Full Moon

Purnam adah purnam idam, purnat purnam adaya, purnam evavashiyate.

(from the Upanishads)

That is perfect and whole. This is perfect and whole.

From the whole and perfect the whole becomes manifest.

From the whole and perfect, even when the whole is negated

seemingly taken away from, what remains is perfect and whole.

I Pray To The Birds

I pray to the birds because I believe they will carry the messages of my heart upward.

I pray to them because I believe in their existence, the way their songs begin and end each day – the invocations and benedictions of earth.

I pray to the birds because
they remind me of what I love
rather than what I fear.
And at the end of my prayers,
they teach me how to listen.

~ Terry Tempest Williams

Bhagavan Nityananda

Today is his 50th Mahasamadhi. Infinite gratitude for all his teachings.

Where I am today is because of the life he lived.

Isvara Pranidhana

Surrender to the Divine

Life is full of ups and downs. Sometimes discomfort is inevitable, but suffering is optional. What causes suffering? Resistance to what is... the present moment. The desire for things to be different. At times we are mistaken - we think we have control over the present moment. If circumstances become "unfavorable", we will fight tooth and nail to change it. Sometimes this works, but other times the more we fight it, the more we suffer. This is no way to live.

Patanjali's Yoga Sutras teach us, "SAMADHI SIDDHIR ISVARA PRANIDHANAT."

Turning the focus to the Self brings about complete absorption in the Divine.

There are many ways to describe isvara pranidhana... "thy will be done", "let go and let God" or even the country song "Jesus take the wheel."

"After one has exhausted one's own resources and still not succeeded, one turns to the Lord for help for he is the Source of all power. The student prays, I do not know what is good for me. Thy will be done." -BKS Iyengar

How does one surrender? Breathe. Accept you don't have control. Trust that when you align with your Highest Self, the Universe will align with you to help you fulfill your dharma - our purpose in life. Surrender your identity and ego. Surrender your sense of otherness. When we completely let go, we melt back in to God... melt back into Cosmic Consciousness.

This doesn't mean life will suddenly be filled with cupcakes and rainbows. Life is still filled with challenges. However, our perception has changed. Instead of being stuck in the small self, we re-member the Universal Self and trust the order of all things.