Wesak Festival

“Building Our Spiritual Legacy…
…through emotional health and intuitional awareness”

“The entire secret of divine purpose and planning is held in the sign of Taurus.” - Esoteric Astrology, pg.371

Esoteric students world-wide celebrate the festival of Wesak at the full moon of Taurus as the most important event in the spiritual calendar. It is celebrated as a time of spiritual awakenings and setting new directions.

EXPANSION OF AWARENESS AT WESAK

“No cost is too great to pay in order to be of use to the Hierarchy at the time of the Full Moon of May, the Wesak Festival; no price is too high in order to gain spiritual illumination which can be possible, particularly at that time.”

-The Tibetan

It is a great joy to us and to the Watching One, that people all over the world, individually or in group formation, are observing the Wesak Festival and building a channel to receive and pass to humanity the energy of spiritual will, love and enlightenment.”

ENERGY FIELDS

At this time, as the Full Moon is approaching, the Great Ones, the Initiates and disciples are forming a great field of energy in the Himalayas, through their meditation, contemplation, mystical and sacred rituals, and through Their great striving, invocations and contacts.

This is the field which will be charged more and more by the presence of Christ, and through the blessings of the Great Lord Buddha; it will provide a chalice for cosmic energy, and a channel through which these energies can pass to the kingdoms of nature.

This energy field is formed of the four cosmic ethers and, as a huge cloud formation, spreads itself all over the world.

All those who are sensitive enough to this energy field, will slowly notice that seeds of great beauty, truth and goodness start to bloom within their hearts. All those who love their fellow man, all those who really work for the unity of mankind, who really strive beyond their physical satisfactions to reach and touch this field of energy, will be impressed by new age visions, ideas and goals.

When all these people work in their own fields and in their own ways to express these energies, they will create another field of energy which we may call the “Hope of Humanity.”

This second field of energy is created whenever a man with pure motives, through striving, opens himself to the energy field created by the Hierarchy. Eventually these two fields will fuse within each other and humanity will be flooded with new inspiration, and with new drives for greater creativity.

From ancient times, great Sages have set aside definite days in the year for fasting, for prayer, for rest, for striving, for meditation, and They called these days “Holy Days.” To make holy means to set something apart to be used for a greater purpose. On these holy days, people used to extend themselves beyond the limit of their past achievements. They tried to contact greater beauties, to bring more joy, more unity and peace to the world of men.

In the new age people will consider the New-Moon and Full-Moon periods as special days, and the three major Full Moons, namely, the Full Moons of Aries, Taurus and Gemini, the holy days of the year.

The greatest moment of contact of the year will be recognized as the Day of the Wesak Full Moon, the day on which the three great centers on the planet, Humanity, Hierarchy and the Father’s Home are linked and fused with cosmic centers, thus releasing potent energies over our planet earth.

The energies about which we are speaking are coming from the sun Sirius, from the Great Bear, from the constellation of Taurus, and especially from that great star, Aldebaran, which is shining as the Eye of the Bull. Esoteric sources say that these are the Great Lives which are focussing Their energies at this time on our Planetary Logos, Sanat Kumara, Shamballa, and the Hierarchy through which the energies will be radiated out and spread throughout all ranks of Initiates, disciples, aspirants and humanity in general, as well as the lower kingdoms of the planet.

These three Great Lives, or Constellations, are channels for the energy of enlightenment, love, compassion, and will-power. This time is unique because of the combinations of these energies and the effect of these combinations upon the nature of the human being. Where these three energies are available, our whole nature responds to them. All three kinds of Monads (First, Second and Third Ray Monads) and all the other types of rays are involved and affected by such combinations.

EXPANSION OF CONSCIOUSNESS AND AWARENESS

The flow of energies and the registration of these energies, their assimilation by our nature and the measure of the expansion of consciousness, depend on the level upon which consciousness is focussed and active. For example, the expansion of consciousness of a Master will be, let us say, one hundred miles, but the expansion of the consciousness of a little man will be three yards--so to say.

As you stand on higher levels, on higher planes, you are more in touch with higher energies and because of the relationships of these energies with the higher planes, you experience continuity of consciousness, that great bridging process which opens before your eyes the oceanic splendor of your inner being. If you are focussed on the emotional level, expansion will be different than when you are focussed on the intuitional level.

The registration, the assimilation and the radiation of these energies depend upon the condition of the centers in our etheric body. When a man is focussed within the lower centers, below the diaphragm, these centers will be stimulated more, and become more active. If the higher centers are active they will receive more energy and will be more active. When the higher centers are more active, you are expanding yourself into greater relationships, into better communication, and because of this communication you have more power, more energy more enlightenment and more love.

As the processes of registration and assimilation of energies proceed, we build new relationships with the world, with the physical, emotional and mental worlds, and these relationships expand our consciousness. A man who is living a very simple life in a village has some degree of consciousness, but if he comes to a large city and involves himself with many activities, relationships and responsibilities, his consciousness does not remain the same. His consciousness expands because of many relationships and the problems that these relationships present to him. We may say that at these Full Moons, if we make the needed preparation, we will really expand our consciousness because we will see things more clearly and in better relationship on these three levels of human endeavour, the physical, emotional and mental fields.

What is happening today is not a means to expand only our consciousness, but also to expand our awareness. We hear much about expanding our consciousness, but very little about expanding our awareness. Awareness is a matter of direct experience, of knowing through identification, of opening to the sunshine and becoming one with it. It is an awakening to the Real Life, to the function of that Great Life. It is experiencing both the form side of life and the formless side; experiencing the manifested side of life and the unmanifested side; the blueprint of this manifestation and the energy of this manifestation. Actually we are building a bridge between the objective and subjective worlds, between the world of cause and the world of effect.

The cause is the realm of awareness. You become aware of the cause, and then you become aware of the effect through your consciousness. This consciousness necessitates reasoning, analysis, induction, deduction, comparison, and so on. Awareness does not need these things. You are aware because you are in the world of causes. Nothing from the world of effects, affects your clarity of vision. You can go from the effect to the cause, but the cause is, and from the causal plane you can easily see what is happening on the plane of effects, without being affected by it.

When your awareness expands more and more, you see the Divine Will behind the causes. You can see also the direct or distorted effects of these causes. When you become aware of energies, aware of immortality, aware of the continuity of life, aware of joy, peace, love and beauty, you see that they were there all the time, but that now you have awakened and become aware of their existence, aware of the fact that they belong to your own greater nature, that they are parts of your nature. Thus, awareness leads to realization. Consciousness puts into expression this awareness upon the three worlds of human endeavor, through creative living, and as the consciousness expands, it does a better job in translating the content, the beauty and the richness of awareness.

At the time of the Wesak Full Moon, we have a great opportunity to clean our etheric, emotional and mental bodies--to clean dark and blind urges from within our etheric body, the glamours or negative emotions and supressions from our astral body, illusions and muddy thinking from our minds, and to stand in the light of our spiritual awareness. At the time of the Full Moon of Taurus a window opens through which man reaches a very high level of realization because of a great revelation which dawns in his awareness. If he achieves the needed alignment and integration for a moment, infinity opens to him, speaks to him. He senses for one moment that he IS and that Cosmos IS' that he is part of Cosmos, that he is one with Cosmos; that all his despair and all his separativeness, which are the cause of his misery, disappear.

The steps which lead to this awareness are three:

ONE: Man steps out of his mental consciousness through the help of his Inner Guide and, for the first time, he senses tremendous synthesis, a tremendous sense of unity, a tremendous clarity of vision. This is a sign that he is entering into the awareness of the intuitional plane. As he enters into the intuitional plane, he feels the energy of the Great Lord Buddha because the aura, or the influence of that Great Lord, is penetrating and active at this time, especially on the buddhic plane, the intuitional plane.

The disciple senses not only the energy of the Enlightened One, but he senses also the great Light which is the source of the intuitional or buddhic plane, the Constellation of Taurus. For one second the Eye of the Bull radiates in his soul. This is the reason that Taurus is the powerful Bull, related to Buddha and the intuitional plane where the Plan of the Hierarchy substantiates. Symbolically then, the Plan is the Bull rushing with great light and power into manifestation.

We know that love is pure reason, enlightenment, and pure understanding. Actually, the word buddhi means understanding in the causal level. For this reason the Great Lord is called the Lord of Compassion, Understanding and Buddha, the Enlightened One.

Lord Buddha draws His energy from the constellation of Taurus, the Light Bearer. I would say that His permanent location is on a higher plane, but at this time of Wesak, He descends onto the intuitional plane and makes us aware of His existence; He builds a bridge for us for a greater contact.

TWO: If a man has done the needed meditation and disciplining of his life; if he has purified his heart and truly sincerely wants to serve humanity and to sacrifice for humanity, he will be granted accordingly a longer or shorter stay in a greater sphere of awareness which is technically called the atmic plane of nirvanic awareness.

When the Great Lord entered into nirvana, that was the sphere of awareness which He penetrated, and that is the goal of each human being in this chain, in this cycle of evolution. As a man progresses into the ocean of such awareness, he registers the energy of the Great Bear and his life becomes a tremendous beauty of light and love, peace and serenity. Buddha has stood for ages as a path through which man may achieve, He has stood for ages as a beacon to lead humanity from darkness to light.

The atmic plane is the plane of compassion, peace, deep serenity, and divine harmony. As we develop these virtues, we prepare ourselves to enter into this sphere and eventually work there in total awakeness.

THREE: If a man has done well; if he has disciplined his tongue, his body, his emotions and mind; if he has cleared his karma, which means that he has paid his debts and that he owes no debts to others on the three levels, then he is granted entrance into the sphere of the monadic plane for a longer or shorter period of time where he receives the divine shock that he IS; that, he is the Self, one with the Cosmos.

At this stage, we are told that all that man has cherished throughout ages, all that for which he has spent his time, energy and life, disappears, and man enters into Freedom. He is now the detached one. The energy that he feels is the energy of Sirius, the rays of which guide him from the human kingdom to the Kingdom Divine; he becomes a member of the Hierarchy and a member of the Great Lodge on Sirius. He is now a Master because he has mastered his life.

BUILDING COMMUNICATIONS

Thus the Wesak Festival is building a golden bridge between the physical, emotional, mental, intuitional, atmic, monadic and divine planes. Actually, the Wesak ceremony is a great labour of building a communication line between matter and spirit, or among the seven planes of existence. The ceremonies that the Masters are performing with advanced Initiates and disciples is a process to create a tremendous electromagnetic field, to invoke, to evoke, to receive, to assimilate and radiate these energies on all planes, not only on the human level but also upon all the seven cosmic physical planes. For example, when They form the five-pointed star, chant certain mantrams, and expand Their antennas (Their antahkarana or the group antahkarana) into the higher cosmic ethers, They absorb the energy of Sirius.

They make seven formations as They form these seven symbols:

A circle.
A circle with a point at the center.
Two circles and a cross within the inner circle.
A triangle within a circle.
A triangle with three petals superimposed and extending beyond the three sides of the triangle.
The six-pointed star.
The five-pointed star.

These seven symbols also refer to the seven rays, the seven planes and seven centers. Basically these seven symbols are evolved from the three original symbols. We have three basic rays and three basic types of Monads:

· First Ray Monads and the First Ray
· Second Ray Monads and the Second Ray
· Third Ray Monads and the Third, the Synthesizing Ray.

The three basic symbols are:

· The cross
· The triangle
· The circle

It seems to me that the cross is the esoteric symbol of our Planetary Logos, our Divinity. The triangle is the esoteric symbol of the Buddha as He relates the Logos to Hierarchy, or Christ. The circle is the esoteric symbol of Christ, the perfect Man. Strangely enough, the cross placed within the circle, forms the symbol of our planet.

You remember, for example, Christ was carrying the cross on His shoulders and going to the mountain of crucifixion to be crucified on the cross. This is a very symbolic meaningful ceremony, or event, in which Christ is carrying the Will of God, the Will of the Planetary Logos. On top of the mountain of achievement and sacrifice, He is giving Himself up totally, sacrificing Himself totally to the Divinity, to the cross. Actually churches erred when they held that the cross was the symbol of Christ or Christianity, because the cross was in existence many thousands of years ago, long before Christianity.

Now, the Masters, Initiates and disciples are using the three original symbols in different arrangements. Let us say They are arranging different “electron tubes” in different formations and relationships as they use these live symbols to attract energies of specific constellations, tuning in with these various super radio stations.

As they change the symbolic formations, they create different communications, or fusions. A constellation is active within a sphere of seven planes, and each plane has its own special frequency and radiant beauty. The Masters perform scientifically accurate symbolic formations so that they may draw energy from the level they wish; combine those energies that are needed at that particular moment of world conditions with those energies that can be used for future possibilities; appropriate and store these energies in special levels and centers to be radiated out or distributed in right proportion to all kingdoms of nature, according to their need.

We can see that these great ones are not dancing or performing artistic movements, but are creating channels of communication, selection and distribution. The main purpose of these ceremonies is to clear the channels of divine circulatory flow in all kingdoms, and to condition the progress of each atom of each cell, and each living form, on the path of liberation, expansion and initiation. They are breaking the barriers of limitation and disunity, barriers on physical, emotional and mental planes--dispelling the fog, the mist, the smog and letting the energy in for purification, progress and freedom.

EVOLUTIONARY PROGRESSIONS

I said that Christ is going to replace Buddha. Does this statement deny the Divinity of Christ? On the contrary. A Divinity Who is not able to progress and surpass Himself is dead and does not exist. A Divinity is sensed and recognized only through those who are progressing toward Him. We can see God when He is in the process of greater unfoldment; when upon each stage of His development He radiates more beauty, more power and more bliss. Every man is divine. Nothing exists in Cosmos which is not from Him. This is what He meant when He said, “Greater things you will do than I have done.”

The Wesak ceremony will not continue in the near future as it now stands.

Great Lord Buddha, Who is the Bridge between the center where the Will of God is known and the center which is formed by all Great Ones, will graduate from our planetary ring-pass-not and enter into Solar evolution. The Ancient Wisdom teaches that each atom, each cell, each living form, is advancing toward planetary, Solar and Cosmic evolution.

We are told in esoteric literature that Lord Buddha and Lord Christ will graduate in the very near future from the planetary “high school”, enter into “solar college” and then into the kindergarten of Cosmic evolution. Again, we are told that Lord Buddha will leave this planet and Christ will not only be the bridge between humanity and the Hierarchy, but also the bridge between the Hierarchy and the Center where the Will of God is known. The Tibetan Master says that the Great Lord Christ decided in 1945 to stay with Humanity another two thousand years to push forward the evolution of humanity until humanity creates true peace and finds its way toward Infinity.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE IN WESAK

Can we participate in the living ritual in the Himalayas? First let me say that according to the Ancient Wisdom, events take place on various planes of existence. We have our physical world, a subtle plane which is called the emotional plane, a mental sphere, the intuitional sphere, and three other higher spheres. Now, to be able to communicate with these spheres you need two important things. First you must have the needed vehicle that can be used on that plane. For example, if you want to visit your friend in the city, you use your car. Your car is your transportation tool on the physical plane. If you want to visit a friend on an island, you can use your boat or an airplane. If you want to go to the moon or to other planets, you use your space ship. The same is true with the subjective travel. If you want to enter into the emotional plane you must know how to use your emotional mechanism. If you want to enter into the deeper worlds you must use your mental vehicle.

The Wesak Festival is performed in one of the sacred valleys of the Himalays. It is performed on the physical, emotional, mental and intuitional levels. If you have only a physical vehicle you will see the physical part of it; if you have an emotional vehicle, and if your emotional world is pure enough, you will wee the emotional aspect too; if your mental vehicle is built, you can see the mental equivalent of that event, but if your intuitional vehicle is built you can see the whole process of transformation taking place within the electromagnetic field which the Masters have created in the valley; you can see the radiation which is relating the event with all disciples everywhere; you can see the Great Lords attending in Their very subtle bodies, and eventually, you will be able to see the electric wall which surrounds the valley for many miles and repels all those who try to enter the Festival, but who are not ready.

The second prerequisite is continuity of consciousness. Some pure souls can watch the Festival from a distance led by their intense aspiration, but when they come back to their normal life they cannot remember anything, though they still have the bliss and joy within themselves. Continuity of consciousness is achieved when man succeeds in building that bridge which connects the psychological gap between the lower and the higher mind, or between the awakening consciousness and the superconsciousness. Now if you want to attend such events, you must start purifying your bodies and build the golden bridge, through esoteric meditation. I wrote about the technique of bridge building in the books, The Science of Becoming Oneself and The Science of Meditation.

If we are not yet ready to participate factually in the Festival, how can we draw some benefit from it and live a more meaningful life?

On our level of development it is not too important to be in the valley. It may even harm us if we force ourselves and we may develop psychological and physical problems as the result of overstimulation. The wisest thing for aspirants and disciples of the future to do is to set aside these seven days of Wesak as the most holy days of their lives and use them to work upon themselves. These seven days are the three days before the day of Wesak, the Wesak day itself, and the three days following Wesak.

I would suggest that the three days preceding Wesak must be dedicated to holy living, purification, sublimation and transformation. On Wesak day, total orientation towards beauty, goodness and truth must be maintained. This is the day of contact. First, you contact your own soul. Next, the eyes of your Master are focussed upon you for a second, and then you feel the great energies penetrating into your system, causing some degree of transfiguration, after which you will make great decisions to change your life into higher levels of living.

RESULTS OF PARTICIPATION

How can we use the Will-to-Good energy which is pouring in at this time? This is a powerful energy emanating from the Center where the Will of God is known, or from the Father’s House, as Christ said. This energy can be attracted and used by all those who love their fellow human beings and who are filled with compassion toward life as a whole. When a man touches this energy, he becomes a man of goodwill and lives a life of right human relations. You can touch this energy of the Will-to-Good, increasing the dynamic heart quality within yourself and cleansing yourself from all separative thoughts and negative emotions. Once you do this, you will be ready to touch the ray of that energy, absorb it according to your capacity and radiate it out to your fellow men healing all separative walls and sicknesses of the mind, emotions and body.

This will pave the way for the New World Religion, which will emerge slowly. The most important step toward the New World Religion is removing all separative walls among the existing religions and seeing the common denominator, or the golden thread, running through all of them. When this is done, we will see that all religions were instructions to humanity from the same source. It is only the merchants of religion who spoiled the purity of religions, creating hatred and pollution among them. Eventually we will see that the New World Religion will be not only an emotional appeal but also a scientific and true spiritual appeal toward the Fountain of Life. We will scientifically communicate not only with the departed ones, but with Great Masters, with Great Lives in space, with the Lives living in great galaxies, and so on. This is what the New World Religion will be--an enormous expansion and communication with manifold Cosmos.

The Wesak Festival is the greatest step toward this achievement. As we are told, the great Founders of all religions are present in the Wesak Valley, chanting and performing the ceremonies which will bring Cosmic energies into our world. The Tibetan Master says that it will be at one of the Wesak Festivals that the reappearance of the Christ will occur. He will come and give us the new Teaching of the New Age. Actually the symbolic rituals create a tremendous communication line among humanity, and between Christ and the Center where the Will-of-God is known.

Without going into detail, we can say that different energies are drawn and expressed by different formations. Such formations act as magnets and transmitters. For example, the triangle, or pyramid, attracts different energy than the five-pointed star, and they each release the energy received into different levels or planes. These formations have various functions:

They attract energies.
They fuse them.
They radiate them in proper channels to further the evolution of humanity.

All these forces will be greatly accelerated after the year 1975. The Tibetan Master says that at the Wesak of 1975, “a powerful energy will be released upon humanity,” and as the result of this release, man will be able to break through the wall of his ignorance, the chains of his hatreds and separativeness, and the prison of his physical limitations. These achievements will not happen at once; it will take labour and striving to cooperate with and use these energies. Great, sunny and beautiful ages are waiting for humanity, and humanity will make it! This is our belief.

[1] Bailey, Alice A., Discipleship in the New Age, Vol. 1, p. 629.

[2] For further information on Wesak sehe Science of Meditatioby H. Saraydarian, pp. 349-358.

* * * * * *

Torkom Saraydarian presented lectures on the topics of Wesak and the Taurus Full Moon. Here is a list of lectures on CD, DVD, and downloads.

List of DVD's:

DVD #206- Festival of Wesak (Communication with Cosmos) - sample video

DVD #66 - Festival of Taurus (Contact)

DVD # 279 - Sun in Taurus (Open The Gates) (a very moving video of the opening ceremony of the new temple in Sedona in 1996. Torkom gives a very intense lecture on the inner meaning of Temple.)

CDs (also available as .mp3 Downloads):

CD: Wesak (Communication with Cosmos)

CD: Festival of Taurus (Contact)

CD: Festival of Wesak

CD: Festival of Wesak (Beauty)

CD: Preparation for Wesak

CD: Wesak

CD: Wesak (Seven Kinds of Desires)

CD: Wesak Festival (7 Steps to Enlightenment)

CD: Festival of Taurus - 2 Full Moons in Taurus (Crisis) (Discusses the meaning of having Two Taurus Full Moons in one year and how to prepare and benefit spiritually from this intense period of energy. In 2008 there are two Taurus Full Moons and this lecture is very appropriate at this time.)

CD: Wesak Festival (Enlightenment Mystery)

CD: Sun in Taurus (Open the Gates) (a very moving CD of the opening of the new temple in Sedona in 1996. Torkom gives an intense lecture on the inner meaning of Temple.)

Additional information on Wesak can be found in the following by Torkom Saraydarian:
Books
-The Science of Meditation
-Symphony of the Zodiac
-Cosmos in Man, Hard cover only

About Wesak in the Alice A. Bailey books:
-Externalisation of the Hierarchy
-The Reappearance of Christ

The Wesak meditation will be held at TSG during the annual Wesak Celebration.

http://www.tsgfoundation.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=91&Itemid=109

Wesak Times & Dates

Wesak 2008 Full Moon Dates & Times

For your enjoyment here are the exact times and dates for the two full moons 2008:

April 20, 2008:

Barcelona - 11:26

Budapest - 11:26

Hong Kong - 18:26

Johannesburg - 12:26

London - 10:26

Los Angeles - 2:26

Melbourne - 20:26

Moscow - 13:26

New Delhi - 15:56 (half hour time zone)

New York - 4:26

Paris - 11:26

Rio de Janeiro - 8:26

San Francisco - 2:26

Tokyo - 19:26

Vancouver - 2:26

Vienna - 11:26

May 20, 2008 unless otherwise noted:

Barcelona - 03:12

Budapest - 03:12

Hong Kong - 10:12

Johannesburg - 04:12

London - 02:12

Los Angeles - May 19, 18:12

Melbourne - 12:12

Moscow - 05:12

New Delhi - 07:42 (half hour time zone)

New York - May 19, 21:12

Paris - 03:12

Rio de Janeiro - 00:12

San Francisco - May 19, 18:12

Tokyo - 11:12

Vancouver - May 19, 18:12

Vienna - 03:12

Information from various websites
also see
www.tsgfoundation.org
08/4/2008