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One Fire; many Soul-Flames

I was so happy to be reminded by Nayaswami Ananta, during today’s Sunday service talk, about the gas burner analogy. Both Yogananda and Swamiji spoke about how what seem like individual jets of flame on the surface of the stove top are simply individual expressions of the one gas source that is flowing under the surface.

The reason I was so glad for this reminder is that it’s all too easy to focus on our feelings of separateness in the divisive, polarized, stressful times that we’re living right now.

The Truth is that we are all individualized expressions of the light of God (and, yes, this includes each and every person on the planet; no exceptions!). And every person is doing as best they can according to their level of consciousness and unique karmic pressures.

Of course it’s really hard to stay out of judgement and fear, because it all looks so bad and so hopeless at times. But you know, maybe I can’t see the source of the gas underneath the burners on my stove, but I know it’s there and it’s real and that without it there would be no individual jets of flame.

In the exact same way, I can focus on strengthening my “knowing” that God is here and God is real, even when I can’t see Him as the underlying source connecting us all. And that helps me a lot.

Here’s what Ananta read today, followed by the same idea in Swamiji’s words…

#77 Demand for Seeing the One Fire beneath all Soul-Flames.
O Eternal Fire, Thou art shooting little flames of souls through the pores of each human consciousness drilled in the plate of the great burner of Thine universal consciousness. Thou dost appear many, limited, small, divided, when Thou dost shoot through the pores of living organisms as souls. But Thou art the one eternal flame, under the pores of all human minds.
— from Whispers from Eternity by Paramhansa Yogananda

Paramhansa Yogananda defined ego as ‘the soul identified with a body.’ All egos, as we saw earlier, are like little jets of flame on a gas burner, each one with the appearance of individuality, but each one being, in fact, only a manifestation of the unifying gas underneath. 
–from Revelations of Christ by Swami Kriyananda

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“The boutique is open!”

Last weekend was the culmination of planning, preparing, communicating about, receiving, and organizing videos for our latest virtual choir project. It also happened to be my birthday.

We’re talking busy! So busy that I couldn’t even think about doing laundry.

The only problem is that the week before that was also pretty darn busy, so I only got through about two-thirds of our dirty clothes. Which means that — two weeks later — our closets and drawers were looking mighty empty.

[By the way, I have to say that it doesn’t seem entirely right to me that, one can be in the midst of doing all kinds of wonderful, worthwhile, uplifting projects, yet one still has to devote time and energy to something like laundry. I mean…really?!?]

Well, you know how this story ends…today I had to do six full loads of laundry, which took up almost the entire day. Yes, I’m tired, but it also feels good to have it done.

It also brings back a memory from eons ago, when I shared an apartment with my friend, Nancy. We were a couple of twenty-somethings living in San Francisco; as you can imagine, we were always way too busy having fun to worry about laundry.

Finally we would load up the car and spend a few hours at the laundromat. And then came the thrill of raiding one another’s fully stocked closets, finding outfits that we had forgotten we owned. Which is why Nancy’s laundry motto was always: “The boutique is open!”

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Go with love, dear Sheila

Our dear friend, Sheila, is now soaring in light, but those of us left behind are sure going to miss that million dollar smile and her boundless, joyous, enthusiastic ENERGY!

Ramesha and I did numerous programs for the Concord meditation group, which met in Sheila’s home for many years. We would stay one or two nights, spending most of our time laughing and eating.

It took longer to get to know Sheila’s husband, Bob, who was as quiet as Sheila was exuberant. But they were as sweet and devoted a couple as I’ve ever seen.

Life got busy and we had to pass on trips to Concord the past number of years. But Sheila’s smile and joyous devotion will always be a part of me.

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Virtual is still real

We had no idea what to expect as we started planning our first completely online (prerecorded) “concert” for the first completely online (largely prerecorded) Spiritual Renewal Week.

One suggestion had been to simply replay in its entirety last year’s amazing 50th anniversary concert, but the music team felt that would be taking the easy way out.

So it turns out there are several things that have made “putting on” this concert a major challenge:

First of all is the fact that every step of the way we would catch ourselves thinking of it like a “real” concert. Again and again (and again!) we had to remind ourselves that there would be not a single “live” element; that people wouldn’t even be “tuning in” at a particular time, but watching whenever it was convenient for them. Even in the description and the recorded intro, we kept referring to “tonight’s” program!

Which leads to the second big challenge: instead of gearing up for a big “concert night”, we needed to have everything ready before it all starts, as “attendees” will be able to access all the special supplemental events right from the beginning of the event. This, combined with the fact so many tasks we’ve never had to do before, left us scrambling at the end in order to get things done on time.

Finally, we’re so accustomed to drawing — and then building on — the energies of the whole group, in order to create something really fine and unique. But now, almost everything we do has to be done on our own, which means having to generate and draw on more energy from within ourselves.

Bottom line? I’m feeling really tired, like I’ve run a marathon or something. But I have a whole new appreciation for digital realities.

Virtual is just a different kind of real.

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Birthday gratitude

I finally was able to set aside a few hours this evening to read all my birthday greetings — on Facebook, on the Sevaka Order website, though beautiful e-cards and emails, and on Nextdoor.

What I really should do is transfer all the wonderful comments and sincere good wishes into some sort of book that I could dip into whenever I start to feel a little down or filled with doubt. There’s nothing like birthday wishes to make one feel loved!

Right now my heart feels like that rose looks (thanks to Jody Mori for the beautiful rose image)!

Thank you all!

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You know you’re tired when…

I think this was my craziest “you know you’re tired” moment yet!

I was seeking an inspiration of something to write about; head down, eyes closed, concentrating… until my glasses started to slide off my face, jerking me awake as I almost knocked my computer keyboard onto the floor!

Okay, okay! I admit it: I’m tired and I need to go to bed.

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Doing, doing, almost done

It was just a few days ago (although it feels like about a month!) that I posted about “biting off more than you can chew”.

Well, we just keep “chewing”, as the project grows…and grows….and grows some more! In fact, I just counted and we have ninety-four (94!) videos of Ananda devotees from around the world, all singing.

Yes, it’s been a quite a ride, and we’re not completely done yet, but — boy oh boy — is it going to be wonderful!

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Father’s Day thoughts

You know the sign of a really great father? Look at how many times he’s been “adopted”!

I mean, my mother gave birth to two daughters — me and Cathy — but I long ago lost count of how many friends “adopted” our Dad to be their Dad as well!

Unconditional love. Unwavering support. My #1 fan. Generous to a fault (sometimes literally).

That’s my Dad.

I have so much love and gratitude for this man and I felt to share a few photos of him through the years. 💗

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The best birthday presents

A beautiful midsummer evening birthday dinner with my sweet husband using our new patio furniture on our spiffed up patio!

The love of family and so very many dear friends.

Sharing my life with a husband who complements me in every way and loves me to distraction.

Living in a little slice of paradise on earth.

Music, music, music.

Seeing the vision for our music ministry expanding by leaps and bounds in amazing new directions.

I am soooooo blessed! 😊

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Bite off more than you can chew…

…then chew it!

That’s how I’m feeling right now about a wonderful (but big and getting bigger!) project that we’re working on for our Spiritual Renewal Week concert.

It’s one of those things where the vision was truly compelling, but because it’s something we’ve never actually done before (at least not at this level of magnitude), the closer it comes to manifesting the more we’re realizing just how big of a bite we have to chew! 😮