Book: The Secret Teachings of the Popol Vuh
CHAPTER 6
FINDING THE BALL
As we navigate through the labyrinth of theories that surrounds us, finding the teaching that truly leads us to a total transformation is akin to finding a precious treasure. The search for this treasure may take a whole life or successive lives.
“Now that the older brothers were not present, the Twins Master-Magi (Hunahpu) and Little-Solar-Priest (Ixbalanque) tried to accomplish all of their duties to bring consolation to the Grandmother and be in grace with their mother. First they went to the cornfields and asked for lunch to be brought to them at noontime. As they shove a stake on the ground, the land itself started sowing. The same happened with their axe, they shoved it into the trunk of a tree and the vines and the branches fell and gathered by themselves. Innumerable were the magical prodigies performed by the Twins”
We must strive to be good housekeepers. Anyone who strives for perfection must comply with their duties at home; as a son, a student, a citizen, and a parent. If we are unable to comply with physical laws, how can we expect to comply with the superior divine laws?
The day-to-day job we work to earn our living, the educational studies into which we invest to become professionals, the duties at home, etc. are all part of the responsibilities we must comply with, without looking for excuses, as they make up an integral element of the path towards self-discovery.
“And they placed a dove on top of a tree, so it would warn them when the mother and the Grandmother were close-by, and Master-Magi (Hunahpu) and Little-Solar-Priest (Ixbalanque) laid on the ground and played with their blowpipes while the tools worked by themselves. At noontime the dove sang and immediately one of them threw some wood chips on their head and grabbed the axe to make pretend he was working, the other one dirtied his hands and grabbed the stake and made pretend he sowed. Then the Grandmother arrived, they ate, and went home”
The forces of nature are willing to aid the human being in their everyday doings. The chirping of the birds, the clouds, the wind, the rain, and all of Nature is a great mirror that reflects its current happenings, the happenings to come, and of its mysteries. Our Mother Nature seeks, like all mothers, to care for her children.
Lamentably we have walked away from her and we have forgotten about her. We no longer seek her guidance, as in the past our elders relied on the phases of the moon to embark on their endeavors. Today we ignore the murmur of the wind before rain arrives, just like we ignore the howling and the barking of our dogs when they seek to warn us of impending danger. It has been written in the most ancient books that he who forgets about his mother, in this case Mother Nature, gets lost and falls into serious errors.
“The next morning they returned to the cornfield to find everything was exactly like before they started working; the branches and the trees that had been cut were intact, the same with the vines. The soil was unsowed, rocks were everywhere and a bit annoyed, they started ‘working’ to redo everything. That night they remained vigilant to catch the perpetrator and by midnight, a tiger, a coyote, a wildcat, a rabbit, a deer, and other animals appeared. They spoke to them in their own tongues saying: ‘Trees, grow; vines, rise; rocks, return…’ and as they conjured, the trees grew, the vines rose, and the rocks remerged, and the Twins coming out of hiding, tried to catch the animals, but they all escaped”
It is obvious that as humanity devolves it ignores more of the governing laws of nature and of our mission in life. At times everything seems to be working against us giving us a feeling that what we experience is Karma – the negative consequence of something we had done in some remote past; but not everything is Karma. At times, nature makes an effort to shift us into our vocation and does this by posing circumstances that if observant, will lead us into identifying our true objective in life.
“They were only able to hold onto the tails of the deer and the rabbit, but these still escaped; which is why today rabbits and deer have not tails, as Master-Magi (Hunahpu) and Little-Solar-Priest (Ixbalanque) ripped them away. They were only able to catch a mouse and they tried to choke him by squeezing on his neck, and they burned its tail; that is why today mice have their eyes popped and no hair on their tails… because the Twins burned them. And while they tried to kill the mouse he told them: ‘I must not die due to your hands, and your job, is not to sow the cornfields’”
The mouse is the call of the consciousness to return to the path from which we have stranded, the path of the revolution of the consciousness and psychological transformation. We have been stranded many times before because of our false perceptions of life and now is the time to return to the long-lost path.
“The mouse pleaded for his life, claiming he knew the life mission of the Twins and he asked for food as a condition to speak. ‘Speak first and eat last’ – said the Twins, then the mouse told them their Grandmother was hiding their fathers’ utensils, those necessary for the game of ball, and that she had hid them in the attic, but because these had been the cause of their death, she wanted to keep them a secret. These words brought happiness into the hearts of the Twins and they said: ‘From this moment, corn, cocoa, bean and everything stowed and forgotten belongs to you’ and that is how the meal of the mouse became that, and it was only from that moment-on, and not before, as the Twins said so”
When we seek for it, we discover the path lies within, not in books, or institutions, or people. Just as it is stated in the Greek temple of Delphos: GNOSCE TE IPSUM (know thyself), when the call from the consciousness (represented by the mouse) is felt, it expresses much joy as that is exactly what the consciousness has longed-for, through innumerable lives.
“To not upset the Grandmother they brought with them the mouse, so he would show them where the ball, the ring and the gloves were hidden. As they arrived, they asked their mother and Grandmother to prepare a spicy meal (chilmol) and pretending it was too hoy, they drank all the water in the house and asked their Grandmother to get more… and after her they sent a mosquito (Xan) to bite into the vessel the Grandmother used for such purpose, causing it to leak. After a while, they complained to their mother of their burning and she left the house to aid their Grandmother. The Twins took advantage of their absence, the mouse gnawed on the string that held the instruments of their fathers, and they hid them, and ran to the river to meet their Grandmother and mother who could not stop the leak from the vessel, and they fixed it, and walked home”
Anyone who finds the teachings of Gnosis soon realizes they will have to battle against many barbaric customs and traditions that slowly become considered ‘normal’ and ‘just’ as time goes by. We should remember that certain countries used to consider it ‘normal’ to abandon parents out in a mountain once they reached certain age so they would die; in our current times we see abortion being promoted as ‘normal’. That is why the Twins take ownership of the instruments to play the game of ball of their parents – which represent the instruments or tools necessary to work on thyself – with plenty of persuasion to not upset the Grandmother.
It is with the call of our consciousness and with taking our spiritual longing as the foundation of our strength that we can find the ball (meaning the secret path). Being courageous is how we can retake the path long lost.
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