The Bird
The Angel
of
Tears
. . . . . the Rain of Grace . . . . .
The Angel
of
Tears
. . . . . the Rain of Grace . . . . .
click on the image to enlarge
Part III of a continuing series of
Pandemic-Inspired
Photography Projects
The shakti [i.e., grace, the Creative Power of the Universe] is a treasure-house.
By unlocking your heart [grace] reveals your own divinity. ~ Allow your
mind to revel in the deep silence of the heart. In the beginning you may
find your heart is sad, your heart is full of conflicts. Stay with it.
Keep going deeper. Let the tears roll down your cheeks . . .
Keep going deeper. You will find a beautiful space of
silence. Although this space has total stillness, it
is highly charged with shakti. Allow your
mind to take repose in the deep silence
of your being . . . [where] a great
wonder will take place . . . You
will emerge with great
liveliness, full of life,
full of joy.
Gurumayi Chidviasananda, from her book Remembrance
Introduction
This photography project, which was produced throughout the month of August, 2020, is the third in an ongoing series inspired by the Coronavirus Pandemic. (The first two projects are: STAY HOME and Returning Home) The present project is pervaded by dark tonalities, a touch of the surreal, and feelings of grief, sadness and anger about the suffering of so many people in this country, and around the entire planet, due to the self-serving politics that have belied so much of what has been happening in this country in the last four years.
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There is always so much more going on below the surface of those things the eyes can see: the infinite play of maya, the constant manifestations of the ego, the limited perceptions of a dualistic mind. We can be so blinded by these powerful forces that the "great wonder" of the "deep silence" that pervades the Invisible Reality goes unrecognized.
The black border that surrounds my title photograph, and all the other images in this project, could be taken to symbolize many things. (You will have to come to terms with that for yourself. However, I will share with you some of my experiences and ideas regarding the images after the presentation of the nineteen photographs.) Certainly, it must me noted, the black border is nothing new in my Creative Process.* It emerged in the the year 1999-2000 after I began the Garage Series and other projects inspired by the music of Morton Feldman, an American composer who suspended beautiful sounds in a musical space he called the Chromatic Field, a space of Silence and Stillness, and a space of transformation and creative potentiality; a space in which new sounds, images and meanings would emerge . . . become suspended for some time . . . and then gently dissolved back into the unknown--that silence, that stillness from which they were born.
(*Projects with black bordered photographs include: The Thing Centered Projects; The Garage Series; The Departing Landscape Project , Triadic Memories, and many of the Sacred Art Photography Projects, including the very first project in that continually growing series, "An Imaginary Book")
Despite my despairing over the Pandemic and the political crises associated with it, I continue to experience and imbibe--with gratitude--the grace that pervades my Creative Process and my practices of Siddha Yoga Meditation. The best of my photographs in this project--those which function for me as symbols--have (for me) an inner radiance that, if not immediately apparent, nonetheless emerges from the darkness surrounding the images as a gift, an offering of grace, the Creative Power of the Universe, which is capable of transforming any situation. The yogic sages tell us everything we experience depends upon our attitude, and how we cast our gaze: inwardly or outwardly. (I will follow up on this point in my Epilogue.)
As you proceed through the sequence of nineteen images, below, I think it will become apparent that the black border surrounding each of the photographs functions in different ways. Sometimes it appears as if a window through which we are given an insider's view of perhaps an unknown or unlikely surreal world (as viewers, we become like voyeurs hidden in the dark, watching the outer dramas as they come toward us, and then pass by). Or the black border may appear to provide a perspective similar to that of a camera. Or, more subjectively and mysteriously, it may provide us with a means of unveiling (or at least questioning) our own internal-psychic perceptual processes. That is to say, a photograph that is functioning for us as a symbol could give us a glimpse of how our seeing may be essentially a projection of self-created images upon a "viewing screen" within our own consciousness. (Visit my project: Seeing the Grand Canyon)
Please "Click On" Each Image
I have carefully fine tuned the tonalities and colors of each photograph in this project for viewing in a completely dark environment. Thus, I am very concerned about How the photographs in this project are viewed on your computer screen. My blog's default viewing mode places my project--its images and texts--upon a white tonal ground; thus it will be necessary for you to change the blog's viewing mode if you want to see the images to their best advantage and in alignment with my visual-aesthetic intentions. To this end, it will be best if you can view this project on a laptop or desktop computer, and simply place your cursor on each image, separately, and then click once upon it as you scroll down the sequence of nineteen images.
Clicking once on an image will enable you to see the photograph in an alternate, all dark viewing environment. And there is an added bonus to viewing images in this: the sharpness of the image will improve, and the image will gain in tonal fidelity and luminosity.
And, if you click on the image a second time, it will probably become enlarged, allowing you to choose details in the image from a closer perspective.
One other thing; I hope you will be able to see the images on your computer the way I see them on mine, for when I click on an image I can see (though it is pretty subtle) that the dark tonality surrounding the image and its black border is slightly lighter than the pure black tone of the border. (This nuanced difference in tonalities will be particularly important when viewing the concluding image in this project.)
(Note: if the tone separation between the black border and its surrounding alternate viewing space tonality is not visible to you on your computer, I suggest try brightening your screen illumination, or adjusting the contrast if possible.)
*
Following the presentation of the photographs, I invite you to check out my Commentary on selected images, and the Epilogue that concludes the project. I have also included an Addendum in which I have provided links to four articles I have found to be important.
The
Photographs
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(Please click once, twice, on each images)
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(Please click once, twice, on each images)
#1 A Dog Contemplating An Upside Down Question Mark?
#2 Picture Window with Tear Streaks, a Bird, a Snowflake, an Indoor plant, and a Meadow and Woods in the background
#3 Mall Parking Light and Red Evening Sky
#4 A bar decorated with two Bird of Paradise flowers
#7 Bird, in the light of dawn after a summer rain storm
#9 Sunlit Stone In Shadowed Brook
#10 Symmetrical Photograph : The Blue Angle of Tears . . . of Grace . . .
#11 Summer Storm, Wind-blown Bird Feeder, Deck Railing, Tree Limb, North Meadow Pond
#12 Front Door Window, Reflections
#13 Window Shade
#14 Round Table with Potted Plant, Reflections of Light from the Front Door Window
#15 Silver Platter of Tomatoes in late evening light of sunset
#16 Red Light of the setting sun, Cloud, Woods & Meadow in darkness
#17 Reflection of Lamplight On Refrigerator Door
#18 Tearing Picture Window, Bird, Snowflake, illuminated lamp at dusk
#19 The Black Border
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Commentary
On Selected Photographs
Regarding "A Dog Contemplating An Upside Down Question Mark?"
The idea for putting black borders around the photographs in this project was spontaneously initiated by the image, #1, below.
#1 A Dog Contemplating An Upside Down Question Mark?
(Note: when I make a photograph that I like but cannot be used in the project I am currently working on, I place it in my Unpublished Photos folder for safe keeping and possible use in a later blog project. ~ Whenever I begin a new project I always review the photographs collected in the folder in hopes of re-discovering images made in the past that can be used in the new project.)
The (#1) image was taken inside a darkened "underground theatre," a room with a large window through which zoo visitors can watch sea lions swimming under water in their pool. Usually they would swim in a continuous parade, around and around past the viewing window as if to entertain their viewers with their speed and graceful movements. However, there was an unusual pause--a moment of calm in the action--which occurred as I was watching. As I was waiting to see what would happen next . . . an upside down Y floated slowly, mysteriously, by the window. It's form seemed hypnotically suspended in time and space. I eventually thought to take a couple of pictures of the spectacle before it passed out of sight and the sea lions resumed their swimming by the window.
I thought nothing more about that strange event until I got home and reviewed all the pictures I had taken at the zoo that day. When I saw the (#1) image the first time, I became fascinated by the magical quality of the image, including the appearance of a dog in the bottom left hand corner of the window which seemed as if it were looking up at the mysterious object suspended in water . . . which I at first interpreted to be an upside-down question mark.
But then, I wondered: "How could there be a dog in this picture?" So I looked back at all the photos I had taken at the zoo that day and found one other photograph I had taken of the upside down Y. The second image included a little boy standing by the window; he was wearing a baseball cap! I had mistaken the bill of the boy's hat, emerging from the darkness in the corner of image #1, as the nose of a dog.
The idea of a dog looking up at an upside down Y (?) --suspended in space and time-- struck me as a meaningful metaphor for the existential crisis in which I, and most other citizens of this "United" States of America find ourselves living (. . . in suspension . . . in shock. . . in fear and disbelief . . .) not only because of the Coronavirus Pandemic and the horrific suffering it has caused (and many deaths, the loss of jobs, the need for online teaching of classes . . .) but also because of Donald Trump's continuous attempts to manipulate, mislead, confuse (distract) and divide the people of this country (victims & potential voters).
The "Dog" image was asking all the frustrated questions I had been accumulating, locked up inside me: "What is happening in and to this country?" ~ "What will become of US?" ~ "Can anything be believed or trusted anymore?" ~ "How is it possible that Trump keeps getting away with all the damage he is doing to this country, its people, the environment?" ~ "If Trump looses the election in November, what will happen?" (He has threatened to do everything possible to stay in Power if he claims the voting process has been skewed against him).
Regarding the Black Border
The image Dog Contemplating An Upside-down Question Mark? which is surrounded in darkness helped to open me to the feelings of fear, anxiety, anger and sadness that I had been trying to ignore. The self-born black space surrounding the surreal image also provided me with a graphic motif that I could use to help visually unify the rather quirky body of work I had collected together for the project. Also, the black border provided me with a visual metaphor that was open-ended enough to allow for new meanings and feelings to emerge as my attitude and my perspective of Trump and the Pandemic underwent various changes in the later stages of my working on this project--changes that were initiated by my spiritual practices and the yogic teachings.
Regarding the word "Dog"
The word "Dog" when spelled backwards becomes "God." That had not been lost on me; indeed, as a student of Siddha Yoga for the past thirty-three years I have found myself really struggling recently with my feelings about Trump and his Administration in relationship to his mis-handling of the Coronavirus Pandemic, his denial of Climate Change, and his increasingly Fascist campaigning strategies. As a student of yoga I am faced with the questions: "How to stand back and watch all of the craziness with some degree of equanimity?" "How do I put into practice the yogic teachings I have been studying and contemplating?" (I have attempted to address these questions in the project's Epilogue.)
The Seat of the Soul
Though I am not a strong supporter of Joe Biden, his campaign theme "Battle for the Soul of America" seems appropriate for the times, and the repeated hearing of the slogan sparked a remembrance of an aphorism I had read in a book of poetry edited by Robert Bly. A German poet, author, mystic and philosopher named Novalis (1772-1801) wrote the following:
The seat of the soul is where the inner world and the outer world meet.
Where they overlap, it is in every point of the overlap.
The aphorism seemed related in some way to this project and its images. As I contemplated this, it occurred to me that each of the photographs in this project--with its surrounding black border--was a visual metaphor for the aphorism. I will try to explain.
The places (or points) where the black shapes and tones on the four edges of the photographic image interface or meet (or overlap) with the black tones of the four surrounding borders represent (for me) "the Place" of spiritual transcendence, a visual representation for me the idea of the re-union or merging of the individual soul with the Universal Soul, which is essentially the ultimate goal of all forms of sadhana, yogic practice.
The Merging of Black Into Black & the Dissolution of the Picture's Edge
The yogic scriptures say that everything in this created universe eventually dissolves back into the divine mystery from which it was born. Thus, similarly, I noticed that as I looked more closely at my photographs, and how the varying spaces and tonalities interfaced with the black border I had placed around the images, there were not only points or specific places in the image that merged with the black space of the border, but indeed in some instances there was a merging-dissolution of an entire edge of the photographic image with its black border; in other cases there was the dissolution of two, three and all four of its edges.
#9 Sunlit Stone In Shadowed Brook
In image #9, above, the illuminated stone within the center of the image, and the darker stones surrounding it (stones which had been submerged both in water and in shade) appear to be suspended together in a boundless unifying black space. In this "borderless" image, in which the "two Imaginal worlds" (the interior blacks of the photographic image, and the four exterior black borders surrounding the image) have merged completely into each other, we have a visual metaphor for the Oneness of Being. To add to the beauty and mystery of this particular photograph, the illuminated stone in the center (the "heart") of the image is itself shaped like a Heart, the popular image that symbolizes Love, and the sacred dwelling place the Universal Soul, the Supreme divine Self.
#10 Symmetrical Photograph : The Blue Angel of Tears . . . of Grace . . .
The Flight to Union
In the #10 image, which is one of two symmetrical photographs I included in this project, only two partial edges (on the left and on the right) are visible; the top and bottom edges of the image have dissolved completely into the surrounding black border. (The second symmetrical image is #5, Mausoleum Facade).
The source image (the "straight" photograph) with which I constructed this symmetrical image was a close up of "tear streaks" that had formed on our picture window after a summer rain storm. The four-fold symmetrical construction process transformed the source image in an unexpected and particularly meaningful way for me: a magical bird, or perhaps some kind of prehistoric "winged" animal or insect, had emerged from within the transformational process, which appears inhabited by an internal light and an ineffable living archetypal presence which I associate with Angels.
This image, and all of my symmetrical photographs (which I began making in 2011 and dominate most of my Sacred Art Photography Projects) are quite literally a visual expression of the Oneness of Being, the union of mirroring opposites both above and below, and left and right.
There are several other "bird" images in this project; in addition to this symmetrical photograph, I count three other "straight" photographs (#2, #7 and #18). Plus there are two other images which invoke the presence of birds through the words used in their titles: #11, contains a windblown bird feeder; and image #4, contains two red flowers named Birds of Paradise.
(Note: the presence of bird imagery has come strongly into two of my most recently completed projects: Returning Home, part II of my Pandemic series, and a project I completed in March of 2020, entitled Seeing the Blackbird, which contains a collection of images that function as a visual response to a poem by Wallace Stevens entitled Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird. ~ Also in Chapter 4 of my Still Life Project, completed in late 2013, I included a visual-textual meditation on birds; and angels (as well as birds) and have appeared in many other projects (see especially my project The Angels, 2014). ~ I regard birds as spiritual beings. They symbolize many things for me, including mystery, divine presence, music, the freedom associated with flying, and the spiritual longing to achieve the Flight to Union. See my blog project Celestial Gardens, the section entitled "Flight of Birds to Union.")
"The Tears in Things"
The title of image #10, The Bird, the Angel of Tears . . . the Rain of Grace . . . associates the symmetrical image with birds and angels, sadness and grief; and then rain and tears, which are associated with grace. The "tears" that I photographed had formed on our picture window shortly after a violent storm which was accompanied with very strong winds (see Image #11, Windblown Bird Feeder) and a dramatic temperature change which joined forces to created a fog on the window and many condensation ("tear") streaks.
American poet Robert Bly edited and introduced a wonderful book of poetry (published by Sierra Club) entitled News of the Universe : poems of twofold consciousness. In his introduction he writes about a consciousness that pervades nature--stones, plants, trees, storms . . . (and most every other "thing" in the Universe). And then, in the back of the book he includes an essay he wrote, a meditation on a poem by Goethe, in which he explores what he refers to as a "psychic tone of nature" that is related "to what human beings call 'grief,' what Lucretius called 'the tears in things' . . . [which, he adds] strike many people as having some melancholy in it."
After I first read News of the Universe, around 1984, I began to notice this feeling of sadness in certain things I saw and felt drawn to photograph. I thought to myself: "Perhaps these things are sad because we humans have not been listening to what they have been trying to to say to us." These "Thing" photographs were also a response to Bly's fascinating introduction to the fifth chapter of News of the Universe which is dedicated to what he calls The Object Poem.
For my first major exhibition devoted to "Thing Photographs" (in 1994 at the Michael H. Lord Gallery in Milwaukee) I wrote a statement that pertains in many ways to this project. (click here to see the online version of the exhibition and my Artist Statement). Later on I would make "thing" photographs in which I suspended an object in the center of a vast black space. (Click here to see my collection of Thing projects)
Even before the Pandemic hit New York State I had begun feeling a sadness that related to the fact that humans were not listening to what the Natural World was "trying to say to us."* This feeling reemerged with a vengence after Donald Trump was elected in 2016 and immediately began denying the science supporting Climate Change by calling it a "hoax," by his withdrawing the US from the Paris Climate Accord, and by his ongoing series of legal actions to roll back US laws that had been written to protect human health and the health of the environment. A recently published article in EcoWatch states that Environmental Protection Agency regulators across the country "granted 3,000 requests from polluting oil and gas operations, government facilities, chemicals plants, and other facilities to stop pollution monitoring and other procedures intended to protect human health and the environment."
(Note: my wife Gloria and I have taken Trumps attacks on science and the environment very personally. We were very active in New York State's environmental groups battling the Gas and Oil Industry who wanted to do hydrofracking in this very beautiful state rich in fresh water--a necessary resource needed by the oil and gas industry for its horribly aggressive and toxic drilling process which contaminates the fresh water it uses beyond saving. It is tragic and unconscionable what Trump is doing to our country's environment; indeed, the life of the entire planet is at stake, but self-serving power and money is all he seems to care about.)
Of course I know that the symmetrical image #10 came to me through the grace of my Creative Process, and though I feel the gratitude of having received such a wonderful gift--a visual, symbolic affirmation of a higher, sacred Truth--I have not been able to shake the sadness, the anger and fear that I feel regarding the damage Trump is doing to our environment and the entire planet . . . damage which already has caused, and will have an even more serious--if not devastating--impact on the life of my children and grandchildren. (California wildfires are the worst ever this year.)
(Note: my concern for the environment became a central issue in my work in the 2007-2012 project entitled The Departing Landscape. When I initiated this blog, in 2010, I decided to name it after that project which I was working on at the time: TheDepartingLandscape.blogspot.com)
#19 The Black Border (please click on the image)
This image, which concludes the project's sequence of photographs, was an unexpected, quirky last minute addition. It appears at first to be an all black space; however its title The Black Border hints of the secret hidden within its darkness; and when it is viewed in the blog's alternate dark-toned viewing mode (by clicking once on the image) the shape of the border clearly emerges, suspended in a tonal environment slightly lighter than the pure black tone of the border. In other words, Image #19, when viewed in the alternate viewing mode, presents the black border as a thing in itself suspended, still, silent, timelessly, in a tonal environment that represents a subtle, inner luminosity.
(Note: if, after clicking on image, the black border does not appear suspended in the slightly lighter tone that is within and surrounding the black border, try brightening your computer's screen display.)
Fana
This image perhaps could also symbolize what the Sufis call fana, the dissolution of the duality of the mind, the divisiveness of the ego, what in Yoga is called maya, illusion--in any case that which separates us from the most sacred of Truths. The mystics tell us that when duality is dissolved, what is unveiled is the astounding recognition: "I am, and always have been, living in Union with God, the Universal Soul, the divine Self." ~ Annmarie Schimmel, in her book Mystical Dimensions of Islam writes about the Sufi poet named Shabistari, who in a poem written in 1311 tells of of the mystic "traveler" (The Perfect Man) who goes the twofold way: "down into the world of phenomena, then upward to the light and divine unity."
The "Black Light"
Fana, writes Schimmel, is a "nullification of being" in which the Sufi mystic dissolves, merges into the divine presence. When those who have experienced this ineffable state of being--Union, or Oneness with God--and have tried to write about it, Schimmel says they must resort to varying images and metaphors, for the experience transcends the limits of words, which are the creations of the dual mind.
Thus the Sufis have spoken about fana as an experience of the Black Light, "the light of bewilderment." When this sacred light fully appears in the mystic's consciousness, a blackout occurs: "all disappears . . . until the mystic perceives that this blackness is 'in reality the very light of the Absolute-as-such,' for existence in its purity is invisible and appears as nothing."
Schimmel, again, quotes the poet Shabistari: "The Absolute is so nakedly apparent to man's sight that it is not 'visible.'" "An idea" says Schimmel, "often expressed by the mystics: the overwhelming nearness [to God] blinds the eye, just as unveiled light becomes invisible, 'black.'"
*
Prelude to the Epilogue
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Prelude to the Epilogue
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"If you are constantly looking outward, then you always find flaws.
When you turn your gaze inward, you see the supreme light."
Swami Muktananda
There comes a time when your gaze appears to be
outside, but your focus is inward. And this is the
purpose of all spiritual practices: they take us
inside. Inside there is everything. And then
you begin to live from that space. / So you
have to go beyond your usual perception
and make the inner vision the real
vision. Then when the mind plays
tricks, you are able to see
beyond the initial
darkness.
Gurumayi Chidvilasananda
from her book Remembrance
Epilogue
A yogic perspective
What Donald Trump is helping me to see
Donald Trump, yes, of course, like all of us, is a flawed man: he is a narcissist, a sociopath, a crook, a con man; an abuser of people, an abuser of power; a "clown" who speaks for the shadow of this country and the shadow of Russia, both of which seem determined to destroy our democracy, our most precious Power, and the environment, the health of this planet and all its people.
On the other hand, Trump has shined a light on the widespread and long term racism in this country; the evil that has been hiding in the dark cracks of our civilization; Russia's many ways of intervening in our country's sacred Constitution and its many processes of democracy. Trump has shined a light on many of the loop-holes in our country's Constitution, the problems with our two-party system, and the frighteningly unbounded, awesome Powers and responsibilities that come with the Office of the Presidency--which, in the wrong hands, becomes a danger to us all, and the environment, and the entire planet as well. (See the four items in my Addendum, below.)
In her book Remembrance, Gurumayi Chidvilasanada, my Siddha Yoga Meditation teacher, writes about protection:
When you receive the Guru's grace, the Guru's shakti, you receive protection.
You don't have to protect yourself from this universe or from God or from the Guru.
You have to protect yourself from the workings of your own mind. That is where you need
protection. You never know when your mind may turn nectar into dirty water. That
is why the Vedas say: "O my mind, always resolve on that which is noble,
benevolent, and good." Again and again, bring your mind back
to the source of happiness, to God, to the great things
people do for you in your life.
Gurumayi Chidvilasananda
Despite all of terrible things Trump has been doing, he unwittingly has helped me to better understand certain yogic teachings I have been trying to resolve and integrate since I first began practicing Siddha Yoga Meditation in 1987. My angry and grieving preoccupations with Trump--his words, his actions--have at times shifted my focus too much outwardly, such that I lost track of the Truths of the Yogic Teachings: that Trump is nothing more thana "player" in God's drama, the Play of Consciousness.
When I meditate and contemplate the yogic teachings, when I make photographs and contemplate the symbolic images, the tensions of the duality of the mind subside; I regain my peace of mind; I get in touch with the deep silence and stillness of the Heart.
It is because of the duality of the mind that the world appears as a mere world. I will explain to you the essence of thousands of scriptures in half a verse. The world is an illusion. There is no difference between the individual soul and the supreme Soul. They are one and the same. This was the teaching of Shankaracharya who wrote:
This world is the creation of the mind.
Once the mind become mindless [pure, non-dual, still, silent, fana]
there is no world.
There is only heaven [the bliss of the Self, Supreme Consciousness]
Silence is the root of all sadhanas [spiritual practices].
My photography became a "spiritual practice" for me a few years after I started practicing Siddha Yoga in 1987. The best of my photographs--those which function for me as True, living symbols--stop my mind and provide me with glimpses of that Unitary Reality that pervades the Heart, which is the sacred dwelling place of the Universal Soul, the divine Self.
However, I understand that the photographs I make are but steps on the great Path; I have untold miles yet to travel. But the grace that enlivens my Creative Process and the photographs is connected to the grace of my yogic practices and the timeless knowledge, the Timeless Lineage of Siddha Teachers which includes Gurumayi Chidvilasanada, and her teacher, Swami Muktananda, and his teacher, Bhagawan Nityananda (whom Muktananda lovingly referred to as "Gurudev").
I have learned from the teachings of these Great Beings, and my experiences of their grace, that everything that happens in my life contains silent messages from the Universe, the Universal Soul, Supreme Consciousness. In the process of creating this project I have at last come to a deeper understanding of what Donald Trump has been trying to "teach" me, help me to see and understand.
To best explain what I mean, I will share with you the words and teachings of Swami Muktananda and Bhagawan Nityananda, two of the greatest and most highly respected yogic saints of modern day India. The text excerpts I have selected and provided below were taken from Swami Muktananda's book Bhagawan Nityananda of Ganeshpuri in which he pays loving homage to, and shares the teachings of, his beloved guru Bhagawan Nityananda.
Nityananda was born an avadhut, one who lived in the constant, unbroken state of conscious awareness of his Union, or Oneness with God, even from the earliest moments in which he entered into a human form.
Though Nityananada passed away in 1961, his living divine presence continues to be felt by his devotees today, and his teachings have been carried forward by his most devoted disciple, Swami Muktananda.
Nityananda famously spoke very few words, but his every word, sound and gesture, and his entire physical being, was said to have been pervaded with the knowledge and sacred energy of the divine Self, the grace, the shakti that is the Creative Power of the Universe. Nityananda's devotees, those who have had direct experiences of the great saint, have said that they received what they needed from him even if no words were spoken. Indeed, Nitynanda's greatest disciple, Swami Muktananda has written in detail about how many of the teachings he received from his Gurudev came to him through silent dialogues, inner communications that transcended the limits of mere words. This direct, heart-to-heart communication between Muktananda and his Gurudev continued after Nityananda left his body. (Gurumayi has also shared that she receives inner messages from her beloved guru, Swami Muktananda and Bhagawan Nityananda.)
After Swami Muktananda received Bhagawan Nityananda's initiating grace, it took Muktananda nine years of intense sadhana to become fully enlightened. He then devoted the rest of his life to fulfilling the command of his Gurudev: to share the teachings, the knowledge and the shakti, or grace he had received from Nityananda (and from Muktananda's own enlightened state) with seekers around the world.
I am grateful to be able to conclude this project with the grace-filled words, the True teachings that follow, below. They have served me, recently, as a profound reminder of who I truly am, and who Donald Trump truly is.
Here are the words of Swami Muktananda:
Shree Gurudev pervaded everyone in equal measure. This entire world consists of different forms of God. Yogis who have attained complete knowledge say this world is a play of God, and He can be seen in every part of it. The world is not a solid substance, not the final reality; it is a form of the Self, a play of divine Consciousness, a symbol of joy. Marveling at this cosmic drama, some have called the Lord a master of disguise, a supreme actor who can play any role, because even though God is one and indivisible, He reveals Himself in millions of forms, and through maya God takes part in every play. Though inactive, God appears to be active. The delusions of maya, and maya herself, are also forms of the Lord. All this is God's amazing composition. His mysterious creation. Even though God is free, He assumes a body. Though God is the giver of all, He takes on the form of a beggar and eats whatever is given in charity. The only One dwelling in this entire world is God. In Him lies the ever-changing drama of this astounding world.
Once a photographer asked permission to take a picture [of Bhagawan Nityananda]. "Take a picture of the world." Gurudev replied. "I am the world. Is there any place where I don't exist? In everything, there is a glimpse of me."
Since Gurudev saw neither faults or virtues, he saw nothing to reject and nothing to accept. Nityananda Baba was beyond all dualities, established in the state of supreme freedom. He was a Siddha. His nature was pure Consciousness, illumined by the light of the Self.
[Muktanand's writes:] This very world is a form of meditation, and a person perceives the world according to his or her feeling. Our understanding of other people, of the world, and of God Himself is determined by our attitude and feeling.
Through meditation, one becomes that on which his mind dwells. That is, whatever the seeker meditates on, that is what he becomes. . . . Meditation means to still the thought-waves of the mind completely. Stabilizing the mind is the goal of meditation. All the sorrows of the world are due to the fluctuations of the mind. Ecstasy lies in the thought-free state of mind.
One day in Gurudev's presence, I referred to someone as a crook. Immediately Gurudev said, "He Muktananda! Is there really any crooked person in this world? It is just the crookedness in your cleverness. Everything is the pervasion of the supreme Truth. God has created the play of the world for his own pleasure. No one in the world is crooked."
"Oh Muktananda! You are seeing with petty understanding. With this kind of awareness, you are heading in the wrong direction. Change your outlook. Correct your understanding. Then see that the world is just a play . . . It is neither true nor false. Know this secret."
[Muktanand's writes:] So the world is as you see it. You project your own outlook onto someone else, onto this entire creation. Otherwise, this world is nothing but God. Everyone is an image of the beautiful Lord. Everyone is a flame of the supreme Truth.
Since I rely absolutely on my Guru, on God, there is no need on my part to worry about the future because whatever has to happen will happen, the persons who are going to execute those things will arrive at the right time, and everything will happen automatically.
[Gurudev would say:] "Do not look for faults in others, nor congratulate yourself on singing their praises. Shun evil completely, but do not at the same time become attached to good. ~ Destitution should be as welcome as riches. Both of them are the fruits of past actions. They affect one who identifies himself with them. Remain detached from both since they are the consequences of destiny determined by karma and are the will of God. . . . Do not prefer one to the other. . . Do not become agitated by either the riches of the wealthy or the poverty of the poor. . . . You put on the guise of a lover of God, yet you resort to the malicious distinction of high and low. Open your eye of knowledge and see what you should do. You have sought initiation in the outlook of equality, but your actions reek of partisanship, of inequality. This is a mockery of devotion and knowledge. Do not behave like this. It is God who appears in different guises. . ."
[Gurudev would say:] "The universe is based on duality. Duality will vanish only when the universe vanishes. . . Why should you take sides in any way. Realize that it is God who weeps and God who laughs. . . God's will alone works. . . Why do you perceive differences in God. All is God indeed."
[Muktanand's writes:] One of the greatest delusions in which man is entangled [is that he thinks] "I have done this, I will do that," when in fact it is God who does everything. . . We think we are the agents of action, but the fact is that it is some other power that makes everything happen. Out of pride each of us thinks, "It is I who am doing everything," where as it is the Lord who is the real doer. So give up your attachments to desire, greed, delusion, anger, and pride. These passions have treated you in the most miserable manner. They have put you in their pocket. Try to escape their tyranny; try to know your true inner Self.
All texts excerpts above, in blue, were taken from Swami Muktananda's book Bhagawan Nityananda of Ganeshpuri, a 1996 publication of the SYDA Foundation.
This project was announced on my blog's
Welcome Page on September 9, 2020.
Related Project Links:
Welcome Page to The Departing Landscape website-blog which includes the complete hyperlinked listing of my online photography projects from most recent to those dating back to the 1960's. Here you will also find my resume, contact information . . . and much more.
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Addendum:
I have included below four additional links that I had initially included in my project's text and then was eventually edited out. Nonetheless I want to share them with you, if you have interest.
3. Click here to see Steve Harper's brief explanation--as recommended by Bill Moyers--of the 1,000 page report by the GOP led Senate Intelligence Committee that states there is clear evidence that the Trump-Russia connection in 2016 was not a "Hoax" and that the connection with Russia has continued to this very day.
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