For the last year (well, the last ten months), I have cut way back on my discretionary spending. This started out of necessity, as I put myself on a bit of a money diet when we bought our house in the expensive city of Seattle, but even once our bank account normalized I kept up the practice and felt quite good about it. Recently, I treated myself to a book of musings by Swami Muktananda called Nothing Exists that is not Siva . Something about the book literally resonated with me when I pulled it from the bookshelf at Traveler’s on Capitol Hill. The third part of the book includes Muktananda’s musings on the Guru Gita, the poetic dialogue between Shiva and Parvati about the relationship of student and teacher. Muktananda’s musings are so filled with longing and ecstatic love that immediately inspired me to search for an audio recording of the Guru Gita. A new friend mentioned that she found a vinyl recording of Muktananda himself chanting the Gita. What a serrendipitous garage sale find! I decided that while I will certainly stay open for such an auspicious receipt of the recording, in the meantime I would check out ye olde internet for beautiful recordings for sale. I found this recording, sung by Kumuda, and felt an instant connection to her rendition. Just loveliness. The chant is traditionally sung every morning. I have only sung it through completely (it takes a little over an hour to recite the 182 verses) while at the ashram, but would really like to integrate it into my practice at least once a week at home. I’ll let you know how it goes.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDmCl2sL4m8&hl=en]
I love your idea of a “money diet”. Every once in a while I feel guilty about not being more careful with the money I spend on a day to day basis. I realize it would be a lot less if I keep better track and was more aware or more careful in my purchases. It’s really about being lazy in my busy life – you’ve inspired me though – I’m going to give it a try!
Love the video!