9 March 2013

Happy Mahashivratri!




Mahashivratri means "The night of Lord Shiva" The important features of this festival are rigid fasting for 24 hours and sleepless vigil during the night. Every true devotee of Lord Siva spends the night of Sivratri in deep meditation, keeps vigil and observes fast.

Lord Shiva drank the sins of the world and his throat turned blue.  Shiva sacrificed himself for the world.  I find it impossible to ignore this resemblance with Jesus.  Whoever believes in religional division is seriously mislead. God is the same.  

A lot of people in the west understand God/Gods as entities outside of themselves, and then they reject them - oh I don't worship idols", as if anyone has ever said that they were separate from ourselves.  It is so much more fun, more engaging and more conducive to learning when concepts and principles are personified, as humans learn best by stories and characters and visual imagery.  That is the only reason why the gods were created by the Supreme God.  As the Supreme Creater is One and encompasses All, each of the smaller gods who represent certain principles are his embodiments, for those particular principles.  

Lord Shiva is Our Conscioiusness, he is mysterious, it takes a lot of studying and practising to understand him, in essence he is Our Highest Consciousness.  This teaching was given to me ready, crystalised and I was not able to understand it.  Then after months of chanting, reading and meditating on Lord Shiva, I began to understand. At the same time we are all connected with him because he is Our Highest Consciousness, so he is in each one of us.  

Shiva rules the Waning Moon, particularly the Last Quarter and the Balsamic Moon.  This is the time of reflection, meditation, letting go, releasing, endings... In general, for every problem we have in our human lives, and for everything we want to achieve in our human lives, one out of the two interventions is needed - either to remove/end something or to add/begin something.  Lord Shiva rules the removing/ending endeavours.  These endeavours are best done during the Waning Moon.  So fasting, withdrawing from active participation, reflecting, soothing, healing, eliminating - toxic foods, toxic relationships, toxic anything... sacrificing, giving up, are all activities ruled by Shiva.  Shiva is a destroyer, and when he is invoked all of those things we want to let go of, are eliminated very fast.  He is not the slow process of recovery, he is the sharp knife of surgery, the final ending of a relationship, the abrupt end to a bad situation.  His intervention is so fast that it is actually easy and comforting.  That is why when we struggle with ending somthing, and we are emotionally tortured, and feel torn between staying and going, and lack the strength to make that sharp decision, it is best to call Shiva for help.  He makes the most drastic changes happen instantly, easily and smoothly.  What has to go has to go, some things are never going to work, and Shiva helps us to make that break with the present dysfunctional situation.

So, it makes so much sense that Shiva is celebrated at the time of Waning Moon, the Last Quarter in particular, which is the darkest of the Moon, and which is the time for releasing and letting go of everything that is not good for us.  For this reason Shiva is often portrayed with a very thin crescent Moon in his hair, which is the Waning Moon at its darkest. 

As Shiva is Our Highest Consciousness, we may end up worshipping him without even knowing, the same way we make decisions based on counsel by our Highest Consciousness without even knowing.  Nevertheless, Shiva is very pleased when we do his kind of things, as that is a better form of worshipping him rather than praising him as with other gods.  In Garuda Purana it is written that once Parvati asked Shiva how to worship him best and he replied: "My devotee gives Me greater happiness by mere fasting than by ceremonial baths, and offerings of flowers, sweets, incense",  once again Shiva asserting his purpose and principles - he does not care about adding things, enhancing things, he is all about removing things.  Fasting, giving up substances, people, situations, are all his kind of things.  

Unconsciously we can't do more than that in the West because we don't have the Bilva leaves, but in India a person can worship him unconsciously simply by using Bilba leaves for one thing or another.  There was a very bad hunter whose occupation was killing animals every day, but completely unconsciously he was using Bilva leaves every day in his routine, and in that way he was performing a worshipping ceremony to Shiva and in that way gained Shiva's love! Shiva said to Parvati: “The hunter was able to enter My abode and ward off death by simple fasting and offering of a few Bilva leaves, however involuntary it might be because it was the night of Sivaratri. Such is the solemnity and sacredness associated with the night”.  Impressed by the power of this ritual Parvati spread it to the people and that is how this ritual was established.

Whenever you feel whimsical and irrational in being pleased, either too easy or too difficult, that is a little sign of your Divine origin he he.  I just love how the Gods are so particular in the way they like to be pleased and how much they can give for very little, but it has to be the right little.  Fast during the waning Moon and you will please Shiva, there is no doubt about that. Or give up something.  Every giving up of something pleases Shiva tremendously.

Apart from involuntary unconscious worshipping of Shiva, we can also worship him consciously and ask him, call him to intervene at any time when we need the ending of something.  Have no fear Shiva will take away or destroy only what is not good.  He will not destroy good.  For example if you are in a good relatonship but you are having problems, Shiva is not going to destroy the whole relationship, but will destroy the arguments or the problems.  The effect of Shiva's intervention is always the same - restored peace, calmness, release, relief, acceptance, new understanding, renewal, new chapter.  After Shiva gets involved, this will always be the consequence.  It will never be a bad consequence.  

To call Shiva for help use the mantra Om Namah Shivaya which pleases him, your Highest Consciousness tremendously and it comes to the forefront in your life through a person or a circumstance that will make the break that is necessary.  

I was told a powerful mantra which expands the Om, into a longer vibration, which is the correct way to chant Om.  If you wish to get this powerful mantra it is in my teacher's book The Golden Flute http://enlightenment-meditation.blogspot.co.uk/p/kindle-version-of-my-flute-practical.html. James Bhavaji knows the best mantras, and most of them are in this book.

As Lord Shiva rules everything to do with removal, release and ending, he is also invoked in karma removal rituals.  For more info on that read Bhava Jim's book or contact him directly.  The rituals in his book are awesome and the results amazingly fastidious - see my fb note on Karma Removal.

Happy Mahashivratri! 

Love Light Shanti 

Louise,
CEO Bilka Skincare


♥ (⁀‵⁀) ✫ ✫ ✫.

                                                                         .`⋎´✫¸.•°*”˜˜”*°•✫
..✫¸.•°*”˜˜”*°•.✫ .ℒℴѵℯ, Bilka….ღ

7 March 2013

Happy International Women's Day


On the eve of Women's International Day ♥ I am thinking radical. No religion, philosophy or spiritual idea gives enough credit to women, shows enough appreciation of our indestructible, mysterious and divine nature. To begin with, everyone is trying to understand us. Men try to understand us, women who have bought into the masculine logical thinking try to understand us. That is not possible. Because we are not understandable. The female half of God is mysterious, it is not understandable. Then add Beauty, Grace, Intelligence to Non Understandable and you get a Threat. Woman has been the biggest threat of humanity in all civilization. Because Beauty + Grace + Intelligence very naturally equals Power. And that is not acceptable. So they did not call her Beautiful, Graceful, Mysterious, they called her an evil Eve, a devil, who tries to seduce, to tempt, to take the male power away. Then if she enjoys her physical pleasure she becomes a fallen woman, a prostitute. So she needs to be saved, she needs to leave her sensuality in the past and become decent. She becomes decent, leaves her sensuality in her previous life, and becomes a business woman, clever, confident,capable. But this time she still does not get it right, she becomes a Bitch.

Stop for a moment, and think: what should a woman do in order to be respected and valued and appreciated, and may be a little bit loved?

Is there any such thing? If she is a dancer - she is showing too much flesh, so she is a temptress, not to be trusted. If she is a scientist - she is too emotionally detached and not a 'typical' woman. If she is a builder - she is too masculine, too tough. If she is a boss - she is a Bitch. If she is confident - she has a big ego. If she is dedicated to being a mother - she is a loser, not successful!!!! But if she is successful - she is a bad mother, she is calculating, she has slept around to get where she is. If she is emotional - she is crazy. If she is controlled in her emotions - she is cold...

Tell me, is there anything that a woman can do right? I don't think so. Not in the eyes of others. If you are a woman you will always be judged NEGATIVELY. Because Your Beautiful, Graceful, Intelligent Self is at the same time the white screen of projections of fears, all possible fears of men and of women, all the fears in the world.

And this is the conclusion I have made for myself. I will never do right in the eyes of the world and I have given up on that long time ago. I am liberated. Not easily lent to people's expectations.

But...
I WILL DO RIGHT FOR MYSELF:
I follow my goals guiltlessly. I make my money confidently. I enjoy my pleasures shamelessly. I meet my needs assertively. I open my heart only to those who deserve it. I shut doors and hang up phones to those who do not deserve it. My time and attention are just as precious as my love. I get good things for myself. I deserve my happiness. I do only the things that make me happy. I understand that I can't be good for anyone unless I am good to myself. I understand that love, kindness and respect for others begin with kindness, love and respect for myself.

Ladies of the World - Happy Women's International Day! Do something Good for Yourself today! Make this Day, this Week, this Month, this Year, this Decade, this Life, to be the One ABOUT YOU.

Do not buy into any psychological, philosophical, religious or spiritual manipulation that is trying to oppress YOUR Divine Lifeforce Shakti. All spirituality that comes from men is spirituality for men. They need to learn their lessons. - how not to have big egos, how to stop improving performance and start learning to connect on a heart level, how not to be so judgemental of what they can't explain and understand, etc etc... 


These are not intrinsic problems to Women, Narcissus was a male not a female. By default and when on automatic pilot, we are self-giving, self-effacing, self-sacrificing, devoted, sharing, far too much understanding, forgiving... so we don't need to read any of their books or follow their teachings. It is none of our business to be concerned with their problems. As our direction is completely different. We have to stop being so self-effacing, we have to strengthen our ego not dissolve it, so that we can stop giving in to pressures, to manipulations to give more and more and more from ourselves, and no matter how much we give it is never good enough, we need to strengthen our ego in order to draw boundaries and lines of what treatment is acceptable and what isn't from colleagues, bosses, partners, children, parents, friends. Yes we are One with men and with each other, but only once our Female contribution is clearly defined and ranked as the Exquisite Gift it is. Don't dissolve into the One without knowing who you are and where you come from.

Recognise your Divine Lifeforce Shakti burning invincibly at the core of You, manifested in your female body. Your body is divine as your soul. Remember who You are.

The finest embodiment of the cosmic shakti energy is Vishnu's female counterpart Lakshmi - the Mother of the Universe and the Goddess of Abundance, Beauty, Grace, Fortune, Intelligence, Emotional Intelligence, Spiritual and Material Wealth, Love, Devotion. She is Adi Shakti, possessing Sattva guna. It is only because of her presence, or the presence of Sattva guna that Vishnu is able to preserve. Without Maa Mahalakshmi (Lakshmi) Vishnu is dormant.

In a tale specified in the Shrimad Devi Bhagwat Puran, it is mentioned that Lakshmi's power is such that she as soon as she cursed Narayan, his head fell off. Such is the great power of Devi. She is the all encompassing . omnipresent, omnipotent and eternal force of Adi Parashakti, the mother of the universe. It is said in the Shrimad Devi Bhagwat Puran that Maa Adi Shakti in fact gave birth to Shiva, Vshnu and Brahma. Her glory is unattainable. Without her, Vishnu will lose his power to preserve. She is the source of his power. She's also Goddess Bhuvaneshwari who is the Lady of the universe. She commands Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma. 


Know Your history, read the history of the world, and do not listen to anyone who tries to suppress your Female Power, or give a negative spin to your virtues, or those who try to improve you. There is nothing to improve, You are Perfect as You are. 

I take a bow of devotion, gratitude and love to the Divine Female Shakti, and praise her with the sacred chant Adi Shakti, Lakshmi, Namo Namo, Sarab Shakti Lakshmi Namo Namo, Prithum Bhagvati Namo Namo, Kundalini Mata Shakti Namo Namo. 

Worship the Divine Female Lifeforce and you will be bestowed with Fortune. It is such a simple message. All the search for understanding the Feminine is in vain, She is far Superior to be a subject of analysing. God is not to be analysed, but to be adored, loved and worshipped. Male is only half of God. The other half is Female. If you don't believe that every woman is a Goddess then you have a lot to learn. To all men's questions about women, trying to understand women - there is only one answer - Worship your Goddess and you will be bestowed with fortune. Adore the Female Cosmic Energy because it resides in the womb of your mother. 

Happy Women's International Day ♥ ♥ ♥ 

Love,
Louise, CEO Bilka


♥ (⁀‵⁀) ✫ ✫ ✫.
..`⋎´✫¸.•°*”˜˜”*°•✫
..✫¸.•°*”˜˜”*°•.✫ .ℒℴѵℯ, Bilka….ღ




3 March 2013

Thank you Mother Bulgaria


My mother Bulgaria is celebrating her birthday today. I come from the plane of Tracia, the South part of Bulgaria, my tribe is the Tracians (Spartacus was our boy, Orpheus and many others). We originate from the mountains of Pamir, somewhere in the region of Wakhan passage, tough, resilient nomads who crossed Asia on horsebacks and arrived at the Tracian plane, with fields of wheat that have no end, with vine orchards that produce the finest Mavrud grapes (Bilka's Mavrud range is made with this grape) with grass of emerald and raindrops diamonds, where the sun and the stars adorn the sky and the finest black crumbly earth feeds and nurtures everyone with the sweetest grapes and watermelons. 

My favourite times in Bulgaria have been in the fields of Tracia, sunflower fields and wheat fields, my parents stop the car somewhere and we walk in the fields looking at the sky mesmerised by the jewels stars, drink the water from the spring and sing the longest songs in the world ha ha. I have been to weddings where a song lasts about 1.5 hours!, the singer stopped, had a drink, had some food and then carried on with the song, emotional, moving, deep... then getting drunk and dancing horo jumping, jumping, laughing... Nothing can compare the joy of a Tracian wedding! This is a picture from my parents' back garden, right at the end of the village of Mineralni Bani (means Mineral Spa), and in the beginning of the mountain Rodopite. It is healing being there, watching the sunset, eating the most awesome peaches in the world, and chatting by the night fire until late.

Bilka Mavrud range is produced with the exquisite black grapes Mavrud, named after a black guy or at least a very dark guy (Mavrud means Black), who opposed an order by the king to destroy all vines in Tracia. He risked his life, kept the vine and quite deservingly the grapes he saved became known as Mavrud. It is a super rich dark purple grapes which is packed with antioxidants and has a strong heady enchanting aroma and sweet pungent taste that nurture and delight the senses.

I love you Bulgaria ♥ Thank you for the gifts of your beauty and nourishment ♥ 

http://bilkagarden.com/anti-aging-firming-skincare



♥ (⁀‵⁀) ✫ ✫ ✫.
..`⋎´✫¸.•°*”˜˜”*°•✫
..✫¸.•°*”˜˜”*°•.✫ .ℒℴѵℯ, Bilka….ღ




2 March 2013

No regrets at Bilka


Hi, 

It's Louise Gylsen here, Bilka skincare's CEO.  I woke up to the news that Groupon's CEO Andrew Mason, has resigned. And what a pleasure to read his letter: "If there’s one piece of wisdom that this simple pilgrim would like to impart upon you: have the courage to start with the customer. My biggest regrets are the moments that I let a lack of data override my intuition on what’s best for our customers. This leadership change gives you some breathing room to break bad habits and deliver sustainable customer happiness don’t waste the opportunity!" ???!!!

I am finding it difficult to believe that someone of his rank has overridden his intuition and has gone in the direction of data to decide his approach to customers. Well, I am so proud that I've never made this mistake, and I do listen to my intuition, and follow it by the letter. At Bilka, I have no regrets. Because I started this venture with the right motivation - I enjoy serving customers, I enjoy serving people, I enjoy delivering high quality, impeccable service to people. I used to be a psychological therapist, I served people, then I got redundant from my job. I took the Bilka Skincare SEO role with exactly the same motivation as when I was delivering therapy: to do something good for a fellow human being, to help them, to assist them in reaching their goals, meeting their needs, in obtain the goods they are looking for. I believe in economy where all people help each other with what they are good at. If each one of us, makes our living doing things we are good at and doing things which we enjoy, then that positive energy that is generated will find recipients, i.e. customers. These customers generate their own positive energy, doing the things they enjoy, so we become their customers benefiting from their skills and energy. This is sustainable economy, this is the only way for the world economy to survive and for humanity to reach abundance.

The reason why there is crisis in the world economy is because it is exploitative. The people who deliver the services and the products - are exploited, they don't do that with joy and passion, they do it because they need to bring bread to the table. They are not making their living doing the things they want to do, because there is no abundance, there is no bread for them while they are polishing, developing those skills. They have to get any job in order to survive. So most of the world's products and services are not produced with love, passion and positive energy, but with reluctance, unwillingness and bitterness. There are writers who drive buses, phd students who serve us in restaurants, thinking about their conclusion in the dissertation, while they are preparing the food for us. So how do we expect them to deliver good quality work?

Abundance will be a natural consequence, a product of all our positive interaction with each other. All those big leaders talking about sustainability - and then regretting why they did not do it???!!! I have no regrets. I do it. My customers come first. It is not rocket science to figure out that if someone opens their heart and express their need, they have to be given the highest quality service. I don't follow data, never have I been interested in data and I pity those who wait for data to tell them what to do in their business. Serve people, that is what we are here for. Put oneself in the customer's shoes and expect the best, then deliver the best. Leave the customer satisfied, pleased with their purchase and that should be the only route to increasing business. This is sustainable business - when it is based on the happiness and joy from giving, and the pleasure and gladness from receiving. 


Love,
Louise,
CEO Bilka Skincare
                                               ♥ (⁀‵⁀) ✫ ✫ ✫.

..`⋎´✫¸.•°*”˜˜”*°•✫
..✫¸.•°*”˜˜”*°•.✫ .ℒℴѵℯ, Bilka….ღ


http://bilkagarden.com/upgrape-beauty/upgrape-beauty-body-butter