Day 5 - Oct 18, 2017, Wednesday - Durga temple hike, Yoga outside and Diwali Pooja
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| Morning hike up to the Durga temple |
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| Durga Temple |
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| Me at Durga's feet |
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| We did Yoga on the deck |
Yoga outside on the deck
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| Saree for Diwali |
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| Mary Ellen wanted to try a Bindi on. All smiles:) |
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| Shikha and me. |
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| Daniella and Stephanie |
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| Swami Vashishtananda doing Lakshmi Pooja |
Placing a diva near Lakshmi (my dadi was Lakshmi too)
Chanting during Satsang - Anuradha next to me
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| Swami Sitaramananda and Swami Jnaneshwarinanda |
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| Lakshmi ji |
Uma, me, Hitomi and Anuradha
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| Lakshmi coin given by Swami Sita |
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| Lakshmi coin |
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| My room-mate - Uma |
Then, followed the regular day schedule of Asana class at 8 a.m., then brunch, then Karma Yoga, and afternoon lectures. I washed the dishes in Swami Sita's house for Karma Yoga today. The afternoon lectures were on philosophy by Swami Jnaneshwarinanda and Bhagvad Gita by Swami Vashsishtananda (the one who performs the prayer ceremonies here). He is so knowledgeable and I'm amazed at his memory. He knows all the prayers by heart. His lecture was like listening to stories form the Upanishads and Gita. Some wonderful things from his discourse:
In Indian philosophy, there is only one God. Many different names, but only 1 God. It is the concsiousness, the infinite and limitless consciousness, the ONE consciousness. It is not masculine or feminine. It is not time bound. It was there before time, and will be there after time.
In Bhagvad Gita, Krishna talks about this only. He says "All beings are connected to me".
Its the consciousness that is ONE and connects all human beings. We may think we are different but we are all one - bound by the one and infinite consciousness.
He used the example of a beaded maala or necklace. We are like the beads of that necklace - all individuals and separate. But there is a thread - the one and same thread that goes through all the beads.
Or think of a light bulb. There is electricity that passes through a bulb. This same electricity passes through a different bulb. The bulbs are different and they may break (or die). But the electricity that passes through them is the same and is still there even when the bulbs die.
That is the consciousness. It never dies. It is not separate - it is only one. So in essence, God is within us itself and we need to really know ourselves and find it within ourselves.
Aham-Brahman: I am infinite.
What separates us from each other is our own egos and our own minds. Avidya - means ignorance - of our own higher conscience and our attachments to Maya - the material world - is what makes us have desires and separates us from one another.
He also talked about why when we go to the temple we close our eyes in front of God, to pray. He said isnt it funny that we travel all the distance to go to the temple to see God, and then when we go there, we close our eyes. But the real reason is that, we close our eyes to turn within ourselves, because God is within us.
Then he said why do most Hindu Gods depict similar posture of hands - one hand up in a Chin mudra (thumb and index finger making a circle) and one hand down, palm facing you. It is called - Abhaya- Varada. Abhaya is the hand which is up - it says, fearlessly surrender to me and I will protect you. Abahaya means fearless. Varada means - giving. So you fearlessly surrender to me, I will protect you and I will give you with open arms.
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That was the Bhagvad Gita lesson. Really enjoyed it. After that was our evening Asana class and because it was a nice day and they had to set up the room for Diwali pooja and ceremony in the night, we did it outside on the deck. It was a great experience. We taught each other and led through instructions for leg raises and abdominal breathing.
Oh and today, I felt a little bit of improvement in my headstand. They had a headstand workshop in the afternoon at 1 p.m. for 15 minutes where teacher Shakti helped me through it. I can stand with knees folded for a few seconds on my own now:)
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Today my room-mate also moved in. Her name is Uma and she is from Australia. Came here just for the course. Very nice and amazingly passionate person. She is a neuro-linguistic programmer which means she programs people's minds through therapy:) She went all the way to Florida to study this from the best Guru. She says if she wants to learn something, she always makes the effort to go the distance to learn from the Guru - the source code, she says:)
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I dressed up in Saree for the Diwali ceremony and went for dinner. I also gave my blue suit to Shikha and my white long-ish blouse to Uma. Also gave bindis to a few people. We all looked festive. The ceremony was done nicely. After the Lakshmi Pooja, we lighted diyas and Swami Sita gave each one of us a Lakshmi coin. It's my keepsake treasure from this TTC, her blessings - the best. Then we got prasad of Payasam, Patisa, Halwa and grapes - a lot more things for prasad than we usually have. Usually, we only get one thing like a slice of apple or some almonds etc. Then, there were two musicians who performed Indian classical for us - Hasu Patel on Sitar and Samrat on Tabla. Coincidentally, I found out that Samrat has also performed with Labonee didi and lives in the bay area. He kept the audience engaged with his tabla tricks like playing the sounds of firecrackers or horse galloping etc.
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I talked (FT'ed) to Arpit and kids right before the ceremony and made them talk to Shikha also. I showed them a glimpse of the Puja room. Loved every bit of my day today.
Happy Diwali to you all. Shubh Deepavali.
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