alxindia

An eclectic spiritual & inspirational place to heal, learn, feel & expand. Heart & soul first. Miraculous experiences from India as well as the life & times of a spiritual healer/teacher in the U.S. Miracles, saints, sages, gurus, healing, life & death... and more...!

Sunday, November 27, 2005

statue crying in Sacramento, California...


Crying Mary
Originally uploaded by alxindia.
MSNBC just published this photo and the story, below, online. (it originated with the AP.)

since the tradition of spirituality I belong to includes many holy objects 'bleeding' different substances, from blood to milk to amrutha (nectar), it seems appropriate to share this photo and story.

whether it's truly bleeding or not, will, I'm sure, be established by the appropriate experts over the next few days.

I think it's particularly interesting that the guy who discovered it thinks that the Mother's tears of blood may be presaging a natural disaster of some kind.

personally, I wouldn't be at all surprised, since Nature Herself is reacting rather strongly in response to the stupidities human beings keep heaping upon Her.

----------------


SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Carrying rosary beads and cameras, the faithful have been coming in a steady stream to a church on the outskirts of Sacramento for a glimpse of what some are calling a miracle: A statue of the Virgin Mary they say has begun crying a substance that looks like blood.

It was first noticed more than a week ago, when a priest at the Vietnamese Catholic Martyrs Church spotted a stain on the statue’s face and wiped it away. Before Mass on Nov. 20, people again noticed a reddish substance near the eyes of the white concrete statue outside the small church, said Ky Truong, 56, a parishioner.

Since then, Truong said he has been at the church day and night, so emotional he can’t even work. He believes the tears are a sign.
“There’s a big event in the future — earthquake, flood, a disease,” Truong said. “We’re very sad.”

On Saturday, tables in front of the fenced-in statue were jammed with potted plants, bouquets of roses and candles. Some people prayed silently, while others sang hymns and hugged their children. An elderly woman in a wheelchair wept near the front of the crowd.

A red trail could be seen from the side of the statue’s left eye to about halfway down the robe of concrete.

“I think that it’s incredible. It’s a miracle. Why is she doing it? Is it something bothering her?” asked Maria Vasquez, 35, who drove with her parents and three children from Stockton, about 50 miles south of Sacramento.

Thousands of such incidents are reported around the world each year, though many turn out to be hoaxes or natural phenomena.

The Diocese of Sacramento has so far not commented on the statue, and the two priests affiliated with the church did not return a telephone message Saturday.

The Rev. James Murphy, deacon of the diocese’s mother church, the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, said church leaders are always skeptical at first.

“For people individually seeing things through the eyes of faith, something like this can be meaningful. As for whether it is supernatural or a miracle, normally these incidences are not. Miracles are possible, of course,” Murphy said. “The bishop is just waiting and seeing what happens. They will be moving very slowly.”

But seeing the statue in person left no doubt for Martin Operario, 60, who drove about 100 miles from Hayward. He took photos to show to family and friends.

“I don’t know how to express what I’m feeling,” Operario said. “Since religion is the mother of believing, then I believe.”

Nuns Anna Bui and Rosa Hoang, members of the Salesian Sisters of San Francisco, also made the trek Saturday. Whether the weeping statue is declared a miracle or not, they said, it is already doing good by awakening people to the faith and reminding them to pray.

“It’s a call for us to change ourselves, to love one another,” Hoang said.

© 2005 The Associated Press.

Friday, November 25, 2005

manic screaming


pinkfloweryantra
Originally uploaded by alxindia.
I had the chance a few days ago to call in to a local radio program and chat with one of the great spiritual poet/translators of our day, Daniel Ladinsky.

some of you may recognize his name, he's the translator/renderer of Hafiz poems in several great volumes of poetry; and his grasp of the depth and breadth of the greatness of Hafiz, a 14th century Sufi poet and mystic, is enough to make you weep in ecstatic joy.

anyway, in the wake of recent events, and in the light of many dear friends finding in themselves a desire to embrace the divine, even while they're utterly repulsed by it, here's a Hafiz poem (via Daniel Ladinsky):




Manic Screaming

We should make all spiritual talk
Simple today:

God is trying to sell you something,
But you don't want to buy.

That is what your suffering is:

Your fantastic haggling,
Your manic screaming over the price!

Kaleshwara & arathi to Shirdi Baba


sk&arathi
Originally uploaded by alxindia.
I love this photograph for so many reasons it's hard to put them all down in print:

(but I'll try)

- because it shows how intimate the relationship between Kaleshwara and Shirdi Baba is

- because it demonstrates that a hunk of stone, carved into a representation of a divine soul, can BECOME that divine being (ie, that statue of Shirdi Baba is completely alive)

- because in the arathi, a fire ritual done every day to statues in Indian temples, the belief is that the atma, the soul essence of a divine soul (in the statue) is BROUGHT into the flame that's being offered to that divine soul... and you can clearly see the extraordinary mini-miracle as the top half of Shirdi Baba's torso, bent slightly forward (as he usually is shown, sitting), is actually IN the arathi flame in Kaleshwara's hand.

wah!

let the light shine in!

Shirdi Sai Baba & Kaleshwara cancels LA, Maui...


Baba sitting
Originally uploaded by alxindia.
so Sri Sai Kaleshwara Swami, my dearest, slipperiest, divine illusion master came to San Francisco on tour lately... did a beautiful program there at the First Unitarian Church, slipped off to Denver to do a beautiful program there, and then came back to Laytonville, CA, to heal people and launch a spiritual process there for whoever showed up.

just before he started, he mentioned that in Denver he got the message to cancel his appearances in Los Angeles and Maui, where several hundred people were expecting him in early December.

his cancellation caused a lot of consternation, confusion, wacky ideas & analyses about WHY he might've cancelled those trips... and it's interesting to see how people respond, and are still responding, to his pulling back and running back to India instead of presenting an evening at the Agape Church in Los Angeles, and in Maui.

the biggest question on everyone's mind who's emailed me or called is: why? why would he cancel?

I have to laugh because I've been around Kaleshwara for years (since 1999) and have seen him play many illusion games with people from all angles, in many different ways at different times. you honestly never know what he's going to do next -- like the children's stories about mysterious sages and wizards wandering around and showing up very much on their own time.

the simple answer is: Shirdi Sai Baba, his master, told him to bail and so he bailed.

there are more complex answers -- he prefers not to visit America, people here need to develop patience and to get more maturity in their understanding of who Kaleshwara is and what magnitude of spiritual teaching and capacity he's really sharing.

mostly we're kinda dumb in this country and take it for granted, oh, another saint is coming to town... ho hum, we've already seen so many.

my feeling is: if Jesus Christ were scheduled to speak in a church in Los Angeles, people in LA would be hard-pressed to commit to going to see him. "oh, yeah, wow, Jesus is in town on Friday night... but there's this great new movie opening that night, too, and a hot band is playing in Hollywood.... hmmmmm."

we're really spoiled. ridiculously spoiled, in America, in terms of spiritual masters and spiritual teachings... and until we develop the real hunger for the real food, we'll still be eating at McDonald's for a few years.

so Shirdi Baba said, 'forget it.' and Sri Kaleshwara agreed.

it's an interesting relationship, his connection with his master -- Shirdi Baba died in 1918, yet came a few times in a physical body to Kaleshwara, who was a boy of about 14 years old at the time. since Kaleshwara was born in the early '70s, it's obviously impossible that their physical lifespans actually converged.

Shirdi Baba is the toughest of the tough, in terms of spiritual figures on this planet. he's a pure huge love character, and also is really about two principles (the 'two rupees' he used to beg off of everyone when he was alive in the town of Shirdi) -- faith and patience.

it seems to me that he assessed Americans in general as pretty well lacking in both characteristics. the best way to treat impatience and lack of faith is to create situations where people are FORCED to develop patience (by having to wait and stew in an uncomfortable waiting period) and faith (usually by having their attachments pulled out from under them so that they really have nowhere else to turn except to the divine).

as Kaleshwar likes to say about Shirdi Baba:

"when you think he's coming from the south, he's coming from the north. when you think he's coming from the west, he's coming from the east. when you think he's coming in ten minutes -- he's already here!"




incredible, to be in the hands of these mischievous, loving, wily, relentless, shining beings.....!