Guest guest Posted January 3, 2009 Report Share Posted January 3, 2009 Namaste all family: Happy New Year to all. May God Bless everyone with Pure Devotion and Peace this year. It is such a blessing that we can all talk about our innermost feelings and experiences here. Each of you has shared something precious and helpful. We have all had this feeling one time or another, and will have it again. Thus we need as many tools in our toolbox as possible in order to perform our worship and confront our restless egos. Maya will do anything and everything to draw us away from our purpose. This " distraction factor " is built into the relative ever-changing world. This is the relative, nothing can ever stay the same. Our monkey minds will always find some new shiny thought to jump to, even when we are performing worship. And as our minds jump about, so do our emotions. " I'm bored, this is too hard, I would rather be doing.......this or that, or anything but this.... " these are the thoughts and emotions we all have. When I really feel unable to continue worship, and I want to quit, Swami's message comes to mind: " ....when we have to work hardest, that is when we gain the most. When it is easy, we are not challenged, we don't gain as much. " What choice do we have but to surrender? I think to myself: Maa and Swami told me this would work, it worked for them, and countless saints before them, so, it will work for me. We need Faith in our Gurus, and then surrender to God's will. " Oh, the Ego is very very tricky, " Maa says. " He will work hard to stay in power. " Oh, How Blessed we are: Maa has promised us that She will always come when we call upon her with pure devotion. She will slay the ego, and bring us peace. So, surrender to Her, She Who Tears Apart Thoughts, and She who slayed Too Much and Too Little, I pray She will slay them for us all. Thank you all for sharing and being here. You all demonstrate your commitment to the goal of worship, to seeing God in everyone, when you take the time to give of yourself to help others. Please share other issues which concern you so we can learn and grow stronger. I have asked Swami to give us more gems of wisdom on this topic. Jai Ma Jai Swami vishweshwar , " Sergio Knipe " <sergio.knipe wrote: > > Namaste Vishweshwar : > > I think everyone here shares your concern. My 2 cents: > > The crucial question is: why do we worship? Is it for our own enjoyment? > Is it to experience bliss? If so, what is the difference between doing > puja and having a hobby or getting a kick out of other (mundane) > activities? > > Boredom in worship is a challenge. Puja is a service to God and should be > performed without any attachment to enjoyment (the same of course is true > of japa and even meditation). If the Deity rewards your services with love > and bliss, that's fine; if (S)he doesn't, that's also fine. In the end, > (S)he's taking care of everything. > > I am positively convinced about this fact - which of course is not to say > that on an emotional level I'm not strongly attached to the enjoyment of > worship...! > > So the only humble advice I can give you is to carry on doing puja without > worrying about yourself too much. It's all good. > > A blissful 2009 to you all, > > Sergio > > P.S. on a side note, most people on a spiritual path I've spoken to have > told me that the sheer emotional pleasure initially derived from one's > sadhana (puja, meditation, japa, prayer) often disappears after a while - > almost as if this were a resistance test for the practitioner. As far as I > understand, this is actually a common occurrence. > > > Namaste all family: I have a question. When one has a sankalpa to > > perform certain worship daily, what does one do if one becomes " bored " > > or the experience becomes " dry " ? > > Sometimes my daily Shiva puja does not give me a deep feeling of joy. > > I ask for I am certain that others experience this and could share > > their feelings and what they do when this happens. > > > > Jai Ma Jai Swami > > > > vishweshwar > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 3, 2009 Report Share Posted January 3, 2009 " if you complete the sadhana even when your mind is wandering your body is uncomfortable, that's when you get the most benefit— because ultimately you know you can do it and you do it regularly " I like this saying from the contemplations that were posted by Srini. Are these all Shree Maa's sayings? (except for the ones attributed to Ramakrishna, of course) It says so much to me in such a simple way. Today was another difficult day, even though I was worshipping Kali. I just wanted to dress Her up for Her day and offer flowers, but I went through the entire worship. And I was given enough time to do so in privacy and solitude. Thank you Ma. Om Jai Kali Ma! Om Namah Shivaya! Kumari , " inspectionconnection108 " <inspectionconnection108 wrote: > > Namaste all family: Happy New Year to all. May God Bless everyone > with Pure Devotion and Peace this year. > It is such a blessing that we can all talk about our innermost > feelings and experiences here. Each of you has shared something > precious and helpful. We have all had this feeling one time or > another, and will have it again. Thus we need as many tools in our > toolbox as possible in order to perform our worship and confront our > restless egos. > > Maya will do anything and everything to draw us away from our purpose. > This " distraction factor " is built into the relative ever-changing > world. This is the relative, nothing can ever stay the same. Our > monkey minds will always find some new shiny thought to jump to, even > when we are performing worship. And as our minds jump about, so do our > emotions. > " I'm bored, this is too hard, I would rather be doing.......this or > that, or anything but this.... " these are the thoughts and emotions > we all have. > When I really feel unable to continue worship, and I want to quit, > Swami's message comes to mind: " ....when we have to work hardest, > that is when we gain the most. When it is easy, we are not > challenged, we don't gain as much. " > > What choice do we have but to surrender? > I think to myself: Maa and Swami told me this would work, it worked > for them, and countless saints before them, so, it will work for me. > We need Faith in our Gurus, and then surrender to God's will. > > " Oh, the Ego is very very tricky, " Maa says. " He will work hard to > stay in power. " > Oh, How Blessed we are: Maa has promised us that She will always come > when we call upon her with pure devotion. She will slay the ego, and > bring us peace. > So, surrender to Her, She Who Tears Apart Thoughts, and She who slayed > Too Much and Too Little, I pray She will slay them for us all. > > Thank you all for sharing and being here. You all demonstrate your > commitment to the goal of worship, to seeing God in everyone, when > you take the time to give of yourself to help others. > > Please share other issues which concern you so we can learn and grow > stronger. I have asked Swami to give us more gems of wisdom on this > topic. > > Jai Ma Jai Swami > > vishweshwar > > , " Sergio Knipe " <sergio.knipe@> > wrote: > > > > Namaste Vishweshwar : > > > > I think everyone here shares your concern. My 2 cents: > > > > The crucial question is: why do we worship? Is it for our own enjoyment? > > Is it to experience bliss? If so, what is the difference between doing > > puja and having a hobby or getting a kick out of other (mundane) > > activities? > > > > Boredom in worship is a challenge. Puja is a service to God and > should be > > performed without any attachment to enjoyment (the same of course is > true > > of japa and even meditation). If the Deity rewards your services > with love > > and bliss, that's fine; if (S)he doesn't, that's also fine. In the end, > > (S)he's taking care of everything. > > > > I am positively convinced about this fact - which of course is not > to say > > that on an emotional level I'm not strongly attached to the enjoyment of > > worship...! > > > > So the only humble advice I can give you is to carry on doing puja > without > > worrying about yourself too much. It's all good. > > > > A blissful 2009 to you all, > > > > Sergio > > > > P.S. on a side note, most people on a spiritual path I've spoken to have > > told me that the sheer emotional pleasure initially derived from one's > > sadhana (puja, meditation, japa, prayer) often disappears after a > while - > > almost as if this were a resistance test for the practitioner. As > far as I > > understand, this is actually a common occurrence. > > > > > Namaste all family: I have a question. When one has a sankalpa to > > > perform certain worship daily, what does one do if one becomes " bored " > > > or the experience becomes " dry " ? > > > Sometimes my daily Shiva puja does not give me a deep feeling of joy. > > > I ask for I am certain that others experience this and could share > > > their feelings and what they do when this happens. > > > > > > Jai Ma Jai Swami > > > > > > vishweshwar > > > > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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