DC satsang/nice people ~ thanks for posting

[Guest guest]

nice post mike; nice and simple; i bow to this; thanks, amarnath

 

Ammachi, "Dusty Gain" <dustygain wrote:

>

> Ammachi, Max Dashu <maxdashu@> wrote:

> >

> > There is a dharma saying that goes, Don't ponder other people.

> >

>

> Om Namah Shivaya all.

>

> I am relatively new here, getting the digest for the last couple of

> months. I look forward to getting it everyday and read every word.

I

> look forward to being in Amma's arms once again soon. I am

fortunate

> in that i live in a small community just outside Yosemite so I am

only

> a 2 1/2 hour drive to San Ramon and have been able to attend all the

> weekend retreats there since I met Amma last November. I feel like

my

> life of 55 years has now been lit up with what had been missing,

and I

> can't imagine a future without Mother's beaming smile filling my

> vision everytime I close my eyes.

>

> One of the biggest steps in my life since I met Amma is the

> realization that I no longer feel the need to have the last word.

In

> my past, having the last word was important when arguing some

point.

> Now I rarely find myself in a potentially argumentative interaction,

> and when faced with the potential for one, find myself smiling and

> changing the subject if possible, or just walking away without even

> intending to do that. It just happens. I am learning the benefits

of

> Love. I have a long way to go yet, but with the help of Mother, I

may

> yet make it.

>

> Last night, I finished reading a book I had been loaned to me by my

> daughter Misha, who introduced me to Amma and just returned from 6

> months in Amritapuri with her husband Mahesvara.

>

> From page 252 of "Amma and Me" by Manoharan:

>

> "I can't speak for all ashrams, but this particular one really

is

> a battlefield, and to me the glory of the spiritual life is rather

> like the glory of being a foot soldier in that sometimes it's hard

to

> see any glory at all. Slogging through the mud from one battle to

the

> next seems to be the nature of the game. And truthfully, sometimes

I

> get tired of the mud. Often people have unrealistic romantic

> expectations that everybody here should be perpetually happy and

full

> of joy, etc., but it's not like that at all. People here are

> intensely working through their issues, and because of this there is

> often more negativity coming up in those that live here than in

those

> that live in the world. And frankly, because of this, sometimes I

> wish I were anywhere else on the planet but Amritapuri."

>

> From the preceding page:

>

> "ONCE A HINDU ASCETIC and a Catholic monk were comparing notes

on

> their respective sadhanas. "I meditate twelve hours a day," the

> ascetic said to the monk. "What about you?"

> "That's wonderful," replied the monk. "We don't meditate very

> much at all."

> "And then I fast for ten days every month," the ascetic

continued.

> "We only fast once a year on Good Friday," said the monk.

> "On Thursdays and Fridays I stay up all night chanting."

> "I really am impressed," said the monk. "We go to bed every

night

> at ten."

> "Well tell me then, what is it you do? What is your form of

> sadhana?" the ascetic asked the monk with great curiosity.

> "My friend," replied the monk, "my brothers and I simply live in

> community."

> The ascetic understood. "I bow to you," he said. "Your penance

> is by far the greater."

>

> Counting the days,

> Mike

>