Shyamatara Das

In the Service of the Divine Mother

Praying the Divine Office

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Liturgy of the Hours BooksI was introduced to the Divine Office by a lifelong friend who is a Catholic Priest. From time to time he has come to visit our family for a few days, and he always brings several beautifully bound large volumes with him for his daily prayers. I was fascinated and intrigued by all of the ribbons and the elaborate process involved, but thought of this prayer as a somewhat arcane practice, reserved for the clergy.

At some point I considered praying the Office (also called the Liturgy of the Hours) as part of my Lenten practice one year, and did a little research. Unfortunately, a lot of the material online seemed more complicated and daunting than helpful.

I was eventually lucky enough to find a resource called Universalis. In addition to the website, there is also a smartphone app which makes it simple to add this ancient and beautiful prayer tradition to one’s day. My own practice is to pray the Office of Readings combined with Lauds (morning prayer) first thing in the morning, and then Vespers sometime during the evening.

Initially, I prayed the Hours only during Lent, and by the time Holy Week arrived, was satisfied with the prospects of putting the practice behind me until the next year. For some reason here in 2020 I continued the practice after Lent ended, and it has now become a habit that I intend to observe, if the Lord wills it, for the rest of my days. Beginning and ending each day with this deep dive into the Psalms helps to bring a longer-term perspective and a sense of centeredness to the flurry of life and its daily activities.

This practice has also given me a deeper understanding of the nature and context of Judeo-Christian scripture itself, and of the character of the God we Christians worship.

If you’re interested in praying the Office, I would highly recommend the Universalis website. There’s no cost for the web version, and both the desktop and smartphone apps are very reasonably priced. If you pray the Office of Readings with Lauds, you’ll want to set aside fifteen or twenty minutes for it, and Vespers is a bit shorter (maybe five or ten).

Do you have a formal daily prayer practice? I’d love to hear your experiences, resources, and questions.

Calm Down and Do Your Practice

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Murti, Candle and Incense

Welcome from Shyamatara Das. This website is a way of sharing some thoughts, spiritual practices, techniques and resources for living a full, beautiful life. I plan to include content focusing on a wide range of topics: service, bhakti, meditation, plant-based cooking and more.

It is my hope that we can get to know each other, and learn from each other.

You can contact me by email to admin@shyamataradas.com.

The photo above is a small murti, a candle and some stick incense as I have them set up each morning for prayer time. I’ll be describing some of my own habits and practices in detail here as we go along. They vary from time to time, but what I have found to be most important is to recognize the value of a regular daily practice of some sort. The best practice for each of us is the one that we will actually do each day.

It’s not always easy to find a good way to live in the world. When things are difficult, when I feel inpatient or frustrated or confused or overwhelmed, I try to remember this advice from Krishna Das. “Just calm your ass down and do some practice.”

Each time we pray, or chant, or meditate, or contemplate, we plant a seed. By Grace, some of those seeds take root, and grow, and eventually produce good fruit. Spiritual development is, more than anything else, this process of ripening.

Welcome, once again. I thank you for visiting this site, and look forward to getting acquainted with you.

Oṃ Tāre Tuttāre Ture Svāhā!