Devi and I were giving a series of programs at our community and temple in Palo Alto, California, a few days ago. As all the events of the weekend were winding down something very touching took place. In a conspiratorial and somewhat excited manner, they led us to two chairs set in front of a small choir in their courtyard.
When they began to sing it brought tears to my eyes. About a year ago I had rewritten the lyrics to a traditional song called “Shenandoah,” which has a lovely, haunting melody—the new words reflecting a longing for Divine Mother rather than the traditional love of a man for a woman. After the words had come to me, I shared them in a blog called “Seeing Spirit Everywhere.” Here they are:
O Divine Mother, I long to know You.
Fade away, O world of maya.
Divine Mother, I long to know You.
Away, I’m bound away into the deep sushumna.
O Divine Mother, I long to see You.
Fade away, O gaudy maya.
Divine Mother, I long to see You.
Away, I’m bound away through the bright Kutastha.
O Divine Mother, I long to hear You.
Fade away, O noise of maya.
Divine Mother, I long to hear You.
Away, I’m bound away to merge into the bliss of AUM.
What made the experience in Palo Alto particularly special for me was the completely unexpected return of an old friend. For Devi and me these blogs are a little like our spiritual children. Once they “leave home” we don’t really expect to see them again. We release our blogs into the ether without any attachment, although we deeply appreciate the comments people might make about a particular post.
“Master in the Springtime,” by Nayaswami Jyotish.
Isn’t it true, friends, that many things in life seem very ephemeral? An event, or a creative idea comes, has its little moment on the stage of our life’s experiences, and then passes into memory where it dims and fades away. Although I had rewritten the words to this song, I had never heard it performed. And I never expected to.
But the great masters teach us that our every thought, word, or deed plants a karmic seed. In one way or another, these seeds are destined to return to us. We are usually more aware of the negative seeds than of the positive ones. Our past errors seem to come back to us like a winter storm, full of sound and fury. But most of the time our positive karma seems to slip in unnoticed.
Every once in a while, however, a kernel of positive karma from the past makes a special visit home. Perhaps, as in this case, a group of friends go to considerable effort to give us a lovely surprise. They sit us down, have us pay attention, and then give us a gift of love like this song. An event like this helps to wake us up.
God is always waiting for us, wanting to help us be happy. Long ago, I had written words of longing to Divine Mother, and here She was in the form of these friends singing them back to me. If we pay attention, we will see that Divine Mother visits us every day. Let us try to listen for Her footsteps and hear Her song.
In appreciation,
Nayaswami Jyotish
P.S. Here is a link to watch a video recording of the song. Right-click here to download the MP3. Or listen to it here (3:09):
Listen to the weekly commentary for this blog, with special behind-the-inspiration stories and answers to common spiritual questions. Subscribe to the podcast or download the audio recording by right-clicking here. Or listen to it here (3:08):
Download the audio recording of this week’s blog by right-clicking here. Or listen to it here (5:10):
17 Comments
Beautiful song. Thank you.
Very touching indeed! It’s a lovely yearning calling Divine Ma!🌺🙏
Thanks for sharing your beautiful experience. It really feelsThe thoughts are in ether. 🙏🌸🌈🎶🎶🌷🌟🙌🙌🙌
My wife passed away recently and I am surrounded by Mothers’ rays. I recently placed a rose bouquet at a grotto in a catholic church. The grotto has a statue of Mother Mary. My granddaughter took some pictures and we noticed a white ray coming down from above pointed at the flowers. When I get a moment I will send you a copy of the picture. I was with my wife 54 years in a body and ongoing in spirit. We are together and Mother constantly reminds me of the true love behind this Maya.
Thank you so much for sharing this! And I watched the video! Just beautiful!
Have been listening to it over and over again. Thank you.
May Vincent’s wife attain the Supreme Bliss and Eternal Peace!
Lovely song to receive the Divine Mother’s presence. I believe so certain things happen as they have a karmic link.
This girl I met in Sri Lanka about 23 years ago, and have met her only a few times at my little sister’s home. She used to wear a beautiful smile on her face every time I see her. When I go to my sisters, she would prepare a cup of tea or prepare a delicious meal for me.
Recently she had sent a friend request on my fb which I delightfully accepted her friend request. But then I was curious to talk with her and rang her. One day she told me that she is very frightened and could not sleep all night. I asked her why. She said every night about 3 to 4 wild elephants are coming to her garden and also destroy her crops. When her husband goes on night duty she’s all by herself with her two kids. And she had sent me the photos also the elephants in her garden and crops have been trampled etc. This got me restless and I started praying fervently about her unfortunate predicament. I also told her to chant “Om Namah Shivaya” and call upon Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, as He is my Divine Master.
She has done exactly what I asked her to do. Because she wanted some relief for her fearful ongoing situation where no help from the government. I also asked my Sai Sisters to pray for her and her kids protection.
It’s been three days since she saw them coming along the lake bank that’s the border line of her property. They came at 2 00 am and shook the mango tree and ate mangoes and disappeared. Otherwise, their usual routine has been to come to her garden about 50 meters from her house and destroy the crops.
When they were in the garden, she put some Bhajans and completely surrendered to Bhagawan Baba asking Him to show her the truth of Divinity and His presence and take care of the wild elephants. Suddenly they disappeared into the thick jungle and she had a peaceful sleep after many nights and woke up at 6 am. So she’s immensely grateful to me and my sister friends for the prayers.
Today I suddenly remembered, that I had a dream of some elephants in my garden a few weeks ago.
I thought to myself it is so strange and what would have been link between her real life situation about the wild elephants coming to her garden daily and my dream that I had a few weeks ago???
However, I am deeply concerned about this situation of this poor lady. All my friends and I will continue to pray for her and the villagers.
Thank you for sharing this beautiful ode to Divine Mother! Deeply touching!
What a beautiful surprise. The performance was so touching.🙏🏻💕
Hello,
I do not always leave a comment but I am always waiting for the email to read your message, always inspiring , always learning.
Thanks for this story !! I enjoyed it but must of all is the first time I think about the good seeds.
Always grateful
Blessings
Namaste
My heart is singing in JOY to hear theses angels! With deepest gratitude and blessings in Master 🙏🌹
Dear Jyotish, how lovely!! I remember when you posted that blog — I taped those words to my refrigerator. The Palo Alto folks did a wonderful job with the arrangement. Blessings to all.
I cried too and my heart feels so much love for God 💙 Devi and you💙💙thank you for all the years✨
Such a touching song and what a wonderful example of how you had a Karmic Seed return to you in a devotional song you wrote the lyrics for about our longing to know and see our Divine Mother.
Dear Nayaswami Jyotish Ji,
Thank you for the blog!
Very sweet of our friends to sing it for you!
Beautiful message through this blog and the last paragraph was very endearing to read.
God wants us to be happy and Let us try to listen for Her footsteps and hear Her song…
Thank you for sharing the link to the song
Joy
Prem
Wonderful song
Thank you for this beautiful blog, and thank you to Biraj, Karen Gamow and the Palo Alto singers for the added blessing of this devotional song. It deeply touches the heart.
Here are inspirational talks by Swami Kriyananda for all – from Treasures Along the Path.
Music, Creativity & The Mystical Experience
https://treasuresalongthepath.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/music-creativity-superconsciousness.mp3
How to Develop Devotion Part One
https://cdn.treasuresalongthepath.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/develop_devotion_part_one.mp3
How to Develop Devotion Part Two
https://cdn.treasuresalongthepath.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/develop_devotion_part_two.mp3