Just as a crystalline stone reflects the colour and form of every object placed near it,
Just so the dog sees itself reflected and barks at it, says Kabir.

I find these debates absolutely fascinating and quite enlightening to one who feels like a child on this particular path, despite many years of varied spiritual studies. Thank you for breathing life into an all too quiet website!

Magical reality of any sort is so hard to quantify. Certainly there are often times where others will speak of the demons they are fighting and I will not know of what they speak, certainly I have fought my personal demons, and at times mistaken my personal demons for more external ones and caused confusion and pain for myself and others because of it. But I do believe that there are currents that we are all a part of, that we are all interconnected and there are most certainly others out there who are doing work on a global scale. Alex Grey (http://www.alexgrey.com) and Amma (http://www.amma.org) are certainly working on a global scale and I have experienced first hand their compassionate power and would have to disagree with anyone who dismissed the work they are doing as merely personal!

My own beliefs and goals as I work on my own spiritual development involve reaching out more globally as calmly and compassionately as possible on a more global scale, while continuing to work on my personal growth.

Vairagyanath,

I agree with you wholeheartedly about the issues of language in this arena! Thank you so much for the Dadaji quote, that’s really helpful for me, personally, that really resonates powerfully with where I am right now.

Adityanath,

I have found that our beloved Lalita Nath expresses herself very forcefully, borne aloft on the strength of her convictions when she feels passionately about something. I don’t know precisely what your experience has been in interacting with her, but I have found that if I disagree firmly and politely, Lalita has always been most respectful, and at times, we have had some most intriguing discussions based on it. I didn’t get the sense, when Lalita put out her “call to arms,” that she was trying to guilt anyone into participating, or trying to claim herself the Official Nath Mouthpiece that we must all obey, or any such thing. The sense I got, was that this was a magical working that Lalita felt strongly about, and was requesting aid of her fellow Naths on and I responded accordingly, unless there’s some post I missed I never really got the sense that Lalita was implying at any point that those who did not choose to partake were uninterested in helping the world, etc., certainly when I emailed her with concerns about my ability to participate due to family commitments, she was exceedingly understanding!

Namaste,

Shri Lakshmi Devi

I must say that I find your reference to Adityanath the Indian politician confusing. It is sad when a Nath Sampradaya loses the thread of its practice and falls so low as to engage in politics. I don’t see the fact that such things happen to be a good reason to emulate them. From my understanding of the news articles on the web, many consider his adventure into politics to have made things worse rather than better. I’m afraid that I am not educated enough in Indian politics to be able to judge.

However, back to your political aspirations, you should of course do as thou will. However, I was rather put off by the “be there or be square” sort of express or implied negative remarks made about those Naths who chose not to get involved in your working. As you yourself have pointed out, Naths don’t have to follow any leaders, so that sort of attempted shaming against those who choose not to follow your lead in the matter is rather off-putting to others. Don’t you think?

Language is to some extent both helpful and misleading but no external commentator can truly understand any individuals motivation to act. That is why the process of self development, meditation and dealing with kleshas is a prerequisite to being initiated. If you are free - does that mean you no longer act?

Dadaji said that “Naths do not want the world, nor do they reject it. They float in life without being enmeshed in it. Only those who view the world with dispassion can know real freedom… The patterns, which bring downfall to most people, are often the patterns which liberate the Nath. They live by Svecchachara - the do as you will spiritual path… Our world of joy, song, power and laughter, we call the Kingdom of Shambhala, for it is a place, people and pattern WE MUST construct for ourselves” (Dadaji - Nath Code and Protocol).