Christian Soma sacrifice

Interesting...

"When Christ says at the last communion that "this is my body"  the Greek term for body is Soma the Vedic name for the God of the immortal wine and nectar. The last communion is the the Christian Soma sacrifice."

- Pg. 223, David Frawley, Gods Sages and Kings

Was aware that Soma meant body in Greek, but never made that connection before!

The last few sunsets have been nice with Venus and the crescent moon becoming viewable in the western sky above shortly after the Sun sinks below the horizon. The Sun has also seemed to dance sliding across just before it plunges towards the underworld.

From "Vasistha's Yoga" translated by Swami Venkatesananda

"In this world whatever is gained is gained only by self-effort; where failure is encountered it is seen that there has been slackness in the effort. This is obvious; but what is called fate is fictitious and is not seen.

Self-effort, Rama, is that mental, verbal and physical action which is in accordance with the instructions  of holy person well versed in the scriptures. It is only by such effort that Indra became king of heaven, that Brahma became the creator, and the other deities earned their place.

Self effort is of  two categories: that of past births and that of this birth. The latter effectively counteracts the  former. Fate is none other then self effort of a past incarnation. There is constant conflict between these two in this incarnation; and that which is more powerful triumphs.

Self-effort which is not in accord with the scriptures is motivated by delusion. When there is obstruction in the fruition of self-effort one should examine it to see if there is such deluded action, and if there is it should be immediately corrected . There is no power greater then right action in the present. Hence one should take recourse to self-effort; grinding ones teeth, and one should overcome evil by good and fate by present effort.

The lazy man is worse then a donkey. One should never yield to laziness but strive to attain liberation, seeing that life is ebbing away every moment. One should not revel in the filth known as sense pleasures as a worm revels in pus.

One who says "Fate is directing me to do this"  is brainless, and the goddess of fortune abandons him. Hence by self effort acquire wisdom and then realise that self-effort is not without its own end, in the direct realisation of truth."

Growth and Limitation

So many people get overly excited about the things that they can "change", but rarely is the same excitement seen around the things they "cannot change".

I'm personally more excited about the things I cannot change, as growth becomes more focussed, when one realises one's own limitations.

Perhaps in some ways, the things that one can 'change', most of the time, are less likely to lead to growth, and are more likely to lead to being lead in circles.

Bad habits more readily fall away when one realises the limitations of them, when I realised the limitation of drinking alcohol, it lost all its appeal for example, and now I could never go back to drinking it.

It's similar with people, friends were my greatest attachment, but then I realised the limitations of them, and they too lost their appeal, now I can never feel dependant on the promise of what they represent again. I thought about that the other day, how I will never again feel the same way I used to feel where my friends were the entire universe, and the most central part of my attention and awareness. I used to only feel "complete" when engaged in conversation with friends I was stimulated in an excitable way with. In the Gemini way.

Now that excitement, is not with friends, which is good because it was illusory anyway, just some product of nervous energy that had built up within me, out of my social ineptitude and inability to face my own suffering.

Now when I interact with others, there is less selfishness there, because I'm less likely to want to try and turn them into my personal entertainment or feel good drug.