The Mind’s Release from Rebirth #48
Drawn from the wealth of stories from the famous scripture, Yoga Vasistha, comes a teaching chart that outlines the errant soul’s continual fall into cycles of rebirth in ignorance. Besides providing an apt explanation for the presence of so many suffering souls in this world, the teaching also reveals that auspicious moment in a series of lifetimes when the aspiring being, at odds with life and world-weary, affects its wise move back to its Source, featuring all the friends and helpers that encourage it onwards.
$75.00 Add to cart
The Nine Ways of Dealing with Desire #103
Dharmic teachings concerning great cycles of existence — whether they be wheels of life, wheels of death, wheels of transmigration, or wheels of suffering — prove the fact that both philosophical schools and individual souls are specifically interested in knowing the inner dynamics of bondage and freedom. In Maya, or samsara, the matter of release from its limitations is not a simple one, as it also incorporates the karmas of individual souls and entire races — even up and into the realm of the ancestors. There may be wheels inside of wheels, then, all with intricate workings of their own. Since desire is generally accepted by all religions as the creator of bondage and suffering, it will benefit all seekers after true liberation to know how to deal with desire, and how to discern which methods in spiritual life and practice will be effective in removing them for good.
$75.00 Add to cart
The Painful Thorns of Desire-Ridden Rebirth #241
One of Sri Ramakrishna’s favorite stories for communicating to people the reasons for their suffering involves the camel and its habits in life. Desire and habit cause the camel to consume thorny bushes. It loves the taste of these, but has to suffer the thorns piercing through the mouth, cheeks, and tongue. Still, it goes on eating. It will have to take another camel body later based upon its heightened and unfulfilled desire for this taste. This example provides apt analogy for human beings as well, as they go on with whatever preoccupation that pleases them, continuing in it despite the attending suffering that comes to them in the process. Camels become camels again, drug addicts become drug addicts, athletes become athletes, war-mongerers become war-mongerers, intellectuals become intellectuals again — all based upon this inexorable law of karma. Only those who court freedom escape these suffering-prone cycles by getting over their desires.
$75.00 Add to cart
The Palette of Conscious Future Lives #182
Though India is far out ahead of other countries and religions in terms of what is known about the dynamics of death and rebirth, the entire world is not giving much thought or action to the subject. Whereas focusing in on the present lifetime and making the most of it is wise, it is the karmas formed in past lifetimes that are impeding the present lifetime, and which may attend upon and hamper any future life as well. So, a wiser tact would be to inform the soul of the facts around past and future lives. In this dharma wisdom chart, both facts and possibilities are listed down, including elements of consideration for the sincere aspirant who wants to make the best choices for living a life of higher awareness, dying consciously, and for having all options available for choosing the best possible life in the future.
$75.00 Add to cart
The Process of Embodiment #80
The fresh and recent set of teachings regarding the process of embodiment given by Holy Mother, Sri Sarada Devi, is a welcome addition to a whole new expression of Indian Dharma that has made its way to Western shores thanks to Swami Vivekananda’s arrival here in the West in 1893. For, the embodied soul needs to know of its inner powers in this regard, what to speak of its predicament in the realms of name and form — which are always at risk due to the uprising of suffering in daily life. Living a conscious life that is sensitive to both the presence of God, as well as the needs of others such as family, friends, and the world at large, is made possible and greatly enhanced by knowing about the movements of the mental body in sleep and after death; also prior to its new birth. The Holy Mother sees Her children go through their lifetimes in relativity, and so makes known the facts and possibilities of the reincarnation process for them so they can transcend rebirth and even live a pure and stainless life when they do take on a body.
$75.00 Add to cart
The Three Bodies Comprising the Nonself #63
Unknown to most living beings on this earth today, the human being has three bodies, not just one. Even to merely entertain this idea will begin to break down mental and psychological barriers and open up doors to higher wisdom, while to take it up as a subject for ongoing and extended meditation will, over time, help release the embodied soul from attachment to all forms, leading to Freedom. Preoccupation with both the idea that one is the body, as well as remaining unaware of the existence of a subtle and a causal body that one experiences in dream and deep sleep, are the causes of avidya, or ignorance of one’s true nature, or Atman, beyond all bodies. The Eternal Way leading to Ultimate Reality is thus paved by the three paths of knowledge of the three bodies, and their inspection in deep meditation.
$75.00 Add to cart
Varnashrama — The Four Castes of Life #301
Being the world’s most well-ordered, effective, and long-lived cultural system, the four castes of India saw millennia of perfect order and synthesis. Though more modern times has seen a decline in that ancient order of castes, it nevertheless remains an exemplary model for how to live together as a race and culture in this world. This dharma chart defines the castes, and offers quotes from Sri Krishna on the qualities and duties of all of them.
$75.00 Add to cart