Photo of the week – Mar 4 – Mar 10 2007
(Picture taken early 2007 at Devi Mandir, Napa, CA)
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Temple of Divine Mother
Photo of the week – Mar 4 – Mar 10 2007
(Picture taken early 2007 at Devi Mandir, Napa, CA)
Check out our new weekly blogs.
This has been a very eventful week for the sankalpa. The highlight was a wonderful note from Shree Maa blessing the sadhaks.
Shree Maa said (in an email)
Beloved Children,
I am thrilled with your sankalpa.
Earth Mother needs you. Keep going with Her. Earth Mother and you guys are not separate. All of you will get lots of blessings.
Alright! Arise! We are marching ahead with Earth Mother’s Flag!
I love you all.
Shree Maa
A lot of us, charged with the power of Maa’s words gave an extra push to do more this week. Our group’s grand total crossed 170,000 repetitions.
Some of the devotees organized a satsang in their home town, and began their practice with the group. Here is what the devotee had to say:
Many that we emailed expressed interest in joining the 2007 peace mantra sankalpa. Around ten joined us tonight for satsang. It was FUN! We discussed the Chandi Path, the mantra and mantra practice based on teachings and sharings from Swamiji, others in the on line group and our experiences. We did the sankalpa prayer, started the practice, sang araati and kirtan. The bhav was high and participants seemed inspired.
Hearing these experiences motivated our group and participants even more. Here are the individual totals as of this week (21 Jan 2007).
This is the total for those that preferred to do their sadhana at the fire
Name |
Number of Mantras
|
Michael | 3132 |
Janitri | 1080 |
Total | 4,212 |
and below are the counts for those of us that do the sadhana without a fire
Name |
Number of Mantras
|
Babu | 1296 |
Chris | 2808 |
Debi | 5076 |
Donna | 1790 |
Durga | 756 |
Egyirba | 2160 |
Eric | 7452 |
Gauri | 3132 |
Henny | 2700 |
Janitri | 540 |
Jayadeva | 4428 |
Julia | 1620 |
Kalachandra | 4536 |
Kaliananda | 3888 |
Kamalaji | 2916 |
Kanda | 4320 |
Karen | 4800 |
Marsha | 324 |
Mausumi | 2592 |
Michele | 700 |
Morningsong | 5400 |
Muktimaa | 3564 |
Nirmalananda | 700 |
Nanda | 3360 |
Papia | 648 |
Parvati | 1080 |
Patty | 4584 |
Prasana | 3540 |
Prathibha | 3665 |
Raghu | 3564 |
Rick Veda | 13176 |
Robin | 1088 |
Rolf | 2700 |
Rukmani | 756 |
Sadhu Maa | 1620 |
Sadhvi | 4410 |
Sundari | 2484 |
Shankari | 1944 |
Surya | 31050 |
Susan | 1080 |
Usha | 9828 |
Wendy | 2656 |
Visveshwar | 3780 |
Yogini | 6480 |
Total | 170,991 |
By Paul Logan, Journal Staff Writer
Friday, November 10, 2000
A woman many believe to be one of the rarest individuals on earth “a living saint” has come to Albuquerque to share her love.
Shree Maa, “the respected Holy Mother,” said Thursday she is here because “I love to see my family. The whole universe is my family.”
Draped in layers of orange, red, gold and yellow clothing with beads around her neck and wrists, the graying, middle-aged Hindu holy woman with a gentle voice is about 5-feet, 5 inches tall and less than 100 pounds.
Maa said she has been enlightened since her birth in Assam, the northeast corner of India. Having enlightenment includes experiencing pure love and comprehending truth.
Sitting cross-legged on a couch at a Northeast Heights home, Maa said she attended an international yogi conference in Texas and is returning by motor home to California. Her home is a modest trailer in the mountains, about a half hour outside of Napa.
Maa said she has been sent “to perform God’s work in this world.”
Maa spends about nine months each year traveling throughout the world to share her teachings.
Instead of attracting followers, she said wants to show people of all faiths how “to build temples in their hearts and in their minds.”
Her assistant, Swami Satyananda Saraswati, or Swamiji, said a person’s every action can change a house into a temple. By respecting one’s actions, a person is paying attention to what he or she is doing.
“So any action that we do without selfishness can be a form of worship,” Swamiji said. “We can make divine everything that we do.”
During the interview, some of Maa’s devotees were chanting scriptures in Sanskrit in another room. Nearby, a coffee table had been converted into an altar with pictures and symbols from the world’s great religions, including Jesus, Buddha and Mary as well as flowers of every color and candles.
Swamiji said Maa adheres to the famous Indian proverb: “Just as many as there are individuals, so many are there paths to God.”
He said her programs are open to everyone and called them “unique” because “she makes worship fun.”
Maa said she offers those who attend three things: pure love, accepting everyone for what they are; inspiration, meaning she motivates each person to help make them better; and appreciation, recognizing every effort a person makes.
She met the late Mother Teresa, who some Catholics considered a living saint, years ago in Calcutta. Maa said she wanted to see her “because she is my family, also … I love her.”
Maa’s message includes being true to one’s self because then a person is without fear. With a clear conscience, a person’s heart is silent. “That,” she said, “is peace.”
Also:
WHEN: Today, 7 p.m., at Futures For Children building, 9600 Tennyson NE (332-4146); Saturday, 1 p.m., the home of Al and Dianne Lopez, 900 Avenida Cielito NE (255-4169); and Sunday, 1 p.m., again at Futures For Children
WHAT: Programs of meditation, singing, storytelling on Friday and Sunday; fire ceremony on Saturday
HOW MUCH: Free and open to everyone
Interview with Shree Maa at Sedona in 2006.
~~OM~~
Shree Maa often talks about, “Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram – Truth, Infinite Consciousness and Beauty.”� Shree Maa says, “If you live in truth and beauty, you will get infinite consciousness.” When we watch Mother, hear Her speak or listen to Her singing, we know She is living in Truth and Beauty. In Her every act and move we see, we feel and we admire these qualities.
We want to learn how we, too, can imbibe these qualities and be in that place of perfect truth, beauty and pure love. “Step by step, my children,”� She tells us lovingly with a smile.
One step we can all begin with is worship or puja. Maa does puja every single day multiple times, beginning many hours before day break. Puja is the Sanskrit word for worship; it is composed of “pu” and “ja” and means that which gives birth to merit.
Shree Maa and Swamiji tell us that, “Worship means attention.” When we do any action with complete attention, we are engaged in worship. Therefore, puja is not limited to the time we sit in front of our altar, but can conceivably fill every moment of our lives. The practice of doing puja each day helps us to make our entire life a festival of worship.
At the tender age of four, Shree Maa started doing puja in Her family shrine every day. She learned all the mantras and mudras and vidhis to worship numerous deities. As she grew older, she was often invited to neighbors’ houses to do worship there also. Every morning before day break she got up to bathe in the pond and wear a red-bordered puja saree, and sat down to worship. One day when she was a little girl, she went to the pond in the pre-dawn darkness and slipped and fell. She hurt her hand and was not even able to move. She was in a lot of pain and her hand had to be tied in a sling. Still, she did not let that pain stop her from doing her worship.
In India, Maa went from house to house teaching people how to do puja. She encourages us to do puja and to learn the mantras. “If you learn the mantras by heart, the Gods will always be with you,”� She once told us. In America too, Shree Maa and Swamiji have helped many, many devotees set up altars in their houses and to get started with regular worship to make their house into a temple.
Shree Maa and Swamiji say, “Worship is the bridge by which we cross from duality to non-duality.”
This week we will be discussing puja, “what are the steps, what does it mean in practice, how we can use this practice to make all of life a puja (worship).”
Please join us in worship!
A day in the life of Shree Maa, as portrayed by a young photographer devotee.
Guru: The syllable Gu means darkness, Ru means light. The Supreme Divinity which destroys ignorance is verily the Guru, without a doubt.
The Guru is Brahma, the Guru is Vishnu, the Guru is Lord Mahesvara. The Guru is actually the Supreme Divinity, and all other expressions are links in the chain which bring us close to that realization.…read more
~~OM~~ Shree Maa gives us the message that we can learn from everybody. When Maa was a little four-year old child, She was cleaning a room and upon finishing, she threw the broom to a corner. Then She heard the voice of Sri Ramakrishna say, “Hega, you threw that broom? See how beautifully you cleaned […]
~~OM~~
Oh Beautiful Mother !
Oh Beautiful Mother!
You always give refuge
To your children in need,
Oh Glorious Mother!
You provide a shelter,
Universal Haven
To the Children of Faith.
Oh Radiant Mother!
Your Grace is Limitless,
Oh Great Divine Goddess.
To the Hungry and Lost,
To the Homeless and Poor,
To the Unloved and Sad,
All they must really do
Is surrender to You!
Your love — like the ocean,
Is peaceful, deep and calm.
Your eyes — like the night sky
Shining with Sacred Light.
We find your Loving Shade
Blissful Serenity.
Universal Mother —
Liberate us for Grace.
Let us Recognize You
With Our Hearts, Minds and Souls.
And Cherish you Always
Indian swamis also foresee the birth of saints, including Shree Maa, one of the great women saints in contemporary history who has been described as kindness incarnate.
When Kalyani married Sushil, a wealthy man who managed a tea estate, she was only thirteen years old. One year after their marriage, the pious couple climbed Kamakhya Mountain to do worship in the Kamakhya Temple. Much to their surprise, Swami Bhuvananda Saraswati appeared before them when they reached the summit. This great saint and religious teacher who dwelt on the mountain at the Kalipur Ashram had a message for Kalyani: “I have been waiting for you. You are going to give birth to a divine child, and I want to give you mantra initiation with the blessings of God.” Kalyani protested, I am not pregnant. You are making a mistake. The Swami insisted, No, no, it is you. Thereupon, he approached the couple, stretched out his arms, and blessed them with sacred prayers. He whispered the Gayatri mantra, a powerful Vedic formula, into Kalyani’s left ear, and anointed her with holy water.
~~OM~~
Mother’s Day Message – 2001
My Dear Beloved Children and Members of our Family,
Today I am conveying to you my pure love and blessings. Oh Mankind, today we should be extremely grateful that we have taken birth in a human form. That is why it is necessary for us to observe the highest ideals of human behavior. Then there will be no separation within the family of humanity. Mother Earth will be blessed with welfare and all of Her children will also be blessed.
The foremost ideal of perfection for human beings is
to support the ideals of perfection
to perform all actions without selfishness
to illuminate wisdom with Godliness
to perceive all existence as the representative of God
to absorb your consciousness in the remembrance of God in meditation
to perceive kindness in the performance of all discipline
to protect your own ideals of perfection
to owe strict allegiance to truth
to serve all existence
to demonstrate the renunciation of selfish attachment
These are the highest ideals of humanity. These attitudes bring the greatest welfare to human beings.
May Mankind be Victorious!
Blessings,
Shree Maa
The word “Mudra”, is a Sanskrit term that means bringing the deity and the devotee together. Mudras are gestures that convey certain attitudes. The following mudras, demonstrated by Shree Maa, are performed at specific times during worship. You will be instructed to perform some or all of these mudras in our puja books. The Sankalpa […]