Moth to a Flame

By Dr. Stewart Bitkoff

If I could give you one thing
It would be the burning, yearning
In my soul to fly higher.

Like an eagle
That follows an up-draft
Over and beyond the cliffs;
I seek to go higher and higher.
Like a moth
That circles the candle’s flame;
Waiting, to build up courage
To dive into the fire,
I seek to loose myself
Again, in something Greater.

O where will this restless, endless burning
Lead me?

Suddenly, I am overwhelmed
By a bolt that shatters my brain;
Then another door opens and I hear:
“Accept the wisdom of the heart;
It is only here that you can rest
And become One, again.”

What is this Path
That lies before me?
So many times
I have trodden this Way-
Only to be left
At the door, again.
What difference does it make:
If I go or I stay?
I know not who I am?
All that I see before me
Is the fire of Love.

Now, I am tired and must rest.
O spiritual traveler, have pity on me
For I have pity on you.
This is the only Way Home.
-SB

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Check-out my two books: Sufism for Western Seekers: Path of the Spiritual Traveler in Everyday Life and The Ferryman’s Dream.  Both books are available through Amazon.com or local bookstore.

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Transcending Death

By William T. Hathaway

Death. The very word casts a pall of doom. Why is it so upsetting to us? Perhaps because it conflicts with two different ways in which we know the world. If both of these ways told us we are nothing more than matter, merely a conjunction of atoms, death wouldn't bother us. We would just accept that as the way the world is. But we know intuitively that we are immortal beings. Our sense perceptions, though, tell us we die and cease to exist. We see that the person we knew is gone. The body lying there is not them at all. Where are they? Where are we going to be when we die? How can an immortal being cease to exist? This contradiction between two kinds of knowing creates an epistemological crisis in us. What is really true? (more…)

Visit to the Brahmasthan

By William T. Hathaway

I recently visited the ashram that Maharishi Mahesh Yogi built at the central point of India, the Brahmasthan. Two thousand Vedic pandits live there, meditating and performing ceremonies.

I've been doing Transcendental Meditation for many years and have had wonderful results in my active life -- clearer thinking, less stress, more energy -- but I've had very few experiences while meditating. A couple of times a year I might have a moment when the thoughts thin out enough for me to sense there is a field of silence underlying them. Very rarely I've glimpsed a bit of glow coming from that underlying field. I treasure these few moments.

In my first program in the yogic flying hall I felt deep silence as soon as I started meditating. And it didn't go away as it always had before. It lasted, and it glowed. When I started the sutras, I gradually became aware that the silence had an energy to it, an inner dynamism. As I went on, joy began radiating from it like sunlight. (more…)

Child of the Universe

By Dr. Stewart Bitkoff

Each of us
Is an eternal Child of the Universe.
Traveling from world to world
Living on
As Beings of conscious energy;
Creating one adventure after another.

In our present form
We are bound by physical laws.
When sickness and death enter
We forget for a time
Our individual greatness and invincibility.
Caught-up in the moment
Of pain and suffering.
Wondering why
It has to be this way?

O Child of Light
Remember this is but one port of call.
One stop of endless possibility
Along the glorious voyage Home.
Here we explore
The many aspects of Creation;
Learning, partners in the Divine Plan.

-SB

______________________

This poem appears in my new book: Beyond The River’s Gate.

To Order Your Copy Visit Amazon: http://bit.ly/bitkoffriver

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Simplify your life

By Lt Col R K Langar

Greatness lies in simplicity as great things are always simple. Simplicity aims at present day things as they are without complicating  them by showing your command over language or grammar. Simple statement and writing are easily understood and when things are clearly understood, they are well assimilated. Simplicity is directly linked with your inner life. When your inner life is anchored on virtues like Truth, love, purity,  righteousness and peace, your expression becomes simple and straight forward. Then Truth becomes centre of all your activities.  Truth becomes your guide. The life of a simple person is an open book where there is nothing to hide any thing from any one. A simple person attracts others with his inner beauties. Unless you practice moral virtues and use them in your conduct, You cannot be branded as a simple person. (more…)

Prayer to the Morn

By Dr. Stewart Bitkoff

As the sun ascends the mountain
And slowly caresses the new day,
Hear the young birds serenade the morn.
Expectantly they cry out for food
Celebrating their opportunity for life.

O spiritual traveler,
How do you greet the new day?
Are you joyous for another chance
To create your life?
Is your heart’s song
Full of joy;
A prayer to greet the morn?

-SB

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The Embryo of the Tao

A Return to the womb

By Travis Edwards

In Western psychology there is a term known as the inner child which represents the most pure and innocent aspect of ourselves. In popular psychology this term 'inner child' refers to the sum of all our mental and emotional memories stored in the sub-conscious mind from conception through pre-puberty and the consensus in psychotherapy or counseling is to heal this aspect of ourselves by identifying and eliminating the dysfunctional patterns of behavior that have resulted from those sub-conscious memories.

In a deeper spiritual sense the inner child can also mean our true self or soul or likened to that of our intuition, whichever phrase is used they virtually represent the same thing. Our inner child force is linked to a higher intelligence capable of perceiving every event we undertake such as action, thought or words spoken yet it does not over think or over analyze like our so called conscious mind, it just simply perceives. The inner child depicts a state free from any torment of mind (thoughts/habitual tendencies) social conditioning, labels or concepts that typically manipulate and mislead the human psyche. (more…)

Award Winning Author Dr. Stewart Bitkoff Releases Book Beyond The River's Gate

March 2014, Pennsylvania, USA. Award winning author, Dr. Stewart Bitkoff, released his most recent book, Beyond the River’s Gate, which is available for purchase at Amazon.com. A must read for all who seek a spiritual path, it offers a unique and in-depth analysis of spirituality and religion in a way that is sure to resonate with modern-day travelers.

Through his innate ability to explain religious and spiritual complexities, Bitkoff illuminates areas in which religious teachings are helpful or lacking. Further, he explores basic concerns that people have about the differences in religious forms, the spiritual journey, and its connection to challenges in the world today.

Comprised of two parts, the first encompasses 99 questions and answers covering a vast array of spiritual and religious topics percolating the minds of many, such as, Why are there so many religions?, Which religion is really “right, if any?,” What is spiritual experience?, Is spiritual experience the same as God or “the Light?,” How do I go about finding a teacher to guide me?, How can so many strong faiths co-exist?, among numerous other questions. The second section, presents stories, verses, quotes and observations to help further explain the interrelatedness of all religions and spiritual capacity. (more…)

Right living is living with right choice

By Lt Col RK Langar

One way of looking at life is that life is unpredictable and we have no choice but to react as we face different situations. We often say that we have to do what society is doing. But when we fill up our inside by manifesting the divine virtues inherent in us (our Atma is a fraction of God) than we realize that what ever we do, it is with our choice. Even if we do a wrong act we give approval to do it and we cannot say that we were forced to do it due to outer temptations and circumstances.  When I say I am leading a life as I want to live what it means to that I have a free will to decide my course of action irrespective of outer situation, or circumstances. Free will has been bestowed upon human beings by God since we have an intellect to reflect and discriminate between right and wrong and then use our choice based on our free will to take the right course of action. That we have a free will is authenticated in Bhagavad Gita when at the end of His teachings Lord Krishna tells Arjuna that  Arjuna should reflect fully on what has been taught to him and act as he chooses. The Gita also says that in all our actions of body, speech and mind there is one non human factor called Daivam or destiny or fate over which we have no control. But that does not mean that we have no free will or choice. Our past karmas which we perform based on our choice decide where we are born- our social status whether we are born in a poor or rich family. Once we are born and grow up we have freedom of choice, based on our free will, to act as we choose. (more…)

Spirit light?

On Sunday evening, 3 March 2014 approx 8pm, I was walking home from Spiritualist church along the raised esplanade parallel with the sea. I notice a bright white light down at the beach level ~200m ahead, like the light on a bicycle. It was moving and kept going in and out of sight, then disappeared.

As I got closer it reappeared now at the raised esplanade level a little further along than before, approx 100m ahead. It appeared to be behind (from my standpoint) a parked van, still moving and going in and out of sight.

Finally, just as I was about to turn off to my home the light was shining over the back of the van, still moving, as though its source were between me and the van, but there was no visible light source. NB: I didn't go closer, so cannot 100% rule out a natural cause.

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