Life in an ashram is hard. We get up really early, talk about the Divine (our own personal God, or Universe or whatever your beliefs are) for a few hours, have breakfast, go back to class and learn more about how messed up our minds are and how we are the creators of most (if not all) of our pain and suffering. Then we pray some more for freedom from whatever the lesson of the day is, (judgment, fear, etc) and meditate on it. Then we do a ritual and aarti (fir...

Today I performed a Homa which is a fire ritual to the Divine and the Goddess of Prosperity and New Beginnings, Lakshmi. It was very cool. We took a little card with Sri Amma Bhagawan and offered water 3 times. Then we offered flower petals and burned incense. The incense gets circled 3x around the image, like an Aarti. Then I offered rice kernels and cooked rice cereal. Next I built my fire with wood and lit it with dried roots and ghee. Each piece of wood ...

Today I performed a Homa which is a fire ritual to the Divine and the Goddess of Prosperity and New Beginnings, Lakshmi. It was very cool. I had a sri murthi, which is a small card with Sri Amma Bhagawan's picture and offered water 3 times. Then offered flower petals and lit incense. The incense gets circled 3 times around the sri murthi, like an Aarti. Then I offered rice kernals and cooked rice cereal. Next I built my fire with wood and lit it with dried r...

Today I performed a Homa which is a fire ritual to the Divine and the Goddess of Prosperity and New Beginnings, Lakshmi. It was very cool. I had a sri murthi, which is a small card with Sri Amma Bhagawan's picture and offered water 3 times. Then offered flower petals and lit incense. The incense gets circled 3 times around the sri murthi, like an Aarti. Then I offered rice kernals and cooked rice cereal. Next I built my fire with wood and lit it with dried r...

Life in an ashram is hard. Another 4:00am wake up tomorrow. But it's all going to be worth it, this I know. I'm doing my best to stay open to the Process but my cynicism keeps popping it's ugly head up. I really want all the benefits of Awakening, especially the leaving stuff behind and moving on, getting past fear and discontent.