mantra

Mantra in meditation has a dual purpose...

1. to give your mind something to do...
2. to transport you to another state...

SVD

Are you a slave to desires? Once a desire is there, nothing will satisfy you until that craving has been fulfilled. Once satisfied, you have left a strong impression in the subconscious mind and with each desire satisfied, the impression becomes deeply rooted in the subconscious , deep like the Grand Canyon. So many millions of years it has taken, countless lifetimes, to create its depths.

So no teacher can help you, no master can help you. You have your own appetite, your desires, your passions. You are the only person who can solve the problem, nobody else. When you are unable to solve the problem, you go to a teacher thinking the teacher can give you a magic formulas to stop this Grand Canyon. If one says he does, then he is not a master, he is not a teacher, he doesn't have mastery or control over his own senses and appetites. If he has transcended this step by step then he knows the difficulties, and he will never say to a student that it is an easy process. If he says it then he has not mastered it.

Swami Vishnu-devananda

I'm back....

aahhh it's good to be back, even though this blog was to help with my practice a few months ago I was feeling a sense of dissatisfaction, disconnection....

So, I went back to the Ashram where I had lived for six years and took a philosophy course, taught in a training, took a few more courses in alternative healing. And still now I'm in the midst of my 3rd course and now planning on taking a fourth...it's been such a time of growth and learning...but what hit me today was that even though I have no home base, living like a gypsy, no what most people would call a normal life of a husband, partner, kids, job, house etc...I've never felt so fulfilled and thankful as I do today, I realised how blessed my life has been and I'm so thankful for that, for my family, friends and the teachers that I've had or have in my life..

and though we tend to be thankful for our lives around the holidays, it would be good to practice gratitude for all things...true gratitude involves action. Lend a hand. Pitch in. Make a gift. Give your time. Listen. Give back as often as you can. Even a friendly greeting can make all the difference in the world.

ego...

Ego's job is to keep itself in power..playing with you mind, trying to assert it's authority..distract it, give it something else..like love