Special thanks to Anju Ma, Gayatri Ma, Sushma Ma, and Satish Baba for taking on the never-ending work of preparing food and feeding everyone. You have a special place in everyone’s heart. We’re looking for photographs of you all that we can share here!

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In Hindu mythology the story of Shivaratri or the Night of Shiva is a beautiful and powerful one. It is also, as most Hindu myths are, packed with metaphor and meaning which are useful to us in our daily struggles.
         Long ago, the Devas or gods and the Asuras or demons decided to churn the ocean of milk in order to obtain the nectar of immortality, which lay buried deep within its waters. To do this they needed a strong base on which their churning rod could rest and so they prayed to Lord Vishnu for help. He agreed to serve as the base by taking the form of a giant turtle, and resting on the bottom of the ocean. For the rod they used the highest mountain, Mandhara Parvath. Next the Devas and Asuras needed something strong enough and large enough to serve as the churning rope. They approached the giant snake Vasuki, who agreed to help them. 
       The gods on one side and the demons on the other began churning the rope in unison and slowly the ocean grew white with foam. Suddenly to their dismay, Vasuki, who was being pulled and pushed mercilessly, began spewing his venom into the air. The fumes were so strong and so potent that the Devas and Asuras fell to the ground in a faint. The vapor spread until the sky and the earth were covered and the three worlds began to tremble in fear. It was at this crucial moment that Lord Shiva appeared and taking a giant breath inhaled all the poison into himself. Immediately the sky began to clear and all living creatures revived again. Shiva inhaled the poison but knew that if he swallowed it, he too would be destroyed. Unable to swallow and unable to spew out the venom thereby destroying the universe, Shiva kept it locked within his throat and fell into a dead faint, overwhelmed by the toxic fumes he held within. That entire night, as Shiva lay unconscious the three worlds prayed for his recovery. It is that night which is celebrated as Shivaratri. The whole night through the devas prayed and chanted and sang his glory until finally the next morning he awoke. His throat which held the poison, took on a permanent blue hue, earning him the name of Neelakanta or Blue-throated One.
          After jubilant celebrations of Shiva’s recovery the Devas and Asuras resumed the churning of the Ocean. After the fumes dispersed, beautiful rare and incredible riches began emerging from the waters. At last the Amrita or Nectar of Immortality and Bliss emerged and the devas and asuras lined up to receive it.  They soon fell to fighting among themselves, greedy to get the largest share until once again Lord Vishnu came to the rescue by taking the form of a celestial nymph Mohini and arousing the demons’ lust and destroying them so that only the devas were allowed to drink the nectar and achieve eternal bliss.
         The story of Shivaratri and the churning of the ocean is, like most stories from Hindu myth, about the self and its quest for realization. As Paramahamsa Prajnanananda explains, the giant turtle represents the ability to withdraw the sense organs, for only turtles can withdraw their limbs at approaching danger. The senses too, should be withdrawn from the dangers and distractions of Maya or illusion. The solid mountain churn is the strong and healthy body, which when tied with the rope of the mind turns this way and that toward the devas, who are good propensities and then toward the asuras who are evil propensities. Turning first one way, then another, the mind begins spewing venom, and the churning brings forth the poison which lies at the surface, years of bad habits, thoughts, impulses begin to be churned to the surface and released. Those who practice kriya  know that in the initial stages of meditation, just such a cleansing occurs and the release of toxic impulses and desires can often be a painful and disturbing experience. Such impulses and desires need to be controlled and like Shiva, we must swallow them through constant meditation, neither allowing them to be reabsorbed nor releasing them on to others and causing harm. It is only after the surface dirt is cleared, that we begin to find priceless treasures within. Wealth, prosperity, material satisfaction, comfort and luxury, name and fame and many powers may come to us, as faithful practitioners of kriya yoga, but like the devas we should not be distracted but continue with our labor until at last we obtain the nectar of bliss or self-realization. We should be careful at that final moment not to feed the demons of our evil propensities but to strengthen the good and emerge victorious.
This is the inner meaning of Shivarathri and this struggle for self-realization is what we truly celebrate on this auspicious night according to Baba. We celebrate the power of self-control, the ability to swallow the poisons which our mind spews forth and yet remain serene, calm and wise as Shiva does. We rejoice in the victory of our good propensities over our bad, and finally we praise the infinite mercy of God who serves as the base of all our struggles and who is the foundation on which we place our faith and hope for salvation.

mata me parvati devi pita devo maheshwarah
vandhavah siva bhaktasca svadesho bhuvama tryam.
Parvati is my   Mother, Shiva, the Father. All the lovers of God are my relatives and the universe is my home.
 

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On Thursday, March 11, 2021 please join us for Temple of Compassion’s special online program celebrating Mahashivaratri – the Great Night of Lord Shiva. It commemorates when Lord Shiva swallowed poison to save the world. Traditionally, on this day yogis and devotees fast and keep vigil all night by lighting a lamp and staying awake in prayer and meditation.

Click here to join us at 6pm CST on the KYI Spiritual Programs YouTube channel.

The schedule will include a brief introduction, Rudra Abhishek (ceremonial bath), fire ceremony and 108 oblations with the Mahamrityunjaya mantra, aarati, and devotional singing.

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Pranams and love.

We have missed you!

We are happy to announce that starting next week on March 15th, Temple of Compassion ashram will begin to reopen kicked off with a seva week coordinated by the Dallas center.

Going forward guests are welcome to come visit during specified hours and help with outdoor seva, enjoy the cows and property, and meditate.

Social distancing restrictions and properly wearing masks at all times while on the property are still required.

Registration is required for admittance so that we can provide a safe environment for all.

Email us for more details.
In Divine Love,Temple of Compassion

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We had a great discussion about identifying with the Higher Self vs the lower self. The Higher Self is nothing more than the pure all-encompassing Soul. We agree that the Soul is everywhere, outside the body as well as inside. It doesn’t need a body. We understand that the body is nothing more than a clay pot, a temporary covering, donned for the purpose of working out one’s karma.

But here’s the question. If the Soul is pure, then why would it acquire good and bad karma or have the need to work it out? 
 
Paramahamsa Yogananda’s interpretation of the Gita provides a perfect explanation, which has to do with the corrupting influence of the body and the mind.

In the human brain, the Soul is still apparently in its perfect state of supreme consciousness. Seated in the thousand-petalled lotus in the medulla, it silently witnesses the modifications of the body and mind.

But as the Soul spreads from the brain down the seven chakras along the spine, as it radiates from the spine into all the nerve channels within the body, empowering us to work and move and think and feel through the organs of action and perception, it generates a new and dangerous force. The Ego.

The ego, which is the individual sense of feeling, thinking and doing, born only because of the soul’s energy infused into the body and mind, a mere reflection of the supreme consciousness that pervades all things, raises its tiny head and says, “Me! I am the doer.”

Forgetting its source and the fact that it has only appeared because of a false sense of identification with the processes of the mind and body, the ego once generated, begins to grow rapidly and take over. “I am Jyothi,” it claims. “I am a woman, I am intelligent, I have a temper, I am spiritual, I am hungry, I am happy. I have a husband, I have a son.”
The ego is wholly tied to the physical and mental faculties and the senses.

Ego breeds attachment to one’s body and to all those beings and possessions that the mind desires. It’s hard to fathom that the mind and the intellect, in which we normally take so much pride, are also temporary faculties. They will also disappear, along with the temporary body in which they reside.

So if even our mind and intellect dissolve, then what’s left when we die and move along to the next life and the next body? Do we start from scratch with a clean slate? 

Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on what we have done in the past, the answer it seems is no. The sheath, created by our actions and our thoughts in this life and the countless lives that came before it, goes with us. Our likes and dislikes, our cravings and our passions, our dreams and our desires, created by the ego and the mind through several lifetimes of identifying with the body, build a thick layer that surrounds the pure soul, masking it from view. We carry that sheath with us to the next body and compelled by the nature of our individual sheath, we act and are born again and again.

Then how do we escape this sheath and the cycle of birth and death? How do we merge back into pure soul? 

We can begin by controlling the ego, becoming aware of it and not giving in to its constant call. We can step back and become observers of its dance, which keeps us unaware of our true nature. Anything which we can observe with dispassion soon loses its power over us.
In meditation, we are taught to raise the kundalini, the part of the soul which has traveled to the base of the spine and sits coiled there asleep.

By stilling our mind, even for a brief period, and identifying with the soul and not the body, we focus on awakening the sleeping energy and lifting it back up through the centers all the way to the top of the head, where the Soul waits in all its splendor.

When the individual kundalini merges with the Universal Soul then there is no more sense of difference or duality. There is no more individual ego that ties us to the body and the mind. The sheath with all its burdens from countless lives dissolves and we are free.

All the more reason to meditate.

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One Billion Dollars. That was the prize amount for this week’s lottery. My husband bought a ticket. We didn’t win. But when we were still in the running I admit I sat and thought about what I would do with the money.

Modest goals. We would pay off the house. Make sure we had two working cars. Put some in the bank for retirement. Put a little aside for the kids. Write full-time. My husband would work on his music. Fund education projects. Give a big donation to the Balashram. Feed the hungry.

Other than that? I couldn’t think of anything. Don’t want yachts, planes, clothes, fancy cars or jewelry. Don’t want giant mansions or seaside villas.

When we didn’t win, my husband and I decided we could still pursue our creative paths on the side, and go forward and serve others within our own means. We didn’t need obscene amounts of money for that.

I thought about what money was. Paper and coins to which we assign a value and then exchange for goods and services. Unlimited cash gets you unlimited stuff.
But does it get you anything else? Unfortunately, the answer is yes.
 
In the Uddhava Gita, Lord Krishna reminds Uddhava:
 
By the cultivation of spiritual knowledge, one should clearly ascertain the nature of bondage and liberation. Bondage occurs when the senses are utilized for material enjoyment, and liberation is attained when the senses are withdrawn from the enjoyment of sense objects and exclusively engaged in My service.

There you have it. Material enjoyment gets you far more than just pleasure and things. It also gives you eternal bondage. That is not a price I am willing to pay.
 
The world it seems is a prison, albeit an often beautiful one. There are endless pleasures to be had as well as torment and pain, which is what makes it so confusing and seductive. If it were all pain we would certainly turn away quickly enough, knowing something better is in store if we withdraw. But life isn’t like that. It goes from pain to pleasure and back again so that we are eternally hopeful, always looking for the next up and quickly forgetting the down. In the process, we become more and more firmly entrenched, further and further from the source, forgetting who we are and what we are, seeking happiness in what is mere illusion.
 
We were talking this week in class about what it is that allows us to finally stop, take a pause, and turn back, to remember that this isn’t all and that there is something far better. Is it merely the constant pummeling that comes from living a purely material existence that leaves us bruised and battered and ready to surrender? Or does it require something more? Some Divine Grace that allows us to lift our head, still our grasping hands, and clasp them together instead in prayer and supplication? Perhaps it’s a combination of both. Once we have lived enough lives, ridden enough highs and plumbed enough lows, and once we have acquired enough Grace through our acts of kindness and charity and introspection along the way, then maybe Divine Love intervenes and points us in the right direction, which is within.
 
At any rate, I am grateful for being able to see quite clearly that the only jackpot worth winning, the one even a billion dollars can never equal, is the one that offers Infinite Bliss through Self-Realization.

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For questions or to contribute financially, please
contact us at templeofcompassion@kriya.org

Start by going to maps.google.com, and zoom in fully on an area close to you that has businesses of various kinds. Here is an example:

Mark the places that you think are good candidates. Here are some tips:

• If it is a national chain like a Wal-Mart or Home Depot, you are unlikely to get permission to put books there. Best to skip those.
• Smaller, locally-owned stores are extremely receptive, so focus on them. The Sally Beauty Supply on the map above is one such place
• Also focus on places where people have to sit and wait in an area with tables that have magazines and such. The DaVita Dialysis Center and the Discount Tire store on the map above are two such places.
• Goodwill and Salvation Army stores are good candidates. There is one on the map above.
• Assisted living centers and senior activity centers are ideal locations.

Determine how you will display the booklets you deliver. Here are two options that work perfectly:

Print some labels to apply to the displays, perhaps something like this:

If you are a little shy when it comes to this kind of outreach, you might consider starting with a letter instead of directly asking permission to leave the booklets. Here is an example of the letter we’ve used locally:

And finally, here is a possible plan for encouraging others to participate successfully:

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It’s been five years since I started documenting this journey. Still on the path! Our group has moved from the kind, gentle guidance of the Bhagavad Gita through a series of increasingly vedantic texts, arriving egos bruised and bewildered at the blunt pronouncements of the Ashtavakra Gita. Even now, as we do a second reading, I’m pretty certain I’m not ready for what Ashtavakra has to say.

This week we talked about how little real control we have over our lives, something that became painfully apparent in 2020. Covid, the wildfires, evacuations, hospitalizations, death, destruction, injustice, social unrest, divisive politics. While I rail against my predicament, how much actual power do I have to change it?

Ashtavakra says I have none.

Does that mean I remain a passive victim? I’ve been told my whole life to strive, to fight, to conquer. To overcome. One of our group members reminded me that even Lord Krishna urged his favorite disciple Arjuna to fight. So why should I surrender to the whims of destiny?

Ashtavakra says I need to live like the dry leaf that is separated from the tree, tossed about from place to place, experience to experience, accepting what comes my way, heat or cold, pain or pleasure, insult or honor, with absolute equanimity.

This seems impossible. Ashtavakra is describing a state of bliss that I have yet to achieve. The bliss he describes is only gained by removing my sense of ego, the I, me and mine that informs my every action. My identity is much too dear to me. I can do without a lot of things but if I surrender my sense of self then what do I have left?

Ashtavakra says EVERYTHING!

Such an interesting concept, that my desires and my ego actually create limits and imprison me rather than expand my reach.
I’ve always thought of surrender as sacrificing something. Giving up desire, suppressing my ego, abandoning my will. But Ashtavakra presents it as a shedding of bondage, a release from entanglement, an inheritance of omniscience.

If I can distance myself from the strictures of body, mind and intellect and feel kinship with my higher Self, then yes I can roam about the world like a dry leaf, accepting the results of previous karma during this lifetime while being free from attachment. If I take what comes, accept it without hesitation, do my duty without desire for a specific outcome, then Ashtavakra says, I can achieve freedom here and now.

As for Arjuna? The battle he was urged to fight was not a physical battle destroying external enemies. The battle he fought and won, the only battle any of us are supposed to engage in, is the battle against our limited view of the world, against the ego which separates us from our fellow man and keeps us trapped in the delusion that we can or should somehow control the journey of a leaf blowing in the wind.

Like I said, I’m not quite ready. But it’s good to know.

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