The Hebrew word Tiphareth consists of the letters, Tav, Pei, Aleph, Resih and Tav.
Let's take a look at these letters and see if there is a deeper meaning in the name of this Sephiroth. Tav Tav begins the Hebrew word for Prayer (tefila) Tav also begins the word Tikun which means to rectify, redeem or make whole. Here is a beautiful teaching relayed by Edward Hoffman, "According to Rabbi Isaac Luna, 'Shards of the Divine fell into the world of matter, and it is the task of each person to redeem or liberate the sacred heart that lies within everything." Tav also opens the Hebrew word for teshuvah (repentance or, more accurately Hoffman explains, Return to Source). Pei The main theme of the word Pei is speech. Pei is a double letter so it delivers two messages. The positive aspect is that we should use speech positively to help other people. Also, it represents that silence is valuable. Pei begins the Hebrew words for hole or opening (poht) and door way (ptach). This means that how we speak can literally open doorways for us in our life experience. Pei is part of the word Peshat meaning, "The literal meaning," which is derived from the word "pashut" meaning simple. Pashut, also consists of the same letters as Tipesh which means childish or superficial. Aleph The first letter of the Hebrew Alphabet Aleph symbolizes unity and oneness. Aleph, because of the story that Daniela Abravanel shares about this letter, represents unique and seperate...Aleph, like the Creator, is unique and Separate. That is why this letter starts the first letter of the Ten Commandments. Aleph is the active force that works in Creation. (Similar to Atman in Hindu). Resh Reish is the letter that begins the name for Holy Spirit, the word Breath, Healing and Healer. Both Daniela Abravanel and Edward Hoffman connect Reish with meditation that encourages healing. However, Daniela points out that Reish starts the word for noise (ra'ash) and (Rosh) "Head." This condition is pretty much the same as cognitive dissonance. Meditation, which helps clear the mind and lessens the chaos, is the key to reducing cognitive dissonance. Tav As I've already covered Tav I don't think it's worth repeating a second time. However, it is important that Tav begins and ends the word Tiphareth. These ties in with the fact that Tiphareth represents balance on the Tree of Life. Just as it balance the tree of life the name itself is balanced with the energy of Tav...representing prayer. Summary A prayer (Tav) of speech (Pei) uniting (Aleph) the healing breath (Reish) to make whole (Tav). Image Impression This word is a little different then the others we have covered this far...the word starts and ends with the same letter. Pei reminds me of a crouching fearful person that has closed themselves off followed by the active principal of Aleph resulting in the open door of Reish. Taken together it's as though Tiphareth represents a prayer that people will turn from the fear and become whole again through unity with the One Creator or their Higher Self that acts as the intermediary, similar to an angel, between the Earth personality and the One Creator. As the avatar, or personality, when we awaken...we also awaken our Higher Self from the Dream of material reality. Conclusion As Tiphareth is often associated with the heart this is an amazing name for this Sephiroth. Who doesn't have a prayer in their heart for wholeness? Further, balance is so important in all avenues of life. Extremes of any sort is always detrimental to a person- from an overly athletic person who ends up in a wheel chair in their older age because they abused their body too much to the obese person who has to have just one more soda or candy bar....too much of a good or bad thing is harmful. Another symbol that I could use for this Sephiroth is a pair of scales. This doesn't mean that we are judged at this Sephiroth- that's coming up- but finding that balance is really important. Further, the balance between the intellect (mind) and the subconscious (heart) is essential. The willful heart is what desires the harmful extremes and causes knee jerk reactions in life entirely based on unrecognized selfish desire. Our intellect, on the other hand can race with over thinking driving us just as mad. The combination of these two in their extremes result in a very chaotic painful life. Meditation helps to both calm the willful heart allowing us to direct it's attention as we desire with our intentions....and quiet the over thinking mind. This balance of heart and intellect allows us to make better decisions in our life and interpret events as opportunities and obstacles instead of painfulroadblocks to what we desire. Given that we know the story of Adam Kadmon this makes sense...the prayer that lies within the heart of this part of creation is for people to wakeup from their fear and return to wholeness...so that the primordial being or over-soul can awaken.
0 Comments
I bought this book because I wanted to read something by someone who was taught traditionally about Kundalini. There are a lot of misguiding and just plain odd interpretations on Kundalini out there.
I wanted to hear what the actual Hindu tradition had to say about Kundalini...not the western interpretation. I cannot recommend this book enough! At first, I was a little discouraged because it started off with the Mythical story of Shiva and Sati...the origin of Kundalini. Each myth, as always, is a symbolic telling of a concept. Om Swami could not have started this book any other way. He then relates his story of being a successful business man that gave all of that up to become a monk. He relates his experience with waking his Kundalini and touches upon a variety of subjects. In the third part of the book he goes through each of the 7 chakras. He describes them based on depictions of the Devi's associated with the chakras. This was a fascinating alternative description to what I'd read previously but completely in alignment with what I've already read and shared. The most interesting thing, however, is that he prescribed food for working on each of the chakras. I have 21 markers in a 172 page book...which is a lot considering the last third of the book was information I already knew and didn't feel a need to mark as exceptional. I won't share all 21 passages with you but here is a small sample of the wisdom this book contains.... "When it awakens, you realize how immensely powerful you already are. You experience how there is a whole universe within you. It is your feminine energy if you are a man and your masculine energy if you are a woman. It is your passage, your path to eternal fulfillment within you." pg 39 "All said and done, Kundalini is not a physical reality. Any association of the kundalini with the physical body is ignorant at best and absurd at the wort. At the rise of the kundalini, there is no snake crawling up your spinal cord. The chakras are not physically there on your body. At the most, they are psychoneurotic plexuses. They are strategically placed wherever there is a concentration of nerves. This does not make the kundalini a mythical concept though. It is your reality, it may not be physical but it is perceptible. The soul cannot be proved, even consciousness for that matter has no physical existence, yet without consciousness we cannot even do the most basic of chores. Similarly, the awakening of the kundalini or piercing of the chakras is as real as the sun, moon and stars." pg 42 "The real transformation upon the awakening of kundalini is that you shed your old tendencies and negativity like a snake sheds its old skin. You no longer feel angry or flustered over trivial matters unlike the earlier times. Your emotions and thoughts don't overpower and trample all over you anymore. You beginto gain control of yourself. 'Supernormal' streams of creativity and energy gush forth at the awakening, surprising even you with talents you never thought you had." pg 43 "Our negative views about ourselves, our emotions and attachments have twisted our passage of kundalini. It stands wrung. Just like if you scold a small child, he might just curl up in fear and lie in his bed, kundalini too is culred up and lying down in your root chakra...It is so because we are almost conditioned to be afraid of ourselves.We are afraid of making mistakes or making decisions. We are even afraid of doing things right and we want someone else to validate what we have done. In fear, you never sleep with your legs stretched out, you always curl up a bit." pg 44 "On the path of awakening all knots must be untied. The umbilical cord must be cut if you want to discover an identity of your own. We wouldn't know how deeply we are attached to something until we distance ourselves from it." pg 50 "As a sadhak progresses and rises above his sexual thoughts and thoughts of creation, a kind of stillness starts to brew in his mind, undercurrents of restlessness subside and a sense of gratitude arises naturally, "Truly, I have everything," like a fully bloomed flower attracts bees naturally, a mind that has gone beyond creation and procreation attracts thoughts of a different nature. Tangled in the second knot now, different desires sprout in the mind." pg 59 "No matter how hard or how badly entangled is a knot, you cannot lose it by pulling on it. Frustration or intolerance has no role or room in Kundalini meditation...Some examination, a bit of observation, a lot of patience and a great deal of effort to untie is required. No knot is hard enough then. If you walk the path and not give up, you will get the results exactly as expected." pg 63 "Mind becomes eternal when it becomes still," the rishi continued, "No change is possible without movement. Truth is still, and that's why it's eternal." pg 74 "The latent energy of kundalini is present in all of us like fire in wood. Our fears and conditioning hold us back. They plunge our creative energy to the bottom most chakra and we end up using it for petty things for the most part of our lives. And through the years we spend living, majority of the the time is spent in either battling with ourselves or with others." pg 76 "Each one of us has two minds, you know. Our positive mind is like the beautiful musk deer. It runs through the jungle of emotions and thoughts spreading fragrance. It is swift, agile, and confident and it doesn't collide. It carves its own path. So is our negative mind, unfortunately, which is like an ugly cockroach with two irritating antennas of self-doubt and negativity. It walks through our delicious food of hope, our clean home of dreams. It breeds rapidly. It reminds you constantly that you don't have it in you or that you don't deserve it." pg 86 "In fact, good concentration leads to good meditation. Concentration is the act of building focus and meditation is the art of retaining it without losing awareness. Success in piercing of chakras depends on the quality of your meditation. The better the quality of your one pointed concentration, the quicker and longer-lasting are the results." pg 96 "With each step you make on the path of the kundalini sadhana, you unlock a new level of your consciousness. The clarity of your thoughts begins to improve noticeably. Your memory improves and an inexplicable stillness arises in the body. You feel more grounded, you find it had to react to others criticism, and you begin to maintain an awareness without being affected about what is going on around you. You start to see that your thoughts have started manifesting in real life, they begin to materialize." pg 102
Reish is fascinating.
First, to know that Ra is the Jewish word for evil makes you think about the Egyptian Sun God Ra. When I here someone say there name is Ra on some level I wonder if they realize what it means in the Jewish language. The fact that the Hebrew had a concept of dissonance is fascinating. The way it is called noisey head reminds me of the Sumerian story of the flood. Humans made so much noise Enki decided to try and get rid of them by sending the flood to kill all of us. In the bible the story is a little more complex but it is fascinating. Some say the Hebrew Bible is based on Sumerian myths but I'm not of that school of thought. Enjoy meditaating on the concept of Right Mind which is essentially the same thing as Buddha's Right Thinking. Through sheer synchronicity I happened to check my subscriptions and one of the ASMR artists that I follow posted this video the day before I posted this blog and my video. I have had my video on Reish recorded and planned since July (roughly four months ago) so this sort of thing cannot be planned. I hope you enjoy the ASMR Reiki video below that Lune Innate for Quieting your mind.
As you listen to the sound meditation concentrate on the Hebrew letter.
When the sound meditation ends get out your journal and write down any thoughts, impressions or ideas that came into your mind no matter how odd. |
Author:
Thank You For Visiting
Brave Soul! May Your Journey On The Path Of The Seeker Bring You Joy and Peace! I'm currently posting every Saturday. With a new addition the family I have pre-scheduled most posts through December 2022. Full Moon Posts will contain up-to-date content when I can get to them. Thank you so much for your support and understanding! This is a place where you can encounter new spiritual ideas that have helped me develop as an Individual On The Path of the Seeker. Take or Leave this information as you see fit. Archives
April 2024
|