by Michael Mamas | Feb 24, 2017 | Meditation, Mount Soma |
Pandit Prasad returned home to Mount Soma last week from his regular visit to India. We were so happy to see each other! I told him about the Advanced Techniques and what I have planned for all three phases. He was thrilled! Where they lead is truly incredible. Not only are the techniques profoundly evolutionary, but they are also fun to do. Ever felt like you should meditate, but just didn’t feel like it? People report that the Advanced Techniques change all of that. They report that now they look forward to, and are even excited to, meditate. As Dave put it, “The Advanced Techniques are a game changer!”
We at Mount Soma are very much looking forward to this summer’s Advanced Technique Course. We hope to see you there!
by Michael Mamas | Sep 20, 2016 | Mount Soma |
A bus load of fifth graders came out to visit Mount Soma yesterday. Watching the kids enjoy the beautiful fall weather here was quite moving for me. Kids are so awesome. I spoke with one of the mothers after the kids left. She was excited to see that Mount Soma is here. Living nearby, she plans to visit the temple often with her family. There is something about fall weather and watching kids with their school books and backpacks that is so nostalgic and emotional for me. It was a beautiful time, just witnessing the kids.
Similarly, watching the families that visit on the weekends moves me. I sorta feel like Walt Disney, creating something that families enjoy together.
I stopped by the Union at lunch time to visit with everyone. The feeling is so wonderful here. The sense of community is beautiful. We are all so fortunate to have this place.
by Michael Mamas | Sep 1, 2016 | Mount Soma |
Evenings at Mount Soma are so beautiful… not just visually, but more importantly the feeling. After meditation the other evening I went to the Temple. People are moving about, chatting, tending to this or that, laughing and going for walks. After visiting with a few other people, Panditji came outside to chat with me a bit. The weather was gorgeous and cool after the setting of the warm, summer sun.
After a while, I went down to the Student Union to visit with some of the people down there. It was all heartwarming and fun. The next afternoon I visited with Dave at the Community Center. The feeling there, too, is wonderful.
Mount Soma is enchanted.
by Michael Mamas | Jul 16, 2016 | Mount Soma, Spirituality |
The July 2016 edition of Saathee Magazine published an article by Divakar Shukla about Mount Soma and Sri Somesvara Temple.
View the online version:
“A Visit to Mount Soma”
Saathee Magazine is a monthly publication targeted to the South Asian Community and those interested in South Asian Culture for the Carolinas and beyond. Saathee Magazine has been a leading media provider for the community since 1998.
by Michael Mamas | Feb 26, 2016 | Mount Soma |
It was in the early 1980s while I was living in the ashram. Someone told me that the ancient scriptures (Shastras) describe the makings of an enlightened city. All the parameters are given: elevation, slope of the land, nature of the climate, etc. It is said that all of the people who live in such a city attain and live in a state of spiritual liberation—enlightenment.
For some reason, unknown to me at that time, the idea of an enlightened city stuck with me. At the time it wasn’t that I had the thought I would build an enlightened city, but the feeling was there that I would. As the decades passed, the time came when we actually purchased the land. I was surprised to hear from my students that I had, from time to time, mentioned the idea in my classes. I guess it just came out of me. I certainly never planned to talk about it and don’t really remember doing so.
Oddly enough, once I decided to build the enlightened city, I couldn’t find that information anywhere. I asked Pandits and spiritual/Vedic scholars about enlightened cities and they just looked at me funny, as if they had no idea what I was talking about. I proceeded based on what I could remember, but also based upon what I could not remember—just from what I felt, what naturally emerged from within me. I decided that we needed a particular structure (Shiva Linga) in the middle of town, thinking we would just put it in a shack or something, because we had little money. One thing led to the next, and we built Sri Somesvara Temple. Even the material that the Shiva Linga would be made out of was a question to which I couldn’t find the answer. So I just went by what felt right within myself.
Now for the strange part of the story. After all this was done, it seemed like every Pandit or Vedic scholar I spoke with knew all about enlightened cities: “Oh yes, yes. An enlightened city requires….” Remarkably, we had done it all perfectly. Vedic architects from India even provided detailed plans for an enlightened city for which we had conformed to every detail.
This was the birth of Mount Soma, a living demonstration of how to apply the principles of ancient Vedic Knowledge. CRS was created to bring forth the subtleties of spiritual knowledge that have largely been lost to the ages.
