Conference hydra::dejavu

Hey Everyone,

It's time for another Get Together.  Judy Kilgore is going to
be here from May 11 to May 16.  Judy is a moderator of the NATIVE
AMERICAN conference and often participates in DEJAVU.  There are 
many in this area who would finally like to meet her.
    
I'd like to schedule a dinner at the Outlook (or another restaurant)
on Wednesday, May 15th (if that's good for everyone).  This date and 
location isn't firm yet so recommendations are welcome.

If you're interested in attending the get together, let me know.  I will
set up a distribution list and send out notification to all who plan
to attend.
    
    My Mail address is:     ESMAIL::ESOMS  (VAXmail)
                            ESOMS @BUO  (All-in-1)
    
I'm psyched,
Joanne

    I am posting the following event as many from Dejavu have expressed an
    interest in attending these retreats in the past.  The usual disclaimer
    applies (I have no finanical interest, receive no monetary gains,
    etc.).
    
    Ro
    
    The Universal Listening Post (TULiP) announces a

                      WEEKEND ON ONENESS

                    Healing and Wholeness

                Bay View Villa, Saco, Maine
                      (On the Ocean)

                     May 24-26, 1991

Resource Persons:

		Cheryl Bartle
		Harry and Doris Mueller
		Donald Reinke
		Sam and Wilma Reinke
	

Costs and Registration Information:

	Members:...........................$85
	Non-Members:.......................$99
           (Includes One Year Membership)


Send $25 (non-refundable after May 1) to

		Sister Anita Therrien
		Bay View Convent
		187 Bay View Road
		Saco, ME
		04072

		207-283-3636

    I've made reservations for dinner at the Rusty Scupper in Acton
    for next Wednesday's dinner.  Dan McLaughlin has prepared directions
    to the restaurant and they will be going out tomorrow or Monday.  If
    anyone else is interested in attending the dinner, let me know.  So
    far we have a count of about 15.
    
    There are many new people and many read only's in this notes file.  I
    would like to see as many of you as possible attend so we can all get
    to know each other.  These dinners are a way doing this.  If anyone 
    feels uncomfortable about attending, please send me a note off line.  
    Perhaps we can work something out.
    
    My VAXMAIL account is:  ESMAIL::ESOMS
    
    Looking forward to hearing from you,
    Joanne

   The following may be of interest to those who are interested in meditation.
   I picked up a pamplet while in Cambridge saying that Shivabalayogi will be
   in Cambridge June 1-7. Here are some excerpts (I have never seen or heard
   of this person before.):

	Dates:	June 1-7, 1991
	Time:	7:00 - 10:00 PM each evening
	Place:	Church of the New Jerusalem,
		50 Quincy Steet, Cambridge.
	Info:	Call Marc (617) 864-9579

	All prograsm are completely free of charge. Since programs begin with
	meditation, please be prompt.

   His transformation

    ...

   Twelve years of tapas

    ...

   His mission

    At the end of his twelve years of tapas, Swamiji was commisioned by Lord
    Shiva to serve humanity in the following ways:

	* Give darshan (transmission of blessings through his presence)

	* Initiating seekers into Dhyana Yoga (the yoga of meditation)

	* Distributing vibhuti (consecrated ash) for the healing of physical,
   	  mental, and emotional afflictions

    For twenty-nine years, Swamiji has toured India and - more recently - the
    West (He visited America in 1989 and 1990). Fulfilling the commission
    given him by Lord Shiva, he has initiated over two million people into
    Dhyana Yoga.

    Swamiji never charges a fee for any of his spiritual services. He does not
    try to recruit followers. He does not require a particular meditation
    posture, nor does he advise seekers to follow any particular religion,
    creed, or diet. Rather, he encourages people to follow the spiritual path
    of their own choosing. He gives initiation in Dhyana Yoga, a safe and
    simple technique, only for the purpose of deepening one's own spiritual
    practice. He says, "Know truth through meditation. Then you will know who
    you are, your religion, your caste, and your nature. Do not believe what
    others say and become a slave to religious prejudices. Dhyan is your
    religion, dhyan is your caste, dhyan is your path."

   Darshan with Swamiji

    Darshan with Swamiji usually takes place in the evening. He begins by
    initiating those present into Dhyana Yoga. An hour-long meditation
    follows. After meditation, kirtan (music and chanting) may follow. During
    both meditation and kirtan, Swamiji sends our silent blessings to all
    present.

    After meditation and kirtan, Swamiji invites seekers to come up to him
    individually with their concerns. If you are struggling with a difficulty
    of some kind, Swamiji gives you his blessing and specially consecrated
    vibhuti. Many seekers have attributed physical and psychological healings
    to the vibhuti given by Swamiji.

    Swamiji does not give lectures or spiritual discourses, preferring to
    instruct seekers silently through his presence. However, at times he does
    respond to questions from the audience on spiritual matters.

   [There is more on the pamplet I did not type in. I called Marc, who said
   that "if you are in to meditation, this can be a powerful event."]

   For your info,
   Wayne

    
    
>>
>>  At the end of his twelve years of tapas, Swamiji was commisioned by Lord
>>  Shiva to serve humanity in the following ways:
>>
    
    Pray,  tell  us  Wayne,  who  is  this  Lord  Shiva ?

    Jana
    

    
    Jana,
    
    Since you ask the question, perhaps you should let us know what you
    know about Lord Shiva.
    
    Cindy

   Perhaps I should quote the rest of the pamplet:

   His Transformation

     At the age of 14, Sri Shivabalayogi had a spontaneous vision of Lord
     Shiva and went into deep samadhi. Until then he had lived the life of an
     ordinary village boy in South India. He describes the day of his
     transformation as follows:

       "After breakfast, I went out to play with my friends. Around 2:00 p.m.
       I felt hungry and decided to go home for lunch... While waiting for
       lunch to be prepared, some friends who had come to my home forced me to
       accompany them to the river for a bath. On the way to the Godavari
       river canal, we passed under a few palm trees. A fruit fell into my
       hand. As I squeezed the fruit, for no accountable reason, my body began
       trembling all over. I was wondering what had happened to me when all of
       a sudden, I saw a jyoti (light) shining from the fruit in my hand.
       Almost simultaneously, the Omkar Dwani (sound of Om) issued from the
       palm fruit... the fruit disappeared and in its place a Shivalinga lay
       in my hand... the fruit suddenly broke into two halves and fell apart
       and a person in the attire of a Jangam Devar (mendicant yogi) stood
       before me... He then touched me at the Bhrikuti (spot between the
       eyebrows). I lost outer consciousness and went into deep samadhi..."

     This vision of the Jangam Devar was the first of many visitations for
     guidance during the years of spiritual practice which followed.
     Shivabalayogi considered him to be his guru, learning only later that
     this being was Lord Shiva Himself.

   Twelve years of taps

     The initiatory touch of his guru caused Shivabalayogi to lose interest in
     worldly life. Sri Shivabalayogi remainied in a state of deep samadhi for
     the next twelve years (1946-1961), regaining outer consciousness only to
     take care of basic physical needs. During this time, he completed a
     rigorous course of tapas (austerities) under the direction of his Divine
     guru, Lord Shiva. In accordance with the Yoga Shastras, he faced each of
     the four directions in turn. In this way, he attained the siddhi (divine
     power) of each direction. 

     During his tapas, Sri Shivabalayogi faced obstacles in the form of
     malicious acts and extreme physical hardships. Once, suffering from
     gangrene after being bitten by a cobra, he was ready to give up his
     tapas. But his divine Guru appeared and gave him a mantra that healed
     him, and Shivabalayogi continued his tapas. 

     To avoid society, he lived in a windowless hut by the village burial
     ground. He would receieve one meal per day, bathe at midnight, and sleep
     for three hours a night. The rest of the day he devoted to the practice
     of samadhi.

     In 1951, the adept yogi Tapaswiji Maharaj visited Shivabalayogi. Sri
     Tapaswiji was said to have attained a lifespan of 179 years through the
     yogic practice of Kaya Kalpa. He declared that Shivabalayogi was a
     mahatma (great soul) who had been his guru in a previous life. This
     endoursement by a perfected yogi added to the steadily growing reputation
     of the young Shivabalayogi, but he remained in seclusion for the duration
     of his austerities. 

     When he emerged from his twelve years of tapas on August 7, 1961, he was
     greeted by the cheers of over three hundred thousand devotees.

   His mission

     ....

   I was merely quoting the pamplet. As to Shivabalayogi's personal vision of
   Lord Shiva, I don't know. I can quote some textual references. The one I
   happen to have with me, *Journey Into Consciousness* by Charles Breaux, I
   quote:

    "In the yogic system popular personal deities replace the supreme
    impersonal Vedic god Brahman, who represented the Absolute beyond name
    and form. Shiva and Vishnu, for example, became personalized gods and
    centers of focus for yogic systems that incorporated ancient Tantric
    practices. These yoga became the vehicle for what we shall refer to as
    Hindu Tantra." (p. 4)

    "Absolute reality (pristine consciousness) is personified in one form of
    Hindu Tantra as Shiva. Ancient yogis imagined the body of the cosmos to be
    Shiva's lover. She has many names to express her various forms, but is
    generally known as Shakti. When giving form to the formless and limiting
    the infinite, she is called Maya Shakti. The word *maya* comes from the
    Sanskrit root *ma*, which means to measure, to form, to exhibit. Through
    her divine imagination, Maya Shakti conjures up the great illusion of the
    universe by veiling pure consciousness in many layers of matter. This
    apparition (maya) does not mean that the world does not exist; but its
    true nature is hidden because of our obscured minds." (p. 9)

    "Shakti is also worshipped as the revealer of the truth and the Great
    Liberator. All she brings into temporal existence will someday return to
    its original essence. This function of the goddess is personified as the
    awe-inspiring Kali. To the ego-centered person attached to the material
    world, she is a wrathful and horrifying goddess of destruction. To a yogi
    in search of liberation from the illusion and suffering of the ego
    identiy, she is a saviouress." (p. 9)

    "The sexual imagery of Shiva and Shakti as lovers points towards their
    interdependence. Although apparently separate, they are in truth two
    complementary aspects of a single unity; one cannot exist without the
    other. This double-sexed supreme deity is thus both temporal and infinite.
    Shiva is transcendent and changeless, and Shakti is phenomenal and
    mutable." (p. 9)

   So I guess in the context of Shivabalayogi's vision, Lord Shiva is a
   personification of transcendent and changeless pristine consciousness.
   Quoting further:

    "In *Tantra, the Indian Cult of Ectasy*, Philip Rawson describes the
    Tantric view of the cosmos as an interwoven web of vibration, or subtle
    resonances. Originating in the most rarified "substance" of creation,
    these vibrational patterns overlap and intermingle until they appear to
    solidify. The generic sound-substance comes from Shakti's tinkling anklet
    as she dances. As the rhythms of her dance increase in complexity and
    passion, the fabric of the universe is woven into seven major layers of
    density. The seven chakras (major energy centers along the spine) of the
    human microcosm are correlated to this seven-fold division of the
    macrocosm." (p 9-11)

    "The seventh chakra, at the top of the head, is related to the original
    union of Shiva and Shakti. In the sixth chakra, in the center of the head,
    Shakti has separated from Shiva and created the realm of the mind (manas).
    the five remaining chakras, located from the neck to the pelvis, represent
    progressive crystalizations, symbolized by the five elements: ether, air,
    fire, water, and earth. Each stage is denser, as it contracts out of the
    previous element, until the solidity of the earth element is formed." (p
    11)

    ......and so on.

        
    
    Thanks  for  the  taking  the  trouble  of  typing,  
    Wayne,  something  else  I've  heard...
    
    
>   Maya Shakti conjures up the great illusion of the
>   universe by veiling pure consciousness in many layers of matter.
                                                             ^^^^^^
    think  the  appropriate  word  is  'thought'. don't  know  if
    it  matters  either  way ... :-))
    
    
>
>  This apparition (maya) does not mean that the world does not 
>  exist; but its true nature is hidden because of our 
>  obscured minds." (p. 9)     
>
    
    A  different  interpretation,  the  'world'  and  the  'obscured
    minds'  are  'maya'  per  se,  the  Divine  Imagination.
    
    
    :-))