New York Self-Inquiry Circle

https://fb.watch/4tBW4QIUU9/

Bhagawan Nityananda's Blessings

Richard Rohr's Daily Meditation Bias from the Bottom One of the great themes of the Bible, which begins in the Hebrew Scriptures and is continued in Jesus and P...aul, is called "the preferential option for the poor"; I call it "the bias toward the bottom." We see the beginnings of this theme about 1200 years before Christ with an enslaved people in Egypt. Through their history God chooses to engage humanity in a social and long-standing conversation. The Hebrew people's exodus out of slavery, through twists and turns and dead ends, finally brings them to the Promised Land, eventually called Israel. This is a standing archetype of the perennial spiritual journey from entrapment to liberation. It is the universal story. Moses, himself a man at "the bottom" (a murderer on the run and caring for his father-in-law's sheep), first encounters God in a burning bush (Exodus 3:2). Like so many initial religious experiences, this happens while Moses is alone--externally and interiorly. The encounter is nature-based and transcendent at the same time: "Take off your shoes; this is holy ground" (see Exodus 3:5). This religious experience is immediately followed by a call to a very costly social concern for Moses' own oppressed people, whom he had not cared about up to then. God said, "I have heard the groaning of my people in Egypt. You, Moses, are to go confront the Pharaoh and tell him to let my people go" (see Exodus 3:9-10). There, at the very beginning of the Judeo-Christian tradition, is the perfect integration of action and contemplation. First, the transformative experience takes place through the burning bush. Immediately it has social, economic, historical, and political implications. How did we ever lose sight of this when our Scriptures and tradition begin this way? The connection is clear. There is no authentic God experience that does not situate you in the world in a very different way. After an encounter with True Presence you see things quite differently, and it gives you freedom from your usual loyalties and low-level payoffs--the system that gave you your security, your status, your economics, and your very identity. Your screen of life expands exponentially. This transformation has costly consequences. Moses had to leave Pharaoh's palace to ask new questions and become the liberator of his people. I believe the Exodus story is the root of all liberation theology, which Jesus fully teaches and exemplifies, especially in the three synoptic Gospels (see Luke 4:18-19). Jesus is primarily a healer of the poor and powerless. That we do not even notice this reveals our blindness to Jesus' obvious bias... Jesus spends little time trying to ferret out sinners or impose purity codes in any form. He just goes where the pain is. I dare you to try to disprove that.

'There are many ways to practise sadhana. One seeker meditates for long hours, another performs seva, or ashram service, another focuses on physical postures an...d breathing exercises, another on puja and ritual worship. Other seekers study scriptures and refine their intellects and practise Self-inquiry. These methods differ, but they have one thing in common: effort. There is also a path beyond them all, sometimes called the ‘pathless path’. This path is effortless: no dramatic austerities, no heroic feats of yoga. All that it requires is to live simply and happily with the Guru. But even if this path is effortless, it is not easy. Only one who is open to Shakti and aligned with the Self can walk it. Many would prefer to climb Himalayas of yoga rather than live in the force field of a Siddha, whose very vibration stirs and tests everyone around him, exposing every weakness and challenging every assumption.' - Swami Shankarananda, 'Ganeshpuri Days: Memoirs of a Western Yogi'. Join Swamiji from January 9-17 2021 for the online Summer retreat. This entire year we will be celebrating Swamiji's Golden Jubilee: 50 years of discipleship with his Guru, Baba Muktananda. Learn more about the retreat and buy your copy of Ganeshpuri Days via the links in our bio. #ganeshpuridays #swamishankarananda #ganeshpuri #author #ashram #theashram #babamuktananda #swamimuktananda #shakti #shaktipat #sadhana #kundalini #guru #disciple #tantra #india #autobiography #memoir #memoirs #spirituality #consciousness #melbourneauthor #retreat #jnana #bhakti #mantra #kashmirshaivism #meditationretreat #melbournemeditation #meditationmelbourne See more

Happy Winter Solstice! On this day take the time to reflect on your inner light. Know yourself to be pure Consiousness, pure light. Already divine. Blessings to you all

Om Namah Shivaya

Love is giving and unselfish. It wants nothing but to give love. Feel that love inside you and let it fill you. You don't actually need so much love from outside. You need to give love, but not in a way that you give yourself away.

There's an alchemy to certain practices. They lead to introspection which deepens one's perspective.