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						SATSANG #12 7/13/05 A Non-Dualist Perspective on the London Bombings
		The following is a letter I wrote to a storyteller list I belong to. The list is very international and so many of my fellow American tellers were sending their condolences and support to our storyteller friends in England. This is a basic warm response between human beings who care for one another. However, in doing so we can easily get ourselves caught up in the drama of good versus evil, or in the simple fact that we think we know what is good in the great sceme of things or what is bad. As a storyteller, I do not tell tales of wisdom for entertainment purposes, just to be forgotton after the telling. Instead, these tales can change our lives if we allow them into our souls, to be reflected upon, to be remembered and to act upon. They remind us that situations that we find ourselves in are never what they appear to us at first while we are in the midst of the occurence. There is always a reason for that situationthat makes the story what it is. And we are all living in a story called history. It is too easy when people are hurt or worse to rally around and support the sense of being a victim. I see it daily as a teacher when one child is hurt by another and a group of friends gather around "in support" of their victimized friend, as they point their fingers at the victimizer. Yet what they are truly supporting is that the world is full of bad things that are out there waiting to happen. This event in London, like such events all around the world, are no different than what happens on the playground--just that they are on a larger scale. What the stories teach us is that these 'misfortunes' are events that either give us new powers or awaken us to latent abilities, or are catalysts for our enlightenment. Ramana Maharshi would often say that when we are having happy dreams we do not want to wake up; but when we are having a nightmare we will wake up! Yet how many people want to hear that. There is a story in the Tripura Rahasya, which is a collection of non-dualist/shakti teachings and stories, reminiscent of Yoga Vasistha, where a king is taken into a hill by a yogi adept. The yogi, by the force of a focused mind, had created a whole universe within the hill, complete with gods. The king is given a tour of this magnificent creation. After a day in the hill they exit and the king finds that 10,000 years have passed. He falls down in shock. When he comes to he is grief stricken and the yogi asks why. The king wails that he has lost everyone. The yogi reminds him that his kingdom that once existed and is now no more than a jungle, or the mountains that have become plains, or the plains that have become mountains, is all inevitable; for it is the way of the world where all forms change. What is born will die. But this world of passing forms cannot touch the Eternal Self that the king really is. After a while of resisting this Truth the King goes beyond the swirling poolof thoughts and rests in his Infinite Nature and becomes enlightened. The world is a great teacher, filled with stories, and all of us playing our roles--whether we be the good guys or the bad ones. That is why I have been drawn to the Indian tales where even the Rakshasas, the demons, have their Dharma to perform in this Play of Consciousness, otherwise known as Leela. This non dualist view is also found in The Bible in the Book of Job. I love this tale where the devil goes right up to the throne of God and is given permission to test the devotion and wisdom of Job. He has his part to play, completely sanctioned by God. I shake my head when the news once more blasts--as it does on a daily basis-- the trumpets of victim-hood, where good and evil continue to fight, keeping the terror alive that we are nothing but bodies that can be torn apart. May we all remember what Krishna told Arjuna on the battlefield in the Bhagavad Gita: "He who takes the Self to be the slayer and he who thinks  He is slain, neither of them knows. He slays not, nor is He slain." There is only One Consciousness and we are That. Wishing all those in sorrow Peace, Janaka 2005 Janaka Stagnaro www.janakastagnaro.com