Prison Project Share

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On Labor Day weekend, 2013, I had a training for the Prison Project, a program in Siddha Yoga where chanting and meditation programs are offered in prisons to groups of prisoners who have been taking a meditation course sent through the mail. We were assigned to form an intention for the training, shown below along with my revised intention. Another assignment was to read Chapter 12 in Gurumayi's book Enthusiasm, entitled "Seva Creates a Pond of Nectar" which I was able to borrow from a friend (it is not in the library and I only really own 5 books). That was an awesome talk which I had read previously. After reading it I revised my intention (also below). Another of my assignments was to prepare a three minute 'share' about how I have been transformed by my spiritual practices during 2013. As I needed to write it in the first place, I have written it here.

------ Initial Intention ------

To be a better Prison Project satsang facilitator.

------ Revised Intention ------

To be more pure in my seva.

------ Share ------

In Siddha Yoga there are, perhaps, three main practices, meditation, chanting and seva. Meditation could said to be my primary practice as I have meditated most regelarly for many years. Of course I also have a great love for chanting which I think of as a singing group meditation. I find the chants open my heart and let me really appreciate the sweetness of my practices. However, for me seva has been the practice which really resonates with me. I am a person of action, happiest when I am fully engaged in some task and it was through seva that I learned to bring my practices fully into my life.

I lived in Westchester County, a suburb of NYC when I first met the guru. While I had numerous seva opportunities during those years, I found Prison Project seva to be the most fulfilling. I was able to visit three prisons, Sing Sing, Fishkill, and Greenhaven and it was such a joy to have satsangs with the incarcerated yogis. I think it was their devotion to the practices and appreciation of our seva that made those experiences so rewarding.

When I relocated to Portland, OR, I was able to assist with four different prison satsangs each month. While the Portland Siddha Yoga Center was becoming less active with less opportunities for seva, the Prison Project satsangs became my primary opportunity for seva and one of the foundations of my spiritual practices. Again, it may have been the devotion of the incarcerated students which made those satsangs so very special to me.

When I relocated to Albany, NY, I eagerly investigated starting Prison Project satsangs in the local prisons as there were incarcerated students in the area but no satsangs programs. However, it wasn't the right time and place and the prison administration did not approve the programs. After this set back I was demoralized, but finally resolved to join the existing programs in the prisons closer to NYC. It was my hope that having been active in programs in other NY prisons with all the required trainings and background checks and approvals completed, the local administrations might be more inclined to approve a program, but I also longed to just be part of Prison Project seva again.

There were further complications with joining the existing programs as my background check was held up for inexplicable reasons. Six month later as I was giving up hope of ever returning to prison project seva, my background check was approved. I have been able to return to Greenhaven prison for two satsangs and my seva was most rewarding, just as I remembered.

The lesson in this for me is that seva is about offering my service without expectations. I must be flexible and accept what developes, a quality especially important in Prison Project seva. Gurumayi says:

When you want nothing, the Lord gives you everything.  When you go after things,
they run away from you.  When you do seva you are laying the foundation of this
beautiful state.
in her book, Enthusiasm, Chapter 12, "Seva Creates a Pond of Nectar", pg 165.

As seva can bring me such joy, it seems inevitable that I will come to love my seva and develop attachments to it. Challenges such as those I faced are a blessing as they help me deal with my attachment, making my seva more pure and allowing me to more fully develop a beautiful state.

--------------

This share ran long every time I practiced it and so I was cutting things out until the actual presentation where it ran short. I wasn't rushing or anything but going with the flow, really speaking to my audience, the other trainees, and there it was running short. I threw in more from my experiences at Greenhaven and then it ran a little long. Go figure! It seems to have been well received in any case.

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This page was last updated on September 2, 2013