ZenithGold Publishers

 A Beginners Steps Toward Spiritual Understanding:
My Personal Spiritual Quest

Somehow, I always sensed that I, the real self, was more than just the physical body and that the ‘real’ me was Soul or Spirit inside. The question, “Who are you and what is your purpose in life?” has been on my lips from as long as I can remember. I remained in search of the answer and always sought to find my place and where I fit in life.

My personal spiritual journey has taken me from the Saint Luke’s Episcopal (Anglican Church), to Free Will Baptists, to Jehovah’s Witness Bible Study, Daily Word magazine studies of the Unity Society, to Islam, which I practiced for twenty years. I took a first step onto the Mystic Path through Sufism and was initiated into the Halveti Al Jerrahi Sufi Order of Dervishes by Shaykh Muzaffer Ozak at their mosque in New York City. Finally, I reached the entranceway to my destination on the Spiritual Path and my true home at the Sacred Feet of my destined perfect Spiritual Guardian and Companion, HIG Bambi Baaba Baabuwee. The following are my thoughts about the ancient Path of Spirituality and an expression of the small understanding about what I have come to experience.

STEP ONE: The First Departure Point On The Path: Foregoing Judgment While Holding Openness To New Knowledge

There is much wisdom and information; various sciences (religious, spiritual or others), and vast bodies of knowledge that most people do not know, have never heard of, and may never even be aware that it exists. Furthermore, they may know little or nothing about the ageless, ancient and modern array of vast stores of spiritual knowledge and wisdom that is present around the world. Even in the high-tech world of rapid mass transportation, many never travel further than their village, town, or city. This isolation is equally true when it comes to exploring, studying and comparing the belief systems we hold on to as members of the human family. We are ignorant of one another’s similarities and commonalities whether in custom, culture, religion, or spiritual beliefs. In our ignorance of comparative religious and spiritual thought and philosophy, we may attach negative judgments about what we do not know or deem unworthy of investigation. Consequently, we reject seeking any understanding.

A common global thread of submerged timeless spirituality is identifiable outside of complex societies and systems among simple people of the world. It has passed through the ages through a winding succession of Wise Ones, Sages, Prophets, Messengers, Adepts, Initiates and Masters of Ageless Wisdom. Timeless spirituality weaves through civilizations and religions, and has been relayed by Venerable Sages in all corners, cultures and people on this planet. Spirituality and its basic tenets and practice is universal and is the manifested form of man’s desire to find the Divine and come to know the Divine.

STEP TWO:Spirituality Before Religion

Before there was religion in the structured doctrinaire sense we know of today, there was and always has been those who sought to find their true essence as Soul in order to reconnect to the Divine Source, the Almighty Lord, the Sseggulumanda. This search or Path has been called Spirituality or Spiritual Science, the Spiritual Path, the Path of the Masters and the Path of the Saints. Furthermore, the great Enlightened Beings, Saints, Masters of Wisdom, Sages, Adepts and Mystics from all the world’s religions have tread upon it. EkkuboEddemeezi was the term used by African Spiritual Guardians of the ancient Lake Nnalubaale Civilization referring to the Spiritual Path of Divine Enlightenment.

STEP THREE: The Difference Between Religion And Spirituality

Spirituality accepts the basic tenet that each Soul is perfect and is an Essence of the Divine Lord. All the world religions began as spiritual teachings but in time, they were transformed into specific dogmas with the passing of the Great Enlightened One who first brought the teachings. When the chance to question the living Enlightened Being was no longer available, the simple fluid principles found in spirituality became convoluted. An administrative hierarchical system with canonized doctrine was developed. Personal responsibility for ones behavior was transformed into rigid systems of behavior that was outer-imposed rather than inner or self-imposed. World religion teaches exclusive possession of spiritual truth and believes no other belief system (unless part of their group) has truth or divine favor. Spirituality acknowledges the universal nature of the Lord’s reality in everything and everyone, human, mineral, plant, animal, sentient, and insentient – all the creation of the Supreme Lord.

Ignorance, poverty of accurate information, and indoctrination teach that there is only one way to the truth and only one Divine Being who carried messages from the Lord. The identity of that Being is dependent upon one’s religious persuasion. The majority of people are acculturated to accept that the Prophets, Messengers, Saints, Enlightened Ones and Divine Beings associated with their particular lineage who died thousands of years ago are the only authentic holders of the Almighty’s divine energy. We are taught that since the passing of those elevated Venerable Beings, the Supreme Lord has not seen fit to send any other high souls and spiritually Enlightened Ones to instruct, guide, or serve as an example to the human family.

In spirituality however, it is said, ‘When the student is ready the Master will come’. When a Soul is ripe for instruction in higher spiritual knowledge, the Lord will guide him or her to one who already made that exalted journey and knows the Path and its hidden wisdom. There is never a time when the planet is devoid of these High Souls and Divine Co-workers with the Supreme. Just as we accept the never-ending presence and assistance of messengers and servers from the Angelic Kingdom, so too we should know that divine guidance through Enlightened Companions known as Bakakensa-Ssemikenke , Perfect Saints, Adepts, Great Wise Beings, and Sages is never absent as a grand gift from the most compassionate divine sustainer, the Almighty Lord of All Souls.

The core nature of religion is spirituality, which is to join the Soul to its Source. Religion promotes belief in God. Spirituality advocates knowing God. Religion champions a faith-based relationship to the Divine. Spirituality adopts the focus of traversing faith to merge into knowing Oneness with the Divine. Religion emphasizes perfection after death. Spirituality underscores gaining perfection while living.

After the Soul gains mastery over its’ five entrapments or foes rooted in ego, anger, greed, lust and attachment, it can begin its self-discovery. The Soul transcends the body/mind, physical/mental and the emotional self to blossom into Self-Realization as Spirit. It is no longer locked into the confines of the physical, mental, or emotional body by allowing its senses of perception to rule over it. It has refused to be dominated by the calls of physical and mental urgings and rejects responding to anger, ego, lust, or attachment when it raises its ever-persistent head.

Through ageless spiritual practices, be they introspection, meditation, fasting, spiritual discourse, or selfless service, Soul can come to realms of heightened spiritual awakening and consciousness. As taught in ancient African spiritual training centers, the ancients spoke of the Third Eye, Eriisoly’Omukulu or the door to man’s higher consciousness. It is the narrow passage that leads to expansive infinite invisible worlds of reality. Heightened spiritual consciousness and the opening of the Eriisoly’Omukulu enable the Soul to be aware of its true nature as the Drop of the Divine Source. The Soul then merges into Oneness or Divine-Realization, commonly referred to as God-Realization with conscious awareness of its perfection and union with its Source.

When all is said and done, there is no fault with religion, as it is a course in the Soul’s search for the Divine Source. Life is the school in which we learn there is no limit to knowledge, there is no end to wisdom and there is no finality to the unfolding of the Lord’s divine guidance to humanity.

STEP FOUR: The School Of Life

Each one of us lives and has life because of the Drop of Divine Energy, the God Essence, and the Eternal Spark that gives and sustains life. Life is a school we have come into to learn certain lessons about who we are, the purpose we are to serve in life, and the work we are to do here with the life essence we have been gifted with. These are lessons for the Soul to learn and come to know in order to establish its rightful position overcoming the pull of its foes (ego, anger, greed, lust and attachment). In this way, Soul once again reconnects to the Divine Energy and Eternal Spark from which it has come. Soul succeeds to move into a higher level of awareness when it learns from experience in the school of life that it must gain mastery over its outer coverings.

There are timeless practices, which spotlight the emphasis of acquiring discipline over the body. Some practices highlight conquering the demands for sleep and waking for prayer as part of the training for the seeker. Other practices emphasize fasting for periods of time and sometime includes silence, abstaining from sex, meat or a particular comfort or convenience. These spiritual practices are incorporated to develop self-discipline that can translate into the positive habit of self-control for use in spiritual or mundane matters of life. In all, such religious and spiritual customs are but another expression of the lesson that matters of the Spirit must dominate the mind and body and not the other way around.

When we still the mind, still the emotions, and still the body, the Soul can hear the Divine Guidance always available to it. This is expressed in the ageless wisdom of the statement, Be still and know. As a practice employed in spiritual science and in many religious traditions, meditation is a tool to quiet the mind thereby allowing Soul to operate. It is an age-old technique to gain mastery over the Souls’ outer physical, emotional and mental body coverings.

For most of our adult life, we are aware of the need to quiet the mind and emotions. We have learned to slow our breathing, exercise, think beautiful thoughts or use some other means of calming ourselves. Achieving a state of calmness allows us to attain a level of peace whereby we can recognize the Inner Guidance we receive which is always at our disposal. Quiet calm enables contemplation, introspection, prayer, or invocation. It diminishes the distractions from our mental, intellectual and emotional bodies.

Each Soul has the option to choose to attain an awakening of spiritual consciences or to choose to remain asleep and unaware. We can elect to exist in a spellbound, mesmerized state, hypnotized on the physical level. Many of us accept to eat, drink, consume, accumulate material or monetary wealth, work for self-gratification, procreate and then die. This is how the majority perceives the lot of human existence. However, we can also choose to investigate the option to move to higher spiritual grounds, beyond mundane everyday routines of life. Students of the esoteric, spiritual, and mystical realities of human existence know of the hidden side of life and are drawn to uncover it like the petals of a lotus opens to expose its pleasing fragrance.

STEP SEVEN: Kalumanywera

When we fail to learn the spiritual lessons that we must know, and when we fail to learn the spiritual laws that exist in creation, we create what was termed by the Enlightened Sages of the Nnalubaale Civilization as Kalumanywera (action). The proverbs, “You reap what you sow.” You get what you give,” and “What goes around comes around” are popular descriptions of the Law of Cause and Effect or Kalumanywera. In physics, spiritual law is expressed as “for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” These expressions refer to the Cause and Effect of the accumulation of action or energy, which shows itself in either positive or negative ways resulting from our positive acts or our negative acts. These are not hollow words. Rather, they are the expressions of fact and spiritual law that affect us as the Law of Kalumanywera, kaluma.

STEP EIGHT: The Nnalubaale Civilization And Kalumanywera

Eons and eons ago in the distant past of pre-history, the oral records consistently speak of the Spiritual Adepts, highly evolved Enlightened Ones. The Bassabayimiransibo, the Grand Divine Custodians from the Kagera Basin in central East Africa coined the ancient word kalumanywera today popularly referred to as kaluma. These Bassabayimiransibo Enlightened Ones came from the ancient Lake Nnalubaale (Victoria) Civilization at the foothills of the Mountains of the Moon. The Indian/Sanskrit word ‘karma’ is derived from that ancient term to express the law of action, the Law of Cause and Effect. “You get what you give” meaning for every cause (positive or negative action) there is an effect (positive or negative action) and whether that is, good or bad, it comes back to you for you to experience the reverse of doing to others as was done to you. Some may call them life lessons that we must learn from in order to pass through to the next level of our spiritual awareness and increase our understanding of the purpose of life.

STEP NINE: Manifestation And Kalumanywera

Kaluma is the positive or negative energy you direct in word, thought or deed that rotates back to you. That is why people say be careful what you think. In spiritual terms, it means to guard your thoughts because we have the power to create, to manifest or bring forth what we think! Based on this principle, we create what we think either positive or negative, regardless of the physical realities whether positive or negative. When you think a negative thought about someone or something long enough, it comes back to you like a ricochet (Cause and Effect/Kaluma) and likewise for positive thought.

Throughout our lives, we have been advised to think, see, feel, and speak in positive ways either about ourselves, about other people, or about things that occur. An old adage states, “If you have nothing good to say, say nothing!” We have been warned to think about what we want, not about what you don’t want. Realizing the power of this law is especially beneficial as one uncovers other ageless spiritual laws.

STEP ELEVEN: “The Consequences Of The Karmic Ribbon And Its Invisible Magnetic Web”

When all is said and done about esoteric or sacred spiritual science and the spiritual law, the fact remains, there are ways to handle what we think, say and do to produce a positive energy effect (positive kaluma) in order to enhance our lives and progress in this divine school of life. In addition, there are also ways to address negative energies (negative kaluma) that can cause damaging impact in our lives. Again, our choice of thoughts, word or deed affects our lives. Our inclinations to think speak or act in positive or negative, empowering or disempowering ways that result in manifestation of either positive of negative energy effects (kaluma) in our life.

STEP THIRTEEN: The Highest Value Of A Human Birth: The Key To The Spiritual Path

Why is this issue, the matter of human life, of such paramount importance? Human life in a physical vessel is the gateway through which the Soul begins its journey in life’s classroom. When Soul exists within a human body, it then has the opportunity to discover the great lessons about its true identity. It has the opportunity to recognize that it truly is made in the image of its Source and must rediscover itself as a perfected high spiritual being within a physical vehicle.

The Egyptians built the Sphinx as a symbol of the relationship between man’s higher and lower nature. They know that man must conquer his lower animalistic traits to allow his higher spiritual nature to prevail over the beast within. The Egyptians established extensive temple schools and universities under what has been called the Mystery Schools of Egypt. In the Great Lakes region at the source of the Nile, the ancient Nnalubaale spiritual system established Ekiggwa, or Divine Spiritual Sanctuaries. They were centers of esoteric study of spiritual science, guarded and kept for the initiates and the Ssebikuuno (the Spiritual Guardian) in the Nnalubaale sanctuaries. These ancient spiritual learning centers passed on the lessons needed to assist aspirants to understand the dynamics of the Soul and the high value of life.

The experience of human birth is the grand opportunity given to the Soul to ripen into spiritual awareness. A human birth offers the chance to spiritually mature through participation in the timeless practices of teachers and students on the Path, namely, spiritual discourse, selfless service, meditation or the many other avenues to achieve spiritual awareness and elevated consciousness. Most critically, human birth is the only way one can come to meet a perfect Enlightened Companion to guide the student to find the way home.

For the Initiates of the SserulandaNsuloYobulamu Spiritual Lineage, a human birth offers the chance for selfless service to humanity that will be of monumental and timeless value. Humanitarian selfless service is a key element of spiritual growth and development. The goal of members of the Lineage is to assist with advancement of an international commercial center that respects ecological balance and honors spiritual and cultural diversity. Such development will have far-reaching effects in the entire East African region and on the continent as a whole. Sseesamirembe Eco-City/Lake Victoria Free Trade Zone is bringing electricity to forested areas, and highways instead of dirt roads. It is creating opportunities for local or international people to develop as entrepreneurs, and it is making chances available for area residents to obtain training and employment. Sseesamirembe Eco-City will generate options to permanently raise the standard of living for large numbers of people.

STEP NINETEEN: Succeeding On The Path: The Greatest Goal Of The Spiritual Aspirant

The Perfected Guardians teach that an individual who succeeds to master the various means, systems, and techniques to subdue the whispers of the mind, and learns to control the urges of the body and the emotions, reaches a level of spiritual awareness and awakening to the Divine that the majority never know exists. Progress is measured in degrees.

Since time immemorial, it was known in the Lake Nnalubaale Civilization of the Kagera region that spiritual growth and perfection encompassed many degrees or stages of accomplishment. The initial stage-titles of the first circles were traditionally known as Omutende, Omutendeke, Omulaamire, Omulyowe, Omulunge, Omuzirage and Omusiige. Those titles represented the seven steps to attainment of the First Seven Circles with each title belonging to a circle.
Throughout time, successful seekers of divine knowledge of the past and present have been called Saints, Mystics, Spiritual Masters, Enlightened Beings, Sheikhs, Sages, and Seekers of the Light. They sought and attained union with the Essence of the Divine Source sometime referred to as the Almighty Lord, Him, Her, IT, God or by thousands of personal names.

Seekers on the Spiritual Path struggled to conquer their lower natures in order to uncover and reach their Devine Selves - the perfect part of them that is of the Divine Father, the Divine Mother, the Eternal Essence and Almighty ONE with no gender, beginning or end. Aspirants across the globe worked to have a spiritual awakening. They strove to achieve an elevated awareness and self-realization in order to attain consciousness of the Supreme and merge into its divine essence to attain enlightenment.

According to spiritual science scholar, Dr. Bhuka Bijumiro-Jjumiro and historian George G.M. James, spiritual and philosophical concepts attributed to the ancient Greeks are found to have their origin in ancient African civilizations:

To the ancient Ganda Masters of Wisdom (of Uganda), the human body was given many names, of which “Ettu” literally meant, “parcel” (What is hidden inside of one’s body and can only be known by the bearer of that body). That is the esoteric meaning of the doctrine. It refers to the knowledge by which mortal man, the microcosm, can comprehend immortality (the macrocosm) by becoming one with IT. In simple terms, it signified the Soul (the drop) becoming one with the Supreme Lord (the Ocean). The Ganda referred to the famous axiom “Man Know Thyself” as Ekiri Mu Ttu Kimanyibwa Nnannyini Kyo". Their aim was the same aim and objective practiced in the Ekiggwa (Divine Spiritual Sanctuary) and in the Mystery Schools of Egypt. It was the very target and goal one sees carved in stone today, on so many of the temples of Egypt, five thousand years later, “MAN KNOW THEYSELF.” The many Greeks who were educated in Egypt centuries later, including Pythagoras, later adopted the same aspiration.

Since the beginning of time, Mystics sought to accomplish the quest of knowing self and knowing the Lord through any number of ways and routes, by means of song or dance, silence or tears, or through music and meditation. They studied, practiced, lived and worked in groups and in solitary quarters, within monasteries or as desert hermits, or they remained secluded in isolated mountain caves. There have been men, women, and children who have been spiritual seekers. They have been highly advanced Saints, Masters, Prophets, Adepts, and Sages who succeeded in finding the spiritual answers and the secrets to enable the return home to the Divine, in life, not only after death.

STEP THIRTY-THREE: The Oneness Of Humanity: Mystical Teachings In Other Traditions – Sufis, Christians, Jews, Sikhs, And More

 In Ancient African Mystical Wisdom, the word Omutwe is derived from two words or roots:

1. Omu (i.e. the One Supreme Lord)
2. Tuwe (i.e. Give unto us)

Hence, Omutwe meant the vehicle of the Supreme Lord given unto us as the seat of the energy (soul), which we are, and in which the Lord ITSELF also resides. Whenever you see a head of another of God’s children, you are to know that you have seen the Lord that resides within that body. Hence, the word Omutwe is to remind us that we are one in the Supreme Lord, and we should always reminisce in that power the Lord gave to us and remember who and what we are (i.e. souls of the One Supreme Being). (from the book, KUBALA: Africa’s Ancient Mystical Wisdom by Bhuka Bijumiro-Jjumiro coming to ZGP's website July 2008)

 Christianity
That they all may be one: as Thou, Father, art in me and I in thee, that they also may be in us. Holy Bible John 17:21-23

 Buddhism
All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him, as the wheel follows the foot of the ox that draws the carriage. All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him. Dhammapada V. 1-2

 Sufism
Fools laud and magnify the mosque, while they strive to oppress holy men of heart. But the former is mere form, the latter spirit and truth. The only true mosque is that in the heart of saints. The mosque that is built in the hearts of the saints Is the place of worship for all, for God dwells there. Masnavi Book 2 Story 13

 Hinduism
Devout men (Yogins) who are intent (thereon) see this (spirit) seated in themselves; but the senseless, whose minds are unformed, see it not. Bhagavad Gita15:11

Because of the great unfathomable grace of the Almighty Sseggulumanda, Lord of all Souls, the wise Enlightened Beings, Saints, Guardians, Guides, and Sages continue to deliver the grace of the Lord. They persist in transmitting the high spiritual wisdom and knowledge humankind needs to evolve. Their supreme service to humanity demonstrates living examples of compassionate assistance and wise counsel to the peoples of the earth brought to all people, races, continents, and cultures. May we recognize that there is no exclusivity or limitation to the amount of the Lord’s ever-abundant divine wisdom and grace.