CONSOLATIONS

A Time for Balance ... Impermanence ... the Scorpian

The news during the past three months has been anything but good ... The boom economy has collapsed .. and no one is laughing ... Currencies are falling all over the planet ... and people are beginning to worry about their jobs ...

In London, England someone put up a roadside memorial commemorating the death of the 'boom economy'. It included a cross with a British Pound on it ... and even flowers and cards.

The mocking display brought smiles to the passersby .. and those with cameras or cell phones took pictures of the display .. something to show their children or grandchildren in the coming years ...

If anything .. the banking crisis has shown us just how fragile the world is .. just how quickly things can change .. or come to a sudden and abrupt end ...

Now no one is sure what's going to happen next ... maybe plagues .. maybe famine .. or maybe Moses walking down Wall St. and throwing the Ten Commandments at that bronze bull ...

Who knows what forces are at play here ..

Many people are blaming corporate greed for the debacle .. But greed is part of human nature ... and if we don't want it to happen again .. we will have to change... And the only way we can do that .. is to change the kind of thoughts we put in our heads .. especially those thoughts ... that are more concerned about ourselves than others.

Impermanence

According to the Eastern way of thinking ...life is impermanent and the things of life are impermanent ... Nothing ever stays the same ...

The earth and the sun are ever moving objects .. never stagnant .. that race through space at speeds that boggle the human mind...

The earth has gone through many incarnations ... at one time it was a smoldering and steaming ball of spewing volcanoes which cooled and eventually became the home of dinosaurs ... and then one day a huge asteroid hit the earth .. where the Yucatan Peninsula is .. and the dinosaurs died out and vanished ...

.. and now .. we only have their bones as a reminder ... of just how quickly things can change .. or come to a sudden and abrupt end..

The good news is .. that the end .. although it can be brutal .. offers an opportunity to wipe the slate clean and start all over again ... New beginnings are always filled with hope .. the hope to build something different .. something better .. or just something that won't came crashing down on our heads.

The Scorpion

It's almost fitting the collapse of the banks occurred during the time when the Sun was in Libra ... and about a week or so before it entered Scorpio. Libra is associated with balance and the scales of justice and Scorpio is associated with the sting of death ...

In mythology Orion goes on a hunting trip to Crete with the goddess Artemis and her mother Leto ... During the course of the hunt Orion boasts to Artemis that he could kill any beast or creature on Earth ... Earth takes exception to the challenge .. and sends a giant scorpion to kill Orion. The creature succeeds .. the goddess .. feeling somewhat responsible for the boast and Orion's death .. asks Zeus to place him among the constellations which he does .. along with the Scorpion ... probably as a safety measure ... just in case Orion starts feeling invincible again .. and decides to slay all the stars or something.

SRI NEEM KAROLI BABA MAHARAJJI

Today is the birth celebration of Sri Neem Karoli Baba Maharajji who is sometimes referred to as the Wonder Mystic of Northern India. He was born in the village Akbarpur, which is in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India, into a wealthy Brahmin family. At an early age he left home and became a sadhu, a forest holy man, who became known for his miracles and psychic powers. He preached 'love all, serve all and feed all'.

Sri Swami Chidananda, President of the renowned Divine Life Society, who passed away at the age of 93 on August 28, 2008, referred to him as "one of the most unique phenomena among the religious fraternity of Saints, Sages and holy Fakirs of Northern India".

During his life Maharajji helped build temples and ashrams and feed millions of people. He was a worshiper of the ever popular deity Hanuman and always encouraged his followers and devotees to read the Gita and the Ramayana. One of his favorite sayings was "It's better to see God in everything than to try to figure it all out."

In the late 1960's Richard Alpert, a Harvard Professor, traveled to India to find the truth about the Truth and in his quest he found Neem Karoli Baba. After spending time with the elusive sadhu saint, Alpert returned to the United States as Baba Ram Dass and wrote an account of his journey to India and the spiritual transformation he had undergone due to his meeting with Maharajji.

When the book 'Be Here Now' appeared on bookshelves in the west it became an instant success. The book served as a sort of bible for hundreds of thousands of young people who were caught up in the drug culture at that time. Many of them traveled to India to seek out the famed guru while others went from experimenting with drugs to experimenting with religions and in some cases even creating philosophies of their own.

Maharajji passed away and attained 'Mahasamadhi' in Vrindavan, which is near Agra, on September 11,1973. If you wish to learn more about him, you can go to his website. It has more than ample information about the locations of his ashrams and temples and the books written about him.

My favorite section is ... Lilas of Maharajji ... The pages here contain stories that are based on personal experiences devotees and followers have had with Maharajji. Because these stories are less formal and at times can make you laugh and cry, they have a warm and endearing quality about them that make them stick in your mind.