On Being Forever Young

Tags

divinity, energy, feminine, festivals, youth

To put it mildly, the year 2020 has been a challenging year for the human race. For many of us, our share of problems, fears and anxieties has reached new highs in this year. So, how do we find solutions for them from a spiritual perspective? Let us step back and consider the root cause, and try to find some remedies. We can begin today, October 17, which marks the beginning of the  festival that celebrates ‘renewal of divine energy’ over the forthcoming nine days and nights (Navaratri).  

Let us consider. The problems that we have, which manifest as our fears and anxieties, can be viewed as the that of the body and/or of the mind. If this is true, then would our problems ‘disappear’ if we were to lose awareness of the body and the mind? One ’state’ in which we lose this mind/body awareness is when we go to sleep every night. Of course, we often carry our fears and anxieties into the sleep state, because they manifest as dreams (or nightmares). On days like that, we may sleep for a long time, and yet, we wake up tired because our mind did not find any rest from our fears.

And yet, there are some nights (or even afternoons :)), where we sleep that deep sleep of the newborn who does not have any worries, who is not lying awake wondering whether she will have ‘milk to drink’ in the morning. Then, in that dream state, the  consciousness has traveled beyond body and mind, and we wake up rested because we were freed of our fears and anxieties. 

So, if in some states of deep sleep, we can have the awareness of no-body and no-mind, then what is it that remains? Who are we, really in that state of sleep? And, can we develop that same awareness of no-body and no-mind in our waking state? If we could  develop the awareness that we are something greater than mere body and mind, then would we come face-to-face with our real existence?

Many would argue that such an awareness, such freedom from body and mind, is not possible or practical. Living in the world, we are immersed daily in a sea of time, space, action and causation. Fear, anxiety, pain, loss, distress, aging, and such — these are the things of the “real world”. We need to face all of these things of daily life, for which we need strength and the courage to overcome. So, where can we draw our strength from?

Vedanta philosophy (the ‘end of knowledge’) speaks to three sources of strength. The first, ‘moral’ strength comes from our adherence to truth, even when we may stand to suffer great personal loss as a result. Hence, Satyameva Jayate – the truth is always victorious. The second, ‘religious’ strength comes from a belief in a power greater than us, and the faith that That power source ‘has our back’ all the time. The third, ‘spiritual’ strength comes from the knowing that we are not the body or the mind — affirmed by the direct experience that our reality is That indestructible spirit.  

If we can develop these three sources of strength, and keep replenishing them, then we can be walking, talking, sleeping, dreaming and waking in a state where fear and anxiety do not exist. We can develop strength and courage through the renewal and celebration of divine energy and awareness within. Join me in the renewal.

Let us all celebrate our journey of becoming forever young. 

Kumud

P.S. Join us in our weekly twitter conversation on twitter as we gather to renew our strength and courage by sharing our stories through questions and answers, and a sharing of tea and cookies. Namaste – @AjmaniK

Raising the Divine Feminine

Tags

abundance, celebration, empowerment, feminine, spirituality

An Indian legend goes that when the Earth was overrun and overcome with the oppression of the Audra’s – those with evil tendencies – even the all powerful (male) trinity of creation, preservation and regeneration felt powerless. The three then decided to contribute their best strengths, and appeal to the universal force above them, to evolve a superlative, energetic being that would help restore order and righteousness to the world.

The result was the creation of Shakti – the energy of the divine feminine, which restores order, harmony and dynamic balance to the world. The arrival of this new energy, a new trinity, is celebrated over a nine day festival that is currently underway in India. I view the festival as an opportunity to reflect on all the trinity of feminine influences in my life.

Who are the ones whose creative power of navigating the next big obstacle still flows within me? Who were the ones who taught me about the power of the creative arts of singing, writing, dancing, cooking, and much more? Who are the ones that showed me, with their propensity towards giving and sharing, that prosperity grows and flows best through the channel of an open heart? I raise all of them, celebrate them.

It is perhaps time for all of us to consider contributing our best strengths, and raising the divine feminine within us. Endowed and graced with that new Shakti, what obstacle(s) couldn’t we overcome? What new wave of equitable prosperity could we send forth with our best new energies? How much new creativity could we evoke to find solutions to our current challenges?

Raising the divine feminine within, is thus, cause for celebration. I invite you to celebrate the Shakti within you – for the peace, joy and goodness that it can bring to all,

Kumud @AjmaniK

Join us, Sunday October 14 at 9amET on Twitter. We shall celebrate the best of the divine (feminine) energy of the community that is #SpiritChat. Namaste – Kumud

The energy of #autumn is a wonderful time to reflect on the divine feminine… avail a walk…

Celebrating the Divine Feminine

Tags

energy, feminine, spiritchat, spirituality

The energy of the divine feminine is celebrated over nine days and nights in the Indian festival calendar every year, twice a year, in spring and autumn. The autumn celebration is more popular in the cultural ethos as it crosses many ethnic and regional boundaries, and informally kicks off the ‘festival season’ which reaches its peak with the ‘celebration of lights’ (Diwali).

So, what is this energy of the divine feminine, and in what ways can we invoke, honor and celebrate it in our spiritual practice(s) over these nine days? One invocation is by following the ‘rule of threes’. There are three forms of energy that govern our inner and outer aptitude. They are called tamas, rajas and sattva ~ tamas is the heavy, static, often lackadaisical form ~ rajas is the dynamic, passionate, desire-driven form ~ sattva is the serene, balanced, even-handed form of Life energy. If you have ever eaten Indian food, tamas is like the deep-fried, heavy breads and curries, rajas is the spicy, make you sweat flavors and sauces, sattva is the balancing yogurt and neutralizing rice-based dishes…

Applying the rule of threes to the nine days, each of the three energy forms may be reflected upon, in sets of three days each. One way of looking at the three energies is that the masculine energy predominates in us as tamas (the heavier, static form). The feminine energy, the ‘getting things done’ aptitude, predominates in us as rajas, and is often necessary to overcome our tamas based energy. The ideal mix of tamas and rajas, and the ideal is different for every person, depending on their intrinsic nature, moves our Life engine forward. The role of sattva can be viewed as a moderator or modulator of the net voltage across our life circuit. It restores us, reminds us, cajoles us towards That balance which produces harmony, joy, awareness of higher consciousness within us.

It is apparent that all three forms of energy are necessary, and none of them are sufficient by themselves to provide us with the Life current that can help us operate at our truthful optimum. So, we celebrate all three aspects of the energy, all three aspects of the divine feminine, in walking and in sitting, in inhaling and in exhaling, in happiness and in sadness, in health and in sickness, in taking care of others and in being taken care of others, in giving and in receiving ~ because they are all manifestations of the singular, primary energy, that unified force field that creates, destroys and sustains all of Life.

For those of you who are ‘regulars’ in our weekly #SpiritChat conversations on twitter, you are well familiar with the demographic – a majority of the participants are women! However, this does not necessarily mean that all of us, including the women participants, are of the different aspects of, or the influence of the energies of the divine feminine in their lives. It is to this purpose, that I invite all of you to visit us in #SpiritChat on twitter on Sunday, October 18th at 9amET, and share your perspective on this topic with all present. Do you have a cultural parallel of the ‘rule of threes’? Do you have a specific celebration of the divine feminine? Which of the three energies seems to predominate in your life, and how does it affect your spiritual practice(s)?

Till we meet and visit with each other again, I thank you for spending some time here and reading. May the divine feminine protect you and provide for you the energy to live a Life of fullness,

Namaste,

Kumud @AjmaniK

Energy Of The Divine Feminine in Nature from Kumud Ajmani on Vimeo.

As I walked the reservation, signs of the divine feminine were everywhere – the static energy of the earth, the dynamic energy of the sun, the serene energy of the water – and their interplay to create a glowing energy current of Life!

P.S. The nine days/nights of celebration, also known as Navaratri (nava = nine, ratri = nights), are observed from October 13th to 20th 2015. Enjoy!