Breathing and sitting meditations, the name of God sings an old song, walking meditation, some teachings from the Haggadah and a parable.
Easter/Passover 2008
Waves breaking along the shore of the island of Oahu, Hawaii
Picture taken July 2006 after a short climb to reach atop the U.S. Army Diamond-head defensive fort which overlooks and protects the city of Honolulu from there.
Some Sutras for OurPrayerGroup
Hail Mary! Hail Jesus! Hail Soul of Christ!
Blessed art thou among women Mary.
Blessed art thou among men Jesus.
Pure art thou my soul of Christ as that of He who created, formed, and makes you… He who creates, forms, makes you from himself, the World, and us…He who breathes life into me, will take it from me, and return it to me in the hereafter.
And, blessed is the fruit of God’s womb that bore you three inside of us.
No birth, no death is there in our here and now.
Good Jesus hear us, if ever we loved thee tis now.
From the wicked foe defend us.*
At the hour of our death call us unto thee,
that thy wounds hide our souls of Christ in thy eternal kingdom, power, and glory…
until God reigns and rules its time for them to rise and shine forth in all of us and thee.
*portions of this prayer are inspired from a prayer of St. Ignatius Loyola which has been published in his spiritual exercises. A good translation of St. Loyola’s wondelful and useful directions for meditation of the spiritual exercises (by Louis J. Puhl, S.J.) may be purchased, while they last, from St. Andrew’s Cathedral’s bookstore (Episcopal) in downtown Jackson, MS[note:unfortunately bookstore has now been closed since 2010 or so, apparently the bishop thought my friend the lady who was running it wasn’t making enough money to justify keeping it open] .
Breathing in, we go back, we go forward
To God’s island of Christ inside ourself .*
There is an eternal tree of life
There is water, there are birds,
There is sunshine and fresh air.
Breathing out, we feel safe .**
added March 2020: How do we protect our immune system with physical and mental relaxing and deep breathing techniques, through lengthening inhalation and exhalation, moving energy first from top chakra down to bottom like Lee Holden’s “Buddha clearning and protecting the earth slow gently flowing mindfully aware movements”? How can we use Tai Chi and QiGong[words means Art of generating and cultivating Chi or the universal natural energy all around and in us], Nada Yoga[the Yoga of using Sanskrit sounds to generate and cultivate Kundalini Energy, energy stored by our minds in our bodies from our past experiences, upward moving Chi energy] in order to heal energies in our spiritual bodies with positive thinking, affirmation and denials and also mindful aware deep breathing? According to the book Introduction to Chi Kung by our long time friend, fellow Yoga student, and TV martial arts hero David Carridine it takes about 6 months before these exercises start to work. I have been doing them on a regular basis for about 10 years, starting seriously after I retired from US Government in 2011. Before that I had been studying Sanskrit, martial arts, doing Yoga, since about 1973. They have really helped me, broadened my spiritual horizons and enriched my life.
For the lung cleansing exercises you sit in a comfortable posture relax slow down your breathing through mental awareness of it, raise your hands upwards and backward and release the lung energy using the multidimensional cleansing vowel consonant sound “ssssss” out loud to release physical stress, then more softly to release emotional tension, then silently to your self to release spiritual stress. The Universal Natural Chi Energy as it resurrects the Kundaline cosmic consciousness of spiritual human divine energy circulating in two orbits around your spiritual body, a larger macrocosmic and a smaller microcosmic orbit, Carradine gives two different QiGong procedures for cultivating both of these. Taoists like to think of the way this energy is connected 2×2 into a four part Conceptual Name as what they call the Tao or the Way of Cosmic and microcosmic Divine Holy Spirit Indwelling and Surrounding us. Our Divine Name of our personal God YHWH is the same thing they are calling an impersonal Holy Spirit. The Divine Name YHWH can be pronounced with vowels as the two vowels ah and eh as YaH- Weh, the first three letters Yah actually being itself a shortened form of His Name as in when we say Praise God or Hallelujah-Hallelu- Yah.. His Holy Spirit in order to be known in us as we know it proceeds downward from the cosmic energy in Him dwelling above our heads into the consonant letter “Y” or “J” of His Holy Spirit dwelling in us in what us Yogi’s calll the microcosmic causal world in the Vissuddhi chakra ocated in the throat then down into the macrocosmic center of all of our souls dwelling together in what the Yoga’s call the “maha” worldthe heart using the vowel “ah” and then from there it proceeds outwardly microcosmically again as Divine will inside of human will from the manipura or “precious jewel” chakra using the vowel sound “eh” manifesting itself inside of the consonant “W” or “V” the prophet Isaiah, Jesus Christ, John the Baptist, Saint Andrew used to say “W” so we have kept on pronouncing it that way even after some others tried to call it V when the Torah and Bible was first translated into other languages and English. .
So, in our prayers it is quite appropriate when we as Yogi’s try to use this QiGong healing sound “ssss” to say YHWH Heals or better to understand and pronounc physically and mentally at “Yah-Weh” heals “Yah-Weh” “sssss” in Biblical Hebrew it is said “Yah-Weh” “Raphael”… “El” whi being another ancient form of God’s Name which became “Allah” as His Name for Muslims which came out of the Biblical Aramaic Name “Ayl “Ah” or God as “EL” dwelling in the throat chakra is proceeding down into the heart from the throat chakra using the vowel “ah” in many Muslism prayers the vowels “u” and consonant “l” are added to praise Him more as in “All” “ah” “Ayl” “aH” “U” the vowel u as mentioned below having one of the five Yogic life energies Udana in order to cause the Holy Spirit to proceed out of us in an upward direction after it has first gone downward to the 1st or “root chakra” of all Kundalini energy using “L’s” mental and spiritual force and energy. “R”and “R” being primary and secondary notations for our prayer intentions, of course when it occurs in “Hari” “OM” for instance goes down into the 3rd human and divine will chakra manipura.. Hence we say YHWH or “YaH- Weh” “Hari” “OM” in order to cause the Divine Breath of the Holy spirit to “OM” itself or manifest Itself inside and outside of us. We say “Tat” “Sat” in order to cause it to exist in psychic mental reality and truthfully actually consequentially and consecutively in Divine Order. being generated by God inside of us and proceed prophetically outwardly into the World using His, or Her’s the Name of God’s Holy Divine Energy and Spirit.
The Divine Name JESUS or JESUS CHRIST or YESHUA starts out with the let “Y” in the throat chakra and proceeds down through the heart like “Yah” -Weh” does, but it goes down either further in our Indwelling Holy Spirit of God manifesting Itself in us to “S” in the root chakra. So, in this sense It or He or She is a spiritual “Son” of the “Father” Holy Spirit in that it proceeds downward and arise back upward after the “Father” part of Our Indwelling Holy Spirit. This is because Jesus is a Redeemer Spirit saving our souls physical souls first in a secondary psychic realm and then finally in a third “realm of spiritual mental psychic truth” as Truthful Divine Knowing of Love, Truth, Joy,Faith, Hope Indwelling Eternally in our human hearts.
The Divine Name “MARY” or “MIRIAM” goes back to the time of “MOSES” for SAINT MIRIAM was and still is SAINT MOSES’ sister. Both their names have the important consonant vowel “M” in them, for as I have explained “M” is a vowel in the Sanskrit language and understanding Sanskrit is an important tool for understanding Divine languages. In the Sanskrit Name of God “OM” or “A” “U” “M” there are three levels and four dimensions. The Mandukya Upanishads explains very succinctly and clearly the meaning of the letters in God’s name of Spiritual power AUM. A is the world of our physical realm, U is world of our psyhic and mental realm, M is the world of our heavenly causal realm, where God begins creation. According to the Upanishad these are the three worlds we live in today and in which the Name of God OM prophecally creates develops and manifest Truth in. The fourth dimension is the dimension of God or Brahmic being that add truth to the first three whe we know it and are known by it. It is however, probably fortunately, impossible to describe as distinguished realm inside and outside of the other three. In a favorite verse of the Upanishad or Poem that tells us what Divine Spiritual Truth and Reality at the same time is “It is not inside, it is not outside, it is not both inside and or outside” according to the Upanishad. So, her Mary’s main letter M is the measure between the other two letters in God’s Name AUM. She controls Truth as it manifests in us downing down from our throats and hearts and coming from our and God’s will inside of our third chakra, the manipura or “jewel”, this is because she is a “jewel” may her human and Divine soul be always a part of my “Andrew’s Soul” a “Man of God with a Human and Divine Soul”. The letter “R” in her name as I mentioned elsewhere in this blog means “mental intention” or control with God’s spiritual and breathing help. the vowel “E” or “I” or “Y” in this word means energy pointed downward towards manifesting itself from the psychic realm in our third chakras to the physical “realm” in our first. So, it should be no surprised that she is the one chosen by God, blessed by God, because He named her thus and announced to her that this would happen, that She should bear the bodily manifest Their Son in Her Body as it comes forth from the psychic to physical realm in order to exist and dwell with us forever in both. Amen.
Praise God.
In the Bible God told the Archangel Gabriel to tell her this. Maybe now in this present moment if she is reading this, He will allow Andrew , A Man of Him, His Son in this sense, a prophet who only knows what God tells Him to know, to tell Her this Himself.
YHWH HARI OM NAMAH MARY AND ANDREW
YHWH HARI OM NAMAH JESUS CHRIST
See elsewhere on this amateur theological travel blog for a more in depth discussion of Sanskrit healing vowel sounds and also how they relate to Hebrew and English vowel sounds uses in Biblical prophecy. In brief Sanskrit and the Yoga Upanishads teach that their are 5 energies…prana, aprana…in and out lung breathing centered in heart and solar plexus, vyana downward nerve energy centered in the number 5 throat heart with the 16 Sanskrit vowels: short and long and combined ah ahh oh ohh uh uhh, i, ii, e ee, m, mm, r, rr, lr,lrr and solar plexus, udana upward mental energy centered in the third eye number 6 chakra, and samana, collective bodily energy centered in the solar plexus number 3 chakra.
Hebrew has a twelve vowel system which I have summarized in order to transliterate and teach how to read and speak the first chapter of Genesis as
Breathing in, breathing out,
God’s loving seed of faith and hope is blooming in us as a flower.***
We are fresh as the resurrection dew.
We are solid as the mountain
Here there is freedom and truth.
We are firm as God’s own earth in us.
We are the water of Christ’s baptism reflecting what is true.
Here there is goodness and beauty.
We are the space of God’s universe. We are free.
*Dear prayer friends, the Pure Land, the Kingdom of Heaven… is within us and among us. Breathe we are alive…please wake up to who we are! God has a plan for us! We have places to go together and things to do together!
**For all of us as Individuals and collectively together. For Christians try a ha-tha ra-ja 4:8:16 left right ratio alternate nostril breathing here (also called Sun Moon mental breathing). For Buddhists or Jews you will want to use a 4:4:8 in/hold/out ratio wisdom physical body wisdom breath to get here/there. Breathing in through the nose and out through the nose and then mouth is called cleansing breath, as opposed to when you start standing tai chi or yoga and breath in in and down through abdomen and exhale outward slowing into another part of the body from the abdomen center. This type of breath can be used to relieve stress in nose and out of the heart chakra through out which is an emotional center that collects it. You can also relax the chest and heart muscles first, if you like, by, making small circles around sternum and tapping on the sternum and upper chest.
Lee Holden in his website’s free Qi Hong beginning breathingImmunity and Qi Gong protection of diseases series starts out in a good shoulder width tree like stance posture swaying hands around and in front and then at the center of lower back in order to “knock on the door of chi in the body”.
For those of you who have read the 2006 Skyladder Route up Mt. Andronmeda Posting with audio recording of how to sanctify God’s Name YHWH first in these prays using God’s Holy Spirit Indwelling us.
Update March 2020: For those who want to use Tai chi, QiGong breathing while standing like a tree these techniques can be used to strengthen the lungs and from there to the immune system, a topic of a lot of importance as I write this. See some of the Great Courses websites for some of these courses. I recommend the ones on Qi Gong the most.
Qi Gong Master Lee Holden teaches staying aware of what is happening in the body while being aware of and concentrating on different energy points in the physical body during the energy flow in order to slow and calm the mind. Then, he teaches how to integrate the in and out breathing with this, all from a stable standing position while the arms and hands are gently moving, mirroring natures movements around you. This is in the first three lessons and introduction then he concentrates on applying these techniques to receiving different health problems in different bodily organs (like the lungs for emotional problems and problems with the immune system). The Chinese sound for clearing the lungs is “ssss” sit down while you are doing it and raise arms upward and backward..all this is also explained in addition to Lee Holden’s online video course and tapes in David Carradine’s book on Chi Kung already mentioned..
*** The starting form for these sutras are take from the Rev. Thich Nhat Hanh’s books and teachings . Please see previous blogs for more details.
If you are reading this blog during Passover and Easter you might want to listen to my amateur theological rendition of “Christ the Lord is Risen Today” and “We will never say goodbye[because we are now in heaven]” on 3000 Drummond St. gospel spinet piano and dining room Hammond XK-7 organ.
“Christ the Lord is risen to day, Al-le-lu-ia!
Sons of men and angels say, Al -le-lu-ia,
Raise your joys and triumphs high, Al-le-lu-ia,
Sing, ye heaven and earth reply, Al-le-lu-ia”
We’ll Never Say Good-bye
Christian Hymn, Lyrics by J.H. Tenney, music by Dr. Adoniram Judson Gordon 1895
“There is a land far out of sight, A calm untroubled shore,
Where they who said on earth good-night, Now meet to part no more.
We’ll never say good-bye in heav’n, We’ll never say good-bye,(good-bye,)
In that fair land of joy and song, We’ll ne-ver say good bye.
Each day as pilgrims reach that strand, All hearts with rapture swell;
Wel-comes are heard on ev-‘ry hand, But nev-er one fare-well.
We’ll never say good-bye in heav’n, We’ll never say good-bye,(good-bye,)
In that fair land of joy and song, We’ll ne-ver say good bye.
For-ev-er with the Lord they reign, His face for-ev-er view;
For them no sin, no grief, no pain, No tear-ful last a-dieu!
We’ll never say good-bye in heav’n, We’ll never say good-bye,(good-bye,)
In that fair land of joy and song, We’ll ne-ver say good bye.
Je-ru-sa-lem my glo-rious home, Thou ci-ty built on high,
When shall I to the man-sions come, No more to say good-bye!
We’ll never say good-bye in heav’n, We’ll never say good-bye,(good-bye,)
In that fair land of joy and song, We’ll ne-ver say good bye.
Lyrics and music Copyrighted 1883 (at that time, by John J. Hood)
From “The Coronation Hymnal” By A. J. Gordon 1895
A sitting meditation from the books, “Present Moment, Wondelful Moment” and “Be Free Where You Are”,by the Rev. Thich Nhat Hanh
Breathing in,I know I am breathing in,Breathing out, I know I am breathing out.
Breathing in, I notice that my in-breath has become deeper, Breathing out, I notice that my out-breath has become slower.
Breathing in I calm myself, breathing out, I feel at ease.
Breathing in I Smile,Breathing out I release.
Breathing in, I dwell in the present moment, Breathing in I feel it is a wondelful moment. ****
****These lines of the Sutras are designed to be used to concentrate and contemplate in a stable yogic sitting pose. Try an easy heart breath with ratio 5:5:5.
Central to the Jewish teaching for Passover in the Haggadah there is the discussion of the four different types of sons:
1) The wise son or daughter, who asks to be taught, whom we should tell everything (so he or she can be independent of us) when we are teaching him,
Chocham, mah hu omayr? Mah haodot v’ hachukim v’hamsh’phatim aser tzoach Adonai Elohaynu etachehm V’af atah ehmor lo k’heel’chot haphehsah. Ayn maph’tirin echar haphasach aphikoman.
The wise son, what does he say? “What is the meaning of these laws and ordinances which the Lord Our God has commanded us?” What then do we say to him to teach him about Pesach? Nothing is left out, including the rule that nothing is eaten after the Afikoman
2) The evil son who thinks he is different( better) than others. For, he thinks that we don’t need to interact and work together with others. Him, or her we should confront. But, not because he or she is different from us. Indeed they are our sons and daughters too.
Rash amah hu omayr? Mah haobodah hazoach lachehm? L’chehm v’lo lo.
The wicked son, what does he say? “What is the meaning of this that is commanded to you?” (that is he says this to you and not himself).
Vol’phi shehhotzi et atz’mu mean hach’lehl v’chehpahr baakehr. V’af atah hak’hayh et sheenavm emar lo:
Because he says it this way he has removed himself from us (the community)… even he has denied the laws said to him.
Bobor zehh ashah Adonay Eloheynu B’tzati meemeetz’rim. Li v’lo lu. Elu hayah sham lo hayah neeg’al.
Answer him by saying it is because of that which has been done by the Lord God for me when I came out of Egypt. “For me” and not “for him”. Had he been there, he would not have been redeemed.
3) the simple son or daughter, whom we should assist by teaching him or her to expect miracles and giving them a simple and easy to understand answer.
Tam mah hu omayr? Mah zoat? V’amar’ta elav. B’chazehq yad hotzianu Adonai meemeetz’rim, meebayt abhadaym.
The simple son, what does he say? What is this? And, the answer to him:”With a mighty hand Adonay brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage.
4) What about the naïve but potentially good son or daughter who hardly knows what to ask as a question or how to ask it? Them we should assist by treating them special and using all our advanced techniques of breathing, assisted contemplative prayer. But, we leave out the part above about the miracles and the mighty hand,
V’shehaynu yoda lee’shol et patach lu? Shehnehmar: Vhagad’ata bhayom hahu limor:
Bhovor zeh ashah Adonai Eloheynu bh’tzati meemeetz’raym.
And, what about him who does not know how to ask the question? (We quote from the Torah) “And, on that day you shall teach him.” “We do all of this because the Lord Our God brought us out of Egypt.”
Walking Meditation by the Rev. Thich Nhat Hanh
We have arrived We are home
In the here, in the now.
Dwelling with God and in her
We are solid, we are free.
Dwelling together in a Kingdom of Heaven of God and Christ on earth. *****
*****These lines are for walking meditation, try a breathing ratio of three steps on the in and three steps on the out, centering in the lower dan tien (3rd chakra).
Breathing in his breath a lotus of his happiness blooms in us,
Breathing out of us her breath we help God guide the World.
It is a gentle touch… soft like a gentle breeze swaying bamboo along a river’s shore
Or an angel whispering a message of the hope of salvation to our heart and mind,
Who already knows that at its final confirmation there will be in the World and us a greater joy and louder silent shout of universal delight.
Parable which tells about God’s
four sons and his daughter
(the Shekinah)
(written in 1983)
Once, now, and in the future God is a King. He has/had four Sons and a daughter who lived here on earth. Each of his sons and the daughter were unhappy and wanted to leave and find fame and fortune for themselves. So God decided to divide up the portions of his Kingdom as an inheritance unto his sons. But, he was concerned that even though they said they told him they wanted to work together to find wealth, they would fight among themselves after he had left. So he gave each son and the daughter only enough so that they would still need the portions of the other four in order to prosper. But, each son became too proud to ask for help from his brothers and his sister. Instead each convinced himself that his portion was sufficient unto itself. Worse yet the daughter didn’t do anything to help or say anything (while God was trying to speak through her to everyone) while this was happening. She was the One God normally used to help others and heal with his Words (if people took time to listen to this still small voice of God which she spoke for him inside of them). Sure as the lack of love that grew inside of them for each other the Kingdom fell apart. Each of the sons blamed the others for the disaster. The daughter was left without anyone to protect and defend her.
Some time later God returned from heaven in order to find out what had gone wrong. Even though the Kingdom had been left in ruins, three of his sons had become authorities teaching others how to live better and be happy. So, God, the King disguised himself as a beggar. He went to each of the different authorities representing them in order to find out how to be Holy and prosper.
1) And, the authority set up by the first son had a special day, the Sabbath, and a large collection of rules set aside as Holy. They said he should obey the rules and worship the King who had left and rest on this special day. Then he would see how foolish all the rest of the men and women were to go around not paying attention to these rules and conducting business while the King’s people were worshipping him.
2) And then the King went to the authority set up by the second son. This authority said that they had special people called priests set aside as Holy. And these priests had special powers or charisms that were hidden to most of the men and women. They told him that if he would confess his sins to these priests he would see how foolish all the rest of the Kingdom was to try and solve their problems themselves. Why should he tell his sins to ordinary people who didn’t understand when these special Holy people better at forgiving mistakes and keeping secrets.
3) Then he went to the authority set up by the third son. This authority said they had a special book set aside as Holy. If he would study and memorize the passages in this book he would see how foolish all the rest of us (other than them) were. The King smiled as he recognized a few of the words in the book as his own. But, they had taken the four or five pages of clear instructions that he had given them and made it into a very long book of over 1000 pages.
4) Finally he went to the fourth son who was not a recognized authority at all. He was a prophet, but he didn’t know it. He and the sister had been left by the others to fend for themselves. So, then, God asked him what he had set aside as Holy. But, the fourth son said, “Old beggar man you must be mistaken. Why do you ask me that question for I am just an ordinary person not much different from you. I have tried all my life to find out what is Holy. But each time that I think I have found it I am told that I must take away the heavenly inheritance of some of my brothers and sisters. These people are very dear to me, some of them have even been my benefactors. Wherever I go, I take them with me. I would never be happy if I went off to heaven and left them behind. So I have given up what is Holy. The other sons and daughters think I am foolish and have taken what my father left me and my sister away from us… so we will not use it unwisely. What hope is there left for me or her to find my Father again. To tell you the truth I do not know whether he is alive or dead.”
And then the old man said: “Young man if you do not know what is Holy, then what do you know.” And, the young man said, “Not so much.” “I do not even know that I don’t know anything.”
Then the old man said, “Young man, why do you tell me this? Perhaps you need someone to know these things for you and be God for you?”
And the young man thought about this and he said: “Yes, I do.” Then all of a sudden, before his eyes the old beggar man turned into a King. It was as if the words he spoke were his Father’s words.
And this is what the King, an old beggar man, said: “You are like the other three sons and my daugher. You neither know who you are or who I am. For, if you knew who you were, you would know who I am. And, if you knew who I am you would know who you were. I am the name of God and whosoever knows me, in him or her shall the name of God be known.”
I AM your Father the King. Everything you are I AM. And, everything I am you someday shall be. Remain in Me and you will someday be the Name of God. Then whosoever Knows You and Glorifies You, in Him or Her shall the Name of God be Known and be Glorified.” Now the other sons have possession of the Kingdom. In time they shall be known just as they have chosen to know others.
And then the Old man became sad and said: “All I have to give you and your sister, the Shekinah, now is the love that has been given to me. I am afraid that it is only a tiny spark, a seed, a glimmer of my hopes and dreams that some day we will all be united again and prosper together. But, this seed if it is nurtured can grow into a large tree full of the happiness of eternal life.
“How shall I know This Love in order to nurture it”, said the Son.
And, then He said, “This Love is Who It is and This Love tries to keep Its
Promises and It does what it says it is going to do.”
“And, why is This Love Who It Is and why does It Do That?”, said the young man. (his sister wanted to know also for she was listening to all of this)
“That is because This Love Knows where It Has Been and where It Is now and
where It Is Going later all in One Present Moment”, God Said.
“How can I and my sister know This Love when It seems that the other four sons
are more powerful than we. For they are admired by most in the World. We have no choice about whether we can change this, for what we do is controlled by something outside of ourself”, he
said.
And, the Old man thought a while and then he said,
“ You already have This Love and It Is who It Is inside of Your Heart and Mind.
“Unfortunately, just now you don’t know it enough. But, if you and your sister trust my spirit inside of all of us (which is inside of your heart) and remain in me you will
know It more and more. And it will know you more and more. For the Self
knows Itself when It is in Itself(In You) and when it knows Itself, then it is in
Itself (In Me). I have made the World out of nothing. But, I have made you out of something, myself.”
Now, it was the fourth son’s and his sister’s turn to smile. They thought carefully for a while. Then they said: “Your Love and Your Hopes and Dreams are what Is Most Important. We have no other inheritance left so you yourself shall be Our Inheritance. And, It became So!
Updated with some changes and corrections March 2020