MY FAVORITE PLACE IN THE UNIVERSE
Celebrating our new Meditation Hall, which is now the ideal space for spiritual practice for us and anyone who comes here for our public programs
THE DAWNING LIGHT — Daily Journal of Inspirational Writing
Volume 8, Issue Number 895………for Sunday, April 21, 2024
STILL MOUNTAIN CHRONICLES Section # 59…Stories by Chinmayan about our life and adventures in pursuit of simple living freedom, our spiritual path and our service to the world at a small rural meditation center
All images in this issue by Chinmayan except as noted….image above by Pixabay
MY FAVORITE PLACE IN THE UNIVERSE
Celebrating our new Meditation Hall, which glows with the energy of pure Love from the many people who have helped us get this far and is now the ideal sacred space for spiritual practices
A Note Of Greeting To You
Whether you are a first timer here, or have been reading every issue that I publish from my heart each morning, I want to thank you for being here!
From now on, I am going to write to you as I do to my dearest friends…sharing about our life here on Still Mountain as openly, as honestly and as lovingly as I can because I need to and because what is happening here and in us day by day really is extraordinary.
I believe that by sharing the journey with you, it will help us to understand more clearly the amazing and wonderful blessings and grace that flow into our lives every day, so that we can recognize and make the best use of them…
Saturday April 20, 2024
It is just after one am in the wee hours of the morning here on Still Mountain.
I am alone in our Meditation Hall, with a fire dancing in orange flames in the big wood stove, as I enjoy the silence and solitude of the night.
I am sitting at my desk in our new Publications studio in the back of this vast Hall, which has become my favorite place in the entire universe, now that we have put months of long days of work into restoring it.
There has been so much Love poured into this vast Hall, by us and so many people that have helped us reach this point, that it positively glows with pure sacred Love energy.
I feel privileged and very grateful that I now have this beautiful Hall to be in, to do my writing and publishing work, to do my practices and prayers, to sing and chant in, to play the very best kirtans and bhajans that lift my spirit as I sing with Kirtanas from all over the world via our humble, but dynamic sound system.
This Hall has incredible acoustics and this very seat is one of the best spots for me to sing and chant, as I do for most of my waking hours.
All The Best Things In Life That We Want Require Continuous Effort To Achieve
One of the most important things I learned from my teachers is that to progress on my own spiritual path, I must make continuous effort to lift my own consciousness through doing ongoing daily prayer and practices.
If I want to cross the ocean in a row boat, I must work the oars to keep making progress.
If I want to climb the mountain, I must keep taking each step on the rocky trail which surely leads to the peak.
Every bit of progress that lasts can be achieved through sustained focus on achieving the goal maintained over time with patience and dedication.
At this stage, after 50 years of singing kirtan and chanting the powerful mantras I learned from my Dharma teachers, I can tell you that nothing else even comes close to the blissful state of peace and joy that can be achieved by simply chanting mantras and singing bhajans (a Sanskrit word that literally means “Love Songs To God.”)
As I sing here tonight as I write, I am realizing that this Hall has become a perfect place to support developing pure expansive awareness and rising in consciousness…which is absolutely why we have worked so hard to create this sacred space.
We didn’t do it just for us to have our own private place to use and bliss out in, but as a space to invite and share with all the kindred spirits who will be coming here for our public programs.
In fact, every thought, every decision and every action we have taken for many years has always been about creating the best environment we possibly can…so we have an excellent facility to offer as a spiritual home to whoever is drawn to join with us.
We eat, sleep and drink this Dharma Center.
We pray about it, think about it, discuss it and work on it every day because it is very very important to us because we know many, many people will be greatly benefited from this work.
We are following in our teacher’s footsteps through dedicating ourselves to serving others in all the ways we are capable of and are called to do.
And we are making steady progress…
Hot Tub Resurrection
We are in the process of resurrecting our hot tub, which is a very special large round tub that is perfect for my Prayer Bath practice that I do every night.
Like most of the projects we have been doing for the past few months, we had to save up the funds and find the time to work on our tub…but today we cleaned it, filled it with fresh water, and got it running smoothly to see if it will heat the water.
If not, we have enough to order a new hot tub heater, which will put us back into being able to get into it anytime we need to.
An update from the next morning…
This morning we discovered that even though the hot tub was running, the heater isn’t working and there was a loud crackling sound coming from its control panel, so we immediately unplugged it.
This means our beloved hot tub is sicker than we had hoped, and we will have to explore possible solutions such as having a “hot tub doctor” come out to diagnose and fix it…which we do not have the budget for…(and as we prayerfully like to say) yet!
The Blissful Meditation of Making Firewood
Even though Spring may be coming soon, here in our mountain valley, the nights are still very cold…so we are running our wood stove night and day.
I have to say that making the fire wood to keep our Hall fire burning is not only a necessity but also a profound meditation.
I often think of something a Zen master said in response to a question about enlightenment…
“Before enlightenment,
Chop wood and carry water.
After enlightenment,
Chop wood and carry water!”
To me, one of the things this means is to embrace everything in my life as part of my spiritual path by using it as a meditation.
“Constantly watch your mind in every moment…”
As Kalu Rinpoche often advised… “Constantly watch your own mind in every moment, so that you actually see and develop expanding awareness of how it operates so that you gradually become free of it afflictive tendencies and delusions. To attain the ultimate accomplishment, one has to behold the nature of his own mind.”
So now, when washing the dishes, I am doing “Washing Dishes Meditation.”
When I am driving anywhere, I am doing “Driving Meditation.”
When I am cooking, I am doing “Cooking Meditation”….When walking, “Walking Meditation”…
Even using the toilet can be a profound meditation because the purpose of meditation is to develop our ability to tap into the blissful awareness of being in this very present moment.
Bringing All Experience to The Path
This shift in attitude is called “bringing all experience to the dharma path” and as I have practiced it day in and day out, it has become an ingrained source of blissful peace of mind.
For me, making firewood has been one of my most powerful meditations because the sheer amount of hard physical labor, having to be extremely focused when cutting wood with a chain saw, mixed with an activity that, like all of life’s chores, is a necessity and work that must be done in order to keep our fire going.
It is a wonderful thing that many of my highest spiritual experiences, revelations and breakthroughs have happened while I was pushing through to make firewood while alone in the woods, often during stormy or very challenging conditions.
And it is a joy to load a cart of this oak that we have labored so hard to produce and pull it across the yard, up a ramp into the building, in through a back door into the Hall and then use it to feed the fire in our big wood stove, piece by piece.
This fire has been such a source of warm comfort even as one huge storm after another has raged with furious winds and torrential rain outside.
Here is a link to one of my many heart poems about “Firewood Making Meditation”
Recent Donations…
Because of a generous donation from Martha, we were able to purchase 5 gallons of the perfect high quality flat white ceiling paint that we need to finish painting the entire ceiling….
When D and K came for their graduation from our Relationship Rescue and Restoration program, they noticed that we need a new main sign, which is hung above the entry portico at the front of our Dharma Center, and very generously offered to pay for having a new one made for the Center…
A donation from Susan enabled us to order the special Tibetan Incense that is handmade by monks in a Himalayan monastery and which we want to to use on our Altar…
And a donation from Judith enabled us to order hand printed strands of Prayer Flags which will hang off our building and trees to spread their blessings over everyone who sees them or comes into our Mediation Garden….
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
THIS WOULD BE A GREAT TIME TO MAKE A DONATION TO OUR BUILDING FUND
We are extremely frugal in the use of all the money that our friends and supporters have generously donated to this work.
As of this writing, we have ABSOLUTELY NO FUNDS left in our building fund, and a lot more that still needs to be done or purchased before we can reopen…
This would be A GREAT TIME TO MAKE A DONATION OF ANY SIZE by clicking on the donation button below and giving us any amount!
WE THANK EVERYONE WHO ARE SUPPORTING THIS WORK
We are sending a big thank you! To all those of you who have written to encourage us, who have made financial donations to keep these projects going, who have offered their help through volunteering and most of all, who believe in us and value what we are doing to serve the world. We could not be doing these great and wonderful things without you!
We still need your on going help and support to complete these projects and re open this Center.
Here are the links to our ultra safe donation site… We are asking for donations of any size, even a few dollars makes a massive difference!
DONATION PORTAL to Support Restoration Projects At Still Mountain Mediation Center
or use this QR code:
In return, everyone who donates any amount to our cause will receive a generous discount on tuition to upcoming new programs and courses, plus we will send you our “Meditation Training Intensive” video course ($150 value) as a reward.
Meanwhile, we will continue to keep on working to do everything we can to be a source of inspiration, information and encouragement for you, our friends and family in the “Dawning Light.”
Thanks again for being here and shining your own light of Love which is needed now more than ever!