A letter from Rani
                           
Beloveds,

The terrorist events of yesterday in the US have shaken the world.
I received several letters asking me to say something about this, as many hearts and minds are bewilderd today.
What has happened is immense in the reality of flesh and blood.

We can see the human suffering and ignorance on one level and the ever more mysterious looking suchness and strange perfection of the consciousness that orchestrates this whole play on the planet on a deeper level. It is mind blowing as the mind cannot understand or grasp this in action.
As the fear frequency rises through such events it becomes even more urgent
and clear to turn our attention to that which never moves. To the core of being.
Out of this stillness naturally a deep sense of compassion , love and peace
arises, whereas the mind seems to only bring pain, revenge and hatred in
response to this.

My prayers are for humankind. For the perpetrators as well as the victims.
The former need it more than the latter.
My heart is filled with compassion for so much suffering.
Feel the darkness in the hearts of the terrorists and warmongers who value
revenge more than this beautiful gift of life.
Even though such events leave us speechless I am happy to have a satsang
together we can allow for more light to enter this planet.

Since years predictions from esoteric corners have been telling us that such
calamities were on their way. Nevertheless watching the Twin towers crumble
live on TV was a shock that left us with the mouth hung open.
As the frequency on the planet rises, the whole scale of duality (from agony
to ecstasy) will become more and more extreme and those turned towards the
light are now even more blessed than ever.
For light is who we are, it is peace and the recognition that no one can die
as we are eternally here as one empty silent consciousness.

To live in this decade we will either have to recognise this, so we can see
through every disguise of horror and destruction or we will suffer
immensely.
Many people do not have this choice at this point.
That is why I say : When that choice appears in your life you are more
blessed than can be expressed and you better get clear real quick as to what
it is you really want.
Events like this terrorism will also help a lot of people to stop wobbling
and get their priorities straight.

In this silence and peace we are all one.
Terrorists, politicians, victims, murderers, peacekeepers, ligthworkers,
children, animals, seekers, lovers,rapists, moslims, hindus, christians and
highjackers.

In love Rani

Kira Stephanie Kay: Opportunities for change

Australia, September, 2001

New time

We enter now
into a new time of
love, peace and harmony
where we will see each other
with compassion, care and sincerity
an experience of merging together
a melting of boundaries and separations
embrace and invite this new vibration
nourish it as you would a delicate new baby
feel it strengthen within you and within others
this time is our to celebrate and revel in - NOW!

I have noticed in the time since the New York events is that people that I have been coming into contact with are really looking more deeply at their lives, getting more in touch with what is intrinsically important to them. I
feel inspired by this as it indicates that people are being more honest and real with themselves and each other. And I have noticed how much more people are talking and being with each other, strangers last week yet this week chatting and spending time.
In light of this I am looking at this as a time of celebration, of coming together rather than looking upon this as a time of disaster.

There are numerous other events occurring around the world particularly in
the economic sector. I feel that *reality*, as it truly is, is becoming more
visible now. The economic world has been in a precarious balance and this is
now becoming obvious to us all. Perhaps these current events are
illuminating the possibilities and opportunities for change. Similar with
the environment, it may be that geographical happenings occur to show us
that mother earth can cleanse her own skin of our intrusions and remind us
to respect and take care of the land beneath our feet.

In our local community we have been hosting several meditations this past
week and many people are having experiences - feeling energy rushing up
their feet, tingling, overwhelming love/bliss. Many people realising in
their own way/words that we need to love the aggressors of the world not
hate or seek revenge. In this light it is about seeing the need for
acceptance, bringing together the hurtful bits of ourselves and of the wider
world.

Will we as a collective humanity listen? I don't know. My sense is that
further events may happen in the world to illustrate the gap between
fear/survival and love/togetherness. If we base our lives on survival and
fear then I feel that manifesting in further disasters, separation and loss.
If we are basing our lives on love, being together, caring and honesty then
we have the opportunity to have a whole experience. I feel that this is a
very testing time for each individual and humanity generally.

As I see it, the only choice we truly have is how we live our lives day to
day, moment to moment. What we think, what we say, what we do, thus directly
influencing our own lives and every other aspect of life as a whole. In my
heart I feel if we *really* get *it* then we are living a reality that our
mind cannot even begin to comprehend.

To the best of my ability when I make choices in my life, no matter how big
or small, I look to come from innermost integrity. That means that at times
I do not do some things because they do not feel *right* or appropriate even
though I *want* them. I have lots of fun with what I do, and best of all no
regrets because before I take action I am tuning into myself and the
situation best I know and acting with my own best intention. That is not
saying that I act *perfectly*! I am very human and my best intention may
still not include all aspects, but at least I know in my heart of hearts I
have done the best I know how, have been honest with myself and inclusive of
the people and circumstances around me.

I choose to continue to be available to this amazing experience and
adventure of life, wherever it is leading, including whatever ups & downs I
may travel emotionally. In the deepest part of my heart I wish to be free to
love and be loved. I sincerely hope and trust that each one of us can find
that place within that *knows*, and begin to create a reality that surpasses
our hopes!

I wish everyone deepening experiences and encourage each of us to reach out
past our fears and anxiety to be together and share in love. Have a
delightful Spring equinox celebration on the 23rd September (Autumn equinox
for the Northern Hemisphere!). Personally I will be inviting the vibration
of celebration shared in the opening poem.

Facing Fear

Who is Afraid? By Azziz Kristof

We would like to look at the tragedy in America from another angle, from a Spiritual Perspective.
It is not so much that we wish to ponder over what has happened and why it has happened, but rather How Does It Effect Us as spiritual beings. What kind of responsibility, in terms of responding to outer circumstances, puts on us our spiritual belief system? We might be Buddhist believing in the Noble Truth, that life is suffering and all is impermanent; we might be Advaitists believing that there is only the Self; we might have a concept that all what happens is only an illusory movement on the unchanging screen of Consciousness But do we really live our beliefs? It appears that in our everyday life we are just like everybody else - Frightened Human Beings! Isn't it so? What the event in America is facing us with is our own Fear and fundamental sense of insecurity. We are just living in a dream. Even our spirituality is mere a dream which cannot withstand even the slightest test coming from the outer reality. So perhaps it is time to wake up from the dream of non-duality in order to become that Truth in which we believe? May be it is time to live our belief system?

We are living in unconscious illusion of assuming that both our life and this earth will last forever. What the event in America triggered the most, was revealing our Fear. Fear of not existing, fear of loosing everything we cling to as our life. In truth, the only unusual thing in the recent tragedy was that the most powerful country in the world had been attacked. The fact that many people got killed is nothing unusual as human beings always have been killing each other. People will not stop killing each other for the very simple reason that they are extremely barbarian and unconscious. They are extremely greedy, angry, arrogant, selfish, insensitive and heartless in their essence. Humanity represents lower intelligence which needs a very long time to evolve. People are civilised only on the surface. They might wear suits and ties and behave politely but take away from them food, house, sex and credit card and they will become just like they had been prior to coming down from trees.

Awakening and destruction
The New Millennium is a time of both Awakening and Destruction, because this reality operates through polarities. For awakening to happen, on the collective level, much cleansing needs to take place first. And cleansing often involves destruction, which is the death of the past and the release of all the repressed negativity human species has accumulated. This planet will go one day back to dust from which it has emerged in the beginning. There is no security in this plane of existence. It is 'a house in fire.' It does not mean that we should not care. But we do need to have a higher perspective which can embrace and transcend our primal instinctive fear.

If we wish to seek for a symbol within the event in America it would be: 'Waking up Call.' Waking up to what? To the realisation that the only security lies in the Eternal. There is no other security. We are absolutely dependent on the One who created us. Many spiritually oriented people have lost balanced and became overpowered by their fear and reaction of panic. "Oh, my God, this world is going to end. What will I do? What will happen to me, my family and my future???" But we cannot escape from reality. We must face it courageously. What is the use of being on the Path and believing in so-called non-duality, if we become so miserable in face of any disaster? Now we can really see that for most seekers Spirituality applies only in the sphere of the mind. It is 'advaita in the head' and not in the Real World. If everything is the Self, why do we care about the end of the world? As we can see, to be Advaitist and to live Advaita are two different things. Who is Afraid? Now this question is not only theoretical. It is not that we sit safely in a satsang room and enquire intellectually 'who am I?' Now it is Real! Who is Afraid?

We cannot change this world so easily. We can pray if that will make us feel better.
But that will not change much, for even the Divine cannot change reality whose essence is unintelligence and retardation. So what can we do? Just relax. Yes, we can relax. We have been killed so many times in our endless cycle of life and death. Perhaps this lifetime we can just relax. Who am I? What is the source of our existence? What is the source of time? Who holds in his hand the Presence of Totality? How to reach and become that Absolute Standpoint from which all is eternally Well? We need to go inside, meditate, empty our mind from all thoughts and dive into the heart of the Inner Void, the presence of the Eternal I AM.. The one who is Afraid cannot be dissolved through enquiry. He has to die into That Which Created him in the very beginning. Only the one who is dead to oneself can live in freedom from Fear. Only in the arms of the Beloved we can find True and Absolute Security.

To conclude.
What should be our response to the terrorist's attack on America? We need to re-awaken our complete commitment to the Path! We need to take full responsibility for our evolution. There is no other way to transcend our unconscious conviction that the world of appearances is Real. When Ramana was asked by Yogananda about suffering of the world, he answered with the question: 'who is suffering?' He pointed to his own realization the ultimate truth that There is Only God. But unless God is realized, all this is just theoretical and the suffering Me is painfully real. To transcend suffering is to expand beyond the frontiers of our 'ordinary' limited perception of reality. Unless we merge with the other dimension of Pure Beingness we have no hope for a true Peace inside. There is no other way. But how to do it? There is a Way. This Way is not easy. Neither it is difficult. Evolution into God-realization is our destiny. Sooner or later it has to be accomplished. It is time to do the Inner Work and transcend the lethargy of unconscious living which is locked within the collective psyche.

Blessings, Aziz Kristof

It is only in the times of chaos and confusion - Osho

 'The times of confusion and chaos are the greatest times to live in.
When the society is static there is not much to live for, to live with.
When a society is secure and there is no confusion and there is no chaos, then people live a dull,
 drab, dragging life - comfortable, convenient, stable, but not alive.
 It is only in the times of chaos and confusion that great things happen, because people are loose.
They are loose, uprooted: they can search for new soils, they can search for new lands, they can
search for new countries, they can search for new continents of being.'

Gangaji on October 7th, 2001, the day the bombing began in Afghanistan

"We meet in hell as well as heaven."

One of the dangers of a spiritual life is the ego's use of the concept of spiritual life as a means to escape heartbreak, to escape difficulty, to avoid the horrors of the repetition of the patterns of hatred, revenge, and war. To escape hell. Often the desire for transcendence becomes bigger than the willingness to let the heart open in the full meeting of all. All, all of it-- the full human calamity as well as the full human beauty.

I have often said in meetings that the invitation from Papaji and from Ramana is to stop. What that stop requires is the willingness to see that there is no escape. To recognize no escape is to be stripped naked of comforting beliefs and concepts. To be willing to be naked to oneself is to recognize the impulse of mental activity escaping, running, hiding, or fighting. All of us must know these habits of escape personally, and we can see now that we all know them collectively as well.

To attempt to escape flames or bombs is natural and right. To attempt to escape repeatedly, throughout our lives, throughout any one day, the hatred, the fear, the human animal aggression, the tribal, religious, natural instinct to control, to conquer, and to direct is to keep the power of these primitive impulses hidden and extremely dangerous to all. To attempt to escape hatred is to act out hatred. To attempt to escape fear is to live a life revolving around fear.

For each of us to be willing to stop now, (as Ramana stopped in the face of death) is for each of us to take responsibility for the truth that we are one Self. To stop the fantasies of future escape, whether those fantasies take the form of an infantile image of heaven or an infantile image of enlightenment. To actually be willing to be here, where you are, in the midst of it all. This stopping is the possibility revealed through true investigation, true meeting. And the greater that willingness, the greater
the capacity for being even more fully here, in the midst, in the center, of it all.

Finally there is without a doubt the realization that there is no need to escape meeting, in this meeting, and every full meeting, there is the deeper unspeakable, undefinable, un-teachable revelation of Truth.

In a world instant like this one, it is possible to recognize the emptiness and absurdity of our personal stories and to meet the bigger story, the collective repressed emotions and indulged emotions that arise from identification of one versus another.

The attempt to jump into the cosmic divine story to avoid the horror that is appearing in the world story, is the ego's use of the spiritual life. The truth that can be learned, memorized, and pulled out in times of need is not the living truth. It is at best a beautiful reminder to stop now, and tell the truth here.

For some the apparent truth may be emotional, for others it may be mental, for others a numbness. Whatever is appearing, in whatever form, is a vehicle for true investigation, for true meeting, for true self-inquiry.
True self-inquiry is not escape and does not produce comforting platitudes.
True self-inquiry is the invitation through what is known (mentally,
emotionally, physically, circumstantially) into what is unknown.
The result in either action or non-action is then not a result dictated by the familiar
habits of escape.

Now. Here. In this moment of time." Gangaji