A Guide To Prayer Prepared For The Gaia Minute

I think you all are nuts…*

what a wonderful resource! hugs

Starlight,

Who is it who sits high upon a throne
and casts down judgments of sanity or insanity?

For the judge who passes judgment
must necessarily be of a perceived superior position
than those who receive the judgment,is it not?

And when you make such a statement
is it coming from a place of compassion and kindness?
from one whose deepest heart desire is for harmony and benefiting others?
What is the use of conditional kindness
of bereaving some
but helping others?
Is this conditional kindness not the same flavor
of that which is the cause of any form of disharmony in the world
when kindness is given only to one's own tribe
and not anyone outside of it?
How else is suffering possible?

In nature, the starlight shines equally in all directions, does it not?

If truth is what we all seek
then we all begin from divergent places
depending on our experiences in life, isn't it?

Yet, is truth not the intersection of the many rays of light
just as the sun is the epicenter for all it's rays?

Somewhere amongst all these conceptual frameworks
does not the truth lie in their intersection?

Should we not walk together to find the truth
rather than to say “you are nuts”
which is effectively saying “I am not”?
for that immediately creates an artificial divide
that separates one concept from another

Prayer means so many different things to so many people
perhaps your experiences of it are not other people's experience of it
Is this not possible?

Yet when you hold so steadfastly to your own views
it is like a cup filled to the brim full of it's own liquid
how can anything new pour in?

Without openness, there is closeness
and we do ourselves a disfavor
by limiting our own capacity to learn

In truth, we need to learn to move towards letting go of all our ideas
for our attachment to them
is what solidifies ego into existence
and as long as that is so
we cannot ever release and let go completely

One of my teachers, Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche said to all of us
at the close of a mahamudra retreat
the only difference between samsara and nirvana
is the nature of the mind
If it is COMPLETELY relaxed, that is nirvana
if it is the slightest bit tight, that is samsara
we cling at our own peril

I have no ideas of my own
they are simply from those who have taught me
and if you have wisdom to gift me with
I shall receive it equally

Many Blessings

if it wakes you up out of your fantasy, it is very compassionate…

while you ask me who is judging, I can ask you the same thing…yes?

i think it benefits others very much to know the truth about their conditioned belief systems…

while you judge that as not kind…i see the opposite…

much love and joy in truth…may we awaken to our own awareness and strength within…our full potential as human being…*

btw…I was asked to join this group, and then sent emails to participate…so, are you telling me that I am only welcome if I agree with you???

If that be the case, please delete me, and stop sending me emails to participate in these conversations, b/c obviously you don't wish to hear my pov, since it does not go along with your own…

sincerely, star…

Starlight, it is not for you to say others' journeys are wrong, or ill-conceived, or whatever other judgment you might cast on them or on the journeyers themselves (quoting you: I think you all are nuts…*).

For me, everything I say says something about me and my beliefs, and precious little about anyone else. And for you?

And why would your truth be more true than anyone else's?

Love,
Ruth

Ruth, why is it for you to say and for me not to say???  why can you have an opinion but I cannot???

my truth is true for me…as yours is for you…the way i see it is i have just as much right to express mine as you do yours…si???

while you see things your way…i have another way…and it is not yours…

*

So starlight please tell me as one who sees another way as well if you were to get a flyer about a local candy store requesting your valued insights and you went and did not like the way the candie were dispalyed or how to open the jars.

Would smashing them on the floor like a greedy impatient child seem the best way, yes another way, but best of the way of getting to show what you see or does it just shows what you are?

Ah just clowning around my friend just a little crazy, like this friend of mine who once went into a temple upset throwing over chairs and tables but, as upset as they were , did not break them or believe they had the right to do so.
Thanks
J.M.  
=}

Gien, Robert, starlight and Ruth - it is wonderful that we can be this honest and direct with each other, even when it is not easy. How deeply I love and admire you. 

We are very blessed to have this community, this Gaia. I will always be grateful for the gift we are to each other. 

Robert, I am just expressing my pov, like I was asked to do…I have not broken anything, or thrown any fits…I came in peace, and I said what I said in all honesty…would you rather I have lied???  I think it is nuts to pray and expect anything to happen b/c of it…things happen when humans actually get up off their knees and do…prayer makes the one praying feel better, but that is all I can say that it ever did for me…and there is no proof that prayer works…while you can believe that it does all you want…it does not make it so…and yes, I think it's nuts to believe otherwise…but, having said that…I am not demanding that anyone change their beliefs…I am just stating my point of view…isn't this a group that allows that???  
many windows???  or is my window not allowed???

Hi Nicole, yes, I am just being honest…I once believed in prayer…for many years…today I believe in doing…(and I am not saying that just b/c anyone prays that they do not do…that's ridiculous!!!  I know better…I have seen the loving ways of the members of this pod as well as the members of Gaia as a whole…so please don't anyone put words in my mouth that I have not uttered…)

much love and joy*

Hi Starlight,


I came in peace, and I said what I said in all honesty…would you rather I have lied???  I think it is nuts to pray and expect anything to happen b/c of it…things happen when humans actually get up off their knees and do

It is beautiful that you come in peace!
We must do that to have a beautiful world
Nobody expects another person to be unauthentic, isn't it? I don't think

so please don't anyone put words in my mouth that I have not uttered….

I don't think Robert was telling you to lie and to suggest that may be, to use your terms “putting words in his mouth”, isn't it?

I wrote a response to another blog where I talked about what prayer was for me.
I am currently involved in a project with massive implications for Africa. We went to an economist who could not begin to make an economic impact assessment. It is attracting amazing, amazing people in ways that speak of synchronicity. Yet if it works, it will be due to connection I have generated from prayer and meditation. Prayer is another form of meditation….meditation with words…mantras. It is not asking for things. THat is a very simplistic intrepretation of prayer that you ask for something and expect it to happen. It is a way to center yourself back into the present  moment and to generate aspirations for all other sentient beings so that you remind yourself to diminish your own illusory ego fabrication. It's another form of meditative practice towards letting go. If it weren't for finding that place within oneself, many of the good deeds that people do in the world would never manifest.

if it wakes you up out of your fantasy, it is very compassionate…

very true
but skillful means must always be used
compassionate without wisdom brings more suffering, doesn't it?

while you ask me who is judging, I can ask you the same thing…yes?

We can all ask this, can't we?
Nobody has a monopoly on questions

By saying “you are nuts”
are you not also saying “I am not”?

I ask these questions
so that you may reflect
I cannot make any discoveries for you
you must do that on your own

if it wakes you up out of your fantasy,

this may imply another implicit dichotomy:
are others living in a fantasy
while you are not?
is this not the implcit message?

And it is your point of view, certainly, of course! What else could it be?
and then you say:

btw…I was asked to join this group, and then sent emails to participate…so, are you telling me that I am only welcome if I agree with you???

Let me answer your question with a question:

Am I telling you this, Starlight?
Is this how you intrepret it?

Do you perceive any unkind words being said here?
Do you perceive an undercurrent of passive aggression,
hidden agendas or oneupsmanship?

What are your perceptions?

For no matter what I say
it can only be your own mind
that will be the final arbiter

Each of us carry deep things within us
mechanisms in our subconscious
that are not evident, even to our conscious minds
that drive our conscious decision, speech and action

To become a more aware living being
It is our own job in life
to decipher our own actions in the world

As Rob Nairn writes in Living, Dreaming, Dying:

Project pervades everything we do on a relative level. It affects most of our other psychological processes, such as attachment and resentment. Because of the way we are put together as human beings, projections happen. We don't consciously decide to project. We are usually unaware of its operation, yet it comes into play all the time ahd subverts many levels of our psychological process.

Projection is an autonomous function independent of consciousness. It is the shadow we on't want to know about that hijacks us through our emotions. We attribute our unresolved psychological states to the external world: we attach it to another person, an event, the environment, and then we relate to it as though it originated outside.

How do we recognize projection? We see them reflected in things we do, think and say. The world is our mirror, and the mirror reflects those aspects of ourselves that we fail to see or to know: our shadow. WE ALL HAVE A SHADOW. When we walk in the sun, it appears. When we walk in the realm of the psyche, it hides.

Our ego or rational mind is involved in its own ambitions and image-management, so it represses all the aspects of ourselves that we find unacceptable. Our cultural conditioning rejects them. And through this cultural levelling process, we similiarly banish our greatest qualities, including the spiritual, to the shadow.

One classic indicator of negative projection is blame. When we fin ourselves blaming, it is almost certain that we are projecting. Blame often carries a strong emotional and moral backup force of self-righteousness.

At times there is validity, but when we see an emotional component out of proportion to the situaion, that is an indication of projection. We may then ask ourselves where this comes from. Where, eomtionally, does it arise? It might be from fear, anger, insecurity. It is more creative to look at what is in our own mind, rather than thoughtlessly give vent to habitual impulses and reactions.


As Kalu Rinpoche teaches:

As long as we project, we cannot see the nature of mind


To quote what I wrote:

If truth is what we all seek
then we all begin from divergent places
depending on our experiences in life, isn't it?

Does this not acknowledge that we all come with differences?
Yet we all share certain fundamental aspects of reality, don't we?
In particuliar, we are all born and we all die
and in between we aspire to find what is our living truth
and in this life
all our different experiences inform us
give us both our clarity AND our obscurations
and this motley patchwork, unique to each of us
is what we bring to the table each time we engage with each other, isn't it?

Yet it is only through honest, open and meaningful engagement
that we all benefit
Only if it comes from the view of love and compassion
and accepting not only our wisdom aspect
but also our obscuration aspect
can we be all embracing and work together harmoniously
to further ourselves together in a journey

For the very fact that we engage
that you engage
and I engage
and explore our differences
never from a point of attaching to them
but listening to see respectfully and seeing
if what we have can be improved upon
or what others have can be improved upon

Knowing this,
why would I reject you?

Teachers come in every form, shape and size
The Buddha said
I will learn from a young child who has wisdom
and teach an old one who doesn't
What did he mean?

He meant that we must have an open quality
and not be encumbered by our own personal bias's towards our ideas
The genuine student humbles him or herself to wisdom
and puts aside personal bias to ones' own ideas

We must have an open attitude
and that means being ready to give up at any moment
because truth can come from anywhere
It may not come from what looks like a wise sage
it may come from a person you have aversion towards

That openness is such an important quality, isn't it?
Without it, we close the door for wisdom to pour in
not my wisdom, not that other persons
but the universe's wisdom

We are all expressions of the universe
and therefore, the universal wisdom
can come from anyone of us
but until the mind is open
the lessons and the teachers will not appear

There is no need to conform to me
nor for me to conform to you
that is constraining

There is just openness
and that openness invites the truth to enter into us
whereever it may come from

We are solitary beings
yet we live together in tribes
So as we travel together
we must realize that we can really benefit each other

There are many ways we can sabotage our own harmony, however
For instance, if we have been hurt badly in the past
as I know a number of my friends have
some of who have been beaten, others sexually abused
still others truamatized by war or violent conflict
These type of all-too-common life circumstances
leaves deep, deep scars
from which a defensive attitude to the world and its many beings
is naturally formed
because one needs to protect oneself from the pain
that one knows personally human beings are capable of
and it becomes deeply engrained
and becomes one of those shadows that Rob Nairn
and all great teachers elucidate at great lengths
because they have such deep impact on our lives

We must have sensitivity
and not be a bull in a china shop
For we are all on a journey together
Any “wisdom” I have, is not mine
it is from all the teachers I have had the precious opportuntiy to meet
in my lifetime
The only thing I can claim truly for myself
is my own obscurations

So as we journey with others
we must keep this in mind
that we each have our own engrained shadows
that WE cannot see, that I cannot see
but it may be glaringly obvious to others
and when we engage with others and perceive criticism
I look upon that as my greatest teacher
showing me what I have still to learn


while you judge that as not kind…i see the opposite…

This is a loaded word “judge”, isn't it?
It usually has negative connotations in social usage
What does it mean?
The dictionary defines it as “To form an opinion or estimation of after careful consideration”
I suppose in that case, it is something we do all the time, isn't it?
For what is an opinion?
It's a POV, isn't it?

In a sense, it's redundant to say we judge
because, strictly speaking, everything we say
is of our opinion

It is both Kind and Not kind
depending on the context
skillful means

You see, Starlight
we learn so much from each other
Were it not for you
I would not be exploring these areas I am right now
So to exclude those whose views differ from our own
is our own undoing, isn't it?
We have the greatest to learn from those whose views differ
After all, we here at Gaia all agree
that though we have such divergent views
there is a sacredness common to them all
and in the end
it is that sacredness which is our divine, saving grace
It is what will bring triumphant victory in the end

As we journey together, we must simply take note of our own habitual patterns
If we don't do it, who else will?
We must watch ourselves
looking out for ill will if to creep in
look for fear as a subtle, hidden motivation
see if pride is behind our words
We must take care and couple wisdom with compassion
take care not to throw words around wantonly
unaware of their effects on people
I've seen it in my life too many times
when a casual remark
has caused so much pain in peoples lives
even when it wasn't meant to

We must all share openly
and in a loving, kind spirit
so that we all move together
towards the light
of the infinite potential within us all
Journeying back home towards the one mother

Many Blessings

Well said,
Thanks
J.M.

Thank you HummingBird for posting this. When I got the raw footage with the entire phone conversation between Swami Eli and Meenakshi and got the transcript to this message, I asked if I could have some stills so that the words could go on pictures. Meenakshi sent me large files and each one had to be put into Adobe Photoshop CS3 and resized to the film size of 720X480 pixels and 72 dpi for YouTube.  The lettering I chose was one that was easy to read. I played it for my neighbor who went to Julliard and he gave me a 2 snippets of music & said give them one with and one without the music to choose. It was filmed in nature so the original tape already had birds and ambient sound from Florida and what came through from India.

I had sent the samples to both Eli & Meenakshi and the music came in as the vote of confidence which became the carrier wave to hold the beauty of the message. After the first draft was uploaded to YouTube, we needed to add credits. I went back to Final Cut Pro and softened the sound of music in places where it was important to not be distracted from the voice and added credits. When you surprised me and posted here, the thrill of delivering something to all of whom I love and adore just melted me.  I have been taught that pride is saying we are going to do something than being able to share it with others.  I am over the moon to be able to share this.

My whole life I didn't know how to pray. I did what Swami Eli taught me on this video and could feel it working on my special prayer and am now happy to be one of the thousand sharing a dream.

Anna, thank you so much for this blog. I have been so busy the past few days that I have not been able to properly share how it came about. Kathy, it has been such a wonderful experience watching you work. Though you took time off from your own busy schedule, you did it with the grace and seeming ease of a true friend, a true professional, and an artist.  I realize that watching you bring this to life is watching prayer.

As Swamiji says in the video: ”Not asking”

I don't have any professional equipment, and just a basic movie camera so the color on the heart-shaped sky may not be so good as it was in 'real life' but I did want to be able to show it to him and also to others. The conversation with Swamiji, as I was walking in the garden, marveling at the birds, the sky , clouds, spider webs, the sun shining through leaves of flowering trees playing with the wind…in spite of the heat and the mosquitoes and the strange posture of holding a camera to the phone [!] while walking about and filming the sky, I was in bliss. It was a blessing beyond measure, to be allowed to record one who cannot understand why we would need to record or listen to his words; who is truly expanded by his humility. I see that through his calm engagement, not attached to results, he is able to do and know so much. As is said in the Bhagavad Gita.

I used to wonder why I don't pray, not in others' words or my own; except when a mantra or bhajan make their way out through me…and yet feel so close to the Unnameable One. 

These words of Swamiji's connected it all for me. They helped me to realize that prayer is a state of being in our highest vibration, without needing to spend time in doing so, while going about our daily or special activities. It helps us to access and use our energy in a way that staying in other states of emotion or disconnect cannot, for actions that are not only for ourselves but also for 'others'. For the aspect of oneness that is Gaia. It is what we are…..And this video is reminding us of that.

[and now I see there is much to share that I will write in my blog]
Bowing to all who show the wisdom from different views on Gaia. Together we show the facets of the gem at the heart of Gaia.

Anna, Gien, KES, Robert, Meenakshi - I am awed by what has come to pass here. Deep bows, with much love. 

Anna,

This is such a special gift from Eli, Meenakshi & KES to all of us - who have had the experience of “knowing” just a little bit the Gaian who chose to call himself Eli, and later revealed a bit of the nature of his path by becoming known also as Swami by us.

It is a gift to have been there “at the beginning” of this and it will be so special to watch it unfold, knowing that we were there when, and knowing it represents the inspiration of someone precious to us.

And now we have recorded for all time in the voice and words of the one - Eli, Swamiji, Guruji - whose inspiration and at times, insistence, has brought this into everyday (for some of us twice a day) practice.

Words do not do justice to how this practice has impacted my feelings and understandings of the planet Earth, have deepened those and made them more personal, as more and more I come to see the true role of the planet as a Mother of my own and of all others and all things. 

Everything that touches us is of the Earth.  As we develop an intimate relationship with this mother, our feelings about how we are truly offspring and a part of this entity, known universally as Gaia or Earth; or whatever the planets use to know one another, will have an impact upon the kinship we feel with other people as well as all other manifestations of the Earth.

When I miss my “practice” completely, as I did not long ago for a whole 24 hours, I truly “miss” it.  With the help of this video, I have added raising my palms skyward, per Eli's advice here, though I do it not to receive blessings for myself, still it now connects me in a “real” way to my friend, my fellow traveler as he would say, as I do the practice.

Peace & Blessings -
Deb

Dear Anna and Gian, You are very very special and I am blessed to know you.

Thank you for the words of wisdom, the love shared, the generosity
of kindness shown.
To all that share the Gaia minute, Thank you, we are truly blessed.

Big Hugs XOX