Tags
Durga, Ganeshpuri, Guru Gita, Gurudev Siddha Peeth, Kumbh Mela, Kumbha Mela, Muktananda, Varanasi
From the Kumbha Mela
by Devapriyaa Hills
I bought this 2-1/2-inch container in Varanasi to hold the Ganga (Ganges River) water that I collected at the Kumbha Mela when our entire group went to the confluence of rivers. Three rivers converge at this powerful and spiritual place.
Many people save for years to go there and take a dip in the auspicious waters. I have a similar container. I’ve found that the water is quite blessed with the power of the Ganga and the Kumbha Mela. Whenever I put a drop on my forehead, the whole area goes numb, and tingles occur throughout my body. Kundalini loves it.
From Baba’s Home
by Ekamati Tsurutani
I’m bringing Muktananda’s photograph, the silk brocade puja cloth, and his “Shri Devi Stotram” CD from his ashram, Gurudev Siddha Peeth. We were able to chant the Guru Gita there and visit Baba’s Mahasamadhi shrine on special days. It was an extraordinary blessing to be able to offer pranams before the very place where Baba sat beneath the mango tree.
The bookstore is in a quiet courtyard. The gentle breezes moved through the open doors, while chants quietly played in the background. It was easy to remain inwardly turned, deep and steady; even while looking at books, CDs, photos. I was home. I wanted to stay there forever. And, in reality, I have never left.
These objects that I’ve brought back from Ganeshpuri will carry you there to that place…inside and outside. Baba’s image and demeanor in the photograph speak to the accessibility of the teachings. On the CD, “Shri Devi Stotram,” Baba sings hymns of praise to Devi as Goddess Chiti Shakti – “divine conscious energy creating and pervading the world, and as Kundalini Shakti the form of that energy residing in the human body bringing about spiritual evolution.”
During our final days in Ganeshpuri, Devi in the form of the goddess Durga, figured in Swamiji’s talks and stories, and was honored in our day-long yajna (fire ceremony).
All I was aware of when I was in Ganeshpuri was this divine conscious energy everywhere, at every moment, in every step that I walked. These were the very same steps that the gurus of our lineage walked…Nityananda, Muktananda, Nirmalananda. The experience is so real…completely and totally real…in every step. Both there in Ganeshpuri, and here inside of me now.
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