RE: To Eleathea for your wonderful post on how to counteract negativity

[Guest guest]

HI,

 

It is a most wonderful post.I often forget how compassionate maa is. Do

you use any specific mantras or are they just the mantra you feel

connected with.

 

Thanks,

Ruchi

 

 

 

Eleathea Barraclough [eleathea]

Monday, February 07, 2005 4:39 PM

Re: Re: To Ruchi on bhava and negativities

getting in the way

 

 

 

 

Jai Maa!

 

Our beloved Divine Mother is the one who has given liberation even to

the asuras who came with the intention of killing Her! Will She not have

that same compassion for us? When I am beset with negativity, I focus on

japa of powerful mantras. First, I pray to Mother, saying "Oh Maa, I am

drowning in this self-created misery of negative thoughts, but I don't

want this negativity at all. I am doing this japa in order to purify

myself, because Your mantras are like the sacred water of life, capable

of purifying any sin." All mothers in the world clean their children, no

matter how dirty they get. The animal mothers will lick their offspring

to keep them clean. Human mothers use water and soap. I feel that Divine

Mother uses mantras to wash off Her children!

 

The mantras help to destroy the negative thought patterns and replace

them with positive ones. Mantras are like patterns of divinity; if you

keep invoking the pattern of divinity, the asuric patterns lingering in

the aura will inevitably be destroyed. It may take a little time, but it

WILL happen. The mantras guide the mind into a more beneficial track. I

try to repeat my mantra until I start to feel better. Once I feel some

relief and calmness, then I start the puja.

 

The ultimate offering to Mother is a pure heart full of love and

kindness. In order to get to that point, we have to offer whatever

negativity might be there, with the understanding that offering our

negativity to Her is the same as asking Her to transform it. I have

heard that when we offer a fruit to holy people, we are really offering

our negative karma. When they give it back as prasada, they are

indicating that they have purified that karma and are now giving their

blessing to us. So we offer for the purpose of destroying our karma.

 

It's like when Swamiji calls a fire ceremony a "karma barbecue"! The

sacred fire is really the mouth of Divine Mother, but we are offering

all our negativity along with the rice or samagri. We might think, oh,

how can we offer our negativity into Mother's mouth? But She is the

blazing fire of Highest Consciousness. She is the spandana sakti - the

ultimate vibration capable of converting all discordant melodies into

Her own sublime melody. Kali Ma is the one who is capable of consuming

ALL of Raktabija's blood, representing the negativity of endless desires

and bad thoughts. She manifests in whatever form is necessary and

perfect for the purpose of purifying Her children and restoring Dharma

in their lives.

 

We may have some negative thoughts during the puja, but the simple fact

that we are doing the puja out of love and desire for spiritual

progress, and not for personal gain, is the important thing. Mother

knows our hearts, and She is happy if we even wish to give Her

something. As long as we maintain the attitude that we want to give up

the negativity permanently and not maintain it, we should not worry

about it. As Linda said, it's just the samskaras that need to be

released. As they are released, they have to come to the surface before

leaving us forever.

 

It's like the saying, "If you build it, they will come." If we go

through the motions of puja, even without the bhava, the puja itself

will help us to develop the bhava. The day will come when we can do puja

like Maa and Swamiji, with complete and full devotional bhava every

single time.

 

And Linda - please don't feel that japa is "all" you can do, it's a lot!

I think it's wonderful that you are able to do japa and have the

experience of going beyond the mantra into the fullness of that Silence.

In my opinion, even if I lost my crystal Sri Yantra, which I love very

much, or my beautiful pictures of Devi, or if I could never do puja

again, all I really need is the mantra. The mantra is the sound body of

God. If you repeat the mantra, you can invoke that form of God and

eventually transform yourself into that form of God. Even if I never

learn any more sadhana techniques, I am so happy that I have the mantras

I have, as that is all I really need.

 

Jai Maa!

Ekta

--- nierika wrote:

>

> Ruchi wrote:

>

> I had another question too. If you do puja when you are not really

> feeling upto it, you do not have the bhava and you sit there and all

> kinds of negativities are popping in your head, is it worth to do it.

> It makes me feel very guilty. I say mother I am sorry, I do not want

> to think this way or that, but then another thought pops in my mind.

> It becomes a struggle. Is their any merit in this kind of puja. and

> then again is'nt using the merit word completely wrong. Let me know

> your thoughts on this.

>

>

>

> Dear Ruchi ~ thank you for your thoughtful comments to my post. It is

> helpful to know I am not the only one who has this problem. I think

partly,

> for me,

> it is a matter of attitude and focus. The more I focus on my illness,

the

> less I focus on other things I feel good about, and the worse I feel.

Same

> thing

> with negativities of any kind ~ the more focus I give them, the

bigger it

> gets. Right now I am just giving myself permission to do what I can

do,

> whatever that may be. This morning, it was making the round of my

altar and

> saying

> good morning to all the dieties and gurus there and then thanking

God/dess

> for

> another day and asking for the grace to live it well. Yesterday, I

did japa,

>

> and that was all I could do. But it felt very good doing it. I think

> it is

> like meditation, which, in a way, japa becomes for me, for the mantra

often

> carries me into a state of No-thing-ness, that state of fullness I

mentioned

>

> previously.

>

> So I think it would be true for puja too, even if I just picked a

> small

> thing to do ~ when the negativities rise, just let them go...don't

hold them,

>

> push them away, feel bad about them. They are just samskaras being

> released. Let

> them pass by like clouds and then continue on. As for having the

bhava, I

> wouldn't worry about it; I believe that will come. To make an analogy,

I had

> a

> painting teacher once who said "art is 1 percent inspiration and 99

percent

> persperation," so I learned to paint whether I felt like it or not, or

> whether

> I was inspired or not. This was a tremendoud lesson. Right now, with

my

> spiritual practice, I am learning to accept myself being able to do

just

> what I

> am able to do and not feel bad if I can't do more. Some people have

told me

> that Maa has even said to them, start where you are, start slow, then

add as

>

> you feel able. I don't think Maa would want us to "should" on

> ourselves. Many

>

> blessings and thanks for giving me another opportunity to think about

> this ~

>

> Linda

>

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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