Life at the Temple

Life at the Temple =  WORK.

I work, and it feeds me.

It is actually a blessing to do any work here.  Put one dish away, you are blessed.  Polish a utensil, you are blessed.  Scrub a toilet, you are blessed.

It's all purification and it feels really good.

If I am efficient in a day and work really hard - especially doing things like cleaning bathrooms, when I finally sit down in the temple after showering for evening arati my mind and body feel so clean.  So purified, and so much more receptive to the vibrations of the Temple, to the vibrations of MAA.

I dont think that we have to purify because are bad.  I think we have to purify so that we have the capacity (on a metaphysical level - in our mental and pranic bodies) to accept the blessings and the Divine Love that Mother showers down upon us.

I think that Kali comes where we like it or not - sickness, death, transformation, the thorns of life's path that make us humble.  But I also think that in order for Kali to reveal to us the soul beneath the veil of the ego, that for that we have to be ready and willing to go through a very deep process.  We have to be open to seeing the truth of our actions, our mind, our current state of consciousness, and egoistic tendencies in order to transcend.  By looking them honestly and feeling the suffering rooted in the negativity I do believe that the seeds can be dissolved.  I think of it as feeling the "sting of selfishness."  When I feel that in an honest, true, and self-accountable way, I automatically want to move closer to unselfishness, to a state of non-suffering.

In my personal experience, my mind is NOT willing to look at the truths of my selfishness in my every day state of consciousness.  She shell of the ego is just too hard - forged from the iron will of a buffalo determined to live life for itself.

Kali is the one who I trust to meet me where I'm at.  When the Dark Night of the Soul comes and the Dawn of Mega Transformation is at hand, it is Kali who I meet.

Sarada Devi used to pray:

"Oh, Mother, let my mind be as pure as the moon."  or

"Oh, Mother, even the moon has stains on it, but let my mind be stainless."

Selfishness is a disease.
The Way of the Yogis is the medicine.
Shree Maa and Swamiji are my physicians.
The Chandi is my story,
and Divine Mother is the Director of it all.

Mother, bring me deeper into my heart and closer to the inner sanctum of your sacred beauty.

You are the purest example of what I want my soul to reflect.

Kali, show me THE WAY.

Jai Maa.