And Only Say The Word

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Many moons ago a fellow child of the ashram told me a simple fable, the moral of which I hope will explain the premise of this humble attempt at an open letter. (Or to use the hateful modish terminology a 'Blog') &ndash But I digress, so to return to the tale:
On moving to a new abode, this dear brother had put much time thought and energy into the creation of a large and lovely Shrine. Complete with swathes of fabrics, precious holy statues and images of deities, Ishta Devs, Saints and Paramahamsas. Great church candles stood at the fore, incense held in ornate bronze receptacles and sacred texts lay open on a carved sandalwood plinth. On a small shelf, in his galley kitchen, he placed a photograph of our Guru, in his incongruous attire of knitted hat and orange vest! He told me that throughout the day, when making coffee, snack or meal, he would make salutations and abeyances to this tiny faded snapshot, a little nightlight burned, incense ash mounted in grey peaks and saucers of miscellaneous offerings of Prasad were regularly replaced. While the splendid shrine in the next room stood still and dormant, the little nook above the kitchen sink was brought alive by daily worship and devotions, in essence became a living shrine.
As our Guru said, "There is no particular room, no particular place. Where you are for Me, there I am with you, manifesting."

Since the passing of our Divine Master Swami Ambikananda, I have in my immaturity, devoted much time and energy to the architecture and construction of great temples to the Master's teachings. In childish grief, I have indulged in future plans for my spirituality; Aha, I have said, when I am free from the responsibilities of work and children and elderly relations, I will dedicate myself to the 'Inner Life', to devotion and prayer, meditation and the thorough exegesis of Holy Scriptures. These vast tomes of knowledge I will read and annotate from start to finish and come to great and wonderful understandings, as I meditate on the powerful Word held therein. "I shall become a Yogi", a Pilgrim on the Way of Truth, come to know the secret wisdom of my own beloved Master. Aha, I have said again (for I am nothing if not repetitious!), but I am at heart a Bhakta and so having imbibed the power of the word, I shall return to the path of devotion; in an attempt to find that divine love, that Agape. In the midst of these spiritually inspirational thoughts, dear Brothers and Sisters, I confess I am plagued by the imagined sound of 'laughter terrible and loud'! For I have a most vivid memory of a spiritually intense and joyous weekend spent at the Kedernath Ashram; I had just been initiated by Swami Ji and had spent much of the night happily ensconced in a caravan, writing up my future plans for my life of 'monkdom'. Page upon page of my 'Spiritual Diary', emblazoned with pious intentions of sacrifice and search, practise and prayer, to start on some future date, when the busy schedule of the 8 year old would allow. Next morning I took this handwritten pledge and proudly showed it to the Guru, he read it with due care and attention and then to my chagrin smiled, his golden smile; and complimented me on my handwriting!

So here is the rub, Dear Friends, this my resolve: To take a Word of our Master, a thought for the day, the week, the month; contemplate this, meditate on the meaning, "gather the broken pieces of thought into the basket of (my) your mind." And in doing so, create an internal living shrine in the hope of "treading the hidden path to the feet of my Beloved", through the somewhat thorny path of life.
"Let us go back once more, O mind, to our own abode.
Here in this foreign land of earth
Why should we wander aimlessly in stranger's guise ? ...."

This Word I will share with you as often as I can on the Ashram website, which due to the tireless work of the devotees, is the World Wide Web Living Shrine, sending Word and Music floating out into the firmament.
So here Brothers and Sisters is the Word of our Master, that I hope may induce for us a contemplative meditation, a 'centred thought':
"We are very blinded from what we are trying to see, We are living still in a dark world, it's up to us now how we are going to take our life up there or down here... You have to be very patient in this game of tossing up and down on present and future worries. You have to be strong-minded, to have the grace of your centred thought, the grace of God. Practise picture guidance - God in the shrine. Believe that God is in the picture, that suffices for the turmoil of life...
In reality there's nothing but One Thing (God). Due to the multifarious particles and atoms of this One Thing our minds are broken into these bits and pieces so we can�t come to full satisfaction to the One - our minds are already scattered. Before we can get a universal harmony in this world, we have to let our will work patiently through the will of the Knower." Swami Ambikananda 1981
And only say the word and I shall be healed...


Another day, another plan, another golden smile, and no compliment for the font!
Blissings, Blessings and Love


Sanjana Yogeshwaree, June 2010.
Of The Order Of Ambikananda MSSA
yogeshwaree@gmail.com
www.quintessenceashram.org