Walk lightly in the Spring; Mother Earth is pregnant (Kiowa)

March 20th at 5:02 am MDT is the Spring Equinox and the first day of Spring. Many traditions hold that this time of year, Mother Earth is pregnant. We see signs of birth and renewal wherever we look.

The angle of the light is changing everyday. The sky has taken on a lavender hue and the sunlight has a glisten to it. Sprouts and buds are appearing and bird song is more vibrant.

Now, how does this all effect us? We can't help but feel new hope and energy in the Spring. In Ayurveda, it's a good time to cleanse the body. This is a good time to reorganize and there's a natural impulse to spring clean the home. It's a good time to bring out new sets of clothing, get a haircut, and approach the world in a new way.

This is a time for honoring the new life that is coming. We are about to see the sprouts from the seeds that have endured the cold hard earth of Winter.

original woodcut illustration for the poem "Spring is Here," by  Edward Youl

The Miracle

~ L.H. Bailey

Yesterday the twig was brown and bare;

Today the glint of green is there;

Tomorrow will be leaflets spare;

I know no thing so wondrous fair,

No miracle so strangely rare.

I wonder what will next be there!

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Thank you Blessed Mother for the life you bring! Wishing everyone a happy Spring!

Press Release: Temple Building Fund

Shiva Lingam at Shiva Mandir

 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

This local community-based temple is going global. Shiva Mandir was founded 13 years ago as a meditation sanctuary and a Colorado nonprofit organization. Over the years, more than 3,000 people have participated in the meditations, ceremonies and classes held in the small house that Shiva Mandir calls home. The many programs and charitable services have been squeezed into and are stretching the limits of the residential neighborhood.

Now it’s time to get a real temple building. With more and more people participating and an increasing number of online followers from around the world, Shiva Mandir is becoming Shiva Sai Mandir and is inaugurating a Temple Building Fund. On this auspicious day of Maha Shivaratri, March 9th, Shiva Mandir announces its name change and formally begins its temple fundraising. The goal is to raise $10,000 by Monday, July 22nd, the blessed day of Guru Purnima. This amount will be the beginning of a temple endowment fund and will launch a five-year temple development plan.  More information will be released in the coming weeks.

Watch the dream take shape!

To learn more, visit www.shivamandir.org. To help with this project, contact Shiva Mandir, 1391 South Pennsylvania St., Denver, CO 80210, shivamandir@gmail.com, 303-722-3658.

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Shiva Is About to Emerge from His Eternal Meditation

There are many stories associated with Maha Shivaratri. This particular description from the Puranas reveals the benefits to mortals of observing this blessed day:

Shiva resides on Mount Kailash. There he sits in the rarefied air of the snow-clad and highest peak of the mountain range at the top of the world. Clothed only in a tiger skin, his gaze is cast inward and his eyes are closed. He is deeply absorbed in meditation. The silence and power of his meditation is generating the consciousness and intelligence that underlies and supports all of created existence.

Once a year, on Maha Shivaratri, he stirs a bit in his meditation. His eyes flutter open briefly. As he looks upon all of creation, wherever he sees devotees assembled in song, meditation and worship, he smiles and is pleased.

His blessings and boons immediately fall upon the devotees. Their sins are forgiven. Their spiritual aspirations are granted. They are gifted with expanded awareness and deeper understanding. They are blessed with Divine protection.

Then his eyes are cast downward again, the eyelids close, and he settles back into his eternal and all-sustaining meditation.

How To Prepare for Maha Shivaratri

Shiva by Octavio Ocampo (http://www.visionsfineart.com/ocampo/shiva.html)

How do you prepare for a grand yearly observance that is celebrated around the world with traditions that range from city firework displays, parades and cannabis-infused smoothies, to silent skyclad vigils deep within secluded forests? 

Maha Shivaratri is celebrated throughout India and Nepal; observed in Tibet, Indonesia and Africa; and wherever there is a temple, shrine or sanctuary honoring Lord Shiva. Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, lovers of Yoga and Meditation anywhere and everywhere observe this most auspicious night of the year.

Personal preparation for Maha Shivaratri includes reading stories and texts related to Lord Shiva. One favorite is the Shiva Sutras, aphorisms describing the nature of consciousness and supreme knowledge. A fast is usually observed during the day of Maha Shivaratri and can be observed most strictly as a complete abstinence from food and drink and may even be continued throughout the night until dawn. Or a fast may be modified to be an abstinence of meat, grains and dairy lasting until sundown. Just prior to the celebration of Maha Shivaratri, observers traditionally bathe carefully with the intention of symbolically cleaning the inner space of awareness. Maha Shivaratri is an auspicious day to wear malas and sacred gems, stones and jewelry, new clothing and rudraksha beads.

Maha Shivaratri may be celebrated for up to three days in some parts of the world but it is generally celebrated from sunset to sunrise on the No-Moon Day during the month of Phalguna (February/March). Maha Shivaratri begins the night of Saturday, March 9, in the Western Hemisphere.

Observances include songs of praise to Lord Shiva; bathing Shiva murtis and Shiva lingams in milk, yogurt, honey, ghee and water; offering incense, candles, fruits and flowers. It is said that observing the one night of Maha Shivaratri is equal in austerity power to a regular spiritual practice observed on all the other days of the year.

The curtain of illusion that obscures our true perception and confuses us is pulled open by Divine Grace on Maha Shivaratri. Therefore, whatever the external preparations and observances might be, the most important aspect of Maha Shivaratri is the silent inner communion with one’s own Self, which is the place where the Heart of Shiva is revealed.