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Ananda
3115 Posts |
 Posted - Mar 31 2010 : 9:38:16 PM
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Hello Yoganiji and dear AYP friends , and happy holidays to you all.
i don't practice samyama bcz i usually overload from it but the habit of letting go of stuff into samyama during daily activity is still here.
i've been reading some stuff about Neem Karoli Baba and the bhakti with which that saint repeats God's name kind of lighted up something here a burning desire to do the same so i've let go into samyama of the desire of wanting to repeats God's name in a certain way and if only there was a decent way i would get a certain form of repetition so that i may repeat God's name from any religion it may come.
and then 4 hours afterward i stumbled into a friend who's been working at Qatar and i saw a beautiful mala in the hand of his brother a black one with 101 beads written on them "Al Majdou Li Allah" in white trans: Glory to God. so i asked him to show it to me and expressed my admiration with it and asked his brother to bring me one the next time he comes back from Qatar but he told me to take it and insisted i would no matter how much i refused the offer at first and it wasn't my intention from first place cause that would be really rude you know.
my friend and his brother didn't use it for praying but from the moment i had it until today i started repeating al majdou li Allah from then on for a lot of my time in and out of activity at times using the mala and at others without it.
half an hour after i got the mala it hit me that it might be the answer of my samyama prayer...
so my question is: do you encourage me to take up the practice; it's like tardid el zekr trans: repeating God's name a suffi practice i used to do before AYP.
the zekr from the mala has crept into my DM sessions but i focus on the mantra whenever that happens. i remember a lesson about this subject but i can't remember which.
do you think it's wise if i keep on this practice or should i let it go and stay with my normal practices?
L&L,
A
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Christine
USA
18 Posts |
Posted - Apr 01 2010 : 12:01:57 AM
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| thank you for sharing Ananda... i found your post heart warming:) love christine |
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cosmic
USA
821 Posts |
Posted - Apr 01 2010 : 01:27:36 AM
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Hello Ananda 
Happy holidays to you too bro.
quote:
Originally posted by Ananda
do you think it's wise if i keep on this practice or should i let it go and stay with my normal practices?
Do you mean to choose one practice over the other? Or just considering adding the mala practice (and keeping daily AYP)?
If you're choosing one practice over the other, I'd say stay with AYP just because the results are pretty reliable and (somewhat) predictable. You know where you're going with AYP 
If you're considering adding the mala practice and keeping AYP, then go for it but be careful about overloading.
I tend to think that with devotional practices, the Divine will be kind and not overload you. But I could be wrong so be cautious.
Follow your heart my friend
Love
cosmic |
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Ananda
3115 Posts |
Posted - Apr 01 2010 : 07:50:16 AM
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Good to have you here both, thought i wouldn't reply to this topic until next week bcz of my internet connection but thankfully it's good now..
the inner guru is telling me to keep on the practice... it's like you said brother cosmic with devotional practices the Divine will be kind and he truly is and it goes without saying that i missed this gentleness being a bhakta throughout all my life before i stumbled into AYP and the practice kind of fills a hole in my path at the present time... who knows i might drop it later but the inner inclination is aiming toward that.
btw i had a big problem about that whole guru chila relationship and Yoganiji plus samyama enlightened me on the whole subject and the answer which came from silence was why go to a guru when God is already available here and now... and this isn't mental stuff it was kind of being downloaded into my system you may say... "go directly to the source of it all..."
concerning the AYP path i am a long runner for life, the example of using the same shuffle for the same hole rings a powerful bell here.
namaste beautiful people(f) |
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Christine
USA
18 Posts |
Posted - Apr 01 2010 : 11:38:02 AM
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" devotional practices the Divine will be kind and he truly is and it goes without saying that i missed this gentleness being a bhakta throughout all my life "
Ananda....this is what i have been led to do for many years.. devotion to the Divine is what i have been drawn to. . i am thankful for finding ayp as it gives me a different perspective from christian tradition in which to learn and grow. What i am reading and learning about here i cannot find within the christian tradition to help me on the journey. i am so thankful for this web site ... what it offers is priceless!
i use a mantra known in Orthodox christianity that centers me within my heart.. i say it all day long.. moving the mind into the heart.....when i do this sincerely, it brings me to a place like what is spoken about here on this web site..
what i am thankful for is .. here, i can find help and understanding to help balance out when the energies of God become to strong.. thus far within the tradition i have been raised, it does not address these things or give any insight us .. which makes it difficult for me and others like me to understand what is happening within..christianity does not speak of these things.. maybe in monastries, but not to lay people...
my inner guru tells me to keep on doing what has always been my focus.. prayer centered within the heart.. BUT also to follow and do what is taught here and learn.. for me they go hand and hand.....and are a nice balance..a great gift of God to have discovered such a place to grown and learn on the web.
i am deeply grateful.
namaste back at you Ananda.! and great thankfulness Yogani for this marvelous web site... and all here who post so i can learn and be a part of this forum family. It is so comforting to know that much i am going thru is not unique and i am not alone in the great discovery of pure being, in this perfection process.
blessings to all, with great joy!
christine
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Katrine
Norway
1813 Posts |
Posted - Apr 05 2010 : 09:25:06 AM
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Hi Ananda
Thank you for sharing of your heart
quote:
the inner guru is telling me to keep on the practice... it's like you said brother cosmic with devotional practices the Divine will be kind and he truly is and it goes without saying that i missed this gentleness being a bhakta throughout all my life before i stumbled into AYP and the practice kind of fills a hole in my path at the present time... who knows i might drop it later but the inner inclination is aiming toward that.
Truth comes to us in so many ways doesn't it......
Just wanted to share with you what happened here recently.....
Sitting on the train on my way to Allihies for Satsangs.....we passed a town called Mala. When passing it... it "stood out" in shine.....the way it sometimes happens here when inner silence speaks....So I texted a friend and asked what was so special with Mala (it is called Mallow in English....but the Gaelic words always stand out when seeing them here...so Mala is what was read).....My friend didn't know. Later that day a friend in Allihies said that Jackie O'Keefe (an Irish woman I lunched with last year that does Satsangs in Ireland and abroad) was raised in Mala......
And then......when arriving in Tramore a few days later.....my friend there who arranges the Satsangs for me......on her kitchen table was a video of someone I had never heard of: Yogiraj Gurunath Siddhanath.....I asked to see it.....and it among other things showed the 3rd ventricles in the brain...how they are formed as a swan.....Hamsa as they were called in the video. The Hamsa/Swan is also the symbol my friend in Tramore has on her clinic logo (she is a Yoga and Alexander Technique teacher). When watching and listening to Gurunath....the Ajna pulsed and pulsed....something was silently transmitted from him into my body.......
Then...my friend tells me that Mala in gaelic actually means....Swan
All this is inner silence way of pointing to one thing......itself
Anyway.....there is some more related to this.....(sorry for the long post....).....
A few days ago I was with a friend in a shop in Dublin.....I said to her when we walked in....there is a book in this shop...because I could feel the energy of it......it turned out to be a book on Mother Mary...a channeled material.....there were pictures in it of aparitions of Mary.....and particularly one image drew my attention....I bought the book for her and myself....and thought no more of it. Then later that day we walked into a church....when entering it....everything was swollowed in silence......we sat in front of what she said was the "Exposition of the Holy Eucharist".......I had never heard of it...so she was silent and afterwards she asked me what I felt when seeing it. Three objects stood out.....the first was the blue colour of the dress of Mother Mary.....the second were the white lillies they had placed around her....and the last was what I called...."the sovereign with the sun rays coming off it"...a brass-like thing on top of what looked like a....rounded cup. My friend laughed and said "that's the eucharist" :)...you know...the holy bread ( ...)
Anyway....sitting there.....diving deep within I am.....suddenly the blue colour of her dress filled me up inside and it said: Get an Irish Cross. With these soundless words came a vague image of some sort of cross hanging from a string with circular "things" on it......it was very vague...because the blue colour was so prominent...
At first I mentioned the Irish Cross to some friends...and they all said St Bridget Cross....but on googling it...and later St. Brendans Cross....nothing spoke inside. So I had to leave it at that ( I had no idea why I needed that cross to begin with). Before opening the book I felt like singing the Ave Maria song that came last year before meditation at home. The only thing that drew attention in the book were the pictures of the aparitions.....one could die in some of them. The next morning I woke up....full of the blue colour inside.....eventually it faded. I still waited for whatever the Irish Cross ment....
On Good Friday I spoke to Louis about it....and when describing the vision to him he immediately said: "Oh, that's a rosary". Oh....a rosary.....Immediately the blue colour came back inside.
My Mother Mary friend texted later that day to tell me of a vigil taking place in St Therese (of Lisieux) church in Dublin on Easter Saturday. So that morning I felt the pull to go to town....looking for whatever it was that I was ment to have. First going to where you normally get rosaries. I looked at many....but nothing was spoken inside. Finally....deciding to go to Christ Church Cathedral to see if they maybe sold rosaries there....instead I found myself walking towards the tourist office (which is also in an old church).....looking there....found crosses but no right ones....and then...right across the street was this little antique shop that stood out. So...going in there....while looking at the items there...the energy kept getting stronger and stronger....so I knew it was in the shop. But i simply couldn't find it....none of the items spoke to me.....So finally I had to ask the women working there....if they had something "hidden away" in drawers somewhere. So she goes into a back room and brings two old looking drawers...where there were some rosaries....some medallions etc. All of them rather shabby.....but there was this one rosary....the instant i saw it i knew it was the one.....it's beads are made of milky white glass shaped like hearts.....and there was a small platter of Mother Mary with something that looked like swords sticking into her chest....and finsishing this rosary mala was a slim and simple crucifix......I looked at the platter of Mother Mary....and I thought one of the swords had broken off her...because it was 4 on one side and only 3 on the other side....there was a gap where the 4th should have been (so spoke mind ).....and thinking "Oh...what a pity...it is broken"....but it spoke the same all the same, so I simply had to get it. The women got a good laugh when i inquired about "the gap"......"no, no....there is nothing wrong with it...the 7 swords stands for Mother Mary's seven sorrows...."....so there you go....am embarrasingly ignorant when it comes to religious knowledge like that....I will have to find out what her sorrows are . They surely must have to do with her son...
Anyway.... I looked at the rosary mala again.....this time turning the platter around....and on the back side of it was a picture of a church...and the words: Medugorje
So you see the "Irish Cross" turned out to be not Irish at all....and yet a rosary in Irland i understand is like your mala Ananda
Now.....i still don't know why i had to get this rosary. But the instant I got it, it melted something further inside....and something was added also......and I wore it to the beautiful Vigil on Easter Saturday....took it off when leaving the church.....and the only times I take it out and wear it is when I sit in meditation....anywhere.....and it will be worn while engaged in Satsang anywhere....
So this is how this rosary mala brought more of silence here. It is wonderous how inner silence works isn't it.....And whomever had this rosary before.......must strongly have loved God.....am very grateful for all she/he impregnated the rosary with of her/his own devotion...
Here .....the only name of God I know of is the silence itself. So here....the rememberance of God....is always the same as falling back into the silence inside.... whenever I am aware of being "off it" into whatever else there is....and lately this seems to be taking care of itself....greatly enhanced by the Samyama practice added a while back.....
quote:
and the practice kind of fills a hole in my path at the present time... who knows i might drop it later but the inner inclination is aiming toward that.
So....it is simply beautiful the way your mala guides you inwards Ananda. How the inner inclination loves you inwards. How everything is always for that.....
All the holes in the heart is gradually filled by inner silence....and so much gentleness is needed in order not to shun these holes. These are the places in us that needs healing.....and inner silence...which is wholeness and holiness itself.....will go about it in any way it sees fit.
A rosary here....a mala there
Gently....we come home to ourselves 
Al Majdou Li Allah |
Edited by - Katrine on Apr 05 2010 09:29:24 AM |
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Ananda
3115 Posts |
Posted - Apr 05 2010 : 11:02:25 AM
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that's one very beautiful post dear Katrine. i wear a christian mala on my neck btw which used to belong to my brother... the mala practice is still going on here and it's weird but it's kind of Self pacing... and yes it's bringing more joy and kind of making me more in touch with my center of bliss when i direct strong emotional Bhakti toward God sometimes "so i strongly recommend the practice for anyone interested."
and while searching Yogani's extended booklist i stumbled into this beautiful book which is filled with very beautiful Bhakti "In Quest of God by Swami Ramdas". i am still reading the book since three days, there are some pauses in it which keep on bringing me near the edge of tears... i think you know which ones
much thanks for sharing your beautiful light dear Katrine and wishing you all the best on your path...
namaste |
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Katrine
Norway
1813 Posts |
Posted - Apr 05 2010 : 1:32:10 PM
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| Namaste dear Ananda |
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thibaud05
France
86 Posts |
Posted - Apr 05 2010 : 7:00:59 PM
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| :) |
Edited by - thibaud05 on Apr 05 2010 8:09:02 PM |
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Ananda
3115 Posts |
Posted - Apr 06 2010 : 02:55:28 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by thibaud05
:)
Thank you for sharing |
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mnm
India
2 Posts |
Posted - Nov 15 2016 : 04:19:06 AM
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quote:
devotion to the Divine is what i have been drawn to. .
Hi Christine,
Can you help me to know more about devotion to divine esp to mother mary. I wanted to write to you directly but couldn't do so because i am a new member here.
i am a catholic. but i am on spiritual tourism and have read books from hindu gurus and christian saints both. Being an indian books from gurus make me feel at home.
But i prefer devotion to divine than following gurus. No particular reason.
can you share some more insights about your approach.
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Is this wise?
