RE: () Prayer Beads and the pathless path

[Guest guest]

Hi Jill:

It's nice to hear from you. As I opened up my email this morning and

looked over 75 of them... the posts on prayer beads attracted my

attenntion and as I read them I was wondering when to jump in....your

post gives me the perfect opportunity. While I agree with the need

for direct realization of self and the silence of just being there

most often it is necessary to walk on a path before one walks on a

pathless path. Years ago if someone had told me just sit down,

contemplate the silence and discover who you truly are I would not be

able to exist on the pathless path. My mind would have run around in

the land of anger, resentment, and total craziness (as opposed to the

sometimes crazy of today :-) ). Mantra was a wonderful tool for

quieting the mind, bringing joy, clearing negative thought patterns

and a host of other benefits. Today I still use mantra sometimes to

clear away energy, to pray and ofen because it is fun. I'm still on

this planet and tend to be bhakti orientated....mantra helps clear

away the clutter quickly.

I'm not sure of the origins of prayer beads (often referred to as

malas). There is a great amount of information regarding the

different types of stones and seeds that are used. For those who are

not fully " enlightened" and therefore still subject to the variations

of the play of elements different stones will affect one in subtle

ways. I use planetary knowledge to aid in dealing with the energy

of the cosmic order. For instance someone dancing with the effects

of Mercury would use green malacite stones for their mala. Someone

else who is working on opening up their 4th chakra might do well with

a pink quartz. Will these techniques bring one to instant

enlightenment....probably not but the process can simply be a bit

easier. Besides a mala feels nice, works as an aid and is perhaps

no different than the tool of reading Krishnamurti or Ramana Maharshi

to shed some light when the pathless path gets dark.

Hope you are all settled in and happy to be back in Michigan despite

the amount of rain we have received this summer.

Love,

Linda >Thank you, Harsha, for this response in defense of the use

of mantra. >For>18>years of daily meditation practice using mantra

, I considered it a >mild>and>fairly benign tool for achieving

transcendence (not a hypnotic state).>After >that time, when grace

descended, as it were, the power of the use of >mantra>in >meditation

and other related spiritual practices became much

more>physically,>spiritually and in all other ways directly felt and

experienced. (I have>had to>restrain myself from becoming

evangelical about it! ) One of the>excellent >teachers I have had

in the use of mantra is our Linda Callanan, who is >very >well-versed

in a wide range of mantras and their

use.Love,Jill// All

paths go somewhere. No path goes nowhere. Paths, places, sights,

perceptions, and indeed all experiences arise from and exist in and

subside back into the Space of Awareness. Like waves rising are not

different than the ocean, all things arising from Awareness are of

the nature of Awareness. Awareness does not come and go but is always

Present. It is Home. Home is where the Heart Is. Jnanis know the Heart

to be the Finality of Eternal Being. A true devotee relishes in the

Truth of Self-Knowledge, spontaneously arising from within into It

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