Namaskar everyone!

[Guest guest]

Namaste everyone!

 

First of all I want to give many thank you's to whoever sent me the

invitation to join this group, it took a few invites but you are

sucessful at last!

 

My name is Samantha, I am 18 and will be a freshmen at the University

of Minnesota this upcomming fall. I am a Hindu...however my family is

not Desi (Indian.) My mother is a European-American lady of German,

French and Italian ancestry. My father is full-blooded Native

American of Lac Courte Orielles and Gros Ventre tribes.

 

I cannot really tell anyone how I "became" Hindu, because I don't

believe it was a conscious process....it was something given to me by

the Lord's grace and an accumilation of Karma...and everyday I am

grateful (even when I have the bad manners not to show it.) I was

introduced to Desi culture around the age of 6 and perhaps it was

then I became Hindu.

 

I have always had an inclination towards the holy Mother. I believe

there is no more pure force in the world than the love and guidance

of the Mother. For me she takes primary form in Our Lady of

Guadalupe, an Indigenous incarnation of the Virgin Mary which

appeared to Juan Diego in 1524. I am always amazed by how much purity

she can instill in my heart by her vision alone. I am grateful, I

truly believe that La Madre saved the Native populations of North and

South America from complete anhilation when the Europeans began the

campaign of colinization. I thank her for our sustienance everyday.

 

I also love the beautiful, selfless Yashodara (Yashoda) Mother to the

most Gracious lord Krishna, I pray everyday that the daughters and

sons I will one day have may aspire to her divine image. And that in

times of despiration she will be with me. In (current) Human form,

there is also the amazing Amma Sat Amritanadamayi.

 

nice to meet everyone,

 

shanti,

 

Samantha****

 

 

http://www.sancta.org/

 

 

thedevouthinduwomansforum/

[Guest guest]

Greetings Samantha

 

Thank you for accepting our invitation to join. Sorry I couldn't

reply to your message as soon as possible as I was on a silence mode

for awhile. And I am so glad that you have come forward to break your

silence and introduce yourself to us.

 

"I am a Hindu..."

You have made a strong conviction here, and I am really glad you did.

We had an interesting discussion once on this topic : What makes a

hindu a hindu. [see message 480 ] Why I brought this matter up again

is that just few days ago I had an interesting `discussion'

with an

ex member of our group who remarked : You are never a hindu. You are

born a muslim and you will always be a muslim and that is the fact!.

And she thereafter use the name of Allah as an insult. Another asked

me : What is wrong being a Muslim? There is nothing wrong, but the

connotation of the words being use suggest something else, that is

what I am trying to point out.

 

Yes ! I am not a born hindu, but I know my heart and soul have always

been a hindu. The physical appearance or the colour of our skin or

even our race is not a true measure of our devotion.

 

Does being born an Indian makes one a good hindu? There are many

Indians I know of who are born hindu and yet they are ashamed of

their own Hinduism religion. And does one who comes from a Sri

Shankaracharya linkage makes them special and gifted than the rest of

us who are not? This gives us something to think about dosent it?

 

We became hindu not because Hinduism offer us fantastic rewards, it

takes more than just a mere devotion. It's the divine pull that

is

already in us and this pull is so strong that it gives us the courage

and the strength to break away or outgrow from the faith of our

birth. To ridicule this divine pull is the same as putting insult to

the divine itself.

 

"I cannot really tell anyone how I "became" Hindu, because I

don't

believe it was a conscious process....it was something given to me by

the Lord's grace and an accumilation of Karma..."

 

You have said it all Samantha. And I thank you for it.

 

"I have always had an inclination towards the holy Mother. I

believe

there is no more pure force in the world than the love and guidance

of the Mother"

 

I asked the same question to two devotees of goddess Usha/Dawn, this

is their reply :

 

1. "The urge or pull for the DIVINE MOTHER or LIFE-BRINGER or

COSMIC

WOMB is the greatest"

2. "Yes I feel that I was pulled towards another way of

worshiping and learning. I felt that another piece of the veil had

been dropped and that I was on a path of enlightenment. I have grown

immensely and each day brings something new."

I believe it all mothers have this divine pull in them, be it Virgin

Mary or Yashodara it's the essence of mother in them that makes

all

of us gravitate naturally towards them.

 

Earlier in the group we have the same discussion : Why Men and Woman

are attracted to Shaktism. [see message 1956 and 157, 158, 159, 160,

161, 162 and 174 respectively ]

 

I do agree with you that Amma Sat Amritanadamayiis is truly amazing.

In this life time I have met her only once and have been looking

forward to met her again, but somehow I am always being lured by

other duties. Perhaps its not the right time for me as yet to meet

Amma Amritanandamayiis. But I know of some people here especially in

Malaysia who will make a trip all the way down south to Singapore

just to be able to sit and listen to her, during her regular visits

to Singapore.

 

Thank you once again Samantha for joining us, and we hope hear more

from you.

 

Om ParaShaktiye Namaha

[Guest guest]

Here is my personal view...................in a rather summarized manner!

 

I grew up very troubled. Without getting into this I will mention a terrible

home life, emotional problems, kicked out of one school to another although I

was always regarded as highly intelligent by my teachers/psychiatrists I

always got into trouble and could not shake behaviorial problems!

 

So I grow up in this way, but keep the light of my spirit intact. I began

studying western magick and mysticism at age 16 and doing meditations and

visualization excerises I also began experimenting with leaving offerings to

various deities at about age 18 or so.

 

I move out at 19 and lived with a very spirtual person who gives me some

guidance on these things and teaches me to "invoke" gods my chanting their

name in front of images. Sounds simple enough, but if you can do it with the

right intent-miracles can happen.

 

I become obsessed with following the religions of my ancestors- before

Christianity. I never considered myself a monotheist and knew instinctively

that it wasn't for me! I never associated with Pagans or new-age types, but

avidly read the works of the Northern Europeans, Classical Greece and Rome.

The Odessy, Iliad and other epics along with philosophy and Pythagoras etc.

 

I become very attached to the Greek/Roman messenger God Hermes, who in some

ways is very much like Ganesh. He was the god of Travel, Beginnings,

worshipped at crossroads, his image was placed in doorways and he was

worshipped before other gods as he was considered the opener of gates.....

 

So I am worshipping my Hermes and I moved out of that house and into another.

Upon moving into the new place I find a statue of Ganesh was left on the

ground. I had never read anything about the Hindu tradition before although I

knew a few scattered things. So, I placed his statue next to Hermes and wrote

on a piece of paper that I desired spiritual guidance and inspiration for new

action, placing it on the altar. I began burning candles/incense and praying

daily to the images......

 

BANG! I have a vision of Shiva that scared the heck out of me! A week later

the same thing happened while walking down the street and it was Kali Ma. I

explained the visions to a friend in detail and he showed me pictures of

EXACTLY WHAT I SAW!!!

 

So what was I to do? I left offering of red flowers all over the city,

chanted her name day and night, constructed an altar to her. I read

everything I could on Hinduism. I also have been studying Indian clasical

music ever since and have learned the basics of the Hindi language. I am

going to India this year for three months and will return next year for a

full year stay due to an artists grant I won.

 

All these wonderful things have happened and without any prior knowledge of

the subject of Hinduism. I made a vow to return the favour to these gods

dedicating myself to them until the very end. What else could I do? I had had

several wonderful spiritual experiences before, but nothing quite like

that.It was overwhelming and the very memory of it fills me with joy and

encourages me to act even more.

 

My basic thought is that the old gods are relatively "dead" ...their chain or

worship was broken, but the Hindu gods have and are being fed all the

time-they are very much ALIVE. I could only do so much with the classical

studies, but with Hinduism I have an open door to directly effect and change

my life!

 

For me it is the most wonderful tradition in the world and not very different

from what my European anscestors did, however Hinduism never ceased to exist!

 

So I consider myself a devout Hindu and will suffer any tribulations this

entails because I consider my very life a sacrifice, an offering to Kali Ma.

I often pray that I myself may burn in the fires of devotion as an offering

to Kali Ma. She can get me through everything and anything.

 

Why am I a Hindu? Because I had no choice! I can't lie to myself and say that

the Darshans never happened! America is filled with a lot of resentful

atheism and I blame the chains of monotheism for it because people know of no

other way. They think if they aren't Christians they have nothing!

 

But I am optimistic and look foward to a time when everyone can once again

connect to the God within their very hearts. Kali Ma told me to follow my

heart so that is what I must do-with Love and Will.