Torah-Veda

An Interspiritual Journey
Find Your Inspiration and Follow It

WELCOME TO TORAH-VEDA

Torah and Veda are two ancient sources of spirituality still vibrant today. Torah is conveyed through the sacred language of Hebrew and Veda is conveyed through the sacred language of Sanskrit. The focus here is on meditation, mysticism, philosophy, psychology and the underlying spirituality that has been incorporated into religions, and not as much on the religions themselves. Your comments and posts are welcome.


Quote of the Week 419 - Listend/Hearing for Non-material Sustenance

Quote of the Week 419 - Listening/Hearing for Non-material Sustenance


Every one who is thirsty, come and drink. He who has no money, come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good. Let your soul delight in abundance. Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, that your soul will live…


--Isaiah 55:1-3, The Living Torah translation by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan

CURRENT TEACHING SESSIONS




Interfaith/Inter-Spiritual Contemplative Groups


Please check out the following, which is an ongoing activity that may be of interest:


https://www.zgatl.org/contemplative-group.html


https://www.zgatl.org/ongoing-groups.html


http://www.interfaithci.org/contemplative.html


https://faithallianceofmetroatlanta.org/recent-events/programs-events/ongoing-programs/











Friday, February 12, 2021

Basic Spiritual Principles, Boiled Down

 Basic Spiritual Principles, Boiled Down

1. BE

2. Be Aware

3. Be Aware of Awareness

4. Be Aware of your Origin

5. Be Kind

6. If you find yourself incapable of, or incomplete in Being any of the above, work at Becoming it.

7. In the spirit of the great spiritual masters of all times and places, everything else is commentary and guidance. Study. Especially study yourself to locate, become and BE the Self you already are, but may not be aware of in all of its paradoxical Fullness and Emptiness.

This will result in increasingly inspired and meaningful living.


And now for the elaborations:

1. BE. We all Are, so this is a gimme.

2. Be Aware. The Bill Clinton strategists had the political slogan, "It's the economy, stupid". Well, in the dimension of spiritual growth, paraphrasing Forest Gump's mama, "Awareness is as Awareness does." I is all about Awareness and expanding it, becoming fully aware. We all are partly aware - it comes with Being. It is not, or should not, be complicated, but we make it so, individually and collectively, as attested to by psychotherapists, philosophers, theologians, and others.

3. Be Aware of Awareness. Ditto.

4. Be Aware of your Origin. This is just anothother way of stating what the likes of Ramana Maharshi and Nisargadatta Maharaj advocate: enquire with great determination and persistence into the source and substance of "I". This also relates to the first fundamental prong upon which most religions are based: What is Divinity and one's relationship with the Divine, one's place in the Cosmic Scheme.

5. Be Kind. This relates fundamental prong upon which most religions are based: How one should relate with everything and all beings that appear to exist separate from oneself. Kindness is a simple, yet comprehensive guiding principle. It encompasses all positive values and virtues, including the Golden Rule, mindfulness, compassion, non-violence, etc.

6. If you find yourself incapable of, or incomplete in Being any of the above, work at Becoming it. This is the nature and essence of spiritual work and practice.

7. In the spirit of the great spiritual masters of all times and places, everything else is commentary and guidance. Study. Especially study yourself to locate, become and BE the Self you already are, but may not be aware of in all of its paradoxical Fullness and Emptiness. Discover/develp/expand a capacity of being able to embrace Paradox and Mystery, and reognize/get comfortable with the reality that you are not really in control.

Conclusion: "Find your inspiration and follow it" is another pet phrase to sum it up.