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Flower Chanting
by Robin Armstrong On Nov.3, 2002 we had a 12 hour day of chanting. It turned out to be an incredible experience. The style of chanting changed every hour or so and the energy just kept getting better as the day progressed. We chanted the call of the millennium for world peace. In this chant we sang out the names of Hari Om, Jehovah, Allah and Adonai simultaneously. By chanting the names of God of the different religions we felt that we were bringing them together in peace, at least in our world! It felt great! In the afternoon we went outside, even though it was a cold day, and we chanted the solar system and then we chanted the galaxy. Each person walked in a circle around the sun. Each circle was further away from the center, just like the planets are from the sun. As each person walked they chanted a specific chant. Each person moved at a different speed and every time they took a step they chanted a name of God and
Flower Power, Chanting Hari Om & throwing flower petals in the air threw rose petals as an offering. It took some effort to find rose petals in November but God was with us. Our dancing and chanting was making a sound mandala to God, and the flower petals made their own mandala on the ground. The experience was happy, exhilarating and really Divine! When was the last time you move free of care and threw flower petals in the air? For me it was Nov. 3, 2002. The experience put new meaning to the term flower power! We then joined together and moved as a galaxy, chanting Hari Om and blessing the Divine Mother. In the evening we created another sound mandala but this time in the comfort of Tanis house. We chanted the I Ching sending blessings to our ancesters and to the seasons of the year and the signs of the zodiac. This was a 12 hour experience of Oneness. We were all grateful and blissed out! On June 21, 2003, the Summer Solstice, we will do it again.
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Balayogiji
Gurudakshina
Balayogiji stayed with Chunilal at Hajimanzil first for about a month and a half and then for about two months and a half. As his Gurudakshina (fee for spiritual enlightenment), Balayogiji asked Chunilal to take him on a pilgrimage. (Pilgrimage means: Formerly, students were not charged anything for any kind of tuition, but after they completed their courses they would give a gift according to their means. Here, in fact, the Guru himself pays the fee for his tutorship.) But he knew Chunilal was in financial straits and, going out of his way for one single day, he accepted gifts from those who came to him
regarded a dharma = duty). At a lonely spot on the verandah behind the back wall of that dharma-shala there stretched out at full length a tall, vigorous, half-naked man. When they came to him, See! This is a crocodile, said Balayogiji. A kick from him awakened the crocodile from his samadhi. He opened his eyes, at first suffused with anger at the disturbance, but seeing Balayogiji he softened and greeted him with a smile and joined palms in the Hindu fashion. Both of them fell into a mystic talk. Where are you now? asked Balayogiji, In akasha (the sky),
Chanting Hari Om
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Nadian Ashram. The banyan tree where Mota used to chant. there was a Banyan tree. The atmosphere near that banyan tree and the river was so beautiful that Balayogiji decided to stay for some days there for sadhana. Pujya Shree Mota then Chunilal made provision for every day food. At night Chunilal would stay along with Balayogiji and did sadhana. Balayogiji would make Chunilal sit on one of the branch of that banyan tree and asked him to chant Hari Om mantra. Once when Chunilal was sitting on the branch chanting Hari Om mantra, suddenly he felt asleep resulting, stop of his chanting. Balayogiji seeing this threw a stone which hit Chunilal and said, chanting should be done at fully awaken state. Chunilal then began to chant heartily. One day, Balayogiji called Chunilal and said, Son, at this place you will make a Ashram and with which heartily and rigorously you are chanting now, afterwards thousands of sadhak with love and concentration would chant here. Chunilal was astonish hearing this and thought, he has no money to travel between two village, how could he construct an Ashram ?
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Chanting Hari Om
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56. When the feeling of Being rises to the top of intensity in heart and when it becomes continuous, nature 62. The resting in Being indeed is transforms itself to the highest. the truest achievement in life. If one has it, he has achieved 57. That indeed is the State of everything in the world. Being which takes us from the plane of nature to the higher One. 63. The realms of the State of Being are all divine, and 58. The essence of Being that independent of each other, and emerges, the State of Being that is original; and yet basically different the original feeling of Being flows from each other. on its own spontaneously. 64. The world of each State of 59. Thus each State of Being is Being is apart, however the thread different from the other. of consciousness strings all The best is the original spontaneous together. State of Being. 65. The State of Being is beyond 60. To cultivate the feeling of Being words; the subtle plane Being rests one should have the aspiration that in Beings and cannot be is enkindled like a great fire. comprehended, 61. Such a one only can cultivate the State of Being in heart. All others are simply incapable of doing it. 66. What Bliss is the State of Being. Words cannot describe it, unless at the same time one stands apart to witness it;
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Swami Sivananda
Benefits of Japa
Excerpts for Japa Yoga by Swami Sivananda (p.20) Silent repetition of Gods Name, Hari Om, or Sri Ram, is a tremendous tonic and potent specific for all diseases. It should never be stopped even for a day under any circumstances. It is like food. It is a spiritual food for the hungry soul. Lord Jesus says: You can hardly live on bread alone; but you can live on the Name of God alone. You can drink and live on the nectar that flows during Japa and meditation. Even simple mechanical repitition of a Mantra has got a very great effect. It purifies the mind. It serves as a gate-keeper. It gives intimations to you whenever some worldly thoughts enter the mind. At once you can drive those thoughts and do Smarana of the Mantra. Even during mechanical repetition, a portion of the mind is there at work with it.
Silent repetition of Gods Name, Hari Om, or Sri Ram, is a tremendous tonic and potent specific for all diseases. It should never be stopped even for a day under any circumstances.
The practice of Mantra Yoga for a long period of time makes one aware of sounds actually creating images, and of certain images having an inherent sound. In his book Japa Yoga Swami Sivananda Sarasvati says that sounds are vibration which give rise to definite forms. The repeated chanting of the name of the Lord gradually builds up the form or special manifestation of the deity worshipped (the Devata) and acts as a focus to concentrate this influence, which then penetrates and becomes the center of consciousness of the worshipper. The Devata is the presiding deity of the Mantra, the informing power, a very personal aspect of God. It is the wisdom that comes from a higher source and is like a
Chanting Hari Om
attachment (to material things) is removed. When this is removed the attachment of the mind also vanishes. Those who have got rid of their attachment of mind become one with That which is motionless. They become Liberated even while alive. Seek their company.
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10. The body is inert like a pot. Since it has no I-consciousness and since, in its absence in deep sleep, we still exist, it cannot be the I. Who is it then that produces INVOCATORY 5. Neither sacred bathing places the feeling of I-ness? Where is 1. That in which this entire universe consisting of water nor the images of Gods made of stone and clay can he? In the heart-cavern of those is established to which it pertains, who thus (enquire and) realize, the equal those great ones. They take out of which it arises, for which it omnipresent Arunachala Siva countless days to purity one, but exists, by which it comes into know that the Sages do so by a mere shines of his own accord as Thatbeing, and which it really is that is am-I, consciousness. the Self- existent Reality, the Truth. look. 11. He alone is born who, after Let us worship That in the heart. 6. Who is God? He who knows enquiring Where was I born? is the mind. My mind is known by born in his source, which is me who am spirit. Therefore you Brahman. Know that he is everTHE TEXT are God; also because scripture born and daily renewed. He is the declares God is one? 1. By association with the Sages supreme Sage.
(continued)
12. Give up the idea that this loathsome body is the Self. Realize the eternally blissful Self. To seek to know the Self while cherishing the ephemeral body is like mistaking a crocodile for a log and trying to cross the river on it. 13. Gifts, penance (tapas), sacrifice, upright conduct (dharma), self-control (yoga), devotion (bhakti), heaven (the expanse of consciousness), substance (existence), peace, truth, grace, silence, the Supreme State, deathless death, knowledge, renunciation, Liberation, bliss know that all these are only severance of the I-am-the-body consciousness. 14. To enquire who it is who has karma, vibhakti (lack of devotion), viyoga (separation) and ajnana (ignorance) is true path of karma, bhakti, yoga and jnana. Remaining as the Self which has none of these things, and without an ego to make the enquiry, is indeed the true state. 15. The attitude of those madmen who, without realizing the Power which animates them, expect to attain all super natural powers reminds one of the story of the lame man who said, If I am supported on my feet what can the enemy do? 16. Peace of mind is permanent in Liberation so how can those whose minds are attached to supernatural powers, which cannot be gained without activity of the mind, achieve the bliss of Liberation in which there is a cessation of the activity of the mind? Arunachala 17. The Lord bears the burden of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami the world. The pseudo- Self which thinks it bears it is like the grinning Maha Mantra sculptured figure (at the top of a Hare Krishna Hare Krishna temple tower) which seems to Krishna Krishna Hare Hare support it. Whose fault is it if one Hare Rama Hare Rama who travels in a cart carries his Rama Rama Hare Hare luggage on his head to his own discomfort instead of putting it in Srimad-Bhagavatam,C2, Ch.7, #2 the cart which carries it anyway? The Prajapati first begot Suyajna, in the womb of his wife Akuti, and 18. Between the two breasts, below then Suyajna begot demigods, the chest and above the abdomen, headed by Suyama, in the womb of there are six centres of different colours. One of those resembles the his wife Daksina. Suyajna, as the Indradeva, diminished very great bud of a water lily inside and is situated two digits to the right. This miseries in the three planetary systems [upper, lower & is the (spiritual) heart. intermediate], and because he so 19. It is inverted and within it is a diminished the miseries of the tiny orifice in which dwells dense universe, he was later called Hari darkness (ignorance) along with by the great father of mankind, desires, etc. All the great psychic namely Svayambhuva Manu. nerves (nadis) depend upon it. It is the abode of the vital forces (pranas), the mind and the light (of OM in Tamil consciousness). 20. The Lord who dwells and shines in the lotus of the heart is worshipped as Guhesa (Lord of the Cave). When, by continued effort, the conviction I am that Guhesa becomes as firm as the sense of I in your body and you become the Lord, nescience of the form I am the perishable body, will disappear like darkness at sunrise.
Chanting Hari Om
Hearing. For many a Kalpa - as numerous as the particles of sand in the river Ganges - Avalokiteshvara Buddha, the hearer and answerer of prayer, has visited all the Buddhalands of the ten quarters of the universe and has acquired Transcendental Powers of Boundless Freedom and Fearlessness and has vowed to emancipate all sentient beings from their bondage and suffering. How sweetly mysterious is the Transcendental Sound of Avalokiteshvara! It is the pure Brahman Sound. It is the subdued murmur of the seatide setting inward. Its mysterious Sound brings liberation and peace to allsentient beings who in their distress are calling for aid; it brings a sense of permanency to those who are truly seeking the attainment of Nirvanas Peace . . . While I am addressing My Lord Tathagata, he is hearing at the same time, the Transcendental Sound of Avalokiteshvara. It is just as though, while we are in the quiet selection of our Dhyana practice, there should come to our ears the sound of the beating of drums. If our minds, hearing the sound, are undisturbed and tranquil, this is the nature of perfect accommodation. The body develops feeling by coming in contactsomething, and the sight of eyes is hindered by the opaqueness of objects, and similarly with the sense of smell and of taste, but it is different with
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5. Rama, Krishna, Jesus, Allah, these are names of the ManySwami Ramdas on July 20, 1928. faceted One. When you pay Page 11 Letters of Swami Ramdas, attention to one facet, the rest are not neglected or negated. When the V. 1. Love in the making sees faults, but devotee dives into the flood of Bliss which One Name-Form confers, he forgives them. Love in its grand is diving into the same ocean of fulfillment never sees any faults: hence it has nothing to forgive. This Bliss that the Full is. The waters of Swami Ramdas this ocean are not separated by lines is the supreme innocence, An excerpt from drawn on them to demarcate This simplicity and holiness of heart. A The Gospel of Swami Ramdas, by Gods Region and That Gods heart like that is Gods own heart. A Region. Plunge anywhere, you are Swami Satchidananda, p.35 ray from this heart purifies plunging into the self-same Bliss. millions. This ray is divine grace. a sadhaka on the bhakti path 6. Namasmarana, thus done, unites goes on joyously singing the sweet people by making them realize that name of the Lord, rejecting nothing they are all children of one and the and accepting everything as the very same God and thus paves the way embodiment of his Beloved. So his for Fatherhood of God and the sadhana itself is turned into a Brotherhood of Man. sadhya. That is, the means becomes esty and His Glory. the end. p.20..By proper discrimination between the real and the unreal, give up the desire for worldly enjoyments which are but ephemeral. The more you fill your mind with God, the less will be its desire for sense-pleasures. Bhakti intensifies vairagya. Strenuous effort and regular practice will gradually fill the mind completely with God and there will be no chance for worldly thoughts or desires to enter it. Now you experience immeasurable joy and the moment you utter Gods name
Chanting Hari Om
Toronto drive North on Hwy 404, West on Aurora Rd, S (left) on Bercsy (the first street after the Go Station-train tracks), turn right on the second street and then a quick left. The white building on your left is the place with parking on the side.
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chanting and meditation will be held at Alain Passenauds home. (The actual Full Moon is at 3:36 pm EST.) Wednesday Night, Apr. 30, 2003 at 7:00 pm: New Moon Meditation and Chanting of Hari Om. This evening of chanting and meditation will be held at Robin Armstrongs home. (The actual New Moon is on May 1 at 8:15 am EDT.) Thursday Night, May 15, 2003 at 7:00 pm: Full Moon Lunar Eclipse Meditation and Chanting of Hari Om. This evening of chanting and meditation will be held at Alain Passenauds home. (The actual Full Moon is at 11:36 pm EST.) Friday Night, May 30, 2003 at 8:00 pm: New Moon Solar Eclipse Meditation and Chanting of Hari Om. This evening of chanting and meditation will be held at Robin Armstrongs home. There will be extra chanting to keep the eclipse energy spiritual. (The actual New Moon is on May 31 at 0:20 am EDT.) Friday Night, June 13, 2003 at 7:00 pm: Full Moon Meditation and Chanting of Hari Om. This evening of chanting and meditation will be held at Alain Passenauds home. (The actual Full Moon is on June 14, at 7:16 am EST.)
Calendar:
Sunday Night, Mar. 2, 2003 at 7:00 pm: New Moon Meditation and Chanting of Hari Om. This evening of chanting and meditation will be held at Robin Armstrongs home. (The actual New Moon is at 9:35 pm EST during our chanting!) Tuesday Night, Mar. 18, 2003 at 7:00 pm: Full Moon Meditation and Chanting of Hari Om. This evening of chanting and meditation will be held at Alain Passenauds home. (The actual Full Moon is at 5:35 am EST.) \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ Thursday Night, Mar. 20, 2003 at 7:00 pm: Spring Equinox Chanting of Hari Om. The Spring Equinox is a time when the forces of light and darkness are momentarily in balance. It occurs in the midst of the most intense and rapid changes of darkness into light. Chanting at such a time powerfully implants the name of God into our life and it inspires actions towards the light. We will chant Hari Om for 3 hours without stopping. This will build an intensity that will stay with you throughout the Spring. As light increases so does activity. Let God drive and direct the chariot of your life!
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Saturday, June 21, 2003 at 10:00 am to 9:30 pm: Towards The One: A Day of This evening of chanting and Chanting and Spiritual Enhancement to meditation will be held at Tanis Hargraves celebrate the Summer Solstice. This home. (The Equinox is at 8:00 pm EST event like last Novembers will be held at during our chanting!) Tanis Hargraves home in Aurora. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
Tuesday Night, Apr. 1, 2003 at 7:00 pm: New Moon Meditation and Chanting of Hari Om. This evening of chanting and Sunday Night, June 29, 2003 at 7:00 meditation will be held at Robin pm: New Moon Meditation and Armstrongs home. (The actual New Moon Chanting of Hari Om. This evening of is at 2:19 pm EST.) chanting and meditation will be held at Wednesday Night, Apr. 16, 2003 at 7:00 Robin Armstrongs home. (The actual New pm: Full Moon Meditation and Moon is at 2:39 pm EDT.) Chanting of Hari Om. This evening of
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Redemption of Sins
Excerpt from Hari Om Vision of Life Eternal by Pujya Shree Mota from page 88-89. During your meditation, it struck you that Hari comes from the Sanskrit hri = to take away. Hari, therefore, means He who takes away (our) sins. But you must not think of this during your meditation or remembrance of God (Hari). At any other time, you can certainly contemplate that definition. I ask you not to think of this during your meditation or prayer because redemption of sins
Chanting Hari Om
P.O. Box 5265, Station A, Toronto, ON. M5W 1N5 (e-mail: ra2@on.aibn.com)