Its interesting how inspiration works and how it can really create things quickly in a short amount of time. Its like a huge amount of energy gets transferred to you and it becomes easy to get whatever you are inspired to do done. This may happen in the form of coincidences happening with no effort at all, or that what effort you put in works out. It could even be that a huge amount of effort is required on your part but because of the energy you have you don’t see anything as an obstacle, but rather just something that will be overcome.

Take this blog, I am still thinking about putting up meditationcave.net but have yet to do it since I still feel I need to do more research. This site on the other hand came together after making the request to be guided on whether I should do a site on meditation. The information showed up in my inbox and I started to write what I was inspired about. Even the writing of the posts seem to be so amazing. I am really trying to focus on when I feel inspiration and then think about doing a blog post then.

Mantra japa chanting project

One thing I have been thinking about doing is collecting inspiring stories from people who have practiced mantra and chanting in general. I know people who have practiced chanting and have had amazing results but a lot of people don’t have any real experience or know anyone who has had experience to keep them going. So I thought it would be great to get a bunch of stories together from a variety of people who have experienced results to inspire others. The only problem was that I knew of maybe 2 people other than myself. I initially tried to get some help from some others but it seemed pretty clear that the effort would have to come from me to contact and interview people. One of the people I talked to at one point didn’t seem too happy when I started talking to them so I was feeling a little worried that the idea wouldn’t get off the ground. In many ways its not really something I can do, its something that the divine has to create because people who have these experiences need to get in touch with me.

Divine inspiration

What was amazing was that as I was going for darshan with Amma I started feeling inspired about the project. I realized I wanted this to be more than just a book, but also to be online and possibly even an iphone/ipad app. People who had experiences could, if they wanted, actually interact with and inspire other people anonymously. After darshan I saw my roommate and realized he might be able to contribute some of his experiences since he had been chanting for some time. I asked him and he agreed and thought that it was a great idea to collect stories. My other roommate chimed in as well saying he would be interested but to be careful about what is collected.

Then I came up with another idea of contacting lazyyogi and asking for his experiences with mantra chanting. I realized I didn’t have to limit the book to just people I had met, but anyone online could also be a potential source. Without even 5 minutes having passed I had two people really interested in the idea and two new people who I might be able to get stories from and I had just doubled the number of potential experiences :) As I was walking to get food I remembered someone I had talked to earlier in the day who had some spiritual experiences and most likely would have some chanting experiences to share as well.

Overall I feel that a lot of people could benefit from this and it seems like most agree with this. I think the issue in terms of spirituality is that generally talking about experiences tends to be looked down upon as it might increase the ego. So hopefully this project can allow people to talk about their experiences anonymously and provide a lot of positive benefits for people.

On that note, if you have had or know of anyone who has had experiences with chanting please contact me using the above links. I am not looking for ‘peak’ experiences necessarily, but more for how the chanting has evolved in terms of how it is experienced and what kind of effect it has had on day to day life.

And of course I would like to thank Amma and the divine for providing the extra inspiration to get this project going. The thing with inspiration is that it’s almost like the idea takes on a life of it’s own and there isn’t much effort that is required. In some sense inspiration is the divine saying that something needs to be done and you just need to allow it to work through you. The more you can connect to a source of inspiration the more you can experience this in your life. I think this is what meditation, being silent, being open, being relaxed, happy etc. help you toward being in a state where you are more likely to connect to some inspiration, intuition or guidance about what to do.

For some time I have been wondering and worried about how the divine will and money go together.  I think my issue before has been that focusing on money is a distraction from the divine. People might think asking for love is better, but there is no difference in asking for love or for money from the point of the divine. Also when people ask for love they are asking for someone to love them take care of them, be nice to them and make them happy. They aren’t asking for someone to ignore them, to treat them badly, cheat on them etc. If it was true love, even if the other person did these things they would still love the other person all the same. But its not a selfless love that people ask for its, ‘give me someone who makes me happy and I will love them’ type expectation which really isn’t any more selfish than asking for money.

Everything is the divine

I think in some sense when you get down to it, there is anything that isn’t divine.  The divine encompasses everything and so its really how you approach money or anything else that makes it a divine or a distraction from the ‘divine’ (and even that isn’t really possible) In terms of making something divine, there shouldn’t be any greed or fear, desire or worry.  So if you are worried about money, drop it, the divine will take care. Ultimately the divine will is just the personal will operating from a different point of view. The divine actually wants you to be happy, and so by letting the divine will work instead of the personal will more happiness can be achieved since the divine has more resources to work with so to speak. The problem is of course that we are stuck in our minds, planning and wanting to know and the divine will isn’t always obvious and it doesn’t allow us to keep a fixed plan. This is good in the sense that we always need to be in the now and be flexible to whats happening. In this sense trying to build a connection to the divine on a daily basis allows one to more fully trust the divine will when you don’t have a clear answer for your mind to deal with.

The Divine Works Through Inspiration

I was talking to someone at the ashram who was worried about not having a job and wanting to get a job. Eventually she realized that even without a job, somehow she was able to get along fine. When she needed money somehow something would happen, someone would offer some part time opportunity and things would get taken care of. Eventually after seeing this enough times she dropped the idea of trying to get a full time job and just focused on doing things that inspired her. The problem with a full time job is that for most its not inspiring, it doesn’t stir the soul. It doesn’t create the passion and excitement that connect you with the divine. If your job does, then thats great, but for most it seems like work is work instead of play. Play is what work should feel like when you are fully into what you are working on. In that love the divine can work and things can turn out much better than what you might expect. Its that focus and drive that comes about because of your love for your work that take it beyond the ordinary and creates something beyond what might be expected.

Let the Divine Take Care

Instead of worrying about money, it would probably be better to do some affirmations, meditation, law of attraction etc. and let the divine take care of things. The issue of money, was brought up to me and I thought about this during meditation and after a while I felt a great deal of peace and happiness instead of worry and confusion. I felt that the message was that I didn’t need to worry about money and that it would be taken care of. Actually this message was given to me maybe 6 months ago as well by someone else. They said I was too worried about money and that it would be taken care of.  So I still have these issues but am working on them.

Million Dollar Meditation on the Divine

I came onto Steve Pavlina’s Million Dollar Experiment again and decided to do it. I don’t do it as regularly as I should but I try to put a lot of feeling into it when I do it. In some sense I don’t really care about the million dollars, but it would be nice. Its more the short term worry that I would like to get taken care of. What was interesting this morning as I was meditating in the temple on the million dollar challenge is that I had some insight into why it works. The wording of the million dollar experiment is:

In an easy and relaxed manner, in a healthy and positive way, in its own perfect time, for the highest good of all, I intend $1,000,000 to come into my life and into the lives of everyone who holds this intention.

It really dawned on me that if you really put full energy into every word and thought of this intention the smallest part of the intention is you requesting money for yourself. By focusing on the energy behind the words you are putting yourself into the state of higher consciousness where you are closer to the divine and making a intention in a state closer to the divine will where there will be more of an effect. In that sense its really important as you say the intention to full feel easy and relaxed, see things happening that are healthy and positive.  This is the state that the divine operates from and how you feel when in that state. Get rid of worry and desire related to things needing to happen on your time as opposed to the divine timeline (the divine will will take care of you better than you can).

Divine state is real reward

In some sense the greatest gift from fully and intensely doing the million dollar experiment is that you regularly put yourself into a state of relaxation, happiness, remove the need for things to happen by a certain time and that you are focusing on the highest good and what is best for everyone. Again this is the state that the divine operates from. The $1 million dollars from the point of the divine is trivial, but for the average person its a big carrot. In order for the intention to really work you have to let go of the carrot and focus on getting into the state of working for the highest good and for the good of all. Let everything be easy and relaxed, happy and positive.  When you visualize the intention, see that you are adding to the benefit of all these other people. Feel the joy in helping all these people become happier and more relaxed. Dont think thats its wrong or selfish etc to ask for and give $1 million dollars, the divine will take care of how this is done in the best manner, just focus on sending the intention of helping all these people for their highest good.

The Divine is Practical

It may seem like by focusing on the happiness, the peace and relaxation and the joy of helping others and the highest good that all you are doing is just making yourself feel better. Its part of it but its not the whole thing. Its about getting yourself into a higher state rather than the usual small, worried, selfish state that we are usually in.  From doing the experiment a few days I have already seen a financial windfall and am more optimistic that more is to come.

You might not get what you want from the divine but you get what you need

It’s funny in some sense the Law of Attraction bothers me a bit. Initially it was because I thought it was for lazy people who didn’t want to work, that was until I realized the truth behind it. Now its more about why people use it. Of all the things people could manifest they seem to choose these small things. It may sound like it would be great to manifest $10,000, but really what is that compared to manifesting the Goddess of abundance, Lakshmi herself? It seems like in most cases people are still thinking of the small things in front of them when they could be attempting to manifest some aspect of the divine itself. Having said that, even still there are times when you get into some trouble and want some immediate help. 

Building a connection to the divine

Manifesting these small things can be useful in the sense that it builds a connection with the divine. So at least from that point of view, realizing that you can ask the divine for help and that the divine will respond is worth far more than whatever small thing the divine gave. For the most part I try to focus on the bigger things and have never really worked on the smaller things, but having seen the benefit of developing your connection I will try to focus on smaller things as well. Asking for the big things is great but it requires more focus and concerted mental effort over a period of time (or so it seems, perhaps this is also a limiting belief) but asking for something small can result in a quicker response which gives the confidence that the divine does listen and take care.

Suffering from lack is a mental state

I was waiting for a bus to go to Banaglore at which point I would switch buses to go to Cochin. I got to the bus stand early and the bus was full, no big deal I’ll just catch the next bus I thought. I sat and waited rather peacefully watching the bustle of the crowd. The next bus came and it also was full. I sat and waited some more and started to get a little nervous, I hadn’t reserved a ticket but I figured it would be ok. 

The divine messenger

As I was sitting, for no apparent reason, some guy came up to me and asked me if I was going to Bangalore and mentioned that a bus had pulled in some ways from where I was sitting which I had not noticed. This was rather strange in itself and I thanked the divine for showing me this hidden bus. I went over and it seemed that this bus was full as well, but I figured it was the bus pointed out to me so I should try to get on. I stood waiting with two other people to get seats. It seemed like some people who had reserved seats might not show up so I was hoping (perhaps expecting a bit as well) that I would get one these seats. Two seats became open and the two in front of me got on. I asked about just getting on the bus with no seat. I had stood up on previous bus trips before and on a different day I would have been ok with this, but for whatever reason that day that idea sounded horrible. Eventually I got a ticket with no seat and just hoped that someone else might not show up and I could sit down.

I try to manifest a seat

I saw some empty seats and sat down and hoped that they would stay that way.  Since I really wasn’t in the mood to stand I started to think about manifesting the seat be open. I tried to remain calm and relaxed and just visualized myself sitting in the seat for the rest of the bus ride. I closed my eyes and sat quietly to get into a more meditative state and repeated the same intention. I tried not to hold onto the idea too much since wanting something too much actually pushes it away from you. By wanting it you are seeing that you don’t have it when you really need to put yourself into the feeling of having it and not wanting it.

The divine takes care, but not always in the way you expect

I think one thing about manifesting is realizing that what really you want is the alleviation of your suffering. You think that by manifesting this certain thing that you will achieve more happiness, but by being too specific about what you want to manifest you actually limit what can be provided. If you are a little bit more open you can actually get a lot more than what you expect, or it might come to you in a different unexpected way.

As I was sitting in the seat someone came up to me and said they were going be needing the seat in about 10 minutes or so. They said it would be 10 minutes and so there was still some hope that the person wouldn’t show up. Eventually though the person showed up and I got up and stood in the aisle. As I was standing there watching my seat be taken, I rather angrily thought to myself, ‘so wheres my seat?!’ Of course not moments after this thought, the people sitting down place a box, which is about seat height and being unable to store it under the seat place it in the aisle right in front of me. LOL. At this moment I get a little emotional, which I take to be the sign that this is my answer, its not a coincidence but that this is what was setup for me. So I give thanks and just to be sure its my seat I decide to wait to see if someone else would need to sit since it was a crowded bus and there might be other people who might need to sit more than me.

At this point I am just overjoyed really. I made a request, a rather small silly one at that, and the divine responded. What I could see was that the divine didn’t give what I asked but took care of my suffering. Even though I was still standing I was completely fine standing the rest of the trip since I had just connected with the divine. Eventually since the box was obstructing the aisle, ‘my’ seat was removed but I no longer cared :) I stood for some time and eventually after a few stops the conductor gave me a spot to sit.

Ask the divine regularly

I think trying to make a connection regularly is important, do meditation, visualization or whatever you do but doing it every day is what makes it powerful. Even if there is nothing important ask for small things. For example request parking spaces, not just any parking space, but a parking space that is right next to the store you want to go to. It may not work every time but over time you can see it happen more and more but it still seems rather amazing that the divine will respond to such small requests. 

Oh yeah and as I was typing this up on my iPad my roommate came up to me and asked me if I wanted to use a bluetooth keyboard to type on. Amazing :)

I’d like to start things off with some divine appreciation. It feels a bit like this site came about on it’s own. I was actually spending a lot of time and effort researching a different site topic completely, something on meditation, but I held off and decided to sleep on it to see if I came up with any new ideas. 

The divine provides what’s needed

In the morning I woke up and saw some information about spiritual growth, spiritual development and spiritual awakening in my inbox. I spent all this time researching meditation and here in my inbox with no effort were the keywords and research for spirituality I needed. I decided to just go with it and put up something based on this without any further research and went with playingwiththedivine.com. It didn’t match the keywords or what my brain said I should do, but I couldn’t let it go. It encapsulated what I wanted to do, even though I myself don’t always do it. If nothing else it would remind me of how to approach my relationship with the divine. I decided to leave it to the divine. If the divine wants this site to take off it then the divine will have to take care of it.

The divine takes care

After getting the domain and still being a little unsure of whether it was the right thing to do, I mean really shouldn’t I have just done some research first? I went ahead and started setting up the domain and finished setting up the site. I went to bed and the next morning I got an email from a friend and fellow spiritual traveler that she is setting up a website (verathornhill.com) and also about another site on the law of attraction. This is absolutely amazing, not even 24 hours have passed and I am already replying saying that I have setup playingwiththedivine.com.  For me that is really confirmation that this was the correct choice and that the divine is helping in creating this site. I just need to make sure that I keep this in mind and try to work from this mindset of inspiration and effortlessness.  When I talk about the divine realize, I’m just some guy. I don’t there is anything about me that is different than any other person than the fact that I put forth effort and try to listen to the ‘divine’ as I call it.others might say it’s listening to your heart, developing your intuition, thinking nonlinearly, listening to your guides, etc., but I’m calling it the divine.

Divine Inspiritation

My intention as I was setting this site up was that I wanted it to be inspired. It should be effortless, it really should feel more like playing than a tedious grind. I didnt want to think, plan and decide, whatever inspires me will go on the site. I’m hoping that whatever stories and experiences that are posted here will  create that inspiration and mindset in others. I’m not a guru, but I feel like I am being nudged to set up this website so let’s see what fun it brings. I’m just some guy. I don’t there is anything about me that is different other than the fact that I put forth effort and am trying to listen to the divine. 

I would also like to not see this as mine, it really just creates attachment and worry etc. Hopefully it will be just a blog that I post to. Weirdly enough even though I haven’t written anything yet, I feel honored that I will be a part of whatever happens, and even thinking about that makes me cry. I guess this is the downside of the divine, becoming a crybaby :) I would like to thank the divine for creating this opportunity and for whatever transformation lies ahead. I’m excited!