Native American Prayer

[Guest guest]

Native American Prayer

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Oh, Great Spirit (Hanuman)

Whose voice I hear in the winds (Vayu),

And whose breath gives life to all the world (Prana),

hear me, I am small and weak (self),

I need your strength and wisdom (buddhir balam yasho dhairyam).

Let me walk in beauty and make my eyes ever behold

the red and purple sunset (the sindoor color of Hanuman's form).

Make my hands respect the things you have (Namaste _/|\_ )

made and my ears sharp to hear your voice (Omkara nada).

Make me wise so that I may understand the things

you have taught my people.

Let me learn the lessons you have

hidden in every leaf (Ramayana, on palm leaves) and rock (Ra-Ma, sethubandha

bridge).

 

I seek strength, not to be greater than my brother,

but to fight my greatest enemy - myself.

Make me always ready to come to you (Self)

with clean hands and straight eyes.

So when life fades, as the fading sunset,

my Spirit may come to you without shame.

 

(translated by Lakota Sioux Chief Yellow Lark in 1887)

 

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Gurorangripadme ManaScenna Lagnam tata: kim! tata: kim! tata: kim! tata: kim!?

Sarva Kartha, Sarva Dhartha, Sarva Hartha, Mangalam!

Satchidananda, Satchidananda, Satchidananda Mangalam!

Tasmai Sri Guru-murthaye Nama Idam Sri Dakshinamurtaye!

 

Ata Nityo Narayanaha, Brahma Narayanaha, Sivascha Narayanaha, Kalascha

Narayanaha. Disascha Narayanaha, Vidisascha Narayanaha, Urdwamscha Narayanaha,

Adhascha Narayanaha, Antar-bahischa-Narayana.Narayana Eh Vedam Sarvam, Yat

BhootamYacchha Bhavyam.Nish-kalango Niranjano Nirvikalpo Nirakyadhas,suddhho

Deva Eko Narayanaha, Na dwiteeyosthi kaschit,ya evam Vedas Vishnu reva Bhavati,

Sa Vishnureva Bhavathi, Etat yajur veda sirodeeyathe.

 

Sundara Sundara Siva Siva! Karuna Bandhura Siva Siva! Karuna Rupa Spanda Siva!

Girisha Sat-Chit-Ananda Siva!

 

Jaya Jaya Jnana Bodha Sabha, ...Atma Tattva Bodha Sabha, ...Bhakthi Jnana

Vairagya Sabha, ...Namasankeerthana Dhama Sabha

 

Satchitananda Rupaya, Krishnayaa Aklishtakarine, Namo Vedanta Vedyaya, Gurave

Buddhi Saakshine

 

" Rama nama ki madhura milaye, janma janma dukha doora bagaye ...Satchidananda

Guru vachana mithaye "

 

~*Om * Ayim * Hreem * Sreem * Siva * Rama * Anagha * Dattaya * Namaha*~

[Guest guest]

Jaya Guru Datta,

 

In 1988, it was my great fortune to meet Sri Swamiji for the first time at Datta

Retreat Center in Pennsylvania, where I was living and working as a newspaper

reporter at that time. Earlier that year, in January, I was considering moving

away from rural PA, where I had gone to college and back to Pittsburgh where I

was born. But I had a powerful dream one cold snowy night in which I was told

not to move away, but wait, because something extremely important to my life was

going to happen in August and to read the Upanishads. The dream was so powerful

that I cancelled all plans to leave and I bought a small Penguin classic copy of

the Upanishads and began to read.

 

At the end of July that year, my editor called me and told me that there was a

new yoga center opening in West Sunbury and that she wanted the story saying

" who can imagine anyone practicing yoga in West Sunbury. " I called the center,

but was told that there was no yoga classes forming, but that their Guru Sri

Ganapathi Sachchidananda Swamiji was coming for a visit and a concert in

Pittsburgh. I notified my editor of the reality of the situation and she told

me, " Forget it, Gurus come and go, there's no story there. "

 

Nevertheless, something kept nagging at me about interviewing Sri Swamiji and so

I decided to ignore my editor's decision and call for an interview with Him. At

first I was told he wouldn't give interviews to reporters, but then after

checking directly with Sri Swamiji I was told to be there in 30 minutes. This

was the first week in August!

 

I had no preconceptions about Swamiji. I knew nothing about Gurus. But I knew in

my heart I wanted to meet Him. That first meeting will remain with me always,

but something stuck out.. one of the first things He told me was that He and I

had lived together as " red indians " on the land at DRC in a past life!

 

To make a long story short, the next day my story about Sri Swamiji was

published on the front page of the newspaper and I was in His Kriya Yoga class.

 

During that wonderful week, two things happened that taught me more about Sri

Swamiji's past connection to America.

 

First, I had the opportunity to visit McConnell's Mill State Park with Swamiji

that week. The park has a large gorge and many amazing huge rocks. As we walked

through the park, I was relaying to Sri Swamiji how the glacier had come to that

area of PA leaving behind many stones. I suggested that the stones at DRC had

been left behind by the glacier. Swamiji quickly corrected me and told me, " No! "

Those stones were there thousands and thousands of year before the glacier! "

Immediately after Sri Swamiji's visit was completed that year, my editor gave me

a new assignment--to write a story about the escher--the snakelike rock pile

that the glacier left behind! As I interviewed the geologist about the region

and the effects of the glacier, I decided to ask Him about the rocks in the West

Sunbury area. Without hesitation, he said, " Oh, no, those rocks over there

wouldn't have been part of what was left by the glacier, they have an entirely

different composition. They were there thousands of years before the glacier

ever came!

 

Secondly, during that visit, Sri Swamiji showed me a different form of Himself.

The temple construction hadn't begun yet, and only the stone work for the altar

was in progress, so the area around the stones was still quite natural. There

was a tree (whose trunk still remains in the temple) next to the Shiva Rock.

Swamiji was standing next to the rock and suddenly I saw Him morph into a

handsome young Native American man! I was shocked. I wasn't new to having

visions, but I had never seen a human being shapeshift like that before my eyes.

I told Prasadi what I had seen and he explained that Sri Swamiji could show

people His other forms if he wished. A day later, to confirm what I had seen,

Sri Swamiji asked me to publicly tell the story of how I had seen Him change his

form into a " red Indian. " For me, this was confirmation that indeed at one time,

he had walked the lands in America in the form of a Native American.

 

Sri Guru Datta!