Tattva-viveka
A little realization
Margaret Dale - May 20, 2007 5:12 pm
I've got a whole rountine down for the tiny bit of sadhana I do. In the evening (I'm such a night person, I figure being attentive and focused during a less auspicious time is better than being completely absent or asleep during a more auspicious time) I clean the deity area, offer some incense, chant my rounds, and read a little or listen a little. In the morning I give the deities some water for the day. A couple of days ago I started offering a little incense in the morning. This morning I decided to offer a scented wax potpurri (you put some scented wax in a holder and a votive candle underneath melts it and lets the fragrance out) too. Well, the one from before was stuck in the holder and to get it out, you need to put the whole thing in the freezer for a few minutes. I did that, cleaned the deity area, and offered some cone incense, then went to check on the wax. It was still stuck, so I put it back in the freezer. I went back into the deity room and was thinking, hmmm, what to do for like 2 minutes? I decided to offer a ghee lamp, which I hadn't done in a while. As I'm offering, forget the sanskrit, I was just thinking, "good morning, Lord Caitanya, good morning Lord Nityananda, good morning Prabhupada, good morning GM, geez, I know you've already been up for quite a while" when it hit me - if GM has been up for a few hours, so have Mahaprabhu and Nityananda! I know, totally obvious, right? It wasn't so much that they had already been up for a while, it was the perspective that they are people who have their own schedule that I should be trying to get in sync with. It reminds me of how Judaism works in a way. There are events and times that happen regardless of what you do, but one of your jobs as a Jew is to keep track of when they are, recognize and celebrate them when they happen.
I seriously doubt that I will be getting up early right now (that's a whole other set of schedules and demons I need to work through), but I feel one teeny step closer to understanding what it means when we say God is a person.
Philip Breakenridge - May 20, 2007 9:38 pm
Your home sadhana program sounds a lot like mine, Margaret. I have a hard time memorizing anything or pronouncing Sanskrit words, so I try to keep it simple. A devotee once told me that you should address your deities as you would like Them to treat you. For example, when I pull back the curtain and wake my Lords, I say, "Good morning, Lord Nityananda, so kind, sweet, and merciful...Good morning, Lord Chaitanya, so merciful and full of love for God." I also chant the maha mantra as I'm waking Them, and after I've offered my obesiances, I offer Them fresh water and incense. Then I chant a round or two before Them.
During the week, I'm able to perform my bhakti in the morning, but on the weekends, I'm not as disciplined, unfortunately. Sometimes, They don't get woken up until early afternoon. 
I hope to make progress in my worship, and eventually be able to worship my Lord Jagannatha deities again. All things in time, I guess.
