Guest guest Posted January 24, 2006 Report Share Posted January 24, 2006 Dear All, I read the book "Before Becoming This" , over five years ago when I had met Maa and Swamiji during their US tours. Since then, there have been a LOT of changes in my lifestyle/ sadhana, and a much closer interaction with Maa and Swamiji. When I picked up this book again last week, and read a few pages , I felt the difference in my attitude towards the contents. What had been a "nice" book back then, is now something that begins to "make more sense". It is no longer a chat about a beautiful concept, but suddenly something eminently practical - a guidebook to live by. Amazing how a few years and a few events can change one's outlook. Here is a nugget that I took from the book. It is from the chapter titled "Enlightenment and Chocolate Ice Cream" Swamiji says ..... "The validity of any true spiritual experience is the change that it creates in our lives. Many people have reported marvelous visions and experiences while in meditation, but its important to see what happened to their lives after that. Did they go back to the same personality and the same interactions, or did they start working for creation instead of working for themselves? Then we can see if it was a real experience" JAI MAA JAI SWAMIJI Nanda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 24, 2006 Report Share Posted January 24, 2006 >>"Swamiji says ..... "The validity of any true spiritual experience is the change that it creates in our lives. Many people have reported marvelous visions and experiences while in meditation, but its important to see what happened to their lives after that. Did they go back to the same personality and the same interactions, or did they start working for creation instead of working for themselves? Then we can see if it was a real experience" JAI MAA JAI SWAMIJI Nanda"<< Oh boy! Can I see ALOT of "paths from the past" in this post! One of the "measuring sticks" I use now in my own life is exactly what Swamiji mentions above...what EFFECT is all of this (puja,japa,practice) having on my interactions with "the world". If all of this intense focus on God is NOT resulting in the arising of compassion, kindness, concern, connection....then what real "good" is it? The experiences and visions are a lovely "prasad" but unless the "loop" of this prasad finds its way out into the world, it can easily become simply a more subtle form of selfishness. "Loving God" and finding everyone around you "irritating" and "the world" as something to be avoided at all costs is, sometimes, a phase we go through when we are beginning our sadhana. As we move along, the separation begins to evaporate and we have those wonderful illuminating flashes that "it's ALL God". It's inspiring to think about the day when that might become simply the state we live in. best regards and thanks, Nanda, for the reminder, sadhvi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 25, 2006 Report Share Posted January 25, 2006 peple even pay lots of money for a big shakti experience now but they don't know yet it is only a small cup of gelato. , "Nanda" <chandimaakijai> wrote: > > > Dear All, > I read the book "Before Becoming This" , over five years ago when I had met Maa and Swamiji during their US tours. Since then, there have been a LOT of changes in my lifestyle/ sadhana, and a much closer interaction with Maa and Swamiji. > > When I picked up this book again last week, and read a few pages , I felt the difference in my attitude towards the contents. What had been a "nice" book back then, is now something that begins to "make more sense". It is no longer a chat about a beautiful concept, but suddenly something eminently practical - a guidebook to live by. > > Amazing how a few years and a few events can change one's outlook. > > Here is a nugget that I took from the book. It is from the chapter titled "Enlightenment and Chocolate Ice Cream" > > Swamiji says ..... > > "The validity of any true spiritual experience is the change that it creates in our lives. Many people have reported marvelous visions and experiences while in meditation, but its important to see what happened to their lives after that. Did they go back to the same personality and the same interactions, or did they start working for creation instead of working for themselves? Then we can see if it was a real experience" > > JAI MAA > JAI SWAMIJI > Nanda > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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