finding purpose in infinite reality
By Dr. Stewart Bitkoff
What once was
Will no longer be
And cannot be again!
What is developing
Is another form.
Another variation.
A new spoke
On the Wheel of Life. (more…)
By Dr. Stewart Bitkoff
Traveler: O Holy One, I have climbed the mountains and traveled the roads. I have made my way through wind, rain, sunshine and now snow to find you. Please tell me, in order to sit at your side, why must the road be so long and the journey so varied?
Master: Before I answer your question, first, you must answer one of mine. Do you agree to this arrangement?
Traveler: Hesitantly and with some annoyance in his voice, he replied, “yes.â€
Master:Â And from all this going and doing, what have you learned? (more…)
By: Lt Col R K Langar
Health is the greatest gain said Buddha more than 2500 years ago. What a beautiful statement he made which is more than valid in the present time. Health is a state of well living in all dimensions of our personality and not merely absence of disease or infirmity. The dimensions of our personality are body, mind, intellect and spiritual. To this we can also add emotional and social health. Health is a dynamic expression of life. Health is love, joy, enthusiasm and maturity. A person who looks after all the above dimensions of the personality and keeps them in a good order is an asset to the society, besides bringing happiness to him own self. It is a state when the body, mind, intellect and soul or Atma are in harmony with each other with and with the world outside. It is a state when our capacity to deal with the situations we face in life is largely enhanced. (more…)
By Dr. Stewart Bitkoff
Are you a commuter fed up with the daily grind? I was too until a light bulb went off in my head and discovered a way to use meditation activity, practical traveling strategies and spiritual exercises to help turn my daily ride into something more. This book’s philosophy and point of view will appeal both to commuters and non-commuters, having something to offer everyone. Particularly, those of us faced with repetitive, mundane chores we have to do out of necessity, and, if given a choice, would choose not to.
A major question tackled concerns the applicability of spiritual teachings to daily life. In a society that prides itself on outcome, often there is a healthy skepticism about the usefulness of spiritual values in an often hard, bottom line and scientifically oriented and demanding modern world.
Is it really possible to make something more of an annoying, emotionally draining and repetitive commute to work? Spiritual teachings assert that under certain conditions and with a little preparation, we all can reach higher and it is possible to transcend daily activity. Often, it is a matter of attitude, training and expectation.
Hopefully, you will enjoy the following book excerpts, begin to view your commute in a different Light and read further by purchasing your own copy. (more…)
by Dr. Stewart Bitkoff
Problems are placed before you so you can overcome them.
- A. Hussain
When life is kicking our butt and things seem out of control; and we are worn down by every day problems, how can belief in something beyond self, help us reach higher?
Healthy activity has long been known as a corrective to some of the problems of daily life. Simply by switching our attention from the problem to something more enjoyable or taking purposeful action targeted at solving the problem; many times our mood becomes lighter and more positive. (more…)
By Dr. Stewart Bitkoff
With all the miraculous advances in modern medicine, much of the time doctors only guess at the cause, falling far short of a remedy or cure.
In some ways, we have made doctors into more than they are. All in the hope and basic need for rising beyond pain, illness and death.
This tendency toward comfort is bound to our hard wiring for eliminating fear and pain, controlling change, and continual life.
Our body and worldly consciousness is tied to the here and now: wishing to go on for ever.
Yet, the soul is of a different fabric, a celestial rider taking us higher and higher; nightly flying us home- far beyond the stars and up into the Healing Light.
O Child of Light, awaken each morning, with this primal knowing in your consciousness and you will be a spiritual traveler, living forever.
_______
Register for my upcoming retreat weekend atop Bangor Mountain, in the beautiful Pocono Mountains, Kirkridge Retreat Center on Sufism & Enlightenment, May 30- June I, 2014. For information scroll down to program listing: http://kirkridge.org/programs/upcoming-programs/. Then click on Detailed Information for full program highlights.
Read my 2 books: Sufism for Western Seekers: Path of the Spiritual Traveler in Everyday Life and The Ferryman’s Dream. Both books are also in Kindle format and available on Amazon.com or local bookstore.
To contact author go to: www.stewartbitkoff.com.
By Dr. Stewart Bitkoff
The sight of someone eating will not appease your hunger.
The spiritual experiences of others cannot satisfy your yearning.
-Traditiona
Q: Daily, I pray, regularly give to charity, do good works and always try to be a good person, yet spiritual experience eludes me. O I am so frustrated. Please, how do I go about having spiritual experiences?
Additionally, I feel unless I have these, I will remain incomplete. O how I yearn to draw closer to God. I thought by following my birth religion and the Path, spiritual experience would be natural outcomes?
A: The answer to this question, like so many others on the spiritual path cannot be thought out or answered by ordinary reasoning (ego). The answers must be experienced or perceived through another mode of consciousness; intuition or Higher Knowledge must provide a personal answer. The Secret Protects Itself. (more…)
By Sara Wiseman
Are you dreading it, already?
You know… the whole shopping-gifting-cooking-cleaning-eating-drinking socializing-relatives-traveling season just ahead?
From Thanksgiving to New Year's, many of us get trapped in a cycle of overabundance—the state of having too much. As in: more than we can use. More than we can process. The cup not just full, but over flowing.
It’s gotten worse in recent years, starting with Christmas decorations that go on display at Halloween to the frenzy of Black Friday. We’ve become a culture of excess and a society of waste, moving from the next new thing to the next…without ever taking the time to enjoy any of it. We have so much, and it’s arriving so fast, that we can’t use or even experience it all.
This overabundance—having more than we really need—creates stress, lowers vibration and zaps energy from mind, body and spirit.
Now, I’m all for abundance! I’m certainly not one to pass up on anything that brings pleasure or beauty or connection to my life. But when we become trapped in the cycle of overabundance—the endless circle of want, get, want, get—our lives fall out of balance. (more…)
By Dr. Stewart Bitkoff
There are a thousand forms of mind.
-Rumi
The goal of the mystical process is to help complete human evolution. The Sufi asserts that humanity is evolving to a higher spiritual condition and this evolution is purposeful and directed. The end result of this process is more complete travelers who are better able to serve themselves and others. Travelers proceed toward this goal by entering a path to spiritual completion and are guided by a Master. (more…)
By Lt Col R K Langar
In common parlance immorality means a living being in the world who is not subject to death. Take the case if a human being who consists of body including mind and intellect and a soul or Atma. As per the Vedantic philosophy or Hinduism, when the man dies it is only the body which perishes but not the Atma which being a fragment of God is not subject to birth or death and is immortal. Hence we can say that a man who identifies with the body alone and not the Atma would say that when the body dies the man dies on the other hand those who are soul conscious would say that I am established in my soul or spirit and hence I am immortal because the Atma is not subject to birth and death. The Atma moves from one worn out body to another new body and this process keeps on repeating itself till the soul is liberated from the cycle of birth and death. (more…)
