Temple Visits

[Fireside_Hindu]

Greetings everyone,

I was curious if anyone has ever visited the Sri Rajarajeswari Peetam in Rush, New York.

Oh be still my heart!

I have not been but have been trying to go for almost 2 years now. If you are interested in going you need to read the book, "The Goddess Lives in Upstate New York" - It's a great book about the founder of that temple. It's a great read.

The Goddess Lives in Upstate New York: Breaking Convention and Making Home at a North American Hindu Temple: Corinne G. Dempsey: 9780195187304: Amazon.com: Books

 

[NurseGuy]

That sounds like an amazing temple (just browsed their website)!

 

[La_Sonadora]

Oh be still my heart!

I have not been but have been trying to go for almost 2 years now. If you are interested in going you need to read the book, "The Goddess Lives in Upstate New York" - It's a great book about the founder of that temple. It's a great read.

The Goddess Lives in Upstate New York: Breaking Convention and Making Home at a North American Hindu Temple: Corinne G. Dempsey: 9780195187304: Amazon.com: Books

Namaste Fireside,

Years ago, I made a friend from the Shakti Sadhana website who was affiliated with that temple, the guru, and his guru's guru. He's an incredible writer and we had fantastic conversations. By the way, I own that book. He was a muse to me.

 

[Fireside_Hindu]

Namaste Fireside,

Years ago, I made a friend from the Shakti Sadhana website who was affiliated with that temple, the guru, and his guru's guru. He's an incredible writer and we had fantastic conversations. By the way, I own that book. He was a muse to me.

Are you referring to shakti Sadhana.org? I just looked it up. I am always looking for a larger Shakti Bakta community to connect with.

 

[La_Sonadora]

Are you referring to shakti Sadhana.org? I just looked it up. I am always looking for a larger Shakti Bakta community to connect with.

Yes I am. I haven't been there in years, so i'm unsure of what is happening there now. Interesting coincidence, this person's name was devi_bhakta and has some really good articles on the site.Oh, by the way..i've found all sorts of interesting Shakta related stuff online over the years. If you're interested, i'm sure we can do an exchange of information.

 

[Vinayaka]

My friend had some connection tho the founder via their homelands. Next time i see him, which is fairly often, I'll ask for an update. Some day when we're in Toronto, and after we've been to the 20 or so must see temples there, maybe we'll drive south. Or not.

 

[Fireside_Hindu]

Yes I am. I haven't been there in years, so i'm unsure of what is happening there now. Interesting coincidence, this person's name was devi_bhakta and has some really good articles on the site.Oh, by the way..i've found all sorts of interesting Shakta related stuff online over the years. If you're interested, i'm sure we can do an exchange of information.

That would be wonderful. I've only been practicing for 2.5 years so I often feel at a loss for where to go next in terms of my sadhana and spiritual growth. PM me whenever you have the chance. Thank you!

 

[Kalibhakta]

I would be curious to this formation too, if that is alright to ask.

 

[La_Sonadora]

It's fine, Kalibhakta, the first thoughts I had were of some websites I stumbled upon which may be helpful/inspirational to a devi bhakta.

Here is the first one.
Spiritual Diary

There's also a connected page that has the author's spritual art, which is here:
Home - Spiritual Vision Art

This page is from more of a Bengali flavored Kali bhakta perspective, rather than a South Indian Bala style one:
Daze in The Son Notebooks Main 1

I wish both of these individuals would publish these amazing stories in a book format.

 

[Kalibhakta]

I am eagerly reading these thank you

 

[La_Sonadora]

Kalibhakta, you are welcome. Oh, another site that may be of interest is

Biographies of Saints, Teachers and Seekers in the Indian Tradition

Since we're off to a very Shakta start, look at the following biographies in particular:

Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Prahlad Chandra Brahmachari, Jadhunath Sinha , Ananda Thakur, Gopi Krishna, and Vamaksepa.

Speaking of temple visits though, I would also love to visit the Kauai Hindu monastery in Hawaii. It's a Saiva temple and the writings of their founder was very, very helpful to me along the way, especially for meditation.Has anyone been there?

 

[La_Sonadora]

I should have added Anandamayi Ma to that list as well.

 

[Kalibhakta]

Ooh, I love that website! Ramakrishna needs no introduction to his beautiful self, but Vamaksepa inspires me. If he, the utterly mad, can find perfect acceptance from Mother Tara, that ocean of mercy, it gives me great hope for me too as long as I never let go.

 

[La_Sonadora]

I just realized that I need to start a seperate thread for this. Sorry.

 

[Aupmanyav]

Too bad that the Gallery at Shakti Sadhana.org is not working.

Vamaksepa.

Even those who have obtained Ma's grace, should act within dharma.

 

[Vinayaka]

Today we went for an hour's drive in the country to a Buddhist Meditation Center. Not your typical Hindu temple, but interesting, as we consider Buddhists our brothers in Dharma. Turns out it's a fairly isolated monastery. A large (5 meters high, maybe more) 3 headed bronze was at the north end of a large concrete pad. Facing it was a Buddha, sitting, more typical. At each corner were the 4 directions in statue form. Along each side were 6 statues of various saints. All of this was in stone, probably carved in the Orient, and shipped. I know nothing at all about all of this from an intellectual POV, but it FELT really peaceful. The meditation hall was closed though, but there was another larger building under construction, and you could see the gardens under development, leading down to a beautiful lake with an artificial peninsula shrine extending out onto it. So the future seems like it will be one beautiful oasis on the prairies once its done. We will definitely be going back midsummer. Not sure how many resident monks there are, but by the building setup it could either be a few or a lot. There were 2 rows of temporary trailers that could, if utilised that way, hold many monks. Not sure. Maybe when we go back we'll find out.

 

[Vinayaka]

Speaking of temple visits though, I would also love to visit the Kauai Hindu monastery in Hawaii. It's a Saiva temple and the writings of their founder was very, very helpful to me along the way, especially for meditation.Has anyone been there?

That's my sampradaya and Gurus, so yes I've been there many times. (9, 10, but weeks at a time, maybe more) If you ever do find the time and resources to go, I can offer up a few hints. It is a monastery, not a public style temple. Still it's open to the public a few hours every morning. Members of the sampradaya have 'special privileges'.

 

[Fireside_Hindu]

This afternoon during Ramcharitmanas a family with a young baby boy (maybe 10 months old or so) arrived to listen for a while. However, he was more interesting in trying to eat his mother's copy of the epic poem. Even after she set aside he wiggle-crawled his way to it.

I sometimes wonder why people even bother buying children toys before the age of 3

 

[Kalibhakta]

This afternoon during Ramcharitmanas a family with a young baby boy (maybe 10 months old or so) arrived to listen for a while. However, he was more interesting in trying to eat his mother's copy of the epic poem. Even after she set aside he wiggle-crawled his way to it.

I sometimes wonder why people even bother buying children toys before the age of 3

Small children are often like cats, They are more interested in the "shiny babels" we would think would be boring then the actual toys we buy them!

 

[Aupmanyav]

I sometimes wonder why people even bother buying children toys before the age of 3

Yes, that is right, children can keep themselves busy with anything. We played with marbles, date seeds, stones, etc. Kabaddi, Catch/catch, I spy. A rubber ball was welcome. There were trees to climb on. The problem is that now in the cities they are confined to high-rises and apartments. My grandsons have never played with any toy other than blazing guns, plastic swords, bows and arrows and lately plastic 'gadas'.