Rituals for the departed in various traditions

Mourning in Judaism:

Aninut between death and burial:

https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/364290/jewish/The-State-of-Onain-Deep-Distress.htm https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/291135/jewish/Shiva-and-Other-Mourning-Observances.htm

Shiva, the 7 days (3+4) after burial:

https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/281584/jewish/What-Is-Shiva.htm

Sheloshim, 30 days after burial:

https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/291135/jewish/Shiva-and-Other-Mourning-Observances.htm

The first year after burial.

Also Kaddish is recited by men:

https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/291136/jewish/The-Basics.htm

text of the mourner's Kaddish:

https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/371110/jewish/Text-of-the-Mourners-Kaddish.htm

How jews approach death:

https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/282496/jewish/How-Jews-Approach-Death.htm

https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/266275/jewish/Death-Mourning.htm

There is a course of "Life after Death - a discovery of the soul's journey in the afterlife" on Chabad that I participated and recommend:

https://www.chabad.org/multimedia/course_cdo/aid/5268919/jewish/Life-After-Death.htm

and a book on afterlife "Seven Conversations with Jerry" by Rabbi Avraham Plotkin who is presenting the above course:

https://www.chabad.org/news/article_cdo/aid/4999660/jewish/A-Seasoned-Rabbi-Writes-an-Engrossing-New-Novel-on-the-Afterlife.htm

also by Rabbi Steve Leder "The Beauty of what remains":

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54705911-the-beauty-of-what-remains

and "For you when I am gone", also by by Rabbi Steve Leder, on how to write an ethical will:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58985549-for-you-when-i-am-gone

The services for the departed in Christianity:

The 3 days after death, 9 days after death, 40 days after death, 3 months after death, 6 months after death, 9 months after death, 1 year after death, every year up to 7 years after passing, yearly in the Saturdays for celebrating the departed (winter, summer).

https://www.oca.org/questions/deathfunerals/prayers-for-the-departed
https://www.oca.org/questions/deathfunerals/prosphora-for-ill-and-departed

In Buddhism:

There are observed 49 days after passing in which the soul is in a Bardo state. Garchen Institute is performing Jangchock periodically. You can find more details here: https://garchen.net/annual-events/ including prayer texts and you can send the names of the departed to dedications@garchen.net by Wednesday prior to the Jangchock. There is also Jangchock for the living.

There is a book by Shunmyo Masuno that I started reading and reached the pages with the departed but haven't read them yet. The book is called "Don't worry: 48 lessons on Achieving Calm".

Here is a poem to contemplate of No-coming, No-going from Plum Village:

Contemplation on No-coming, No-going

This body is not me.
I am not limited by this body.
I am life without boundaries
I have never been born,
and I have never died.

Look at the ocean and the sky filled with stars,
manifestations from my wondrous True Mind.

Since before time, I have been free.
Birth and death are only doors through which we pass,
sacred thresholds on our journey.
Birth and death are a game of hide-and-seek.

So laugh with me,
hold my hand,
let us say good-bye,
say good-bye, to meet again soon.

We meet today.
We will meet again tomorrow.
We will meet at the source every moment.
We meet each other in all forms of life.

Here a lung on Zhitro by Lama Tsultrim Allione:

https://www.youtube.com/live/C3LU78PMvno

and here a Bardo meditation with Jai Dev Singh:

https://youtu.be/1A8cDdHuMqI

The Bardo Thodol practice from Padmasambhava translated by Lama Kazi Dawa Samdup aka "The Tibetan Book of the Dead":

https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/the-tibetan-book-of-the/9781398810242-item.html

A movie by Werner Herzog on hearing in Bardo

https://vimeo.com/87617491

also there is a Bardo app available for iPhone and Android by OSHO's:

https://www.osho.com/mobile/osho-bardo

also available here:

https://oshosammasati.org/osho-meditation/products/osho-bardo/

and here a free guide for visiting the dying:

https://oshosammasati.org/a-guide-to-visiting-the-dying/

Hinduism:

Kalabhairava Karma and Kalabhairava Shanti are offtered by Isha:

https://lingabhairavi.org/offerings-and-rituals/kalabhairava-karma/

registration for Kalabhairava Karma:

https://prs.isha.in/html/forms.html/registration_kbk_yaml

Mahalaya Amavasya:

https://isha.sadhguru.org/blog/yoga-meditation/science-of-yoga/significance-of-mahalaya-amavasya/

Stages of death and importance of death rituals:

https://isha.sadhguru.org/uk/en/wisdom/article/stages-of-death-rituals

Books I love

First I would like to tell a line that I heard from a childhood friend:

Two glances in life and one in books.

With that said here are some of the books I love:

Gabby Bernstein's "You are the Guru" and "May cause miracles"
Lev Tolstoy's "The Gospel in brief"
Linda Johnsen's "Lost masters"
Deepak Chopra's "The Deeper wound: Recovering the soul from fear and suffering", "Total meditation" and "The 7 Spiritual Laws for parents"
Haim Shapira's "The wisdom of King Solomon"
Ram Dass's "Paths to God: Living the Bhagavad Gita" and "Polishing the mirror"
Mallika Chopra's "My body is a rainbow: The color of my feelings", "Just breathe", "Just feel", "Just be you"
Amy Buetens and Julie Weinstein's "You are the Universe"
Eckhart Tolle and Patrick McDonnell's "Guardians of Being"
Louise L. Hay's "Experience your Good Now!: Learning to use affirmations"

Celebrations in various religious traditions

Christianity - Christmas, New Year (circumcision and choosing the Name of Jesus) Epiphany, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, Assumption of Mother Mary, Birth of Mother Mary, Synaxis of Mother Mary (first day after the birth of Jesus)

Buddhism - Losar (New Year) and the 15 days of miracles performed by The Buddha culminating with Chötrul Duchen, Shoton (Yogurt Festival), Vesak and Saga Dawa (Buddha's Birth, Enlightenment and Parinirvana), Buddha's First Teaching (1st Turning of the Wheel of Dharma), Lha Bab Duchen (The return of Buddha after teaching his mother in the Tushita Heaven), Je Tsongkhapa's Parinirvana

Hasidism - Purim, Pascha, Pesach Scheni, Shavuot, Rosh Hashanah - Yom Kippur - Simchat Torah, Sukkot, 19th of Kislev (Yom Tov of Hasidim), Chanukah, Shabbat (weekly)

Sikhism - Guru Nanak Jayanti, Vaisakhi

Hinduism - Purnima or Jayanti (Full moon days), Ekadashi (11th day after full moon and 11th day after new moon - a day of natural fasting), Amavasya (new moon), Navratri (9 Nights: first 3 nights for Tamas, 3 nights for Rajas and 3 nights for Sattva) + 1 day for Victory Day over the 3 gunas Vijayadashami, Diwali (festival of lights), Shivratri (13th day after full moon and the last month of the year (the month of Phalguna in the Hindu luni-solar calendar) is the MahaShivRatri), Holi, daily Sandhya Kala (20 minutes before morning 20 minutes after morning, 20 minutes before noon, 20 minutes after noon, 20 minutes before evening, 20 minutes after evening, 20 minutes before midnight, 20 minutes after midnight), daily Brahma Muhurta (a period of aproximately 48 minutes before sunrise)

Islam - Eid al-Fitr, Hajj, Eid al-Adha

On Acceptance, Dealing with challenges and Conscious Manifestation and Appreciation

Acceptance is too see and know you are pure awareness. That's the meaning of I am enough. I am enough in my essence as I know in essence I do not need to add anything to feel complete and anything I perceive is not who I am in essence as I am not the changing body-mind-scenery.

When you accept who you are in your essence you accept other people as well and do not impose expectations upon them wishing to be different in order to make you happy. When you accept you understand that the soul is always abundant and fulfilled Now and doesn't need time to get over a perceived lack to fill it. Once you accept life you open up to creative solutions and infinite possibilities. That means that your needs will always be met provided you are open to life Now. Family, friends, being loved, fulfilling your Dharma can come in the most unexpected ways from people who you wouldn't haven't even dreamt of. When you understand this fully you don't place unrealistic expectations upon people and accept that not everyone is suppose or should be everything you need and provided that you are open to life Now everything you truly need is abundantly available. When the view shifts from the form identity which is ever changing to pure awareness where creation is mated moment to moment you realize that infinite contains all forms.

Dealing with challenges in life comes from acceptance. When we shift our view from the form to the essence identity we can see grace in the midst of challenges. Sometimes because the form identity has become too heavy, challenges proportional to dissolve the form identity come to bring us to our essence identity which nothing can destroy. Approaching loss, illness, trauma, abuse from a place of acceptance doesn't mean that we are passive and do not take steps to correct what needs to be corrected, but it shifts the perspective from a victim identity and a place of reactivity and denial to a deeper sense of knowing that All is well. Not resistance is key ... as not resisting difficult emotions like fear or anger dissolves the energy around the emotions. If the conditioning is too heavy to be dissolved at once it substantially weakens it and accepting and trusting the process it brings healing and wholeness.

Conscious manifestation works best from a place of acceptance and appreciation. When you accept life as it is and appreciate the form the present moment takes there is no more resistance to life.

Appreciation means that one appreciates the natural gifts and talents. That can be the swabhav, the type which can be action type, feeling type, thinking type. Here is an article in which OSHO talks of the three types: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Aepateue0UipGxsrcepGmcoIEG0di5W-2YjmTZXVJ8o/

The meditators in the 21st century - The challenges of man - between Here and There

The meditators in the 21st century

What I noticed when I met highly evolved human-beings is that they talk of compassion for all and I wanted to figure it out how is it that among many years they manage to be consistent on the Internet and how they go about doing their work. Here are a few of the things I noticed.

First, enlightned people, are very much human or even more so than unelightened ones, even so they don't say it do not pump their vanity, keep humble and not make other people react and get angry which would be detrimental for their development but also for they keeping doing their work which they also do need, perhaps not so much as from a consciousness standpoint, because they reached the end of their journeys on the evolution of consciousness, but from a human point of view, because while in the body they also need to act, speak and think effectively as challenges in form of people and events also reach them in a way or another, even so milder

Enlightened people tend to have a closed family and friends circle which they very much cherish and enjoy. Work is more for the people who are out of this circle, even so no such separation exists in their mind life managed that clear distiction for their comfort and according to their preferences.

Periodically and consistently reaching up for work with people consciousness is working to awaken through them is done in effective ways, most in such a way as not to be harmed emotionally, by using media, Internet, books, or otherwise gatherings at effective moments

An effective moment is one that maximizes consciousness, according to the rhythms of Nature, in which consciousness manifests as we are all part of Nature, and which with the least amount of effort, does the maximum amount of good, with the least expenditure of energy, to the most people it can reach. To do the maximum amount of good in any given situation is for the conscious person to wait patiently for a moment to act. Waiting for the conscious person is increasing the depth and profundity while in people who would perhaps need, or due to conditionings wait for an exterior nudge, the condition that the advice would come to aleviate, generally gathers more momentum and increases the associated physical, mental and conscious effects. It might be noted that wisdom reaches people when such an advice has long past its due and the person has reached the state of consciousness that makes it possible for knowledge and understanding as vehicles for wisdom to manifest it, in simple terms wisdom reaches most who need it most, when they don't need it anymore, but it is needed by the wise to perform the act of loving-kidness that would bring forth the interaction which is needed by both, and which would gather the consciousness through attention from those to which the advice reaches while providing the later with an experience in consciousness.

Effective timing might be connected with moon cycles, full moon, new moon and celebration of enlightned beings like Christmas, Epiphany, Pascha, Losar and miracle days, Vesak, Saga Dawa, Chokhor, Lha Bab, the weekly day of rest

Wisdom, as Haim Shapira wisely says in his book "The wisdom of king Solomon" is fleeting. Which means that people who follow the path of awareness, need to be wise and alert at all times, as wisdom is fleeting it comes and goes, even so it remains forever. So the cycles ... and the in-betweens ... which account for uncertainty and spontaneity and response to life challenges.

The challenges of man

The righteous ones which go on making a living by spreading awareness do know that life as in form of polarities between order and chaos need to be transcended and plesantly lived. Pleasantness is not searched per se, but is an effect of living consciously and making conscious choices. For most it is a rather orderly and disciplined life which came as a result of living life to its fullest and harmonizing with it. Naturally people who would be most benefited by a little order in their life in fact support through their way of living in polarity both the awareness and pleasantness of aware people.

If animals fight for survival, men challenge themselves for eternity. Some would say that that's a very ancient way of equating the polarities of life and that compassion as such doesn't have anything to do with polarity and in truth it does not as life is eternal and transcends polarities.

As Haim Shapira writes in "The wisdom of King Solomon" quoting Thomas Mann:

"The opposite of a trivial truth is a false statement. The opposite of a profound truth is another profound truth."

Here and There

We are all in Truth Here. Once we go beyond action, that means acting with joy, without an agenda, and without seeing action as a means to an end, beyond what makes the structure of our life (earth), the emotional connection (water), the adventure (fire), the understanding (air) and spaciousness, and go beyond the knowledge of this or another object of knowledge in There, we all are really Here. Moving from object referral to Self referral is the growth from childhood to maturity, from being loved, pampered and cared to sharing love and loving oneself.

Happy Guru Nanak Jayanti!

Jio
Ek Ong Kar Sat Gur Prasad
Sat Nam

Meditatie

Interogarea reflexiva ne poate ajuta sa-L cunoastem pe Dumnezeu:

Cine sunt eu ?
Ce sunt eu ?
Ce vreau eu ?
Ce vreau eu cu adevarat, cu adevarat ?
Ce vrea viata de la mine ? Ce vrea Universul de la mine ?
Ce vrea sa se manifeste prin aceasta forma ?
Ce miracole vrei sa intreprind astazi ?
Care este dorinta mea cea mai profunda ?
Care este rostul meu ?
Cum pot fi de ajutor ?
Cum pot sa-mi folosesc darurile si talentele in folosul semenilor, facand ceea ce iubesc?
Pentru ce sunt recunoscator ?
Meditatia poate fi cu obiect sau fara obiect.

Meditatia fara obiect este sa ne uitam la cerul fara nori si atunci ne conectam cu sinele profund.

Meditatia cu obiect poate fi meditatie cu atentie la respiratie:

Inspirand Dumnezeu vine la mine. In pauza respiratiei Dumnezeu ramane cu mine. Expirand ma duc la Dumnezeu. In pauza respiratiei ma predau Lui Dumnezeu.

Corpul si mintea sunt un intreg si atunci cand atentia este pe respiratie, se opresc asocierile mintii si mintea se linisteste si conecteaza cu natura primordiala, cu sinele nostru adevarat.

In ebraica רוח הקודש Ruach Ha-Kodesh care a fost tradus ca Duhul Sfant vine de la Ruach care inseamna respiratie si Ha-Kodesh care inseamna Celui Sfant, adica Respiratia Celui Sfant, respiratia din respiratie.

In iudaism numele Lui Dumnezeu יהוה (Yah-Weh) nu se pronunta ci se respira. Inspiratia este primul lucru pe care il traim cand venim pe lume si expiratia este ultimul lucru pe care il traim cand plecam din lumea aceasta, chiar ACUM.

Tot meditatie cu obiect este sa fim atenti la ce gandim, la ce spunem, la ce facem.

Putem sa meditam la corpul interior. Inchidem ochii si ne intrebam: Cum stiu ca am chiar si maini ? Inainte de a simti mainile, adica inainte de a lua forma ca si senzatii tactile, constiinta este in starea ei primordiala, pura, neconditionata si nediferentiata. La fel si intre doua ganduri ... In golul dintre ganduri, constiinta pura are potential infinit de manifestare si acolo putem planta semintele rugaciunii din plinul inimii:

Fie ca toate fiintele sa abunde in iubire si bunatate.
Fie ca toate fiintele sa se simta ocrotite si in siguranta.
Fie ca toate fiintele sa aiba iubirea si compasiunea indreptate catre ele.
Fie ca toate fiintele sa traiasca in tihna.

Acest moment este iubire.
Eu sunt infinit. Eu sunt iubire-constiinta.
Puterea Lui Dumnezeu este inlauntrul meu. Harul Lui Dumnezeu ma inconjoara.