NOW ~ Living as Being

[Katie Davis]

As we know by now, the mind primarily compulsively thinks about the past and it problematic situations and conflicts or it thinks about the future; who it is going to become, feels anxious or worries. This is simply natural for the ego-self as it runs from the past and hurries to the future. Meanwhile, it creates more and more opportunities for you and others to suffer.

The first step toward spiritual awakening is what up out of time. Our misidentification with the ego and its thinking requires time in order to function.

What are you noticing as you begin to wake up out of time?

How are you feeling as you are becoming more consistently aware of the present moment?

When you find yourself lost in thought, what tools are you using to become present?

[P.dasi]

Namaste again:..........Many years ago I read the book called "Be Here Now"..........That was when the hippie movement was in full swing. At that time many were using drugs, to be here now.........until meditation became popular, and then chanting mantra's became popular. Drugs were then seen as bad for the health, and discontinued by many who wanted to seek a true yogic path. The new age movement has given people a variety of ways to become aware of the present moment. One ancient way is "Devotional Art", or mandala or chakra art.

Ancient symbols, lines, circles, letters, colors were drawn, and in the moment of drawing these specific figures, divine energy became absorbed . Yantra's are such a form, etched onto copper, silver, or gold plates. In Vastu (the origin of Feung Shui), such yantra's are used to bring about a feeling of positive energy, and they help to clear negative energy in one's home, or in an individual room., or office. The energy helps one to be here now. To be focused, and positive, relaxed, and stress free. These yantra's, mandala's, or chakra's, were made while chanting mantra's, to empower the designs, with energy from the transcendental or enlightened dimension. The sound vibrations became engrained into the design. The artist of course had to be in a pure state of mind while doing the art. The requisites were that one rose early in the morning, and after bathing, and meditation, then just after sunrise, one would begin the art work, while at the same time chanting mantra's either out loud, or mentally. Some these days are drawn on paper. But traditionally they were etched in metal. After they were completed, they were placed in a sacred spot in the house, or temple, on the eastern side or wall, on an altar. East being an important direction, because the sun rises in the east, being symbolic of enlightenment. Meditation and contemplation was performed in front of such an altar, to help one enter into an enlightened ,peaceful state. Morning , noon and evening were the times of meditation, to maintain a steady awareness.

Brahmins (enlightened ones) in India , some are left today, who bathe 3 times a day, morning, noon and evening, and they after putting on clean attire, usually a dhoti, and kurta, and after marking their body with natural clay designs, called tilok, which are drawn by hand on the body in certain areas, marking the body as a temple of God, while saying specific mantra's, keep themselves in an enlightened awareness by this very process. The clay they use comes from sacred rivers, either the Ganges, or Yamuna Rivers. By applying the tilok markings they believe, it changes their consciousness. It gives them the awareness that they are eternal soul, residing in the temple of the body. This temple body houses the soul. Auspicious energies are said to be present in the tilok markings.

When in India I saw a variety of tilok markings on the foreheads of the people. Shiviates wear three horizontal lines across the forehead. Vaisnava's wear a V shaped line in the middle of the forehead. There are 12 places where they mark the body, to sanctify it. Sanctifying it means to give them the power to keep the realization, that they are not the body. So these are the ancient tools or methods some people in India use to be in the present moment.
..................p. dasi