A Bit of History

Beginning of The Washington Siddha  Meditation Center

It was the summer of 1976 and we were at the Deville Hotel in SouthFallsburg,New York. It was the week after the Bhakti intensive which was so moving for so many people as Baba spoke about his love of Bhagavan Nityananda and his pain at the loss of his beloved Guru.
We had asked Baba’s secretary if we could speak to Baba about the opening of a Siddha Meditation Center in Washington DC. She told she would let us know if such a meeting was possible. After a few days the message came that a meeting was possible with Baba at 2 pm that afternoon.( We were told about the possible meeting at about 1:30 that day) The meeting was to be held in field in Deville Hotel. We remember running and running and trying to gather all the Washington people to be there on time. Some of the people who were there were: Jorge, Arturo, Alexandra, and Muktabi as well as Sharon and Rudy.
We ran across the field and there in the middle field was Swami Muktananda and Malti his translator. We ran  to Baba and knelt before him and asked Baba could we have a meditation center in Washington DC. He paused for long, long endless time. And then he said..Do you see that pony over there.?  And there not too far away was this beautiful little pony  standing quietly.  And then Baba said “The pony is very small and yet filled with great Love. Many people will benefit from the presence of the center. The center will be like that small and yet filled with love and that it would last for a long time”.The energy at that moment was so beneficent and with that we thanked Baba and returned  to Washington and so the center was created in love and through love.
Sharon and Rudy Bauer
August 22, 2012

SKIPPING

Standing still, like a flamingo in a shallow pool, gazing down at a quiet reflection of space, my mind finds repose.   Fullly present, embodied in the flesh, fully contained, I now take my seat.  As I sit, peace finds me.  I recognize it as myself and bow to it.
I find my old friend once again.  Take a seat beside me and rest awhile.  I will take over from here, peace says.

As a child skips down the sidewalk, fully focused on perfecting the hop in the middle, a shift occurs, a natural extention into space, and the child takes flight.  When the mind is satisfied that the hop is quite fine, and the rhythm has reached an easy cadence, the real skipping can begin.  Like a smooth stone skipping over the water, the motion itself is the doer.  The stone rides on the motion, on the momentum.  Inside the whirl that propels the child, fully engaged in the act of skipping, is a point of stillness from which all movement arises.  The child knows this point well, seeks it, and finds it over and over again.  This point is pure potential space, the bliss of freedom , the spirit of creativity or life itself.   Herein is the spanda, the now and the how.  Finding this point is how one can take flight into this creative momentum.  Releasing into the moment, stepping into this void, one can extend into awareness and fly.

A child twirls for the sheer joy of embodying energy, this vortex within.  It is the ecstatic dance of the Sufi.  Tiny little beings of light, twirling to find this free space inside that extends into the still point, the pure point of potential, the blue bindu.  Consciousness from which all arises, like a wheel spinning out of control, spinning off in all directions, sparking billions of universes within universes, from here to infinity.
What is seen is seen as light.  Sambogakaya light.  Jewels raining down into tiny, open eyes, drinking in the nectar of love and compassion.  These eyes blend into one.  The eye of God, the eye of wisdom, the eye of the divine.

Once opened, this eye of divinity shines forth onto the world of appearances, revealing the space of oneness.  The truth of equality vision, the ultimate realization that God dwells within you as you.  Once again, Muktananda, the bliss of freedom, extending this freedom into nirmanakaya, the day to day experience in and of the world.  Dharmakaya is the still point.   There is a verse in the Bible about becoming a child again to enter the kingdom of heaven, here on earth.  Children sit naturally in meditation, if given enough time to be alone. They are natural yogis.  Watch them skip down the street.

Written by Karen Ferguson