Beloved Students:

May the infinite goodness of the Spirit Who indwells you overflow with great abundance this day, blessing you with the fullness of Its own presence in your profound heart of grace. May you know peace in your being and may you live in radical calmness – even as events unfold before you that challenge your serenity. Know that the grace surrounding and supporting you is sufficient for the needs of the day.

When living in uncertain, tense, difficult, and/or chaotic times, one must continually be mindful to the “pinnings,” so to speak, to which one is moored. Whether chaos arises from activities of non-clear individuals exploding bombs on trains and busses; from hurricanes roiling in the ocean and assaulting coastal regions; from wildfires devouring precious timberlands, or from events that are of a more personal nature virtually all present opportunities for profound reflection on the meaning one ascribes to her/his existence.

One of the reasons I have chosen to give teachings on the Prajnaparamita at this time is to aid humanity through each of you in the interesting and highly charged times at hand. Indeed, August has the energetic potential to be a fairly chaotic month, extending its chaotic tentacles into the first part of September, as well. (As you will note from the date above, we are writing this a bit earlier than normally, since Kathlyn will have to be away with her father during his surgery later in the month.)

As of this writing, those energetic streams are still in the realm of potentiality; and although the congealing process has already begun for that which will manifest in August, the final outcome(s) has/have more to do with how humanity responds to those energetic influences than simply the energies themselves now coalescing. Thus, by establishing a group vehicle for focusing on basic spiritual foundational truths, we can together establish a balancing effect for the potential arising of chaotic events. In other words when times are unstable, feast your mind on stabilizing spiritual principles. In this way, you become part of the balancing counterpart rather than part of the chaos.

Remember, the Prajnaparamita provides the ground of training for bodhisattvas. As you ponder the world around you, noting the continual arising of non-clarity, what is needed more at this time than the immediate anchoring of bodhisattva consciousness? How wonderful – indeed how amazing – that you have the opportunity to offer this service to all sentient beings now. As each of you, through our combined plane-to-plane efforts, allows the Prajnaparamita to manifest outwardly to the world through your purified thoughts, words and actions, you not only align yourself fully with the work of the spiritual plane as it now serves Earth, you open your own potential to literally become enlightened Earth. That is, you create the “mind space,” or internal conditions, that invite a direct experience of the Pure Land.

Now, as your Teacher, I must caution you not to set up expectations or mental conditions for any particular personal outcome. Such would, of course, interfere with your being able to fully embody the Prajnaparamita at the level a bodhisattva might. Rather, just know that you are placing yourself in the area of direct experience whenever you purposefully choose to fully align your path with that of the spiritual plane. And indeed, what could be more needed at this time? Of course, the Earth needs deeper clarity in the relations among all the sentient beings who participate in the collective experience of planetary intercourse. But beyond that obvious consideration, each of you, as personal aspirants, needs to so align, so commit and so dedicate your efforts. Such is what provides a spiritual depth to your individual experiences, or to the interpretations you place on them.

You can have confidence in the fact that others before you – such at the great Manjushri or the magnificent Avalokiteshvara, even Maitreya, Kwan Yin and many more – broke through the bonds of suffering by taking the same steps you now take. You can take not only confidence but profound comfort in the fact that they, and other great ones, sought your liberation from suffering just as intently as they sought their own. Indeed these luminous ones have literally shown you the way (and are still showing the way for any open enough to accept the gifts poured forth continually to the planet.) You are most fortunate to be living and serving at a time when so much is arising for purification. Why not celebrate both your own potential and that of Earth by inviting these glorious Ones to again manifest on Earth through you? Why not open both your consciousness and your body space with these glorious Ones, in order that the spiritual light quotient for Earth may be elevated.

In so doing, however, please keep a close check on the ego. Know that in expanding your capacity for enlightenment, your capacity for “endarkenment” is also enhanced. I say this not to engender doubt or fear, but rather to advise you that it is always pertinent to keep a spiritual “eye” on the ego, knowing it is capable of turning virtually any experience into aggrandizement for its own purposes. This can be rather tricky for some as they near heightened levels of consciousness. Many have allowed their vigilance to wane as they perceived their approach to some desired state of consciousness. The result can be a disappointing journey into delusion rather than the recognition of one’s own enlightenment.

Judicious practice of the Prajnaparamita yields many benefits, which extend not only to the practitioner, but literally to all sentient beings. Indeed, both the inner and outer worlds of the practitioner become a nicer place to inhabit. One begins to marvel at how much goodness is in the world. Even more, one begins to experience the positive effects of all that goodness coming to one from so many sources by way of so many paths. A beautiful softness arises that one can recognize as her/his true nature. Highly engaged neutrality becomes “doable,” and a calm presence loses all affectations – settling in as the norm, rather than the lucky moment. Through the practice of kindness and generosity, one opens to the flow of infinite kindness and generosity offered to all sentient beings by the Source of All Being.

Even more profound, perhaps, is the effect these practices have on one’s ability to meditate. When one stabilizes the mind in the act of “letting go” of all the old familiar points of mental/emotional clinging, the mind is able to sit in “calm abiding” for longer and longer parcels of time. In fact, the “calm abiding” state is expanded into all the mind states – not simply during meditation. One begins to have a sense that the Great Ones (such as those previously mentioned, but certainly not limited to they) are with one continually, actually taking part in both the internal and external activities in which one engages. The recognition of this level of connection only supports realization of the truth of Oneness, and contributes to the growing presence of divine serenity – an identifiable mark of the bodhisattva.

It is a beautiful experience to see oneself in training among other bodhisattvas in training. Such seeing allows one to rest in the ultimate truth that as others before you have reached their enlightenment, so you, too will come to see yourself as have they. While the influences of karma are very strong (just look at the world around you!), you, like they, have the power to cut through the fog of samsara, awakening to the dawn of pure consciousness, or shall we say “Sourceshine.” It is imperative to keep the goal before you, for, as I am sure each of you has experienced, the ego is capable of snatching the goal from you in the most fleeting of instances. Know that such is the nature of ego mind, for it arises from the karmic projections of your previous experiencing and that of the entire world.

Please join me this month in listening to Embodying the Prajnaparamita, a talk I gave to the Denver group earlier this month. Do not allow your minds to spiral downward in these interesting times; but continually renew yourself in the brilliance of your enlightened reality. Practice daily to bring more clarity, more dedication, and ever more “unconditionality” into your life. Remember vividly the Source from Which/Whom you came and unto Which/Whom you are returning. Continually celebrate the paths of those who have gone before you, realizing that each now offers you the benefit of His/Her body of experience. You are not separate from those who now await your realization of Truth. Walk in love!

Djwhal Khul