My Lord Loves a Pure Heart – Excerpt 11

When chanting the mantra, I focus on the region of my heart and attune to each syllable from that place. My heart opens to receive the teachings that the sacred sounds convey.
 
For me, chanting the mantra is an experience of the Truth, our Guru's ongoing communication of that Truth, and her commitment that we attain that state. I have the experience that this sacred knowledge is conveyed with each round of chanting, and I do my best to stay fully present, without thought, to receive and imbibe this understanding. When I chant the response, I have the intention each time to offer my best song, infused with the gratitude I feel for this gift of knowledge.
 

For me, reading each of these excerpts of Gurumayi’s is like opening a page designed specifically for me and my current thinking. Right now, it is the best way I can feel settled as I grapple with staying steady with many tumultuous changes in my life. The moment my mind even looks in the direction of unsettling thoughts, I turn to the Siddha Yoga path website and I am taken to the wisdom of the heart, “the abode of Truth.” What I read always helps me, and steers me inward. 
 
And the great thing is, what I read stays with me. It leads me into meditation and remains with me as I fulfill my responsibilities. In this way I’m learning to enter my heart regardless of what is going on. I can see I’m building the capability to find my heart quickly and easefully. In this space I feel calm and safe, trusting that whatever happens when I am in my heart is for the best. 
 
Gurumayi's teachings are timeless!  

My challenge is to stay connected inside to the Guru and her wisdom through pausing my thinking mind and silently listening to receive the messages for me from God and the Guru. Sometimes I rise to the occasion and truly listen, and sometimes I weaken and bullheadedly charge ahead. The result is either joy or heartache.
 
I have learned that any ego-filled situation I might get myself into has a shortcut out—through stopping for a moment, asking myself what’s going on, and then listening for an inner answer. Over and over I experience that this is the golden panacea to keep me away from misery. The Guru has awakened me to this capability so I have the immense blessing to be able to make this choice. I pray fervently to do so.
 

Whenever I read a sacred scripture or a book by Gurumayi or Baba, I have to adopt a certain inner attitude. I cannot start reading the book thinking that I want to have this knowledge now. If I start reading like that, I understand the words but I don’t get the deeper meaning.

But if I read the lines slowly with a humble mind and great respect, the essence of the saints’ words rises up in me—through the heart—and then I can grasp the wisdom. For me, receiving wisdom is a mystical process and always a great, precious gift from my Guru.
 

I love this teaching because I am always trying to figure everything out! But I have realized that too often I try to figure things out intellectually instead of going into my heart and receiving wisdom that way. As many times as I have heard Bade Baba’s teaching “The Heart is the hub of all sacred places”—the place where love resides—I don’t always go there voluntarily in order to understand the teachings.
 
Now that I have read this excerpt, I will certainly go to the heart from now on and stop relying only on my brain to help me process and grow.
 

In my experience, everything related to the Siddha Yoga teachings and practices—be it the divine fragrance of dhoop or incense, the melody of Jyota se Jyota Jagao, the recitation of sacred texts, the radiant golden form of Bade Baba in the Temple, mantra repetition, images of the Siddhas, or recordings of Baba Muktananda—all these have the power to calm the tendencies of my mind and refine the intellect. They allow me to enter into the sacred space of my heart, where I experience inner divinity and serenity instantaneously.