Being Hindu is to stop being fanatical....

Being Hindu is to stop being fanatical…it is being cosmopolitical

Advaita Vedanta of Sri Shankaracharya ( circa 780 AD – 820 AD), Shaivism with its many branches,Vaishnavite systems with their deism, the Tantric system with its own inner esoteric logic, the neo-Vedanta of the Ramakrishna Order and the lived daily lives of countless wo/men with their sacred rituals have come to mean for us Hinduism. Some of us live by the philosophy of Sri Ramanujacharya (circa 1017 AD – 1137 AD); some of us try to integrate within us the teachings of Patanjali (circa 2nd BC) while again some among us would want to live by the dictum of Sage Vashishtha. We are a Faith community which has no one language; our practitioners may appear unrecognizable to each other, leave alone to the devotees of other religions. We have no one book to live by; we accept no one centralized source of doctrines. In truth, we have only our own inner loci of control to lead us to God. Our concept of the universe has been mistakenly confused with the philosophy of pandeism (sic). In fact, we are a community evolving with the times. Our concept of dharma does not mean only a specific cognitive space or an area of discourse which separates our lives into little-boxes and relegates the idea of the holy to the realm of what is commonly understood by spirituality. Our religion is a lived religion which sees natural ambition for earning wealth, having sex within marriage, and having fulfilling careers to be integral to self-actualization. Thus, Hinduism is a religion which is eminently practical and does not concern itself too much with the life to come. It is enough to enjoy and live this present life to the full. It is only within Hinduism will one find an equal stature being given to the householder and the renunciate. Both can and do attain God. In all other religions of the world, the renunciate is compulsorily seen as superior to the layperson. In all probability the apaurusheya Upanishads and the Vedas relate the lived-experience of non-celibate happily wedded seers, both women and men. Those who seek Hinduism for magic, for personal peace, for some sort of harmony and certainty, seek in vain. Their quest is misplaced. Hindus know that to be spiritual is to be uncertain, to desire holiness often immature, to seek magic and miracles may be non-scientific and betray a need to find quick-fix solutions to real problems which need long working out. To seek peace in a world torn by strife is foolishness and moreover, selfish. How can a spiritual person seek inaction and solipsism when countless around her or him are illiterate, hungry and live with no proper sanitation? Hinduism rejects these desires as been unworthy of the human being. This world is not meant to be a seclusion: it is meant to be one of action, and relentless self-appraisal: am I fighting the good fight? Am I living my swadharma?

(Read the rest of the editorial here : Lectio Divina )


This was a very eye-opening article and I feel that it has much merit, at least for me. Would love to know any thoughts on it!

Jai Maa,
Nirvani

Sri Maa

The whole and part together make up real Perfection. 

~ Sri Anandamayi Ma

Words from Mundaka Upanishad

"As from a blazing fire, thousands of sparks of fire fly out, so these various beings you see in the world all spring forth from Brahman and go back to Him again. Pure, higher than the highest, He has no body, no breath, no mind; He is inside and outside everything. Yet, from Brahman have come your life, your mind, eyes, ears, hands, feet, space and air, light and water, and the very earth itself. It is He who binds all these together.
About Him, they recite this poem:

'Fire is His head, His eyes are the sun and moon;
His ears, the directions -- north, south, east and west;
His breath is the wind, the Vedas his voice;
Under his feet the earth has sprung up,
And all things know Him as their innermost Self.'

"The man who knows this secret, hidden in the cave of the heart, breaks open, here and now, the knot of ignorance.

Mind, sharpened by worship and meditation, will be the arrow. Fixing it on the bow, with full concentration, draw back and hit the target, the Indestructible Brahman. There is a sacred word -- OM -- which is the bow; your own self is the arrow and Brahman is the target. Without trembling, hit the mark, and like the arrow, lose yourself in It! Then all the knots of the heart are broken, all doubts disappear and all actions trail away when He is realized, who is the farthest away of the far away, the nearest of the near, the light of lights."

Mundaka Upanishad

(Shared from one of my favorite facebook pages: Veda Knowledge)

Jai Maa,

Nirvani

My Kismet

John William Waterhouse

My Kismet

‘Oh what webs we weave’

Iconic words of yesteryear come to mind

Only to realize that it is I who have been deceived

Unwittingly, self-contriving my own destiny

Left me spinning in a loop of unending pain

Mixed with joy and a tad bit of bliss

A karmic cocktail imprinted on my consciousness

The causatum of thought and action

Runs deeper than my mere puny grasping intelligence

My kismet ascertained

Or so it would seem, until my soul whispered to me

‘Find your true Self and get off this train

Of perpetual death and rebirth

For you are but a drop in the ocean of Source’

And so began my journey of Self-Realization

Jennifer Adams Teasley ©2012

Finding my Dharmic Path....

(Artist Unknow)

  I embraced Sanatana Dharma nearly two years ago, and I will not say it has been an easy road. For those of you who do not know I am a former member of the Mormon church. In the eyes of the Mormon church I am still a member as I have not had my name removed from the records of the church...I grew up as a very devout Mormon, whereas my husband was a convert. We raised our children as Mormons. The church played front and center in our lives for many years. If I were to say that my Mormon faith defined me as a person, I would not be exaggerating. My husband and I both left the church nearly three years ago. The first year after leaving the church was excruciating to say the least. I had essentially lost my identity as I had always known it. You may wonder why I left in the first place if it played such a big part in my life. I will explain this to the best of my ability, frankly it is more complex than even I realized at the time.
    For the last five years or so before leaving the church I had grown increasingly dissatisfied with my Mormon life. One thing I have never done or never will do is blame the church for my choice to leave...It was in the Mormon faith where I truly learned to love God and develop a deep spirituality. I also made lasting and loving friendships there. My children had good lives within the structure of the Mormon youth program. It was a good life, but over the years it felt more and more as if we were constantly trying to please the church and less and less on giving to our family. For anyone who knows about the Mormon faith, service is everything, service in the form of callings. These callings are considered to be direct calls from God so we were encouraged to accept them because we were doing what the Lord wanted us to do. There were times when these callings consumed every bit of our time and energy. My husband worked many hours and then gave what little time he had left to his callings. I will not speak for my husband here as this is my perspective.
      For some time I began to feel as if I were just going through the motions and with what was expected as a devout member I constantly felt that I was falling short and would put a tremendous amount of guilt on myself for this. Unlike my spiritual path now, Mormons are taught to essentially accept all of its doctrine and not question...Well they are told to pray about whether its doctrine is true, but if you did not get an answer in the affirmative you were just not praying long enough and if you did not feel that something was true you were not listening to the holy ghost/spirit. Just as in most orthodox religions, you are not suppose to question the authority of the church, as in its teachings, scripture or prophets. Some may call this blind faith, as in you are expected to believe without direct experience. The Mormon church does believe itself to be the one and only true Abrahamic faith on the earth. So it was expected of one to believe in every teaching, no matter how small. So I did what every other good Mormon did, I accepted all teachings as divine revelation directly from God.
     One Sunday I woke up and decided I would not attend church, and just like that I never went back. I struggled mightily for the first year. I felt such intense guilt that I thought God would strike me down or that terrible things would happen to me. The only terrible things to happen was of my own making, and yes I created a massive amount of pain and suffering in my life of which I will not get into here. God did not punish me in any way....But I sure did punish myself. After about a year I began to look into other religions and spiritual paths. When I left the church I had decided, as did my husband, that we would leave Christianity altogether. For those of you who do not believe that Mormons are Christians, Jesus Christ is the center pinnacle of the Mormon faith. We did all things in his name. He was my personal Savior as in my sins could not be forgiven but through him, if I were willing to repent.

(Picture of my Alter  early on....it is still a work in progress)

     I studied paganism for a while, but just could not relate with it. I looked at Buddism, but it felt so impersonal...then one day I began reading about Sanatana Dharma. At first I could not wrap my mind around the idea of reincarnation, as that went against anything I had ever been taught. Also my concept of God was of a loving Father in Heaven who was watching over me from above. I read more, but became overwhelmed with the Hindu teachings, so I put it aside for a while....but I would again find myself being pulled toward it. I would see Indian Hindus in town or would come across articles online about India and Hinduism. Once again I would find myself reading, with even more intensity than before. I felt so isolated in my studies as I did not know any Hindus or even how to go about meeting them, but this did not deter me. I continued reading, and I began to meditate and eventually created a sacred space in my home where I would go and do devotions. I seemed to be drawn to the aspect of the Divine Mother more than any other. I chalked this up to the fact that I grew up in a very patriarchal church where men essential did the majority of governing and my personal God was male. At first it was a bit unnerving to talk to Deity in the aspect of Mother, but with time it became quite natural...and now I just love talking to my Mother and giving devotions to her. It gives me this sense of empowerment as a woman myself to know that shakti is feminine in power and that I could tap into that.
     I cannot say I have exactly found my place in Sanatana Dharma as of yet. There are so many paths within  Hinduism and there is a wealth of scriptural texts in Sanskrit...and although most of the texts have been translated to English, it is not that simple to know who's translations are correct. There is no main authoritative center in Hinduism. There are countless Spiritual Masters, gurus and teachers. I have read and studies voraciously and have finally come to what I would say is my own personal belief. I wholeheartedly believe in the principles of Karma and Reincarnation. These concepts make absolute perfect sense to me. Although I do devote myself to the worship of the Divine Mother, I always include the masculine aspect of Divinity in my worship, mostly in the form of of Shiva. My logical mind and deepest intuition has led me to the path of Advaita Vedanta. It resonates with me more than any other thing I have every been taught in my life. I still as of yet have never been to any Hindu Temple other than the ISKCON temple once. For now I practice my path on my own. My family support me in my journey, most especially my dear husband. He is on his own spiritual journey and I try very hard to support him with that as well.
     I look forward to the day that I can attend a Hindu Temple and receive blessings there. I hope to one day actually make Hindu friends in person. This is not an easy path...Where Buddhism has become very popular in the West, Hinduism is still trying to take a hold. It can be very intimidating for a Westerner to attend a temple where they may be a total minority. I hope that I will be received with kindness. I have a profound respect for this faith and cannot imagine my life without it now...I am learning and growing in it every day and feel that I am truly following my Dharmic Path. Somehow I know that the Divine Mother is guiding me every step of the way. Tat Tvam Asi...I AM THAT.


Om Shanti Shanti Shanti,
Nirvani
     

I Am Here......

I Am Here

Alone I roamed by the ocean's shore,
And watched
     The wrestling waves in brawling roar--
Bounding with Thine own restless life.
I saw Thee in Thy angry mood, tossing and foaming
Until the very vastness of Thy wrath made me shiver
And turn away in dread from so much violence and strife.
And then I walked inland.
     A kindly, spreading, sentinel tree
Waved friendly arms to comfort me--
Consoling me with gentler look sublime,
Its leaves and branches swayed in tender lullaby-rhyme,
Conveying a message that I knew was Thine.
Above me, high
     I saw the gaugeless, mystic sky;
And, childlike, in dim valleys I sought to pry out
Thy secrets, and to play with Thee.
In vain, alas, did I seek Thee hiding there,
Cloud-robed, foam-sprayed, leaf-garlanded--
Too elusive for mortal eyes to see or ears to hear.
And yet,
     I knew that Thou wert always near,
As if playing hide-and-seek with me,
Receding each time when I almost touched Thee.
I groped for Thee in the maddeningly complex folds
Of dark ignorance--as old as time itself is old.
At last--
     I ceased my search, almost in despair:
What hope had I of finding Thee,
Thou Royal, Sly Eluder!
Thou art, I know, everywhere--
Yet Thou seemest nowhere: lost in unplumbed space,
Where none may clasp Thee or behold Thy face!
Yes, despairing,
     I ceased my fruitless search,
Turned huffily away from Thee:
My ploy was unsuccessful!
Still, still no answer from the wrathful sea,
And only whispers from the friendly tree;
Naught but silence from the limitless blue sky--
Silence from valleys low and mountains high!
Like a hurt child, within the depths of me
I hid and sulked--no longer seeking Thee.
And then, lo! suddenly:
     Unheralded, an Unseen Hand
Snatched from my eyes that all-black band
Which had blinded me so long with fold on fold.
No longer weary, but filled with strength untold,
I stood, and gazed again:
A laughing sea instead of wrathful roars!
A gay, glad world with mystically opening doors!
With only mists of dreams between,
Someone beside me stood unseen--
And whispered to me, calm and clear:
"Hello, playmate! I am here!"

Paramahansa Yogananda Whispers from Eternity


Jai Mata Di,
Nirvani