Penukonda Jesus with paintToday I began meditating with Mutium at The Path.  Mutiam was a student of Sri Kaleshwar at his ashram in Penukonda, India.  Mutiam’s display of visual materials was distinctly Hindu, but she also included an image of Jesus in the display.  She said that this image was a photograph of the Jesus statue located in the upper temple at Sri Kaleshwar’s ashram.  It is a good thing that I had recently read Jesus and the Essenes by Dolores Cannon.  From this and similar books, I was aware that Jesus had been educated in India, among many other places.  I was glad that Jesus was part of the tradition that Mutiam would be teaching because Jesus has been an important part of my religious history.  I resonate well with Him, and I found that this photograph resonated particularly well with me.  I found it particularly interesting that this statue featured reddish hair.  This agreed with descriptions of Jesus found in sources I had recently read.

flame-meditation-300x231During the class, we did a flame meditation. This type of meditation is called Trāṭaka. According to Wikipedia, this type of meditation can be used to develop psychic powers. The method we used was the same as in the article:

Stage 1: Light a candle, three to four feet apart. Sit in front of it. The flame should be at the level of the eyes so that it can be seen straight without being uncomfortable. Begin with slow and deep breathing. While breathing in this manner, keep a steady gaze at the flame. Keep the spine erect. Keep your gaze fixed at the flame without being distracted with the outer disturbances or thoughts. If thoughts arise, simply ignore them; do not struggle to remove them. It is important to be wakeful and vigilant.

Stage 2: Imagine the flame is entering your body through your eyes and illuminating your inner being. At this stage, it is good to let the eyes close with ease. Now, try to imagine the same flame with closed eyes as you were seeing it with open eyes. If you are able to practice tratak without blinking your eye, it will be easy for you to see the flame with closed eyes.

Most of us are doing our meditations seated in chairs. Others chose to sit on cushions on the floor. Since my legs tend to go numb when I sit on the floor, I chose to sit on a chair.

We used a recording of a tamboura for background music.

I just finished reading Jesus and the Essenes by Dolores Cannon.  That book gave a whole new perspective on Jesus that, it would seem, I had intuitively sensed all along.  For one, I have long believed that the true Jesus would not have wanted us to worship him.  The Bible says, “Ye are gods.”  (John 10:32-42)  Although I can’t identify where in the law he is quoting from, this quote displays how it is that we are all just as much Sons of God as he is.  The only difference was that he knew it.

It was also said in the Bible that the things Jesus did, we could also do and even greater.  The church of my upbringing taught something of this, but not to women.  And yet in the story revealed in the book, Jesus was born to Essenes who revered women as equals to men.  In the community at Qumran, women were taught in all things along with men.  Their intelligence was recognized.  And Jesus was taught not only by the Essenes, but by others as well.  He traveled throughout the known world to study spirituality from various sources.  These travels included Egypt, India, Cathay (China), and England.  He no doubt had contact with Hindus, Buddhists, Druids, and whatever was being practiced in Egypt at the time.  He would have been trained by all of them.  These spiritual traditions all have something to offer in the way of healing methods.  It would seem, then, that those who practice Christianity and limit themselves to the Bible are seriously shorting themselves in true Christian potential.  Jesus did not limit himself in what he studied, and neither should we.

The book is also very clear in saying that what was done to Jesus on the cross in no way removes our karma.  Rather, Jesus’ example shows the way in which we can clear it for ourselves.  What I have learned in A Course in Miracles seems to me to be truly given to us from Jesus as a way to learn to forgive ourselves and others.  Jesus and the Essenes is fully consistent with it, from what I can see.  They are both consistent in teaching that the greatest law is love.  Jesus tells us that in the Bible as well.

The idea of what the Resurrection was is different in the book as well.  Rather than saying that we will reclaim the body that we had throughout our earth life, the Resurrection appears to be instead a witness of the continuation of life in the spirit world.  The way this was discussed in the book does not rule out the idea of a dimensional shift.  The story of finding Jesus’ tomb empty is quite different in important points.

The students at Qumran, men and women alike, were taught in the use of energy for healing, among other topics.  In Jesus and the Essenes, it tells that Jesus healed by joining in meditation with the one to be healed.  There is also an implication that something like Reiki may have been used.  The healing methods included the use of energy, something little is made mention of in mainstream churches.  If some members of mainstream churches have the gift of healing while others do not, it is in many cases because those who have it happened upon their methods by chance.  Some may not even know what it is that they are really doing when they heal.

So, for me to have been looking at different faiths and different healing methods all these years, I have in a way been following Jesus’ example.  Some may think that I have denied things that I have learned in my early years in the church of my upbringing, but it really isn’t so.  Rather, I have expanded my knowledge beyond what was taught there.

Oh, and here’s a mind-blower.  It would seem that Jesus’ relatives went to England after Jesus’ death, to Glastonbury.  Joseph of Arimathea was the brother of Mother Mary.  Anna, the daughter of Joseph of Arimathea, married the British king’s youngest brother.  All of the royal line of British kings and queens, down to the present Queen Elizabeth II, have descended directly from Joseph of Arimathea.  My mother has recently reported to us that she has now traced our ancestral line all the way back to the Plantagenet kings.  Therefore, it would seem, then, that I am a blood relative of Jesus.