Navaratri
Trip Start
Sep 03, 2007
1
17
Trip End
Oct 23, 2007
New Delhi,
India
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
On the way to Karunamayi's ashram from Gudur it just started getting dark. We drove and drove down a road in a poor rural area in the Indian country. The stars were amazing and all most as clear as in in Kainchi Dham. In about two hours we came to the ashram. There were Christmas lights everywhere (decorated for Navaratri). It was so beautiful. In behind the ashram there are these amazing mountains and jungle. I saw this clearer the next morning. I walked into the ashram and someone pointed me to the dormitories. I passed a murti of Gayatri Devi and Durga Ma on the way. It was a very peaceful place I picked that up quick. I was surprised to see that at the dorm area Karunamayi had installed a small replica Statue of Liberty. I found this really funny. I dropped off my stuff and made my way to the main temple dedicaded to "Sri Lalita Paramaswara" who is the divine mother in the form of she who plays
100 thousand sweets offered to Ganesh Fire
. There are also a Laxsmi and Saraswati murti, The Goddess's of wealth and knowledge. The temple was so amazing. By far one of the nicer temples I'd seen here in India. They were doing puja to the deities when I arrived. It was really nice. Afterwards I had some delicious food and met up with my roomates. A friend "Ram Das" (from Asheville too) and another man "Vira" from Demark were my roomates. They both are really awesome people. We had a good time interacting. The next couple of days were very intense. On a general the days were filled with Sadhana (spiritual practice and meditation). First thing in the morning at 5:30a.m. they would perform Abishaka a ritual intailing the washing of the deities with sacrad material i.e. honey, kum kum, tumeric, and water etc. After that there would be a short break and you could get coffee or tea. However, there would always be sadhana going on. The temple preist who were brought from all over India would be doing Yagna's starting at 3a.m. and other rituals filled the day until 11p.m. We were also instructed by Karunamayi to do sixteen Samputita Sri Suktam's (Laxsmi puja) which took about 12 minutes at a fast pase. I did them the first few days while also matching them with Hanuman Chalisa's but started slacking after that. By the end I'd gotten back into it. They rest of the day we did a Lilita Yagna (1000 names) along with the preist who offered the grains. We also did another Lilita and Devi Kadga Mala twice a day
30ft Hanuman
. The evening Arathi (waving of camphor in honor of the deities) done by Karunmayi's Swami was intense. They'd have Devi face painted a differn't color every day, The preist who were all so talented beat drums and bell's. It was like traveling back in time to the Satya Yuga for arathi. The Satya Yuga was the Golden age . We now live in the Kali Yuga which is the dark age. Right after arathi the preist and some female devotees sang some bhjans and played the flute and beat drums. It was amazing stuff. They also chanted memorized vedic hymes that were impressive. Oh yes, right before arathi we (Indias and westereners) would parade around with Karunmayi around the ashram carrying Devi on giant wood logs. We did this every night. It is considered a great honor to carry the divine Mother because she carries us in this world. Without her we're lifeless. She is our shakti. While doing this Devi was on a differn't animal with represntation every night. Karunamayi would do the the arathi with the preist to the deities scattered around the ashram. Everyone was yelling and cheering it was a riot. The whole retreat was a celebration of the divine. Karunamayi said we were burning off lifetimes just from being there and that's what it felt like. I was struggling a lot but it was so purifying I felt so much love and grace. I feel more determined and free of my ego after being there. My most biggest realization was that life isn't fun anymore with out that connection to my higher power. It is primary and everything else secondary. The funny thing is that when you put God or whatever label you give peace, love, and true happiness first everything flows smoothly in life. Most people are lost in thought and completely identified with mind patterns. The only way to see a whole new reality is through meditation and spiritual practice. The only remedy for one of the deadliest dieseases drugs/alcohol, is sadhana. In fact I think sadhana is the only remedy for any problem in life. We got it all backwords and the name God has been so abused
Can you see her?
. God is Life-we are life. There is only life. There is only oneness, love, and grace. We see with such limited perspective. You would not know the true taste of honey no matter how much one explained it to you until you tried it for the first time. This is how sadhana works, You will never know what you are missing until you take that vital turn in your life. Life is short, but you live eternally and the idea is to relize your eternal before the game ends. Who knows where you'll be next time around. The life that this form takes goes quickly. When we identify with this form and temporal things we stick ourselves in prison. We have the key within us and the opportunity arises every second and it alway's arises right now. We can start our day over every second and decide to choose peace again and again. There is something that likes the suffering in us and that is the ego. We need to befriend this ego and coax it in with love and forgiveness. The ego loves when you feed on hate, guilt, judgment and worry. That is the food for the ego. Negativity does no good and is never the solution. I hope that I can stay true to the words I speak. I do not know what life has in store for me but I'm sure it is exactly what I need. It's been fun blogging this trip and I may continue to post. I will definetly post my new travels. Thanks for joining me. ALL LOVE ALL PEACE ALL TO YOU ALL NOW
