Saturday Chanting

"As soon as the mind pulls out an agenda and decides what needs to change, that's unreality. Life doesn't need to decide who's right and who's wrong. Life doesn't need to know the "right" way to go because it's going there anyway."

(Adyashanti)

Taught class this morning. Then chanting. Yes chanting. Every Saturday since I've been back, a good friend of mine has dedicated Saturday mornings to chanting the Hanuman Chalisa to all who feel inspired to participate. This particular chant, over 40 verses long, is extremely powerful, opens the heart, and cleanses the soul. We chant the prayer 5 times, and it takes a little over an hour to complete. Make no doubt about it, it's good stuff all the way. People come in the door half dead, and leave alive, and full of energy - it's pretty cool to observe. Who would of thought chanting has such a powerful effect, but well, it is one of the oldest forms of yoga practice there is.

Before chanting, my friend and I also manage to run up to the local farmer's market to pick up fresh produce. I never would a thought I could get so excited over a bunch of fresh greens, tomatoes, and ripe zucchini as I have the past month. But, alas, I'm hooked regarding anything sustainable, local, and organic - look, it's the wave of the future versus what else you may have heard. :-) Believe me.

Getting back to the chanting, today it struck me to contemplate the nature of true happiness, which I like to call joy. Happiness, to me, seems fleeting and temporary, but joy, now that is something that seems to emanate from a deeper place, a place of pure being. What I mean is, it isn't determined by an external factor - it comes from a place of being connected. To what, you ask? Well I'm not really sure, but it seems to come from a place centered around the heart. It's a mystery, but somehow in the unknown the known reveals Itself in the most unlikely of places. Through chanting, or yoga, through the process of devotion to something bigger than yourself, nothing else seems to matter, and why should it? Everything stems from this place of abundance. When we honor IT we heal, we feel, everything we need appears right before our eyes.

Repetition of the Name and reciting prayers like the Hanuman Chalisa are at once the path and the goal. They are the path when we think we are separate and we are doing it, but with deeper realization we find that Love has been waiting inside of us all along, pulling us into Itself. Just like a statue that slowly emerges from a slab of marble as more of a block is chipped away, we begin to experience Hanuman's inner form as our practice deepens. It already exists within. We are just removing what's covering it. As our focus and attention increase, the form comes alive within us.

It is Love.


- excerpt from, Flow of Grace, by Krishna Das

"Hanuman brings with him all the beautiful qualities of strength and gentleness, courage and fearlessness, love and compassion. More than that, he throws out all our old moldy furniture; all the unwashed pots and pans, all the old dirty clothes piled up in the corner, all our stuff, our selfish little secrets, and all we hide form ourselves and others - all the mold and dirt we have gotten used to living with! He doesn't give us time to clean up from him - he does the housecleaning himself, going from room to room throwing stuff out the windows, as we follow him around and say, "Oh no, not that too!" Once Hanuman has moved in, then we are truly ready to begin the practice of repeating the Divine Name: Ram. The Name is a mystery. It is said that God and His Name are not different. This is not the simple mechanical repetition of sounds, but a deep and ancient path to Realization. It is the transmission of awareness of the presence of God within us."

- excerpt from, Flow of Grace, by Krishna Das

"Sacinandana Swami says that Hanuman is "an example of discovering our forgotten potency." Up to the point where he crossed the ocean with one big leap, he was not aware that he had this potency, but because he wanted to do seva (selfless service), his potency came out, empowered him, and proved that the word "impossible" is a word not existing in a devotee's dictionary. This quality of unlimited inner strength can only be awakened when it is in the service of Love. God is love, and when we align ourselves with that love and act in the service of that love, anything is possible."

- excerpt from, Flow of Grace, by Krishna Das

No matter what. Whatever time zone - I seem to wake up at dawn. My body comes alive, and tells me...okay let's get to work. But, I'm still a bit jetlaged, wanting to sleep at odd hours, preceded by a bit of dizziness.

Surprisingly, practices have been smooth - no kinks or unusual tightness that come with travels. I think it may be partly due to the fact that I haven't fallen to the wayside with my diet, which is easy to do with traveling. Since doing the panchakarma in India, keeping my body in balance has become essential priority #1. Making choices at the level of cause and not effect has been a key realization to me in the last several months.

Got the paperwork sent off today, and have a huge weight lifted off my shoulders now that that's done. Next - sit and wait - here is where I cultivate patience. Ha! Fun times.

Devotion

When you are fiercely angry or feeling joy beyond description, when you are at an impasse, not knowing what to do, when you are in terror or running for your life, know that such intense states of mind are fully permeated with the spanda, the creative vibration of divine shakti. Find her there.

~Spanda Karikas



I love the story of Hanuman...Thought I would dedicate this post to him and the purity of essence he represents. When I think about the muck I've been living in lately its the portrayal of Hanuman that pulls me up, and breathes new life into me.

Morning practice today felt a new vitality enter in...not because of anything that I did, but because I let go, and released...a lightness filled me. When standing at the top of my mat, I allowed the energy to move through. As an act of devotion, I showed up and was present. That is all it takes. Just being, and using the practice as a connection to something bigger than myself...makes all the difference...





Hanuman characteristics: bravery, strength, humility, wisdom, truthfulness, sincerity, loyalty, perseverance, utter selflessness, and devotion to God. A true Karma yogi, who does not seek rewards or fame. Represents selfless devotion and love.

Hanuman symbolizes the temperament of the human intellect, which is jumpy, uneasy, excitable and unquiet. It is only through the direct path of pure bhakti (devotion), that it can be made aware of its profound potential, and silent essence.



In Hindu symbolism, a monkey signifies the human mind, which is ever restless and never still. The monkey-mind happens to be the only thing over which a man has absolute control. We cannot control the world around us but we can control and tame our mind by ardent discipline. We cannot choose our life but we can choose the way we respond to it.



H ~ Humility and hopefulness (optimism)
A ~ Admiration (truthfulness, devotion)
N ~ Nobility (sincerity, loyalty, modesty)
U ~ Understanding (knowledge)
M ~ Mastery over Ego (kindness, compassion)
A ~ Achievements (strength)
N ~ Nishkama-karma (selfless work in service of God)

~Bansi Pandit