18
The Asala Festival
The beloved chela is reminded that the radiation and blessings drawn from this outpouring from Beloved Buddha (Lord Divino) commences twenty-four hours before the actual ceremony takes place and continues for twenty-four hours afterward. It is wise, therefore, to put one's self in spiritual rapport with this ceremony by keeping the attention as much as possible upon the Blessed Buddha all during the forty-eight hours concerned with this ceremony.
Once each year, in a time of Full Moon, the Beloved Lord Divino, in honor of Beloved Gautama and the anniversary of the first delivery of his revelation of Truth to the world after his Ascension, gathers together those disciples and chelas who wish to be a part of the magnetizing of his Love during this ceremony. This ceremony takes place on the southern slopes of the Himalayas, in the lovely private gardens of a Focus which Beloved Lord Divino sustains there.
Here is delivered again the very first sermon which Gautama Buddha gave and Beloved Lord Divino adds to it a simple address of his own, developing the Truths within the revelation of the Buddha to fit the needs and requirements of the current hour.
The recitation of Gautama Buddha's sermon is given by Lord Divino in the original Pali language but, as in the Christian Pentecostal miracle, everyone present hears him in his own native tongue.
The present Buddha generally takes his place upon the marble seat set at the edge of the raised terrace in his lovely gardens. The high officials sit close about him, while the rest of the Brotherhood is grouped in the garden below. The sermon begins with the admonition to take "The Middle Way" followed by the presentation of the Four Noble Truths:
The APPEARANCE of Sorrow or Suffering (which must be alleviated);
The CAUSE of Sorrow;
The END of Sorrow (or escape from it); and
The WAY which leads to the escape from Sorrow
This is followed by the presentation again of the Eight Noble Truths:
Right Belief
Right Thought
Right Speech
Right Action
Right Exertion
Right Remembrance
Right means of livelihood
Right Concentration
It would be well for the earnest chela to ponder and adopt this counsel, asking that the illumination of the Truths that are within them be given each one as a practical guide for daily living.