The Ishaya Foundation Newsletter - April 2008 Living Praise What is at the very core of this human life? What is the secret that Nature knows so well and applies so abundantly? It is Praise. So simple and unassuming. Yet it carries the entire creation as it moves into manifestation. We, as humans on this planet earth, have been given a gift of choice. We can either appreciate or judge. We can go up or down. We can align with the natural flow of life or we can resist it. What is the gift in that? It is the potential for very quick expansion in consciousness through commitment and choice for Truth, for the fundamental reality of Praise. Ascension Attitudes bring this choice to us in a very simple and powerful way. In every moment lies the potential for us to connect with the source of all creation. To align with nature in Praising and expanding into greater experience of life. This choice takes no energy or effort. It is the smallest shift in our mind, the tiniest adjustment in our attitude towards life. And that will make all the difference. The truth of that is so simple in fact, that only direct living experience of it matters. Only the application of Praise in our regular life matters. Nataraja Ishaya Praise The Praise Ascension Attitude corrects the fundamental stress of the modern world, that something is wrong with the individual life. This Attitude by itself is sufficient to generate full enlightenment, but because of most individuals’ life-long habit of strain and divided minds, more techniques will usually be required to perfect growth. Nevertheless, the first Attitude is sufficient unto itself and will usually prove the most useful for transforming the grossest levels of beliefs and judgments about life. This Attitude above all others can be used any time of the day or night when it seems that individual life is not progressing as well as it could. MSI, Ascension! Enlightenment, Pada IV Sutra 26 Then, verily, consciousness at its deepest level develops discrimination and praises the dawn of Unified consciousness. Praise is the primary response of an evolving soul to the glory and wonder of the perfection of the Universe. Praise is also the primary means of rising beyond the Waking State. With Praise alone, one can completely erase all self-destructive beliefs and internal programs. With Praise alone, one can rise to perpetual consciousness, exalted consciousness and unified consciousness. Change is a natural part of life. Change is a natural part of Ascension. Over and over during the First Sphere courses the teachers say that experiences are always changing as we Ascend. There is no reason to hold onto the “nice” experiences and there is no reason to resist “bad” experiences. Sometimes there are many thoughts and sometimes there are few. The experience of Ascension constantly changes depending on the state of the mind and the body as we Ascend. As we innocently let experiences flow and keep coming back to using the Ascension Attitudes the ability to face change in our life becomes greater. When we replace judgment with Praise we can stand in any experience and allow it to be what it is. From inner stability the experience of constant change in life will no longer appear as a threat or a source of discomfort. It will simply be the natural unfolding of life. Praise is like magic; it washes the soul with Gratitude and Love. Praise being the most active of the Ascension Emotions, is the easiest to develop simply be deciding to appreciate rather than to criticize or condemn. Life is easy to change. It only requires a single decision, to use the mind in an upward direction instead of downward. Discriminative knowledge is the function of the intellect; it is the intellect that completes the transformation from Exalted Consciousness to Unified Consciousness. What is the ultimate use of the intellect? To decide to appreciate rather than condemn. The last step is also the first. At any and every moment, one can choose to focus upward instead of downward, to focus on the eternally new joy of the Ascendant instead of on the confusion of the boundaries; this leads in time to the ability to discriminate between the changing and the Unchanging. Evolution may sound like a series of discrete stages, but it is in reality a seamless whole, a natural flow of life from boundaries to the Boundless. And Praise stands everywhere on the One Path, forever bringing light and joy. MSI Rg Veda on Praise All of Creation unites in praise of the Ascendant; the sun is the largest manifestation of singing praise in this part of the Universe. ----------------- Praise grows in nature spontaneously. ----------------- Praise leads to bliss. ----------------- Praise creates all good in life. There is nothing that cannot be accomplished with praise. The entire Veda is built of praise; all evolution comes when one learns to align every waking moment with the upward current of creation that is praise. ----------------- Praise attracts evolution like magic. There is nothing in the Universe that cannot be created by Praise. All of consciousness is purified and flows in bliss as a result of mastery of praise. ----------------- Praise causes expansion to follow in its wake as inevitably as rain from cumulonimbus. ----------------- The Bible on Praise I will give thanks to the LORD because of his righteousness and will sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High. (Psalm 7:17) Sing to the LORD, you saints of his; praise his holy name. (Psalm 30:4) Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. (Psalm 40:11) May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you. (Psalm 67:5) I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever. (Psalm 86:12) and said: "Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his. (Daniel 2:20) At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. (Luke 10:21) Everything praises God, fulfilling His word. Everything was created to praise God and the whole of creation reveals His glory (Rev 5:13). Prasie: Our Natural State There is a really great experiment that you can try right now. Look around you and find something and judge it. Go ahead, give it all you’ve got. Now, how does that feel? Now look around and find something and praise it. How does that feel? In my experience, vastly different. Our habitual thinking in this modern society is so centered on criticism that one would almost think this is the way things are meant to be, that judgment is natural. With that in mind, would you believe it actually takes less energy to praise than it does to judge? Look at your own experience. When you chose to judge the object in the room how did you feel? Tired? Contracted? Empty? Praise is always expansive. Whether giving or receiving everyone always benefits. Praise is simple appreciation; recognizing what you have, not what you have not. With rising gas prices for instance, it is easy to get in the car and think, “wow I still have half a tank!” This in turn may lead you to think of all the great places you can go to with your half full tank of gas. Or you can get in the car and say, “oh man! I only have a half a tank of gas.” This choice may lead you to think of all the things you can’t do because now you don’t have enough. This choice is contracting and limiting. The other is open to all possibilities. Praise is our natural state. That is why it is so pleasing, and effortless. Doing what is natural always takes less energy and benefits everyone. As humans we have an interesting ability to choose which world we want to live in, one that is always expanding upward or one that is downward and contracting. The other creatures of nature are just that. They live within the role they are designed for, for the benefit of the whole. I remember learning about the web of life in elementary school. How everything in nature has a specific function to support everything else, and when any one creature is out of balance the whole system is affected. Somehow we as humans think we are not part of this, or perhaps it is just that we have forgotten what our part is in the whole. The natural state of everything in creation is Praise. There is a beautiful example of this on our audio introduction. It is a recording of crickets that has been slowed way, way down. The recording sounds like a beautiful choir singing hymns of praise. You can listen to this recording by going to the audio introduction page of our website at: http://www.theishayafoundation.org/audiointroduction.html As humans we have the ability to actualize this choice. This is the purpose of the human, to consciously recognize the Divine inner oneness of all life. To live in a conscious state of Praise, Gratitude and Love, for as we make this choice we create heaven around us. When we directly cognize this level of creation it brings it more to life, so to speak. It is ever alive and full, but in each of our own lives and in the consciousness of humanity it is not always prevalent. The glory of Ascension is that is gives an amazing, simple tool to return the mind, to turn our attention and our whole being toward Praise very simply, naturally and effortlessly. Satya Devi Ishaya Living From Praise Praise is a choice, whether you simply decide to think it or to express it in words to someone. It is a simple yet effective emotion that automatically activates the right hemisphere of the brain into an upward spiraling direction. This happens whether you believe it or not. Praise can be thought of anytime you are thinking of something less, be it conflict, resentment or judgment. By doing so, you immediately change what you were holding onto into something enlivening and life-supporting instead. And, again, you don’t have to believe it to experience it. By simply beginning and acting as if it were so you change your future ahead of you. All of creation praises. Praise is interwoven throughout the entire fabric of creation. It is only we human beings with free will that choose to think downward spiraling thoughts. But in any moment, in any situation, we can think a thought of Praise, and immediately some deep level of the mind is activated, and the change in the inside will reflect outside. Change your thoughts and your world changes. The regular practice of using the first Ascension Attitude, Praise, with eyes-open all day in the midst of your active lifestyle, along with the eyes-closed practice two or three times daily, will change how you perceive your life. This Attitude alone is powerful enough to transform your life from one of thinking that you are an unconscious victim to being a conscious creator. Since we all create our own realities anyway, and since we have each created our own universe around us, then why not have that universe be one of Praise. And since Praise automatically leads to Gratitude, which then automatically opens up to the Love underlying everyone’s existence, we then will desire to share it with the rest of those in our universe. It becomes a Sphere of upward spiraling direction expanding our consciousness beyond the limiting thoughts and perceptions that previously enslaved us to those of doubt, fear, concern and resentment. By consistently thinking the Praise Attitude, we begin to live Praise, and life unfolds for us in ways that we previously could not even imagine. Your life will move ahead in an ever-accelerating way, with Peace, Joy, Love, Health and Happiness being your increasing experience, simply by Living From Praise. Nandisvara Ishaya June Retreat As you might have noticed the May retreat is already full. We have added another retreat in the Neskowin location for June 21st – July 1st. The sign up deadline for that is May 25th. You can stay from seven to ten days and enjoy the deep waters of eyes closed Ascending. No words can really do justice what all those days of Ascending can do you for you. As much as we can read and think about consciousness and deeper inner peace there is nothing that compares with the actual experience of it. We welcome you whole heartedly to join us on this event. If you have questions concerning retreats please contact the Ishaya Foundation through email or phone. Our Websites The Ishaya Foundation http://www.theishayafoundation.org Hong Kong website http://www.theishayafoundation.asia European website http://www.theishayafoundation.eu ------------------------------------------------- This is the 34th edition of the Ishaya Foundation newsletter. If you wish to unsubscribe please email mailinglist@theishayafoundation.org. To contact us, please email contact@theishayafoundation.org or phone 1-888-ISHAYA1