Sunday is Day 1 of Navatrati

[Guest guest]

Namaste: Sunday is day one of Summer Navatri. We will be meeting in

the Temple every morning for songs and prayers at 4:30 AM. This is

the best time to focus on Maa. The 9 days of Navaratri, are a time of

extra focus on Divine Mother. Maa and Swami suggest extra prayer,

meditation, puja, etc., to Mother, to express our love and devotion

during this special time.

In each season there are 9 days set aside for deeper worship of

Mother. In order to grow closer to Her and to be granted a boon by

Her, take extra time to commune with Her. She will give you many

blessings. Swami demonstrates His devotion to Ma by fasting for the

entire 9 days, and only drinking 1 cup of water per day. Each devotee

can choose some special way to demonstrate their love for Divine Mother.

Happy Navaratri

 

Jai Maa Jai Swami

vishweshwar

[Guest guest]

Peace to you, Vish,

 

We are all grateful for your reminders and postings as to how we can

further our devotion, as you do yours, to Shree Maa and Swami. But

when I read this one, it truly scared me. I question if this is the

sentiment that Mother and Swami wish to portray to the faithful.

 

Your phrase -

" In order to grow closer to Her and to be granted a boon by Her, take

extra time to commune with Her. She will give you many blessings. "

 

I'm confused. Is this self-serving? Doesn't she love us anyway?

Wouldn't an extra, silent, heart-felt " thank you " suffice? Does

loving her extra buy us favor?

 

And then you go on to say - " Swami demonstrates His devotion to Ma

by fasting for the entire 9 days, and only drinking 1 cup of water

per day. "

 

Does it benefit Swamiji greater that the world knows how he

personally demonstrates his love for Mother? What does he gain by

having this advertised? Swami is a realized master. If any of the

rest of us were to even attempt something like this or gently nudge

our loved ones to express devotion in this way, thinking our Mother

will love us more, is ill-advised and dangerous. I know you're only

trying to offer an example, but this is really extreme.

 

Your post so startlingly moved me, I went to look up a passage from

another of my beloved masters, Jesus, from his Sermon on the Mount.

Believe it or not, I picked up a book and immediately opened to this

very page...(thank you Mother for finding this for me so quickly and

effortlessly...)

 

" Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them,

otherwise ye have no reward of your Father (insert Mother) which is

in Heaven. Therefore when thou dost thine alms, do not sound a

trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in

the streets, that they may have the glory of men. Verily, I say unto

you, they have their reward...That thine alms may be in secret: and

thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.

And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for

they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of

the street, that they may be seen of men...But thou, when thou

prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou has shut thy door, pray

to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in

secret shall reward ye openly. But when ye pray, use not vain

repetitions, as the heathen do, for they think that they shall be

heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them:

for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask

him. " (Matthew VI)

 

respectfully,

sal.

 

, " inspectionconnection108 "

<inspectionconnection108 wrote:

>

> Namaste: Sunday is day one of Summer Navatri. We will be meeting

in

> the Temple every morning for songs and prayers at 4:30 AM. This is

> the best time to focus on Maa. The 9 days of Navaratri, are a time

of

> extra focus on Divine Mother. Maa and Swami suggest extra prayer,

> meditation, puja, etc., to Mother, to express our love and devotion

> during this special time.

> In each season there are 9 days set aside for deeper worship of

> Mother. In order to grow closer to Her and to be granted a boon by

> Her, take extra time to commune with Her. She will give you many

> blessings. Swami demonstrates His devotion to Ma by fasting for the

> entire 9 days, and only drinking 1 cup of water per day. Each

devotee

> can choose some special way to demonstrate their love for Divine

Mother.

> Happy Navaratri

>

> Jai Maa Jai Swami

> vishweshwar

>

[Guest guest]

Namaste Sal,

 

Your message wasn't addressed to me, but by posting it here I thought

you were inviting commentary, so I thought I'd share some thoughts I

had reading what you wrote.

My understanding is that Mother's love is indeed unconditional. It is

true though, that some actions bring us close, and some lead us

further away. The language of " boons and blessings " , as I understand

it, comes from the puranas and dramatic, colorful teaching stories of

India, and shouldn't be misconstrued to picture God as a kind of

Queen petulantly giving out rewards to those who please her. The

Divine Mother is totally sattwik, pure, and above such things. Human

language, though, expresses the way she relates to us in various

manners so as to appeal to different moods, different psychologies,

different people. Within Hindu Dharma there is a very great plethora

of expressions of the divine-human relationship. All of them are

symbols and tools for different people at different times. If not

useful to me or you, we should simply leave them for those to whom

they are useful, without judgement.

The Mother works with us through our karma, and puja, austerities,

etc are ways of purifying ourselves to come close to her. She

responds to us when we do good things or acts of devotion so as to

encourage us to do good things and acts of devotion, out of love.

You criticised the mentioning of Swamiji's fast in your post. I

think, with all due respect, you may have been mistaken in

criticizing this. In the Gospels Jesus' miracles and Divine acts are

recounted in detail. Why?

I think it is to encourage faith and emulation. In the same way

Swamiji's fast was recounted to encourage faith and emulation in my

opinion.

The Divine Mother will never abandon us or think poorly of us,

because she knows as as we truly are- pure sparks of her own divine

being. She loves us as what we are- infinitely valuable. " There can

be a bad child but never a bad mother " as the song says, thus she

always loves us.

She wants us, though, for our own good, to grow and learn, and come

close through sadhana. It is not Her who changes through practices,

but us.

That's my understanding of the attitudes behind the post, and of the

issues involved. I hope those thoughts were useful in some way.

Om Shantih

Jai Maa, and Happy Navaratri

Sushuddha

 

 

 

 

, " sal. " <salpaulsen wrote:

>

> Peace to you, Vish,

>

> We are all grateful for your reminders and postings as to how we

can

> further our devotion, as you do yours, to Shree Maa and Swami. But

> when I read this one, it truly scared me. I question if this is

the

> sentiment that Mother and Swami wish to portray to the faithful.

>

> Your phrase -

> " In order to grow closer to Her and to be granted a boon by Her,

take

> extra time to commune with Her. She will give you many blessings. "

>

> I'm confused. Is this self-serving? Doesn't she love us anyway?

> Wouldn't an extra, silent, heart-felt " thank you " suffice? Does

> loving her extra buy us favor?

>

> And then you go on to say - " Swami demonstrates His devotion to Ma

> by fasting for the entire 9 days, and only drinking 1 cup of water

> per day. "

>

> Does it benefit Swamiji greater that the world knows how he

> personally demonstrates his love for Mother? What does he gain by

> having this advertised? Swami is a realized master. If any of the

> rest of us were to even attempt something like this or gently nudge

> our loved ones to express devotion in this way, thinking our Mother

> will love us more, is ill-advised and dangerous. I know you're

only

> trying to offer an example, but this is really extreme.

>

> Your post so startlingly moved me, I went to look up a passage from

> another of my beloved masters, Jesus, from his Sermon on the

Mount.

> Believe it or not, I picked up a book and immediately opened to

this

> very page...(thank you Mother for finding this for me so quickly

and

> effortlessly...)

>

> " Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them,

> otherwise ye have no reward of your Father (insert Mother) which is

> in Heaven. Therefore when thou dost thine alms, do not sound a

> trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in

> the streets, that they may have the glory of men. Verily, I say

unto

> you, they have their reward...That thine alms may be in secret: and

> thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.

> And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for

> they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of

> the street, that they may be seen of men...But thou, when thou

> prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou has shut thy door,

pray

> to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in

> secret shall reward ye openly. But when ye pray, use not vain

> repetitions, as the heathen do, for they think that they shall be

> heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them:

> for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask

> him. " (Matthew VI)

>

> respectfully,

> sal.

>

> , " inspectionconnection108 "

> <inspectionconnection108@> wrote:

> >

> > Namaste: Sunday is day one of Summer Navatri. We will be

meeting

> in

> > the Temple every morning for songs and prayers at 4:30 AM. This

is

> > the best time to focus on Maa. The 9 days of Navaratri, are a

time

> of

> > extra focus on Divine Mother. Maa and Swami suggest extra prayer,

> > meditation, puja, etc., to Mother, to express our love and

devotion

> > during this special time.

> > In each season there are 9 days set aside for deeper worship of

> > Mother. In order to grow closer to Her and to be granted a boon

by

> > Her, take extra time to commune with Her. She will give you many

> > blessings. Swami demonstrates His devotion to Ma by fasting for

the

> > entire 9 days, and only drinking 1 cup of water per day. Each

> devotee

> > can choose some special way to demonstrate their love for Divine

> Mother.

> > Happy Navaratri

> >

> > Jai Maa Jai Swami

> > vishweshwar

> >

>