SFTS Lodge Calendar of Events for March 2019

Meditation Room Alter, SFTS Lodge, January 2019

NOTE: Remember our new start times, the Lodge Library opens at 6 p.m. and the weekly Lodge meeting begins at 7:00 p.m.] 

Friday, March 1st
Conversations in Theosophy

Friday, March 8th

The Law of Ambivalation, What the Real Golden Rule Would Say and Other Ramblings -- Jennie DunKley

Friday, March 15th
Dead Paradigms Walking -- Dr. Jeff Curtis

Friday, March 22th
Esoteric Spirituality and the Science of PsychoEnergetic -- Amin Abdi

Friday, March 29th

Yoga Nidra -- John Paul Gaur

Special Event: In memory of our friend and distinguished SFTS member Barry R. DunKley, we will join Jennie DunKley and her traveling companions for a Thursday Walk through the Arboretum to the Duck Pond. Meet us at 11 a.m. on 3/7/19, in front of the Hall of Flowers in Golden Gate Park near Lincoln and 9th Avenue.

Lenten Sutra Readings: From Ash Wednesday to Good Friday, we will read aloud the Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation and the Diamond Sutra on alternating Friday evenings at 6:00 p.m., starting with the Great Liberation on 3/8/19 and ending with the Diamond Sutra on 4/1919. This powerful practice was passed down to us from by the legendary American sages Joe and Guin Miller. We have adapted it and carried it on for decades now. Join us as all we set deep mystical intentions for the rest of the calendar year.

SFTS Lodge Dharma Message for February 2019: "This is What I Call Nisarga Yoga, the Natural Yoga ..."

Nisargadatta Maharaj (1973)

 Photo Credit: Jitendra Arya (http://www.acornpressonline.com/)

 SFTS Lodge Dharma Message for February 2019

Excerpts from "I Am That: Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj"

"Awareness is primordial; it is the original state, beginning-less, endless, uncaused, unsupported, without parts, without change. Consciousness is on contact, a reflection against a surface, a state of duality. There can be no consciousness without awareness, but there can be awareness without consciousness, as in deep sleep. Awareness is absolute, consciousness is relative to its content; consciousness is always of something. (…)."

"When you see the world you see God. There is no seeing God, apart from the world. Beyond the world to see God is to be God. The light by which you see the world, which is God, is the tiny little spark: ‘I am,’ apparently so small, yet the first and the last in every act of knowing and loving."

"What is religion? A cloud in the sky. I live in the sky, not in the clouds, which are so many words held together. Remove the verbiage and what remains? Truth remains.”

"God is only an idea in your mind. The fact is you. The only thing you know for sure is: ‘here and now I am.’ Remove the ’here and now’ the ‘I am’ remains, unassailable. (…). All I can say truly is: ‘I am,’ all else is inference (…). The sense ‘I am’ is the manifestation of a deeper cause, which you may call self, God, Reality or by any other name. (…)."

"'I am' itself is God. The seeking itself is God. In seeking you discover that you are neither the body nor the mind, and the love of the self in you is for the self in all. The two are one. The consciousness in you and the consciousness in me, apparently two, really one, seek unity and that is love."

"A weak mind cannot control its own projections. Be aware, therefore, of your mind and its projections. You cannot control what you do not know. On the other hand, knowledge gives power. In practice it is very simple. To control yourself – know yourself."

"Meet your own self. Be with your own self, listen to it, obey it, cherish it, keep it in mind ceaselessly. You need no other guide. As long as your urge for truth affects your daily life, all is well with you. Live your life without hurting anybody. Harmlessness is a most powerful form of Yoga and will take you speedily to your goal. This is what I call nisarga yoga, the Natural Yoga. It is the art of living in peace and harmony, in friendliness and love. The fruit of it is happiness, uncaused and endless."

"I am all and all is me. Being the world I am not afraid of the world. Being all, what am I to be afraid of? Water is not afraid of water, nor fire of fire. (…) It is attachment to a name and shape that breeds fear. I am not attached. I am nothing, and nothing is not afraid of no thing. On the contrary, everything is afraid of the Nothing, for when a thing touches Nothing, it becomes nothing."