Book Review (The Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered) Eisenman, Robert & Michael Wise

The Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered describes the discovery, disclosure process, and content of the many scrolls found in some of the caves near Qumran on the Dead Sea. With this book, for the first time the public was enabled access to the most intriguing texts from the unpublished corpus and allowed to judge for itself. Providing English translations as well as transcriptions into modern Hebrew characters, this book makes available 50 texts. Accompanied by commentaries, these texts provide insights into Messianism, an alternative presentation of the flood story, ecstatic visions, prophecies, Mysteries, astrology, divination and much more.

We are given Messianic and Visionary Recitals (of Noah and Michael), prophets and pseudo prophets (angels of Mastemoth and the rule of Belial, pseudo Jeremiah, second Ezekiel, pseudo Daniel, the vision of the four kingdoms), biblical interpretation (pesher, Florilegium, calendria) calendrical texts and priestly courses, testaments and admonitions (righteousness, truth, judgement, knowledge, wisdom,) legal minutiae, and the claim that works are to be reckoned as righteousness. Divination, magic and are explored in brontologion (future text), selinedromion (moon text), and thema mundi (world horoscope) articles. The exacting roles of the Maskil and Mebakker are delineated, as is the Way.

The tone of the scrolls is one of unbending nationalism and anti-corruption in the language of righteousness indignation. No peaceful Essenes here. The scrolls are an expression of dazzling faith and ecstatic vision and definitively identify the Essenes as a group, a movement. This is nothing less than the literature of the Messianic Movement in Palestine. Responsible for the uprising that led to the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, its later stages are virtually indistinguishable from the rise of Christianity in Palestine. As noted in Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls and The Dead Sea Scrolls Today, this book too sheds light on the formation of early Christianity.

Book Review (The Dead Sea Scrolls Today) James C. VanderKam

The Dead Sea Scrolls Today describes the discovery and disclosure of the many scrolls found in many of the caves near Qumran on the Dead Sea.

• It surveys the various and numerous manuscripts:
  Biblical
• Targums (tefillin and mezuzot)
• Aprocrypha (tobit, sirach, letter of Jeremiah, psalm 151, pseudepigrapha, Enoch, Jubilees, and testament of 12 patriarchs)
• Habakkak commentary
• Psalm 37
• Themed commentaries (Floriliegium, Testimonia, Melchizedek texts)
• Geneisis (paraphrases, legal texts, Damascus document
• Manual of Discipline
• Temple scroll
• Torah
• Writings of worship (cycle of Worship, liturgy, calendricalia)
• Poetic compositions (Thanksgiving hymns, other poems)
• Eschatological works (the war rule)
• Wisdom texts

Vanderkam provides a case for identifying the original owners of the scrolls and inhabitants of the Qumran settlement with his Essene hypothesis. The Essenes were one of three ancient Jewish groups or philosophies named and described by historian Josephus; the other two (or three the Zealots are included) were the more famous Pharisees and Sadducees featured in the New Testament Gospels and Acts. Josephus tells of these three groups being active from mid-second century B.C. unit the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. Pliny described the Essenes as a celebate group of men renouncing money, living on the west side of the Dead Sea, but a sect continuing over that space of history, remarkably according to Pliny, considering they were not known to traditionally breed. (p. 72)

Vanderkam suggests the beliefs and practices of the Essenes agree well with the beliefs and practices presented in the Dead Sea Scrolls. (p. 75) Vanderkam references the Manual of Discipline for the theology of predeterminism and the afterlife and practices of non-use of oil, communal property ownership, purity rites (of eating, bodily functions and spitting).

Differences between the sect and the Essenes according to Josephus included the initiatory procedure and marriage legislation. The group hypothetically could have been a variant of Sadducess or a fortress of people who during the First Jewish Revolt fled to the site from Jerusalem with the manuscripts to hide them from approaching Romans and who had no direct connection with the caves. This anti-Essene hypothesis points for evidence to the lack of legal documents and contracts and lack of (autographic) original, firsthand texts. Since the anti-Essene hypothesis fails to account for the consistency of the Qumran corpus, Pliny’s descriptions, or for the Qumran buildings, Vanderkam found that the Essene hypothesis is the most compelling of any. (p. 97)

If we accept Vanderkam’s thesis, the Qumran Essenes then had specific ideas about predeterminism, the two ways, the New Covenant, scriptural interpretation, the latter days, special laws, the universe, worship and the messianic end of days.

Interestingly, Vanderkam identifies close parallels with the New Testament and suggests that Christianity emerged from Judaism with examples of similarities, congruencies and direct matches in language, references to “the many,” the guardian, phrases from the Sermon on the Mount, practices, characters, eschatology and teachings.

“The Qumran literature has shown to a far greater extent than was sensed
before 1947 how deeply rooted early Christianity was in the Jewish soil that
nourished it. Because of the scrolls, one can more easily see that a large
number of Christianity’s beliefs and practise were not unique to it. The major
contribution of the scrolls to New Testament study is to highlight the simple
but profound fact that the uniqueness of the early Christian faith lies less in
its communal practices and eschatological expectations than in its central
confession that the son of a humble woman and a carpenter from Nazareth in
Galilee was indeed the messiah and son of God who taught, healed, suffered,
died, rose, ascended, and promised to return in glory to judge the living and
the dead. By claiming that the historical Jesus was the messiah, the Christians
also placed themselves farther along on the eschatological timetable than the
Qumran Essenes, who were expecting their messiahs to come in the near
future.” (p. 184.)

Book Review (Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls: Their True Meaning for Judaism and Christianity) Lawrence H. Schiffman

Since their discovery in 1947, the Dead Sea Scrolls have fascinated. They include the earliest known manuscripts of the Bible, as well as nonbiblical literature, and provide information about the history of Judaism between the Bible and the Mishnah. The scrolls also inform us about the background of Christianity. These scrolls are documents of groups of Second Temple Jews embodied partly by a sect inhabiting the Qumran settlement in the Hasmonaean and Herodian periods, between 135 B.C.E. to 68 C.E. Apparently, the site was abandoned before the massacre at Masada in 73C.E. The scrolls were not the library of the Jerusalem Temple and they were not the documents of an early Christian sect. Most scholars identify the community as the Essenes (Essenoi or Essaioi, healers, doers), in a general way, because the sect at Qumran seemed to have been part of a wider movement. The only information we have about the Essenes comes from Greek sources, Philo, Josephus, and Pliny the Elder.

The scrolls, discovered and disclosed to the public between 1947 and 1967, describe the lifestyle and beliefs of a group of ascetic, observant Jews, who practiced ritual purity, shared eucharist and were led by a Teacher of Righteousness (Correct Teacher). Women and children seemed to be a part of the community.

The group seemed to be reacting against the Sadducees, extreme Hellenists who perpetrated Hellenistic reforms and opened Judaea to the interference of the Selucids, the Antiochan persecutions, and the Maccabean wars. They aligned with the Sadducean priests who continued to be pious during this period, maintaining the ancient traditions of the Temple in Jerusalem. Old Zadokites, especially pious priests, resented Hasmonaean control of the office of high priest and Temple practice and they resented the Pharisaic hegemony.

The scrolls show us that the history of the biblical canon and its text encompassed a collection of writings that formed the core of Jewish literature for all Jews. The canon was the authorized record of God’s revelation, direct or indirect, to humanity, and determining its meaning was none other than identifying the divine word.

Back then, there existed a tripartite division of the Holy Scriptures:

• The Torah (Five Books of Moses
• Prophets
• Writings
  

The three together constituted what is now called the Hebrew Bible, Tanakh.

Apocryphal literature was a rewritten or retold Bible, not commentaries or supplements but independent works. The trend of Jewish thought produced a body of materials typified by the revelation of mysteries or secrets of the end of days, or a guided tour of heaven. The body included Enoch, Jubilees, Genesis Apocryphon, Tobit, Testaments (Levi/Naphtali).

There were scrolls on the wisdom and mysteries of creation: Ben Sira, sapiential texts, and mysteries, and there were also found scrolls on biblical interpretation: Septuagint, Targum, and Pesher commentary. Harmonizing exegesis occurred in the Halakhic Midrash (Mishnah (200 A.D.), Midrash (400-1200 A.D.), and Talmud (rabbinic collection).

After the Roman conquest, the Essenes joined the rebel forces. Josephus records that Essenes fully participated in military action, clearly they were not pacifists. In the revolt itself, the Essenes and sectarian groups such as the Dead Sea sect disappeared as independent entities, as did the Sadducess, who lost their power base when the Temple was destroyed.

The scrolls were concerned with the (anti-Hasmonaean) self definition of the sect, how to live as a Jew, the theology of Jewish law, the law of the sect, prayer and ritual, mysticism, messianism and the end of days. It was concerned with probing the depths of God’s commands and looked forward to the permanent establishment of Jerusalem, the Holy City.

These documents represented the shaping of Jewish identity. The rules of Jewish identity are shown in the documents to be firmly in place. They testify to the triumph of the rabbinic consensus, and became the dominant form of Judaism by the end of the second century. Christians and Samaritans, formerly ancient North Israelites, were at the time already regarded as non-Jews.

“As a result of the elimination of its Jewish competition, the continuing standardization of the biblical text and of Jewish law, and a political alliance with the Roman, the Pharisaic-rabbinic movement was able to strengthen its dominant position within Judaism. By this time, Christianity had absorbed certain apocalyptic ideas of the Second Temple period; Judaism, intent on defining itself against the newly emerging religion, accordingly wrote these ideas out of its tradition. By the time of the Bar Kokhba revolt, the last vestiges of Second Temple sectarianism were gone from Judaism. The new consensus was essentially complete. From the crucible of sectarianism, revolt, and restoration had emerged the mature Judaism of the Mishnah and Talmud, which came to serve as the foundation of the Judaism we know today.” (p. 409)

Monthly Reading #6: (November 2008) Juice Fasting

The focus of my reading for November was on juice fasting. The authors, Bragg, Cott, Cousins, Ehret, and Wolfe generally agree on the methodology, scheduling logistics, and benefits of fasting. The benefits can be said to include youthing, concupiscence, weight regulation, internal cleansing, support of self-healing, and salubriousness or health promotion.

My special interest lies in the mystical properties of spiritually-motivated fasting. Following are some of my favourite passages:

From Arnold Ehret in Rational Fasting:
“Vitality (V) = Power (P) – Obstructions (O). Stated differently: “V” equals “P” and if you simply supply the “engine” with the necessary water which is used up, you ascend into a higher state of physical, mental and spiritual condition. ...

Your former life will take on the appearance of a dream, and for the first time in your existence your conscience awakens to a real self-consciousness.” (p. 60)

From Dr. Allan Cott in Fasting: The Ultimate Diet:
“My own experience is like that of so many others who observe that after even a few days of going without food they feel better physically, mentally and spiritually.” (p. 15)

Dr. Cott quotes Ghandi”
“The fast was an uninterrupted 21-days’ prayer whose effect I can feel now. I now know... there is no prayer without fasting... and that fasting relates not merely to the palate but to all sense organs... Thus, all fasting, if it is a spiritual act, is an intense prayer or a preparation for it. It is a yearning of the soul to merge in the divine essence. My last fast was intended to be such a preparation... How far I am in tune with the Infinite, I do not know. But I do know that the fast has made the passion for such a state more intense than ever.” (p. 52)

More from Allan Cott in Fasting: The Ultimate Diet:
“He who wishes to have intercourse with God must thus be abstemious in order to become a pure vessel of the Spirit.” (p. 121)

Paul Bragg in The Miracle of Fasting agrees that fasting can be spiritual. He dedicates an entire chapter entitled “Spiritual Aspects of Fasting” to the theme:
“As the body cleanses and heals itself through fasting, keener mental concentration and clearer spiritual perception develop. ... You attain new levels of great tranquillity, serenity and peace of mind. You become spiritually perceptive and receptive and at one with the Infinite.” (p. 210)

David Wolfe makes some interesting assertions in Eating for Beauty:
“All knowledge and learning amount to little when compared to the need to purify and rejuvenate the body at all levels, physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual, because a renewed body is capable of accessing the deepest wisdom. Everyone who chooses to purify themselves receives rewards beyond their imagination, If they are willing to progress intelligently and pass the tests. It is through this process of self-purification that we become beings of pure essential beauty.” (p. 35)

And in The Sunfood Diet Success System David Wolfe quotes from Baha’u’llah, Gleanings from the Writngs of Bah’u’llah,
“ That a sick person showeth signs of weakness is due to the hindrances that interpose themselves between the soul and the body, for the soul remaineth unaffected by any bodily ailments. ... In like manner, every malady afflicting the human body is an impediment that preventeth the soul from manifesting its inherent might and power” (p. 157)

Fasting may be the key to spiritual awakening according to David Wolfe’s contact, a Yaqui Indian medicine man. (p. 434)

Gabriel Cousins describes fasting as a process in which “Instead of eating material food, one switches over to the nectar of the Divine Energy (Conscious Eating, p. 227). He says fasting raises pranic energy high enough for Grace to awaken Kundalini. Fasting is not intended to make the body suffer, but is intended as an act of love, as sacrifice of body, mind and ego. Ultimately, it is intended at the highest level to achieve spiritual communion. “At the Tree of Life, we teach Spiritual Fasting as a process of mystical death and rebirth. This is the secret of Spiritual Fasting.” (Spiritual Nutrition, p. 341)

I am intrigued by the spiritual possibilities of fasting and am experimenting with fasting a minimum of one day a week on water, herbal tea or green juice. So far, I am experiencing physical improvements, clarity of mind and will, and heightened peace. The experiment continues.

My Shiatsu Massage Treat at the Carrot Common, Toronto

Shiatsu is a Japanese bodywork therapy often referred to as "acupuncture without needles." The word Shiatsu means "finger pressure" which is gently applied to pressure points along the energy lines (Meridians) of the body with thumbs, palms, and elbows. Shiatsu is rooted in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) utilizing TCM's diagnostic techniques, including Japanese Hara and Meridian diagnosis to assess imbalances in the body's energy system. Shiatsu is a powerful treatment that alleviates pain and tension. Moreover, Shiatsu is highly effective for the prevention and cure of illness providing a valuable component to maintaining physical, mental, and emotional health.

Today I visited the Danforth Shiatsu Clinic to receive my Shiatsu Massage gift from Renaissance Yoga. The Danforth Shiatsu Clinic is comprised of highly trained therapists, Dipl. S.T. designated, and graduates of the most extensive professional training program in North America offering theoretical, practical, and clinical experience. Meridian-style Shiatsu is practiced at the Danforth Shiatsu Clinic for its strong ability to wholistically connect the entire body, providing clients with a profound healing therapy. I was treated by Sarah Walton over the noon hour.

Sarah Walton has a few specialties: Shiatsu Therapist, Reflexologist, Classical Hatha Sananda Devi Yoga, Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy, and Ayurvedic Massage. I found her to be attentive to my needs and concerned about providing high quality treatment. During the time Sarah had her elbows wedged into strategic locations along the sides of my spine and various other pressure points, we had a great conversation about the Ayurvedic cleanse we both recently completed, Tantra, our vows, Shamanism, conscious relationships, the shadow self, honouring the human side of ourselves, the glory of being female and wielding our feminine power.

Some of her statements are still ringing in my ears because they affirmed my recent rethinking of life passages. I now deem certain experiences as sacred that I used to, and many still do, consider mundane or self-indulgent. Believe me, I've heard all of the standard dispositions to obedience and social conformity. I have mastered the drill on how to be a model citizen and pillar of society and it's not completely satisfying.

My conditioning juxtaposed with the circumstances of this turbulent year left my body-mind in a contracted, vulnerable state and Sarah treated me with shiatsu massage, kindness, compassion and her wisdom. We probed life options. What if you stray and find yourself in a grey area of life, unexplored, provocative? Conventional wisdoms advises a speedy return to the safe, well-mapped terrain of black and white. Sarah conveys her understanding, "You are dealing with some very powerful forces." Her commentary was punctuated with elbow pokes to related chakras.

I felt a little more validated and liberated when the hour ended.

Contact Sarah Walton and schedule your own shiatsu body-mind experience at 416-939-9015. I highly recommend it.

Whole Life Expo (Nov 16, 2008)

Whole Life Expo is Canada's largest showcase of natural health, alternative medicine, and eco-friendly lifestyles. With 60 speakers and over 200 exhibitors, Whole Life Expo brings the most comprehensive array of natural health products and services ever gathered under one roof.

This year, the Whole Life Expo featured two lectures by Gabriel Cousins:

11:15am- 12:15pm
EATING FOR YOUR BIOLOGICAL INDIVIDUALITY
with Gabriel Cousens, MD
Stage One

Conscious eating begins with eating to enhance one's communion with the Divine, and as Gabriel Cousens, MD, says in Conscious Eating, “Food is a love note from God.” There is a basic blueprint for the cuisine that uplifts consciousness to the level of optimal experience for the individual and the planet. Within that, with over 30,000 gene variations and each of us being unique, knowing how to combine western scientific with eastern traditional systems for determining our biological individuality is key for life-long enjoyment of conscious eating.

Specifically, Gabriel discussed the genetic factors, parasympathetic/sympathetic process; fast or slow oxidizer system; blood type system (and associated lectins); B12 issues; and the Ayurvedic system.

1:45pm - 2:45pm
LIVE FOOD AS A CURE FOR DIABETES
with Gabriel Cousens, MD
Lecture Hall 205

While type-II diabetes is commonly thought of as incurable, world-renowned doctor Gabriel Cousens asserts otherwise. In his program and new book, There Is a Cure for Diabetes: The Tree of Life 21-Day+ Program, Cousens presents a breakthrough approach: reverse type-II diabetes through practical changes in nutrition and well-being in 21 days. His revolutionary new approach shows incredible results: medication use ceases within four days and many people have fasting blood sugars of less than 100 after three weeks. This talk presents simple dietary principles for recipes of low-glycemic and low-insulin-scoring meals that go hand in hand with the psycho-spiritual approach the author developed to help diabetes sufferers free themselves from disease, and debunk the myth that diabetes is incurable.

Society is always surprised by any new example of common sense (Ralph Waldo Emerson).
The allopathic tradition has long asserted in its well-known mantra that there is no cure for diabetes, which it considers a progressive, fatal disease. Diabetes is, in fact, completely reversible.

How Does Diabetes Manifest Statistically?
Diabetes affects 246 million people. One person dies every 10 seconds of it. Between 10 to 19 years are lost in the life of a diabetic.

The body becomes insulin resistant (the body blocks its own insulin). Insulin resistance produces inflammatory cytokines; these cross-react with tand damage the beta cells of pancreas. The inflammation accelerates the aging process. Hence, diabetes is accelerated aging.

Twenty-five percent of the children under the age of 15 have diabetes (why provide bicycles? why not go straight to the wheelchairs?). Note prevalent with diabetes is neuropathy, retinopathy, heart disease, alzheimers.

It is caused preeminently by excessive sugar in the diet, as well as excessive animal-derived fat, diary, TV, vaccines, agrochemicals, coffee/caffeine, cigarettes, fibreless diet, stress, lack of exercise, wheat, soy, excitotoxins. Genetics loads the gun; lifestyle pulls the trigger.

Crimes Against Wisdom
You don’t catch diabetes, you earn it by being a party to the culture of death. The Culture of Death sees people as economic commodities to be exploited. The Culture of Death is symolized by better living through chemistry and such initiatives as Codex Alimentarius www.codexalimentarius.net/

While on a trip to another village, Nasrudin lost his favorite copy of the Qur'an. Several weeks later, a goat walked up to Nasrudin, carrying the Qur'an in its mouth. Nasrudin couldn't believe his eyes. He took the precious book out of the goat's mouth, raised his eyes heavenward and exclaimed, "It's a miracle!"

"Not really," said the goat. "Your name is written inside the cover."

Look in the right place for the right answer.

The Culture of Life
The Culture of Life is symbolized by better living through better living. We don’t expect everyone to follow Gabriel Cousins’ program. In the case of diabetes, it is moderation in lifestyle that kills, the diabetic has to be a little radical. The diabetic is advised to reject the culture of death and join the culture of life. Here are some of the actions to investigate:

• See beauty in all that we do, people, and life
• Relationship
• Exercise
• Creative expression
• Humour
• Spiritual expression
• Mediation
• Breathing/pranayama
• Sleep
• Nurturance, love, connection
• Food
  
  

A 400-person study will occur in Patagonia and another study is planned in the Middle East.

Creating Peace by Being Peace

World Peace—the healing of the world—is achieved through a very simple principle: We Create Peace By Being Peace. It is this universal truth that has inspired the Peace Every Day Initiative, a global, collective, daily, meditation of peace. The purpose is to unite a minimum of 8,000 people, while holding the vision of 144,000 or more people, to meditate/pray by becoming the vibration of peace for 40 minutes or more each day, individually and especially in groups. Any time of day is effective, though sunrise or sunset are powerful nodal times. This powerful thought-form of peace is enough to shift the global consciousness so that we may fully celebrate peace on earth! (Introduction, Creating Peace by Being Peace: The Essene Sevenfold Path.)

On Saturday afternoon, November 15, 2008, at Toronto City Hall, Gabriel Cousins’ overviewed a way to create sevenfold peace. Synthesizing decades of multidisciplinary work in meditation, psychiatry, psychotherapy, and spirituality, Dr. Cousins described a comprehensive plan for peace with the body, mind, family, community, culture, ecology, and God as a pervasive experience in life—moment to moment, day by day.

Cousens transfers a unique Essene insight into peace to modern Canadian seekers as a blueprint for realizing this reality as we walk in our lives; work according to our gifts, joys, and sacred design; and live the path of spiritual awakening—the sevenfold peace. The afternoon ended in mediation during which Dr. Cousins shared Shaktipat and an outdoor incense, candle and prayer ritual.

Gabriel Cousens, Director of the Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center, is a world-recognized peace worker since 1967, physician of the soul, M.D., M.D.(H), Diplomate of the American Board of Holistic Medicine, Diplomate in Ayurveda, psychiatrist, family therapist, meditation teacher, teacher in the U.S., India, Europe, Israel, Lebannon, and Morocco, and founder of the Peace Every Day Initiative.

On Friday, November 14, Gabriel Cousins led a worship service at Rainbow Body Yoga, Church Street, Toronto, to commemorate the start of ancient Essene-Kabbalishtic sabbat, which extends from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday.

The evening included ecstatic music and song led by Micheal Bedar and explication of the alter, discussion of the story of Job, relating of a Jewish parable of "the one who trusts in Hashem" (the story of the king who hated and was outfoxed by the fixer), meditation, and shaktipat delivered by a Rebbe Cousins.

The evening encompassed the rare treat of immersing in the Living Essene Way, Kabbalah, Mystical principles of the Living Torah, yogic philosopy, and Kosher, organic, vegetarian live-food grape juice and challah (challah is a traditional Jewish bread eaten on Shabbat and most Jewish holidays). It was a night of peace and healing for the individual and planetary soul.

An Intimate & Interactive Evening with Dr. Gabriel Cousens in Toronto

Rainbow Green Live Food Cuisine Lecture, screening of “Simply Raw: Reverse Diabetes in 30 Days” followed by Q&A

On Thursday, November 13, 2008, I attended an event at Mel Lastman Square/North York City Hall, screening the documentary, Simply Raw. Seeing the six people in the documentary at the Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center (all diagnosed with Diabetes: five were type 2 and one was type 1) grapple over 30 days with executing Gabriel Cousins’ multi-levelled, food-based cure was gripping.

The challenges were striking: dissatisfaction with the raw menu, cravings for SAD offerings, lack of familial support, dealing with detox/withdrawal symptoms, the intense discomfort of shifting gears, and shifting expectations of the possibility of a real cure for diabetes. Been there.

Success seemed to come from surrendering to the process, patience, and working collaboratively and compassionately as a community. Gabriel later commented that change is better to come from a self-chosen internal place that involves the pleasure principle versus coming from an externally imposed force. It occurred to me as well that in fact all success, personal development, and self improvement, transitions through similar phases.

I was moved by some of the close ups showing facial expressions of shock, hurt, joy and compassion. Been there too. I was disappointed, as was most of the audience, when one of the older, male participants chose to leave the program half way through, in spite of his dramatic health improvements, due to his overwhelming psycho-physiological resistance to the change.

After the film, using a PowerPoint Gabriel overviewed some of the subjects outlined in his book Rainbow Green Live Food Cuisine: calorie restriction and longevity; cause of disease as compromised terrain versus bacteria or virus; the self-composting action of the imbalanced body; the action of microplasmic pleomorphic protits; the necessity of growing your own food; list of mycotoxins; list of disesases; list of pathogenic microorganisms; grains, soy, GMO, vaccinations, chemtrails, and finally, a summary of his Phase I, Phase I.5 and Phase II anti-diabetes diet.

Questions from the audience included:

• Did the participants stay raw?
• Does the diet correct renal disorders?
• Does the diet correct low blood sugar?
• Is breatharianism possible?
• What is the youngest a person should be to healthfully fast?
• Can you go raw in a cold climate

The evening ended with a 30-minute meditation during which Gabriel shared shaktipat with each audience member. I’m looking forward to another shaktipat experience at the Shabbat led by Gabriel Cousins tonight.

Cleanse Journal Day 20

Yogic principle for the day: the external discipline of SURRENDER TO LIFE.

What does this principle mean to me?


See notes from Cleanse Day 10.

Ishwara pranidhana, or complete, free and unconditional self-surrender to God, is the highest virtue, the last niyama, and one of the trickiest niyamas. It is the release of ego and surrender to destiny.

It means “I give up.” It means “Thy will be done.” The foundation is in place and Divine will and communication is occurring to some extent. The mind prompts, "Do this" — I do it.

Patanjali says in the Yoga Sutras that one can even attain the highest form of samadhi, the final stage before kaivalya, if one can effectively surrender to God. Patanjali was an advaita vedantist, and did not understand the principle of God to be a separate entity. So Pantanjali is referring to the unchanging, ever-uniform reality, not nashwara, that which is changing, decaying, and creative.

In the second chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna asks Krishna, “Can you describe how a person who is realized lives, acts, walks, talks, sleeps, eats and moves?”

Krishna replies, “That person’s actions are no different to ours. He moves like you and me, he eats like you and me, he sleeps like you and me, he thinks like you and me. The only difference is that he has overcome the duality of life. Whereas initially we do everything for ourselves and are the centre of the universe, now love and compassion have become the centre of the universe, and everything else revolves around that.”

How do I honour it on a daily basis? What could I improve?
Release identification with the self and identifying with the Self. Through the generation of faith and innocence, letting go of the self-oriented, self-centred awareness, one is able to tune to God's energy.

Manage thoughts, ideas, beliefs and convictions and develop a new perspective. Developing a new vision marks the awakening of the spiritual faculty within us. Understanding, modifying and changing the mental vrittis indicates the beginning of spiritual awareness and surrender to life.

Daily food/elimination comments:
I’m drinking a lot of teas and a lot of water.

Performed my second round of basti, yogic enema and held only a few minutes this time. Also, forgot to strain the Dashmula.

Sleep record:
I was not tired Wednesday night, yet slept about 10 hours.

Additional thoughts or feelings:
This is easy. I continue to be generally quiet, at peace and optimistic about the future. I plan to continue the lifestyle beyond the 21 days of the cleanse.

I am so pleased with what I have learned and experienced during this cleanse. It was mind-body all encompassing, and the timing in my life and with the changing of the seasons was another synchronicity. I was at home long enough and alone enough to perform the routines and contemplations. I would recommend this for anyone looking to gear down, lighten up, and explore within.

Cleanse Journal Day 19

Yogic principle for the day: the external discipline of SELF STUDY.

What does this principle mean to me?

See notes from Cleanse Day 9.

Swa is Self: Adhyaya is study. Swadhyaya is Self study. No one can do this work for me. The study of Self is a do-it-yourself research project that begins with the question: If I am not the body, who am “I?” The search for the “I” is Swadhyaya.

The “I” is said to be Spirit, or “that" according to the Vedas and described only as “not this, not this.” The “I” is revealed when the conditioned mind is deprogrammed and the trinity of knower, knowledge and known dissolves.

How do I honour it on a daily basis? What could I improve?
There are a host of actions that can lead to direct knowledge or experience of the “I.”

• The study of the Vedas and holy texts.
• Working with a guru.
• Acting as Spirit.
• Non-attachment.
• Distinguishing between knowledge (indirect experience) and wisdom (the direct experience of the truth).
• Awareness of inner dialogue, words spoken, thoughts.
• Asking key questions: What is bliss?What is karma? What is free will?
• Kirtan and the repetition of mantra

Purify and practice Swadhyaya all the time until the truth is revealed.

Daily food/elimination comments:
I am enjoying my lifestyle.

Performed my first round of basti, yogic enema. Basti is the safest, easiest, and most pleasant of all cleansing procedures.

Sleep record:
I was not tired Tuesday night, yet slept again too long, about 10 hours.

Monthly Reading #5 Principles of Individualizing One's Diet

What was learned? How is it useful?
The focus for October was on individualizing one’s diet.

The focus in allopathic medicine about individuality has been that idiosyncracies have little or no functional significance to medicine.

Conversely, Roger Williams in Biochemical Individuality: The Basis for the Genetotrophic Concept indicates that there are numerous physiological variables that make each of us unique. Williams points out that in composition, enzymes, endocrine production, excretion patterns, pharmacological manifestations, basal metabolism, growth, temperature control, pain sensitivity, oxygen use, blood pressure, electricity, taste, presence of parasites and transplantation all manifest uniquely in individuals. If we wish to “do anything about” or treat any of these areas, we best customize the approach.

We can use a variety of systems to ascertain our unique mind-body psychophysiology: autonomic nervous system type; oxidative system, Ayurvedic; acid-alkali, endocrine, lipo-oxidation, and blood type. Questions we can ask ourselves about our nourishment are:

· What am I trying to say by this food choice?
· What is nature communicating to me?
· Can this food sustain my focus on the Divine?

It’s trial and error. Limit the variables and become both the scientist and the experiment. Because I spent 21 days in October this year in Pancha Karma, I spent a great deal of time contemplating the Ayurvedic modality, in particular, and its relevance to my mind-body.

My Ayurvedic RYT, AHE, in Toronto, Matthew Remski (who studied under David Frawley), assessed me as a robust pitta(3)-kapha(1.5) prakriti with excellent structural stability and a vast pool of emotional resource beginning to quiver under a hyper-competent intellectual and professional persona. Vata is over-excited on the level of reproductive power and manas by spiritual emergence. Pitta-type psychological drive has served me well in terms of artha but cannot stop for kama or contemplation or simple rest because of a long-standing fear that foundations are insecure. I was told my body is fairly clean. The raw diet has done me well on many levels: it has eliminated many toxins (clean tongue, improved skin, feeling of lightness). However, there are four issues that I would tinker with and balance out.

Under Matthew Remski's supervision, I responded to the assessment by conducting a 21-day cleanse and making some minor adjustments to my daily diet to support my Ayurvedic dosha balance.

This is not a search for a perfect diet, but a part of balanced, harmonious life. This is not a technique for enlightenment, just a support system to aid in harmonious, centred spiritual unfolding. We know we are eating optimally when we are glowing with life, have enhanced communion with the Divine and realize the highest state of awareness and functionality to fulfill our roles in the world. And over the month of October, I did feel more grounded, more at peace, healthier and radiant.

The higher purpose of diet is to aid in spiritual unfolding; to assimilate, store, conduct, transmit spiritual energies; to balance subtle energy centers, and to enhance peace on the planet.

Diet is the cause and effect of our awareness. David Wolfe writes in The Sunfood Diet Success System that food on the chlorophyll side of his Sunfood triangle can tune us into natural resonant frequencies. (page 184) I intuit that this is true. The more green I get, the more attuned, sensitive and energized. But I also have had to manage or balance this new state.

We want to transition wisely to a high proportioned-live food diet and use the triangle to modulate and customize: weight, stage of life, detoxification issues, hypoglycemian/diabetes issues, candida, mental clarity, athletics, temperature and grounding.

Cleanse Journal Day 18

Yogic principle for the day: the external discipline of PASSIONATE EFFORT.

What does this principle mean to me?

See notes from Cleanse Day 8.

Tapas is discipline, described as a heat or passionate effort, that releases or redirects energy and fuels spiritual passion or heat. Tapas manifests as a movement away from past dysfunctional attachments and habits and a movement toward freedom.

Tapas is an effortless release, a giving up, a surrendering (as in vairagya and ishvara pranidhana), an offering up of the old in exchange for the new. It is a free choice that manifests naturally and spontaneously without will power or effort. It was demonstrated to me the evening that I lost my interest in drinking red wine. Inexplicably and spontaneously, I realized that I did not need to drink red wine. Lovely as the experience felt, I realized that drinking a glass of red wine every night took something undefinable away from me. The whole release occurred spontaneously, in a thought, without words . My “craving” just disappeared. And I just followed with some curiosity, placed the sacrifice into the sacrificial fire for fuel, and watched the experiment to see what would happen.

From the outside the release often looks like austerity or sacrifice. My family and friends commented that my renunciation of wine was "too hard" for them to do. For me it wasn't hard at all; it was the natural flow of my impulses. From the inside, a part of me freely died and another was reborn.

How do I honour it on a daily basis? What could I improve?
Harness tapas by the conscious practice of energy conservation (pratyhara, vairagya, bhakti and tapas) one pointed focus and devotion to the Divine. Wholeheartedly desire to know the Truth of Self.

Any action that frees one from the dualistic illusion is tapas. Any action that redirects the outward flow of grasping of objects (physical or mental) is tapas. Any action that supports satisfaction (santosha) is tapas. Activities could include fasting, silence of speech and thought (mouna), and any and all of the other yamas and niyamas.

Before taking action, ask such questions as: will this activity lead to the truth? Is this action based on separateness or is it based on love? Will this action release energy or dissipate, confuse, distract, or disempower?

Daily food/elimination comments:
Losing interest in food. I am satisfied with eating much less.

Sleep record:
I was not tired Monday night, yet slept about 10 hours.

Additional thoughts or feelings:
This is easy. I continue to be generally quiet, at peace and optimistic about the future.

Cleanse Journal Day 17

Yogic principle for the day: the external discipline of CONTENTMENT.

What does this principle mean to me?
See notes from Cleanse Day 7.

The second niyama outlined by Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras is santosha , or contentment. Santosha is the state of cheerfulness and a condition for enlightenment. The practice of aparigraha (keeping needs simple) leads to santosha. Contentment brings happiness; discontentment brings unhappiness.

Contentment and peace of mind exist independently of present circumstances. At any time, we can create contentment, choose contentment, rather than waiting to somehow become content.

How do I honour it on a daily basis? What could I improve?

Contentment is not a virtue to be shown off.

Place one-pointed focus upon the Divine and identify as spirit.

Be aware and content with and accept and explore present circumstances in each moment.
Choose to be craving-free now. As one is craving-free, contentment is experienced.

Sleep record:
I was not tired Sunday night, yet slept long, again.

Additional thoughts or feelings:
This is easy. I continue to be generally quiet, at peace and optimistic about the future.

Cleanse Journal Day 16

Yogic principle for the day: the external discipline of BODILY PURIFICATION.

What does this principle mean to me?

See notes from Cleanse Day 6.

The first of the Niyamas described by Patanjali is what in Sanskrit is called Saucha or purity. Purification of the body directly influences spiritual consciousness. Saucha is an aid toward yoga (samadhi).

Any block in consciousness which does not promote the goal of Yoga is an impurity. Sense movement (chitta vritti) towards satisfaction of desire is an impurity. Even a lack of reverence of daily life or community is an impurity. Purification is multilayered, interdepent with nature, others and the Divine. Patanjali does not expound on the minutiae but the Sutras suggest that purity includes the cleanliness of the body, speech, mind and even the environment worldwide.

Mental purity is tricky to manifest. Any thought that leads the mind in a direction other than that of Yoga, is an impure thought. Any desire is mental impurity.

In The Sunfood Success System David Wolfe suggests that as you cleanse within, you express the virtues and become beautiful without. Outer beauty is a reflection of inner beauty. You will look more beautiful. You will attract beautiful events and experiences and realize instant karma as amazing synchronicities occur.

How do I honour it on a daily basis? What could I improve?
Asana (postures) and pranayama (breath work) cleanse the physical body.

“The practice of asanas tones the entire body and removes the toxins and impurities caused by over-indulgence. Pranayama cleanses and aerates the lungs, oxygenates the blood and purifies the nerves” BKS Iyengar, Light on Yoga

Saucha also incorporates the practice of kriyas, cleansing techniques ranging from methods meant to address the hygiene of the physical body to methods meant to bring balance to the energetic body. These include daily bathing, brushing and flossing the teeth, cleaning the tongue, and flushing the sinuses with warm salted water (neti pot). One of the less familiar kriyas is the practice of trataka drishti, which involves gazing softly at a candle flame until the eyes water.

Clean food, clean air, pure thoughts, dharana, sweating, fasting, tapas, vairaga, meditation, nature all work together to cleanse. An environment of friendly animals and natural flora living in a beneficent synergy manifests spiritual consciousness.

Love thy neighbor.

Observations regarding the practice of my assignments:
Day 16 was, again, enjoyable. My body felt tremendously alive, once again, when I awoke. My skin is clear and glowing. My facial rosacea on both cheeks is disappearing. I performed a neti-pot nasal cleanse.

Sleep record:
I was not tired Saturday night, yet slept long, again.

Additional thoughts or feelings:
This is easy. I continue to be generally quiet, at peace and optimistic about the future.

Cleanse Journal Day 15

Yogic principle for the day: the external discipline of KEEPING SIMPLE NEEDS.

What does this principle mean to me?

See notes from Cleanse Day 5.

When first starting to consider aparigraha, ask what does it mean to need a person, object, idea, or belief? Holding anything, even the breath, negates the ability to bring in the newly valuable experience. Choose well what is consciously held.

Here’s a good experiment. In Yoga: The Spirit and Practice of Moving into Stillness, Erich Schiffmann advises the practitioner in Shavasana to “Relax every physical and mental tension, temporarily let go of everything you don’t need and then simply pay attention and see what happens.”

If you let of everything, the sages say you come to know yourself.

Aparigrahasthairye janmakathamtasambodhah

"One who is not greedy is secure. He has time to think deeply. His understanding of himself is complete." Yoga Sutra II.39

“The more we have, the more we need to take care of it. The time and energy spent on acquiring more things, protecting them and worrying about them cannot be spent on the most basic questions of life. What is the limit to what we should possess? For what purpose, for whom and for how long? Death comes before we have had time to even begin considering these questions.” TKV Desikachar

At the very minimum, prioritize how time and energy is spent and scale down. What we own should not sway us from our highest goals. Avoid grasping. Release obsolete ideas, beliefs, fears, expectations, memories, preferences, and tendencies held to strengthen identity. The act of holding onto some frozen but impressive identity blocks us from reinventing or revitalizing the identity. Foster beginner's mind and avoid presenting as a knowledgeable and accomplished master to develop authentic learning experiences.

How do I honour it on a daily basis? What could I improve?
I’m actively reassessing my life, letting go of the heavier aspects of my past and exploring my intuitions and the future with delight.

Observations regarding the practice of my assignments:
Day 15 was, again, enjoyable. My body felt tremendously alive, once again, when I awoke. My skin is clear and glowing. In my scurrying around, I missed the neti-pot nasal cleanse.

Daily food/elimination comments:
I awoke at 3:00 a.m. to prepare for Varisar Dhauti. I arrived at the studio at 4:45 a.m. and was the first student to enter the studio and begin meditation. Varisar Dhauti is the most involved stage of the entire cleansing process. The purpose of it is to expel pitta-ama from the pitta physiological zone downwards, to remove excess bile from the blood to clarify stagnant or overheated blood tissue, to clear intestinal plaques and other inefficiencies, to begin to void the colon of impacted fecal matter, to reduce hyperacidtity, to begin to heal abdominal tumours and skin disorders, to cleanse the spleen and bladder and blood toxins.

After the kriya, I ate high potency non-dairy feremented soy probiotic with 50 illion friendly bacteria (CL 1285 super strain acidophilus) to regualte intestinal function. Later in the day, I also ate a lot of fruit.

This was a tiring few hours. I reserved the entire day of the kriya for rest, but used it for schoolwork.

Sleep record:
I was not tired Friday night, and went to sleep at 10:00 p.m. and wakened at 3:00 a.m. for the cleanse ritual.

Additional thoughts or feelings:
Had a few serious flashbacks of poingnant times from the past. On the whole I felt like the kriya was a new beginning.

The kriya was well organized and supervised by Renaissance Yoga.

Cleanse Journal Day 14

Yogic principle for the day: the external discipline of SEXUAL INTEGRITY.

What does this principle mean to me?

See notes from Cleanse Day 4.

Every facet of human experience, including sex, offers the potential for personal transformation and self-actualization.

Commonly translated as celibacy, practicing brahmacharya means that we use our sexual energy to connect to spirit. It also means that we don't use this energy in any way that might harm another. Brahmacharya means merging one's energy with God.

How do I honour it on a daily basis? What could I improve?
I’m still thinking. It would be beneficial to experience the world sensually, such as enjoying more art. Most importantly, I am also discovering and being called to examine themes in my history and character of authenticity, risk, truth, tempo, tone, service versus debauchery.

Observations regarding the practice of my assignments:
Day 14 was, again, enjoyable. My body felt tremendously alive, once again, when I awoke. My skin is clear and glowing. I performed a neti-pot nasal cleanse.

Daily food/elimination comments:
I am on a liquid fast today to prepare for Varisar Dhauti tomorrow morning at 5:00 a.m.

Sleep record:
I was not tired Thursday night, yet slept long, again.

Additional thoughts or feelings:
Otherwise, this is easy. Regretfully, I had to decline an attractive offer today and that hard decision has slightly shaken me. Shortly, thereafter a more favourable opportunity was cancelled, which really destabilized my morning. Otherwise, I continue to be generally quiet, at peace and optimistic about the future.

Ayurvedic Cleanse: Mid-Term Summary of Learnings

Describe my understanding of personal cleanliness thus far, on the ethical, physical, mental, and spiritual levels.

Pancha karma is a seasonal Ayurvedic cleansing plan traditionally designed for Indian rulers to help them to lead healthier and longer lives. During this preparation phase, my activity shifted to a more internal focus. This means a lot of journaling and spiritual with a focus on contemplating the yamas and niyamas and releasing obsolete ideas, emotions, and blockages. I ate only fruits and vegetables and conducted nasal cleaning, oleation and other austerities.

What is Personal Cleanliness to Me?

Balance. Instead of focusing on the spirit, we over-indulge and imbalance the mind and body. Personal cleansing returns balance to the mind and body, without ahimsa. It is an organic, dynamic process that could go out of balance again at any time. Personal cleanliness goes beyond a superficial cleansing of the skin, positive thinking, or eating a clean diet, and involves prevention of future imbalances.

On a practical, physical level, personal cleanliness promotes a host of benefits: youthing, flexibility, healthy weight, immunity, the release of toxins stuck in the tissues, regulated breath, and the free flow of Prana.

On the mind-body level, personal cleanliness triggers the healing of negative emotions. When administered prudently, personal cleanliness is a safe way to unfold spiritual awareness, unconditional love and compassion.

Patanjali says in Sutra II.40-41. "Through its effective practice of physical purity, attachments to toxins and corruptive forces disappear naturally as natural instinctual or intuitive catharsis or revulsion and as such one rids oneself of their noxious influence directly proportionately as to the development of the inner wisdom. Also through both internal and external purity (saucha) of the body, psychic environment, and through the removal of the occlusions of consciousness, there is achieved balance, cheerfulness, one-pointedness, harmony of the senses, and yogic vision. Here one is no longer attracted by corruptive influences because one has established (and is happily rooted within) an inner energetic freedom."

Personal cleanliness of the body has an easy, direct influence upon spiritual consciousness. In The Sunfood Success System David Wolfe suggests that as you cleanse within, you express the virtues and become beautiful without. Outer beauty is a reflection of inner beauty. You will look more beautiful. You will attract beautiful events and experiences and realize instant karma as amazing synchronicities occur.

My understanding of personal cleanliness was broadened to include the body, mind, emotions and ethics. Each day, I spent a great deal of time in daily contemplation and study of the principle for the day, the external disciplines.

Yamas

• Ahimsa: non-violence, kindness.
• Satya: Compassionate truthfulness
• Asteya: Non-stealing
• Brahmacharya: Sensual self control
• Aparigraha: Greedlessness, Simplicity

Niyamas

• Shaucha: Purity/Clarity
• Santosha: Contentment
• Swadhyaya: Self-Education, Study
• Ishwara-Pranidhana: Surrender to God

In contemplation of the yamas and niyamas, a number of insights and distinctions became clearer to me. Following are some of my favourites:

Bodily Purification

Knowledge (Jnana) does not come about from practice of yoga methods alone. Perfection in knowledge comes after the expression of virtue (dharma) through the means of yoga. The practice of yogic methods is not the exclusive means, yet it is only out of that practice of yoga that the perfection in knowledge comes about.

Truthfulness

The philosophical meaning of the word “Satya” is “unchangeable,” “that which has no distortion,” “that which is beyond distinctions of time, space, and person,” “that which pervades the universe in all its constancy.” There is a more subtle meaning of the word, “Satya,” which is Citsvaru’pa, the Supreme consciousness or Purusha. In sadhana, or intuitional practice, the meaning of “Satya” is “Parahit'artham' va'unmanaso yatha'rthatvam' satyam” i.e., Satya is the benevolent use of words and the mind for the welfare of others.

Not Getting Without Giving

All the wealth of the world will be drawn to one who has mastered the practice and discipline of Asteya: not stealing, not coveting, nor hoarding, not taking what was not freely given, as well as not obstructing other people's desires in life.

Sexual Integrity

Sex is a potential modality for personal transformation and self-actualization. It is my intuition that sex can be experienced at a deeper level, even as a spiritual path, when one tests boundaries ... to experience the world in a more ecstatic and “life enhancing” way. I am also discovering and being called to examine themes in my history and character of authenticity, risk, truth, tempo, tone, service versus debauchery.

Keeping Needs Simple

The term “need” is deceptive. What do you need anyway? If it is a true need, how could you keep it simple enough to “keep simple needs”? If you can keep it simpler, was the need not then actually a desire? What is the difference between a need and a desire?

The necessity of each is open to interpretation. From a spiritual point of view there is only spirit. We are all spirit. We have everything. Therefore we need nothing. One good reason to keep your needs simple.

The other good reason is that mundane desires distract you from the Divine. Should we then be counseled to keep our needs simple? Or be counseled to amplify them infinitely to express a desire for experience of the Divine, which is not a “simple need.”

Contentment

The second niyama outlined by Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras is santosha , or contentment. It is a condition for enlightenment. Jesus urges his disciples not to be anxious about what they eat or drink or wear but to remember that, because their heavenly Father knows all their needs, they should "seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well" (Matt. 6:31-33).

“What is contentment? Contentment is serenity, but not complacency. It is comfort, but not submission; reconciliation, not apathy; acknowledgment, not aloofness. Contentment is a mental decision, a moral choice, a practiced observance, a step into the reality of the cosmos. Contentment/santosha is the natural state of our humanness and our divinity and allows for our creativity and love to emerge. It is knowing our place in the universe. It is unity with the Divine.” Swami Shraddhananda

To be desire-free and content, is to express patience, not only externally but mentally, towards home, clothing, food, body, mind, intellect, pleasure or pain.
Passionate EffortThere are a lot of levels to yoga practice from studying the Yoga Sutras themselves, meditation, hatha yoga practice. One must be passionately motivated to practice, otherwise the study will shrink or terminate. In I.21, Pantajali says that spiritual consciousness is nearest to those of keen, intense will.

Self-Study

Self study (Sanskrit name: Svadyaya), most crucial of the niyamas, results in the discovery of our spiritual identify. It includes the study of sacred texts or potentially all expression. For me, this is the slipperiest of the principles studied. It seems most precarious, even dangerous, (to the ego or self with the lower case s) to actually discover the source of the “I thought.”

Surrender to Life

Surrender to life, the final or tenth niyama, means turning the heart completely to God. It means “let thy will be done.” It is the highest virtue. It is the highest state of mind, the culmination of jnana, bhakti and karma. Mastery in this brings Samadhi, or divine bliss.

It means I give up.

In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna said to the warrior Arjuna:

"I consider the yogi-devotee - who lovingly contemplates on Me with supreme faith, and whose mind is ever absorbed in Me - to be the best of all the yogis." (B.G., Chapter 6, Verse 47) "After attaining Me, the great souls do not incur rebirth in this miserable transitory world, because they have attained the highest perfection." (B.G., Chapter 8, Verse 15) "... those who, renouncing all actions in Me, and regarding Me as the Supreme, worship Me... For those whose thoughts have entered into Me, I am soon the deliverer from the ocean of death and transmigration, Arjuna. Keep your mind on Me alone, your intellect on Me. Thus you shall dwell in Me hereafter." (B.G., Chapter 12, Verses 6-8) "And he who serves Me with the yoga of unswerving devotion, transcending these qualities is ready for liberation in Brahman." (B.G. Chapter 14, Verse 26) "Fix your mind on Me, be devoted to Me, offer service to Me, bow down to Me, and you shall certainly reach Me. I promise you because you are My very dear friend." (B.G., Chapter 18, Verse 65) "Setting aside all meritorious deeds, just surrender completely to My will. I shall liberate you from all sins. Do not grieve." (B.G., Chapter 18, Verse 66)Several gurus teach surrender to God.For Patanjali, surrender dissolves endless agitations of the mind, and a means to the unified state of yoga: samadhi. Ishvara pranidhana shifts our perspective from the vritti-activated "I," that creates a perpective of separation. Surrender reunites us with the true Self.B.K.S. Iyengar states in his book Light on the Yoga Sutras:"Through surrender the aspirant's ego is effaced, and . . . grace . . . pours down upon him like a torrential rain." Like the descent through layers of tension to rest in the release of Savasana, Ishvara pranidhana provides a pathway through the obstacles of our ego toward our divine nature-grace, peace, unconditional love, clarity, and freedom."

Prem Rawat, formerly Guru Maharaj Ji, was quoted in 1978 as:

"But there is nothing to understand! And if there is something to understand, there is only one thing to understand, and that is to surrender!"

How would you like to change your life using these principles? What challenges will you face in implementing these principles? What do you imagine the ultimate result will be?

This change of life for me is an easy, enjoyable and a conscious choice. I do not anticipate many challenges other than logistical issues or finding time to do everything I wish to do when I return to work. I have no idea what the result will be, other than I anticipate something sweet.

For my world to change, I have to change. Everything is connected. As above, so below. It seems I have to learn to tune my energies to avert war, both within and outside of myself. Here are a few action items I am seriously considering to integrate into my life:

• Acknowledging and honoring the Divine. Before any action, offer it to God.
• Dedicate practice to something or someone other than self, like an offering. I always forget.
• Recognize my own personal relationship with the Divine and use personalized language, imagery, and names of the sacred. I do this anyway.
• Love. And clean food, clean air, bathing, exercise, pure thoughts, visualization or dharana, sweating, fasting, tapas, vairaga, pranayama, asana, meditation, nature to cleanse. I love all this.
• Asana practice. No brainer.
• Stop and appreciate the beauty of the earth and life more. Be in an environment of friendly animals and natural flora. My best friends.
• Finding the connection to my inner voice and listen to how it guides thoughts, speech, feelings and actions.
• Setting intention.
• Chant.
• Visualize.
• Noticing attachments.
• Accepting what is, instead of struggling.
• Retire from warring. I feel an urgency around this one.
• Explore kindness, gentleness, non-violent psychological and ecological solutions.
• Improve my relationships. Ensure others are not dissatisfied or feeling pushed. Ask others about their feelings. Ensure I respect everyone’s role.
• Conduct “intensity” checks.
• Incorporate ahimsa and diplocmacy into the discipline of truth.
• Experiment with silence.
• Incorporate ahimsa into asteya, and avoid being self righteous about my giving.
• When appropriate, give less or don’t give at all. This is a personal issue.
• As much as possible, place one-pointed focus upon the eternal.
• Reduce desires to our actual possessions and situation.
• Be hyper conscious of contented moments, sustain them for longer, even when embroiled in chaos and disharmony.
• Make time for what is really important.

Cleanse Journal Day 13

Yogic principle for the day: the external discipline of NOT GETTING WITHOUT GIVING.

What does this principle mean to me?
Achaurya is the Sanskrit word for “avoidance of stealing” or “non-stealing.” In Jainism, it is one of the five vows that all sravakas and shravikas as well as sadhus and sadhvis must take. Asteya is one of the 10 core principles that Hindus try to abide by. The concept is frequently confused as being equivalent to the Biblical commandment "Thou shall not steal" although in principle it means more. Asteya refers to not stealing, not coveting, nor hoarding, as well as not obstructing other people's desires in life.

Asteya presupposes that misappropriation arises from a perception of lack which arises from a belief that happiness hinges on external circumstances and material possessions. It is not uncommon to spend an entire lifetime hoping for better and imagining that others have better. We do not perceive the abundance, health, other riches and the joy and love , that exists.

The practice of asteya asks us to be careful not to take anything that has not been freely given. This can be as subtle as time or attention.

Swami Jyotirmanda of Miami's Yoga Ashram frequently states that "all the wealth of the world will be drawn to one who has mastered the practice and discipline of Asteya." Life's real treasures begin to flow our way.

How do I honour it on a daily basis? What could I improve?
Incorporate ahimsa into asteya, and avoid being so internally self righteous about my giving. Sometimes I feel I should conserve more, give less, give to those that specifically want my contribution, and not exploit myself.

I can cultivate self-sufficiency to avoid looking to others, our family, or our community to meet my needs. Do not take more than is needed.

Avoid subtle ways of taking from others:

• Being knowingly tardy to an appointment.
• Speaking on behalf of another.
• Directing the outcome of a mutual challenge.
• Taking all the credit.
• Focus on my abilities, gifts and strengths so not to rob myself.
  

Observations regarding the practice of my assignments:
Day 13 was, again, enjoyable. My body felt tremendously alive, once again, when I awoke. My skin is clear and glowing. I performed a neti-pot nasal cleanse. My forgiveness ceremony with Leslie went well Wednesday night.

Sleep record:
I was not tired Wednesday night, yet slept long, again.

Additional thoughts or feelings:
Otherwise, this is easy. I am at peace and optimistic about the future.

Cleanse Journal Day 12

Yogic principle for the day: the external discipline of TRUTHFULNESS.

What does this principle mean to me?

See Cleanse Journal Day 2.

“Knowledge (Jnana) does not come about from practice of yoga methods alone. Perfection in knowledge comes after the expression of virtue (dharma) through the means of yoga. The practice of yogic methods is not the means by itself, yet it is only out of that practice of yoga that the perfection in knowledge comes about. And so it is said by the teachers: ‘Yoga is for the purpose of knowledge of truth’” Shankara.

The philosophical meaning of the word “Satya” is “unchangeable,” “that which has no distortion,” “that which is beyond distinctions of time, space, and person,” “that which pervades the universe in all its constancy.”

There is a more subtle meaning of the word, “Satya,” which is Citsvaru’pa, the Supreme consciousness or Purusha. In Sadhana, or intuitional practice, the meaning of “Satya” is “Parahit'artham' va'unmanaso yatha'rthatvam' satyam” i.e., Satya is the benevolent use of words and the mind for the welfare of others.

Truthfulness has always been important to me, even articulations of “brutal realities.” I find being truthful with myself has allowed me to accelerate my growth. But now, to incorporate ahimsa, I’d like to routinely express the greys, the softer and subtler, shades of truth. Being a communications professional, do I ever know how to bend the truth to be persuasive. Also, does one have to express their truth at every opportunity? I think not.

How do I honour it on a daily basis? What could I improve?

• But now, to incorporate ahimsa into the discipline of truth, by subtler interpretations and expressions of truth.
• Experiment with silence.
  

Observations regarding the practice of my assignments:
Day 12 was, again, enjoyable. My body felt tremendously alive, once again, when I awoke. My skin is clear and glowing. I performed a neti-pot nasal cleanse.

Sleep record:
I was not too tired Tuesday night, yet slept long, again, now about 20 minutes less.

Additional thoughts or feelings:
Otherwise, this is easy. Glowing from the good news received yesterday. Have to try to see into the future as I deal with making best career choices. I am at peace and optimistic about the future.

Cleanse Journal Day 11

Yogic principle for the day: the external discipline of NON-VIOLENCE.

What does this principle mean to me?
See my comments for Cleanse Day 1.

A chief yama, ahimsa, means to lack of intention to hurt others on the physical, mental and emotional level. Here the attitude of ahimsa is more important than any actual act and includes intention.

It has occurred to me that allowing yourself to be victimized by any type of violence goes against this principle of ahimsa.

How do I honour it on a daily basis? What could I improve?
Not much has dramatically changed in me in the last week; I’ve had no confrontations. I am watching my attachments to certain mannerisms: the sharp edge, critical nature, take-charge attitude, drive, choosing reason over sensitivity. I am trying not to judge, myself or others.

I continue on with my goal to be established in ahimsa equally to all: people, animals, nature, myself.

Observations regarding the practice of my assignments:
Day 11 was, again, enjoyable. My body felt tremendously alive, once again, when I awoke. I performed a neti-pot nasal cleanse.

Sleep record:
I was not tired Monday night, yet slept long, again.

Additional thoughts or feelings:
Otherwise, this is easy. Glowing from the good news received on Tuesday. I am at peace and optimistic about the future.

Cleanse Journal Day 10

Yogic principle for the day: the external discipline of SURRENDER TO LIFE.

What does this principle mean to me?
It means I give up.

Surrender to life, the final or tenth niyama, means turning the heart completely to God. It means “let thy will be done.” It is the highest virtue. It is the highest state of mind, the culmination of jnana, bhakti and karma. Mastery in this brings Samadhi, or divine bliss.


In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna said to the warrior Arjuna:

"I consider the yogi-devotee - who lovingly contemplates on Me with supreme faith, and whose mind is ever absorbed in Me - to be the best of all the yogis." (B.G., Chapter 6, Verse 47) "After attaining Me, the great souls do not incur rebirth in this miserable transitory world, because they have attained the highest perfection." (B.G., Chapter 8, Verse 15) "... those who, renouncing all actions in Me, and regarding Me as the Supreme, worship Me... For those whose thoughts have entered into Me, I am soon the deliverer from the ocean of death and transmigration, Arjuna. Keep your mind on Me alone, your intellect on Me. Thus you shall dwell in Me hereafter." (B.G., Chapter 12, Verses 6-8) "And he who serves Me with the yoga of unswerving devotion, transcending these qualities is ready for liberation in Brahman." (B.G. Chapter 14, Verse 26) "Fix your mind on Me, be devoted to Me, offer service to Me, bow down to Me, and you shall certainly reach Me. I promise you because you are My very dear friend." (B.G., Chapter 18, Verse 65) "Setting aside all meritorious deeds, just surrender completely to My will. I shall liberate you from all sins. Do not grieve." (B.G., Chapter 18, Verse 66)

Several gurus teach surrender to God.

For Patanjali, surrender dissolves endless agitations of the mind, and a means to the unified state of yoga: samadhi. Ishvara pranidhana shifts our perspective from the vritti-activated "I," that creates a perpective of separation. Surrender reunites us with the true Self.

B.K.S. Iyengar states in his book Light on the Yoga Sutras:

"Through surrender the aspirant's ego is effaced, and . . . grace . . . pours down upon him like a torrential rain." Like the descent through layers of tension to rest in the release of Savasana, Ishvara pranidhana provides a pathway through the obstacles of our ego toward our divine nature-grace, peace, unconditional love, clarity, and freedom."

Prem Rawat, formerly Guru Maharaj Ji, was quoted in 1978 as:

"But there is nothing to understand! And if there is something to understand, there is only one thing to understand, and that is to surrender!"

How do I honour it on a daily basis? What could I improve?
Before any action, offer it to God. Dedicate practice to something or someone other than self, like an offering.

Start with our own intimate connection to the universe, Ishta-Devata. Ishta-Devata recognizes that each individual self has its own, personal relationship with the Divine and that this serves as a powerful means of finding the unity. Many sadhus surrender to the traditional Shiva, Vishnu (Rama or Krishna), Lakshmi, Kali, or Durga. Sri T. Krishnamacharya, advocated the use personalized language, imagery, and names of the sacred.

Through intimate listening to this voice within yourself, have a relationship with inner guidance in all aspects of life. Finding the connection to this inner sense of direction and listening how it guides you through your thoughts, speech, feelings and actions. Surrendering in trust to the inner voice.

• Inner listening
• Setting intention
• Chanting
• Visualization
• Noticing attachments
• Accepting what is, instead of struggling against it
• Acknowledging and honoring the Divine
• Trusting/surrendering to the Divine

Observations regarding the practice of my assignments:
Day 10 was, again, enjoyable. My body felt tremendously alive, once again, when I awoke. I performed the neti-pot nasal cleanse.

Sleep record:
I was really tired Sunday night and had yet another long, satisfying rest, up to 12 hours.

Additional thoughts or feelings:
Otherwise, this is easy. I am at peace and optimistic about the future.

Cleanse Journal Day 9

Yogic principle for the day: the external discipline of SELF-STUDY.

What does this principle mean to me?
Self study (Sanskrit name: Svadyaya), most crucial of the niyamas, results in the discovery of our spiritual identify. It includes the study of sacred texts or other books. All expression is divine. Sri Ramana Maharshi advocated self-study as key sadhana to discover the source of the “I-thought.” Pantajali’s sutra 2.44 “Union with the chosen divinity comes from the study of self through the sacred texts. (Svadyaya)” Unrelenting tapas, a passionate, burning desire to execute the discipline is necessary.

For me, this is the slipperiest of the principles studied. It seems most precarious, even dangerous, (to the ego or self with the lower case s) to actually discover the source of the “I thought.” I have the least amount of experience in this area and have the least amount to say about it.

How do I honour it on a daily basis? What could I improve?
Create my own satsang. Read something spiritual every day. Ask, "How does this relate to me?" The spiritual body has directed life from an unseen position and is invited to come into the foreground. Recognize the spirit and appreciate its strengths.
Observations regarding the practice of my assignments:
Day 9 was, again, enjoyable. My body felt tremendously alive, once again, when I awoke. I missed the neti-pot nasal cleanse.

Sleep record:
I was not so tired Saturday night and had yet another long, satisfying rest, up to 12 hours. I must be really tired.

Additional thoughts or feelings:
This is easy. I found myself better able to be at peace and optimistic about the future.

Cleanse Journal Day 8

Yogic principle for the day: the external discipline of PASSIONATE EFFORT.

What does this principle mean to me?
There are a lot of levels to yoga practice from studying the Yoga Sutras themselves, meditation, hatha yoga practice. One must be motivated to practice … have passion for the practice, otherwise the study will be reduced to mechanical intellectual knowledge, facts belonging to the memory, a long running of trivia. In I.21, Pantajali says that spiritual consciousness is nearest to those of keen, intense will.

Firm will comes through effort; effort by faith. It is not enough to have good intentions or thoughts; we must act on them; we must live them.

How do I honour it on a daily basis? What could I improve?
Tapas is austere practice requiring burning, self-disciplined effort resulting in the purification of our character. Patanjali states in his Yoga Sutra that tapasya leads to perfection (siddhi) of the body and the senses. Tapasya is sustained and regimented endeavor to connect with the divine, while all obstacles are burned up and fall away.

The lifestyle of a householder makes it more difficult than for a monk to have an intense practice. Nevertheless make time for what is really important.

I love, in fact am even passionate about, my evolving, individualized, spiritual lifestyle.

Revisiting sutra 1.14, Patanjali stated that regularity and enthusiasm over a long period of time are what constitutes a firmly grounded practice. So do smaller amounts regularly and as this becomes doable, develop the practice in small steps.

Observations regarding the practice of my assignments:
Day 8 was, again, enjoyable. My body felt tremendously alive, once again, when I awoke. I did not perform a neti-pot nasal cleanse because I quickly left the house for the day.

Daily food/elimination comments:
I continue to enjoy the novelty, aroma and taste of the foods.

My timing was messed up today. Today I really only carried out the breakfast watery routines routine, because I was not home all day and spent a long evening enjoying Prokofiev’s War & Peace opera in Toronto. I ended up eating fruit smoothie for breakfast, fruit smoothie for lunch and some stir-fried vegetables.

Sleep record:
I was not so tired Friday night and had yet another long, satisfying rest, up to 10 hours. Perhaps I should be sleeping less. I am still considering adjusting sleep patterns.

Additional thoughts or feelings:
I’m getting it. My unique schedule has emerged; I can still tinker with it. Again, negative thoughts and memories did not pester me. I was often at peace and optimistic about the future.

Cleanse Journal Day 7

Yogic principle for the day: the external discipline of CONTENTMENT.

What does this principle mean to me?

The second niyama outlined by Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras is santosha , or contentment. It is a condition for enlightenment.

The problem inherent with affluence is, is that we tend to draw satisfaction from material things. Consequently, when we experience lack, we are dissatisfied.

The Apostle Paul advises us: "Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content." Phil 4:11 The word “content” in Greek means "sufficient for one’s self, strong enough to need no aid or support” or “independent of external circumstances."

Jesus urges his disciples not to be anxious about what they eat or drink or wear but to remember that, because their heavenly Father knows all their needs, they should "seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well" (Matt. 6:31-33).
We over-indulge and imbalance the mind and body instead of focusing on the spirit. Material life is miserable because it expresses oppositions and reminds us that birth brings death. Desire is not squelched by the satisfaction of desire; a desire satisfied breeds another desire to experience a similar satisfaction again. The appetite comes in eating.

“What is contentment? Contentment is serenity, but not complacency. It is comfort, but not submission; reconciliation, not apathy; acknowledgment, not aloofness. Contentment is a mental decision, a moral choice, a practiced observance, a step into the reality of the cosmos. Contentment/santosha is the natural state of our humanness and our divinity and allows for our creativity and love to emerge. It is knowing our place in the universe. It is unity with the Divine.” Swami Shraddhananda

To be desire-free and content, is to express patience, not only externally but mentally, towards home, clothing, food, body, mind, intellect, pleasure or pain.

How do I honour it on a daily basis? What could I improve?
Contentment is not a virtue to be shown off. As the body, senses, mind and intellect become craving-free, contentment is experienced.

There seems to be no better antidote for discontent, but to place one-pointed focus upon the eternal. Identify as spirit, and desist in self-indulgence. See the oneness and interconnection of all. Discontent cannot co-exist with the idea that the whole world belongs to the Self; also, discontent cannot be held against anyone recognized as actually one with Self.

Use the process of elimination to reach contentment. Reduce our desires down to our actual possessions and situation. Choose to be satisfied by exactly what is provided to obtain freedom from the uncompromising desires.

Avoid enmity, anger, and distress and try to be happy. Do not work up the desire to have more pleasures. Contentment cannot co-exist with the thought that we must add something to our lives for satisfaction to happen in some future time. "I will be content when I get…." is the losing proposition that proposes something else will always become necessary.

Other ways to cultivate contentment are: practice asanas, pranayama and meditation; keep a journal of all for which I am grateful; be in the flow of life, as when communing with nature, when energies are positive and desireless; and be conscious of contended moments, to sustain them for a longer time, even in other times as when embroiled in chaos and disharmony.

Observations regarding the practice of my assignments:
Day 7 was, again, enjoyable. My body felt tremendously alive, once again, when I awoke. I performed a neti-pot nasal cleanse.

Sleep record:
I was not so tired Thursday night and had yet another long, satisfying rest, up to 10 hours. Perhaps I should be sleeping less. I am still considering adjusting sleep patterns.

Additional thoughts or feelings:
I’m getting it. My unique schedule has emerged; I can still tinker with it. Again, negative thoughts and memories did not pester me.