Savithri Sadhana 2

It is difficult to believe that I left Mysore, Karnataka, India and am back in Orlando, FL, USA. The trip was really been a personal journey; a true life-altering experience. India has a way of bringing up your deep dark stuff and shining the light on it; whether that is what you seek there or not.

Which brings me back to my sadhana, or spiritual practice, and the focus this trip on overcoming fear of death  that I talked about in my January 31 blog post: http://kalidasheart.blogspot.com/2012/01/savithri-sadhana.html. It is my belief that all fear is really a fear of death - whether that is physical death, death of old habits, or just change in general. This life is full of death, in that nothing ever stays the same. "This too, shall pass" is an apt philosophy, reminding us that nothing is permanent, so there is no benefit to lamenting change. 

It is only natural to have fear; the issue most of us have is that we aren't even aware how often we buy into our fears. My fears often center around being afraid of being a bad mother and can be silly at times: It is the voice in my head that says, "you told Emerson that ducks go "quack" and now here he is, at the lake, and the ducks are making a noise that sounds more like "rahk, rahk" so... now he will either turn out resentful to you  for lying to him... orrrr... stupid."

There are more serious fears too: fears for his safety - like when he was one of four passengers on a motor scooter - something very common in India.

Fears aren't necessarily negative thing, if you simply watch them arise, take action if necessary, and then let them pass.

The unhealthy, self-limiting fears are the ones we play and over again in our minds and which keep us from fully realizing all the gifts we are bestowed with from birth. These gifts are apparent when we act from out true self; our soul center. These gifts can be hidden due to our fears, which manifest as the voices in our heads which tell us something can't be done, that we don't deserve a certain thing, that we should have done something differently, etc.

Overcoming those fears sounds simple enough, but how do we really do it? I don't think sheer force is the way, though will power and determination are helpful. It is the determination to see the truth, to fully realize there is divinity around us all the time. If we are always feeling and seeing divinity in every person, every animal, every rock, every tree, every man-made object, every word, and every thought, then how can there be any fear of anything?  We start to realize that even though death and change are inevitable, there is an immutable, immortal, unchanging essence at the heart of every form. That essence cannot die or change, so what is the point of fear? Some pain is inevitable in this life on earth, but suffering is not. Suffering comes when we believe the fearful voices in our heads, rather than seeing through to the divine essence in everything.

India makes it easier to connect with that essence, because it is a culture of belief in the divine. Everyone believes regardless of caste or place in life. In America, I'd say at least half of us are alienated because of the failings of organized religion. It makes it more difficult to see the divine every day when you are surrounded by disbelief. It is still possible, and necessary if we are to transcend all the different problems we are creating for life on earth. As more and more people start to bring that divine essence into their every day lives, everyone will naturally begin to shed self-limiting beliefs and rise above.

I brought some of India back with me to America to help the cause.

Om Shanti, everyone. ;)

Learning to trust

I find it fascinating that there are very few road signs and traffic signals here in Mysore, Karnataka, India. I was here for 3 weeks before I spotted my first one, this very old-looking sign near a school that I think is a warning to watch for children:

It simply says, "courtesy" which I also find fascinating. My friend Maureen is also here in Mysore, studying yoga, and she told me that there are places in Europe that have removed all traffic signals and found that people drive much more cautiously, resulting in a large decrease in traffic accidents.

It seems we are sometimes complacent in America, blindly following the traffic signals without actually being present while we are driving. We put too much faith in external regulators, rather than learning to trust our innate instincts with alertness. We do this literally with traffic signals, but also on a more subtle level in all aspects of our life. Rather than being present where we are and letting our reactions flow spontaneously from the situation, we become uncomfortable when circumstances don't meet our expectations, and we get anxious and take things personally. If we could simply learn to go with the flow and let our first reaction to any outside circumstance be surrender, I believe we would be much happier.

Surrender takes trust - it means letting go of control and believing that a higher, more intelligent power is actually in control of our lives.  It is easy to practice surrender, for example, when a baby grows in its mother's womb. The mother doesn't need to concentrate on growing the baby; it happens naturally. Our whole life can unfold in that way if we would just get out of the way and stop trying to control every thing that happens by judging it as good or bad.

My thoughts for the day as our trip winds to a close next week. Still more to come...

Om Shanti, everyone.

Thank you, India

I decided to take Emerson for a walk up to the park a couple days ago.  All the roads are pretty much laid out in grid formation here, although there is some deviation.  And I understand the general direction of the park, so I set out a slightly different way than usual and walked in that direction.  Then, I heard the ego voice in my head say, “You shouldn’t have gone this way.  This is the wrong way.  You don’t know where you’re going.  You’re not going to be able to find the park.”  


Then as I was walking up this different way, I saw that there was a Hindu temple that I hadn’t seen before. And then I remembered something from Byron Katie’s book, "Loving What Is," where she teaches to say, “no mistake” in response to any perceived negative life situation.  And she writes that  yogis used to come to her after she had her awakening, and they’d all be saying, “Namaste, Namaste.” She didn’t know what it meant, so she thought they were saying, “No mistake.”  And she teaches that there are no mistakes.  


So I heard her voice, when I saw the Hindu temple, and it said to me, “No mistake.” Then I noticed there was this beautiful depiction of an elephant:

Emerson pointed at it and said, “Ale-font.”  And I thought, "there are no mistakes." Then I looked to my left, and there was the park we were trying to find.  


It’s hard when that voice in my head teases me with, “You should have done it the other way.”  When I believe that thought, I create those realities. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.  I’m learning to notice those thoughts more and more and India’s helping.  As Alanis Morrisette says, “Thank you, India."  


Om shanti, everyone.

padma sadhana

Kali, why does jealousy remain my king?

Leagues of distance, yet no less it stings.

Teach me, instead, abundant Love -

And, Kali, let me rise above -

so that I long not after a specific flower;

Rather seeking solely your Love’s ceaseless shower.