The benefits are many, like the aboved mentioned. A home altar gives you a special place to sit in prayer and meditation. It can motivate you sit longer. When you take time to meditate daily you can actually lower your blood pressure as you allow yourself time prepare for your day or to decompress from it. You are more able to detach yourself from the constant stream of thoughts in the mind and become more of the witness. Sitting at your altar daily creates rituals that structure your day and allow time for worship. It will help deepen your spiritual practice as you begin to merge into oneness of the Source.
Personal altars are a reflection of who you perceive the Divine to be and how you chose to worship. They can be as simple or as elaborate as you want. They can be in private spaces or out in the open. You can even create them in your yard. They could be hanging on a wall or sitting on a table or even in a closet. You can put anything on them; pictures of loved ones past, treasures offered from the natural world, statues, the possibilities are endless. When I lived in India, for example, people created little alters on the dashboards of their cars or by the front doors to their home or by the cash registers of their business. Every Indian home I was blessed to be invited into, had an altar or puja room, (place for worship).
Every spiritual path is dedicated to the Source and is meant to bring you closer to this Source. The practice of yoga, meditation, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Wicca, or any other spiritual path teaches how to become better human beings, to understand the world we live in and the realms beyond, to evolve our consciousness and to merge with the Source of all life. Some paths are more community oriented than others. Some paths require daily practice. Others require meeting on a certain day, time and place, while there are those less rigid. No matter what avenue of spirituality you adhere to, you can always create an alter in your home.
This inspired me to create an altar space in every home I have lived in since I lived in India. I have lived in some pretty small places but I have always loved setting up my altar before I unpacked any other boxes. I haven't been able to dedicate a whole room to it yet but I foresee me doing so in the future. Until I have the luxury to do so, I have a simple teak wood round table that I use. This table has been in my family for as long as I can remember. I came home from high school one day and found it next to the trash. My mother was throwing it out as a way to "clean house" from her divorce from my father. I reclaimed it from the trash, fixed the broken leg and re-stained it. Good as new. It's been used as my altar ever since that day.
Even though the table has remained the same my altar varies somewhat. I brought back this beautiful bronze statue of Ganesha, from India and he has taken his sit there in the center back of the table to remind me that life is full of changes. Ganesha is a Hindu deity that is the remover of obstacles or is the one who places them in our path if we need. He is a plump, happy symbol of living life with joy and to the fullest. I could go on and on about him, but he is not the subject here.
Currently keeping Ganesha company are pictures of my teachers, my gurus, the ones who have brought light into my life and helped me to grow along this path. I have a lava rock from a place in Oregon I love to visit that I use to hold the incense I burn. I have blessed coins, some quartz crystals, flowers, sometimes fresh, sometimes dried and water from the great Ganges River. As I sit in front of my altar daily to meditate and practice yoga, I am reminded of my path and my dedication to it. My altar changes with the seasons and holidays but the meaning and my intention remain constant. It is my way of worshipping and a way I take care of my relationship with Source. I invite you to create your own altar if you don't already have one. Try to sit in front of it each day. See what unfolds for you and how it can bring the sacred into your daily life.
----------------------------------------------------
Receive spiritual insights, guidance and wisdom from awakened teachers of all the world's traditions. Sign up for our Spiritual Awakening e-course -- each issue is packed with tips, advice and techniques to realize your own awakening, brought to us by traditions from Advaita to Zen: http://spiritualwoodstock.com/e-course.html
EasyPublish this article: http://submityourarticle.com/articles/easypublish.php?art_id=263542
No comments:
Post a Comment