The Ordinary Mystic

Listening to good music - relaxing - chanting - laughing - singing - practicing a few yogic breathing exercises - sharing with others an experience of peace … I experienced all these in one evening a few weekends ago at a concert performed by Snatam Kaur.

And it was awesome!

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Do a Google search for ‘raising vibration’ and there is no lack of information available. But in the spirit of the ‘high vibes game’ meme started at OptimistLab (I’ve just been tagged … twice), I’ll give my take on it as well as five things I do to ‘raise my vibration’.

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The next time you find a particular piece of music very relaxing, there might be more to it than you realize.

The first time I heard Snatam Kaur’s Ray Man Shabad, I was instantly hooked, yet I failed to understand exactly why.
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Why would a person who doesn’t believe in or worship “idols” enjoy listening to a forty-verse devotional anthem to a monkey god?

That’s right, a Hindu monkey God - the divine monkey - also known as Hanuman.
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When my family and I arrived at the temple at the Mata Amritanandamayi’s ashram in San Ramon, a member greeted us and asked if we were first timers. We said yes, then she placed colored dots on our clothing as an indication of our “status”. There is definitely an effort to make newcomers feel welcome and to make sure that the first experience is a good one.
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Actually, the exact words spoken by Krishna Das at a recent kirtan were “Dust is us”. That was before he led the crowd at the church through the process of removing that dust - removing ourselves.
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