Very cool... and delicious

"May 21, 2013 ~ Swami Chetanananda gave a program on the Shaivite text Pratyabijnahrdyam. In this short commentary, given after class, he talks about the essential nature of the practices."

The breath itself is something that we experience as arising and subsiding from within us. And part of the process we will undergo is following that breath back to its ultimate stillness. It is extremely cool, and not only that, as you do this you will discover that it is delicious (emphases mine). ~ Swami Chetananda 

I've just discovered Swami Chetananda and The Movement Center. I have joined their email list, and this short commentary was this week's topic. NOTE: I lost the URL for this talk. Can someone please help?

Fun! I find that I have been doing breathwork in more ways that I quite realized, and "I" have little siddhis associated with it. ("I" am delighted, and more than slightly miffed!).

How it resonated when swamiji described this work as "extremely cool," and "delicious." For me, it's like being dipped then soaked in cosmic nectar. No long, dry years of sadhana for me! 

[Mind shift: Certain steps, already defined, why can't I skip all this? Oh hell, no. I do hear Krishna laughing! My sadhana is a divine dance with my guru's shakti. It's a cosmic gift. Talkin.] 

What a coincidence(!) that this particular quote followed the beginning of teachings about the Pratyabijnahrdyam, which is the shaivite text my guru is focusing on this year with her devotees, and my favorite text from Kashmir Shaivism.

And... I see from this photo from another talk, that there is a murti of Baba Nityananada lovingly installed, and so the divine guru/shakti of this *sampradaya is the same that has come to me through my sampradaya's lineage (Nityananda-Muktananda-Chidvilasananda). There are a lot of lineages that come from Nityananda, a guru among gurus.

*In Hinduism, a sampradaya [lineage] can be translated as ‘tradition’ or a ‘religious system’. It relates to a succession of masters and disciples, which serves as a spiritual channel, and provides a delicate network of relationships that lends stability to a religious identity. ~ 'Sampradaya' on Wikipedia

NOTE: This term is sometimes used to describe lineages in other religions, such as Buddhism and Sufism.

Burning the karma of pushing

Tree rings*

It's official, I am very contracted. I just sit like a blob! Sitting as still as I can seems to be my only desire. And I yawn constantly. This is very strange.

I pushed pushed pushed when I was soaring with constant and abundant grace. So now, I think I'm burning pushing, grasping, reaching (rajas). (And of course, also burning tamas "inertia," and attachment to sattva "purity").

Grace changes track, is teaching me about receiving grace without the impurities of limitations, created by my mind: "Growing spiritually means _____ and looks like this ______, etc."

I am so grateful to accept where I am. I choose to meditate, repeat mantra japa, perform puja and listen to the mantra anyway, even if I don't "feel it." I can find that familiar, comforting freedom in performing actions without being attached to the fruits (e.g. whether practices make me feel uplifted, how much, for how long, etc. etc.).

Years ago, when I hit a huge block in my meditation, I tried and tried and eventually gave up. All these years later, I have finally got going with regular meditation again.

I think my ego is taking advantage of my current contracted state to try to stop meditating again. And so, as I recognize that I am not where I was, I have compassionately pared my meditation down to a shorter period I can sit for everyday without reaching a point of frustration and wanting to quit.

I am determined. I am not fighting. No pushing or pulling.

I remember Bade Baba's hands, they are always open, no grasping, no pushing or pulling.

This time the ego will not win (said every yogi, ever...).

~ ... ~ ... ~ ... ~ ... ~

*Tree Rings by Arnoldius (Own work (selbst erstelltes Foto)) [CC-BY-SA-2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons

Mantra is the very form of God

A selection from the blog: "Q and A with Mohanji" regarding Mantra Japa

Mohanji

"When the [times create] restlessness, it tests the talent of even the most consistent spiritual seeker. This is natural. Meditations and practices (sadhana) will become difficult. On one side the looming cloud of tamas which constantly push one to “sleep a little while longer”, and on the other side, the lack of environmental support. Mind really sways. Many give up. Many will become disillusioned. Many change their Gurus, imagining that it is because of their Guru that they are suffering!

The best recommended practice during such time is Japa Yoga, or the Yoga of Chants (chanting of the Lord's name).

Lord Krishna and almost all the great masters who walked on earth have acknowledged the importance of Japa yoga. “Among the various types of Yajna, (A ritual or sacrifice into fire, which consists of chants (Manthras) and materials), I am the Yajna or Japa,” said the Avatar Krishna in Gita.

Mohanji

[Bhagavad] Gita also emphasizes on the importance of chanting “which destroys all afflictions, sins and sufferings.” Patanjali instructs that Japa must be done for prolonged period without interruption so that we become one with the chant and this should be done with deep reverence and respect. Japa is the very form of God. Perfection can be attained by chanting the Divine name. In this context, I remember the great Saint Valmiki – the transformation of the hunter Ratnakara to Sage Valmiki! He attained the highest possible state of spiritual elevation and total transformation (metamorphosis) by just chanting the name of the Lord Rama and thus becoming one with the name.

Mohanji

Constitutional change can happen when we become one with the name of the Lord. God is the subtlest of the subtlest. In that context, even the name is gross. But, the name itself can be considered as the form of God, where the sound is the form. The sound “OM” can be considered the form of God because God is formless or all forms.
The name itself can be considered as the form of God, where the sound is the form. The sound “OM” can be considered the form of God because God is formless or all forms...

Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti said that “If you rub the mirror of your heart with the name of God, You will see the God’s effulgence reflected on it”. Beautiful!

Bhagawan Ramana Maharshi

Bhagawan Ramana Maharshi said “Mantra is a channel of shifting current of thoughts. Mantra is a bund or dam put up to divert the water where it is needed. Japa is clinging to one thought to the exclusion of all other thoughts, that is the purpose of Japa. It leads to dhyana (meditation) which ends in Self-Realization.”

Bhagawan Nithyananda of Ganesh Puri says “Japa is a means. Very easy as well as highly efficacious. Through japa sadhana, the vibration thus created, the body gets cleansed and by that the mind also becomes pure and Divine. Continuous Japa will result in nada-upasana and such a state will help to reach the state of Self-Realization”. 

Here, Bhagawan talks about the cellular level purification due to the vibration created by chanting. Since body and mind are integrally connected, cleansing happens in the body also cleanses the mind, so on and so forth. Sincere Japa with a steady mind on the sound and the Lord, will ensure an all-round cleansing. This is the most effective practice possible in turbulent times.

Saint Teresa of Avila found completeness “when each breath began to silently say the name of my Lord”.

Eknath

Eknath said "Remembrance is liberation. Forgetfulness is regression. Utterance of the name is essential devotion."

Bade Baba stories

Bade Baba stories

Soon after moving to the ashram (I was a new devotee, rare for living at the ashram), I volunteered to be an attendant in Bade Baba's (Bhagawan Nityananda's) temple once per week. I had heard that Bade Baba was very unpredictable. For example, a piece of fruit my friend was absent-mindedly coveting leapt from the platform at Bade Baba's feet and rolled across the floor to her feet. (Now that is prasad!)

Padukas (sandals) and the guru's feet
are worshiped as an immediate, very
personal and beloved means of contact
with the guru's divine darshan and grace

My first week in the temple without help, a very strange thing happened. Bade Baba's beautiful silver sandals, or padukas, which are a representation of his darshan and grace (a whole essay on the symbolism of the Guru's feet), are presented on a little dais in front of his murti for worshipers to touch when entering the temple. Well, there was suddenly a rain shower(!), inside the temple, from a window (that did not open) on the ceiling above the padukas, and which rained on the padukas without getting anything else at all wet! I looked up, and a ray of morning sun was shining obliquely onto the window, and the drops of rain were falling from this spot. 

This was all rather spectacular. The deluge lasted for a good 20 to 30 seconds and was noisy in the quiet temple. There was no mistaking what was happening, or what just happened when it finished. It had rained inside on Bade Baba's silver padukas. They were quite wet.

Another sevite carefully dried them off (I can hear Bade Baba laughing). I was too new to laugh yet, as I'm sure Bade Baba was doing! 

There's always an ego "burn" in any lesson, and mine was that someone told me I had to call the main temple sevite, and I was new, so I did as she suggested, awakening a clearly tired sevite with my phone call. She was very unhappy about being called about something that required no action or even knowledge. I apologized for disturbing her. I thought she must have duties to perform at night. 

Later I learned that she was up in the middle of the night giving abhishek. (Now that I think of it, maybe Bade Baba was after her, too. Ha ha.)



~ . . . ~ . . . ~ . . . ~ . . . ~ . . . ~ . . . ~ . . . ~



It is funny, but I rarely thought of this event when I would visit the temple. I don't remember sharing about it to anyone. I thought of it as a sort of playful trick at the time, but now I know that nothing a siddha does is without layers of meaning, meaning which is entirely perfect for each person who is touched by an event.

I think Bade Baba was giving me a message. If others are so reverent towards my padukas, that doesn't mean you also have to be. My grace and my darshan are alive, as water is alive. Also, I don't need others to give me (or my sandals) abhishek. And do not mistake the murti used to love and honor and worship my presence as being here for me. I allow myself to be worshiped in this way as a gift of service to my devotees, to anyone who wants to become free.

This was a high spiritual lesson for me, a newcomer. I can only really begin to understand it now. I'll probably reflect on it for the rest of my life.

Only now am I realizing that I was given the gift of such a unique darshan of a perfect siddha (saint), beloved by so many, a gift that I treasure.

~ ... ~ ... ~ ... ~ ... ~ ... ~ ... ~ ... ~ ... ~

Another Bade Baba story.

When I lived at the ashram, I worked in the "Bookstore," (the fulfillment of online and phone orders for meditation supplies, etc.) We occasionally ordered a special item for sale. Something new: a bunch of "cute" little one-piece brass lingams. I walked into the warehouse area, and just couldn't help myself. "That's a whole lotta lingams," I observed.

Okay while we're talking so-called funny stories about brass items, another time I picked up a bunch of small (about 3 inches tall) brass Bade Baba (Nityananda) murtis that had been created for us in Rhode Island. The metal craftsman, of course, were hardy East Coast sons-of-immigrants who watched The Sopranos on HBO (as did I). They were all laughing and I soon found out why. "Bada Bing!" they gestured to the little army of cross-legged Bade Babas ready for transport. 

They called the Bade Babas "Bada Bing!" I laughed heartily. I was sure Bade Baba was laughing too. The fact that the "Bada Bing" was a strip-club on The Sopranos only made it more funny.

PS I was just thinking they likely had some blissful, intoxicating darshan of Bade Baba while creating the beautiful murtis.

Bade Baba story

When I lived at the ashram, and worked in the "Bookstore," (the fulfillment of online and phone orders for meditation supplies, etc.), we occasionally ordered a special item for sale. Something new: a bunch of "cute" little one-piece brass lingams. I walked into the warehouse area, and just couldn't help myself. "That's a whole lotta lingams," I observed.

Okay while we're talking so-called funny stories about brass items, another time I picked up a bunch of small (about 3 inches tall) brass Bade Baba (Nityananda) murtis that had been created for us in Rhode Island. The metal craftsman, of course, were hardy East Coast sons-of-immigrants who watched The Sopranos on HBO (as did I). They were all laughing and I soon found out why. "Bada Bing!" they gestured to the little army of cross-legged Bade Babas ready for transport. 

They called the Bade Babas "Bada Bing!" I laughed!! I was sure Bade Baba was laughing too. The fact that the "Bada Bing" was a strip-club on The Sopranos only made it more funny.

PS I was just thinking they likely had some blissful, intoxicating darshan of Bade Baba while creating the beautiful murtis.

Another Bade Baba story (my favorite)