AMS Newsletter
Volume 39, May 2014 |
Our Dear meditator friends,
Now is the time to register for the summer National retreat/course In Philadelphia! There will be a great program for all of us. Courses help us to recommit to our spiritual path. The mind is always drawing us outward and distracting us with transitory things that ultimately bring us no lasting peace. Come to this 5 day course and dive into the stillness of your Being. Also see the information below for the Spanish course. Raman would love it if some Americans could join.
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Summer Retreats
SPANISH MEDITATION SOCIETY
May 14 - 19, 2014
Seville, Spain
AMERICAN MEDITATION SOCIETY
Haverford (Philadelphia), PA
June 27 - July 2
click for more info
CANADIAN MEDITATION SOCIETY
Victoria, BC
August 16 - 22
contact: rpbowers@gmail.com
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Impressions of the Poconos Retreat
The first weekend of April, we held our Spring retreat at the Poconos hosted once again by the kind nuns at the Villa of our Lady Retreat Center. It was a tight schedule of events, but never felt rushed. We had several lovely satsangs. Vidya brought a video of Gururaj that was short and sweet. We watched part of it one day and then the whole video the next. There was a wonderful discussion about the tape and what stood out for me was how if you do 10%, Grace will do the rest. I have experienced this without realizing quite how accurate this is. The tape also panned the audience and we all had a good time when we realized who was there - Merrill and Mataji! Merrill gave a lovely satang on "heartspace" that had a nice practical aspect of going to "bad" thoughts and then bringing yourself to your "heartspace". Merrill also led an "interview" of Vidya about how she came to meditation. Jeff Carr instructed us in Chakras and led a wonderful chakra meditation. Lorietta, assisted by Joe, held a Kirtan session. The two mornings of the retreat there was offered silent walk or Chi Gong/Tai Chi run by Karla and Matji. On Saturday afternoon, Joe Charsagua held a yoga class. An exciting part of the weekend was having people new to meditation come. We discussed our chant and practices for their benefit, but ours as well. It is always nice to review these things. It was a well-attended event and I was pleased to meet the meditators of our Gururaj family. ~ Michelle Parent
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The Spiritual Path: Leaping into the Unknown
GURURAJ: The spiritual path is always a leap to go from the known to the unknown. And if man is not prepared to go from the known to the unknown, he can never be on the spiritual path. The spiritual
path, or self-discovery, is an adventure. There is no fun in climbing up a mountain if you know the route. But as you go along climbing the mountain, you have all these various experiences and excitements at every step, at every nook and cranny, and that is what the spiritual path is about. If a person wants to go to things he knows, then all the adventure, excitement, and joy is lost because in approaching that which is already known, expectations begin. You expect that you will find this on the path or that on the path, so where is the joy of it?
The spiritual path, leaping into the unknown, is an exploration. Man is born into this world to explore his latent potentialities. Why do you want to go to the known and know about the known? It is because of an inner fear, an inner insecurity, that you will not venture forth until you know what is in store. The spiritual path is so individual that you can never know what is in store; it is so unknown. So as you progress, various experiences come about that you had not expected. And because you had not expected, that is when you will receive true experiences which are not only of the mind but so much beyond the mind.
The path to Divinity is to take that leap where the route is unmapped, and if any person is not prepared to do that then he will reach nowhere. When the astronauts took their rocket to the moon, they did not know what was going to happen, and without taking that leap, they would not have reached the moon. Hillary and Tensing, when they climbed Everest, did not know what was going to happen. How could they know if there was going to be an avalanche or whatever the case might be? So, man is not prepared to gamble because of his fears and insecurities. The spiritual path is a gamble, although this is not the appropriate word. The appropriate word would be that you have to take a chance into the unknown sphere of which you know nothing. And taking that chance, you will find everything. It requires courage therefore it is said by all Masters that the spiritual path is the hero's path. (UK 80-37)
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E-book: 'The Path of Unfoldment' |
E-book Excerpts from 'The Path of Unfoldment'
by Savita Taylor
Add new excerpt?
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E-book: 'Gems of the Heart' |
E-book: 'Gems of the Heart'
by John Lamb
An uplifting experience and a learning forum, from Gururaj's UK works - a selection of short extracts, poetry and 3 talks.
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