Guest guest Posted January 5, 2007 Report Share Posted January 5, 2007 Namaste Sundari, I live in the Bay area too! So nice to 'meet' you in this forum. The best way to get started (in my humble opinion) is to start with a sadhana that is simple, yet stretches my limits ever so gently. What inspires me ? Which aspect of God am I drawn to - the divine Mother/father/or something else ? Or perhaps, it is the formless aspect .... Or perhaps it is Shree Maa herself that I am drawn to ... Maa and Swamiji always recommend us to start with one of the beginner pujas - Beginner Shiva or Durga. We had an online class on the beginner puja sometime ago (almost 2 years ago) but the transcripts are available to anyone that needs more information on this simple, yet requiring some understanding , spiritual practice ... Please inform if you are interested and I will be glad to email you a copy. A few other quick ways to get started 1) Join the Prayer Club and pray for others - chant the Mahamrityunjaya mantra 21 times every saturday. If you would like more information, please email _prayer_club <_prayer_club > 2) Join our group sankalpas. Shree Maa recently suggested to us a practice involving 10 mins of meditation and about 20-30 minutes of chanting different texts 4 times a month (approximately). Please let me know if you would like more information on this sankalpa. Welcome to the group and look forward to your questions and posts. Jai Maa Nanda , Sundari <erin.johansen wrote: > > Namaste, > > I live in the Bay Area, and attended a Durga Puja ritual last March at the > Devi Mandir, which was really wonderful. I have for a long time been > interested in studying with Shree Maa, which was only spurred on by this > experience... what is the best way to get started? > > Shanti > -Sundari > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 5, 2007 Report Share Posted January 5, 2007 Namaste Nanda, I sent off response to join prayer club but haven't gotten any response yet. Been doing it everyday but have couple of questions about how it is done. Lessoned to Dec monthly prayer on Shree Maa site and lessoned to instructions in files. !. Site says Jumsa svaha after @ name and file says Mongalatom Cha after some and Cha after others. (pease instruct) 2. Where do I insert names into file post. Heard a lot of names mentioned but not sure if they were names of those praying or those being prayed for. Thank you for your help on this. ALSO Would love more information on the sankalpa you spead of below. Been doing breathing (prana.) but hadn't heard about chants. Can you please let me know about this also, even if only by letting Sundari know I will see it of course. Thanks so much, Debi Nanda <chandimaakijai > wrote: A few other quick ways to get started 1) Join the Prayer Club and pray for others - chant the Mahamrityunjaya mantra 21 times every saturday. If you would like more information, please email _prayer_club 2) Join our group sankalpas. Shree Maa recently suggested to us a practice involving 10 mins of meditation and about 20-30 minutes of chanting different texts 4 times a month (approximately). Please let me know if you would like more information on this sankalpa. Welcome to the group and look forward to your questions and posts. Jai Maa Nanda , Sundari <erin.johansen wrote: > > Namaste, > > I live in the Bay Area, and attended a Durga Puja ritual last March at the > Devi Mandir, which was really wonderful. I have for a long time been > interested in studying with Shree Maa, which was only spurred on by this > experience... what is the best way to get started? > > Shanti > -Sundari > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 5, 2007 Report Share Posted January 5, 2007 Namasti Sundari, I'm farely new here myself, so will leave you in the hands of the more seasoned ones as far as directions go. Glad you found the group & know you will get what you need here. Nanda and the others are so helpful and loving. Wonderful that you live close enough to get help directly. Peace be with you and hope to hear more from you, and more about you in the future. Blessing and joy, WELCOME Debi , Sundari <erin.johansen wrote: > > Namaste, > > I live in the Bay Area, and attended a Durga Puja ritual last March at the > Devi Mandir, which was really wonderful. I have for a long time been > interested in studying with Shree Maa, which was only spurred on by this > experience... what is the best way to get started? > > Shanti > -Sundari > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 5, 2007 Report Share Posted January 5, 2007 Namaste Nanda, Are these two below, the same thing? Is there a list of current group sankalpas - with explanations or links that explain each one? Love, Durga In a message dated 1/5/2007 2:33:53 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, chandimaakijai writes: 2) Join our group sankalpas. Shree Maa recently suggested to us a practice involving 10 mins of meditation and about 20-30 minutes of chanting different texts 4 times a month (approximately)2 Please let me know if you would like more information on this sankalpa. In a message dated 1/5/2007 2:10:08 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, chandimaakijai writes: The instructions that I have are simple - Maa has not specified the duration of the sankalpa but left it to each of us. It is , once again as follows 1) On the New moon night - ie Amavasya - or the 15th day of the dark/waning fortnight, to chant the Kali Sahasranam and 10 mins of meditation 2) On the Full moon night - ie Poornima - or the 15th day of the bright/waxing fortnight, to chant portions of the Chandi and 10 mins of meditation 3) On the eleventh day of each fortnight - ie Ekadashi- chant the Vishnu Sahasranama and 10 mins of meditation. Assuming that there are 2 lunar fortnights in a month, we average about 4 days of sadhana ... And because of Mother's compassion, these may be the only 4 days for some hapless (me), world oriented (me), too-busy-for-Assuming that there are 2 lunar fortnights in a mon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 6, 2007 Report Share Posted January 6, 2007 Sandari, So good to hear a little more about you. It would be nice if he designed a Beginner Kali Puja. Was just thinking about that myself yesterday. In looking through the Kali Puja Book that he had done you will find directions for doing a smaller version. The page #'s don't corinside though so ended up designing my own by looking at the Beginner Shiva Puja and matching up from Kali Puja then adding what ever else was comfortable or needed for me. Now I'm sort of glad he didn't do one as it gave me a little push. I remember him explaining how they are constructed and what is needed. Kali is my ishtadevi also. Hope to here more from you. Peace and Joy Debi Sundari <erin.johansen > wrote: Thank you everyone for your thoughtful and welcoming responses! I really, really appreciate what you're saying about a sadhana that is simple, yet stretches and challenges. I am amazed and awed by the rich devotion that is so clearly evident in the (many, many!) emails put forward on this list. And it's funny that you mention the mahamrityunjaya mantra - it's one of my favorites, and seems to sometimes be on continuous loop on my lips! Maybe I'm a member of the prayer club already, and just don't know it yet. I only create time to do a full Kali puja occasionally, though, and doing Durga puja and/or Shiva puja even weekly in addition to my daily prayers (sometimes I only get a chance to say them during the morning and evening commute!) would be a wonderful addition. I have those books and have used them before... using them frequently would certainly increase my comfort with them and the mantras therein - thanks for suggesting that as a starting point. I should give a little background on myself - I have been a devotee of Maa Kali (she is my ishtadevi, especially in Her form as Maa Kamakhya - perhaps that's why I was given the spiritual name of Sundari) for several years now. I'm fortunate that my academic studies weave with my spiritual intention and allow me to travel to India and study Sanskrit. I primarily work with SHARANYA: The Maa Batakali Mandir in San Francisco, and my worship has been a mix of East and West. My being drawn to Shree Maa has to do with a few things - a kind of yearning to be in her presence, to sit at her feet; feeling that there is a kind of... shakti... that is waiting to be awakened in me and others through working with her; wanting to feel more deeply into the Hindu traditions, as most of my friends in India now call me a Hindu, though I don't necessarily claim that for myself. I long to perform traditional pujas in and with community, complete with all of the Sanskrit, and to gain fluency with them so that my heart is free to soar through the language. Sanskrit mantras have such power for me - it's indescribable. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about! A small note to the Devi Mandir - it would be fantastic if Swamiji and/or others would create a "Kali Puja for Beginners" book. I know there are many in my community of Kali devotees that would find this a very welcome and useful tool (though presumably such a thing could be more or less easily created by substituting some mantras from the Durga Puja for Beginners book, if someone was familiar with all of the mantras - yes?). shanti saa'ham, Sundari On 1/4/07, Nanda <chandimaakijai > wrote: Namaste Sundari, I live in the Bay area too! So nice to 'meet' you in this forum. The best way to get started (in my humble opinion) is to start with a sadhana that is simple, yet stretches my limits ever so gently. What inspires me ? Which aspect of God am I drawn to - the divine Mother/father/or something else ? Or perhaps, it is the formless aspect ... Or perhaps it is Shree Maa herself that I am drawn to ... Maa and Swamiji always recommend us to start with one of the beginner pujas - Beginner Shiva or Durga. We had an online class on the beginner puja sometime ago (almost 2 years ago) but the transcripts are available to anyone that needs more information on this simple, yet requiring some understanding , spiritual practice ... Please inform if you are interested and I will be glad to email you a copy. A few other quick ways to get started 1) Join the Prayer Club and pray for others - chant the Mahamrityunjaya mantra 21 times every saturday. If you would like more information, please email _prayer_club 2) Join our group sankalpas. Shree Maa recently suggested to us a practice involving 10 mins of meditation and about 20-30 minutes of chanting different texts 4 times a month (approximately). Please let me know if you would like more information on this sankalpa. Welcome to the group and look forward to your questions and posts. Jai Maa Nanda , Sundari <erin.johansen wrote: > > Namaste, > > I live in the Bay Area, and attended a Durga Puja ritual last March at the > Devi Mandir, which was really wonderful. I have for a long time been > interested in studying with Shree Maa, which was only spurred on by this > experience... what is the best way to get started? > > Shanti > -Sundari > -- ------- erin (AT) erinjohansen (DOT) com www.erinjohansen.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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