Teacher Training Manual: Lesson 09 - The Tree

Objectives

At the end of the sessions the students would have:

1. Appreciation of different religions and how each relates to the Seed (Shiva Baba) and the roots the (ancestor souls),

2. Realization of the value of spiritual knowledge compared to the path of devotion,

3. Appreciation of the significance of the present time of the confluence age when we play direct role with God, the Supreme Soul.

4. Realization of the significance of the ladder showing process of degradation of humanity.

Procedure

(Start with 10 minutes meditation)

• Check with the students what they remember about the first lesson on the tree of humanity or tree of religions. Draw from them their insights and even questions about this concept.

Explain how the world Drama is related to the Kalpa Tree.

The Tree of World Religions

A Synopsis of the World Drama

The Cycle of history can be expressed in the form of a tree. The "Tree of Life" is an analogy used in all religions. It symbolizes the beginning, growth and decay of civilization. God the Supreme is the seed, the essence from which the whole tree grows. From the seed comes the roots, the foundation and from them the tree grows. The seed gives complete knowledge about the tree. Those souls who take this knowledge and assimilate it in their practical lives form the roots. From their pure actions a healthy young shoot emerges which later becomes the trunk of the tree.

The Roots of Change -The Confluence Age

The tree finally reaches its maximum growth towards the end of the Iron Age and various factors inherent in the scheme of things are brought into play. The roots themselves have also reached a state of decay. The trunk had disappeared and all that remain are a tangled mass of branches; religions, languages, cultures and ideologies. God's role as creator comes into action. He knows that in order to plant a new tree He has to prepare the roots anew.

Just as with an ordinary tree, both the seed and roots are incognito. In the case of the tree of history or "kalpa" tree (as it is called in India) the part of the Supreme Soul and instrumental human souls in the work of world transformation is largely incognito. At the same time as the Iron Age is reaching its climax, the Creator is doing His work.

The fifth age, designated the Age of Confluence or "Sangam Yuga," is in fact two confluences; the meeting of the souls with God and the meeting of the old world and the new. Both the process of creation of the new golden-aged world and that of its necessary corollary, the destruction of the old iron-aged world, are sparked off by the advent of the Supreme Being, the only soul whose power never diminishes and who is never bound by the cycle of history.

He comes to reactivate the potentialities of the "root-souls," or those very souls who had participated in the creation of the tree at the end of the previous cycle and who had later taken birth during the Golden and Silver Ages. He rejuvenates those souls by reminding them of who they are and through them His message spreads to all souls of all religions.

The Role of God in the World Drama

For pure communication with the Supreme Soul, pure knowledge is necessary. As with human relationships, the more we know about the other's role, the more affinity we can experience with them. So too, precise knowledge of God's actual role in this world endears Him to us and creates a real foundation for the complete experience of Him. As we have discussed:

- God does not motivate human acts. - God does not guide the behavior of the elements. - God is not a creator of matter or souls.

So what is His creation? Let us examine this a little further. According to His own revelations He performs three acts, namely creation, sustenance and destruction.

What are the Acts of God?

In India God is called "Karan Karavanhar." That means He is the one who does and gets things done by others. However, this is traditionally taken wrongly to mean that everything moves according to His will.

Being physically minded we have taken creation as a physical phenomena. Just a little application of common sense logic will tell us that God did not make human bodies out of dust. The procreators of human bodies have always been other human beings. All human beings that have existed, and that will exist, come in the same way that they always have, from the womb of a human mother. All physical beings exist as a result of the union of the sexes in some form. If God were the giver of birth in this sense, why then should some wish to escape the cycle of birth and rebirth?

Likewise, if God had created this material universe, then He is also controlling and interfering with it constantly, creating rainstorms, droughts, plagues, good harvests, sunrises, sunsets, etc. These are all natural processes. The earth, moon, sun and planets keep their position because of attraction and repulsion, not because of some supernatural force. In imagining God to be generator, operator and destroyer in the physical sense we have confused so much His real role with the simple processes of nature.

Creation

Creation is actually the regeneration, rejuvenation or reshaping of what is already there. When the whole of humanity becomes weak spiritually, God rejuvenates the souls by imparting knowledge and divinising their intellects. He puts life-energy back into the souls. In that way He sows the seeds of the new Golden Age, and reveals the purpose of creation. In doing so, He is the moulder of souls. He brings souls nearer to each other. In this way, He is the creator of a world of unity, peace, love and harmony on the earth. The task of making a plan for the whole of humanity is beyond the capacity of human beings. It is the function of God, by virtue of His unlimited attributes. When peacelessness, lawlessness, disease, violence and misery pose a serious problem for the whole world, the bestowal of health and abundance, purity and peace to all of suffering humanity becomes the task of the Supreme Soul. No one else is competent to do it. The main task of God is to purify souls. Creation is really the purification of souls, the act of establishing once again the divine order.

Nothing created is permanent, just as when a seed is sown in a field, the seedlings sprout and grow, then later the crop is harvested, but then a new crop has to be planted. When the New World order is being established, the old world order must be destroyed. When Shiva Baba performs the role of creator, there is world-scale transformation. Souls are not destroyed. Matter or nature is not destroyed. Only disease and pollution in nature and the negative forces within human souls are destroyed. The physical transformation is enacted by the human souls themselves. As the revealer of the laws of action, Shiva Baba must come onto the field of action and demonstrate them. He could not just remain in the soul world and perform the act of creation from there. Sending vibrations is just not enough, primarily because human beings have become so body-conscious that they are not subtle enough to pick up such vibrations. Their link with Him has been severed, and human beings through their own efforts and fantasies have not been able to reconnect themselves with Him. Besides that, He is not, as we have discussed already, some sort of cosmic magician who can transform the world by an act of magic or "will."

He comes in an incognito way like a "thief in the night," as it says in the bible, at the end of the Iron Age. He "borrows" the body of the first soul to enter the cycle. That soul in fact happens to be the most experienced of all human souls, the very one who is called Brahma or "Adi Dev," the first deity. In India, "Adi" which means the first, original one, is the probable root of the word "Adam." So, the soul of "Adam" or Brahma, after passing through the cycle of births, again becomes the instrument for the recreation of the world of Heaven. Shiva Baba is able to make full use of Brahma's experience in revealing all the secrets of the human world drama. The very fact that He has come has unleashed the forces of transformation.

Destruction

In all mythologies, the aspect of God as a destroyer figures prominently. God is not the destroyer of human beings, just as He is not the creator of human beings. He is the destroyer of evil and the creator of virtue. All these tales of huge armies being destroyed in one swipe of the Supreme's army are mere allegories. For example, there is the tale of the crossing of the Red Sea by the Israelites and the subsequent destruction of their Egyptian slave masters. This tale appears in many cultures, only with different names, places and dates.

On one side, there is the land of affliction and suffering (in this case Egypt,) and on the other side the land of "milk and honey," the "promised land" etc. In between, there is a seemingly impassable sea, which by the grace of God, suddenly opens up and the "chosen ones" cross. Behind them, their former captors are swallowed up as God closes the water on them. The story is obviously symbolic. The "chosen ones," the true lovers of the true God, have the path made easier for them through His unswerving guidance. Such a one is thus able to leave the experience of suffering behind him and make the journey across to the other side to a world of perfection and purity, the Golden Age. The weaknesses, our former "captors," try to follow but are exterminated completely by the effect of God's help.

Others believe that God finally destroys the world because of His wrath. But this too happens as a result of our own actions. After all it is not God that makes the nuclear bombs or natural calamities. This destructive aspect is shown by the symbol Shankar. He is shown sitting in the deep stillness of meditation; naked to show the complete freedom from body-consciousness and conquest of evil in the self. It is said that the flames of destruction emerged from Shankar's third eye.

The Supreme Soul in fact, inspires us to reach this powerful stage of meditation. It is from the center of this fire of love and yoga that the vibrations of world transformation spread. This purifying influence on the consciousness of humanity actually fans the fires of the destruction of the old world. Destruction is thus a reflection of the power of yoga, the necessary companion of creation.

Sustenance

The result of knowledge and the deep fire of yoga is the all-virtuous state. Vishnu is a symbol of this purity and sovereignty. Vishnu is shown with four arms and represents the perfect male/female couples; pure and equal. It is the perfect couple Lakshmi and Narayan who rule this world throughout the Golden Age. Vishnu also symbolizes the perfect family life which acts as a sustaining force in the early part of human history. As the family life becomes more impure, so too the world. It was God Shiva who had bestowed the kingdom of paradise of the Golden and Silver Ages to the human souls. When there is this initial confusion at the beginning of the Copper Age, we turn our minds automatically to Him in the form of pure, single-minded worship. It is during this time that other parts of the world are explored and colonized as groups of human beings travel here and there in an effort to regain the art of living in peace and harmony.

The prophet souls, Abraham, Buddha, Christ, Mohammed and so on, establish their various religions. Though each professes universal kinship and dedication to one God, there is no universal application of their teachings. Each shows a different aim and a different set of beliefs. The trunk religion thus becomes many branches as the world population expands in search of itself. The one kingdom becomes many new ruling dynasties spread over the globe. New languages develop. The harmony the world once knew is shattered. We enter into an era of strife, which later becomes full-fledged war. After the prophets died, scriptures supported religions and a faith based on the glorification of their lives and words.

The Twigs and Leaves - The Iron Age

This is the age of ignorance and darkness. Worship and blind faith in fact lead the souls further into degradation and hence further away from God, the seed of truth. Almost anything is worshipped in an attempt to bring back the former purity and power. More branches appear on the tree. The four main religions of Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism and Christianity divide into sub-branches. After passing through their own different stages of purity, they too reach their last stage of total diversification and disunity. In this spiritual confusion many cults, sects and "isms" also emerge. Both religion and philosophy becomes more materialistic. The last twigs of the tree are extremely distant from the seed. Our lives and relationships with others become devoid of the essential qualities of real love, peace and happiness. Life is controlled by the vices. The status of women is lowered and they are treated as objects of sexual indulgence.

Societies develop, motivated by the ever-growing demand for material goods. We become slaves to our desires. Differences of opinion dominate individual families, communities and nations. Religion becomes involved in the accumulation of wealth and temporal power. Science becomes involved in the development of the means of mass destruction. The world is divided by color, sects, religion and politics. We fall into the bondage of culture, family, traditions and government legislation. Natural calamities increase. Disease, premature death, accidents, poverty and suffering make life in this world a veritable "hell." People become complete slaves to their sense organs, yet still at the time of suffering they pray to God to remove it. However, great confusion exists as to the true identity of God. Ever increasing peacelessness turns more and more people towards God but without knowing who or what He is and does, they remain powerless. This need provides fertile ground for the emergence of "pseudo-gods" or "god-men" who add to the confusion with new and more fashionable interpretations of traditional teachings. People are made to perform an astounding amount of rituals, either inspired because of some boon offered or doing so out of fear. Each soul hangs as helplessly as a leaf on the twig of what it believes in.

The Ladder of 84 Births

Show picture of The Ladder and ask the students how this picture relate to the cycle of time and/or the tree of religion. Each step of the ladder represents a birth. Every time a soul takes birth it loses (spiritual) energy. It takes 83 physical births to completely use up one's spiritual energy. It takes one spiritual birth to regain or recharge the source through the teachings of Shiva Baba who teaches us Raja Yoga.

Application

My Choices at the Confluence Age

Recognition of the Confluence Age as the only time that God comes in a cycle of time to do His task of re-creation, one has to make certain choices and/or: - role I want to play with God at this time

- let go of my limited fortune and create my fortune forever

- take direct benefit from God's presence, from His powers and qualities.

- let go of my old ways, life style, mental set, etc., become a Brahmin. "A Brahmin is a soul who recognizes Shiva Baba, a soul who takes spiritual birth through the mouth of Brahma and follows the highest code of human conduct in order to serve humanity spiritually. It is not a birth by a change in body but by a change in consciousness."

Meditation Exercise

The Cycle and the Tree

Putting the knowledge of the cycle and the tree together I come firstly to a realization of the time ... Now and only now is the time that I can rise up out of the depths of my own ignorance and create my part for the next cycle ... I see the contrast between the old world and the new, the impure world and the pure and am inspired to cut the ropes that keep the boat of the soul tied to the shores of the Iron Age knowing that every effort I do now will create loss or credit for many lives to come. Seeing my own role throughout the tree I start to have an incredible internal security with the knowledge of my own "reason of being" ... Firmly anchored in this self-faith I see the myriad roles that I and others have played and am instilled with a sense of detachment ... I was a deity in the Golden Age ... a divine being. Little by little I lost both my crowns; the halo of purity and the crown of temporal authority ... I became a worshipper, a beggar for peace ... I grew with the tree and lost sight of the trunk by trying to comfort myself in the branches, the human-made religions ... Then Baba came to explain it all to me. Seeing it from His point of view I can see just how perfect the drama is.

(Pause)

I feel like a person who has fished all his life in the same spot without even imagining that the water passing by his feet had a history of its own; a pure phase, an impure phase, a pure phase again ... I can see how body-consciousness prevents me from seeing the perfection of creation and how soul-consciousness, i.e.. seeing myself as a soul, who has passed through the history of this world, allows me to have a bird's eye view of the whole process of creation. I can see how I myself am also like a tree too ... I started as a seed in the soul world. Then I came here and became a part of the trunk; the Golden and Silver Ages ... During this time I was in harmony and there was unity within myself Then the internal divisions began with the coming of the Copper Age as different desires started to pull the intellect this way and that ... "The answer is here, " "No, it's there! " "Peace is in this! ", "No, it's in that! ", "Come here! ", "Go there! ", "Do this, " "Do that, " "No, " "Yes, " "No, " "Yes. "

(Pause)

This was the beginning of the branches of my confusion ... I grew and grew in this way, birth by birth with more and more complications, the branches threading the webs of my anxiety... Now the Seed of it all is explaining to me how it all came to pass, how I too am a seed in my original form ... Knowing this I can leave the branches and twigs of useless and impure thoughts ... With the knowledge of the cycle and the tree and the recognition of the master of the tree, Shiva Baba, I can truly become a traveler of the three worlds. Om Shanti .