Signs of the Nameless Way of Balance

For the wise and sincere observer, the Nameless Way has a message at every crossroad,
announcing itself across every culture and every continent since the beginning of time.

☯ The home of every living being on Earth is the Way. The Way gives room to all living beings. Every single living being holds the way sacred. Their reverence for the Way, and their obedience to is authority, are natural and unforced. Exercise power in accordance with the Way, and people will not be violent or disruptive. If you have true knowledge, you know how to be ignorant. If you are truly strong, you have the strength to be weak.

☯ To have without possessing, to do without claiming credit, to lead without controlling ― these are the mysterious virtues of the Way. When we seek power, we lose the Way. When we lose power, we find the Way. But beware of taking pride in finding the way, for fear that you will start claiming to live by high moral standards ― and then lose the Way again. If you know when enough is enough, you know enough.

☯ Wise people hear about the Way, and try hard to follow it. Ordinary people hear about the Way, and wander on and off it. Foolish people hear about the Way, and make jokes about it. After all, if the Way were not funny, it would not be the Way. People of the Way follow the Way; they belong to the Way. Eventually by following the Way you arrive at a place of inaction; in that place nothing is done, and nothing is undone.

☯ People say that the Way's brightness looks like darkness; that advancing along the Way feels like retreating; that the Way is so soft that walking along it is hard. If you listen to the Way, it seems dull. If you taste the Way, it seems insipid. Yet you cannot get enough of it. The Way is to the world as a stream is to a valley, and a river to a sea.

☯ The Way is hidden, so it has no name. But only the Way can bring you into existence, sustain you, and fulfill you. Following the Way makes that which is, become what it should be. The Way never does anything; yet it leaves nothing undone. Through following the Way, human beings are fulfilled. If heaven deviated from the Way, it would fall apart. Through following the Way, heaven is pure.

☯ People who know the Way are observant, subtle, penetrating and wise. Their wisdom is too deep for others to fathom. To follow the Way is to be fulfilled and happy, without fulfillment. To follow the Way is to grow old, and yet constantly be young. If you follow the Way, there is nowhere for death to enter. All things that are contrary to the Way are fleeting. If you know what endures, you follow the Way, because the Way endures forever.

☯ A wise person leaves the egoistic self behind, and moves forward on the Way. A selfish ego is extraneous to human life; and by leaving it behind the wise person reaches the center of life. Why let the self go? Without letting go of the self, the soul's needs cannot be met. If my mind is modest, I shall walk on the Way. If my mind is arrogant, I shall walk in fear. The Way is long, going around many mountains; but people prefer shortcuts.

☯ Why was the Way honored in days of old? People believed that, if they sought the Way, they would find it. And they believed that if they needed shelter, the Way would provide it. Thus the Way was honored above all things under heaven. If you move by the light of the Way, your movement takes you nowhere. At the center of the wheel there is stillness. ☯

― Tao Te Ching

I Am the Walrus - We Are Together

= Wisdom from the Old Walrus =

Have you seen the walrus? Have you been the walrus? Where is the walrus?

I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together.

See how they run like pigs from a gun, see how they fly.

See how they fly like Lucy in the Sky, see how they run.

Semolina pilchard, climbing up the Eiffel Tower.

Elementary penguin singing Hari Krishna.

Man, you should have seen them kicking Edgar Allan Poe.

Don't you thing the joker laughs at you?

I am the eggman, they are the eggmen.

I am the walrus, goo goo g'joob g'goo goo g'joob.

= End of Contemplation =

Isa Masaha: The Holy Man West of Tibet

Yesterday's Jesus as Isa is a pair calling for explanation. This article explores the Jesus featured in a peculiar account of an old Hindu scripture, where Jesus is featured as a sage with a golden glow, clad in white robes, living in western Tibet in the years following his preaching of dharma among "uncultured civilizations" — the lands of the Mlecchas.

While the authenticity of the narration in the Bhavishya-purana is questionable, it is nevertheless worth studying to gain insight into the blending of Jesus Christ and the Dharmic religions. The topic of the Jesus of Aquarian Gospel and his possible travels across India is somewhat outside the scope of this article, written merely in explaining the word Isa and commenting on apocryphal references to Jesus found in Hindu scriptures.

"Shrine of Hazrati Yousa Asouph" — believed by some to be Jesus' tomb in Kashmir.
For more information, see Flickr photos and The Tomb of Jesus Christ Website.

In Arabic (and Qur'an), Jesus is known as Īsā, the al-Masīḥ one of his frequent titles. "He is also a word from God and a spirit from Him." He is also called Yasu in Arabic speaking countries, much like people in India call him Yeshu or Ishu, and many others in their own variants by culture and language.

Some versions of Bhavishya-purana ("Ancient Text of Future"), a popular Hindu text of uncertain origins, have an account of a great sage known as Isa Masaha. The Bhavishya-purana itself is largely in the "Hindu Apocrypha" department, in the body of texts that are somewhat canonized, but in many cases either entirely of more recent origin, or substantially enlarged by later authors over the centuries.

A persian miniature of Jesus / Isa
giving the famous Sermon on the Mount

The word Isa is also an often-used short form of the Sanskrit word Isvara, "Master" or "God", not unlike the word "Lord" in English and Christian usage. In a curious parallel, the word "Father" is "isä" in Finnish; also used for the Father-aspect of the Trinity: Isä, Poika and Pyhä Henki. For a Wisdom Wheel parallel: Yang: Creator, Father/Heaven; Yin: Neutralizer, Son/Lamb/Earth; Wuji: Nondual, Uncreated Holy Spirit. We are dealing with universals, once again.

The word "isä" in Finnish comes from Proto-Uralic ičä;  while Uralic languages are not directly related to Indo-European languages (such as Sanskrit and Latin), the two have shared plenty of terrain and culture with the Aryan languages over the millennia. (This is why even a language as peculiar as Finnish has some uncanny similarities with a wide range of European and Indic languages.)

It's more than likely that texts like Bhavishya-purana have been altered (read: critique that prompted this write-up) — whether by Christian missionaries eager to establish a predating legacy of Jesus for the Hindus, or by Hindus themselves in an attempt to absorb the emerging spread of Christianity under their syncretic umbrella. For reference, the relevant passage is in Bhavishya-purana, Catur-yuga Khanda, Second Adhyaya. (Link to text. The transliteration and translations there are sloppy, but sufficient to understand the meaning in the original.)

The following are summary notes of the text and the discussion of Isa Masaha and king Shalivahana, taking place following Jesus' years of preaching in the distant lands:

• Describes himself as Isa-putra (Son of Isa or God) and Kumari-garbha-sambhava (Begotten of virgin womb).
• Lives on a mountain in Western Tibet near Mount Kailash and Manasarovara (Hunadesh: Lands of the Huns).
• Acted as a teacher of dharma to the Mlecchas (barbarians and uncultured people outside Vedic civilization).
• Became Masiha (messiah) to dissipate the spread of the fearsome religions by the uncivilized, who had lost the way of the truth.

In the text, Isa presents to king Shalivahana (c. 78-102 CE) a summary of the principles of dharma he taught  (verses 27-30) for people, whose pure way had become corrupted over time:

1. The mind should be made pristine.
2. Embodied beings are subject to good and bad taints.
3. Abolishing sacrifices, one should pray in highest pristinity.
4. As duty and in thoughts one should speak the truth.
5. In contemplation one should worship the Lord, established in the Solar Field, the Immovable Master himself, everywhere like the light of the Sun.
6. Having the Lord firmly manifest in the heart leads to everlasting purity and welfare.
7. "In this way, my name came to be established as Isa Masiha (Jesus Messiah)."

While not exactly a reflection of the entirety of the key teachings in the Gospel (in that they omit the central teaching of love), these teachings are certainly very much in line with the spirit of the original teachings of Jesus. Also, the connection of Isa/Father as the Prime Solar Force goes well with my Wisdom Wheel model in contextualizing Christian triune theology with other cosmologies — something for another day.

The characterization of Christianity as the religion of the Mlecchas, or uncivilized barbarians, isn't particularly complementary — while certainly an accurate description from the Brahmana point of view, where people living in deserts were regarded as being of sinful birth, lacking in culture of purity and as such ineligible to study the finer truths of theology and philosophy. If this were the handicraft of a Christian missionary, I would have expected a more complementary spin to the story.

It would be interesting to read the text in its entirety at some point. Overall, the Puranas — including Bhagavata, which is relatively late — are in the habit of listing chronologies of rulers in a future tense, when the narration is placed into anciety. For reference, see the 12th book of Bhagavata-purana. The correlative tables I have drafted for some of these lists make for a reasonable match with the actual names and sequences in history, reaching well into the common era — as with king Shalivahana (Gautamiputra Satakarni), a historical ruler of the Satavahana empire who is told here to have met Jesus the Messiah.

Still, many fundamentalists subscribe to the idea of such texts being 5,000 years old in their current form, believing them to be literal and detailed predictions for some 4,000 years into the future. I'd take it all with a grain of salt when it comes to claims to the ancience of Indic scriptures from the believers — or any other scripture with an uncanny level of specific detail for a  "prediction" of the future for that matter.

Predictions are based on enlightened and inspired observation and intuition of the patterns and undercurrents of the world, and are therefore by definition more abstract in nature. They are also not a proof of anything else than of themselves — they certainly do not validate a number of other unrelated claims heard in the same general direction.

Whatever the historicity of all these predictions may be, let's remember the gist of the lesson to be learned: Great teachers and prophets do not concern themselves with the particularities of the future, they address the problems of the humanity here and now. The thought of a salvation is a slim joy if the primal peace of the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven is absent from within you during your lifetime.

On that note, souls in the Kingdom of Heaven do not wave the flag of Israel or the insignia of any collective of people on Earth, whether crosses and crucifixes or wheels of dharma. They live in both immanence and transcendence, dwelling in an absolute state of pristinity within — whatever the path they may have followed in reaching that supreme peaceful and enlightened destination of the heart.

Open Letter: Children of the Light!

The following is an open letter to every missionary and messenger of Christ, dated September 1st, 2007. It is translated from the original Finnish version I once wrote in response to a number of fired-up born-again preachers who were targeting me over my "evil oriental beliefs" — which in no way differ from the essence they sought to preach, save and except our vocabularies and their persistent calls for exclusivity to the one and only path, truth and life. This is the same universal message in their vocabulary.

And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like
little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matt 18:3-4)

Jesus Christ is Universal: Never force his mission into the constraints of your foolish and narrow perspectives, declaring yourself as a true and exclusive messenger, trampling on others without fear or remorse in advancing your faith — very literally your faith, in that you are weak in faith and seek to enforce it through convincing others. This is no preaching — this is violence to others in the name of serving your selfish egoist needs.

I am particularly not fond of listening to sermons by preachers, who are themselves lukewarm in their deeds, lacking a correlation in their words and their acts in fulfillment of the message. "I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth." (Rev 3:15-16)

While it is a message of light, love and heaven that Jesus sought to teach, his followers have turned it into a campaign of demons and eternal lakes of fire and damnation, preaching but thunder and storms of fear. Then, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." (Luke 6:31) Below is a video from the Healing Waters Church, a beautiful illustration of how a universal message can be conveyed with art and fluid expression, in a spirit of healing and balance, as the original intent was.

The soothing wind and water of love and harmony; from the Healing Waters Church.

In the transfiguration of Christ, the old God and prophets of Fire and Thunder

were reconciled and made gentle in the soothing Waters and Winds of Christ.

Then, this is an open letter to all who would pour fire and brimstones unto others, canvassing mankind into the service of a demanding and wrathful God, forcing our choice between Heaven and Hell in nothing but an act of ignorance and immaturity. If you are a messenger or a preacher, then walk your talk or get down from the high horse and be humbled before the sins that still riddle you.

When a humble mule carried the Son of God and the King of Heavens, we are hardly in a position to ride a blazing white horse whilst weaving our sword and throwing our spears about — especially when still far from being humble children of the light who would inherit the Kingdom of Heaven in their hearts!

—o)O(o—

Children of the Light!

Ho, brother, declaring your message of Light to the world! You, who count yourself in the flock of Christ. Be looking into your heart! Do you truly walk the path of the Christ in your deeds, or do you tread the path of flesh and perishness, the pious words but an ornament of your lips? Your words are of God, but truly your heart still dwells in the kingdom of Satan.

Hear this, and hear it well and with your full heart, for I shall speak the words of the Christ. Truly, I shall speak the words of the Christ, a message to uproot Satan's dominion of your heart to its roots; a message to lead you towards the path of truth, holiness, righteousness and light.

You profess to be among the own of Jesus Christ, his message you preach. But does your heart follow his path? Have you given your all — each thought, word and the acts of your hands — to be his own? Have you already risen above blame? For is it not said, "May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." (Tess 1. 5:23)

"But none of us is Jesus Christ, free of sin, come from above. In sin we are born, and in sin we are living." May that be so. But your sins are to cease! Remember the words of your Master, "I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you." (Joh 13:15) Jesus would not grant even a moment to be Satan's own, wouldn't waver before the temptation. Then become like him!

Give up, then, the ways of your Satan — walk the path of brightness shown by your Lord Jesus, fulfilling his sacred will. For did he not say, "Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." (Matt 7:21)

You will not be delivered by confession alone — you will be delivered when the pristinity of your heart is seen in the deeds of your hands. For there is no room in the kingdom of heaven for Satan, nor for those following his path, carrying Satan in their innermost hearts. As the master said, "For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother." (Matt 12:50) Become his brother and his sister then — walk as holy and free of fear by his side!

Once you have professed the path of the Christ in your past, once it has touched your heart. Do you suppose your confession of the past will carry from here into the evermore? Make your heart blameless at each moment, fill it with divine light. Fill it with freedom from sin, freedom you gain in living forever in the light of Christ.

Gaze towards the sky, raise your arms and kneel. Call with your full heart for the brightness of God to descend into your heart. Call with humility, call with remorse, and call with pathos. Let the tears of remorse wash your face, let them fill your heart; for the stream of tears born of the light of God shall wash away the Satan within you. Call in the morning, call in the evening, call at night and call in the day; call in each moment for the descent of grace and brightness illuminating. Make this call your life, and in Christ you will dwell.

You preach the word of Christ while living under Satan's rule. Where is the power of your message? For it is said, "But the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful." (Mark 4:19) You pure in words but filthy in deeds, you will only reap a hypocrite's fame, distancing the humanity from the message of Christ's light with your fruitless message. Live in the Christ, be filled with his light and love. Your word will become powerful.

"There is much that is dear in the world for me too", we often hear. Know that craving to be of Satan, and know that world to be his. Know its pleasures and allurements as the path of perishment. For the Master said,  "Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life." (Joh 12:25) Your true life is within in the kingdom of God, in the temple of the Holy Christ to descend into your heart. Live in Christ alone, live forever more. Uproot each and every path of darkness, path apart from the Christ.

If you count yourself among Christ's own, then ponder in your heart these words: "Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ." (Romans 8:8-9) Being filled with the Spirit of Christ, the dominion of flesh would cease. For it is said, "Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires." (Gal 5:24)

Do not bend before your longing for the world, "For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want." (Gal 5:17) Understand this, understand your predicament, and lament. Call for the Spirit of Christ in truth into your heart, and call for it evermore. Exorcise the spirit of Satan with the power of holy heaven, and in giving your all in the Spirit of Christ you'd be filled with the holy yourself.

You trade your soul in the world of the living dead, hold its affairs as your own, delight in its pleasures; in the pleasures of flesh, sin, and forgetfulness. But did Jesus not say, "You follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead." (Matt 8:22) Walk in the footsteps of your Master towards the world of the living, sow within your heart the seeds of brightness. "Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life." (Gal 6:8)

Do not postpone the opportunity of grace you face, walk now without faltering on the path of brightness. For it is said, "Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of light." (Joh 12:36) Yet there is an opening before you, so seize it like a drowning man would reach for the last floating straw. Who knows when you'll drown, when your days will meet their count? Truly, may this day be the last of your days in this world.

Live your life in the light of Christ, and fulfill his holy will. Follow his path in sincerity, and make his instructions your all. Be free of sin and attain infinite, everlasting life. Let the Spirit of God fill your all, and fill your world with the light, joy and selfless love of God. Be a child of the light while living! And in the Holy you are to discover your true life.

—o)O(o—

Happy Holidays, Master Jesus!

Birthday salutations to Isa / Master Jesus!

ईशानन्दम् ईशनन्दनं तारकस्य दयाधर्मम् ।

विश्वतोषकं परप्रचारकं नमामीशं परशान्तम् ॥

īśānandam īśa-nandanaṁ tārakasya dayā-dharmam |
viśva-toṣakaṁ para-pracārakaṁ namāmīśaṁ paraśāntam ||

"Joy of God, Son of God, Redeemer's Dharma of Grace;
Fulfiller of Worlds, Preacher Par Excellence
 -- I salute Isa, Highest Holy Peace."