This Satsangh and My First Months Here

02-01-2002, 01:36 PM

Dear Friends,

When I first joined this satsangh, I droned on about my own Guruji,
about my little experiences as a Bhakti, and a whole host of "head-in-
the-clouds" bumblings. Everyone was the epitome of kindness,
actually, I feel as though everyone took me under their nondual wings
and drew me closer. The patience that was extended, the openness to
my stories about my practice of Kriya yoga and devotion, all this was
so gently and kindly recieved and accepted. Now, after fifteen months
with everyone here, I cannot express enough how much I've been helped
by reading and listening to the discussions about Advaita. I found a
way to reconcile my over-flowing loving devotion to God and guru with
nondualism, and now, I am ever more aware of beauty, the completeness
of Advaita. Even my poetry has a new voice that speaks of these new
understandings. I am grateful that everyone was so patient and kind
about all my stammerings to understand all about nondualism,
something I had previously known only very little about. All the
great friends and teachers here are to be thanked for the job they do
in allowing others to come to an understanding about nondualism as
they are able to. Some things are actually not able to be understood
to those who are unable to break past their long-held beliefs and
rituals of practice. These things that they, or I, clung to, were
what brought me to where I was in my understanding, and to just toss
them was not something that I could do right off. I had to learn to
let go and just let it all happen, without any methods, without any
rituals, just naturally unfolding as I unfolded under the kind
guidance from my friends here. It seems that loving patience and
gentle understanding are the easiest and most reliable methods to
allow another to find out what they have known all along, if not
consciously. But then again, what works for one may not work for
another. Perhaps some do need a swift boot to the mental derriere to
get with the program. But the way that I was treated was an
immeasurable help to me in finding out what nondualism is really all
about.

Love, Peace,
Mazie