It is only the revelation of You as the Infinite
that is endlessly new and eternally beautiful in us
and that gives the only meaning to our self when
we feel Your rhythmic throb as soul-life, the whole
world in our own souls; then are we free.

O Worker of the universe! Let the irresistible
current of Your universal energy come like the
impetuous south wind of spring; let it come
rushing over the vast field of human life. Let our
newly awakened powers cry out for unlimited
fulfillment in leaf and flower and fruit.

How does a part of the world leave the world?
How does wetness leave water? Dont' try to

put out fire by throwing on more fire! Don't
wash a wound with blood. No matter how fast

you run, your shadow keeps up. Sometimes it's
in front! Only full overhead sun diminishes

your shadow. But that shadow has been serving
you. What hurts you, blesses you. Darkness is

your candle. Your boundaries are your quest.
I could explain this, but it will break the

glass cover on your heart, and there's no
fixing that. You must have shadow and light

source both. Listen, and lay your head under
the tree of awe. When from that tree feathers

and wings sprout on you, be quieter than
a dove. Don't even open your mouth for even a coo.

"I searched for God and found only myself. I searched for myself and found only God".
Sufi Proverb

“Love possesses not nor will it be possessed, for love is sufficient unto love.”

“Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself. To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night. To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving.”

“Hallow the body as a temple to comeliness and sanctify the heart as a sacrifice to love; love recompenses the adorers. ”

“If you love somebody, let them go, for if they return, they were always yours. And if they don’t, they never were. ”

“It is wrong to think that love comes from long companionship and persevering courtship. Love is the offspring of spiritual affinity and unless that affinity is created in a moment, it will not be created for years or even generations”

“Life without love is like a tree without blossoms or fruit.”

“Love and doubt have never been on speaking terms.”

“Love one another, but make not a bond of love: Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.”

“Every man loves two women;the one is the creation of his imagination and the other is not yet born.”

“Love is trembling happiness.”

“Love one another, but make not a bond of love: Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls”

“Love… It surrounds every being and extends slowly to embrace all that shall be.”

Peace is Every Step

Peace is every step.
The shining red sun is my heart.
Each flower smiles with me.
How green, how fresh all that grows.
How cool the wind blows.
Peace is every step.
It turns the endless path to joy.

All day I think about it, then at night I say it.
Where did I come from, and what am I supposed to be doing?
I have no idea.
My soul is from elsewhere, I'm sure of that,
and I intend to end up there.

This drunkenness began in some other tavern.
When I get back around to that place,
I'll be completely sober. Meanwhile,
I'm like a bird from another continent, sitting in this aviary.
The day is coming when I fly off,
but who is it now in my ear who hears my voice?
Who says words with my mouth?

Who looks out with my eyes? What is the soul?
I cannot stop asking.
If I could taste one sip of an answer,
I could break out of this prison for drunks.
I didn't come here of my own accord, and I can't leave that way.
Whoever brought me here will have to take me home.

This poetry, I never know what I'm going to say.
I don't plan it.
When I'm outside the saying of it,
I get very quiet and rarely speak at all.

Dream Yoga

The effort to awaken the consciousness in the dream state is called Dream Yoga. This term is most known from the tradition of Tilopa, Naropa, Marpa, and Milarepa, although the tradition of Niguma also includes Dream Yoga. Yoga comes from the Sanskrit word "yug," which means to "reunite" or "yoke together." This is the same as the root of our word religion, the Latin word "religare,"which means "to bind together." What is sought in both cases is the union of our consciousness with its source, but this can only happen when our consciousness is awakened and purified of all that is unclean.

The yogic tradition of Tilopa has been maintained in Tibetan Buddhism for hundreds of years. It is a series of teachings of which dream yoga is a vital part. It has been practiced and taught by all the Dalai Lamas, and such great initiates as Tsongkhapa and Milarepa.

The basic goal of Dream Yoga is to harness the power of the dream state and use it to awaken the consciousness. You can learn more about this by reading scriptures from the tradition.
Astral Projection

Quite simply, this term refers to how our consciousness departs from the physical body. Everytime our physical body sleep, the consciousness departs from it, and experiences what we call "dreams." This is a form of astral projection, but in most cases the consciousness is asleep, unaware that it is away from the physical body. While dreaming, we generally do not realize it. And when we return to the body, the memory of the dream is generally lost, or if recalled, appears hazy and unreal. This is all due to the weak state of our consciousness.

It is possible to consciously project oneself out of the body. By means of constant training from moment to moment, the consciousness can be strengthened to be be awake, aware, and sharp; thus, when it leaves the physical body, we remain aware of ourselves, and conscious of what transpires. From this state, one can investigate any phenomena in nature or oneself.

Eventually, by awakening consciousness and transforming our experience of life from moment to moment, dreaming ceases. Then, we have arrived at the goal: an awakened consciousness that perceives all phenomena as they truly are.

True illuminates have no dreams. Dreams are for those who are asleep. True illuminates live in the higher worlds, out of the physical body, in a state of intensified wakefulness without ever dreaming. - Samael Aun Weor, Mental Representations

From: dream-yoga.org

Resurrection is rooted in the Latin word “resurgere” which means to resurge, remerge, to re-emerge; therefore, in order to deeply understand the meaning or the way in which we have to re-emerge, to resurge, to resurrect, it is necessary to talk about Christ because, according to many esotericists of the past, they state that the only being that resurrected is Christ. Yes, we understand this, but from the esoteric point of view. Thus, here again we have to emphasize the statement that we have been repeating many times: “Christ is not a person, but an energy.”

Christ is a Greek word that comes from the root, Khristos, which means worshipper of fire. So, in synthesis, we have to state that Christ is fire, and that Christ is the only one that can resurrect, and this is the main point of this lecture.

Christ resurrected within the body of Jesus of Nazareth. Christ resurrected within the body of Moses, within the body of Abraham, within the body of Krishna, within the body of Quetzalcoatl, Hermes Trismesgistus, St. Germaine, Babaji, Dante Alighieri, etc.

Christ is the energy that descends from the Abstract Absolute Space, into the different worlds that are very well described in the Tree of Life (Kabbalah) with the names of Atziluth, Briah, Yetzirah, and Assiah.

In the world of Assiah, that energy (that fire that is called Christ) descends into the very bottom, the very center of the earth, which is the ninth sphere. So that is the final journey that energy takes from the Ain Soph into the different types of matter that are within the different worlds that we have described.

There is a law named: the law of the Cosmic Common Trogoautoegocrat. This law is related with the Solar Absolute, which in Kabbalah receives the name of the Ain Soph Aur. The Ain Soph Aur, the Solar Absolute, is the abode of the first cosmos, the protocosmos, which is not a manifested cosmos, but unmanifested, because it is within the unknowable, within the Abstract Absolute Space. We have described the Abstract Absolute Space many times in our lectures and in the books of Kabbalah. It is stated that the Solar Absolute is divided into three parts:

1. the Ain
2. the Ain Soph
3. the Ain Soph Aur

The Ain Soph Aur is that first emanation of the Ain Soph, within which we find a type of matter which is immortal, eternal. The beings that abide in the Ain Soph Aur (the Solar Absolute) breathe light. Here is where we find that which we call the Cosmic Christ, but unmanifested. If we want to find the origin of quanta, then we go to the Ain Soph Aur. Aur in Hebrew means light. Ain Soph Aur means “the limitless light.” This light in Latin is lux.

Light and fire are two things which are equal. There cannot be light without fire, neither fire without light. So the fire is the carrier of the light. That is why it was stated that the first emanation was that beautiful angel, called in Latin “Lucifer,” or light and fire, or carrier of light. That entity or that force, that energy called Christ, receives many names in different religions according to the language, the tradition.

Such a light needs cosmic units that serve it as focus or transmitters of its own essence. The transmitters of the Ain Soph Aur’s own essence are those cosmic units that are called suns: stars. Those cosmic units must not have any devolving element within their womb or infra-dimensions. Every single cosmic unit has its own particular infra-dimensions, as we always speak here about the world Klipoth, which are the nine spheres under the Earth. So those nine infra-dimensions exist not only in the Earth, but in every planet, including the Sun. But in order for a planet to become a sun, the devolving or infra-dimensions must be clean—no demons, not a single devolving creature can exist in those cosmic units or transmitters. Of course, all the planets in space, in the infinite, long for that state, for that level, in order to serve the Ain Soph Aur as transmitters of the Solar Light or the Solar Absolute.

The Solar Absolute, the Ain Soph Aur, belongs to the seventh dimension; it is beyond the Universe. The seventh dimension is always divided in two parts: the unknowable and the knowable. The knowable part of that seventh dimension is related with the world Atziluth, where we find the Trimurti: Kether, Chokmah, Binah, which along with the Ain Soph Aur form that famous Tetragrammaton.

So then we find here that those cosmic units, or transmitters of the Solar Light, become the center of any solar system, of any galaxy, of any constellation. We have our own particular one, which is called Ors; that is the name of our sun. So the sun Ors, of this solar system of Ors, is the center. We would say that is the physical body that transmits the light of the Ain Soph Aur that comes from the seventh dimension. This is how the light travels from the unknowable to the knowable, to finally reach the Earth.

Christ is the Cosmic Christ. If we take all of the suns, stars of the universe, and make a body with all of them, we will have then the physical body of Christ. Thus, this is why we say that Christ is the center, the life of any universe, any galaxy, any planet, any moon, because it is always in the center, in the core of any planet. However, the sun is the only world that can transmit and direct such a law - which is the law of the Cosmic Common Trogoautoegocrat, the law of the reciprocal nourishment of matter, the law of “to swallow and to be swallowed”—the way in which all the Universe is sustained. Thus, the solar energy that enters into the planets returns, and must return to the sun by the action of that law, which action is obviously shown in all of nature.

I.e. Let us see this planet Earth—the solar energy comes, goes into its core, there it merges, nourishes; it is transformed in the different metals, minerals, and through the plants and animals - as we explained in other lectures - and thereafter this transformed light is returned into space and to the Solar Absolute. This is the law of the Cosmic Common Trogoautoegocrat. The universe cannot exist without this law.

In the mineral kingdom, plant kingdom, and animal kingdom, the action of such law is performed by means of the intelligence of masters (monads, angels, archangels), as we already explained in other lectures. Thus, all the monads that inhabit all of those kingdoms, in different bodies of minerals, plants, and animals, obey the direction of the angels. So therefore that transformation is always harmonious and perfect. The problem is when the physical bodies of those monads - through evolution - acquire intellect in the animal kingdom, because then they cannot exercise dominion over their souls, thus, the souls start squandering the Solar Light - as you already know, since we explained it in many lectures - the Solar Light of the Ain Soph Aur, abides in the sexual energy, which is the ninth sphere, Yesod.

In the animal kingdom, the irrational animals obey the law, thus they do not squander the sexual force through the sexual act. But in the intellectual animal kingdom, the creatures start squandering the sexual force, not only through lust, but through all the seven capital sins that we know: anger, hatred, laziness, gluttony, envy, pride, greed, etc., and that is why the planet Earth cannot be a the main transmitter or center of the solar system, because for this to happen, it needs more development. Suns are those planets which are completely perfect in all of the kingdoms - as is the case of our Sun – thus the humanity of the Sun is a different humanity, it is totally made of Solar human beings. All of its kingdoms transform the solar energy in a perfect manner. All of these suns or stars are necessary for the Solar Absolute, for the Christ, in order to give life, and to give it in abundance.

Let us see and study how the Solar Light transforms, transmits, and returns, or is returned into its own source according to the movements of the planet Earth. Christ is always related with the cross. If we observe how the solar light comes into the Earth, then we have to use our imagination and to understand that the North Pole is above and the South Pole is below—this is why when we talk about the north we always point above and south is always below. The North Pole is related with the head; remember that the Hebrew letter Reish is related with the head and the South Pole is related with the Yesod, if you use your imagination in relation with the Solar Light.

So behold how the Solar Light makes the miracle of life on this planet; it does it through the fours seasons. If you make a cross in the middle of the planet Earth, then you have the cross within the circle. Then you recall the four seasons, then you see that spring, summer, fall, and winter, are related with the cross, with the marvelous miracle of life, related with the four letters of the holy name of God: Iod Hei Vav Hei. That is why Malkuth, Assiah, is always related with the holy name.

This is how Christ (the Ain Soph Aur) descends in order to transform the Earth; nevertheless, for the law of the Cosmic Common Trogoautoegocrat to happen in the planets, this must happen in all same nature, in every single organism, through the reciprocal nourishment of the whole species.

According to the rotation of the Earth and its movement around the Sun, on the 25th of December the sun starts rising towards the north. In December, here in the Northern Hemisphere, each day there is more darkness than light. But on the 25th of December and the solstice of winter is when light from the south starts rising. Using your imagination, and understand that Yesod is in the south. So this is how the Solar Light rises in the planet and that is why at that time is celebrated Christmas, or the birth of Christ, the Solar Light.

Little by little, the sun is rising and going towards the north, and when it is passing from the south to the north, exactly in the equator, the equinox of spring happens. That equinox falls in April, sometimes in March; it depends on the cosmic movement of the Earth. So when the sun is precisely at the very north, the zenith of the planet, according to the seasons, then we have summer. Summer is in July and August, when the days are very long, when the solar energy enters directly into the Chakra Sahasrara (the crown chakra, the Kether Chakra, the Reish) of the Earth, in order to give life; so all of nature is filled with light. But then, according to Earth’s movement the solar energy goes down towards the fall or autumn, because the sun eventually returns to the south again. Then, we find the falling of the Solar Light into the infra-dimensions; this is actually related with that famous celebration of Halloween. And finally, of course, winter enters again.

Crucifixion.jpgSo that is the movement of the Solar Light within the cross. This is why ancient Gnostic Initiates created many symbols when explaining all that intelligent movement of the Solar Light; there are many symbols about that, but the most beautiful symbol is the cross with the crucified one on it, because the law of that Solar Light is sacrifice. So in the crucifix, Christ is symbolized by a human being, who is the goal of nature; yes, the crucified human being symbolizes that man made into the image of God. The cross is the symbol of that intelligence (Binah); such is the goal of the universe. This is why we exist.

Thus, the Solar Absolute, the ray of Okidanokh, Christ, Avalokiteshvara, etc., wants to create solar men who will become its vehicles. So, as the sun is a vehicle of that light, a transmitter of that light, likewise, we have to imitate the sun and become transmitters of solar light. Nevertheless, such a human Christification process cannot happen mechanically like the mechanical cosmic movement of the earth.

What we have explained here is the mechanical transformation of nature in relation with the Solar Light and the cosmic movement of the Earth; such cosmic motion happens mechanically, and also intelligently. We have to understand this. Mechanically, because the elements that act in such a transformation, act under the will of the monads without experience, yet they act collectively, mechanically, in accordance with the intelligent direction of the angels. And this is why we said it happens mechanically, and at the same time intelligently.

Understand that the human process of transformation or Christification is the solar drama that relates with what we are explaining here. The solar drama begins the 25th of December, and is shown in the transformation of the life of Jesus Christ written in the four gospels of Christianity. Yet, this drama does not belong only to Christianity. You can find that drama represented in Egyptian mysticism; you can find that drama in other cultures and civilizations.

The problem with this present western humanity is that they fell into the great mistake of believing that the solar Christic drama that we explain here belongs only to Jesus of Nazareth. Yes, he is a great master, a great avatar, a great messenger, but he is not the only Christified one. Moreover, the planet Earth is not the only planet that knows about this Christic cosmic drama. This Christic cosmic drama is known by other humanities of other planets, of other solar systems, because this drama happens everywhere in the universe. The date may change, because the date which we are explaining here, the 25th of December, the equinox of spring, etc., is in relation with the rotation of the Earth around the Sun. But if we refer to Mars, if we refer to Venus, it might be different, but it is the same event because the Solar Light will execute the same work.

This is why when that Solar Light was doing that work consciously within the body of Jesus, that omniscient Light, the Ain Soph Aur said, “I am the light of the world,” because the Light of the world is the Solar Light. This is why in ancient times the Egyptians worshiped the sun, the Incas worshiped the Sun, and many great religions in the past worshiped the Sun. But it is not, as the ignoramuses of this day and age think, that they did not understand what the Sun was and so therefore they thought, “oh, the Sun is God.” No; the ancient people were clairvoyant and knowledgeable and they knew that any sun is a transmitter, the physical transmitter of the Ain Soph Aur, which is not a person but a force, a cosmic force, that descends and gives life to the world of Atziluth, the world of Briah, the world of Yetzirah, and the world of Assiah, and even into the infernal worlds—because that light is ultra-violet in heaven and infra-red in hell.

So therefore you find how great avatars in the past came and taught about the same drama, since the goal of any initiate is to incarnate that light. Or in other words, what any initiate wants is for that light to resurge, to resurrect within the physical body, within the soul, within the mind, within the spirit, and this is what is called resurrection, because the only entity that can resurrect is Christ. When that energy resurrects in the matter, it transforms it; this is what is called transformation or as we said transmutation, which will be the theme of the next lecture (Arcanum 21).

That solar light descends into the four worlds (Atziluth, Briah, Yetzirah, and Assiah), but the only world that can individualize that light is that world called the human being, the Zauir Anpin. The individualization of that light in our own individual being is the goal, and this is done precisely through initiation. This is what is called the Passover from the animal kingdom into the human kingdom and that many initiates have explained in different ways: this is, through the transmutation of the sexual energy we abandon the animal kingdom (which is related with the world of mechanicity) - symbolically speaking in the Bible as the world of Egypt. This is when we leave Egypt, when we go to the exodus, in order to enter into the promised land, which is the level of the human made into the image of God. But, we repeat, this is not a mechanical process.

It is not like many religions in this day and age think, that in the final times, in the last judgment, God will come and resurrect them—yes, there are people who think that way—this is why they do not burn their bodies, they bury them, because they think that at the end of times God will come and will unite all those bones and flesh and all the dead will resurrect. It is very puerile to think in that way. It shows lack of knowledge about these serious matters.

We have to comprehend this, we have to understand that we have to manage the solar energy; we have to control it by will, because the intelligences that are in the animal kingdom, plant kingdom, mineral kingdom, through their will did that for us - when we were just mechanical vehicles - in order to perform such transformation for the purpose of nature, of the cosmos, of creation. However, now, in this level in which we are, they gave us as a gift the intellect with which we reason, because only the intellectual animal can enter initiation; a mule cannot do it, a donkey cannot do it, a bull cannot do it, because they do not have reasoning. The animal vehicle that can do it needs to have three brains, and this is why we have three brains or three nervous systems:

1. the cerebral-spinal nervous system
2. the grand sympathetic nervous system
3. the parasympathetic or Vagus

They are vehicles of the solar light, the light of the Ain Soph Aur that works through the three primary forces (Kether, Chokmah, Binah: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) in Atziluth and through the duality in Briah, the world of creation.

So the solar energy of Atziluth descends from the Ain Soph Aur and enters into our head from the North Pole and is distributed according to how we live life.

The final outcome of transformation of the Ain Soph Aur within our bodies is that which we call the hebrew letter Nun, the fish: the sperm and the ovum. Thus our sperm and ovum are the final journey of our solar inheritance. Therefore, if we ejaculate the sperm through the orgasm - like the beasts – the solar force goes out of the body. How then is the Lord going to resurrect in us if we expel him out of the body? How do we expect to resurrect if the Lord is not inside of us? Do you think that the Lord, Christ, the Cosmic Jah-Chavah (because that is the name of Chokmah, the Sun, the Christ in Atziluth) who is the one that performs the drama – do you think that he is going to come to us just because we believe, or because we are receiving lectures, or because we are reading books, or because we follow the tradition of our religion for centuries, or because we go to church every Sunday — do you think that because of that we are going to resurrect? No, we will not! The one that performs the miracle of resurrection is the Lord, the Christ, the Solar Light, which is the only origin of life, which is in sexual energy. Imagine the sun vanishing from this solar system; if that would occur then the whole planet will die – life exists because of the sun, thus, we have to understand this in ourselves, too.

Another mistake is that we give a human shape to God; yes, we anthropomorphize divinity. This is why Moses prohibited the carving of images in order to avoid such a stupid type of belief. Yet, understand that symbols are made in order to help humanity, in order to explain all of this; thus, the most beautiful symbol, we repeat, is the cross and the crucified one on it.

The whole work that we have to perform in order to resurrect is on the cross: the vertical post is the male and the horizontal beam is the female. The vertical is Adam and the horizontal is Eve; male and female form the cross when we they are sexually united. With that symbol you will defeat the devil and the animal beasts that we have within; the cross is a symbol of transformation.

Therefore, the crucified one on the cross is the crucified force of Nun, and not what Christianity supposes, where believers believe that only Jesus of Nazareth is crucified on the cross. Obviously, you cannot put Nero as a symbol on that alchemical cross; you cannot put Attila on that cross; you cannot put Hitler on that cross. On the alchemical cross, we have to put as a symbol somebody who is already Christified, this, in order to show that the cross is the way. This does not mean that such an initiate is the one who is going to save us, that such a person is going to do the work for us. We understand that Jesus was crucified on the cross; yes, he was, but with one purpose: to show humanity that in order to reach the level that he reached - that is, a Christified one - we have to do it through the cross; thus, the cross is the way in order to reach perfection. But this wretched humanity thinks that Jesus who died two thousand years ago did this alchemical work for all of us, and now anybody who believes in him can sin through their whole life and if at the last minute they say: “I believe in Jesus,” they then go to heaven. This is really ridiculous, preposterous, ludicrous.

We have to understand the meaning of the cross - as we explained in the four seasons how the earth is transformed, likewise the cross will transform us. This is why the solar light descends on us from above and reaches, as we said, the sexual organs, Yesod. Now, we have to return, to re-emerge the light, and that is done through the process of initiation that is represented in the drama lived by Jesus; the return of the light is a resurrection that is performed in different degrees.

a20-final.pngFirst, we resurrect the solar light in the physical body by teaching the physical body how to absorb the solar light. That is why you find here in the Twentieth Arcanum depicted at the bottom of the illustration, in the waters of life, you find only one column—the other column disappeared, only one remains, which is the spinal column. If you associate the two columns with Adam and Eve, you understand that Eve - the lunar serpent, which is the creative organ that spills the force as an animal in order to multiply the genre like animals - is no longer there, because all the energy is transmuted.

The sarcophagus of Osiris depicted in this Arcanum is the same sarcophagus of Christ. What is a sarcophagus? A sarcophagus is that box within which is the mummy—that mummy is the energy, the base, the force. Master Paracelsus states that the mummia is the base of life for the physical body. If we associate that sarcophagus with the Hebrew letter Nun (Arcanum Fourteen), with the fish, then we understand better. It is written in the Egyptian mysteries that Osiris’ sarcophagus has the shape of a fish. That fish of Osiris’ sarcophagus is the same ark of Noah. Noah is written with the Hebrew letters Nun and Hei; Nun is fish in Aramaic. Thus, if we go further in this, we find the other prophet, the prophet Jonah. I-o-nah (Iod-Vav), “IO,” was swallowed by the fish (Nun-Hei) Noah; do you see, do you find the similarities here?

This card of resurrection is telling us that the whole work is performed within the sarcophagus, in order to rise from the dead. Who are the dead? In this case, it would be explained in two different ways:

1. the dead are us; we are dead to the spiritual life.
2. the dead also are those who achieve the annihilation of all those animal elements, psychological aggregates within themselves.

The whole work is done in darkness, because when that sarcophagus is closed it is only darkness. The whole work is performed in darkness. When Jonah was swallowed by the whale, by the big fish, he was in darkness. If you study the book of Jonah you will see there a prayer that has nine steps, this Kabbalistically speaking, of course it is also an alchemical symbol.

So then you find that the famous Ark of Noah is nothing else than the planet Earth itself, as well as the sarcophagus, and also the symbol of the initiate that enters to work with the great Arcanum.

First of all, let us study this in the cosmic way: the whole planet, Earth, is “Hei,” and the name of Noah is written with “Nun Hei.” In Hebrew we need only two letters in order to write the name of Noah: the letter Nun and the letter Hei, which represent the fish or sperm (Nun) within the water, or better said, within the matter, the uterus (Hei). In the cosmic way, such a uterus is the Earth itself, or better said, is that cosmic ovum. It is more beautiful to say, the ovum, which is the Earth - and if we go to the centre of that Earth in the very ninth sphere, we find the fire of Christ, we find Lucifer, the sexual strength, which is given through sexual matter, represented by the letter Nun. As you see, the sexual strength of the man comes from Nun, from the sperm—the more strong sperm he has, the more sexual strength he has. That is the power (Aun) of Shamash (the Sun), the power of – Shamshon - Samson.
The Descent into the Darkness

So then you find there, that when one enters into this path, one descends into the ninth sphere, descends to the center of the Earth, one enters into the Ark of Noah which is the Earth and one’s own philosophical Earth, the physical body (the sperm enters the Ovum within the Womb, the ninth sphere of Mother Earth). This is the symbol of Jonah. Or in other words, through alchemy one (as a sperm) is swallowed by the whale (the Ovum) and descends into the heart, the womb of the earth; because each one of us has to perform a mission.

Did you read about Jonah? He was told: “Arise, go and preach.” But when you preach, first, you have to be swallowed by the whale; this is how Jonah explains it. Because Jah-Chavah tells him:

Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me. But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of Jah-Chavah, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of Jah-Chavah. – Jonah 1: 2, 3

Prophet-Jonah.jpg Then Jah-Chavah prepared a great fish (Nun) to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of (Nun) the fish three days and three nights. Thereafter, the fish vomited out Jonah upon the dry land and he goes and preaches.

Thus Jonah preaches what he experienced. He preaches what he did, because he is a Resurrected Master. When the whale vomited out Jonah upon the dry land is when Jonah resurrected; which is precisely what the Master Jesus said in the Bible:

An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonah: For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. – Matthew 12: 39, 40

It is clearly explained there—the heart of the Earth is the center of the Earth, as well as the whale's belly, same thing; and the Ark of Noah symbolizes the same thing.

Presently, there are people who are still looking for a physical Ark on Mount Ararat. They do not realize that such an Ark is the energy of sex that has to rise from the coccyx, from the sexual organs, throughout the thirty three vertebrae, and to reach the Mount Ararat. The Mount Ararat is at the top of our head, the chakra Sahasrara; thus, if the Ark does not reach there, then we are swallowed; we are drowned; because here in the Mount Ararat, in the pineal gland, is where we have the dove (Jonah in Hebrew) of the Holy Spirit. This is why Jonah is found here, in the pineal gland. Yet, Noah in the beginning sends a crow, which is a symbol of death—which means that still we have to annihilate different animal elements in us in order to resurrect, in order to come out of the Ark. Noah coming with his family out of the Ark is the same as Jonah being vomited out from the whale's belly, as well as Jesus resurrecting after the third day after descending into hell; as the Apostles’ Creed states: “He descended into Hell and at the third day he rose again from the dead.”

We have to do the same thing: we have to go inside the whale's belly; we have to go into the center of the Earth; we have to perform the great work within the waters of Yesod; we have to be vomited out from the whale's belly; we have to come out of hell, and resurrect, and all of this is obviously related with the letter Reish, with the head; because the only objective of creation is to create a being capable of understanding God. A mule does not understand God; a horse does not understand God, but a human being does. For those people who do not believe in God, it is because they do not understand God, since, obviously, they are not human beings. Listen, a true human being does not need to believe in God, because God is performing his work through him; he is a vehicle of the Solar Light; he is a vehicle of God. As we said in other lectures he is that Ieshua, that transfigured being, the son of Nun.

There is something very hidden in the Old Testament about Joshua, the son of Nun. It is written in the beginning of the book of Joshua that Jah-Chavah spoke unto Joshua the son of Nun - Joshua or Ieshua as you see, is the same, it means “savior.” This is an initiatic process—first Moses, then Joshua or Ieshua. You have to be born from the waters like Moses, and then Joshua or Ieshua has to come to you, or as Christianity teaches, first you have to be baptized by John the Baptist in Yesod, and then finally Jesus comes in Hod —different stories but same meanings, same symbol.
The "Seraphim" Serpents of Fire

Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents (Seraphim), and harmless as doves (Jonahs). - Matthew 10: 16

In Hod, in the third initiation of major mysteries, resurrection is experienced for the first time; in Hod is where the initiate is creating the astral body, and where he has his first experience of resurrection. Why? Because the world of Hod is related with the astral light. Hod is Hebrew for glory, and in Hod is where we see the light of the Lord. So when we create an astral body is when the solar light re-emerges, as a human within our psyche. Because the lunar astral body, the Kama Rupa - the body of desires that everybody has - is an animal body; and the Lord does not resurrect beasts. When the Lord enters Kama Rupa, he then discovers those demons, our psychological aggregates. All of those bestial elements that we have in our Kama Rupa squander the energies through lust, through greed, through gluttony, through laziness—do you realize this? That is why we need to create a body that is capable of transforming the solar Light as the sun does it—and that is the astral solar body.

But after creating that astral body, we have to annihilate the beast 666, which is within everybody. We cannot serve God and mammon at the same time, so we have to annihilate; this is a process. That is why in the Seven Words, a book written by Master Samael Aun Weor, he explained the third initiation—how the initiate experiences the birth of the Lord inside his astral body--crucifixion, death, resurrection, and ascension. But obviously that is not the end; because that is just the beginning of resurrection. After that, the Lord has to resurrect in the mind, has to resurrect in the will, in the soul, and in the spirit. In other words, as it is written, we have to raise seven serpents of fire.

When the seven serpents of fire are raised in the spinal columns of the seven bodies of the initiate, then we reach the world of Chesed. You see in the Tree of Life, Malkuth, Yesod, Hod, Netzach, Tiphereth, Geburah and Chesed or Gedulah. And when we have the seven serpents of fire, then behold an initiate that has resurrected in the fire. Any initiate can resurrect in the fire, of course, any initiate who follows the way of the cross. Notwithstanding, the way of the cross is also related with other elements that we are going to explain in other lectures, and not here, in order not to confuse things.
Serpents of Light

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And as Moses lifted up (the Seraph) the serpent (of fire) in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man (the serpent of light) be lifted up. - John 3:14

Now, we find that if the initiate wants to resurrect in the light, well that is a superior step. Many initiates resurrect in the fire, but very rare are the ones who resurrect in the light. Initiatically speaking, in order to resurrect in the light, the initiate has to renounce nirvana-- because nirvana is where the monad abides, so when the human consciousness is united to his Monad it is entering nirvana. Thus, if the initiate wants to resurrect in the light, well, listen, the Lord does not start enlightening the initiate from above, but from the bottom. So, for this type of resurrection the initiate has to abandon Nirvana and to go down again into hell; thus, the Lord starts there, making light in the darkness from the very bottom. This is why it is written that in order to resurrect in the light the initiate has to renounce nirvana. But many Pratyeka-Buddhas, masters of the spiral path, do not want to renounce so therefore they do not incarnate the Lord in the light, which is the most beautiful element after the fire, because then the light shines in the darkness. The fire can rise, but still those Masters or Pratyeka-Buddhas can have ego; the one who resurrects in the light must annihilate the ego, because the light, Christ, shines in the darkness, Christ gives light and understanding, comprehension, wisdom. Therefore, for this type of resurrection the initiate has to descend into the stable of Bethlehem, the manger of Bethlehem which is here in Malkuth, the physical body. Beneath Malkuth, the physical body, you find hell, Klipoth, where you find Herod, where you will find all of those animal elements.

Thus when the initiate descends, the Lord - then as light - descends within him, within his physical body, and starts raising the serpents of light. This is how the initiate experiences all the drama of the solar light in higher octaves in each body. So, the Lord comes and absorbs all of those solar bodies, thus those bodies become his bodies. This is something that we have to understand, because Chokmah is precisely that part of the trinity that descends and becomes one entity together with the soul of that particular initiate. And that is what in Buddhism is called a Bodhisattva; again, this is something that is very important to understand because a Bodhisattva is somebody who already resurrected in the fire and now becomes a vehicle of the light of Chokmah. Understand: this is what happened to Jesus, this is what happened to John the Baptist, as well to Moses, to Abraham, to Krishna. After they resurrected in the fire, they incarnated Vishnu, Osiris, Amon-Ra, Christ, Chenrezig, Avalokiteshvara, Kwan Yin, Quetzalcoatl, if you go to another planet they might name the Lord in other ways, which we can name too, since, they refer to the same energy.

So, then the Lord is born in danger; and it is in danger because everybody wants to kill him. Who wants to kill him? The Pharaoh, or King Herod, which are symbols of your own egos, your own intellect—because the initiate still has ego within; thus the Lord has been born weak, because behemoth (the beast) is very strong in us; the initiate has to be a humble shepherd and take care of the sheep of the Lord. Thus, little by little, the Lord shows his wisdom. The Lord grows and grows inside whilst he annihilates all of those egos of Karmasaya, Kamaduro, and all of that filthiness that is inside of every initiate. Thereafter, he plays the lyre like Orpheus, or like David, and writes beautiful psalms. He comes and writes the psalm 119, related with the 22 letters, because he is experiencing it, and he is the light in all of the psalms. As well, the Lord becomes the Wisdom of Solomon, of Sola-Man: the Solar Man. So there this is how the initiate incarnates him.

But, somebody can incarnate the Lord, can be anointed like Saul, Shaul, and then not do the rest of the work, since there is free will. Yet, if the initiate does the work, then the Lord triumphs inside of him and initiatically resurrects or re-emerges in the light in all of his bodies. When that happens, then Chokmah penetrates into the world of Binah and waits there; he enters into the world of Saturn - Binah, symbol of that sarcophagus, the world of death. Here, his whole work is to make the seventh day holy, because he has already resurrected in the fire and in the light; now he has to make the seventh day holy - the Shabbath - Chokmah has to descend into the very bottom of hell in order to work there with all those elements that we have in order to annihilate all of them. thus, if he achieves it, he resurrects in Yetzirah, and becomes the Lord of Sabbath. You know how the Gospels talk about how Jesus of Nazareth is the Lord of Sabbath, Christ is the Lord of Sabbath, the Son of Man is the lord of Sabbath? Yes, of course, but to be the Lord of Sabbath means to annihilate the whole ego of Lilith and Nahemah, to be clean completely in order to resurrect with the physical body and to enter into the fourth dimension. During that process his head has to pass through a transformation. The letter Reish is in relation with the head. We explained a lot about the head in other lectures.
The Sparrow Hawk

This is why, in order to symbolically show here on the card the work with the head, you find the sparrow hawk with the head of a human being; thus if you observe clearly, the sparrow hawk is entering into heaven, which is always above, in the third space of this card -- the sparrow hawk is entering there, and his head is entering there first. That is the higher resurrection, the final outcome.

The sparrow hawk is holding two elements: an axe and a staff—because we have to work with those elements. The staff is a symbol of the spinal column, the thirty-three vertebrae, the letter Vav; we have to work with the staff because the spinal column is where the Lord descends and resurrects. (When we name the Lord, understand that we are talking about the solar light.)

The double-edged axe is a symbol of the two sexual polarities: one edge is the woman, which is the sharpest side, and the other is the man which is not as “sharp.” But working with those two sides of the axe in the sexual act is how we kill, slaughter, all the unbelievers, all the uncircumcised, who are inside of us, who are all of those psychological elements that like to fornicate, that like to commit adultery, that like to break the laws given by God. This is the only way. This is why the sparrow hawk is showing that: the staff and axe are the elements with which we have to work in order to resurrect.
Jonah

The head, Reish, is directly related with the book of Jonah. Remember that Jonah in Hebrew means dove—that dove is the dove of the Holy Spirit, which is symbolized by the sparrow hawk or by the eagle, because many religions symbolize the Holy Spirit with a bird that flies high. But the most beautiful symbol is the swan or the white dove— the Holy Spirit is always symbolized by a bird.

Jonah and the gourd.jpgSo, Jonah means dove in Hebrew. Then you find out how Jonah emerges, or how the Holy Spirit, or how the dove, emerges from the whale (the physical body) and after that his head (his gourd) passes a transformation—he can then go and preach to Nineveh and says, “in forty days Nineveh will be destroyed.”

Forty is the letter Mem (Arcanum Thirteen), or as Noah said, “the whole planet will be destroyed with a great flood,”—the letter Mem is related with water. That is why Jesus went into the wilderness for forty days—to work with the waters.

Sequentially, you find that after Jonah preaches in Nineveh, he goes and rests; and then Iod-Chavah (Chokmah) made a gourd (Kikaion in Hebrew) over the head of Jonah. This is a symbol; the pumpkin symbolizes the head—as explained in the lecture “The Mysteries of Halloween” – which is, when you descend within your own mind, your own hell, you become aware of all of your demons, all of those monsters that you have within. People celebrate Halloween and use different disguises in order to enjoy the festivity, as when they celebrate Christmas, as when they celebrate the holy week: without knowing why. All of those pagan celebrations, or holidays (holy-days), have their meaning. Halloween, where people celebrate the emerging of all of those horrible things, is similar to the wonders or tricks that Moses goes and performs in front of the Pharaoh. Moses said to the Pharaoh: “Trick or treat?”

Thus said Jah-Chavah Elohim of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness. – Exodus 5: 1

And Pharaoh said, “No treat.”

Who is Jah-Chavah that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not Jah-Chavah, neither will I let Israel go. –Exodus 5: 2

Then Jah-Chavah said to Moses, “I will show a trick for you that I will perform with nature”; and Moses said to Aaron.

Take thy rod, and cast it before Pharaoh, and it shall become a serpent.

And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so as Jah-Chavah had commanded: and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, and before his servants, and it became a serpent. Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments (or tricks). – Exodus 7: 9- 11, etc.

So all of that is a symbol of something psychological that people still do not understand—that is Halloween. Until the firstborn of the Egyptians - which is the intellect, or reasoning, or the ego, or whatever animalistic - is annihilated and then they perform the Exodus; this is a symbol that we have to perform in ourselves.

The same phenomena happen with the king in Nineveh; yet, in this case, when the word came unto the king of Nineveh:

He arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water: But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish not? And God saw their works that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not. – Jonah 3: 6-10

Thus, they start changing and working on themselves. That is the other part of the story, the other hand—when you follow the advice and then you do the work. And then when the work is done, those people that performed the work are not destroyed. But when Jonah realized that then he feels displeased, discouraged and says.

I pray thee, O Jah-Chavah, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil. Therefore now, O Jah-Chavah, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live. - Jonah 4: 2, 3

If you read the book of Jonah carefully, you have to understand that when Jonah awakes from his dream from his rest, he realizes that the pumpkin is rotting. That pumpkin is his own head, meaning, that the objective reasoning that he acquired, with the whole work that he performed at that time, reached a certain level, yet beyond that level, he realizes that his own particular Jah-Chavah is very deep, thus, he understands his God only to a certain level. So in order to acquire more knowledge about himself and his own God, he has to descend again; and he realized that in his discontent. And then the Lord said, “Does you well to be discontent for the gourd, (that is to say, discontent for your level of reasoning), also I pity those people of Nineveh that are now following the path because of your advice and they cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; so therefore I have more pity for them.”

So then realize that - when you walk on the path - the more ignorant you are, the more help, mercy you receive. But the more wisdom you have, the more pain you add. In this case, Jonah is at a higher level of reasoning, but he is suffering because perhaps he said, “Well, I wanted to reach the level of Anklad, which is the higher level of objective reasoning, and here I am in Podkoolad, which is lower than Anklad.” He says, “In order to acquire Anklad, I have to renounce what I have, and to go there again to the whale,” and that is very tiring. Of course, this is talking in a general manner, because the sign of Jonah hides the entire meaning of the whole work. So, that is the sign of Jonah. You see, if you study the Book of Jonah, you will understand the saying of Jesus, who said,

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An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonah: For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. – Matthew 12: 39, 40

Coming to my mind is the time of Master Samael Aun Weor. At that time, in Mexico, he was telling us, “I am passing a process in which I am receiving the atoms of my mummy (mummia).” If we talk in the terms of Paracelsus we say mummia, if we talk in Egyptian terms, we say mummy. “Right now,” he said, “I have the whole head of my mummy, and what you see here is not the same individual that you met years ago.” Then when I heard that from him, only to myself I said, “Self, the Master is going to resurrect in a while,” because I was studying the doctrine. But other people that heard him say this did not understand, and still they do not understand. They do not understand that in order to pass this process, Mary Magdalene has to come and pour spikenard onto the head, to anoint the initiate for his death.

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And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head.

And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said, Why was this waste of the ointment made?

For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and have been given to the poor. And they murmured against her.

And Jesus said, Let her alone; why trouble ye her? She hath wrought a good work on me. For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good: but me ye have not always.

She hath done what she could: she is come a forehand to anoint my body to the burying.

Verily I say unto you, wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.

And Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went unto the chief priests, to betray him unto them. - Mark 14: 3-10

Who is Mary Magdalene? Mary Magdalene, of course, symbolizes the wife of Jesus. And many say, for instance, that in the past, she was a prostitute. Let me tell you: before entering onto the path, all female initiates were prostitutes; the meaning, the symbol of Mary Magdalene is (M.M), on the path, any woman with the lust within, any man with the lust within, is a prostitute—prostitutes of their Solar Light. But after Christ took the seven sins from Mary Magdalene, that female initiate (Chavah) became holy, within any initiate. But anybody with lust inside - who belongs to any religion - prostitutes the Solar Light. It is enough to reach the orgasm, or to cooperate with their spouse with the spasm, orgasm, fornication, in order to prostitute the Solar Light of the Lord. Do you understand this?

Judas Iscariot symbolizes the traitor, but he was not a traitor; similarly, Mary Magdalene symbolizes “Chavah” and all of the beautiful wives of many initiates who are not prostitutes, but who have the psychological elements of prostitution inside of them. We are not stating here that Mary Magdalene was performing prostitution, no. For we know that prostitutes - in this day and age - are those who go everywhere and perform sex for money, they prostitute their bodies in order to gain their life, in order to make money. If we state that symbolically Mary Magdalene was a prostitute, we mean that any man or woman - it does not matter how low their Nephesh (animal soul) is - if they enter into the path, they can resurrect. So, Nephesh is the symbol that Mary Magdalene represented, as Judas represented the traitor. But she was, of course, an initiate of a temple. But the fact of the matter that she was an initiate of the temple, as Mary the Mother also, this does not take away the fact that they had the lust within, because only the resurrected ones have no lust at all. Did you get that? Do you understand? This is important to comprehend because there are many speculations about it, and when the people do not understand the mysteries, they just speculate; they say many things in an ignorant manner.

head-of-Jesus.jpgThe spikenard is the perfume of the sixth dimension. Spikenard is related to Tiphereth. That is the beautiful perfume that shows us that in order to resurrect you have to bring in the forces of the Sun, because Tiphereth is the Sun, the center. Thus, the symbol of pouring spikenard oil on the head of Jesus is telling us that his Reish, his head, is transforming, in order to receive another degree of objective reasoning, which is given by the main atoms that we have in the head:

1. the atom of Kether, in the root of the nose
2. the atom of Binah in the pineal gland
3. the atom of Chokmah in the pituitary gland

These are connected to the three nervous systems.

So, first the head (Adam, which numerically is 144,000) passes that transformation and the initiate resurrects with more wisdom and becomes a vehicle of the Solar Light. That is a resurrected Master; any resurrected Master is a vehicle of the Light. Nevertheless, resurrected Masters can fall or descend. But this is a topic of the Twenty first Arcanum.

Do you have questions?

Q: In the book of Jonah, related to the pumpkin, the scripture says that God created the worm that attacks the pumpkin; what is the meaning of that?

A: The worm of rottenness is created in different ways. That worm is a symbol of decay. It could be in this case, in the case of Jonah, that he is discouraged, unhappy with the reasoning he acquired.

In front of the terrible and glorious majesty of the Father we are nothing but miserable particles of dust, horrible worms of the mud. What I am stating in this paragraph is neither an allegorical nor a symbolic matter. I am literally and bluntly asserting a terrible reality.

Indeed, it is the “I” (the mind) that says, “I am the Master such-and-such, the reincarnation of the prophet so-and-so” etc., etc. Certainly the animal “I” is Satan. It is the “I,” the ego-devil (the mind), who feels himself to be a Master, Mahatma, Hierophant, Prophet, etc. - Samael Aun Weor

This also might be symbolized by those Bodhisattvas, who in the book of Genesis - it is written - decided to descend, or to fall, in order to acquire more wisdom. And of course, that descent or falling is always coming from the mind.

When the initiate annihilates the whole ego completely, something remains instead of it, and that is called the human mind. The human mind, even being Solar, is a human mind, and if you do not control that mind, that mind will make you fall. And that is precisely that worm. That mind enriched itself with objective reasoning, but it is still the mind that always wants to be more and more and more and more. So that is why it is written: one has to control the mind with the whip of willpower, because the mind is always stubborn. Because of the mind, many initiates fall. The mind is the terrestrial man who falls in love, fornicates, and falls down.

In the name of Truth I want you to know that when the ‘I’ is dissolved, the mind remains instead... Indubitably this was the causa causarum of my fall...” – Samael Aun Weor

Q: In the tarot card, why is the base of the column black?

A: Because that is the way that the person that drew it did it. And he likes that it looks beautiful. And we will say that, if we want to add any symbol of that, we will say that any flower, any rose, any lotus, comes from the mud. Obviously, we come from the mud. Adam is made from the mud of the Earth. So the white column is beautiful, but remember it is coming from the mud of the Earth, which represents the negativity that you have to transform and that all of us have. This is what Jehovah said, “behold, this couple fornicated and because of their fornication their consciousness is going down into Klipoth--knowing evil, but they knew good already through evolution. But now, with fornication, they might want to reach the Tree of Life being fornicators, so let us kick them out because nobody who is a fornicator will eat of a holy thing on the Tree of Life. But if they start repenting with the preaching of Jonah, or with the preaching of Noah, and they enter into the Ark, then that white column will shine in them.

Q: I am trying to understand the purpose of Christ’s presence in, say, the world of Assiah, right? In the ninth sphere where the inhabitants are just protoplasmic, disintegrating bodies. So what is the purpose of Christ’s presence there?

A: Precisely because of mercy. The Lord is merciful; Christ is merciful. He knows, for sure, that every single soul on this planet, or on any planet, suffers because of the ego. But the ego belongs to nature. So Christ wants to liberate those souls which are failures. And then he waits for them in the ninth sphere, in the center of the earth as Lucifer. When they reach there, that fire disintegrates them. That is why it is written that hell was made because of love. Imagine. If hell did not exist, we would be bottled up in the ego for eternity. That would be really painful. But thank goodness hell exists, the infra-dimension exists, Klipoth exists, inferno exists. For those souls that really do not want to do anything by will, they descend, or they fall into the infra-dimensions, and eventually disintegrate, and eventually rise again clean, without ego. Thanks to the Lord who disintegrates them, involuntarily, of course; because one thing is to do it here by will another thing is when hell does it involuntarily. Those souls do not acquire any wisdom; because in order to acquire wisdom, the Lord needs to do such disintegration consciously, with love under will, in each one of us, now. That is the goal of his creation: to create Solar Men. But not all the monads want that; so therefore, the souls enter there and are disintegrated. That is why it is written that the day of the Lord will come as a thief when all the elements will burn with fervent heat. The earth and everything in it will be burned. The Lord is fire. People are waiting for Jesus Christ coming in the clouds, in heaven to save them--without realizing that Christ always comes every day in the clouds, shines every day, and gives life every day. He comes everyday. That is it--he is coming. When the Lord is coming? I tell you, tomorrow he will come, and next week he will come too—he is the Solar Light.

But if you do not follow this doctrine of the transformation, the resurrection, through initiation, well, the Lord, the Solar Light, will descend through the nine spheres, and from there will destroy your ego, but you will not acquire anything; you will be a failure. And then you will ascend in another evolving cycle without being a master, without acquiring or being a transmitter of that light, just returning mechanically again. Mechanically going and going and going in the Wheel of Samsara.

When Peter says that the Lord will come as a thief in the night, we will tell you that, physically, this physical humanity will be destroyed by the fire; and you know that--earthquakes and fire will destroy this humanity. The fire of the earth is Christ and the fire that comes from the sun is Christ. The fire that moves the water and gives electricity is Christ. The wind is Christ; everything is Christ. Iod Hei Vav Hei. That energy will destroy humanity here, and then after being destroy these sinful bodies that we have - because we fornicate alarmingly, a lot, - those protoplasmic bodies that cannot be disintegrated with the death of the physical body, will be destroyed with the second death in Klipoth with the same fire. The ray of death descending into hell will take them there and then finally the soul will be liberated, after a thousand years at least.

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?

Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless. – 2 Peter 3: 9-14

This is how the Lord, the Solar Light, always creates and destroys. It is a great solar experiment; we are within that solar experiment, and the Lord, the Solar Light, is within every solar experiment. Because the Lord is fire, the Lord is light, within the physical body and within any body.

So as you see, resurrection is something initiatic, spiritual, that you have to experience without spot and blameless; and not that physical nonsensical resurrection from believers. Just think about this: how horrible this planet will be if all those Christians, all those Jews who have lust, anger, pride, vanity, laziness - and all of them who have the sinning “I” within, who belong to all those religions that believe in such nonsense - will resurrect in the end-- Alas then the whole planet will be really again with the same problems: the same hatred, the same animosity. So the ego does not resurrect unless it is Dracula, but that is very ominous.

Q: You relate number 40 to Mem… why not just the number 4?

A: Well, in Hebrew letters, the letter Mem has the value of forty, the letter Nun has the value of fifty, and every letter has a value. For instance, Reish has the value of two hundred. So it is like in the ancient Latin they did not have numbers as well. That is why when you find, for instance, the Latin numbers or Roman numbers; they have an X for ten, a V for five, an I for one. And other races have that also. In the past they used the letters for certain numbers, as the Hebrews use it right now; but presently we have different letters and numbers. So when you said for instance, you owe me this, and you put the letter Reish. You say, oh I owe somebody two hundred, what, shekels?

Is there another question?

Q: You said something before about Adam and Eve fornicating in the garden—I don’t understand, I think it is something that the Elohim said afterward, said that, “Behold the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil”. Does that mean that the Elohim fornicated at one time?

A: The Elohim, no, but the human soul, the Tiphereth of those Elohim, fornicated in the past, and this is how they know what is evil. Meaning that, the Gods, or Elohim, or angels, or archangels, of this day and age, before becoming that, they were demons, clearly; nobody can become a God if he does not experience being a demon. To be a demon is to be like us; it does not mean you need to be really evil like Moloch, Belial, Bael and all those demons. Just by fornicating and being as we are now, we are demons; but we have the opportunity to become humans. And if we perfect ourselves in that level of the human kingdom, and resurrect, then we become an Elohim.

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But in order to become an Elohim, just imagine all the experience of evil that Christ has to annihilate; in order to acquire comprehension of evilness Christ took the seven sins from Mary Magdalene. Obviously, when you resurrect, you know good and evil, because you are entering into the good from the evil. And obviously, when the Elohim saw that Adam and Eve - at that time and in anytime - fornicated, they said, “Look, now they are connected to Klipoth, so they know good and evil.” This means, they knew evil but not like Elohim, just at a certain level, as demons. So they were taken out of Eden or the fourth dimension, because if they reach the Tree of Life, then would come the impossible, that is, to become an immortal fornicator master. Right? So therefore, if you want to enter again into Eden and to resurrect, you have to annihilate your ego, you have to renounce fornication; but the experience, the knowledge, that you acquire in evil, will be there in your consciousness, united to that which is God, the Elohim; so that is an Elohim, who know good and evil.

Obviously, you have to know evil in order to know good, and you have to know good in order to know evil. Like Nietzsche stated:

Such persons vaunt about not lying: but inability to lie is still far from being love to truth. Be on your guard!

This is something very deep that you need to meditate on.

Q: So what if someone says, let’s, you know, “I am going to do more evil so that I can later become more good.”

A: Yes, there are beings that do that, but consciously. That is another lecture here; those beings that do that consciously are the fallen angels. They say, “Let’s do more evil,”; and how does that evil start, how does that evil begin? Well, simple: spill the sperm, spill the Nun out of your body, and then you know more evil. But we do not need to do that, because we are already out of Eden. So in order to know more evil, first, you have to rise, and then you have to descend and say, “O.k. I want to know more,” and then you have to fall again. But we are already on the floor. So this is why when you hear some students have nocturnal pollutions (wet dreams) and then say, “Oh I fell last night,”—no he did not fall, he just had an accident. Indeed, to fall requires that you are already up there in heaven. Yet, having an accident is when you are trying to transmute, right? But the real ‘fall’ is when you reach the fifth initiation and fornicate; that is a fall. Before that, accidents can happen, because the donkey, the animal, the physical body is learning. And the ego, when alive inside, gives us a lot of problems, troubles.

From: gnosticteachings.org/courses...cription

Welcome to our new course, in which we will analyze and discuss the famous path of the Bodhisattva.

The teachings that we will be discussing are very ancient and find their roots in times that are long forgotten by this humanity. The term "Bodhisattva" is a Sanskrit word, which describes a certain kind of person, or a certain kind of psychology, which is far more ancient than even the Sanskrit language. So when we enter into the reception of this kind of teaching, it is good for us to keep in mind that the principles, the psychology, and the science that we are discussing is far more ancient than the terms, the words, and the traditions that we have in these days.

Image In this series of lectures, you will encounter a wide variety of terms, concepts, and ways of looking at things that you could relate to traditions we know in these days, such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, the Hebrew tradition, and the Aztec tradition. But the fundamental root of this science, this wisdom, is far older than any of those traditions. It is a form of wisdom that is eternal, it is universal, and has always been present as long as humanity has been present; as long as there has been existence, there has been this science.

We call this teaching “Gnosis,” but it also has other names; in the east, it is called Dharma. Dharma has many meanings (it is a Sanskrit word), it means "truth," it means "law," it also has a strong reference to "action" - not just theory, but something that is active, something that performs an action and derives a consequence. The word Gnosis is Greek and is normally, in these times, translated simply as "knowledge." But the word Gnosis actually refers to active knowledge, like Dharma, or knowledge from experience, not just knowledge in the intellect; Gnosis is the knowledge that one knows because of experience, because of direct perception.

You may know this word "diagnosis," a word used in medicine; to “diagnose a patient” is how a doctor will observe or analyse - with his perception - a patient, in order to arrive at some analysis, some conclusion of the illness or condition. Gnosis is the same: "dia-gnosis." Gnosis is in that word because Gnosis is a “perceptive science,” it is a science of perception. What that means is that it is a science of consciousness, because it is consciousness that allows us to perceive.

Gnosis is not a science that is limited to the intellect. Dharma is not limited merely to the intellect. Dharma, or Gnosis, or Jnana (in Sanskrit), is a science to awaken consciousness, to utilize consciousness, and to develop it to its fullest potential. Therefore, I invite you to use your consciousness when you receive this wisdom.

Listen with more than just the intellect. The intellect is useful in its place, but it isn't the totality of what makes us what we are: it is only one portion. We also have an emotional center where we store our beliefs, our feelings, and when we receive this wisdom, we should receive it with our feelings as well, with our heart, but not even limit ourselves to just that. We also have our body, we have our motor center, our instinctive center, our sexual center, these other parts of our psychology and physiology. We need to receive this wisdom there as well, not merely in the intellect as ideas, not merely in the heart as a belief that we accept or reject, but also in our body, in our actions.

To understand Gnosis in these three aspects, these three ways, helps us to see how to understand it with the consciousness, because the consciousness is beyond intellect, it is beyond emotion, beyond feelings, beyond sensations of the body. Your consciousness is the root of who you are, but unfortunately the consciousness has become trapped in suffering, in pain, subject to what the Buddhists call the Wheel of Samsara. And this wheel is the wheel of life and death to which all of us are subject, and because of that we are tossed about by forces that we do not perceive, afflicted with all manner of suffering and pain, with very little power to control it. This is why this particular science is so critical.

Dharma or Gnosis indicates with precision the manner in which any person, in any place, at any time, can transform themselves, and learn how to utilize the consciousness in order to awaken and thereby conquer suffering. The means through which this wisdom has been expressed throughout time, throughout space, has varied according to the psychology of the humanity at a given time or place. In the east this root wisdom, this Gnostic wisdom, has been expressed as Buddhism, when the Buddha Shakyamuni came and gave his teaching. It has been expressed in Hinduism with all the great teachers that have arrived in the land of India to teach this Gnostic doctrine. It came in the Middle East through many teachers such as Moses, Mohammed, Jesus, and all the Prophets. It has also come in the west, in South America through Quetzalcoatl, through many other teachers, such as Samael Aun Weor, all of whom have taught and delivered this same wisdom.

Yet, in each case, that light, that science has a little different color, has a little different flavor, but in its root it is the same. That light, that wisdom, is Gnostic wisdom, whether you call it Aztec mysticism or Buddhist, in its root it is the same.

The transmitter of that light is the one light, which we call in the western tradition Christ, or Krestos, the Cosmic Christ, who is “the light of the world,” the Sun King Amon-Ra, the Solar God of the Egyptians, the Solar God of the Romans, of the Greeks, Quetzalcoatl, Kukulkan, Apollo, Avalokiteshvara, Chenresig. All of these names refer to the same entity, the same intelligence, who is not a person, but who is an energy, a root primordial wisdom, a root primordial intelligence, which is beyond form, which is beyond matter, which is beyond energy, but it is the root of them all.

The Christ illuminates and provides life to everything that exists. The fire in the heart of any sun, in the heart of any living creature, the fire in the heart of any atom, is the Christ. Without that light, there is no life. And this is why the ancients worshipped the sun; the esoteric meaning is that the sun is the giver of life. But that sun is inside each creature; that sun is inside all the atoms that make up the body that you are sitting in, and it is the same light that gives you the consciousness, that gives you the capacity to perceive. But unfortunately we perceive in the wrong way, because our consciousness has become trapped in a cage. Nonetheless, that light continues to radiate.

In the ancient Kabbalah, the Tree of Life, we see that light at the top of the tree: the Ain Soph Aur, the Ray of Creation, which when it manifest the first time, is that supernal triangle, the first three spheres of the Tree of Life, which we call the Solar Logos. Logos means “word” in Greek. That supreme light is the cause, the reason, the support for everything that lives and breathes. It expresses its knowledge, its wisdom, but humanity, beings, creatures, even the Gods, only receive that light through the filter of their mind.

We, of course, as we are, are in darkness; we rarely if ever see that light. It is very difficult for us to see that light in its pure form. Because of that, the light, the Christ, which in its root essence is pure love, manifests itself through messengers, who we call Prophets or Avatars. They are in essence just light bulbs: transmitters of the light. So if that light, the Christ were electricity (which it is), a Master, an Avatar, a Buddha, a God, or a Prophet would be the light bulb, which transmits that light. But of course, there are different qualities of light bulbs. All the light bulbs have different capacities, capacities to manage energy. Some can only manage so much, so they deliver the light according to their capacity, according to their flavor or tone, and this is what we call “religions.” Buddhism is the one light as expressed through a particular psychology, according to a particular need. Christianity is the same light through a different bulb. The Greek mysteries, the Roman mysteries, all had their messengers, who delivered that light, taught that light.

The most profound, the most powerful, the most capable transmitters of that light are of course the most awakened beings of all, those who are capable of harnessing that force, the energy, and transmitting it in as purer form as possible; these we call Bodhisattvas. These are beings who are different.

The Solar Logos, the Cosmic Christ, in the Gnostic tradition, is seen as having three primary aspects. These are, as I mentioned, the first three spheres on the Tree of Life, or the Kabbalah: in Hebrew, they are called Kether, Chokmah, and Binah. Kether is the first sphere; this word means "crown" and is the crown of life mentioned in the Bible. Kether is the Father, the root wisdom, the Ancient of Days, a terribly divine intelligence, consciousness, energy. The second aspect, or the second Logos, is called Chokmah; this Hebrew word means "wisdom." And the third is called Binah, and this Hebrew word means "understanding" or "intelligence."

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These three aspects are one: they are a trinity, a trimurti, one thing with three faces, with three aspects. They express through one or the other aspect according to the need. It takes a lot of meditation in order to understand this three in one; the intellect will struggle.

What is important to note at this juncture, is that the second Logos, the second aspect of this one thing, is called Chokmah, which means "wisdom." In other words, the Cosmic Christ, the three in one, the Solar Logos, expresses itself as that wisdom when the light of the Christ descends; it is that wisdom, Chokmah, which is expressing itself in order to assist beings, in order to elaborate creation, in order to deliver its love. The way it does that in the most profound sense, the most potent, powerful, and pervading way, is through its messengers, those Bodhisattvas, the Prophets. They are incarnations of that light.

In other words, the mind, the I, the self, has been cleaned out of that person; all that remains is the glass of the bulb, perfectly clear, with no sense of I, no selfishness, and what remains is simply the light which expresses itself through conscious action. A beautiful example is Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus, Yeshua (which means Savior), was a human person, who worked on himself so intensely that he purified himself of all that is subjective, of all sense of self, and became the perfect reflection of that cosmic light, Chokmah, wisdom. That is why they call that light “the Son,” and this is why Jesus often spoke of himself as the Son; this is related to Chokmah. The son is the child who delivers the qualities of the father and mother; he expresses those qualities.

The word Bodhisattva is Sanskrit; bodhi means "awakened," "wisdom," and it also means "intelligence" - do you see there is a relationship? Chokmah in Hebrew means "wisdom," Binah in Hebrew means "intelligence," while bodhi in Sanskrit means "intelligence," "awakened," "wisdom." You see there, these are two distinct traditions in the minds of people of this time, but in their roots they come from the same source.

Sattva is Sanksrit also, and also has different meanings, but when combined with bodhi, sattva means "essence of." So bodhisattva means "essence of wisdom."

We are very fortunate to still have some portion of the wisdom teachings of many great Bodhisattvas, such as Moses, Krishna, Buddha, Mohammed, Jesus, and many others. There are many Bodhisattvas who were never recognized by humanity, but nonetheless have contributed, to try to assist humanity.

The teachings that have been delivered to this humanity over the course of the last few thousand years according to the needs of the age, and the needs of the psychology of the people who receive it. We are now in the age called Kali-Yuga, the Dark Age; in Hinduism, Kali is the consumer, the destroyer, the Goddess who destroys, who consumes, the Goddess of the abyss in other words. But this Kali-Yuga is really the age of the abyss, when the abyss is consuming humanity; this is very easy to see. What we call “human beings” are really little more than animals, who are driven entirely by desires; so this age of Kali-Yuga is a very dark time. Many great messengers have come to try to deliver the wisdom, the Dharma, to assist humanity. Some have come in the east, some have come in the west, some have been known publicly, and many have not. Nonetheless, the intention is always the same: to help, to assist, to ease the pain, to help beings come to the light.

Light and consciousness are the same. In the same way that wherever you find life, you find consciousness; wherever you find light, there is consciousness. So that “metaphor” is not really a metaphor, it is factual, and as we mentioned in other lectures, quantum physicists are discovering the truth of this, that light has intelligence.

The wisdom teachings have been delivered according to the needs of humanity, and there have been many forms of religion. Of course, humanity is always fighting over these forms, killing each other in the so-called “name of God,” in the “name of love.” Of course, to kill one another for religion has nothing to do with religion. The word religion actually comes from "religare," which means to unite, so how are you going to unite, if you are killing people. But the original religions, these wisdom teachings have been given according to the needs of the age, even though most are now degenerated.
Levels of Religion

We can look at a Buddhist model of teachings in order to understand religions, and we would say that there are three primary forms of religion. In Sanskrit these are called “yanas.” Yana means "vehicle," and a vehicle, like a car, is a technology that you use to get from one place to another: so too are the triyanas (three yanas), the three vehicles of the Dharma. And again, when I say Dharma, I don't just mean eastern traditions, I mean all religion, because all teachings can be organized according to these three vehicles.

The first, of course, must be a foundational path, an introductory path, a teaching that can accommodate any person in order to provide them with the information they need to go further. So, what we would call a foundational path in the eastern traditions is called Shravakayana, from the word shravaka which means "hearer," someone who hears, someone who listens, and yana means "vehicle." The Shravakayana has been misnamed Hinayana. The term Hinayana is actually derogatory; it is inpolite. We should use the word Shravakayana or just call it the foundational path; this is much more respectful and indicates its true function.

The foundational path is that form of religion, that form of Dharma, which teaches to any person the very basics of spirituality, the very basics of how to understand the consciousness. In Buddhism, this includes things like the Four Noble Truths. The Four Noble Truths express the basis of life: that life is suffering. This is the first thing any spiritual aspirant must understand deeply, not just in the intellect, but by experience. To understand the nature of Karma, to understand the nature of suffering is the purpose of the foundational path. It is in this level of work that an aspirant is taught how to meditate, to concentrate, how to pray, how to self-observe, how to be aware, how to be mindful. But all of these things: mindfulness, self-observation, self-remembering, meditation, prayer, are all with one purpose: to comprehend the nature of suffering, to comprehend the nature of Karma.

Karma is a law which exists throughout time and space. If there were no Karma, there would be no existence. Because things do exist, we know there is Karma, because Karma simply says that everything has a cause. If there is an action, there is a consequence, and if there is a consequence, it was created by a cause, some action. So the Law of Action and Consequence is the whole point, the whole purpose of the studies of the foundational path. Not merely to study that intellectually, theoretically, but to find the causes of suffering in oneself; this is the purpose.

In our Gnostic tradition, we do this in many ways: by emphasizing the need to Self-observe, to analyze oneself, one's own behavior, one's own feelings, thoughts, and actions, and in doing so, to see the consequences of them. We seek to learn not just to observe mechanically, but to observe in order to gain comprehension, understanding, wisdom.

The understanding we seek is this: when we act, we create results. It is clear that at this moment we each do not understand this, because we continue to act in harmful ways. Each one of us, if we are sincere, if we sincerely analyze our own mind, we will find that probably within the last few hours we have had some quality or another that has arisen in our mind, which is harmful. It could be pride, it could be shame, it could be lust, it might be anger, it might be envy, or jealousy, or resentment, or fear, or gluttony, or greed; there is a multitude of qualities that can arise in our mind, which create suffering for us and for others.

If we truly understood that every thought we have has a consequence, if we really understood that every feeling that arises in your heart produces a result, do you really think we would persist in generating the feelings and thoughts that we have? Would we continue to be as we are if we really understood that when we feel anger towards another person we actually hurt them? We not perceive it physically, but what about psychologically? Even then, in Gnosis we study the nature of physical illnesses and their roots in psychological causes; some of our illnesses may have been stimulated by the negative feelings others have had towards us.

When we feel jealousy for another person, we hurt ourselves, and when we feel envy, we hurt everyone. When we feel pride, when we think from pride, when we act from pride, we harm. Therefore it is necessary for everyone to constantly analyze the mind, from moment to moment, to always watch the mind.

It is the mind, or in other words the ego, which has trapped our consciousness, our own light, in darkness, and causes us to see things in the wrong way. We then believe that our sense of self is real, that our sense, our feeling of pride is real and we want to feed it. We want to feel better about ourselves by getting an admirable job, by having an admirable role in life, by having money or status, by getting something that someone else has that we want, which is covetousness, but pride is in the root of these things. Perhaps we just have fear, fear of poverty, fear of loneliness, fear of rejection, so we act in order to satisfy those sensations: physical sensations, emotional sensations, and intellectual sensations. All that activity creates Karma.

Every time we act from pride, we think from pride, we feel and indulge in the sensations of pride, we create suffering, we create Karma. Therefore this foundational path has been expressed universally in all times and places, and this is why all the great religions emphasize moral purity, sanctity, the need to eliminate negative emotions. The phrase “negative emotions” does not just mean anger, or lust, or hate, it also means pride, which often feels very good. It also means gluttony, which always seeks to feel good. It also means lust, which always seeks to feel good. These are negative emotions: they are qualities of emotional energy, which vibrate in the Astral Body, which are negative, which are harmful.

So we see in any religion an emphasis on the need to change our psychology, to understand the Law of Action and Consequence. As the Bible says, "Every man will reap what he sows" - in other words, as you act you will receive; according to your actions you are given what you deserve. When we really comprehend that, we can start to become ready for the next level of instruction.

Change can begin when we really see, consciously comprehend, how our own ego creates Karma, how our own pride can make not only us suffer, but the ones we love suffer. As an example, we can observe any parent who loves their child, loves with a kind of love that is beyond just the intellect; it is even beyond description in many ways. There is a love there that is so deep; but if that parent listens to their pride and begins to teach their child in accordance with their pride, they may push their child to develop itself in a way that is against the child's own nature. For example, many parents, in order to feel good about themselves, to feel that they have done a good job as a parent, want their children to be rich, not for the benefit of the child, but for their own pride; or they want their child to be a doctor or a politician. So there is a mixture: there is the love for the child, but there is also that ego, which wants to see it’s own reflection, to be see itself as beautiful. This is an illusion and it is a root of suffering. We do this in many ways: we may have good intentions, but it is the results which speak. We may mean well, but if we create suffering, we accrue karmic debts.

But the one who takes this science, this Dharma, seriously, recognizes that in any situation in life something new can be created, some new quality is there ready to emerge. But it can only happen if we know how to do it; all religions emphasize this: it is called love, it is called compassion. That love the parent has for the child demonstrates a potential quality that we can develop. When the parent renounces their own desires and instead provides for the true needs of the child - even when those needs contradict the desires of the parent - then we see the beginning of a very special kind of active love. In Sanskrit, it is called Bodhichitta. As I mentioned, bodhi means "wisdom," "intelligence," "understanding," and chitta means "mind." When the bodhi, the understanding, the wisdom, the intelligence, perceives a cause of suffering and we respond with conscious, selfless action, then bodhi can be born in our own mind, that is Bodhichitta, that is "awakened mind," "intelligence," "understanding," "wisdom."

That birth - even the aspiration to give birth to selfless love and compassion for others - is the beginning of the next stage of the Dharma, or the next major form of religions. We would call this the greater path, or greater vehicle. And in Sanskrit it is called Mahayana. Maha means "great" and yana means "vehicle" or "path." So the first distinguishing characteristic of Mahayana teachings is compassion, conscious love: Bodhichitta. The second differentiating factor of any teaching, which can be grouped as a greater vehicle, is the direct experience of Emptiness, of Shunyata, the Absolute. These two factors, these two aspects go hand in hand with each other.

Without a strong, experiential understanding of the nature of Emptiness, then compassion will remain weak... why? Real compassion, real love, Bodhichitta, is that awakened mind, the wisdom mind, that intelligence. But that wisdom, the bodhi, is the light of this Solar Logos, the Supernal Triangle: Kether, Chokmah, Binah. That is the Ray of Creation; but that light emerges from the Absolute (Emptiness) because of love. The essence of Bodhichitta is the love that Christ has for suffering creatures. That love emerges from the vast Absolute, the Emptiness, in which there is no self, there is no I, there is no ego, there is no suffering. The Absolute is beyond suffering; it is pure absolute happiness. From that point of view, a being who has merged with that light, who knows the absolute cognizance of existence, perceives suffering creatures and feels tremendous love and concern for all the suffering entities, which are below in the mud, in the muck. That creature, that intelligence, that being, can only have that compassionate point of view because that being understands the Emptiness of self-nature. The beings who are stuck in suffering, suffer, because they mistakenly believe that the “I” is real. They believe their desires can be satisfied.

Each one of us mistakenly believes that the sense of self we have is real. But if we learn to meditate, if we learn to observe ourselves, if we learn how to utilize the consciousness, we can have the direct experience of the Emptiness of that self.

The ego of pride that gives us our sense of self actually does not exist: it is an illusion, it is false, it is a lie, but we believe it is real. The only reason it is sustained there is because it has our energy trapped in it. The goal of the meditator is to break that vessel, the ego, to free the consciousness and thus free themselves of Karma, of suffering. That comes through (1) comprehension of suffering that we learn from the foundational vehicle, and it comes through (2) the compassion we learn from the greater vehicle, knowing that we have within ourselves root causes, which cause others to suffer. That compassion, born of the regret that we are hurting others, gives tremendous inspiration to change. But that inspiration to change, the motivation, is fed the more we understand the nature of the Emptiness of the self, because then we can see that not only are we mistaken in our sense of self, but so are others. Thus arises the longing to help them.

Within this context of any Mahayana teachings (of any religion), the student has to be acquiring experiential knowledge of these truths: to experience them, to know them personally; this is not intellectual, it is not a belief, it is a matter of personal, conscious knowledge. The one who really comprehends the terror of Karma, the true power of the Law of Action and Consequence, which is being fed and sustained by our own ego, begins to realize they need a faster way. Moving slowly from lifetime to lifetime, there is so much danger, because that sense of “I” is so hypnotic, that sense of self is so fascinating that we have a very difficult time staying on top of it.

In Gnosis, we understand that we have within us what we call the “Essence.” In Zen, they call this “buddhata.” In traditional Buddhism, it is called “tathagatagarbha,” which means “the seed or the embryo of the awakened one”: the Buddha-nature, in other words. This Buddha-nature is our own consciousness, which is an embryo, a seed that has within itself the potential to become a Buddha. It can become fully awake, beyond suffering, but it has to be grown. Unfortunately, it is trapped in the “I,” this false sense of self. It is the consciousness itself, our own consciousness, but that consciousness is very small, like a baby, and is not well developed. And unfortunately, 97% of it is trapped in the ego, in all those discursive elements like pride, lust, envy, anger, greed...

We need to free the Essence, to extract it from the ego. This is why we need to meditate, to learn how to work with the consciousness, to separate ourselves from the false sense of self, and experience the truth of the nature of mind. That nature is called Clear Light in Tantric Buddhism. The Clear Light is consciousness unmodified, unfiltered, pure, in its original state. All the Buddhists state that the original nature of mind is pure, clear, empty, and open, and without self-nature. And Samael Aun Weor stated the same thing: the mind in its natural state is pure and calm like a lake, and it can reflect all the contents of the universe. There is no self in that. There is consciousness, there is true individuality, there is an individual, but it is not self in the way we think of self. It is a kind of self-nature that is beyond self; it is beyond this limited cage that we suffer within.

The need to free the Essence, the consciousness, becomes very strong in the one who really comprehends Karma, and the one who is generating a lot of compassion from their understanding of Karma. They begin to realize they need a faster means, something more effective, more penetrating, deeper, to more quickly eradicate the causes of suffering, so that they will stop making other people suffer and stop making themselves suffer. That secret path, that higher path has many names, but it is what we would call the “esoteric” side of the teaching.

Christianity has an esoteric tradition, which is now mostly forgotten. In Buddhism, it has been well preserved in Tibet, and in some other countries. It is known by many names. One such name is Vajrayana: vajra means "diamond," "indestructible." So it is the Diamond Path, the Diamond Vehicle, the Indestructible Vehicle. And vajra also means “thunderbolt, lightning.” Indra, the God of Hinduism, uses a vajra as his weapon, just like Zeus or Jupiter. The symbol of Vajrayana is a thunderbolt, and you may see Lamas, like the Dalai Lama, who use a vajra in one hand and a bell in the other, and these symbolize method and wisdom, two complementary aspects of practice, which advance the development of Bodhichitta. Vajra also indicates a phallus, the sexual organ, because that is the creative force, creative energy, a very active energy that the practitioner needs to harness in order to eliminate the causes of suffering.

Vajrayana is a Tantric teaching; it is Tantrism. And tantra, meaning “continuum,” or “stream,” or “flow,” is that science where the energy of the vajra is harnessed and utilized. So, Vajrayana can also be called Tantrayana, the “vehicle of the continuum.” Vajrayana can also be called Mantrayana, mantra is a sacred word, a word of power. So, the way the Tibetans translate Mantrayana is very interesting. In the works of Tsong Khapa (who was an incarnation of the Buddha Shakyamuni) he calls Mantrayana "the vehicle of the secret word," and if you know anything about Masonry or western occultism, you know that the lost word, the secret word, is very significant. So the same tradition exists in the east.

This vehicle of Vajrayana, Tantrayana, Mantrayana, is all one thing, it is a science of transforming energy. A mantra, a word, is a vibration. A vajra is an energy. Tantra is a stream of energy. So in each of these titles we are pointing to the same essential foundation.

In traditional Buddhism, Vajrayana is organized in different schools, in different groups, but generally there are four classes of Tantrism in ascending order.

The one who enters into the Vajrayana teachings, the Diamond Path, does so motivated by Bodhichitta, by compassion. This is a very important thing to think about. The one who is really given the secrets, the science, the wisdom of this higher aspect, is given them because their compassion for others has developed to the point that they need it. Unfortunately, in these times, all the students, especially in the west, want to enter immediately into the Vajrayana teachings, thus as soon as they hear of Buddhism they immediately want the highest Tantra, they want to skip everything before that and immediately receive all the secret, high aspects of a teaching. Do you know what we call that? We call it pride. And it is unfortunate. It is understandable: in their way, people that have that intention, that motivation, that desire, and want to transform themselves. This is a good thing, but that ambition needs to be tempered with realism. We need to be realistic. The stages of the path are presented with good purpose.
Levels of Teaching

In the Gnostic tradition, we teach all of these levels of the path, but in a very synthesized form. If you study the books of Samael Aun Weor, you will find practices which apply to all of these levels of the teaching. Meditation practices from each of the three vehicles can be found in the Gnostic books. Self-observation practices of varying degrees can be found. Various means of transforming energy can be found. And each of these apply to different levels of work.

This is not to say that those who are studying the highest aspect of a teaching, like Vajrayana (very difficult meditation practices), are better than anyone else; they are not: we are all equal, we are all trapped in suffering, but we each have different needs. The fact remains that these degrees of instruction are for everyone, at the time it is appropriate for each one. It is necessary to go through each level in the same way you go to school when you are a child. If you put a six year old child in a university level class, that child will only be a distraction and will receive nothing for their own growth; the same of true of the levels of instruction in religion.

In this Kali-Yuga, the Karma of humanity has become so heavy, so intense, the suffering is so strong, that the conscious intelligences which manage this teaching from a superior level of existence have made the determination that it is time to open the doors to the entire teaching, because time is short. The Karma that hangs over the head of humanity is so heavy, that these great compassionate beings made the decision, “Let them have everything, so they can use it while there is time; if they want it, good, and if they don't, we respect that.”

The truth is that in any given meditation practice, we can move through all three levels, like that, in one practice, we can utilize aspects of each level of teaching. Because they are just different ways of looking at the mind, different ways of working with the consciousness; there is not one better than another, they are all important, they all make one thing. But to understand how to use them effectively, we need to be experienced in both the practice and the theory.

Likewise, just as students each have their level in which they need to work, instructors also have their level. You may investigate the Gnostic wisdom in a given school and find that the focus is entirely in foundational aspects of the teaching; but do not criticize them: those instructors are teaching according to their own understanding, and according to needs of the student. As practitioners of Dharma we should always respect practitioners, at whatever level they work. What if you are judging a Buddha? Even Buddha taught foundational things to those who needed them; thus, we should be comprehensive and respectful.
Results of Study

But understand one thing: there is a great difference in the result of those practitioners who remain stuck in one level or another, and this happens. Because of the heavy Karma of humanity, some human beings, some people, will approach a teaching, let us say the foundational aspect, and remain in that teaching, and become attached to it; they do not go beyond it. Because of this, they limit their own development; that level of instruction can only take you so far. The person who is practicing in that level - maybe even stopping themselves in that level - is called a Shravaka. Remember, as we said, the foundational vehicle is called Shravakayana. The word shravaka means "listener", "hearer." This is someone who is hearing the teaching, listening to the Dharma, but has not accomplished it; someone who hears it, believes it, follows it, but has not accomplished it: that is, they have not escaped suffering.

The person who is following and studying the greater path is trying to comprehend compassion, Bodhichitta, and is meditating and transforming themselves according to that level of instruction, and when they have some accomplishment, some level of realization, they are called a Pratyeka (in Sanskrit). Pratyeka means "solitary." They are called solitary because they have not yet acquired Bodhichitta, and therefore can only save themselves. Some practitioners become stuck in this level, and thus do not understand those who go beyond it.

But the one who takes full advantage of the Mahayana and goes beyond it, can earn the right to be called Bodhisattva; but this term has very specific limitations, very specific aspects. In Gnosis we go a little deeper than the traditional Buddhist explanation of these yanas, because the development of the consciousness is not limited to the type of matter that we work with now.

In order to really become a channel, a vehicle of Bodhichitta, it has to be well developed.
Forms of Bodhichitta

Bodhichitta has different aspects, two primary aspects: absolute and relative.

Absolute Bodhichitta is divided into two: first is the recognition that all existing beings have Buddha-nature, have a spark of God inside, have the Divine in them. We don't grasp that, because we treat other people badly. If we really understood that within each person is the seed of a Buddha, an Angel, is a portion of God, we would respect them, treat them in a good way, with love. But we don't.

The second part of absolute Bodhichitta is the recognition of the Void, the Emptiness, in all things; in other words, perfected Bodhichitta is the experiential and complete comprehension of the Absolute.

Thus, absolute Bodhichitta is comprehension of both the Absolute and Buddha-nature. And really, the one who has that is a fully developed Buddha, someone who is awake, fully.

The second kind of Bodhichitta is called "relative", and of course by "relative" we mean it is in a process of development. But this also has two aspects: the first is aspiration.

When we hear about Bodhichitta, when we hear about selfless love, compassion for others, this is a very inspiring thing. It is very beautiful, very virtuous. And when we feel in our heart a longing to know it ourselves, to become like that, to become compassionate spontaneously, then this is the aspiration to develop Bodhichitta. This is this first aspect of relative Bodhichitta; it is the longing to develop true cognizant love.

The second aspect of relative Bodhichitta is called application. Many people have the aspiration to be loving, they may be Christian, or Jewish, or Buddhist, or Gnostic, and may have the idea that to love all beings is beautiful, and they may aspire to that, but they might not act on it. It is a very different thing to act on the basis of conscious love, to actually do it.
The Perfections

And naturally, the application of Bodhichitta comes in levels. These levels have different names in different traditions. In traditional Buddhism, the application of Bodhichitta is described as having six major forms; in other words, to be a really compassionate person, to really, truly, renounce your own sense of self, and to serve other people, comes in the form of six primary aspects: these are called Paramitas. Paramita is a Sanskrit word, which means "perfection," so we can say “the six perfections.”

You will be interested to know that the Master Samael Aun Weor spoke of the Paramitas, but at the time he was teaching, the texts, the scriptures, that were relevant to the Paramitas, were not translated, and he spoke of this in a lecture that he wished that he had access to them so he could work with students to understand the Paramitas. Now we have them, fortunately, so there are a number of scriptures that we can draw on in order to comprehend the Paramitas. The most famous scripture is commonly or publicly called "The Way of the Bodhisattva", or "The Bodhisattva Way of Life." The actual name is Bodhicharyavatara.

The six perfections are virtuous activities. These are not just ideas or theories: these are ways of behaving. When a practitioner has perfected those six, they have become a fully enlightened Buddha. So the perfections, the Paramitas, are in themselves the path to becoming a Buddha. They are presented according to what are called bhumis in Sanskrit, which means "ground" or "level." Usually these are given as ten levels; we are going to talk about those in later lectures, and we are going to talk in detail about the Paramitas in subsequent lectures of this course. But for the purposes of today's lecture understand that the six Paramitas are the way we work through activity to perfect our Bodhichitta, to perfect our compassion, our conscious love.
Types of Awakened Initiates

In Gnosis we look at the same thing, but from a little bit different angle. Looking at it from the point of view of matter and energy, we can say that practitioners of the foundational levels of religion might not develop Bodhichitta, but they still can develop the bodies of the soul. Students (of any religion) who are working in either the foundational path or the greater path can receive the teachings of sexual transmutation, Alchemy, or Tantra, in order to create what in Tibetan Buddhism is known as the illusory body, what in Gnosis we call the bodies of the soul: the Solar Astral Body, Solar Mental Body, and Solar Causal Body. But as students of those two yanas, they will acquire those achievements without the development of Bodhichitta. The practitioner who works with the science of transmutation, scientific chastity, can build and create those internal vehicles but if they do it without Bodhichitta, the end result is a Pratyeka Buddha, a “solitary realizer,” or in other words a Nirvani. This is a person who has awakened consciousness to a degree, who has developed powers, who has the capacity to travel in the superior worlds and the inferior worlds, because they have developed in themselves vehicles, bodies, which give them that capacity to work consciously outside the physical body, but yet, without Bodhichitta they remain in that level, they remain what can be called “a selfish God.” If you have studied the Mahabharata, or Greek mythology, or Roman mythology, you see the Gods fighting with each other, the Gods are jealous, the Gods have wars, they have pride; this is because they are Pratyekas. They are Gods, Buddhas, who still have ego, who still have an “I,” but who remain attached to a sense of self. They do not have Bodhichitta in development.

Here we arrive at the profound difference between two significant paths.

An aspirant who is working on their Karma, who is working on their consciousness in order to comprehend nature, is working to transform themselves. That transformation is due to the understanding of Karma, and due to the use of energy, to change that energy and use it in a different way, specifically the sexual energy.

When any aspirant has advanced in the levels of initiation through the first, second, third, fourth and fifth degrees (these are Major Mysteries related to serpents of fire, or Kundalini), at the fifth degree they are presented with a choice. But let us understand the context. The first degree is related to the physical body, and to acquire that initiation the practitioner has to be in absolute chastity, physically, meaning they do not spill the sexual energy; they contain and harness that force in order to use that energy to transform themselves, physically, psychologically, and spiritually. And this is only possible by working with a spouse.

In Tibetan Buddhism, this is called Karmamudra, which means "action seal", and that is the science of the highest Tantra. Yet, that specific knowledge is known in the other forms, Mahayana and Shravakayana; some of them know how to work in chastity with a spouse, so you do find practitioners in these other forms that acquire these initiations.

The first initiatic degree is related to the physical body, the second related to the vital body or ethereal body, the third to the astral body (to emotions), the fourth to the Mental Body (to the mind, to the intellect), and the fifth to the Body of Will, Causal Body. These vehicles are the matter we use to act and create results. When we are here in our physical body acting, we have physical energy (physical body), we have sexual energy (Vital Body), we have emotional energy (Astral Body), we have mental energy (Mental Body), and we have energy of will (Causal Body), and all five of those we are using from moment to moment, creating consequences, creating Karma. If we are acting in the right way, we are creating Dharma from good results. So whichever level of the teaching we are working with, we need to grasp that.

The person who ascends through these initiations is incarnating the creative fire of Chokmah, Binah, and Kether into themselves through transmutation: the clue to do this is chastity. The forces of Chokmah, the Christ, the Son, descends through Binah (Shiva-Shakti, the Holy Spirit), the fire which descends on the apostles in the Book of Acts and illuminates them. That fire is delivered through the sphere of Yesod (the ethereal body), which is related to the superior part of our physical body, it is the body of energy, the body of chi. And that ethereal body has four aspects: the lower two are related with metabolism, calories and reproduction, all the physical functions of the body; and the higher two are related with perception: with the use of the consciousness. The forces of Chokmah, wisdom, are received by all the bodies, all these aspects, but primarily, centrally, through Yesod, the Ninth Sphere, which is sexual.
Transformation of Energy

According to how we use our energy, so we become. If we use our energies in harmful ways, we acquire Karma and we degenerate. Look at humanity: how is humanity using the energies they have? To feed lust, to feed hate, to feed pride; the result is that humanity is degenerating faster and faster. Life is not getting easier. We like to think it is; we have these ideals about technology and culture, but life is not getting easier. Look sincerely at the suffering of the world: look past what the media is telling us, what our books and movies and tv are telling us, and look at the facts of what is happening. Broaden your view and see how you are contributing to it through your own actions, through your own use of energy.

The root of the transformation of energy is sexual. It is the sexual energy that gives us life, that gives us continuity - that is the meaning of Tantra: continuity - that stream of forces, which comes from Chokmah, through Binah, into Yesod, into our sexual force, and gives us the capacity to create sexually, and to perceive.

Perception and sexuality are intimately related. Someone who is a dedicated fornicator, who very actively ejaculates their sexual energy, releases that sacred force from the body, and begins to suffer degeneration of perception, loss of dream memory, sicknesses, illnesses in the body, in the mind, and in the heart.

Those who acquire chastity, who save and conserve that energy, and transform it, awaken, they acquire new forms of perception, clairvoyance, astral travel, very strong dream recall, the ability to be awake outside of the physical body; these all come from chastity. This is why religions have always emphasized the conservation of sexual energy. The sexual energy when saved and transformed gives you new forms of perception, and new forms of creation.

So that transformation of energy, in combination with the understanding of Karma, in combination with working with a spouse, is what gives us the vehicle, the means, to advance through these initiations.
The Choice of the Initiate

When we arrive at the moment towards the completion of that fifth degree (related to our body of willpower), we are presented with a choice. This is not just a theory: this is an initiation that happens in the consciousness. And the choice is this: Is that initiate going to continue working little by little on the ego, to pay Karma slowly over time, to pay it little by little on what is called the Spiral Path, the Nirvanic Path, the path of the Pratyekas? Or will that initiate take the path of the Bodhisattva, the Direct Path?

There are some very major distinctions between these two. The first thing to understand is that anyone who has acquired that level of development has awakened a small percentage of consciousness and has developed internal bodies. In the internal worlds, that person's consciousness, the spirit, is called a Buddha. That does not mean that the physical person is a Buddha, it means that their Innermost (Chesed, Atman) has become a Buddha, is awake, has merged with the Divine Soul (Geburah, Buddhi), and can express the wisdom through that vehicle, the person, the physical person. Because of this, Blavatksy (the founder of Theosophy) called that person a Bodhisattva, but this is not completely accurate. A Bodhisattva has acquired that same degree of development as our first example: has awakened consciousness in the physical world, the ethereal world, the astral, the mental and the causal worlds and the worlds all the way to the sixth dimension; this person is awake to a certain degree, has consciousness to a certain degree; they experience Nirvana (the bliss of the superior worlds). But because the Bodhichitta is so strong in the Bodhisattva, because their compassion is so strong, they renounce all of those gifts. The Bodhisattva renounces their powers, renounces the happiness of Nirvana, and chooses to stay in the world with humanity, to help. So, the difference there is very important.

The initiate who chooses to take the Nirvanic Spiral Path decides to keep their powers, to keep their access to Nirvana, so that they can continue to experience that joy of having a percentage of themselves free from suffering. On the other side, the Bodhisattva, a walker of the Straight Path, renounces the happiness of Nirvana. Think about that!

Right now, we are in darkness; we suffer, we are tossed about by Karma, we don't know what is going to happen. Death is there at any moment to take us. Illness, sickness, and death - at any instant - can strike us like lightning. We have no certainty. We have a lot of fear, a lot of anxiety, and our Karma is constantly ripening. We are always having problems. We are never quite getting to the goals we set. Our loved ones are sick and dying, or are afflicted by their own forms of suffering, and there seems to be nothing we can do.

Now imagine if you were to awaken your consciousness and you develop the ability to go out of your physical body and talk with the Gods, to talk with the Buddhas, to talk with Jesus, to acquire direct instruction from from beings that exist in superior worlds, to investigate your Karma directly, to see your past lives, to know what is going to happen in the future... could you renounce that?

Could you, because of love for other beings and other creatures, walk away from having the powers of clairvoyance, clairaudience, astral travel, remembrance of past lives; could you just walk away, because people suffer and they need you?

That is Bodhichitta. That is the true heart of the highest form of teaching that exists, because the Christ is love. The Christ is cognizant love, conscious love, which comes in order to assist, to help, to bring those who suffer out of suffering. The Pratyeka Buddhas cannot incarnate the Christ, because they remain selfish. They seek to retain that happiness of Nirvana for themselves, the pleasure of having power, and thus the Christ will not enter them. They remain as Buddhas, at their level, and they teach their doctrine, at their level; but they are not Bodhisattvas.
The Revolution of the Bodhisattva

ImageA Bodhisattva is revolutionary. A Bodhisattva renounces their own self, their own wellbeing, their own needs, their own desires, in order to help others. This is not an easy thing to do, because as soon as a person chooses the Direct Path, they then have the responsibility to pay the entirety of their Karma very fast.

We are suffering now because we have Karma, and that means we are suffering the results of all of our previous activities. Whatever we are now is because of what we have done in the past; but that Karma is being applied little by little, because the One inside of us, our own inner Guru, has compassion on us and wants to help us come out of suffering. If all of our Karma was given to us at once, we would be obliterated, we couldn't take it.

The Bodhisattva has to take on all their karma right away and pay it. Remember Jesus, when he takes the cross in the Gospels, and how heavy it is and how much he suffers as he carries it on the road of initiation. That cross is a symbol of Karma, the burden that the initiate has to carry, to pay what they owe.

Regarding that, let me read to you a quote from the Master Samael Aun Weor from his book "The Pistis Sophia Unveiled." In this passage you can clearly see the nature of the nature of the Bodhisattva path and how it encompasses all the paths (foundational, greater, and diamond) united in one.

We must liberate and emancipate ourselves from the Law of Causality.

We can make the great jump only by awakening and developing the Consciousness.

It is necessary for the Bodhicitta, which means the auric embryo, the awakened Consciousness, to fall into the Illuminated Void.

Only thus can the Bodhicitta be free from the world of relativity.

The world of relativity is the world of combinations and of duality.

The universal machine of relativity is based on the Law of Cosmic Causality.

The Law of Cosmic Causality is the same as the Law of Karma.

The Law of Causality is the same as the Law of Action and Consequence.

We can submerge ourselves in the Illuminated Void by means of the Great Jump.

Thus, and only thus, can we liberate ourselves from the Law of Karma.

The world of relativity is based on constant dualism and therefore, on the chain of causes and effects.

We must break chains in order to submerge ourselves within the Illuminated Void.

The Illuminated Void, the Absolute, is the Emptiness itself, and it is Bodhichitta which gives us the capacity to reach that. Compassion, love, is key, because in its essence the Absolute, and its manifestation, is that: it is love.

When we understand how fragile we are, even the little bit of good quality that we have is easily overwhelmed by our own negativity. And we can observe that in ourselves in our own daily efforts. It is much more common for us to feel negatively towards others than to feel positively. It is rare to feel true selfless love for someone else.

There are ways for us to learn that, to transform ourselves. It is essential that students of Gnosis directly understand Bodhichitta and develop it. In fact, about this issue, the Master Samael Aun Weor stated something very clear,

The one who does not possess the Bodhichitta, even when he has created the superior existential bodies of the being, is still unconscious and absurd. - The Pistis Sophia Unveiled

This is how important Bodhichitta is. It is the entire basis upon which final and absolute liberation can be achieved. Without Bodhichitta, without conscious, cognizant love, which expresses the will of Christ, complete liberation is impossible: it can only be temporary. The Nirvanis, the Pratyekas, and Shravakas experience Nirvana, they acquire a certain percentage of liberation, they experience a certain degree of freedom, happiness, but they are still bound by Karma: they still have ego. Therefore their realizations are temporary.

In particular, when you see how heavy Karma is, how pervasive the ego is, you can recognize that the power of a Pratyeka Buddha to remain floating above suffering is very limited, because Karma is so very heavy. This is why in the traditions of the different world mythologies and religions, we see examples of Gods and awakened beings falling back into suffering all the time.

We cannot rely simply on developing virtue, or simply on developing the Solar Bodies; these do not guarantee anything: but Bodhichitta does.

Bodhichitta is a beautiful flower, which can be born in the heart of any person who develops it; whether you are single or married, you can develop Bodhichitta. And that power – the power of selfless, conscious love - can sustain you through any experience, if indeed you use it consciously.
Practices

I will recommend two practices to you that you can begin to use today. In addition to developing your continuity of awareness, by learning how to be constantly mindful of your activities, to watch your thoughts and feelings, when you get up in the morning, realize how fortunate you are to still have your body; without your physical body, you could not acquire what you need to acquire in order to complete this work. And then, generate in yourself the aspiration to be a good person, to become a better person, to discover and experience Bodhichitta in yourself.

There are numerous prayers that you can use to give you inspiration, to help you develop that quality of conscious love. You can recite and meditate on the passage from Corinthians where Paul writes about the nature of love; It is a beautiful expression of conscious love. You can also use the prayer of Saint Francis, which is another beautiful expression of love in service.

You can also use a passage from the book I mentioned earlier, which is "The Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life" (Bodhicharyavatara).

May I be a guard for those who are protectorless
A guide for those who journey on the road;
For those who wish to go across the water,
May I be a boat, a raft, a bridge.

May I be an isle for those who yearn for landfall,
And a lamp for those who long for light;
For those who need a resting place, a bed;
For all who need a servant, may I be a slave.

May I be the wishing jewel, the vase of plenty,
A word of power, and the supreme remedy.
May I be the trees of miracles,
And for every being, the abundant cow.

Like the great earth and the other elements,
Enduring as the sky itself endures,
For the boundless multitude of living beings,
May I be the ground and vessel of their life.

Thus, for every single thing that lives,
In number like the boundless reaches of the sky,
May I be their sustenance and nourishment
Until they pass beyond the bounds of suffering.

This passage can help you to start to feel the sense of Bodhichitta, to develop the aspiration, but then you have to start acting on it. So do this prayer in the morning; meditate, meditate on the passage, meditate on Bodhichitta; then during the day, do your practices to remain mindful and self-observing, to watch every action that you perform, even the smallest thought.

And here is the second practice: at night, review your day. But review your day from this point of view: meditate, close your eyes, relax, don't have any other distractions around, be quiet. Imagine your day like it is a movie, and review it in your mind. Close your eyes and relax; watch the movie. But with everything that you remember, have in yourself the question: “Was I acting from selfishness or compassion?” With each thought that you recall, with each feeling, each sensation, consider them from that point of view, “How did I act today?” When you find things that you want to change, meditate on those further and commit to yourself to not repeat those mistakes. And if you persist in this practice every day, setting the aspiration in the morning, reviewing your day at night, doing it every day, little by little you will start to see a change.

There is a story related to this of a great sage from ages past, who did this practice. But because he didn't trust himself, his own memory, and his own mind, he decided that he would rely on a little pile of stones to help him. So he gathered some black stones and some white stones. And as he sat in his meditation and reviewed his day, each time he found an event, a thought, a feeling, that he knew was wrong, harmful to himself or someone else, he would take a black stone and set it on a little pile. And any time he found a selfless and compassionate action, a good thought, or a good feeling, he would take a white stone and make a pile. Now as you probably expect, in the beginning there were no white stones, just black stones, but that sage took his practice so seriously that each day, he would watch himself carefully, and little by little white stones began to appear on the pile, till after years of practice, and a great deal of effort, no more black stones appeared, and he had created Bodhichitta as a work of will. We can aspire to follow that example.

The remainder of this course will delve very deeply into two primary sources to examine the path of the Bodhisattva in detail. Many of the things that we discussed today, will be elaborated upon and explained in much more detail. These two primary sources will be the Christian Gospels and the Bodhicharyavatara, which is the book by Shantideva called "The Guide of the Bodhisattva's Way of Life." It could be said that it is the most important book in Tibetan Buddhism, and the Christian Gospels, of course, are the most important books of Christianity. Both of these documents express the same teaching, which is the path of the Bodhisattva: the work that we have to do to follow in the example of these great teachers and to once and for all transcend suffering.

Do you have any questions?

Question: If the Bodhisattva renounces all his powers, does that mean that he is no longer able to use those powers?

Answer: That is a very good question. Those who choose the Spiral Path make a mistake - not in choosing that path, because sometimes it is necessary. And I say that because the one who really needs to make that decision is the Being, the internal Buddha, not the aspirant, not the human soul. And so, there are cases in which that inner Being needs to take that path. So I in no way want to criticize that choice, but there is nonetheless oftentimes a mistake that is made by the human soul, in which they believe that those powers and those bodies are their real self. That is a mistake. The Nirvanis and Pratyekas become attached to powers, to having those kinds of experiences, conscious experiences. The Bodhisattva on the other hand does not make that mistake, because of the nature of Bodhichitta itself, which is conscious love.

Remember the two aspects of absolute Bodhichitta are (1) the recognition of Buddha-nature, and (2) the comprehension of the Absolute, or the Emptiness in all things. So a person who has Bodhichitta well developed will spontaneously comprehend that those bodies and those powers are also empty of self-nature, thus they do not become attached. Therefore, in that sense, it is an easy renunciation to make, because the Bodhisattva knows, “These don't belong to me anyway, why should I be attached to them? Why should I grasp at having some fancy sounding name, to having powers, or vestures, or initiations?” Those all belong to the Being anyway. They don't belong to the initiate: they belong to God. The Bodhisattva who makes the choice to renounce Nirvana, renounces the powers, and chooses to serve the Christ, and then will incarnate that force. Those capacities, the bodies, the powers, the consciousness, were all along the property of the Being anyway, but now they will be used by the Christ to help others. This means that the Bodhisattva in that sense still has powers, still has the bodies, but does not exert personal will over them. They may or may not have access to them, depending on the stage of the process that they are in, but the Being always uses them, the Christ will use them, sometimes without that Bodhisattva even knowing about it. There are cases of different Masters who would appear in multiple places at the same time, having the power of ubiquity; this is related to that.

Any other questions?

Question: Is it possible for a Pratyeka Buddha to develop Bodhichitta?

Answer: Yes, any being can develop Bodhichitta. However, not all the Pratyeka Buddhas have Bodhichitta; they might, they might not. But a Bodhisattva must have it, because that is the basis of the Bodhisattva path. The Bodhisattva is created inside of the atmosphere of the Bodhichitta, it is like a womb in the consciousness, it is an environment of energy, whose nature is conscious love, and the Bodhisattva is the expression of that. Bodhichitta means "awakened mind," "wisdom mind." A Bodhisattva is the "essence of wisdom," so it is the expression of Bodhichitta.

The development of Bodhichitta is not some future event. The awakening of the consciousness does not happen in the future: it happens now. There is no future. All that exists is this moment. If you have the aspiration to develop the consciousness, to awaken the consciousness, and you have concern for the suffering of others, then act on it now, in your attitude, in the way you manage your thinking, the way you respond to the feelings that arise in your heart, in the way you respond to the sensations you feel in your body.

Tantra is a science to transform energy. In each moment, we are receiving energy of many kinds, both from inside and from outside. The first part of Tantrism is to take the energies that we have inside: sexual energies, emotional energies, mental energies, conscious energies, and utilize Bodhichitta to make those energies u

The cosmos is filled with precious gems.
I want to offer a handful of them to you this morning.
Each moment you are alive is a gem,
shining through and containing earth and sky,
water and clouds.

It needs you to breathe gently
for the miracles to be displayed.
Suddenly you hear the birds singing,
the pines chanting,
see the flowers blooming,
the blue sky,
the white clouds,
the smile and the marvelous look
of your beloved.

You, the richest person on Earth,
who have been going around begging for a living,
stop being the destitute child.
Come back and claim your heritage.
We should enjoy our happiness
and offer it to everyone.
Cherish this very moment.
Let go of the stream of distress
and embrace life fully in your arms.