Guest guest Posted November 1, 2004 Report Share Posted November 1, 2004 Namaste Jayadeva, Thank you for posting the article from Swami Sivananda. It struck a chord, since you shared from your heart. One snippet from the post "Fix your mind on the work at hand. Give your whole heart and soul to it - even to the peeling of an orange or the squeezing of a lemon." brings my mind to an experience I had a few weeks ago with Shree Maa. Shree Maa often cooks for her devotees . She cooks in record time and turns out DEEEElicious meals . One day, a few short weeks ago, she asked me to "help" her in preparation. I was given the task to peel and dice some veggies. I was told to work with a mantra on my mind. Since Maa didnt specify any mantra I worked with "Om Namah Shivaya". I thought I was doing the work well when She told me "Quick Quick ! Peel quickly" . Then I scrambled as fast as I could , my mind in a jumble , mantra forgotten "Oh Gosh I am gonna cut my finger or something" Anyway long story short , I finished the work and slid out quietly. In retrospect, and reading what you had posted from Swami Sivananda, if I had paid complete attention to the task at hand, I would have done my peeling in record time . Total absorption. I guess this is what Maa expects from us - to be totally absorbed with the task at hand, that we dont let any other thoughts sneak in and slow down our work. Thanks again for sharing. Love Latha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 1, 2004 Report Share Posted November 1, 2004 Latha, This, to my mind, is the same as "mindfullness" as emphasized by Thich Naht Han (I think I misspelled that). I find it a very difficult practice, personally. I feel some hope for myself though, given Shivanadaji's exortation to stick to one task and give it your complete attention, because I am hopeless at multi-tasking. At least now I can feel some small satisfaction with my ineptitude. Chris , "Latha Nanda" <lathananda> wrote: > > > Namaste Jayadeva, > > Thank you for posting the article from Swami Sivananda. It struck a > chord, since you shared from your heart. > > One snippet from the post > > "Fix your mind on the work at hand. Give your whole heart and soul to > it - even to the peeling of an orange or the squeezing of a lemon." > > brings my mind to an experience I had a few weeks ago with Shree Maa. > > Shree Maa often cooks for her devotees . She cooks in record time > and turns out DEEEElicious meals . > One day, a few short weeks ago, she asked me to "help" her in > preparation. > > I was given the task to peel and dice some veggies. I was told to > work with a mantra on my mind. Since Maa didnt specify any mantra I > worked with "Om Namah Shivaya". > > I thought I was doing the work well when She told me "Quick Quick ! > Peel quickly" . Then I scrambled as fast as I could , my mind in a > jumble , mantra forgotten "Oh Gosh I am gonna cut my finger or > something" > > Anyway long story short , I finished the work and slid out quietly. > > In retrospect, and reading what you had posted from Swami Sivananda, > if I had paid complete attention to the task at hand, I would have > done my peeling in record time . Total absorption. > > I guess this is what Maa expects from us - to be totally absorbed > with the task at hand, that we dont let any other thoughts sneak in > and slow down our work. > > Thanks again for sharing. > Love > Latha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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