2nd June 2013 – Reading of “Looking from Within” and OM Choir
It was the first Sunday of the month. There was a beautiful walk as part of our Monthly Walks in the morning. A few of us gathered at the Centre in the evening after the walk and brunch in the morning. After the Opening Meditation, a prayer from ‘Prayers and Meditations’ was read out.
After this, we picked up copies of the book ‘Looking from Within- A Seeker’s Guide to Attitudes for Mastery and Inner Growth’. We read out paragraphs from the chapter, “Looking at oneself and others”. The first topic in this chapter was aptly called “Discovering A Hidden Treasure”, which is what invariably happens when we look into ourselves and others. A few moments spent in skimming out the superficiality and looking within helps us in knowing the real treasure behind the façade.
After a brief discussion, we all formed a small circle for the OM choir around a candle glowing in all its glory. We had a quick voice exercise session and then began offering our best OMs in a group. The harmonious OMs offered have a beautiful calming effect on all of us present.
9th June 2013 - Talk by Jared Quek- “The Ascent to Supermind-Part 1”
The second Sunday is when we have been having talks by Jared at the Centre. The topic this time was “The Ascent to Supermind”. As always, we were each given a handout with precious excerpts from ‘The Life Divine’ after the Opening Meditation.
We started off with the topic “Spiritual Steps”. This emphasized on how the spiritual evolution obeys the logic of a successive unfolding. Each and every step is as important as the previous and/or next step. There is no shortcut or bypassing to it. Each step is like the rung of a ladder—the only difference being that some of the steps can be discrete and some continuous, with the steps merging once in a while. At the summit of this ladder lies the Supermind or Divine Gnosis.
As with any kind of progress made, there are Obstructions and Obstacles on the way. The Inconscience creeps in from time to time trying to slow down our progress in the Ascent. The illumination is opposed by the Forces of the lower nature within us and around us. The real challenge lies in trying to overpower all these Forces with true aspiration for Progress.
After a quick discussion, we ended the day’s activities with a Closing Meditation.
16th June 2013 - Talk by Jared Quek- “The Ascent to Supermind--Part 2”
This being the Third Sunday, we were to continue the talk on “The Ascent to Supermind”. Today, we were to explore the next topic—The Higher Mind. Jared began by quickly summarizing what was discussed the previous Sunday for the benefit of people who were not present for the previous week’s talk.
The Higher Mind is the first and foremost step out of our normal human intelligence, wherein the level of clarity of spirit is so high that there is no slightest trace of mingled light or half-light. It is this level of mind, which is devoid of conclusion, deductions and reasons--As these are the very actions brought about by our limited reasoning capacity, as a movement of Ignorance searching for knowledge. The Higher Mind is an intrinsic Knowledge, which requires no proof or evidence or reassurance of its existence. It seeks to purify, deliver and create by the innate power of Knowledge only.
After reading the excerpts and discussing them, we sat down for our Closing Meditation.
- Preethi
It was the first Sunday of the month. There was a beautiful walk as part of our Monthly Walks in the morning. A few of us gathered at the Centre in the evening after the walk and brunch in the morning. After the Opening Meditation, a prayer from ‘Prayers and Meditations’ was read out.
After this, we picked up copies of the book ‘Looking from Within- A Seeker’s Guide to Attitudes for Mastery and Inner Growth’. We read out paragraphs from the chapter, “Looking at oneself and others”. The first topic in this chapter was aptly called “Discovering A Hidden Treasure”, which is what invariably happens when we look into ourselves and others. A few moments spent in skimming out the superficiality and looking within helps us in knowing the real treasure behind the façade.
After a brief discussion, we all formed a small circle for the OM choir around a candle glowing in all its glory. We had a quick voice exercise session and then began offering our best OMs in a group. The harmonious OMs offered have a beautiful calming effect on all of us present.
9th June 2013 - Talk by Jared Quek- “The Ascent to Supermind-Part 1”
The second Sunday is when we have been having talks by Jared at the Centre. The topic this time was “The Ascent to Supermind”. As always, we were each given a handout with precious excerpts from ‘The Life Divine’ after the Opening Meditation.
We started off with the topic “Spiritual Steps”. This emphasized on how the spiritual evolution obeys the logic of a successive unfolding. Each and every step is as important as the previous and/or next step. There is no shortcut or bypassing to it. Each step is like the rung of a ladder—the only difference being that some of the steps can be discrete and some continuous, with the steps merging once in a while. At the summit of this ladder lies the Supermind or Divine Gnosis.
As with any kind of progress made, there are Obstructions and Obstacles on the way. The Inconscience creeps in from time to time trying to slow down our progress in the Ascent. The illumination is opposed by the Forces of the lower nature within us and around us. The real challenge lies in trying to overpower all these Forces with true aspiration for Progress.
After a quick discussion, we ended the day’s activities with a Closing Meditation.
16th June 2013 - Talk by Jared Quek- “The Ascent to Supermind--Part 2”
This being the Third Sunday, we were to continue the talk on “The Ascent to Supermind”. Today, we were to explore the next topic—The Higher Mind. Jared began by quickly summarizing what was discussed the previous Sunday for the benefit of people who were not present for the previous week’s talk.
The Higher Mind is the first and foremost step out of our normal human intelligence, wherein the level of clarity of spirit is so high that there is no slightest trace of mingled light or half-light. It is this level of mind, which is devoid of conclusion, deductions and reasons--As these are the very actions brought about by our limited reasoning capacity, as a movement of Ignorance searching for knowledge. The Higher Mind is an intrinsic Knowledge, which requires no proof or evidence or reassurance of its existence. It seeks to purify, deliver and create by the innate power of Knowledge only.
After reading the excerpts and discussing them, we sat down for our Closing Meditation.
- Preethi
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