To Ardis on Angels and Devas

[Guest guest]

Ardis wrote:

I have often wondered if the "wings" on the mid-eastern angels

(Jewish, Christian, Muslim) are indicative of the glimmering motion

of light surrounding the being... like the many thousands of arms of

the Buddhist bodhisattvas or the arms of the devis.

Dear Ardis,

 

I believe the perception of these Light Beings, with or without wings,

is somewhat culturally based. So, a Westerner would be more inclined

to see such a being with wings, whereas an Easterner might be more

inclined to seem them as surrounded by brilliant light. I have no

doubt these beings exist, that they help us and are with us ever day,

whether we are aware of them or not.

 

In the Tibetan Book of the Dead, it speaks of the bardos, different

places or states of being in the afterlife. When a person dies they

go to the bardo they expect to go to, i.e., the one they believe they

deserve, then there is work to find one's way through another level of

illusion to the Truth. In some ways, I think of life as like being in

the bardos ... we are in whatever state we excpect or thing we

deserve. This is not to blame the "victim;" I would be the last one

to say that because I have had much tragedy in my life, including my

illness. But I think when I am unclear, fearful, I am in one kind of

bardo; when I am feeling good about myself, confident, etc.; I am

still in another kind of bardo. Beyond this is, as Swami said in a

recent answer to a question Steve asked is "the sound of one hand

clapping." Shanti ~ Linda