Words of wisdom

Pujya Guruji Swami Tejomayananda

When I was in India, we stayed at Chinmaya ashram in the Kerla region.  This was a poster hanging in the ashram.  Pujya Guruji Swami Tejomayanada is the worldwide head of Chinmaya. I happen to think this is some darn good advice! Namaste

The Power of Stillness

Ok, I must confess I have been totally uninspired lately.  I mean really, I have been riding off the pep talk of an 11 year old, Kid President, for the past 2 weeks now.  When I woke up this morning I had a slight sense of dread thinking about what in the heck I was going to blog about this week.  So I decided to meditate first and then it hit me, to be inspired means to be operating "in-spirit".  I haven't been inspired lately because I have been so half-donky with my practices lately - NO WONDER!  These last couple of weeks I have been watching a lot of Netflix, surfing the web, and really just worldly minded. A true testament to the fact that a spiritual practice needs to be continuous and constant.  I remember when I first decided to pursue my spiritual life I quit a bunch of my worldly habits and thought I that would instantly elevate me to spiritual superiority. Ha! Little did I know, that was just the prerequisite to getting in the course. The real work is my day-to-day practices.  Today's lesson.....

Be still and know that I am God.- Psalm 46:10

To be still is to relax, let go, relinquish. When we are still we relax in God.  In order for me to get inspired I first needed to get still.   Last week I was searching the web for "What is Yoga?" to gain some insight for a class that I was teaching. "Be Still and know that I am God" was the scripture one of the sites mentioned as a definition to yoga.  To be still, calm the mind chatter, and unite with the God within, is yoga.  Often I have students come up to me after a restorative class and say, "I had a problem that I was trying to work out before I came to class and now I know what I am going to do."  Resting is receiving. That is the Power of Stillness!  

Every single one of us needs stillness of some form- whether it is prayer and meditation, restorative yoga, soaking, yoga nidra, breath work or any other form of stillness. To be still  is our inherent built in technology for communicating with the Divine.  As Yogananda puts it, "The peace of absolute physical and mental stillness is the real temple wherein God most often visits His devotees."  It is in our stillness that we release the restlessness of our worldly involvement and come into God-communication.  It is in stillness that we gain insight and awareness of our Higher Self.  It is in stillness that we release the physical, mental, and emotional tensions that plague our day-to-day life.  

Just 20 minutes of stillness is powerful.  Most people find it hard to sit and be still/quiet for 20 minutes.  I tell my students you have to train yourself into stillness. For most beginners to sit ad be still for 20 minutes is nearly impossible.  That's why you have to start slow.  Maybe just 5 minutes.  Close your eyes and repeat a calm word or phrase for 5 minutes.  Try not to open your eyes.  In the beginning, just keeping your eyes shut for 5 minutes will seem nearly impossible.  This is your Jedi relaxation warrior training- as Yoda the yogi would say "no try just do".  The minute you open your eyes you are drawn back into the world and out of your stillness so do your best to keep your eyes closed (no matter what noise you might hear going on around you).  If  this is just too difficult you can practice stillness with your eyes open focused on one point- like a candle. 

Another excuse we tell ourselves is, "I just don't have 20 minutes a day to be still".  Really? It really comes down to priorities.  If we are truthful with ourselves we can find 20 minutes to surf the web, or watch a movie, or pick at a scab - it's just a matter of making stillness a priority.  Trust me on this one, once you do you will experience the power of stillness that can not fully be explained in words, only experienced in action.  See the thing is, the power of stillness will have major effects on every other aspect of your life.  It is the difference of living an INSPIRED (in-spirit) life verses just existing day-to-day.  Would you rather be inspired or just exist?  If you chose inspired - Be still and know that I am God.

Kid President (playlist)

This kid is AWESOME!!!! And so are you! If he doesn't make you smile - dance then watch again!

Why Am I Stressed? - Sadhguru

The Secret of the Universe

I have discovered the secret of the Universe.  Yep that's right.  Lil' ole me, Marnie from Minnesota has discovered one of the greatest mysteries of all mankind and I want to share it with anyone who will listen. Before I share it I will make this disclaimer, I by no means am the first or the only person to have figured this out.  In fact, this knowledge is our birthright and there have been MANY before who have spread the word. However, it still remains a mystery to most.  With that said are you ready to have your mind blown?
Here goes....

You create your own reality.

Look around you. Everything, everything, everything, good, neutral or bad is a result of your own doing.  Your  health, your financial situation, your house, your relationships, your moods, your friends and enemies- everything is a result of your thoughts. That is the essence of  I AM THAT.  We are co-creators with God.  God has given us free will to use the Divine Intelligence as we wish. This Intelligence, Divine Will, is neutral.  It is not good or bad, it is simply the creative force.  We are the ones who put a property of positive creation, neutral creation, or negative creation to it through our motivation and intent.  We are free to choose according to our disposition and desires.  Trouble is most folks have no consciousness of this at all and therefore allow their entire lives to be ruled and determined by their idle, material, or negative disposition, desires, and thoughts.  Everything is a result of your thoughts, your choices and your words.  Where people get tripped up is feeling as if they are victims rather than creators of consequence.

Watch your thoughts for they become your words.
Watch your words for they become your actions. 
Watch your actions for they become your character.
Watch your character for it becomes your destiny. -Bhagavad Gita

Once you begin to take control of your own thoughts you begin to take control of your destiny. If you think that something or someone else is responsible for the conditions in your life you give up all of your creative power and ultimately you become subject to whatever it is that you gave your creative power to.  It is called the biology of belief.  If you believe your condition is not curable you are absolutely right.  If you believe you can be cured and you are healthy you are absolutely right.  If you believe life is hard and you have to struggle to survive, guess what? You're right! However, if you believe that life is a blessing and you are content, you are also right!  You will live a life of ease.  It's that simple.

And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee.  And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.  Matthew 8:13

According to the Greek Dictionary:
believed - Pisteuo- faith, to have mental persuasion, to give credit, to be of opinion, to be entrusted with, confidence
be it done - Ginomai- to become, to be made or formed, to be made or created from nothing, to occur, come to pass, to be or become in general, to be done or performed, to be fulfilled, accomplished, to come to oneself, to have recovered ones senses or understanding

This scripture is a good example of the power of the biology of our beliefs.  A man (centurion) came to Jesus because his servant was ill with palsy and greatly tormented.  Jesus told the man that he would go to heal him. The man replied he was not worthy of having Jesus come into his home so he asked that Jesus speak the word only and his servant shall be healed.  Jesus was impressed by this mans faith and beliefs  that he spoke and healed the servant with his word. (Matthew 8:1-13)

It is our BELIEFS that are the driving forces in our lives.  Those things which we have mental persuasion towards, give credit to, be in the opinion of, entrust to or have confidence in.  Those are the creative, magnetic and driving forces in your life.

Which leads be back to the WORD and the creative force.  So in the last post I mentioned Sat Nam- "His Word is Truth."  God, the Divine Truth, Intelligence, speaks and that Word is creation.  Well wouldn't you know, your word is also truth?!!!  How else do you create your life- good, bad our neutral- but from your words. And where do your words come from but from your beliefs. If you say mentally to yourself and believe that which you are saying to be true, "I am fat, I am sick, I am broke, I am bored, I am so stupid" etc. you are putting the creative power of I AM THAT in to motion.  That is the Word- creation. We create our own realities with our beliefs, our thoughts, and our words.

When you understand this you become much more diligent about what you allow into your consciousness, what you think, say and believe.  That's why the scripture says, "He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city" -Proverbs 16:32

According to the Greek Dictionary:
ruleth- Mashal- to rule, reign, govern, have dominion, to manage

This scripture is saying that the person who is able to rule, reign, govern, have dominion, and manage his or her spirit is greater than anyone who rules a city.  To be able to rule, reign, govern, have dominion and manage our thoughts and beliefs is one of the most challenging endeavors a person will will ever undertake. It is also the one of the most important because ultimately it is at the core of free will and creating our reality and destiny.

One last vital piece for this lesson, you do not have to believe everything you think. If you start to watch over your thoughts and you become aware that some of your thoughts are not good for you you can choose to think differently.  You can choose not to have faith or mental persuasion in those thoughts.  You don't have to give credit to,  or be of  the opinion,or entrust, or put your confidence in negative or untrue thoughts.  Once you are aware you are in control of your thoughts you choose what thoughts you put your belief systems and faith in and ultimately you create your own reality.

I know this is a lot to chew but I invite you to dive in. Sit with, ponder upon, and meditate on some or all of what I have shared.  I also would love to hear what you think or if you have questions please ask.  We all have room to grow and learn and I would love to be part of that with you. Peace be with you!

3 Important Aspects Of Building Your Spirtual Life

Several years back I made the commitment to develop my spiritual life.  I am going to start including lessons, struggles, and stories about my journey in hopes that they will inspire, empower, or simply entertain you. As I promised last week, this weeks post is about one of the most important lessons I have learned thus far- how to cultivate your own spiritual practice.

On the final day of my trip to India we had a small ceremony to close our training and time together.  It was simple, beautiful,  and turned out to be one of the most important lessons of my life.  As we were finishing up and getting ready to return to our homelands, Saji our teacher gave us this sage advice,

"Most importantly remember the 3 S's - Sadhana, Scriptures, and Service". 

It's been nearly a year since I received those words but I took them to heart and my spiritual life has continued to change and grow dramatically.  I have mentioned this probably a millions times so far, and will probably mention it a million times more (maybe some of you will get the fullness of this message) but until you experience a thing can not truly know it in it's totality. If you want a spiritual life you have to make conscious effort to make it a part of your experiences. I have spent the last year with these parting words ringing through my soul. Because they have made such an important impact on me, I want to share them with you in hopes that someone out there in cyber land  also takes them to heart and begins to transform their  own spiritual practice and life. 


1) First S - Sadhana
The word Sadhana in Sanskrit means, "endeavoring to obtain a particular result".  When you decide you want to grow your spiritual life it takes work.  It doesn't just happen over night but with time and effort things start to change.  For me my Sadhana includes daily prayer/mantras and meditation, my physical yoga practice on the mat, and walking.  I would be lying if I said I do all three of these daily, but I aspire to.  I do however do at least one of the three daily.    The Sadhana has three main aspects- choice, commitment and aspiration. 

What you do for your Sadhana is your choice.  There is no particular activity that is required to fulfill a Sadhana the idea is just a continual practice that is regular.  An example I once read was to light a candle then blow it out every night for 90 days.  Your mind will find all sorts of reasons why not to light the candle. That alone is the practice.  On a personal note I would suggest an activity that is edifying, meaning choosing something that will improve your moral or spiritual character.

The second aspect of this piece is commitment.  Of course you are the only one who is making the commitment to this practice.  It is often suggested to do the practice at the same time or in the same place everyday. This is the idea of regularity and commitment.  I have done practices where I was committed to doing a certain meditation  three times a day at the same time for ninety days.  At this period in my life my commitment is to do the practice.  It doesn't always work for me to do each of my practices at the same time every day.  For me it is more important to do them than to get worked up about the time or place.  But once again - do what works for you.  That is most important. I would suggest starting small like the candle idea, or 20 minutes of stretching, or 5 minutes of deep breathing- and committing to a time of day and a length of time, say 90 days.  It's in the action with intent that you start to get to know yourself a little better. You will get to see how much the mind will fight you over the simple stuff. 

The last aspect of Sadhana is aspiration.  If Sadhana simply meant repetitive action that means brushing your teeth could be considered a Sadhana.  The Sadhana means that you have to put a conscious intention behind your action.  It is not something you simply do everyday. You have to aspire to do something that is out of your norm.

2)Second S - Scriptures
 Studying of the scriptures is the second major aspect of your spiritual development.  Yoga is considered a Spiritual Science.  Do certain activities and you will enhance your soul and be in more accordance with your spirit.  Ancient Yogis thousands of years ago figured out there are certain things you can do to awaken the spiritual being within.  That's why it is not considered a religion because any religion or spiritual aspirant can use this Spiritual Science to grow.  Most Yogis do however believe in a monolithic God- meaning there is only one God with many ways of expression and worship.  With that said, whatever your spiritual teachings are study those scriptures.  Weather it is The Bible, Bagavad Gita, Sutras, Vedas, Torah, Koran, I Ching etc. -  study your scriptures.  Daily.  Even if you don't know where to start.  Pick up the Great Book, open to a page, and start there. Eventually you will find yourself searching out all your questions and inquires.  The fact is we were given instruction manuals to living, but you have to study them in order to really learn and understand what they are truly teaching.

What I want to mention about studying the scriptures is that you can not read them like you would the news paper.  They need to be studied and meditated upon. I would suggest getting commentary and study books to help search the deeper meanings.  For example, there are study Bibles out there that have references in that back.  So certain words will be underlined and then you can look them up and get even deeper meaning  in the original language. Then the Spirit of the word will be revealed unto you. "The letter of the word kills, but the Spirit gives life"- 2Corintians 3:6  Once you have studied a scripture spend some time meditating on it.  Understand it from the heart, the Spirit within, instead of the mind and intellect.  Revelation is the only way to truly understand.

3)Third S - Service
"If you knew what I knew about the power of giving, you would not let a single meal pass without  sharing it in some way." - Buddha (563 BC- 483 BC)

Really, this quote by Buddha says it all.  Infact, it is said that when Buddha would give a speech to others than his devotees he would always start with the lesson of giving.  After that he would continue his teachings on morality, renunciation, the 4 Noble Truths etc.  This is because service and giving is a foundation to all of your higher development.  

 Find ways, big or small to be of service to others.  What you will soon realize is that you think you are out there helping others but in reality you are the one who is also gaining greatly from your service.  I have mentioned in pervious posts according to psychology every single person on this planet has 6 human needs  - Love &connection, versatility, certainty, significance, GROWTH and CONTRIBUTION.  The final two are the only needs that are part of our spiritual being.  Sadhana, Scriptures, and Service (aka Contribution) are human needs that promote growth of your Spiritual Being.  Your Highest Self. 

Giving and being of service is not just about giving money, gifts, or time - it's also about your internal personal quality and disposition.  Maybe you just bless each person silently.  Or maybe just being in your presence picks a person up or inspires them.  Your presence should add to every situation, not take away.  Sometimes all you give is a smile and that is of great service.

What I have learned, as my honey so eloquently puts it, "You can't out do God giving".  You never ever lose giving or being of service.  You always gain -always.  With that said I must make one distinction.  Do not give or be of service  if your heart is not in it or if you expect something in return.  Then it is neither a gift or of any real service.  You are better off working on the first 2 S's, Sadhana and Scripture first.  The true gift or act of service can only come from a genuine heart.

The only way out is in

We can never obtain peace in the world if we neglect the inner world and don't make peace with ourselves. World peace must develop out of inner peace. Without inner peace it is impossible to achieve world peace, external peace. Weapons themselves do not act. They have not come out of the blue. Man has made them. But even given those weapons, those terrible weapons, they cannot act by themselves. As long as they are left alone in storage they cannot do any harm. A human being must use them. Someone must push the button. Satan, the evil powers, cannot push that button. Human beings must do it.

The Dalai Lama

In yoga we believe that there can be no world peace without inner peace.  "As a man thinketh in his heart so is he."- Proverbs 23:7.    Every action begins with a thought. If you want peace in your world, schools, malls, neighborhoods, and home YOU MUST become that peace. Individual by individual we can change the collective consciousness.

“If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. … We need not wait to see what others do.” 

Mahatma Gandhi 

God is Divine intelligence, consciousness, the creator of everything.  Each and everyone of us has this intelligence, this divinity within.  But we were also given free will.  Our consciousness can be used towards good or evil- the choice is ours. In the yoga scriptures, The Yoga Sutras by Patangali, the second sutra (instruction) states,  

YOGA CITTA VRITTI NIRODHAH

 

This means, the restraint of the modification of the mind stuff is yoga.  In plain English, one way to look at this is that our mind is our biggest enemy, because it is subject to evil and idle thoughts. Once we begin to take over the whims of the mind and start cultivating a practice of inner peace and harmony the world as we see it begins to change. Ultimately this is also how we connect to the God within by quieting the mind (ego) and in the space of inner peace we yoke up, unite, become one with God.  It is also in this place that we are able to see the God in everyone else.  If  you recognized the divinity within yourself as well as the divinity within the other person, would you could you blow them to pieces? You can not know this divinity within unless you experience it for yourself.  At this point you might be saying to yourself, "Sure that sounds like a nice idea but all this horrible stuff that is happening in the world is reality.  This inner peace crap is not reality, innocent people are dying."  

 

I'll use the example of an orange.  Squeeze an orange and what do you get? Apple juice?  No you can only get orange juice.  Squeeze a person who is grounded in inner peace are you going to get violence?  No, only peace.  Squeeze a person who angry, frustrated, fearful, greedy or mad, will you get violence- absolutely.  

 

Lets be real for a moment.  Have the wars, or guns, or weapons produced a safer more peaceful world?  Are we really free when our public spaces have now become targets for massacres?  Really how different are we than those in war torn countries? How else are we going to achieve peace?   There is a lot of controversy given all the  recent violence here in the U.S. about gun control. Some say get rid of all guns. Some say everyone should be required to own a gun, but really guns are not the main issue. The issue is that way too many people are spiritually bankrupted and their inner worlds are chaos. When the inner world is violent, anything can become a weapon.

 

That is why it is sooooo important to cultivate a spiritual practice in order to have inner peace, joy and happiness. Spirituality is action.  To just simply say you are a spiritual person, maybe go to church, and pray when you want something is not a spiritual practice.  Your spiritual practice must be worked upon daily.  Every action creates an equal and opposite reaction.  And every action comes from a thought.  It is crucial to start taking control of your thoughts. Even more now than ever, in our plugged in world, lack of control of our own thoughts has led to many destructive behaviors.  Daily prayer and meditation is a great place to start.  Even if it's only 5 to 10 minutes a day. Consistency along with desire to grow will do wonders for your mental well-being.  It won't change over night but it will begin to change.

 

I am going to start doing some more spiritual posts under the label "this spiritual life".  Please note I am simply sharing my experiences and do not claim any authority.  The only true authority is your personal experience.  Until you experience a thing you can not know it's truth.  Next week I will do a post on how to start to cultivate your own spiritual practices.  Until then, peace be with you!