I'm not sure if I've told this story or not, but I'm going to tell it now. On April 8th, 1987, Nichollette Jones was born into this world in Fort Worth, Texas. I've always considered myself to be outgoing, adventurous and somewhat of an overachiever. I was raised to work twice as hard and go above the average in order to be successful in life. I was told in order for me to live a good life with a nice house, car and money, I needed to go to college and secure a job making at least six figures. I had to be mindful of my appearane, my speech and needed to be well versed on a variety of topics.
This is the advice that has guided me for 23 years.
On April 24th, 2011, Manjusha was born.
As you know, I have always believed that there is more to life than material things such as money, houses, cars, clothes, jewelry and so on. I've always thought that there was more to us, that we were more than just bodies. Although, I've believed this for quite some time, I was never serious about finding what the purpose of life, especially my life truly is; until November of 2009.
It was then that I began searching; searching for Truth, the divine, searching for God. I dibbled and dabbled in many things...Christianity, yoga, Buddhism, meditation and other organizations, read many books, but it wasn't until December 28th, 2010 did things truly begin to change in me. It was January 1st, 201, that I met my Guru and I was awakened.
I was consumed by my spiritual path. It was like osmeone filled my veins with the energy of God. My desires to be loved and love, desires for attention, success, material wealth, fame, fortune, everything had been wiped out the front door. All I wanted was to know the Truth, learn from my Guru and finally realize the connectedness we all share.
As I continued walking down this path, my spiritual aspirations began to evolve to become deeper, more committed. Then one day, I thought to myself...I could do this forever...I want to do this forever. I shared this with my spiritual teacher, the only disciple of my Guru and then she shared it with my Guru. I knew that it would not happen right away (although that would have been awesome), but still things happened quicker than I had expected.
My Guru told me that I would be taking vows in April or so, but I wasn't quite sure when in April or if it would really happen. Then one day as I was walking Lexi, I had this overwhelming feeling to simply sit outsie in the rain and meditate. Meditate on all the negative qualities that I wanted to get rid of and replace them with the good qualities that I wanted to acqurie. Almost as if , the rain was washing away my sins and my soul was rising to heaven with good qualities. Immediately after I had this wonderful idea, I shared this desire with my Guru. About a week or two later on Easter, I took my householder vows an became a shravika or simply a householder and was renamed Manjusha.
I was surprised, scared and elated all at the same time only because I knew things would be differen now. I would be different and there would be no turning back on my spiritual path. I am no longer the material girl that I once was, desiring nice clothes, attention and worldly gain. Rather I have changed into a perosn, an individual who desires what everyone else does, bliss and understanding. I've never though of myself this way. I didn't think that I had changed as much as I really have. But...now as I reflect over the past few year, I'm no longer Nichollette...I'm Manjusha.
