to Kumari--Puja and Beyond

[Guest guest]

Jai Maa, beloved Kumari ji!

 

Every post of yours i have ever read, has always filled this

Muktimaa's heart with such bliss! i feel like i have had a bath in

Divine Light.

This latest post of yours is the hot fudge sundae with all the

works! My tongue is literally dripping with nectar...the words are so

sweet.

The quotes that you have inserted here and there, are so

poignant...so potent! They are some of my own personal favorites,

actually. :<) May we all reach deep into our hearts and access our

own "Spiritual Tool Box".

And, also, dear Kumari ji, i have a profound feeling that our Divine

Mother is clapping Her Lovely Hands in time with the Inspired Rhythm

of your wise and loving words. May She continue to bless and guide us

all, each and every moment... until all of our individual "kites

break free"

and we soar as One in complete Bliss and Divine Awareness.

 

Jai Maa! Jai Swamiji! Jai Thakur Ramakrishna Deva!

Your sister dancing on the waves of Kali,

Muktimaa

 

 

 

 

, "ty_maa" <ds.james wrote:

>

> Dear Holy Family,

>

> My years of puja, in which I spent hours each day in formal worship,

> flower arranging and caring for the altar, were a necessary

> preparation for my present work.

>

> A few years ago the Divine Mother placed me in a high tech job

where I

> work 12-14 hours a day, as well as doing technical seva for the Devi

> Mandir. Now my puja has necessarily turned into karma yoga.

>

> What is clear to me now is that without my many years of intensive

> worship, it would have been difficult or impossible for me to do

> secular work in the spirit of worship, that is, as karma yoga.

>

> Any activity one does requires tools or skills of some sort, and

what

> I would like to share with you is a few of the spiritual tools

which I

> learned to use in puja, and which I now carry with me into my

secular

> work.

>

> My spiritual toolbox contains:

>

> Faith- Sri Ramakrishna said that "Faith is the root of all". My

> experience doing worship taught me that although it begins with

> imagination, it soon needs to turn into the conviction, through

faith,

> that God is real and that my worship is a living relationship with

> God. So I prayed to have sincere faith in God and in the reality of

my

> worship.

>

> Longing- Sri Ramakrishna said; "Longing is the one thing needful

and

> that God is drawn to such a devotee the way a cow is drawn to rich

oil

> cakes (something cows love to eat). So, I prayed with faith to

> increase my longing for God daily as I did my worship.

>

> Divine Presence- Successful worship must become a living

relationship

> between the soul and God. So I prayed with faith and longing that I

> would become more and more aware of the presence of God- just as if

my

> friend had opened the door and walked into the room.

>

> Emptiness of Self- To be sensitive to the presence of God, I knew

that

> I had to be free from distractions which obscure that presence. As

> Sri Ramakrishna said; "one's hand may be small, but if we put it

> before our eyes it can obscure the very sun itself." So I prayed to

> become increasingly empty of the noisy mind: memories, thoughts,

> worries, attachments, identifications, and all else that come

between

> the soul and God.

>

> So, as I moved from my years of formal worship into the market place

> of the world, I also took with me my spiritual toolbox containing

> faith, longing, presence of God, and emptiness of self with which to

> transform my secular work into divine worship.

>

> Ramprasad said: "O Mother, You are flying kites in the market place

of

> this world, and out of a hundred thousand, at most, one or two break

> loose to become free. Then you laugh and clap your hands."

>

> So I pray that through my worship and my karma yoga, my kite might

> also break loose and become free as You laugh and clap your lovely

hands.

>

>

> With love,

> Kumari

>