Namaskaram dear friends on the path. I’m here in Austin; the morning of the Wanderlust Festival. The sunrise soaks the sky in an incredible pink-‐golden hue. I’m so happy to be together, with the continuity of our sadhana group. I’m sure you’ve felt the blessings of Diwali. What’s very important in integration after that very collective feeling. Let’s bring our hands together at our hearts. Feel the connection, the somatic settling, the shift that’s very easy to experience in the morning, so close to the sunrise in our own awakening. Anytime that you come into sadhana, you’re awakening the inner gaze, feeling the backs of the eyes shifting the entire field, really embodied energetic light – bringing the light – the entire field of light – concentration of that light, the physics of our very nature, in our heart’s center. Feel that shimmer, bow to the intimate mystery. Allow ourselves to relax into that original Shakti, the Sri Shakti, *** Shakti; the foundation of our evolution from the very beginning; generative energy of life. Now our invocation as we immerse ourselves into the energy; allowing natural devotion to give us strength from within. And shine the light of our awareness on the garden of our being, with compassion, really be aware of the arisings, really be aware as we move through the world, where are we coming from. We may be part of this tender loving fixation of Sri, in our body, our home and our life. And let’s just chant the initial bijas that are part of the longer mantras in the Sri system. Beginning with Om. [chant]: Aum Srim. [chant]: Aum Srim. [chant]: Aum Srim. Srim. [chant]: Aum Srim. Srim. Aum Sri, embodiment of the lotus, and foreseer of all desires, may your grace flow, may your grace flow. Maha Lakshmiyae, Maha Lakshmiyae, Maha Lakshmi Deviye. Oh, great goddess of all creative power and abundance. I’d love for you to open to your reflection. Part of our culminating sadhana in our Diwali process is to meditate on any small, medium, grande life sadhana – life project that relates to our cultivation of cellular prosperity, of the creative power and abundance. So you could have this project already clear for you, as we are almost at the halfway point with the full moon. Your project – the time cycle of this does not have to culminate with the full moon. It can be towards the end of the year, the Solstice, or it can be to the next new moon. I’d like for you to, as I offer you each
question, just write again so that you have this process of integration from inner to outer awakening in your life. And as we feel the power of this cellular vibration, let it become clear to you, on a bodily level, the bodily level being the entire home of your body, from the skin to the energetic body – that includes all the koshas and feelings and thought-‐waves. REFLECTION: What have you become aware of, whether in your home, or your offering in the world, in your creativity (it can be part of your livelihood, it can be part of your seva), what is arising for you as one to three focuses as part of your Lakshmi Sadhana right now? Please write that in your journal. Obstacles – Yogic Test Arising: Now I’d love to ask you to reflect upon the power of our somatic body, feeling how you’re unconscious, and sometimes you absolutely can feel the power as unconscious manifest yourself in your thoughts, in emotional patterns – the yogic tests that come as you open to a new way of being. I’d like for you to start at the body level, and when it comes to any Sri Lakshmi type of exchange, where do you feel yourself tighten? This can be in the body, it can be in the thought waves, this can be in emotions, in the areas that a Lakshmi Sadhana – MONEY, FOOD, MATERIAL EXCHANGE, SENSE OF SELF-‐WORTH THAT can arise as you’re moving through the world. For example, I was kind of traveling late at night, arrived at midnight, in a hurry, looking for anyone around as I was traveling with 70 dandas and 500 shaker eggs. I knew it was going to be like this, but there was just these wonderful two men who came up to help me – somewhat professionals, and of course I gave them a generous tip, and yet there’s sometimes when I’ve been in situations when I feel really contraction: “do I give a $1 tip, do I give a $2 tip, do I give a $3 tip?”] It’s something so small, but it can extend when we’re shopping, it can extend in the realm of any monetary exchange Sri is food, it can extend in the realm of the exchange of taking in of food. It can come in the exchange of our livlihood– when there could be something that our mind would interpret in a competitive way – this idea so much arises for people who have yoga studios and there’s yoga studios popping up everywhere – anywhere where there’s potential for comparison or competition. Please write where you have negative thoughts – that’s not in the past –just this week – any time you have contracted around money, food, or livelihood issues, any aspect of your profession where there’s comparison or competition can arise. And
so where are you feeling this in your body? Where you tighten in your body? Where you tighten in terms of thought-‐waves and emotions. Just see what arises and write that into your journal. As you write, once you write that initial place of tightening-‐contraction, see if you can go underneath with any insight that arises as the origins of that, and often it does relate back to some of the things we were describing at the very beginning– our birth story, not redirecting the inner shadow, but being aware in our garden, where those little yogic tests we encounter happens. Whether it’s a region in our body, a region of our awareness, until there is a healing at a vibrational level –until it is tested in real ife– we won’t know if it is integrated. If it’s truly integration, something doesn’t bother us anymore, it becomes part of us, becomes part of who we are. Or, the contraction is not so tight that it doesn’t just breathe and open again. And what I’ve love for you to bring your awareness to, is that these are the sites where our living Sri meditations exist. So as we flow this week towards the full moon, I’d love for us as one of our primary practices is that when there’s any limiting contraction that arises, go to the feeling in that very space where there’s some knot in your internal energetic web. Go to that vibration and the tools we have are mantra, which we offer with humility. Sri Sri Sri, or Shrim Shrim Shrim with devotion, bowing, going in meditation, being able to instantaneously feel the depth that is our actual embodiment of light. And so our sadhana is as instantaneous as possible. When we feel the lotus closing, and actually at that point we don’t even feel the lotus, to generate the vibration. Let the material part just be a carrier for the deeper vibration. Reflection Two: So, the last reflection for this morning is, is there any place where you find yourself “checking out” in relationship to money, or food, or also in our relations in the world. “Checking out” means when we just act from a kind of unconscious place like not being present at all. This is why, like when I wrote to you, if you caught it, I really see that I have at least a general pile where I keep all my bills and admins and it’s slowly becoming very Sri-‐ified because I’ve had this dedication. That I notice the constant tending of this garden, and that when I’m in this kind of space, usually it’s because it’s about “householder tired”, it’s not the right time, but that “check out” phase, rather than a very simple action of presence, which really means, not checking out, bringing consciousness, even if I’m bringing a tiny action to that moment to return to, and not creating a leak in my container, in my muladhara. Som people check out with a “shopaholic” type of thing –buying things they actually don’t need. That kind of splurge of money is another kind of way of checking out,
and not valuing. And on the sexual levels, it would be [sorry if it’s a little crude] it’s kind of like “blowing your wad” without the actual cultivation of that energy in the beauty that’s actually at the heart of that manifestation. So, is there any place you check out, are there any leaks to seal? Give yourself a moment to write about that and then we’re going to go into our closing meditation and mantra. See your sadhana as we can catch ourselves, when we’re in a contraction or a checking ou place, then pause. Really pause.. Really listen. And ultimately all of this can be creativity of householder’s life. Really find that beautiful balance of the opening and closing of the lotus; the containment; the creativity and containment. When we will be able to care for things, really care for things, the Sri quality in that care, even thought it’s a simple sadhana. something I’d like for us to be able to cultivate is: on the place where we honor our financial muladhara. Any time you receive money, you can have a beautiful little envelope or little something – a sacred – it can also be very muladhara like a very sturdy red notebook folder that you place in a sacred way. [anything that I receive I place on my altar], and this is a way of really beginning to see the continuum of the realization of Sri, the blessing of Sri. That as we move through the world, as we cultivate our Lakshmi Sadhana, at the bodily level, the home level – that these little sadhana projects that we have little, medium, grande – that we’re able to say it’s this incredible spanda that guides us, that so many of you are already in the revelation of your story and mapping some of what’s happening on a cellular level on our Facebook community. I’ve just been so grateful for the level that you’re sharing – it’s a teaching for all of us. So now we’re going to shift into mantra. We’re going to go into 7 rounds of the longer mantra. I got to speak with a friend of mine who’s a Sri devi-‐initiant. Because I learned the mantra that we sent out to you, it’s from a wonderful Sanskrit teacher, Katyayani Poole, and I learned it in my heart and what I shared with you. And yet, you will also see the mantra that we sent out to you as well. The beautiful part of course is the bijas Shrim Hrim Shrim; Shrim as Sri, the consummate bija of Ma Lakshmi; Hrim, the great bija of the heart; and Shrim Hrim Shrim Kamalaye Kamalalaye is the lotus nature of Ma Lakshmi. And what we’ve been describing also is that the lotus moves in both directions, and that’s a beautiful, beautiful part of the breath of life. Kamalaye Kamalalaye Prasida Prasida; pra, the prana; prasida prasida is the invocation of the flowing grace, the lunar grace flow, real great flow. And, that in our healing process and our little Lakshmi Sadhana tests, that is the test in that moment: to come, let our cellular experience of Sri Shakti be so strong as we move through the day that anything that challenges that we’re able to open continuously and be able to feel this prasida prasida. Also, prasida prasida is not like a material prayer, “oh goddess bring me this”, but there is awareness in our unfolding dharma that there are projects that you are cultivating; that they are unfolding from your life. And when they are unfolding from our life from a deeper place, we’re asking for that fertilization of our deep dharma. We begin, Om Shrim Kamalaye Kamalalaye
Prasida Prasida Shrim Hrim Shrim Om Mahalakshmiye Om Mahalakshmi Deviye Namaha. It can be either the version we’ll be with, “deviye namaha”, because Devi is “the shining One”. Deva/Devi is the shining one, beyond, of course, any cultural iconography or cultural connection to Lakshmi, our mother from India. Lakshmi is this entire creative regenerative principle -‐ more than a principle – living energy. All our body becomes her; mystic heart recognizes her invocation through name and sound as nothing other than the one. We’re gonna start at the root. We’ll chant 7 rounds: 1 round for each chakra. Go right to the heart in mantra. Feeling the bhavana here, feeling devotion. When chanting mantra feel enhancement of the body of light. Om Shrim Kamalaye Kamalalaye Prasida Prasida Shrim Hrim Shrim Om Mahalakshmi Deviye Namaha Svadhisthana: Om Shrim Kamalaye Kamalalaye Prasida Prasida Shrim Hrim Shrim Om Mahalakshmi Deviye Namaha Manipura: Om Shrim Kamalaye Kamalalaye Prasida Prasida Shrim Hrim Shrim Om Mahalakshmi Deviye Namaha Anahata: Om Shrim Kamalaye Kamalalaye Prasida Prasida Shrim Hrim Shrim Om Mahalakshmi Deviye Namaha Enter *** the body Om Shrim Kamalaye Kamalalaye Prasida Prasida Shrim Hrim Shrim Om Mahalakshmi Deviye Namaha Third Eye Center Om Shrim Kamalaye Kamalalaye Prasida Prasida Shrim Hrim Shrim Om Mahalakshmi Deviye Namaha Crown of our head – feeling so grateful in every cell of our body; this mantra, invoking light in every cell, the vibration of Sri in every cell Om Shrim Kamalaye Kamalalaye Prasida Prasida Shrim Hrim Shrim Om Mahalakshmi Deviye Namaha Melt the hands to the heart. Radiate this in all directions, the heart of all beings/
Other people who you can see with compassion, that state of contraction that we live from our own experience. Radiate with tenderness to all beings. So, come to our closing prayer. Om shanti, shanti, shanti Have an amazing weekend! Friday is the day for devi puja, so adorn yourselves in the simplest way from the inner body out. I’ll be thinking of you and see you in cyberspace. Blessings