Eric Stoneberg

SHANTA LAKSMI : “Serene,” – Peacefulness is the permission you give yourself to be serene in a process; at ease with your thoughts and feelings, whatever they may be. The hallmarks of peace are receptive & generative. Peace be with you this holiday season! 

SHAKTI LAKSMI : “Power” – Power is the sole commodity of the Universe. All judgements are power judgements. And while some yoga lineages teach “Don’t judge,” the Shaktas of my lineage say “Don’t judge? Well, you just did. You made a judgement that judging is wrong.” Rather than living in a good/evil Universe, live in a powerful one. Your interests become advantages that turn into expressions. (THAT’S precisely the way in which nature evolves. So be like that.) And your power lies at the edge of not knowing (see yesterday.) At the edge of certainty – are you willing to take up what is uncertain? Are you willing to live in the POWER of HOPE?

This Laksmi is richly complex. The cool thing about these Godesses unfolding through a process is that one is free to engage them on any level – and at any moment in the process. Looking back over the past few days I saw that PUSHTI is the mark of outward thriving. Also just a couple days ago a really smart lady I’ve come to love this year recommended that I take stock of 2010 and create a list (or collage) of all my successes and all my gratitude for the past year. At first I thought, well, I can just THINK about it, no need to get out a glue stick. Then, through the lens of these Laksmis over the past few days I remembered PUSHTI, the mark of outward thriving. When we SIGNIFY and ACKNOWLEDGE all the ways we thrive, we align with the frequency of abundance. And then, because we see our gratitude spelled out before us, we are emboldened to PRAJNA, to move forward with confidence, having taken inventory, into the unknown. And then THAT spills over into SHAKTI, into POWER. Who doesn’t want to live a more powerful life in 2011? I sure do.

In just a few minutes I’m on my way out the door to Macy’s to visit Santa Claus with my family. This year I’ve written him a letter which details all of the things I’m grateful for in 2010. It was such a delightful practice, done for the sake of itself, to mark all of the ways I’ve thrived (PUSHTI) in the past year. I don’t know what 2011 holds in store for me (PRAJNA), but I’m hopeful that it’ll be my best year yet. Santa Claus is certainly a magical and manifest form of power (SHAKTI) to whom I’ll deliver this gratitude. What will he do with it? I don’t know! And it doesn’t matter, I’m participating in the creativity of gratitude as a practice. 

Many folks say that this is the “Season of Giving” or that “Jesus is the reason for the Season!” For me Santa has always been the figure I’ve ASKED to manifest my material desires. This year, I look forward to creating an offering which invites me deeper into a process of receptivity. Is Christmas the season of GETTING? Or can it be the season in which we ALLOW ourselves to RECEIVE the marks of auspiciousness that make life breautiful? 

Have a holly jolly! And wish me luck in SANTALAND, HERALD SQUARE!

PRAJNA LAKSMI : “Smart Diver” – PRA is forward, towards; JNA is wisdom. Take everything you know and bring it forward. How? Translate your certainty back into uncertainty. Wisdom is the horizon of your ignorance. Only by saying, “I don’t know” do you have the potential for growth. 

Today I put this into practice in my morning meditation. I purposely chose a mantra routine I’ve been sitting with, that I “know” inside out and backwards. I asked for more. I asked to learn things from the practice I never dreamt possible. I said to myself, “I have no idea what’s in store for this practice today. I”m open and receptive to all Good.” That resulted in a subtle visit from my teacher’s teacher, long dead – a man I’ve never met – who gifted me a new set of practices for my meditation toolbox. Cramazing. 

PUSHTI LAKSMI : “Thriving” – The thing that makes yogis even more powerful than the Gods is… failure. The Gods don’t know failure. But we do. Because we can keep getting better at life, learning from the past and expanding our consciousness boldly into the future, we are are feared by the Gods. Yogis know how to THRIVE. And Pushti is the Goddess who nourishes herself externally so that she might thrive internally. The regimens of beauty aren’t hollow. Caring that you care is the BEST form of vanity! Choose to see through eyes that create the world you like to look at. 

TUSHTI LAKSMI : “Satisfaction” – Every achievement is simply a baseline for the next. She’s the PROCESS for the contemplation of contentment. Tushti invites you to learn to live with your “stuff” – like when you realize “Oh I’m such a self-righteous a**hole! And I can get good with that.”

A week or two ago potty time was not going well at our house. Frankly, Jasper was scared sh*tless to take a poopie with his Papa. “You’re too rough Papa!” In my own mind I was thinking, “But I do this so much better than your Mama! I’m so efficient! There’s never a mess when I’m in charge! I do it RIGHT!” Now, my kid can hold his poo like nobody I’ve ever known. And this situation got really bad. Like REALLY bad. At the climax of our father/son potty time misadventures I lost my temper with him in the most disgusting fashion and screamed my head off, neck veins popping and all, “Just sh*t, goddamit!” That didn’t work. And I was truly appaled at myself. Self-righteous jaggoff.

So, recognizing this trait of mine, the next time he was on the potty I let HIM coach ME. First I admitted to him I was wrong, that I don’t know what I’m doing. (Has my own Father ever said those words to me in the process of parenthood? I can’t ever recall.) Jasper really, REALLY didn’t want to let it out but eventually that night nature took over and he made a plop. “Wipe soft and slow Papa. Soft and slow.” “Like this?” “Softer!” “That good?” “Slower!” Got it. I also got crap all over the floor, under my fingernails and had floaters in the bathtub. BUT! That night when his mom tucked him into bed he said, “Mama, I trust Papa with potty time now.” 

Satisfaction! And a baseline for more. 

VIDYA LAKSMI : “Wise Technology” – Take everything you think you know and put it to the test. More than just knowing that you know – know HOW you know. These Laksmi’s are a MAP of your own consciousness, and by following them you align with a process of reflection that moves you in the direction of ever more abundant auspiciousness. 

So for example! Over the weekend Jasper and I were evacuated – along with thousands (hundreds of thousands?) of others – from NJ transit while enroute to Bucks County, Pa to visit my brother. We were told “Exit the train immediately. Service is cancelled along the NE corridor indefinitely. There’s been an ‘incident’ on the tracks. No further information is available at this time.” It was close to 10p and I was with my 3 year old on an outdoor track in the rain with thousands of anxious people saying, “It’s a terror attack.” My heart raced as I was relived my 9/11 trauma all over again. “Dammit I thought I was over this PTSD! F*ck me!” Remembering that I had dedicated that day to Sandhana Laksmi, the one who knows what’s good for you, I listened to an inner voice of calm and chose to leave the station and head into town to call my brother (cell service was jammed) to pick us up. “Where the hell is Metuchen, NJ anyway?” 

Jasper and I followed the call of our healing Laksmi to the local Irish pub where he enjoyed his first drunken karaoke night. And it was SantaCon 2010! Our waitress couldn’t have been sweeter to him and loaded us up with lots of greasy comfort food on the house. I never would’ve thought Sandhana Laksmi would heal me in an Irish bar in central New Jersey, but she did.

Ever since September 11, 2001 when I watched that 2nd plane hit the tower while sitting next to the Brooklyn Bridge – I’ve had terrible moments of PTSD, sometimes nearly debilitating. Vidya Laksmi is the goddess who puts us to the test. Again and again. Are you handling those things that come up for you over and over again in the same old way? Or are you getting better as you go? I know I’m getting better at living in these moments of mass hysteria. And HOW do I know it this time around? Because my son told me at midnight he was “having the best night out ever Papa!” as a troupe of drunken Santa’s sang “Livin on the Edge” by Aerosmith. And I will mark this same night next year by participating (on purpose, not by accident) in SantaCon 2011. In costume.

MEDHA LAKSMI : “Insight” – Medhas is the CAPACITY to understand, to take your life experiences and turn them into insights; How does what you know make you feel? How does what you feel translate into what you know? The power of self-reflection is one of your greatest gifts, and so use that power for wellness (see yesterday) and use it to enhance all that is valuable, good & prosperous in your life. Get with all facets of your consciousness – the good, the bad & the ugly – and turn your reflective capacities into your power. With this Laksmi, one can create a lifetime of value out of one’s capacity to understand & reflect!

SANDHANA LAKSMI : “Healing,” “Therapeutic” – This Goddess tells you what’s good for you & how to be healthy & heal yourself. To do things well, you need wellness. 

VIJAYA LAKSMI: “Slice of Victory” – Jaya means celebrate! Vi is an increment, an instance. Mark the little victories of each day – when you note them they add up to something vital -that is, you know that you know you’re successful. The Universe likes to create successful manifestations of Consciousness – and your birth, your life, IS that success embodied! Start there. Because wherever you start is where you end up. So if for you, “life is suffering” and “a problem to be fixed” – you will discover suffering and problems in need of fixing everywhere you turn. Start instead with the assumption that life is a gift and a blessing and you will spend your days receiving boons. Likewise, if you live your life looking only for the big Aha’s, for the Big Kabooms, you’ll miss the little victories. Right now, I’m about to finish washing the dishes – Vijaya!

VIRA LAKSMI: “Courageous” – To become the manifestation of your authentic dreams requires that you step up to the challenge of humanity; receive all facets of yourself intensely; to be courageous is to live with confidence – le coeur – with heart.