North Pole Retrospective: Back in Toronto

Dear friends,

A year ago this morning, back from the North Pole, I awoke from a powerful dream of the Goddess.

 

I was far north. I had no sense of bearing. I was just very north, looking for my spiritual community. I met the Goddess there in a co-op building with food supplies.
When I saw Her, I was surprised and overjoyed...

Ask Parvati 22: It's A Spiritual Life - Part 1

IT'S A SPIRITUAL LIFE

Dear Parvati Devi, Do you have any guidance for me? Could you see me through your divine vision and guide me to be pure and spiritual? Could you ask Mata Parvati whom I love dearly, if she has anything to say to me? I am in Kolkata, India. Thank you.

DEAR FRIEND

Thank you for your question. Though my guru named me Parvati, I am no more the Divine Mother than you. In each one of us, Devi, the supreme, primordial force, exists, if we are willing to see Her.

Since you write me your question from India, I feel that you are blessed to live in the same country of a great living saint who is a fully realized master and one with the Mother Goddess Parvati. She is the one who gave me the name Parvati.

If you do want a blessing from Devi, go to Kerala and have darshan with Mata Amritanandamayi Devi at Her ashram, Amritapuri. If you cannot get there, Amma, as she is also known, tours India regularly. For information and tour dates and locations, you can go to www.amma.org.

Not yet being a realized being myself, I have chosen to see your question as an invitation to share how I have and continue to invite the divine into my life.

IT'S A SPIRITUAL LIFE

At every moment of every day, we are faced with a choice. Do I choose love or do I choose fear? Do I choose to expand and flow or do I choose to constrict and resist the perfection of this moment?

The great saints and sages of all world religions tell us that the purpose of our birth is to realize God, the oneness with all that is. Due to our ignorance and limited ego, we see life as divided by what we want and what we perceive to be real.

By cultivating spiritual understanding, we loosen the grip of our ego and attachments. We begin to see beyond what we perceive, and open to the experience of union with what is. In so doing, we return to the one flow of pure consciousness that is our true nature.

Spirituality is explored, cultivated and expressed through many diverse world religions. Yet all spiritual practices share common spiritual qualities and goals. His Holiness the Dalai Lama says of his Tibetan Buddhist tradition that his religion is kindness. Mata Amritanandamayi Devi says her religion is love.

Kindness, love, compassion, selfless service, unity consciousness are some of the attributes that spiritual aspirants develop along their path. Just as with any seed planted in the ground, spiritual qualities need the right environment in which to grow, ripen and ultimately flower.

To follow a spiritual life, we need what the Buddhists call the three jewels: a strong spiritual community that supports our righteous choices (sangha), the pure and wise teachings of a spiritual master (dharma), and divine grace (Buddha). 
These three jewels can be found in most spiritual traditions. Whatever our path may be, we need the right environment (community) in which to grow spiritually. We must have the correct perspective (the teachings) to guide our actions. We require grace in order to evolve and become enlightened.

To cultivate a spiritual life, we need to make a firm resolve to put God, the divine or pure consciousness as the highest priority in our life. Then we need to practice seeing that divinity in everything, everyday, everywhere, all the time.

To see the divine everywhere, we learn to let go of our habits that tells us that life is against us. We let go of our wants that push against what is. We begin to feel a sense of place within the whole. We feel that we are a welcomed, loved part of nature. We begin to see that the divine exists in everything, even our own self.

(Continues tomorrow with “We Are Divine”)

North Pole Journey: Day Four, Part Five - Healing at the Top of the Earth

 

Day Four: Sunday September 26, 2010

Part Five

HEALING HAPPENS IN THE UNSEEN

Healing work happens in the unseen. It is a process of becoming still and surrendered, enough so that we align with a much greater truth, beyond our limited ego or will. In that state, we move from a monochrome, black and white reality to what I call ‘hyper-real’, a tapestry of technicolour possibilities and infinite, co-creative abundance.

I have been privy to extraordinary and exceptional grace over the years, witnessing profound beauty emerge and be born from this state. It seems that the breadth of our human potential goes largely untouched. In the compressed, me-me-me centered rush of our busy, self-absorbed lives, we unconsciously play out old stories we developed as children and from times now long gone.

Here, in this place of vast Arctic immensity, surrounded in all directions by kilometers of pristine, crisp, absolute white snow and ice, I am acutely aware of what most of us, as a human species, are missing: the magnitude and magnificence of this moment. Everything lies there within, a place of infinite potentiality, void of all wants, the fulfillment of our deepest longings, loves and desires.

Faced with this expanse, there is nothing I can do now but bow to the Supreme Consciousness that is beyond comprehension, that defies understanding. It is this compassionate and wise life force that permeates and pulsates through all living things – the force of our universe and beyond - that of which I am made.

The technicalities of our video shoot seem far in the past. As we return to our airplane, our pilots share good news. We do not need to pitch a tent on this frigid ice. While we were shooting the performance footage, they located a wind shelter, courtesy of Parks Canada, that we can use.

We move through the snow that lay between the plane and shelter with single-minded focus. We enter a small cabin that is surprisingly sound. Equipped with a butane stove to cut through the fierce chill, it is has solid flooring, walls and a roof. It seems that the angels continue to grace our mission to serve all beings and our planet Earth at the North Pole.

HEALING THE EARTH AT THE TOP OF THE WORLD

In monk-like quiet, Sunanda pulls out from beneath her Arctic wear a book that she, Rishi and I very much respect. It contains the Lalita Sahasranama, Sanskrit prayers to the Divine Mother. We have traveled over 3000 miles (5000 kilometres) to chant these ancient prayers and make this offering to the Earth at the top of the world. The Earth is our Mother. She provides us with life and sustains us. But now, due to human ignorance, she is in distress. May our offerings serve in some way to alleviate suffering for all.

Sunanda turns on a recording of a monk chanting these sacred words. She attentively joins in. Rishi and I enter deeply into a meditative state. This is a setting I can use, a gift I have had since I was a child. As one Vedic astrologer said to me, I have a very strong relationship with the unseen. With my eyes closed, and with no attachment or agenda other than to serve the highest good, I begin non-verbal communication with unseen presences, energies as alive as that which are in flesh. In this, a transformative process begins to unfold.

Feeling cradled by the penetrative sound of the Sanskrit chanting, I let go and expand. In this field of possibility, I become witness to a rearranging and clearing that takes place all around us that we cannot see. We are far from alone.

Just as the North Pole is a dumping ground for our world’s physical pollution, I now see that it is also a dumping ground for the psychic pollution in the thoughts of humanity. I watch as energies shift, move, clear, reveal and disappear. All of life is unfolding, arising and falling - first in the unseen, then in the seen.

As I allow my body to be a physical conduit for the Earth (matter from which this body is made) to the unseen (source from which I am), an alchemical process unfolds within the next two hours. As witness, I see first a clearing of the space, which include evicting a variety of energies, then opening a gateway for benevolent Cosmic Intelligence energies so they may provide healing support for the living organism, the Planet Earth.

From deep within this meditative state, I am shaken. The pilots summon my attention. We have at most 20 minutes until we must be on the plane to make it back safely.

Sunanda concludes her second round of the Lalita Sahasranama, the thousand names of the Divine Mother, as I begin to bring my full awareness back to the physical reality of this Earthly shelter. As I open my eyes, I see that my breath still creates frost, despite our little heater hard at work. My body is dusted with black soot from the camphor we have been burning continuously.

The pilots encourage us to the cabin door. It opens and reveals dusk light. We must make our way back to the plane and begin our journey across the British Empire mountain range over Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, heading southbound back to Resolute Bay. We still have a four-hour flight until we are back to safety.

Once on board our tiny sea otter plane, I feel elation. Surprisingly not exhausted by the already twelve-hour day in extreme conditions, all I see outside the plane window is Nature shining. It seems She is very pleased. I sense all of creation singing joyfully.

Though the sun was almost gone from view, hidden behind the Earth’s surface, the world, the universe, feels lighter, bright and more expansive. In the sky, on the journey here, a strange, sharp, sparkling, golden light seemed to follow us. When I looked at it then, all I could think was that it was angel Ariel supporting us, with us, present.

Now en route back, a similar otherworldly light fills the sky, this time surrounded by rainbow colours of the setting sun. It is clear to me that we have succeeded in this mission to support healing the planet. It is clear to me that this trip, from beginning to end, is Grace, orchestrated from far beyond, and so much bigger than us all.

Finding Light in the Dark (Practice during a Solar Eclipse)

After I posted my last blog entry, I noticed a comment asking me what "return to the One" meant. Thank you for the question. I loved and appreciated the interest and will happily answer what I do know of this in a blog post very soon. In this blog however, I feel it more apropos to contemplate what illuminated action means when transiting through a solar eclipse.

This past Sunday, our planet experienced a solar eclipse. This happens when our Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth. The Moon fully or partially eclipses our view of the Sun. The effect of an eclipse can be felt a few days on either side of the eclipse time, so we can still feel the effects right up until Wednesday of this week.

Traditionally it is considered an auspicious time for introspection, meditation, spiritual practice and soulful evolution, a time in which progress in these areas can be made. It is not considered a time where it is recommended to pursue worldly affairs and business. How come?

Most of us identify with our world through the lens of matter, form and physical substance, filtered by our field of emotions. We are attached to our egos, our will, our emotions, our bodies, our thoughts, our perceptions believing that they are who we are. For most, this is what we know to be real.

From a worldly perspective, the sun is the center of our universe. In this way, our ego and will is the center of our own personal universe, driven by our likes and dislikes. When we go through a solar eclipse, we lose sight of our common vantage point, the energy of the sun, which influences our personality, ego and individual will.
For this reason, it is not considered a favorable time for practical and business affairs. It is a dark time when our perception is obscured and things are more difficult to fully see, feel, understand and perceive. So it is not a good time to spontaneously buy what you think is your dream home. Somehow, something is eclipsed from view and will not come to light until after the sun has returned to illuminate areas that were in the dark.

Conversely, for a spiritual aspirant, an eclipse provides an optimal time for spiritual progress and work that is done in the light of selfless service. For precisely the reasons above, the darkening of the worldly tendencies dulls our attachment to our ego and will. In the dark of the eclipse we can access, with much greater ease, the light of pure consciousness that is animating the entire universe. Most of the time, the access point to that infinite light is overshadowed by our attachments to the temporal light of the sun, our physical universe, our limited perceptions and ego. In the darkness of the eclipse, we can see the spiritual light more clearly. The veil of illusion is thinner so that we may peer through it and gain insight into our true nature. In this way, an eclipse is a powerful time for profound and lasting release of our attachments to our ego and limited sense perceptions and open to that infinite light of pure consciousness.

If you have a guru, mantra or spiritual practice, it is an ideal time to dive much deeper. These are the days to "step it up", meditate longer, surrender more, open wider and then wider still. The progress made during the eclipsing of the ego drive, when one roots one's actions in selfless service, will then fuel the connection to that infinite source of light when the tempting attraction to the temporal light of the sun returns and that window into the mysteries of pure consciousness is harder to find.

If you don't have a mantra, guru or active meditation practice, how can you take advantage of this cosmic window into pure consciousness? Find a quiet time before the end of Wednesday. Allow yourself to sit quietly. Then consider the thought that you are in the dark. Consider that from the physical points of view. An eclipse is affecting the Earth. You are now in shadow more than ever. Your body casts a shadow. Your mind is full of shadows, shadows of dissatisfactions, unfulfilled desires, the nagging feeling of lack, and lingering, painful emotions. Consider that much of your life is driven by the desire to escape those feelings, a painful void within. Consider that much of what you think you want would not in fact bring you happiness, because there still would be shadow. There is shadow as long as life is driven by the ego and limited will. There will be suffering until we release our attachments to our perception that we are disconnected from Source.

Then consider the notion that you are part of a much greater picture. Consider this in relation to your place with those around you, then your place on the planet as a whole, then your place within the universe. See if you can open to the possibility that beyond the life you think you live, the likes and dislikes you believe you have, the things in your life that you feel define you, there is an infinite expanse of pure possibility. Allow yourself to expand and go beyond limiting self-perceptions. Surrender them to the light. Let them go into the darkness of the eclipse, like a cosmic recycling bin. Allow yourself to expand. Imagine, sense or feel that you are in fact an infinite ray of that infinite field of light. You always have been, but you have not seen it because of your attachments to your ego and limited perceptions. Allow yourself to expand more and then even more. If you are a visual person, sense yourself becoming that light. Stay in your body. Feel your body. This is not about leaving to find some other place. Allow this light of pure consciousness to fill you up. This is who you are. There is no need to try to go "out there" and find it. There is no "making" it happen. You are not the doer. The infinite field of light is. All you have to do is allow this expansion to unfold.

Whether or not you feel lighter, allow yourself to feel the possibly of something beyond, much bigger than your daily life, something so vast it is beyond reason, something so infinitely full of love and possibility, you are eternally loved and received. In this quiet place, allow your soul to flower and your mind to be. In beingness, there is expansion.

This is a time of possibility. We can allow pure consciousness to become the driver of our lives rather living in the shadow of a longer lasting eclipse than the one we are temporarily experiencing: the bondage to our attachments to that which obstructs our view of who we truly are. Let us awaken to the Reality that we are infinite beings of love and light.

May we all realize the infinite light of pure consciousness,

Jai Ma,
Parvati


Please free to visit me at www.parvatimusic.com or www.parvatihealth.com




































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I AM: Natamba

I AM: NATAMBA

In my last blog, I shared a bit about what I understand of the Impossibilities and the Positive Possibilities. Once we allow ourselves to choose life in the Positive Possibilities, I AM consciousness begins to arise and our lives flower.

As a continuation of my last entry, in this blog I share my understanding of I AM consciousness. I also share how I feel my current show and album "Natamba" are an expression of my I AM journey.

Please enjoy and feel free to post comments or ask questions.
May all beings everywhere be happy.
Lokah samasthah sukhino bhavantu.
Parvati

I AM

I AM: the expansive experience of interconnection to all, through all, of all in each moment…pure consciousness arising. There have been moments I have experienced this. First though, must come the practice of rooting my life in the positive possibilities of being, a state in which I unequivocally know that my true nature is Love. In the positive possibilities I know and experience that I am loved in each moment, connected beyond the grasp of the limited mind to and within a vast, mysterious whole, of which I am an integral part. In this, there is release of the impossibilities tendency to grasp, repulse, constrict and try to control the moment. In the Positive Possibilities I meet this moment, without resistance, and witness what is. In that space of what is, I AM arises, and so flows the expression of pure consciousness. The positive possibilities is the fertile soil for I AM consciousness to grow.

NATAMBA

My life focus is the realization of the One. Art is a vehicle through which I express and explore this journey. "Natamba" is Grace for me. It provides me with an opportunity to activate, live and share the spaciousness and release I practice in sitting meditation. It provides me with a playground in which to practice non-attachment, to witness what is, to expand and share the joy of being alive.

Yoga is so much more than a series of bendy exercises for physical health. These are only an aspect of Hatha Yoga, the yoga that awakens pure consciousness through exercises that purify the body/mind. There are many branches of Yoga, from Hatha yoga, to Karma yoga, which focuses on self-realization through selfless service, seeing the love-light energy within all things, especially those in need. Yoga is a vast life science that explores and reveals to us our true selves, beyond the grasp of our limited ego and personal will.

The show and album Natamba celebrate the non-duality of life, that we are indeed expressions of the divine. Through song, lights, sound and theatrical elements, we are brought through a journey of transformation, beginning in the desolate landscape of isolation and despair of reptilian interference, to the lush expansion of Avalonian consciousness flowering on Earth. Natamba teaches us that yoga is everywhere: each moment, be it in a nightclub or in a meditation hall, provides us with seeds to awaken to who we really are.


www.parvatimusic.com

The Universal Mother

Though some may feel that holidays such as Mother’s Day only support the card giving business, I welcome them as an opportunity to practice gratitude for that which they celebrate. On Mother’s Day we have an opportunity to remember our mother and all the mothers around the world who selflessly give. In this blog entry, I would like to remember our mothers and explore the notion of the universal mother within us all, weather we are male or female. In this, I celebrate our human capacity to selflessly give, nurture, love and create.

We all know the capacity mothers have to give. Since we are human, we all have a biological mother through whom we were born on Earth. Whatever our relationship may be with her, there is no denying that each one of us has, at the very least, experienced her gift of birth through the creative portal of her body. That alone to me is a miracle. Think of it: after a moment of passion, nine months of incubation, hours of pain, determination and focus that transcends reason in the delivery process, a fresh, raw, exposed child appears vulnerable in the world. Then that child is completely dependant on her willingness again to give, at the very least of her body, to which we cling literally for dear life for the first years of our life. Not only is a child born, but a sacred contract begins. The mother will be, for the duration of her life, a mother to a child.

Birthing happens every second, every day, generation after generation, all over the world. What a mother gives of herself in that process alone deserves celebration. She surrenders her body to the growth of a new life. For nine months her entire biological process revolves around supporting that new life. Her body has become a creative factory hard at work with one end product in mind: healthy, new life. Imagine living for nine months with the single focus of bringing new life to the Earth. Then imagine that being your responsibility for the rest of your life, 24/7. That is mother.

We also call the Earth our Mother.  That which the Earth grows feeds, nourishes, supports and sustains us.  Our bodies are the very stuff of matter or mother (matter: material, substance, derived of māter/mother). She gifts us, so that as spiritual beings, we may have human experiences. The Earth, as matter, is our mother from whom we come into body, which we temporarily inhabit while in this plane. Like our life long relationship with our biological mother, this broader relationship with Mother Earth takes place for the entire duration of our stay on this planet. We are related to her 24/7, every moment of every day we are alive. We also have a sacred contract with her to love and support her the way she loves and supports us.

The Hindu Yogic tradition describes the beginning of the universe as pure consciousness co-creating with primordial cosmic energy to manifest form. Shiva (pure consciousness) and Shakti (the divine feminine creative power) together co-create what we experience as life. This co-creative process is ongoing, expanding and evolving in each moment of life.

Shakti as the Divine Mother is the dynamic force that moves through the universe. We can see representations of Her through various fertility figures in many religious traditions all over the world.  The Primordial Mother is responsible for creation and is the agent of change. She is within and of the universe itself, interdependent on all of creation. She is the force to which we return, from which we come and that supports our evolution. She nurtures us in all ways, at all times.

As an artist and spiritual practitioner, I feel closely linked to the energy of the Goddess. Not because I have come this time in the body of a woman, but because She is the creative force that moves through creation. She reminds me that I come from Her. She reminds me that I am not of this flesh, which she created, but I am of Her in Her form through Her cosmic play. If I were a man, this would be the same. The opportunity to see myself as part of a great unfolding creative process, of which I am an integral part, perfectly supported, nurtured and loved, is a reflection of this universe as an expression of the Universal Mother. I am a reflection of the universal in my personal experience. I am a part of the Universal Mother. In this, I allow myself to express Her qualities. I find in this that I have the capacity for love, as my guru Amma says, by filling my heart with love and expressing it in all I do. That is the expression of the Universal Mother calling me, and anyone who is willing, to activate the attributes of Universal Mother within ourselves. She is there. She is waiting. All we have to do is give thanks to our Mother, and receive the love She endlessly gives, of which we are an unbroken part.

This Mother’s Day I am grateful for the life I have thanks to my biological mother. I give thanks to my guru Amma, the embodiment of the Divine Mother, who Graces my life, each moment I breathe. May all beings everywhere realize the love of the Divine Mother within.