At Satyananda Mangrove Mountain on New Year's Eve, Swami Satyadharma conducted the introduction of the evening's program. She was talking about strengthening your resolve or sankalpa for the year ahead. Instead of making one new year's resolution she spoke about asking yourself, "Where or who do I want to be in five years time?" Based on Niranjan's SWAN theory is how this outcome can be best achieved. You will find more about that here. This creation for your future may take up to a month to plan. Be careful, be specific & envisage a positive outcome.
This quote from Ikeda is on my vision board & this month I will start to help Indira create a vision board of her own.
"What kind of future do I envision for myself? What kind of self am I trying to develop? What do I want to accomplish in my life? The thing is to paint this vision of your life in your heart as specifically as possible. That 'painting' itself becomes the design of your future. The power of the heart enables us to actually create with our lives a wonderful masterpiece in accordance with that design" ~ Daisaku Ikeda.
Satyananda Mangrove ~ New Year's Eve
In creating this beautiful life I need constant reminding. Today I will create 2 pieces of art work that will have written upon it my new sankalpa - the one that has taken me about a month to get just right. I'll put it near my bedhead so that I can say it upon waking & the other one on the kitchen altar. It is best to keep the sankalpa a secret in order to contain its energy. So I'm contemplating putting a 'flap' over the one in the kitchen.
The Tibetans believe that everything both animate & inanimate has a force or spirit. This is also a strong belief in Buddhism & Shinto. Thinking about this makes me start to wonder about the karma of our fridge. Giggle - if I was a fridge I would want this stuff on me. Here is the current status of our fridge;
& from the very beautiful Swami Niranjan,
"Faith & Reverence are the precious possessions of life; they represent the inner prosperity of human life. Prosperity relates to your mental affluence, not your wordly wealth. When your mind is full of faith & reference & when this flows towards God & is reflected in your day-today actions & deeds, then your life is filled with peace & happiness. This peace & happiness does not remain confined to one's personal life, but permeates the whole family." ~ Bhakti Yoga Sagar Vol. 7.
And now a little masterpiece of Indira's creation ~ Surfergirl.
