all-pervading divinity, truth, and eternity] jivati [to return to the sustaining source of life].

When the syntax is polished a bit, Bg 3:16 reads more or less like this:

Thus, Arjuna, the fettered Soul causes the wheel to turn by exchanging, through airborne extension, the choice for fear, misery, sensual pleasures, and uncertainty, for the choice to return to the all-pervading, eternal, and divine source of its being.  

Big difference, right? And let this serve as a lesson in how grossly and widely scripture can be distorted by ego-duped interpreters, including those professing to be learned or enlightened. Or, as Jesus cautions us in the Gospel of Matthew, "Beware of false prophets" (7:15) because "if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a ditch" (15:14).

And on that salient note, let me end this long and meandering post with a passage from the Course that echoes Lord Krishna's teachings in Bg 3:14-16. The citation is from Workbook Lesson 49: God's Voice speaks to me all through the day. For greater clarification, I've added some parenthetical notations:

It is quite possible to listen to God's Voice [the Om vibration] all through the day without interrupting your regular activities in any way. The part of your mind in which truth abides [the higher, spirit part inside the Temple] is in constant communication with God, whether you are aware of it or not. It is the other part of your mind [the lower, ego part] that functions in the world and obeys the world's laws. It is this part which is constantly distracted, disorganized, and highly uncertain.

The part that is listening to the Voice of God is calm, always at rest, and wholly certain. It is really the only part there is. The other part is a wild illusion, frantic and distraught, but without reality of any kind. Try today not to listen to it. Try to identify with the part of your mind where stillness and peace reign forever. Try to hear God's Voice call to you lovingly, reminding you that your Creator has not forgotten His Son.

 A few paragraphs later, Jesus provides an exercise to help us hear the Om/Aum. If you don't yet hear the unstruck sound, I suggest you give it a try.

Listen in deep silence. Be very still, and open your mind. Go past all the raucous shrieks and sick imaginings that cover your real thoughts and obscure your eternal link with God. Sink deep into the peace that waits for you beyond the frantic, riotous thoughts and sounds and sights of this insane world. You do not live there. We are trying to reach your real home. We are trying to reach the place where you are truly welcome. We are trying to read God.

While attempting this exercise, you might also try repeating to yourself (as a Japa) the name we share with God (as per Workbook Lesson 183: I call upon God's name and on my own). What is that name? There are several; but the most powerful (in my experience) are Jesus Christ, Om or Aum, Sat Nam, or Om Tat Sat. Repeating the popular Hindu mantra "Om namah Shivaya," which essentially combines both Om and Christ, also works. And, just so you know, Om and Aum are both pronounced "O." And the grammatical rules of Sanskrit confirm my internal guidance on that score. So take with a grain of salt teachings that emphasize the "m" sound or instruct you to annunciate the three syllables A-U-M. As Sri Patanjali, Paramahansa Yogananda, Lord Krishna, and Master Jesus all tell us, the "prayer that contains all possible prayers" should be chanted in the mind rather than aloud. As anyone who hears the Om/Aum will confirm, there is no "m" sound present.

I hope you find my exploratory ramblings helpful. As we move forward, I'll endeavor to scrape Brahma's barnacles off a spate of other Hindu gods, including Agni, Rudra, Indra, Surya, the Ashvins, and the Maruts. Until then, Om Shanti Om, Namaste, and God Bless.

The Temple Menorah (Part 1): Zechariah's Vision

Let's begin our multi-post discussion of the Temple Menorah with another prophecy from the Old Testament Book of the Twelve. This one, recorded by a prophet named Zechariah around 500 BCE, also concerns Zerubbabel and the Second Temple of Jerusalem. In this account, Zechariah actually sees and describes the symbolic Menorah. In the King James translation, his account reads as follows:

Then the Angel who talked with me returned and woke me up, like someone awakened from sleep. He asked me, “What do you see?”

I answered, “I see a solid gold lampstand with a bowl at the top and seven lamps on it, with seven channels to the lamps. Also there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.”

I asked the Angel who talked with me, “What are these, my lord?”

He answered, “Do you not know what these are?”

“No, my lord,” I replied.

So he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.

“What are you, mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become level ground. Then he will bring out the capstone to shouts of ‘God bless it! God bless it!’”

Then the word of the Lord came to me: “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple; his hands will also complete it. Then you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you.

“Who dares despise the day of small things, since the seven eyes of the Lord that range throughout the earth will rejoice when they see the chosen capstone in the hand of Zerubbabel?”

Then I asked the Angel, “What are these two olive trees on the right and the left of the lampstand?”

Again I asked him, “What are these two olive branches beside the two gold pipes that pour out golden oil?”

He replied, “Do you not know what these are?”

“No, my lord,” I said.

So he said, “These are the two who are anointed to serve the Lord of all the earth.”

Like all Holy Visions, Zechariah’s is riven with symbolism. If we read those symbols literally, we miss the deeper meaning of the message. Let me, therefore, interpret Zechariah's through a mixed bag of etymological archeology and illuminated insight.

Let’s start with the word translated into English as "bowl." The Hebrew word Zechariah recorded was "gullah," which CAN mean "bowl," "reservoir," "spring," or even "the orb atop a column." But these are all SECONDARY definitions of the word.

According to both Strong's and Brown-Driver-Briggs, the FIRST definition of "gullah" is REDEMPTION, including the right and the object of redemption and, by implication, the relationship between the redeemer and the redeemed. And, as it so happens, this more accurate definition of "gullah" is the key to solving the Great Menorah Mystery.

This new understanding affirms that what the Angel of the Presence showed Zechariah wasn't merely a "golden bowl" feeding olive oil into a hollow menorah; it was a symbolic representation of the Chalice of the Atonement. And through that symbolic "vessel," the "two who are anointed to serve the Lord of all the earth" fuel the Temple Menorah's seven lamps or "spirits."

When Zechariah asks what the two trees represent, the Angel answers indirectly. He also frames the answer as God addressing Zerubbabel. To save you scrolling back, the answer he gives is, "Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit."

This seemingly amorphous response is actually quite illuminating on more than one level. On the most basic level, the Angel makes known that the Temple will not be finished through physical effort, because it's not an actual building. On a somewhat higher level, he conveys that God has divined that the Spirit of Grace will gently and gradually awaken the Souls dreaming on the earthly plane, rather than ending the dream abruptly through "power" and "might" -- i.e., the immediate application of God's Almighty Will. And on yet another level, he shows Zechariah (and us through him) that the Spirit of Grace will work through TWO partnering forces "anointed" by the True Father to carry out His Great Plan to end the dream of earthly existence gently and gradually.

The two trees or branches are meant to symbolize those two "anointed ones," while the "oils" represent the illusion-dissolving "substances" they dispense to do God's Will.

We can safely presume the two "oils" are the Blood and Water Rays -- the Yod and Mem powers of Elohim. In New Testament vernacular, those two Great Rays are the Blood of Christ and the Living Water -- the "twin" elixirs of redemption Jesus "brought forth" when he became the first earth-assigned Soul to complete his part in the Atonement Plan. As I understand it, a big part of his assignment was to activate God's Plan by opening the communications channel between the awake Christ Mind and its dream-bound brothers.

As Jesus told Sister (now Saint) Faustina in the early 1930s, the Blood Ray restores the Soul's memory of the everlasting life with which God endowed His One Son, while the Water Ray restores the Soul to "righteousness," "right-mindedness," "spiritual sanity," or upright Purusha perception.

And these two Great Rays do indeed grease the whole redemption "machine." But which Holy Power supplies which of these Rays? The answer is staring us right in the face, actually -- but may be blocked from awareness by some of the false beliefs and faulty denials we still cherish and defend.

For me, those blinders weren't so much cherished beliefs as unconscious presumptions. When I started writing this post (several months ago), I knew the Temple Menorah represented the Inner Instrument of the Spiritual Body, but couldn't say for sure what the seven lamps signified. I presumed they represented the Seven Spirits before the throne described in the Book of Revelations -- which is correct, as far as it goes. But I also mistook those Seven Spirits or LAMPS for the Seven Rays much discussed in Theosophy, Esoteric Astrology, and the modern-day wizardry dubbed "Occult Science." And, as I now realize, so have the misguided proponents of those ego-perpetuated teachings.

I might be wrong about this, but I don't think so.

Even as I read, wrote, and rewrote, day after day and week after week, I struggled to see through my egoic blinders. And then, I did see -- but only AFTER I opened my mind to the possibility that my presumptions about certain foundational concepts might be leading me astray. All the while, Jesus kept showing me the image above (which is displayed on candles all over my house). He even guided me to read the diary of Sister Faustina Kowalska, which describes his many appearances and messages to the Polish nun over the course of her 33 years in that blessed persona. The manuscript was, unfortunately, "Catholicized" by a panel of priests prior to its Vatican-endorsed publication. Interestingly, they retained the part where Jesus tells Sister Faustina she will teach the world about the Great Rays in her next life, too. The editors must have assumed he meant her "next life" in Heaven, as an Ascended Saint. What he actually meant, I'm almost certain, is her next life as ME.

Okay, yes ... it's taken me awhile to fulfill my teaching role in that regard, but better late than never, eh? 

Returning to the subject at hand, let me share something from the Course that provides more clues about the two trees flanking the "bowl of redemption" in Zechariah's vision:

My brother, you are part of God and part of me [the Christ]. When you have at last looked at the ego's foundation without shrinking, you will also have looked upon ours. I come to you from our Father, to offer you everything again. Do not refuse it to keep a dark cornerstone hidden, for ITS protection will not save you. I GIVE you the lamp, and I will go with you. You will not take this journey alone. I will lead you to your true Father, Who hath need of you, as I have. Will you not answer the call of love with joy?

In this revealing paragraph, we learn all of the following: 1) We are part of God and part of the Christ; 2) The Christ comes to us from the Father, to give us back the Holy Inheritance we threw away; 3) The Christ gives us the lamp and goes with us on the journey the lamp illuminates; 4) The journey leads back to our True Father -- the Father of the FIRST Covenant, Temple, and/or Trinity; and 5) We begin our journey back to the True Father by answering the Call to Awaken.

What has all this got to do with the two trees -- or the Menorah, for that matter? EVERYTHING, actually. BUT we can't see those trees through the shadows of deception until we open our minds to the possibility that our engrained beliefs about the Holy Trinity might be getting in our way. So, let's begin the "undoing" process on this particular subject by exploring what the Holy Trinity is and  is not.

Christian theology tells us there is one Holy Trinity, which resides in Heaven -- the place "good" Souls go after death. That Trinity consists of a bi-polar Father, who is loving and merciful one moment and wrathful and punishing the next; Jesus Christ, the ONLY Son of God, whose cruel, torturous, and excruciatingly unjust crucifixion was somehow our fault; and the Holy Spirit, a mercurial "dove" who flies around bestowing gifts on the very few Souls that God and Jesus deem worthy of salvation.

Not a pretty picture, is it? Nor is it an accurate one. When evaluated rationally, the "father figure" of the Christian Trinity is a Frankenstein's monster-esque compilation of aspects of the True Father and his would-be and completely insane usurper, the Great Deceiver. True to form, the Ego Mind and its dark agents have waged a distressingly successful campaign since the dawn of time to replace the True Father as the object of human worship.

This is as true in Hinduism as it is in Christianity -- with one notable proviso. Hindus don't worship Brahma, despite his designation as "the creator" and his puzzling inclusion in the Trimuti. Hindus also recognize two "trinities" -- the Trimurti and the Tridevi -- neither of which is the True Trinity headed by Param-Brahman. Based on what I've read and currently understand, the Trimurti (Brahma, Shiva, and Vishnu) operates within the dream in partnership with the Tridevi (Sarasvati, Parvati, and Lakshmi). This model is partly right and partly erroneous.

What, then, are the two Trinities? And what role does each play in the salvation process? Let's explore those questions, starting with the First Trinity -- the True Trinity, which dwells eternally in Heaven proper, the formless and timeless realm of Perfect Creation. That Trinity consists of  the Holy Powers variously identified as 1) the God Mind, God the Father, the Uncreated Creator, the Causeless Cause, the Almighty Absolute, or Param-Brahman; 2) the Christ Mind, God the Son, the Created Effect, Creation, or Param-Shiva; and 3) the Creative Force of Agape, Holy Creative Spirit, or Param-Shakti.

As Hinduism correctly espouses, the Absolute God of the First or True Trinity -- Param-Brahman -- plays no part in anything going on inside Brahma's Egg. He doesn't even know Brahma's Egg exists. He only senses a logjam of sorts in the Wholeness of His Infinitely Extending Being, which He "wills" to remove.

As Hinduism also gets right, Param-Shiva doesn't act directly within Brahma's Egg, either. He does, however, work inside our egg-bound consciousness NOW through his emanated "agent," the Primordial Shiva. That "primordial" or "time-born" agent, emanation, or "spirit" of Param-Shiva is the "sacred dancer" whose choreographed movements destroy the illusion of duality. Rightly perceived, that "sacred dancer" is the Purusha Consciousness or "Holy Spirit" of the awake Christ Mind. That "spirit" works inside the dream-realm to urge us to choose God's Plan for us over the world's allurements. Rightly perceived, that "dancing" Purusha Consciousness is the Spiritual Light, Life, and Truth that both underlays and dissolves the illusion of form. In the celestial chain-of-command, Primordial Shiva ranks above and also directs the Second Trinity powers.

Primordial Shiva, the upright Purusha dancing inside Brahma's Egg

The Second or Atonement Trinity works exclusively in the dream-realm to make our return to Heaven possible, as well as to encourage us to "choose right" by answering God's Call to Awaken. Manifested by Elohim (rather than God), this dream-ending triune force consists of the Aleph, Lamed, and Hey "aspects" of the Creative Force of Grace. In Hinduism, those three "devas" are typically personified as Indra (Aleph), Sadashiva and/or Krishna (Lamed), and Vishnu (Hey). BUT, as stated earlier, Hinduism assigns many different personas to the various invisible forces present in the universe. These Second Trinity powers are, therefore, known by various other names as well.

The images below show a few recognizable personifications of the Lamed power of the Second Trinity.

Sadashiva, whose five heads represent either the Holy Powers of Elohim
or the five attributes the Soul must reclaim to awaken (as per Judaism).

Krishna, whose flute sounds the Call to Awaken in the lower waters of perception

Jesus as "the good shepherd," the Risen Son of God watching over his desert-wandering flock

Okay, so ... a couple of paragraphs back, I stated that Param-Shiva -- the True Christ of the First Trinity -- works inside the dream-realm NOW through his emanated "agent," the Primordial Shiva. Before the ascension of Jesus, Elohim (the Spirit of God) governed the divine aspects of the dream-realm from the "Throne of God" on the Seventh Plane. Afterward, Primordial Shiva (the Spirit of Christ) assumed the reins of power from his posting on the Sixth Plane.

Stated another way, the Spirit of Grace or God (Elohim) directed the yet-to-be-activated Salvation Plan until the Primordial Christ's scheduled succession. This is what Jesus means when he says (in the Course), "I am in charge of the process of Atonement, which I undertook to begin." 

This is also what he tries to convey in John 14 by stating: "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me."

Or, as he clarifies in the URText:

"No man cometh to the Father but by me" is among the most misunderstood statements in the Bible. It DOES NOT mean that I am in anyway separate (or different) from you, EXCEPT IN TIME. Now, we know that time does not exist. Actually, the statement is much more meaningful if it is considered on a vertical rather than a horizontal axis. Regarded along the vertical, man stands below me, and I stand below God. In the process of "rising up," I AM higher. This is because without me the distance between God and man is too great for man to encompass. I bridge the distance as an Elder Brother to man, on the one hand, and a Son of God on the other. My devotion to my brothers has placed me in charge of the Sonship, which I can render complete only to the extent I can SHARE it.

This appears to contradict another statement: "I and my Father are one." It doesn't. There are still separate parts in the statement, in recognition of the fact that the Father is GREATER. Actually, the original statement was "are of one KIND."

Let me rephrase what he says in simpler language: On the return journey to Heaven proper, we must join minds with the Primordial Shiva on the Sixth Plane of Consciousness (Miraculous or True Perception, in Course terms) before "graduating" to the Seventh Plane of Grace Consciousness. And it is from that "peak" or "capstone" of the upright Purusha Triangle that God reaches across the "tiny gap" between the Pure Grace Consciousness needed for Perfect Atonement (the Second Covenant between Father and Son) and the Pure Agape Consciousness required for Perfect Creation (the First Covenant between the Creator and His Creation).

The Primordial Christ in the form of Lord Shiva

The Primordial Shiva in the form of Jesus Christ

In the Course, Jesus refers to the Primordial Christ as our "Appointed Friend." In a section of the URText devoted to this God-appointed "amigo," he says:

Lead not your little lives in solitude, with one illusion as your only friend. This is no friendship worthy of God's Son, nor one with which he could remain content. But God has given him a better Friend, in whom all power in earth and Heaven rests. The one illusion that you THINK is friend obscures HIS grace and majesty from you, and keeps his friendship and forgiveness from your welcoming embrace. Without him you are friendless. Seek not another friend to take his place. There IS no other friend. What God appointed HAS no substitute, and what illusion CAN replace the truth?

Who dwells with shadows is alone indeed, and loneliness is NOT the Will of God. Would you allow one shadow to usurp the throne that God appointed for your Friend, if you but realized ITS emptiness has left YOURS empty and unoccupied? Make NO illusion friend, for if you do, it CAN but take the place of him whom God has called your Friend. And it is he who is your ONLY Friend in truth. He brings you gifts that are not of this world, and only he to whom they have been given, CAN make sure that you receive them. He will place them on YOUR throne, when you make room for him on his.

To clarify:

The Appointed Friend = the Primordial Shiva =
the "Holy Spirit" of Param-Shiva devoted to our awakening

Got it? Good, because this can be quite confusing. And part of the reason it is so confusing is that Jesus aimed the Course at disenchanted Christians. To make the teachings relatable, he presents them through the distorted lens of one hybrid Holy Trinity, which doesn't really work.  And that's why I'm bringing Hinduism and Judaism into the picture in these discussions. While neither is 100 percent accurate, they both acknowledge aspects of the "elephant" of Spiritual Truth missed, ignored, or denied by Christianity's ego-inspired blinders.

Before we move on, let's briefly review the chain of events discussed in earlier posts. The dream started with the Great Projection -- the thrusting outward of our Creative Will to be independent from God. For some time thereafter, we still saw the Inner Light of God in ourselves and others and still heard the Father's vibratory communications. We shut out those two memory sustaining "feeds" by projecting them outward as physically manifested fire and ice. Agreeing something must be done to repair the incommunicado split this caused, the First Trinity projected the Creative Force of Agape (dialed down to "Grace") into the void to repurpose the dream, construct the at-one-ment infrastructure, and share the Great Plan with a select few human prophets and scribes.

To get the ball rolling, the Spirit of God's Grace (Elohim) produced the first two "aspects" of the Second Trinity and the Temple Menorah/Inner Instrument. Like the Great Plan itself, these devices existed only in principle until Jesus's ascension reopened the channel between the awake and sleeping portions of the Christ Mind. Once the channel reopened, the Primordial Christ entered the dreamscape (as planned all along) to finish the job Elohim started.

Speaking as the Primordial Christ or "Christ Presence" (in Course terms), Jesus explains what he did (and still does) in the following excerpt from the URText:

You WERE in darkness until God's Will was done completely by any part of the Sonship. When it was, it was perfectly accomplished by ALL. How else could it BE perfectly accomplished? My mission was simply to UNITE the Will of the Sonship WITH the Will of the Father by being aware of the Father's Will myself. This is the awareness I came to give YOU, and YOUR problem in accepting it IS the problem of this world. Dispelling it is salvation, and in this sense I AM the salvation of the world.

Remember this, because (as you'll see) it's the key to unlocking the Great Menorah Mystery.

Pop Quiz question: Which of the two Trinities do we see here?

Most Christians would probably identify the figures above as the First Trinity. They are, in fact, neither the First nor Second, in their entirety. The dove in this image represents Elohim, whose first two "atonement" emanations were Lamed (depicted as Jesus) and Aleph (depicted as God). This is suggested by the two beams radiating from the "Spirit of God," as well as by the upright triangle of Purusha Consciousness behind the Aleph figure's head.

Interpreted correctly, the image depicts Elohim on the Seventh Plane of Grace Consciousness, extending the Blood and Water Rays down to the Sixth Plane of Christ Consciousness, where they "live and reign" as the Lamed and Aleph powers. The absent Hey Power, meanwhile, operates just below them, from the Fifth Plane of Soul Consciousness. From that position, the Hey Power extends the Great Rays into the lower-waters of Ego Consciousness (via the Inner Instrument), more or less as illustrated below./div>

The seven beams radiating from the "capstone" of the upright Purusha Triangle are the seven emanations of those two Rays. And these are the "spirits" that light the lamps of the Temple Menorah (as seen and described by John the Elder in the New Testament Book of Revelations).

It took me ages to figure out what these seven emanations represent -- and to finally discard, once and for all, the various esoteric teachings about the Seven Rays. As I now conceive them, these seven "spirits" are divided into two groups of three "teaching" powers and one "pupil," which moves upward as it advances through the Atonement Academy's seven grade levels (the seven planes of perception represented by the chakras).

The three lamps on the right represent the Father's Will for our return, which calls to us (magnetically) from the EAST side of the Menorah. The three lamps on the left represent the Son's Will -- or, more accurately, the CHOICES we must make to align our will with the Father's, with the help of the Holy Spirit of Primordial Shiva. The lamp in the middle represents the Divine Spark or Soul, whose learning goal is to UNITE the powers on both sides of the Menorah within its Self.

While drifting in the lower waters of perception, our Souls hang upside-down in the dark cocoon of Prakriti ignorance, unaware of their True Identity. To "undo" the sticky layers of that ego-spun chrysalis, the Seven Rays "teach" the Buddhi or Witness Consciousness to "see reason" -- i.e., see things God's way -- on the four levels of "ignorance" the lower-water "chakras" represent. Once the Soul sheds those layers, it "graduates" to the Spiritual Triad, where the Second Trinity powers take over as its teachers.

Right-mindedly interpreted, the Menorah is a blueprint for the atonement mechanism in the "lower-water" half of the Dharmachakra -- the "wheel" or "single-eye" through which we perceive the Light of God in all things.

In the Hindu Vedas, the Dharmachakra is associated with Surya, the god of the Spiritual Sun and its maya-melting Holy Rays (as we'll discuss later on). Like Elohim, Lord Surya sits on his "Chariot Throne" atop this single "wheel," disc, or chakra. In the Vedas, the Dharmachakra is described as "the eye of the world" that illuminates and perceives the world. That "wheel" or "eye" belongs to Mitra -- an early Vedic personification of the Blood Ray.

In Buddhism, the Dharmachakra is commonly associated with the Bhavacakra -- the Wheel of Earthly Existence or Samsara. A pictorial representation of the Buddhist worldview, the Bhavacakra is displayed on or near the entrances of most (if not all) Buddhist Temples. 

Known in esoteric and occult circles as Ezekiel's Wheel, the Dharmachakra is depicted, along with various other intriguing symbols, on THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE card in the Rider-Waite Tarot.

The process through which the seven "spirits" or "lamps" work together through the Menorah might look something like the image below, which I borrowed from Rick Ireton's interesting-but-not-altogether-accurate book, Chakra Key: A Key for Humanity. Mr. Ireton is correct that the Menorah and the chakras play pivotal roles in the ego-undoing process. He errs by confusing the lamps with the chakras and by accepting the "prevailing wisdom" that the spiritual and physical bodies operate on the same plane of perception. They are both, in fact, manifestations arising from two wholly SEPARATE minds, only one of which is REAL.

We'll talk more about Mr. Ireton's ideas, the Dharmachakra, and the WHEEL OF FORTUNE card in future posts. For now, just know that the lamps across the top are NOT the chakras. They represent the Holy Powers working through the Temple Menorah to help unblock the four "epicenters of perception" that run up the "spine" or "stem" of the lampstand, in the manner shown below.

We've jumped too far ahead, so let's circle back to the two "anointing oils" that grease the whole Atonement Machine. As Jesus implies, those two "oils" represent the "twin" aspects of the WILL shared by the True Father (Param-Brahman) and the True Son (Param-Shiva) to end the dream of separation, whilst still honoring the Sonship's free and freely given Creative Will. 

The Blood Ray represents both the Light and Life of God within us AND the Father's Will to wake us up, while the Water Ray represents both the inner Christ-Self AND the Son's will to be awakened in accordance with the Second Covenant. That "covenant" between Father and Son was forged in Heaven long ago, but is yet to be fully realized on earth. This "contract" was, however, "signed" by Jesus, while his Soul yet dwelled in the realm of earthly existence. And by signing that contract HERE, he opened the door back into Heaven for the rest of us.

If we add the Menorah to Mr. Ireton's illustration, we can see the push-pull dynamic of the undoing process in action. The God-Will part of the Blood Ray calls us to awaken from the EAST side of the Menorah. As Jesus says, that Call to Awaken is not only powerfully magnetic; it's also IRRESISTIBLE to the Soul. As stated earlier, the Soul or Divine Spark is (I believe) BOTH the part of us that's God, and an atonement device programmed to respond to its Creator's Call at the appointed time (with our prior unconscious consent).

Thus, the Blood Ray is the source of BOTH the Call to Awaken and the internal Divine Spark of Eternal Light and Life that answers the Call at a pre-determined time. We answer the Call by inviting the Holy Spirit (of the Christ-Self) to show us a better way to perceive the world and its occupants.

Or, as Jesus explains in his usual lyrical way:

The Holy Spirit is the light in which Christ stands revealed. And all who would behold Him can see Him, for they have ASKED for light. Nor will they see Him ALONE, for He is no more alone than THEY are. Because they SAW the son, they have risen IN HIM to the Father. And all this will they understand, because they looked within, and saw, beyond the darkness, the Christ in them, and RECOGNIZED Him. In the sanity of His vision, they looked upon themselves with love, seeing themselves as the Holy Spirit sees them. And WITH this vision of truth in THEM, came all the beauty of the world to shine upon them.

As the Blood Ray pulls on its own Holy Seed from the East, the Water Ray gently "pushes" us from the West to "choose right." One of the ways the Water Ray applies this gentle pressure is by presenting us with cyclical "forgiveness lessons." Those lessons, Jesus tells us, grow more painful each time we ignore them, thereby ensuring our eventual submission. Or, as stated in the Course's introduction, "Free will does not mean that you can establish the curriculum. It means only that you can elect what you want to take at a given time."

We can, in other words, choose not to learn the lessons presented to us, but only until our self-inflicted suffering grows so unbearable we FINALLY turn to God for help. But why put ourselves through all that unnecessary pain and anguish when we can answer the Call right now?

Elsewhere in the Course, Jesus makes clear that free will isn't the carte-blanche hall-pass we might presume it to be. God, who created free will, also placed limits on how much and how long we can abuse this "gift" on the earthly plane. As Masters Pursah and Arten told Gary Renard (in The Disappearance of the Universe), the dream is a "closed system," meaning we can only push the boundaries so far before built-in restrictions come into play.

And yes, I've veered off-topic again, so let's swing all the way back to Zechariah's vision of the Menorah. In that vision, the prophet saw two pipes filling a golden bowl with "oils." On either side of the bowl stood two olive trees symbolizing the source of those oils.

In my usual circuitous and meandering way, I have solved the mystery of what those symbols represent. In case I lost you along the way, the symbols and their meanings are these:

The Menorah = the Inner Instrument through which we navigate our way back to Heaven or Superconsciousness

The Golden Bowl = the Chalice of the Atonement

The Two Oils = the Blood and Water Rays

The Two Trees = the shared will of Param-Brahma and Param-Shiva at work in the dream-realm through Elohim (the Holy Spirit of God) and the Primordial Shiva (the Holy Spirit of Christ)

Okay so ... this concludes the first segment of our discussion of the Temple Menorah, BUT there is much more to share and discuss, so do come back for my next post -- whenever that might be.

Until we meet again outside the Golden Circle,

Namaste and God Bless