The Mahabharata (book 1.CII part 1)

The day of the self-choice ceremony had finally arrived. The noise was deafening as the crowd of thousands cheered King Salya. He waved in gratitude as he made his way to the stage to meet the three princesses. The stadium was packed as the entire kingdom of Kasi had turned out to see who the princesses would choose for their husbands.

"Bhishma, Regent of Hastinapura! Representing King Vichitravirya!" screamed the announcer through his megaphone.

The crowd was silent, then rumblings of disapproval began as Bhishma climbed onto the stage. Bhishma's vow of celibacy was well known throughout the land and many felt he had no right to be participating in this ceremony. The three sisters whispered to each other as he approached. Bhishma paid no heed to the crowd's disapproval, but was instead evaluating the relative size of each princess for the next part of his plan. The youngest sister, Ambalika on his left, was a bit on the plump side, while the middle sister, Ambika, was extremely thin, but the eldest sister, Amba on his right was . . . well, she was just right. Bhishma raised his eyes to look in her face and their eyes met. Bhishma felt a tingle through his body in that moment but quickly looked away and disregarded it.

When he got near to them, the middle sister Ambika, smiled at him and asked, "Why is King Vichitravirya not here in person?"

Bhishma responded a bit nervously while looking away, "Actually . . . I’m here to take you to him."

Bhishma moved with lightning speed. He stepped forward and crouched between them, wrapped his left arm around Ambalika’s hips, while using his right hand to pull Amba behind Ambika and wrap his right arm around both of their hips. The princesses all screamed as he heaved all three of them up onto his shoulders, turned, leapt from the stage and ran for the exit.

The king of Kasi, upon hearing his daughters scream and seeing them being carried away, jumped from his throne on the stage and grabbed the announcer’s megaphone, "Stop him! He’s kidnapping the princesses!"

An enormous uproar from the crowd followed just as Bhishma made it out of the stadium to his waiting chariot. As soon as they were in, the charioteer sped off over the dry, flat, dusty terrain.

Shortly, the dust of dozens of chariots in pursuit could be seen. The larger transport chariot they were in was much slower than the small battle chariots in pursuit. It was only a matter of time before they would be caught. Bhishma readied his bow and drew an arrow at the now visible chariots, but instead of firing on them he turned and fired into the clear blue sky in front of their own chariot.

The arrow sailed high into the air and seemed to impact on the sky itself. There was a loud crack and a corresponding visible crack appeared across the sky, wider than could be seen. The princesses looked at each other in bewilderment, then water began to pour from the crack like a giant waterfall. The charioteer felt a twinge of panic, as they were not past it yet and the water was heading rapidly towards the ground.

An arrow whizzed by as the approaching chariots were now within firing range. The princesses crouched down, closed their eyes and held on tight, preparing for the impact of the water. The charioteer was yelling to command the horses even faster. Everyone cringed as they felt the water then heard the thunderous crash of it . . . behind them.

On the other side, the leading horses came to a grinding halt throwing some kings forward onto the ground. The horses reared up on their hind legs and neighed loudly. They ran in every direction despite a lot of whipping to try to control them. Many charioteers ran from their chariots, praying to god for mercy. Water splashed everywhere, and the dry ground was rapidly turning to mud. The scene was one of complete pandemonium.

Through it all came one chariot, led by a team of four magnificent horses, pounding forward towards the waterfall with unflinching determination. It was king Salya. His horses were renowned on the battlefield, for he trained them hard, but loved them even more. They were his children, and him their father, who they were ready to die for.

They hit the water at full speed. Salya and his charioteer sucked in a deep breath as they entered the downpour. The force of the water slowed the chariot to a halt and flattened them to the floor. The combination of no air to breathe and the constant pounding of the water meant they would be unconscious in another minute and drown. The horses, however, had the strength in their legs to stand, but more importantly, their heads had made it through to the other side.

Despite the overwhelming desire to collapse right then and there, the horses knew their father was drowning. So with every ounce of strength they had, they struggled and pulled until the chariot started moving again and didn’t stop until their father was safe.

Footnotes

1. Derived from: Adi Parva, Section CII, p. 219-220.

Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Richard Bach has written an excellent book on the journey to Enlightenment called "Jonathan Livingston Seagull". As you might guess, it's about talking seagulls which makes it engaging for children, but adults will find much to enjoy as well. Below is an excerpt.

One evening the gulls that were not night-flying stood together on the sand, thinking. Jonathan took all his courage in hand and walked to the Elder Gull, who, it was said, was soon to be moving beyond this world.

"Chiang ..." he said, a little nervously.

The old seagull looked at him kindly. "Yes, my son?" Instead of being enfeebled by age, the Elder had been empowered by it; he could outfly any gull in the Flock, and he had learned skills that the others were only gradually coming to know.

"Chiang, this world isn’t heaven at all, is it?"

The Elder smiled in the moonlight. "You are learning again, Jonathan Seagull," he said.

"Well, what happens from here? Where are we going? Is there no such place as heaven?"

"No, Jonathan, there is no such place. Heaven is not a place, and it is not a time. Heaven is being perfect." He was silent for a moment. "You are a very fast flier, aren’t you?"

"I ... I enjoy speed," Jonathan said, taken aback but proud that the Elder had noticed.

"You will begin to touch heaven, Jonathan, in the moment that you touch perfect speed. And that isn’t flying a thousand miles an hour, or a million, or flying at the speed of light. Because any number is a limit, and perfection doesn’t have limits. Perfect speed, my son, is being there."

Without warning, Chiang vanished and appeared at the water’s edge fifty feet away, all in the flicker of an instant. Then he vanished again and stood, in the same millisecond, at Jonathan’s shoulder. "It’s kind of fun," he said.

Jonathan was dazzled. He forgot to ask about heaven. "How do you do that? What does it feel like? How far can you go?"

"You can go to any place and to any time that you wish to go," the Elder said. "I’ve gone everywhere and everywhen I can think of." He looked across the sea. "It’s strange. The gulls who scorn perfection for the sake of travel go nowhere, slowly.
Those who put aside travel for the sake of perfection go anywhere, instantly. Remember, Jonathan, heaven isn’t a place or a time, because place and time are so very meaningless. Heaven is ..."

"Can you teach me to fly like that?" Jonathan Seagull trembled to conquer another unknown.

"Of course, if you wish to learn."

"I wish. When can we start?"

"We could start now, if you’d like."

"I want to learn to fly like that," Jonathan said, and a strange light glowed in his eyes. "Tell me what to do."

Chiang spoke slowly and watched the younger gull ever so carefully. "To fly as fast as thought, to anywhere that is," he said, "you must begin by knowing that you have already arrived ..."

The trick, according to Chiang, was for Jonathan to stop seeing himself as trapped inside a limited body that had a forty-two-inch wingspan and performance that could be plotted on a chart. The trick was to know that his true nature lived, as perfect as an unwritten number, everywhere at once across space and time.

Jonathan kept at it, fiercely, day after day, from before sunrise till past midnight. And for all his effort he moved not a feather-width from his spot.

"Forget about faith!" Chiang said it time and again. "You didn’t need faith to fly, you needed to understand flying. This is just the same. Now try again ..."

Then one day Jonathan, standing on the shore, closing his eyes, concentrating, all in a flash knew what Chiang had been telling him. "Why, that’s true! I am a perfect, unlimited gull!" He felt a great shock of joy.

"Good!" said Chiang, and there was victory in his voice.

Jonathan opened his eyes. He stood alone with the Elder on a totally different seashore — trees down to the water’s edge, twin yellow suns turning overhead.

"At last you’ve got the idea," Chiang said, "but your control needs a little work ..."

Jonathan was stunned. "Where are we?"

Utterly unimpressed with the strange surroundings, the Elder brushed the question aside. "We’re on some planet, obviously, with a green sky and a double star for a sun."

Jonathan made a scree of delight, the first sound he had made since he had left Earth. "IT WORKS!"

"Well, of course it works, Jon," said Chiang. "It always works, when you know what you’re doing. Now about your control ..."

By the time they returned, it was dark. The other gulls looked at Jonathan with awe in their golden eyes, for they had seen him disappear from where he had been rooted for so long.

He stood their congratulations for less than a minute. "I’m the newcomer here! I’m just beginning! It is I who must learn from you!"

"I wonder about that, Jon," said Sullivan, standing near. "You have less fear of learning than any gull I’ve seen in ten thousand years." The Flock fell silent, and Jonathan fidgeted in embarrassment.

"We can start working with time if you wish," Chiang said, "till you can fly the past and the future. And then you will be ready to begin the most difficult, the most powerful, the most fun of all. You will be ready to begin to fly up and know the
meaning of kindness and of love."

The Precessional Alignment (part 2)

This is the second in a series of posts that will discuss the precessional alignment of December 21, 2012 in detail. The Founders cover this topic in chapter 7 of the book "Earth Changes and 2012: Messages From the Founders". The chapter continues as follows.

The interplay between free will and predestiny is not understood by most of your people. You need to understand that free will is a set of latitudes and principles that exist within a larger framework of predestiny, or the Divine Plan. Free will allows you to vary your experience of the universe. It lets you to determine the order in which you learn your soul lessons, the rate at which you assimilate them, and the emotional reactions you have to them. However, the lessons themselves are predetermined by your soul and causal body prior to incarnating on Earth.

Cosmic cycles are set according to the Creator's Will and the Will of your own God Selves. Your human egos have little or no influence over cosmic cycles. Your soul is already aware of cosmic cycles and the role they play in helping you develop your self-awareness.

There are several cosmic cycles that are of importance to you at this time. The most famous of these is the Precessional Cycle, or precession of the axis, which occurs approximately every 25,920 years. Many of your ancient calendars were based on the Precessional Cycle, including the calendar of the Maya.

At the end of each Precessional Cycle, the Earth and the solar system pass through what is called a region of scalar electromagnetic impulses, or an area of space in which the EM field polarities become weaker. This weakness in the EM fields sometimes (but not usually) causes the north and south poles of the Earth to reverse polarity.

Please note that reversal of EM polarity has nothing to do with Earth's rotation. The Earth will continue rotating at roughly the same rate of speed and direction (velocity) as it has for millions of years. The only thing that could significantly change the Earth's rotation quickly would be a collision with a large asteroid, planetoid or planet, and this is not likely to take place any time within the next million or so years. In fact, according to our estimates, it will likely be over one billion Earth years before such an event occurs.

However, there are three other cycles of which you should become aware. The first of these is the most significant of all, even more powerful than the Precessional Cycle. We are calling it the Galactic Shift, and it will be detailed in the next chapter. The other two are relatively minor in comparison and will be discussed here. These are the passage through your solar system of the comet Annanhutak, which occurs about every 10,500 years, and the orbit of the planetoid Nibiru through your solar system, which occurs approximately every 3,600 years. Neither the comet, nor the planetoid, are likely to ever impact Earth directly. The comet's tail brushes the Earth's atmosphere about once every eight or nine passes. Nibiru's gravitational field significantly impacts Earth about once in every 12 passes. In addition, beings from the etheric and celestial planes of Nibiru often interact with Earth during its close proximity every 3,600 years, as is evidenced in the records of your ancient civilizations.

Both of these events will figure prominently in the coming years. Annanhutak (the translation here is very tenuous - you might come to know this comet under a slightly different name) makes its next pass through the solar system in approximately 2017, while Nibiru (also called "Planet X" and "Wormwood") is scheduled to make a close appearance in the year 2030.

The Mahabharata (book 1.CI)

Haunted by guilt over Bhishma's sacrifice, Santanu had all but lost the will to live. Regardless, he knew he had to father sons to ensure successors for the throne, and this he did. First born was Chitrangada, followed a couple years later by Vichitravirya, and as soon as Chitrangada became an adult, Santanu passed away. Bhishma then installed Chitrangada as king of Hastinapura.

Chitrangada always felt he was in Bhishma's shadow, and this insecurity drove him to extremes. He did everything he could to try to prove he was Bhishma's equal. He trained relentlessly in order to master all of the weapons of war and challenged anyone willing to prove their prowess against him in battle. To Chitrangada's credit he was victorious against all kings and warriors that came to challenge him and his fame spread throughout the land.

The king of the gandharvas then approached him for a duel. Bhishma tried to warn Chitrangada that gandharvas, like apsaras are from the heavenly realms and have astral powers that exceed those of mere mortals, but Chitrangada didn't listen, and instead thought he finally had an opportunity to outdo Bhishma in battle.

Chitrangada and the gandharva king met on the battlefield of Kurukshetra and a fierce battle took place, but just as Bhishma feared Chitrangada was killed. Bhishma now had no choice but to install Vichitravirya on the throne who was very weak and frail due to his phthisis. Bhishma became eager to get him married so an heir would be produced quickly as it seemed that what little strength Vichitravirya had left was quickly fading.

The king of Kasi had announced a self-choice ceremony would be held for his three daughters and Bhishma thought they would be excellent wives for Vichitravirya, but the problem was how to get them. According to the rules of a self-choice ceremony, each daughter would choose a husband from among the attending kings, and the odds of any one of them picking the frail and weak Vichitravirya would be next to nothing. Bhishma reflected on this and decided that if there was a solution to be had it would be found in the ancient and sacred scriptures.

A few days later he had formed a plan, so he went to see Satyavati to discuss it. Satyavati's thinking was along the same lines and asked, "If we can't send Vichitravirya to it then what do you suggest?"

Bhishma opened the sacred text he was holding, "It says here that there are eight means by which a man may claim a woman as his wife: he may receive her as a gift, he may trade goods for her, buy her with money, he may kidnap her while she is conscious, kidnap her while she is drugged, he may ask her parents for consent, ask her to marry him directly, or finally accept her proposal for marriage."

Satyavati frowned, "No one practises most of the things you’ve mentioned anymore."

"But they are still all considered valid."

"What are you trying to suggest?"

"I want to go and kidnap all three daughters during the ceremony."

"You can’t be serious. I can't condone such a show of disrespect to the king of Kasi and his daughters."

"Think of our kingdom. You know yourself that it is highly unlikely that any princess would choose Vichitravirya for a husband. As Regent and Queen, it is our duty to ensure a successor to the throne. If you have a better idea, then please tell me."

Satyavati had none and therefore no choice but to agree to Bhishma's request. After he left, she still couldn’t help feeling that something bad was going to come of this . . . stealing of brides.

The three daughters of the king of Kasi were enjoying some tea and biscuits when king Salya entered the room. They were visiting him at his palace, the fifth palace they had visited so far in their tour of neighbouring kingdoms, for after the self-choice ceremony was announced many kings invited the daughters to visit them in hopes of winning their favour at the upcoming ceremony.

Salya was tall with broad shoulders and muscular arms. The princesses smiled secretly to each other as the previous kings were nowhere near as handsome by comparison. Salya bowed and spoke formally, "Would the princesses please do me the honour of accompanying me outside to view my pride and joy?"

The princesses all rose and replied, "It would be our pleasure."

Salya led them outside and then through the stables. The younger daughters began to wrinkle their noses at the smell and watch carefully where they were stepping, but the eldest daughter didn't seem to care. Past the stables, Salya stopped in front of a fence enclosing a large field where four majestic horses were galloping, but as soon as they saw Salya they came running to the fence to greet him. Salya petted and hugged each of them around their necks, while playfully speaking with them as if they were his children.

The large horses made the younger daughters very nervous so they kept their distance, but the eldest, Amba, came next to Salya and began petting and talking with the horses as well. When Salya turned and saw her, his heart swelled like never before.

Footnotes

1. Derived from: Adi Parva, Section CI, p. 218-219.

2. Derived from: Adi Parva, Section CII, p. 219-220.