The verse says " For those who take refuge in Me, even if they took birth in a sinful womb, or as women, as business people or as laborers, all attain the supreme refuge."
My reason tells me that in this verse, which begins and ends with the Supreme, ultimately there are no differences in the One- Without-a-Second and through devotion and sadhana we all can attain the Supreme Refuge. Yet the alarms still go off inside me! How can I best understand this or deal with this resistance? Thank you very much
We can give up the resistance by understanding the cultural context in which this was written. In that society there was a distinction of authority, and what this verse is saying is that no matter what one's station in society may be, if one takes refuge in God, that individual attains the Supreme Refuge.
Ravana and Kumbhakarna, and Vibhishana, the three, when they were young men, they went off to do tapasya. And Brahma came and said, "I'm satisfied with your tapasya, what do you want?" And Ravana said, "I want power, I want to be the king of the earth." And Brahma said, "Tatastu. I give you the boon."
And Kumbhakarna had planned that he would want to have dominion over heaven. And he wanted Indra's asan. Indra knew Kumbhakarna's intention and he said to Saraswati, "Saraswati, you have to help us, please make him make a mistake."
And Brahma said, "Kumbhakarna, what do you want?" And instead of saying I want Indra's asan, he said, "I want Nidra's asan.” And Brahma said, "Evamastu. You go to sleep, I give you the asan, you get the posture of sleep."
And Vibhishana said, "Brahma, I want pure devotion to God's feet." And Brahma said, "Tatastu. One day Ram will come and he will give you the blessing of his perception, he will give you Darshan. And now discrimination, Vibhishana, is on his way to get the Darshan that he was promised by Brahma, it was the fruit of his tapasya. All his life he was living in the kingdom of the ego like a tongue between the teeth. And now he's been kicked out of the kingdom of the ego and he's going to see Ram."
Tune into our webcam and chant the Chandi Path with Maa and Swamiji and the Devi Mandir Family followed by Arati.
Join the party! Sing and dance your heart out for God. For permission to visit/participate at this event at the Mandir, please write to info@shreemaa.org.
Suggested Sadhana for the Day
You can do one or more of the following
1)Join the Chandi sankalpa
Check out the yahoo groups posts for Maa and Swamiji's suggestions!
Join the party! Sing and dance your heart out for God. For permission to visit/participate at this event at the Mandir, please write to info@shreemaa.org. Tune into our broadcasts page and watch the evening proceedings.
Suggested Sadhana for the Day
You can do one or more of the following
1) Prayer Club.
Chant the Mahamrtunjaya Mantra at least 21 times a day. Write to devi_mandir_prayer_club@yahoo.com for details. Click here for the words and to listen to the mantra.
2)Fast (or reduce your intake of food) for the day
learn about the different ways to observe this tapasya here
Shree Maa and Swamiji's Message for 2008 Chandi Sadhana
Namaste to all devotees who want to integrate the Chandi into their regular sadhana! It is a wonderful journey that you propose to embark upon, and Shree Maa and I support this plan more than 100%. Our assignment is to become very familiar with the kavacam, argala, kilakam, devi suktam and narayani stotram, vedic devi suktam and siddha kunjika stotram, and then begin adding one other chapter a day until you complete the book.
Then start over again until it is comfortable. Then add two chapters a day, three, a siddha path, and then the whole book. Then you will have to come here for some time to take the next steps (which we highly recommend).
Blessings
Shree Maa and Swamiji
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We began our discussion of the Chandi Path with the Devya Kavacham (Armor of the Goddess). Swamiji says, "The Kavach is one of the limbs of the Chandi. It allows us to establish the energies of the Goddess in the different parts of our bodies. It gives more than protection. It allows us to unite with Her."
And Markandeya Muni says, "For the welfare of his or her own soul, a person should not take one step without this armor. But if he or she always proceeds with the armor wherever that person goes, there the objectives are accomplished, conquering all desires." -- Devya Kavacham, Verses 43-44
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Follow these links to useful resources on the Kavach:
"Dear Beloved Children, Thanks for helping to bring peace to yourselves and this universe. We are very proud of you. This year please recite the following mantra: "saranaagata diinaarta paritraana paraayane sarvasyaarti hare devi naaraayani namo-stu te" (Translation: For those who are devoted to you and take refuge in you, even though helpless and perplexed, you save them from all discomfort and unhappiness. All worry you take away, Oh Goddess, Exposer of Consciousness, we bow to you." Please do at least one maala (108 times) each day for 2008. With your prayer this world will get peace."
Blessings,
Shree Maa and Swamiji
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With the blessings of our Gurus, we have begun making japa of the Sharanagata Mantra in 2008. The Japa totals as of January 17th 2008 are as follows:
Sagara was a great king of Ayodhya, and he was performing the Ashwamedha Yagya in order to become the emperor of the total known world. And while he was performing this Yagya, Indra came and stole the horse. And he stole the horse, and he ran from the scene with the horse and he fled to the ashram of Kapil Muni.
Kapil Muni was meditating. Indra tied the horse to the gate of the ashram and left. Sagara's sixty thousand sons ran in pursuit of the horse. They came to Kapil Muni's ashram and they said, "Hey Muni, wake up from your meditation, why did you steal our father's horse?” Kapil Muni woke up from his meditation and said, "What horse? I don't know what you’re talking about?"
And the kids said, "Hey, what do you mean, now not only are you a thief, but you are a liar too. Here's the horse tied right to the gate of your ashram." Kapil Muni got mad, he said, "I am neither a thief, nor a liar, and you guys come in here disturbing the peace of my ashram, you go away from here before I curse you."
The boys said, "Hey, now not only are you a liar and a thief but now you are a belligerent old man, and you are not worthy of being called the Rishi." And they said, "You are deserving of punishment, we are going to throw stones at you." They threw a stone at him and they hit him in the head.
And Kapil Muni took some Ganga water in his hand and he said, "I pronounce the curse on you".
And he turned the sixty thousand sons of Sagara to ashes.
Sagara was beset with anxiety and despair. He went and he fell at the feet of Kapil Muni and he prayed for his sons to be brought back to life. And Kapil Muni said, "Look, those kids deserved what they got, they were belligerent, they called me names, they accused me of stealing and lying and being a belligerent old man. And when any member of your family brings Ganga to the earth, she will wash those ashes to the ocean and your sons will be returned to you."
So Sagara began to pray to Ganga, and he wasn't successful in making Ganga come to the earth. So he went and became the Ocean.
Then came a whole lineage of kings that were born in the lineage of the descendants of Sagara. And they all tried, and they were unsuccessful until Bhagirath came and did a tremendous tapasya. And he decided, I'm not going to call Ganga to come, Ganga lives in the kamandalu of Brahma, I'm going to call Brahma.
So then he prayed to Brahma. And Brahma said, "Yes, I can certainly make Ganga come to the earth, but she will come with such force that she will wash away the earth. You have to call Shiva and ask him to accept Ganga on his head to break the force of her fall to earth so that she doesn't wash away the earth and then she'll trickle down the locks of Shiva's hair. And she'll become a river, and that river will wash the ashes into the Ocean."
Bhagirath prayed to Shiva, and Shiva gave him the boon. And Ganga came to the earth like water from the kamundalu of Brahma washing the feet of Vishnu. Falling on to the hair of Shiva and coming down and washing the earth, purifying all of the sins of humanity.
So Sagar was the Ocean and he was a predecessor in the lineage of Ram.
