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Nurturing Our Resolve

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March 1, 2016

Dear all,

My warmest greetings to each of you as we begin the month of March and continue our study of Gurumayi’s Message. I am delighted to be writing to you and sharing about this month’s focus, which is steadfastness!

Each month we are focusing on a word from Gurumayi’s Message for 2016:

Move with steadfastness
toward becoming
anchored
in Supreme Joy

The themes for the upcoming months are

  • April: Toward
  • May: Becoming
  • June: Anchored
  • July: Supreme
  • August: Joy
  • September: Assimilation

As I mentioned, our theme this month is what the Spanish call firmeza. The Portuguese say determinação. In France, Siddha Yogis and new seekers are focused on détermination, in Italy risolutezza. In Germany the focus is on beharrlich.

What images come to mind when you think of the word steadfastness? Perhaps a mountain? A loving mother? A yogi in meditation? A life-long friend?

One literal definition of the noun “steadfastness” is steadiness in position or firmness of purpose. It can be understood as a constancy of motion or of intention. In Siddha Yoga sadhana, steadfastness is a virtue. It is a quality of focus and perseverance that is inherent within each of us. At the same time, steadfastness needs to be consciously practiced and nurtured for it to become a characteristic of the way in which we perform sadhana.

For me, steadfastness in sadhana is my ongoing intention to turn my awareness inward. It is my dedication to performing regular spiritual practices. I find that, in every moment of my life, I have a choice about which course of action or thought to follow. When I remember this choice, and act from the place of knowledge and stillness inside myself, I am able to perform actions that are beneficial for myself and for those around me. I can perform steadfastness in sadhana by staying aware of this choice and making the effort to connect to my own inner knowledge.

I find that steadfastness is self-perpetuating. The more that I practice this quality, the better I understand it, and the more it becomes a natural tendency. This is how I nurture steadfastness. Through constant self-effort, steadfastness becomes like a well-worn path.

The motivation and inspiration to be steadfast in sadhana can come in many ways. When I listen to other Siddha Yogis share about their experiences of sadhana, I am often compelled to commit more deeply to my own practices. Or, when I do perform my favorite practices of chanting or seva, I am often inspired to meditate more regularly as I taste the inner joy that these practices reveal within me.

On the Siddha Yoga path, our steadfastness is always nurtured and supported by the unwavering grace and guidance of our beloved Guru, Gurumayi.

As we explore Gurumayi’s Message for 2016 in this month of March, I invite you to find your own ways to study and practice the virtue of steadfastness.

Lord Shiva, the supreme deity, is the embodiment of steadfastness, the steady and profound Consciousness within our own beings. On the Siddha Yoga path website this month, we will be celebrating Mahashivaratri—the great night of Lord Shiva.

Mahashivaratri occurs on the fourteenth night of the waning moon in the Indian lunar month of Magha, when the crescent is at its finest. This year it falls on Monday, March 7, Eastern Standard Time, USA.

According to the Puranas, Lord Shiva performed yoga and austerities or tapasya with unwavering dedication, with steadfastness. And it is through the steadfast repetition of the mantra of the Siddha Yoga lineage, Om Namah Shivaya, that we can experience Lord Shiva within our own hearts. During Mahashivaratri, as we chant this great mantra, the power of each repetition is magnified a thousand-fold. What a fruitful way to practice steadfastness!

Another powerful tool for studying Gurumayi’s Message for 2016 this month is the Commentaries on the Pratyabhijna-hrdayam, The Heart of Recognition. Throughout 2016, commentaries on the sutras of the Pratyabhijna-hrdayam, written by scholars and Siddha Yoga meditation teachers, will be posted on the Siddha Yoga path website. This series of commentaries will explore Gurumayi’s Message through the lens of the Pratyabhijna-hrdayam.

The Siddha Yoga path website presents so many means for us to engage with Gurumayi’s Message; you may contemplate Gurumayi’s Message Artwork, reflect on photograph galleries, and read shares and experiences from Siddha Yogis around the world. Continue to explore the website, and return to it regularly, with steadfastness!

I feel such gratitude to Gurumayi for providing this means for studying her teachings and bringing them constantly into our lives.

 

With love,

Genevieve Uttara Joshi
A Siddha Yoga Student

 

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    What a lovely title for the March theme of Steadfastness—Nurturing Our Resolve. Since participating in A Sweet Surprise satsang at the beginning of the year, I have had a growing awareness of how my monthly dakshina practice nurtures my steadfastness on the Siddha Yoga path. This practice has strengthened my commitment to Siddha Yoga sadhana, and has seemed to open the door to peak moments of grace-filled attainment.

    As I have reflected on this, I have felt surges of gratitude for this Siddha Yoga practice, which so silently nurtures my resolve and consolidates my foundation on this path.

    Guildford, United Kingdom

    When I first read the Mahashivaratri letter, some of the points stood out strongly for me and I resolved to return to this letter to reflect more deeply on these points. Today I set aside time to ask these questions:

    What images come to mind when I think of the word steadfastness?
    What does “steadfastness in sadhana” mean to me?
    How do I nurture steadfastness? When do I neglect it?
    What inspires me to deepen steadfastness in spiritual practice?
    As I began to jot down responses to these questions, inspiration flowed. I was fascinated, absorbed, and sometimes surprised as insight after insight crystalized.

    This experience led me to recognize that the practice of writing down my experiences, understandings, and even my unanswered questions, is such a rich source of learning and commitment for me. And as I return to contemplate them again and again, it becomes even richer.

    California, USA

    This is a beautiful letter! Thank you for this focus for the month. It refreshes my practice of steadfastness.

    I connect with the practice of steadfastness through the way that I make choices in each moment of my life. As I look back at my journey of following the path of Siddha Yoga sadhana, I can see that making an effort to consciously choose my, thoughts, feelings, and actions has brought me to where I am today in my life.

    This steadfast practice of making choices has been the means for me to move ever closer to becoming established in the awareness of the Self—in every moment, unwavering in the midst of daily activities.

    Gurudev Siddha Peeth

    After reading and contemplating this beautiful letter, I called to mind my shaktipat experience in which I saw the flame of the Self in the cave of my heart. The flame burned brightly, and was unwavering and completely steady. It was awesome to behold.
     
    It’s so reassuring to remember that, like this flame, steadfastness resides within and, through self-effort and grace, I can come back to it again and again. Thank you, Gurumayi, for the grace of shaktipat and remembrance of it!

    Burnaby, Canada

    When I think of steadfastness, I think of a path that is straight with no deviation from its intended destination. To move with steadfastness is to align myself with the Guru and her teachings and to immerse my mind in the bliss of the Self, which arises from participating in the Siddha Yoga practices. As I begin to taste this inner sweet nectar of the Self, I naturally and effortlessly am at my best—patient, open, and welcoming.  Steadfastness allows me to remain absorbed in this awareness.
     

    New Jersey, USA

    I was so happy to read that viewing the website daily is a way of studying Gurumayi’s Message. Thank you for pointing that out. I enjoy reading and studying the teachings on the website immensely.
     

    Hawaii, USA

    I am encouraged by the author’s description of steadfastness as self-perpetuating: "The more that I practice this quality, the better I understand it, and the more it becomes a natural tendency.”

    As I think of the momentum generated as I and Siddha Yogis around the world practice the quality of steadfastness, I feel invigorated. May our individual and collective efforts to practice steadfastness bear great fruit!

    Missouri, USA