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DVORAH'S STORY....
I came to the United States on the General Moore, a ship that landed in New York Harbor 57 years ago. My father held me on his shoulders so I could see the Statue of Liberty holding her torch of hope and welcome. We were refugees from Nazi Germany, spared from the ovens and on our way to a distant uncle in Los Angeles, who was willing to take us in and offer us citizenship. I still remember the cheers when we finally hit shore. America! We were safe.

My mother ended up working as a line-man in a Cheetos factory, and my father, a tailor made clothes for Lucille Ball. On Saturdays my Mom and I would go downtown to get colored blouses to match the skirts my Dad made, so I’d look well-dressed for school.

I remember being 8 years old, sitting alone on the grass at Queen Anne Park in South Los Angeles (we lived in a ghetto), eating my lunch, when I notice that a dozen young black boys coming my way, first walking, then running and then shouting. I froze. They encircled me, I couldn’t move. I tried to get up and one of them pushed me down again. Suddenly, a huge older black man came running up shouting at the young boys, “Leave her alone! You punks, get outta here!” They scattered, I ran home. Saved again, but for what?

One morning, my father wakes me up, “Get up Dvorah, You’re Mother’s in the hospital”. We rush to the hospital, my mother’s dead – a heart attack at 40. One day she’s making me breakfast for school, the next day she’s gone. I looked for her in the streets of Los Angeles for years, only to discover she was really gone. But where did she go? That’s a question that stayed with me. How can someone be here one second, and gone the next? It was all like a dream. And then the eternal questions began. What’s it all about? Why am I here? How is it possible that a person, my mother could just disappear?

Years went by, I rocked n rolled on the Dick Clark show, graduated high school still a virgin; and at nineteen married the first good-looking guy that resembled Elvis. It was the 60’s. I remember riding my bike through Griffith Park listening to a hot local band called, “the Doors”. I fell in love with Van Morrison. Then the LA riots came! I was huddled in my apartment pregnant at 20 with my first child. What was happening in “my America”.

From that day on, I got involved. I marched for Civil Rights, singing “We shall Over Come” at rallies until my throat was raw. I taught parents and pre-schoolers in East LA and Watts, while gunshots were firing outside. I felt part of Martin Luther King’s vision - I had a Dream, and I was dedicated to making this a better world – my parents and I were not saved so we could eat apple pie and watch television. It had to be for a greater purpose.

One day, at a picnic with my husband and 3-year-old son, I had a strong urge to leave immediately. “Come on, let’s pack up and go! It’s time to go home!” I was so insistent that he got up immediately, and we all started walking towards the car. We heard a loud noise and looked up to see a car careening off the road and landing up-side-down exactly where we’d been sitting. Crazy! Unbelievable. And saved again. Why?

I went to San Francisco, left my son and husband for a couple of months and marched against the war. I hung out with the underground freedom fighters, hoping to change the world – it was in a mess, AGAIN! I had never done drugs, but one day a guy handed me a joint. “Go ahead, try it. It won’t hurt you.” Why not, I thought. I took a couple of drags and fell asleep.

I woke up the next morning – and everything looked different. I walked to Haight- Ashbury Park, looked up at the trees and sky – and they were vibrating, sparkling, as was everything and everyone, including me. Things were not as they appeared to be. We were not solid. Everything blended. The Trees, the rocks, the people, my hand, we were all vibrating in unison. We were all ONE.

I went back to the apartment I was staying, and noticed a book on table. It was by Allan Watts called, “This Is It!” I took the next plane home to Los Angeles and learned to meditate. Dope was not my path – meditation was. I became a teacher of Transcendental Meditation. I wanted to know what was real and fair in a world that seemed so unreal and so unfair. For me the ticket was looking inside this body and mind – where else could I go for answers?

I meditated for 30 years, teaching meditation all over the world. I Studied with some of the greatest Masters and Madmen – and still knew nothing. I talked the Advaita talk and cried the Bhakti prayer and had the usual spiritual answers about past lives, energy, consciousness etc. I had the rhetoric down. But I “knew” nothing. This may have been “It” according to Allan Watts, but I wasn’t IT!

And then, one day, a rainbow shinning through a window landed on top of my hand. I looked at all the colors - mesmerized in amazement. “How could something so unreal, look so real?” It looked as if true colors were painted on my hand, and yet it was only a reflection. I felt a switch go off in my brain. This world is not as it appears to be. The ONENESS I’d experienced in Haight-Ashbury came flooding back. This division, this unhappiness in myself and others, was like a mass hypnosis, an illusion, like the rainbow shinning on my hand.

All I can say, is there is deep peace in the middle of this world that appears to be so chaotic, uncaring and random. There is deep knowledge that you can ONLY BE, and sounds so ridiculous and trite when you talk about it. Anyone Can Wake Up to their True Peaceful Enlightened Nature in the midst of heartbreak and confusion. That Possibility, that Invitation exists for Everyone.

Now if a broken little girl, who came from the heart of Hell in Nazi Germany, can Awake to the Heart of Peace in America – I say anything is Possible.

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Dear Darling M:
Most people cannot accept themselves. They can't accept their thoughts, their feelings, their decisions, their actions...they wish they could change them and they spend a lifetime, regretting what they've said and done and that relates outward into their relationships, into the world.

They can't stand what happens in the world, and then they can't stand God for making it happen. They hate him, they love him, they fear him, they adore him and on and on. It's a life-long struggle with: gimme/gimme, blessme/blessme/saveme/sav

eme, loveme/loveme....BUT THERE IS NO PEACE, with themselves, with the world, with God.

They're always struggling, maneuvering, pleading with God to make life different then it is. Always wanting to control their bodies, minds, earthly or celestial worlds. Always wanting life to go "their way", how they envision it. It's great to have a cause, to make things better for yourself and others, so why not do your bit and recognize that life has a way of doing it's own thing regardless of your desires and efforts. Many times it will go your way - but often it won't.

I tell you it's a waste of life to constantly fight with all your thoughts and emotions and desires and efforts. It's time to relax and accept yourself exactly as you are and recognize that your struggles are a product of the mind, of Life itself. It's time to say: Hey, this is my personality, this is my life, this is the world and I do the best I can, even if I think I don't.

Look-if you've already come this far, to ask this question of a crazy Dvorahji on the internet, speaking some radical truth --then why not go completely WILD? WHY not just JUMP in and accept yourself exactly as you are and BE HAPPY? What have you got to lose, confusion, doubt, unhappiness, regret, guilt, misery? Go Ahead honey - Jump In!

Love you, Dvorah
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ASK DVORAHJI: HOW TO FINALLY BE FREE, LISTEN UP!

Dear Dvorahji:
Praying for my own liberation.
With Great love
xx your L

My Darling:
it's very very simple...are you ready???

Is God Everything? Is he omnipotent and does he know everything and does he do everything? if you're answer is "yes" to all the questions, then you have nowhere to go, except to say:

If he is everything and he knows everything and he does everything - THEN I AM NOT THE DOER - AND I AM NOT TO BLAME FOR ANYTHING - AND I REALLY CAN'T TAKE THE CREDIT EITHER - SO let me praise him and know that everything is taken care OF and in EVERY CASE, ABSOLUTELY EVERY CASE OF MY LIFE 'If it could be different, it would be different" - NO EXCEPTIONS, EVER

(from the sexual thought I just had to the judgmental thought I just had, to the 'I hate that person" thought I just had, to that euphoria I just felt, to the longing for God, to the vision of a past life, to the angel I just saw, to the depression I just felt, to the twinkie plus the junk chicken I just ate) ALL OF IT IS DONE BY GOD - NO EXCEPTION....

AND NOW - my sweet girl, if you can say yes and yes and yes again, while your screaming at the world, YOU ARE FREE! All your concerns and worries are a MIND TRIP and you are tripping like everyone else who thinks they are not free!

Stop tripping and say YES! and stop praying and JUST SAY YES!! OK? Love you madly your friend, Dvorah-gee

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OK, LET'S FINALLY GET YOU ENLIGHTENED!

I've gotten several requests to post this again - so here it is love Dvorah-gee!)

Ok, Darlings, let's get to it! Let's get YOU "Enlightened"! You've been meditating and doing your program, doing good deeds, and eating your vegetables. You've given up meat, chicken and sex (in that order) and now you're thinking about going to an ashram, probably in India, or Germany or somewhere the Sattva is "high", and the teachers are disciplined and dedicated.

You've sworn to evolve and finally be free of all your ignorance and unhappiness, and maybe this time it will last - unlike all the other times when it turned into the same-old, same-old. That's why you saved all your money again, didn't pay your school loan, skipped Christmas with the family, chartered a plane to the Himalayas, because evolving, is more important to you than life itself.

Darlings, I'm here to save you A LOT OF MONEY, and and a lot of needless concern over your constant searching-itch that's led you to years of unfulfillment & useless tears. You plead with God, the Divine, Buddha, Jesus, the Guru, Mother Mary and your favorite lucky charm, to SAVE YOU from the torments of your own mind and fabricated stories of possibilities & spiritual success. So Let's DO IT already! Let's get YOU Enlightened, OK?

First let's start with one of the first concept you have about Enlightenment:

1. Enlightenment is a goal. I will only get there after I've climbed the mountain of samskara (world of misery, karma, Haagen Das, chocolate and videos). After I get really disciplined, the truth/the Self will be revealed to me.

FIRST OF ALL - enlightenment is not a goal, IT'S YOUR NATURE. You don't have to climb Mount Everest or get rid of your psychological traumas or clean your chakras. It is your Nature, everything else, and I mean EVERYTHING ELSE is a thought, a concept, an idea, something you read somewhere, something someone told you, something you believe. You can still be the "normal/bad" person you think you are and be "enlightened".

Enlightenment means finally recognizing your Nature, what you've always been RIGHT HERE in front of your nose. YOU ARE the silence and the thoughts and images that appear to "override" the silence that you long for. YOU ARE EVERYTHING.

Karma, Misery, the world of pleasure and pain are all ideas projected from the mind, which loves playing and seeing and sensing and feeling everything it can. It is not your Nature, yet you are THAT TOO. If you want to "get enlightened", RELAX with everything you're doing to get there and take a breather from all that feverish doing. Enjoy your programs & processes instead of technique-ing them into misery.

Your feverishness is not going to get you there any faster. Why? Because enlightenment is a "tweak" in perception. You suddenly get it, and even after you get it, you sometimes have to get it again and again and again. WHY? BECAUSE IT SO SIMPLE. You are enlightenment right NOW and you're still searching for it. Honestly, it's ridiculous how hard you work to get a little "enlightening" experience just to plummet into misery again. UP & down like a yo-yo, hoping the Divine will take mercy on you and cut the string.

THIS IS IT! Right here and right now. The chair you're sitting on, the dog you're petting, the letter you're writing, the music you're listening to, the socks you're wearing - everything that you're doing, looking at, thinking about is IT at this moment. If you sit down right now and close your eyes you will sense a quietude, a space inside you. There may be thoughts, but inbetween those thoughts, you'll notice some stillness - and that IS YOU. THAT'S WHO YOU ARE.

IN meditation or activity, when there are no thoughts and the silence is thick within, THERE YOU ARE. And when you get out of meditation and you start thinking again and the world comes in again (problems, duties, your mother) and the activity is appearing on the screen of your silence-KNOW THAT the silence HAS NOT GONE AWAY. IT IS STILL THERE. Silence and thoughts - all of it is YOU! A constant Happening on the screen of silence.

That Silence, that space, that emptiness (no thought, no feeling no nothing) is YOU. That is your Nature. That is your God, your Buddha, your Christ, your Guru. Right there, always right there. Do you Get IT? Or will you continue to look for it and refuse to believe the simplicity of it?

Why not take a chance and see where it leads you. Sit down, Be the Silence and watch the thoughts, your world, the universe come up again on the screen of Silence - all of that is YOU - YOU ARE EVERYTHING
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ANOTHER AWESOME PERSPECTIVE ON LIFE'S HAPPENING

(This perspective is by Nathan Gill a really coooooool friend of mine, I thought you'd enjoy it, it's pretty outrageous, so don't bother to think about it, just read it and breath it in, let it blow your mind and let it go........)

Dear Dvorah,
There's no right or wrong way of explaining what appears, because it doesn't need explanation, although I like your comic book analogy. Here's another way that I would probably tend to use to explain the appearance of a continuum.

Nothing ever happened. Quite simply, there are no separate movements that ever appeared and then disappeared. Rather, a 'past' is only presently spontaneously generated thoughts - which aren't pictures of events that purportedly actually DID happen and have now been supposedly consigned to memory.

So 'success' or 'failure' (themselves only concepts) are presently reinforced as being the supposed consequences of a story that only actually arises PRESENTLY in relation to the success or failure (or whatever other) concepts. So a story arises NOW about success or failure, in conjunction with the story of what caused that success or failure. And all of this story telling has absolutely no influence on the ACTUALITY of what simply IS right now.

Flabbergasting really, when you think of it, although I know you're not going to, hee hee! And when attention remains relaxed right here, and doesn't drift into storyville, then what is there about the is-ness of THIS that could be called success, failure, or anything else.

Further, there isn't a mind that is looking to make sense of things, because the mind itself is only another story, it doesn't actually exist. Look for it now and it will be conspicuous in it's absence!

Hope you are well...Love Nathan

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HOW LONG WILL YOU CONTINUE TO PLAY THIS DRAMA?-SRI SRI

This is the line that did it for me!! I was sitting and listening to Astavakra with my eyes closed as usual and I heard Sri Sri voice in tape say, " When Will You Get it?" and a Big NOW flashed in my head and the concepts started to unravel...everything, and I mean everything was a concept. Nothing had any substance to it. It all vanished into thin air every time I perceived any long held ideas, spiritual principles, family, any ideas of attachment of thought or form...Everything and IMEAN EVERYTHING comes and goes. The only thing that doesn't come and go is YOUR NATURE.

Now that doesn't mean it's not "real or unreal"...it just means it has no substance, it COMES & then it GOES. So that every moment of your life, thoughts, ideas, images, actions EVERYTHING that defines this life is a HAPPENING, thrown on the screen of SELF. It's so seamless as to appear as if it were a continuous life of movement and importance, when in essence these images are just like a flip-book of images....each individual image appearing to move continuously in motion as your life's happening. Very Unimaginably Crazy Cooool!

That's why my Darlings, it's time to have fun, relax with all this nonsense in your head and just flow with your life AS IS without all this guilt and remorse over your thoughts and actions...live your life FLIPPING THROUGH THE PAGES: Laughing, crying, screaming, loving, praying, yogaing, meditating, depressing, saddening, yagyaing, complaining, talking and generally causing trouble and fun all over the world and beyond!
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WHAT ABOUT SADNESS?

Dear Dvorahji:
...You gave breath to my sad heart .. :) thanx ton :)
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Dear Darling:
Sadness like everything else comes and goes, however while it's there it can be difficult and we feel alone. This feeling of separation, of being alone in this world is one of the main reasons for sadness and depression. I'm here to tell you that it is LITERALLY IMPOSSIBLE to be alone in the world, just IMPOSSIBLE.

Look at Nature-even if you plant one bulb and get only one flower, it has at least one leaf to keep it company. A bird drops out of it's nest alone, yet falls on the grass to keep it company. A baby left in a crib alone, has it's finger for company. Even physically, you are never alone, everything is there for company - from a chair to a computer to a tree to a piece of chocolate to your own finger.

When I was a little girl, even a teen ( I was an only child), I'd talk to my hand, if I got lonely. After all it was living thing and it moved toooo! We are never alone, everything is there to be our friend. I remember one day looking at all the trees standing so tall and beautiful and thinking: "My God, those trees are my best friends and they are giving me a standing ovation just for Being Dvorah!"

This connection that we have with ALL THINGS (alive or not) is our true friend. This feeling, this space that we are-never ever leaves us. Why? Because it is our true Nature, that's why it's impossible to be alone.

Next time you feel sad, see if you can feel that COMFORT in your sadness, as the tears themselves offer love and release. You are never alone, I am ALWAYS with you, it's impossible to be separate from YOURSELF, just impossible.
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BARRY & ALL KINDS OF SCHLOCK...

Barry darling - Unfortunately God didn't give me Glory, but lots of pitta! All I've ever desired is that I always "get what I want immediately". Of course that has been impossible, so I have settled for just BEING as happy as I can". I've read David Hawkins and I know people think he's so great - but honestly all that knowledge gives me a headache and will drill holes in your head. You'd do better by reading Tagore, Whittman, God is Fun, Course of Miracles, or try Tony Parsons, Ramana. They're so simple and amazing without writing 400 pages. Why fill your mind with more psychological and spiritual conceptual dribble, when you can go for a swim or drown in love and awe?

Now that I think of it, I think it's better that you don't review my book on your radio show - It really wouldn't fit in with the other books and movies you're reviewing. It's like reviewing a story by Vasistha - people read it but no one believes it, it's just too easy and unbelievable to really accept fully.

Peace and liberation seems to be so much harder in the seekers mind. That's why we read so much, do so much, meditate so much, pray so much and cry so much. All that to discover what is already THERE. All that constant sorrow and elaborate search to discover who we are and to find a little peace. Doesn't it make sense that if we believe in God and He is Everything, that we see that EVERYTHING IS HIS WILL? Why get so caught up in things that are not "our" fault, always wondering what "we" did wrong. If you want to blame someone - Blame GOD and give him hell for me!

And you know, it's time I took myself out of the "New Age arena", it's so boring. There will be those that will read "Shut Up An Ancient Mantra for Complete Happiness" and find great comfort, peace, and freedom-NOW. Others will think, "what a cute book, chuckle for awhile and leave with the same head full of concepts they had before.

Everything in it's own time. But as for me - I'm tired of watching people eat all the "fantasy schlock" they've been fed. There are plenty of authors piling on concept after concept in the name of enlightenment, happiness and "getting better". That's just not my trip.

I'm here to say: "ENOUGH - I LOVE YOU, I ALWAYS HAVE, I ALWAYS WILL. Relax and have some tea, OR chocolate. Watch a bird, the ocean, a video, whatever! Relax, things are exactly as they should be even if they don't appear that way: And there is nothing you could've, should've or would've done to make it different..

So it's not your fault that life is the way it is. IT IS "GOD'S WILL" Or Consciousness or whatever you call it. Relax and drop all that guilt, shame, what ifs and Be Happy!

The greatest yagya you could ever do is to be happy, to smile, not to worry. If you want to change the world, START WITH THAT.

Now darling Barry - I'm amazed at your stamina and all the responsibility you've been given and how well you deal with it. I find you simple ADORABLE & COURAGEOUS! Much love to you and your family and I wish them the very best and special love to your wife, how amazing she is, and tell her she'll always be FINE. much love Dvorah
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HOW DO YOU MAKE THE RIGHT CHOICES?

Darling dear mom!!!
How are you? I drew inspiration from your every note, but tell me one thing:
Every human has this knack of being or doing right always, but sometimes u desperately want to be right. How to chose your path in such situations??
love P...
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DARLING:
You eventually always make a choice don't you??? and no matter what you choose, it has a trillion consequences and choices after that one choice, right? if you are observant about your past choices you will see that various things came together to help you move in one direction or other...

I know you want to make the "right" choice but that's like finding the right pair of shoes for a dress. It's right at the moment and then the shoes gets too big or too small or out of date. Every choice is right at the moment...SORRY BUT IN THE BIGGER PICTURE (from my perspective) there are no right and wrong choices.

Each choice carries it's own happiness and misery...& leads to many more choices that carry the same.... That's why you make the best choice you can and keep moving along - because any other choice you made would not have been ANY BETTER, even tho it seems that way.

For Example: Look at any movie star...They signed a contract, right choice? they became famous and with that choice came a tremendous amount of ups & downs and choices that took them in many happy and miserable directions and always having to continue to make choices that look great one moment and the next DON'T...SEE IT GOES ON AND ON...with relationships, with jobs, with Gurus with spiritual techniques, with food choices with everything...ALWAYS THINKING & THINKING ABOUT NONSENSE.."Did I make the right choice???" The answer to that is ALWAY, "YES, BUT IT DIDN'T TURN OUT SO WELL (OR IT DID), SO I'LL MAKE ANOTHER"... And you keep on keeping on and making more choices..and .Just moving along!

ANYWAY, THERE IS NO WAY ON EARTH YOU COULD MAKE A DIFFERENT CHOICE THAN YOU DID. (If it could be different, It would be!) You just "think" you could have made a better choice...but that's ridiculous thinking that leads to continuous unnecessary unhappiness.

Whatever choice you make is perfect...get over this "desperately wanting to make the right choice"...because you WILL MAKE THE RIGHT CHOICE. What choice do you have??? LIFE IS A HAPPENING AND THERE IS ONLY THE APPEARANCE OF CHOICE.....so relax with the outcome and make another choice (best that you can), and that's how your life moves along.... Ok??? love Dvorah

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ASK DVORAHJI: WHY DO MY LIFE CHOICES STILL CAUSE ME REGRET?

"Your concept in the mind that things should be a certain way causes pain in the mind. The cause of distress is set concepts in the mind" --Sri Sri

AGAIN - If It Could Be Different, It Would BE Different!...If you could have made another choice you would have, don't you think? IF you could have said that differently without getting angry, you would have, right? If you could have walked away from that extra piece of cake, you would have, right?

You blame yourself for NONSENSE...IF It could go YOUR WAY - don't you think you would have gotten the trick by now? No matter how much you pray and meditate and chant and yagya and positive think - IT still somehow goes IT'S WAY.. the way of LIFE ITSELF.

Think about it? How many yagyas have been done in the name of peace, health, and happiness for humanity? How many great Saints and great people have we had with thousands if not millions of people praying on their behalf so they would get well or wouldn't die? Did it work? Sometimes, only when IT DID. BUT for the most part life has done IT'S OWN THING.

If you want to continue to suffer and regret your choices & the way your life "happens" for you every day - well, what can I do? BUT if you want to be FREE of all this nonsense- then you'll realize that IF IT COULD BE DIFFERENT, IT WOULD BE (use it like a mantra when it's not going the way you like) - and move along, doing what you need to do and just keep on keeping ON.

Good Lord Darling - give it a rest ALREADY!
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WHY DO YOU HAVE TO GO TO THE HIMALAYAS TO FIND GOD?

(I just saw some pictures of a pilgrimage in India-talking to the big Holy Guns or are they Holy water pistols?)

So much longing, so much trekking to the ends of the earth to ask the man in the cave in "holy" India, "Who is GOD?" And for some reason the Swami or Guru or Sadhu you ask is always a skinny little shriveled up happy guy, with bright eyes, dread locks and bad/no teeth, standing in the water leaning on a stick.

You usually ask him the same old questions and He usually says the same old stuff (with a translator): "Why God is here and there, in the stick, in the water, in me, in you and yada, yada, yada, yada, yada...."

You'll listen, take a blessing, put your hands together in Namaste and end up in the same place that you were - before going to another cave to ask the next "saintly apparition in the cave" about God & Spirituality...

There's nothing wrong with trekking to India or wherever and going on pilgrimages, It could be really fun & beautiful - but good lord when will you stop begging for God, thinking HE exists MORE in the happy little shriveled-up old man then HE does IN YOU???????

There are lots of authentic HOLY Good-Looking gurus (they don't have to be Indian) right here in the USA. If you're lucky they'll stick a mirror in front of your face when you greet them. And when you ask them, "Where is God?", they'll point at you, Laugh their heads off and throw Godiva prasad at you.

Why not just hang out with the healthy/beautiful Gurus with good teeth, who comes to visit you? Why does it always have to be the broken looking Sadhu limping along the Ganges that turns you on? Tapas, does not necessarily a Guru make, either does physical or mental suffering - especially now-a-days...

Oh well, whatever turns you on is perfect for you and makes me happy...!

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ASK DVORAHJI: WHY IS LIFE SO DYSFUNCTIONAL?

OK Honey - Do you think getting out of bed, falling & landing in the hospital,functinal. Or relationship hassles functional? (mother, father, sister, boyfriend on & on)

Do you think living your life as a good person. giving to charity, serving w/a smile, then getting breast cancer functional?

"Dysfunctional" is a STUPID word the psychologists made up to tell people how dysfuncional their life is when its NOT going the way it SHOULD!

I have never seen a family or situation that was NOT dysfunctional one way or other. LIfe (just look at your own life) is one dysfunctional moment after another w/Functional moments (your way).

Life's functional moments always have a TWIST at the end. I.E. You get that great job & your co-worker smokes OR Your kid got an A but he's sick OR your Guru finally gave you a rose but gave the person next to you a huge hug. It's alway one functional/dysfunctional moment after another.

So I repeat: LIFE IS DYSFUNCTIONAL-ACCEPT IT AND FINALLY BE HAPPY!

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MURDERS, CHILD MOLESTERS, ETC..

DVORAHJI:
What about WARS, MURDER, RAPE, ABORTIONS, CHILD MOLESTATIONS, GENOCIDE - How do you explain that? Are they just a happening, so do we just say "if it could be different, it would be different" and let it go at that? Where does our compassion, our caring come in?

Dear ONE:
FIrst tell me if you're ready to hear a completely new way of looking at things. I'm not asking you to believe me, because everything needs to be verified through your own "understanding" or it's useless to you. So for now if you're interested, let 's keep an open mind, and then you can decide for yourself, OK? Let's start with war (which is the example for all the rest, since all of them are events in consciousness, in life) and comes and goes.

When a war happens, many events and factors have to come into play before it actually breaks out at the moment it does. All the thoughts, feelings, preparations miss-understandings, confusions, discussions etc are all HAPPENINGS that occur before the main event. All the attempts of people to stop the war, to fight against the war, to cry for the children of the war, to bring food, have demonstrations against the war: Plus all the efforts to maintain the war by people sacrificing themselves to kill people for some ideal ARE ALSO HAPPENINGS.

HOWEVER: That doesn't mean we don't have compassion and love and do whatever we can to bring peace or EASE THE SUFFERING. Our efforts of love are also a HAPPENING and so are our distain and hatred of the evil-doers. If you decide somewhere along the line to truly be at peace with the in-comprehensible contradictions in life - YOU WILL SEE VERY CLEARLY that no ONE is to blame for anything. Not the Russians, not the Japanese, not Iran, NOT Hitler. NO ONE. You will see them as a HAPPENING on the field of LIFE. An intriguing drama with an incredible amount of suffering and triumph Understanding this, you will still sue the doctor that botched the operation, and still put the child molester in jail (those are also happenings).

It's a HAPPENING doesn't mean you DON'T CURSE & HATE HITLER OR FEEL GREAT ANGER Towards him and what he did to so many beautiful, innocent people. IT doesn't mean we don't cry every time we see a picture of a beautiful child that was murdered and naturally cry out for justice. EVERYTHING WE DO or don't DO is ALSO A HAPPENING. The very WORST and the very BEST are all playing out on the field of LIFE and our intentions and reactions are ALL PART of that HAPPENING.

WARS, MURDER, RAPE, CHILD MOLESTATIONS, GENOCIDE are part of the story of life, and WE, the compassionate ones, react to those horrors in a more loving way and try to stop them. Knowing it's a story, doesn't stop anyone from all the feelings and thoughts they have about it (they just don't get stuck on them). As a matter of fact, that's why I love movies where the bad guys get it! Because Wars get me enraged, and I want to see the bad guys die. I love my happy endings, and I cry easily with pride when I see someone do a good deed and save the day. Your reactions to these horrors don't change because you know LIFE IS A HAPPENING. As a matter of fact you sometimes have even more compassion at the plight that people have to go through in this "appearance" (that includes yourself).

Look, if you want to continue to break your head over these issues, what can I do? But you asked me, so at least consider my perspective. It's true from my point of view, that if some of these horrible situations COULD BE DIFFERENT, THEY WOULD BE DIFFERENT. However, it's also true that knowing that, you still continue to do (in your own way) all that you can do, to lessen the sufferings of others. Why? Because THAT'S WHAT YOU DO AND THAT IS ALSO A HAPPENING. We naturally send prayers, give aid in anyway we can and offer our compassion and love, or NOT (if that's not our happening).

BUT- if we are REALLY ready to be FREE, we will know deep in our BEING/Heart THAT EVERYTHING IS ALL RIGHT and always has been. And that no matter how absurd or heartbreaking life appears to be, WE (all life and humanity) ARE LOVE, WE ARE SAFE and IF IT COULD BE DIFFERENT (at that moment in time) - IT WOULD BE.

Blessings (although you don't need them) love, your friend, dvorah

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THE SPIRITUAL SEEKER & DEPRESSION...

Dawn said:"being depressed is not the same as my truer self". This is where the seeker GETS ALL SCREWED UP!

Everytime seekers have an experience that isn't up to par with their "evolving conscious point of view", they think they screwed up "spiritually" in some way. Maybe they didn't chant meditate or have enough positive thoughts that day. Either way they have the ILLUSION that they aren't living their TRUE SELF. Somehow their true self is only connected to positive experiences. When they get depressed or out of sorts, many times they feel they're not CONNECTED.

THIS IS THE MISTAKE OF THE INTELLECT. and is NOT true. If it's called theTRUE SELF where could it go? If it's YOU, where could it go? If it's PERMANENT, where could it go? You are ALWAYS CONNECTED TO BEING/LOVE. NO EXCEPTIONS EVER! Depressed or in Samadhi SAME THING. YOU ARE ALWAYS CONNECTED, That's why you are always safe, even tho it doesn't appear that way. There is only ONE and that ONE also emits an infinite amount of experiences, and one of those experiences is depression and the opposite is Bliss...that's why it's absured to think that you can be in bliss all the time. It's an experience, like any other. IT IS NOT PERMANENT any more than the experience of depression is permanent.

LIFE IS A HAPPENING, LOVE IS YOUR NATURE whether you get depressed or NOT. YOU are always your TRUE SELF. The Seeker needs to RELAX with his experiences and see them for what they are, part & parcel of the SELF, NOT SEPARATE FROM THE SELF. IT IS ALL SELF.

ps. yes I accept all experience, but that doesn't mean I like all of them) Sometimes I accept my experiences kicking and screaming...but I NEVER feel "separated or other" from SElf - because that's IMPOSSIBLE, COMPLETELY IMPOSSIBLE.
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ASK DVORAH: I STILL GET DEPRESSED. WHAT CAN I DO ABOUT IT?
Depression especially in this country is so misunderstood. You feel gloomy for a day, two, a month and suddenly you must do something desperate about it! Take a course, buy a ton of vitamins, see a counselor, and on and on and on. Every change that happens to you that doesn't make you sing for joy or feel ambitious or inspired to perform or create is cause for concern. This is crazy thinking and what you've been led to believe especially by the "health professionals".

Have you noticed Nature lately? The flower is not always blooming. It's a bud for awhile and then finally it blooms and it glows and then it kinda withers a bit, falls off and then another flower takes it's place. It goes through cycles like the weather. But "you" thinking you're something vastly different from Nature, want to be BLOOMING ALL THE TIME. Smiling and creating and feeling "alive" all the time. Do you see how ridiculous that sounds? Quite impossible in the order of life.

Feeling out of sorts? Great! Rest for a week, a month, a year. A little dull in the body and mind? Great! Go exercise, take a swim, have some coffee, take a breathing or yoga course, watch videos for a month. You make such a big deal out of everything! Feelings come and go, depression comes and goes...give it a little space!

There's nothing wrong with feeling depressed, it's the opposite of feeling dynamic. And if you got one, you're going to have the other. Why can't you just enjoy your depression? Why do you have to fight it? Relax with it. Something will eventually spark a change, an inspiration. Pray for a little bit of "anger" or indignation - that'll get you up and running in no time, that'll put some juice into you.

It's too bad that our first reaction to a "little" depression is to load up on pills, or therapists (who by the way are probably more depressed then you are). I'm not saying don't talk to someone - as a matter of fact you could get a dog, or bother your friends. But this constant misery over being in a "down" cycle is so ignorant. Why can't you just be depressed and Happy? You've got a great excuse not to talk to anybody, if you don't want to, and you've got a great excuse to have a couple of extra cookies, and you've got a great excuse not to go to that hike you hate. Just have some FUN BEING DEPRESSED. I DO. I think I've been depressed all my life and honestly, I LOVE IT!

Besides, Life is Fr@#$#@#@ depressing! Always waiting, hoping, anticipating. If it's not for a new job, it's a new boyfriend, or the check in the mail, or that special phone call, or waiting at the DMV, or waiting to lose weight, or going to the dentist, or waiting for the last bit of flu to leave. Waiting and anticipating and waiting and waiting for that big ship to finally come in "Enlightenment"! You even have to wait and anticipate THAT!...SO I ASK YOU - how can one not get depressed? It's completely natural. At least enjoy it.

(and of course, if you can't enjoy it and you're ready to cut your head off - then yea, go see one of those crazy professionals and you can at least be depressed together! You can always go see Tony Robbins - he'll have you spend $30,000 on a couple of his courses and you'll be walking on burning coals. That'll get you out of your funk! UNFORTUNATELY you'll come home to a repossessed car and bill collectors, and that'll probably depress you again). It's a cycle folks, RELAX, it's gonna be OK

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THE SECRET OF WHAT'S REAL AND ISN'T REAL

Many Advaitists will send you on an intellectual wild-goose chase-looking for the "ONE" that does not exist. Their wrap goes something like this: "It's this, NO ONE IS here-NO one exists, YOU do not exist"! If you try & do this intellectually, your goose is cooked, cause obviously "someone is sitting in your chair, right"?

If you relax & forget about what they're saying & sink into that chair transcending the words, then again you will MELT into Being & what's happening. The mistake of the intellect is it ACTUALLY EXPECTS NO ONE & NOTHING TO EXIST - BUT THAT IS NONSENSE. Again it exists and you see it exist, right? But you intuitively know that it's an appearance, a happening.

Example: You know the horizon continues, right! BUT IN FACT IT looks like it stops. You know that Rainbow shining on your hand is an appearance, no substance, right? But there it is-looks as REAL AS YOUR HAND.

The problem with looking for the ONE that does not exist - is that you expect to "see things differently". You EXPECT to see you and your experiences in an "enlightened way"(whatever that means to you), right? And that's what screws you up. Why? Because you see exactly what I see. No disappearing acts, you just intuitively know that life comes and goes and you are THIS.

Sometimes you have a transcendent experience of "coming & going" but most of the time you don't. However, every experience (and that includes thoughts and feelings) is an appearance in consciousness, transient, fleeting. THE ONLY THING THAT IS PERMANENT, OR IS - is BEING and IT doesn't come & go, IT doesn't change, cause it's your very NATURE and everything arises from THAT.

It's kinda like you wake up in the morning, and you become aware of Dvorah, and then everything else comes into form. First "here I am" then my thoughts, feelings, family, friends, the room, house, street, city, state, country, world, space, planets, galaxies and on and on into infinite structures and appearances.

All ARE OUT OF YOUR AWARENESS, WHEN YOU WAKE UP AND become aware of existing. Life appears and continues to appear and appear all through out the day and night in dreams and imagination, visions, meditations and on and on and on. At the same time YOU ARE JUST BEING-VAST SILENT BEING from which everything is appearing. This Being and everything arising from IT is what you've been worshiping, searching, crying, praying, longing and puja-ing for. You make all this noise to be enlightened and liberated - When ENLIGHTENMENT LIBERATION are your Nature.

Your life is like a waking mirage, a waking hologram, A waking dream - it all looks and feels very very very real - it just intuitively ISN'T. Everything is continuously arising. So it's real and unreal. A F#$@$%%%% AWESOMELY FABULOUS UNIMAGINABLE MYSTERY for you to play in. Don't expect it to look like anything, because that's what's confusing you. It looks exactly like what it looks like.

The only difference is now you can RELAX with your life, your decisions, your choices, your happenings without the usual regret, guilt or expectations. You can live in peace regardless of your life's circumstances. You can actually be happy, even when it's not going "your" way.

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ASK DVORAHJI: Are you in the same category as a Master or Guru?

I'm a Dvorah. My life path is like many others who went on a Search for WHO they are. I had good & bad experiences, visions, knowledge aha moments and on and on. It just so happens that MY "talent" is communication and writing about what is true for me in a unique way.

Many of the books & films that I do seem to resonate with other's INTUITIVE UNDERSTANDING. Whether they finally drop all their concern and free-fall is a mystery, a happening.

From my perspective, We have ENOUGH Masters and enough spiritual/religious books for a "gnat" to get it, and I've read most of them and SO WHAT? MY understanding tells me the more you read the more knowledge you acquire the more confused & inadequate you feel OR the opposite. Suddenly you're a God-Manifester/Guru/Goddes

s Thing, everything but YOURSELF. I'm suggesting that you give your brain a rest and have fun. Read but don't take it all to be truth, don't take it so "holy/sacredly" serious...knowledge is like everything else an idea, a concept, a story.

Of course it's all part of the process, but why "bother" with the process at ALL? Why not go straight for the FUN? Why waste your time "acting" unenlightened or enlightened-when you can be Happy, at ease with your life?

If it's your time to really be serious about "all this spiritual stuff" you'll find someone or something that makes sense and resonates with you and then you'll go "hog wild deep" into THAT One.

A rainbow landed on my hand & Life, the impermanent nature of life was revealed. Life is the teacher. Life is a Happening. Trust your life to be the best it can be at this moment and that you're doing exactly what you can only do and you'll be at peace with your circumstances and everyone else's. Why you'll finally be enlightened!
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Why YOU MUST THROW YOUR SPIRITUAL BOOKS OUT!

I found this quote: (thanks David cause now I have something to write about):
"If our mind dwells in limpid awareness, with no thought of past or future, without being attracted by external objects or occupied by mental constructions, it will dwell in primordial simplicity. In this state, there is no need for the iron hand of forced vigilance to immobilize our thoughts. "Buddhahood," it is said, "is the natural simplicity of the mind." ' (Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche)

DVORAHJI:
the problem with this quote, is the problem with most quotes: It's complicated and makes it sound like you have to be "an enlightened dedicated Monk" to LIVE YOUR OWN NATURE. If you put the last quote first - you're there!! "BUDDHAHOOD IS THE NATURAL SIMPLICITY OF THE MIND".

I'm going to write a children's book for adults and put quotes in it that are so SIMPLE & APPARENT THAT ONLY A CHILD WILL BE ABLE TO GET IT. And you will have to be a child again to understand it-Because honestly I just don't get anyone understanding anything the way MOST Spiritual books are written.

THROW THEM ALL OUT! They're a hindrance to you - a complicated mess that has you evolving into an "intelligent idiot". Read them, if you must, but read them like a trashy novel, for entertainment ONLY.

If you want to read Spiritual books, stick to ONE LINE PER DAY, MAYBE TWO and then let them go back to where they came from - space. Do not study them, just Eat them.

Take a Sri Sri quote read it-go to work. Take a Ramana quote read it - go to bed. Take a Ramesh quote - then have a cup of tea....like that. Take an Osho quote - and have sex (that's Osho!) One quote at a time and LET IT GO! The more you study them intently, the more entangled & full of "concepts" you get.

Study Chemistry, study pole dancing , study nursing, or study to be a priest or brahman (all professions) - but STUDYING HOW TO LET GO OF THE MIND AND BE SIMPLE??? RIDICULOUS! Remember what I told you - ONE LINE AT A TIME, LET IT GO LIKE A SUTRA and go have FUN!**************************************
PART II: WHY YOU MUST THROW YOUR SPIRITUAL BOOKS OUT!

The beauty of Spiritual knowledge - is the devotion, the beauty and longing that "sometimes" comes from reading something beautiful. Notice I did NOT say intellectual, I said beautiful.

When you read Vashistha, they're stories that leave you in awe, spellbound. And if you read Sri Sri's books, they're also written in short stories, sayings and about devotees relating their experiences. They evoke longing, loving, devotion. Emotion leaves you in awe, in peace. Intellectual knowledge tends to leave you with more and more questions then you started with.

Understanding about what happens when "you're enlightened"
is very very confusing, because it sets up expectations and concepts of "how it should look". And Enlightenment is YOUR NATURE, so it doesn't look like anything, IT IS YOUR EXISTENCE, AND EVERYTHING ELSE IS AN APPEARANCE. Now does that make sense? Absolutely NOT!

HOWEVER if I say: "I looked at my Guru and my heart began to melt in love as he wiped my tears with the white rose I'd just gave him", your heart opens and you wish that would happened to you and you suddenly want to melt in love. You want to find yourself and finally be free from a very deeply emotional space, WITHOUT ACTION only LONGING.

Longing helps you relax into helplessness. Why? because you're a puddle of longing-mush and realize that you have no control over your emotions. Love becomes your Master and soon your Nature.

Now the problem with longing is when it leaves, you want it back! And that's when it all goes to crab-cakes! You need to long when you long and don't when you don't...doesn't matter, longing is a happening like any other. It COMES and then it GOES. IT is NOT your nature...it's part of your passing life, enjoy it while it lasts. The secret here is to RELAX INTO LONGING...and move on to the next "whatever" in your life screenplay.

NOW - If you are studying enlightenment intellectually, you usually want is to DO SOMETHING, GO SOMEWHERE, GET SOMETHING. YOU WANT ENLIGHTENMENT. You don't necessarily feel anything, but you want to "know" you are NOBODY. You want to "know" you do NOT EXIST. You want to "know" you are EMPTY. That's when you start this incessant search to GET IT THROUGH YOUR HEAD that you are not REALLY THERE. You start talking strange i.e. "Who am I? Who is talking? "I don't exist" etc. Honestly it's like talking to a mental patient. It drives me nuts when someone talks to me like that - it sounds like gibberish.

Obviously, approaching enlightenment intellectually has it's place like everything else - but it tends to break your head in the process and NOT in an enlightened way, but in a yoga/maya way. You believe you "know" how enlightenment works, or you may even believe you're "enlightened" but many times you've deluded yourself and are still unhappy and trying to evolve in one way or other. If you're reading the Advaita stuff (which I personally love), my recommendation is read ONE or two lines at a time and digest it, it's enough.

I love Tony Parsons, Ramesh, Wayne & Ramana and tons more and SO WHAT? I read one line and I go right into SPACE, completely content. HOWEVER, if I start studying them, I want to pinch myself to stay awake or feel some love, humor or joy. Advaita is dry dry dry, no juice, and I'm JUICY.

If that's how you want to live your life - cooool! But I prefer reading a devotee's story and going AHHHHH, then melting in space. However, if I melt I melt and if I don't -I don't. I'm happy either way. Again that's the OPEN SECRET OF LIFE. RELAX INTO WHAT'S HAPPENING.

SPIRITUAL books are basically entertainment, evoking some tickle in you, another happening. They are a stimulus pointing to truth, peace, enlightenment - BUT THEY (in themselves) ARE NOT TRUE. They are stories. Just like the one your mother told you when she gave you a name.

You are not a story. You are EVERYTHING.
love, Dvorah

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Do OUR circumstances directly show our skills in Manifesting?

A STATEMENT someone wrote:
"The circumstances of our lives become testimonials that directly reflect our skills in the art of manifestation!"

DVORAHJI:
Circumstances in our life are "direct" testimonials of how our "LIFE IS HAPPENING". The "art of manifestation is NOT a goal - it's your good fortune to have been able to do this or that to bring it about at THAT TIME...next time it's going to be different.

You can practice the "art of Manifestation" from here to eternity and it's still not going to bring you everything you want. Just take a look at the great Masters. Now they should be able to manifest anything they want, right? Have they manifested peace yet? Could they manifest a cure for their own cancer? They manifest whatever "manifests" for them at the time...It's very spontaneous - NO EFFORT - A HAPPENING.

So what in "God's" name (for a better word) makes you think that YOU can manifest what you want and that "our circumstances reflect "our skill in the art of manifestations"?

It's another ignorant concepts that sets you up for unhappiness, why? Because now you can go around saying, "oh my, I just don't have enough "manifestation skills" to make my dreams come true and be happy. Another Huge BS concept that you can
tell yourself about why you can't be Happy!

I know that teacher after teacher after teacher gives you a "manifestation rap"...But if you really really want to finally BE HAPPY, you'll give up all this nonsense about being a big GODLIKE MANIFESTING TITAN and look around you, be grateful for what you have, do the BEST YOU CAN to get what you want and still KNOW DEEP IN YOUR HEART - that IF IT COULD BE DIFFERENT, IT WOULD BE DIFFERENT. And give this manifesting RIDICULOUS nonsense a rest already!
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ASK DVORAH: Dvorahji -You're SOOOOO CRUEL!!

I LOVE THIS COMMENT - SO I WANTED TO SHARE IT AGAIN FOR EVERYONE!

D-Ji,
... you've taken all the hard work and suffering out of my path. Now I feel naked. Who am I without my work, my suffering?! Yikes, this is scary! Do I really want to have fun? Wouldn't that rob me of my ego? My ego wants to suffer. D-ji, you are so cruel!

Dvorah:
If I could, I'd smack you with a big Danda stick tooooo!
Can you imagine, Sadhus forget this is 2009! The Masters are coming to you now...you don't even have to go to India anymore, they come right to your town.

People aren't dull oxen anymore! we don't have to stand on one foot, struggling with tapas-IT'S 2009! YOU CAN HAVE FUN ALREADY! RELAX - Let Enlightenment knock on your door

Live Notes from Facebook....

Controlling the MIND...

Trying to master and control the mind is like trying to control a fly that's buzzing around your head. Eventually you may catch it and make it go into a box, maybe, ignore it or even teach it a trick or two - but if you turn your head even for an instant it will fly out to it's next destination.

The mind does exactly what the mind is supposed to do - think thoughts "IT'S WAY"...if you "think" you can control the mind to do what you want it to do EVEN MOST OF THE TIME... I say GOOD LUCK!

IF you still think "you're" in control of your mind and how "your" life is going to manifest for you...I say, "more power to you!"...but you will continue to suffer and you will continue to cry because you're just not "evolved or strong" enough to get it yet: And you will continue searching and manipulating your life at ever turn to get it to go "YOUR WAY".

GIVE IT UP ALREADY and be at peace. HOWEVER, IF YOU'RE HAPPY, I SAY, "COOOOOOOOOOOL" keep controlling (what else can you DO! Love Dvorah-gee

What are Thoughts and Feelings?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWYNBcsRi4o

Bad vs. Good Thoughts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0BcKtSlrf4&feature=related

The MYTH OF our New Age Prophets- Canfield, Robbins, Oprah etc...

The New Age movement and many of it's prophets (who I like by the way i.e. Canfield, Robbins, Williamson, Hansen, Beckwith, and even Oprah) want to control the mind using positive thinking, imagination, positive energy, prayer, and other "new age technologies" to make life a positive experience and to help people be successful in their life: From losing weight, being fit to healing old psychological wounds There is nothing wrong with wanting to construct a better life, after all who doesn't want a good life doing what they want to?

The problem comes in when you can't achieve it. Look at Oprah, that should give you a clue. She's got all the knowledge, great chefs, doctors and advisors and she's fat again. She said, "she's mad at herself for "letting herself" get that way. She should know better!". And she feels guilty on top of it all. Imagine Oprah, who has done so much for so many, feels guilty because she's "not disciplined enough, or together enough" to keep the pound off.

Honestly, this thinking is NUTS. Wouldn't she be thin if ONLY SHE COULD? But she can't, even with all her wealth & good intentions & service & on & on and on, she still can't keep the pounds off.

Again - you are in control of NOTHING. Sometimes you have a good run and you think positively and get all disciplined and things go your way...AND SOMETIMES you do the exact same thing and your life falls apart, You get sick, you have an accident, your friend or someone close to you dies, your husband leaves you and you don't have a clue why. So you usually blame youself with "what did I do wrong?"

I tell you you're NUTS! You do not see the situation clearly, in the same way Oprah with all her advisers, even Eckhart Tolle - and she's still completely deluded.
You either give up this fantasy of control and live FREE - Or you continue to search and hope for the best, breaking your word and good intentions in the process, constantly FAILING AND SUCCEEDING blaming it all on your inability to get it right. Honestly it's so agonizing to watch.

I love you - GIVE IT A REST AND BE HAPPY.,..STARTING NOW...you don't have to wait for the New Year, Love Dvorah
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Dvorahji:
Dear Dvorahji
Now I am thinking that if Oprah could stop feeling guilty she would stop feeling guilty but seems like even when truth is offered to her by the likes of Eckhart Tolle she continues to feel guilty.
So my question is can she do anything at all and if not what use the knowledge and truth ?
Love Pree

Darling Pree:
Ahhhh Preeti - let me say it again: "If it could Be Different, It Would be Different" - and since the moment is what it is - we move on to the next moment.

You asked "what use is knowledge & truth?" It's a good question asked by many...It's a seeker's questions...Think about it. Anything I say doesn't really make sense, because to me it's all questions written in the air, no substance...

But I will say...It's a Happening, just like Oprah's weight gain despite all her efforts...and Tolle - so what? He says a bunch of words (like me or anyone else) and you remember them when you remember them.

UNTIL one day THEY DON'T MATTER ANYMORE...and you're Happy (at peace)...whether you're wise or stupid, fat or skinny, successful or selling oranges for $3 a bunch at the moment. Because you'll know (deep in your Being/Heart) that THINGS ARE AS THEY CAN ONLY BE! Get it???

ASK DVORAHJI

CHOICE is NOT AN OPTION!

In a recent post a really lovely man wrote:"You can also "choose" to Be in a state more aligned to Who you naturally are, in full acceptance and allowance, and you will then experience the truth that life supports you completely, in love and abundance..."

To me CHOICE is NOT an OPTION. Again I know that 99% of most people out there believe that THEY CAN do something about everything...and they suffer needlessly because of that "apparent belief" system. Look, there's nothing wrong with believing anyway you want...that's why there are thousands of teachers out there teaching you everything from Yoga to laughing, to positive thinking to using the Laws of attraction.

I say use them all and when you still don't get "enlightened" and your car still breaks down, and you still don't have any money and you still can't keep those pounds off ----then check out my option which is:

LIFE IS A HAPPENING! IF IT COULD BE DIFFERENT IT WOULD BE DIFFERENT! SHUT UP (fall silent) and BE HAPPY! and if you can't be happy - then know that life is EXACTLY AS IT CAN ONLY BE and do the very best best you can, knowing deeply in your heart that you are ALWAYS LOVED AND ARE ALWAYS SAFE IN THE ARMS OF LOVE (even tho it may appear differently

Do I Have Free Will?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQEDzVMIGvk

Why Can't I Stop Sabotaging Myself?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQHVpNWkTZ0

PS - Sprituality is not only simply -IT'S ALWAYS EASSSSSSSSSSSSY. So Take the easy way out and be at peace with your life exactly as it is.
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Continuation of: TO all my DEAR FRIENDS...

Dvorahji:
I always like the idea that what is being stated is a concept and just a concept and I didn't create that idea. But concepts do not always sink in my mind, when I recognize that then it put me in an artsy mood and I have free reign to all feelings and intuitions that might come my way. Yet this is a concept. Just the other day I had to question my therapist about some term he was using. I told him that I knew generally what it meant but I did not truly know what he meant when he said it, I needed a picture not some word. I think it was about nurturing when when you're critical of yourself, can't remember the specific word, but he did went on to explain by using a scenario and I finally got it.
I like what you say....I am not sure what DOER means, I remember that word from the story of the Astanga (sp?)....Gita. What do you mean by DOER?
What's with this comment!...except I just felt a little defensive w/1st paragraph (whoa my ego), most likely, I misunderstood

Darling Dawn:
Buddha said:" Deeds are done but there is no individual Doer". Now that is actually a very confusing statement because the appearance of doing is so strong, some call it a hypnotic illusion.

"Doer" points to you not having any choice in life, being totally in the arms of the Divine. Life is 'Being" happening into everything and I mean EVERYTHING you say, do, see, think, watch whatever. Describing it is like describing the taste of a strawberry (It's an idea until you taste it). It's all happening without the influence of a "Dvorah or Dawn or any other individual".

And I don't blame you for feeling offensive over this post, because it's not the usual touchy, feely, "let's be positive" Loving post...it's more on the offensive saying...get it already and be free - or suffer some more. And who wants to suffer some more???

We are very attached to getting better, evolving, doing everything we can to get enlightened and we spend thousands of dollars in that pursuit i.e. control our anger, control our thoughts, our actions, our bodies to get what we think we want...We want to be spirit and serve like Oprah or heal with light, or learn how to be a Master so we can get enlightened and finally be "Happy". And none of those things really work and we're still not "at peace" with ourselves or others. It's a never-ending battle to be the kind of person WE THINK WE SHOULD BE.

I'm here to dispel that myth. I'm here to tell you, you are perfect exactly the way you are. PERIOD. AND enlightenment is not a goal that will end your physical suffering and make your life look different. You'll still have a mortgage you can't pay, a husband you don't like, a mother-in-law that's telling you how to raise your children and a huge car payment. Everything continues just as it is - except for IT - and that IT is everything. You'll be at home, at peace, however different people describe it, but nothing will change. SO WHY NOT JUST BE HAPPY NOW? WHY NOT BE AT PEACE NOW - AND JUST RELAX UNTILL IT ALL FALLS AWAY? And you can stop blaming yourself for all your faults and problems and inability to be MORE enlightened?

ENLIGHTENMENT IS A HAPPENING and it will happen IN-SPITE of all your efforts to end your unhappiness, to save the world, to feed the hungry, to get in balance. You can be in the most miserable state, and wake up. Yoga is not a pre-requisite to Enlightenment and either is being a good person or doing good deeds. Enlightenment is a HAPPENING. A natural (apple is ripe and falls off the tree) happening.

SO Why am i saying it so bluntly? Because I've already said it lovingly, adoringly, with flowing motherly loving words and I've loved you all to pieces and adored you completely and at this moment it's time to just say: WAKE THE F-UP ALREADY and accept your life AS IT IS.

Go to healers and psychics and astrologers and card readers, and spirit guides and Gurus, but know deep in your heart that you're doing it for FUN: For different experiences and sensations of bliss and enjoyment and that's it's a Happening, not a consistent path or ticket for enlightenment. You are just doing "YOUR doing".

Once you see that, you won't mind your so called "ego" or your so called "bad habits" or your so called "bad diet" or your so called "bad thoughts" - you'll just move along without all this rationalizing and concern that keeps you from enjoying "your" happening and you'll finally be at peace with yourself and others.

love and more love Dvorah
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To all my DEAR FRIENDS..

I want you to know that I only talk about what I've cognized - I don't repeat what I've learned from my Guru or anyone else's, unless I know it to be "true" in my own experience. And I encourage you to do the same. The only things I can talk about with complete "at home" confidence is that LOVE, ENLIGHTENMENT, PEACE, HAPPINESS, SERVICE ARE MY NATURE. LIFE IS A HAPPENING!!! THOUGHTS ARE A HAPPENING! FEELINGS ARE A HAPPENING! ACTIONS ARE A HAPPENING! EVERYTHING and I mean EVERYTHING is a HAPPENING!. YOU are not the Doer. EVER! Even tho it appears differently. You think you have a choice? You Don't - again LIFE IS A HAPPENING, and if it could be different, it would be. The truth is you can't even choose to be happy, you only keep on happening yourself, moving on and on until you wake up...and then that's all that happens. You wake Up to the HAPPENING! People describe it in different ways, i.e. there is no "me" or "you don't exist" or whatever...but it's much simpler then those confusing concepts. It is ALL THIS - AND IT IS ALL A HAPPENING - SO FOR GOD'S SAKE BE RELAXED/HAPPY/at PEACE UNTIL YOU REALLY REALLY GET IT or it gets you.

I know many of you are doing what you can to get to where you want to be and all that is fine...but again know it's out of your control, again LIFE IS A HAPPENING, so you don't have to be disappointed when it doesn't go the way you wanted it to. It's couldn't be helped. I don't know why it's like that, I don't know how it works, I can only tell you it's the most incredible mysterious story I've ever been part of.

Sometimes people attribute "certain Siddhis or powers" to me, or think I know something special that YOU don't know - and that's an illusion. Everyone can develop Siddhis and so what? From my experience no matter how proficient a psychic, healer, or Master Yoga teacher one is - It only helps for a little while (and a very little while at that before you have another problem). I'm intuitive, like everyone can be, but mainly I'm your friend, and any advice I give you is probably the same advise you'd get from your best friend or a caring mother.

If you lived with me, this is probably what you'd say about me. How do I know? Because I've heard it a million times from my parents, my loves, my friends, my children: "Dvorah is Natural, eccentric and selfish, she does whatever she wants to do all the time...and she cries easily when something is touching cause she has a big heart for everyone but not specifically...She's not ashamed of anything and loves fighting for what she thinks is right...and she seems to be fearless, except when something scares her. She cares about everything and then cares about absolutely nothing, not even her family or her kids - NADA. She's a complete hermit and yet she doesn't shut up when she's with people. I don't understand her at all, cause she never sticks to a plan and it's hard to get her to show up on time or show up at all. It's a wonder she accomplished so much because she's so undisciplined. She's a complete open-minded rebel yet totally close minded and stubborn. She's funny to a fault and even makes fun of the most tragic situations. All I can say is she's eccentric and will probably never change. To know her is to love her/or not, but don't ever live with her."

Why am I telling you all this? Because if you want to be FREE - really FREE then you'll relax with yourself and ALL your circumstances and accept the concept that LIFE IS A HAPPENING! IT'S OUT OF YOUR CONTROL (you can't even control your breath) and finally, finally just BE with your life as it is without this constant hungering for something else, AND BE PART OF THE HAPPENING in peace.

love you all (don't come and see me) your Dvorahji
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Ask Dvorahji: I'M LAZY AS HELL, HELP?

Q: Dear Dvorahji:
u have a beautiful smile..it reflects d purity of your heart...m amazed by our work...is life dat simple???? i wud like to ask u to how to successfully apply d knowledge i have got in practice in my life...coz m lazy like hell.............A: Well Darling since you asked me, and not someone else, You may not get the answer you expect. First of all, life is actually EVEN SIMPLER THAN YOU THINK! We just "think it" into complication.

The key to happiness is to be yourself (who else can you be?). That doesn't mean other people approve of you or your actions. You'll be lazy, until you're not lazy anymore....I say relax about all these issues...Look how far you've gotten by being Lazy, isn't it a surprise????.. I say be lazy when you're lazy & active when you're active & just keep movin & groovin without getting "mentally" stuck on what you "think" you are doing wrong! OK? Now be happy with whatever you are at the moment & wherever you're at at the moment! "If it could be different, it would be different".

HOWEVER - if you want to suffer - blame and harass yourself and see if it helps you one iota? I say drop all this nonsense and "Shut Up and be Happy! Or Scream, yell, dance and BE Happy! Either way is fine!

What Am I Doing Wrong?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=af3zt2VOIrw
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Ask Dvorahji: WHAT CAN I DO WITH MY ANGER?

Dear Dvorah-ji
I recently have come to realize that I am incredibly bitter towards some aspects in life and I don't want to hold on to it...
I find I am agitated because I cannot fulfill my desires (yet!) and hence resentment builds...

Please share with me dear Dvorahji...what is the best way to overcome this?! Loving you always!

DARLING:
Anger and bitterness towards different aspects of our life show up because we want it to be different. We want out life to be different, we want our reactions to be different - we can't accept it as IT IS.

There's nothing wrong with being angry, anger rises and subsides like everything else...it comes and then it goes. HOWEVER, the more you resent it, the more you try to get rid of it, the longer it stays.

Remember the mantra "if it could be different, it would be different?"....You are not the "doer" in this life and life is a happening, no matter how much we want it to "happen our way"...recognize this simple mantra and when you do get anger or are dissatisfied with your life...say it a couple of time and fall into peace instead of agitation...because it is as it is and you can't make "ANYTHING HAPPEN" faster or different, even tho we feel we can.

In other words RELAX, anger, agitation, not having your desires fulilled YET, all those "thoughts and feelings" come and go. So what if you have them, they are just drifting thoughts and feeling that just love having fun with you, so grumble and bumble, eat ice cream or watch Batman & move on...

Can I Get Enlightened if I Still Get Angry?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgZGpmLWsmY

ASK DVORAHJI & LET'S GET YOU ENLIGHTENED!

Ask Dvorahji: BAD THOUGHTS VS. GOOD THOUGHTS

Dvorahji:
...my thoughts were just exploding with thoughts that was not so great (I am a pitta). And as I did not want to think these thoughts I did think that I am not my thoughts..."

Darling D:
The more you TRY not to "think of a pink elephant" the more you do. When you have thoughts that you don't like - relax, they come and then they go - there's is nothing wrong with having negative thoughts, again they come and then they go.....It's all your "worry and concern" and nonsense about how you want to get rid of them and what they mean, that keeps them there and keep you unhappy.

If we've been meditating for awhile or have been on a spiritual path for a while or have a New Age mindset, we have the misconception that "bad thoughts" are going to hurt us and everyone else, so we are constantly trying to control them - and do you ever???

For a second maybe, or if you are constantly and fervently repeating a mantra or an affirmation, and how long can you do that with out another thought getting in the way? Even if you sit down to meditate, as soon as you get up, THERE THEY ARE AGAIN! -

The "permanent" solution that you have is to let them come and then let them go. And if there is a thought that is particularly bothering you, instead of trying to get rid of it - sit down, close the eyes and notice that obsessive or many thoughts are associated with "activity" in the body. So either bring your attention there for a little while as the activity subsides, thereby that particular thought or thoughts subside, OR GO FOR A WALK, DO SOME EXERCISE, DANCE TO SOME MUSIC, OR GO HAVE SOME ICE CREAM OR A CHIP OR TWO OR WHATEVER ...just don't get stuck with trying to get rid of them and find "deep meaning " in them -cause THERE'S NOTHING THERE!!! a passing thought on the screen of consciousness - a phantom reality that you've mistaken to be absolutely real.

It's like thinking of a an earthquake and running for the hills leaving the stove on. Relax, just relax...It's a thought, a shadow that will pass when the sun hits it...

lots of love and lots of thoughts or NOT!, your friend Dvorah

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PEOPLE ASK ME IF I'M ENLIGHTENED?

I could say yes, but it would be VERY VERY MISLEADING...because it would mean that I'm somehow different then you, or that something extra-ordinary has happened to me, or that I feel bliss all the time, or that everything I want happens, or I don't have negative thoughts, or I'm somehow this "lifeless sacred blessing everyone person" or I don't have desires or preferences, and that I can see everything and probably manifest anything I want and on and on and on...and NONE OF THAT IS TRUE...

The truth I can attest to is that Life is a Happening and "Dvorah" is part of that happening and so is "Enlightenment" or finally realizing that you ARE THAT WHICH YOU'VE ALWAYS BEEN SEEKING.

It's so simple it breaks my heart to see many of you so uncomfortable. It really is the "secret" that is completely out in the open and that's why I always encourage you to "BE HAPPY" and recognize that if your life "at this moment" COULD BE DIFFERENT, IT WOULD BE.

And since it ABSOLUTELY CAN'T BE DIFFERENT and you have no choice: Then if you want to stop suffering" accept it exactly as IT IS and keep moving along with out all the mind tripping and rationalisations that keep you running in circles and unhappy. Ok?.
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OK, YOU READY? LET'S FINALLY GET "YOU" ENLIGHTENED!

Ok, Darlings, let's get to it! Let's get YOU "Enlightened"! You've been meditating and doing your program, doing good deeds, and eating your vegetables. You've given up meat, chicken and sex (in that order) and now you're thinking about going to an ashram, probably in India, or Germany or somewhere the Sattva is "high", and the teachers are disciplined and dedicated.

You've sworn to evolve and finally be free of all your ignorance and unhappiness, and maybe this time it will last - unlike all the other times when it turned into the same-old, same-old. That's why you saved all your money again, didn't pay your school loan, skipped Christmas with the family, chartered a plane to the Himalayas, because evolving, is more important to you than life itself.

Darlings, I'm here to save you A LOT OF MONEY, and and a lot of needless concern over your constant searching-itch that's led you to years of unfulfillment & useless tears. You plead with God, the Divine, Buddha, Jesus, the Guru, Mother Mary and your favorite lucky charm, to SAVE YOU from the torments of your own mind and fabricated stories of possibilities & spiritual success. So Let's DO IT already! Let's get YOU Enlightened, OK?

First let's start with one of the first concept you have about Enlightenment:

1. Enlightenment is a goal. I will only get there after I've climbed the mountain of samskara (world of misery, karma, Haagen Das, chocolate and videos). After I get really disciplined, the truth/the Self will be revealed to me.

FIRST OF ALL - enlightenment is not a goal, IT'S YOUR NATURE. You don't have to climb Mount Everest or get rid of your psychological traumas or clean your chakras. It is your Nature, everything else, and I mean EVERYTHING ELSE is a thought, a concept, an idea, something you read somewhere, something someone told you, something you believe. You can still be the "normal/bad" person you think you are and be "enlightened".

Enlightenment means finally recognizing your Nature, what you've always been RIGHT HERE in front of your nose. YOU ARE the silence and the thoughts and images that appear to "override" the silence that you long for. YOU ARE EVERYTHING.

Karma, Misery, the world of pleasure and pain are all ideas projected from the mind, which loves playing and seeing and sensing and feeling everything it can. It is not your Nature, yet you are THAT TOO. If you want to "get enlightened", RELAX with everything you're doing to get there and take a breather from all that feverish doing. Enjoy your programs & processes instead of technique-ing them into misery.

Your feverishness is not going to get you there any faster. Why? Because enlightenment is a "tweak" in perception. You suddenly get it, and even after you get it, you sometimes have to get it again and again and again. WHY? BECAUSE IT SO SIMPLE. You are enlightenment right NOW and you're still searching for it. Honestly, it's ridiculous how hard you work to get a little "enlightening" experience just to plummet into misery again. UP & down like a yo-yo, hoping the Divine will take mercy on you and cut the string.

THIS IS IT! Right here and right now. The chair you're sitting on, the dog you're petting, the letter you're writing, the music you're listening to, the socks you're wearing - everything that you're doing, looking at, thinking about is IT at this moment. If you sit down right now and close your eyes you will sense a quietude, a space inside you. There may be thoughts, but inbetween those thoughts, you'll notice some stillness - and that IS YOU. THAT'S WHO YOU ARE.

IN meditation or activity, when there are no thoughts and the silence is thick within, THERE YOU ARE. And when you get out of meditation and you start thinking again and the world comes in again (problems, duties, your mother) and the activity is appearing on the screen of your silence-KNOW THAT the silence HAS NOT GONE AWAY. IT IS STILL THERE. Silence and thoughts - all of it is YOU! A constant Happening on the screen of silence.

That Silence, that space, that emptiness (no thought, no feeling no nothing) is YOU. That is your Nature. That is your God, your Buddha, your Christ, your Guru. Right there, always right there. Do you Get IT? Or will you continue to look for it and refuse to believe the simplicity of it?

Why not take a chance and see where it leads you. Sit down, Be the Silence and watch the thoughts, your world, the universe come up again on the screen of Silence - all of that is YOU - YOU ARE EVERYTHING.

Q&A - Ask Dvorahji

Q: Dvorahji: CAN WE TALK ABOUT REINCARNATION?
How does one address the topic of reincarnation to a completely "material, ruled by the senses, visual" person?

A: Well, Darling One:
I can only give you my opinion...and I'm not sure you're going to like it...

I don't talk about reincarnation...especially to someone who isn't interested...It's like talking to a 5 year old about chemistry - why would you bother, they don't want to know. And who cares if someone believes in reincarnation or not, what differences does it make, it just causes unnecessary conflict. If I start talking "spiritual knowledge or health food or New Age stuff" to someone who's not interested, I usually just make a joke about it all, and go to a subject we have in common, like food or shopping.

Just because people know "about" reincarnation doesn't really mean they know anything...if you think about it, it's a theory, an idea, part of a religion, a CONCEPT.

Past lives are sometimes used if people are have a particular problem and there is no solution. So knowledge of past lives can be helpful for healing. But otherwise, to me it's just more the same. The GOAL HERE IS NOT TO COME BACK, isn't it?? I say Go for Freedom, Beyond all concepts...and leave the reincarnation stuff to the spiritual leaders & intellectuals to debate at the forums.

If you want to have some intellectual fun, fine, enjoy discussing and wondering about all this, as it can be very entertaining. Otherwise from "my perspective", it's all in the past - more of the same old, same old.

As far as I'm concerned - You have ONLY ONE LIFE, THIS LIFE. PUT ALL YOUR ATTENTION ON being Happy, and FREE in THIS LIFE.

And my dear One, Here's hoping you don't come back! love your friend, Dvorah
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Ask Dvorahji: Is LOVE a synonym for ENLIGHTENMENT?
"A devotee isn't there for wisdom-He's in love-He's fallen deeply in love with the Master/Infinity/God. He doesn’t care if he gets enlightened or not"-Sri Sri.

Q: Dvorahji:
Is it not to be in "Love" a synonyn for enlightement?
That state of expansion without dimension?

A: Darling One:
Gosh, I don't know...
Love is my Nature, Enlightenment is my Nature, Peace is my Nature, Grace and Compassion are my Nature, GURU/GOD is my Nature....

Falling in love is like a path...falling deeply in love with the Divine/the unknown, something you don't even see. But there's this flavor if you have a Guru associated (before)) THAT emptyness/space...

I guess my message is really, fall in love & be happy! and life/enlightenment will take care of itself...Love, is the easiest/most pleasurable path of all, because everything else melts away...and then you offer yourself back to others in the name of LOVE...

It's really cool isn't it? Can you feel it? I'm loving you right now...deeply, deeply loving you...
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Ask Dvorahji: IT'S LIKE AN ORGASM...

Q: Dvorahji:
Thank you , Dvorah:) God ,what a day today!!!! Goddd, so much love ,,so much Love ,,,thank you:):) PLease, God,could it be permanent:)

A: Darling, Darling Darling One:
Let me scream this at you from the rooftops ok? LOVE, PEACE, FEELING GOOD, SEEING ANGELS, HAVING VISIONS, FEELING GOD, GOOD DAY, BAD DAY, IT'S ALL LIKE ONE BIG ORGASM - IT COMES AND THEN IT GOES!

Your problem is begging pleading, crying, praying for it to stay and thinking God has forsaken you when it goes - IT IS THE NATURE OF EXPERIENCE NOT TO STAY, whatever that experience may be, gross or extremely subtle. Do me a favor. Give up "trying to feel good" and just enjoy it when it happens. Can you do that?

My Darlings, when will you get it already! Be Happy (accept) that whatever happens is FABULOUSLY RIGHT, DELICIOUS, OK, PRIMO, EXACTAMENTE.. You can STOP BEGGING, hoping and praying. Be STill. STOP already and know that YOU ARE THAT.

All my love to you - your dearest, most adorable friend, Dvorah
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ASK Dvorahji: MY LOVE IS GONE, WHAT SHOULD LOVE BE?Share

Q: Dear Dvorahji:
Recently, I find myself in a place of confusion… I am changing my career and going back to school… I am broke… and my love in no longer interested in me as a partner. I am confused and feel unloved and I definitely played many old tapes over and over..

I am moving soon… this adds both anxiety and sobriety to my feelings… but i think on a list of things that love should be. The list is in deepak chopras book… “ the way to love”

“love is meant to heal.
love is meant to renew.
love is meant to make us safe.
love is meant to inspire us with its power.
love is meant to make us certain, without doubts.
love is meant to oust all fear.
love is meant to unveil immortality
love is meant to bring peace.
love is meant to harmonize differences.
love is meant to bring us closer to god…

A: Darling One:
I have only one things to add - Love “as an emotion” is meant to do many things, and does many things contrary to it’s ideal state. My sweet ONE...YOU ARE LOVE and LOVE is WHAT IT CAN ONLY BE, YOUR VERY NATURE. IT isn’t meant” to do anything! Expecting it to “do something” will leave you sorely dissappointed.

It is the mistake of the intellect to expect anything from love, because love, like life, will follow it’s own natural course good & bad. Sometimes it will bring us closer to God, and sometimes it will FLIP and you’ll hate God for what he’s putting you through. it’s better to accept life/love as it IS - instead of expecting it to be the way it’s “meant to be”.

Relax with your life right now, you’re going through many changes and it will get better, but for right now, “if it could be different, it would be different”. If you’re feeling powerless, it’s a perfect time to offer yourself to LOVE/God which is all powerful.

Admitting you’re powerless, asking for help is the first step to becoming truly POWERFUL. This is a great opportunity to delve deeply into WHO YOU ARE.

Much love to you Dvorah
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LOVE like "lilly/dog" ! She expects nothing, gives everything, and walks away if you bother her...Lilly knows she's LOVE, so she doesn't have to be anything, prove anything, or try to be like love is "meant to be". She IS LOVE.
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""NOT THEN, NOT LATER but NOW! "---Rugmani
Dear Dvorahji:
You are such an inspiration. So...when I read your satvic complaint about being the only person in this group writing, I said "that's not fair" and here I am committing my entire support to your sprightly mission to make people plain and simply HAPPY. I was watching Ashtavakra Gita last night and Guruji spoke intensely about taking the sword of knowledge to cut the past and BE FREE NOW.

I thought to myself...NOT THEN, NOT LATER but NOW and suddenly I was smiling happily and have been since. I continue to wonder at the patience of the MASTER as HE goes over the same knowledge, over and over and over again.... waiting for that moment when someone, somewhere will WAKE UP and experience the joy that he is. And HE.... working 22 hours a day, 7 days a week, traveling relentlessly, reaching, teaching people wherever they are, taking the rain, the storm and the sunshine on with HIS unique brand of effortless equanimity....What a Guru !!!!
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Dear One:
Yes, Darling what a GURU....and you know sweet Rugmani, for you, It's about Figging TIME don'tcha think?????? Astavakra was my ticket - what a brilliant series...THE GURU talking to his devotees - magnificent isn't it???
And YES, not later, NOW...

"...if you're lucky enough to find a Guru in the flesh, standing in front of you, calling your name, you better lay your burden down, because, this is your chance to be free...Never mind about all the questions, doubts, and nonsense you've heard. Drop your misery and step into the embrace of that sweet love THAT IS. You don't ever have to worry about finding the right Guru. He will find you, and that's a promise-straight from the Guru!" (excerpt from the Shut Up book)

Love to you, your friend, Dvorah
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Be YOURSELF and blossom into your GURU Naturally...

You actually have no recourse but to eventually "come home". You have no choice but to fall in LOVE...and you are on your way...so now you can relax, do your sadhana, go for a swim, stick your tongue, and Be Happy!
love, your friend, Dvorah
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WE LOVE & HONOR OUR GURUS, SWAMI, RISHI'S & MOMS...

Q: Dvorahji:
You have said "..give the idol worship a rest." So are you against the idol worship of avtars and demi-gods we have in India?
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A: Dear Akshay - when I said '..give the idol worship a rest" - I meant putting "people" on a pedestal"...the idols and demi-gods that are worshiped in India are religious rites and part of your religion.

Worship is actually very beautiful, enlivening and brings about feelings of love, joy and devotion...that's not the worship I was talking about. When Sri Sri does a yagya or chants to Shiva or Krishna or Lakshmi - it's honoring a certain energy a quality of the divine..that's lovely and brings about a certain positive effect in the environment and the world.

The worship I was talking about is thinking someone else, a person is better than you are and can "give you something you don't already have, like enlightenment, peace etc. We honor and love our Gurus, Swamis, Rishis, Mothers, Fathers, Teachers, Friends, but if we put them up on a pedestal and assume we are lower or less than - and want to act like them, talk like them, be like them because they have some magical qualities that we don't have, then eventually we will have to come back to ourselves and discover again "Who we are".

Worship can be a form or devotion - and that is very beautiful.
Worship with love & joy, they are also your Nature...
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Ask Dvorahji: WANT TO BE A SWAMI, RISHI OR GURU?

Q: Dear Dvorah:
I just saw Swamiji yesterday evening...It was wonderful as usual!!
It would be great to see a female Swami??- an equivalent role model in AOL- Do you ever come to Toronto?

A: Dear One:
Swamis are great - they are dedicated to the their own unfoldment of consciousness and the continuation of their Guru's or Master's teaching. Another title in a similar category is a Rishi (seer). From my perspective the problem starts when people want to emulate or become like these Swamis or Rishis or even Gurus. Once a person gets an honorary title (from their Guru) they appear to be "someone" far greater and higher and better than you are, and "you" want to be just like them. You want to be "enlightened". Why? Because you think that enlightenment will bring you "closer" to God and then you can get away from your everyday boring or striving or miserable life and your perceived suffering.

Listen to me, especially my Art of Living family. Your best bet in this whole enlightenment game is to just be yourself. Don't bother trying to be one of the happy smiling Swamis, or Rishis, or Part two teachers or whatever!! They are just doing their JOB, THEIR HAPPENING. Let me be the first to give you the GOOD NEWS about "getting enlightened".

No matter how "enlightened" you get; or how great your cognitions or experiences are; or how many Siddhis you acquire; you will always JUST BE YOU. Who else could you be? You may get more peaceful, relaxed and end up healing a million people, but if your tendency is to get angry or tell bad jokes or slurp your food, you will probably end up having the same old habits you had before. You'll just hide them better in public, and you won't concern yourself with them. Why? Because you will know without a doubt that LIFE IS A HAPPENING - AND YOU ARE PART OF THAT AMAZING HAPPENING! GET IT?

We are all part of this beautiful human family and even tho it "may appear" as if one person is greater than another, in truth we are all "that image painted on a picture hanging on the wall in the mind of the Scriptwriter". The Guru, (your very Nature) is the scriptwriter and He is ALL THERE IS. And HE/IT could care less whether you're a Swami, a pornographer, a Vegan or an Avatar. Why? Because He/IT is YOUR NATURE.

Your job is to finally, finally be happy with yourself, your life exactly as you are. Then you won't be so disappointed when you don't win the million bucks, become immortal or stop eating those twinkies after you GET IT! OK? And please, give the idol worship a rest. If you put yourself or someone else on a pedestal, someone is sure to come crashing down. And you'll be stuck all over again having to reconcile being you. The more expectations you have of yourself or others, the farther you are from YOURSELF.

Ok, my darlings, I love you madly,
your friend, Dvorah-ji
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Ask Dvorahji: DO YOU WANT TO BE A SWAMI, RISHI OR GURU?

Q: Dear Dvorah:
I just saw Swamiji yesterday evening...It was wonderful as usual!!
It would be great to see a female Swami??- an equivalent role model in AOL- Do you ever come to Toronto?
********************
A: Dear One:
Swamis are great - they are dedicated to the their own unfoldment of consciousness and the continuation of their Guru's or Master's teaching. Another title in a similar category is a Rishi (seer). From my perspective the problem starts when people want to emulate or become like these Swamis or Rishis or even Gurus. Once a person gets an honorary title (from their Guru) they appear to be "someone" far greater and higher and better than you are, and "you" want to be just like them. You want to be "enlightened". Why? Because you think that enlightenment will bring you "closer" to God and then you can get away from your everyday boring or striving or miserable life and your perceived suffering.

Listen to me, especially my Art of Living family. Your best bet in this whole enlightenment game is to just be yourself. Don't bother trying to be one of the happy smiling Swamis, or Rishis, or Part two teachers or whatever!! They are just doing their JOB, THEIR HAPPENING. Let me be the first to give you the GOOD NEWS about "getting enlightened".

No matter how "enlightened" you get; or how great your cognitions or experiences are; or how many Siddhis you acquire; you will always JUST BE YOU. Who else could you be? You may get more peaceful, relaxed and end up healing a million people, but if your tendency is to get angry or tell bad jokes or slurp your food, you will probably end up having the same old habits you had before. You'll just hide them better in public, and you won't concern yourself with them. Why? Because you will know without a doubt that LIFE IS A HAPPENING - AND YOU ARE PART OF THAT AMAZING HAPPENING! GET IT?

We are all part of this beautiful human family and even tho it "may appear" as if one person is greater than another, in truth we are all "that image painted on a picture hanging on the wall in the mind of the Scriptwriter". The Guru, (your very Nature) is the scriptwriter and He is ALL THERE IS. And HE/IT could care less whether you're a Swami, a pornographer, a Vegan or an Avatar. Why? Because He/IT is YOUR NATURE.

Your job is to finally, finally be happy with yourself, your life exactly as you are. Then you won't be so disappointed when you don't win the million bucks, become immortal or stop eating those twinkies after you GET IT! OK? And please, give the idol worship a rest. If you put yourself or someone else on a pedestal, someone is sure to come crashing down. And you'll be stuck all over again having to reconcile being you. The more expectations you have of yourself or others, the farther you are from YOURSELF.

Ok, my darlings, I love you madly,
your friend, Dvorah-ji