USA CONFERENCE TO KNOW YOUR CONNECTION TO YOUR piTRuo (ANCESTORS)-SEPTEMBER 17-19, 2006
Posted by Vishva News Reporter on July 13, 2006

 

 

Honoring Our Ancestors Conference At
Lenox, Massachusetts, USA On
September 17-19, 2006

Lenox Massachusetts, USA: April 29, 2006:

The Honoring Our Ancestor Conference, presented by Mother Maya (Sri Swamini Mayatitananda), will be held on September 17 - 19, 2006 at the Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health in Lenox, Massachusetts.

These two days of meditation, celebration and nurturing of the spirit will be held during the auspicious time of Pitri Paksha -- when we are easily able to reconnect the subtle bond of the ancestral realm.

Mother Maya, a compassionate spiritual mother who has helped many thousands of people to heal from devastating disease, states

"I believe that the present state of unhappiness and hurtfulness in the world within and without has its roots in our relationship to the ancestors. Hindus--like many native traditions--have long since forged a vital connection with the world of the ancestors since their subtle energy intimately helps to guide, inspire, and safeguard our progress and well-being on the earth. To cultivate inner harmony and world peace we have got to honor the ancestral spirit within ourselves."

Honoring Ancestors Conference 2006 is produced by the Wise Earth School of Ayurveda, and the Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health

The conference is open to people of all faith traditions and cultures. For registration information, contact "source" above. You can visit the web site for the conference location and the conference producer by clicking on the yellow hilite of the respective names above.
 

KNOWLEDGE ABOUT HONOURING ANCESTORS ON PVAF WEB SITE

On this knowledge sharing web site of PVAF, this news item is being published to share different understanding of vED = SCIENCES OF CREATION AND LIFE in the present vEDik time era called kli-yug...

PVAF has published on vED page and in many articles knowledge about piTRuo (ancestors). The vED page articles are under SHRaadDH`DH category on vED page under main category titled "Rites and Rituals: Vedik prescription to keep the mutually beneficial interrelation of gods and humans going"...please visit that direct knowledge from puraaANo texts by clicking here.....

PVAF also invites you to post your comments on this news posting or share knowledge on this topic by clicking on POST A COMMENT in the header of this news item and write away as much as you wish....

Please click on the next line to read the report on this conference from the web site of Wise Earth School of Ayurveda  and/or visit the web site by clicking on the yellow hilite to read full details....



 

 

Honoring Ancestors Conference, 2005:
A Report on this Extraordinary Event!

It is from a place of great joy, gratitude, and peace that I submit this report of the fully-realized success that was the Honoring Ancestors Conference 2005, held at the serene site of Kripalu Yoga Center in Lenox , MA .

Sri Swamini Mayatitananda (affectionately, appropriately, and respectfully called Mother) led us, the hundred or so in attendance, into our hearts and into the perfect offering of nourishment to our Ancestors, the Pitris.
Our spirits were uplifted to the highest when Mother opened the conference with Her grand presence, entering the hall to the beat of the drums, the strings of the tanpura, and the showering of rose petals. Everyone in attendance immediately felt the warm embrace of Mother's presence. During this opening satsanga, Mother spoke of Pitri-Paksha, the auspicious time according to the Vedic Calendar to honor and nourish the ancestors, and illuminated the importance of this event, drawing upon Her wealth of knowledge, humor, and personal experiences.



Mother blesses each and every participant's ancestor photo and name cards.

Several people who had never before heard a talk given by Mother, later spoke to me about how impressed they were by Mother's fluid speaking style -- no notes were used and many fun anecdotes were inserted, and yet always one point led perfectly to the next, making a cohesive whole. And some were wholly transfixed by Mother's presence, possibly missing some of the finer points of Mother's talk, but receiving the transmission none the less! One of the participants, Charles from Reading , PA , reported:"since I have left the conference, I can still feel Her words and Her presence in my heart. It is like an enduring embrace inside of me."


Mother introduced the chants that were to be used during the ceremony, including a pervasive ancestral mantra, OM NAMO VAH PITRIS SAUMYAH (Obeisance to you, the gentle ancestors!), which anchored the focus of the whole conference on the Pitris and their nourishment. Throughout the rest of the days of ceremony and celebration, whenever the focus started to drift, Mother would guide us back into the repetition of this beautiful mantra.


On the day of the offering, the crows could be heard cawing and the pictures of ancestors had been arranged on the altars: directed by Mother in the appropriate Vedic way to install the Pitris' Altar, sadhakas of the Wise Earth School who served tirelessly through out the  conference, helped to set-up two beautiful altars with more than three hundred pictures of the participants' forebears. This day of ceremony commenced with Mother leading us through a Japa meditation reciting a profound ancestral passage from the Satapatha Brahmana.

 

This set the tone for the rest of the day, and planted us firmly in the selfless space where we are one with the Pitris. From this space we took turns offering the traditional nourishment (black sesame seeds and water) to our Ancestors, while Mother performed an Ancestral Puja, a fire offering to Moon, Sun, and the Pitris. After the traditional offering, Mother invited the youngest of the participants- seven year old Zane - to join Her in a special offering of rose petals to the Pitris. Afterwards, the food that had been offered was brought outside on the south side of the grounds, to be received by the crows, the worldly emissaries of the Pitris.

Words could not begin to describe the beauty and timelessness that enveloped this ceremony, nor the peace and love that enveloped our beings. The rest of that day was spent in joyous celebration through dance, mantra, and drumming - all done with our awareness centered on the Pitris and their well-being. On the following day, the last day of the conference, the tranquility and clarity of our beings was mirrored in the azure blue sky as the sun shone benignly on a few pure white puffs of cloud. The heavy gray sky and rain that we had known on the previous days of the conference had been as completely transformed as we had been.

Mother guides the making of ancestral mandala with food grains & Vedic chants

Mother presided over a closing ceremony in which a special grain mandala was made for the Pitris. We were invited to make the commitment of inner harmony as we took turns adding grains to the mandala. Even more chanting, drumming, and dancing accompanied this procession.

We were also invited to come up to the front to share songs from our heritage or chants that we had learned. This included a special father-daughter duo singing a beautiful song from the Jewish tradition. Others shared chants for Ganesha, Krishna , Rama, and so on... too many to list! We offered the grains from the mandala to the crows and

Mother gave a closing talk, thanking all the Wise Earth Sadhakas and, most notably, Sadhaka Usha (Dr. Nina Molin) who was the organizer for the event for her exceptional work. Mother also expressed gratitude to the Kripalu team for their excellent hospitality. Mother shared how pleased she was that the work of the Ancestors had been once more initiated in the world and asked each participant to take the work with them to help others remember the ancestors and the significant role they play in our lives.


After the conference, several Sadhakas reported seeing a procession of crows lining the exit, all standing silently or walking slowly, "bellies dragging"!

All have reported having a deep inner-knowing that the Ancestors have been nourished and the perfect peace that comes as a result. After the conference, Mother's message became crystal clear to me that as we are to love one another, so too are we to nourish the Ancestors.

Even when dear ones have departed from this life, they may be honored in a way that nourishes their spirit and awakens our awareness of their continual presence in our lives. May their spirits be continually nourished and so too may their blessings continually pour out to us.

As Mother says, may we all realize our unbroken connection to the forebears and that when we serve them we are serving the Self. And may everyone enjoy the peace and love that all of us who attend ended the conference felt after honoring and nourishing the Pitris.
 



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