Blessings and welcome Gentle Reader, as we approach the end of another week I wish you a peaceful and gentle ride home and a restful time with friends and family.
As you know, prayer forms a central part of my daily spiritual practice. As a child, I was brought up in the Christian faith; mum made sure my brother and I went to Sunday School and encouraged us to take part in various church related activities and functions. Mum is a stout Anglican and to this day she can’t understand my “fascination” with other religions. In fact as I write I recall a conversation with mum where she looked at me in bemusement and said “what religion are you – do you actually believe in God.”
all religions are true – Sri Ramakrishna
Prayer and faith are personal matters and my heart goes out to those brave soldiers and peaceful warriors who are killed for their faith and religious beliefs.
Today’s Weekly Prayer is a salutation to Maha Lakshmi, the Hindu Goddess for material and spiritual wealth and prosperity. If you are familiar with deity Mantras, you will recognise the mantra for Maha Lakshmi as OM Sri Maha Lakshmyai Namah, which is the nurturing aspect of the Divine Mother.
In next week’s blogs, I will talk a little bit more about mantra meditation and the role it plays it my personal meditation practice.
For now, here is a prayer I recently wrote in honour of Maha Lakshmi. My mother wouldn’t approve, yet I trust the spirit of peace and love unites us in prayer.
Prayer Of Gratitude
Maha Lakshmi I thank you for the growing sense of abundance flowing through, for the richness of the earth and clarity of the winds cleansing my soul from within.
Sri Ganesh, may I continue to seek your guidance, give honour and praise to insurmountable obstacles which help me to release, trust and grow. May I always honour the goddess within and give glory and thanks to my divine mother and father.
And as I rise to greet a new day, may I always remember the source of my abundance and wealth flows from deep within and no man or material resource can hinder this progress of peace, love and joy.
And So It Is.
Food For Thought
Thanks for taking the time to pause, reflect and join me in our weekly prayer spot. And remember no matter how much debt, financial woes or spiritual darkness you may feel, there is always light at the end of the tunnel.
And now I’d love to hear your views and thoughts on prayer and praying. Do you believe, praying can make a difference to your life, and what about my mother’s comments re my fascination with a different religion. Do you feel we should stick with the religion we grew up in, or is it OK to embrace other religions and spiritual philosophies?
Take special care and have a wonderful weekend and remember stay Marvellous!
Namaste
Ntathu
Image, with thank CosmovisiA via flickr.com
Do you feel we should stick with the religion we grew up in, or is it OK to embrace other religions and spiritual philosophies.
Love your views, I feel that its always ok to embrace other religions, if what you feel you are strongly drawn too, then why not, our parents made their decisions so why should we not be allowed to make our own.
Life is about finding your own path, and if what ever religion you are drawn too then that is a path to travel on.
Respect, Love and Religion, whichever one.
Bless you Ravvy, your words and positive vibes lifted my spirits this morning. As a mother myself I often wonder what example I set my girls re religion and faith and yes, as you rightly say, life is about finding your own path…. Stay forever blessed and THANK YOU for your thoughts. One Love
hi i love this please send me some of your latest updates. email me omsriganesh@hotmail.com i love to read about mother lakshmi , mother saraswati and lord ganesh. bye
Dear Ntathu,
Thank you for sharing and for your thoughtful comments. My heart goes out to you in the loss of your brother and cousin. You have been through a lot and it has brought you to a place of radiance. You are definitely a lovely and loving person, I can tell. I do believe that LOVE is the greatest "religion". Many blessings to you always,
Lisa
I love your spirit but I don't personally believe the statement "All religions are true" by any means and it doesn't even make sense to me. Having said that, I do hold space in my mind and heart for the different ways we express our spirituality. I also don't understand the concept of "we are all one". We are separate, finite beings. We may be connected and have universal things in common, but we are unique and created quite differently. I also don't believe we are all gods. This is confusing, and while we may be made in the image of God (biblical idea of course), we don't hold the attributes of God if God is supposed to be greater than we as humans. I respect that people hold different beliefs, but unless we are absolutely sure about what is true AND based in reality, we should be very careful what we are teaching in our classes. I do believe LOVE is the greatest spiritual expression, but not without boundaries or an understanding that we have some specific standards to live up to.
And…the path is not always the same. Some paths lead us into a "it's all about me, self, me" and others lead to "I know the truth and too bad everyone else doesn't" kind of mentality and there's a lot in between. I have studied a path which promotes that everyone is intrinsically good. That doesn't make sense either. If that was the case, why is our world so messed up? So while I appreciate your prayers and I believe everyone has the right to pray how they want and I think it's good to pray, I would also suggest that we should be mindful of what we are putting out there.
Here's the funny thing. I am very open minded. But my father once said, "If you open your mind too much, your brains might fall out." It made me laugh. I appreciate your opening up this dialogue and not wanting to offend anyone, I think it's good to share different opinions for the sake of growing and checking in with our real belief systems.
Lisa, exhale..thank you soo much for sharing your thoughts. I really hope I can provide \”some answers\” (if that is the right word?) to your comments.
I am not a scientist or critical thinker. It took me many years to accept and trust in my intuition and inner wisdom. My ex (we were married for 23 years) is a very rational, logical person and staunch \”agnostic atheist\” — after a while we silently agreed to disagree and not talk about \”god/religion/spirituality\”.
My journey into exploring what \”God/religion/spirituality\” took on many paths as I sought to find meaning and understanding in the void created when my brother and cousin unexpectedly died. I do not have the answers and pray someone can fill in my gaps. During my grief I lost faith and couldnt understand how a \”god who was supposed to be my saviour\” could allow unnecessary death.
Through meditation I came to hear the \”voice of god\” and gradually developed a deep connection with something inside which felt so much bigger yet such an intimate part of me. From my personal observation, deep talks with spiritual teachers and church leaders I am learning to accept that there is so much we humans do not know and science can not (hasnt yet) developed the tools and resources to measure.
Social and ethical values and even the community you live in seem to dictate the religion you (one) follows. It takes courage to step outside what we grew up with to find our own path and understanding of god/religion. As a black woman, I have had to struggle with the concept of \”worshipping a white male image of God\”. For me, if god is created in our own image, why didnt I ever see a black woman god image? Coupled with racism, accepting and \”loving\” white people wasnt on my agenda. For me \”they\” (white men) were the enemy…so how could I worship a white god (that\’s how I thought) Yet, today I can happily and easily embrace white men and other nationalities into my heart. For me, I now see love as having no boundaries (obviously there are boundaries in relation to how we relate and conduct ourselves). I experience a deep love..\”spiritual love\” for so many people. It is incredible. At the end of teaching (yoga lesson) I am humbled and touched by the connection and energy in the room. No matter what age, religion, sex, social standing or even political affiliation, for that split second in time, I experience (and others too) a deep connection, bond with my fellow students and for me I deeply feel the expression \”we are one\” ..all breathe the one breath.
I know I havent answered all your comments and hope someone else can pick up this thread and share their wisdom and understanding. Thank you
I believe there are as many ways to God as there are people looking for God, it is my dream to one day see humanity and all beings realise that we, the gods, God … we are all one …
Your words are inspiring as always, Ntathu, thank you! May you be blessed with finding everything you seek!
Bless you Teodora, as always your words inspire and touch me…your dream for world Oneness is beautiful and it all begins with us. Have a peaceful day.
Wonderful post indeed!
It was surprising to see you write about the Hindu prayers and talk about the God and Goddess in India! I guess your mom would have been upset, though personally I don't really believe that prayers and God's have any religion.
They are all one and lead to Him, just the forms are different, though the path is always the same, whether you take it this ways or that. However, nice to hear it all from you :)
Thanks for sharing. :)
Hugs my Dear, yes, my sentiments exactly..the path is the same and sometimes I wish people would expand their minds and recognise that at the end of the day, we are all one, we all breathe the same air and hold similar goals, dreams and aspirations for our families. I guess we are given free will and as the complex humans we are like to flex our muscles and impose our views on others. Through yoga I have met beautiful souls deeply committed to "their religion" yet gracious in spirit and love to seek the higher ground and embrace and love their neighbour. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Take care.