On Thurs 7 Aug 08 @9PM I had a deeply moving and spiritual experience when I lit candles and deeyas for Tibet. This was in unison with everyone in my time zone and done globally. I'd like to explore this and share my experiences with you and hear yours as we participate in universal collective prayer events together. I hope to work together with all the universe's beings as we move toward the ideal of Universal Collective Prayer.
Come join me in Universal Collective Prayer!
May God Bless Us All!
UCP-Universal Collective Prayer is produced by Meady's Musings Production . Copyright 2006-2011
Showing posts with label vasant navratri. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vasant navratri. Show all posts
As the Hindu festival of Vasant Navratri kicks off we here at UCP are thrilled at the number of genuine UCP:Universal Collective Prayer events that seem to be popping up world over. The 'big man' (no not that one LOL!) himself Paulo Coelho of 'The Alchemist' fame and name is having a universal collective prayer event on Wed 6 April 2011 at 6 PM in your time zone! The famous author is doing it to celebrate his crossing 5million fans on Facebook! WOW! Five million fans on Facebook now that IS something! The Brazilian author might just be more famous than Facebook itself with a following like that and speaking of following...he has >1.5M followers on Twitter! Whoa!
But yep the great one is having a prayer event to celebrate his fans and following...it was actually the number one voted suggestion by fans! Coming in second was the idea 'to work together' but the great one couldn't see that realistically working out so he suggested a colloborative contest of sorts instead. Anyway it's all on the link if you go here to his blog. (Not that he needs the traffic! :) )
So of course we here at UCP will be clinking out mangeeras and going in...after all it's universal collective prayer at it's finest! :) And it's already Vasant Navratri and our Christian UCPers are in the time of Lent. Just last week one of our roving reporters had the most marvelous prayer experience...while working the field she came about a man who actually fasts for Lent almost like a Muslim...seriously! He doesn't eat all day and prayers for lunch instead of eating lunch...well we're not sure if exactly like a muslim as he may have water...but our Catholic find certainly did seem divine in his pursuit of Lenten prayers! :) So lovely! :)
So as we join Paulo Coelho in prayer on Wed we're sure the whole world will be prayered out! Because Paulo's prayer event is happening at 6 PM in each time zone so with his following for sure you will have a good 24 hour spread of prayer globe over and as it is Hindus will be prayering and surrendering to the Divine Mother and Christians are in the fasting and prayering period of Lent! :) So pray on! As we take our mangeeras out again and sing and dance to the Divine Mother to our favourite tune! :)
Today is the ninth and final day of the Hindu festival of Vasant Navraatri and also the last day dedicated to Mata Saraswati in our series here on UCP. So today we will be looking at her as the white cladded embodiment of peace and reviewing the whole nine day cycle as we wrap Vasant Navraatri 2010. Ladies and Gentlemen…UCPers far and wide…it’s the grand finale!
Now we started our journey fighting the bad guys with Mata Durga riding on her lion or tiger, bashing the demons left, right and center! She slayed that Asura (demon) Mahish and then her tiger gave a great big roar as she finally realized she had to STOP! Let it go already! LOL! This realization coming in her Kali form when saw that her demon bashing was starting to get kinda out ah hand…so much so that she now had her husband (in her Parvati and Sati form) Shiva at the mercy of her feet!
The Mata Lakshmi came along and stabilized everything for us and gave us all the resources we need to move right along to finding our inner self…
As Mata Saraswati rode in, all cool and calm like a breath of fresh air on her swan…bringing us the knowledge that we were more than the material…all pure and white with light…as we come to this point…the point of peace…inner peace…
Leadership Lessons Learnt:
Well let’s write it like this as we have recently been having fun with our Fishbone Diagrams of Root Cause Analysis fame on our sister blog Meady’s Musings…
The Root Cause Analysis of ‘Why the Ladies Divine of Hinduism aka Devis are Leaders’ is:
The Ladies Divine of Hinduism are leaders because they display initiative, commitment and passion and know how to nourish. They also have the wherewithal to source the necessary tools and materials to get the job done and the knowledge of their self...none of their strengths and weakness lay hidden from them (their Johari window is wide open!). However above all they know how to go with the flow and find peace within and with who they are…they truly are to their own selves true!
You can purchase the above beautiful poster from this site.
As we move into the 2nd set of three in the nine nights festival called Navraatri we focus on the Divine Mother in the form of the goddess Lakshmi. For us here on UCP one of her leadership skills is her ability to support others. Since any leader at some point in time needs to be there to support her followers. It might be a novel angle for some to approach leadership from but really a leader has to also sometimes support...mentor...nurture...and today on the Day 4 of The Divine Mother Leadership Series we will focus on Maa Lakshmi's role as supporter.
She sits at the feet of Vishnu massaging them...Vishnu is a leader in his own right and so it may appear that Lakshmi is simply the follower in such an illustration...however in the material world in our day to day lives...can't we see that even leaders need to support their teams at times? For instance in the corporate world can't you see how a team would best work if the leader went to each of the team members and figuratively speaking 'sat at their feet massaging them'. In that time they could sit there and listen to the thoughts and ideas of each of their team members in a relaxed and loving manner...this in the end makes the leader very strong...as she now knows intimately the views of each of the team members...so her ideas when put forward as the team leader is in the end a true agglomeration of the parts...and there is no better vision or viewpoint from a leader than a summation of all the parts...which when in gels together just right and flows from the leader can in act synergy and then the whole is greater than the sum of its parts! :)
I do not hold the copyright for this photo but it seems to be all over the internet and I made the assumption that it was copyright free. Please contact me if you consider this misuse.
Today is the beginning of Vasant Navratri in the Hindu calendar and we are also in the Catholic month of fasting known as Lent which leads into the Holy Week that culminates on Easter Sunday with the Resurrection of Christ! As a result on UCP I'd like to launch a new daily series that will run from today the first day of Vasant Navratri until the start of the Holy Week-Palm Sunday i.e. this series will run from today, Tue 16 Mar until Sat 27 Mar 2010. It will as a result be covering the entire Vasant Navratri festival. And in some parts of India and often of recent times here in Trinidad as well, the festival tends to be marked by celebrating the Divine Mother in triplicate. The first three days as Durga then followed by another three for Lakshmi ending up with the final three being for honouring Saraswati. UCP likes this approach where it is said in the first three days we look at destroying our demons...then for the next three days we pray to accumulate the wealth that is needed to execute stuff on the material plane and in the last three days we look for the wisdom to carry it all out! All three necessary to execute well on planet earth in all our divine feminine splendid forms! :)
As discussed on Meady's Musings yesterday the series will cover the way the Divine Mother in Hinduism and to a lesser extent in Catholicism personifies Leadership. Leadership in all the forms or as how we here at UCP and Meady's Musings Production define it that is! So here we go kicking off the series with Goddess Durga herself and we will continue daily until Sat 27 Mar 2010...hope you all have as much fun as we plan to have on this series...now let's carry on!
DURGA as a LEADER: And the Cheese Stands Alone!
If we here at UCP had to sum up Durga's leadership qualities in one phrase it would be that..."And the cheese stands alone!" For in this form the Divine Mother needs no help and is all out on her own except I guess for her vehicle which is either a lion or a tiger at most times! But other than that in this leadership form she needs no helpers...no men...no followers...she just kicks demons around all on her own! Just look at the licking she put on ole Mahish asura (demon) while in this form. LOL!
Also in this battle with Mahish no holds were barred...they were fighting tooth and nail! Just out there in the middle...get to it... and when such a grand battle exists sometimes one cannot tell who is who...each takes on the other so intensely that they momentarily become one and there is momentarily no distinction...'good' fighting so intensely to overcome 'evil' that in a moment the 'good' almost looks like 'evil' as it becomes so obsessed with fighting the 'evil'. It reminds me a lot of Bram Stoker's Dracula tale where Van Helsing is so obsessed with killing Dracula at times you wonder if he had not taken on the very nature of the being himself...I guess the classic tale of...Who is the hunter?...Who is the hunted?
So what leadership qualities does Maa Durga display in her fight to the death with Mahish asura?
1. INITIATIVE:The raw ability to lead...walk out there in the middle of the battlefield of the unknown...take the initiative...be the first one to step forward when everyone is hesitating...step up to the plate even when you look around and you see you are the only one who came out in the middle of the battlefield (the cheese standing alone). And it's why many a time leaders tend to look around and realise there is no one else there...no one to whisper a word of advice...no one's shoulder to leader on...since no one else stepped out! And that can't be an easy place to be! With all the devas (angels) looking on Maa Durga stepped up!
2. COMMITMENT: Once already out there on the battlefield there is no turning back and you have to stick with it. Have the commitment to fight to the end! Its either I die or my opponent but I'm not leaving! As did Mother Durga as she fought until she slayed Mahish Asura
3. PASSION:So yep...she took the initiative and stepped up to the plate...and even after having realised the dauntingness of the task and the fact that 'you are in this alone baby' she decided to commit...stick with the task to the end! But guess what that was not all...she didn't just go through the motions till the end. No siry she proceeded to fight with passion! Maa Durga took on Mahish asura with such passion well it got to the point of obsession! And that combo of Initiative, Commitment and Passion folks is why we today on UCP salute you as a leader Mother Durga...you're the woman! :)
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