Divine Mother

Dear Friend,

The Divine Mother is the power of Creation itself. She is the Ultimate Intelligence that holds Creation together. She is the Love, Joy and Abundance of the Cosmos. We can install Her in our Heart by worshiping her. Chanting mantras to Her. Treating every one and thing as Her. Expressing our love for Her through acts of kindness and service. Just recognizing Her Power and Benevolence. The more we attune to the Creative Force of the universe, the more this Energy flows through every aspect of our being. It transforms all our thought and actions, so that we are in complete service to Her Power. She runs the life, and we are delighted to surrender at Her Feet.

As Swamiji is the Divine Mother, I am constantly focused on His Energy. The more I am attuned to Him, the more powerfully the Energy runs through my heart - like the Ganges River. It creates such Love and Joy that I naturally want to share It with others. Indeed, there is nothing I would rather do. Nothing compares to It. I feel like shouting It from the highest mountain. I cry at night because of It. It overwhelms my being.

Satsang is a chance for all of us to connect to Him and bring the Divine Mother into our lives more fully and completely. So when we are doing our daily tasks, instead of seeing separate things, we see the Grace of the Divine Mother blessing us around every corner. We cannot escape Her.

Oh Holy Mother, you are my very soul, you are my life, my mind, and my body. Please run this life as You desire. I cannot claim anything as my own. You are the only One.

With love,
Brian

www.ustream.tv/recorded/36533693

Whispering satsang

Dear Friends,
Yesterday I woke up with a sore throat. Gradually the voice grew more hoarse until it virtually disappeared in the evening. I had planned 2 satsangs that evening. One of them, I played the harmonium during an asana class. I cancelled the other one since we had planned to sing kirtan. Who wants to listen to the sound of silence? Not many.

This morning, I had a satsang online. So like the great Yogi, Baba Hari Dass, I wrote down words on a piece of paper to communicate with people. Unlike him, I whispered the mantras in the the microphone. Not certain if anyone online heard a word of it. But it appeared that John, my roommate, enjoyed it. It is interesting to note how much I wanted to speak. What would I do as a silent yogi? Whispering satsangs are fun...but I have doubts about whether anyone would want to sit with the "silent sadhu." Maybe when I can happily be in silence all the time, others will be happy to sit with me.

With love,
Brian

Joy of Kirtan

Dear Friends,
    Yesterday I went to see David Newman in the Dallas area. He is a wandering minstrel, playing uplifting spiritual music around the world. His music is loving and sweet, and the Energy is blissful and joyous. He plays music for the love of Neem Karoli Baba, a great Saint of the 20th century. I am so thankful to join in his his kirtan. Kirtan is an opportunity to commune with one's Divine Essence through music. Everyone joins together on a beautiful ride into the Spiritual Heart, chanting the holy name of God. As David says, each chant means, "Thank you, God, I love you, God."

Here is a link to a song that represents what David brings to the world.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0p2Dx9TsKX8&feature=youtu.be

With love,
Brian

Two Miracles

Dear Friends,

A week ago, John and I visited the Krishna Temple in Dallas. Two miracles happened. John had not taken his shoes off in a public place for two years because of a serious foot condition. He finally took them off at the temple. This gesture represented a healing of both his foot and his inner state as well a sign of surrender to the Divine.

The second miracle happened to my state of mind. Almost everyone in the temple was standing, chanting different sanskrit slokas, and some people begin to dance to the rhythm of the drumming. I jumped in and then suddenly found myself bounding up and down and dancing in a circle around the drummers, singing:

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Ram Hare Hare

As we whirled around, someone launched my body high in the air, and I became quite happy. The dancing and chanting was mesmerizing. As the chanting slowed, I walked over to John and stood for a while, and suddenly the mind plunged into a deep meditation. I nearly fell over, and in that moment, I realized that dancing can take someone to other realms of being. In the past, dancing had been associated with awkwardness and resistance. Now it became a key to unlock transcendental states of peace and love.

Today I visited the Dallas Meditation Center. Entering the main room, I immediately fell into a deeply peaceful meditation. Then we rose from our seats and began to do a walking meditation around the room. I focused on each small step, slowly walking around the perimeter of the room, being mindful of the breath. This focused action plunged my mind into a deep state of consciousness that almost caused my body to fall over. Never had I experienced such a profound state in the midst of walking. It shattered my beliefs about this method of meditation. New possibilities open now.

There are many ways to walk the Path. Let me try them and see what happens.

With love,
Brian