Curses or Grace?

November 14, 2003

Namaste. Your prayers remind of what someone told me once about Maa.

If She's not that moved by your prayers She will answer them. But if

She LOVES the sound of your ever so sweet voice why should She answer

so quickly when she so enjoy's to hear the sweet prayers of Her child?

The idea is that God likes to hear our prayers and if all desires are

fulfilled, will God ever hear your prayers? If God gives us

everything we want, will we want God?

I used to think at times when nothing was going my way spiritually or

materially was bad karma....it wasn't it was grace in disguise, God

was making me want Her more. There was no curse at all, but I

thought there was. Maa NEVER turns her back to us. When She is done

listening to our prayers She will enlighten us. Remember Ramakrishna

with his Guru teaching him to mediate on ajna chakra? He kept seeing

the Divine Mother. When He was ready to renounce Her, She gave in,

"Ok, Ramakrishna, here is Nirvikalpi Samadhi" and by Her grace she

let him toggle between Being That and Loving Her. In order for

Nirvikalpi to happen all thoughts even devotion to a Divine Form is

renouced if only for a moment. The mind must be ready to rest in

what is beyond the Form. Sadhana's is Maa's game with the yogi the

more I see and experience it. Most think that if Maa is pleased she

will give you everything.... maybe, maybe not.

Just idea's....Jai Maa!

Kellykaliananda_saraswati <kaliananda_saraswati > wrote:

Namaste All,Thanks so much for sharing these wonderful experiences.

As I sit here reading and re-reading these experiences ... tears

flowing uncontrollably, I cannot help but recall the story of the Vow

of Worship for 16 Mondays which was shared by Sarada earlier in this

forum and explained at #953 by Parvati. For me the pain of "leprosy"

refeferred to in the story is physical distance from the Guru. And so

this child asks :"Beloved Maa, for what karma have I received such a

curse from the Divine Mother? What is it that this child needs to

do to be physically with you?"Jai Maa--- In

, "aseemananda2003" <aseemananda2003>

wrote:> Sarada and Latha,> > I have a couple of stories myself to add

to where Sarada left off.

If > we would only learn to trust the Guru life would be simpler.

However, > for many of us reaching complete surrender is slow and

often painful > process. There are two particularly notable events in

my life that > come to mind. > > Back in 1994 when I was still a

struggling graduate student, I owned > a '89 Ford Tracer. At the

time, I was staying at the asharam while in > the writing stage of

the dissertation. Sometime in early 1995, Maa > said you should get

rid of your car. I thought it was odd. Why should > I get rid of the

car when I can barely afford to maintain myself on > my limited

budget. I explained to Maa that financially I could not do > it and

continued to drive the car as usual. Again some weeks later > she

advised me to find another car, but intellectually it made no > sense

to me and I did not take her counsel. > > Just a

couple of months later the car was totalled when I had serious >

accident in Davis. It was the after Valentines Day when I was rushed

> to emergency room in an ambulance. The accident left me cuts,

bruises > and a fractured bone in the lower spine. With blessings of

Maa and > Swamiji and back therapy I healed in a short time. Inspite

of this > incident, I was still not wiser.> > Now it's 2002 and I've

graduated and landed what might be a career > position at a college

in New England. This high profile, high > salaried job is why I

sweated all those years in school I thought and > declared proudly

that I was moving to the east coast. Maa and Swamiji > offered their

blessings and wished me luck. Till the last days Maa > cautioned me,

"I don't have a good feeling about this job." Again I > rationalized

why I was going and instead took the position. > > As you may

have guessed, this job turned out to be a living nightmare > and I

slowly felt myself dying emotionally and spiritually. I was cut > off

from all of my support system in a very foreign and remote place. > If

not for the communication with my family and Maa and Swamiji, I >

don't think I could have survived. Sometimes, I think I came close to

> having a nervous breakdown. Maa came to the rescue and demanded that

> I call her every night after reaching home from work. I maintained >

that routine for the rest of my 8-9 month stay in Maine. I shared >

with Maa and Swamiji all my frustrations and pain. Swamiji even >

helped me on the legal front by writing letters for me in grievances

> I filed. > > Presently I have returned to California and live in

close vicinity to > Napa. I am so blessed to have a Divine Mother and

Divine Father. I am > grateful for all of

their patience, understanding and unconditional > love. I pray to be

fully surrendered. > > Jai Maa, > Aseemananda> > > > > > > > > >

, "Sarada" <sarada_saraswati>

> wrote:> > Latha, I have a similar story but the result was a bit

different. > A > > few years ago the wooden bridge that leads to our

Mandir needed to > > be replaced. It was starting to rot away and

every time a car > passed > > over it there was a good chance that it

would be the end of the > > bridge. One day when we finally decided to

rebuild it, I was > > starting the first stage of the demolition of

the old bridge in a > > very light rain, and Maa walked by and said

that I should go inside > > because the wet weather conditions would

make me sick. I has lived > > in some pretty extreme climates in my

life and to me this light > rain > > posed no threat at all to my

health especially because I had a very > > strong immune system and

had been used to working in freezing rain > > and snow during the

previous five years in Boston. So I considered > > the advice to be

nothing but Maa just being the sweet mother to her > > children and

kept right on doing what I was doing.> > > > The next day I woke up

with the worst flu that I can remember > > having in my life and I

was in bed for a week. I couldn't believe > > it, I hadn't been sick

at all for years and now this. I then > > remembered Maa's advice.

Sometimes the Guru sees thing that we just > > can't perceive and

give advice according to that intuition. As > > devotees, we have to

have faith that they

know what is best for us > > even when we think that we know better.

Sometimes they are just > > testing us. Ma told me a story once of

one of Her Gurus telling Her > > to eat a rock. When She put it in

Her mouth and began to chew it > > turned into a delicious sweet. > >

> > There is another story that happened when we were building Maa's >

> house. There was a big oak tree in the front yard that Maa decided >

> one day that it needed to come down. She was afraid that one day >

the > > tree would fall on Her house. This was a difficult

proposition for > > us because the angle of the tree put the house at

risk of being > > toppled when we would cut it, so we tried to talk

Her out of it. > The > > tree appeared to be perfectly healthy to us

so we felt confident > > taking responsibility for letting the tree

stay. "Of course it

> won't > > fall down," we thought, "What does She know about trees

anyways and > > besides, the tree shows no signs decay at all. This

tree will be > > here for another hundred years easily." Well, after

a few days of > > debate we decided to listen to the Divine Mother

and we cut down > the > > tree. To our surprise, the entire center of

the tree was rotten and > > it would have only been a matter of time

before Maa would have been > > surprised by a crashing tree falling

into Her kitchen.> > > > Even though from the outside the tree

showed no signs at all of > > danger, Maa saw inside the tree and was

giving Her advice from that > > perspective. I would imagine that all

of Her words come from this > > same intuition. > > > > > > --- In

, "kamalama_2002" >

> <kamalama_2002> wrote:> > > As we purify more and more, I pray

that our will comes into > > harmony > > > with the Divine Will. Not

only that, but that we intuit, and > know > > > without uncertainty,

and yield to that Divine Will! Is the > Guru's > > > desire also the

Divine Will? You surrendered! Jai Maa!To from this

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November 14, 2003

Kelly,

How much wisdom you share!

Ramakrishna is such a strong example of the true devotee of God. His

whole life was centered on Her. He never gave up. He learned from

all who came to him. He shared with all who came to him.

Maa is as close as our Breath. She never leaves us. She knows us

better than we know ourselves. She knows what we need to experience

Her.