My sadhana is the best part of my day... everyday I after i take my morning shower or bath... I wear my clothes and then make myself look decent.. I go in front of the puja mandir- God's altar... there I sit down in my own humble submissive mood, I praise his glories in my mind , i feel the awe and reverence of his majesty , both his personal and impersonal existence and while i am doing that, I light incense...while i light incense i sometimes say "if I love you, this match stick will burn right now!" - sometimes it burns sometimes it doesn't But if i say " If you (pointing to God) love me, then this match stick will burn" and then it burns everytime... as i try to light it. I light my incense, i sometimes get a fruit and offer it to him and eat it... but sometimes i don't do that because i am lazy. Finally, i put tilak on my forehead as a symbol of his love and grace and mercy over me, and then I get up and leave for school... work and whatnot... THen I do the samething over after my evening shower. Its all vidi bhakti and its bhakti in awe and reverence and not really closeness to God, but I am happy with it The only time when I hate it is if I don't do this for a while or if I forget to do it one day, I feel so guilty and sad and unhappy ... I feel rejected by God and act like I don't like him if the incence stick supply is not replenished...
I usually chant Adi Shankaras Pratasmaranam in the morning, though not always, coz I dont have the most regular hours. My daily practise is small, in the evening, during sunset, I go outdoors, look into the sky and chant the mantrapushpam, then do a mental aarati, with chanting, trying to focus on the greatness of the Lord who created the magnificent world around me, then I chant the ganga stotram. Often I listen to taped talks of Guruji and Gurudev or spend time with my mother learning things.
According to Sri Aurobindo 'all life is yoga'. Therefore we should seek to extend our sadhana into every area of our lives. How can this be done? By seeking and putting into practice the appropriate yogic method and means. For example, when engaged in work. one can offer the work, try to work in the Divine consciousness for the Divine. We can link all our activities to God, so that our whole existence becomes sadhana. This is a gradual , ongoing and in fact infinite process. Since there are no limits in God, there will be no end to our realization.But really it is not we who do the sadhana but the Divine prescence within us, working through us. It is a question of trying to sustain the effort needed, and in this I have found Japa a very useful thing, and something that can be done in pretty well all circumstances. Aspiration, sincerity and surrender are the key.
well I will contribute my trip... it's a fun one, for me, although I wouldn't recommend it for everyone. I do one hour daily raja yoga techniques of meditation, also known as kriya yoga taught by yogananda's line of gurus, prem rawat's knowledge techniques, and it has other names, but basically the techniques orginate from the yoga sutras. Raja yoga means royal yoga. I also smoke the sacred ganja in praise of Shiva, chanting the mantra; OM SHIVA SHANKARA HARE HARE GANGA, a mantra for smoking dope as approved in blessing by Neem Karoli Baba, most likely aimed at westerners. I often listen to krishna das's album, in which is included a beautiful chant that shiva lovers do while smoking hash in thier chillums do on the banks of the river ganges until the early morning light, I feel very connected to the same spirit, even though I do not follow thier rules, such a celibacy and what not. I have a altar where I meditate, to which I practice bhakti yoga to the universal guru and/or god, i have various pictures of realized beings, gods teachers and plants to represent this guru... in no particular order after all they are all one; Amma, Ananda Mayee Ma, Neem Karoli Baba, Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, Shiva, Durga, Divine Mother, Kali, Babaji, Yogananda, Ramakrishna, and many more. There i say prayers, usually do my meditation, do pranams, chants, just chat with god about my issues, and I have various holy books; Remember; Be Here Now, Autobiography of a Yogi, Miracle of love, and others... which i page through for wisdom and study. I even made love in front of my alter once. I occassionaly use psychedelics which is like medicine for my practice. I usually go out in nature (I tend to see this as sort of a native american kind of ritual, connection with nature, like the peyote cults of certain tribes) or sit by my altar... listen to music, and stare at neem karoli baba, he keeps my trip going really really great! I consider psychedelics as my teachers, like one would go visit a teacher, get satsang, or whatever... psychedelics are like that, they help me in my practice... my last trip on mescaline last week, I was out in the woods, laying around with a shiva blanket blessed by the hugging saint amma, and I was feeling lonely, I called out to mother earth... she sent many sparrows which surrounded me and sung me into a sweet comfort, I felt so loved. (I have had many of these type experiences over the years. The wild animals, the forms of the mother earth, can dance with you if you open your mind, and open your heart... they listen to your energy! Love them and play with them.) Note: Psychedelics are not for everyone, they did introduce me to the spiritual path, transforming me several years ago from athiest to spiritual seeker... For many people they can open one up, and become a catalyst for a wide variety of mystical experiences... Neem Karoli Baba called it yogi medicine. I have gotten into singing to god, kirtan, which falls under Bhakti Yoga, in which I sing, various songs, from rock n roll, to hindu mantras like Krishna Das's stuff! Krishna Das's stuff is the more formal, but I love rock, and love to sing it, the beatle's wrote love songs to god, didn't ya know? Probably the most misunderstood and controversial of what i do, i practice tantra, with myself, worshipping beautiful porn stars as forms of the divine mother and other beings... Currently I also have a friend, a beautiful form of the divine mother, her earthly name is Aimiee, we like to play and merge and have a great time with our tantric practice... our practice has provided healing in both our lives, even though it isn't always earth shattering and cosmic, most of the time it is though. It helps me move the sexual energy into higher chakras, and tranform it in order to come closer to god... Once eating out her sacred yoni, while she bathed me in the enegy of her orgasms, I had a visions of Ananda Mayee Ma, she smiled at me, as a tumbled into this void of light. Sex to me, is an expression of my love for the divine mother, and a way to heal myself. Karma Yoga, when I go out into the world, I do what I do, work, school, relationships, chores, and so on, but my acts are dedicated to krishna, to god, to christ and so on! As krishna said, do what you do but dedicate it to me! "when you know how to listen, everyone is the guru" - Baba Ram Dass Here is how i view sadhana, from a page in Remember Be Here Now... "Sadhana is a full time thing that you do because there is nothing else to do. You do it whether you're teaching, or sitting in a monastery, whether you're lying in bed, going to the toilet, making love, eating, EVERYTHING is a part of waking up!" - Baba Ram Dass Remember it's light, it is playful, it's a cosmic joke. embrace the paradox as you would your mother's open arms! Yes god is playful and hilarious!
