About Our Weekly Prayer List

December 6, 2006

Beloved Brothers and Sisters:

Om Namah Shivaya!

Our Beloved Amma has once again graced us with Her Divine Presence, and has now returned to Amritapuri. Night falls early, and the chill in the air fosters the primal urge to retreat from the outside world and go within. Not that this is easy, with the holidays upon us.

So many demands press upon our innate need to go within. It seems that there is always something more to do, and things that are simply left undone. Yet that small, sweet voice within us beckons us to dive deep and inhale the humming, shimmering stillness which is Our Mother. May we give ourselves the gift of that time within, for it is the most precious gift we have. It is a gift we not only give to ourselves, but ultimately is is our gift to the world. Amma repeats this over and over again....our own peaceful mind and transformation is our greatest gift to a world in turmoil. May peace prevail within each heart and mind; may peace prevail on earth. Victory to our Divine Mother!

I myself have been dealing with my own physical issues, as well as with the issues of so many others who are suffering on so many levels. Time often evades me, and I am often shocked by the swiftness of it's flight! Yet I take comfort in the timelessness of Her Lap, the stillness of Her sweet, sweet Love, and the promise of Her unending reserviour of Shakti!

Our weekly prayer list has been very still in the past few weeks, and I wish to remind everyone that it is a wonderful seva to pray for the well being of others. Although Amma has given us the gift of a space where we can write to Her directly on Her Amritapuri website, it is still Her wish that Her children should pray for each other. It is a great step on the path of selflessness to pray for the needs of others, as well as for our own needs, and there is so much suffering in this world; so many people who are in need. Therefore, I just wanted to give ourselves a loving reminder to please remember to send in prayer requests, so that we may all reap the benefits of the seva of prayer for the well being of each other and of the world. I have received so many notes from people who have obtained wonderful results from having a prayer request posted to the list, so I beileve that there is great power in our prayers, and in our deep desire to be of service through this

prayer list. Our Mother is supporting this work on every level.

So, beloved brothers and sisters, let us begin again to send in requests for prayers, and to regularly post the list each week. The longer the list, the better! We will start a completely new list beginning this Saturday, including many requests from the old list who wish to remain on indefinately. Also, I would appreciate it if someone could volunteer to assist me in this prayer list seva, as I have so many demands on my time and also I will soon be having surgery.

May each of you remain bathed in Her Love, Her Light, Her Peace, and may you be granted increase in all good things.

With Love and Blessings,

Sanatani

December 7, 2006

Dear Sanatani and group,

Thank you for the reminder about the prayer list. I wanted to make a

prayer request and also to give an update.

First, thank you again to everyone who supported me through the car

accident experience. As I and many of you suspected, it was indeed a

blessing in disguise. To bring you all up to speed, I was in

excrutiating back pain when Mother came here to San Ramon (herniated

disk). On tuesday night, I was blessed to be able to ask Amma a

question I've always wanted to ask about being alone with Amma on the

inside. Her answer actually gave me a great insight into my own self,

and was unbelievably personal, in a way that I think only I

understood, yet was still beneficial for everyone else. Only Amma can

do this. The way she looked at me that night... so much depth and

understanding. I went for darshan later that night and she held me

for such a long time, and was not chatting with other people as she

usually does. She just pressed her cheek to mine and gave a long

sigh, slowly rubbing my spine, neck to tailbone, up and down, over

and over. I really had the experience that in all of creation there

was only the lover and the beloved, as the sufis say. I was alone

with Amma, but in such a way that I was also happy to share her with

everyone, because there was only lover and beloved anyway. This was

the essence of her answer to me, that if you hold water in your

cupped hands, it will stay, but if you close your fists around it, it

runs through your fingers. Wow! That applies to me on so many levels.

I've NEVER been so touched by Amma, and that teaching is working

through every aspect of my life.

The next morning we flew to Seattle to spend thanksgiving with my

family. Although I was in a lot of pain on the way up, by thursday,

somehow the pain was gone. I didn't take any pain medication that day

and have only taken it a few times since. We came back in time for

Devi Bhava, at the end of which I had a tremendous emotional release.

Amma gave my hand a little squeeze on her way out.

I started up a very gentle, cautious hatha yoga practice, which I

have done every day for over a week, and have used this healing

process as an opportunity to learn more about healing. It's

interesting, because as a yoga teacher, Im accustomed to my

body "performing" at a certain "level." But that's not what yoga is

about, it's about here and now, and bringing the same loving

attention and acceptance to your practice in a way that is right for

your body, with the understanding that our bodies fluctuate just as

our minds do. Hmm. Food for thought. My old teacher used to joke that

modern living was about keeping the body stationary while the mind

goes in a thousand directions... hatha yoga is about a still mind

with a body going in a thousand directions!

But I needed a car. Without divulging too many personal details about

my husbands ex-wife and her family, let me just say that the need to

take custody of Sammy has become an issue of unspeakable proportions.

Recent events and circumstances have left no other option than to get

a car quickly so we can get Sammy into a safe and stable home, and

still have a way to get her to and from school.

Well, just in the nick of time, I have found a good little car (a 98

Corolla with 70,000 miles) that I can afford with finacing, and am

able to put a humble down payment on this weekend. We will have full

temporary custody of Sammy by monday. Next month we have an

overwhelmingly good chance of getting custody of her more

permanantly. Our prayer is that we will get full physical custody,

with visitation for her mom, until her mom gets a full time job and

her own place to live, at which time we wish to have 50% joint

custody. This is the best possible situation for Sammy, and also for

her family. I wish I could share more of the specifics, as they are

relevent to Amma's miraculous ways, but it wouldn't be apporpriate to

share the details.

I am going to test drive the car today, and will keep you all posted.

I am really feeling so much better, and can only say that, in a way

that I wish I could explain further, the car accident is the reason

that we are able to give Sammy a safe and loving home for Christmas.

Love to all of you, and thanks again for your powerful love and

prayer. We just can't underestimate the value of sincere, collective,

loving intention.

love,

Prajna

December 8, 2006

Dearest Prajna,

Om Namah Shivaya!

Thank You for the update on what has been happening with your life, and for your beautiful descriptions of your experiences with our Beloved Mother. It looked like you were wanting to make a prayer request, but I think by the end of the note you wrote, you forgot to include the request for prayer. Please let me know asap what you would like to request, so that I can still get it on tomorrow's prayer list.

Hope all is well with you, dear sister!

In Her Love and Service Always,

Sanatani

Prajna <prajnaji > wrote: Dear Sanatani and group,