Wednesday, November 14, 2018

Memoirs of my 41 days Sadhana


I contacted a group of friends on September 29, 2018 to ask whether they were interested in joining me for a 41 days Sadhana that consisted of chanting a two line Devi mantra for ten minutes daily. Eleven of us decided to start from October 2nd.

Snake’s visit, a prelude?

Same day evening while brooming the house, my maid called me to show a small writhing worm like thing. It was about 12 cms long and dark brown in color. My husband and the maid told it was a snake, it moved like a snake. But I didn’t consider it a snake as it was too small to be a snake. He took it on a paper and left among bushes.
Next day again the maid told me that she found another one below the table, but this time it was a dead one. She said to me, ‘You can take a closer look at it to see the head, it resembles the hood of a snake.’ I checked and saw they were right. It was indeed a snake, it was as if the Universe wanted me to know this fact.
On doing an internet check, I came to know that it is the smallest snake and is called Brahminy blind snake, flowerpot snake, or Brahminy worm snake.  

It is a nonvenomous blind snake species found mostly in Africa and Asia, but has been introduced in many other parts of the world. They are completely fossorial (i.e., burrowing) animals, with habits and appearance similar to earthworms, for which they are often mistaken.

The message?

A snake could appear when you are stepping into the unknown and need support to move forward. It can symbolize spiritual guidance. This animal is typically close to the ground and can remind you of staying grounded as you move through changes.
In ancient traditions as well as modern times, snakes are symbols of healing powers and opportunities. A snake is a symbol of rebirth, patience, intellect, longevity, vigilance, eternity, protection, rejuvenation, intuition, enigma, and splendor. When a snake appears in one’s life, it likely means that healing opportunities, change, important transitions, and increased energy are manifesting. The presence of the snake in your life often means that you are in a period of transition and it points to ways that promote your personal growth.
It was likely that I was being prepared for the changes that this sadhana would bring into my life.

Shoe flowers galore

I use hibiscus flowers to worship Kali Devi for whom I do Havans on Tuesdays and Fridays. On 1st October, I saw that there were four flowers in one of my plants (the flowers stay for a few days on the plant). I left two on the plant since I needed them for 2nd, when I would do Havan and start my chanting  Sadhana. But on 2nd morning, I was surprised to see many flowers on the plant.


There is another hibiscus plant in my green house. It gives flowers intermittently; usually a lone flower will bloom. We attribute the reason to the limited sunlight the plant gets indoors. But once I started the chanting, suddenly several buds appeared and many times I was getting two flowers a day.


I use Nerium Oleander flowers also for my daily puja. When I started my sadhana, the tree gave different colored flowers to show its appreciation! 


I haven’t seen it happening ever before.

An unusual seed

On October 3rd, my husband went to the empty plot behind our clinic and brought a peculiar seed to show me. He told he had seen it in Jaipur during his childhood and never seen it in South India. The moment I saw the seed and held it in my hands, I felt some connection of the seed and spiritual pursuit, and told him to get me more seeds. He didn’t remember its name correctly. He tried to search on the net, even by uploading its picture, but didn’t succeed.

On 4th he brought me more seeds and I put the photograph of the seed on the Facebook and asked for any information about it. One friend responded and told it was Tiger’s claw, and ‘Hath Jodi’ in Hindi, as it resembles two hands. 


These seeds can help humans to channel the Divine power(s) of the Universe by activation through some preparatory stages and worship. The plant is considered a form of Goddess Chamundi. As the fierce aspect of Devi closely associated with Kali, She is also associated with Mother Parvati and Durga. While Mother Kali manifests the power of time, death and destruction, Mother Chamunda holds infinity and eternity.
I thought it appropriate to activate the seed during the sadhana period and started doing it in earnest. During the initial Havan, I got to see the silhouette of Kamakhya Devi. 

                                                                   During the Havan 

                                                            Puja to activate the seeds

Three days fasting

Navaratri celebrations came during the period of our sadhana, to me it was not a coincidence at all. I got the message to do three days fasting (with fruits and milk). It was the first time in my life and I was pleased with the result – amazing energy with a light feeling and very deep meditation experience!
And on the 4th day during meditation I felt the presence of a huge snake hood above my head like it is seen above Lord Parshwanatha’s head.  

                                                                    Lord Parshwanatha

Along with Mahavira, Rishabhanatha and Neminatha, Parshvanatha is one of the four Tirthankaras who attracts the most devotional worship among the Jains. His iconography is notable for the serpent hood over his head. Parshvanatha is said in Jain texts to have been born in Benares (Varanasi, India), renounced the worldly life and founded an ascetic community.

My husband joked that Parshwanatha had blessed me for fasting, as fasting is very prevalent among the Jains.

Sprouting in the current state

While plucking the ground nuts from the plant roots, one of them caught my attention, it had germinated while it was still attached to the root.

Again, when I was cleaning the coconut in the kitchen, I noticed that it had started germinating. A clear indication that new growth is possible in whatever stage one is in. Effort and perseverance are all that are needed.  


Buddha coming in..

A couple who came to learn Reiki from me was raving so much about the serial ‘Buddha’ they were watching, that we also started watching some time back. There were 55 episodes and we watched the last episode on October 21st. When I realised how compassionate he was to every living being, it struck me that even though I behave compassionately to other human beings, my compassion comes from a logical reasoning, it doesn’t spring straightway from the heart.

I realised that Buddha must have some insight into the past or future of a person that his heart is filled with compassion. For example, when we enter a room full of people and everybody except one person stand up in respect, we can feel irritated. But if we are aware that he had an accident on the way and his knees were hurting so much that he couldn’t stand up, we will only feel compassion for him.

So I started praying to Buddha to bless me with such compassion. Then on He was communicating with me during daily meditations. He made me aware that I was not compassionate to myself. Being a perfectionist, I cannot forgive myself for any mistake. ‘You can be compassionate to others only if you are compassionate to yourself’, he told me. And I consciously started being compassionate to myself.

Rice kheer for the full moon.

I got the message from Buddha to have kheer on full moon. A video popped up on the you tube section on my husband’s mobile, extolling the benefits of keeping the kheer under moon light on Sharad purnima and consuming it . He remembered that his mother used to do it. So I kept the kheer under moonlight and it was so delicious. I had it at 4 am before meditation practice and the meditation that followed was unique.

I have been to Bodh Gaya in Bihar and visited the Bodhi tree under which Buddha attained enlightenment. I imagined myself sitting under the same tree and meditating. First I could feel the chakras from heart chakra to the brow chakra as separate chakras and gradually they all merged into one. Then I saw a bright full moon in between my eye brows, I could feel the whole inside of my head being lit with bright light.

A physical proof?

I felt that something has definitely happened, but I requested the Universe to give me a physical proof. We went for yoga practice at 5.30 am; we stood on the balcony and tried to see the magnificent full moon, as we always do on full moons. But there was no moon to be seen, though the sky was clear and the stars were visible. My husband was surprised; I laughed and said, ‘This is the physical proof for me. The moon is not seen outside, it is inside my head.’

Towards conclusion

We had gone to Bangalore for Diwali, which fell on 7th November. Since there is an active spiritual group in Bangalore, I decided to come back to Belgaum only after finishing my Sadhana (which fell on 11th) in Bangalore. And what an experience it was!

On 7th morning, we had a Havan and Tripura rahasya chanting, and group meditation for three hours.   Sixteen of us joined for a day long meditation on 10th, with lunch break in between. On the last day, the 11th, there was a Reiki I class with an amazing group of participants and we had the Havan and chanting at 7 pm. I asked Devi to give me a proof that the Sadhana has been accepted. A small twig jumped out of the Havan kund and fell in front of me!

                                                      

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