Sacred Waters
An Inkjet Print Project, November, 2025
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Triangulated--Circled--Inversed--(Negative&Positive) Abstract Photograph
Image Source title: "Windswept Blue Water Horizons"
Introduction
Water has become for me a particularly important presence in the 70 years I have been making photographs. I've devoted entire projects to Lake Michigan, the Milwaukee River, the Hudson River, Niagara Falls, the Vermont mountain stream named Broad Brook; and my beloved Meadow series (with its two ponds & a tapering woods behind it). Also, I am always looking for opportunities to add more photographs to my collection of puddle, fog, misted windows, rain and snow images.
(Please visit this link Collected Water-themed Photography Projects for a complete listing of my blog photography water-related projects)
Water, and its direct relationship to light, has always been an attractive subject for my photography; most of my favorite images of water have, for me, a quality of light that invokes a sacred presence. Water mirrors the light of the heavens above, and the light of my inner Self within my heart. The traditional yogic teachings say the inner Self is the origin if everything we perceive in the outer world, and that the divine Self dwells in every human heart.
This project, Sacred Waters, will focus on some yogic teachings involving water from two yoga practices that involves the recitation and chanting of 182 scriptural teachings known as the Guru Gita, and the chant that nearly always follows the Guru Gita, known as the Arati which praises and expresses gratitude for the Guru's True nature and blessings of grace.
I will provide several quotes from selected verses from the Guru Gita, and they are interspersed with a careful selection of my photographs that have (in my opinion) a direct relationship to the texts. I will also write about some experiences I have had related to my practice of Siddha Yoga Meditation.
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I have been practicing Siddha Yoga Meditation since August, 1987 when my wife Gloria and I met Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, living head of the Siddha Yoga Path for the very first time. Gloria's sister had been involved with Siddha Yoga for several years before we met Gurumayi, and she invited us to experience Gurumayi and her ashram in South Fallsburg, New York for ourselves . . . because we had expressed our fear to her that she may have unknowingly become involved with a cult. Gloria's sister offered to treat us both to a two day meditation Intensive with Gurumayi in the South Fallsburg, New York ashram . . . and so . . . as a gesture of trying to protect Gloria's sister from something that she may not have understood . . . we accepted the offer.
As it turned out we were the ones that did not understand what Gloria's sister was so very enthusiastic about. After spending two days with Gurumayi and receiving her grace (Shaktipat Diksa) we both left Gurumayi and the ashram in tears, with opened hearts, wishing we could stay there longer.
When we returned home we immediately got involved in the Milwaukee Siddha Yoga Meditation Center, and for the past thirty-eight years Gloria and I have been continuing--in a disciplined, enthusiastic and dedicated way--to do the yogic practices which include meditation, studying the ancient yogic teachings and Gurumayi's teachings, chanting and reciting various ancient yogic texts. In the past two years we both have placed a strong emphasis on reciting/chanting the Guru Gita.
A few years after I met Gurumayi and experienced her grace, I realized that my yogic practice had begun to have a major influence on my Creative Process in photographic picture-making. Over the years the two have become intricately intertwined. Photography and Yoga have become One Continual Practice of unveiling and contemplating the sacred presence in the created world and within my Self.
The Guru Gita
The Guru Gita--the "Song" or "Book" of the Guru--is a collection of yogic teachings from many ancient yogic traditions about the SadGuru, or True Guru. When I was new to Siddha Yoga I had a very difficult time pronouncing the Sanskrit words and distinguishing the differences in the use of the word "Guru": did the word refer to the formless Guru Principle? or to the physical human being who had achieved the goal of yoga and embodied the grace bestowing power of God? After many years of practicing Siddha Yoga, and having been blessed with many, direct personal experiences of Gurumayi's grace, or Shakti, I have come to understand that the formless Guru Principle and the embodied form of the Guru are inseparably One and the same.
There are 182 verses in the version of the Guru Gita that is chanted or recited out loud every morning in Siddha Yoga ashrams and homes of devotees around the world. Swami Muktananda, Gurumayi's Guru and founder of the Siddha Yoga Path, wrote that the Guru Gita ". . . is the one indispensable text." Most of the verses contain ancient, sacred yogic Truths and teachings which have been handed down from one generation to another; teachings that were received, spontaneously, in deep states of meditation by ancient yogic Sages & Siddhas (enlightened beings who achieved the goal of yoga: living in a constant, unbroken state of conscious awareness of their Union with God & their total identification with and absorption in their own inner Self.
The word Guru can mean many things at once: it can simply mean "teacher," but it can also mean God, the inner divine Self, supreme Consciousness, the Absolute . . . All these terms are different ways of speaking about both the Guru Principle and the Guru as an embodied human form of the divine Self.
I personally like to refer to this extraordinary state of awareness as the Oneness of Being, as the phrase works well (for me) when I use the term in relation to the photographs I have made that function for me as True, living Symbols: images of Unitary Reality, images which unite inner, psychic images with their corresponding outer-world, physical counterpart-appearances.
The Guru is the transcendent Creator of the entire universe; the Guru is the divine Presence which pervades every created thing in the universe; and the Guru is the destroyer of the Universe. The Guru is constantly witnessing everything that is happening, in every moment, everywhere in this world of infinitely varied created forms, places and spaces. The Guru is Time, Place and infinite space . . .
21x21" Inkjet Print Project Part 2: #67 Symmetrical Photograph
(The Witnessing Eye of the Heart)
The yogic teachings say that every human body is the temple of God (Shiva) and that God dwells in the very center space of every human heart. The Guru is witnessing everything because the divine Self perceives everything through Eye of the Heart.
The yogic teachings also state that this universe, and everything that happens in it, is the Guru's divine Play* which manifests in Its own way and of Its own free will. The Guru also maintains or sustains Its creation, and--very importantly--the Guru is the embodied form of the True Guru (Sadguru) who is empowered to bestow grace (Shaktipat Diksa) upon those who establish a heartfelt connection with God.
(*See Swami Muktananda's spiritual autobiography, The Play of Consciousness.)
Shiva is often referred to as the still, silent, male aspect of God's divine presence; and Shakti is the active, creative, feminine, grace bestowing power of God (Shiva). The teachings say that the disciple's absorption in the yogic practices--with support from the Guru's grace--purifies the disciple's body which stores lifetimes of samskaras, mental impressions in the mind, largely because of the dualistic nature of the mind: the conscious and unconscious mind; and the ego which insists on remaining separate from God and wants desperately to be in control of everything, thus making it very difficult for the student of yoga to achieve the goal of yoga: Union with God.
The purpose of doing the yogic practices, the Guru Gita tells us over and over again, is most essentially "to win the Guru's Grace" for the divine creative energy, Shakti, has the power to purify the mind. The grace of the Guru also helps helps support and protect God's Creation . . . which Swami Muktananda, the founder of the Siddha Yoga Path, says is both an "illusion" (Maya) and at the same time "very real."
The photographs that have made--gifts of grace--which function for me as True, living Symbols are images of Unitary Reality, images pervaded by grace. My photography is a form of meditation and contemplation on the yogic teachings and my experiences of grace. When I encounter grace through my Creative Process, I feel closer to my own divinity in a very conscious and palpable way, and this has what feels like a healing affect upon my entnire being. (I will write more my photography and yoga later.)
Selected verses from the
Guru Gita
as it is presented in English Translation of the Sanskrit words in the
1983 edition of the SYDA Foundation publication: The Nectar of Chanting
A Few Introductory Notes:
The Guru Gita is repeated/chanted out loud every morning in Siddha Yoga Ashrams around the world. The 110 minute chanting program consists of five different parts: two chants precede the recitation of the 182 verses of the Guru Gita: the first is singing the name Muktananda, in honor of Gurumayi's Guru, Swami Muktananda; then the second chant, Five Stanzas on the Sandals of Shri Guru, is sung in honor of the Guru's Feet (because it is said the Guru's shakti flows mostly from His or Her feet). ~~ Then, following the recitation of the 182 verses of the Guru Gita there is a brief period of meditation, to imbibe the great energy that pervades the teachings; then following mediation there is the singing of the eight verses of the Arati, a modern day text written by a Siddha Yoga devotee in honor of his guru, Swami Muktananda and the Guru Principle, expressing great gratitude for all that the Guru has given the world as a whole.
About two years ago my wife Gloria decided that chanting the Guru Gita was the most powerful and meaningful Siddha Yoga practice for her. She felt she had to chant the Guru Gita every morning. This inspired me to join her with greater and greater frequency until I decided to make it a regular practice for me as well. I now chant the Guru Gita with Gloria every other day; and during the in-between mornings, I meditate and study the teachings in my own separate, quite meditation space. My increased familiarity with the Guru Gita text has been a major influence on my decision to create this blog project, Sacred Waters.
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The first seven verses of the Guru Gita set the scene for the teachings that are to be given by Lord Siva to His consort Parvati who asks Shiva if he would initiate her with knowledge of the Guru. ~ Their dialogue takes place on the summit of Mount Kailasa.
"Tibetan Buddhists call it 'Precious Snow Mountain'. Bon texts have many names including
Water's Flower & Mountain of Sea Water . . . For Hindus, it is the home of the Hindu god Shiva..
Besides chanting the Guru's Sandals, there are several early verses of the Guru Gita which focus on the two feet of the Guru and the sacred water of the Guru's feet--which are said to represent the two aspects of God: Shiva and Shakti. I personally became initiated to the divine power (Shakti) of "the Guru's feet" and "the Water of the Guru's feet" through a dream I had a few years after I met Gurumayi and I will be writing in detail about the dream in my Epilogue at the end of this project.)
The yogic teachings say Lord Shiva is the still, silent male aspect of God; and Shakti is the female, active, creative energy of Shiva. The two--Shiva and Shakti are inseparably One, truly speaking, but in order to create His Divine Play, (Shiva) had to divide His Universe into a dualistic mode of being.
Thus, the Guru is both immanent and transcendent. That is to say, the Guru is at once a divine Principle, a sacred Idea--and a living Presence which dwells in all the created things of the universe, including every human heart. The yogic scriptures tell us that when God's Creation becomes too darkened by ignorance, forgetfulness and misunderstanding, the Guru enters his play in the form of the SadGuru, the enlightened physical being, one who lives in the constant Conscious awareness of his or her divine nature.
Yoga is the sacred, Conscious practice of uniting one's personal self with one's divine Self.
Lord Shiva says to Parvati in the Guru Gita: Those people [including pilgrims] are fools who engage in sacrificial rites, vows, penance . . . without knowing the Guru Principle. The Guru is not different from the conscious Self. Maya--the creator of the world, the veiled knowledge born of ignorance--resides in the body. He by whose light (true knowledge) arises is known by the word "Guru."
____Selected Versus from the Guru Gita ____
The Guru Gita, Verse 24: The first syllable "gu" represents the principles such as maya, and the second syllable, "ru" represents the supreme knowledge that destroys the illusion of maya.
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Verses 13 & 17: The water of the Guru's feet (is the holiest water) and (has the power) to dry up the mire of one's sins, to ignite the light of knowledge, and to take one smoothly across the ocean of this world.
Verse 14: To obtain knowledge and detachment, sip the water of the Guru's feet, which
destroys ignorance and ends karmas, (the cause of) rebirth.
Verse 78: The merit gained by bathing in all holy waters is not difficult to obtain by sipping even one-thousandth part of a drop on the water from the Guru's feet.
Verse 12: Sprinkle water on your head while remembering the lotus feet of the Guru. Thus a person obtains the benefits of bathing in all holy waters.
Verse 76: The root of meditation is the Guru's form. The root of worship is the Guru's feet. The root of mantra is the Guru's word. The root of liberation is the Guru's grace.
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Verse 33: Salutations to the Guru, who is Shiva, who is the only cause of the universe, who is the bridge (by which to) cross the ocean of the world, and who is the master of all knowledge.
Verse 36: Salutation to Shri Guru, by whose reality the world is real, by whose light it is illumined, and by whose joy people are joyous.
Verse 38: Salutations to Shri Guru, who illumines this (world) but whom the mind cannot illumine.
Verse 39: Salutations to Shri Guru, whose only form is Truth and by whose knowledge this world will no longer be perceived to be divided by differences.
Verse 41: Salutations to Shri Guru, who appears as the effect (the universe) of which he is the cause. He is the cause as well as the effect.
Verse 42: All this (the universe) appears in various forms, but there is no difference (in him) from anything. It is merely (an illusion of) cause and effect..
Verse 48: I fold my hands in salutation so that the ocean of the Guru's compassion may increase. By his grace a mortal being is liberated from the diversified world.
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Verse 51: The Guru is the eternal witness of the drama of the rise and the dissolution of this universe. (Note: see my note-commentary regarding the "five functions of a Guru" & "recurrent creation" after Verse 94, below)
18x18" & 21x21" inkjet print projects Symmetrical Image "Dissolution"
(from my project "Creation-Dissolution of a World")
Verse 54:
To contemplate the form of one's own Guru
is to contemplate infinite Shiva.
21x21" Inkjet Print Project Image #3 Symmetrical Photograph
(Infinte Shiva)
Verse 62: The Guru principle moves and moves not. It is far as well as near. It is inside everything as well as outside everything.
Verse 63: The Guru knows: I am unborn; without beginning or end. I am unchangeable and imperishable. I am consciousness and bliss, smaller than the smallest, greater than the greatest. (Verse 64:) I am everlasting, self-luminous and completely pure.
Verse 73: Salutations to Shri Guru, who by imparting the power of Self-knowledge burns up all the karmas acquired through countless lifetimes.
Verse 74: Salutations to Shri Guru. There is no truth higher than the Guru . . . not truth greater than the knowledge of Shiva.
Verse 80: The Guru is the whole universe.
"The Guru is the Whole Universe"
from my project A Walk in Twilight Garden
Verse 90: I bow to the Guru, who is eternal and pure. He is beyond perception, formless. He is eternal knowledge, consciousness, and bliss.
Verse 171: Only the Guru is the body, the senses, the vital breath, the wealth, and both close and distant relatives. He is the father, the mother, the entire family.
Verse 94: I bow to (the Guru) in whom the five types of function--creation, sustenance, dissolution, control, and the bestowal of grace--are constantly revealed. (see Verse 51, above)
Note: In Swami Mukananda's book Nothing Exists that is not Siva he provides an alternant translation of this verse:
I bow to the Guru, the author of the five eternal cosmic processes--
Creation, sustenance, dissolution, control, and the award of grace.
I wanted to point out something here that interests me very much, namely the idea of "recurrent creation." In Verse 94, the idea that the five functions of the Guru are constantly revealed is suggestive (to me) of this fascinating idea; as does Swami Muktananda's phrase (above) "the five eternal cosmic processes." One of Swami Muktananda's teaching swami's Swami Shantananda, wrote about recurrent creation theory in his book The Splendor of Recognition. I have quoted from Shantananda's book and written about "Recurrent Creation" in my blog project The Light of Creation - Islamic and Hindu Theories of Manifestation (which is Chapter VII of my much larger project "An Imaginary Book")
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In Swami Muktananda's commentary (in Nothing Exists that is Not Siva) on the Guru's function, "the bestowal" or "award of grace," he writes: "The Guru showers his grace upon his disciple abundantly, transmitting his Shakti into him. By this supreme initiation, the disciple experiences an inner awakening and becomes aware of his own divinity." This initiation is known as shaktipat diksa, the awakening of the sleeping Kundalini Shakti that lies dormant in the Chakra located in the base of the spine. This extraordinary event can only manifest through the grace of the Guru. (I will be writing more about this later). The power to awaken Kundalini Shakti is handed down from one Siddha Guru to the next in a long line of Siddha Gurus.
Swami Muktananda, received the grace bestowing power of the Siddha Lineage from his Guru, Bhagavan Nityananda. Baba (Muktananda) then traveled the world (upon the command of his Guru) and created several ashrams so that the Siddha Yoga teachings and Shaktipat Diksa could be made available to all who were drawn to this True Yogic Path.
Just before Swami Muktananda left his body in 1982, he passed the grace bestowing power of the Siddha Linage--and the divine state in which he lived, in a conscious, unbroken union with God--to his disciple (and translator for many years) Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, who since that time (1982) has served as the living head of the Siddha Lineage, the Sadguru, the True Guru. She has continued her beloved Guru's work offering Shatipat diksa and the Siddha yogic teachings to all throughout the world who would receive it . . .
A spark of triangulated gold and blue light
~ Shaktipat Diksa ~
(18x18" and 16x20" Inkjet Print ~ Symmetrical Photograph)
21x21" Inkjet Print Project Image #14 Symmetrical Photograph
". . . a point of light bursting forth like a sprouting seed . . . "
". . . merging into the great light that is the supreme Guru."
Verse 110: One should perceive the inner Self through the gift of the Guru's grace [the Guru's divine energy, Shakti or Shaktipat Diksa]. By this path of the Guru, knowledge of one's Self arises.
Verse 113: The Guru, who is higher than the highest, who always bestows bliss, and who is seated in the center of the space of the heart, shining like a pure crystal, should be meditated upon.
21x21" Inkjet Print Project Image #24 Symmetrical Photograph
Stone Flower (with a Blue crystal center)
Verse 114: Just as an image of a crystal is seen in a mirror, so the bliss, which is consciousness, is reflected in the Self and the realization comes, "Indeed, I am That."
Verse 58: In the round space of the thousand-petaled lotus, there is a triangular lotus, which is formed by the three lines beginning with a, ka and tha and which has ham and sah on two sides. One should remember the Guru, who is seated in its center.
Abstract Photograph
--Circled--Triangulated--Inversed (Negative&Positive) Transformations
of the source image: "Windswept Blue Water Horizons"
Visit my project Circled Photographs, Triadic Memories
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Verse 126: The wise say that the all-knowing state is that in which the embodied soul becomes one with everything.
Verse 162: Just as water merges in the ocean, milk in milk, ghee in ghee; just as the space inside a pot and the space outside merges when a pot is broken . . . so the individual soul merges in the universal soul.
21x21" Inkjet Print Project Image #5 Symmetrical Photograph
(In the Woods, Faint, Lace) (Visit my project In the Woods)
21x21" Inkjet Print Project Image #15 Symmetrical Photograph (Niagara Falls)
(from my project Falling Water)
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Verse 51:
The Guru is the eternal witness . . .
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Seeing with "The Eye of the Heart"
To see more images visit my
Epilogue
The Water of the Guru's Feet
~ Two Dharanas ~
Guru Gita, Verse 113:
One who knows the Truth always bathes in the waters of
the Guru Gita to wash away his worldly impurities and
to become free from the snares of worldly existence.
When my wife Gloria and I first began practicing Siddha Yoga after meeting Gurumayi in August, 1987 and receivied Shaktipat Diksa from her, reciting the Guru Gita was an overwhelmingly difficult process for me. It took me a few years, chanting it once or twice a month, to really get in touch with the divine energy (shakti) that I now recognize pervades this powerful yogic practice.
Then, one weekend a few years later, our Siddha Yoga Meditation Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin invited a teacher from the South Fallsburg, New York Ashram to give a two-day workshop that had become quite popular at that time. After the first day's session, I had a dream of Gurumayi which became the bases for my first Dharana, a centering technique which helps a meditator to hold a steady focus on an image or teaching that intensifies his or her awareness with the goal of connecting the teaching or image with the Heart, the divine Self.
Guru Gita, Verse 158:
[When] the devoted disciple becomes the Guru,
There is no doubt that for him (or her) all places* are holy.
(*Note: please visit my project
My First Dharana
In my dream I found myself standing in a mountain stream: the sky was blue; the water was blue; I was surrounded by snow-capped mountains which seemed to glow with their own inner light. The largest mountain, which was centered in-between other smaller mountains, was clearly the most sacred mountain of them all, and I could see that it was the source of the stream I was standing in, a stream that had flowed all the way down from the largest most sacred snow capped mountain, into the foothills and then on to the plains where I was standing in the stream, the "clear stream of knowledge of the Godhead" as it was described in the sixth verse of the Arati which is usually sung after completing the recitation of the Guru Gita text.
21x21" Sunlit Garage facade, with a black sky and a black snake-like long shadow that moves up
from the cement foundation of the garage to the open window in the larger house centered
behind the garage, with smaller garages on either side.
(Note: as I was writing the paragraph (immediately above) I flashed on the memory of a photograph I had made of a garage facade with a snake-like shadow moving up from the concrete base of the garage to an opened window in the house behind the garage. The snake is an archetypal image that represents Kundalini Shakti. The ancient yogic seers taught that this "snake" sleeps in the lowest of seven chakras (subtle energy centers) stationed along the spine, from the base of the spine to the top of the head, until a True Guru (SadGuru) awakens this energy, through Shaktipat Diksa (initiation). Kundalini then begins its climb upward through all the other chakras, culminating in the Crown Chakra at the top of the head. ~ Though I had never seen the garage image in these terms before, my unconscious mind was prepared to reveal this understanding to me when the time was right--i.e., when I was working on this project.)
Then--all of a sudden, and to my great wonder--I saw Gurumayi in the stream up ahead of me, about 25-30 feet away. She too appeared to be staring at the large mountain. I began to feel a strong desire to be standing beside her in the stream . . . then immediately after I experienced that feeling . . . indeed I found myself standing beside her in the stream!
Then I felt a strong desire to look closely at her face; however she did not want me to do that; instead she gave me a silent, inner directive to look down, deeply into the blue water stream we were standing in. ~ As I looked deeper and deeper into the water, the clear water became darker and darker . . . and more mysterious.
Then I began to see a gentle pulsation of light in the darkness, as if something living in the water was breathing in and breathing out a the soft glow of light. ~ Then I began to see sparks of light shooting out in all directions from the glowing area.
Then an image of two feet began to form in the glowing light until I recognized the forms were the feet of my beloved Gurumayi . . . then I woke from my dream.
Gloria and I had to get to the Center early that morning to help prepare the hall for the chanting of the Guru Gita with our visiting guest who was to present the second and concluding day of the meditation workshop. ~ I completely forgot about the dream . . .
When the Guru Gita is chanted in a group setting, we sing or recite the Hindu words for each verse in a call and response fashion with a lead group. During the lead group's recitation of the text I like to read the English translations for each of the verses. Then after we complete the 182 verses, we sit in silence for a few minutes to absorb the great Shakti that pervades the recitation of the sacred teachings.
We then conclude the chanting program by singing the Arati as a woman waves a light and other objects on a tray before photographs of Gurumayi, Swami Muktananda and Bhagavan Nityananda. The eight versus of the Arati, composed by a devotee of Swamai Muktananda, honors, praises and expresses our deep gratitude for the presence and teachings of a True Guru in our lives.
On that particular morning I did something quite unusual, for me. I had practically never read the English translations of the Arati versus! But on this particular morning, when we got to verse six of the Arati, I looked down, quite spontaneously (as if directed inwardly) to read the English translation, of the verse. Here are the words to the 6th verse of the Arati:
The Guru has revealed the undifferentiated in the midst of differences.
He [or She] has delivered us from transmigration. We are
fortunate to have obtained the clear stream of
knowledge of the Godhead.
When I read this translation I was immediately reminded of the dream I had experienced a few hours earlier in which I saw Gurumayi standing in the stream of blue water that had flowed down to her and then over her feet from the largest, most sacred of the snow capped mountains. When I realized how the great Shakti had blessed me with that dream, and then provided me with the textual meaning of the dream . . . tears of love filled my entire being with a feeling of deep, deep gratitude for the wonderful grace filled gift that had been given to me by my Guru.
(*Note: my dream with Gurumayi standing in the stream in front of me is an example of what in yogic terms is referred to as darshan, a vision--and a blessing--given by the True Guru to his or her devotee. There is--as you can easily see--a direct link between the word darshan and the word dharana, a yogic practice that helps one to achieve a deeper, more easeful entry into meditation, or contemplation on a teaching or visual image.)
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I had contemplated this experience regularly for a long time, and it had become a powerful touchstone in my yogic practice, though I can honestly say that I did not fully understand what I usually experienced when I performed this dharna, which was a deep feeling of love, gratitude and the palpable feeling of the divine Presence that would fill my entire being every time I entered into the world of that dharana.
However, a few years later two books were published by the SYDA Foundation, authored by Swami Kripananda, one of Gurumayi's teaching swamis, which explains in full scholarly detail about the sacred power of Kundalini Shakti* and the Sandles (and the Feet) of the Guru.* I have found the two books immensely helpful to me in deepening my understanding of my personal experiences associated with Gurumayi's grace.
(*Note: The titles of Swami Kripananda's two excellent books are: (1995) The Sacred Power : A Seeker's guide to Kundalini [Shakti] & (1997) The Guru's Sandals, Threshold of the Formless. Both were published by the SYDA Foundation)
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The Second Dharana
Every New Year's Day, on January 1, Gurumayi gives the global community of Siddha Yoga students a teaching to contemplate throughout the remainder of the year. For 2024, her message, to my great surprise, became the bases for a second dharana that directly relates to the first one I have just shared with you above. ~ For the past two years, 2024 & 2025, I have dedicated myself to practicing the two Dharanas, one after the other with a combination of words telling the story, and the images that have come up for me in my imagination during the process.
The second dharana is a more consciously created story, which is based on Gurumayi's 2024 New Year's Message, but it intuitively completes a process that brings me back to a most important beginning point: my Shaktipat Diksa experience with Gurumayi in August, 1987.
Here is Gurumayi's New Year's Message for 2024:
Stand tall in your dignity
Be open to grace
Remain connected to your divinity
And, here is my second dharana which begins pretty much like the first one:
I am standing in the same mountain stream; the sky is blue, the water is clear and blue, and up ahead are the large, sacred snow-capped mountains, with the largest and most sacred mountain of them all situated in the center of the space before me. I can see that the point of origin of the stream is located in the lower snow-covered part of the larger mountain.
Then I see Gurumayi, in her simple, elegant red silk sari, standing in the stream ahead of me; she too is looking at the larger mountain, and I notice that her physical form is in perfect alignment with the stream of blue water flowing down the side of the mountain to where she is standing.
I imagine the inner light of the snow-capped mountain melting some of the snow which produces the blue stream of sacred water Gurumayi is standing in.
This time, instead of feeling a desire to stand next to Gurumayi, as in my first dharana, my focus remains on her, paying close attention to how she is standing in the water and looking at source of the stream coming down to her from the larger sacred mountain. I imagine (or perhaps somehowI have been allowed to actually experience) what Gurumayi is seeing and feeling as she stands in the "stream of knowledge of the godhead" opening herself completely to the Shakti that is streaming down to her and flowing over her feet.
As I move through the various stages of my second dharana I can feel the profound sense of dignity that I believe Gurumayi feels because of her extraordinary, transcendent state of Consciousness, her Union with God; her complete and unwavering connectedness with her divinity, her own inner Self.
I imagine (I experience) the grace she is receiving as she allows herself to be fully open and receptive to the great Shakti (divine energy) and the divine knowledge of the Godhead that has flowed down to her from the holy mountain.
Then I begin to feel my heart opening as I become more fully aware of how I am seeing and feeling Gurumayi's Presence and Her Union with everything that surrounds us; I feel a deep sense of gratitude for the grace and great good fortune that has blessed me in this moment, for all that I am seeing and feeling in this moment, and for how everything that has been given to me in this life has led me to this very moment.
The tremendous sense of gratitude I am feeling creates a very strong impulse in me to bow (pranam) to Gurumayi right there in the mountain stream, just a short distance from Gurumayi.
I fall to my knees in this most sacred of all waters, then I slowly bow my head so that it gently enters the water. With great reverence I continue to lower my head deeper into the stream until my forehead makes contact with the earthen floor of the stream.
Then I begin to experience the Shakti-filled water that is flowing over my entire body, a tingling sensation that feels almost like I am being tickled with loving fingers. The sensation generates in my entire being a feeling of lighthearted joy in combination with my feelings of great, great gratitude. I open my eyes in the velvety dark space of the water which is being illuminated with thousands of little sparks of light and little brightly colored rainbows.
* * *
After some time has passed, I stand up in the stream again. Then I receive a silent, inner directive from Gurumayi to take a sip of the water of the Guru's feet . . . words that come directly out of a verse from the Guru Gita.
I become conscious of how the holy water is dripping down the sides of my cheeks to the point of my chin . . . and I cup my hands under my chin to collect a few drops of the water. Then with great respect, with great reverence, and with great gratitude, I imbibe just a little of this most sacred of all holy waters.
I begin to feel my heart open wider than I thought possible, as if a great floodgate in a dam has just been opened, allowing ancient feelings of love and gratitude--feelings that had been blocked within me for seemingly ages from my conscious awareness--to flow with unimaginable speed and force, in great waves, one wave after another . . .
I somehow know that all of these feelings are happening inside the space of my Heart--my innermost being, for I have experienced these feelings before, when I received shaktipat diksa from Gurumayi in August of 1987. It is a feeling of great release and transformation; a luminous feeling of the Oneness of Being.
21x21" Inkjet Print Project, Image #75 Symmetrical Photograph
Transformation: A Butterfly-Illuminated Garden Path
* * *
Regarding the Photographs
I've Included in this Project
Most of the photographs I have chosen to present in this project are "round" or "circular" four-fold symmetrical photographs, images that I constructed with a single "straight photograph" which I had duplicated four times, then placed in relation to each other such that each image is being mirrored with itself above & below and left & right, and conjoined together at a singular meeting point in the very center of the image.
The symmetrical photographs are, for me, a most literal visualization of representing the concept of a True, living Symbol and the concept of Oneness of Being. Though they are "constructed" images they all are nonetheless, images that were gifted to me through the grace of my Creative Process; in other words, images that are radiant with a subtle kind of interior light that gives each image a feeling of the Sacred; a feeling of divine Presence, a revelation of the inner Self.
Guru Gita, Verse 110:
One should perceive the inner Self through the gift of the Guru's grace.
By this path, knowledge of one's Self arises.
Guru Gita, Verses 59 and 60
May the divine glance of the Guru ever dwell upon me.
It creates all the worlds. It remains focused on the Ultimate.
The yogic teachings tell us over and over again that everything in the outer-apparent world of illusion is a product of Maya which has its origin in the inner, divine Self, the Supreme Soul. With this in mind, I would say that a True, living Symbol is an image which gives visual form to an invisible, formless Reality: the Onenss of Being. A True Symbol, then, is an image which visually conjoins an outer-world physical appearance with its inner-world psychic, corresponding counterpart.
Photographs that function for me as True Symbols are alive with grace, or Shakti, that sacred energy which gives the image its subtle interior radiance and which provides some contemplators with the possibility of an interior glimpse of the Oneness of Being.
*
The Symbolic Potential of a "Straight Photograph"
"Straight photographs" of course, can function for me as True, living Symbols for the most important thing about any image that functions for me as a True Symbol is its divine presence, its inner radiance, its living grace or Shakti.
The "straight" photograph below functions for me as a True Symbol:
"Seeing with The Eye of the Heart"
The image, titled "Seeing with the Eye of the Heart" is based a published talk by Gurumayi I had read many years ago in which she was speaking about a very special way of seeing or experiencing the world: a "the vision of the Heart" which is nothing less than an extraordinary, transformative way of seeing that allows one to experience the divine presence, or grace of the inner Self . . . which the yogic seers tell us dwells in the heart of every human being.
Directly related to this idea is Henry Cobin's brilliant writing about the great 12th century Sufi, Ibn "Arabi. The quote to follow is from Corbin's book entitled Alone With the Alone: Creative Imagination in the Sufism of Ibn 'Arabi:
Imaginative vision becomes vision of the heart . . . the heart being the organ, the "eye" by which God sees Himself: the contemplator is the contemplated (my vision of Him is His vision of me). ~ [All that has proceeded] demonstrates the extraordinary role of the Image in the spirituality of Ibn 'Arabi. In its ultimate degree, the Image will be a vision of the "Form of God" corresponding to the innermost being of the mystic, who experiences himself as the microcosm of the Divine Being; a limited Form, like every form, but a Form which as such . . . emanates an aura, a "field" which is always open to "recurrent creations." This presupposes of course a basic visionary Imagination, a "presence of the heart" in the intermediate world . . . an intermediate world which is the encounter (the conjunction, the "conspiration") of the spiritual and the physical . . .
Note: I had an extraordinary, grace inspired experience of Seeing the Grand Canyon while visiting the North Rim with my wife Gloria in the year 2000. I invite you to read my detailed description of that experience which relates directly to what I have been trying to write about here.
Guru Gita, Verse 162 & 163: Just as water merges in the ocean,
milk in milk, ghee in ghee; just as the space inside
a pot and the space outside merges when a pot
is broken . . . so the individual soul
merges in the universal Soul,
. . . the highest Self.
21x21" Inkjet Print Project Image #3 Symmetrical Photograph
(Vermont leaves / a Tibetan-like Mandala)
(Visit my project Field of Vision)
The Guru Gita, Verse 54:
To contemplate the form of one's own Guru
is to contemplate infinite Shiva.
The Guru Gita, Verse 93:
I always bow to Sri Guru. . . [whose]
very nature is knowledge. . . Sri Guru is the
physician for the disease of worldly existence.
* * * *
Text selections
from Swami Kripananda's two books:
The Sacred Power ~ A Seeker's Guide to Kundalini
The Guru's Sandals ~ Threshold of the Formless
published in 1995 & 1997 by the SYDA Foundation
and
The Guru Gita
Swami Muktananda once said: "The Guru's feet are worshiped or revered because all the Guru's shakti dwells in the feet. If you did research into this with modern instruments, you would find that the vibrations of the inner Self constantly flow out through the feet. . . . More shakti flows from the feet than from any other part of the body. The glory of the Guru's Feet or the Guru's sandals is great." (Note: these words of Swami Muktananda were quoted by Swami Kripanandain her book The Guru's Sandals: Threshold of the Formless, page 54)
The Guru is the grace-bestowing power of God. It is the Guru who functions as the instrument through which the Divine bestows grace, which occurs by means of a process if initiation know as [shaktipat] diksa. (pg. 33 Kripananda, The Sacred Power)
Shaktipat happens only through the grace of the embodied Guru; during shaktipat the Guru transmits the Shakti into the seeker. The Guru throws sparks of divine fire into the disciple, and [those sparks of Shakti] in turn ignite the seeker's own dormant Kundalini Shakti. (pg. 33 The Sacred Power)
Much of the scriptural literature on Kundalini [Shakti] has to do with Her manifestation in the form of light. Jnaneshwar Maharaj says: "She [Kundalini Shakti] is like a ring of lightning, folds of flaming fire, or a bar of pure gold . . . When She [becomes] awakened She breaks Her bonds like a star shooting through space, like the sun falling from its place in the sky, or a point of light bursting forth like a sprouting seed." (pg. 78 The Sacred Power)
Sparks of triangulated gold and blue light
~Shaktipat Diksa~
(Symmetrical Photograph 18x18" Inkjet Print or 16x20")
". . . a point of light bursting forth like a sprouting seed."
". . . merging into the great light that is the supreme Guru."
Picture Kundalini as a rainbow. She Softly glistens in
the form of an arch, across the inner sky. A rainbow
is not fixed. It arches across the sky like a bow, and
yet it is more than a bow or an arch. It is the visible
half of a vast circle. The other half is obscured by the
earth. Think of Kundalini in this way. She is a vast
spinning circle of brilliant colors. She cannot be
confined. Reality in the world of Kundalini is
dazzling.
(page 91, the words of Gurumayi quoted by Kripananda, The Sacred Power)
*
The following words were spoken by Swami Muktananda, Swami Krpipananda's guru:
Do not think that daily life goes against the pursuit of God. If this beautiful
vast world were against God-realization, God would not have it.
God created this variegated cosmos for His [Shiva's] own
delight, to honor Himself, to create a place where He
revels in His Glory. So you can visit that divine
place inside while living your normal life . . .
(page 61, Kripananda, The Sacred Power)
Abstract Photograph
Triangulated--Circled--Inversed--(Negative&Positive) transformations
of its source image: "Windswept Blue Water Horizons"
. . . when the mind's connection with the world has been removed
and when, as a result of meditation on OM, the mind dissolves
or merges [in the Heart Chakra], he sees sparks of light
resembling fire within and above the triangle on
which OM rests."The flame-like Self, auspicious
and in the shape of OM, is surrounded on all
sides by sparks of light."
(page 1o7, Kripananda, The Sacred Power)
Guru Gita, Verse 76:
The root of meditation is the Guru's form.
The root of worship is the Guru's [lotus] feet.
The root of mantra is the Guru's word.
The root of liberation is the Guru's grace.
Guru Gita, Verse 58:
In the round space of the thousand-petaled lotus, there
is a triangular lotus, which is formed by the three lines
beginning with a, ka and tha and which has ham and
sah on two sides. One should remember the Guru, who
is seated in its center.
[The two paragraphs that follow are Swami Kripananda's commentary on the symbolic nature of the lotus which occurs in multiple verses of the Guru Gita, including Verses 58 and Verse 12. ]
The Paduka Panchaka says that the a-ka-tha triangle has the character of a mandala. A mandala, as we usually understand it, is a diagram which is ritualistically created as an act of worship of a particular deity. . . So just as it is said that mantra is the sound body of a deity, a mandala, or yantra is a deity in the form of color and geometric design. However, the a-ka-tha triangle inside our own head is a mandala which is naturally formed--that is, self-created--and in it are set the feet of the Guru. When a seeker meditates on the Guru's feet, it is here that they are envisioned. This object of worship is not just built into us; it is from this place that our very being has evolved.
The Paduka Panchaka tells us that as we visualize the place of the Guru within the triangle at the crown of the head, we are to 'meditate on the primordial Hamsa, the all-powerful great light in which the universe is absorbed.' So when we meditate on Hamsa here, it is with the awareness, 'I am That,' the awareness of merging into the great light that is the supreme Guru. (pages 74 & 74, The Guru's Sandals: Threshold of the Formless)
Guru Gita, Verse 174:
Absorption in the Guru (Gurubhava) is the most sacred place.*
*Note: in this Text Selections part of my Sacred Waters project, the word "place" is used multiple
times. I first became fascinated by the idea of sacred Space & sacred Place when reading about
the American painter Barnett Newman. Visit my blog project Makom: "the Place" and
read about Newman's experiences related to sacred Place.
*
One day the Blue Pearl explodes, and its light fills the universe, and
you experience your all pervasiveness. You lose the awareness of
your own body, and merge with the body of God. The Shavite
scriptures speak of this saying:
The yogi is struck with awe, and in this astonishment the yogi achieves
the great expansion of Consciousness. Thus the best of yogis
becomes established at the highest level of Consciousness . . .
and never losses it [and] is no longer subject to worldly
existence, the continuing rounds of birth and death
which inspire fear in all living beings, because
its cause, the yogi's own impurity, no longer exists.
In this tremendously expanded state, the yogi sees the world
as his or her own body . . . and sees no separation between
him or her self and others. In fact, there are no
"others;" there is only the Self.
(page 123-24, Kripananda, The Sacred Power)
*
This project was published on my blog
November 8, 2025
Related Project Links
All the images in this project were from the 18"x18", 21"x21" & 16"x20" inkjet print projects
Photography and Yoga 2016
Time & Timelessness February 1, 2025
The Memory of Light March 4, 2025
Angelic Presence September, 2025
Hidden Gems October, 2025
Seeing the Grand Canyon a personal experience of the sacred nature of the outer world.
Welcome Page to The Departing Landscape website which includes the complete hyperlinked listing of my online photography projects dating back to the 1960's, my resume, contact information, and more.
