Principles of the Baal Shem Tov Br. Shankara Vedanta Center of Atlanta CHANT POEM WELCOME TOPIC Our Need for Thee by St. Francis of Assisi In our ever present need for thee: Beloved, let us know your peace. Let us be your instruments that break every shackle, for do not the caged ones weep. And give us our inheritance of divine love so that we can forgive like you. And let us be wise, so that we do not wed another s madness and then make them in debt to us for the deep gash their helpless raging lance will cause. Darkness is an unlit wick; it just needs your touch, Beloved, to become a sacred flame. And what sadness in this world could endure if it looked into your eyes? God is like a honey bee, He doesn t mine me calling Him that; for when you are kind sweet He nears, and can draw you into Himself. What is there to understand of each other: if a wand turned the sun into the moon would not the moon mourn the ecstatic effulgence it once was. We are all in mourning for the experience of our essence we knew and now miss. Light is the cure, all else a placebo. Yes, I will console any creature before me that is not laughing or full of passion for their art or life; for laughing and passion beauty and joy is our heart s truth, all else is labor and foreign to the soul. I have stood in His rain and now fill granaries as do the fertile plains; giving is a natural to love as sound from the mouth. Principles Of The Baal Shem Tov Page 1 of 10
There is a courageous dying, it is called effacement. That holy death unfurls our spirit s wings and allows us to embrace God even as we stand on the earth. From Love Poems From God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West by Daniel Ladinsky October is a month for study of Karma Yoga, a spiritual path leading to the abandonment of selfishness. As a karma yogi, you practice offering your actions and their results, as well as your perceptions, thoughts, and feelings to the Divine Presence. Even before fully knowing this Presence, you hold firmly to the belief that the Presence is within each person or other living being that you interact with or serve. Working and abiding in this spirit, you are increasingly able to release attachment to your activities and their results. This is the freedom promised by Karma Yoga. As Sri Krishna tells Arjuna in Ch. 2 of Bhagavad Gita: Even a little practice of this yoga will save you from the terrible wheel of rebirth and death Yesterday was Yom Kippur, also known as the Day of Atonement (which signifies exemplifying human oneness with God). It is the holiest day of the year in Judaism; they say, It is a day when we are closest to G-d and to the essence of our souls. Principles Of The Baal Shem Tov Page 2 of 10
As the Torah verse from Leviticus states, For on this day He will forgive you, to purify you, that you be cleansed from all your sins before G-d. Traditionally, Jewish people observe this holy day with 25 hours of fasting and intensive prayer, often spending most of the day in synagogue services. chabad.org & Wikipedia This is indeed a holy time of the year! As it is for most Jewish people, so it is for us: Yesterday we observed the last of the nine nights of Navaratri. Since the 20th of October, some members of our congregation have been chanting Jai Sri Durga every day, as a way to directly observe and involve themselves in this sacred season. For those of you who aren t familiar with Navaratri, here s a brief explanation, adapted from amritapuri.org: Navaratri, which means nine nights, signifies the progress of a spiritual aspirant. During this spiritual journey, the aspirant has to pass three stages, which are personified by the goddesses Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati. At the end of this journey, he or she enters the realm of the infinite, realising his or her True Self. Navaratri dedicates three days each to worshipping the Divine in the forms of Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati. Principles Of The Baal Shem Tov Page 3 of 10
The reason for worshipping Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati is rooted in the philosophy that the attributeless absolute can only be known through the world of attributes a journey from the known to the unknown: Shiva, pure consciousness, can be known only through Shakti, who represents divine energy. That is why people worship Shakti, also known as Devi, in Her various manifestations. The different stages of spiritual progress are reflected in the celebrations of Navaratri. During the first three days, Durga is worshipped. She personifies that aspect of shakti which destroys our negative tendencies. The process of trying to control our senses is akin to a war for the mind which resists all attempts at control. So the stories in the Puranas symbolically depict Devi in the form of Durga as waging war and destroying the asuras the dark vasanas of our inner nature. However, getting temporary relief from the vasanas doesn t guarantee permanent liberation from them. Seeds of the vasanas remain in latent form. Therefore, we replace them with positive qualities. The Bhagavad Gita refers to these qualities as daivi-sampat, literally Divine wealth. Therefore, we worship Lakshmi during the next three days. Lakshmi is not just the giver of worldly Principles Of The Baal Shem Tov Page 4 of 10
wealth or prosperity; She is the Mother who gives according to the needs of Her children. Once endowed with daivi-sampat, one becomes fit to receive the knowledge of the Supreme. So, the last three days of Navaratri are dedicated to worshipping Saraswati, the embodiment of Knowledge. She is depicted as wearing a purewhite sari, which symbolises the illumination of the Supreme Truth. The tenth day is Vijaya Dashami, or the festival of victory the moment when Truth dawns within. Now, we ll explore how all this background from Judaism and Hinduism is reflected in the Principles of the Baal Shem Tov Neither thinking about the day of one's death nor the fear of punishment in hell will arouse a person's heart to serve God. But yearning to cling to the source of life and goodness will do so. And neither fasting nor afflicting oneself will be of any help. But forgetting oneself out of the depth of one's yearning will do so. the Baal Shem Tov This Jewish saint s mystical wisdom is familiar to us. Sri Ramakrishna also taught that yearning can draw you into an intimate relationship with the Personal God or Goddess ( the source of life and goodness ). Principles Of The Baal Shem Tov Page 5 of 10
Rabbi Yisrael Baal Shem Tov (1698-1760), which means master of the good name, was founder of the 18th century chassidic movement in Eastern Europe. He helped revolutionize Jewish thought, and gave new hope to an embattled people. During the late 17th century, European Jewry was still recovering from the pogroms of 1648 & 1649. Those massacres killed tens of thousands of Jews; survivors struggled to rebuild their broken lives and communities. The transformative power of the Baal Shem Tov s teachings are still felt today both by his followers, the chassidim, and by other rabbis and observant Jews, who experience the uplifting effects of the saint s legacy. This morning we will hear more of the Baal Shem Tov s principles, and relate them to what we can see as a synthesis of Karma and Bhakti Yoga. Translator Yaacov Dovid Shulman wrote: Following are some of the principles that the Baal Shem Tov taught his holy students. This precious text was found in the possession of a grandson of the Baal Shem Tov in Hamburg. Everything that happens in the world, no matter how insignificant, comes from God. And so do not concern yourself with whether or not what has occurred is in accordance with your will. Principles Of The Baal Shem Tov Page 6 of 10
The entire Torah and the entire world contain nothing but the light of the Infinite One (blessed be He) concealed within them. All the verses that speak of this, such as "there is no other than He" and "I fill the heavens and the earth," are to be taken literally. There is no act, word or thought in which the essence of divinity is not constricted and hiding. (Moha Sw VK Maya, Shakti, Personal God nothing but Brahman with name and form!) And so when you look and see with your mind's eye, you will see the inner, life-force aspect of everything, not just its outer, superficial layer. You will see nothing but the divine power inside all things that is giving them life, being and existence at every moment. And when you listen carefully to the inner voice within any physical sound that you hear, you will hear only the voice of God as, at that moment, it is literally giving life and existence to the sound that you are hearing. The "exile of God's Presence" refers to the lifeforce and divine power that gives a person life and existence even at the moment that he is transgressing God's will. What is there to understand of each other: if a Principles Of The Baal Shem Tov Page 7 of 10
wand turned the sun into the moon would not the moon mourn the ecstatic effulgence it once was. We are all in mourning for the experience of our essence we knew and now miss. Light is the cure, all else a placebo. St F Neither thinking about the day of one's death nor the fear of punishment in hell will arouse a person's heart to serve God. But yearning to cling to the source of life and goodness will do so. And neither fasting nor afflicting oneself will be of any help. But forgetting oneself out of the depth of one's yearning will do so. There is a courageous dying, it is called effacement. That holy death unfurls our spirit s wings and allows us to embrace God even as we stand on the earth. St F Every person in his own right is [essentially] a complete spiritual Torah (Tat tvam asi). If he goes in God's path, that [Torah] is absorbed into his being, according to his level (a knower of Brahman becomes Brahman). God's Providence extends to all created beings, even to inanimate objects and plants. There is nothing that is not viewed from above in every detail. Everything was made with a particular intent. And a word to the wise is sufficient. 2003 2010 The Baal Shem Tov Foundation Principles Of The Baal Shem Tov Page 8 of 10
Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Why? Because every human being has a root in the Unity, and to reject the minutest particle of the Unity is to reject it all. Your fellow man is your mirror. If your own face is clean, the image you perceive will also be flawless. But should you look upon your fellow man and see a blemish, it is your own imperfection that you are encountering you are being shown what it is that you must correct within yourself. The ideal of man is to be a revelation himself, clearly to recognize himself as a manifestation of God. Whenever feeling downcast, each person should vitally remember, "For my sake, the entire world was created. (Blake: We should think ) Forgetfulness leads to exile while remembrance is the secret of redemption. Everybody is unique. Compare not yourself with anybody else lest you spoil God's curriculum. See to it that every day you do some act of goodness and kindness in fact, you should eagerly anticipate, perhaps G-d will arrange such a good happenstance. Principles Of The Baal Shem Tov Page 9 of 10
There was once a king who was a magician, and so he invited people to have a relationship a personal connection with him but as one enters the palace grounds, there were millions of gold coins for the taking. Most people came and took some money some came beyond the palace grounds to the interior, and there they found even greater riches, and so it was chamber after chamber However the King s son ignored all (that) and went straight to the King. Take no pride in the good you do (have done) imagine, that it was God. I G-d have not changed, it is only that G-d conceals Himself in the miraculous repetitiveness of nature however, once man is aware that everything is G-d one of the fundamental secrets there is = no more separation / concealments. For any of us to come to the understanding that we are common and unlearned is the accomplishment of a lifetime. DISCUSSION AND COMMENTS Regular Closing prayer Principles Of The Baal Shem Tov Page 10 of 10