If the world was coming to an end in the next couple of weeks or months, I would suggest that everyone use their last final moments to read Third Thunder: Shamara - The Oblation Bearer.

This book is my choice not because it has anything to do with the end of the world per se, but more because of the main character Shamara's approach to carrying her oblation in the midst of everything and everyone around her completely falling apart. Even though she faces the endless tug of the heart by these crumbling events and situations, she does not get derailed from her main objective. Shamara is the epitome of one-pointed faith as she continues forward, one step at a time towards her goal, regardless of the conflict, death and confusion surrounding her. 

It is hard to say too much about this story without giving away the details that make it such an enlivening/inspiring read, particularly the ending. So you might just have to take my word for it and put it on your reading list to help prepare you for the end of the world should it ever come.

​~ Sivani Ishaya

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The first 5 are known as observances.  
The proper sphere for the practice of the five observances is internal, during Ascension, not by attempting to modify external behavior -- that is a pointless and all but impossible task.
Perfecting the observances is impossible without realizing Perpetual Consciousness, for until one recognizes the separation of the Self from all that is, one will be violent, will be dishonest, will steal, will not be restrained and will grasp -- these are the inevitable counterparts of ignorance. The five observances are the natural counterparts of Union; they are not the steps to Union.
 
The observances become great vows and are perfected when they apply to all that proceeds from the Earth with no distinction for species, place, time or circumstances.
 
1. Non-Violence
Perfect non-violence is impossible if one desires to stay in a human body. But as one rises to full human consciousness, one stops damaging the mind, body and environment by projecting and acting out destructive impulses. Non-violence, is an expression of pure love.  
 
Test it!  Does anything of the world overshadow your serenity? If anythingat all still upsets you, non-violence is not yet perfected in you. It does not help to pretendingto be peaceful if you are enraged inside. 
 
If there is no functioning violence in you, it is impossible for any person or creature to feel violent toward you.
 
2. Truthfulness
Truthfulness can only be a relative thing unless one has established the level of consciousness that perceives Absolute Truth. Attempting to master non-violence, truthfulness or any of the limbs of Yoga is not in any sense bad, but will never succeed perfectly until Ascendant Consciousness is attained and stabilized. No one is truthful until established in the Truth.
 
It is said that the masters of the observance of Truthfulness can speak anything and it will be instantly fulfilled. For a person who resonates in perfect clarity with the fundamental power of the Ascendant that is Truth, one moves the Universe according to one’s desire. One has risen to the level of Cosmic Universality, of the Self of all that is.  All desires of the Self are Holy Spirit and reach instantaneous fulfillment.
 
3. Non-Stealing
Everyone thinks, “I do, I think, I feel,” but the reality is that the Forces of Nature act on the Forces of Nature. Everyone as if steals the authority of the action of the fundamental forces of nature, the gunas,as long as one is in the Waking State of Consciousness. It is not until the Seer or knower is established in the Absolute that all thoughts, words and actions are purely witnessed. This is Perpetual Consciousness -- then and only then is “non-stealing,”fully established.
 
4. Self-Rrestraint”
The literal meaning of “self-restraint” is “student of the totality of the Absolute.” How does one become such a student? Only by experiencing the Ascendant. Thus this observance applies to a state of mind rather than to an artificial practice of control. If one is experiencing Infinite bliss from upward-directed thoughts, what potential will there be for downward-directed thoughts and activity? Not a whole lot.
 
Self-restraint means that all energy is directed upward. When this is maintained in the Ascendant, a self-referral loop in the Absolute is created that manifests unlimited power. What is this power? The power to be a hero. What is a hero? A hero is he or she who rises to protect and serve others. What is the ultimate act of heroism? To be able to save others from their suffering.
 
5. Non-Grasping
“Non-grasping,” is the tendency not to amass possessions. Possessions include everything physical and mental that one attempts to hold onto. Sometimes fear drives people on such a deep level that they see no hope for fulfillment without amassing much more than they can ever use, of things as well as knowledge. The tendency to hold on at all costs is one of the major stumbling blocks to the growth of consciousness, for if possessions are valued more than the Ascendant, possessions will be owned as long as the body endures, but the Absolute will remain hidden. It is not that there is anything wrong with possessions! It is the attachmentto possessions, the desire to hold them close from fear that keeps life bound to the Waking State.
 
Healing attachment without the experience of the Ascendant is all but impossible and largely pointless. Giving up one’s possessions and family accomplishes absolutely nothing except that one would no longer have possessions or contact with a family. The path to enlightenment is not through renunciation. But when Perpetual Consciousness is stabilized, one’s experience is that the inner Self is Infinite, the outer world completely separate from it. In this state, non-grasping is naturally perfected (just as are the other four observances), for nothing is held by or even can be held by the Self. Even though the Self underlies and pervades everything, it is eternally separate from all of space and time -- knowing that, one does not tenaciously grasp that which is meaningless.
 
It is precisely the tendency of the mind to hold onto everythingthat obscures the vision of its past, future or present. Like a television tuned to a specific channel, a mind holding onto anything is not free to experience anything else. When one channel is playing, the television cannot pick up another. This is immediately obvious, but the tendency of the mind to hold on is very, very deep. It can never be broken or even much lessened without the experience of Ascendant Consciousness.
 
The last five are called actions.
Because of their significance, there is a slight degree more emphasis on practicing the five actions than there was on practicing the five observances, which is why the literal translation of niyamas,(actions), is “leading to the observances.” The five observances are the natural counterparts of enlightenment; these five actions are also the natural counterparts of enlightenment, but they also have the effect of furthering enlightenment, particularly the last three.
 
6. Purity
Purity can be practiced, for there are some actions and habits and foods that lead life forward quickly on the path of evolution, and there are some actions and habits and foods that slow the growth of consciousness. But of course flawless purity is impossible without stabilizing Ascendant Consciousness, for a mind not established in the Self is inevitably caught in thralldom to the past, to limiting and painful beliefs and judgments, to the entire play and display of the three gunasguÆasin created time. The only Absolute purity is contained within the Absolute itself -- it is only when one is fully established in that Ascendant Reality that one can be said to be pure. This purity is not the result of diet or vow; it is the natural by-product of full human consciousness. And full human consciousness will never result from straining to be pure.
The perfection of purity leads to gladness and one-pointedness which clarifies the senses and bequeaths the capability of seeing the Self. Perfection ofpurity leads to gladness, one-pointedness, clarity of the senses and the capability of seeing the Self
 
7. Contentment
It is not difficult to attain supreme happiness -- one must only be established in perfect contentment. The problem, of course, is that this is simply impossible without enlightenment.  As life moves on, energy rises due to the action of rajas; this rising energy collides with previous impressions stored in the nervous system to produce desire.
 
There is nothing wrong with this; indeed, it is by fulfilling desire that one naturally rises to higher levels of desiring. Those that advocate cutting off of desire and enforcing a false contentment from the surface of the mind are therefore impeding the natural flow of evolution; continued for a long enough time, this will lead to greater and greater stress and artificiality of functioning of the mind and body.
 
As long as the Infinite Self is unknown, there is no true contentment -- diverse desires continue to rise in all times and places. For those who do know the Self, however, the goal of all desiring is attained; contentment is the natural by-product of establishing permanent awareness of the Ascendant.
 
From contentment, supreme happiness is gained. Contentment comes fromfulfillment; it does not and cannot lead tofulfillment.
 
8. Austerity
Again,it is important to emphasize that austerity,does not mean self-abuse. Standing in freezing water only stresses the body, it does not purify it. And thus also with any other technique of bodily mortification.Austerity means the willing assumption of a set of self-chosen boundaries to realize a goal.
 
“Austerity” means renouncing the lower, sense-oriented style of functioning of the mind and body for the sake of the higher. This is the transformation of the physical that makes the experience of the Ascendant permanent. Austerity means renouncing that which does not serve evolution in favor of that which does. It means choosing the Self over the self, the Holy Spirit rather than the ego.  Austeritymeans being intelligent about time and habits, choosing those which serve and giving up those which do not. There are only so many hours in a day; if they are wasted on pointless, ego-gratifying pursuits, the day is lost. If enough days are lost, the life ends up wasted. So austeritymeans intelligently and willingly adopting useful boundaries in order to stabilize awareness of the Ascendant.
 
Willingly accepted boundaries are notpainful! On the contrary, they are a joy. And this naturally develops in anyone who Ascends.
 
In its simplest sense, austeritymeans: be willing to close your eyes two or three times a day for twenty minutes or so, back away from the chaos of the world and Ascend. That seems like a simple enough act given the profound and extraordinary results that immediately manifest. But, it is shocking to learn how many are incapable of even this.
 
Correctly applied, austerityleads directly to bliss, for it continually redefines what is and what is not enjoyable, what does and what does not serve as our ultimate goal, and therefore, what will make our path to enlightenment shorter or longer. As one chooses more and more intelligently for the upward current of evolution, impurities of thought, belief and habit naturally fall away, along with their corresponding stresses in the body and nervous system. As the body and nervous system become less and less stressed, the entire structure of the physical machinery rises to a state of perfection.
 
What value austerity without appropriate guidance? And yet, with guidance, austerity, Ascension, diet and rebirth all align as natural by-products of the experience of the Ascendant. One naturally desires to give up that which does not serve one on the basis of expanded levels of experience -- that is true austerity; one naturally desires to focus ever more earnestly and consistently on expansion after one has tasted the Absolute -- that is true Ascension; one naturally desires to reform every aspect of what the body and senses ingest once one has discovered the Infinite hiding within -- that is true diet; and one is automatically reborn to higher and higher levels of existence with every experience ofAscendant Consciousness -- that is true birth.
 
9. Study of the Self
Enlightenment comes more quickly by studying Reality than by studying fantasy.
 
Study of the Self does not mean via books, or attending seminars, or philosophical enquiry. Study of the Self means that the awareness of the Self unfolds its Self to its Self by its Self -- what we can do to help is to focus on this process. Our active attention brings the process to fruition more quickly.
 
Studying the Self is the requirement from the level of the mind to stabilize the experience of Ascendant Consciousness. Studying the Self does not mean studying the philosophical nature of the Ascendant, nor does it mean sitting and thinking about it. Study of the Self is the practice of fixing the conscious awareness on the Self -- with or without the eyes’ being closed, in or out of dynamic activity.
 
One by-product of study of the Self is a constantly-evolving conception of exactly what the Supreme Being is.
 
Study of the Self is the path to Exalted Consciousness.
 
10. Surrender to the Supreme Being
Surrender to the Supreme Being can occur at any time in a soul’s evolution. What this means is that at any time, one can permanently renounce all the false, ego-created beliefs and judgments about the limited and limiting nature of individual life and return permanently to perfect harmony with Natural Law. When this happens, one is said to have surrendered to the Ascendant, for there is no longer an individual basis for thought or action; everything is structured from Universality.
 
One could do this at any time in a soul’s evolution, but for all practical purposes, the intensity of the internal programs is simply too great in the Waking State for this to happen with any depth or consistency. And dreaming is too illusory and sleep too dull to allow this to occur. There is no question of surrender in the Fourth State of Ascendant Consciousness either, for in that the individual Self simply is, experiencing the Infinite, with no motion of thought or belief rippling its perfect Silence.
 
Surrender becomes significant when it is a continual, every-moment-repeated experience. And this can only be possible when one sees the Supreme Being in everything -- every particle of light, every drop of water, every grain of sand, every human face, every thought. When one’s consciousness never wavers from the continual perception of the Supreme Being, surrender becomes a practical reality. And when this happens, Ascendant Consciousness is perfected.
 
Surrender is superior to devotion, for devotion can equally well be applied to anything of the material world. Surrender is superior to faith, for one can be faithful to illusions, idols and false gods. True surrender implies falling at the feet of the Supreme Being. It is a movement of direct experience, not a fantasy, dream or a hope.
 
Surrender to the Supreme Being is the path to Unified Consciousness.