Remembering Rajjita

Today I Remember Rajita Sivananda May 8^th, 1941 -  May 18^th, 2010

May 8^th is the day of the birth of my mentor and dear friend, Rajita Sivananda, formally known as Judith Cornell. She is the award-winning author of Mandala: Luminous Symbols for Healing, The Mandala Healing Kit, Drawing the Light From Within, and many other wonderful books.  I think of Rajita often but yesterday and today I am filled with thoughts and memories, and joys of our times together and the wonderful phone conversations we shared.

It was over 20 years ago that I took my first mandala class with Judith at Omega Institute. It was such a spiritual opening and joy for me that I continued to study with her, soon becoming one of her assistants and eventually, her co-facilitator.

In 1979, Rajita, had a spiritual awakening and her art changed dramatically. She started to teach mandala classes that helped participants to use mandalas as a tool for self-discovery and spiritual awakening.

The picture I have attached is one that I took at the last mandala training she presented. We were in the middle of our sand mandala dissolution, and I remember thinking that this would probably be our last training together.  Judith had confided in me about the condition of her health, stage 4 cancer and yet, she looked radiant and beautiful and I recall how even until the very last day of this life, she looked beautiful.

At her last teleconference, she relayed to her beloved students that she would not be in this body for much longer, and that if we were feeling loss and suffering, that we should work through that, because we are seeing it from the ego. “If you remember me from the heart and love, we will be together. I will be with you.“

Rajita is remembered as a bringer of light on the planet and we, her facilitators, are working to spreadi that light to others.

Rajita had a good passing. She was surrounded the whole week with friends and family. We chanted the Mahamrityunjaya chant in the room adjacent to her bedroom. We read to her and the apartment was filed with feelings of love and light. She passed in peace and with presence.

I learned so much from Rajita

Some of the many gifts I received from her were :

• ·      The gift of silence
• ·      The importance of holding strong intentions for everything you do or want to create.
• ·      How to create and hold sacred space
• ·      When in a state of worry, to take the mountain view, - from perspective your problems don’t often seem so great.
• ·      Remember to create and speak from the HEART not the head.
• ·      Never label anyone in a negative role. That only holds them there. See everyone as a reflection of God
• ·      Before you teach a class, hold in your heart the soul of every participant and assistant, even before they show up, even if you haven’t met them before. Hold that their highest good be supported and their soul will flower and flourish.
• ·      We are reflecting and transmitting light in our drawings and remember that we are not the doers , we are receiving this Divine light and expressing it.

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I am very grateful that our lives have so beautifully intertwined. Fly on with the Great Masters and until we meet again, know that I love you.

Om Shanti, Shanti Shanti