3.
Saint Joan of Arc
Saint Joan Of Arc:
"The Maid of Orléans"
“Joan of Arc (French:Jeanne d'Arc pronounced [ʒan daʁk]; c.1412– 30 May 1431), who called herself "Joan the Maiden" ("Jehanne la Pucelle" in 15th century French) and is now nicknamed "The Maid of Orléans" (French: La Pucelle d'Orléans), is considered a heroine of France for her role during the Lancastrian phase of the Hundred Years' War. She is also a saint in the Roman Catholic Church.” Joan of Arc - Wikipedia
The Legacy Of Joan Of Arc
“Joan of Arc has come to mean many things to many people. One of the most important legacies she left behind is the Bible's teachings of "with God all things are possible." Joan was described as being a simple young girl in the small village of Rouen where she grew up. The only aspect about her that was different was that she had a deep devotion to God. Joan of Arc was teased at times by some of the other children for having such a strong connection to God. When you look at where she came from and then at all that she accomplished, it is really hard to come up with a reasonable explanation for her life other than to help do God's work (What). Basically, the legacy she left behind was to stay strong to your beliefs, whether your family or friends agree or disagree with them.
Women's Rights
Joan of Arc also subliminally left another legacy behind for women that I feel the world overlooks. Back then, women were not allowed to go to war, but that did not stop her from doing what she wanted to do. She wanted to fight for her country, so she disguised herself. Just like Jackie Robinson is considered a hero to many because he refused to give up baseball just because he was black, Joan of Arc is a hero because she refused to not fight for her country just because she was a women. The legacy she left behind for women is one I feel is overlooked and is definitely important.”
Legacy - Joan of Arc (weebly.com)
What have you done with your life?
[excerpt]
“Everywhere i hear, people of all walks of life declare, that their life is not their own. We only live once, they say, day after day; and it does not matter what we do, or say, because most of us, aregoing straight to hell anyway: if the self righteous ones among us – have their way.
At the end of each lifetime, before youleave for another place, and time, and every detail of your life, flashes slowly, before your third eye. There is always one question, that youmust ask, and answer, to your own personalsatisfaction.
What have you done with your life? What have you done with your life? What have you done, to bring peace, and joy to yourself, and everyone else? Have you truly learn to care? And haveyou really triedto share the best of yourself, since you’vebeen here?
We each own the right, to live our own life - in any way that we choose. But we do not have the right, to ever use our own life to abuse. Remember the golden rule: that what you sow, you shall always reap. And not just once, or only in this lifetime. But tenfolds!
So if you think, that you can come to this Earth – and treat other people like dirt. And damage their lives - and destroy their self worth. Let me tell you this sobering fact, that you will have to come right back; and live the lives of the ones you’ve abused, lifetime after lifetime, until you truly understand: that you don’t have the right, to harm anyone. Until you have made right - all of your wrongs.”
- Avatar Galextra
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4.
Quan Yuan:
The Goddess Of Mercy And Compassion
One of the deities most frequently seen on altars in China’s temples is Quan Yin (also spelled Kwan Yin, Kuanyin; in pinyin, Guanyin). In Sanskrit, her name is Padma-pâni, or "Born of the Lotus." Quan Yin, alone among Buddhist gods, is loved rather than feared and is the model of Chinese beauty. Regarded by the Chinese as the goddess of mercy, she was originally male until the early part of the 12th century and has evolved since that time from her prototype, Avalokiteshvara, "the merciful lord of utter enlightment," an Indian bodhisattva who chose to remain on earth to bring relief to the suffering rather than enjoy for himself the ecstasies of Nirvana.
One of the several stories surrounding Quan Yin is that she was a Buddhist who through great love and sacrifice during life, had earned the right to enter Nirvana after death. However, like Avlokiteshvara, while standing before the gates of Paradise she heard a cry of anguish from the earth below. Turning back to earth, she renounced her reward of bliss eternal but in its place found immortality in the hearts of the suffering. In China she has many names and is also known as "great mercy, great pity; salvation from misery, salvation from woe; self-existent; thousand arms and thousand eyes," etc.
In addition she is often referred to as the Goddess of the Southern Sea — or Indian Archipelago — and has been compared to the Virgin Mary. She is one of theSan Ta Shih, or the Three Great Beings, renowned for their power over the animal kingdom or the forces of nature. These three Bodhisattvas or P’u Sa as they are know in China, are namely Manjusri (Skt.) or Wên Shu, Samantabhadra or P’u Hsien, and Avalokitesvara or Quan Yin.
Quan Yin is a shortened form of a name that means One Who Sees and Hears the Cry from the Human World. Her Chinese title signifies, “She who always observes or pays attention to sounds,” i.e., she who hears prayers. Sometimes possessing eleven heads, she is surnamed Sung-Tzu-Niang-Niang, “lady who brings children.” She is goddess of fecundity as well as of mercy. Worshiped especially by women, this goddess comforts the troubled, the sick, the lost, the senile and the unfortunate. Her popularity has grown such through the centuries that she is now also regarded as the protector of seafarers, farmers and travelers. She cares for souls in the underworld, and is invoked during post-burial rituals to free the soul of the deceased from the torments of purgatory.
There are temples all over China dedicated to this goddess, and she is worshiped by women in South China more than in the North, on the 19th day of the 2nd, 6th and 9thmoons. (For example, it is a prevalent birth custom in Foochow that when a family has a daughter married since the 15th day of the previous year, who has not yet given birth to a male infant, a present of several articles is sent to her by her relatives on a lucky day between the 5th and 14th of the first month. The articles sent are as follows: a paper lantern bearing a picture of the Goddess of Mercy, Quan Yin, with a child in her arms, and the inscription, “May Quan Yin present you with a son”; oysters in an earthenware vessel; rice-cakes; oranges; and garlic.) Worshipers ask for sons, wealth, and protection.
She can bring children (generally sons, but if the mother asks for a daughter she will be beautiful), protect in sorrow, guide seamen and fishermen (thus we see her "crossing the waves" in many poses), and render harmless the spears of an enemy in battle. Her principal temple on the island of Putuoshan, in the Chusan Archipelago off the Zhejiang coast near Ningbo, is a major pilgrimage site sacred to the Buddhists, the worship of Quan Yin being its most prominent feature on account of the fact that the Goddess is said to have resided there for nine years, reigning as the Queen of the Southern Seas. The full name of the island is P’u t’o lo ka, from Mount Pataloka, whence the Goddess, in her transformation as Avalokiteshvara, looks down upon mankind. Miao Feng Shan (Mount of the Wondrous Peak) attracts large numbers of pilgrims, who use rattles and fireworks to emphasize their prayers and attract her attention. In 847, the first temple of Quan Yin was built on this island. By 1702, P’u Tuo had four hundred temples and three thousand monks, and was the destination of countless pilgrims. (By 1949, however, P’u Tuo was home to only 140 monasteries and temples.)
No other figure in the Chinese pantheon appears in a greater variety of images, of which there are said to be thousands of different incarnations or manifestations. Quan Yin is usually depicted as a barefoot, gracious woman dressed in beautiful, white flowing robes, with a white hood gracefully draped over the top of the head and carrying a small upturned vase of holy dew. (However, in the Lamaistic form, common in bronze from eighteenth-century China and Tibet, she is often entirely naked.) She stands tall and slender, a figure of infinite grace, her gently composed features conveying the sublime selflessness and compassion that have made her the favorite of all deities. She may be seated on an elephant, standing on a fish, nursing a baby, holding a basket, having six arms or a thousand, and one head or eight, one atop the next, and four, eighteen, or forty hands, which which she strives to alleviate the sufferings of the unhappy.
She is frequently depicted as riding a mythological animal known as the Hou, which somewhat resembles a Buddhist lion, and symbolizes the divine supremacy exercised by Quan Yin over the forces of nature. Her bare feet are the consistent quality. On public altars, Quan Yin is frequently flanked by two acolytes, to her right a barefoot, shirtless youth with his hands clasped in prayer known as Shan-ts’ai (Golden Youth), and on her left a maid demurely holding her hands together inside her sleeves known as Lung-nü (Jade Maiden). Her principal feast occurs yearly on the nineteenth day of the second lunar month. However, she is fortunate in having three birthdays, the nineteenth of the second, sixth and ninth months. There are many metamorphoses of this goddess. She is the model of Chinese beauty, and to say a lady or a little girl is a Kwan Yin is the highest compliment that can be paid to grace and loveliness....
The image of this divinity is generally placed on a special altar at the back of the great Shakyamuni Buddha behind a screen, and facing the north door, in the second half of the Buddhist monastery. Quan Yin is also worshiped by the Taoists, and they imitate the Buddhists in their descriptions of this deity, speaking in the same manner of her various metamorphoses, her disposition to save the lost, her purity, wisdom, and marvel-working power.
From early Ch’ing times to the present, many thousands of statues of Quan Yin have been carved in jade. The Maternal Goddess, the Protectress of Children, the Observer of All Sounds, Quan Yin is a favorite figure in domestic shrines. As well, her image is carved on small jades which Chinese women offer faithfully at the temples dedicated to her. She also is the single most important figure crafted in blanc de Chine ware, with approximately nine out of every ten figures from Dehua representing that divinity in one or other of her manifestations. (The Quan Yins often were described to European purchasers as "white Santa Marias," so as to make them more desirable to a Christian market.” - Legend of Quan Yin, the goddess of mercy (holymtn.com)
Mother Earth Is A Person Too
[excerpt]
“Scientists say that it is an undisputed fact: that the planet Earth is nothing more than a great big piece of fertile rock; and almost all of us agree. And we treat Mother Earth like our own private property. We choke her lungs with pollution - and poison her blood with deadly chemical solutions. We rape her body in every way, and rip out her flesh each and every day - while she pleads: take what you need. But please: wont you try to control your greed?
How can we treat our Mother like dirt, when all that we have in this whole wide world - of any worth - are gifts of life given to each of us: by our dear Mother Earth. If we do not stop killing our Mother we will soon not have a planet to call our own; nor a world to make our home.
Mother Earth is a person too [She is a planet size being] with a heart and mind just like me and you [She is an ancient, living, planet sized being.] She may not look like a person to our human eyes. But she is more alive than we will ever realize. No one else in this whole wide world give so much of themselves to everyone else [no one else in this world even comes close] - even when we treat her like dirt; and even worse than the real scourges of the Earth.
Natives of every culture have always worked together to protect the Earth, their true Mother: by treating her with love, respect, and dignity. They know since long ago that all of life is sacred, and more priceless than we can ever realize; and should never be violated - because all of life is sacred.
I love you Mother Earth; and i'm so deeply hurt to see: the awful things that we have done to thee. For the rest of my days, i pledge to live in harmony with thee - in all that i say and do. Without you in my life: how can i stay alive? If you do not survive, my Mother Earth, then all of us will die. We all will die!
- Avatar Galextra
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5.
Lord Buddha
Lord Buddha:
Siddhārtha Gautama
Gautama Buddha, popularly known as the Buddha (also known as Siddhattha Gotama or Siddhārtha Gautama[note 3] or Shakyamuni), was an ascetic, a religious leader and teacher who lived in ancient India (c. 6th to 5th century BCE or c. 5th to 4th century BCE).[6][7][8][note 4] He is regarded as the founder of the world religion of Buddhism, and revered by Buddhists as an enlightened being,[9] who rediscovered an ancient path to freedom from ignorance, craving and the cycle of rebirth and suffering. He taught for around 45 years and built a large following, both monastic and lay.[10] His teaching is based on his insight into the arising of suffering or dissatisfaction and its ending—the state called Nirvana (lit. vanishing or extinguishing).
The Buddha was born into an aristocratic family in the Shakya clan, but eventually renounced lay life. According to Buddhist tradition, after several years of mendicancy, meditation, and asceticism, he awakened to understand the workings of the cycle of rebirth and how it can be escaped. The Buddha then traveled throughout the Gangetic plain teaching and building a religious community. The Buddha taught a middle way between sensual indulgence and the severe asceticism found in the Indianś ramaṇa movement.[11] He taught a training of the mind that included ethical training, self-restraint, and meditative practices such as jhana and mindfulness. The Buddha also critiqued the practices of Brahmin priests, such as animal sacrifice and the caste system.[12]
A couple of centuries after his death he came to be known by the title Buddha, which means "Awakened One" or "Enlightened One".[13] Gautama's teachings were compiled by the Buddhist community in the Vinaya, his codes for monastic practice, and the Suttas, texts based on his discourses. These were passed down in Middle Indo-Aryan dialects through an oral tradition.[14][15] Later generations composed additional texts, such as systematic treatises known as Abhidharma, biographies of the Buddha, collections of stories about the Buddha's past lives known as Jataka tales, and additional discourses, i.e. the Mahayana sutras.[16][17][18] Due to his influence on Indian religions, in Vaishnavism he came to be regarded as the 9th avatar ofVishnu.
- Gautama Buddha - Wikipedia
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The Legacy of Lord Buddha
The Buddha Legacy – A Shared Heritage
Though born across the present-day border of India in Nepal, the life of Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, is synonymous with India. It was in India that the Buddha first spread his teachings, teachings that would flourish from East Asia to the Gandhara civilization in modern Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Outside of Lumbini, birthplace of Buddha in Nepal, India today is home to three of the four holiest of pilgrimage destinations related to the historical life of Buddha. Bodh Gaya, in Bihar, is the most important religious site, with the Mahabodhi Temple housing what is believed to be the Bodhi Tree, or relative of, under which Gautama gained enlightenment. Sarnath, not far from Benares, is the site associated with the first teaching of Buddha. And Kusinagara, also in Uttar Pradesh, is the location of the Buddha’s death and his attainment of Parinirvana. Other pilgrimage destinations are dotted across the north-central Indian landscape.
Meanwhile, one line of tradition has it that Buddhism arrived in Myanmar via the direct interaction between an Indian envoy and local populations. According to the Mahavamsa, a Pali chronicle of the fifth century, the legendary Indian emperor Ashoka sent two bhikkhus, ordained monks, to Suvarnabhumi around 228 BC with sacred texts. And it was from this exposure that Buddhism spread and eventually gained the favor of the Myanmar royal court.
Today, Myanmar is 90% Buddhist and Buddhism can be seen influencing nearly every aspect of Buddhist Myanmar culture and tradition, not to mention politics. Moreover, Myanmar attained special eminence as the host of the Sixth Buddhist Council, held in Rangoon (Yangon) between 1954 and 1956, and as the source from which two of the major systems of Vipassana meditation have emanated out into the greater world.
The shinbyu, novitiation, ceremony in Myanmar is a highly esteemed celebration marking the monastic ordination of a boy under the age of 20. Allowing a son to spend some time, however short it may be, in a Buddhist monastery is regarded by most Myanmar Buddhists as the best religious gift that his parents can give him and is believed to have a lasting effect on his life.
Whether or not the various peoples of India and Myanmar today practice Buddhism, the foundations of each country are heavily indebted to the life and influence of Gautama Buddha. And it is at least partly because of this shared historical and cultural heritage that India-Myanmar relations are infused with an unbreakable special bond.”
- The Buddha Legacy – A Shared Heritage - Yangon International Gems Jewelry Fair 2019 (yangongemsjewelryfair.com)
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Lord Buddha’s Teachings
The Buddha’s teaching can be simply summed up into three parts:
1. Four Dharma Seals 2. Four Noble Truths
3. Noble Eightfold Path
-Basic Buddhist Teachings | Basic Teachings of the Buddha (buddhismforkids.net)
Equals Forever
[excerpt]
Throughout the ages nations that industrialize: - always say that they are civilized; and insist that they are better than nations whose people see the world through primitive eyes. Since the European empires began, and white supremacy spread across many lands: people of color throughout the Earth have been treated like dirt - and told that they have little value or worth.
How can we look at each other and think that we are better than one another: because of the color of our skin, the gender of our bodies, or the size of income that we bring in?
We are equals forever, my human sisters and brothers and none of us is better than the other – whether we are a woman or a man, a boy or a girl, or have all the money in the world. If you think that you are superior to someone else: it is only because you feel inferior inside yourself.
Wherever we go statistics show that in every culture: women are owned or controlled by men. Boys are viewed as Society’s prize - and the apple of every family’s eyes: while girls are restricted, cursed, and condemned over and over again.
Whenever we think that we are superior in any way: we always try to control and destroy forever - people that we decide are inferior today. By dumping them into ghettos, locking them in prisons, and herding them onto reservations. By killing them in gas chambers, holding them in mental asylums, and enslaving them for hundreds of years on slave plantations.”
- Avatar Galextra
---------------------------
6.
Lord Krishna
Krishna (/ˈkrɪʃnə/,[12] pronounced [ˈkr̩ʂɳɐ] ( listen); Sanskrit: कृष्ण, IAST: Kṛṣṇa) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the supreme God in his own right.[13] He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love[14][1] and is one of the most popular and widely revered among Indian divinities.[15] Krishna's birthday is celebrated every year by Hindus on Krishna Janmashtami according to the lunisolar Hindu calendar, which falls in late August or early September of the Gregorian calendar.[16][17]- Krishna – Wikipedia
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The Legacy Of Lord Krishna
SRI Krishna’s message has been an eternal source of inspiration, not only to spiritual aspirants, but also to patriots and philanthropists, social and religious reformers, politicians, and leaders of people. He has been a model of perfection, a nation-builder, a creator of unity among diverse creeds, a friend of the lowly and down-trodden, a sworn enemy of the wicked and a saviour of the virtuous; an embodiment of love, grace, and beauty on the one hand, and of power, glory and magnificence on the other.
Sri Krishna represents the Soul of Hinduism. It was He who synthesized the ideals of disinterested Action (Karma Yoga), Knowledge (Jnaana Yoga), and Devotion (Bhakti Yoga). He preached the doctrine of harmony among all sects. It was He who pronounced once and for all the reason for God incarnating Himself in the famous verses:
“Whenever there is a decline of (Dharma) Righteousness, and a rise of (A-Dharma) un-righteousness, then I body Myself forth. For the protection of the virtuous and the destruction of the wicked, I come into being from age to age.” (Gita 4: 7-8).
Sri Krishna was more than a religious reformer, because He came not to destroy or condemn those who came before Him, but to fulfill their teachings. He declares that all faiths ultimately lead to the same goal, and that the different paths which people follow are all His Pathways.
“Howsoever men seek Me, even so do I approach them; for all persons follow My path in every way.” (Gita 4:11).
Sri Krishna’s life was His message; He practiced what He preached. He is the very embodiment of the ideal of Karma Yoga. He teaches that we must remain unperturbed by any circumstances, and accept success or failure with an even mind and calm spirit. We should perform our duties, which are determined according to our individual tastes, temperaments and capacities. Our actions must not be motivated by our greed for personal name, fame, or fortune, but by the desire to do good to others. In this way, we must set an example for others to follow and leave our foot-prints in the sands of time, which will guide them too on the path of duty. Lord Krishna says that the leaders have a greater burden in this regard.
“Whatever a great man does, that very thing other men do; whatever standard he sets up, the general public follow.” (Gita 3: 21).
Common people imitate the standards set by leaders of society. They are the path-makers who blaze the trail that other people follow. They set the standard which ordinary people take. The light generally comes through individuals who are in advance of society. They see the light shining on the mountain heights while their fellows sleep in the valley below. They are the salt of the earth, the light of human communities. They set themselves ablaze in the fire of sacrifice that their light may clearly show the path.
Sri Krishna teaches that our every action ought to be a Yajna, a form of worship.
“Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer as oblation, whatever you bestow as gift, whatever you do as penance – offer it all to Me.” (Gita 9: 27).
By declaring that those who work only to satisfy their own taste and appetite are selfish and committing sin, He is giving us a pattern of socialism which is religious in outlook and truly Hindu. It is only selfless interest in our duties that will lead us to Jnaana or Self-knowledge. Self-giving results in the consecration of all acts to God. The tide of our common tasks of daily life must flow through the worship of God. Love of God is not an escape from the harshness of life, but a dedication for service to God and humanity.
“You have the right to work, but never to gather the fruits thereof; let not the consequences of work be your incentive, nor let there be tendency to inactivity.”
This is the ideal of Karma Yoga, as embodied in the Gita, which has inspired thousands of men and women to fulfill their duty regardless of the consequences.
“To thine own self be true,” says Shakespeare in Hamlet. Here, a father is advising his son to follow his swadharma, or prescribed, natural duties. Lord Krishna advises that it is better to perform one’s own prescribed duties, even imperfectly, than to do with perfection the duties prescribed for another.
The Law of Karma declares that we are the builders of our own destiny. We are not only the results of our past deeds, but by our own present deeds we are also building our future. So, Sri Krishna declares: “A person should uplift himself by his own efforts, and should never despair or degrade himself; for his own self is his friend, and again his very self can be his own enemy.” (Gita 6: 5).
Lord Sri Krishna teaches us to avoid excesses and practise moderation in everything. In Gita 6:16-17, He says: “Yoga, (spiritual discipline), which rids one of miseries, is not meant for those who eat too much, who sleep or keep awake too much, nor for those who indulge in unnecessary and long fasting. Yoga takes away the sorrows of those who are moderate in their eating and recreation, moderate in all their actions.”
He prescribes the Golden Mean – the Middle Path. According to philosophers, virtue is a mean between two extremes. The middle path is the solution to life; neither asceticism on the one hand, nor license and perversion on the other hand. Everything is for use, and everything must be used wisely in order to be fully enjoyed.
The last word of Sri Krishna recommends complete resignation to the will of God. Egoism must be totally sacrificed. “Give Me your whole heart; love and adore Me; worship Me always; bow only to Me. In this way you shall find Me. This I promise you, for you are exceptionally dear to Me.
This is the promise of the Merciful Lord Sri Krishna to all mankind. In Krishna, there is hope for redemption. The ultimate mystery, the Supreme Teaching is repeated here. Thought, Worship, Sacrifice and Reverence – all must be directed to the Lord. We must let ‘ourselves’ go in a simple, sustained and trustful surrender of oneself to God, and open ourselves out to Him. Our spiritual life depends as much on our going to Him, as well as on his coming to us. It is not only our ascent to God, but also His descent to man.
The Bhagavad Gita has influenced millions of people. Sri Krishna’s name rings down the corridor of history. He has stamped His name perhaps on the most marvelous civilization of the ages. Sri Krishna, from His humble seat in a chariot, has moved India. He will move the world, and all those who study Him. A hundred kingdoms have crumbled; and innumerable relics of ancient art and memorials of kings and statesmen are gone. Krishna has stamped His name upon the life and culture of the Hindus. In Krishna, there appeared the force of the Avatar, in all its glory. The Word did not remain a word, but became a living, moving reality. In Krishna, the Gita has become incarnate as a redemptive Power of Life.”
PT. R. BALBADAR -The legacy of Sri Krishna - Guyana Chronicle
Life Always Looks After Its Own
[excerpt]
“There’s a Magical Mystical Being called Life, who is made of the purest of radiant light and who lives in a place called Eternity. She is the Mother of the Universe and the Father of all beings: who is keeping our spirits alive with their eternal breath of Life.
It brings tears to my eyes to hear billions of human voices cry: that Life is hard and unfair and it seems that no one cares. Millions of people on Earth are feasting on the fat of the land: while billions of others are starving and breaking their backs trying to make a living any way that they can.
There is something that you all need to know so that we each can really start to grow. So listen very carefully to this truth that speaks so clearly to each of us so dearly.
Life always looks after its own; and even when we are alone - none of us is ever left to make it on our own. No one is ever alone even when it seems that there is no one around. No matter how hard the test, if you do your best Life will always do the rest. Because no woman, child, or man is ever given more than they can stand.
Whenever we ask for strength to carry on: Life shows us our weaknesses so that we can learn to be strong. Each time that we ask for courage to take a stand - Life brings us our fears for us to work on. Those who ask for inner peace will find that Life: is always telling them to end the wars raging inside their minds.”
-Avatar Galextra
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Each Other's Keepers.
[excerpt]
“In every walk of life there is a growing and disturbing sight. People today have lost their way and no longer know what is wrong or right. They will stop and stare right into your eyes and watch you as you slowly die. Then turn their backs and walk quickly away - so that they wont have to hear your death cry.
How can we see someone, or a community, in pain: then turn and look the other way - knowing that there is always something that we can do or say to help their hurt to go away?
We are each other's keepers my human sisters and brothers - and its time for us to come together and be there for each other. Bonds of pure and sacred light that cannot be broken glue each of us together - now and forever. Whatever harm is done to one wounds you, me, and everyone.
Values today are being thrown away by people each and every day. They sacrifice their families, ruin their health, and destroy their marriages chasing social status and material wealth. Nations today are fighting old battles started by nations of yesterday: regardless of what their citizens do or say or the cost in mortal lives each day.
We are each other's keepers my human sisters and brothers: and its time for us to come together and be there for each other. Bonds of pure and sacred light that cannot be broken glue each of us together now and forever. If we cannot help each other: let us try not to hurt one another -because whatever you do deeply touches me and you.”
- Avatar Galextra
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8.
St Nicholas
“The Wonder Worker”
Saint Nicholas of Myra[a] (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343),[3][4][b] also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greek descent from the maritime city of Myra in Asia Minor (Greek: Μύρα; modern-day Demre, Turkey) during the time of the Roman Empire.[7][8] Because of the many miracles attributed to his intercession, he is also known as Nicholas the Wonderworker.[c] Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of sailors, merchants, archers, repentant thieves, children, brewers, pawnbrokers, unmarried people, and students in various cities and countries around Europe. His reputation evolved among the pious, as was common for early Christian saints, and his legendary habit of secret gift-giving gave rise to the traditional model of Santa Claus ("Saint Nick") through Sinterklaas.
Very little is known about the historical Saint Nicholas. The earliest accounts of his life were written centuries after his death and contain many legendary elaborations. He is said to have been born in the Greek seaport of Patara, Lycia in Asia Minor to wealthy Christian parents.[9] In one of the earliest attested and most famous incidents from his life, he is said to have rescued three girls from being forced into prostitution by dropping a sack of gold coins through the window of their house each night for three nights so their father could pay a dowry for each of them. Other early stories tell of him calming a storm at sea, saving three innocent soldiers from wrongful execution, and chopping down a tree possessed by a demon. In his youth, he is said to have made a pilgrimage to Egypt and Palestine. Shortly after his return, he became Bishop of Myra. He was later cast into prison during the persecution of Diocletian, but was released after the accession of Constantine. An early list makes him an attendee at the First Council of Nicaea in 325, but he is never mentioned in any writings by people who were at the council. Late, unsubstantiated legends claim that he was temporarily defrocked and imprisoned during the council for slapping the heretic Arius. Another famous late legend tells how he resurrected three children, who had been murdered and pickled in brine by a butcher planning to sell them as pork during a famine.
Fewer than 200 years after Nicholas's death, the St. Nicholas Church was built in Myra under the orders of Theodosius II over the site of the church where he had served as bishop, and his remains were moved to a sarcophagus in that church. In 1087, while the Greek Christian inhabitants of the region were subjugated by the newly arrived Muslim Seljuk Turks, and soon after their church was declared to be in schism by the Catholic church, a group of merchants from the Italian city of Bari removed the major bones of Nicholas's skeleton from his sarcophagus in the church without authorization and brought them to their hometown, where they are now enshrined in the Basilica di San Nicola. The remaining bone fragments from the sarcophagus were later removed by Venetian sailors and taken to Venice during the First Crusade....”
- Saint Nicholas - Wikipedia
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The Legacy of St Nicholas:
The Wonderworker
FAITH
Published November 17, 2018 4:00am EST
Bill Bennett: The legacy of Saint Nicholas – Why his story is worth knowing (especially now)
There is an old story about Saint Nicholas, the Christian bishop who lived during the fourth century in what is now Turkey, and whose name we associate so much with chimneys and stockings hung with care.
When Nicholas was a young man living in his hometown of Patara, he heard of a family that had fallen on hard times. The desperate parents were too poor to provide dowries so that their three daughters could marry. They decided that the only way to keep their daughters from starving was to sell them into servitude.
Nicholas put a few gold coins he had inherited into a small bag and, one night when the family was sleeping, tossed it through a window into their home. It was enough money to provide a dowry for the oldest daughter, who was soon married.
When Nicholas saw the effects of his gift, he returned and tossed another bag of gold through the window so the second daughter could be married. When he came several nights later with a third bag, the tearful father was waiting to see who their secret benefactor was. Nicholas begged him not to tell anyone, but his act of generosity set him on the path to becoming the world’s most famous gift giver.
Such are the stories of Nicholas that have come down to us. His life, to be sure, is obscured by time and legend. It’s a history I explore in my book, “The True Saint Nicholas.” Nicholas was a man of God who worked tirelessly for his flock. But the most remarkable part of his story comes after his death. People began to tell stories about the bishop and his power to change people’s hearts. Because all the good he did was a kind of miracle, they told stories of the miraculous—stories of a man who could accomplish things no ordinary person could.
“It is easier to count the waves of the sea, the drops of rain, the stars, and with a glance see all the Atlantic than to recount in detail God’s marvels accomplished through Saint Nicholas,” an eighth-century hymn proclaimed. Nicholas gradually became an international phenomenon in the Old World. By the end of the fifteenth century, more than 2,500 churches, monasteries, hospitals, schools, and works of art had been dedicated to him in Western Europe.
We live in a time of social turmoil and drama. Nicholas’s standing endured such a time during the Reformation, when Protestants turned against traditions surrounding the saints. The most zealous reformers took hammers to sculptures of Nicholas and other saints. They smashed stained-glass windows depicting their deeds. Pages containing lives of the saints were used to polish boots or wrap fish.
Nicholas was driven from many churches, but he could not be driven from people’s hearts. Over the centuries, something extraordinary happened. He moved into homes and became a hero of the hearth. In America, of course, he transformed into the champion bringer of gifts. Those three bags of gold have become Santa’s sack of toys.
Yes, Santa Claus (whose name comes from Sinterklass, the Dutch name for Saint Nicholas) is sometimes overexposed and exploited. At his best, though, he stands for the virtues that Saint Nicholas championed: generosity, selflessness, largeness of spirit.
There is one essential truth in the stories of Nicholas and Santa Claus: the goodness of the gift offered with no expectation of anything in return. That spirit lives in any parent who with secret joy watches a wonder-struck child on Christmas morning.
The legacy of Saint Nicholas has rippled across seventeen centuries, bringing messages of faith and joy. His is a story worth knowing, especially this time of year.
Dr. William J. Bennett, former United States secretary of education (1985-1988), is one of America’s most influential and respected voices on cultural, political, and educational issues. His newest book is a single-edition volume of his acclaimed trilogy, "America: The Last Best Hope," which tells the inspiring narrative of our exceptional nation.
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Marriages Can Last Forever
“Never before in history, has the institution of matrimony: become such a liability, to the human family. Marriages are falling apart everywhere - and more and more: people no longer seem to care. As soon as a husband, and a wife, have a problem today: they want to go, their separate ways.
A marriage, must always be nurtured, with everything inside - that you have to give: because every marriage has a life of its own; and a strong will to live: through sickness, and health, poverty and wealth, and every kind of weather. The most sacred bond, that you can ever find: is when two hearts, and minds, join; and become one.
Every marriage begins to thrive: once the problems causing it to wither, start to die. A husband, must stop behaving, like a married bachelor: thinking that its a man’s nature, to have both his wife, and mistresses, throughout his life. And a wife, must stop using her womanly charms: to turn other men on, because society says - that a little flirting, or flaunting, does not do any harm.
Don’t you know, that our children die inside, even when we do not see them cry, each time: that they hear their mother, or father, say to each other: i don’t love you anymore; and I’m walking out the door: because I’ve fallen in love with another.
Marriages can last forever: my human sisters, and brothers: and life always provide certain clues, for couples, who really want to stay, and grow together:
Respect each other as equals: in all that you say and do; and every decision in your marriage, must always be made by the both of you. Work to become each other’s closest friend: and you will have no secrets,between you then. Learn to like the one, to whom you pledge your love; and you will always enjoy, being everywhere together. And always protect each other - even when you are apart: from people, trying to make sure, that your marriage does not last.
Marriages can last forever. But couples, keep making the same tragic mistake: that brings only grief, and heartache. Whenever a change comes in their sexual desire, they think: that they are no longer in love with each other; and that there love, has lost its fire.
But love becomes deeper, and richer with time; and it mellows with age: just like fine wine. The only thing, that we take from this Earth: are the lessons we’ve learned, through the relationships, that we’ve formed. So whenever we sacrifice our marriage: we are doing ourselves, the greatest of harm.”
- Avatar Galextra,
Blessings beloved spiritual immortals living as mortal surface dwellers across the landmass of Lady Gaia, my sister Goddess, for trillions of now!