Guest guest Posted May 30, 2007 Report Share Posted May 30, 2007 Dharma Journal Authentic Dharma for Today's World ___________ May 28th, 2007 - Founded in 1998 The Teachings of the Bhagavad Gita Marks of a Self-Realized Person Lord Krishna said: When one is completely free from all desires of the mind and is satisfied with the Supreme Being by the joy of Supreme Being, then one is called an enlightened person, O Arjuna. (2.55) A person whose mind is unperturbed by sorrow, who does not crave pleasures, and who is completely free from attachment, fear, and anger, is called an enlightened sage of steady intellect. (2.56) The mind and intellect of a person become steady who is not attached to anything, who is neither elated by getting desired results, nor perturbed by undesired results. (2.57) When one can completely withdraw the senses from the sense objects as a tortoise withdraws its limbs into the shell for protection from calamity, then the intellect of such a person is considered steady. (2.58) The desire for sensual pleasures fades away if one abstains from sense enjoyment, but the craving for sense enjoyment remains in a very subtle form. This subtle craving also completely disappears from the one who knows the Supreme Being. (2.59) ______________ Overcoming Depression with Meditation by Dr. Frank Morales, Ph.D. (Sri Dharma Pravartaka Acharya) Modern America is a land of many interesting, and often painfully ironic, contradictions. On the one hand, we supposedly enjoy more prosperity, longevity, comforts, and conveniences in the United States than any other civilization has even dreamed of in previous history. Supposedly. On the other hand, however, America is currently going through one of the biggest mental health crises that any nation in history has ever experienced. Various forms of depression, anxiety disorders and neuroses are affecting millions of Americans. Depressive disorders affect approximately 18.8 million American adults, or about 9.5% of the U.S. population age 18 and older in any given year. For those cases of depression that are reported, many more remain unreported, and thus unknown. This current mental health crisis includes such ailments as major depressive disorder, dysthymic disorder, and bipolar disorder. What is especially disturbing is that depression is increasingly a common occurrence among the nation's young, a demographic that should be enjoying the fun and carefree life usually associated with childhood. Pre-schoolers are the fastest-growing market for antidepressants. At least four percent of preschoolers -- over a million! -- are considered clinically depressed. CNN recently reported on a study that revealed that as many as 3 million teenagers contemplated suicide in 2006. The rate of increase of depression among children is an astounding 23%. 30% of women are depressed. Men's figures were previously thought to be half that of women, but new estimates show that the actual figures are higher than at first suspected. Depression will be the second largest killer after heart disease by 2020 -- and medical studies have shown that depression is a contributory factor to fatal coronary disease. Depression results in more absenteeism and loss of employment than almost any other physical disorder, and costs employers more than US$51 billion per year in absenteeism and lost productivity, not including high medical and pharmaceutical bills. The treatment modalities often used in the attempt to combat depression are diverse and have varied results. Some of these treatments include talk therapy and anti-depression medications. Currently, several million Americans are on various anti-depressants, including Prozac, Lexapro, and Amitriptyline. Many of these anti- depression medications have had only mixed results. Antidepressants work for 35% to 45% of the depressed population, while more recent figures suggest as low as 30%. Standard antidepressants, SSRIs such as Prozac, Paxil (Aropax) and Zoloft, have recently been revealed to have serious risks, and are linked to suicide, violence, psychosis, abnormal bleeding, and brain tumors. Though most doctors advise a combination of therapy and antidepressants, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has an 80% relapse rate in the long term. While medication and therapy can often take the edge off of the experience of depression, they are far from successful in all instances. The only truly effective cure lies in going to the root of depression. That root is ultimately spiritual in nature. Depression is itself only a direct symptomatic manifestation of the radical secularization of human society. Previous to secular modernity, depression was a much less prevalent phenomenon. And when it was experienced, the reasons were more clearly environmental and causal than they are now. In the past, depression was directly associated with a specific event or occurrence in the person's life that directly caused the depression. Today, however, an increasing number of depressed persons are experiencing more generalized depression, a type of general existential angst, the exact cause of which it is difficult for them to pinpoint. Some of the leading causes of depression today include a sense of meaninglessness; consuming and generalized fear; spiritual crises, and the high degrees of stress and anxiety that has become accepted as normal in modern, radically secularized, everyday life. For younger people, especially, when asked why they are experiencing deep depression, many youth will point to a complete sense of meaninglessness in their lives. The don't know why they are here, what their purpose in life is, why they are bothering to learn and work hard, and why our present-day, materialistic society is geared in such a way as to provide them with no real answers to their quest for meaning. While pop culture, technology, and the youth scene serves as a temporary outlet for many teens, more often than not it only serves to tremendously exacerbate the problem of depression. Secular modernity presents us with a social-philosophical construct that is artificial, anti-natural, and ultimately destructive and unhealthy in nature. In our society, we have been deprived of the age-tested, fundamental vehicles through which we can excel spiritually, intellectually, and culturally. Spirituality and Dharma, which form the basis of all meaningful human growth and progress, has been systematically and viciously erased from modern secular societies to such a radical extent that hundreds of millions of persons worldwide are vividly feeling the ill effects of a life devoid of meaning, value, nobility, goodness, heroism, and the quest for Truth. The search for truth has been replaced in the lives of billions with the search for entertainment. Rather than encouraging such spiritual values as courage, nobility, and heroism, the modern world today encourages the coldly unsatisfying propaganda of radical egalitarianism. Rather than encouraging the nurturing of the inner life of the spirit, and the natural joy, peace and fulfillment that results from a healthy spiritually-centered life, today it is only selfish economic advancement and the value of purchasing power that is advocated. Rather than a lifestyle of mental, physical and spiritual health, today lifestyles of selfish hedonism, consumerism, greed, fame, and lust are upheld as the ideal course of behavior, and the values toward which all should aspire. Dharma, the principle of living one's life in accordance with Natural Law and God's will in a manner that is healthy, fulfilling, nurturing, and truly progressive, has now been replaced with an artificial and life-denying lifestyle that only produces a profound sense of meaninglessness and anxiety. The ultimate cure for society's present crisis of depression and meaninglessness is to re-embrace a life of meaning, a life of Dharma. Dharma, by its very definition, denotes the sustaining foundation of all reality. Dharma is the concept that all that we experience in this world is based upon a higher, spiritual reality that provides the ordering principles necessary for the proper function of the world. To understand Dharma is to understand the world, and the natural laws behind all things that make life a meaningful and beautiful expression of the Divine in spacial-temporal reality. To know Dharma is to know life's ultimate meaning. And the way to fully know Dharma is through the process of meditation. For millennia, a spiritually based practice of meditation has been shown to be very effective in combating such problems as stress, anxiety, fear, and feelings of meaninglessness. Because meditation addresses the root causes of depression and anxiety, the time honored techniques of meditation can be a much more effective cure for depression than either talk-therapy or medication. Meditation is a natural, easy and proven method that has been shown in hundreds of clinical studies to bring about deep states of peace, calm and mental clarity. In addition, a specifically spiritual regimen of daily meditation can help to foster a deep sense of meaning and spiritual comfort. Meditation has been shown to work on two distinct levels: a) the cognitive level, and b) the spiritual level. On the cognitive level, meditation helps to bring about a deep equipoise and a calming relief to one's overactive mind. Today, especially, the mind is constantly bombarded with an unending stream of diverse information - some valuable, most useless. As a direct result of such information bombardment, the mind is in an almost constant state of agitation and confusion. Meditation serves to calm the mind, allowing our attention to shift from the storm of external stimuli to the deep inner peace that is the natural state of the soul. As a consequence of having a calm mind, we then find that we can think and make important decisions with much more clarity, insight, and power. We are now able to process information in a way that serves us, rather than merely being the victims of myriad sensory impressions and information overload. On the more spiritual level, meditation has the ability to provide us with deep levels of self-realization and God-realization that, up till now, may have seemed to be impossible attainments to many of us. By meditating with the expressed goal of making spiritual progress, and knowing God and self, we then traverse beyond the merely cognitive and mental, and begin to penetrate the inner realms of eternal spirit. When we have self-realization, we now experience the transcendent peace and calm that is the natural result of living in spirit. When we have God-realization, we are now in communion with the very source of our being, the eternal, loving Absolute who is our very best of friends, and greatest of well-wishers. In such a transcendent state of spiritual attainment, no anxiety, stress, depression, or fear can ever burden our minds or hearts again. For we have now, through the process of spiritual meditation, realized the infinite well of spiritual peace that lies naturally within. The root cause of most depression today, then, is the pervasive sense of meaninglessness that naturally accompanies life in a radically secularized, materialistic society. The cure to such existential meaninglessness is to partake profoundly in the spiritual nature of our true selves and the spiritual foundations underlying our everyday concerns. The artificial construct of materialism needs to be replaced with Dharma, and the natural lifestyle and spiritual way of being that Dharma teaches us to embrace. The most effective way of accessing the spiritual reality that is our true self, and thus to over-come the unnatural state of depression, is God-centered meditation as taught in the ancient tradition of Sanatana Dharma. For further information about overcoming depressing and learning to embrace happiness again through meditation, please contact the International Sanatana Dharma Society: www.dharmacentral.com info (608) 280-8375 The Author: Dr. Frank Morales, Ph.D. (Sri Dharma Pravartaka Acharya) is an American who has been practicing Sanatana Dharma for over 30 years. He has a Ph.D. in Religious Studies and is recognized by the global Hindu community as one of the leading Hindu Acharyas (Spiritual Preceptors) in the nation. With a large international following of both Indian and Western students, Sri Acharya Ji is especially renowned for his highly authentic approach to Dharmic spirituality, his authoritative and scholarly approach to teaching, and his clear emphasis on serious spiritual practice and direct experience of self- realization and knowledge of God. He has lectured on Sanatana Dharma at such prestigious institutions as Harvard University, Columbia, Rutgers, Cornell, Northwestern, as well as for such companies as Ford Motor Corporation and Lucent Technology. He is the Founder and President of the International Sanatana Dharma Society. To contact Sri Acharya-ji, email him at: info. His primary websites are: http://www.dharmacentral.com drmoraleslist/ yoga-spirituality/ http://www.drfrankmorales.sulekha.com/ http://www.cafepress.com/supportstore http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=DharmaNation _________ " We must preserve Vedic culture and secure a future for Hindu children. " - Dr. Frank Morales _________ Announcements: 1) YouTube Success!: http://www.youtube.com/profile? user=DharmaNation Dharma Sun Media, the multi-media arm of Dr. Morales' teaching mission, has recently created four videos for YouTube. In the last two weeks alone, over 2200 people have watched these Dharma videos! Previous to this, there were very few high quality videos on Sanatana Dharma available on YouTube. These are only the first of what will soon be dozens of Dharma videos that we'll make available free-of- charge to the general public. You Can Help! If you have video editing skills, digital video/audio equipment you would like to donate, or any other related media production skills that can help us produce more highly professional video presentations on Sanatana Dharma, please contact Dharma Sun Media at: heatherlim7. 2) Major National Seminar " Experiencing the Bliss Within " : Dr. Frank Morales (Sri Dharma Pravartaka Acharya) will be conducting a major national seminar at the Omaha Healing Arts Center. Sunday July 8, between 2PM - 5PM. $25 advance $30 at the door 1216 Howard St. Omaha, NE 68102 402.345.5078 www.omahahealingarts.com Experiencing the Bliss Within A Journey into the Depths of Spirit Your life is filled with a profound spiritual meaning deeper than you may presently know. You were meant from the very moment of your own birth to know intimately the happiness, contentment, peace, and bliss that naturally radiates from your true self. You are a child born of overflowing spiritual nectar, born of God's love, and who is destined to taste the sweet bliss of Spirit. In this one of a kind spiritual event, you will be introduced to the reality of self-realization and God-realization as preserved and powerfully taught in the world's most ancient spiritual traditions. You will learn firsthand about the profound depths of being that you presently possess, and the powerful tools you own to manifest the happiness and spiritual enlightenment you have always sought. More than merely knowing, you will be provided a rare opportunity of personally experiencing the bliss within that is your gift from God. You will experience the empowerment of Spirit. This seminar is being offered for the very first time ever in Omaha. It is led by Dr. Frank Morales, Ph.D., one of the nation's leading teachers of spirituality, meditation, self-realization, Yoga spirituality, and Dharma. With over 33 years of unparalleled study, teaching and experience, Dr. Morales is one of the most qualified spiritual teachers in America today. With a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, author of several books on spirituality, a world-recognized Yoga master, and serves as a spiritual guide to thousands globally. This seminar will include: dynamic meditation, guided visualization, Dharma teachings, kirtan, and Spiritual Bliss. 3) " Dharma Ascending: A Revolutionary New Vision for Global Transformation " Out in August: Dharma Ascending Press is proud to announce a soon to be released, brand new book by Dr. Frank Morales. " Dharma Ascending " is the most important and revolutionary writing Dr. Morales has ever produced up to today. In this historically ground-breaking work, Dr. Morales explains the nature, meaning, and teachings of Dharma in more depth than has ever been attempted before by any author in history. According to Dr. Morales, Dharma is the most important philosophical principle, and the most spiritually meaningful way of living, that the world has ever known. The universal tradition of Dharma has seen a decline for the last 2000 years, leaving us today with only a shadow of this once powerful ideological global force. In " Dharma Ascending " , we read how this important principle has become more relevant and important now than at any other time in history, and how Dharma is now in the process of rapid ascent once again, potentially leading to the most revolutionary global transformation the world has ever seen. Dr. Morales brings the principle of Dharma from the domain of mere theory and myth, to the dynamic realm of practical life. This book is designed to introduce you to Dharma as a living force, as well as how you can personally live a healthy, prosperous, and joyous Dharma lifestyle today. Bring Dharma to life for yourself, with " Dharma Ascending: A Revolutionary New Vision for Global Transformation " . US $14.95. Dharma Ascending Press. Out in August. Stay tuned to Dharma Journal for further announcements. 4) " How I Became a Hindu " : Dharma Sun Media has created and placed a new Video by Sri Dharma Pravartaka Acharya on YouTube. " How I Became a Hindu " explores Acharya Ji's personal journey from the streets of Brooklyn to the feet of God, and how he became a follower of Sanatana Dharma. To see this fascinating video, please visit here: 5) Dharma Nation Blogspot: http://dharmanation.blogspot.com/ Yet another web site has been recently created dedicated to Sanatana Dharma and the writings of Dr. Frank Morales. Called " Dharma Nation " , visit often to see the latest writings of Dr. Morales. http://dharmanation.blogspot.com/ 6) Yoga Spirituality: Our new Yoga Spirituality Group is designed to be an informative and fun place where people can freely discuss the spiritual aspects of Yoga. With over 255 active members, it is currently the fastest growing Yoga discussion list on !! If you haven't done so already, please feel free to join this exciting new discussion group at: yoga-spirituality/ 7) " Dr. Frank Morales List " Now in Top 30: drmoraleslist/ The " Dr. Frank Morales List " , which includes Dharma Journal, continues to be the fastest growing Hinduism Forum on all of with over 837 members! Of over 4300 different Hindu groups on , Sri Acharyaji's list is now ranked #27 in size. If you know of anyone who would like to join this list, please forward their email addresses to: info, and we will be happy to send them an invitation to join. ______________ Overcoming Materialism " The only valid alternative to the destructiveness of materialism, consumerism, and greed is authentic spirituality. Attempting to fight these destructive tendencies with only further materialism, such as in Marxism, atheism, capitalism, and socialism, is like attempting to stop a fire by hurling matches into it. We can not fight materialism with yet more materialism, but only with Dharma spirituality. Dharma spirituality is the only effective and true idealism of our age. " - Sri Dharma Pravartaka Acharya ______________ Recent Letters: " Hari Om, I am a medical student in London, UK. I am a r to Dharma Central for a year. I appreciate the works of Dr. Frank Morales. The uploading of the discussion on YouTube is fantastic. I extend my ardent support to Dr. Morales' mission. Let me know how can I be a part of this great global mission. Hare Rama. " Sachin Vijayan " RESPECTED DR. MORALES, YOUR ARTICLE PROVED TO BE AN EYE OPENER AND I PREY YOU DO CONTINUE PUBLISHING SUCH WORKS IN FUTURE TOO. WITH DEEPEST REGARDS, DR. SHRIKANT BHAVE " Namaskar Dr. Morales, Thanks for the links provided. I watched two of the videos. They are wonderful. Will definitely forward the link to friends. Warm regards, In the service of Dharma. " Abhijit, Mumbai, India " Hello Dr. Morales, Namaskar, I am so thankful to God (Krishna) for sending you to earth to save hinduism (my religion). I did read article on your website that talks about how all religions are not equal and it is an excellent article. Also, I watched you on the youtube videos which are excellent and I am very thankful to you for saving our religion. My name is Shraddha, and I really liked it that you mentioned the word Shraddha in one of your video and was very happy to hear that word spoken by you. Thank you again Mr. Morales, and I bow down to you for spreading the message of Sanatan Dharma. " Shraddha " Dear Dr. Morales Guruji, Sadar Pranam, I seek from you the Dharma so that I am in the path to fulfill my desires. " Rathindra Prasad Lahiri " Thank you for your articles, they have clarified some things for me. I look forward to reading more. Namaste. " Delphine ______________ For further information on the philosophy and path of Dharma, please visit us on the web: http://www.dharmacentral.com yoga-spirituality/ drmoraleslist/ http://www.cafepress.com/supportstore http://www.drfrankmorales.sulekha.com http://www.dharmacentral.com/Store/Shakti_Principle.htm http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=DharmaNation http://www.myspace.com/dharmapravartaka http://dharmanation.blogspot.com/ Thank you to all our many members and readers for your enthusiastic support and encouragement of Dharma Journal and the teaching efforts of Dr. Frank Morales. We couldn't be able to accomplish anything without your well-wishes. Please feel free to forward this Dharma Journal newsletter to all your friends, family, and discussion lists interested in Sanatana Dharma, meditation, and Yoga spirituality. © 2007, Dharma Journal. Volume 9, issue 8 Welcome to the Dharma Revolution! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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