to Sadvi ji: How do we grow? Letting go of Attachments..one way.

[Guest guest]

Jai Kali Maa, dear Sadvi ji!

WOW! What a story and what a lesson in letting go!! You really have a

gift for writing! You painted such a vibrant picture, i could feel

and see everything you described. i am so grateful that you have

shared this incredible experience of Maa's Power and Grace! Are you

still living in the same place where it happened? Somehow, this all

reminds me of a "Poem" that "i" wrote a few months back:

 

"Dissolve me in Your Holy Love"

 

 

Silently i sit in quiet surrender…

Your Face flashes like lightning

While my heart thunders wildly at Your approach.

 

My tears pour like monsoon rains

Forming a garland of silver droplets

Which crown Thy Feet like stars.

 

Take me upon Your Lap, oh Maa!

Give me pure devotion, Maa!

Dissolve me in Your Holy Love!

 

Your sister dissolving in Maa's Holy Love,

muktimaa

 

P.S. And the line [which happened to be your 'bottom line', and i

wish it to be mine, as well] was really, truly THE Bottom line!

You saidThe "things" are just stand-ins for the True Reality that

can never be destroyed by any storm or ocean wave.

J'ai Kali Ma! She who embodies Fierce Compassion!!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

> this is a story of Kali..a personal story and it is very strong..a

> story of Kali's power to take her sword and, in one swipe, cut off

> attachments without "mercy". Three years ago, I was living in a

rented

> house built directly on the sea-wall in a small New England town. I

> had taken the front room on the second floor for my own. It was a

> large, light-filled room that looked directly out onto the ocean.

The

> sun rose on one side of the huge windows and set on the other side.

In

> this room, I placed everything I loved: firstly, my studio with 15

of

> my "best" paintings (that I had brought to contemplate and see

where

> they might lead me), my library (of Hindu texts, tapes from the

Kumbha

> Mela, research books, rare art books, etc...collected over a period

of

> 30 years) and my puja: an enlivened murti of my baba, murtis of

> Hanuman and a huge Kali murti made of Ganga clay plus many very

> beautiful puja implements.On the very first day I began to paint in

> this room, a huge storm approached the coast. There were warnings

of a

> fierce N'orEaster and, all up and down the street, people were

> preparing..all except our landlord. The house we rented was

> unprotected.Not knowing any better, my husband and I settled in to

> ride out the storm. Sometime in the middle of the night, I heard a

> groaning sound coming from the front room. I walked in and turned

on

> the light....my Kali murti was swaying back and forth, emitting a

> strange humming sound; there was an odd sense of "pressure" in the

> room and I noticed that water was leaking in through the window. As

I

> looked out into the darkness, I could see waves coming towards the

> house....they seemed impossibly huge...there was a pause, almost as

> though the world was standing still and a dropping away of all

sound

> and movement. A dark void opened up in the night sky and, standing

in

> it, I saw Kali Ma and my baba! Just then, my husband came running

in

> saying, "Get Out of here!". The windows blew out, sending shards of

> glass shooting 20 feet down the hall. We were not touched! The

ocean

> waves (30 feet tall at this point) came crashing in through the

upper

> windows, drowning everything: my paintings, library,

> puja...everything! We rescued what we could in a frantic rush,

grabbed

> our two cats and escaped off the peninsula. Two days later, when we

> were able to return, I found Kali murti, lying on her side; She was

> intact...only her "blessing hand", in abhaya mudra, had been broken

> off. I remember sitting in the middle of all of that ruin, of

> everything that meant "everything" to me, holding onto Kali's

> tiny "blessing hand" and feeling, in addition to the shock, a

> tremenous sense of total liberation and complete freedom...that it

> really WAS all "dust". Since that time, everything has

been "returned"

> to me...I am creating paintings and books again, I have (of course)

> cleaned and refurbished my puja and replaced some of the books but

my

> relationship to these things has been totally transformed. Before

what

> I call the "Kali Storm", I talked about being a "caretaker" for my

> talents and possessions but secretly, in my heart, I did not know

what

> I would do if I ever lost my ability to create or the support of my

> puja and studies and had to just live an "ordinary" life in the

world.

> Kali taught me a very important lesson about the ephemeral nature

of

> all "things" (no matter how precious and important)...The "things"

are

> just stand-ins for the True Reality that can never be destroyed by

any

> storm or ocean wave.

> J'ai Kali Ma! She who embodies Fierce Compassion!!

> sadhvi

>