DECEMBER, 2007

Features
The Yoga of Jesus
By Paramahansa Yogananda
Dancing with the Beloved
By Paul Ferrini
The Hidden Power Within You
By Asoka Selvarajah, Ph.D.
Columns
My Current Opinion
By Guy Spiro
STFK
From the Heart
by Alan Cohen
Who to Spend the Holidays With
Sound Perspective
by Steven Halpern
Field Effects, Sound Healing and "The Phenomenon"
Everyday Matters
Find Meaning This Season
by Jeanne Spiro
The Shared Heart
by Joyce and Barry Vissell
Couples and Money
Ask The Swami
by Swami Beyondananda
Dear Louise
by Louise L. Hay
Reviews
In Print
New Books of Interest
Science Fiction & The Art of Storytelling
The Soul’s Journey: Test To Destruction
by Jacqueline Lichtenberg
Cyberweave-Spirituality and the Internet
by Mary Montgomery-Clifford
The Continuity of Life
Alternate Realities: Creating the New Mythos
by Stephen Simon, The Movie Mystic
Stranger than Fiction

Ask the Swami

By Swami Beyondananda


Where Swami answers your questions,
and you will question his answers

Dear Swami:

     Am I a lone voice in the wilderness, or are we as a species absolutely nuts? We have people supposedly guided by the Ten Commandments killing each other like crazy, and we’re spending our resources as a planet on war and weaponry instead of love and protection. Where are these religions when we need them most? Or is it time to scrap all of our spiritual traditions and try something else?

—        Vladislav Gottu-Duwiditz

     Prague, Czech Republic

Dear Vladislav,

     It’s a mad, mad, mad world all right. And what seems to keep the madness in place is this: Just because we keep doing the same crazy things over and over, we begin to imagine those things are “sane.” Take war. Please! Especially that most oxymoronic one, the holy war in the Holy Land. Holy cow-pie, that’s wholly insane! I guess they must have modified the Ten Commandments while we weren’t looking: “Thou shalt not kill, except in extremely large groups.”

     I’ve said it before, but maybe it bears repeating. It could very well be that the Ten Commandments are just too much to bite off all at once. Maybe we should start with One Suggestion: “We’re all in it together.” Each and every one of us totally unique, just like everyone else. We are all one with the same One. The Universal Oneness. The Universe has us surrounded, might as well surrender.

     People ask me all the time if I’m a creationist or an evolutionist, and I tell them, “both.” We humans were created to evolve, otherwise Jesus would have said, “Now don’t do a thing till I return!” Maybe it’s time we children of God finally grow up and become adults of God, and realize we are the Creator’s creation created to create. In other words, we’re not here to earn God’s love, we’re here to spend it!

     What if human society made the collective choice to live as if we’re all in it together? Imagine a world gone sane. Imagine a new mission to conquer inner space and achieve humanifest destiny—manifesting our destiny as a humanity—to re-grow the Garden from the grassroots up, and have a heaven of a time doing it.

Dear Swami:

     I know you follow politics, so maybe you can answer this burning question. Is America ready for a woman President?

—        Freda Peoples

     Jamaica, New York

Dear Freda,

     First of all, let me please clear up a misconception. I don’t follow politics, nor do I recommend following it. That’s exactly how we got into the mess we’re in today. If we the people were to lead politics instead, we’d be much, much better off. In answer to your question, I have meditated long and hard about that very issue. I went back and looked at every President from George Washington on, and I realized that every one of those guys was a male. That means that electing a woman President would be ... unpresidented. And having spent the past few lifetimes living in this country, I can tell you unequivocally that America does not like sudden and abrupt change. Therefore, this entire electing a woman President must be a gradual process. So I recommend we elect a transvestite first.

Dear Swami:

     I read something recently that I found quite disturbing. Apparently, many shampoos contain toxic and even carcinogenic ingredients. Knowing that you’re a clear-headed chap, I was wondering what kind of shampoo the Swami uses.

—        Rhonda Gamut

     Des Plaines, Illinois

Dear Rhonda:

     I never use shampoo. Shampoo is a sham. I only use real poo. It’s an old Jamaican recipe, and I understand it’s what put the dread in dreadlocks. Anyway, when my hair started thinning around the top I figured it was time for some fertilizer. Apparently, excessive meditation can actually fry the hair follicles from the inside out, leaving a tonsorial ring. That’s how those meditating monks got the name “friars.” Anyway, I applied it topically, put on my turban to provide just the right growing conditions, and off I went. That was thirteen years ago. One of these days, I’m going to take off the turban and see just how well it worked.


© Copyright 2007 by Steve Bhaerman. All rights reserved. Swami Beyondananda—and his hilarious books and CDs—can be found online at www.wakeuplaughing.com.


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