The Ishaya Foundation Newsletter - July 2010


The Source and the Goal


We are used to experiencing three states of consciousness in our daily lives: waking, dreaming and sleeping. Most people live their lives moving from one of the three states to another, but rarely experience anything beyond it. That is why in some cultures the Ascendant is called the missing state of consciousness or the Fourth – Turiya.

Considerable time and effort is put into improving life and our bodies and the world we live in. Yet the attempt to change things at this surface level takes a lot of effort and the results are at times less than pleasing. Often the attempts end up creating even more problems to be solved.

The power of Ascension comes from the simple fact that with the help of the Ascension Attitudes our consciousness is directed back to the Source of all thought, of all emotion and of all energy. We move beyond the three relative states of consciousness every time we use Ascension Attitudes, eyes open or eyes closed, and touch the Foundation of creation Itself. Therefore the Source is the Goal just as the Goal is the Source.

If you wish to experience this beyond just a concept, then take time for twenty minutes of closed eyed Ascending during your active day. Experience how rejuvenating that short time can be as your body literally taps into the Source of infinite energy and relaxes. Your mind settles down and it uses far less energy at those deeper levels of thinking. So we are not only drawing from a bottomless well of Good, but we are also no longer wasting time and energy on fruitless thinking of the past and the future. The short twenty minutes can bring a profound shift in what you can accomplish in your day.

This subtle inner shift in our focus is immensely powerful because touching the Ascendant is touching the essence of everything. It affects every part of our lives and expands every other state of consciousness. Like a wise gardener, we are now tending the very root of our existence with Ascension. The Fourth, x the Ascendant, is the underlying reality of everything that we experience. We are returning to the true relationship with the Source and the Goal of all things in Praise, Gratitude and Love. And by this simple choice the Ascendant becomes more and more familiar to us because we are no longer ignoring It.

Nataraja Ishaya


The Fourth
The fourth, say the wise, is the pure Self alone.
Dwelling in the heart of all,
it is the lord of all,
the seer of all,
the source and goal of all.
It is not outer awareness,
It is not inner awareness,
Nor is it a suspension of awareness.
It is not knowing,
It is not unknowing,
Nor is it knowingness itself.
It can neither be seen nor understood,
It cannot be given boundaries.
It is ineffable and beyond thought.
It is indefinable.
It is known only through becoming it.
It is the end of all activity,
silent and unchanging,
the supreme good,
one without a second.
It is the real Self.
It, above all, should be known.

Mandukya Upanishad Chapter 1.
(Translated by Shearer and Russel, publ. Harper & Row, New York 1978)


Moving deeper inside
In the process of the Ascension techniques, a specific and highly individualized thought is created by the teacher working with the student as a “vehicle” to “ride” inward to the Source of all thought, the Ascendant.

When an individual Ascends, it becomes unnecessary to try to undo the previous beliefs and judgments; the power of this wholly
beneficial inward process is sufficient to remove all previous false perceptions and understandings and replace them with the direct experience of the transcendental beauty and perfection of the Ascendant within. When the inner Reality is thus acknowledged, the outer realities automatically change.

In other words, it is not necessary to try to restructure our habits, our beliefs, or any aspect of our minds. It is not necessary ever to berate ourselves for our supposed shortcomings and failures. Once begun, the process of internal transformation and re-organization is completely automatic. A leaf does not have to be taught how to fall to the ground. Once it is removed from its habitual lodging, it falls. The invincible force of Natural Law, gravity, pulls it effortlessly to the ground. The Earth is much larger than the leaf. There is no necessity for the leaf to try to fall. Indeed, it would take effort for the leaf not to fall! Similarly with the mind. The invincible attractive force of the Ascendant is pulling constantly on our minds. It is requiring excessive use of force to keep from falling inward, into the Ascendant. This is why minds tire so easily; this is why bodies require so much sleep every night. Without a suitable vehicle, how hard it is to move! But if the car is running and full of gas, how simple it is to exert a tiny force on the pedal – and away we go! Without a suitable vehicle, how hard it is to move


Free Introductory Lecture

July 14 at 6pm
Spirit Feathers
Portland, OR

 First Sphere Weekend

July 2-4
Seattle, WA

July 9-11
Corning, NY
Glen Ellyn, IL

July 16-18
Portland, OR
Vancouver, BC
Traverse City, MI
Helsinki, Finland

July 30–Aug 1
Seattle, Wa
Basel, Switzerland

 Advanced Meeting

July 3
Seattle, WA at 7pm

July 17
Traverse City, MI at 7pm
Portland, OR at 7pm
Helsinki, Finland at 7pm

July 31
Seattle, WA at 7pm

 Retreats

Heinävesi, Finland
July 21-28

 Questions about a course?
contact@theishayafoundation.org
1-888-474-2921

For full course schedule
click here.
into the mind! But with a proper Ascension Technique, how simple it is to choose to Ascend -- and away we go!

Watch yourself closely. What is your response when you think of moving deeper inside? Is it eager anticipation, coupled with an intense desire to learn what is really there? Or is it fear, unreasoning blind terror of the dragons lurking within? Both are common responses to this suggestion. The first is a clear experience of what naturally occurs when we let go, Ascend and grow more fully into life. The second is a clear experience of what naturally occurs when we try to stop ourselves from growing more fully into life.

MSI, Ascension!


Question & Answer
"You have to be able to accept and not resist what you ultimately created but on another level these creations have come from the distorted illusions and perceptions of identifying with false beliefs.



Everything about Ascension is simple and direct. If you find yourself adding something to your Ascending or feeling that it is difficult to do, this is a clear sign that there is an opportunity to return back to the basics of the practice. If you are not sure how to do that or where you might be getting in your own way, you can always ask for help from teachers with your practice. When we are completely simple and natural Ascension will work for us.
So I guess the idea is to not judge or resist what you created but then make another choice - I think that is where I am at - the last legs of judgment but moving into how to make another choice.

"Is that what you mean by uniting with your creation or am I on the wrong track here?"

In uniting with your creation there must be the ability to be aware of the Ascendant inside and out. It has nothing to do with finding relative complacency with what you perceive in the waking state because there is always so much more to see in expanded states of conscious awareness. Often we create what we need to drive us inward and to search for answers to our questions, but at the same time the questions
we arrive at aren't deep enough to expose the underlying beliefs in ourselves or our creations.

To simply try and accept that the suffering we experience is being created by us is hardly enough to expose our sense of Self, and the idea of uniting with this idea is hardly fulfilling or meaningful at any level of conscious awareness.

From the waking state mind we often try to fill ourselves with intellectual meanings that satisfy the mind, but the heart is always leading us beyond these ideas and soon enough the intellectual idea of union fades away leaving fertile ground for the Holy Spirit to connect us to what is real.

You must be able to experience the stability of the Ascendant in your self and in your creation before you begin to understand what you are creating and what Union is.

EVERY relationship is leading you to Union of the Ascendant and the manifest, to expose the creator in you and the freedom you have to make a choice. Perception is different from the awareness of choice and non-choice, from the awareness of free will and the belief in destiny without the ability to change how you perceive reality.

God does not create with harmful intentions but with love, and it is you that can tap into that love and the ability to influence how you experience your growth and expansion.

If you do not find that ability you forfeit your freedom and choice through the belief in separation and create more suffering in those beliefs. Until you have had enough of that way of thinking and make the change to seek greater understanding of yourself, your point of reference will be that of a victim to circumstance, with maybe the hope that something will save you that is more powerful than your Self.

Mahadeva Ishaya

------

We welcome any questions that you readers may have concerning the practice of Ascension so that they can be addressed here as part of the newsletter. You can email your questions to contact@theishayafoundation.org with the title “Question & Answer”. If you wish to participate in an online dialog about Ascension, we invite you to join teachers on the Ishaya Foundation Bulletin Board. Of course you can call or email us at any time for a more immediate personal response.


Gospel of Thomas
18. The followers said to Jesus, “Tell us how our end will be.” He said, “Have you discovered the beginning, then so that you are seeking the end? For where the beginning is, the end will be. Fortunate is the one who stands at the beginning: That one will know the end and will not taste death.”


Source and Goal – The Ascendant
Many techniques lead to higher consciousness because they touch ever so briefly on the Ascendant. However, the goal of these techniques is the external outcome – the healing, the loving feeling, the revelation; in other words, the experience. Because that is the intent, or goal, reaching higher consciousness takes much longer.

In Ascension, we begin the Teaching with talking about innocence. As we teach Ascension, we remind the student that we do not look for or try to have certain experiences. We just allow whatever happens to happen. This allows us to begin to move deeper into the Source – the Ascendant. Yes, there will be by-products in the manifest world when we Ascend. However, our goal is to move ever more deeply into the Source, become more familiar with That, and begin to live life from the Center of the Universe.

Ascension works quickly and effortlessly because it is completely natural and follows natural laws. Nature provides an excellent example of how Ascension works. In the Midwest almost no original prairie lands remain. Where there is now just clay, rocks and relatively lifeless lands, people are beginning to replant prairie grasses. The first year, very little growth is seen above the surface. Underneath however, begins to grow an entire root structure with large tap roots. This completely changes the nature of the ground underneath, softens it, and makes nutrients more available. The second year, with this foundation in place, the prairie may grow up to 18 feet high, new wild life is attracted and everything begins to be enlivened around it.

This is an excellent example of how Ascension works – developing tap roots into the Ascendant. Ascension actually restructures the mind to tap into higher consciousness. The more we practice, the more we can tap into that Infinite Source that brings All Good to our lives, which is our goal. From That, the by-products are endless because they are all coming from the Source – the Ascendant.

Jyoti Ishaya


The fourth state of consciousness:
the Thuriya Avastha.
Present day neurophysiology stops with attributing thinking processes as the highest level of function of the brain. It has been common knowledge to oriental thinkers for many centuries, that there are many further states of the human mind, culminating in the state of thoughtless awareness; the fourth state of consciousness. This state must have a physiological basis. The complicated structure of the brain, the extravagant abundance of neural and glial elements in the brain, the infinite possibilities of synaptic junctions and synaptic transmission, and the multitude of neurotransmitters and neuromodulators; all these point to the definite possibility of a much greater level of performance and achievement for the human brain than has been apparent so far. Not only the theories but also the experience of Eastern seers has shown that the brain can transcend the boundaries of logic and reason, and experience states of awareness, commonly unrecognized. In the past few decades, knowledge about the functioning of the human brain has been growing exponentially and scientists of diverse disciplines are concentrating on unraveling its mysteries.

Ramamurthi B


Divine Intelligence and Source
This world is full of beautiful creations: Animals, plants, water, earth, sky, humanity. There is a wonderful diversity in place here on earth that expands each day in creative joy that we call appreciation or praise. In this, there is a wonderful innate intelligence. A Divine Intelligence. It is connected to everything, in everything, throughout everything. We can see this Divine Intelligence in the smallest of creatures. Have you ever watched a small bug crawling on the concrete? You can put our finger in front of it and it moves, usually very fast, out of our way. Its intelligence is working to keep it safe and alive.

Humanity lives on a level of intelligence that is much more expanded. We have the ability to make any choice and from our choices we live our lives. Our intelligence as humans is based on an intellect that can expand and grow rapidly.

We are blessed with an ability to perceive, experience and change. This leads naturally to an exploration of the outer world, but when we begin to want to know the eternal nature of our Self, then we begin to seek answers about our inner world, to ask about the nature of Reality. Our intellect is there so that it can inquire into the nature of Absolute Reality. We are here to know and live from this Reality. Our intellect can blossom and produce great wisdom when attuned directly with this Reality or Source. So what is this Source? Let’s look at what MSI said in Ascension!…

“This underlying truth of creation can be named anything. Some call it Love. Some call it Life. Some call it the Good. Some call it Nature. Some call it Universal Mind. Some call it the Mother. Some call it Spirit. Some call it Truth. Some call it the Force. Some call it Beauty. Some call it the Higher Self. Some call it God. Some call it the Source. We call it the Ascendant. The name is supremely unimportant. What is important is to stop blocking our perception of this level of Reality.

“We do not have to “open a channel” to the Source, to the Universal Mind, to the Ascendant; we are already connected. We always have been, we always will be. What is necessary is that we begin to remove our self-destructive beliefs and behavior patterns that are blocking this experience from our conscious awareness. Once the blocks are removed, melted, transformed, then we can make use of our birthright—our connection to Infinite mind.

“Reality spelled with a capital “R” is not the reality of life mixed with suffering, the common experience of most in the world today. The capital “R” kind of Reality means that life is lived in joy, with each moment experienced fully: each opportunity is mined for its rich opportunities for progress, creativity, and love. An upward spiral of consciousness is created by Ascending: a new structure of awareness is built upon the firm basis of the direct experience of Reality.”

If you are reading this Newsletter, your innate Divine Intelligence has likely been doing its job. You want to know more about the Source, the Ascendant, and to live from the goal of a Reality which is joy. This isn’t hard. If you have these easy tools called Ascension Attitudes, then each time you use them you are removing the blocks that have inhibited your awareness to the Infinite.

Mayasakti



Our Websites
The Ishaya Foundation
http://www.theishayafoundation.org

Hong Kong website
http://www.theishayafoundation.asia

European website
http://www.theishayafoundation.eu


-------------------------------------------------
This is the 55th edition of the Ishaya Foundation newsletter.
If you wish to unsubscribe please email mailinglist@theishayafoundation.org.
To contact us, please email contact@theishayafoundation.org or
phone 1-888-474-2921.