Lita and I love to go to Crestone, which is my new dream hometown. We have some friends there and our beautiful brother, CS, spends a lot of time at the ashram there, devoted to the Divine Mother. On our last visit, we spent a morning with him spent in song, prayer, love and chai. Chai is one of my favorite teas, but CS made his extra special. I know there are some boxed chais you can get in the store that take just moments to throw together, but the ritual, attention, and love of preparation go a long way in both taste and energy.
Here is his recipe word for word with some of my notes in italics:
CS Baba Chai
Soak the following herbs for at least an hour (you can also soak them overnight or not at all...according to your taste.) I like to heat all the herbs once they're added and let them sit for a while. The amounts of the ingredients can vary according to taste, but this is how I make it for about 6 cups of chai.
- 4 inches of ginger (remove the skin and crush ginger using a mortar and pestle)
- About a dozen cardamom seeds (crush using a mortar and pestle) cardamom seeds for chai are taken from green cardamom pods which you can find in most groceries.
- About a dozen black peppercorns (crush using a mortar and pestle)
- 3-4 Cinnamon Sticks
- 6 cloves
Fill the pot with water (6 cups) and add all of the above. Heat just before a boiling point and let sit for as long as you want.
Once you're ready to add the tea, bring the herbs to a boil and add some organic sugar (as much as you like.) Then, once the herbs are boiling, add black tea of your choice (amount your choice.) (I would use two or three bags of darjeeling.) Boil tea with the herbs for about 5 minutes. Add milk and bring just to a boil. Once it boils with the milk, remove from the heat and strain.
Oh yeah, and say lots of Om Namah Shivayas while preparing!
If you prefer honey as a sweetener, it is best to put it in at the end when the tea is no longer boiling, so as not to lose the healthful properties of the honey. Also, if you are using raw milk, you do not want to bring the milk to a boil, but rather add it to the hot brew at the end, let set for a minute or two and then strain. For a vegan chai, use coconut milk from the carton.
(the great redeeming mantra for self-realization - Om Namah Shivaya!)
A little information on this holy mantra from various sources...
Namaḥ Śivāya is the most holy name of God Śiva, recorded at the very center of the Vedas and elaborated in the Śaiva Agamas.
One translation is "adoration for Shiva," or, "I bow to Shiva." Shiva is the supreme reality, the inner Self. It is the name given to consciousness that dwells in all.
According to Hindu mythology there are three Gods who run this creation. Brahma - who creates the universe, Vishnu - who preserves the Universe and Shiva- who in the end destroys the universe. Among the three deities, Shiva, though considered as destroyer, also symbolizes the the inner self which remains intact even after everything ends.
In this mantra the chanter (one who repeats the mantra) bows to Shiva- his true self.
Na is the Lord's concealing grace, Ma is the world, Śi stands for Śiva, Va is His revealing grace, Ya is the soul. The five elements, too, are embodied in this ancient formula for invocation. Na is earth, Ma is water, Śi is fire, Vā is air, and Ya is ether, or Ākāśa. Many are its meanings.
Namaḥ Śivaya has such power, the mere intonation of these syllables reaps its own reward in salvaging the soul from bondage of the treacherous instinctive mind and the steel bands of a perfected externalized intellect. Namaḥ Śivāya quells the instinct, cuts through the steel bands and turns this intellect within and on itself, to face itself and see its ignorance. Sages declare that mantra is life, that mantra is action, that mantra is love and that the repetition of mantra, japa, bursts forth wisdom from within.
The holy Natchintanai proclaims, "Namaḥ Śivāya is in truth both Āgama and Veda. Namah Śivāya represents all mantras and tantras. Namaḥ Śivaya is our souls, our bodies and possessions. Namaḥ Śivāya has become our sure protection."
This mantra has no direct translation. The sounds relate directly to the principles which govern each of the first five chakras on the spine...Earth, water, fire, air, ether. Notice that this does not refer to the chakras themselves which have a different set of seed sounds, but rather, the principles which govern those chakras in their place. A very rough, non-literal translation could be something like, 'Om and salutations to that which I am capable of becoming.' This mantra will start one out on the path of subtle development of spiritual attainments. It is the beginning on the path of Siddha Yoga, or the Yoga of Perfection of the Divine Vehicle."
"Na" refers to the Gross Body (annamayakosa), "Ma" refers to the Pranic Body (pranamayakosa), "Shi" or "Chi" refers to the Mental Body (manonmayakosa), "Va" refers to the Intellectual Body (vignanamayakosa) and "Ya" refers to the Blissful Body (anandamayakosa) and "OM" or the "silence" beyond these syllables refers to the Soul or Life within.
OM/AUM: The three parts of Om (A-U-M) encompass the three states of waking, dreaming, deep sleep, the three levels of gross, subtle, causal, and the three levels of conscious, unconscious, subconscious, as well as the three universal processes of coming, being, and going. Absolute silence beyond the three levels is the silence after AUM. It also refers to Tripura, the one who live in the "three cities" as in Mahamrityunjaya Mantra, as well as the light referred to in Gayatri Mantra.
Namah/Namaha: Adoration, homage, respect. Nothing is mine (as an individual person); everything is thine (as the Absolute Reality). The three levels of Om, the three worlds of gross, subtle, and causal, along with the three states of waking, dreaming, and deep sleep states of consciousness, as well as the three levels of conscious, unconscious, and subconscious themselves are "not mine" as the true properties of who I really am. Truly, "nothing is mine." Rather, everything, all of these triads is "thine" or the "other" as the Absolute Reality.
Shivaya/Shiva: That Absolute Reality that is the ground out of which the others emerge. It is that "ink," so to speak, that is not separate from the many forms which may appear to manifest or be created from that ink. In the Realization of this, one comes to see that he or she is one and the same with the Absolute Reality. The Mahavakyas, the great utterances, are seen to be true. Shiva (the static or ground) and Shakti (the active or creative) are seen to be one and the same. She (Shakti), while one with Shiva is realized in direct experience as the one in the three worlds (Tripura) outlined in Om.
