Tonight and the next two classes that I teach will actually tonight and just one more

class. I'll be doing a kind of two part and it's really the key elements on the spiritual path

and there's three of them I'll focus on that really are key to this evolutionary unfolding of

consciousness and what I'd like to do is frame it in terms of a story that I've always loved

from the Upanishads. It's an ancient teaching story from India and periodically I pull it out and

review it myself and then like to share it with those that are listening and this is a story about

a son of a rich merchant and his father was very very miserly and when his father was making

donations in order to receive a gift from the gods his son noticed that he was donating only the

cows that were old or blind or lame in other words he was a cheap guy and so he challenged his

father publicly and in his father's shame and anger his father said I give you to Lord Yama

that's death go to hell basically it's what he told us so Nachi Keta took his words in a very

concrete way and he went out searching for Lord Yama and he went into the dense forest searching

for death and sat waiting at death's door to appear and sat through hunger and pain and exhaustion

and so on arrives in the land of Yama he's greeted by death's three assistants which are

pestilence famine and war and they told him the death was out you know he's collecting rent

or something like that so he waits patiently for three days and when Yama arrives he realizes

the boy's dedication and his sincerity and he offers some three gifts and he says I'll respond

to any three requests you have for your spiritual journey okay so these gifts are going to be the

gifts that are really essential in the evolution of consciousness his first wish Nachi Keta's first

wish was peace with his father that all be forgiven because he knew that he couldn't continue on

the path if his heart was pushing out his father anybody or any part of his own being

in other words the forgiving heart was his was his request and in response Lord Yama agreed

...