to Ram : a story of SIVARATRI's POWER

[Guest guest]

Namaste, Ram!

Thank-you so much for sharing this tremendous story! i have chills!

In my early years on 'the Path' i used to listen

to 'records'[remember those lil plastic fossils?] :<) by Sach Dev and

Ravi Shankar for hours on end. Is it the same Sach Dev?

Thank-you again for sharing such a personal and inspiring story! Om

Namah Shivaya! Jai Maa! Jai Swamiji! Jai Ramakrishna Deva!

muktimaa

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

, "ramavihs11" <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,

> 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