Namaste,
 
September has arrived and with it some cooler weather and enchanting breezes.  This is the start of our new year; and, as always, it begins with Baba's Mahasamadhi Fire Puja at cow dust time.  It is great coming together after the quietness and reclusiveness of August.  This year's calendar is rich with wonderful, inspiring workshops and day programs to keep you connected to the flow of love and community that Kashi provides. Check out the calendar on our website. Hope to see you soon!
 
 
 "Divine love brings complete freedom."
           
                  Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati  
From Yashoda
 
Commitment and Devotion    
   
Our theme for September is       Commitment and Devotion. Ma has said, "Say one sentence that is filled with your love of God, and great devotion spreads throughout your whole being." It seems so simple to be absorbed in love. Bhakti is that love and loyalty. It presents an intense yearning of the soul. Devotion is that thread that binds our hearts to Ma's heart.
Padma Sambhava said, "For those who have devotion, I sleep at their doorstep." We must come toward and be courageous. "Devotion is a risk that you take, for indeed you may not be ready to leave what is familiar to you. Yet your spirit is pushing you toward the oneness,." Ma Jaya said.
I ask to please acquire that burning madness of devotion and love for love's sake. Please come to Kashi and we will dive into this love together. I look forward to it.

Love, Yashoda

A Remembrance of MA

Uma and Ma
Many of us during the teaching have talked about "liberation" and thought that it was all about feeling detached from the pain of others and ourselves. But what Ma taught us, through her own example, was that liberation is truly about devotion to God and others, and ultimately ourselves. In that devotion there is also a call to commitment that seems even more real since she passed. It's as if we have no more time to waste in committing to the best part of us. In that way, the closeness that we longed for with our Ma becomes more palpable and real. Uma                                                                                                 
Kashi To Present Program at Parliament 2015  

 
A workshop entitled "The Path of Community: Collective approaches to peace, sustainability, equality, and justice" will be presented at the Parliament of the World's Religions in Salt Lake City, Utah, by Swami Anjani, Swami Mata Giri, Jaya Priya, Laxmi Ma, and Joe Grieboski.
 
The panelists will offer information and stories about Ma, Kashi, and some of our interfaith practices, highlighting our programs and service work. Among other topics, the group will discuss Kashi's relevance as an intentional community, the concept of sustainability and general change, and the use of two systems of relationship building: restorative justice and listening circles. We plan to contextualize Kashi in the more global discourse of the politics of religion, religious freedom, interfaith practice and dialogue.
 
After taking questions, we will open the floor to the audience to share their own experiences.
 
Our Ma served as Trustee Emeritus of the Parliament for many years, and we are all very excited to share the essence of Ma and Kashi with the Parliament once again!
 
                       www.parliamentofreligions.org

A Kali Natha Yoga Teacher Training Graduate
          
Shiva Priya
It's September, which is always a challenge for teachers like me. We return to work and hit the ground- not just running, but sprinting!  New classes, hundreds of new students, new names to learn, new administrative projects, meetings. It can all be very tense. But this year feels completely different, and I know it's because last year I did the 200 hour Kali Natha Yoga Teacher Training.
            Kali Natha Yoga brings one powerful senses of calm, focus, self-confidence and bliss. It takes away what you do not need and protects you from outside forces that can be draining and harmful. It is a deep and powerful technology. I learned strategies for maintaining a daily practice, methods for staying calm and centered even among lots of people and activity, and many new ways to quickly go deep within myself and heal areas in need.
            I'm still marveling at how powerful this yoga is!
 
       Click Here to Find Out More Info on Teacher Training!
 
The Kashi Meal Fund
 
The delicious, organic meals served at Kashi have generated more and more people from our local community and from afar coming to join us for dinner Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. Swami Rudra Das prepares organic, nutritious healthy meals showing how diverse and creative vegetarian meals can be. To maintain this standard of quality in serving healthy and organic meals adults are charged $12.00 per person and children 12 and under is $5.00. The Kashi Meal Fund was then created to ensure that those who cannot pay are able to join us for dinner. It is Ma and Baba's teaching to feed everyone, all are welcome.  No one is ever turned away.  We are applying for grants that would enable us to feed more seniors, low income and homeless people nutritious,organic meals while dining in a loving atmosphere at Kashi.   
                                                                                                      If you are interested in contributing to the Kashi Meal Fund, please send your donation to Kashi specifying as such or      Click Here to donate online. Thanks so much!
In Memoriam
Sister Joan Kirby
                                                  We are saddened that a true beacon of light in the Interfaith movement, Joan Kirby, R.S.C.J., passed away the morning of September 9.
  
Ma and Sr. Joan enjoyed a very special connection for many years. Sr. Joan was very loving, embracing all who came to her. Ma and Sr. Joan were last together in October of 2010 in New York when Ma received an Interfaith Visionary Award at the Temple of Understanding's 50th Anniversary.
  
For fourteen years, Sr. Joan was the main representative of the Temple of Understanding to the United Nations. She was a great inspiration to so many people and a true leader of the interfaith movement in heart and soul. This August, Sr. Joan was one of four individuals to be given an award in the General Assembly of the United Nations, "Honoring Those at the UN Who Bring Civil Society Forward".
  
Sr. Joan recently wrote, "People ask me why I practice Zen Buddhism. I do so because Buddhism has taught me to stop looking for Jesus 'out there'. Buddhism has taught me to stop reaching, looking outside of my inner self ... I am Christ. I receive Christ as my food; I have been permeated by the living Jesus. ...This prompts me to live in the present moment because this is where God is."


      A Moment From Ma

"Thoughts that sustain you are thoughts of devotion and prayer.

When you get into the habit of talking to God, your thoughts go automatically to God.

When you get into the habit of loving others, your thoughts take on the feeling of love.
 
As you find yourself more and more in a positive way during your day, you find that your thoughts  have been positive in nature.
 
Positive thoughts lead to the discovery of the Self.

Love, Ma 
         Global Live
         Join one of our

satsang gatherings.  The evening includes a recording of Ma Jaya teaching.  Global Live is held on the second Saturday of each month.   

(No Global Live in  September). We are updating our technology, stay tuned for more info. 

From Rudra's Kitchen

Namaste,

I started making this Southern style cornbread for Ma many years ago.
She loved it.
There is no wheat in this recipe, and the sugar is optional.
It's very easy and quick to make.
One day this summer, my best sous chef Mira Jaya asked for some cornbread.
She had so much fun making it.
And she made it the best !!!
Enjoy !!!

Love, Swami Rudra Das



Wish List

        

Fruit Trees  Click Here

 

Pressure Cleaner


Desk Top Computer   Windows 7
 
Temple Restorations
 
Pick- Up Truck (Sustainable Kashi is in great need)

Music System for café and dining hall

 
For more Information  please contact:
 
 
       772.913.5184
Ma's India Special

Singng Bowls
$59.95


This 7 metal meditation bowl rings true when you strike it, holding a full sound that will penetrate your body.

 

It not only sounds wonderful but it looks beautiful, ready to enhance your meditation space

.

The meditation bowl comes with a satin embroidered cushion that creates the focus of attention and honor it deserves.

 

Bowl is 3.75" in diameter and comes with a wooden puja stick.


For more information, please go to www.mas-india.org and while you are there check out Ma's India's brand new website!

Grow Kashi Update

Namaste Everyone! 
The Grow Kashi team has been diligently working on implementing the initial stages of GROW Kashi's campaign strategy and have made great strides over the past two months!
Thanks to a number of very generous residents, members, and friends of Kashi, tremendous progress has been made in all three of our priority areas!!! More specifically, over this summer we have:  (1) made major upgrades to the Laksman House Welcome center (2) launched renovation and beautification projects at the Shirdi Guest House and Eco-Village campus (3) developed a GROW Kashi website that will be ready to launch this Fall (4) hosted multiple Kashi collaborative workshops... and much more! We will be announcing much more detailed updates shortly. 
Thank you all for your continued commitment and support! We could not do it without you.
 
The Grow Kashi Team

       The Tantrik Life Style & Passionate Heart Practice Retreat        Sept. 25-27

 


                                                                                                                                                                      The Tantrik Life Style & Passionate Heart Practice retreat is based on  Mukunda Stiles' book Tantra Yoga Secrets, that Chinnamasta edited with him.  


During this three-day retreat, Chinnamasta will share her personal experiences of the rare consort relationship she shared with Mukunda Stiles.   Through her guidance you will learn a Trantrik practice that leads to passionate fulfillment on worldly and spiritual planes for you, individually and in relationship with others.

Some of the practices described in the book that will be explored are vinyasa, tantrasana, pranayama, mudra, chant, tandava and prayer.

On Feb 18, 2014, Mukunda expanded into higher realms beyond the physical body.

"The Devis Tara, Sarasvati, Lakshmi and Kali have transformed themselves into my blessed wife, consort, healer and companion, Chinnamasta Devi, who has taken me to places others could not. She has only one mission - to dance the Tandava, the eternal communion of Shiva and Shakti, merging and separating for the delight of being One and the enjoyment of being the worldly couple."


To Register Click Here

 
                               The Five Circles of Devotion   Nov. 5 - 8


Agni Jaya Starfire, who ceremonially constructed the Medicine Wheel at Kashi, is partnering with Janet Conner, author of Writing Down Your Soul, to create a rare and unusual retreat at Kashi
 
November 5-8
 
 honoring Five Circles of Devotion. You will experience healing prayers at the Medicine Wheel, participate in a Sacred Fire Moon Ceremony, walk our outdoor labyrinth as the womb of the Divine Mother, and learn the mystical practice of deep soul writing. Shakti Durgaya will invite us into the 5th circle of devotion, Kali Natha Yoga. For more information and links to register, visit janetconner.com
 
 
September Joke
 
How to Get to Heaven

A teacher asked the children in the Sunday school class, "If I sold my house and my car, had a big garage sale, and give all the money to the church, would I get into heaven?" "No!" The children all answered. If I cleaned the church everyday, mowed the yard, and kept everything neat and tidy, would I then get into heaven?"
Again, the answer was "No!" "Well," she continued, "then how can I get into heaven?" In the back of the room, a five year-old by shouted, "You gotta be dead!"


Kashi Church Foundation       http://www.kashi.org              772-589-1403