Fw: Merry Christmas !!!

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----- Forwarded Message ----Christoph <c.eberhardChristoph <c.eberhardThu, December 24, 2009 8:48:58 PMMerry Christmas !!!

Hello everybody !!!I hope you all have a peaceful end of the year.I am very happy. I am spending Christmas together with all my family in Paris :-).Unfortunately the snow has melted ... I would have loved a white Christmas ...A couple of years ago, I saw a nice French movie, "Joyeux Noël", "Merry Christmas", which did capture one aspect of Christmas : it is supposed to be a period of peace and of fraternity.In 1914, during the first world war, numerous sections of the French, British and German armies called informal and unauthorized truces for Christmas Eve. The movie recaptures this experience which reminds us of the folly of our artifical divisions and sends a message of Peace.The following extract shows - the harmonizing power of music helping - French, German and Scottish soldiers meeting in the

no-man's land to celebrate Christmas together. They all join into the famous Christmas song "Stille Nacht" (Silent Light) and gather around a small Christmas tree, symbol of hope and life :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iRWx18qhk8 & fmt=18Christmas also marks the rebirth of light : the days start to become longer again after the winter solstice. It thus also always reminds me of the cycle of life. Here a little video I made around this idea of the cycle of life :http://vimeo.com/8169373Plenty of good and peaceful Christmas energies to you !!!Merry Christmas !!!ChristophPS : For those

of you who might want to deepen the symbolic meaning of Christmas, here is a nice explanation by Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov :"It is not by pure coincidence or because they were instituted by some religious leader that there are four cardinal feasts - Christmas, Easter, the feast of Saint John, and the feast of the Archangel Michael. They exist because they correspond to cosmic phenomena. During the course of the year the sun passes through four cardinal points : March 21st is the spring equinox ; June 21st is the summer solstice ; September 21st is the automn equinox ; and December 21st is the winter solstice. During these four periods, great influxes and currents of energy are produced which influence the earth and all its inhabitants. If therefore, we are attentive and receptive to these influxes and if we prepare ourselves to receive them, great transformations can occur within us.According to Christian

tradition, Jesus was born on December 25th at midnight. On december 25th, the sun has just entered the constellation of Capricorn. Symbolically, Capricorn is linked to mountains and grottoes, and it is in the depths of a grotto that the child Jesus can be born. During the rest of the year nature and human beings have been very active, but as winter approaches, work slows down, the days get shorter and the nights longer, and the time is ripe for meditation and contemplation, a timely occasion for human beings to enter the depths of their being and make ready for the birth of Christ within them. (...)Every year on December 25th at midnight, the constellation of Virgo rises over the horizon, and this is why it is said, from the astrological point of view, that Jesus was born of a virgin. On the opposite horizon is Pisces, and in mid-heaven the magnificent constellation of Orion , with the alignment of the three stars, which, according to popular

tradition, represent the three Kings.Let us leave aside the question wether Jesus was really born on December 25th at midnight. What is important is that on this date in nature the Christ-principle is born, the light and warmth that will transform everything. (...)The birth of Jesus has to be understood in the three worlds. That is, as a historical phenomenon, a psychic and mystical phenomenon, and a cosmic phenomenon. And today it is the mystical aspect that most concerns me. In his account of the birth of Jesus, St Luke has retained only images of those events that occur for every human being. It is these symbolic images that we shall examine now.For a child to be born there has to be a father and a mother. Joseph, the father, represents the intellect, and on a higher level, our spirit. Mary, the mother, is our heart, and on a higher level, our soul. When the heart and the soul are pure the child is born, but he is not born of the

intellect and of the spirit, he is born of the Holy Spirit, the pure flame that impregnates the human soul and heart. (...)When Mary and Joseph sought refuge in the inn, there was no room for them, and this means that human beings who are busy eating, drinking and enjoying themselves never have room for one who has received the divine child. (...) No one is prepared to open their door to him. (...) The stable with the manger is a symbol, a symbol first of all of poverty and difficult external conditions. Indeed, for one in whom the Spirit dwells it will always be this way : those around him will not appreciate or welcome him. But thanks to the light that radiates from him and shines above the manger, others will see him from afar and come to visit him.You must understand that Mary and Joseph are symbols of our inner life. Those who have repudiated Mary have become dried up. All they have left is their intellect, which does nothing but destroy

and criticize and is never content. (...)The star that shone over the stable means that a light radiates from every initiate in whom dwells the living Christ. This light can be seen by others from afar, and they sense that something very special is manifesting itself throught that being, and that 'something' is Christ. (...)The Three Kings - Melchior, Balthazar, and Gaspar - brought gold, frankincense, and myrrh, and each of these gifts was symbolic. The gold brought by Melchior meant that Jesus was king ; gold is the colour of wisdom which shines over the heads of initiates like a crown of light. The incense brought by Balthazar meant that Jesus was a priest ; incense represents the realm of religion, and therefor of the heart and love. And myrrh, brought by Gaspar, is a symbol of immortality ; it was used to embalm the bodies of the dead and preserve them from destruction. These three gifts, therefore, correspond to the three realms of

thought, emotion, and the physical body. And each of them also corresponds to a sephirah : myrrh corresponds to Binah, eternity ; gold corresponds to Tiphareth, light ; and frankincense corresponds to Chesed, love for all humankind.Let us now take a closer look at the stable, where an ox and an ass are said to have sheltered. There is no mention of any other animal in this stable, only an ox and an ass. Why ? (...) The stable represents the physical body. And the ox ? You know that in ancient civilizations the bull - and here of course we must draw a parallel between the ox and the bull - was seen as the generative principle. In ancient Egypt, for instance, Apis the bull was the symbol of fertility and fecundity. The bull is ruled by Venus and represents sexual energy. The ass, on the other hand, is ruled by Saturn and represents the personality, our lower nature - also referred to as the old Adam - who is obstinate and headstrong but a good

servant. And these two animals were there to serve Jesus. But how could they serve him ? Well, let me reveal to you something absolutely essential.When human beings first begin to work to achieve self-perfection, they come into conflict with the forces of their personality and of their sexuality. An initiate is someone who has succceded in mastering these two forces and making them serve him. Yes, you see, he puts them to work ; he does not annihilate them ; he must not annihilate them. The fact that those two animals were there is proof that they were useful. How ? What did they do ? They warmed the Infant Jesus with their breath. So, when an initiate has transmuted his inner ox and ass and made them his servants, they warm and vivify the new-born child within him with their breath. And then, not only do they no longer torment him, but they become beneficial forces. Breath is a sign of life, and the breath of the ox and the ass is a reminder of the

breath by which God gave the first man a soul. (...)Now I would just like to add this : you may doubt that Christ ever existed historically. Some people doubt this and have demonstrated that he did not exist on the basis of evidence just as scientific as that produced by those who say he did exist. So where does the truth lie ? Well, I would say very simply that the historical aspect is not really so important. Suppose that someone manages to produce irrefutable proof that Jesus never actually existed, that the whole story is a myth : one thing remains certain, and that is that the Gospels were inspired by an exceptionnally great spirit. The mere fact that someone was capable of writing such things, of such depth, of such luminosity, is enought o take your breath away. Any other question becomes superfluous."Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov, "You are Gods", Psalm 82:6 / Saint John's Gospel 10:34, Barcelona, Prosveta, 2002, 559 p

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______ Human Rights and Intercultural Dialogue / Droits de l'Homme et Dialogue Interculturel http://www.dhdi.org

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Merry Xmas and a delightful New Year. May The Almighty shower   HIS DIVINE BLESSINGS on each one of us.Regards.Dr.Vellore A.R.Srinivasan

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Dear Amma, Ananda, Devasena, I wish you, your charming children and the whole

wide-world Yoga family a very happy and yogic New Year! Let the Light of Yoga is

spreading and shining everlasting, penetrating each and every human soul, making

it one Divine and happy soul. Let you always be the bright source of this magic

Yoga Light! Ever Yours in Yoga. Tasha