Me, A comma, a dandelion and the wisdom of Gracie

"Never place a period where God has placed a comma." 

Gracie Allen (ditzy comedienne)

I have a book of sayings. Things that come from all walks of life. Both the enlightened and the unenlightened. The saved and unsaved. Saints and non-saints. Ordinary people. Famous people. Children. Elderly. Wise men. Foolish men with a flash of genius. 
Everyone.
I read one of these sayings every day and make them my inspiration for the day. I like these sayings because I think they show that we are all pretty much ok the way we are. Wisdom is not the property of enlightened Gurus and their editors.
 I read this quote from Gracie Allen (singing, dancing, awesome comedy queen of the silver screen). I didn't know until I started this post that this quote has a recent controversial religious and political History.


Since everything is in bloom at my house and the lawn is growing like gang busters, I went out to do a little yard clean up. There were three dandelions in my yard.  Last week my mother commented that they "sure are healthy ones". Yup. Big (huge) yellow flowers with thick, dark healthy leaves. I like dandelions. They are a weed of course, but they are an admirable weed. They are hearty and tenacious. They have nice flowers that turn into "fairy puffs". I have fond childhood memories of making wishes and blowing the seed off the stalk. They are survivors.


We have a kind of cork screw weeding device that pulls a weed roots and all from the ground. Normally I throw them out (PERIOD) but on this day my doggy and I took a stroll by the river and threw the old dandelion plants out into a field of weeds along the river bank. I wondered what would happen if I put a comma where the period usually is. A few days later we walked by and the yellow flowers on my discarded weeds had turned into fairy puffs. So their seeds will be added to the field of weeds and the field of weeds will become "healthy ones".  The wind will probably eventually bring their descendants back to my front yard. I doubted that this could in anyway be a positive outcome, but I thought I would look to see if dandelions had any redeeming attributes. I was surprised to learn that they were actually brought on purpose from the old world to the new world. They are completely edible and very healthy to the wildlife.

Wildlife love it.

Geese, ducks, and quail often eat the flower and seed heads. Blackbirds and sparrows love the seeds, while deer, moose, elk, black bears, grizzlies, chipmunks and prairie dogs eat the plants.
dandelion

Wow! How cool is that? The ducks, geese and deer down by the river are going to be dining on the descendants of my healthy dandelions all courtesy of Gracies comma!


Who needs a Guru to tell us about the mysteries of life? 
We have each other and we have dandelions.


Peace and Best Wishes,
Katie


"What is a weed? A weed is a plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered." -- Emerson

Renewal: God without a Guru

Renewal

Ursula Abresch (Photo) 

I started this blog so I could get this information about SRF into the hands of anyone searching the internet for information. I am taking a short detour to write about what is happening for me without a religion or Guru.

Though this blog may seem a bit negative in the sense that it is an expose' of information I wish I would have had 30 years ago, my life is not about exposing SRF. I personally don't care that much about them at this point in my life. I spend most of my time caring for others, walking, singing, feeding people, working out and meditating. Instead of using my time and money for the "Gurus work" I now can use those resources in the care and feeding of my fellow beings.

With Spring around the corner, the daffodils daffolling, crocuses croaking and frogs singing in the ponds around my house, I feel that sense of renewal and rebirth that people throughout time have celebrated. I was reflecting on this sense of new life while meditating yesterday. Sitting down during my walk, I looked out at the vast body of water before me and felt the inner peace that has moved the hearts of mankind since the beginning. I felt the gratitude for life and the wonder of its gift. The thing that links us with our most primitive ancestors and people all over and of all time. A sense that life is good and we are nourished.

Free at last from the confining shackles of Guru pictures, dogma, doctrine and vows. Free from the grip of "perfect" Gurus and the "all-knowing" interruptions of God by others. Now at last I have God with me and it is a God that no Guru can bestow or intervene or intercept with. This is the true oneness with God.

As I move on to tell "the rest of the story", I want to say that I do this with no malice or anger. SRF is not that important to me. I just want others to be able to find this information without having to pay the price I have paid to get it.

Peace and Best Wishes,
Katie

God, Yoga, love and me

Before I get any further in this story, I want to add a little information about what I believe. I believe in God. I can feel Gods presence in my life. I feel connected to a Universal God. I sing to God. I pray to God. I feel peace in prayer and meditation.  I do not belong to a church or religion.

When I was in SRF they told me I would lose my connection to God if I left SRF. If I abandoned the Guru, God would abandon me. It didn't happen. My meditations are the same now as they were then except now I have stopped obsessing about asana and technique. The party line is that the Guru is a "gift" from God. To abandon the guru and his teachings were like throwing a gift back in Gods face.

 Unbelievably, I bought this.

Scare tactics are a very effective way to keep bliss zombies loyal.

In SRF they think Yogananda is a Christ or Avatar. You can only come to God by way of a "God Realized" Guru. This is a good way to keep butts in the seats. It is my experience that we are all tied to God naturally, we do not need to go through another person to be with God.
There are lots of celebrity names dropped in SRF circles. What do Elvis, Dennis Weaver, James Arnes, George Harrison and Robin Williams have in common? SRF. These people get the red carpet treatment at SRF but they can't keep the organization going all by themselves. Multi million dollar properties and publishing companies don't run themselves. They need elves.

Yoga and Eastern philosophy are great! Meditation is great!...But there is no wondrous meditation technique that is the airplane ride to the divine. In reality there are hundreds if not thousands of meditation techniques. Even the Kriya of Lahiri is available from a multitude of vendors. Some techniques work better for some people than others. Find something you like to do that fits comfortably into your life.

 Contrary to what SRF told us, Yogananda was NOT a special ambassador from God to America, the Johnny Appleseed of Kriya yoga. He was a yoga teacher. A minister of Eastern philosophy. Period. Nothing wrong with that. A teacher is a fine thing to be, but he was JUST a person. You don't need to crawl on your belly in front of his picture.

Now when I was in SRF, people were actually afraid to have children. Afraid to enjoy their extended families. In the time I was there I saw endless domestic dysfunction. When everyone was together, people were afraid to let their warts show. Afraid to be themselves for fear they wouldn't be viewed as "Spiritual" or "advanced". Everyone HAD to be "advanced". Life was viewed not as a beautiful gift but as a thing to overcome. I personally find this very oppressive and restrictive.

So this is what I want to say right now:

Life is gift. Every minute is a wonderful gift. It is meant to be enjoyed.

Love, live, enjoy. Drench yourself in life.

I don't know what happens when we die. I don't know if we reincarnate or go to valhalla with Oden. Maybe we ride unicorns on Hiranyloka with the fairies and gnomes or sit quietly in our graves waiting for the tribulation. Maybe we become ghosts and sneak around scaring the pudding out of little kids. I don't know and neither does anyone else, including "Avatars" like Yoganada. I do think our best evidence comes from the people who come back to life after clinical death. They have been closer than the rest of us and they say it was pretty good, so I'm going with that, mostly because I like it. It gives me comfort. That is the purpose of religion and spiritual beliefs. To give us comfort. Go with the thing that gives YOU comfort.

Peace and best wishes,

KD