Positivity vs. Negativity: Why Mrs. Drew Would Be Upset

April 26, 2004

Just a thought here, okay? For whatever it may be worth ...

In this group, let us skip the "humble prostrations" to other members

from now on, how does that sound? If you find someone's posts to be

really clever and/or helpful, just say thanks -- no need to call them

rishis, tri-rishis or any other superlative. Even serious, authentic

gurus discourage the dualism that's engendered by that kind of abject

kow-towing.

Furthermore, the poster below seems to be telling these "rishis" that

it's okay for them to spit on him and criticize him, because the

information they offer is so valuable that it's worth whatever abuse

they might dish out along with it.

Well, as a moderator of this group, let me just say that this kind of

quasi-masochism is NOT okay at Shakti Sadhana. If someone wants

strict guidance and training mixed with personally degrading

commentary, there are plenty of places on the Web where people will

readily oblige you *gack* ...

But from here on in, Shakti Sadhana isn't one of them.

No matter how smart, well-read or knowledgeable you may be (or think

you are), that is still no excuse to make another member feel like

something the cat dragged in. That is not "sattvic behavior", no

matter how "tamasic" you may consider the object of your derision to

be.

Listen: I am not trying to act all high and mighty -- I am speaking

from experience on both sides of the exchange. I readily admit to

having sometimes been too rough in the past toward people I

considered to be "tamasic"; likewise, I've had others be too rough

on "tamasic" me. Neither experience was pleasant; neither made anyone

feel any better. Everyone lost: The person who delivers the insult

looks like a jerk, not a rishi. The person who gets insulted feels

like a fool. Where's the payoff?

There's a dowdy old rule that my gray-haired kindergarten teacher,

Mrs. Drew, used to repeat to us little rug rats all the time way back

when: "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at

all!" I haven't always followed that rule, but you know what? I'm

going to from now on. Just watch.

Even if someone calls me every name in the book, I'm not going to

rise to the bait. Enough's enough. And if Shakti Sadhana goes silent

because niceness is not as interesting as nastiness -- well, so be

it. The older I get, the more sense Mrs. Drew's old rule makes to me.

Life's too short to spend it hurting one another; on a list like

this, there are way too many positive things that we ought to be

talking about.

And since I'm lucky enough to be a moderator, guess what? I'm going

to delete the living daylights out of every negative post I see

entering this group. So here's a little corrolary to Mrs. Drew's

rule: If you have something important to say in Shakti Sadhana, say

it in a nice, respectful way -- or it gets zapped ... no matter how

much we like you.

If you can't talk nicely out of sheer respect for Devi and a space

that is dedicated to Her worship, then I have some advice to help you

out: Pretend you're in kindergarten, being watched over by a stout,

strict, kind-faced old spinster teacher named Mrs. Drew, Goddess rest

her soul. From what I understand now, she was Devi too. ;-)

DB

, kanna krishnan

<kanna_krishnan2002> wrote:

>

> Namaste to all,

>

> Firstly my humble prostration to Satishji, Arjuna and

Kalipadmaji...................

>

> Thank you for such a lively guidance last week on navarna mantra

(also known as Chandi Navakshri and Chandika Parameswari)

>

> Thank you Arjuna for telling me more than few times that they are

not representing Chamunda of Sapta Matrka . It has sink in

now ............

>

> Thank you Kalipadmaji for your sanskrit teacher who reminded

Chamunda is applied to Mahadurga as well.And thank you to Satishji

for affirming the devata is Chandi. I really appreciate all the

inputs and thank you Arjuna for ample of scriptural name and address

given. I appreciate your help.I will serach

further..............................

>

> Ok now let me learn further from our tri-rishi's here (for me they

are) ;

>

> 1) Satishji - Have you seen Chandika image ? Could you share them

here ?How to obtain Guptavathi?

>

> 2) Arjuna -

>

> a) You mentioned "However navarna mantra can be used in kali-

sadhana. Which scripture state this and how come this is possible as

I thought the japa mantra and pooja viddhi requires the specific

pooja devata mantra ?

>

> b) You mentioned Astha Kali.And you have given Chamunda Kali and

also Chandika Kali now who are the rest in astha kali and if you

could scripture of reference...............

>

> 3) Kalipadmaji- OK now can I know how I could obtain the Hindu

Iconography by Dr Pratyapaditya Pal and how much is that ?Is this

the tantrasara that you mentioned or are they diffrent books by the

same author ?

>

> Once again thank you for guiding me throughthis learning . Others

may say that sometime here we go into arguement and debates( i know

you might not indicated this conversation) but I do not mind even if

you slap or spit on me as I am determined to learn as much as posible

about Kali Maa and all of you in this group are my guide . I bow to

all of you ...............I love you all specifically three of

you ............

>

> Thank you for calm and undertstanding

moderators ..........................

>

> Jai Maa!!!!!!!!

>

> Photos: High-quality 4x6 digital prints for 25¢

>

April 27, 2004

Good for u DB; we have a serious business here. Lets get on with it avoiding too

much of fighting except on the subject matter. Any personal attacks( whether

direct or indirec; whether inspired by outside forces or not) should be edited

out.

What do u think guys?

Devi Bhakta <devi_bhakta wrote: