Response to Post: December 7, 2015 #5537 Elizabeth White – in reply to Post 5516 (Anthony)
Re:
There is a question I would like to ask Sebai Maa though..possibly in the Wednesday meeting..re the Buddha’s enlightenment as it relates to the Initiation system. Did the Buddha go through this? ..I have only heard of his choosing different approaches to self discovery on his own until he sat under the Bodhi tree ..but listening to the lectures by Sebai Maa i am questioning a lot of what has been taught us regarding anything as so much has been left out or selectively included
Udja Elizabeth (and also Anthony via post 5516),
Short answer…yes, the personality known as the Buddha (which means Enlightened one, like the word Christ) went through “this”….it’s the path for all incarnated humans…just a matter of if they are experiencing it in this lifetime or lifetimes past. No one is born a child prodigy with talents that emerge from “nowhere”. These are expressions of past life work…and the same for spiritual work.
So, ny, Buddha may have had (seemingly) limited formal study and associations in this lifetime…but he still had some little residue of ignorance to overcome that made him incarnate. So, Ny…people look at the finished product and negate the efforts that went into that finished product, simply because it occurred in a past lifetime. Buddha studied Hindu-Vedanta philosophy, and like Akhenaten, he felt that the worship of the deities for the general population had lost its way/become ritualistic and perhaps even idolatry, and set about to reform the religion…not creating something new, but trying to adjust the system. Buddha developed an alternate approach to try to correct what he saw were problems in the practice of religion in his time. His teachings are essentially the same Yoga-Vedanta teachings…but without the gods and goddesses.
Sebai Maa discusses this in the African Origins Series and also I believe Egyptian Yoga Vol 1.
One issue within some of the Buddhist sects/groups is the over emphasis on intellectual development & technical practice of meditation, but the lack of devotional outlets for proper emotional development.
And thus, is it not surprising that this system is popular in the West…where there is the a widespread lack of correct development of emotions…and people don’t really want to deal with their emotions. There is a lot of “emotional pain” in this society/world culture, and one must have a way to understand it, to work though it, to sublimate it, to purify it, before one can transcend it. So sometimes people go to Buddhist retreats, and then this pain emerges, and they are given an “intellectual” answer to deal with it, such as “be here now”, which does not often help them. What may help is the compassion they may experience from the teacher giving the answer, or other practitioners. But still, if the tradition does not have a system for transforming emotions to devotion, then the practitioners will be off balanced in the cultivation of this aspect of their personalities.
This is why an integral approach is advocated…head (mind/intellect), heart (emotions), hands (action) and will (meditation)
In some Buddhist traditions, there is a sense that the practitioners can “think” or meditate one’s emotional “aryu/mental impressions” away.
Unfortunately, this is only true for those who have already worked through their emotions, previously…perhaps even in a previous life (lives)
The removing of the deities from a traditional can limit the devotional flow of the heart in a manner/at the level that humans are able to relate to the sentiments of Divine Love.
Akhenaten emphasized the Aten, which though more abstract, still provided a visual symbol of the Supreme Being for the flow of feelings
…but certainly…for most aspirants… not to the degree of being able to love Heru and Hetheru, and participate in their rituals, etc.
In some Buddhists teachings, there is no “circumscribed” Time and space (Paraclete) divinity to worship…and it’s hard for humans to have their feelings flow to “pure consciousness”. Easier to flow to Aset, or Aten, or Ra.
KMT Proverb:
“It is very hard, to leave the things we have grown used to, which meet our gaze on every side.
Appearances delight us, whereas things which appear not, make their believing hard…”
It can be done with someone who is quite advanced on the mystical path…like the Buddha in the lifetime where he attained Nirvana. He at this point, can relate to the Higher Self in the abstract…as Pure Consciousness.
Some Buddhist groups do incorporate worship of Buddhist “deities” or and Bodhisattvas…or even just Buddha, which aspirants can allow their purifying feelings of devotion to flow towards…in a devotional way. Or sometimes, these feelings flow the their particular Buddhist teacher.
And in Christianity, followers have Jesus to love…he is essentially a “deity” (read S. Maa’s book, Mystical Journey from Jesus to Christ). In Islam, followers have Muhammad to love. Etc Etc. Etc.
The heart must have a way to flow to something higher…beyond the mundane world…something ultimately transcendental…Higher Self, Pure Consciousness, Rama & Sita (Hinduism) and also, Aset, Ra, Heru, Amun, etc., but understanding that these deities are one’s essential nature and that one’s true essence, is beyond Time and Space…….to be purified:
The above picture is of Hanuman a “monkey” Hindu divinity that symbolizes spiritual aspiration, devotion and strength to overcome all obstacles on the path, service of the Divine, and the power of the agitated (monkey) mind when it comes into the service of the Higher Self…revealing what is in his heart…his innermost essence. What is revealed in his innermost heart is the Divine Self in the form of Lord Rama (Higher Self) & Sita (Intuition intellect).
And also, in our KMT system, if someone feels awkward about worshiping the gods and goddesses, they can simply approach the Neteru as “cosmic principles” rather than as personalities. But in our system, we do have a lot of emphasis on the divinities, their myths, etc. So, such a person can then gain insight into the deeper mystical understanding of the gods and goddesses, and overcome their reluctance (western conditioning, etc.).
The key is understanding the principles beneath the deities….and in our system, we work with both interchangeably. This does require a certain level of mental/intellectual and emotional/devotional capacity to do this, and thus, such systems are not for everyone, certainly not for those at the level where they can only follow a more simplified and dogmatic approach to religion. Do this. Don’t ask questions.
Once you have this understanding, and are exposed to a Hindu-Yoga-Vedanta system that distills the teachings using the Hindu deities (like we do using KMT deities) OR a Buddhist system that does not, that speaks in terms of principles, you are able to follow along…and be “at home” in any authentic system. It’s like being multilingual…multimystical, or perhaps, panmystical.
So for most people, the Divine Love must have a way to flow in its cultivation, otherwise it flows back into the world, and this is challenging, because the world is not “cuddly” and “lovable”…all the time…relationships are not easy as you all know. So it’s hard to build up Divine Love if one only has to world to interact with devotionally. This is why many people turn to spirituality to begin with…they can’t take the world/relationships any more.
Then the devotional love that is cultivated and purified through worship of the gods and goddesses, is re-directed back to the world…through seeing and serving the Self in others. So, instead of having an adversarial relationship with the world and with others, one approaches interacting with others in a different way…striving to see with the inner eye, further cultivating and purifying one’s emotions and expanding in Devotional love.
Utilizing the system of gods and goddesses, KMT sages through the story of Ra and Aset…when Aset poisons Ra
…give the teaching…that the divinity that is being worshiped by the aspirant, is not the true essence of the aspirant…and that just worshiping this divinity is not the goal of mystical spirituality. One has to transcend time and space…and Discover one’s true Self, whether you call it Self or Consciousness, Brahman, or Neberdjer…attaining the state of Nirvana, Moksha or Nehast (respectively).
So….all authentic systems lead to the same end…
So…if one understands the essence of the teachings of the Gods and Goddess of KMT or in Hinduism and the practice of mystical spirituality, then there is no contradiction between the teachings utilizing the system of the gods and goddesses, or those that do not, such the teachings related to Aten, or the teachings of Buddha.
…and important key is…for an aspirant to understand the necessity to cultivate all 4 aspects of the personality….and take the the steps to do so.
HTP,
S. Dja
