The meaning of Avatar

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Dear Pamella Ellis,The article below is for you and has been extracted from www.adishakti.org. Please read it and let me know what you think about it before i reply your latest post.When i read it a few years ago it helped me understand in depth Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi's claim to be the Adiparashakti. However some fanatics in SY take offense to anything non-Sahaj. But as far as i am concerned Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi is the Adiparashakti and any knowledge that helps me comprehend that is much appreciated. Unlike these fanatics i still seek the Truth like you from all sources, and whether i learn from an enlightened guru or a pariah dog let it be. Shri Mataji keeps repeating that one should be one's own master, and that is what i strive for daily. The article "The Meaning of Avatar" by the Om Shakti Spiritual Movement helped me transcend some obstacles on my path to be my own master. Let me know

if it offends you.with love,jagbir----------

The Meaning Of Avatar

'The following article is from "The Avatar Par Excellence" published by the Om Sakthi Spiritual Movement.'

"The Meaning of Avatar:The term 'AVATAR' means one who was descended, but descended from where and to what? It means descended from Godliness to human form. Avatar means those who descended to Earth from the Spiritual world for the establishment of Dharma, preservation of the human race and promulgation of Sastra. Avatar means the person who descends, as a fully or partially empowered incarnation of Divine Mother Adhiparasakthi, from the spiritual realm for a particular mission. An Avatar is also called a Savior, that is a person who saves or rescues mankind from the danger of deterioration. When a savior appears on this Earth all are saved through his grace.

Whenever virtue subsides and wickedness prevails; whenever there is unrighteousness or Adharma and whenever there is catastrophe and unrest in the world; the Divine Mother manifests Herself. That is, Adhiparasakthi comes down to this earth, or physical plane, to establish virtue and Dharma and to destroy the evil and save the good. When She comes down to the physical plane She takes human form and is called an Avatar or Incarnation.

 

 

 

 

 

“So I said at Sahasrara I had to be Mahamaya. I had to be Mahamaya. I had to be something that people cannot recognize Me easily. But Deities? No. This Mahamaya had to come on this Earth, not the Adi Shakti in Her purest form. It's too much. So She was covered with this.”

 

 

 

Sri Nirahamkara Sri Nirmala DeviFregene, Italy — May 8, 1988

(Nirahamkara [161st]: Egoless)

An Avatar is also called a Messenger of Divine Mother because an Avatar transmits pure unselfish Divine Love from the Divine Mother to man and gives a taste of the unadulterated nectar of heavenly bliss to the arid souls scorched by the fire of worldliness. The all-pervading Mother Adhiparasakthi who is Truth, Consciousness and Bliss, by Her special grace manifests Herself as a common being during the Avatar period. During this period the Divine mother assumes a human form and manifests Herself to set an example of Divine Life before us in this world. It is Her peculiarity that she, in spite of being boundless, becomes very small.

The Avatar or Incarnation of Adhiparasakthi descends from the Spiritual world for material manifestation. The particular form of personality of Divine Mother who descends is called an Incarnation or Avatar. Such incarnations are situated in the Spiritual World. When they descend to the material creation they assume a common name Avatar.

 

 

 

 

 

Venus of Willendorfc.24,000-22,000 BCEOolitic limestone43/8 inches (11.1 cm) high(Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna)For the long ages of the Paleolithic era, the Goddess reigned alone. She was the Origin, the Virgin Void out of which She was Self-created. She was present in all forms of life.

The Avatar assumes various names and forms such as Rama, Krishna, Christ, etc at various places in various times, but all are the same Adhiparasakthi. All the Avatars that have come to this world are one and the same Adhiparasakthi. The Supreme personality of Godhead, Adhiparasakthi takes various incarnations and many sub-incarnations as well, but she is the original personality of Godhead known as Adhiparasakthi and She incarnates personally also.

Adhiparasakthi, although one without a second, manifests Herself in innumerable forms. All these multifarious forms are understood by the pure unalloyed devotees, but not by a simple study of the Vedas. Devotees are constant companions of Divine Mother and whenever Divine Mother incarnates, the associate devotees also incarnate in order to serve the Divine Mother in different capacities. The Divine Mother works through them and propagates the religion. The associate devotees spend their lifetimes assisting the Avatar and work for the welfare of the Jivas. However, there is a difference between the Divine Mother and the Devotees. Therefore, a living entity, however great he may be in the material estimation, can never equal the Supreme Mother. Anyone who is a constant companion of the Divine Mother is certainly a liberated person but he cannot be equal to the Divine

Mother.

 

 

 

 

 

“They say that at Sahasrara when the Goddess will appear, She will be Mahamaya. Is it possible to be anything else in the world of today to come on this Earth? Any type of Incarnation could have been in great trouble because human beings in their ego are highest in Kali Yuga. So they are quite stupid and they are capable of doing any kind of harm or violence to a Divine personality. It is not at all possible to exist in this world as anything else than Mahamaya . . .It has no power or any intention of giving you wrong ideas or something that is false. It is there whatever, it is Truth. So in a way to say that Mahamaya is the

one which deludes is wrong . . .I need not be before you; I can be just here in Nirakar, in formless, but how to communicate? how to have a rapport? For that, one has to come in the form of Mahamaya so that there is no fear, there is no distance. One can come close and understand, because if this Knowledge has to be given, if Realization has to be given, people have to at least sit before the Mahamaya.”

 

 

 

Shri Turya Shri Nirmala DeviCabella, Italy — May 8, 1994

(Turya [262nd]: The Fourth. This state is beyond the three states mentioned above (259. Taijasatmika; 260. Supta; and 261. Prajnatmika). This has to be gone into by conscious efforts only, from wakeful state. Here the mind has no ideation, neither sees, nor hears nor knows anything and is called Bhuma.)

The Divine Mother is infallible, in that she never forgets Herself even though she is in material contact. Therefore, the Divine Mother and the living entity can never be equal in all respects, even if the living entity is a liberated soul. As such, when the Avatar comes, with him are born liberated persons as helpers in his world-play. However, only Avatars have the power to displace the darkness of a million souls and give them salvation in one lifetime. This is known as grace.

A devotee of the Divine Mother sometimes forgets the nature of the Divine Mother, but by divine grace, a devotee can at once understand the infallible condition of the Divine Mother. However, a non-devotee cannot understand this transcendental nature.

It may also be noted here that a living entity forgets everything due to his change of body, but the Divine Mother remembers because she does not change Her Sat-Chit-Ananda body. She is advaita, which means that there is no distinction between Her body and Herself. Everything in relation to Her is spirit, whereas the conditioned soul is different from his material body. Because the Divine Mother's body and self are identical, Her position is always different from that of the ordinary living entity, even when She descends to the material world.

How to know an Avatar:

Truth and love absolute are the essence of the divine. In an Avatar, we find the expression and exposition of the Love of God. Know for certain that God is incarnate in a man in whom the Love of God is surging, overflowing and all absorbing (this maddening sentiment of life). Such teachers of spiritual truth are always the fairest flowers of human life and they are the ocean of mercy without any motive.

One can attain realization of God through worship of the Avatar. Divine Mother reveals Herself to Her devotees in a variety of ways. She assumes the very form that the devotee has chosen for his worship. If you worship Her as Adhiparasakthi, she will come to you as Adhiparasakthi. If you worship Her as Christ, she will come to you as Christ. If you worship Her as Allah, she will come to you as Allah. If you worship Her as Krishna or Buddha, she will come to you as Krishna or Buddha.

 

 

 

 

 

“Great Mother Goddess,in ancient Middle Eastern religions, mother goddess, the great symbol of the earth's fertility. She was worshipped under many names and attributes. Similar figures have been known in every part of the world. Essentially she was represented as the creative force in all nature, the mother of all things, responsible particularly for the periodic renewal of life. The later forms of her cult involved the worship of a male deity, variously considered her son, lover, or both (e.g., Adonis, Attis, and Osiris), whose death and resurrection symbolized the regenerative powers of the

earth. Although the Great Mother was the dominant figure in ancient Middle Eastern religions, she was also worshiped in Greece, Rome, and W Asia. In Phrygia and Lydia she was known as Cybele; among the Babylonians and Assyrians she was identified as Ishtar; in Syria and Palestine she appeared as Astarte; among the Egyptians she was called Isis; in Greece she was variously worshiped as Gaea, Hera, Rhea, Aphrodite, and Demeter; and in Rome she was identified as Maia, Ops, Tellus, and Ceres. Even this listing, however, is by no means complete. Many attributes of the Virgin Mary make her the Christian equivalent of the Great Mother, particularly in her great beneficence, in her double image as mother and virgin, and in her son, who is God and who dies and is resurrected."

 

 

 

www.encyclopedia.com/

All are aspects of one Adhiparasakthi. Under whatever name and form, it is Adhiparasakthi who is adored. Worship goes to She who dwells within. It is ignorance to think that one form is superior to another. All forms are one and the same. All are adoring the same Divine Mother. The differences are only due to differences of name and due to the differences in the worshiper, but not in the object of adoration. The real Adhiparasakthi or Allah or Jesus or Krishna is in your own heart. She lives there forever. She is your Indweller. She is your partner always. There is no friend like the Indweller (Antharayamin). Resort to Her. Take Refuge in Her. Realize Her and be free.

Some people want to have contact with Avatars without being endowed with proper qualifications. Even if an Avatar appears before you, you will not be able to find him out. You don't have the eyes to see him as such. You will take him for an ordinary man only. . . .

If you are endowed with the four means of salvation; if you have Vairagya; if you possess forgiveness and patience; if you have devotion, you can contact and realize the Avatars and sages right this second. If you can serve humanity; if you can obey; if you can be generous; if you can have endless devotion to the Divine Mother, then you will have self-realization this very second and you will contact Avatars, Adepts and Incarnations this very second. First deserve and then desire.

Aim of Manifestation:

Adhiparasakthi, The Supreme Brahman, manifests Herself in order to protect the good because they destroy unrighteousness and propagate righteousness. The good are those who are naturally inclined towards the good of others, who remember and chant the name, form, qualities and glories of Adhiparasakthi, the Divine Mother and propagate them among people while depending on Her. He whose only aim is realization of God is good while those who hanker after worldly pleasures and property are not good.Those who because of so many desires remain absorbed in vices such as falsehood, fraud, deception, dishonesty, etc; who exploit the virtuous; who remain engaged in doing evil to others; who don't know what ought to be done and what ought not to be done; who always condemn God and the Scriptures; such persons of demonic nature have been called wicked. The wicked propagate unrighteousness and destroy

righteousness so the Divine Mother Adhiparasakthi manifests Herself for the destruction of such wicked people.

The Avatar comes to this world with a particular mission which is the main objective of the Avatar called Avatara Nokkam. The Avatar preaches many things and waits for the time to fulfill the main objective. In the meantime other things required for the fulfillment of the main objective are completed. Such things as the training of various cadre of people to perform and complete the main objectives are done step by step without overruling the Theory of Karma as far as possible. During this period some of the minor objectives are also carried out and completed. As soon as the main objective is completed the Avatar goes back to the kingdom of God that is Sukshma world, in the predetermined way.

Cause and Occasion of Her Manifestation:.

 

 

 

 

 

The figure must have represented some mythic personage so well-known to the period that the reference of the elevated horn would have been as readily understood as, say, in India, a lotus in the hand of the goddess Shri Lakshmi, or in the West, a child at the breast of the Virgin. (Joseph Campbell, The Way of the Animal Powers.)

 

Whenever and wherever there is decline in religious practice and a predominant rise of irreligion, Adhiparasakthi descends Herself. When there is decline of righteousness and a rise of unrighteousness, She manifests Herself for the destruction of the wicked and the establishment of true righteousness. Thus, if necessary, She manifests Herself in different forms at this time. However, she manifests herself only as and when there is need for Her manifestation.

There is a decline of righteousness from the Satya Yuga, or Golden Age, to Treta Age, Dvapara Age and Kali Age respectively. In the Satya Age, Dharma, or righteousness, flourishes. In Treta Age the decline begins and becomes rapid in Dvapara Age. In Kali Age, the most evil of the ages, unrighteousness or Adharma prevails. In this age the Godhead, the Divine Mother, manifests Herself for the establishment of righteousness.

There is descent of Divine Mother for the ascent of Man. As an Avatar, She puts on a fleshly body out of Her own free will for the upliftment of mankind. She is quite independent and has absolute control over Maya. Meanwhile, Jiva, men, are slaves of Avidya, or Maya, so long as they have no self-realization. She is completely free to act in many ways at Her will and has no obligation to adhere to such rules and regulations. Therefore, She appears by Her own will whenever there is irreligiousity and a disappearance of true religion. It is a recognized fact that from time to time messengers and incarnations of the Almighty Adhiparasakthi are born on earth to shed the light of righteousness and dispel the darkness of evil and injustice.

 

 

 

 

 

“The harrassment of hard times upon an increasingly witless populace hastens its moral and spiritual decline. People begin to slaughter animals for food; they become more and more enslaved by drugs; they lose all sexual restraint. These habits further their physical and mental deterioration. Vyasa watches them sink deeper annd deeper into sensuality and ignorance. Families break up, and women and children are abandoned. Increasingly degraded generations, conceived accidentally in lust and growing up wild, swarm over the earth. Leadership falls into the hands unprincipled criminals who use their power to loot the

people. The world teems with ideologues, mystagogues, fanatics, and spiritual bunko atrists who win huge followings among a people dazed by social and moral anarchy. Unspeakable depravities and atrocities flourish under a rhetoric of high ideals.It is interesting, by the way, that the Vedic date assigned to the advent of Kali-yuga (c. 3000 BC) corresponds closely to the date set by modern historians for the rise of civilized life, an event signaled by the appearance of literacy and the emergence of complex urban societies.All that historians recognize as recorded human history is, in fact, only human history in Kali-yuga. The academic historians' ignorance of the earlier and incalculably higher Vedic civilization is what we have to expect from people suffering from the mental retardation imposed by the times. We see symptoms of this intellectual degradation of modern thinkers in their avowal that sense perception is the only source of knowledge and in their

obliviousness to the dependence of knowledge upon goodness. Inverted values warp their ideas, such as the conviction that human progress resides in the proliferation of complex urban societies and increasingly sophisticated technology.They are unaware that simple living is the best basis for high thinking, and that a truly advanced civilization minimizes exploitation of nature and social complexity. They do not know that the real standard of progress is the caliber of the people it produces. If we pursue material advancement at the expense of self-realization, measuring our standard of living only by the gratification of our senses, then we will only get a spiritually and morally debilitated people in control of an intricate and powerful technology--a terrifying combination that leads to horrors on a scale we are just beginning to experience.”

 

 

 

www.avatara.org

Dharma is the base on which the edifice of life is built and the Divine Mother takes it as Her special mission to see that it does not decay. Whenever Dharma is assailed, She incarnates to set an example to the world and remove the hurdles in the path of Dharma or righteousness. Whenever there is a setback in Dharma it becomes the primary concern of the Divine Mother to re-infuse and revitalize the vigor into Dharma.

In assuming birth, Divine Mother does not abrogate Her intrinsic nature of being the birth less and deathless Mother of all existence. Her fundamental infinitude of perfections undergoes no diminution the process of incarnation. The form She assumes, the body in which She incarnates, is a particular configuration of Her own radiant and transcendental form, untouched by Rajas Tamas. It is material in so far as it transcends to the taints of terrestrial matter. In time of crisis, for the moral regeneration of the world, the grounds for Divine incarnation are not the necessity of Karma but free resolve transcending it.

The re-establishment of Dharma is accomplished in two ways. Firstly, the righteous ones on earth who are languishing for want of direct communion with Divine Mother, the object of their loving adoration, are granted the vision they long for, by Divine Mother in Her incarnate form. They are thus rescued from their spiritual affliction and sustained by the life-giving grace of Divine Communion. Secondly, those who are evil and antagonistic to the call of the Divine, are released through apparent destruction to get a new embodiment favorable to their turning Divine. The essence of righteousness is love of God, which is fostered by the self-revelation of God through the Avatar.

What is Unrighteousness?

When the righteous, innocent, weak, pious and spiritual people are exploited by the unrighteous, cruel, strong, wicked and mundane people and when moral values are lost and morality prevails: that state is the state of decline of righteousness and the rise of unrighteousness. When there is a decline of righteousness and a rise of unrighteousness, by God's order, saints come to the earth and true strivers are revealed. They both work to reestablish righteousness. Sometimes liberated souls, who have realized God, come to earth as representatives of God to help the people attain salvation. Where there are such strivers and saints, there is neither so much decline of righteousness, nor so much rise of unrighteousness, as in other places where there are neither strivers nor saints. When people don't follow the teachings of strivers and saints, but start to kill them, leaving only a few

righteous persons to propagate righteousness, there is a decline in righteousness and Adhiparasakthi, the Brahman, manifests Herself.

What is Irreligious?

The principles of religion are laid down in the Vedas and any discrepancy in the matter of properly executing the rules of the Vedas makes one irreligious.

Establishment of Dharma or Righteousness:

 

 

 

 

 

A prehistoric cave painting from Central India depicting the Mother as Goddess.

Because unrighteousness propagates due to the performance of actions with a selfish motive and attachment to the unreal, the establishment of righteousness consists of preaching and propagating the selfless performance of actions. The Divine Mother Adhiparasakthi manifests Herself in order to propagate the performance of selfless actions through Her deeds. When this sort of feeling is propagated, righteousness is naturally established.

The Divine Mother is the abode of Dharma, or righteousness, so She manifests Herself in order to establish righteousness well. In fact, righteousness never perishes. It only declines. Whenever there is a decline the Divine Mother reestablishes it.

To establish true Dharma and peace, She comes down as the World teacher. She shows Maya bound Jivas the true path of Mukti, or liberation, by coming down in a human body. Although She is on Earth in human form, She is not bound by Maya. She thus embodies Herself in different bodies at different times but the incarnations are not different. She is one. She only appears in different forms out of necessity. She teaches man by appearing in a form that is suitable for that particular time of Avathara.

She has appeared in India many times and has taught us many things. That is why India was and is the fountain of knowledge. In the past, whenever it was necessary, she has lifted India, upholding her by Her hands of Dharma. It is for this reason that even today in this downtrodden, oppressed and famine stricken India so many heroic souls, righteous and enterprising, are taking birth and guiding us. That is why our country has, even now, the true ideals of Gnana and Bakthi compared to those in other countries.

The Power and Capacity of an Avatar:

 

 

 

 

 

Mother-goddessc.2500 BC, Harappa, terracotta.

An Avatar as epoch maker functions as a perennial source of power and beneficence for a whole epoch. An Avatar can transmit spirituality with a touch or even a mere wish. By his look, wish, or touch, people are saved. The lowest and most degraded characters become saints at the command of the Avatar. When an incarnation comes, a tidal wave of spirituality breaks upon the world, and people feel spirituality almost full in the air.

His message, Gospel or Arulvakku, and power transcends age and time. People look upon him as an eternal source of faith, hope, love, strength and inspiration. The milk of Divine love streams and flows to us from the Avatar. The Avatar is the meeting ground of personal and impersonal, of Divine and human. He is at once individual and universal. The Avatar is the teacher of all teachers, the highest manifestation of Divine Mother through a human form.

An Avatar is a mighty person. He removes the veil of ignorance of thousands of men and women and takes them to the land of eternal rest and bliss. The Avatar is one with the Supreme. An Avatar is not like an ordinary individual soul. The Avatar is the rays of Divine Mother Adhiparasakthi. When the work of the Avatar is over, he disappears from the world.

Adhiparasakthi has two manifestations. In one, She reflects through the universe and is called Nature. The second manifestation is through the great Incarnations of Adhiparasakthi that are the various Avatars such as Rama, Krishna, Buddha, Christ, Mohammad, Chaitanya, Guru Nanak, Kabir, etc. These two manifestations of Adhiparasakthi are: Karana Brahman

Karya Brahman

 

 

 

 

 

Like The Buddha as Conqueror of Mara, this Buddhist altarpiece is an object for contemplation and devotion and was meant to gain merit for its donor. In Indian religious traditions, the divine is both masculine and feminine. Some Buddhists placed emphasis on understanding how wisdom (personified as female) when combined with compassion (personified as male) leads to enlightenment. Thus understanding the nature of wisdom is an important component of Buddhism. This altarpiece, once housed in a Buddhist monastery, honors the

female aspect of the divine and was an offering to a female deity.

Karana means cause. Karya means effect. Karya Brahman, also known as Hiranyagarbha, is the creative aspect of Adhiparasakthi. Avatars descend from Karya Brahman. There cannot be any descent of Avatar directly from Karana Brahman. Brahma, Vishnu and Siva, the three Murtis, belong to the Karya Brahman aspects of Adhiparasakthi. Brahma is the creative aspect; Vishnu is the preservative aspect; and Siva is the destructive aspect. There is no polytheism in the Hindu religion because polytheism means worship of more than one God and this is not the case.

As per the doctrines of our ancient Rishis of yore, there are sixteen rays or sixteen digits or sixteen planes of manifestation or sixteen expanding Kalas emanating from Adhiparasakthi, the Supreme Brahman. One ray is needed to maintain the animal kingdom. Two rays maintain the animal kingdom and five to eight rays are required for human beings. One can rise from savage to a higher spiritual status only according to the number of rays. For Avatars, nine to sixteen rays emanate from the Supreme Mother. Avatars are classified according to the number of rays. The different kinds of Avatars are as follows:

Purna Avatar

Amsa Avatar

Lila Avatar

Purna Avatar means full Avatar, in whom all sixteen rays are present. Lord Krishna was a Purna Avatar. There are also Amsa Avatars with partial incarnations. Sri Sankaracharya was an Amsa Avatar. Lord Rama was a Lila Avatar with fourteen rays. Ancient Rishis, modern philosophers, and theosophists mention seven rays, twelve rays and so on when they describe the stage of spiritual development of their Gurus, Spiritual Masters and Adepts.

 

 

 

 

 

Figurine of a Seated GoddessÇatalhöyük. Neolithic, first half of 6th mill. B.C. Baked clay. Ankara, Museum of Anatolian Civilizations.This figurine seated, with legs curled to left beneath body shows that the central element of religion in the Neolithic Period was the mother goddess. Her hands are placed on large pendulous breasts. Her large belly rests on heavy thighs.

Whenever the Avatar requires secret details of past and future events, or any clarification, the Avatar contacts Karana Brahman through ecstasy known as Arul Nilai. The Avatar goes into the Nirvikalpa Samathi, the highest superconscious state, and then comes back to the conscious state. This superconscious state is the Thuria Nilai, or Fourth State. This is the state in which the individual soul rests in his own Sat-Chit-Ananda Svarupa, the highest Brahmic consciousness during Nirvikalpa Samathi. Only Jeevanmuktas or sages can attain this state. The glory of the state of Thuria is ineffable. Its splendor is indescribable. This is a very special form of occult trance and the Avatars call it Yoga-Nidhrai, or "Temple Sleep." This is a very special type of trance because the Avatar who has studied this under temple conditions knows what he is doing and can throw himself deliberately into the

trance state as and when required. In this state he is under his own control and cannot be obsessed by others.

This is only an outline and there are a number of Divine requirements and steps in attaining such a state. Please note that under the surveillance of Avatars we can also attain such a state if we have the basic requirements of Bakthi, Devotion, Purity of Mind, etc.

The superconscious state is attained only in absolute samadhi and by cessation of all bodily functions. Normally, there is no return from this state. A person who goes into the superconscious state remains in that state for about twenty-one days and then passes away. However, a few who are destined to teach mankind return to the ordinary plane of consciousness by keeping a trace of egoism, without which corporeal existence is impossible. The Avatars cherish a few desires for the betterment of the world. By taking hold of this and through the special divine grace of Adhiparasakthi, they come down from the superconscious state to the conscious state.

Incarnations are always conscious of their own divinity. They know it from the moment of their birth. They assume human form and human limitations for a particular period of time in order to teach us. In reality they are never limited. They are ever free but appear to be limited to the eyes of ordinary human beings.

From their very birth, the Avatars are knowers of Brahman, the Divine Mother. It should be noted that there is no difference at all between Brahman and the knower of Brahman, "He who knows the Brahman becomes the Brahman" — Mundaka Upanisad. The Atman or Brahman cannot be known by the mind because it is itself the knower. Therefore, man's relative knowledge reaches only up to Avatars, who are always established in Atman or Brahman. The highest ideal of Adhiparasakthi that the human mind can perceive or grasp is the Avatar. Beyond this there is no relative knowledge. Such knowers of Adhiparasakthi or Brahman are rarely born in the world and very few people can identify and understand them. Attainment of knowledge of Adhiparasakthi is the highest object of life. By deep devotion to the Avatars, who are world teachers, that knowledge will manifest itself in time."

Om Shakti Spiritual Movement