Yesterday we - about 40 of the residents and the community of devotees who live around the ashram Shree Peetha Nilaya - had a meeting about:
What can we do in the coming 40 days leading upto Gurupurnima, things that we feel will make our Guru happy and fill our hearts?
It quickly became clear, that it would be less something in the outside, but that rather an inner gift will be most pleasing to him.
Besides getting together again for the Bhakti Study Circle in a bigger round Sunday afternoon, or together watch a spiritual movie Sunday evening , there were suggestions such as:
• Say „YES“ to whatever comes (for example if someone asks you for help), be positive or at least neutral about others (i.e. not engage accidentally in „gossip“ of any sort), and SMILE :) (more often)
• doing a meditative "Parikrama-Japa (Mantra)-Walk" around the centre once a week
• eating in the next 40 days in silence during lunchtime and listening to Swami Vishwananda's discourses and satsangs
...and a lot of more suggestions were made. One of the deepest was:
Every night (between 21:00 - 21:30) while Swami Keshava brings our Krishna to bed, we want to recite the 108 names of our Guru and each time explain the meaning of 3 of the names, and meditate on them. Then we do the Evening Gratitude Prayer we used to say in Steffenshof (the former Ashram), which is a very nice way to end the day.
You can access or download the prayer via this LINK.
One more thing: Quite a few of us are already are or will be fasting once a week (we chose Monday as the default day). Besides fasting from eating food, the fasting is more importantly about the inside, to refrain from "empty" things and from negative thoughts, so for example you if were to watch TV regularly, try to refrain doing so during the coming 40 days, and dedicate consciously more time to engaging in some type of activity that will strengthen the connection to Guruji and God. For example do Japa, learn a new bhajan, paint an icon of a Saint, do Atma Kriya, etc., if you can do it together with others, it is most powerful, but if this is difficult practically, you can also do it individually at home, and just inwardly connect with the rest of us.
Flower of Shree Peetha Nilaya, 2 June 2014
One more thing: Quite a few of us are already are or will be fasting once a week (we chose Monday as the default day). Besides fasting from eating food, the fasting is more importantly about the inside, to refrain from "empty" things and from negative thoughts, so for example you if were to watch TV regularly, try to refrain doing so during the coming 40 days, and dedicate consciously more time to engaging in some type of activity that will strengthen the connection to Guruji and God. For example do Japa, learn a new bhajan, paint an icon of a Saint, do Atma Kriya, etc., if you can do it together with others, it is most powerful, but if this is difficult practically, you can also do it individually at home, and just inwardly connect with the rest of us.
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| Double Rainbow over Shree Peetha Nilaya, yesterday 1 June 2014 |
(written by Swami Kuru)
