Mooji Says...

Mooji Says

So, I'm starting to find a rhythm. Not that I didn't have one before....I guess I should say that I'm adding to my rhythm!  I've been completely content this past week to drink chai, read, write, and do my self practice. That was about it. I was taking Iyengar classes at night as well with the famed (and frightening) Usha Devi, but this week she is teaching a private intensive so classes don't start up again til next week. I'm still on a completely solo mission, but I know a fair amount of people in town now so it's nice to have a bit of familiarity amongst this enchanting town. And so my day goes....

4:30am : wake up, morning Kriyas: neti, vamana dhauti, tongue scraping, scrubbing gums with salt and rinsing the eyes

By 4:45/5am I begin my personal sadhana (practice). It begins with 11minute trataka (staring at candle flame), then a 20 minute seated meditation before getting into about 2 hours worth of asana (physical postures), which includes pranayama. I end with nadi Shodhana and a 25 minute seated mediation. 

By 8am I'm making myself a soy chai. You can only buy homogenized and pasteurized milk in the stores here, though Deepak did (over t my hangout, Ganesha Restaurant) offer to get me some of the raw, local milk that they use...I figured it'd be too much of a hassle. Anywho....I use my little plug in water heater to boil my water. In my mug I put some smashed, fresh ginger along with fresh spices....black pepper, cinnamon sticks, whole cloves and cardamom pods. I throw in a black tea bag and a big scoop of cold pressed local raw honey. Half hot water, half hot soy milk (I boil water and place cup of soy into hot after cup...smarty pants). I sit and enjoy my chai as I write in my "spiritual journal"...recounting anything that came up for me in practice. 

By 8:45am I am dressed and out the door, en route to an ashram at the opposite end of town. It's a 30minute brisk walk along the Ganges, which flys by because I use this time to chant the Gayatri mantra (108x) on my crystal mala. I was chanting in the morning as part of my practice but that adds an extra half hour to my flow, and I don't want to walk up any earlier than I already am! Plus chanting it first thing in the morning on the sacred Ganges is quite nice, and all the little street kids who badger you to buy flowers don't bother you if you're chanting. 

Once at the ashram you sit silently in the waiting room for about an hour before being ushered into the main room to sit and listen to MooJii talk. It's about 3 hours or so of talking...questions and answers and anecdotes. MooJii is from Jamaica is a cross between Osho, Jesus Christ and Bob Marley (at least that's how I see him!). His face is warm and kind and you just want to get a bit bear hug from him (alas, this is not allowed. At an ashram there is a strict dress code, no touching, no hugging, no hand holding,etc.). MooJii mostly talks about Truth, and awareness. His delivery is amazing, and his patience and empathy is profound. Just being in his presence at these Satsangs is moving. He's said before that even if you are sick, come and lie down on the floor at the Satsang, because the energy is elevated, and will help to elevate your energy and spirit. He wasn't kidding....my ass hurts a bit after sitting for about 4 hours, but my energy is next-level when I leave,and I truly feel like my consciousness is running on a higher vibration on my walk home from Satsang. 

Here's some wisdom from the man himself that I jotted down the past few days....

MOOJII SAYS: (these are just drops of nectar from day one lecture. Ill be typing up my notes from other days as well and posting them)

- LESS PERSONALITY, MORE PRESENCE. 

- Stop trying to fix things, just Be with awareness (and they will fix themselves). 

- Focus on the love that you ARE, not the love that you HAVE. 

- When your insecurities become less, you become more open. More openness = less judgements. Then you can only see the SELF. Our likes/dislikes/etcetc, they are only the surface. 

- "I don't want to have just a few friends, I want to be friendly to all"

- A dog is eating a bone, you give it a steak, it leaves the bone for the steak. This is the sacrifice that we are making for the higher consciousness, in service of your truth.sometimes it's just hard to see it that way. It's not hard to give up coffee, unhealthy lifestyles, etc etc if you're making this sacrifice for higher consciousness. 

- There is no such thing as a personal problem - the problem is the person. 

- Don't go into "waiting mode" because then you make this moment a lesser moment. Be in the stillness, fully present, not waiting. No More Waiting. Just Being. Presence. 

- Absence of Personality > leaves room for > presence, spaciousness, awareness. 

- We feel that we are lost if our identity (ego) is not there. Enjoy the absence of the ego, you are in your True Self. 

- Don't be so obsessed with "living" life - you ARE life.

- Its s subtle difference between looking and seeing. Most of us have been looking and looking and looking...open your eyes and heart and start seeing. 

- IT'S NOT THAT YOU DON'T CARE, IT'S THAT YOU DON'T MIND. It's all just 'taking place'.

- If you are observing an emotion or thought, then there is already distance there. If you can observe it then you know tht you are Not It. So, no worries. Thoughts, emotions....they come, they go.

- If there is no interest (in the emotion or thought) , then there's no need for transcendence. Nothing sticks when you're in a state of pure awareness. 

- Do not try for repeats of any situation. Not running *towards*, but *opening up* (if you felt a specific emotion or state that you enjoyed, don't try to replicate it....because if you're running towards it you'll frustrate yourself. Instead focus your energy on simply opening up and the universe will provide). 

- (on Death): allow the grief to come, ALLOW SPACE FOR IT, to express itself, to exhaust that emotion fully, so you can heal and come back to center. 

Sent from my iPad