Narayana-ye-ti Samar-payami

January 19, 2009

This morning I had my nose pierced. It all started yesterday when I was going through my jewelry box looking for sparkly trinkets to decorate my hair when I sing bhajans. He likes me to do that and usually tells me what to wear...Chitta Chora!!! I came upon a single earring which my Jesse had found at the swim club this summer and given to me. I had just put it into the box since I do not wear jewelry although my ears are pierced from when I was a young gir. I got out of the habit of wearing jewelry many years ago and only wear two toes rings now. My bangles always break when I wear them, which is another story in itself :-) Anyway, He asks me to dress up for Him and wear sparkles in my hair when I sing bhajans, so I do. As I am toying with the stray pieces in the box, my eyes fall on the earring. I wonder if I might use it sometime for one ear, since it fits the requirements of sparkly, being set in gold and it has a look of a diamond stud, a small square diamond. I pick it up and as I am looking at it I get the request to have my nose pierced.

My nose pierced?!!! If you could only be there to see my face when some of these requests come flying my way. He often waits until the last moment to spring things like this on me...I guess that gives me less time to argue about it. After almost six years of relative quiet worshiping Lord Shiva as my sadhana at the Chinmaya Mission Kedar, I must say I have now been getting broadsided on a regular basis. I cherish it knowing that it is all meant for my best interests and that it pleases Him and most important, that He has returned to me. Only now, He has come to me as Shyam also known as Lord Krishna, whereas before He was known to me as Anand, no ‘a’ at the end, just Anand. And now, He has a form, depicted in my video Jaya Rahda Madhava and in Shriyah-karam.

But this one really comes at me with a big bang. I have always been of the opinion that I do want anything metal in my nose and had not the slightest inclination to get my nose pierced. In fact, I have noticed that many of the women at the Mission do not wear their nose jewelry either. I have also observed in the pictures of the female deities that the nose jewelry can get quite ornate and often wondered how the women could handle all this paraphernalia . It just plain looks, um, congestive!!! So, the idea of getting my nose pierced was surely not on my mind...Chitta Chora!!!

My nose pierced?!!! I take a deep breath at what to me is a major Request. But of course, I already know I will do it. Still, I have to make a little bit of noise about it. Let’s make a deal...I will take the earring with me and if it is a diamond, I will get my nose pierced. If not, no piercing. I do not understand what is the significance, or why it is important to Him, but it clearly is, so it will be done. Tomorrow? Not much wiggle room here. Well, I guess I know how I am going to spend my Monday morning, which is the only time I will have to get out tomorrow. Where will I go to do this? The only thought which comes to my mind is the local mall, where they always have piercing booths.

I collect the earring, and place it into a little box in some tissue. Take a flower...I think of some fresh flowers which I have in a vase downstairs. NO, one of these...I have a tray filled with dried roses on my pujya, which I had intended to sew into a mala. In fact, yesterday, I was looking at them and thinking that the boys were with their dad and I might have time to create one. Not today...you mean you don’t want me to use these for a mala? They are so pretty and I was looking forward to creating something with them. No answer...I have learned that this can mean no or it can mean something else, but whatever that something else is, I am not privy to it just yet. So I leave it to Him and move on. He already had this planned I am sure:-) And of course, He knew I would do what He asked and that one of these flowers was needed for the next day...and for what else I do not know.

I end up wearing a top I just bought yesterday which is an understated orange and red pinstripe pattern and add a print scarf from a salwar suit with those colors along with black and white and gold. Now that He has me dressed I kneel before Him with my earring and the flower in its little box. At His request, I sing Kayena vacha from the end of the Vishnu Sahasranama to Him.

It started out with a side agreement that if the earring was a diamond, I would get the piecing done but if it was no a diamond I would not. We both knew I would do it but we played our little barter game anyway. And He probably knew what I would find out...they will only do it with their piercing studs made of surgical implant steel. On that subject, I arrive at the mall with my little package in hand, my tilak of devotion on my forehead, and find the Piercing Pagoda, which is right there when I walked in. They do not pierce noses? I am momentarily deflated. This took a lot for me to agree to do and get there...by now, I am excited to have it done, because He wants me to and I feel blessed that He wants me to, and now I want to. For a moment, I scan my brain (what is left of it) for my options. Maybe one of the women from Temple could do it for me?

It must be done today. Today? Yes, today. OK.

Then I remember my neighbor who has her nose pierced. It is a trendy thing to have your nose pierced. I call her on the phone and she answers. She tells me that she had it done at a Body piercing placed called The Warrior which also sells clothes for the rock crowd. The Warrior? Oh, my! Talk about a blast from the past. Years ago, when I played electronic keyboards for my ex-husband in his rock back (yes..rock band :-) I had purchased a few pieces of clothing to wear on stage there and knew the owners. I knew this was a far cry from the environment I would have expected to have it done or what I would have sought out, but...It needs to be done today. Well, if it is OK with You, it is OK with me. So with the directions she gave me in my head, I left the mall and drove there.

On the way, I feel a mixture of excitement and some apprehension about the fact that I am going to get a needle stuck into my nose. My neighbor told me that it hurt and that it would draw tears. But I focus on the beauty of His request to me and His assurances that He will be there with me and all is fine as I drive calmly to my next appointment with my destiny. I had brought my CD player with me since I had intended to actually shop the mall for sales afterwards. I grabbed it hoping it still had Swami Bramhananda chanting Vishnu Sahasranamam in it. It does! I will listen to this as I am being pierced...that should keep me calm. They are not open yet when I get there but will open in about 10 minutes, so I sit in my car listening to it. The very sound of the chanting brings a combination of inner peace and soft pleasure to my heart.

Then I look up and see that the OPEN sign is out in the front window. I walk in and past all of the rock’n’roll accouterments and go to the counter. The woman who is working there says I cannot use the earring I brought with me. I had already been warned that this might the case at the mall and so I now accepted that it did not have to be that earring which Jesse had found. I am sure He knew all along that I would not be able to use it. She showed me a small case with my options, which were 4 different colors choices of small stones in nose studs made for this purpose. Choose the light blue one. I would like the light blue one. We complete the transaction and she sends me back to another area of the store where a young man is already sterilizing the area and his hands.

I remove my shoes and socks as he watches. I then get in the seat, with my flower in my hand and my salwar shawl covering my head. He needs me to be able to hear his instructions about breathing as he inserts the needle so I place the headphones on my right ear only, leaving my left side open for the show about to begin. I have been told to have the left side of my nose pierced. So, with the Vishnu Sahasranama coming into my right ear and his instructions along with the rock music which is playing in the store coming into my left ear, I lay my head back into the head rest. Other than some pain and the feeling of pressure as he pushes the needle through my nose, it is not really that uncomfortable and is over before I know it. As I leave, on an impulse I give the dried flower which I held in my hand to the young man. As I hand it to him, one or two petals fall off the flower to the floor. As I pick them up, I remember what a young girl told me at the recent Ayyappa puja...if you drop a flower as you are offering it, it is a blessing. So I tell him this as I pick up the petals and give them to him and I also tell him that he has just done something very holy. He smiles at me as it was quite clear to him that I was not there to be trendy. I drive home feeling so happy that I did this..all I can say is...Amazing Grace.

Kayena Vacha Mana-Sendri-airva (Everything which I may have – body, expression, my mind, and senses);

Budhyamta-nava Prakriti Swabhavat (Everything I have done through thought, word, or nature or behavior),

Karomi Yad Yet Sakalam Parasmai (deed, through habit or karma),

Narayana-ye-ti Samar-payami (I offer to you, Lord of All Forms, Narayana or Shri Maha Vishnu manifest as Bhagavan Kalki).