Humor and Depth: The Oct05 Meeting 4/4 Report

There was laughter. There were stories. There were serious moments of contemplation. There were engaging retrospectives. There were touching moments at the Wednesday Sahaja Yoga Meditation Meeting in Ann Arbor.

Sahaja & Science: Blossoming in a Scientifically Aware Society

Sahaja & Science: Blossoming in a Scientifically Aware Society
Drawing inspiration from the work done by Australian scientists at the Royal Hospital for Women, Sydney, Australia, I decided to investigate the use and applicability of these preliminary findings. One of the first things I realized was, despite the preliminary finding being published in a peer reviewed journal, the road ahead was hard to negotiate. The question is how to inspire a seeker's confidence in an age where faith-based interventions have done their damage by presenting themselves as snake-oil peddlers?The CHADD Factsheet#6 is an excellent document which provides suggestions to treatment seekers against false treatments and doubtable interventions. It reminds me of an excellent series of lectures delivered by a professor in a Public Health post-graduate school, who critically evaluates alternate therapies and therapists and the motivating undercurrent. One interesting point brought up was that a certain category of Alternative & Complementary Medicine practitioners have established their reportoire through political lobbying. That being a means to the end of having patients legally bill the associated fees to their insurance providers. Money, thus, is the bottomline being fought over. When it comes to acceptance of meditation as a supporting activities, these hurdles should not matter, because meditation when offered as a no-charge activity by established practitioners should clearly establish its not-for-profit nature. Taking it another step forward, a not-for-charge service because payment does not guarantee the meditative experience. So why there should be charges?I hope the preliminary findings in Australia can blossom into a large body of validating studies before specific meditation practices can find their ways into the United State's National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicines list of approved practices for the scientific cause. It might take another 10-15 years to produce appropriate evidence, as medical science seeks multiple studies to validate the effectiveness of an intervention or treatment.

The writer lives & works in a liberal college town in North America. This article is inspired by the slew of fly-by-night operators who have damaged the sensitivity of educated seekers through their empty promises. TheFactsheet referenced is "Assessing Complementary and Controversial Interventions" available via CHADD.org. CHADD is the Michigan Resource for ADD affected Adults and Children.

Links:Sahaja Yoga Meditation Sahaja Yoga Meditation in Michigan CHADD Scientific Studies Related to Sahaja Yoga

What do you have to surrender?

[See Ppt Presentation]

"What do you have to surrender? A drop has to dissolve into the ocean

to become the ocean. And a drop cannot be greater than the ocean."

What is needed is "the surrendering of our conditionings, of our ego

and the artificial barriers we have built around us." We can approach

ourselves mentally, emotionally or physically. "We can approach

ourselves through mantras, through seeing ourselves, through knowing

ourselves.

"But one should know this is the greatest of greatest opportunities

for you, not for the Divine. If you are not available, the Divine can

find its own ways of fulfilling its last culmination of expression."





H.H.SHRI MATAJI NIRMALA DEVI

--Founder of Sahaja Yoga—



Sahasrar Puja, Vienna Austria, 4 May 1985

The Map & The Terrain

Ideal Personality

"Therefore all those who think themselves as leaders should be like an

ideal personality. And their greatest ideal is that how much Love they

have within themselves. Some are there who try to show their

greatness....some give great lectures...some of them suppress others

and some dominate others. The most important thing is that whatever

you do, there should be just the reflection of Love in it. It should

be clearly visible that it is all because of Love. Sometimes if it is

necessary to get angry on someone or it is necessary to scold someone

then he/she should know that this is out of Love that he is scolding

me....if he will not scold me then I wont become all right. So we have

to establish our benevolence because your spirit has the desire of

benevolence of whole world. Except benevolence it cannot get

satisfaction."



Ganapatipule, India.

December 26, 1988

Sunday is Agnya chakra's day...

This is the day for us to remember that Christ was born on this

earth as a human being. He came on this earth and the task that was

before Him was to enlighten human awareness, with the sense of

understanding that we can see its actualization within the awareness

of human beings that they are not this body, but they are the

spirit. The message of Christ was His resurrection that is, you are

your spirit and not your body and he showed by His resurrection how

He ascended into the realm of spirit, which He was.'



Caxton Hall, England, December 10, 1979

Marriage & Parenthood

This heart centre is caught up by various emotional problems in

human beings. Husband and wife, if they all the time quarrel, there

is always quarreling in the house, specially if the mother is very

dominating, the child develops this centre. And if the father is

very dominating, the child develops this�the heart itself. So it is

very important that husband and wife should never quarrel in the

presence of their children.



Like marriage, also some people come to Me and tell Me, 'Mother, I

am very happily married or unhappily married'. The one who is

happily married is equally headache as the one who is unhappily

married. The unhappily one I can understand why is a headache. But

the happily married also says, 'I must do something for my wife, I

haven't done anything, I haven't bought her a diamond ring, I

haven't done this for her, and this and that.' But where is your

attention. The whole attention is directed to that which has no

meaning.



Source: Not sure. From HH Shrimataji's talk on Marriage and Parenthood