I was looking at the message artwork (i am assuming everyone on the list belong to the SY community and knows about the new year messages) and I was looking at it in a very visual manner, not trying to find any meaning behind it. I realised that the gallery with the six pillars leading to the Neel Bindu chamber. I realised

Rising upwards
The whole thing can be looked as if we are watching a pyramid from the top. (imagine the pyramids of Giza and you in a helicopter right above it looking down. what would you see?).
I saw it as rising upwards, moving towards the top AND also refining one's understanding (as we move upwards the space becomes smaller) and when we reach the Neel Bindu we have refined our understanding to a point where one doesnt have to go anywhere else.

Going deeper within.
The artwork can also be seen as stepping down a staircase which narrows down to a point.


Both of these scenarios made me think of the "Intentions and Blessings" talk of Gurumayi. To extract the essence of your thoughts

For me, the past couple of months have been a sudden shift to listening to the Guru's words and understanding the meaning behind them. Lots of reruns of previous years' talks and book reading.. Seems like I am on the "Explore" stage of the LEE principle (Listen, Explore, Experiment).
Since the focus this year for the message study has been concentrated on the Kundalini Stavah, it gives me a great opportunity to explore the musical aspect of a hymn too, other than understanding the meaning.
Another way is to visualize everything. The kundalini as the coiled serpent, the chakras as petalled lotuses..
Its going to be exciting and powerful :)

Yesterday's study group was a revelation of sorts for me..

There are many things that keep coming back in Gurumayi's different talks. You can almost connect one talk to the other. This makes our job much easier. For example "Continuous Right Effort" and "Uninterrupted Loving Service" are phrases of Gurumayi's talks of 2004 and 2000 respectively. What I found was both were matching so proportional

Continuous :: Uninterrupted
Right :: Loving
Effort :: Service

The corresponding verbs (aka virtues) I thought of were
continuous > patience, resolute
right > open, generous
effort > hard working
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Pakad nahin, prakat hoga
(if you dont try to grab the Power, it will reveal itself to you)

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Guru hai to Neel Bind, nahin hai to motiya bind ;)
(Even if we are not with the Guru, we might have experiences but we wont know their value. It is the guru which gives us the right understanding of what we are experiencing)

=======omguruom=========

Meaning and etymology of "experience"
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=experience
http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/experience
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=experience

Main Entry: ex·pe·ri·ence
Pronunciation: ik-'spir-E-&n(t)s
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French, from Latin experientia act of trying, from experient-, experiens, present participle of experiri to try, from ex- + -periri (akin to periculum attempt)

SOME QUOTES ON EXPERIENCE:
Most of the quotes found on the net take its meaning of becoming an expert at something or learning something. Gurumayi expresses it in a different sense of "trying thoroughly". Here are some of them which I thought related to what she has said.

"One aspect of an experience that can make it surprising and amazing is that of confronting one's beliefs"
Nathan Shedroff

"Experience is not what happens to you. It is what you do with what happens to you."
Aldous Huxley

"Experience is that marvelous thing that enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again."
Franklin P. Jones

"The immense merit of language was that it made possible the transmission of experience"
Bertand Russell

Q: Whats common between SiddhaYogis and Harry Potter ?
A: Both are Seekers !

Q: What would you call a holy fruit ?
A: A Sant-raa !

Gurumayi is Mayi(My) Guru !

ThinkChain

>Experience is when every second of your action is perfected by years of improvisation. When you become sensitive to the subject. The subtleties are known on your tips.
>Simple things are often difficult to achieve because they come from an intuitive source.
>Chance favours the prepared mind.
>Constant effort is Sadhana.
>Sadhana starts when Kundalini is awakened.