#its like ritual to me. spirituality in routine and devotion and connection

[mossy-covered-bones]

I want. To make a song

[iamhussainialvi]

🙏✨ Unlock the Power of Naad Ali Prayer🤲: Transform Your Life with Daily Recitation! ✨🌟

📝 Title

The Miraculous Naad Ali Prayer: A Daily Ritual for Overcoming Life’s Challenges

🧑‍🔬 Bio

I’m Muhammad Faisal Hussaini, an artist dedicated to exploring the spiritual and transformative powers of ancient prayers and rituals. Join me on a journey to discover the profound impact of the Naad Ali prayer on our daily lives.

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Spirituality & Personal Growth

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Spirituality & Personal Development

The Miraculous Naad Ali Prayer: A Daily Ritual for Overcoming Life’s Challenges

In the hustle and bustle of modern life, finding moments of peace and clarity can be challenging. However, ancient spiritual practices like the Naad Ali prayer offer a beacon of hope and transformation. This powerful prayer, recited seven times daily, is believed to bring about profound changes in the life of the one who recites it, helping to overcome difficulties and achieve perfection.

The Origins and Significance of Naad Ali

The Naad Ali prayer, also known as “Nade Ali,” is a revered supplication in Islamic tradition. It is attributed to Imam Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). The prayer is often recited for its miraculous benefits, particularly in times of distress and hardship. The words of the prayer invoke the assistance of Imam Ali, who is regarded as a source of divine support and intervention.

How to Recite the Naad Ali Prayer

To harness the full potential of the Naad Ali prayer, it is recommended to recite it seven times each day. The process is simple yet deeply spiritual:

Find a Quiet Space: Choose a peaceful environment where you can focus without distractions.

Purify Your Intentions: Begin with a sincere intention to seek divine assistance and overcome your challenges.

Recite the Prayer: Recite the Naad Ali prayer seven times, with full concentration and faith.

Breathe on Your Right Hand: After reciting, breathe gently on your right hand.

Visualize Perfection: Imagine the perfection and resolution of your difficulties as you complete the ritual.

The Benefits of Daily Recitation

The Naad Ali prayer is believed to offer numerous benefits to those who recite it with devotion:

Overcoming Obstacles: The prayer is known for its power to remove obstacles and difficulties from one’s path.

Spiritual Growth: Regular recitation fosters a deeper connection with the divine and enhances spiritual awareness.

Inner Peace: The calming effect of the prayer helps to reduce stress and anxiety, promoting inner peace.

Divine Assistance: By invoking the support of Imam Ali, reciters feel a sense of divine protection and guidance.

Personal Testimonies

Many individuals have shared their transformative experiences with the Naad Ali prayer. From overcoming financial hardships to finding peace in turbulent times, the prayer has been a source of solace and strength for countless believers.

Incorporating Naad Ali into Your Daily Routine

Integrating the Naad Ali prayer into your daily routine can be a life-changing practice. Here are some tips to help you get started:

Set a Schedule: Dedicate specific times each day for recitation, such as early morning or before bedtime.

Create a Sacred Space: Designate a special area in your home for prayer and meditation.

Stay Consistent: Consistency is key to experiencing the full benefits of the prayer. Make it a non-negotiable part of your daily routine.

Reflect and Journal: Keep a journal to document your experiences and any changes you notice in your life.

Conclusion

The Naad Ali prayer is more than just a spiritual practice; it is a powerful tool for personal transformation and overcoming life’s challenges. By incorporating this ancient prayer into your daily routine, you can unlock its miraculous benefits and experience a profound sense of peace and perfection. Join me, Muhammad Faisal Hussaini, on this spiritual journey and discover the transformative power of the Naad Ali prayer.

Feel free to reach out if you need any more details or have any questions!

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[kanika75]

Sacred Sites of Nubra Valley: Hundur Monastery and Diskit Monastery

Exploring the mystical landscapes of Nubra Valley in Ladakh is like stepping into a serene and spiritual world. The valley, often referred to as the "Valley of Flowers," is home to some of the most significant monasteries in the region. Among these, Hundur Monastery and Diskit Monastery stand out not only for their historical and religious importance but also for their breathtaking beauty and serene ambiance. These monasteries offer a glimpse into the rich cultural and spiritual heritage of Ladakh.

Nestled in the picturesque Nubra Valley, Hundur Monastery is a symbol of peace and tranquility. The monastery, with its stunning backdrop of snow-capped mountains and lush greenery, is a haven for those seeking solace and spiritual enlightenment. Established over 600 years ago, Hundur Monastery is known for its intricate architecture and beautiful murals that depict the life and teachings of Lord Buddha. The monastery is a perfect blend of ancient traditions and natural beauty, making it a must-visit for travelers exploring Ladakh.

A visit to Hundur Monastery is not just about admiring its architectural beauty; it’s also about experiencing the spiritual energy that pervades the place. The monastery is home to several monks who live a life of meditation and prayer. Visitors often find themselves drawn into this peaceful routine, finding a sense of calm and introspection. The monastery's main prayer hall houses a stunning statue of Maitreya Buddha, which is a focal point of devotion for both monks and visitors alike.

Diskit Monastery, the oldest and largest monastery in Nubra Valley, offers a contrasting yet complementary experience to that of Hundur Monastery. Founded in the 14th century by Changzem Tserab Zangpo, a disciple of Tsong Khapa, Diskit Monastery is perched on a hill overlooking the Nubra Valley. The monastery’s commanding position provides panoramic views of the valley below, making it a popular spot for photography and contemplation.

The most iconic feature of Diskit Monastery is the 106-foot tall statue of Maitreya Buddha, which was inaugurated by the Dalai Lama in 2010. This majestic statue faces down the Shyok River towards Pakistan, symbolizing peace and protection for the region. The monastery itself is an architectural marvel, with its labyrinthine passages, ancient murals, and statues. Each corner of the monastery tells a story, reflecting the rich history and cultural heritage of Ladakh.

Exploring Diskit Monastery is like taking a journey back in time. The monastery's prayer hall, adorned with frescoes and statues, exudes a sense of timelessness. Visitors can witness the monks performing their daily rituals and prayers, offering a glimpse into their monastic life. The monastery also hosts the annual Dosmoche festival, a vibrant celebration that attracts locals and tourists alike. During this festival, the courtyard comes alive with masked dances and traditional music, creating a colorful and joyous atmosphere.

The spiritual journeys offered by Hundur Monastery and Diskit Monastery are further enriched by the natural beauty that surrounds them. The Nubra Valley, with its stark yet stunning landscapes, is a paradise for nature lovers and adventure enthusiasts. Visitors can explore the valley through various trekking routes, camel safaris on the sand dunes of Hunder, and visits to the hot springs of Panamik. Each of these experiences adds a unique dimension to the overall journey, making a trip to Nubra Valley truly unforgettable.

One cannot speak of the Nubra Valley without mentioning its people and their warm hospitality. The residents of this remote valley live a simple yet fulfilling life, deeply connected to their land and traditions. Interacting with them provides valuable insights into the Ladakhi way of life. Local homestays and guesthouses offer an opportunity to experience Ladakhi hospitality first-hand, often accompanied by traditional meals and stories of the region’s history and folklore.

In addition to their spiritual and cultural significance, both Hundur Monastery and Diskit Monastery play crucial roles in the community. They are centers of learning and social service, providing education and support to the local population. The monasteries organize various programs and workshops aimed at preserving the cultural heritage of Ladakh, as well as promoting social and economic development in the region.

For those planning a visit to Ladakh, a trip to the Nubra Valley and its monasteries is an absolute must. The journey from Leh to Nubra Valley itself is an adventure, traversing the world’s highest motorable pass, Khardung La. The drive offers breathtaking views of the rugged mountains and deep gorges, setting the stage for the serene beauty of the valley. Upon arrival, visitors are greeted by the contrasting landscapes of lush green fields, barren mountains, and pristine rivers.

Both Hundur Monastery and Diskit Monastery offer accommodation options for those wishing to stay overnight. These stays provide a unique opportunity to immerse oneself in the monastic life, participating in prayers and meditation sessions. Waking up to the sound of the monks’ chants and the sight of the sun rising over the mountains is an experience that stays with you long after the trip is over.

The Nubra Valley, with its stunning landscapes and spiritual sanctuaries, offers a unique blend of adventure and tranquility. Hundur Monastery and Diskit Monastery are the jewels of this region, each offering a distinct yet harmonious experience of Ladakh’s rich cultural and spiritual heritage. Whether you are seeking inner peace, cultural insights, or simply the beauty of nature, a visit to these monasteries will leave you with lasting memories and a deeper appreciation of Ladakh’s timeless charm. So, pack your bags and embark on this spiritual journey to the heart of the Himalayas.

[pamphletstoinspire]

SAINT KATERI TEKAKWITHA: PRINCESS OF THE EUCHARIST

For many years, American Catholics who wanted to follow in the footsteps of a saint had to travel to Europe. In Assisi, they could step where Saint Francis did. In Ireland, they might walk the byways of Saint Patrick.

It wasn’t until the late-20th-century canonizations of Sister Elizabeth Ann Seton, born in New York City in 1774, and Sister Katharine Drexel, born in Philadelphia in 1858, that Americans finally had the opportunity to stay in the country when visiting places where U.S.-born saints lived and worked.

But the Big Apple and the City of Brotherly Love have changed significantly since the 18th and 19th centuries. In contrast, a virtually unspoiled place trod by a saint lies in upstate New York, thanks to the October 21 canonization of Kateri Tekakwitha, who walked and prayed in what is now the central part of the Empire State. In her time, it was the land of the Mohawks.

TRIBUTE TO THE NATIVE DAUGHTER

By making a trip to the Albany Diocese, people can visit two places associated with this Native American woman. The National Kateri Tekakwitha Shrine, located in Fonda, New York, and operated by the Conventual Franciscans, honors Saint Kateri’s baptismal site, while the Jesuit-run Shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs in Auriesville, New York, marks her birthplace.

The landscape where Kateri walked and prayed hasn’t changed, nor has the meaning of her life, according to Bishop Howard J. Hubbard of the Albany Diocese. Earlier this year, in the diocesan newspaper, The Evangelist, Bishop Hubbard paid tribute to the native daughter: “Despite the pristine simplicity of the civilization [Kateri] experienced and the rather drab ordinariness of her life, there are . . . some important lessons to be drawn from her pilgrim journey of faith,” he said.

First, she was “a woman who understood well and accepted with patient resignation the mystery of the Cross, that mystery which proclaims that our faith is founded on . . . the paradox of death leading to life; the paradox of suffering leading to glory; the paradox of defeat and failure leading to victory.”

Second, continued Bishop Hubbard, Saint Kateri was “a woman of magnificent fortitude, dogged determination, and unswerving conviction. A lesser person might well have yielded to the pressure . . . to squelch that thirst for the God of the Christians, which the Holy Spirit had so copiously stirred up in her heart.”

Finally, he said, Kateri was “a woman of great prayer, a woman who had a deep and abiding awareness of the Lord’s love for her and an ongoing personal relationship with him.”

COMMEMORATING THE CANONIZATION

Since its origin in 1847, the Albany Diocese has commemorated Kateri in several ways. Both the Knights of Columbus and the Catholic Daughters of the Americas have chapters dedicated to her. A diocesan program carries her name: Kateri Institute for Lay Ministry Formation. Most recently, two parishes that merged in Schenectady eschewed creating a portmanteau name from the titles of the former parishes and elected to become St. Kateri Church.

The two national shrines annually host multiple events that involve Native American Catholics. This year, the National Kateri Tekakwitha Shrine celebrated the saint’s feast day on July 14 with Native American rituals and songs. “I wanted to be in the place where she lived, where she was baptized, and where she is still honored,” said Eddie Ryder of Bay Shore, a town on Long Island. “I’m part Native American, and I’ve always wanted to come here and really feel Kateri’s presence.”

As Franciscan Father Mark Steed prepared to celebrate the feast-day Mass in a rustic pavilion on the shrine’s 200 acres of wooded land on the bank of the Mohawk River, he explained the significance of Kateri’s canonization for Native American Catholics. “It authenticates who they are as a people and who she was as an individual living all of those numbers of years ago,” he told Catholic News Service. “It gathers them in now to the whole Church. So they’re not sitting on the fringe. Now they are part of the inner circle.”

Four days later, more than 800 Native American Catholics from throughout North America flocked to the Albany Diocese to attend the 73rd annual Tekakwitha Conference. Holding the conference in Albany was a lucky stroke—or the intercession of a soon-to-be saint — because the event had been slated well before the canonization was announced. The conference, based in Great Falls, Montana, was started in 1939 as a way to unify Native American Catholics from different tribes across the United States.

Participants included members of the Mohawk, Choctaw, Algonquin, Navajo, Ojibwa, and other tribes. They listened to presentations ranging from the connection of Mother Earth and fracking to Native Catholic genealogy and a talk on Kateri as “a princess of the Eucharist.” Throughout the conference the smell of burning sweetgrass — known among native peoples as the “hair of Mother Earth” — wafted through Masses as congregants approached altars, offering corn, beans, and squash with the Eucharist.

Conference executive director Sister Kateri Mitchell, SSA, a Mohawk, said that the organization’s members, as well as other native peoples, routinely return to where the new saint was born and baptized because “there’s something intriguing about Kateri. She was born way back in the mid-17th century and died 24 years later. But in 2012, people still remember this Indian woman.”

WALKING ON HOLY GROUND

Sister Kateri’s own introduction to the new saint occurred when she was a child named Delia; she grew up on the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation, which straddles upstate New York and Canada. “My father would say on some mornings, ‘Let’s go back home.’ By ��home,’ he meant the Mohawk Valley—Fonda and Auriesville,” she recalled. “He said that even though he had never lived there. The Mohawk people had not lived there for centuries. My father would tell the story of our people when we were there. It was like walking on holy ground.”

As the years passed, she came to love the shrines as much as her father did. “They attracted me,” she explained, and then echoed her father by saying, “It was like going home.”

Eventually, she entered religious life and chose Kateri as her name. When her order later permitted its members to return to their baptismal names, she consulted her parents. “My mother and father said, ‘Keep Kateri.’ It’s a very special name to me. I’m a Kateri more than a Delia.”

The uniqueness of the Kateri sites in upstate New York, she says, is that “they are so beautiful. Nature itself captivates you. People have told me they go there annually because they find a connection with nature and Kateri. It’s very peaceful and sacred. Saint Kateri calls people to deepen their own spiritual lives.”

In 1987, while visiting the United States, Pope John Paul II called Kateri “the best-known witness of Christian holiness among the native people of North America. . . . She always remained . . . a true daughter of her people, following her tribe in the hunting seasons and continuing her devotions in the environment most suited to her way of life, before a rough cross carved by herself in the forest. The Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the great gift of God’s love, is never in contrast with what is noble and pure in the life of any tribe or nation, since all good things are his gifts.”

Sister Kateri believes that those good gifts include Saint Kateri and the land her people loved, where today’s Catholics can walk in her footsteps.

A SHORT HISTORY OF SAINT KATERI

When Kateri Tekakwitha was proclaimed Saint Kateri Tekakwitha on October 21, she became the first member of a North American tribe to be declared a saint. “The Lily of the Mohawks,” Kateri was born in 1656 in a village along the Mohawk River called Ossernenon, now known as Auriesville, New York. Her father was a Mohawk chief, her mother a Christian Algonquin raised among the French.

When Kateri was 4, a smallpox epidemic claimed her parents and baby brother. She survived, but her face was disfigured and her vision impaired. She was raised by her anti-Christian uncle, who began to plan her marriage. But after meeting with Catholic priests, Kateri decided to be baptized.

Following her Baptism by a Jesuit missionary in 1676 at age 20, Kateri’s family and village ostracized and ridiculed her. She fled the next year to Canada, taking refuge at St. Francis Xavier Mission in the Mohawk Nation at Caughnawaga on the St. Lawrence River, about 10 miles from Montreal, and made her first Communion on Christmas in 1677.

Kateri astounded the Jesuits with her deep spirituality and her devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. She took a private vow of virginity and devoted herself to teaching prayers to the children and helping the sick and elderly of Caughnawaga.

She died in 1680 at age 24. According to eyewitnesses, the scars on her face suddenly disappeared after her death. Soon after, Catholics started to claim that favors and miracles had been obtained through her intercession. Native Americans have made appeals to the Catholic Church for her recognition since at least the late 1800s.

Documentation for Kateri’s sainthood cause was sent to the Vatican in 1932. She was declared venerable in 1942 and in 1980 was beatified by Pope John Paul II.

Records for the final miracle needed for her canonization were sent to the Vatican in July 2009. It involved the full recovery of a young boy in Seattle whose face had been disfigured by flesh-eating bacteria and who almost died from the disease. His family, who is part Native American, had prayed for Kateri’s intercession. On December 19, 2011, Pope Benedict XVI signed the decree recognizing the miracle, clearing the way for Kateri’s canonization.

Written by: James Breig

[unifycosmos]

A Guide to Sudarshana Maha Mantra [Everything You Need to Know]

Sudarshana Maha Mantra is a powerful mantra which helps us to acquire all-around success and Karya siddhi. It is the most effective way to please Lord Sudarshana. It captured my attention when I’ve first heard of it, so I said to myself that I need to share it!

This mantra will give you a divine aura to both your mental and physical aspects. It will also help you to progress spiritually and lead you to inner peace and serenity. You will get relieved of ill luck, financial crisis, health issues, spiritual dissatisfaction etc. if you chant this mantra regularly.

What is Sudarshana Maha Mantra?

This Sanskrit word ‘Sudarshana’ is a combination of two words. ‘Su’ means divine, ‘Darshana’ means vision so, the word Sudarshana translates to ‘Divine Vision’.

The Sudarshana Maha Mantra is an auspicious and potent mantra that will help you to de-clutter your life from any unnecessary elements that may have been hindering your progress. Sudarshana mantra benefits are not only just a religious aspect, but they heal us physically, mentally and spiritually.

You need to recite is as follows:

“Om Shreem Hreem Kleem Krishnaaya Govindaaya Gopeejana Vallabhaya Paraya Param Purushaaya Paramathman Para Karma Manthtra Yanthra Tanthra Oushadha Visha Aabichara Astra Shastra Samhara Samhara Mrithiyur Mochaya Mochaya Om Namo Bhagavathey Maha Sudarshanaya Om Preem Reem Rum Deepthrey Jwala Pareethaya Sarwa Digkchobhanakaraye Karaeya Hum Phat Para Bhrahmaney Param Jyothish Swaha Om Namo Bhagavathey Sudarshanaya Om Namo Bhagvathey Maha Sudarshanaya Maha Chakraya Maha Jwaalaya Sarva Roga Prashamanaya Karma Bandha Vimochanaya Paadaathimastha Paryanthan Vaada Janitha Rogaan Pitha Janitha Rogaan Shlesma Janitha Rogaan Daathusankalikoth Bhava Naanaa Vikaara Rogaan Nasaya Nasaya Prasamaya Prasamaya“

Meaning of the Sudarshana Maha Mantra in English

Here’s a quick translation of this mantra.

“ O Lord Krishna, you are the controller of this entire universe, the senses. You are the supreme soul and the beloved one among the gopees. Please Param aatma, protect me from all evils, acts of others, evil mantra and weapons. O Lord, who has the entire world on his fingertips, who holds the mighty Sudarshana chakra and wards off evil from all eight directions, I surrender myself to thee.”

How and When to Chant Sudarshana Maha Mantra

This Sudarshana Maha Mantra can be initiated on birth(nakshatra) days and Ekadashi tithi days. It is very beneficial if you can recite it, but with busy work schedules these days, it may not be possible, that’y why you can also recite it on Saturdays and Wednesdays, which are the most favorable days.

This sacred mantra should be recited in the early morning after taking a bath or in the Sandhya Kala, i.e., evening. It is advised to do it sitting in front of an idol or picture of Lord Sudarshana/Lord Vishnu.

You can recite it for 3, 9, 11 or 108 times as per your convenience. And any individual can chant this maha mantra; there are no barriers.

You could also offer sweet food items made with sesame or laddu, tamarind rice, etc.

Tulsi and Lotus flowers can be used to offer to Lord Sudarshana.

Recite it facing the north and east direction.

While chanting the mantra, you can use the rosary beads made of tulsi or clear quartz crystals.

This mantra can also be used in Shri Sudarshana Homa or Yajna. Homas are thousands of years old rituals in which the mantra is recited over the burning fire which is the Yajna. They usually have elaborate setups with other routines. There are hundreds of homas for different purposes, and Sudarshana homa is one of the powerful ones.

Chanting of this mantra over a fire ritual or homa is a Vedic custom which accesses Lord Vishnu’s spiritual weapon, the Sudarshan chakra. The person on behalf of whom the homa is performed should be physically present in the homa or japa.

It won’t be possible for you to perform this homa every day, so you can also do it in the confines of your home. You can sit in front of a picture of Lord Vishnu, offer some flowers, burn a lamp and incense sticks. Take a glass of water and put a few tulsi leaves, cover the glass using the right-hand palm, recite the mantra and then the holy water can be given to people who need it.

If you cannot arrange much, then sit with a clear mind and chant the mantra daily. If you chant the maha mantra regularly with a pure heart, then you will definitely see results.

Who is Lord Sudarshana?

Lord Sudarshana is a manifestation of Lord Vishnu shown holding the Sudarshana Chakra in his rear right hand. In the other three sides, he holds a shank (conch), Gada (mace) and Padma (lotus). When Lord Vishnu is seen in his form holding ths chakra, he is acknowledged as Lord Sudarshana. This form of him is rightly called as the ‘Divine Vision’.

Lord Sudarshana by: Devshoppe

This weapon is of such significance that it is acknowledged as a deity itself. When you chant this powerful mantra, you are showering praise on the weapon by addressing it as a deity named Lord Sudarshana. You hail the powers that it unfolds and invoke the power of Lord Vishnu or Narayana. This powerful mantra helps to harness the auspicious qualities of the Sudarshana chakra which is one of the most feared and dreaded weapons in the universe.

Significance of the Sudarshana Chakra

It is the holy weapon of Lord Vishnu. This chakra has 108 serrated blades or edges. These blades lookout for evil and destroy them. Out of all his weapons, this is the most significant and powerful one. The sharp edges can severe anything in the Universe. The disc gives out immense heat as it is also an aspect of Agni who is the Lord of Fire.

The typical image of Sudarshana chakra contains a circular ring where Lord Sudarshana is shown with Sixteen hands. Around the circle are found flames of fire as a representation of the Sun God. On the other side there is an image of Lord Narasimha.

This ring represents the destruction of all evil forces and imparts victory of good over evil. When hurled at an enemy, this chakra slices through the air like a disc with blazing fire with a tremendous amount of power. It is known that the chakra can search for its enemy in all the four directions. So, this weapon is also considered as the protector of Dharma and justice among humanity.

In the Nrisimha Upanishads, there is narration as to how Lord Vishnu obtained this powerful weapon of destruction. Once when demons began to overthrow the Gods, so the gods went to Lord Vishnu and asked for his help. Vishnu wanted to have a mighty weapon to defeat the demons. So, he started praying to Lord Shiva and decided to offer one thousand lotus flowers and chanting the Shiva Mantras. Vishnu noticed that one of the lotus flowers were missing so he offered to give his own eyes to replace the missing lotus so that he could complete his prayer ritual.

Lord Shiva was so impressed by his exceptional devotion that he granted Vishnu a weapon of his choice. Lord Vishnu asked for the Sudarshan Chakra so that he could fight with the demons. Shiva fulfilled his wish and gifted him the most potent weapon in the universe.

Sudarshan Chakra

It is written in the Puranas that the heavens architect Vishwakarma made the Sudarshan Chakra from shreds of fire of the sun. Vishwakarma’s daughter was married to Lord Surya- the sun god. Due to his intense heat, she could not be with him, so she complained to her father.

To please his daughter, Vishwakarma shaved off the edges of the Sun to make it shine less. The leftover ‘sun dust’ was used to create three powerful celestial objects. The first one was the aerial vehicle called the Pushpaka Vimana, the second being the Trishul- the Trident. And the third one was the Sudarshana Chakra.

That is why the chakra is considered to be a blazing disc having all the power of the sun. It is a portable instrument and the most powerful among all of Vishnu’s weapons. Its presence also implies that Lord Vishnu is the keeper or owner of celestial bodies in the three lokhas (heaven, hell and earth). You can also get the qualities of this weapon such as courage and fearlessness by praying to lord Sudarshana. The ultimate reason for worshipping this chakra is to refine your perception and vision by achieving an enormous amount of spiritual maturity.

Benefits of the Sudarshana Maha Mantra

Chanting of this mantra will give you immense benefits that will bring peace into your lives. When you recite this mantra, you pray to Lord Sudarshana to bless you immensely with good luck, health and spiritual well being.

This mantra has the power to remove all curses or doshas and will provide a shield over you and your family.

We can block all evil influences that prevent good things from happening in our lives.

It is also beneficial for pregnant women who will be thinking of Lord Sudarshana during their pregnancy and get blessings for the unborn child.

It will give you courage, fearlessness, confidence and victory over your enemies.

You will also be relieved from unknown or unexplained worries that may hinder your progress.

It will remove any obstacles that you may face in your path to spirituality. Your connection with the Lord gets strengthened.

On regular chanting of this mantra, it will cure you of any unidentified disease whether it is mental or physical. It will give you a healthy mind and body.

It will bless you with wealth, health and prosperity.

If you are suffering from any disease and you chant this mantra regularly, then you will see tremendous improvements in your health. It will also keep you more energetic.

Since it is very powerful, it is also used to ward off bad energy, ghosts and evil entities. It can be used in the exorcism of demons and evil spirits.

It will bless you with success and abundance; it will help you to achieve your dreams.

You can use this maha-mantra to remove darkness from the mind. It will lead you to self-purification and mental rejuvenation.

It is essential for Karya siddhi. Any work that you set your mind to do will be a success if you religiously chant this mantra.

If you have been dealing with any kind of legal disputes in the court regarding property, money or land, this mantra will help you to ease your problems in these issues. Any pending cases or litigation will be dissolved.

Or if you have been going through financial issues regarding loans, credit card or you can’t find a good job, and then this mantra will lead you to an excellent financial status or a good job. It is beneficial even for entrepreneurs as they can earn more profits or get success in new ventures. It also helps in career advancements.

Final Thoughts

In today’s fast-paced world, this mantra can give you spiritual access with your inner self. Chanting this mantra will help you to develop your personality so that you attain Karya siddhi in any venture or activity. Lord Sudarshana will bless you and your family with health, wealth and prosperity.

Please keep in mind that Whenever you recite the mantra, do it with a clear mind and soul. If you hold grudges, ill feelings or greed in your heart then you won’t be able to feel the connection and reap the benefits.

Related articles: The Complete Guide to Shreem Mantra [Secrets of Money Mantra] The Absolute Guide to Surya Gayatri Mantra [Blessed By Lord Surya] The Complete Guide to Chamunda Mantra [Feel Miraculous Blessings] The A-Z Guide to Vakratunda Mahakaya Mantra [Blessed By Ganesha]

Currently my Favorite Online Meditation Course

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[stefaniebryn]

How to Create a Morning Routine for a Kick-Ass Positive Day

Alright, I'm coming clean. Lately my mornings have been looking a little something like this:

Hit the snooze button until I actually have to get up.

Roll over, scroll Instagram for about 30 minutes.

Jump out of bed realizing I've wasted wayyy too much time, grab some coffee, and rush out the door to work. 

Sound familiar? Thought so.

This was cool for the first few chill weeks of summer, but now that I'm interning, I've realized that I'm less focused, more irritable, and more susceptible to picking up other people's sh*t (aka emotional baggage, stress, drama, etc.) when I start my day without my usual morning routine. I've missed taking those few minutes to connect to my spiritual side and start my day on a high vibe note. 

So, I have decided to revamp my morning routine, and now its my baby. Obviously I'm not perfect, so my mornings don't always look the same. But I can tell you that creating a morning routine (even if it's just 5 minutes) has been my #1 key  to starting the day grounded, productive, and with a greater sense of purpose and positivity. 

Morning Rituals: What's the point?

Let me break it down:

1. You (inevitably) pick up negative vibes throughout the day. Whether its internalizing someone else's anger or stress  (especially if you're empathic or sensitive to energy) or road-raging (verb?) at the person who cut you off in traffic, these stressors take a blow to your reservoir of high vibes. By the end of the day, this can leave you feeling tired or depleted.  

2. When you sleep, you return to our highest vibe state.  Sleep (like meditation) pauses the momentum of any negative vibes that you picked up the day before. For just a few hours, we return to a space of stress-free bliss.

3. Morning rituals maximize this state of pure potential. You know those groggy moments in the morning before you remember who you are and all the things you have to do and who pissed you off the day before? That's you still in your high vibrational state of pure potential. By giving yourself a few minutes in the morning to tune in to yourself, you strengthen your shield against outside energies and raise your vibration for the rest of the day.

Your morning routine might make ya feel a lil something like this:

freaking empowered and ready to take on the world.

focused and extra productive.

energized, alive, and more resilient to bounce back from stressors.

How do I know what to do?

Simple answer: do what feels good to YOU. This is all about taking a few minutes for yourself, so do whatever is calling your name.

Ideas for Your Bliss-Out Morning Routine:

There are a million and one ways to get your morning off to a beautiful start. Here's a few go-to's to spark your inspo:

1. Meditate for 5-10 minutes first thing when you wake up. Sit your booty in a chair. Now sit super still and bliss out for just 5 minutes. Deep breaths. Voila!

2. Pull goddess cards, affirmations, etc. Add a little guidance to your morning. Oracle/tarot cards or affirmations can be a way to connect with the messages that your higher self is trying to tell you.

3. Set an intention for the day. Peace, joy, commitment, self-love they're all good stuff. Devote your day to one purpose.

4. Connect with nature. Put your feet in the grass. Go for a short walk. Open a window and breathe fresh air. Connecting with the earth grounds and raises your vibration immediately. (SERIOUSLY THIS WORKS WORKS WORKS).

5. Gratitude journal. Oh baby. No better way to get positive than by noticing how amazing your life truly is (even if its the littlest things).

6. Go for a quick walk. Get yo blood pumping to jumpstart your energy for the day and connect with mother earth (see #4).

7. Turn on some music and groove out. I make a fool of myself every morning, but nothing better than an MJ dance party in the a.m.

8. Make yourself somethin' to drank. Whether that's coffee, tea, a matcha latte, or a nourishing green smoothie, give yourself something to honor your divine badass self.

 Keep in mind: Lay off the phone. I know its hard, trust me, but resist the urge to roll over and check texts, email, or scroll Instagram for the first 30 minutes in the morning. Do it for the VIBBBESSS man.

And remember:

Got it? Good. Now go kick some ass. 

 P.S. If you vibe, subscribe below! I'll send you posts straight to your inbox plus a few extra special things here and there :)

[homehearthandheart]

Cleanse-Day Wednesday / 3 May 2017

Welcome, Devotees!

Does your devotional routine need polish? Try one of these:

Build Others Up: Help someone else get some cleaning done today! You can help them organize their office desk, or offer to help them tidy up their house, or help them with a ritual cleansing. Of course, do what your spoons allow you to–maybe it’s a good day to reach out and ask for help getting the cleaning done.

Go Outside! Find a place near you that you consider sacred or spirit-populated. Take some time to clean that space up–throwing litter away properly, tending to plants, whatever you can manage.  Leave an offering for the spirits if you’d like, or dedicate the clean-up as an offering.

Shrine Improvement: Try a four-element cleansing at your shrine. We know not all practices use four elements, so feel free to modify as you see fit!

First, physically clean the shrine space while contemplating the element of Earth.

Light a candle (or even turn on an electric one) as an offering to the element of Fire, and ask that the Fire consume all unwanted or excess energy in that space. (You can even light a candle at the cardinal directions, or at the corners of your shrine space; again, modify as you see fit.)

For the element of Air, you can cleanse with smoke (via incense or smoke-cleansing), or you can utilize sound (via singing bowls, bells, or similar) to cleanse the air surrounding your shrine space.

For the element of water, sprinkle your shrine space with some variety of holy water. It can be home-made khernips, a spray-bottle of infused water, Florida water, etc.

Today in the Hellenic Calendar:

Today is the 6th of the lunar month.

Today also marks the first day of the two-day Thargelia, an Athenian festival to Apollon—see below for details!

In Hellenic traditions, the first few days of a new lunar month tend to be special days for honoring important Deities in one’s area. In the Athenian calendar, today is sacred to Artemis.

If you like incorporating daily hymns into your prayers, Drew Campbell recommends the following prayers for today: To Artemis; To Prothyraia (a childbirth Goddess, here syncretized with Artemis); To Leto(the mother of twins Artemis and Apollon, and a powerful Goddess in Her own right); and To Tykhe (Fortune, whose unpredictable waxing and waning was linked to Artemis through shared lunar imagery).

Kalà Thargélia! (Happy Thargelia!)

In the Attic (Athenian) calendar, today marks the first day of the two-day Thargelia, an agricultural festival to Apollon as the protector of growing grain and the harvest season, and the God who can keep crops safe from plagues and pests.

The first day of this ritual contained some ancient ritual elements that seem out of place (understatement!) in modern ritual. Thanks and praise were rendered to Apollon, and to Demeter, but today’s theme was PURIFICATION. And this time, purification took the form of human scapegoats.

Two people from the city, almost always convicted criminals, were chosen to act as vessels for all the accumulated miasma (ritual impurity) of the city and its citizens. These scapegoats were beaten and driven out of the city, taking the miasma with them and leaving a clean city behind.  In the original, very ancient version of this festival, the scapegoats were sacrificed.

Please do not sacrifice animals unless you have training in humane animal sacrifice.  If you lack this training, it’s totally okay to offer a figurine of an animal, or even a cookie shaped like the animal!  This is a well-attested sacrificial custom from ancient Hellas. PLEASE DON’T SACRIFICE PEOPLE. If you want your celebration to incorporate a purificatory element, you can try using an egg–egg cleansings are already used for similar purposes in several other traditions.

Why was this purification necessary? Hellenic ritual calendars had a lot of purification festivals, and each one is tailored to a different kind of purification. For example, the Anthesteria’s purification is to help satisfy the spirits of the angry dead (or, failing that, to drive them away). The Thargelia’s purification was centered around ensuring the fecundity of the land and the safety of the growing crops.

All things are connected in Hellenic polytheism: miasma among the people (NOT sin–miasma has no moral connotation, it’s just the spiritual grime that accumulates wherever mortal beings are around) can spread to the earth and the crops, and make things worse. To give a modern (and possibly incorrect, so let me know if I’m wrong) example: cattle that are raised in poor conditions in a factory farm have their excrement gathered up and used as fertilizer. That fertilizer feeds the crops that go to feed people who don’t care that they’re raising cattle in poor conditions on a factory farm…and so on. Being aware of these cycles, and breaking them, is part of purifying miasma.

Since this festival took place at a specific point in Hellas’ agricultural festival–the harvest of the first ripe grain crop–don’t feel like you HAVE to celebrate this festival, or like you have to celebrate this festival at this point in the year. Try celebrating it:

If you have a particularly close devotional relationship with Apollon and/or His mother, Leto.

If your agricultural cycle matches up with Hellas’–search online to see what’s growing and being harvested in your area!

If you live in an area that relies heavily on agriculture, and want to help ensure the fecundity and safety of the crops this year.

Daily Reminder: If you know of any resources you’d like us to incorporate on our site, or any sites/projects you’d like us to signal boost, send us an ask or fanmail!

[ramrodd]

Peter J Williams & Bart Ehrman • The story of Jesus: Are the Gospels his life?

COMMENTARY:

In essence, Ehrman has adopted the Republican argument that there is no quid pro quo here and applied to his version of the Gospels.

Ehrman's entire Christian journey has been based on the fraud of his "born again" experience. Ehrman's Christian experience is essentially the same as Brett Kavanaugh's, whose cultural orientation is the same as Matt Gaetz if only by being white, male and over 13 and growing up right in the middle of the intellectual and commercial transition from the Playboy Philosophy to #MeToo that really got traction when the white boys who came to town with Reagan ( the period Tucker Carlson identifies when "Conservative was Cool". Conservative was never cool; they misstook the social buffering copious cash flow could purchase with being part of Sinatra's "Rat Pack", much less a child of the sexual revolution going on in DC during the 70s.

Having a "Born Again" experience as the essence of Christianity was marketed relentlessly by Bill Bright and his 4 Spiritual Laws and Campus Crusade for Christ as being in with the cool white kids in school who  controlled the Prom Commttee. The very possibility that an authentic "Born Again" experience bringing someone into the presences of Jesus in real time could ever be apostate. My opinion is that Ehrman faked a "Born Again" experience in order to be in with the cool kids raised in near perfect white privilege, especially the chicks. I mean, I've had a working relationship with the Holy Spirit since 1954 and in high school, Senior High Youth Groups on Sunday was short, intense make-out sessions totally absent of "sexual relations", as in, vaginal intercourse. It was more fun avoiding sexual relations and the necessary purchase of condoms in a small town pharmacy that were legally forbidden for sale to minors. "Paradise by the Dash Board Lights" is the sound track of Sunday Evening Church Meetings. Hand Jobs are the favorite of the Holy Ghost: see  who can cun fastest.

So, that's pretty much the Pro-Life Evangelical status in regards to the sexual revolution. And that's why Ehrman became "Born Again" and then discovered it offered a congenial career path in various ways until he ran headlong into the social milieu of Dale Martin and that being apostate was a superb career move. Being an evangelical athiest is business plan.

The thing about knowing Jesus is that, once you know Jesus, you cannot unknow Jesus. That's the source of the dramatic tension of "The Book of Job". The three friends who try to entice Job into denying The One by perfectly logical and compelling arguments, probably similar, if not identical, to the internal debat Ehrman conducted to become a born-again virgin, so to speak, and cash in on the post-modern deconstruction of the professional athiests and evangelical anti-thiests like Ehrman. Anti-Theism and Pro-Life Evangelicalism are opposite sides of the same coin. They both trade on the moral confusion which they create and share.

The Gospel of Mark is written by a Roman professional soldier directly from the Q Source, the Roman military intelligence files in Caesarea. All four Gosples draw directly from the Q Source, which was controlled by Cornelius, Pilate's military spy master and fellow member of the military guild of The Praetorian Guard, the so-called Italian Cohort. Both Pilate and Cornelius are instrumental clones of the core mechanism of the Roman Republic that August had incorporated into his model of Empire and Tiberius and Sejanus perfected by 31 CE.  Like the American federal government (that is, all the personnel on the federal payroll, including Congress, the Courts and the Executive,  the Praetoraian Guard is the Deep State of the Roman Empire.

And everbody in that particular organic structure of the Roman diplomatic and military patriots knew about Jesus before Peter or Paul came to Rome before the next Easter. Tertullian was perfectly correct. Christianity was an underground military communion. Like Jesus, the centurion class of the Roman legions shared Jesus's ontology: they knew Yawah, Queen of Battle. The sacrifice of Isaac is a study in the nature of Duty in a Duty, Honor, Country kind of way.  

Nobody in the Roman legions expected anything like the Resurrection. Consider that old Easter favorite, "Were you there when the crucified My Lord?" All four gospels agree that there were 12 Roman soldiers and I Gunnery Sergeant centurion whose pay voucher reflected they were present and correct at that particular routine crucifixion guard mount. And, then, there were 16 soldiers and one Gunnery Sergeant centurion whom sealed the tomb with a big rock it took everybody to move and then sealed it with 7 official Roman seals. And we have their movements and experience that comes directly from the Q Source that had been triggered as a routine force protection/threat assessment when Jesus created a stir among the Hebrews connected with John, a religous agitator.

The Gospel of Mark is named after the publisher located in Alexandria, Egypt, John Mark. John Mark did not write Mark, although he constributed to the Q Source and edited the Mark narrative in at least two places, but it, the Gospel of Mark was compiled as a continuing intelligence assessment of all things Jesus. I mean, Resurrection is big medicine and not to be taken lightly for soldiers. Yaweh is Minerva and both are She Who Must Be Obeyed, the Bitch Queen, Duty. Cornelius is the only other person in the Bible to be justified by faith by God besides Abraham and Devotion to Duty is why.

And The Gospel of Mark is at least the second intelligence report to come out of Judah regarding resurrection, the first being immediately and may have arrived in Rome before Pentacost. Again, Tertullian observes that Tiberius has received this FLASH intelligence sometime between 30 and 37, when he was assassinated.

My guess is that it was after Sejanus was executed and after the resulting purge. Tiberius rolled up the Sejanus plot in a typical Roman blood letting, but neither Pilate and Cornelius were not implicated. So, my guess is that it was after 33, because that date fits elements of the crucifixion better than 30 independent of Roman politics. Using this intellence from the Q Source, Tiberius proposed that the Senate elevate Jesus to a legal deity status, but the Senate was feeling surly from the insult to the Senate's illusionary sovereignity of the purges and refused.

As a consequence, the nascent Roman military communion remained covert until the Milvian Bridge, but they were like Gideon Bibles.

All 4 Gospels draw heavily from the Q Source: John Mark seems to become something of an archivist for the records.

In contrast, The Acts of the Apostles has very little Q Source material in it, except, of course, for Acts 10, the source of the Q Source, Cornelius, in particular, and the Praetorian Guard, as the larger Roman military context. There was somebody like George Smiley in the Rome headquarters of the Praetorian Guards that the Gospel of Mark was prepared for. My candidate is Theophilus and he is my candidate for the author of Hebrews and Hebrews is the Magna Carta of the Roman Catholic Church.

A difference between the Judaism of Moses and the Judanism of Jesus is that Jesus replaces all the laws and rituals before the meal and replaces it with the communion before the meal. The Shema remains sancrosanct and grace after meals fulfills the Trifecta of celebration and thanksgiving of The One as described in Revelation 4:2 and required of Moses.

The fact that Bart Ehrman might deny these probabilities is expected, but the fact that this probability has obvious never occurred to  Peter J. Williams, N.T. Wright, Gary Habermas or Dan Wallace either. I don't have any explanation why I am the only one in history to have made this connection: I blame it on the Holy Spirit. I had an epiphney reading Barclay's commentaries on the Gospels regarding the connection between Mark and Cornelius in 1990 and it's been something of a hobby ever since.

But the arguments of anti-theist like Ehrman and Richard Carrier and Ken Humphreys irritate me in the same way the southern white male Republican bigots like Moscow Mitch, Mick Mulvaney and Matt Gaetz irritate me when they propose to continue to run America on the basis that there was no quid pro quo. I get tired of the same old Fascist sophistry no matter its source.

The Gospel of Mark was transmitted to Rome around 40 CE. By the time Claudius conquered Britain, manuscripts of the Gospel of Mark were beginning to be produced by John Mark and his community of copyists. According to Dan wallace, 90% of the manuscripts we have from before the 4th century came out of Alexandria.  After that, Constantine shifted the center of gravity to Antioch.

Bart Ehrman just wants to be popular and wealthy and evangelican anti-theism fills the bill.

The communion before meals connects the dots for the Romn author of Hebrews with the bread and wine of Melchizedek by way of the ethic of  Socrates and the secular humanism of Jesus.

None of this would have happened without resurrection. And it happen at the moment in recorded history when recorded history was being invented. The timeline of the Gospel of Mark is probably as slavishly obeyed as a modern scientific and/or academic protocol for observational journalism: Margaret Meade would have approved. The Romans did everything by the numbers: the timeline of the Gospel of Mark is as stable as the grid system of an archeological dig. It is a very coherent  and congruent presentation of data. It is not a Greco-Roman biography or the novel genre of the time.  And it may have been briefly part of the oral tradition when it was captured in the Q Source, it is not an example of a mature narrative of the oral tradition. Among other things, there is very little mythology in the narrative. Matthew is provided the dots to connect in the dots of the Jewish constellations reflected in the fushion of the narrative of the Hebrew Bible with the career of Jesus as the instrument of epistemology in the flesh.

The fact that Ehrman has spent his entire life engaged in this narrative, it puzzles me how he could have missed these things, except that he approaches the biblical text as a mechanical construct and deconstructive history and not as literature. It's a little bit like being color blind, culturally.

So, it's possible that Ehrman actually believes his bullshit: there really is no quid pro quo. He's not apostate: he never was "Born Again".

[wutbju]

Back to the Bob Jones University Faculty Meeting on February 22, 2019.

Steve Pettit, in discussing the Church White List changes, stated:

Throughout this process, one of the main issues realized in local church relationships has to do with music. The music policy has been looked at—does it address this? Where is our music policy today? A task force is working through a refreshment/revising of the music policy. 

Another “refreshment” of the music policy? Another one? This archivist was part of one in 2005. Marshall Franklin was part of one in 2010. 

This Music Statement is buried on the BJU.edu site. How are they going to “refresh” this?

Music in the Mission of BJU

The mission of Bob Jones University is to grow Christlike character that is scripturally disciplined, others-serving, God-loving, Christ-proclaiming and focused above. We fulfill this mission using a variety of methods, tools and resources, including public proclamation of the Word in chapel services and special meetings, a biblically integrated curriculum, opportunities for Christian service, and a faculty and staff who endeavor to model Christ to our students.

What role does the music that we perform and listen to play in our mission? How can we use music to grow Christlike character in our students? How can music hinder or thwart our efforts? This document is an attempt to answer those questions succinctly.

Although the answers will be based on biblical teaching that is valid for all believers at all times, we recognize that these answers involve the application of those teachings to our specific context and institutional mission. Other institutions, congregations and individuals may apply them differently based upon their own earnest efforts to reflect scriptural principles within their respective contexts and in keeping with their unique institutional, congregational or personal missions.

While biblical truth is nonnegotiable, application in specific cultural and institutional contexts may differ. In particular, since music is such a dominant cultural force in the contemporary West—to a greater degree, apparently, than it has been throughout most of history—application of biblical principles in this area is likely to be controversial, touching strongly held opinions across a spectrum of choices.

Because we seek to apply biblical thinking and decision making to every issue, we must start with an examination of what the Bible says—or does not say—about music. From there, we will examine how those truths apply to BJU and our mission.

Biblical Principles in Music

Music reflects the beauty and goodness of God and is a gift from the Creator intended for our enjoyment and spiritual elevation. It is an important part of every believer’s life, both in his worship of God—his primary mission—and in his interaction with his culture(s) as he carries out Christ’s Great Commission. Because music resonates with the spirit of mankind in ways that make it a powerful influence on our thinking and behavior, our decisions about music often have significant consequences on our spiritual health—and consequently often have moral implications as well. The Bible has much to say about the use of music in worship. It also speaks often about the motives that should govern the believer’s broader lifestyle as he moves in the world.

Music should make me more like Christ (2 Cor. 3:18). Christ’s character is perhaps best reflected in what He identified as the two greatest commandments: to love God completely and to love one’s neighbor as oneself (Matt. 22:34–40). The practical application of these broad principles appears in Paul’s summary of “the fruit of the Spirit” (Gal. 5:22–23). Like everything else he welcomes into his life, the believer’s music should promote truth, dignity, justice, purity and loveliness as well as be admirable to onlookers (Phil. 4:8).

Music should enrich my spirit in enjoyment of what God has created (1 Tim 6:17). The believer’s experiences need not be clearly religious in order to be spiritually profitable; God has indeed “given us richly all things to enjoy,” and there is a place for simple enjoyment of beauty and for enrichment by expanding one’s knowledge and experience. It is appropriate for the believer simply to listen to music for entertainment.

Music should edify my fellow believers (Eph. 4:11–16). The believer’s lifestyle choices are not made in a vacuum; he is a member of the larger body of Christ. Thus, his choices can affect his fellow believers. Paul warns that the believer must not encourage another believer to violate his conscience, even when that believer’s conscience is misinformed, and that the believer willingly and gladly gives up genuine rights and liberties for the sake of the health of other believers (1 Cor. 8:4–13). Similarly, even careless or thoughtless practices that create or accentuate differences between believers (e.g., 1 Cor. 11:17–22) violate the essential unity we all have in Christ (Gal. 3:28). Believers need to act with primary concern not for their own liberties but for the well-being of their fellow believers (Phil. 2:4). This is a legitimate test of our devotion to Christ’s two great commandments (Gal. 5:14).

Music should discourage in me the works of the flesh (Gal. 5:19–21). By contrast, then, music that encourages contrary character qualities—sexual impurity, devotion to competing gods, division, short-temperedness, self-centeredness, carousing “and the like” (Gal. 5:21)—the believer should reject and avoid. Even beyond this, though, the believer’s music should positively empower him against these things.

Music should aid my testimony before the lost (Matt. 28:19–20) by demonstrating to them my devotion to God and distinctness from the elements of the world that are organized in opposition to God (1 John 2:5–17). There is much in the world system that signifies its rejection of God’s rightful sovereignty and will. The believer cannot appear to endorse those elements, even with the intention of building bridges for evangelism. Biblical examples of evangelism are empowered by the Spirit, not by psychological manipulation or deception (1 Thess. 2:3–6).

Sacred music should focus on the attributes and acts of God (Ps. 150:2; Isa. 12:2). Worship is primarily addressed to God for praising His objectively revealed perfections rather than to the worshiper for connecting with his subjectively perceived needs or interests. The focus of worship in the Bible is the recounting of truths about God—primarily His attributes and His works—and the consequent response of the worshiper in praise.

Sacred music should cause me to rejoice thankfully in God (Ps. 33:1; 105:2–3; 108:1, 4), fulfilling the command to love Him with all my heart, soul, mind and strength (Deut. 6:4–5; Matt. 22:37–38). As the worshiper meditates on God’s person and works—through prayer, song and the hearing of the Word—his Spirit-driven response will be gratitude and the consequent desire to trust, obey and serve God. His direction will be toward surrender to and thoughts of God rather than to his own needs and benefits. Love for God yields focus on His benefit, not our own.

Sacred music should be doctrinally sound (Col. 3:16; Eph. 5:18–19), beautiful (Ps. 27:4, 29:2, 66:2, 96:6–9), reverent (Ps. 29:2), and fresh and vital (“a new song,” Ps. 40:3, 96:1, 98:1), not merely routine. Because God is holy—in a class by Himself, set apart—our worship of Him should not look like activities that are not worship or that are false worship. God forbade practices in Israel that merely resembled pagan worship practices (Lev. 19:27–28), and He expected worship to be distinct from everyday activities (e.g., Exod. 20:8–10; Ps. 29:2; and much elsewhere). Paul tells us that based on God’s great work in us, everything we do must not be “conformed to this world” (Rom. 12:1–2)—that is, the Christian is to live with the intentional aim of resisting the external pressure of the world to conform. Our sacred music, as well as all of our music and actions, must resist the natural pressure to recalibrate standards according to the musical trends of the unregenerate. Jesus frequently criticized the religious leaders of His day for their mindless, unfeeling practice of religious ritual (Matt. 6:7). When believers respond to God in worship, they will do so in ways that reflect the freshness and vitality of their experience. We can expect that every generation of believers will devote its creative effort to this end. At the same time, they will learn from God’s direction of those who have preceded them, honoring what is timeless in the rich history of God’s gift of music to His people.

Sacred music should involve the congregation as well as the platform leaders (Col. 3:16; Eph. 5:18–19). While the New Testament provides for leadership positions in the church (Phil. 1:1; 1Tim. 3; Titus 1), it calls for participation in worship from all the members of Christ’s body. Believers are participants in, not observers of, worship. We are not opposed to choir numbers and special music which, when actively listened to, are scriptural forms of participation in worship (1 Chron. 16:7, 36; 2 Chron. 29:28; Ps. 40:3).

Sacred music should encourage the unity of the church (Eph. 4:1–6). All believers have identical individual standing and responsibility before God when it comes to debatable issues (Rom. 14:4, 10–12, 22). Our relationship to Christians who exercise their stewardship of this through the consecrated approach taught and called for in Romans 12:1–2 should be respectful enough to allow for differences between us that are the result of our respective earnest efforts to understand and consistently apply scriptural principles to this issue. This posture promotes unity and mutual edification in the truth (Eph. 4:15–16).

Music Policies at BJU

The following policies represent our earnest attempt to apply Biblical truth to our context as a liberal arts institution. The mission of BJU is furthered when the institution and each member of the university family use biblically-sound, God-glorifying music that promotes growth in Christlikeness. While enrolled at BJU, students are encouraged to develop spiritual and aesthetic discernment in their music choices. Because much of the music available today is instead antithetical to biblical principles, the use of such music would hinder our mission of growing Christlike character. In Christian music, truth can be presented with varying degrees of biblical accuracy and clarity. BJU acknowledges that there is a range of music acceptability that is separate from the world; BJU’s position is intentionally conservative within that range.

The following music conflicts with our mission and is therefore excluded from performance, personal listening, or use in student organizations, societies, student productions, or social media:

In our chapel and other sacred services (including student-led), we use hymns, gospel songs, and anthems, both old and new, which are doctrinally orthodox, set to an appropriate tune and performed in a conservative style, and further our mission. We sparingly use sources of recently written music outside fundamentalism that meet these criteria.

In our curriculum and in public performances, we use music that prepares students for their areas of service and that furthers our mission.

In our bookstore, online, or at any other venue, we sell only music that furthers our mission.

Students are responsible for their musical choices, and we hold them accountable by enforcing our policies.

Any music which, in whole or in part, derives from the following broadly-defined genres or their sub-genres: Rock, Pop, Country, Jazz, Electronic/Techno, Rap/Hip Hop, or the fusion of any of these genres.

Any music in which Christian lyrics or biblical texts are set to music which is, in whole or in part, derived from any of these genres or their sub-genres.

While we recognize that this policy excludes a few pieces that are acceptable (e.g., Rhapsody in Blue), for simplicity of policy, we have excluded the entire genres.

Questions and AnswersIs music a matter of morality?

At one extreme, some view music as completely morally neutral; at the other extreme, some see morality intrinsic in specific chords or other building blocks of music. The question is easily oversimplified or misunderstood. Music, by God’s design, is a subjective experience; but its various aspects—words, sounds, imagery and associations—greatly affect us. The elements of music (pitch, rhythm, tone quality and dynamics) communicate broadly but only imprecisely.

Music—the combination of these elements—can be designed to elicit moral responses both right and wrong. Therefore, we reject the idea that music is morally neutral; and we evaluate music on several levels—the words and imagery themselves, the intent of the music maker, the effects on the listeners, and even the context of the experience.

How do associations affect our music choices?

It is possible to adapt recent songs by people with whom we would not fully agree and arrange them in a style that is above reproach. Hymnals have historically contained pieces written by authors with aberrant theology, yet the pieces we use from such authors have a strong biblical text and are set to excellent music—and the writer’s theological aberrations are usually known by only a few (e.g., “Lead On, O King Eternal”). With modern technology, however, associations may more easily have negative influence. The original source of music is never remote. The more recently a song has emerged and the more popular its source, the more influence it has. So BJU exercises great restraint in the choices of music we adapt, and we issue cautions about our concerns.

Of course, the mere use of any music has never implied endorsement of its original presentation or source. And avoiding certain music is not a blanket criticism of another’s ministry or motives. All of us are imperfect vessels, and Christ in His grace continues to work in and through us. Thankfully, being careful in music choices does not mean that our worship need be musically impoverished. We have an abundance of beautiful music, readily available today, that is completely edifying, soul-stirring and above reproach.

How do we define rock music?

When compared with the characteristics of other musical genres (e.g., folk music, patriotic music, classical concert music and traditional sacred music), the rock genre is distinguished by the combination of some or all of the following characteristics—sensual singing styles, dominating beat, heavy percussion, overwhelming volume and an overall atmosphere that counteracts self-control, especially when coupled in performance with elements such as a defiant demeanor, immodest attire, sexually suggestive dancing or crude gestures. Attempts to couple worldly vehicles like rock music (and other pop styles) with sacred lyrics and settings create a moral tension for the believer and contradict the Christian’s call to a consecrated approach to life (Rom. 12:1–2).

[veale2006-blog]

The pagan origin of Ash Wednesday

March 8,2019 It's not mentioned in the Bible. None of the apostles observed it. Nowhere are Christians commanded to keep it. It was not even officially practiced until nearly 1000 years after Christ's resurrection. Like so many other non-biblical “Christian” customs, it has pagan roots. It's a sad fact that modern Christianity has appropriated so many customs from the practice of the heathens, that one might wonder if it should still be called Christianity.

The early Pagan origins of Ash Wednesday This ritual “imposition of the ashes” is purportedly in imitation of the repentant act of covering oneself in dust and ashes. The marking of believers on Ash Wednesday is done in combination of another extra-biblical routine called “Lent.” Despite Christ's command to his followers to abstain from the practice of disfiguring their faces during fasting, it has become a regular practice. He also told us to wash our faces during a fast.

The practice of putting ashes on one's forehead has been known from ancient times. In the Nordic pagan religion, placing ashes above one's brow was believed to ensure the protection of the Norse god, Odin. This practice spread to Europe during the Vikings conquests. This laying on of ashes was done on Wednesday, the day named for Odin, Odin's Day. Interestingly enough, according to Wikipedia, one of Odin's names is Ygg. The same is Norse for the World Ash. This name Ygg, closely resembles the Vedic name Agni in pronunciation.

The Norse practice which has become known as Ash Wednesday was itself, drawn from the Vedic Indian religion. Ashes were believed to be the seed Agni , the Indian fire god. It is from this name that the Latins used for fire, ignis. It is from this root word that the English language got the words, ignite, igneous and ignition. Agni was said to have the authority to forgive sins. Ashes were also believed to be symbolic for the purifying blood of the Vedic god Shiva, which it is said had the power to cleanse sins.

Lent Lent is a period of 40 days preceding the observance of Easter, where the observers are expected to fast or cease from having the use of some other “luxury.” Like the majority of modern, so-called Christian practices, its beginning can be traced to heathen practices.

In his book The Two Babylons, Alexander Hislop observed: Let any one only read the atrocities that were commemorated during the 'sacred fast' or Pagan Lent, as described by Arnobius and Clemens Alexandrinus, and surely he must blush for the Christianity of those who, with the full knowledge of all these abominations, 'went down to Egypt for help' to stir up the languid devotion of the degenerate church, and who could find no more excellent way to 'revive' it, than by borrowing from so polluted a source; the absurdities and abominations connected with which the early Christian writers had held up to scorn. That Christians should ever think of introducing the Pagan abstinence of Lent was a sign of evil; it showed how low they had sunk, and it was also a cause of evil; it inevitably led to deeper degradation. Originally, even in Rome, Lent, with the preceding revelries of the carnival, was entirely unknown....

In the early 19th century, German explorer Alexander von Humboldt noted the practice among the pagans in Mexico, being held in the spring. His account states:

Three days after the vernal equinox…began a solemn fast of forty days in honor of the sun.  

A Lent of forty days was also commemorated in Egypt. According to by English scholar John Landseer, in his Sabean Researches (1823), an Egyptian Lent of forty days was held in honor of Osiris.

There is a spiritual signature which bears witness to the spirit of these traditions. It is called Fat Tuesday, Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras. It is the custom of living it up to get our fill of all the enjoyment the world has to offer before setting off to “Church” in mock repentance on Ash Wednesday. Such celebrations are an indication of the spirit behind the facade.

The Truth Christ made it plain in John 4:23-24: But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

To be sure, those who observe modern “Christian” practices are religious. They may have personal conviction, but they are missing a vital element of the faith. They are lacking truth.

Mark 7:7 7 Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. Jesus answered, “Isaiah was right about frauds like you, hit the bull’s-eye in fact: These people make a big show of saying the right thing, but their heart isn’t in it. They act like they are worshiping me, but they don’t mean it. They just use me as a cover for teaching whatever suits their fancy, Ditching God’s command and taking up the latest fads.”

The Bible tells us in chapter 9 of the book of Hebrews, that we are made clean by the shed blood of Jesus Christ.

No amount of ritual or work of the hand of man can accomplish this.

1st Peter 1:13-16 tells us: Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

The word holy means set apart, different from the rest. If we keep traditions which are not of God, how can we be holy? From what then are we different if we do as they do?

Not everyone has the conviction nor the courage to be set apart from the rest of the world. The sad truth is that mainstream Christianity lost her way, having fallen into apostasy long ago. This apostate tradition is continued by priests, pastors and preachers, ordained not by God in the power of the Holy Spirit, but by men in the spirit of the world.

And their followers wouldn't have it any other way.

SEEK THE TRUTH. WOULD YOU RATHER BELIEVE IN TRADITIONS OR BELIEVE IN TRUTH!!!

Have a blessed day and weekend. May Yeshua the Messiah bless you, Love, Debbie

[blahblahah2019]

KK Diet & Wellness Masterpost

Foods I Avoid And Why

When it comes to eating healthy, there are a few types of foods I actively avoid. A few years ago, the kids and I did muscle testing and found out we have sensitivities to both gluten and dairy. After speaking with my doctor and doing some research, I decided to try a gluten- and dairy-free diet.

Like any habit, it was hard to break certain routines at the beginning. But once I found good ingredient swaps and started stocking my pantry and fridge with the best alternatives—like almond milk, tortillas made from sweet potatoes, gluten-free waffle ingredients for the kids, dairy-free shredded cheese, etc.—eating this way became easier and a lifestyle choice that works for me and my family.

For the kids, of course, there are moments when we break rules, like when we're on vacation or at Disneyland. I try to plan in advance to have what we need so we can stay on track, since I've heard cheating when you have gluten sensitivities can set your system back for a while because it takes a few weeks for the body to totally process. When we travel, we'll pack a suitcase full of our pantry staples and also bring healthy snacks on the airplane. Also, I like to bring a bunch of gluten- and dairy-free cupcakes when we go to birthday parties for the kids (and extras for friends at the party).

I also try to avoid processed foods in general. I really try to focus on fresh and organic fruits and vegetables, and healthy proteins like salmon, chicken and eggs. When I'm traveling (and sometimes on the weekend), I'll cheat—I'm a little more lenient now than I was when I first started this whole thing. But when I'm home and in my day-to-day routine, I try to exercise 5-6 times a week and eat healthy every day.

Get my gluten-free grocery list here, my dairy-free refrigerator staples hereand snacks we like here!

The Collagen Supplement I Take Daily

My skin-saver.

WHAT IT IS:

Collagen is one of the most abundant forms of protein found in the body. It's in our bones, digestive system, muscles, skin, hair and tendons. But, as we get older, the amount of collagen our body produces decreases and can cause wrinkles and joint pain. Collagen supplements are sourced from the bones and connective tissue of animals. The one I take is derived from grass-fed, pasture-raised bovine hides, but there are also marine versions made with fish scales.

WHAT IT DOES:

Collagen is amazing for hair, skin and nails, and can reduce wrinkles, fight free radicals, repair areas that show cellulite, and make your skin more elastic and soft. Collagen is also known to reduce inflammation around your joints and improve mobility.

HOW I USE IT:

I take this supplement every day—first thing in the morning on an empty stomach, mixed with a glass of water.

How I Get In Shape Fast

At home workouts.

Scroll down for 5 exercises I do to get in shape FAST!

THE MOVE: Reverse lunge

TONES: Butt and legs

HOW TO: Use a resistance band and pull it toward your lower body. Press your arms back, keep your elbows locked and alternate your legs. To challenge yourself, do mini pulses and keep core tight and engaged.

THE MOVE: Crunch and pop

TONES: Abs

HOW TO: Use a BOSU ball and do a crunch, but lift your entire body and pop up at the end, lifting your arms over your head as you come up.

THE MOVE: Jump assisted pull-ups

TONES: Upper arms

HOW TO: Use a pylobox to assist you and jump up using both hands, until you pull yourself up and your chin exceeds the bar (or hoop).

THE MOVE: Side-to-side leg swings with a resistance band

TONES: Glutes and quads

HOW TO: Put a resistance band around your ankle and swing your legs back and forth, staying on your tiptoes.

THE MOVE: Lateral shuffle

TONES: Calves, hamstrings, quads and glutes

HOW TO: Shuffle from side to side, ending in a semi-squat position. For extra focus and coordination, throw a tennis ball back and forth with a friend.

My Detox Ditch List

Eating a healthier diet usually requires some sacrifices. For me, once I cut down and cut out certain things from my diet, it really became a lifestyle that came easy. If you are trying to detox—even if it's only for a day or so—here are a few things to consider ditching.

DITCH: COFFEE

I haven't drank coffee since college because the type of caffeine in coffee and espresso gives me anxiety. Instead, I drink green tea, which still has caffeine but it enters the bloodstream in a way that is less jolting. Click here for more info on why I like green tea better than coffee.

DITCH: GLUTEN & DAIRY

I had muscle testing done and found out that I have sensitivities to both gluten and dairy. Honestly, there are so many swaps for both. You can still eat pasta or have a latte—the key is to stock the right groceries and pantry staples.

DITCH: REFINED SUGAR

I try to eat fresh fruits and vegetables mixed with healthy fats and proteins. I also avoid processed foods and refined sugar, which includes most of the cereals and snacks I grew up eating. Of course, there are times when I have sugary foods, but I make these moments the exception and not the rule. Click here for the foods I avoid in my everyday diet.

DITCH: ALCOHOL

I really haven't been drinking at all these days. Alcohol can cause skin issues and sleep problems, and when it's mixed with sugary juice or soda, multiple drinks just add unnecessary calories to your diet. On the rare occasion I drink, this is my no-hangover recipe.

5 Foods To Flatten Your Belly

Tips from Koko.

Khloé knows what the body needs! Read this post from her app about the 5 foods she eats to combat bloating!

Break out the guac, dolls! But hold the salty tortilla chips (don't hate me!!!). This super popular fruit (yep, NOT vegetable) is loaded with potassium, which is a key player in ridding your body of excess sodium and, therefore, dreaded water weight. Avocados are also high in soluble fiber and healthy fats, which help us feel fuller on smaller portions. Try spreading half a ripe avocado on a piece of whole-grain toast for a super satisfying breakfast, or try Kourt's signature salad for a tummy-friendly lunch!

This spicy root is one of the oldest known natural belly cures, and for good reason. High in a digestive enzyme called zingibain, ginger is extremely effective in breaking down protein and accelerating the digestive process. If you've ever noticed that side of ginger next to your sushi, now you know why! Ginger is also known for being a powerful antibacterial AND anti-inflammatory food—in other words, all-around goodness for your gut. Try brewing a homemade tea by chopping up a handful of peeled ginger, and brewing it in boiling water for at least 10 minutes.

The star fruit of summer is so refreshing thanks to its dense water content—nearly 90 percent! Snacking on watermelon is an excellent way to regulate salt levels and flush out the excess water you may be holding onto (aka bloat) due to dehydration. Cut up a few refrigerated slices and eat as much as your little heart desires!

Tomatoes are packed with the antioxidant lycopene, which is known to have extremely effective anti-inflammatory and de-bloating effects. Try roasting tomatoes in the oven until they blister for a super easy and tasty accompaniment to just about any meal.

Most commonly consumed as oatmeal (the gluten-free breakfast of champions!), oats balance the bacteria in your gut. This is known as a prebiotic effect, which improves your digestive system and works wonders to reduce bloat. You can also try incorporating oats into your next baking sesh for a healthy treat.

My Self-Care Checklist

How I do "me time."

Even when my schedule is full, I try to get some self-care in daily. It's so important for a healthy balance in life. Scroll down to learn the things I rely on.

1) PRACTICE MINDFUL MEDITATION

I try to wake up 20 minutes early to meditate. (Check back later this week for my journal on exactly how I mediate—and why it's good for you.)

2) READ DAILY DEVOTIONALS

Another thing I try to do early in the morning is read from my daily devotional book. It's one page a day and it's always so spot-on. No matter what is going on in my life, somehow the passage usually relates! Check back this week for more on my spiritual side!

3) SPEND TIME OUTSIDE

I love being outside and try to hike in the canyons a few times a month.

4) EXERCISE IN THE MORNING

I usually work out five to six times a week when I'm home and doing my normal routine. I have found that mornings are the best time for me to exercise, since finding time at the end of a hectic day is more difficult. I stick to mornings and make sure it's on my schedule.

5) WIND DOWN BEFORE BEDTIME

At the end of a day, it's so necessary to relax and unplug! A few times a week, I'll light a candle and take a bath with detox salts.

How Meditation Helps Me

It's a daily ritual.

Every day, I try to wake up 20 minutes early—before the kids get up—to meditate. I usually sit on my bathroom floor on a mat in front of the bathtub. Early in the morning, this room has lots of natural light and is really quiet. Sometimes I like to set an intention for the day too.

I have been practicing mindful meditation, which is a method of checking in with yourself by focusing on your breath, awareness and being present. If my mind wanders, I try to bring back my focus to breathing.

There are many health benefits to gain by practicing mindful meditation. Researchers say this type of mediation can reduce anxiety, help cognitive brain function (like memory) and increase the ability to focus throughout the day. Basically, it helps me be more present.

Having a calm start to the day is really grounding and something I do whenever I can make time.

My Must-Haves For A Night In

Little luxuries.

Planning a night in to relax and unwind is an important part of my self-care routine. I like to light a scented candle or put essential oils in my diffuser to give my room a spa-like effect. Since I work out almost every day, taking a bath with detox salts is a great way to relieve sore muscles and decompress after a hectic day. I also like to put white rose petals in the bath too.

Next, I'll put on pajamas and a really soft robe (I love the fluffy white robes from Barefoot Dreams), and I'll usually cozy up and read a book or watch a movie. I keep soft linens on all the beds in the house with silk pillowcases. I also like to make sure there are throws on the beds and in the theater, so everyone can snuggle up. I try to buy sheets and throws in all-natural fibers, like 100 percent silk, bamboo or organic cotton.

Scroll down to shop all of the items that get me into relaxation mode.

[themindfulword]

WHAT MY GRANDMOTHER TAUGHT ME: Love is learning how to be with others

My Vietnamese grandmother (Bà ngoai) passed away a couple of weeks ago, on May 20th, to be exact. She was 96 years old. I didn't feel anything until one week later. On that sacred seventh day, I suddenly cried. I wasn't touched by sadness, but by a powerful surge of love that my Bà ngoai carried throughout her life. She was a big lover of the Kuan Yin and so is my mother. The Kuan Yin was a reality in Laos, not just a spiritual icon. Grace flowed through that country, through the shutters of the Buddhist temple, and shone through the eyes of the people. Something about Bà ngoai's devotion to that Goddess of Compassion poured evenly throughout her being. She had a patient understanding of all beings and a total lack of anger.

There are many things I didn't understand

Maybe because I'm Americanized and maybe because I'm me. I didn't understand that family matters, because all I'd seen in life was family mattering too much and destroying each individual's authentic self and autonomy. I didn't understand why, when Bà ngoai reached her 80s, my mother flew to France to stay with my grandmother for three months each year, for the past 15 years. When I asked my Mom why she did this, she said she wanted to be there in case Bà ngoai passed away. I didn't understand. I didn't understand death, because I'd never had an attachment to this world. Death, to me, is a huge sigh of relief from the trouble and suffering of this carnival and hamster wheel we call life—of reincarnation—this constant struggle everyone must face, no matter how rich or poor. I didn't understand the value of my Mom forcing me to go to France for a never-ending summer, when I was 15 years old, with my little brother. He hated the trip because all my relatives were homophobic, calling him a "fag" and bullying him. But not my sweet Bà ngoai. I didn't understand the purpose of the two or three trips I'd taken to spend time with Bà ngoai, or what compelled me to take them ... why I loved being in her presence, even if she was just taking a nap ... why walking at a snail's pace down the streets of Udon Thani in sweltering heat, shielding her from the sun with an umbrella mattered. I did this, patiently, and I didn't know why. I didn't understand why I spent an entire month baby-sitting my grandmother in a lifeless, caged-in suburban home in France, surrounded by nothing but concrete, car dealerships and petroleum stations. All I did each day was watch my grandmother exercise, go through her daily routine, wash clothes, fold underwear and make tea. I was bored out of my mind. Besides watching Bà ngoai, I did nothing but blog and write poetry. I observed my grandmother's lonely existence among such a large extended family. Nobody had time to spend with her and after a while, she just became a trophy, ignored. I entertained her by videotaping everything she did. I brushed up on my Vietnamese, cracked jokes to make her laugh and spent silent times observing her rituals.

Being "one-uncle-less"

I shared her bedroom with her. I dreamed with her. I put up with a weird battery-operated device that chanted a Buddhist mantra in treble and annoyed the hell out of me. Around 3 p.m., she'd go to her room and pray to a framed picture of a young man on her mantel. I asked who he was. He was an uncle I never knew, a soldier who died in the Vietnam War. She pulled out her photo album and showed me images I'd never seen before, including a long funeral procession with my young mother as a teenager in áo dài, with the framed picture of my unknown uncle, her 18 or 20-year-old brother, held against her chest. She was sobbing, heartbroken. I'd never seen my mother cry before. I felt the pain of the entire world in that photo. I didn't understand that my mother had lost someone dear to her. I didn't understand what it meant to be "one-uncle-less" because I'd never really known my relatives anyway. But when I saw my mother in that photo, I realized she'd gone through a deep loss. When I visited Vietnam six years ago, I heard rumours, through a close friend, that my unknown uncle "looks over me." I got upset and said, "I can look after myself." I didn't understand. I didn't understand that when someone dies and there's unfinished business, they hang around to show you their love. I didn't understand the values of my relatives and why they breed so much (they aren't even Catholic), and why having a newborn is like winning the Mega Millions and your worth is measured by whether or not you're married or have kids. If you're gay or an artist—forget about it! I didn't understand why anyone would want to be part of a family if this meant playing strictly by their rules. There are so many things I find oppressive about Vietnamese culture and its social customs, period. Maybe I feel this way because I grew up in America, where the extended family unit is broken and where, without a second thought, the elderly are sent to anonymous places to eventually die. Maybe it's because my purpose in life is to create something larger. Maybe it's because I'm an artist. I didn't understand why family meals with relatives mattered or why I subjected myself to three-hour ceremonies at Buddhist temples. Those things were important to my grandmother.

Love is an accumulative and qualitative thing

Now I understand. I understand that the purpose of experience is to experience, even when nothing appears to be happening. Now I understand. At the end of the day, the small, quiet imprints we make in life are what matters. Being present for others is all most people ask for. This could mean just standing in line next to a stranger or sitting next to them on a plane. Now I understand. Being with my grandmother has taught me that Love is an accumulative and qualitative thing that consists of simply learning how to be with others. This is a powerful thing to remember. One day, you'll find yourself bawling your eyes out, because the beauty of love has suddenly hit you, and you'll say to yourself, "Oh, that's what love is!" «RELATED READ» THE HUMAN CONNECTION: Why community matters in an increasingly disconnected world» Click to Post