Looking through my Facebook messages, I saw how the New Year brought a spate of resolutions in some, a lot of jadedness this year - questions such as, 'So what's new about it?' and so forth. Here at Nagole, there was the big bang of brand new PDC (Permaculture Design Certificate Course) conducted by Babugaru (Ekkirala Dwarakanath Jnaneswar).
So is Permaculture different from spirituality? Why do we need to garden? Why do we need to 'forego' some of the conveniences others take for granted and change our lifestyle? And what does that have to do with again Spirituality? .. Such Qs have been well answered in the whole of last year's discussions and talks by Babugaru and for those of you who are interested, I will be blogging more on that soon.
In terms maintaining 'Bhavana' (devotion) and learning to be aware of the rare and precious great presence "sannidhi' we living in every day, there is a great, great deal we have learn. We go about our chores and complaints and comments. All the while 'Mahatmas' are there. We wouldn't dream of doing this if we were in the same room as them. Like a piece of iron in front of a magnet, in their presence, all our senses and mind are alert and attuned and everything of the noise and chaos of the regular world & life is simply tuned out. And we pray and bow to Baba & Master & Ammagaru as say, ' You are omnipresent and omnicient. What more can I tell you of my woes. Indeed in your presence I feel I have none.'
Yet, when we are in the next room or even a few houses away, we revert to our normal selves and say, ' So & so said so & so and did so & so. Therefore I am angry or upset or inconvenienced. We forget The Presence. And all the benefits it has brought us.
From 1st January to 8th Feb, 2014 we have usually had a deeksha. This year, Babugaruconsidering the inexplicable low spirits everyone was in, recommended that we start again afresh with just one activity a day. Everyday we listen to 'Vishnu Sahasranam' (and such others in succeeding months) and one speech of Mastergaru every morning. A time was fixed so that the group's thought process would evolve in a similar fashion.
As Master has said repeatedly, once we are in the presence of the Sadguru, we need to keep uplifting ourselves again and again with our own effort in order to be able to utilize their Presence.
