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

Becoming

Becoming

Love is an ocean without bounds.

What river does not empty into this sea?

Despite obstacles barring the heart,

surrender comes ’round eventually.

The soul, like a river, flows

into the limitless ocean of bliss,

becomes one with the ocean

then Love becomes This.

Jennifer Adams Teasley

©2013

Habits

Habits

Karmic echoes 

spread wide like arms

on a limitless ocean,

fragments of lives

lived, another time

other places,

 firmly embossed on

souls in need of

catharsis, to

remain, till

these bents

no longer

bind 

Jennifer Adams Teasley 

©2013

    I've been thinking a great deal lately about habist, how they become so ingrained in us like deep roots taking hold so firmly they become entrenched and almost immovable. I have many of those kinds of habits...from outward daily routines to deepest thought processes. I realize that the older I get the more difficult it is to break habits, that bind me down like lead weights, making me feel almost helpless to overcome them. It has only been through very intense consistent sadhana that I can even begin to touch them. Japa mantra has a cleansing effect like nothing else, but I still struggle to make chanting a habit, because of the habit of not being consistent...It can be quite frustrating. I do understand though, that my soul is forever trying to find its way back to its Source and so I continue the uphill battle, and though it hurts, the pain constantly brings more awareness.

Jai Maa,

Nirvani

Am I Love?

Do I feel deeply a sincere love for all beings around me,
or am I making some kind of drama of love to confuse others? 
Do I live the life of actual love or do I make a show of love
and use the word love like a professional, an expert, to win the                      friendship and favor of others?
Do I have love or am I love?
Am I alive or am I life?
Am I conscious or am I consciousness?
Am I blissful or am I bliss?
Am I searching for ultimate reality or am I ultimate reality?

Shri Brahmananda Sarasvati


I was listening to a podcast this morning from Manorama, who teaches Sanskrit and Yoga Studies and she spoke these words from her Guruji and it struck me with great force. I wrote them down and read them over and over again. I actually felt overwhelmed by tears. Frankly, these are questions I had not directly thought of and applied to my life. I have decided to make these words my motto for the 2013 year and will place them where I can see them  and will ask myself these questions every day of this year. These are questions that we should all ponder and reflect upon as we meditate each day. It is not enough to speak of love, we must be love....I know very few human beings in my life who actually live as if they are love itself, including myself. This is my New Year's resolution, to strive everyday to become Love, what I am.

Jai Maa,
Nirvani

Vedic Wisdom

EESHE HI SHAKRAH (SAMA VEDA; Verse 66)

A man of self-control becomes the master.

Explanation: The person who has his senses under control is capable of accomplishing unimaginable feats. One, who has mastered himself, can have the world under his control. Nothing is impossible for such a man. A man of self-control has all his energy focused just as the scattered sunrays passing through a magnifying glass turn into a single ray. Therefore every individual should strive to develop self-control so that his energy gets channelized, mind focused and his capabilities naturally gets improved significantly.

(Source: https://www.facebook.com/Veda.knowledge)

White Hindu Converts: Mimicry or Mockery? (Article)

  White Hindu Converts: Mimicry or Mockery?

 Here is an article published in the Huffington Post regarding White Westerners converting to Hinduism and mimicking  the stereotypical or 'imagined' archetype of Indian Hindu culture. I will say for myself, that first off I did not just choose to embrace Hinduism...it chose me. Why should I go against what I feel in my heart and soul is my Dharma. It has nothing to do with my culture or the Indian culture. I believe very deeply in the philosophy of Sanatana Dharma, Vedanta to be precise. Should I call myself a Hindu? I doubt myself every day. I ask myself all the time if I am somehow just pretending, but then I read Hindu scripture or words from Hindu gurus and it dissolves my doubts for a time. I do not question the philosophy, what I question is do I belong in the Hindu culture. I know in India Hinduism pervades ever aspect of life both religious and secular...where in the United States religion is thought of as aside from secular life.
      I would in no way mock Hinduism...at least not intentionally and it troubles me to think that Hindus would even think that of me. Yes I would like to fit in with them, but I do not feel the need to do it just to claim that I am a Hindu. My spirituality is very personal to me and no one...absolutely no one can take that from me. I still embrace my own culture, and am working to integrate parts of my new Hindu beliefs into my own culture at home. I am always looking to those born into Hinduism for guidance. Those I have met online have been very welcoming and honestly quite loving...they have no idea how grateful I am for that.
     I feel as if I am part of something bigger in respect to being one of the few Western Hindus out there, and with that I feel a great responsibility in living a Hindu life that bares integrity and genuineness. I know I have a good following of Hindus out of India here on my blog and am always open to discussion...and would love to hear from many of you and what your thoughts may be on this matter. I look at each of you as my brother and sister in Dharma.
      If Vedanta was not meant to be spread throughout the world then great men like Swami Vivekananda and Paramahansa Yogananda would never have brought it to the West. Hinduism culturally may not be for everyone, but who holds claim to Vedanta? It is what every human being is...it is our birthright.

Tat Tvam Asi,
Nirvani

What is Love?

   I got to thinking about what I could write about in my blog this week and it came to me almost in an instant, like one of those light bulb moments. I call them intuitive moments;) It just so happens that I and my husband will be celebrating our 23rd anniversary this coming week, so what perfect time to talk about LOVE......Love....Love....Love....it just rolls off the tongue like sweet chocolate...So let's get to the gist of it now....because it ain't always sweet and can be downright dirty...well at least the kind of love the majority of us have experienced and actually convinced ourselves of what Love actually means...

First, let's look at what the Dictionary has to say about love:

love (luhv)..noun, verb
1. a profound tender, passionate affection for another person
2. sexual passion or desire
3. a person to whom love is felt, beloved person or sweetheart
4. to need or require; benefit greatly from
5. to have a strong liking for; take great pleasure in
6. to embrace or kiss a lover

    So here we have it; all summed up in a few words like a nice pretty package with a bow on top...hold on...not so fast!  I don't think I saw the word forever, infinite, or everlasting anywhere in there....hmmmm...isn't love suppose to be unconditional and eternal? According to divorcerate.org  41% of first time marriages, 60% of second  marriages and 73% of third marriages end in divorce. We see quite frequently in public, on television, and even in our own homes parents despising children and children despising their parents. We see backbiting among extended family and supposed friends. All around us we are bombarded with this false 'sense of love' in every venue of our life and most of us are actually unwitting culprits actively engaged in the spreading of this 'kind of love'. Most human beings have come to associate Love with pain as equally as happiness. Pedro Calderon de la Barca said it well, "When love is not madness it is not love."
     So let's look at Love from another perspective. Trying to define love through our 5 senses: taste, hear, see, touch, smell will always find Love lacking. In reality, We are Love Aham Prema, I Am Divine Love. In this I am not referring to the body or the ego, but to the Soul/Jiva, which is what we really are. We are not our body or our ego. Until we truly understand what Love means it will always have conditions and will change, thus meaning that our version of Love is not really Love at all. It is our own Ego's expression of Sense Pleasure. Love cannot be Love as long as there is a Personal Agenda.
     The Upanishads say, " It is not for the sake of the husband that the husband is dear, but for the sake of the Self. It is not for the sake of the wife that the wife is dear, but for the sake of the Self."  Remember that when we love another human being we are essentially responding, although unconsciously, to the Divinity within them. When we truly begin to understand that, our love then, can become unselfish and without personal motive. We Love for the sake of Love alone....and This is our true nature. Love.

     When we rid ourselves of selfish desires and replace them with 'right' desires, it is then and only then that we can remove the Maya that clouds our eyes, deceiving us of what 'True Love' really is. In the world today we too commonly believe that Love is only between certain persons close to us, and candlelight dinners, wine and romance. These are just a shadow of Love. We have such an immense capacity for Love that we cannot even imagine. We can be in love with everyone...I know that this will sound unrealistic to many, even to myself, but we have many examples of great men and woman who have proven this through their life examples of selfless service to others. We are Divine Beings, who have forgotten our True Natures.
        If we just start today, to serve those closest to us we can begin to recognize this Love within ourselves. It will manifest more and more in our lives. One of the surest ways to rediscover our True Nature is through regular spiritual practice. Not just reading about spiritual things will do it. We must apply the things we read about to our lives. Whether it be meditation, prayer, humanitarian service, create rituals that will break through the forgetfulness. This brings to mind the words of Rumi, "Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have build up against it." When we break down those barriers inside us through regular spiritual practice, we discover only Love...and that it was inside of us all along. Vedanta says that we should not squander the power of love, but that we should use this power to realize our True Divine Natures. When we realize our own Divinity, we can recognize it in those closest to us. We then can recognize it in everyone we come into contact with, even those who act unlovable. Love requires nothing, it is not something that must be achieved or earned, it is our very nature and cannot be taken from us by the actions of others. So therefore, someone else's unloving attitude cannot diminish our own capacity to give and receive Love.
      In the 23 years that I have been married, I have most certainly learned what 'real love' is NOT...and am still discovering what 'real love' is. My husband has been a shining example of selfless love. I have often thought that the Beloved saw fit to place him in my life to be more than a lover and friend, but to be a teacher to me and I am sure that I was placed in his life to try his patience and love:) I am a blessed woman indeed  to have had such wonderful loving examples in those closest to me. May we all strive to break down the barriers and reclaim our true Divine Natures...LOVE.


Tat Tvam Asi,
Nirvani

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