THIS IS THE THIRD BLOG ON DEATH 

A PRELUDE TO THE TALK ON DEATH AT C.L.L. SCHOTT CENTER - MAY 20th

Today's blog will focus on the Causal Realm

The Ancestors

Our Spirit Guides await out attention and our "asking to receive." As mentioned in last week's blog this requires a devoted spiritual practice in order to 
"spiral into existence spirits that are needed."

Spirit guides reside in multiple different vibrations and go to the vibration they have earned by their karma. 
Most of us will not receive a higher order of information coming from enlightened beings in the Causal (saints, boddisatvas, gurus, visionaries, seers etc.) If we are fortunate enough to download information from the Causal we can ourselves become "seers" and as Sri Aurobindo teaches...

According to the great Yogi Patajali there are five sheaths of consciousness seen in the figure below. As we go inwards toward the center of Ananda or Bliss where we come into direct contact with our Higher Self we reach increasingly refined levels of vibration. 
The Mind Sheath (Narrow Mind) is our monkey mind. This primitive mind chatters persistent messages of delusion to us and together with Ego gets in the way of us attaining a Causal vibration. The Causal body presides in the Intellectual sheath (also called Buddha mind or Spacious mind.) If we can attain this vibration in our life time it is likely we will retain it when we pass over. This, however, is extremely difficult and as Kabir says; "Friend there are very few who find the way."
Without a dedicated spiritual practice it will be almost impossible to subordinate  Monkey Mind and Ego to the Higher Self.

As the Ancestors teach there are as many pathways in death as there are in life. Each spiritual or cultural traditions will have different descriptions of where they go to when they pass over. I think that is why the Dalai Llama tells us to keep our respective religions or traditions because that mind set is likely to propel us into the realm where we feel most comfortable. He stresses that Buddhism is a tool rather than a religion. The yogis say the same thing. There is no contradiction between between using Buddhist or Yoga technology and having one's own belief or retaining or religion. 
When it comes to the realm of enlightened beings it will look different for each according to their belief system; Buddhists will go to the "Pure Land," Yogis to the "Causal," Kabbalists to the "Garden of Eden" and so on. It will be what they always imagined it to be.

We are propelled by our karma, love, truth and imagination to the realm where we belong. Our state of mind and vibration when we cross over is critical.

To yogis the Causal is a bliss state of pure consciousness where the soul can go to dream. The soul can gain knowledge here or not in eternity, One can reincarnate to do service or not. It is also called Moksha, liberation, the absolute, nothingness. It is nameless, Netti or "not that." 

Here there is no duality, no body, mind or ego and no female or male unlike the Astral. 

 Kabbalists call their equivalent the Garden of Eden. There were two Trees in the Garden; the Tree of Knowledge which got us kicked out and the Tree of Life through which we can reattain Eden if we use it as a path for conscious living. Spirits in the Garden retain free will unlike the Astral and can do service from the other side actually even more effectively that when they were alive. Being non local in space and time is a huge advantage for these "quantum"guides.

Click on the link to highlight and play the song

_MP3s/02_Sacredness.mp3

THIS IS THE SECOND BLOG ON DEATH

There are as many paths in life as there are in death and except for a few oversimplified universal principles death remains a complete mystery.

There are, however, several well described realms in various spiritual traditions the most friendly of which, to the Western mind are as follows: 
Celestial or Angelic 
(remote from us)
Causal
Astral
Lower (hopefully also remote for most of us)
There are also a multitude of vibrational levels among each of these categories.

There is a veil between our world and the "other side" (called the Pargawd in Kabbalah.) When we die we usually cross over the veil to reconcile with our karma and reincarnate again. We choose parents that are best able to help our 
"Becoming" 
into a higher vibration of consciousness the next time around. 

Earth Bound Spirits

Some spirits become lost between the worlds and get stuck on the earth plane. This occurs due to a confused death or when one is too "attached" to material possessions or one's love connections. It is not good to mourn for too long since this may hold the spirit of the loved one back on the earth plane. We have to know when its time to let go.

Being earth bound  hampers spiritual progress along our life path. Usually being earth bound is involuntary and the spirit may not even know they are dead. The commonest cause is an elderly person who is attached to his/her home and its objects and stays around the house after death. For this reason in many states in the U.S.A. it is compulsory to reveal if someone had died in the house prior to any impending sale.

Sometimes the spirit may be torn between crossing over and staying a while on the earth plane in order to support a loved one who is suffering from the death or other circumstances. This is a voluntary decision which makes it easier to connect with the living through dreams and visitations than from the other more remote side of the veil.

As the Ancestors teach

The Causal Realm 

is the realm of enlightened beings and perfected souls who do not need to reincarnate though they may choose to, to do further service (the '"Gandhis" of the world.) However, since spirits are not localized in space and time and this is an advantage, the Zohar says;

We all have Buddha nature and are eventually heading toward spiritual perfection and the Causal. This requires a devoted spiritual practice but we need to find our own way.

The Ancestors

The Ancestors

The Buddha (and especially Krishnamurti) stressed...

Since Friday was St Patrick's day I hope you enjoy the songs. 

We go to the realm where we feel most at home. Probably St. Patrick is hanging out with Druids in their equivalent of the Causal realm.

and who knows maybe on the Isles of Gonne

Click the links to highlight and click again to download and play

Messages_from_Ancestors_vol_3_-_MP3s/12_Patricks_Shield.mp3

/Isles_of_Gonne_-_MP3s/06_Isles_of_Gonne.mp3

In the next few weeks we will elaborate on the Causal and some of the other realms. These blogs are also to expand on the upcoming talk at C.L.L. on Death in May. For anyone who has doubts on the information I suggest you also read Eban Alexander's (Harvard neurosurgeon) book Proof of Heaven of his own experience. Each person's will be different depending on their culture and religion or spiritual belief but the principles are the same.

THIS WEEKS BLOG BEGINS A SERIES ON DEATH AND ALSO GIVES AN INTRODUCTION TO THE UPCOMING TALK ON THE SUBJECT IN MAY

THE BLOGS WILL COVER SOME ASPECTS NOT COVERED BY THE LECTURE

I thought I would dedicate this blog to Jorge Montalvo (called by George.) I was introduced to Jorge just after the millennium when he agreed to edit some amazing footage I had obtained during my sangoma initiation - much of it filmed professionally by Lionel Friedberg.  Lionel also guided the editing during those early days. Many of these videos are on my web site.

 I reconnected with Jorge from time to time since he was doing educational videos for Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital. Jorge was always in search of excellence and did not know how to do a 95% job. He always seemed to go for much more than 100%. 

Over the last couple of years he has been videoing my talks given through the Center for Life Long Learning which I have been posting several weeks after the editing.  Many of you who come to the talks know him.

Sadly Jorge passed away suddenly at the age of 56. He was a generous and selfless friend and person. I will miss his friendship and his presence at the back of the hall attending meticulously to all the filming details as he did in the editing.

Most spirits "stay around" the earth plane for a short time to see what is going on before they cross over to the other side. They want to know that they were appreciated and loved. They also may want to forgive or ask forgiveness or draw attention to something important relating to last requests they had neglected to tell their loved ones. 

I am sure Jorge loved the celebration of his life on Friday at Crane school as did we all. Many of us felt his presence there.

After about 30 days spirits usually move over to the other side. 

During the celebration of his life everyone was invited to share an experience of Jorge. One of the Crane school teachers related how just before Jorge passed he had donated a drone to the students. The teacher had neglected to use the drone but felt compelled to honor the gift after Jorge's death. On the last "flight" well after he had mastered the controls the drone took off on its own course and disappeared beyond sight. I am sure that Jorge now in spirit easily managed to control the drone to convince those who loved him that though gone from the earth plane, he will never die. Jorge was a master technician in life and probably more so even now in death.

I had often talked to Jorge about how spirit energies can manipulate electronic equipment and I doubt he ever took the idea seriously. He knew, however, the steps I took during my talks to avoid tricksters interfering with the Power Point or any other cyber contact point that could sabotage the presentation. 

Recently when he was editing some of the sangoma videos to put on my web site he encountered huge interference which he acknowledged he had never experienced in his career before.  When this occurred repetitively I realize it was going to be too much trouble and suggested we abort the project. He declined, persevered hour after hour and refused to charge me for the extra time involved in this Herculean effort. In the end, to my surprise, he succeeded. Such was the wonderful karmic nature of Jorge which will serve him well on his Astral travels. I also think that after this challenge he may have begun to believe me.

Ironically the last two talks he filmed were on the Play of Light and Dark. It is doubtful that unless I can locate the footage they will ever be completed for viewing. 

Who were you Jorge? 

A very special human being - one of a kind!
Go well.

Click to highlight the link, then download and play

_MP3s/09_Giyabonga_-_Thank_You.mp3

THIS IS THE LAST BLOG ON THE PLAY OF LIGHT AND DARK AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT SURVIVING THE LATTER

Buddhists look on adversity in a favorable light as a test of their spiritual practice and the Ancestors say that everything is a test.  Challenges will always arise to see how strong our motivation to do good can be. When there is fear the test may be much stronger because it can put us in survival mode. However, it is usually our karma which is at stake and not really our life. 

The antidotes to the dark forces that confront us are the Three L's below. These three include Joy and Gratitude which are also about laughter and light. We can even find these in hard times.

In addition any sound or music of a high vibration can disperse the dark. Therefore in spiritual and indigenous communities these are used extravagantly; Tibetan gongs, crystal bowls, horns, drumming, rattling, the didgeridoo and others. 

Leopold tells us that there is more than is obvious to hearing ears for us to hear in wild places. Moreover the mantra of bush sounds, the wind in the trees or a babbling brook are all sacred sounds.

Ultimately it is about raising our vibration with sound or aroma as well as increasing our threshold for fear or stress with a regular spiritual practice.

The Ancestors tell us that aroma is one of the most powerful deterrents against the dark. Incense raises the vibration whether used by Yogis or Buddhists or the burning of sage by Native Americans. 

When it comes to trickster spirits we should acknowledge that these entities are of a low vibration and cannot abide anything which raises the vibration above their comfort level. Similarly we should not lower our own vibration or our environment with too much exposure to the media, violent movies, the company we keep or anything else.

Water can also help us. Emoto's research indicates that the vibration of water and its molecular structure changes favorably with prayer and music of a high vibration. He discovered this by looking at the crystal formation under a dark ground microscope after freezing it. These crystals were exquisite under magnification. The opposite was true for all stimuli of a toxic nature. Our bodies are 80% water so if we immerse with the right intention in water of a high vibration whether its a pristine stream in the Sierras or bath water exposed to aroma, sacred sound and even a sacred plant we can raise our vibration significantly.

Try these out and see for yourself. 

Sick patients with incurable diseases verified this at Lourdes and other power spots where healing water embraces the sacred power of Universal Healing Love Energy to cure.

Highlight the link, then download and play

_MP3s/03_Light_and_Dark.mp3

 08_Ram.mp3