It’s SATURN-day (Saturday) and while I give the Sun time to warm the balcony so I can enjoy today’s rays (tomorrow it’s going to be cloudy they say)… thought I’d blog some current thoughts. I’ve drifted back to doing a bit of guru yoga again—devotional stuff really does align the mind, heart and soul. Besides, it makes you really feel good and happy! Two nice words together there, don’t you think? Feeling GOOD and feeling HAPPY. Yeah, you can say it’s a choice and all that but I think there’s a bit more to it. Not to bring us down, but let’s be practical—life is full of ups and downs and potentials for times when the mood of good and happy is easier to achieve than other times. (Not that potentially it isn’t always possible I suppose.) Some days we’re more predisposed to react in happier ways than others—I think we can thank our lucky stars for that. Enter: Astrology. Yeah, I can see the correlations to those pre-dispositions to certain moods and difficulties via astrology. Astrologically we can consider Sagittarius energy or a good position of our Sun sign for a sunnier disposition—just to name a few influences; yeah, Venus is another.
Not wanting to get off the track and now seeing some rays hitting the balcony now, let me get to the bottom line. Guru Yoga is simply merging with the teacher, the master, the deity—what’s your preference? Need examples? Okay, Buddha, The Christ energy, St. Theresa, Mother Mary – surely you remember the song “Let It Be”, right? The result of guru yoga whether The Beatles knew it or not:
“When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me / Speaking words of wisdom, let it be / And in my hour of darkness she is standing right in front of me / Speaking words of wisdom, let it be … “
Once you have your deity in mind (your guru—the master teacher) and for me sometimes that is Mother Mary too or other times Buddha himself or Padmasambhava (who established Buddhism in Tibet in direct line with the Buddha).
The idea is to relax in meditation and fill your heart with the presence of the deity you have in mind, you see? And that would be literal—visualize the deity; see the energy before you… “and in my hour of darkness, she’s standing right in front of me…” as the Beatles sing.
So invoke the energy and allow your mind to merge with this energy very strongly with total heart and total mind—very purely, very innocently with great trust like the trust of a small child to the mother or father.
Then you can say, “Oh help me now and fill my mind with the content of yours and my heart with your heart and fill me with your wisdom, your compassion, your love. Bless me with your kindness and help my understanding.
I love hearing Lama Surya Das sing the mantra for this: Om Ah Hung Benza Guru Pema Siddhi Hung.
Sometimes it helps to visualize many little beings of your deity—many little Buddhas or Mother Marys or whomever your call; perhaps many little Angels if it is an Angel in particular you call to merge with in your Guru Yoga Devotion….
I like to see many little beings in the form of sound as I do a chant are circulating inside of me, in every cell, atom and molecule of my body, heart and mind on all levels, transforming me.
And now while the Sun is in full force on my balcony, I must go and be in that Sun—I will use that Sun the catalyst for a Guru Yoga Meditation, feeling the warmth as the compassionate and wisdom energy of the Buddha within me awakening in every part of my being!
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