Swami Pragyamurti

I just realised I never blogged this!

Well, we were really blessed in November when our little group was privileged to welcome Swami Pragyamurti to join in our session.

I must confess that for years I was terrified of her! My first experience of her was when she was one of the main characters involved in the visits of Swami Niranjan, and she would act as a kind of Master of Ceremonies. She was very insistent on some correct protocol, which a lot of us Westerners didn't really know - such as everyone remaining seated until Swami-ji left the room. She was quite fierce, and seemed to have quite a fierce aspect.

Of course my trepidation was unfounded. The first really close interaction I had with her was when she stayed with us a few years ago when she presented a seminar for MADYA. Of course, as with all of the Satyananda Swamis I have met, in 'real life' she's really perfectly delightful, and it was a complete honour to have her spend an evening with us in our home.

In fact, it was on that visit that Swami P. inspired us to begin the Mrityunjaya sessions, and also to visit Munger and Rikhia. For the sessions, this came about because we told her that within a short distance from our home, there were something around half a dozen initiates, and she asked if we ever got together. We were ashamed to say we didn't, and so the monthly mantra sessions began. She inspired us to go to India simply by her presence, and by relating some stories of the early days of Munger and Rikhia.

So when she agreed to come to do another MADYA seminar in November, we thought it would be great for her to join in with one of our monthly sessions. I asked her if she would be happy to do this, and she was immediately not only willing, but enthusiastic!

So we did almost a normal session, but with her present. She did point out to us a couple of points of pronunciation on Mrityunjaya, so as well as the pleasure of her company, and the subtle benefits of having a yogi of her calibre present, we also gained some immediately apparent benefit.

In fact, it may be worth me recounting those three points, so we can remember:

Although the written word (as I have seen it) at the end of line three is 'bhandanan', Swami Pragyamurti learnt this as 'bhandanat'. This was a point where i had some confusion previously. I had thought I had herd it as bhandanat, but when I saw it written as bhandanan, I assumed i had misheard, so we we've ben using the 'n' ending. From now on, we will be saying bhandanat!

Still on the third line, we have been pronouncing 'rukhamiva' as 'rukh-am-eeva', with 'i' sound being a long 'i' like in 'Shiva', and it should be a short 'i' like in 'shiver' or 'river'. In fact, 'rukhamiva' almost rhymes with 'river'. So that's something else for us to be aware of!

The third point was to start a book of names. Mrityunjaya is a liberating and healing mantra, and chanting it monthly is intended for the general welfare of the world. But traditionally, there is a book where people can write the names of people who are in need of a little 'good vibe'. The names are written in, and remain in for as long as appropriate, and are read out at the start of each session. We have begun to do this, and will continue to do so.

Our sincere thanks to Swami Pragyamurti.