Today was a very special day for me. Today at about 12:30pm, I was given Discipleship Initiation at Ananda L.A.
Discipleship Initiation in this case, is a decision to follow Paramhansa Yogananda as a guru. The reason to have a guru, is to have a spiritual guide, to guide one through the pitfalls of life. Each of us has our own pitfalls, addictions, problems, frustrations, buttons that get pushed, etc. As much as we can try and believe we know our own mind and problems, it's just unlikely we know each of our problems. Nor do we know each of our paths to our greatest good.
The guru is a spiritual teacher, the disciple attunes to. By attuning to the guru the student learns how to live best, and how to grow best. What pitfalls to avoid and what secret paths to follow.
All this for one purpose... for the student to become the guru. That is to say, to become united and yoked with God/The Divine.
I could have done the discipleship initiation by myself - but I really felt I wanted to be in the presence of other devotee's. At the advice of my Discipleship teacher, I reached out to the local Ananda location (www.anandala.org)
The day went well. I got up early. I planned to call my daughter, but ran out of time. I took a shower and got dressed in all white. I got my rose and donation ready and then it was time to go. It was raining, but I got there early. I met several people and had a brief talk with Dharmaraj.
The pre-service was chanting - which was so amazingly peaceful. I've seen the chanting remotely online, but being there was so different. The peace of God just flowed so powerfully. In that space between chants, the air just was filled with a peace almost tangible.
The service was a talk from Dharmaraj on Karma and Reincarnation. It was a great talk.
Towards the end of the service is the Festival of Lights ceremony and then at the end - the Discipleship Initiation occurred.
It involved a brief talk about it - then a reading - in this case, the reading was God's Boatman. After the reading the initiation itself. It was very nice.
Afterwards there was a lunch, and I talked a bit with Dharmaraj. I was very much at peace.
One might ask, "Isn't this blog called 'Finding my Guru'? Nlow what? you found him." True, I did find my guru, but I'm still digging deeper to find him inside. To find my guru in my thoughts. To build the attunement stronger and deeper - to see God's hand in all things. There's still finding the guru... It's discovering deeper connections with the guru.
Discipleship Initiation in this case, is a decision to follow Paramhansa Yogananda as a guru. The reason to have a guru, is to have a spiritual guide, to guide one through the pitfalls of life. Each of us has our own pitfalls, addictions, problems, frustrations, buttons that get pushed, etc. As much as we can try and believe we know our own mind and problems, it's just unlikely we know each of our problems. Nor do we know each of our paths to our greatest good.
The guru is a spiritual teacher, the disciple attunes to. By attuning to the guru the student learns how to live best, and how to grow best. What pitfalls to avoid and what secret paths to follow.
All this for one purpose... for the student to become the guru. That is to say, to become united and yoked with God/The Divine.
I could have done the discipleship initiation by myself - but I really felt I wanted to be in the presence of other devotee's. At the advice of my Discipleship teacher, I reached out to the local Ananda location (www.anandala.org)
The day went well. I got up early. I planned to call my daughter, but ran out of time. I took a shower and got dressed in all white. I got my rose and donation ready and then it was time to go. It was raining, but I got there early. I met several people and had a brief talk with Dharmaraj.
The pre-service was chanting - which was so amazingly peaceful. I've seen the chanting remotely online, but being there was so different. The peace of God just flowed so powerfully. In that space between chants, the air just was filled with a peace almost tangible.
The service was a talk from Dharmaraj on Karma and Reincarnation. It was a great talk.
Towards the end of the service is the Festival of Lights ceremony and then at the end - the Discipleship Initiation occurred.
It involved a brief talk about it - then a reading - in this case, the reading was God's Boatman. After the reading the initiation itself. It was very nice.
Afterwards there was a lunch, and I talked a bit with Dharmaraj. I was very much at peace.
One might ask, "Isn't this blog called 'Finding my Guru'? Nlow what? you found him." True, I did find my guru, but I'm still digging deeper to find him inside. To find my guru in my thoughts. To build the attunement stronger and deeper - to see God's hand in all things. There's still finding the guru... It's discovering deeper connections with the guru.
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