Jai Ram! Jai Hanuman!
Shri Hanuman: The Great devotee of God. (also pictured are Ram and Sita)
Yes, I’m feeling much more centered today. As you can tell from my previous post, I had been neglecting my meditation practice. I was aware that I was spinning out of control, yet instead of sitting quietly—to figure out the source of the internal conflict—I began to push forward with even more diligence. This created both physical and mental anguish.
The mind is very powerful. The ego can cause the mind to play incredible tricks on you to keep you from connecting with the Truth within. I've experienced this many times. The ego doesn’t want to give up all control and say, “Okay, you win. Go be happy! You don’t need my protection any longer!” No, the ego doesn’t let go that easily. Here’s a perfect example: while I was in the throws of anxiety, I kept saying to myself, “I’m much too anxious to chant. I’m much too fidgety to sit for meditation right now.” This is how the limited mind/ego takes control!
IF WE WAIT UNTIL EVERYTHING IN OUR MINDS, BODIES, AND LIVES ARE IN PERFECT ORDER BEFORE WE ALLOW OURSELVES TO CHANT AND MEDITATE, BELIEVE ME-- WE WOULD NEVER GET THE CHANCE TO CHANT AND MEDITATE!
Well, maybe once or twice a year; however, you get my point. The reason that we chant and meditate is to stay connected or reconnect with our source, with our Self—the Great One within.
Yesterday, after being both physically and mentally spent from a day at my brother Tommy’s house, I went home and sat before my puja. I was in the mood to chant, and began to sing “Jaya Hanuman, Jaya Hanuman”. I decided to put on one of my favorite Krishna Das CDs—Breath of the Heart. I listened to the first chant—Baba Hanuman—three times. This chant pays homage to my beloved Hanuman, the greatest devotee of God ever. In the Hindu epic the Ramayana, Hanuman is given a jeweled necklace from Sita (Ram’s wife—Ram representing ‘God’). Hanuman cracks a few pearls with his teeth and, not discovering Ram inside, discards the necklace. He then rips open his chest and reveals that Ram lives inside his heart (see photo).
Hanuman reveals Ram (God) in his heart.
Hanuman is one of my favorite aspects of God. He represents all that is good and devotional ('Bhakti' means love and devotion in Sanskrit). I suspect that it may be difficult for people who don’t subscribe to devotional worship to understand how the thought of Hanuman could illicit so much love in my heart, but it’s important to remember that when I worship Hanuman, it’s not that Hanuman is ‘another God’. No, Hanuman is the great devotional aspect of the One. There‘s only One God. However, the Hindu religion celebrates the many aspects of God (over a thousand of them!), not too unlike how Christianity celebrates three aspects of God with the Holy Trinity. My love for Hanuman actually takes me closer to Jesus in my heart.
Here are the words to the Baba Hanuman chant:
Baba HanumanNamo... Namo...Anjaninandanaaya
I bow, I bow again and again to Anjani's son,
HanumanJaya Seeyaa Raama, Jai Jai Hanumaan
Victory to Sita and Ram,
Victory to HanumanVictory over the darkness of suffering...
Jaya Bajrangbalee, Baba Hanuman
Victory to the one with the body of a thunderbolt
My Baba, Hanuman.
Sankata Mochan kripaa nidhaan
You are home of all Grace.
Destroy all my problems, calamities and sufferings.
Jai Jai Jai Hanuman Gosaaee
Hail My Lord Hanuman
Kripaa karahu Gurudeva kee naaee
You are my Guru, bestow your Grace on me.
Sankata Mochan kripaa nidhaan,
You are the destroyer of Suffering, the abode of Grace
Laala Langotta, Laala Nishaan
You wear a red langotta and carry a red flag
Hare Raama Raama Raama, Seetaa Raama Raama Raama
Let the river of these Names take you...
Let yourself float in the beauty of your own heart
into the ocean of Love that fills all space,
that ALWAYS is...
that ONLY is.
After absolutely losing myself to this chant, I paid homage to the Goddess Kundalini Shakti (Holy Spirit) by chanting the Kundalini Stavaha, as sung by Gurumayi Chidvilasananda. In her book Courage and Contentment, Gurumayi says—
“Chanting helps remove physical blockages within your body. Sometimes you may feel your breath is getting stuck, but when you give yourself to the chant, your breathing naturally becomes quite deep. Chanting creates a clear passageway…You become filled with deep and unshakable contentment.”
May everyone who reads this post find the deep, unshakable contentment that meditation and chanting have to offer. Whether you find it in a church, a temple, a mosque, by a river, in a forest, while walking on the sidewalk of a busy city street, while lying in bed, while holding a child, whatever gets you there….may we ALL find the peace, joy, and freedom that is always within our reach; always within our hearts. Moreover, when we lose our centers, may we open our eyes to the angels around us that offer us their love and guidance, whether in the form of a friend, a teacher, a loved one, or a stranger. Love is always there for the asking.
Thank you,
Bhakti
tags: jaibhakti, hanuman, Krishna Das, meditation, chanting, Gurumayi
//om Guru om//
posted by Unknown at 12:15 PM
15 Comments:
My ego is stored in 23 serparate files. I call this one "Jimmy Stewart":
"Hello there. Mind if I run this trolly over your legs?"
The others just go downhill from there.
Bhakti, I need to start doing this again. Thanks for the reminder.
GYROBO: I LOVED Jimmy Stewart!! Now I know why I'm so fond of my little metal guy!! :)
KENJU: We'll remind each other, okay???? ;)
Jimmy Stewart?
More like Mr. Rogers.
"Now uhh... Now uh.. Mr. McFeely...you know damn well where I keep mah whiskey."
"Now uhh... Now uh.. Mr. McFeely...you know damn well where I keep mah whiskey."
Is that another famous George W. quote? He's getting a little more coherent with his speaking! Kudos to you, Dubya!! :P
:)
There‘s only One God. However, the Hindu religion celebrates the many aspects of God (over a thousand of them!)
I never knew this.
I got a question for you that hopefully you could answer. I've noticed that in many of the pictures, people have blue skin. Why is that? Is it a Holy thing to have blue skin?
I've always been curious about this, but afraid to ask anyone (I've always wondered if they'd think I was insulting them by asking them, but you know me better than that).
ZOMBIESLAYER: RE: the blue skin question--That's not a dumb question (the only dumb question is the one that's not asked.)
The avatars have blue skin because, in ancient India, it was a custom to see which deiti could hold their breath the longest. Some of them held their breath for days, weeks, even months. Hence, the blue skin.
NO, I'm Joking!
In Christianity, the color blue is used to depict transcendence, truth and humility. That's why we see Mother Mary in blue, as well as some saints. The color red usually depict martrydom, youth/beauty, and blood. Jesus was depicted as wearing blue robes with red underneath, thus representing Him as being both human and immortal.
I think Krishna was depicted as blue because Vishnu was blue (Vishnu is the ultimate omnipresent reality, is shapeless and omnipresent). Krishna is an avatar of the great Vishnu--and Vishnu is always depicted as blue--like water, perhaps. Ram is also always depicted as blue, like Vishnu.
I would think that the blue tone represents transcendence--like in Christianity.
That's a great question, one that I've asked myself. I will have to ask Sally this question, to see if I can get the answer straight from a swami's mouth! :)
ZOMBIE--I just had the funniest vision. I was picturing you walking up to a Hindu woman and saying, "Hey, I see that you are a dot--not feather--Indian. Why the blue skin? Huh?"
LOL!!!
You kill me!!!
Actually, the only Jimmy Stewart movie I've ever seen was "It's a Wonderful Life".
I kept yelling "jump".
Blue represents transcendance? No wonder I use aqua as the main skin tone for all my funny pictures. I must be tapping into a transcendental plane.
GYROBOBICE: Oh my gosh! You kept yelling "JUMP"! That's so MEAN!!! Remind me never to call you if I'm thinking of approaching the edge of a bridge...LOL!
GYROBOTANICALS: Don't you recall that when you created my lovely avatar I said that I loved the fact that the face is blue because Krishna's skin is blue??? I did say that, seriously. Check your archives, baby...er...uh...I mean, robaby!
ZOMBIE SLAYER: Here is Sally's response to your question (and I quote):
"In the Indian tradition, blue is the color of pure Consciousness/bliss. Its a color we see in meditation visions, for sure, so I assume that it exists in the inner world. Or, if you want to look at it from a historo/mythic perspective, maybe deities are blue because that's the color of the sky, and perhaps the sky = transcendence in the mind of those who equate sky with heavenly qualities. The tradition says that deities are blue because their 'bodies' are not made of flesh/bones and blood, but of consciousness and light.
"
Bhakti - Thanks so much for answering that question. You are too cool for actually researching the answer. :)
Wow. Sally is really beautiful. I didn't expect her to look like that at all. She's aged very well. :)
Whoa! She's going to be in Berkeley in March. I might see her. We'll see if I'll be in the area that weekend. If so, I'll check her out.
// Om Shri Hanumate Namah: //
If you love Shri Hanuman Ji, you can download Hanuman Chalisa, Hanuman Mantra Jaap Mala and other Mp3-Bhajans at:
http://hanumanji.wordpress.com
YouRs SinCereLy M!sTer CrippLeD SaM
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