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Namaste Friends,
Our trip to India brought more blessings from Guru Mata and the Shankaracharyas of Kanchi Math than we imagined. We will be visiting them again at the beginning of our Pilgrimage Tour, leaving May 1, 2009, for 24 days.
This sacred journey to India is a continuous visit to holy places. We start in the south and visit Kanchi Math first for darshan by one or both genuine Jagadgurus. Next we go to Vishwa Shanti Ashram near Bangalore and do a group puja to the 25-foot tall murti (spiritually awakened icon) of Vijaya Vittala (Panduranga) The photo of the murti is in the right column, below.
One featured highlight of this spiritual pilgrimage is a visit to each of the eight great Ganesha Temples in the area of Pune. There will be arduous bus rides mixed with tremendous blessings. Other highlights include visiting the temple at Pandharpur, where the Panduranga & Rukmini murtis have stood for thousands of years. After some R&R with ayurvedic treatments, we will go to the Himalayas and see Rishikesh. At Auli, a beautiful camp at about 9500 feet, we will do several fire ceremonies/yajnas together in full view of the mountain tops.
The next highlight is a visit to the highly charged Babaji's Cave, where we have had some amazing experiences.
Since we will be visiting as many holy spots as possible in a short period of time, the accommodations may vary. Some days, we will stay in four-star hotels. Other days, we stay in more plain hotels. This is not a vacation but a spiritual odyssey. Nevertheless, our accommodations with meals keep our travelers from getting food or water illnesses.
We will get some free time and shopping time in each city: Chennai, Kanchi, Bangalore, Pune, Rishikesh, Delhi.
This is a trip which is life transforming if approached in the right spirit.
Do come with us on this great spiritual adventure.
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Collective Unconscious and Group Karma
We all have our desires and problems in life. We constantly seek to better our position in life. We are trying to escape bad karma or create good karma. But a definition of karma will be helpful in exporting the topic. Karma is simply The Law of Cause and Effect.
In most spiritual pursuits, we are concerned with and taught methods to escape our Karma. When we succeed in overcoming karma, the Hindus and the Buddhists call it Liberation from Rebirth. The Great sages of several Far Eastern pursuits refer to it as a state of confronting and living a reality that lies beyond appearances. If there is a reality that lies beyond appearances, then what is our present reality? What causes it? How do we operate in it?
That which causes our reality is a topic that has been discussed (and argued about) for thousands of years. Even at the highest levels of conscious development (while inhabiting a form,) the Great Ones differ. With that as an observation, I will not delve into that discussion here, but instead concentrate on how this level of reality operates and what strong influences are affecting us every day, whether or not we are aware of them.
Our karma from past lives operates strongly as a predominant influence on our mental outlook, emotional predispositions, behavioral tendencies, opportunities, family situation of birth, and the like. Karma is another long and varied discussion with several opposing points of view on its finer aspects. But there is another powerful force in our daily lives that is seldom, if ever, discussed in the spiritual community, although it is addressed in the psychology community. It is the Collective Unconscious.
The Collective Unconscious is a term coined by psychologist Carl Jung. He calls it "a part of the psyche that is distinguished from personal unconscious by the fact that it does not owe its existence to personal existence, and, consequently, it is not a personal acquisition."
Here are the Characteristics of The Collective Unconscious.
· It has never been conscious in the individual sense.
· It is made up of archetypal ideas
· It creates motifs of thought and behavior in the subconscious.
· It is a representative collection (in the sense of the Levy/Brul sense of the psychology of primitives.)
· It is primordial thoughts (in the sense described by psychologist Adolph Bastion).
· It is inherited through birth.
· It is patterns of instinctive behavior.
· Its various patterns are said in psychology to constitute the Anima Mundi or the world (materialistic) soul. The psychological term, Anima Mundi, is differentiated from the Logos of Humanity, which is continually learning about itself as we evolve. The Logos sometimes takes an active role in our mass evolution, even as it learns. This is where the Masters work with the Logos within the Great Plan for humanity's destiny.
Please know that you may encounter the idea of the Collective Unconscious described differently in other modes of study or learning disciplines.
Understanding the idea of the Collective Unconscious leads us in the direction of group experiences. This necessarily leads to its inclusion under the idea of Group Karma.
Since some mystics refer to Group Karma, then we must ask what, for us, constitutes Group Karma? Here is a partial list for your consideration.
· National origins
· Country of primary origin
· Racial Group
· Economic Group
· Historical placement...where in the flow of history.
· Destiny of Nations
· Astrological configurations through the outer planets. Pluto, for instance, has an orbit around the sun of over 300 hundred years. An entire generation of humanity can live and die while Pluto in a single sign.
· Procession of the Yugas: We are born and live in Kali Yuga. Which started over 5,000 years ago and which will last for another 427,000 years.
· Root Race: There are seven entirely distinct modes of development for the human species. In esoteric studies, these are called Root Races. We are currently in the 5th Root race. And there are subdivisions within these root races. We are the fourth subsection of the 5th Root Race. Atlanteans, for instance, were part of the 4th Root Race.
Next month we will discuss how this all affects us in the here and now and what our options are. |
| January Mantra
OM SHREEM SHREEM KLEEM HUM
OM EIM KSHOBHAYA MOHAYA
UTKEE-LAYA UTKEE-LAYA
UTKEE-LAYA TAM TAM
"Destroy my karma, lift the 'curse', remove my ignorance, take away my attachment to the world.
Bless me, O Universal Mother, bless me."
In The Ancient Power of Mantra and Ceremony, Vol. 1, 2nd. Ed., you will find this mantra in the Navarna Saddhana. The Navarna Saddhana is the Great Discipline for the Goddess of Protection, Chamundi.
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The works of Thomas Ashley-Farrand (Namadeva) give unprecedented, detailed instruction in how to empower yourself using the techniques of the ancient sages and rishis. He and Satyabhama have been given the mission by their Gurus Sadguru Sant Keshavadas and Guru Rama Mata to bring these teachings to everyone.
To that end, he has written and recorded a number of works, and he travels to North America and the UK to teach workshops. Bi-annually, we lead a Pilgrimage Tour of India's Holy Places, visiting with the Shankaracharayas at Kanchi Math, Guru Mata at Vishwa Shanti Ashram, and doing fire ceremonies in the Himalayas, among the highlights of the trip.
We have founded a religious organization, Sanatana Dharma Satsang, which has opened a Gayatri Temple in Beaverton, Oregon. Plans are in the works to found temples with residential communities in Oregon, New Mexico, and other locations. The link to it is in the right column.
These works are offered in a spirit of service. We sincerely hope that they will further you on your path.
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Prem & Shanti,
Satyabhama (Margalo Ashley-Farrand)
Saraswati Publications, LLC |
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Visit Sanskritmantra.com
At Henson Studios in Hollywood, Namadeva and Satyabhama recorded a DVD of 5 pujas-Ganesha, Dattatreya, Shiva, Lakshmi and Saraswati. If you want the great spiritual energy of puja in your home, get the Pancha Devata Puja DVD and play it often, even while you are out.
Mantra Therapy for Prosperity CD - Help with blocks to prosperity and mantras to bring it in
Ancient Power of Sanskrit Mantra and Ceremony, Volume I & II CDs now recorded and available
Mantra, Path to Spiritual & Material Attainment - a 15-hour workshop on 14 CDs |
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Vishwa Shanti Ashram
 Vijaya Vittala
 Universal Form of Vishnu
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2009 Schedule of Workshops
We will be doing workshops in the following places:
2009January - Beaverton, OR; Los Angeles, CA February - London, England March - Portland, OR; Boston & Kripalu, MA; April - Kansas City, MO; Portland, OR May - India Pilgrimage - May 2009 (We still have places left. Click on the link in the box above for more info.)
June - Guru Mata-Portland, OR; Pensacola, FL; Atlanta, GA, and Charleston, SC
July- Boston, MA; St. Louis, MO.
August - Far Horizons, Sequoia Nat'l Monument, CA
Sept - Lansing, MI; Chicago, IL; Keene, NH, MA: Boston & Kripalu
October - CANADA: BC - 3 workshops, Alberta - 2 workshops
November - CANADA, Alberta
December - Austin, TX
2009 information: http://sanskritmantra.com/schedule.shtml
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CHANTING GROUPS
Cochrane, Alberta, Canada Contact k.labonte@shaw.ca
Los Angeles, CAContact jawrestler1@aol.com
Chicago, ILContact sanskritmary@hotmail.comWestern MA
Contact bill.barry@wildblue.netNew Hampshire (new email address)Contact walsh.campbell@gmail.comPortland, OR
Gayatri Temple
Gayatri Temple Meetup |
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The Ancient Power of Sanskrit Mantra and Ceremony Recordings 
The Ancient Power of Sanskrit Mantra and Ceremony, 2nd. Ed., is now being revised to simplify pronunciation.
As promised some time ago, material to be chanted is being recorded by Namadeva
to be sold in CD sets of 7 or more CDs.
Volume I and Volume II 7-CD sets are now for sale at our online store for $65 each.
Volume III, which will be more than 7 CDs, will be ready in late 2009. | |
