a story of SIVARATRI's POWER

[Guest guest]

Dear Shiva,

 

A few years ago I was attending a month long yoga teachers training

course at an ashram in the Bahamas. I wanted to teach yoga because

asanas had had such a positive impact on my wife and I's lives. I

wasn't really into to any other spiritual practices. At the ashram

I was exposed to many of the other aspects of yoga; chanting,

satsang, meditation, etc. After a couple of weeks I was very

disappointed in the things I saw. The swami's took turns attending

the satsangs like they had scheduled shifts at McDonalds. They kept

themselves separate from the others in the ashram and I witnessed

very hypocritical behavior from these so called "holy people." Much

like I saw growing up in my own Christian background. It was very

disappointing.

 

Coincidently, Sivaratri was during the third week of my stay. A

very interesting sadhu was leading the chanting for the

clcebration. He was a disciple of Neem Karoli Baba and I was drawn

to him from the first time I saw him. Looking back, I think mainly

because he seemed to be the exact opposite of the swami's there. A

couple of days before Sivaratri I saw a Bahamian man that had been a

swami at the center in our city when I first began to take asana

classes. He was no longer a swami. He was a Rasta. He told me he

quit being a swami because it wasn't who he really was. He was

Rasta. He said as a swami he felt obliged to give advice and act in

a way that wasn't true to who he really was. Jai Ma to that I

thought. He said he wanted to chant with me. On the night of the

celebrations he came to the ashram and found me. The temple was

open walled. He and I sat just outside the temple, on the ground,

under a beautifully clear night and chanted Om Namah Shivaya with

this strange sadhu leading the way. It was unbelievable. I was

really into it. At about 3 a.m. I was getting so high. It was like

everyone took acid(though I don't think they did), they were

ecstatic.

 

In the morning I had more energy than ever. It was like someone had

plugged me in. My body had this current flowing through me and I

heard this sound like standing under very high voltage power lines.

I was sooo high. And believe me I knew a thing or two about

being "high." I went back to my room to rest and listened to this

old Indian bansuri master practicing in the room next to me. His

name was Sach Dev. He would play for hours, then sit and meditate.

That's all he ever seemed to do. Except maybe a couple of times a

day he would walk along the beach.

 

Anyway about noon the day after the festival I started to feel ill.

I got so sick. My body was purging in every way possible. I spent

that day and most of the night in the bathroom. I was so

miserable. If I could have ended my life I think I may have.

Finally about 3 am I was able to spend some time resting in bed

rather than in the bathroom. The next morning Sach Dev asked me if

I was OK. I said, "Yeh, I don't know what happened. I think I

maybe I had food poisoning or something." He said, "No, Shiva is

very powerful. He was purifying you. The sickness was just a

physical manifestation of your emotional purging. You are very

blessed." Looking back, I was carrying around a great deal of

emotional baggage from my family, etc. And I think the intensity of

my focus, and chanting with the sadhu and the rasta allowed me to

release a great deal of it all at once.

 

Shiva, the destoyer. He, like Kali, take that from us which is not

who we really are. Sometimes it's painful. But you know what they

say, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. I feel I still have

plenty to offer up to Shiva and Kali but over time I know I'll be

left with just my Self.

 

Thank God for Shiva. Or should I say thank Shiva for Shiva.

I would encourage everyone to spend the night with Shiva this year.

It's worth it.

 

Ram

[Guest guest]

thank you for sharing that

inspiring story!

ramavihs11 wrote:

Dear Shiva,

A few years ago I was attending a month long yoga teachers training

course at an ashram in the Bahamas. I wanted to teach yoga because

asanas had had such a positive impact on my wife and I's lives. I

wasn't really into to any other spiritual practices. At the ashram

I was exposed to many of the other aspects of yoga; chanting,

--

Be Love,<br>

Egyirba

3

1

2005-02-18T04:02:00Z

2005-02-18T04:04:00Z

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36

Arkansas State University

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Be

Love,

Berijoy

http://www.egyirba.net