Spiritual seekers and suffering people

[Guest guest]

Om Namah Sivaya,

 

Most Beloved Family,

 

Prostrations at the Holy Feet of Maa and Swamiji. My many, many,

many humble pranams to all of you. Thank you for all your

inspiration and love! I seek your blessings to do my Chandi Sankalpa

- I have done only chanted the whole path two times so far and it is

already near the end of January. :-(

 

By God's mercy and grace a group of us went to a village affected

by Tsunami near Nagapatnam in Tamil Nadu state in South India. All

our hearts broke as we saw the devastation – the little children

without mothers, mothers with empty hands, fathers sad and

frustrated, hungry and homeless. Yet, God's light is shining bright

in their eyes and in the smiles of the children. In their eyes, you

can see Maa's purity, in their smiles, you can see Her perfect light.

 

Many of us have probably not cried for so long and said our mantras

as intensely as when we saw the suffering of these people and now

when we think of them – Please dear Beloved family,can you share

with me what you think should be the attitude of a spiritual seeker

when they see such human suffering – is it ok to cry so much? Should

we focus on our practices at home and give positive energy and not go

to such places? Or should we go there even if our practices can't

be done as much due to the physical conditions and requirements of

selfless work?

 

We are chanting the Maha Mrityunjaya and Gayatri Mantras as Maa and

Swamiji had adviced earlier – Is there any other additional

prayer/(s) that we can do to help the survivors?

 

Many of them are scared because the last rites were not done for the

Tsunami victims and there are many negative vibrations in the

village – if we get a chance to go there again, is there any

specific chanting or puja that we can do to help?

 

Is there any prayer/chanting we can do at home to help them? What

type of sankalpa - prayer, puja, mantras should we do?

 

Thank you for your time and thank you for your inspiration and

prayers. May God Bless our beautiful Mother Earth and may She not

have to see more of Her children suffer again and again like this.

Jai MAA! Jai MAA! Jai MAA!

 

Just wanted to add – that as we were walking in the villages and

seeing the scenes of devastation – I felt like Maa and Swamiji

were there walking too – and making me chant Maha Mrityunjaya

Mantra…making me not to cry so much but pray more. Without their

Presence, their strength, their guidance, is anything possible,

anywhere? With endless prostrations at Their Holy Feet with tears of

gratitude and love. Jai MAA!

 

Your little sister,

 

ramya

[Guest guest]

Dear Ramya,

 

I am sure that all of our hearts and prayers have gone out to you, who have

witnessed the devastation caused by the tsunami firsthand. This is not an easy

thing to do, and in my opinion it requires a lot of bravery and inner strength

to be willing to view such tragedy in person. Yet as you mentioned so sweetly,

Maa's light IS shining in the midst of all the difficulties.

 

I just want to share some of my feelings about your questions. You asked

whether it is okay to cry so much. I think it is perfectly natural to cry tears

of solidarity and compassion when seeing the suffering of our universal family.

I have often prayed to Devi that if I have to cry about something, at least I

shouuld never shed any tears over my own problems, that tears should only come

from my eyes on seeing the suffering of others (I haven't succeeded yet!).

 

Many times, when I see pictures or videos or read about tragedies, I lose the

sense of individuality and I feel as if I have merged with the suffering one,

such that their pain seems to flow through me, causing tears. This also happens

to me when I am physically near people who have a serious disturbance in their

energy due to recent tragedy. Even if they don't say anything, if my heart

chakra comes near theirs, I can feel the pain entering my heart. Before long, I

am sobbing uncontrollably and all I can do is "offer" the pain to Divine Mother

and ask Her to incinerate the energy of that pain in the fire of Pure

Consciousness. It's the only thing that keeps me from being completely

"drowned" in the experience, I just visualize Mother's lotus feet directly in

front of my head and beg for Her help to stay sane!

 

When these things happen, I don't feel like I'm myself anymore, I just feel the

pain as if its my own. This can be quite distressing and incapacitating, and I

have decided to limit my exposure to painful images and descriptions of

suffering. My reason for this is not to forget the suffering in this world, but

to help me maintain a peaceful and uplifted vibration, so that I can radiate

that vibration to the world when I do my practices. Most of the time, I'm not

in a position to help victims "directly". I feel that the world is better

benefitted if I am mentally stable enough to do sadhana. Because my mind seems

to be very "porous" and easily mired in depression, I need to protect it

somewhat, so that I can do the sadhana and seva that is my best personal

offering to the world.

 

However, if I ever had the opportunity to directly help victims, and I had

appropriate skills to offer, I would certainly accept that opportunity to help

directly, even if it was very upsetting. Basically, the question is "How can I

be of most benefit?" If the most benefit is through direct help and direct

contact, then that is what I feel I should do. If hte most benefit I can

provide in a given situation is through my prayers and sadhana, then I avoid

painful stimuli and do my sadhana to the best of my ability, dedicating the

positive energy to the victims.

 

I find that when I become aware of suffering and my heart opens in response to

that, leading to my own tears, that is the most powerful time to pray to Devi

for Her grace. If I am incapacitated due to that response, I try to use that

time for prayer on behalf of hte victims. Once I have calmed down, I go to my

shrine room and do whatever sadhana seems appropriate.

 

So I think the question of whether to go the site of the tragedy to do selfless

service or to stay home to do selfless service (through sadhana/prayer) is up

to the individual. We all must feel what our heart is asking us to do. Both

approaches are good. As sadhakas, we work on purifying our vibrations. As a

result, we can often have a comforting influence on victims of tragedy, through

compassion, gentleness, tenderness, etc. So that kind of emotional support is

something that we can choose to offer in person or from a distance through our

prayers and mantras.

 

As for what kinds of mantras to do, I have heard that Mrityunjaya is really the

best for any kind of negativity, pain, heaviness, depression, etc. Mrityunjaya

is hte essence of the Rudram, and Rudram is what is usually chanted during hte

mourning period when someone has died. So Mrityunjaya will be very good for any

situation of death, mourning, lingering negativity in teh atmosphere, etc. It

also clears up the kind of atmospheric emotional negativity that can lead to

these disasters in the first place. Homas are probably the most powerful

practice to obliterate negativity in teh atmosphere, but not everyone knows how

to do homas, and it can be hard to do homa properly when away from home.

Mantras can be chanted anywhere, in any conditions.

 

Just some thoughts...maybe Nanda can pass on to Swamiji the question about what

practices to do in the area actually affected by the tsunami.

 

Ramya, I bow to you for your courage and compassion. May we all be sources of

comfort and inspiration for all the suffering beings.

 

Jai Maa,

Ekta

 

--- amritadaasi <amritadaasi wrote:

>

>

> Om Namah Sivaya,

>

> Most Beloved Family,

>

> Prostrations at the Holy Feet of Maa and Swamiji. My many, many,

> many humble pranams to all of you. Thank you for all your

> inspiration and love! I seek your blessings to do my Chandi Sankalpa

> - I have done only chanted the whole path two times so far and it is

> already near the end of January. :-(

>

> By God's mercy and grace a group of us went to a village affected

> by Tsunami near Nagapatnam in Tamil Nadu state in South India. All

> our hearts broke as we saw the devastation – the little children

> without mothers, mothers with empty hands, fathers sad and

> frustrated, hungry and homeless. Yet, God's light is shining bright

> in their eyes and in the smiles of the children. In their eyes, you

> can see Maa's purity, in their smiles, you can see Her perfect light.

>

> Many of us have probably not cried for so long and said our mantras

> as intensely as when we saw the suffering of these people and now

> when we think of them – Please dear Beloved family,can you share

> with me what you think should be the attitude of a spiritual seeker

> when they see such human suffering – is it ok to cry so much? Should

> we focus on our practices at home and give positive energy and not go

> to such places? Or should we go there even if our practices can't

> be done as much due to the physical conditions and requirements of

> selfless work?

>

> We are chanting the Maha Mrityunjaya and Gayatri Mantras as Maa and

> Swamiji had adviced earlier – Is there any other additional

> prayer/(s) that we can do to help the survivors?

>

> Many of them are scared because the last rites were not done for the

> Tsunami victims and there are many negative vibrations in the

> village – if we get a chance to go there again, is there any

> specific chanting or puja that we can do to help?

>

> Is there any prayer/chanting we can do at home to help them? What

> type of sankalpa - prayer, puja, mantras should we do?

>

> Thank you for your time and thank you for your inspiration and

> prayers. May God Bless our beautiful Mother Earth and may She not

> have to see more of Her children suffer again and again like this.

> Jai MAA! Jai MAA! Jai MAA!

>

> Just wanted to add – that as we were walking in the villages and

> seeing the scenes of devastation – I felt like Maa and Swamiji

> were there walking too – and making me chant Maha Mrityunjaya

> Mantra…making me not to cry so much but pray more. Without their

> Presence, their strength, their guidance, is anything possible,

> anywhere? With endless prostrations at Their Holy Feet with tears of

> gratitude and love. Jai MAA!

>

> Your little sister,

>

> ramya

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

 

 

 

 

 

 

The all-new My - Get yours free!

 

[Guest guest]

Dear Ramya,

First of all, congratulations for completing two complete Chandi

Paths so far. I have added your count in our SankalpaTracking table

in the database. Pretty sure you will catch up with your husband's

impressive total soon.

 

Secondly, I have forwarded your question to Swamiji and will inform

when he does.

 

Now, if I may offer my two cents - again taking a leaf from Shree

Maa's book.

 

She has recommended that those that would like to - to continue with

the Mahamrityunjaya and Gayatri mantras. This step you are already

doing.

 

The second is what She is doing for healing the world - a 108 day

Chandi Seedha Path Sankalpa and asking the Goddess for the boon -

peace to the world. This is something that might be possible for you

when you visit the affected area. Is it possible that you could find

a quiet spot in the affected area and chant the Chandi and pray the

vibrations purify and heal the atmosphere. Just a thought.

 

If your seva at the village does not allow you time to set aside a

time to chant, the MM/Gayatri mantras chanted mentally would be the

best option.

 

I bow to you for your efforts at volunteering to help reconstruct

the lives of those ravaged by the Tsunami. Please do keep us posted

on any updates that you have on your volunteer work and also the

Chandi sankalpa.

 

 

Jai Maa

Nanda