JAI BHAKTI™ BLOG WISHES YOU A HAPPY CHAITRA NAVRATRI!

Dear Ones,

It is with great love and respect that I wish you all a Happy Chaitra Navratri!

This year we celebrate Spring Navratri from March 21 - March 28.

Above, is a photograph of my lovely Goddess Durga pendant from Gurudev Siddha Peeth, my beloved Guru's ashram in Ganespuri, India (thank you Savatri!).


Have a wonderful holiday filled with much kirtan, meditation, and great joy!

Kali Durge, Namo Namah!


Love,
Bhakti






Photo © 2015 Brophy
All Rights Reserved

VEDAS: THE SOURCE OF KNOWLEDGE

"The original source of knowledge is the Vedas."

~ Srimad Bhagavatam, Canto 1

BHAKTI YOGA: Mundaka Upanishad

Take the great bow of the sacred scriptures,
Place on it the arrow of devotion;
Then draw the bowstring of meditation
And aim at the target, the Lord of Love.

The mantram is the bow, the aspirant
Is the arrow, and the Lord the target.
Now draw the bowstring of meditation,
And hitting the target be one with him.

~ Mundaka Upanishad (Part 2. 2:3-4)


This Upanishad was written circa 2,000 BC.
These two verses define the essense of Bhakti Yoga. "Bhakti" is Love and Devotion--combined with a strong longing for Union (yoga) with the Atman, the Self; knowledge of the Truth.


May you ALL draw the bowstring of devotion and become One with the Lord, your Self Within!


Love and All Great Blessings,
Bhakti*




* I was blessed with this name (Jaya Bhakti! Jai Bhakti!) by my Beloved Guru ji.

BHAKTI'S TONGLEN PRACTICE: How to Deal With the Suffering and Injustices of the World (JAI BHAKTI™ BLOG)

BECOMING DEPRESSED OVER THE SUFFERING OF OTHERS HELPS NO ONE.
YOU CAN AFFECT A POSITIVE CHANGE!

Two weeks before Hurricane Katrina hit, I had emergency surgery to reconstruct my cervical spine. This meant that I was unable to volunteer, which I would have done had I not been laid up. Watching so many people suffer--and incensed as the US Government sat idly by with its bureaucratic thumbs up its bureaucratic arse-- left me in a state of despair. I spent my entire life helping others, and now I was stuck immobile on my parents' couch, watching the horror unfold on TV, unable to lift a finger to help. The physical pain I was experiencing, and the toll the nerve damage was taking on my physical body, meant nothing to me: My heart was breaking.


I expressed my dilemma with my dear friend, Meditation Master Sally Kempton:

"I feel useless, Sallyji! Why would I be rendered unable to help when so many people are suffering? I want so much to go down south to help. These people are suffering and I can't do a thing to help them."



I already knew that my meditation practice--everyone's meditation practice--effects a positive change in the world, but I could not reconcile why I would be given the capacity to give so much, and then not be able to help when so many thousands of people were in dire need of assistance.



Sally taught me the Buddhist practice called Tonglen, as taught to her by Pema Chödron. You can find Pema's Tonglen instructions in many of her fabulous books.



I tweaked the practice to better suit my situation. What remains hardly resembles Tonglen as it was taught to me, but the intention is the same, therefore I continue to call this practice Tonglen. Being virtually bedridden for the past nine years, I use this practice when I begin to feel discouraged that I am not able to be out in the world teaching, doing charity work, sharing my love of life with others, etc. When I feel my own suffering is in vain, I offer this practice to the world:



"May my suffering be enough for this world

so that no one else may have to suffer.

May my pain be enough for the world

So no one else may have to experience pain

May my level of physical discomfort be enough for this world

So that no one else may have to suffer this level of physical discomfort.

May my offering be enough

So that others may live in peace and good health.

Let my suffering be enough for this world.



May every being know

that he or she is being upheld by Grace.

Thank you for blessing me with this Life,

With this Grace,

With this Love.

I offer my life to Your service,

To the service of All.

May it be so.

And so it is."*



If you are feeling overwhelmed by the injustice and suffering in the world, I ask that you look deeply into these feelings. Label them ("I feel sad." "I feel helpless." "I feel scared." etc.), contemplate the feelings, and then create your own Tonglen based practice.



You will learn that, through your meditation and spiritual practices, you are effecting a positive change in this world. Moreover, through going deep in meditation (Raja Yoga), and by studying the Vedas (Jnana Yoga), the reality of existence reveals itself to you. You realize we are all exactly where we are meant to be at any given time. We are all playing roles: we have played them all before, and will continue to do so until Self Realization, and the cessation of the cycle of birth and death.



Tonglen is all about Love and Devotion (Bhakti Yoga) to the One who has become the many.



Love and All Great Blessings to You All


As my very own Self,

Bhakti






*©2005 DL Bhakti Brophy
 ©2014 DL Bhakti Brophy
 All Rights Reserved

No Matter How Much Physical Pain I Must Endure Before I Am Healed and Set Free--I know the following verses to be the TRUTH.

SHVETASHVATARA UPANISHAD

Forgetting our divine origin,
We become ensnared in the world of change.
And bewail our helplessness. But when
We see the Lord of Love in all his glory,
Adored by all, we go beyond sorrow.(br)

What use are the scriptures to anyone
Who knows not the one source from whom
they come,
In whom all gods and worlds abide?
Only those who realize him as ever present
Within the heart attain abiding joy.(br)

Chapter IV; Verses 7 & 8

Dearest Friends, I am so happy to be back online. I went through the 9th Gate of Hell with my physical pain and am now crawling out the other side. I am working patiently yet diligently with Dr. Kam Yuen--a Master Healer who is helping me free myself from the chains of my current physical ailments; those which keep me a bound soul. Love to you, Bhakti
tags: Jaibhakti, Bhakti Brophy, Shvetashvatara Upanishad, spirituality, mysticism, Vedas Vedic Hinduism, /Divine Love, Bhakti,