Shree Maa's Story

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Shree Maa's story...

 

....Shortly thereafter she came to serve him food, but he was more

interested in her spiritual attainment than he was in eating. He eagerly

questioned her, "What sadhana have you performed to attain such knowledge?"

>

The lady of the house replied, "I reached God by serving my family

as I would serve God. I pay respect to each and every action I perform and

serve my husband as I would serve Lord Shiva."

>

People think of spirituality as something different from every day

life, when in fact it is the very essence of every day life. Spirituality

is showing respect in each and every action. If we respect those around us

and treat them and serve them as we would serve God, we are being spiritual and

we can reach God.

 

 

 

Dear friends ~ I found the story after all. Thank goodness for copies of

posts to which people are responding. As to the question and statement, "What

does it mean when we say 'as we would serve God'...How do we do that? i hope you

will share your thoughts and insights...,"

I believe that the guru, the "lady of the house" gave the perfect answer.

 

I'm not sure if the last paragraph is part of the story, or if it is the

response of the person whose post I've copied here, but that also seems like

another answer as to how to serve God. There is one interesting difference of

wording in the story I do not recall reading before: "I pay respect to each and

every action I perform..."

 

So the "lady" is not only serving her husband as she would serve Shiva,

there is the added spiritual action of respecting each and every action that she

takes or performs. This, to me, is huge. If you make each and every action

sacred through your intention, attention and respect, not only will you not

leave any burned birds in your wake, you will be surrounded by the sweet singing

of birds everywhere. This idea of respect, not only of people, but of

actions, reminds me of the "introduction" Shree Maa and Swamiji had on the original

website. I can't find it now, so I believe the idea has been incorporated

into the updating and some of the rewriting on the site. Originally, you would

find it after pressing "Enter" on the homepage, and there was a very succinct

and beautiful statement about attention equaling respect, and worship being

a form of respect. (If anyone has access to this original wording and would

post it on the digest, I will save it, put it on my fridge, commit it to my

memory, and always remember exactly what was said.)

 

I am very happy to read this story, just as I am unpacking and organizing my

new home. This seems very significent ~ I have the opportunity to apply this

principle of respecting every action as I go through this process. It feels

very different from just diving into boxes, throwing paper all over the place

and doing things willy nilly. I think a part of me must have been thinking

of this, on some level, because, as we packed, we were still living in the

trailer, and so I was very careful to keep out everything we needed for "basic"

living. Now those things are already here. This gives me the freedom to take

the time to respect the rest of the process.

 

Now, will I be able to apply this to my family? Can I see my stepfather as

Shiva and treat him accordingly, regardless of what he may or may not do? Can

I see my mother as Devi and my sister as Saraswati (those are the two who

come to mind when I think of them)?

 

One concern I have with the story is the burned bird. And it amazed me, in

the begining of the story, that the sadhu would believe that the ability to

burn a bird was a siddhi or anything of any significance. But perhaps that is a

metaphor for his own state of development. I believe there are a lot of

burned "birds" that are left in the wake of careless or hurtful actions. If one is

paying respect to each and every action, as the lady indicated, one will not

be leaving any burned birds lying around.

 

I am still not sure how to apply this when it is my heart that is the burned

bird. Perhaps it is just to continue paying respect and worshiping those we

interact with as gods and goddesses. Then our own burned bird will be healed,

and we will not be wasting our time on unnecessarily feeling badly about the

behavior of others.

 

Jai Maa! , Jai Swamiji! ~ Linda