Angels Ate My Hamster

Posted on July 25, 2011 by Author Richard F Holmes

A ridiculous statement if ever there was one; everyone knows that angels are vegetarian. But I felt prompted to write this blog post because there is so much spoken and written about angels that simply isn’t true, therefore what does it matter if I pretended I had a hamster and some nasty angels ate it?

What I’m about to write is my understanding…OK? It may not be set in stone and I’m not saying it’s definitive; but hey, I think it makes more sense than some of the drivel I’ve heard over the years.

Firstly, we need to understand that angels are beings of light, they have been created by God of a very fine, light and high vibration. They are super conscious beings; and the realms where they exist are beyond the comprehension of human intelligence. Like us humans they are parts of the whole that we call God; they are particles of light in the wondrous tapestry of creation. Now there are so many people going around these days claiming to communicate with angels, in fact I was talking to someone a few weeks back who told me they had been nominated for the title of ”angel expert”. How on earth does someone become an expert in a subject that is beyond the scope of the human mind?

Now I am the first to admit that I wrote a trilogy called ”Angelic Wisdom”; but I acknowledge that it wasn’t because I am some super evolved being and I was able to expand my consciousness out to the angelic realms. Far from it; I have simply been blessed with some pretty decent angelic mates who lowered their vibration down to my level and worked with me in a very basic way so that I was able to understand. What I would like to know is, where do these people who write all these angel books get their information from and why do a large chunk of the people who claim to communicate with angels develop huge egos and a stance that gushes ”I’ve got access to information that you haven’t therefore I’m better than you”. OK, so let’s explode some myths.

Dark or fallen angels; do they exist? I don’t know whether to laugh or cry at this one. Of course they don’t; never have and never will. Angels are beyond human failings; they were created in such a way that they do not experience emotions such as fear, anger, greed, jealousy, desire, resentment and anything else that you can think of that could be described as dark. Why would beings of pure unsullied love and light, with wisdom beyond our wildest dreams and whose only desire is to serve, want anything other than that? It simply doesn’t make sense. Why? Because it is nothing more than myth that’s why. Myth that took seed thousands of years ago and, thanks to human fantasy, got developed over time.

So what about all these weird and wonderful names; and the business of wings? OK, lets deal with the wings first. They have wings simply because humans expect them too. Whenever a human sees an angelic manifestation the angel always shows itself with wings. This is simply to take into account the human belief system. The logical mind demands tangibility; therefore the observer sees wings and thinks ”angel”. The angels manifest in this was also to alleviate any fear that may be present in their human friend. Think about it? You see a little fella with horns and a tail holding a fork, you run a mile; you see a manifestaion of pure love with wings and it’s sure to have the effect of a lullaby. So, in other words no they don’t really have wings. As for all the names; do we really think that there is, lets say, Angel Nester, sitting at home thinking ”now I wish Raphael would hurry up and come home, his dinner’ll get ruined; I wonder what time he’ll be here”. To simplify matters, angels are nameless and formless beings of light; they do not need the trivia of names to communicate with each other. They simply ”know”. Their powers of thought and telepathy are immense; and as I have stated already, all things angelic are beyond human comprehension. It’s only because they love us so much that they go along with the charade; they do not need everything to be put into its box and have a label.

Hope you’ve enjoyed this little post…. now where’s my hamster?

All Religion Is Man-Made Part Two

Posted on July 25, 2011 by Author Richard F Holmes

Since publishing my post All Religion Is Man-Made, I have been asked by a dear friend who regularly attends a Christian church if I am saying to people that you do not need to belong to an organised religious group, and do not need to visit establishments such as churches. Essentially, I am saying “yes” to that. However, I also realise that we are all individuals on a pathway of enlightenment, and we are all at different stages of our spiritual development; so it is for this reason that I will endevour to give further clarification.

God dwells within our physical bodies, our hearts; therefore our body is a temple (church) that we should respect and look after. If God is constantly within, above, below and around us, why do we need to travel somewhere to embrace what we already have? But having said that, there is no right or wrong in celebrating the Divine principle, or God, in any way that feels right to us as individuals. So, whether you attend a church, a mosque, a temple or synagogue, as long as you are able to connect with your God in that place, as long as you enjoy the experience and as long as you enjoy the fellowship of other worshippers, then continue with this practice because it is right for you; and remember, wherever you are at this very moment in time is exactly where you need to be in accordance with God’s Divine plan.

The person who asked me that question is someone who is a particualarly sweet soul who shines their light wherever they go. I will not mention the person by name because I do not want to embarrass them, but I will say this as I know they will read this post. They need you in your church dear soul, God has put you there because you touch the hearts of those in need. Continue to go to your church until your inner guidance tells you it is time to seek pastures new.

Much Love and Light.

All Religion Is Man-Made

Posted on July 24, 2011 by Author Richard F Holmes

I awoke this morning to the news of the terrible atrocities carried out yesterday in Norway, and as ever when something like this happens, I had great difficulty in getting my head around it all. I always feel a kind of surreality about occurrences such as this; as I watched from the comfort of my living room (that I often complain about as being too small) I simply couldn’t comprehend the horror experienced first hand by all those concerned. These awful deeds were apparently perpetrated by a Christian fundamentalist; which probably raised a few eyebrows, for in the West, with our tunnel vision and selective eyesight and hearing, we nearly always expect such perpetrators to be so-called Muslim fundamentalists. But why should anyone be surprised that this atrocity was carried out by a right-wing Christian activist? All this man did was confirm what has been known for a long time by all those who walk a pathway of light; that is, that ALL religion as we know it is man-made and has no place in modern-day spirituality. For thousands of years humans have taken the names of various religions, that the early pioneers sweated blood to found, and have simply put their own stamp on them for the sake of their own egos and greed.

Not so long ago I was listening to a programme on the radio, it was one of those programmes where they invite a panel on to take part in a discussion. Basically, one of the panel was a lady who was quite high up in the Christian church here in the UK and she was accusing Islam of being a political organisation; this it seemed was the crux of the discussion. It was probably the only time I have been tempted to call into one of these phone-in type shows. The lady in question came across as being nothing more than a racist bigot, and she was certainly not representative of me or any of my spiritual views. Another panel member was a very polite and humble Muslim man from the North West of England who conducted himself with great humility. It was suggested to him that his religion was a political organisation with a sinister hidden agenda. I had to laugh, because you can’t get more political than Christianity; just ask any woman who has ever applied to become a priest.

But the purpose of this article is not to have a go at Christians per say; the purpose is actually two-fold. Firstly, it serves as a reminder to the Western world that there are two sides to every coin. It has almost become fashionable to assume that all Muslims are terrorists, when we forget that, apart from the man who carried out the slaughter in Norway, there are also organisations such as the Ku-Klux-Klan for example, who profess to be Christians and have been carrying out acts of atrocity for years. Secondly, it also serves as a reminder to us all, regardless of which side of the fence we come from, of who we are NOT.

The true nature of human beings is that of love; but in this world of paradox it stands to reason that we will experience the opposite of who we are. By experiencing who we are not we are able to know who we are and realise our true identity. From time to time during human incarnation we most certainly will encounter that which makes us think and that which makes us feel uncomfortable; and it is in such moments that we are experiencing who we are not. Anyway, back to religion.

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter which ”club” we join and which label we choose to stick on ourselves; we are all inter-connected. I’ve said it before many times, and I’ll say it again, the beauty of the human race is its unity in diversity. On the surface we are all different colours, races and creeds…. and yes… religions. We are all different shapes and sizes, but underneath we are all Divine spirit. That is the pure, unsullied beauty of it all; no matter what anyone does to try to separate themselves from the caste of humanity, any such separation will only ever be a figment of the imagination. I’m going to finish by reproducing a section of a discourse by Sri Sathya Sai Baba that I’ve taken from the February 2002 edition of the ashram magazine Sanathana Sarathi.

WHAT DOES RELIGION MEAN

Religion today has been rendered meaningless and valueless by all kinds of misinterpretations given by sectarian and perverse exponents. The basic meaning of religion is to lead man to his source. The word “religion” consists of two parts: “re” meaning “again” and ”ligio” meaning ”to come together”. That is to say, ”reuniting with God is religion”. People consider religion as a bundle of do’s and dont’s to be followed strictly. This is totally wrong. The sacred aim of religion is to remind man of his Divine origin and help him to reunite with God.

~ Baba

Video Message Of The Week #5

Posted on July 18, 2011 by Author Richard F Holmes

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Sai Humour

Posted on July 14, 2011 by Author Richard F Holmes

I am going to share with you a couple of incidents that prove that Sri Sathya Sai Baba really does know everything about us, including every single thought we have before we even think it. Notice also that I say ”does know” and not ”did know”, because even though Swami is no longer with us in physical form his Omnipresence is as strong as ever.

The first incident is one I have spoken of many times before and also mentioned in my book, Astral Travelling, The Avatar and Me; the reason I continue to mention this particular incident is because I find it so highly amusing. It concerns an American devotee, who knowing that Swami does not encourage the consumption of alcohol, succumbed to the badgering of his work colleagues and allowed himself to be persuaded to go for a ”few beers” after work on a number of occasions. He was blessed to receive the call to travel to Baba’s ashram, Prashanthi Nilayam, and even more blessed to be called in for a private group interview along with a number of other devotees. But as he entered the interview room, little did the American realise that he was moments away from the embarrassment of his life. As everyone sat in Swami’s presence, in great anticipation; out of the blue and in front of the entire group, Baba suddenly pointed at him and exclaimed ”look at him, Heineken here, Heineken there!”

The second incident has only recently come to my attention but it is equally humerous. In his book, From Where Did You Come, Charles P DiFazio relates this wonderful story about two American ladies, Lynne and Linda, who out of their craving for nicotine, also fell foul of one of Swami’s pranks. The ladies had attended darshan at Baba’s ashram in the mountain retreat of Kodaikanal. Swami liked the cooler climate at Kodai and would visit when he wanted a break from the fierce heat of Puttaparthi. After darshan the two ladies were gasping for a cigarette, and as smoking is strictly forbidden on the ashram, they went into the village and purchased a packet of cigarettes from a kiosk. They were standing on the street puffing away when all of a sudden a great excitement filled the air. They realised that this could only mean one thing; Swami’s car was coming. They quickly stubbed out their cigarettes and joined the throngs lining the streets waiting for Swami to drive past.

A short time elapsed and a bus carrying Baba’s students slowly drove past; following immediately behind was Baba. As the car went past, Swami leant out of the window, and with an impish grin on his face, put his middle and forefingers to his mouth and simulated a puffing action.

There are literally thousands of such incidents that have occurred over the years, and as I write I feel compelled to share just one more example of how Baba used humour with great effect in order to demonstrate spiritual lessons.

In the days when Puttarparthi was still a tiny hamlet and Baba was but a mere child he would teach all the other kids in the village devotional songs, and lead them in the singing. The kids loved Baba; especially so, because from a very early age he would materialize books, pencils and sweets for them out of thin air.

Little Sathya knew that one of the prominent figures in the village was corrupt. So he taught the other children a song that exposed the man’s crooked activities. he told the children to follow the man around every where he went and taunt him with this song. This they did with great delight. In the end the man couldn’t take anymore so he went to Baba, who was but a child himself, and pleaded with him for the taunting to stop. Baba made the man promise to change his ways; and only then did he instruct the other kids to leave him alone.

Wonderful! The beauty is that there is a bottomless pit of stories such as these.

Video Message Of The Week #4

Posted on July 12, 2011 by Author Richard F Holmes

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Life – The Illusion

Posted on July 11, 2011 by Author Richard F Holmes

Life, and creation in general is a pretty amazing thing. How many of us remember to acknowledge that whatever we are gazing upon is never as it actually seems within this world of matter. I for one am constantly forgetting, and allowing my mind to trick me into believing that what I can see is actually what’s real and happening. In truth our planet is an absolutely amazing place; a living breathing entity in a constant state of flux. Nothing is ever actually as it seems, and even the underlying reality is constantly in motion; indeed, this is why we do not stay “young and beautiful” (in the earthly sense), because our physical bodies, being comprised of particles of matter, are on their own private journey which will eventually see them existing in a different form.

We speak of the emptiness of space; but what we actually have is particles of emptiness, from which all forms emerge, and it is back into the emptiness where all forms must eventually re-merge. Imagine this then, we talk about “over here” and “over there” with the bit in between being space. But the space must consist of something because if “that which is neither here nor there” did not exist, then we would not have over here and over there. Let us elaborate more on this illusion. Is it not incredible that none of us have ever actually seen a tree? We have never seen ourselves, our parents, our cars, our houses; in fact you cannot actually see the computer screen in front of you now. All that any of us has ever seen here within this earthly life is LIGHT and nothing else. It’s truly amazing that particles of light bounce off objects and send information to our brains via our eyes. The images that we think we are looking at exist within our brains and no where else.

There is also no such thing as a solid object. If you were to take a piece of hard metal, for example, such as Tungsten or Iron and place it under an electron microscope, what you would see would not be a solid object. You would see particles, in perfect symmetry, separated by air molecules and in constant motion; the only reason objects seem solid, or otherwise, is because everything within this dimension has a frequency of vibration. It is therefore the vibratory frequency of an object that is responsible for its density and apparent solidity.

Now we come to the physical body itself. How many of us realise that its not only our Divine essence that is eternal, but also our physical bodies do not die either. Although the physical form reverts back to inanimate matter when the spirit leaves, it doesn’t simply “die”; it actually changes form and continues to exist. Like everything else our bodies are comprised of matter particles; matter being a concentrated form of energy. Energy can neither be created nor destroyed; it is eternal and exists in its own right. So, when the spirit leaves and a body is buried, it simply decomposes over time, merges with Mother Earth and continues to exist. When a body is cremated, the cremation process causes the body to evolve into heat energy, which in turn is absorbed back into the total energy mass.

Yes, this life is absolutely incredible; the trouble is that we have a habit of going around with blinkers on most of the time and miss all the wonder. But to finish on a positive note. I know that I am very fortunate to have been able to incarnate into flesh at this very special time and the purpose of my journey is to remove my blinkers and achieve enlightenment; so it’s a case of “job in progress”.

Living Proof That The Spirit Has No Boundaries

Posted on July 9, 2011 by Author Richard F Holmes

In 1995 I was in a very dark place; I’d been suffering from depression for years but had no idea. I was also in a dead-end and brain numbingly boring job, working for the Royal Mail in Swindon, Wiltshire. I desperately wanted to break free of my humdrum existence and decided to pursue something completely different and creative. I had always been a big fan of rock and blues music and like many, played a mean ham-fisted guitar. My guitars were my pride and joy and I decided I was going to become a full-time student at New College in Swindon on their BTEC ”Popular Music” course. It was a huge decision; it meant giving up full time employment and struggling by on casual jobs, such as washing pots and bar work; but I decided that I really needed the adventure. A while before the course was due to start, the college informed me they were not running the popular music course, but offered me “BTEC Performing Arts” as an alternative. I’m glad I decided to take them up on their offer because in no time at all after the onset of the course, I realised that I was not a very good guitarist after all, in fact I was just short of mediocre. I was 40 years old and attending a sixth form college, and there were kids of 16 playing guitar like Jimi Hendrix. But out of the darkness there came a light. I may have been a rubbish musician, but I found a flair for acting that I didn’t know I had; and little did I know at the time that it would be my experience on stage, both as a member of a theatre company and as a solo performer, that would prepare me for my work as a medium in the future. Anyway, I digress; this story is not meant to be about me, but I did need to paint a picture for you.

Around about Christmas time in 1995 two young students at New College (whom I didn’t know) decided they were going to race their cars up Queens Drive in Swindon on their way home. One of them tried to overtake on the inside lane and lost control of his vehicle. He mounted the grass verge and continued onto the pavement. Another young student, walking home, took the full impact of the car and was rammed into a wall. The wall was demolished and the young man left his body there and then. I didn’t know the young man; indeed I only heard about the incident from the other students in my group and ascertained that his name was Mark.

Even though I didn’t know Mark, and if he were to stand before me now I would not know that it was him, I was really struck by how deeply his passing affected the kids in my group. Seeing how touched they were, in turn, touched me. So much so that in January 1996 I was prompted from within to write a poem that I simply called ”Mark”. I came into college one day and read the poem out and showed it around. Many were touched by it and news of the poem reached Mark’s parents who, via the grapevine, requested a copy. back then computers were very much alien to me and I had written the poem by hand. I was very pleased that news of my work had reached Mark’s parents and even more pleased that they requested a copy; so it was with great joy that I hand-wrote them another. The poem was not a piece of literary genius; in fact it was a very, very simple piece of writing. But its power was in its simplicity. Now to the whole point of this article.

It is difficult for many to understand that the entire human race is one whole inter-connected family. Human logic does tend to equate with the physical form and the boundaries and limitations imposed by our much tormented minds. But to me this incident proves that time, space and physical presence are of no consequence to the Divine Spirit that is our deepest and highest truth. I never knew Mark at all, but I was touched deeply within my heart; his parents never knew me (and still don’t) but they were touched deeply in their hearts. It wasn’t our physical forms that had an impact on our respective lives; it was our very souls reaching out to each other across time and space. There is also a great symbolism within this incident that my troubled mind at the time could never have recognised. There is an example in here of The Holy Trinity* ; how creation and life in general is a series of cycles heavily influenced by the number 3. Out of love Mark’s parents (God The Father) begat Mark (God The Son) who out of his love (spirit) touched (begat) me (God The Holy Spirit). From within I wrote (begat) the poem that touched Mark’s parents, and so the cycle (the trinity) was complete. I have reproduced the poem below for what I hope is your enjoyment, and I strongly believe that the poem itself is living proof that the human spirit is not limited by a tormented mind either, as mine was at the time.

* The Holy Trinity is and always has been symbolic; it was never meant to refer to an old man with a beard (God) who had a son (Jesus) and somewhere or other there is a spirit flying around. The ultimate example of The Holy Trinity is: God The Father (the Ocean of Love that exists beyond vibratory creation), God The Son (God manifested as flesh here on earth, or the human race) and God The Holy Spirit (The Christ Concsiousness). Atainment by humans of ”Christ Consciousness (self) realisation” allows the individual soul to return to the ocean of love from whence it came, thus completing the cycle (trinity).

MARK

Gather your thoughts as you read these words

A friend has departed, the emotions are stirred

As he winds his way up to Heaven above

We think of him and extend our love

He’s happy now we surely know

But it broke our hearts to see him go

A far away land a pasture green

The most beautiful place you’ve ever seen

We shall meet you again when our time is done

In that beautiful place with the never setting sun

The flame of your memory Burns deep in our soul

And shall burn eternal ‘till the hills cease to roll

So think of us Mark from your beautiful place

And send us a postcard of your smiling face

Richard Holmes – January 1996

Video Message Of The Week #3

Posted on July 5, 2011 by Author Richard F Holmes

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Sometimes We Have To Be careful How & When We Help Those In Need #3

Posted on June 26, 2011 by Author Richard F Holmes

There were great lessons to be learned from those experiences. Not least of all, trying not to judge those who have been brought up in totally different circumstances to myself. But every day brings one of life’s great adventure and when you are in the back yard of “God in human form” you can expect to be a part of his leela (Divine play).

There were two lessons that stood out for me and I will deal with them one at a time. Firstly, Baba always used to say that the best way to achieve spiritual growth and liberation from the cycle of birth and death was plain and simple selfless service. He also used to say that in any act of service in which we engage, we should always detach from the fruit (outcome), in the knowledge that everything is his will. So, whilst our hearts were in the right place, and of course there was nothing wrong with what we tried to achieve, we made the mistake of wanting to see the outcome of our gesture and demonstrated this by participating in what should have been the end result, i.e. the giving of food etc and interacting with the people we were trying to help. Because of our failure to detach we experienced disappointment which is the result of unfulfilled desires.

Now this may sound as though I am being harsh on Ciara and myself, however, there is a very deep and profound spiritual lesson here. Feelings such as disappointment only arise because of ego attachment. Who we really are is beyond all ego and earthly illusion, and therefore transcends pleasure and pain, bitter and sweet, happiness and sadness AND fulfillment and disappointment. It is the ego-self within humans that is responsible not only for self-agrandisation but also for self-degredation; it is the ego-self within humans that prevents the individual from gaining moksha (liberation from the cycle of birth and death). In our haste to try to do a good turn or three we failed to think things out properly. There is no right or wrong in this, for right and wrong are simply relative; opposite polarities that must exist side by side in this wonderful world of paradox, which brings me to the second point.

I didn’t realise until we got back to the UK that there was actually a much easier and more effective way of helping those in need. I related my tale of woe to my friend Satyan and he told me that had we known we could have gone into the ashram office and made a donation. The amount of money we spent on packets of biscuits, soft drinks, water, books, pens, sweets and other items of food was not a great deal by UK standards, but it was a large sum of money by Indian standards. So had we known, we could have donated that money at the ashram office, and also specified where we wanted it to be spent; so much to the hungry and so much to the kids etc. For sure, we did help a few people but had we taken more time to think things out, and detached from the outcome, the money could have been used more effectively, AND Mohan would not have been able to take a cut.

So the moral of the story is sometimes we have to be careful how and when we help those in need, also, when we are in someone else’s back yard we need to know the rules.

I hope you have enjoyed this short story based on my actual experiences. If you have please click the “like” button and share on twitter and facebook, and if you haven’t already, please subscribe to my blog I would love to have you on board.

Smile and be lucky

Richard