How can I deal with the harsh realities of this world? How do I find meaning and achieve balance in my life? Who is God? Can he be found? And how do I go about seeking Him? "Birth and Rebirth: The Awakening of a Dormant Spirit" revolves around timeless and universal themes: the nature of the human experience and the reason for human struggle; the realization of humankind's highest aspirations; the final goal towards which all religions aim. Taking a philosophical approach, the book critically analyzes the root of human suffering, examines the merits and demerits of both science and religion (as they are commonly practiced), and proposes a method through which each individual human being can overcome his or her obstacles and can move forward in life with confidence and enthusiasm.

Ultimate truth. The destiny of souls. The individual heart. Can Krishna and Jesus agree on anything? This is what Subramaniam, a real-life Hindu of the twentieth century, wonders as he enters a fictitious conversation between two religious figures who have changed the lives of millions. As Jesus and Krishna respond to each other’s view of life and the afterlife, they speak words straight from the texts of Christianity and Hinduism and straight into the soul. Subramaniam asks Jesus and Krishna hard questions about faith. Meanwhile, a fictional character, Richard, eavesdrops, asking himself the most important question of all: Does it really matter what I believe?

"Birth and Rebirth on an Alaskan Island offers the fascinating story of Mary's life, from her experience growing up within the traditional society of Akhiok to her work as a teacher, a community health aide, a mother, a grandmother, and an Alutiiq midwife and healer. Through her story we discover a society that blended native Alutiiq culture with the Russian Orthodox teachings handed down from late-eighteenth- and nineteenth-century colonists; the mixed modern education and employment with a subsistence lifestyle; that sanctioned arranged marriages but upheld civil divorce laws; and, above all, that recovered its confidence in traditional healing - both of the body and of the community.".

Along comes a global pandemic coronavirus, COVID-19, and our world is turned upside down. Can the idea of samsara shed any light on all this terrible suffering, turmoil and change? Are we all travelling around the ever-turning cycle of samsara, being born, dying, then reborn - again, and again, and again? Does our life, the things that happen to us, and our death, have any meaning? What do Hinduism, Buddhism, and samsara tell us about suffering, life and death? Could spiritual dimensions exist or do we live in a purely material universe? What is consciousness and does it die when our bodies die? Are rebirth or reincarnation even possible? Can we have spirituality without religion? What, if anything, might spirituality or religion mean in a turbulent and unpredictable twenty-first century? Do mysticism, psychedelics, science and quantum physics offer clues to any of these questions? Take a journey with the author through the fascinating cultures of Nepal, India, Bali and Cambodia and explore their rich traditions of Hinduism, Buddhism and samsara. Part exploration of spirituality and religion, part travel adventure to places of astonishing diversity, this book will get you thinking about your own beliefs, life and death, and where those might fit in to a bigger picture.

Travel with the author on a fascinating journey into samsara, the cycle of birth, death and rebirth, the religions of Buddhism and Hinduism that hold it as central and the rich cultures of Nepal, Bali, Cambodia and India. Does spirituality offer anything of value to a twenty-first century world and can spirituality exist apart from religion? Do quantum physics, mysticism or psychedelics offer any clues about what happens after death, consciousness, reality and ourselves? This book will get you thinking about your own life and death, and where they might fit in to the bigger picture.

Our dreams provide a myriad of mysterious and confusing images—some from our personal experiences and some from the depths of the human archetype—but what do they mean, and how can we use them in everyday life? Morpheus Speaks is a compendium of more than five thousand dream images pulled from the dreams of more than three thousand dreamers. Ideas on how to remember dreams, interpret them, and apply them to daily life are provided. Because some dreams seem to advocate for deeper levels of understanding, there are insight sections, a separate section on nightmares, and a section on images that all humans share, regardless of experience. However, we must be careful as we tread the hidden forests of our dreams. They are the unprotected essence of who and what we are. They are the messengers of our souls and our deeper selves. The outer masks that we present to the world—and even the masks we wear to avoid looking too deeply at ourselves—are stripped away during sleep, allowing us to see our most beautiful faces and darkest shadows. Dreams reveal truths about our emotional state of mind, physical and psychological health, and sense of the spiritual. They are our connection to everything, one another, and God. Discover your deepest truths in this definitive guide to dreams, their meanings, and their practical applications in life.

"The Crusaders with its rich cast of characters delves into a host of subjects that the author, Baby Kattackal holds dear to his heart. The novel is divided into three parts and follows the story of Jes Raj, his son Beja and a Chinese girl Xiuying. It explores faith, blind belief, superstition and atheism on one hand. On another it examines the concept of discipline and the negative and positive aspects of it. Then there is the notion of love – a word that is bandied about so much but so misunderstood as well. What is true love? What is the path to true love? What are the illusions and delusions we suffer when we are in love? But most importantly, the core of the book is really about Communism and Marxism. To put it in the author’s own words: “The aim of this book lies in the answers …which the Marxist theory has sorely failed to address - has the Marxian theory succeeded in abating the poverty of the masses or in bringing in equality and welfare to the people? Has the theory been of any help in abating the poverty of the people of the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China? What about freedom of speech in these communist countries? What was the condition of the working class under communism? Comparing the condition of the proletariat under communism with that of capitalism - hasn’t the condition of the working class under capitalism always been far better?” Kattackal’s message is clear: to enlighten future generations about the poignant story of people who suffered and gave up their lives in despair, unable to withstand the atrocities of the communist regimes. The author says, “I would, like to warn them not to get carried away by the impractical, but alluring, concepts of abatement of poverty, bringing in equality and welfare to all...which Marxism and communism have proved they were incapable of achieving.” The Crusaders with its rich cast of characters delves into a host of subjects that the author, Baby Kattackal holds dear to his heart. The novel is divided into three parts and follows the story of Jes Raj, his son Beja and a Chinese girl Xiuying. It explores faith, blind belief, superstition and atheism on one hand. On another it examines the concept of discipline and the negative and positive aspects of it. Then there is the notion of love – a word that is bandied about so much but so misunderstood as well. What is true love? What is the path to true love? What are the illusions and delusions we suffer when we are in love? But most importantly, the core of the book is really about Communism and Marxism. To put it in the author’s own words: “The aim of this book lies in the answers …which the Marxist theory has sorely failed to address - has the Marxian theory succeeded in abating the poverty of the masses or in bringing in equality and welfare to the people? Has the theory been of any help in abating the poverty of the people of the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China? What about freedom of speech in these communist countries? What was the condition of the working class under communism? Comparing the condition of the proletariat under communism with that of capitalism - hasn’t the condition of the working class under capitalism always been far better?” Kattackal’s message is clear: to enlighten future generations about the poignant story of people who suffered and gave up their lives in despair, unable to withstand the atrocities of the communist regimes. The author says, “I would, like to warn them not to get carried away by the impractical, but alluring, concepts of abatement of poverty, bringing in equality and welfare to all...which Marxism and communism have proved they were incapable of achieving.” "

The first book to examine and extract the workable teachings from the The Secret of the Golden Flower. Forget dogma and belief systems… This is DIY meditation method, especially for those individuals tempted to brave the solitary path. It’s only limits are your ability to envision and strive for a new YOU. Since the publication of Deciphering the Golden Flower One Secret at a Time (ASIN: B001A9TN7Q) in 2008 (DGF), readers have asked for an in-depth guidebook on using The Secret of the Golden Flower (SGF) to awaken kundalini in a manner, and with results, similar to those described in JJ Semple's DGF. The Secret of the Golden Flower: A Kundalini Meditation Method is that book, a much anticipated interpretive guide to the SGF as well as a sequel to his DGF autobiographical kundalini memoir. Kundalini is the formative, biological life force energy in your body. Most people don't realize that kundalini resides within them; they are simply unaware of its actuality and its potential. Which means, of course, that it may never "re-activate" either spontaneously or otherwise, not unless you learn how to induce a Kundalini awakening through meditation practice. Even then, the outcome is never certain. There's a quantum or karmic aspect to the process. Wilhelm, Cleary, and Jung translated the book and commented on its teachings, but not one of them ever practiced the method. This book compares their translations and commentaries with JJ Semple's empirical practice of the method, using his ultimate success in awakening kundalini as the arbiter of its suitability as a method — in essence, the author identifies where the written word deviates from actual practice. He extracts the workable teachings from the esoteric text of the SGF and shapes them into a practical modern method. By cross-referencing both the Cleary and the Wilhelm versions, the author details each version's contribution to the kundalini awakening process. A chapter comparing Golden Flower Meditation (GFM) to the Microcosmic Orbit (MCO) is also included. Says JJ Semple, “Did I take every word and every passage in the Wilhelm version literally? No more than I take every word or passage in the Bible, or in Cleary’s translation, literally. I realized that a successful practice depended on problem solving and detective work, that searching for literal meaning was a waste of time. Success would be found in doing, not in fantasizing.” In fact, the SGF has two objectives. One, it's a manual for kundalini meditation, even though the term "kundalini" never appears in the text. Put aside what you may have been told or read about the SGF and accept this as fact — one borne out by centuries of realized practitioners who practiced the method, a fact vetted by contemporaries such as Gopi Krishna. Two, it's an explanation of ontology, which the dictionary defines as: “the branch of metaphysics dealing with the nature of being.” Neither objective is readily understood without practicing the method. Sure, it’s possible to approach the text as an academic challenge, but the best way to reconcile the two objectives is by practicing the method, which, if you are patient, allows you to “grok” the ontological elements as you move forward. The two are not separated in the text; they’re mingled together, which, as you might imagine, makes understanding problematic. Says JJ Semple, “Although the ontological portions obscured the practical aspects to some degree, I decided to forge ahead. Ultimately, once the meditation took its course, once the light started to circulate, I was catapulted out of the limiting duality of the physical world into the metaphysical actuality of ‘the great One...which has nothing above it.’" In short, he learned that enlightenment comes with practice.