Dalai Lama on Freedom

By Terry Reis Kennedy

When you are free, you understand freedom.  When you are not free, you might understand it more.  I have often experienced up-close situations where people are not free. 

His Holiness, the 14^th Dalai Lama explains, “Today, the values of democracy, open society, respect for human rights, and equality are becoming recognized all over the world as universal values. To my mind there is an intimate connection between democratic values and the fundamental values of human goodness. Where there is democracy there is a greater possibility for the citizens of the country to express their basic human qualities, and where these basic human qualities prevail, there is also a greater scope for strengthening democracy. Most importantly, democracy is also the most effective basis for ensuring world peace.”

I spent time in Warsaw, Poland during the Solidarity Movement when the country was occupied by Russian communists and a state of war—martial law—was enforced.  Curfews restricted movement, shops ran out of food and basics. Luxury items such as coffee were non-existent.  The people I interviewed supported the Solidarity workers who were trying to re-gain control of their country. They wanted freedom.  I did not know how difficult my situation would be, until I arrived.  But strangers eased my distress. 

According to His Holiness, “We also need to focus on cultivating good human relations, for, regardless of differences in nationality, religious faith, race, or whether people are rich or poor, educated or not, we are all human beings. When we are facing difficulties, we invariably meet someone, who may be a stranger, who immediately offers us help. We all depend on each other in difficult circumstances, and we do so unconditionally. We do not ask who people are before we offer them help. We help because they are human beings like us.”

When the Russian KGB (State Security Committee) detained me and took me in for questioning, I was terrified.  However, the interrogating officer ended up helping me.  He had a fern plant on his tiny window sill. It was struggling to stay alive in the cold and lack of light.  I commented on the plant and we struck up a conversation about keeping ferns healthy in the deep of winter.  He was impressed by my Polish which I had learned as a child from my Polish grandmother and soon I was released.  He urged me to take the first available flight out of Poland when air travel resumed.  And when he handed back my passport we smiled at each other with loving kindness and respect.

“Peace starts within each one of us,” The Embodiment of the compassion of Avilokiteswara assures us.  “When we have inner peace, we can be at peace with those around us. When our community is in a state of peace, it can share that peace with neighboring communities and so on. When we feel love and kindness toward others, it not only makes others feel loved and cared for, but it helps us also to develop inner happiness and peace.” 

Today Poland is a free country.

Sai Baba on Time and Place of Death

By Terry Reis Kennedy

When I first came to live in the presence of my Guru, Avatar Sri Sathya Sai Baba, one of the things I wanted to know was what happens after we die.  Every day I would hike up a steep hill inside the ashram to a little library and try to master this subject.  This was long before the present library existed, long before Internet.  Invariably in the afternoon heat I would fall asleep and wake up in time for Darshan. I didn’t learn a thing. Then in one discourse I heard Swami say that after death everyone’s experience was different, just as it was after birth.

Beloved Mother Sai said, “Man is stalked ceaselessly by death; it may pounce any moment on its prey.  He is not conscious of this companion; he has not learned how to meet him and rob him of the fruits of his exploit.  The Atma does not die; only the body dies.  When man knows this, death loses his sting, death is not feared; death is but a welcome voyage into the known harbor.”

It seemed to me that I had died many times in this lifetime alone.  Yet, there was always a resurrection. I came back from the so-called deaths and took up life again as if it were brand new.  Eventually, I accepted that whatever death I was destined to meet, I would meet it gracefully.  And Swami’s words were comforting, confirming my own outlook.

He said, “If you are asked, what happens to man after death, you can point to yourselves and declare: ‘This is what happens’; they are born again.”

For a while I had fancied just blowing up in a plane.  It would be fast, I reasoned, and fairly inexpensive, sparing those who would have to pay for after-death services.  But that was forgetting that God calculates differently.  Puttaparthi Krishna said, “No one is competent to determine where a certain thing should take place. Life may end in a town, in water, or in a forest. Each one’s life will end in the place, the manner and the time prescribed for him. This is inescapable. This is according to the operation of Nature’s law based on the pairs of opposites in life—what ever has to happen, how, and what time and in what manner, has been predetermined and the mere fact that I am near by will not serve to alter them.”

Oh, I didn’t like hearing that.  So, I took comfort in other words he spoke, “The Lord, however, is a witness to all happenings.  In some instances He gives prior indications and warnings.  When these are heeded, the person concerned gets sanctified.  When one disregards them, he forfeits his sanctity.”

Over the years I learned to heed Sri Sathya Sai’s inner guidance.  I have been forewarned about many events simply by going within and communing with him—my Highest Self.  Hopefully, at the time of leaving my body, I will do exactly that.  

Tenzin calls from Varkala

By Terry Reis Kennedy

Tenzin calls from Varkala in Kerala and tells me about his Seer who lives on the beachhead does predictions by reading the ashes he scatters on the sands from his hand stove.

Tenzin urges me to find out about my love life, says the women in ancient India used to read their husbands' faces looking through sieves. Aha, so this is where I get my obsession with sieves, past-life karma with straining tea leaves, poppy seeds and husbands.

I say I will go to the Super Bazaar later and buy more sieves for my kitchen window, to hang beside the knives. No need for hand stoves and Seers.

Early Morning

(Terry’s New Signboard) 

Early morning,

heliotrope sky

above the ashram.

From the inner sanctum

the harmonium breathes

as worshippers stir

You awake.

Temple bells ring.

Bird songs flood my heart.

So many creatures

praising You.

What of defeat, what of death?

I am ecstatic.