To forall about Home Blessing Sadhana -- Can you help?

[Guest guest]

forall wrote (about posts on Shree Maa's sayings about cleaning) :

....I know there are more posts along this line, but the search isn't bringing them forth...

Dear forall and anyone who had hands on dealings with the Devi Mandir site:

I have had problems with the site, and I don't know if this is similar

to what you experienced or not. For example, in the Files section,

currently, the last file name is "thank_yours.txt".

The first post is "Audio and Video Clips for Learning." I can see at

the bottom right of the Files page there is a loading box that always

says 80% of 200 MB, and shows a loading icon. This never changes, no

matter how long I leave the page open, so I wonder what is before the

last post. I also feel concerned because I know that as new folders or

files get added, the ones on the list get pushed further down. Right

now the folder for the Earth Mother Sankalpa is 3rd from the bottom.

With the photos page, I can find no way to add a picture. If I go to

the help page, it says there is an "add photo" link that allows

a person to download a photo, but on the photo page, I can't find this

link.

 

So my questions for whomever maintains these areas of the page are:

 

Are there any more files or folders following the "thank_yours.txt" at

the bottom of the page, and if so, how do I access them?

 

Also, since the EMS is a year long sankalpa, and new people are coming

to the digest all the time, is there a way to keep this folder on the

page that opens when one clicks on the "Files" link?

 

How can a photo be added to one of the notebooks in the photos

section; how can a new notebook be created? Do we need to forward

photos to someone for approval first?

 

Now, you've got me interested, so I will go back to the last digest

and see which post number is being referred to about Shree Maa and

Cleaning.

 

An interesting sidebar to this topic, in my own life, is that I didn't

learn anything about cleaning, housekeeping, or cooking from my

mother; nor did I learn how to get along in the "real" world from

either of my parents. My grandmother Bertie was the one who, by

example, taught me just about everything, including how to clean.

 

Aside from major cleanups like "spring cleaning," for Bertie,

cleaning was just something you did as you went along. You didn't

leave one task unfinished, with all of it's "stuff" left to get in

the way, to go start another one. You put whatever you were working

on away. If you weren't finished (like a puzzle or something), you

put the pieces or ingredients away (out of sight) in a sense of

storing them until you were ready to begin again.

 

But watching Bertie in her in the kitchen was an incredible learning

in efficient sadhana. She would get something started on the stove

(e.g., boiled cabbage, potatos and ham), then left over pieces of the

food that couldn't be eaten would be saved to later use as compost.

Untensils would be put in the sink, and voila!, she was ready for the

next stage, which was usually making biscuits. She'd get into it full

bear and make a glorious mess. I loved helping. But as soon as the

biscuits were in the oven, the table would be cleaned off, untensils

put in the sink; bowl filled with water and put in the sink (to make

it easier to clean), and the table would be wiped clean.

 

If you walked into the kitchen at this point, except for the wonderful

smells wafting from the oven, you would never think anyone had gone to

any trouble to make these smells appear. Now, the first wave of dishes

and utensils would be washed and left to dry. After that, we'd set the

table (for 6 or more!), put out all the delectable side dishes

(homemade applesauce, pickle relish) and salt, pepper and butter, and

other things that would be needed for the actual dinner. We had a

wonderful time eating and talking (unlike in my home, where part of

the eating process involved terrible yelling from my father,

sarcastic put downs, etc.).

 

Now back to grandma's: then everybody would get up and go into the

living room to chat or play cards or watch tv. My grandmother and I

got to work again (and my sister as she got older). As my sister and

I grew up, more of this prep and cleanup was left to us ... good

learning bhava from my grandmommie). Grandmom would clear items away

that needed to go back in the fridge, including any leftovers from

the main course. My sister and I would take on the dishes, trading

from time to time who would wash and who would dry. Sometimes we got

into cleaning contests ... see who could put the other out of

business first. Sometimes she'd be drying, and would get done, then

stand there and tap her foot with a smile on her face (as I'm washing

more dishes, but quantity was never sacrificed to quality, even with

doing the dishes, at my grandmother's home). Sometimes my sister

would have a pile, and there would be no more room for me to add any

more cleaned dishes. Although, when this happened, especially as we

got older, whoever was waiting would take the cleaned and dried

dishes off the kitchen table and put them away.

 

There is a saying, "everything I needed to know, I learned in

kindergarten." (Or it's sort of like that.) For me, it was

"everything that was really important that I needed to know was

learned at Bertie's."

 

So when I met Shree Maa and Swamiji during their last tour, and saw

how they did things and how they conducted themselves, in a sense I

was a gonner. Bertie had prepared me long ago for Shree Maa and

Swamiji. Everything done in an efficient and organized manner, lots

of smiling and even singing, but little in the way of idle chatter.

Bertie was my upa guru, my role model, my only true parent. And by

her example, she created in me a very ripe environment for devotion

to Shree Maa and Swamiji to grow. (Thank you grandmommie.) Thank you

Shree Maa and Swamiji, for everything ~ Linda

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 3/21/2006 12:17:12 P.M. Mountain Standard Time, nierika (AT) aol (DOT) com writes:

Bertie had prepared me long ago for Shree Maa and Swamiji. Everything

done in an efficient and organized manner, lots of smiling and even

singing, but little in the way of idle chatter. Bertie was my upa

guru, my role model, my only true parent. And by her example, she

created in me a very ripe environment for devotion to Shree Maa and

Swamiji to grow. (Thank you grandmommie.) Thank you Shree Maa and

Swamiji, for everything ~ Linda

Namaste Sweet Linda,

My childhood was balance, an older brother and older sister, me, a

younger brother and younger sister. My mom and dad. My grandfather.

I saw younger brother and sister growing up, older brother and sister

grown up. Come from there and go to there. Libra my birth sign.

Peaceful my life, space my yard to play in, time a soft white cloud

floating in a pure blue sky. My wonder of where did we come from,

was it the full moon that woke me in the night and I had to watch ?

Was it my great aunt nun that walked the rosary early in the morning

in our back yard as I watched unknown and unseen from an upstairs

window ? The mystery of it is with me today. Was it my granddad

always ready to tell me a story when I asked about the old days. And

when he spoke those days were brand new in our minds. Valli says I am

like a child. Yes it is a wonder, to be a child. There is love and

there is more love. God bless our wonderful lives and your

grandmommie Linda. And God bless our Gurus and all the wonderful

people we share with.

Kanda