IF YOU FEEL THE NEED FOR THE SPIRITUAL SUPPORT OF A WORLDWIDE FAMILY OF COMMITTED SACRED ACTIVISTS - PLEASE JOIN US!
Dear Friends in Spirit,
Amidst the chaos and confusion of these times, many are feeling the need for a return to the core values expressed alike in the teachings of Jesus Christ and Bhagavan Krishna, in the compassion of the Buddha, and in the Golden Rule which finds expression in all the great religious traditions of the world.
Beginning Sunday, June 14th, at 10 AM Pacific Time, I will be regularly leading a one-hour Meditation and Chanting service, open to all sincere spiritual seekers who are committed to bringing peace and healing to humanity and our beloved planet. For many years my spiritual home was the beautiful Lake Shrine Meditation Gardens founded by the great world teacher, Paramahansa Yogananda, a true "Church of All Religions" offering scientific meditation techniques blended with ardent devotion to God. The Lake Shrine is also home to the Mahatma Gandhi World Peace Memorial, enshrining the ashes of perhaps the most beloved Sacred Activist of our time. There I learned to honor the saints and sages of all religions, while cherishing the legacy of my own Catholic upbringing. And there I learned the joy of devotional chanting as the door to deep meditation.
These weekly meditations will feature inspirational readings and devotional chants and songs from Western traditions as well as from the rich treasure house of the kirtan chants and bhajans of India. Simple instruction in basic meditation technique will be offered as part of our opening prayer, but this is not a meditation class: you may practice your own meditation path with us, in an inspiring and supportive devotional atmosphere. Whether you are drawn to Lord Jesus, to the Divine Mother aspect of God, to the Impersonal Universal Light, or to the profound and richly varied meditation paths of the East, we hope you may find a joyful experience of sacred immersion in these weekly online gatherings.
While we are non-political, we are not naive! As Gandhi saw his work to free India as a spiritual imperative, each of us by our own lights must find that path of sacred duty to which Spirit and our heart's desire calls us. I believe that the best focus for the Sacred Activist is on peaceful solutions encompassing truth, justice, and sacred science - and where necessary, effective non-violent action and non-cooperation with oppressive governments.
As the scholar and mystic Andrew Harvey beautifully expressed it, “Sacred Activism is the fusion of the mystic's passion for God with the activist's passion for justice, creating a third fire, which is the burning sacred heart that longs to help, preserve, and nurture every living thing.”
The meditations will be pre-recorded in order to ensure the highest visual and audio quality, and shared as a Premiere on Youtube at 10 AM Pacific Time every Sunday. If you should be unable to join us for the 'live' premiere, you may easily share the experience via the YouTube video at another time. However, we hope we can all come together at the same time, as there is such power in group communion, as distance is no barrier to the devoted soul!
I will be sending the link to each weekly Chant/Meditation Gathering 24 hours before the event, so please be on the lookout for my follow-up message. I am deeply grateful for the support and encouragement of so many dear friends toward offering this joyous gift, which has always been a humbling and beautiful privilege in my life!
"Everything else can wait, but your search for God cannot wait."
- Paramahansa Yogananda
In divine love and friendship,
Michael