Gita's Blog

102 - Four Elements to Ultimate Success

2011-07-07T18:15:00.001-07:00

Human beings have a deeply innate need to be and feel successful. We evolve and survive and enjoy life because we strive to succeed.

We feel successful when we feel effective in our chosen field, when our families are healthy and educated and protected, and when life has a deeper meaning and that deeper meaning continuously feeds us. Material success alone leaves us lonely and devoid of meaning; we are always looking for that internal feeling that signals "success" to us.

Success needs two wings that are in balance. One is the material wing and the other is the spiritual wing.

We must be materially successful - have money, health, a home and family, clothing, and all that we need to be happy. Material success begins when we take necessary actions to respond to an inner vision. This is the power that drives us. Material success grows through our dedicated learning and training, hard work, and a commensurate response to the realities of our surroundings. But all these things will work against our ultimate success if we do not have spiritual success.

Spiritual success takes us a step inward and it consists of our ability to manifest our innermost being, who we truly are, into daily physical, emotional, and mental expressions. To have spiritual success we need to deepen our sensitivity, increase our knowledge of the natural laws of life, purify our heart, organize our mind, and build those bridges in consciousness and awareness that will put us in contact with higher sources of energy and knowledge. The outer signs of success have deep roots in the character and life-expression of our inner life.

There are also two other elements that will eventuate in that rare, and ultimate feeling of success. One is the ability to remove certain obstacles and problems and resistances from our inner life. The other element is to help other people to be successful.

With these four elements - material and spiritual success, elimination of obstacles, helping others to be successful - we can be successful as an individual, family, business, and corporation. The more we make others successful, the more beautiful our life will be.

When we achieve true success, we are in a state of integrity and wholeness and connected to an inner truth. We have an inner joy that cannot be taken away from us. We have realistic optimism and faith about life and the human condition. We look at life from the perspective of the possible, an ever expansive field of choices.

Real success comes about as we consciously adapt our lives and our whole being to higher values and principles. Each step of this level of adaptation changes the very essence of our makeup. Our striving leads us to evolve and to change the very cells of our physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual being.

As we adapt ourselves to increasingly greater values, we concurrently remove life patterns, habits, and attachments that may hinder, derail, or subvert our success. We are creatures of culture, social expectations, and personal habits and belief systems. Yet, there is no need to be imprisoned in these patters for our entire life. There comes a time when life demands from us to discard old forms that no longer serve our greater needs. Nothing imprisons the human heart more than outworn habits.

We all cultivate, to some degree, feelings of fear and regret; of separatism, racism, ego and vanity; hatred and intolerance; crystallized thinking and behaving. If not slowly removed from their roots, these will inevitably lead to our sense of failure. When these elements flood our consciousness, we begin to lose our self value, ensuing in the most deadly kind of self loathing. Success is how we see ourselves, not how others see us.

How do we do the internal work of achieving ultimate success? The key is to learn deep and sane critical thinking and keen observation. To think clearly, balanced between objective and subjective realities, is the greatest gift that you can give to yourself. Thinking clearly involves the expansive, multi-faceted skill of observation - from the material to the subtle, and from the subtle to the material. This is life-skill that is achievable when we take the time to learn true spiritual principles.

Our purpose in life is found when we begin the path of achieving success. Continuous success comes from balancing the material and the spiritual wings of our life. Real success is sustainable, in ever growing spirals, as we remove the obstacles that are ingrained in the depth of our physical, emotional, and mental life. A sense of ultimate success is achieved when we help others to be successful. These four elements constitute the path to success and a life that is happy, healthy, and creative; a life that is full of satisfaction, optimism, and well being.

There is no success without taking our spiritual essence into consideration. Spirituality is simply this: a process to actualize our deepest essence of life in daily expression, and to lift our daily expression to reflect the highest values and principles that are inherent in us. Ultimately, we search for meaning and value in our life that is deeply rooted in our own inner voice, a voice that is connected to others, and also connected with the subtle realities of the universal life.

As I teach about spiritual principles, what I am really teaching is a path of finding your own innate truths and finding the courage to articulate and express them in your personal and professional life. Spirituality is found in our essence. All the outer trappings of success will work against our ultimate success if we do not pursue the spiritual. Our material life will come to a predictable end. But we live in immortality in our essence. Our successes will live forever as we touch the essence of life within us and within others, and look beyond the material life for the depth of meaning and the real definition of success.
__________________

See Dynamics of Success by Torkom Saraydarian for more details on this topic.

Gita Saraydarian is the Founder and President of TSG Foundation, an organization dedicated to the Ageless Wisdom Teachings. See the complete list of past blogs on the TSG Foundation website and also on Gita's new website www.gitasaraydarian.org

-Copyright Notice: Gita’s Blog articles are copyrighted by The Creative Trust, 2011.

- Details on what are the Ageless Wisdom Teachings, and other topics on what is the Teaching are found on http://www.gitasraydarian.org/

101 - A Heavenly Reward?

2011-01-05T18:19:00.001-07:00

Today marks the 14th anniversary of my Father's passing. On January 5th, 1997, Dad passed away peacefully in his home. For ten years before that, and during the years since, I have dedicated myself to the consolidation and continuation of his works. It has been my joy and a very fulfilling part of my life to be thus dedicated.

As I look over my life, I can see how I made the choices that I made, took the paths that I took, sometimes without being conscious, sometimes only knowing what I did not want to do, and finally finding my place in the world by the work that I do every day.

A few months ago a lady friend called me and said: “Gita, I have been reading Torkom's poetry and find it has all the Teaching to guide me in my life. I see it is only the first volume. Where are the other volumes?”

At that time, her devoted husband lay dying. Being married for over 60 years connected the two of them in ways unimaginable to me. She was calm and collected and she read the poetry daily to get her and him through the impending crisis.

I said that yes, indeed, there are three other volumes and that I had not had the time to look at them. I wondered aloud if there really is a need for these poems to be published and could people benefit from them?

“Of course there is a need.” She said. “Poetry says everything we need to know. It is given in short, brief phrases that give us time to reflect, unencumbered with fancy words. Poetry does not cloud our mind but helps us surpass the mind so that we immediately understand what is being taught. It is the best way for me to be healed by the Teaching. It is music in words. It is direct and has deep impact. Gita, I could not get through all of this without the poetry. I could feel Torkom teaching me and helping me with every word he says.”

Then she added, “OK. If I send you the money to publish it, would you consider completing the remaining poems?”

How could I refuse? So I said fine, I would squeeze in a few poems every day, and see what happens. I know that poems do not need much editing and can be left as they are since a poet has the prerogative to say it the way he wants to say it, right or wrong, grammatical or not. It is the way it is. So, it makes my job a lot easier!

Soon after, in the beginning of November, I found out that my friend's dear husband passed away peacefully and, at the meantime, she send me the funds needed for the publishing of the poetry. I started reading the poems one by one, and soon found myself immersed in them for hours every day. I stayed in the office late and worked on the poems. I pushed myself daily and completed reading the entire three volumes, hundreds of poems, by the end of November of 2010. The poems just slid by, one by one, as if by magic carpet they flew by my eyes and I was mesmerized. As I have also been working on Torkom's Autobiography, the poetry completed an inner picture of a very special person, a truly passionate and striving man. I found how they both complemented each other.

What can I say about the way I felt as I read them? I cried, laughed, felt sad, felt elated...the whole spectrum of human thought and feeling washed over me day after day.

I found one special poem that I think you will enjoy and have posted it on the Torkom Blog for everyone's enjoyment. It is titled “My Reward” and I felt it represented vintage Torkom and in fact, vintage discipleship of any stripe, and is very fitting to be read on this very day.

And the poetry volumes? The first volume titled From My Heart Volume 1, was printed years ago, and if you have not read it, I suggest you do so to get you started in the understanding of the inner journey of an incredible man.

I am now working to input the edits for the unpublished poems and hope to have them ready for you to read as soon as possible. I think you will be thrilled to see the entire collection.

May Torkom receive the right rewards in heaven and on earth. May we all enjoy the joy of finding our own path in life and become the stewards of the universal culture of humanity.
With love and dedication,

Gita
http://www.gitasaraydarian.org/

From My Heart Volume 1
Torkom's Blog also contains poetry posts.

100 - Christmas Eve — An Avatar is Born

2010-12-19T00:01:00.004-07:00

When humanity is in dire need of Divine assistance, God responds by sending a Great One, an Avatar, first revealed to us as a most beautiful infant!

Avatars are a breath of God, messengers of the Most High, appearing to humanity to move our consciousness to a whole new level. When we move our consciousness beyond our current level, the problems and crises of the present are no longer such a big deal!

“Whenever men become indifferent toward their duties and responsibilities, and whenever the unrighteousness and disorder increase, then, indeed, I manifest Myself, to protect the virtuous, to destroy the wicked and to re-establish the sense of duty and responsibility. Thus I manifest Myself, age after age.”1

“After He had come as the Avatar of Love, then God became known as love supernal, love as the goal and objective of creation, love as the basic principle of relationship and love as working throughout all manifestation towards a Plan motivated by love.”2

The human heart desperately needs a new birth at this time. Humanity still has loads of hatred, separatism, and ugly depictions of others. We have forgotten that we are all the same human being; we have the same origin. The unified celebration of a new birth, even in the context of a religion that may be different from our practice, can unite us.

Put a baby in the middle of a room full of adults and everyone’s attention goes to the baby. It does not matter what color is the baby, what religion are his or her parents, how much money they have; we still smile and start to talk baby language! Put a kitten or a puppy in a room, and the same thing happens. When I see a family of quail with the little chicks, I stop and gaze at them and smile at the way they flicker away while one of their parents chirps to make sure they all follow!

Babies represent the universal in all of us. When we know about someone expecting a baby, we are so happy. When we first set eyes on a new-born, we are awed with the miracle of birth. The entire wiring system of our nature goes into action as soon as we see a new birth. We are hard-wired to love the newborn, whether it is an infant or it is a newly sprouted plant or animal. This is normal and natural for most human beings. It is evidence of our connection to the life of the Universe and the connection of our heart to the Cosmic Heart. It is evidence that we are in awe of life and the rhythm of renewal and hope it offers. Every newborn baby brings us hope; hope springs eternal and our life takes on new meaning.

As we gather together in the Celebration of Christmas, we are connecting our hearts once again to this cosmic event. A new life can quicken inside of our hearts. Every year, a new page turns that is an expansion of the year before. The book of our life is written with the pages of love, hope, faith, optimism, shared love and shared celebration.

How to celebrate Christmas? With the same love that each of us holds for a baby — adoration, hope, vision, protection, the possibility of the future. These actions keep our hearts alive. The birth of Jesus the Christ is about keeping our hearts so alive — so vibrant, so connected to its original design that we dare not divert it or its energies to any other direction.

At Christmas Eve, let your hearts witness the birth of your inner divinity. Link it to the Cosmic Christ and keep that flame and that connection alive. Let that flame heal you, protect you, nurture you so that year after year, you unfold it in your very essence.

Here is a beautiful prayer to Christ

The living Sacrifice of the world.
The living Beauty on our path.
The Resurrection and fiery Fountain of love and life.
I come to You with a pure heart
and surrender myself To You,
for the service of humanity,
for the fulfillment of the Plan,
for the glory of Your reappearance.
I stand in Your Presence —
Charge me with the Spirit of love,
of light, and power,
That I may follow Your path of resurrection,
of sacrifice,
of love. 3

***Christmas Eve will be celebrated at TSG Center and broadcast live online. Check out our website for more information.

With eternal hope in the possible,

Gita
http://www.gitasaraydarian.org/
_________________________________________
References:
1. The Bhagavad Gita (Translated by Torkom Saraydarian), p. xiii.

2. The Reappearance of Christ (Alice A. Bailey) p. 12.

3. Christ The Avatar of Sacrificial Love (Torkom Saraydarian), p. 251.

Gita Saraydarian is the Founder and President of TSG Foundation, an organization dedicated to the Ageless Wisdom Teachings. See the complete list of past blogs on the TSG Foundation website and also on Gita's new website www.gitasaraydarian.org
-Copyright Notice: Gita’s Blog articles are copyrighted by The Creative Trust, 2009.
- Details on what are the Ageless Wisdom Teachings, and other topics on what is the Teaching are found on http://www.gitasraydarian.org/

99 - Christmas with Meaning: The Sun Does Rise Every Day

2010-12-15T14:58:00.001-07:00

A few nights ago I awakened at 2 am and could not fall back to sleep. I tossed and turned and finally gave up and got out of bed. The house was totally dark; everyone was asleep. I was hesitant lest I make any noise, so I thought about what I should do. I was feeling really tired and I saw a long, dark night ahead of me and an early call to the office. I felt deep distress and darkness. Too sleepy to read I went to the kitchen to make something hot to drink. Then I thought, “Christ, please let me see the light in my life.” In the dark room, lit slightly by the moon, I noticed the book Cosmos in Man on the table. I picked it up, turned the reading light on, and sat down quietly to read it. I opened it to Chapter One, “Search for the Ageless Wisdom” thinking I could certainly use this story of the search. What was I searching for that left me so sleepless?

As I started reading about the stories of the search, “Training the King’s Son,” “The Lion Cub,” “Search for the Jewel…” suddenly, I had a realization of something that is so obvious that it had escaped me. I realized that following our inner guidance, our search will take us to the right places. It is in our spiritual genetics to go toward the answer, the light. I realized that the sun was going to come out and light will be everywhere in just a few hours. If I could look ahead and not fall into the darkness, I will see the light of the day; guaranteed!

When we are sitting in darkness, we do not recognize that in just a few hours, just around the corner, this darkness will pass and the light of day will come. As obvious as that seems, we forget it! We feel that the darkness we are in will be forever!

So, I read for a few hours and then I went back to sleep determined to keep in my heart the faith that light was always just a few hours away. The sun will rise. I will see daylight enter our house. Just to make sure I would feel the first light, I opened all the window shades so that the first rays would be immediately captured inside our home.

That evening was a profound experience for me even though the sun rising every morning is not an unusual occurrence by any means! The fact that I internally saw that was really important. I was able to feel the light in the extreme of the darkness of a silent night. As I walked back to bed, I realized why the birth of Christ has had such deep significance for millions of people for over two thousand years. The birth symbolizes the rising sun in our life through the extremes of darkness and cold. Christ was born quietly but determinately. The Three Kings followed a little star. They knew a Savior was born on that very dark night. They knew they would find the right place at the right time and they followed that inner guidance. What great symbolism in this little story that has captured our imagination!

In the Ageless Wisdom Teachings, Christmas is celebrated as the rite of giving birth to the sun in our life. As you are preparing for Christmas, take some time to reflect on how you interface with the sun in your life. Are you feeling like you are stuck in an unending dark night? Do you know that the sun will rise? Are you waiting for the truth to be shown to you? Are you waiting to find the hope of glory inside of you? Are you waiting for a turn of events in your life that will be full of light and healing and joy?
It will happen when we are able to tune into our inner guidance and use that guidance as a bridge and see the darkness and the sunshine with the simplicity of a child. No matter how dark the night is, physically — emotionally — mentally — spiritually, the sun will rise again, even if the “shades” of your life are not fully lifted to allow the sun to shine in with complete radiance.

These experiences help us to stand above successes as well as failures. Success and failure are the ups and downs of life; one follows the other. If we are alive and moving, we will experience both and learn to stand above these natural fluctuations. When we live with the rhythms of nature, we will not despair when darkness comes but welcome it as a time of listening and communication with the inner guidance and learn the art of fruitful expectation.

Christ said he overcame the world: He conquered death, He conquered betrayal, He conquered abuse, He conquered loneliness. He was born in a cave and rose to the heights of Initiation. People reviled Him, abused Him, told lies about Him, and crucified Him; He still rose above it all. He triumphed.

Now when the nights are long, cold, and dark and I am sitting quietly reading a book. I have forgotten the sweltering days of Arizona Summers. I am actually looking forward to the warmth of the sun! I know that in a few hours, the light will shine through the windows and the tall glass doors and I will joyfully stand in the streaming rays and let the warmth fill me with the hope that every morning light brings.

I wish you a most joyful and prosperous Christmas and New Year. May your New Year be full of the warmth of the winter sun shining gently on your smiling face.

Gita
http://www.gitasaraydarian.org/
______________________

- Gita Saraydarian is the Founder and President of TSG Foundation, an organization dedicated to the Ageless Wisdom Teachings. See the complete list of past blogs on the TSG Foundation website and also on Gita's new website http://www.gitasaraydarian.org/
-Copyright Notice: Gita’s Blog articles are copyrighted by The Creative Trust, 2009.
- Details on what are the Ageless Wisdom Teachings, and other topics on what is the Teaching are found on http://www.gitasraydarian.org/
-Suggested Readings: Christ the Avatar of Sacrificial Love, Cosmos in Man, Teachings of Christ, The Birth of Christ all by Torkom Saraydarian.

98 - The Pranic Triangle

2010-09-14T10:58:00.000-07:00

Question and Answer Forum: Questions From Readers

Question: Can you explain what is the Pranic Triangle?

Answer: Here is a brief explanation. Please see the link to a video clip on this subject at the end of the blog.

The “Pranic Triangle” is a term used to describe the three centers of prana that exist in our etheric body and act as conduits of sun and earth energy into and out of our physical bodies.

The etheric body is the electromagnetic energy that surrounds, and is a duplicate, of our physical body. It acts as a permeable sheath through which “information” passes from the environment to our physical senses as well as a conduit through which pass information from our internal senses out to the environment.

The “Pranic Triangle” is made up of three centers that are in the etheric body. They are the center between the shoulder blades, the center above the diaphragm, and the center at the area of the spleen. These three centers act as the main conduit through which the energy from the sun, called “prana” is absorbed into our physical bodies. This is how we gain the benefit of the sun. Or, if we are over-exposed to the sun, this is how the energy of the sun hurts us by overheating or sunstroke.

The three centers operate as a unit, and if one is not operating rhythmically, is closed, or not in sync with the others, the energy of the sun does not circulate properly in our physical system. Each of the centers is closely related to our thought world, our emotional world, and our physical food-water-air-exercise activities.

When our thinking is chaotic, the center between the shoulder blades is affected. When our emotional world is chaotic, the center above the diaphragm is affected. When we do not consume healthy foods or lack appropriate exercise, our spleen center is affected. The centers can be either closed up due to lack of activity, or they can be overtaxed or overburdened with too much or wrong activity. When the three centers are not healthy and rhythmic, we do not absorb the benefits of the sun and our physical body is more susceptible to illness and imbalance.

This Teaching shows how there is a direct physiological impact as a result of our thoughts, feeling, and ingestion of food/water/pure air. Similarly, whatever we are on the inside, we dump out to the surroundings. If we are toxic, that is what goes out. If we are sane and balanced, that is the energy that we put out to the environment and the people and life surrounding us.

To heal ourselves and to maintain a balanced and thriving life, we need to look at the mind-emotion-body connection in terms of the subtle senses. The Teaching on the “Pranic Triangle” gives us just these tools to make the connection as to why when our thoughts, emotions, and physical choices are toxic, we suffer.

As masses of humanity cut themselves off from nature, live in polluted and congested cities, are unable to have a balanced and rhythmic life, we are simply removing the natural ability of life to heal us.

Scientific research is showing how environmental pollution, lack of educational opportunities and health care, and lack of access to clean food and water and air shortens our life span, creates stress and depression, makes us susceptible to disease, impairs learning, and so much more. There are many studies showing these adverse effects in all areas of life. Social justice means access to choices that will help us grow, learn, become successful and so on. Environmental pollution is more than the physical pollution; it is also the emotional pollution, mental pollution, and psychic pollution (the subtle garbage) that we are bombarded with every day. Social justice is not only physical, but multi layered and complex and includes our entire being.

If you want to be healthy, balanced, full of faith and optimism, then take a serious look at your thoughts, emotions, spiritual life, as well as what you eat and drink and breathe everyday. The choices you make will condition every part of your life and relationships.

Here is a short clip on YouTube from my last lecture on the Pranic Triangle. The complete lecture is available through TSG Foundation.

Enjoy!

Gita

www.gitasaraydarian.org
_______________
- Gita Saraydarian is the Founder and President of TSG Foundation, an organization dedicated to the Ageless Wisdom Teachings. See the complete list of past blogs on the TSG Foundation website and also on Gita's new website http://www.gitasaraydarian.org/
- Copyright Notice: Gita’s Blog articles are copyrighted by The Creative Trust, 2009.
- Details on what are the Ageless Wisdom Teachings, and other topics on what is the Teaching are found on http://www.gitasraydarian.org/
- The Constitution of Man series of lectures is part of the 12-part series on the Science of Becoming Your True Self. The lectures may be purchased individually on DVD, CD, or MP3.

97 – The Constitution of Man

2010-09-01T15:49:00.005-07:00

Question and Answer Forum: Questions From Readers

Question: What is the “constitution of man” and what is the “personality” referred to in the Ageless Wisdom Teachings?

Answer: This is a question that is often asked, and in response, I have presented a series of lectures on the topic of the “constitution of man.” Here is a brief explanation to help you get started. (See below for a video clip link)

The entire life — including the mineral, animal, vegetable, and human kingdoms — has the physical aspect as well as the subtle aspects. In reference to the human being, the subtle mechanism is often referred to as the “constitution of man”.

The “constitution of man” is the sum total of the seven bodies that a human being is capable of forming. They are, from the densest to the most subtle, the physical/etheric, emotional, mental, intuitional, atmic, monadic, and divine bodies. As we form each body, it becomes an important tool of communication with corresponding levels of life. For example, when the physical body is formed, we are able to contact the physical life and communicate with the physical existence. When the emotional body is formed, we are able to communicate with people and all of life with our emotions; we are able to register emotions from people and are able to communicate our emotions to others. The same applies to all our bodies.

The personality is the physical/etheric, emotional, and mental bodies. In well disciplined and integrated people, these three bodies are firmly organized and are disciplined to behave as one organism. In such a person, the total personality is moving in the same direction, and we do not see the person doing one thing, feeling another, and thinking otherwise.

In the next level of integration, the person is not only “together” in the personality bodies, but the whole of his or her life is influenced by his or her soul. This is referred to as a soul integrated personality. The person is then operating within the values, virtues, and principles of the soul. These are also called “higher principles” which include goodness, righteousness, forgiveness, and so on. These principles are not mere religious principles, but are the principles of the soul, the inner spirit that guides each human being. There is a still higher level of integration often called “Soul Infusion” wherein our integrated and disciplined personality that is soul centered is then fused with the Solar Angel or Guardian Angel. This is also called the “Marriage in Heaven”.

An integrated personality is not necessarily a spiritually mature person, one who is principled or has higher values. There are many people who are well educated, sophisticated, well traveled and disciplined and are totally materially conscious or operate through many levels of cruelty and irrationality. Such people can be highly toxic, separative, and blind to the suffering of others and are, at the same time, able to put forth sophisticated arguments for their divisive and ugly behaviors.

The spiritually mature personality is one whose three bodies are under the command of his or her soul so that the bodies operate under the guidance of higher values. Here we see a person whose physical, emotional, and mental expressions are for the good of others, for the upliftment and healing and serving of others. We do not see, (or we see less) expressions that are self serving, divisive, ugly, or made to hurt and belittle and demonize others.

Our personality vehicles are capable of expressing who we are and they do every minute of our life. What we express depends completely on our level of adaptation to the higher values of life, on how much we have evolved spiritually.

Here is a brief YouTube clip from my lecture titled “The Constitution of Man”:

Here is a second link to the YouTube clip.

Enjoy!

Gita
www.gitasaraydarian.org
_________________________

Note to Readers:
- The Q/A Forum is a collection of questions asked from people around the world and my responses. Names and places are removed for confidentiality. If you have any questions that may be useful to others, please send them to me and I will attempt to answer them. I reserve the right to choose or disregard any question.
- These articles are not meant as medical or psychological advice but are my opinions on life as I see it.
- Gita Saraydarian is the Founder and President of TSG Foundation, an organization dedicated to the Ageless Wisdom Teachings. See the complete list of past blogs on the TSG Foundation website and also on Gita's new website www.gitasaraydarian.org
-Copyright Notice: Gita’s Blog articles are copyrighted by The Creative Trust, 2009.
- Details on what are the Ageless Wisdom Teachings, and other topics on what is the Teaching are found on www.gitasraydarian.org
- The Constitution of Man series of lectures is part of the 12-part series on the Science of Becoming Your True Self. The lectures may be purchased individually on DVD, CD, or MP3.

96 – Advice on the Spiritual Path

2010-08-06T00:01:00.047-07:00

Question and Answer Forum: Questions From Readers

Question: What advice would you give to someone just beginning on the spiritual path?

Answer: Being on the spiritual path means to become increasingly more truthful and honest with yourself. It is not a religious path, or a path of a particular spiritual discipline. It is a process in which you slowly let go of what is not real in your life and become more real, more responsible, and more socially just in what you do, feel, think, and speak. A true spiritual life is one of logic and critical thinking about every aspect of life from a multidimensional perspective. It is about making conscious choices. Your spiritual life evolves slowly and, as it evolves, your life expressions take on more complex layers of responsibility.

Please remember that the comments I make below are not meant to hurt or belittle you or anyone else. They are lessons that I have learned in my life by my own search as well as lessons that my father taught me and demonstrated by his own daily efforts. They work for me!
So, here is my advice for the spiritual path:

- Be honest with yourself. Don't expect to get anything without giving back; that would be stealing and begging. Never go to a lecture, event, or take something without giving something in return. Reciprocate. Dad often said: “Never be indebted to anyone, in any way. Find ways to pay back.” He would always, without fail, reciprocate by sending a thank you note, a letter, or money for even the smallest things that I did. I am sure he did this for others too.

- Don't expect to get something without working for it; you need to strive.

- Don't expect to be given everything by others to you; you need to earn it in order to keep it and have it be sustainable. You are in charge of your life, not anyone else.

- Don't be afraid of work; that is what makes you exceptional.

- Not everything that is passed on as new age Teaching is either new or true. If it seems like "mumbo-jumbo" to you, it may very well be! Distorted and confusing teachings are created by distorted minds.

- Don’t expect quick and easy results; it does not happen. Temporary highs are not sustainable. If you look for the quick fix, you may be going places you don't want to be!

- Spiritual work is as clear as physics and chemistry and math; it is not esoteric, it is not miraculous, it is not a mystery. It is transparent if we can see it.

- When you read high level Teachings, it must make sense to an educated and well read person. If it does not, put it aside. Complexity does not translate into validity; it could be made complicated to confuse you.

- Take time to learn the real fundamentals of the spiritual Teachings. These will keep you safe and help you expand in a logical and sequential manner.

- Expensive products and services do not equal safety or validity; more is not better; good marketing schemes can make you believe anything!

- Use your inner self as a guide for truth, not what others tell you.

- Clean up self deceptions of all kinds so you are not deceived. These include vanity, ego, glamors, expectations, and illusions. The more you clean your inner being, the simpler and quieter you become, hence in better rhythm with the needs of life.

- Speak less, listen more; respond to what life is telling you.

- And, please, not everything you say or do is "what the universe is telling me to do." Are you trying to show off in order to impress when you say this? Have a sense of humor, a healthy dose of self-doubt, and a healthy dose of self-respect for your own intelligence.

As a Great Teacher once said, and my father always reminded me “Let your horizons be wide and your humility great.” I like that; it helps me keep everything in perspective and smiling and keeps me out of all kinds of traps!

Thanks for asking. Hope this helps.

Gita

http://www.gitasaraydarian.org/

Note to Readers:

*The Q/A Forum is a collection of questions asked from people around the world and my responses. Names and places are removed for confidentiality. If you have any questions that may be useful to others, please send them to me and I will attempt to answer them. I reserve the right to choose or disregard any question.

*These articles are not meant as medical or psychological advice but are my opinions on life as I see it.

____________________

- Gita Saraydarian is the Founder and President of TSG Foundation, an organization dedicated to the Ageless Wisdom Teachings. See the complete list of past blogs on the TSG Foundation website and also on Gita's new website http://www.gitasaraydarian.org/

- Copyright Notice: Gita’s Blog articles are copyrighted by The Creative Trust, 2009.

95 – Emotions and Feelings

2010-07-30T15:34:00.001-07:00

Gita's Q/A Forum: Questions From Readers

Question: I have been pondering on the difference between the understanding of feelings versus emotions. Is there a difference and how would you explain it? I'm asking this, since this is what I have been observing lately about myself. That's where a lot of my chaos is trapped within. I am not able to differentiate between what is real and unreal in feelings and emotions.

As always thank you for your help and support.

Answer: Emotions arise from the emotional body and are based on desires, needs, patterns inculcated in us through our growing years, as well as fears, various self-deceptions, or expected actions. They are from our own emotional body and our own perceived needs from life. The emotional body has seven layers. From the lowest layers emerge feelings that deal with self-preservation. When these natural, self-preserving emotions are mixed with distortions or pollutions, then they become hurtful and hateful. For example, it is natural to love, but when love is distorted, it becomes jealous, angry, and can cause harm when the person feels that their love is being rejected or somehow violated. In the higher levels of the emotional body, the self-preserving emotions change into inclusiveness, and love becomes more selfless and freeing.

Emotions are also built over lifetimes and get recorded into our emotional permanent atom. This is part of our subtle DNA structure. When we incarnate, our emotional body is built on the patterns we recorded in previous lifetimes.

Feelings are related to our physical body, etheric (subtle) body, emotions, and even mind. They may also arise based on our interpretations of life around us. For example, we feel pain or pleasure in our physical body. We feel happy or sad in our emotions. Energetically, we feel the negativity or healing energy of people around us. We may also feel the expansion of our consciousness, the power of great ideas, the exhilaration of discovery of a meaning, or solving a problem and so on. Or, feelings can be had as an immense sense of joy and unification as we become one with an idea or have an expanded sense of universality.

We express feelings in any form of expression, based on our training, level of focus or consciousness, or need. For example, our feelings can be expressed in war or aggression; they can be expressed as forgiveness and letting go; they can be expressed in creative arts of all kinds; or in an inner silence and deepening maturity when we see the immensity and beauty of life. Feelings are complex and there is a bigger picture attached to them. As we grow and mature, just as emotions grow more complex and universal, so do feelings.

When you have a feeling or an emotion, measure its effect on your life according to these seven higher principles:

Beauty
Goodness
Righteousness
Joy
Freedom
Striving Toward Perfection
Sacrificial Service

Ask yourself, “To what degree do these emotions/feelings involve these principles and to what degree are they antithetical to these principles?” The closer your feelings and emotions are to these principles, the more real they are in the everlasting-soul sense. Then you can observe that emotion or feeling carefully, rationally, to see where it came from and what it causes in your life. When you determine that these feelings or emotions are good, you can expand them. When you decide they no longer serve your growing and expanding True Self, then you can take actions to change them. The key is to lift yourself to a higher level and remove impediments, slowly, slowly, without hurry and undue stress. Always know, you can change given enough time and effort and no emotion or feeling is permanent, but can be changed, purified, matured, and expanded to a new level.

That should give you a clear understanding and a deeper appreciation of the power of the human soul.

You are welcome!

Gita

http://www.gitasaraydarian.org/

_____________
-The Q/A Forum is a collection of questions asked from people around the world and my responses to them. Names and places are removed for confidentiality. If you have any questions that may be useful to others, please send them to me and I will attempt to answer them. I reserve the right to choose or disregard any question.
-These articles are not meant as medical advice but are simply my opinions on life as I see it.
-For more information on the subtle bodies, see the series of lectures on the Science of Becoming our True Self. See numbers 8-11 specifically on the Constitution of Man and the Subtle Bodies.
- Gita Saraydarian is the Founder and President of TSG Foundation, an organization dedicated to the Ageless Wisdom Teachings. See the complete list of past blogs on the TSG Foundation website and also on Gita's new website http://www.gitasaraydarian.org/
- Copyright Notice: Gita’s Blog articles are copyrighted by The Creative Trust, 2009.

94 – Do Energy Clearing and Healing Really Work?

2010-07-27T16:30:00.008-07:00

Gita's Q/A Forum: Questions From Readers

Question: I just found out that doing energy clearing/balancing practices like, Qigong, Tai Chi and so on are actually irritating to the astral body. Can you help me to understand why?

Answer: Whenever there is a feeling of irritation in the emotions, feelings of instability or spaciness, fear, or many other not so friendly emotions, it is time to stop and observe the causes. Don't ever feel that you don't know better, or being spacey and uncomfortable somehow is “spiritual.” These are signs from your bodies telling you to stop and take notice.

Whenever we do any work on our bodies, we release tension and toxicity. Too much too soon, and you are sore and irritable, depressed, or suffer various levels of emotional and mental and physical illnesses. Too little and not sustained, and there is no benefit. The wrong kind of energy work, and serious damage may result. And, thinking this is the permanent solution creates false expectations and running after non-essentials. This kind of thinking and expectation build glamors, illusions, and various self-deceptions that further retard our growth. Every kind of energy work or even spiritual work is not necessarily useful to everyone.

When we release pain on any level, they become like broken pieces of an iceberg that float on the surface of our aura.

I personally don’t believe any externally imposed practice has a lasting effect on our bodies. The right kind of body work will prepare the ground for the real work to commence. When we do the real work, which means to make real changes in every part of our life, then we may have sustained healing and change from the ground up. We cannot rely on any practice or anyone to make changes for us. Others can help us feel good and have temporary adjustments, but they cannot hold that charge for us. We have to develop the body and subtle network that will sustain and hold change.

Additionally, when we do any energy work, including meditation and prayer that is far above what our bodies can handle, we will be bringing up and stirring too much too soon. It is like rain that floods. If we persist to irritate our subtle bodies by practices that inflame us, we will do serious damage.

I personally don't subscribe to any kind of physical, emotional, mental, spiritual exercise that is “done till it hurts.” I don’t even believe in overdoing reading and study and meditation. Pushing beyond your limits is baloney and a huge glamor! Your practices of any kind should not hurt but should be “comfortably challenging.” In fact, I have observed that when students take on too much, they end up unbalanced and “weird”. Having bought into the false notion of spiritual change, they even believe they are getting better and they are the last to know how weird they are being. Or, they quit, which is the better choice but in a way further retards real growth and real healing. When we do not have discernment, then we take the long, circuitous route to transformation!

The bodies can be healed and have sustainable healing through slow, real change and effort. If you want to change and make every practice really “stick” then go slow. Give time for every part of your life to adjust to the changes. Choose the practices and treatments that are right for you. Don’t build the false notion that with many books and many exercises and many meditation courses you are going to become an initiate and be healed. Nor believe that someone else can initiate you or make you advanced or heal you. You may feel good temporarily, but it does not last unless the change is systemic and initiated by your own efforts. The right kind of body work will prepare the ground for healing and can be sustained only through your efforts to make life changes.

Question: So is it OK to do Qigong as long as you understand that it's only the band-aid effect? Or is it better to just leave such things alone and only do the deeper work to get to the real issues of imbalance?

Answer: In reality, these are all a temporary in their effects. It is never OK to do any body work if it irritates you. Anything that feels uncomfortable, stop no matter what it is. Not all ancient practices are good for us in our current bodies. Ancient methods of healing and balance were designed for different kinds of bodies. People needed these thousands of years ago in order to coordinate their subtle bodies with their physical bodies. Our bodies now are very different and need different approaches.

So, first you prepare your bodies to be receptive by changing your focus to a higher current of energy, then you engage in inner work that builds your soul consciousness and bathes your nature with the love and healing of the higher worlds. The deeper work that you do will get you to the real issues. That is the best way for sustainable healing and progress. Healing of our complete nature is a process of removing obstacles and then building the subtle mechanism for the circulation of psychic energy. It takes time and sustained effort.

You need to be very selective and careful in what you do to yourself. Develop the art of communication with your bodies by listening, observing, and responding appropriately.

You are most welcome. Glad to be of help.

Gita

www.gitasaraydarian.org

_____________

-The Q/A Forum is a collection of questions asked from people around the world and my responses to them. Names and places are removed for confidentiality. If you have any questions that may be useful to others, please send them to me and I will attempt to answer them. I reserve the right to choose or disregard any question.

-These articles are not meant as medical advice but are simply my opinions on life as I see it.

-For more information on the subtle bodies, see the series of lectures on the Science of Becoming our True Self. See numbers 8-11 specifically on the Constitution of Man and the Subtle Bodies.

- Gita Saraydarian is the Founder and President of TSG Foundation, an organization dedicated to the Ageless Wisdom Teachings. See the complete list of past blogs on the TSG Foundation website and also on Gita's new website http://www.gitasaraydarian.org/

- Copyright Notice: Gita’s Blog articles are copyrighted by The Creative Trust, 2009.

93 – I Think: Freedom

2010-07-03T12:38:00.001-07:00

Before I leave the office on Friday, I sit in my thinking chair and reflect on my most cherished feeling, one that I would never want to be without: the sense of FREEDOM. More than anything else in my life, the feeling of freedom, the sense of freedom is the most special. I realize the freedoms that I have and how many women do without it. I reflect on this precious gift. Why is it one of the seven most important principles in life?

My corner chair once belonged to my father, a chair that is a bit weathered, and when you sit in it, it sinks down, “bringing you down to reality” as I like to think of it!

I feel a tremendous sense of freedom and see how it allowed me to become who I am.

I write the following in my diary. Although it is deeply personal, I read it over and over again, and feel I would like to share it with you. I want very much to express gratitude today, for the freedom I have had all my life.

Thank you Lord, for the opportunity to pursue my dreams, for guiding me and protecting me, for letting me follow what I love even though I did not always know what it entailed.

You stood by me, shielding me and protecting me. Despite all my silly life choices, you appeared to me, protecting me and guiding me and telling me to focus on the most essential. Many choices I made, many places I traveled, yet they all led me to this one precious part of my life, even though I did not always know it.

I suffered, I cried, I hurt deeply, but I always re-grouped myself and forged ahead. What are my hurts compared to the hurts of the world, the dispossessed, the ignored, the unloved, the trampled on? I developed a way to hurt and still work; to cry and still go forward; to grieve and still to complete my tasks. I found a way to keep my heart on the right track and my mind moving forward no matter what I was feeling in other parts of my being.

I see how much freedom this life allows me – freedom to read, to study, to learn, to serve, to help, to teach, to grow, to love, to be with like-minded people from all over the world, to express myself any way that I want, to have the freedom to be heard in many languages and continents; the freedom to maintain my health and well-being, to swim and dance and cook and eat. I wonder, how many women in the world suffer; they have no choices, no freedom to be themselves?

Thank you for giving me the freedom to find out who I am, what I am made of, to learn from my mistakes, and remain faithful to my deepest dreams.

I wonder what we are really capable of becoming?

Although my life has not been stellar by any standards and in many of its aspects, I have always had the freedom to correct myself, to make good, to remain steady, to reach toward being better. Freedom gave me the opportunity to change.

There are many times when I really don't know how much further I can go, how much more I can forgive, how much more I can strive, how much more I can serve and give and let go. I fall into a depth of grief, then I emerge again – surprisingly better! How does that work?

What I find is a deeper love, a deeper forgiveness, a deeper self-forgetfulness, a clearer direction for my life; simplicity in freedom. Freedom is simple and uncomplicated.

Thank you Lord for the freedom to be who I am – slowly to find out – ever so slowly – my True Self.

And, as I say “Thank You” to You, I realize that it is all my friends that I am thanking, the men and women in my life, my loved ones near and far, my family, who are You.

I say “Lord” but I certainly don't know who You are; I know my friends. I say thank You Lord for my friends; they are You and You are them.

As I look outside at my garden, the lilies bloom in pinks and yellows, never caring how hot it is, how dry it is, how anyone cares or not. The little desert bunny sits sprawled out under the rose bush. It is moist and cool there. It spreads out its belly to feel as much of the cool as possible. It is the desert here; today it is 110 degrees, yet, life blooms. Life is and becomes. I too am a creature in the desert of life, programmed toward striving, to becoming eventually perfect, as perfect as the Father in heaven is perfect.

The freedom to persevere, to grow, to expand, to become fully human; freedom is my most cherished quality of life and life principle. I could not live without it.

I pray today so that freedom spreads to every woman in the world, to every child in the world, to every man in the world so that we can all be free to become our True Self.
Gita
http://www.gitasaraydarian.org/
_____________________________

- Gita Saraydarian is the Founder and President of TSG Foundation, an organization dedicated to the Ageless Wisdom Teachings. See the complete list of past blogs on the TSG Foundation website and also on Gita's new website http://www.gitasaraydarian.org/
- Copyright Notice: Gita’s Blog articles are copyrighted by The Creative Trust, 2010.

92 - The Art of Communication: Part 4: More Rules According to Gita

2010-06-27T23:00:00.001-07:00

In the last section, I listed some of Gita's rules for better communication. Here are even more:

The more people you are sitting with, the less you must speak. That is Gita's really important rule. Every person needs a chance to speak and express themselves. So if there are two persons, you get 50%. If three persons, you get only 30% speaking time, and so on. This is for the entire evening and not just for each comment. It is unkind and egotistical to hold the floor constantly. Everyone has something to say, so shut the mouth, eat something, drink something, and just listen. And, when you say something, just say one thing and not the entire string of related items. Respond to what is being discussed and don't change the subject to suit your needs. What should you do when you are not speaking? Listen, observe, be interested in what and how others are communicating. Other people are really interesting!
Don't give too much detail. It is called “too much information”; please, I can't hold all those threads in my mind. When I hear a string of different topics spill out in one statement, I want to say, “wait, let me write this down so I can remember.” Or, “Which one do you want me to respond to? Do you want me to respond at all? Do you really care what I think?” On the other hand, don't be a one word conversationalist either. “How are you?” “Fine.” “How is your work?” “Good.” ....
When you go to lunch or dinner with someone, remember, they really do not want to listen to all the details of your children, their pets, their spouses or girl/boy friends, their work issues, and their challenges unless you are asked directly about them. Only your mother wants to know about these things. Nor do people want to hear about your friends and what they do and where they go fishing. People are with you, one hopes, because they want to be with YOU and they want to know what YOU are doing, feeling, thinking, and how you are coping with life. They are also hoping that you ask about them and what they are doing because they consider themselves as important as you are to yourself.
Refrain from seeking to fill the void by bringing attention to yourself by answering your own questions. Learn to ask questions to others that are interesting and not like an oral examination.
Refrain from assuming the role of the doctor, therapist, spiritual guide, guru, astrologer, mentor, and tell everyone how to solve their problems; they are not asking you. Even if asked, don't take on that role in a social setting; it shows you are not professional at all. And, if you find yourself in the same room with professionals in any field, this is not the time to ask for medical advice or spiritual advice. Let people have a break; they probably need it. Usually, I find that such questions are a way to show off what the person knows and they are not really asking a question as much as telling you that they really know a lot and aren't you so impressed with them?
After a social or even business or professional event, sit and think about what you said and how you said it; what you communicated and how you did it. Try to see yourself as others may have seen you. Make a mental note to change things that need to be changed. We learn and grow by observing and by changing what needs to be changed. Even if you feel totally humiliated by the way you behaved, it is OK. You can always call and apologize and do better next time. Your friends know already, and they may still like you and want to be with you. So, next time, do better.

A conversations is a dialog and not a monologue.

A friend of mine was dating someone and when I asked how it is going, he said, “Fine if she would just stop talking. She talks non-stop and I never have a chance to say anything. It is as if she wants to continuously show me what she knows or wants to fill the void. It is so annoying.”

So, I wondered, talking too much and without sensitivity to others is a way to hide, as odd as it may seem.

We hide in our noise; we make noise so we do not have to listen, observe, love, hear the sound of silence or the sounds of others. It is interestingly self-centered.

If you want to be a great conversationalist, become interested in the persons you live with, work with, invite to lunch and have dinner with, and remember, it is not always all about you, your opinions, and your insights.
So, before I overstep my boundaries of speaking too much, even though this is my forum and I can do whatever I want, I need to wrap this up. I wrote this entire series in one sitting, so you know I have a lot to say. If you find me across the dinner table from you, know that I will do my best to listen, will keep my esoteric findings to myself, will try not to give an on the spot seminar, will answer your questions briefly, and I do want to hear what you have to say too, and I am not with you so I can preach to you, I need a break; I am interested in you.

A good conversation is the best communication; it is like a good basketball game where no one is keeping score; it is not a game of racquetball. You never leave a good conversation, for it stays with you and keeps opening the doors and windows of your heart every time you remember it; it expands your space. A good conversation with great people never ends, but continues to infinity. You may never remember the content of a good conversation, but you never forget those moments.

Thanks for listening and it is now time to hear from you; for I see your eyes are glazing over....and I have not fallen off the face of the earth; I am very much here on the Planet. I have had a lot to think about and a lot to do. Life is so interesting and it moves so quickly. We need to capture it every day and see it full of opportunities and possibilities. How much we can grow and mature with good contacts and good communications!

Looking forward to hearing from all of you,

Gita
http://www.gitasaraydarian.org/
_____________________________
- Gita Saraydarian is the Founder and President of TSG Foundation, an organization dedicated to the Ageless Wisdom Teachings. See the complete list of past blogs on the TSG Foundation website and also on Gita's new website http://www.gitasaraydarian.org/
- Copyright Notice: Gita’s Blog articles are copyrighted by The Creative Trust, 2009.

91 - The Art of Communication: Part 3: Rules According to Gita

2010-06-23T00:01:00.002-07:00

Unless you want to be a lonely old man or woman, conversing only with yourself and there is no one who wants to listen to you, find a way to become a better conversationalist. Be interested in people and what they do and how they live. Learn to communicate no matter where you are and with whom you are spending time. But please, if you are sitting in an airplane, this is not the time to start a conversation with someone sitting next to you, so please keep it quiet. According to me, there is no need to have a detailed conversation with anyone that you do not know unless it is about the business you are conducting or you are invited to sit with them and communicate with them. And, even then, make sure they really want to know about what you have to say.

So assuming you have been invited to spend time with others, it is good to brush up on effective communication skills. What then is effective communication? It is an exchange of ideas, thoughts, events, that everyone finds interesting and everyone is engaged. There is give AND take; that is the key.

Whether you are conversing with your loved ones, your co-workers, your children, chit chat with a friend over lunch, or professional communications of all sorts, the key is to remember the concept of dialog. If we remember that we are speaking with someone, and not to an empty space or simply trees and birds (although they listen too), we will remind ourselves that the other person we are speaking to has to listen to us, or at least look like he is listening to us, and we need to know if we are really engaged with that person or we lost him? We need to check in continuously by looking at the person and seeing if they are just being polite, or are they really interested in what we are saying.

Learning effective communication skills that are genuine and heartfelt are really good ways to learn the esoteric meaning and process of contact.

So, in communication, there are a few rules that I have learned. And, as you get older, you may forget these rules, so write them down. I have started a “what to remember when I am old” list on my computer and it is getting really long. One of the most frequent problems of aging is the inability to listen and the overarching obsession with talking endlessly. So, I better not do that and so here are some of my choices on effective communication:

Listen, listen carefully to the question or comment and answer briefly. Observe the person keenly as you speak for any signals and respond to the signals; respond to what is being said and what is really needed. People communicate 80% or more by non-verbal communication. So, be careful to watch for the signals and also what signals you are giving by your body, tone of voice, and such.
Don't assume your listener wants the whole story; ask if he or she wants to know all the details or just the bottom line. Don't just fill up space with your own noise.
In business settings, sometimes it may be a cultural trait to begin with pleasantries about how you are and such, but this is NOT a free ticket to "share" your life issues or to pull out the photos of the family. Keep it brief and get to the business at hand.
Don't set up your own agenda or your own list of things you must talk about unless it is a business meeting and everyone has agreed to the agenda. Watch the signals. People signal to us all the time with their whole body and breathing and tell us to go on, or stop for God's sake, or go away! So, observe and please don't be a bore. Every answer does not have to stand the test of time; every comment you make does not have to be scientifically provable, verifiable, historically accurate. Every comment in a conversation does not have to show your expertise and your clever and insightful ways. Every comment you make does not have to be footnoted, referenced with library resources and data. Conversation, communication, dialog is not about you and it is not about the content; it is about the collective persons involved and their energetic exchanges. It is an exchange of love, thoughtfulness, companionship, and not a lecture and certainly not a place where you can dump information. So, listen more and speak less.
Remember that others need to speak too; so give everyone an opportunity to speak.
If there are shy people in the group, don't assume you are the designated speaker and continue to give one lecture after another. This is a conversation and not a seminar where you are the main speaker.
In group settings or conversations between two persons, remember that everyone feels good when they have the chance to express themselves. So, instead of giving a dissertation about your life, your mother's life, your father, your children, your pets, the last time it rained and the latest medical problem that you have had to deal with and so on....ask questions about the other person to draw then out. How many medical emergencies can we sit through?

Coming up Next: The Art of Communication: Part 4: More Rules According to Gita

Gita
http://www.gitasaraydarian.org/
_____________________________

- Gita Saraydarian is the Founder and President of TSG Foundation, an organization dedicated to the Ageless Wisdom Teachings. See the complete list of past blogs on the TSG Foundation website and also on Gita's new website http://www.gitasaraydarian.org/
- Copyright Notice: Gita’s Blog articles are copyrighted by The Creative Trust, 2010.

90 - The Art of Communication: Part 2: Bad Communication

2010-06-18T23:00:00.001-07:00

As I related in my last blog post, I have not written for over three months. What prompted me to start writing again?

Let me relate a brief conversation that I just had that compelled me to finally walk over to my computer and start a new file in my blog.

A gentleman called the office and in a very strong and velvety and commanding voice asked to speak to me. So, I picked up the phone. He said: “I know it is a rotten economy, life is hard, business is down...” and I am thinking, so why am I listening to this person as he pulls me down the well of his ignorance and negativity? And, I kept listening.... “and you probably like to be doing something really different at this time, don't you?”

Well, I thought, Hawaii is not a bad idea just about now...water, really, any body of water....“No, I would not,” I said. “Do you even know what it is that we do here?” I asked.

“Well, I see you are a publishing company.”

“Well, do you know what we publish?”

“Well, no, I cannot really say.....”

“So, I said, "you make a sales call, you don't know what we do, and you are trying to tell me that life is so bad that I should consider giving my business to you to sell, because... you are trying to convince me of your great track record... by pushing your negative agenda on me...and you want me to trust you and do business with you?”

So then I politely asked him to take us off his call list. I did not mention that such a stupid communication style turned me off immediately and I did not want to listen even if he had something great to sell to me.

So I started to pay serious attention to my process of communication and see what I can learn by my observations of both myself and the way others communicate and how I respond to various kinds of communications. When we get angry at someone, there is usually something inside of us that needs to be looked at.

We really need to learn the art of communication, if not for anything else but to become nicer people that others want to be with and not try to avoid! As we get older, this is even more important than it seems.

So, now I am wondering, what is it in communication that I look for, respond to, and strive for in myself? Since I am really in the communication business, I need to be the best communicator that I can be; right? Whatever I am looking for in others, I have to be able to do it myself first.

Some time ago, we received another sales call and I also spoke to the man. He was selling air conditioning repair services and he was so polite, so nice, so knowledgeable that I told him what a pleasure it was to speak to him. I asked for his supervisor and commended him for the kind of sales people he trained. I did not purchase the package at that time, but I still remember that man and his very beautiful way of communicating something that may at some point be very useful in this environment: a well kept air conditioner. If I need this service, he will be the first that I will call.

How about the personal communications that we have daily?

Sometimes I have sat at dinner with people only to have the entire evening dominated by one person's opinions on life here and thereafter, or some story about others and details of their lives that I have absolutely no interest in. Or the person assumes that this is a seminar on spirituality and he or she has all the information that needs to be “shared” at that exact time. It seems that the person doing all the talking has sprung a leak somewhere and you cannot stop it at all! No one else has any chance to say anything.

In this particular occasion, I tried to insert a few questions here and there, as did others, and finally gave up. The person kept talking and never once looked at the table full of people who were basically squirming: eating, looking around and away, trying to be polite and generally gave up. People were giving every polite signal that they could give except to shout “Enough already; you are such a bore.”

How often have you stared at someone with a glazed look on your face as he or she spoke endlessly about every single detail of their life, their feelings, looking up at the sky for details, looking away from you, and even if you interrupted with a question to gain a bit of relief, the person just took a breath and continued to speak....starting where they left off. I have often observed that this pause is punctuated by a loud breath by the person doing the speaking as if to say; “you interrupted me... as I was saying....” well you know the kind I mean? Or perhaps you have been guilty of the same? I am sure I have done the same thing, never noticing the squirming.

Not long ago a friend asked me a simple question in an email. I responded with a four page essay! The friend said that it was overwhelming to read so it was not read! No wonder! Everything was spilled out at once. I sprung a leak! I felt so bad, I had to release the pain through writing a poem “It Spills Out.”

I learned something profound: every statement and communication is not an invitation to spill it all out. If you have something to say, then make it short, to the point, and respond to the question only and not to the entire underlying foundation and the philosophical-moral-religious-psychological-historical issues. Every question, every conversation, is not an oral examination for PhD candidacy! So, as you can see, I do the same thing and I need to pay attention to this as well. Heaven help me to become a better communicator.

Coming up Next: The Art of Communication: Part 3: Rules According to Gita

Gita
http://www.gitasaraydarian.org/

_________________________

- Gita Saraydarian is the Founder and President of TSG Foundation, an organization dedicated to the Ageless Wisdom Teachings. See the complete list of past blogs on the TSG Foundation website and also on Gita's new website http://www.gitasaraydarian.org/
-Copyright Notice: Gita’s Blog articles are copyrighted by The Creative Trust, 2010.

89 - The Art of Communication: Part 1: What Have You Been Doing?

2010-06-16T16:35:00.001-07:00

It has been a long time since I wrote a blog. Life has been full.
Where have I been all these months? Someone wrote and asked, “Gita, are you OK? Have not heard from you....”

For those of you who thought that perhaps I fell off the side of the planet, well, I am still here, working too much and trying to get too much done in any given day. I have enough work here for at least another three people like me. I am well and fine and have had a busy and very interesting few months.

Here is a quick look at what has been going on here:

I launched Torkom's Blog in February and it is proving popular and a beautiful way to share some of his writings. I really like the way it looks so I wanted to update the look of my blog too...so started working on it. Also, the Spanish version of Torkom's Blog is now being prepared...coming soon.
I started to do the first reading of Torkom's Autobiography, which is more of a diary, and I was riveted and moved in ways that I cannot explain. It got me to thinking that I need to start recording my life experiences. I could see through his eyes how a person grows and matures and makes the decisions in life that lead to the vision and purpose of life. I began to see the thread that unites all our life experiences and began to understand why I am so committed to this work and what really drives me. I started to see the linking threads of my life. The most interesting parts were his travel diaries and how he viewed the people and the life around him as he flew to Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, Europe, and back to the US. He observed everything and held everyone in his compassionate heart but also kept his vigilance and discipline. I started also to think, what happens to me when I travel, meet new people, give lectures and relate in new environments? I do keep a travel diary, but never look at it once I arrive back to the office. It is so interesting to note that when we read inspiring and deeply charged books, they open doors deep into our own consciousness. I suppose that is why we are so drawn to great writings.
I prepared a four day conference with two lectures each morning and various events in the afternoons. The conference is our annual Wesak retreat and was held this year at the end of April. The topic was building our psychic immune system. It was a life-changing experience for me to be able to research, write, and build these lectures in a comprehensive and sequential manner. I have been giving these kinds of conferences for 11 years, and each year has its particular rewards. This year it was a deep inner realization and an inner stabilization that I had not experienced as fully before. There is so much work that goes into every hour of presentation. What I deliver is just the surface of all the work that I did for each hour. I learned that it is not the amount we talk but how we communicate from a place of knowing and fullness that holds the key to its comprehension.
I started to re-frame the purpose of TSG and where we are going. Every year during the Wesak period, I deliberately go through a re-focusing process. The questions I asked myself are: what is my focus in life? Where do I focus most of my daily time? My daily focus may not be on my real focus at all. The third question is how do I maintain a spiritual tension on the focus of my life that will help me accomplish it? This is such a deep topic that I prepared a separate lecture just on this part alone. Pondering on these questions helped me tremendously.
I started thinking how I am going to inspire a higher commitment of support to TSG and its financial needs. This is really taking up much of my thinking these days. We need serious financial support for the long term longevity of Torkom's work. In this climate of fear and sense of lack, it is important for me to keep the vision and not succumb to doubt.
I started thinking of all the topics I would love to write about and it grew to be a huge list. So, I decided to simply let life unfold and let all these events sort themselves out as I held them in spiritual tension. I learned that spiritual tension is not the same as being tense. Spiritual tension is seeing the big picture and putting into place the activities that will be the causes for the effects you need in life. It means you are fully awake to the events and opportunities around you. Being tense is trying to push a certain agenda irrespective of the larger dynamic forces in life. So, enough trying to manage and control everything in my life. It is exhausting to be such a pushy project manager, the project being my life!
I also continued with my daily office work, writings, editing, classes and so on.

Today, something else happened early on in the day to make me start writing my blog again. What started out as a simple telephone call catapulted me into writing and thinking about much bigger issues.

Coming up Next: The Art of Communication: Part 2: Bad Communication

Gita
http://www.gitasaraydarian.org/
__________________________________
- Gita Saraydarian is the Founder and President of TSG Foundation, an organization dedicated to the Ageless Wisdom Teachings. See the complete list of past blogs on the TSG Foundation website and also on Gita's new website http://www.gitasaraydarian.org/
-Copyright Notice: Gita’s Blog articles are copyrighted by The Creative Trust, 2010.

88 - Happy Mother's Day

2010-05-05T14:00:00.002-07:00

By Gita Saraydarian

Mother's Day is a very special day for me. My mother has set an example for me on how to be feminine, caring, giving, loving, strong, and creative throughout my life. I honor her every day and am thankful that at 85 she is still living a healthy and vibrant life. She just cooked and served a multi-course meal for 30 people at our Wesak luncheon! She had enough food for 50 people, so we enjoyed her food for many days after Wesak. It was a marvelous meal in taste and presentation. Of course, she did not want any help and wanted to manage it all by herself. She always maintains that these special Holy Days are important for all of us. Wesak is especially cherished by her and this is how she participates and expresses her love to all of us.

She loves people and every time she meets someone she especially likes, she adopts them as her new daughter or son. The newest addition to our family is my friend from Peru. She now has children from all races and colors and backgrounds and makes sure that at gatherings, she has their favorite food ready to share. Many years ago, she was given a gift to travel with a family to the Philippines. There she stayed with a large extended family and, in conversations, she would say how this person or that person is her son or daughter. Finally, one of the ladies asked her: "Lola, (grandmother), how can you have so many children and each one different?" She looked at them with a certain smile and said, "I was a busy girl!" We still laugh remembering that for one moment, it seemed she was truly a "busy girl".

Several months ago she gave us a real scare as she was rushed to the emergency hospital at 1 AM. By the time we arrived at the hospital, the ambulance was already there with her and she had been admitted. She was in a great mood, not noticing the extremely high blood pressure and all the monitors she was hooked up to. She had made friends with the nurses and the ambulance drivers were already friends. She kept telling us, “don’t worry, this is not it; I am not leaving yet.” I know that every day we have with her is a gift.

She is amazing in love and wisdom. This week, I would like to share with you once again a blog that I wrote on May 1st, 2009. I hope you enjoy it and remember in your life how your mother brought to you that special quality that has been imprinted in your nature. Even if you had difficulties with your Mom, she is still your Mom and, if you look deep in your nature, there is a very special good quality that she gave you. Look for it, and you will find it. Now is the time to be grateful to that special feminine person in your life.

I wish a very Happy Mother's Day to each and every woman out there. Whether or not you have your own biological children, remember, you are a mother by the very fact that you nurture and love the life around you.

With love and appreciation to my Mother,

Gita
http://www.gitasaraydarian.org/
_______________________

- Gita Saraydarian is the Founder and President of TSG Foundation, an organization dedicated to the Ageless Wisdom Teachings. See the complete list of past blogs on the TSG Foundation website and also on Gita's new website http://www.gitasaraydarian.org/
-Copyright Notice: Gita’s Blog articles are copyrighted by The Creative Trust, 2009.
- Link to my blog: My Mom, an Educated Person, posted in May 2009.

87 - Torkom's Teachings Can Change Your Life

2010-02-24T09:59:00.001-07:00

By Gita Saraydarian

I have studied the Teaching of the Ageless Wisdom formally for the last 34 years. Although I grew up in a household where the Wisdom Teachings were a part of daily life, I was never compelled to read, study, or practice formally. My parents gave me the example of how to be a good person, how to cultivate virtues, and how to give and serve others. They taught me how to be healthy and how to feel a deep sense of appreciation and responsibility for the Teachings of all great ones.

Today, it is a great joy for me to be surrounded on a daily basis by the Teaching. This includes the writings and creative works by my father Torkom, as well as the Teachings of many great men and women.

The Teaching changes our life. When we study it, it is one thing, for it expands our mind into a sphere that we do not otherwise engage in on a daily basis. It also uplifts us emotionally and we can heal ourselves on the emotional level. When we put into practice the ideals of the Teaching, that is when we truly experience change in our lives. This is sometimes called the “alchemical process” or “transmutation”.

On a daily basis, I realize how my life changes as I experience and practice the Teaching. It is not an easy process, but a sort of dying of the part of me that no longer works for the benefit of my growth, and the process of birthing a part of me that will serve the growth and expansion of my whole being.

This is what I experience from studying and practicing the very practical, down to earth, and sublime works by Torkom. His works uplift me mentally and expand my thought process into new levels; they uplift me emotionally so I am able to put my life into perspective; they compel me to follow healthy activities and practices in my physical life; they bring to me the Wisdom of the Great Ones from all nations and cultures and religions and help me appreciate the ocean of wisdom that is the legacy of humanity.

I wanted to share more of Torkom's works with the world, so I am launching today a special blog on and by Torkom. Please take a look and if you like it, you may subscribe to it.

Thank you for your continued support of our work.
Gita

Here is the link to Torkom's Blog

_______________________
- Gita Saraydarian is the Founder and President of TSG Foundation, an organization dedicated to the Ageless Wisdom Teachings. See the complete list of past blogs on the TSG Foundation website and also on Gita's new website http://www.gitasaraydarian.org/
-Copyright Notice: Gita’s Blog articles are copyrighted by The Creative Trust, 2009.

86 - Healing Your Emotions is Important!

2010-02-16T10:12:00.002-07:00

By Gita Saraydarian

Let your emotions run wild and you will find yourself like a little boat tossed about in a perpetual stormy sea!

Are you stressed, overwhelmed, anxious, over-reacting and blaming everyone else for your troubles? Are you unable to stay balanced and positive about life and find you are harboring negative feelings and frustrations? Are you loaded with “great ideas and visions” yet nothing in your life shows any practical result of these ideals? Is it difficult for you to maintain your faith and optimism despite all the spiritual work that you are doing? Your life is giving you plenty of evidence that something is going in the wrong direction.

Don’t ignore these signals; they are important.

Whenever you find yourself in an emotional upheaval, you need to stop and take notice. Emotions cannot be ignored; they need to be acknowledged, understood, and healed. The emotions are powerful and move quickly through our bodies and affect us either in a positive or negative way. Emotions alter physical health as well as brain chemistry. Even when we find we have resolved an emotional conflict, our physical body and our mind will still harbor the effects of the turmoil. So it is better to heal your emotions as quickly as you can!

On the path of becoming our True Self, we will eventually realize that we cannot blame others for how we feel; we alone are in charge of our emotions. We realize that if we do not clean up our emotional body, we will be susceptible to, and an attractive magnet for, every emotion around us; we will suffer physically, mentally, and spiritually. Our visions and plans in life will get stuck and go nowhere and we will not be able to pursue a healthy material nor healthy spiritual life. In fact, turbulent and unstable emotions will halt the flow of ideas and even cause the stagnation of the inspirations and visions that you do have. Stagnated pools can become festering pits where illusions and self-deceptions of all kinds grow and multiply and add to the complexity of our unhealthy state.

The Ageless Wisdom Teachings show us how our life can change when we heal emotionally: Our self esteem will grow, our relationships will improve, we will build better communication skills, our spiritual work will become mature, and our overall health will improve. We will be able to stay detached and balanced even in the most trying conditions. Our patience in the process of life will grow and we will be able to maintain our faith and trust.

The process of healing the emotions is not a process to teach us how to fight against our emotions but to help us learn to create conditions in which the birth of negative emotions will be an impossibility.

Healing the emotions means to purify the emotional body. There are three steps to purifying our emotions:

1.Clear observation of the emotion. Observe your emotion and identify it by saying exactly what it is. If it is jealously, don’t call it love! If it is hatred, don’t call it a protective instinct. Study it, and be honest with yourself and what you are feeling. Once you have a clear observation of the emotion, you can begin part two, non-identification.

2.Cultivate dispassion and non-identification. You can become a happier person if you are able to see that you are not your emotions; there is a true and genuine person inside of you who can stand apart from that nasty emotion. Practice “watching” your emotions as they act out and see all the threads that are connected to that particular emotion. See where it came from, how it got magnified, what fed into it, how it made you feel, think, and act. Visualize what is the real you inside and how you are not your emotions. Do this step for five minutes every day until you are able to see all the threads of an emotion. Then go to step three.

3.Transmutation. This is the true alchemical process that helps you change the energetic patterns in your emotional and mental bodies. You learn how to take deliberate and conscious action to replace every unwanted emotion with the higher and more positive counterpart. To do this, once you have identified the emotion, consider what the opposite of it would be, what is the higher counterpart? Then, visualize yourself feeling the higher emotion, speaking and thinking and acting with that higher emotion. See yourself in every life situation utilizing this positive emotion. Repeat this process of transmutation for five minutes daily until the nasty emotion no longer has a hold on you.

Then move on to the next emotion using the same three step process.

Here is a brief YouTube clip from my most recent lecture on healing the emotional body excerpted from the 12-part series on the Process of Becoming Your True Self.

Yes, this can take a lifetime of work. The end result is well worth the effort. If you are serious about healing yourself and finding your True Self, I recommend the book The Science of Becoming Oneself by Torkom Saraydarian. For more advanced work, utilize one of the meditation courses that is designed specifically to guide you through the work in the book:

1. The 12-part process of becoming your True Self is a 12 month study course using the book and lectures recorded on CD/DVD.

2. The 3-5 year Meditation Course is a more intensive meditation/visualization course using the text and seed thought and visualization techniques.

Gita
http://www.gitasaraydarian.org/
_________________________

- Gita Saraydarian is the Founder and President of TSG Foundation, an organization dedicated to the Ageless Wisdom Teachings. See the complete list of past blogs on the TSG Foundation website and also on Gita's new website http://www.gitasaraydarian.org/-Copyright Notice: Gita’s Blog articles are copyrighted by The Creative Trust, 2009.
- What are the Ageless Wisdom Teachings?
- See the complete Gita's Blogs list on TSG Foundation site and Gita's Blogs page.
- Meditations and spiritual guidance provided on Gita’s Blogs and are not intended to take the place of medical or psychological advice. If you are feeling depressed and anxious and are not able to deal with these feelings, it is very important that you see a medical doctor or a clinically trained psychologist for professional evaluation. Depression affects many people all over the world and it is important that you heed professional advice. See Dr. Amen’s blog for information on brain chemistry and emotions.

85 - Building Your Psychic Immune System:

2010-02-05T16:45:00.011-07:00

Part 1: The Power of the Heart

By Gita Saraydarian

Our psychic immune system is composed of the health of our etheric body (energetic component of our physical body), emotional, and mental bodies, as well as the strength of our connection to the higher values of our soul. It is a complex system that is build by our spiritual striving, the values that we hold dear to our hearts, and the life choices we make on a daily basis. Seemingly simple choices such as the right foods, spending time in nature, and having heartfelt relationships help us in building a strong shield.

It is just as important to have a strong spiritual immune system as it is to have a strong physical immune system. A strong immune system protects us against infections and illnesses. A strong spiritual or psychic immune system protects us from psychic attacks, emotional illnesses, and all kinds of self defeating behaviors. When we change our inner patterns to higher values, we attract the same to us. When we dwell in ugliness and nastiness, we also attract the same to us.

I would like to post a series of writings specifically on the topic of building, strengthening, and maintaining a strong psychic shield. This is the focus for the Annual Conference at TSG at Wesak and certainly a topic that is very close to my heart.

In part one, the focus is on the power of the heart and how the heart helps us to reach to the Fiery Worlds — subtle levels of existence beyond the emotional worlds. I have also included a beautiful meditation on unfolding the power of compassion in our hearts.

With Valentine’s Day coming just around the corner, it is important that we understand the power of our heart as a protective shield. An ancient mantram says: “Love to all beings, north, south, east, west, above, below…love to all beings.”

Building Your Psychic Immune System: Part 1

Gita
http://www.gitasaraydarian.org/
_________________________

Gita Saraydarian is the founder and president of TSG Foundation, the publishing and distributing foundation for the books and creative works of Torkom Saraydarian. More information on her work to build bridges to happiness, joy, and bliss and complete list of past blogs can be found on her new website, http://www.gitasaraydarian.org/.
Meditations provided here are for spiritual guidance and are not meant to replace medical or psychological advice.
For more information about the protective shield, please see Aura, Shield of Protection and Glory.

84 - The Little Things ... The Simple Things

2010-01-01T15:17:00.011-07:00

Gita Saraydarian

I am feeling very grateful today for the small things in life. But, before I get to that, let me explain how I came to this realization.

I was speaking to a long-ago friend the other day and we had quite a philosophical discussion. I had not spoken to him for 23 years and it was nice to re-connect and discover who we had become. I was giving my “universal principles of respect” point of view and he was giving me “the Good Lord said” point of view. Now, I have nothing against what the Good Lord said. In fact I respect ALL that He said.

I tend to see my view as open and not restrictive, in fact expansive, and I am sure he feels his view to be the right one as well. I am sure he is shaking his grey head and wondering where all my education took me and how he could straighten me out!

We exchanged emails and said good bye. Soon, I started to get the usual hate-filled emails (not against me, just the “them”) about politics, religion, and choices people make and so on. I saw a process of demonization had begun and taken root in this person's mind and I was amazed how he too could fall into this process. This man is “highly educated”, holding three higher academic degrees from three top notch American universities! What happened to him? Where does this kind of hatred and cynicism come from and how does it maintain a hold on him?

I put all the emails in the Spam folder and thought...I still like this person, but cannot agree with his views. I felt his views had made him into a lonely, angry, spiteful and cynical old man. I reminded myself to make a note of this on my “what not to do when I get old” list and put several stars next to this entry!

This incident gave me food for thought.

Let me explain: I have always operated from the view that life is an open system. I don't like to think in terms of restrictions. I am sure I hold many restrictions in life, the boundaries that I erect to feel secure and I do follow rules and regulations. But my philosophical point of view is still one of openness and possibilities. Life to me is growing constantly, changing and evolving. What we believed in yesterday may not apply today. What we thought to be normal behavior may need continuous bits of expansion and fine tuning. We are always adapting to something that is internally probing our consciousness or externally inspiring us. At the meantime, we define and re-define what is timeless and eternal and what is changing.

For example, we adapt to “normal,” societal, market-driven values and we go along with the flow. We are one of the herd and follow along wherever the forces of common values take us.

Or we have a time-honored orthodox views of the world, adapt what we experience in life to these views, and try to put everything that is currently happening into this context. When we do this, strange things happen! If we believe in an “eye for an eye” philosophy and try to adhere to it literally, then we have no problem with injuring people who injure us or we feel have injured us. Never mind that this philosophy may just involve a symbolic view of karma. We appropriate what we see going on in life around us to the restrictive inner philosophy that we hold.

Or, we take the higher values and virtues of life (such as beauty, goodness, forgiveness) and we begin to change our life to adapt to these higher values and principles. We question our values, we question our normal ways of doing things and thinking. We question our assumptions and our entire take on life through a prism of deeper thinking and deeper understanding of the changing life. In doing so, we are interacting with the changing life; we do not freeze life.

So, in order to avoid the condition of cynicism, which to me is the freezing of the soul, I want to take time to reflect on the small things today. Although I realize I wrote a large number of words just to get to the small things in life, I realize I have not yet mastered the art of saying it simply; haiku is not in my bag of creative abilities yet!

I am feeling very grateful today. What am I grateful for? So many things, starting with my family, friends, loved ones from all times of my life, those with whom I agree and those with whom I disagree, co-workers from many places on earth, and the sunny clear day in Cave Creek on this cold January 1^st. I am grateful for having a life where I can read all day. I am grateful for growing up thinking that I can do anything. I am grateful for a Mom and Dad who were examples of open-ended thinking. I love to see how we all grow and transform ourselves every day. I see the bright side and the dark side of life. I read cookbooks and drink coffee from a pretty cup; the pink roses on the cup make my coffee taste specially good today. The bird bath needs water, the birds peck at the frozen surface trying to get a drink; they are wondering “Where is the water? I see it but can't quite get to it?” I walk outside in the cold air, my grey hair flying about, and put more water in the bird bath and more in the bunny bowl. When they come back tonight to drink, they will find water rather than frozen ice!

Zahtar and olive oil are very tasty on corn bread. The Lord is Good and He, in His infinite wisdom, gave us the mental capacity to capture life. Miracles in small things; I like that. The birds have their water; and the bunnies too. The Javelinas find the bunny bowl and empty it; they walk right into it and spill it all over the place. Perhaps a bigger bowl for them is in order? The conservationists in the desert will object, surely. I understand. And the symbolism? I have to think with my next cup of coffee, this time in a beautifully crafted Russian cup.

J. Alfred Prufrock I am not; I do not measure my life with coffee spoons, but with the grandeur of Cosmos. The birds and bunnies offer a poetic refrain in desert life; a continuity in the ever changing landscape of life.

Happy Year 2010. May your life be blessed with the small wonders of God and the grandeur of Cosmos.

Gita

Gita Saraydarian is the founder and president of TSG Foundation, the publishing and distributing foundation for the books and creative works of Torkom Saraydarian. More information on her work to build bridges to happiness, joy, and bliss and complete list of past blogs can be found on her new website, http://www.gitasaraydarian.org/

83 - Ten Messages for Christmas: 2009

2009-12-23T11:50:00.011-07:00

By Gita Saraydarian

As we celebrate Christmas with gifts and parties and decorations, it is also good to remember the gifts given to us by Christ. These gifts were tools and guidance to enable us to make our life better on earth and also to enable us to expand our consciousness and make a direct connection to the Higher Worlds. In the book The Teachings of Christ, (Volume 1, The Birth of Christ) Torkom Saraydarian summarized these gifts as ten messages. They are as follows:

1. The first message of Christmas is to start a new life. Do not let past failures and mistakes chain you to the past.
2. The second message is to forgive people who have hurt you in some way. Allow them to start a new life. As long as you do not forgive them, they will do the same things that they did in the past.
3. The third message is to make a plan for your spiritual progress. We make plans for many things, such as buying a car, buying a house, or business transactions. These are fine, but the most important plan is the plan for your spiritual progress.
4. The fourth message is never to fall into the spirit of revenge. It destroys your future progress and future life. Never try to take revenge.
5. The fifth message is very interesting. All of the bad and negative things we see in others become posthypnotic suggestions within us….Whether we admit it or not, this is a fact. As soon as we open our mouth, we immediately see the past, present, and future ugliness in people….When difficult people come near us and “force” us to criticize, hate, and take revenge on them, be very careful. You can poison yourself, and this is what they want you to do.
6. Message number six is always to try to help those who are brokenhearted. Doing this gives you such deep inspiration.
7. The seventh message is to try to overcome jealousy. Be happy when people are more successful and happier than you are….You can be jealous of many things, small and large, physical, emotional, and mental. As long as you have jealousy, you are producing poison in your system.
8. The eighth message is to try slowly to realize the unity of mankind. See that there is only one God living in every human being.
9. The ninth message is to exercise daily discipline to study, meditate, and engage in a creative service.
10. The tenth message is to pray for the leaders of the world….They need your prayers, guidance, and psychic energy to do right actions. Pray for all leaders of every kind. They are the contact point of leadership. Whether you like them or not, they influence the world. Pray for them so that wisdom, knowledge, inspiration, and light come; so that they eventually realize that they are in positions of great responsibility and do the right things.

(Excerpted from Chapter 21, The Teachings of Christ-Volume 1: The Birth of Christ Torkom Saraydarian.)

May your Christmas be joyful and may you be blessed.

Gita
www.gitasaraydarian.org
_________________________
- Gita Saraydarian is the Founder and President of TSG Foundation, an organization dedicated to the Ageless Wisdom Teachings. See the complete list of past blogs on the TSG Foundation website and also on Gita's new website http://www.gitasaraydarian.org/
-Copyright Notice: Gita’s Blog articles are copyrighted by The Creative Trust, 2009.
- Details on what are the Ageless Wisdom Teaching s, and other topics on what is the Teaching are found on www.gitasraydarian.org

82 - Our Own Prisons - Part 3 of 3: The Memorial Garden

2009-12-08T09:45:00.017-07:00

By Gita Saraydarian

The Family decided first to hold a graveside memorial service with a traditional prayer and service. Then we all gathered in the family home, where a garden was newly dug up, and readied to be dedicated to Sheila. A beautiful tall statue of an angel adorned the top corner of the garden.

I decided to read the following to commemorate the continuous life of her soul, to encourage her to continue serving in her own way, to remind her that she is free to move to her next destination, wherever that may be, and to remind all of us that every child who comes to us is a temporary gift; we are all in temporary relationships with each other from the perspective of this life, but in eternal relationships from the perspective of the One Life. We belong to each other and we belong to no one and we belong to millions of people all over the world in all lifetimes. Truly, we all belong to each other. I wanted this prayer to commemorate the journey of the soul in the One Life, with many little lifetimes that make such huge impacts on our little lives; we are so enriched by these little lives.

There was another, more silent reminder: How to relate with the children who are with us on earth, our spouses and family members. How do we continue, keeping our hearts open and vulnerable to them, despite the tremendous amount of energy and love that we gave to one person?

I excerpted this reading from Other Worlds by Torkom Saraydarian, with slight changes made to fit the occasion and the diversity of religious traditions of the guests. I read as follows:

“Dear Sheila, we are gathered here in your memory. May the beam of Divine Light illuminate your path. May your protecting angels protect you from any attack or harm. May the blessings of the Holy Ones shine in your heart throughout your journeys.

We send you our love, blessings, and courage. Try always to strive toward the higher, fiery worlds. Do not be englamored by the objects of the level where you are. Remember that the three worlds are illusions. Strive toward the highest; search for the Teacher; aspire toward the Greatest One.

We will keep your memory in our hearts. We will keep your visions alive, and we will follow your steps of love and understanding in all our relationships. We ask that you do not worry about us and go along your path of divine service.

Today, we dedicate this garden in your name. This garden symbolizes the continuity of life. We release you from the prison of illness and death into life everlasting. We hold your spirit alive in our life. We will grow these beautiful flowers as tokens of our dedication to the gifts that you gave to us.

May the light of God shield you and inspire you to strive toward higher achievement. When your time of incarnation arrives, please obey the call to come again and meet your obligations and responsibilities on earth.

Your mother and father, your sister and brother, your friends and family, send you our greatest love and appreciation. You blessed our life. May you also be eternally blessed and live many lifetimes in joy and health.

May the love of God surround you always, in all your journeys on earth and in heaven.

And, may we grow in love and joy together as a family, never forgetting the tapestry that we are weaving with each other, right now, right here.”

The family and friends stood around the garden. The two younger siblings were silent and thoughtful. They know about life more than we think they do. They feel their mother's suffering and put their little arms around her legs. They still need so much from her but, for today, they give their loving hearts to Mom. They are learning, as we are all learning, that life continues infinitely and we all have special needs at special times. Today, they give their love. Tomorrow, they will need the love of Mom focused on their needs.

After reading this prayer, everyone was invited to place their plants in any part of the garden that they wished. The little sister and brother jumped out first to place their pots of flowers. They seemed so eager to start the garden! People slowly walked up and placed their plants in various configurations. Then we all shared a wonderful dinner and spoke about the aspects of life that touch us forever. It was a memorable evening for all of us, especially for me. I noticed people spoke so joyfully of their own children, their accomplishments, their education and their growing up years! Having known only three people when I arrived, I left holding so many more in my heart, and most of all, a very special young lady who is welcomed in heaven, to be sure.

(Dedicated to Sheila Bahrehmand.)

Gita
http://www.gitasaraydarian.org/
Link to Part 1
Link to Part 2

- Gita Saraydarian is the Founder and President of TSG Foundation, an organization dedicated to the Ageless Wisdom Teachings. See the complete list of past blogs and on Gita's new website.
-Copyright Notice: Gita’s Blog articles are copyrighted by The Creative Trust, 2009.
- For more information about memorial services for the departed, see the book Other Worlds by Torkom Saraydarian. - For more detailed information on what are the Ageless Wisdom Teachings, please see the specific pages on http://www.gitasaraydarian.org/

81 - In Our Own Prisons - Part 2 of 3: From Pain to Understanding

2009-12-07T11:59:00.016-07:00

By Gita Saraydarian

(In Part One, I wrote about meeting Sheila's Mom and helping her plan a memorial service. Sheila had passed away a year earlier from a degenerative spinal cord disease. The family was suffering immensely for this loss and we wanted to plan a memorial service that met the needs of the family.)

So why are some people born with immense difficulties and others not? Is it punishment, atonement, a way of service and learning, a way to prove one's own inner strength that is never seen from the outside, a way to teach others about the capacities inherent in each of us that is beyond the outer form? Is it punishment for the afflicted or the families who face these difficulties and are never able to forget them?

As I looked into my friend's eyes, she seemed sad beyond her smiles; a depth of sadness that no one can truly understand. It changes continuously as we speak. It comes right up front and then recedes to the recesses of her eyes. The sadness is alive and vibrating in her heart and surely, in the hearts of her family. Even though families who have experienced immense personal tragedies will say how much they learned about life and love and forgiveness and appreciation from such experiences, the sadness remains and the questions remain. How long it takes for us to understand! How much suffering we have to endure until we can understand. How much pain in our eyes and etched on our faces until we get a glimmer of hope in the eternal life?

We cannot speculate why and how someone is born in a particular body. I personally feel that peering into someone else's inner or psychic life is none of our business. No matter how many theories and religious reasons we may try to find, we will simply never know. If we continue to speculate, we could make ourselves believe something that may not be true. Why fill our minds and emotions with additional illusions and deceptions? Why not say, “I don't know until I know for sure,” and let it go at that and then try to find the hidden meaning behind the experience and not the fact of the condition of the person who was the vehicle for the experience?

What we can do is learn about the deeper layers of life, creation, and the depth of human experiences and expressions despite the seemingly insurmountable challenges of those around us. We can find the hidden joy in the way someone articulates and spreads love despite the fact that they cannot speak, and cannot do much. And, when we ourselves face insurmountable challenges, perhaps we could stop the speculations and the guilt and simply see what can be learned from the process. It is about “re-framing,” or “re-branding” the particular impasse in our life.

We can ask: What did this person teach me and demonstrate to me? What is it about the mystery of life that enables people with deep challenges to rise above them? What do they prove about life? What do I learn from it? How can I, an able bodied person, do more about my life from this example?

Why is it that people with challenges rise and shine beyond our expectations? Do we not understand the power of the soul? Do we not understand the immensity of the soul's progress and capacities? Do we not appreciate that even though the outer form is incapable, the inner is still living and expressing in ways we may not fully understand? Can we find the space in our minds to understand that although the outer form is being extremely challenged, the inner voice is alive and living and expressing and has its own lessons to learn and to teach and to experience?

As we experience these painful challenges, can we continue to love and open our hearts to those who need us right now, our children and our spouses? Can we stretch to include more in our hearts even though we may feel we cannot stretch one more thread of our being?

In every family and community, there are those who need to be taken care of, who seem unable or challenged beyond their means whether physically, emotionally, or mentally. Life “sprinkles” these persons into every family and community. They need love and help from those able. And, we need their examples of love and care and courage. Everyone learns and everyone benefits from having all kinds of people living and growing in close proximity. If not we, then who will take care of those who need care? How will a soul learn what needs to be learned and taught? How can we learn the depths of strength and compassion that we are capable of? Can we see these persons as our teachers and we theirs? Where will souls go to when they need to learn and grow and express in new ways if not to us? How could we learn if we do not face adversity?

And, just as importantly, can we see ourselves in these people who are in our care, or who stand outside needing care?

These are valuable questions for us to ponder on as we face personal, family, and even social issues about caring for others and finding the room in our hearts to care for people who need to be cared for. May we find the ways to stretch the fiber of our hearts a bit more, and find the way to see ourselves in others and to see the world with the eyes of the heart.

Gita
http://www.gitasaraydarian.org/

Part 1 of 3, "A Memorial Service"
Part 3 of 3, “The Memorial Garden”

- Gita Saraydarian is the Founder and President of TSG Foundation, an organization dedicated to the Ageless Wisdom Teachings. See the complete list of past blogs and on Gita's new website.
- Copyright Notice: Gita’s Blog articles are copyrighted by The Creative Trust, 2009.
- For more information about memorial services for the departed, see the book Other Worlds by Torkom Saraydarian.
- For more detailed information on what are the Ageless Wisdom Teachings, please see the specific pages on http://www.gitasaraydarian.org/

80 - In Our Own Prisons - Part 1 of 3: A Memorial Service

2009-12-04T16:22:00.012-07:00

By Gita Saraydarian

Last year I met a beautiful woman who had just lost her 21 year old daughter. We became friends and over the year, we had many occasions to talk and to discuss spiritual issues around life, death, and the meaning of it all.

She recently asked another friend and me to help her family commemorate the passing of her daughter and together to plan a memorial service. I had never met the young lady, but I immediately knew that she was a very special person who had a deep and lasting impression on everyone who met her.

As we discussed the particulars of the service, I felt strongly that the service should include an aspect that celebrated not only the passing of a life, but also the continuity of that life. My feelings were based on how I view the meaning of life and death and how our grief is helped most not by simply commemorating the passing of the life, but also celebrating the continuity of life, the One Life in all. My friend agreed and wanted to have both celebrations: prayers for the departed at the grave site, and prayers of celebration in her home highlighted by the planting of a special garden by her family and friends.

I reflected, what would I read on this day? How would I articulate the passing and the continuity? I had chosen some passages from Other Worlds and they would be very appropriate and beautiful. I also wanted to have a deeper appreciation of what it means to be born with physical difficulties that seem insurmountable to others and how I would articulate this to friends and people whom I had never met and who also have differing religious beliefs and customs.

I thought of this lovely young lady: she suffered her entire life from a degenerating disease of the spine. She was in continuous pain and multiple surgeries. She was caught in this body prison, seemingly impenetrable and confining. She was loved and cared for. She was loving and kind. Everyone who met her said how much she taught them about love and about kindness. Her mother and family and friends see her as an angel who brought depth and love and understanding to their lives.

So, I wondered, how and why does this happen to incarnating souls?

I have no simple explanations nor do I believe in simple explanations. We simply do not know why, although we can speculate and even seem to make “educated” guesses. But we can never be sure; we do not have what is called “continuity of consciousness,” and, until we do so, we will only be guessing.

We are all confined and in a prison of sorts; this is what I began to realize. How ignorant we are about life and how confused we seem. Whether we are perfectly healthy physically or have challenges in our physical, emotional, or mental bodies, we are in some way imprisoned and limited. Form, material existence is in itself a prison. Our emotional and mental and spiritual limitations are also a sort of prison. How much there is to understand about life and how little we know! Unless we have direct experience, we must rely on logic, reasoning, religious and spiritual traditions and, if possible, our own inherent and remembered memories of various non-material experiences. Our religious and spiritual beliefs and practices are for the most part designed to help us understand, appreciate, or even fear the non-material aspects of life. Whatever we believe in, it is dismal when compared to the vastness of the non-material world.

Gita
http://www.gitasaraydarian.org/

Part 2 of 3, “From Pain to Understanding”
Part 3 of 3, "The Memorial Garden"
- Gita Saraydarian is the Founder and President of TSG Foundation, an organization dedicated to the Ageless Wisdom Teachings. See the complete list of past blogs and on Gita's new website.-Copyright Notice: Gita’s Blog articles are copyrighted by The Creative Trust, 2009.
- For more information about memorial services for the departed, see the book Other Worlds by Torkom Saraydarian.
- For more detailed information on what are the Ageless Wisdom Teachings, please see the specific pages on http://www.gitasaraydarian.org/

79 - Becoming Your True Self — Detachment

2009-10-09T16:21:00.014-07:00

By Gita Saraydarian

In the process of becoming our True Self, a pivotal practice is the conscious act of detachment. Without detachment we do not grow, nor expand or evolve in any direction. In order to make any forward movement, we have to let go of something. In a more conscious and advanced stage of detachment, we know intuitively when an attachment to any form — be it physical, emotional, mental, even spiritual — is a worn-out form, no longer benefiting the growth of our soul or expression of our True Self and we make a conscious decision to detach where it is needed.

As we mature spiritually, we become keenly aware of the movements in life and know when to move on, when to stop, and when to take action that is different from before. Otherwise, even with the most sophisticated education or most beautiful spiritual practices, we can create our own prisons.

When we do something, even a good thing, over and over again, it creates a groove in our brain. If we continue to do the same thing, the same way, every time, it resembles skiing downhill on the exact same spot over and over. Eventually, we will create a deep groove which becomes a rut. Ruts are created in the physical brain as well as in our emotional and mental bodies.

Detachment is emphasized by the Wisdom Teachings as a path of spiritual evolution, also called “transmutation.” Having a healthy brain means to continuously challenge yourself to create new neuropathways. Creating new pathways in the physical brain also creates new pathways in the subtle bodies.

What are we attached to? We have physical attachments such as persons, property, furnishings, food, and ways and habits of living…. Emotional attachments include how we feel, expectations, fears, memories, pains and sufferings, how we define happiness and love, even happy memories that freeze and do not allow for new experiences. Mental attachments involve mental patterns from our education, study and reading and training, interests, music, and books and even discussions and ways in which we write and talk and communicate. How about spiritual attachments? We certainly have plenty of these such as the way we pray and meditate, the way we believe, the way we interpret a religious/ spiritual teaching. Imagine sitting around a man or a women who talks without interruption, and always about the same old, same old thing, in the same tone of voice, in the same way every single time! They remember when….They eat only this….they read only that book….they believe only in this or that….You can see people slowly moving away from such people and avoiding them altogether. Why would anyone want to be with a boring person always living in the past?

Whatever we attach to eventually creates its own reality. These are called delusions, illusions, glamors, ego, vanity, and generally self deceptions — another way of saying “ruts”. Such a state takes all the joy out of life; the creativity and the ability to evolve and grow and expand and see life in new ways. As children, we are open and fresh, flexible, and expectant. As we get older and we let ourselves freeze, we draw the curtains around us more tightly, put up the walls, create comfortable ways of living and ask not to be bothered with anything new or challenging.

To become our True Self we need to have the courage to detach from anything that is no longer viable. Just like cleaning our physical closet, we can do the same for our emotional, mental, and spiritual closets. Periodically, we need to clean them out of the old stuff. Interestingly, when we feel confident that we can detach and clean out, we diminish the power that old associations have over us. We feel free and alive again. Old people who are thinking, doing, growing, are curious and have fresh expectations, are fun to be with and have lots of friends seen and unseen!

In the process of detachment, we feel in touch with an essence inside of us that does not change. The most important and key point in my life is that with detachment we become fearless and open and forever growing and expanding. What a joy this is!

We detach voluntarily every day of our life from little things. Life teaches us through illness, loss and grief, separation, that we need to detach if we want to go on living a healthy life. It is a little more difficult to detach from emotional, mental, and spiritual habits, but we can do it. Healthy people make choices every day and learn to make choices that help them on many levels.

“We may think that to detach ourselves means to hate, to ignore, to divide, to separate, to stand aloof, or to be cold and rough toward a given object. These are not signs of true detachment. True detachment is a Soul attitude, a function carried out on the Soul plane rather than on the physical, emotional, or lower mental planes. Actually you are not detaching from your True from anyone or anything. You are detaching your Self from the inertia of the body, from the glamors of your emotional world, and from the illusions of your mental realm. You are also detaching your Real Self from the objects with which you were identified only through inertia, glamors, and illusions.”

“In true detachment your spiritual deepens and widens on the spiritual side of an object. At the same time you identify less and less with phenomena until, eventually, you are able to see the object as it is, free from your personal, mechanical reactions and free from your imposing, forcing will of the lower self, expressed in many ways. According to your degree of success in detaching from any object, your soul love increases, your light becomes brighter, your will stronger, and your joy deeper. Attachment makes you smaller; detachment makes you greater.” (The Science of Becoming Oneself p. 49.)

In the Process of becoming our True Self, the fourth lesson is to learn the art of detachment.

Spiritual evolution, or transmutation, involves all your bodies, your whole life. As we learn to observe using all our senses and learn to meditate and expand our view of life, we build the important bridges to health and joy.

Wishing you freedom and youthfulness!

Gita

A brief YouTube clip of the fourth step of finding your True Self is attached below. You may also view the clip by linking directly to the YouTube site:

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- The Process of becoming your True Self is a 12-part series of lectures delivered monthly in 2009-2010. You may subscribe to the entire set of lessons. Please link here for more information on the audio CD or download versions, or the DVD version. A magnificent companion for this process is the book The Science of Becoming Oneself by Torkom Saraydarian.

Gita Saraydarian is the Founder and President of TSG Foundation, an organization dedicated to the Ageless Wisdom Teachings. See the complete list of past blogs and other writings on this link.

-Copyright Notice: Gita’s Blog articles are copyrighted by The Creative Trust, 2009.

-The information in this Essay is for spiritual upliftment and does not claim to give medical advice nor psychological advice.

78 - My Wisdom on Life and Love

2009-09-25T16:18:00.020-07:00

By Gita Saraydarian

A friend recently asked me what is my wisdom on life and love. Well, I thought, how could I answer such a complex question? It is huge. Then, I pondered on it. Yes, of course I can answer this question. After all, I have developed some insights about life as I have lived and loved and struggled to find truth. However, my insights are governed by my focus.

In the greater life, I am a speck of dust moving according to my focus of consciousness. Wherever is my focus, that is the part of life that I experience and narrate. I am not 100% focused on any one level at any particular time, but on multiple levels simultaneously and in various degrees. My wisdom on love and life is limited and defined by what parts of me are experiencing and to what degree each part dominates the experience and the narrative.

I am a physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual being. If my life focus is on the physical body, then my “wisdom” of life will be primarily physical, even though the other bodies are also involved in anything that I do. Similarly, if my daily focus is emotional in nature, then my emotions will rule my life and my wisdom will be primarily emotional in nature. Whichever part of my life dominates, that is how I would see the world; that is the source and definition of my wisdom. Being spiritual does not guarantee that I always make the right decisions and choices. Rather, the wisdom I garner depends on what is the most dominating factor, or body, in my life, or what holds the most power in my life.

Discovering the truth for myself — truth of facts, feelings, and memories of life are important to me. I ask myself: What is real? We can find the real from our own perspective. And, if people address themselves to each other in truth, then the truth is discovered in more layers. Truth is complex and multi-layered. Truth becomes richer and more layered when people interact with openness and honesty and speak from their personal wisdom. Truth is not static, but ever growing and expanding. If I am seeing truth only from my physical senses and experiences, then that is what I know is true. If I am able to expand into the emotional levels, and then mental levels, the truth is deeper and more layered. If I am able to penetrate into my mind and consciousness at even higher levels, then there are more layers of truth to be discovered and thereby, more layers of wisdom to be experienced. And, when I can truly listen to you with as many parts of me that I can muster, then new layers will be added to my wisdom on love and life.

Wisdom then is to be able to say truthfully that you understand a part of life, its cause and its effect; you have experienced it clearly and learned from it, and the experience changed something in you. Knowing something is not wisdom. Wisdom is not knowledge; it is experience of a reality that is embossed in you. Wisdom is love and knowledge through experience.

Love is an energy that keeps us alive and connected. If there is no love, there is alienation, separation, depression, and end of life. Love makes energy circulate if it is real and truthful and slowly integrates more levels of the person beyond the physical. If it is selfish and clinging love, it stops the movement and the growth; it makes us stagnate. The more layers we add to love, the more nourishing and connecting it is. Love can connect us to others and to the whole of life depending on our approach: what part of us is approaching? Or, rather, how many parts of us are approaching and how integrated are the parts that approach? And, is the integration deep and multi-leveled, continuously growing and expanding, or simply material based or self-centered? The wisdom of love is that it does give strength and joy and depth of character and meaning to our life when we fully understand that we cannot feel other than love.

Love includes our physical, emotional, and mental and also our spiritual self. To feel love is to have a better sense of self worth. To feel a deep love toward others, I need to love myself and appreciate who I am. Without love and actively loving ourselves we really cannot love humanity nor can we see any potential for healing or betterment of life. Our perspective on what life and love means are firmly rooted in our capacity to love, our capacity to be loved, and our capacity to express love truthfully on whatever level of complexity that we are able.

Love is a rose, or thorns, or both — the heavenly fragrance. True love means to forgive and to heal. Forgiveness means you relegate the pain of the thorns as a redemptive experience, means you entangle yourself with the fragrance and not the thorns. The thorns of love often make you appreciate the power of love and the reality of love and, even more importantly, give us the inner strength to serve and give and see life as a system of possibilities.

It is liberating to love without expectation. It is liberating to say you love no matter what the other does or does not do. It is liberating to see love in the rose and the thorns alike.

There is no separation between love and life. Wisdom is to know the unity of life.

My wisdom to what is life and love is applicable just for now. As I experience more facets of life, the roses and the thorns alike, then surely my wisdom about love and life will also deepen and grow in complexity. The answer is a moving and growing and organic expression, all depending on when you ask the question and when I take a snapshot of my life, and how deeply I understand the picture that I just took!

Thanks for asking.

Gita

- Gita Saraydarian is the Founder and President of TSG Foundation, an organization dedicated to the Ageless Wisdom Teachings. See the complete list of past blogs and other writings.
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-Copyright Notice: Gita’s Blog articles are copyrighted by The Creative Trust, 2009.