Brahma Kumari Yogini

Opening page to “Chaturtho’dhyaayah” of the Bhagavad Gita

I spent a few hours at the temple this past Sunday, during my temple’s largest monthly gathering. We always collectively chant a chapter of the Gita when we gather like that (thus the name Gita Mandal) and this month our selected chapter was the fourth chapter.

A couple months ago the beloved and I went to Chicago with my parents. While we were there doing a million other things we walked past a “house” of the Brahma Kumaris. I recall that it was a nice, two-story older style home. I also recall that it was rather… Secure. There was a heavy black iron gate that surrounded the property and required a numerical pass code to gain entrance.

Prior to that time, I’d only heard the name but didn’t know much about the group. Admittedly, I still don’t know much about the group. I do know more than I did, though, after the recent trip to the temple where the discourse was given by Brahma Kumari Shubhra from Ohio. She was pretty, far older than she appeared, and like 90% of all other Indians in the United States she is very highly educated – holding a number of high-level degrees and teaching geology at a university in central Ohio.

This speaker went by the name Shubhra and is a 3rd generation Brahman Kumari. Everything she said made sense and I can see why it’s called Raja Yoga. One thing I will say about Raja Yoga is that it’s entirely consistent. I’ve studied a few different groups who would fall into that branch of yogas and their approaches are all very similar, as are their beliefs.

Handout and Prasad from the Brahma Kumari speaker

We ran through the usual liturgy at the temple (invocations, shlokas, dhuns, bhajans, and chanting a chapter of the Bhagavad Gita) and when it was time for the discourse, she came to the front to speak to everyone. Her discourse was entirely logical and filled with love, too. I find that kind of “doctrine” very appealing. You can’t argue with good logic and when love is in the mix – you don’t want to. I’ll admit, this is a group I’m not sure I’ll fit into but I’m definitely curious. I’ve reached out to the nearest BK group that registers on their site, which is in Cincinatti. And now I wait for a stronger connection to be made. We’ll see.

This kind of thing is one of my favorite parts of being a Hindu. In most cases, Hindus are encouraged to feel around. Explore. You must invest efforts needed to test the waters. Without that effort and without testing those waters in some way, you never gain experience. And without experience you won’t become much of a Hindu and you can be sure that your progress to wherever it is you intend to go will be slow. So slow.

Aum Shri Mahaganeshaya Namaha
Aum Shanti

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Devotion Emotion in Spoken Form

While in Chicago recently I picked up a few books on Ganesha specifically. I’ve already made my way through the smallest, which is essentially a booklet. The title is something like Shree Maha Ganesha Siddhi Vrat.

For anyone unfamiliar, “vrat” is the source of the word vow and typically translates as “fast,” meaning to abstain from food for a period of time as a means of purification. The word “siddhi” has many translations and often refers to some beneficent result of having performed some manner of penance. So, loosely, you complete a vrat and achieve some kind of siddhi. My general understanding of siddhis is that they shouldn’t be sought, and can end up being misused or a distraction – but that they can also be quite beneficial, especially when used for others’ good, and can also serve as “milestones” in personal/spiritual progress.

So this booklet details what it indicates is the fool-proof-est way of obtaining a Ganesha siddhi through a very specific vrat. I’m cool with this, aside from the info in the booklet being mostly uninteresting. But something about the booklet kept jabbing me.

Throughout the booklet, instead of telling the reader the right time to intone a mantra, it would instruct the reader and person attempting the vrat to “say the spell.” My first thought is that this is a translation error. My second thought is one of indignation – afterall, mantras aren’t SPELLS, right?

But wait… for a brief period, after Christianity and before Hinduism (and in fact the reason I even encountered Hinduism) I studied paganism and witchcraft. Spellwork was a huge part of this. Anybody will tell you that a spell is something you say to make something happen. On the mundane level, the very foundation of all language is spellwork. More magically, however, we’re talking about something higher than the mundane that we’re still trying to make happen via words. Are mantras any different than spells?

When you break everything down, yes. They are different. But beyond that, from actual formulation clear up through practical application, mantras are as much like spells as they are different. It’s odd. And while we’re at it, “prayer” in other religions is no different. We’re speaking what we want in hopes that something higher or bigger than us will get things moving. I think in my estimation, the biggest difference is that Hinduism cites more than a little science behind the formulation of it’s myraid mantras – something definitely different than the spell an English speaking witch would cast, which more than anything is devotion emotion in spoken form.

How beneficial is it to split spiritual hairs? I’m assuming it’s only as beneficial as knowing whether there’s power behind your actions and words, or whether you’re kind of just making it up.

Om Shri Mahaganeshaya Namaha
Om Shanti

India Book House

Every year, it’s not guaranteed that my beloved and I will take a vacation. We do take time off throughout the year, but an actual dedicated vacation is something a bit new to us, after almost a decade of being together. While there are a few other trips on the potential horizon, this past week has been it for the year. We mostly piddled around the house and around town this week, and bounced a few travel plans around – finally settling on a day trip to Chicago. Saturday. My parents came with us, and it really made all the difference. Our plans were basic: Drive to northern Indiana, take the South Shore Line into the city and use the L to get everywhere, everywhere being two comic book shops for my beloved and Chicago’s Little India for me.

What actually happened was that we all carpooled into the city and got confused almost immediately within China Town, parked in China Town, boarded the L there and took it north to Devon Street, where Little India was supposed to have been. The first 20 minutes in the city and the last 20 minutes in the city were probably the most confusing. Luckily, the very first person we encountered was an L employee who was about as helpful as she could have been without actually riding the L with us – and she actually did do that breifly. You can see her below.

As soon as we boarded the L, we shot from the south side to the north and exited as close as possible to Devon Street, which Google indicates is the Little India of Chicago. Unfortunately, what Google doesn’t share is that there’s a good mile (more?) trek from the Loyola stop on the L to where Little India actually begins. On a hot summer day with Midwest humidity, walking a bajillion city blocks is miserable. Just about as miserable, though, is getting to your supposed destination and repeatedly finding only the same kind of stores: Groceries, dress shoppes, and eateries. Occasionally, we’d see a phone place or a salon of some kind, but the variety was lacking in the most disappointing way. Further, here in Indy, puja items are mostly bought at the Indian grocery stores. In Chicago, most of the groceries in Little India are actually more Muslim (Pakistani) than Hindu. In fact, this area of the city is alternately known as “Indo-pak” because of the very prominent Muslim presence. The result, as far as my shopping was concerned, was that none of the groceries we passed carried Hindu puja items like here in Indy. However, the closest thing we found to fulfill my needs actually was a bookstore and it was a treasure indeed!

The treasure trove discovered at the edge of Chicago’s Little India is called India Book House. We were almost passing it before we knew we were upon it, and after checking out a few Ganesha murtis in the window, decided entry was mandatory. The only way our time spent there could have gone better is if I were made of a little more of money than I am. This place was mostly a book store, but also carried a significant array of mandirs, music, DVDs, CDs, and murtis – many of which were of Ganesha. We spent a good hour in the store while I examined every square inch of the place, making sure no Ganesham went unnoticed. I left with five books: Shree MahaGanesh Siddha Vrat, The Book of Ganesha, Srimad Bhagavadgita (I have about 20 different versions of the Gita, but this is the copy most used at my temple here in Indy and I’ve been looking for an exact copy), The Thousand Names of Ganesha (this particular publication is only available for Ganesha, Vishnu, and Shiva), & Ganesha Puja Vidhi (a manual on proper Ganesha puja protocol as published by the Chinmaya Mission Trust.

I also left with no less than eight very unique Ganesha murtis some of which were good ole chaturbhuj forms, but I also nabbed a fantastic panchamukh and a 16-armed Mahaganapati which is likely to replace the Nrityaganapati as the mahamurti in my home’s mandir. I only say these are unique because I search the local stores and the internet on a somewhat regular basis and I’ve either never encountered these murtis before, or I may have seen close resemblances but not exact. Further, while I’ll admit to having spent hundreds of dollars more than I should have, I know from having already looked far and wide that the same murtis in most other places would be significantly more pricey. The multiple hundreds of American dollars that I spent were well-spent, indeed. Below, you’ll see a pic my dad took of me near one of the shelves with Ganesha murtis. I feel like the pic is a little goofy, but considering how exhausted I was from the trek there, the heat/humidity experienced, and then being nearly blissed out at the finds, goofy is what you’re bound to get from me.

Like the L employee, the man and woman who own and work the India Book House were immensely helpful and kind. Well, mostly the woman. The man mostly just tried to sell me on things I’d already spent 40 minutes looking at and decided against. That was annoying. She, however, assisted me numerous times making sure to keep my items at the register, freeing my hands free to grab more Ganeshams. She also gave me a couple swastikas free. And boon of boons! Near the end of my time there, I asked about locating some rakhis for upcoming Raksha Bandhan – one of my favorite Hindu holidays, and one I’ve been slowly preparing for. They didn’t have any, but she took my address and asked how many I wanted and how fancy I wanted them. I gave her all that info and she promised to grab me some directly from India, ship them to my home address, AND insisted I didn’t pay her for this! We’ll see if she delivers on her promise. If so, I’ll be quite pleased to finish my gifts to people! I still regret not getting a pic with them when I had the chance.

I’m not superstitious, but I’d be a liar if I didn’t admit to thanking Ganesha in my mind and heart when we found the India Book House. We’d walked SO far already, had seen mostly useless stores – half of which were strictly Islamic – and were really about to give up, when we very suddenly found ourselves at the storefront. I’ve taken photos of each murti purchased and have posted to my Facebook Ganesha Collection album which can be viewed here, I think.

After finishing up at the bookstore, because we had spent so much time just getting there, it was time to grab lunch and get to some of my beloved’s shopping. We grabbed lunch in Lockerbie Square where I saw a Hare Krishna cross the street wearing a dhoti, neck mala, and t-shirt. He disappeared into an apothocary.

We kept moving and found our way to the comic stores sought after by my beloved. Sadly, he was disappointed by his findings, much as I was with Little India in general. And I’ll admit, for being nicely located in a place like Chicago the comic shops weren’t spectacular. In fact, we’ve been to small town places back in Indiana that had more to offer. After visiting his places and buying more things, we meandered a bit around the city ducking into one place or another and then decided it was time to head home. During our wandering we passed a gurdwara for the Chicago Sikh community and meditation center for Raja yoga of te Brahma Kumaris.

Sweaty and quite exhausted we worked the L back to China Town and left the city. Overall, I’m quite happy to have this memory with my family. I can think of about 50 others I would also have liked to have along for the day, but time like this with just my parents and my beloved is worth more than gold to me.

Excellent blessings were received from my first and most important gurus, my parents, as we enter the Shravan month and celebrate Guru Purnima. I don’t think God actually loves anyone in such a way as to favor them (after all, that would mean the at least occasional negation of karma), but when so many “good” things happen as they did, it’s hard not to feel smiled upon.

Om Shri Mahaganeshaya Namaha
Om Shanti

Jesus first, then Others, and put Yourself last (JOY)

From 20090330

I had no idea when I agreed to go to the Chicago Midwest Hairshow(called something else now I think) that I’d be signing up for the greatest adventure since last summer’s river escapade with Herbert. I’ll do my best to log the details here, but my brain is very nearly mush at this point and I doubt I’ll do justice to the weekend’s events.

Before I get to the weekend, lemme recap as quickly as possible the Thurs/Fri before.

Anegla B. was in my chair. My only South African client(fully caucasian, mind you), who was helping me learn Afrikaans(which derives largely from dutch, is ridiculously simple, and really reminds me of the “chinese” I often use at home with Wayne and my dogs) and was never not a delight to have around, but will no longer actually be around. Why? She and her family are relocating to the UK. Her parting gift to me was a trashy romance novel that, apparently, takes place in Africa and was from her personal library. It’s the first any only book of its kind that I own and after randomly selecting a paragraph on page 341 I’m more than sure there will be ZERO want/need for porn in my household. Wowsers!

Friday brought the removal of a stint which was “installed” a week ago. I suffered through five days of having more than a foot of latex tubing snake and coil its way through my plumbing and ending with about seven inches of black fishing line dangling, much to my misery, from my peehole. REALLY uncomfortable. The removal itself was prolly the single quickest event of my life thus far, lasting all of 2.3 seconds. It was also, though, one of the most intense pains I’ve ever felt. Thank gods for its lack of duration.

Saturday I had only one client in my chair before Leah and I embarked on our journey…nay, pilgrimage…to Chicago. I say pilgrimage because that’s precisely what the first 642 hours of it were. We took an alternate route to Michigan City, where we planned to board the train which would take us into Chicago. We get there with about 47 seconds to spare-and NO parking places. Leah dumps me and our luggage out and scrambles around the parking lot looking at all the full spots we’d already seen before deciding to park in a rocky patch immediately in front of a “No Parking/Tow Zone” sign. She’d asked me to stall the train while she did all this which I sucked at because I have zero experience stalling anything AND the conductor was a scary man to me. I decide to let some older ladies go before me…and THEY begin stalling the train because they’re also waiting on a friend. The scary man conductor wasnt having it, which prompted fear in myself, which in turn prompted me to scream across the parking lot to Leah, “RUUUUUUUN!”

We boarded after the scary man was rude to Leah and were scared about coming back to an absent, towed, Scion. I immediately had to pee.

We arrive in Chicago a short time later and get off to a great start by staying on the train one exit too many which later translate into about 12 blocks of walking. This sucked especially so because, instead of mild 40-degree weather which the forecast I had read said to expect, we found ourselves in sub-freezing rainy/sleety/snowy weather-in jackets and flip flops. Did I mention we walked 12 blocks like this? I kept recalling Wayne’s warning as I walked out the door earlier than morning that I shouldnt insist on sandals. But I had to ignore him-my feet HATE shoes. I have monkey feet and in situations where actual closed-toe shoes arent necessary, if I cant go barefoot I have to wear sandals.

We get to our hotel-which was absolutely POSH. It almost made the face-burning, hand-chapping, toe-numbing 12-block trek worth it. We collected ourselves and decided that we should head back out if we were to stay on schedule: We planned to visit the Bahai temple next. For anyone who isnt familiar with the Bahai religion: you should be. Generally speaking it’s a sequal to Islam, and promotes the unity of humanity and tolerance for all religions. It’s the youngest of our planet’s main religions and is also the most widely spread.

Leah and I have mapped out the route to the Bahai temple. It should be easy. Two or three blocks walk from the hotel to the “L,” which we’ll ride until three blocks from the temple. EASY. I decide after warming up, that I’ll not change my clothes(or shoes) because I can handle three blocks of walking. Most of our journey was supposed to be on the “L” anyway. But no true pilgrimage is supposed to be simple or easy or without sacrifice…ours would be no different.

We couldnt find the entrance to the “L.” When we did find an entrance, we had no transit card. So back out onto the street, more bad weather trekking to find a station that allowed us to purchase a transit card and ride. At one point the red line had reached its northern-most point and we were supposed to get onto the purple. Why this require rocket science is beyond me, but for some unholy reason this proved beyond the immediate grasp of myself or Leah. Confusion, delay, walking, waiting, freezing. Purple line. By the time we reach the end of the purple line, we’re experiencing hurricane snow from the Lake. Fantastic. The most miserable walk, by far, was the three blocks from the purple line to the Bahai Temple. We’re walking TOWARD the lake, TOWARD the bad weather. In jackets and sandals. I’d never felt so stupid.

When we get to the temple we have to walk almost half way around the property to get to the entrance. Once inside: breath taking architecture, the smell of flower bouquets, and quiet. Literature in no less than 20 languages. There’s no clergy or priesthood in the Bahai religion, so there wasnt really a pulpit or anything. Just stunning views, including the lake. Looking directly upward to the center of the dome-shaped ceiling provided the only spiritual experience you needed.

They posted that picture taking was prohibited, but Leah did anyway and as soon as my toes had stopped stinging we left.

On our way out we noticed a large umbrella in a trashcan. If you think we didnt dumpster dive for a chance and a wind guard for the walk back to the station…you’d be mistaken.

Pretty much the same confusion, delay, walking, waiting, freezing took place on the way back to our hotel room. Ridiculous.

We hang out for a bit: long enough for Leah to relax and for me to shower long enough to thoroughly thaw. A while later we’re needed food. After browsing some advertisements in the room we decide to take advantage of the concierge service and soon landed in the India Grill on Wabash Ave. Can someone please explain to me why, after ALL the HORRIBLE walking we’d done by then, did we decide we should walk to this eatery? STUPID STUPID STUPID. It was just a few blocks, but absolutely horrid weather on the way.

The food was delicious! We shared Palaak Paneer, Chicken Biryani, enough Naan for 6 people and for dessert: Kheer(of course). Our waiter was fantastically gorgous-and nice! When we were leaving he was nice enough to flag down a cab for our return to the hotel.

…more to come.

Om Shanti