And gently she flows ...

.. a blue, benign beauty with laughter on her lips, bubbles in her hair and sparkles in her steps. Pulled mesmerisingly by the sea, sometimes fast and rapid, yet at other times placid, almost still, gently she flowed. And I fell for her charms all over again.

Now that I am back, I am out on my walks again and today the river calls me towards it. The sun is inching its way slowly towards the horizon having graced the day in an almost cloudless sky. But now as I walk, it hides its glare behind white cottony clouds casting a surreal light on everything.

The park is sparkling green and heavy with grass. I feel the resistible urge to go and roll in it, to feel its soft, cool touch and smell its grassy fragrance. But no, the river is waiting and I  must go to its side before the sun dips over the horizon. 

The river as you can imagine flows in a valley that has formed between hills and throughout the year, the rain run-off from the hills gather in streams and flow towards the river. Near the point where it meets the river, all the streams converge and this stream flows between a grassy embankment, finally meeting the river in a gorgeous little waterfall.

Finally, I reach the river itself, a blue beauty sparkling between green banks. I walk down the pebbly path and sit down by the river side and let out a deep sigh. It’s been long since I have seen her and experienced her serenity, joy and exuberance.

A duck paddles by, swimming hard against the current. Bubbles float and pop into the crisp air. Birds coming home to roost call from the trees on the banks. I dip my hands into the water, it is cool and refreshing.

Soon, the shadows lengthen as the sun prepares to bid adieu. As a farewell gift, it splatters its gold onto the waters, and the river is now as a radiant bride with gold on its body and rose on its trim.

As I head back home, everything is draped in the golden orange of the sunset sky. The houses perched on the hills sparkle with reflected sunlight and even the hush in the air is golden.

I bid adieu to the river, now darkening under the azure sky and take one last shot of a beauty that is everlasting and that never fails to gladden my heart.

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross quotes

"It is very important that you only do what you love to do. you may be poor, you may go hungry, you may lose your car, you may have to move into a shabby place to live, but you will totally live. And at the end of your days you will bless your life because you have done what you came here to do. Otherwise, you will live your life as a prostitute, you will do things only for a reason, to please other people, and you will never have lived. and you will not have a pleasant death.”

“The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.” 



“There is within each one of us a potential for goodness beyond our imagining; for giving which seeks no reward; for listening without judgment; for loving unconditionally.” 



“Learn to get in touch with the silence within yourself and know that everything in this life has a purpose.” 
“Everything in this life has a purpose, there are no mistakes, no coincidences.” 


― Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

Trust and acceptance

I decided some years ago that instead of trusting another to be what I thought they should be, when I trusted them implicitly to always be exactly who they are with what they have at all times in every moment, I was never disappointed and never lost trust or loving feelings .....

~ Kristal McVicar on FB

Dignity

Dignity does not mean sticking to social norms, it is the fragrance that arises from a pure and noble soul.

- lines from the film Pranayam by Blessy

Freedom

"A superficial freedom to wander aimlessly here and there, to taste this or that, to take a choice of distractions (in Pascal's sense) is simply a sham. It claims to be a freedom of “choice” when it has evaded the basic task of discovering who it is that chooses. It is not free because it is unwilling to face the risk of self-discovery.

The free man is the one whose choices have given him the power to stand on his own feet and determine his own life according to the higher light and spirit that are in him. The slave, in the spiritual order, is the man whose choices have destroyed all spontaneity in him and have delivered him over, bound hand and foot, to his own compulsions, idiosyncrasies and illusions, so that he never does what he really wants to do, but only what he has to do."

~ Thomas Merton

Oneness

"There are people one meets in books or in life whom one does not merely observe, meet, or know. A deep resonance of one's entire being is immediately set up with the entire being of the other (Cor ad cor loquitur)—heart speaks to heart in the wholeness of the language of music; true friendship is a kind of singing." 

~Thomas Merton

Marianne Williamson quotes

Inner peace doesn't come from getting what we want, but from remembering who we are.

The spiritual path is a journey of surrendering who we aren't in order to experience who we are.

 

30-day "Blessing Way Challenge"

This is a 30-day " Blessing Way Challenge". If you accept the challenge, you will practice these four steps diligently every day for the next 30 days. After that, you will notice how much better your life has become, in every aspect, and you will practice them for Life!

To accept this challenge, make a commitment to following these four steps for a period of not less than 30 days.:

1. I will suspend all judgment and will, instead, bless every person and situation I encounter, both those I physically meet and those that simply come to mind.

2. I will actively search for the blessing in every circumstance and in those times when none can be found, I will trust that the blessing will be revealed when the time is right.

3. I will daily express an attitude of gratitude, for all the blessings in my life, even those I cannot see.

4. Whenever I feel stressed, pressed or confused, I will take a Blessing Breather, quieting my mind for a moment and focusing only on my breath, breathing deeply and slowly. With each inhalation, I will mentally affirm "I am so blessed" and with each exhalation, I will mentally affirm "I am a blessing to the world," repeating the process at least three times and allowing my body to relax completely before returning to the task at hand.

I understand that in accepting this challenge, there is a distinct possibility that my life will be forever changed for the better.

I am willing to take the risk.

~~~

Source : Internet

Pain

If you feel hurt, know that there is a way through it. Know that you will only deepen yourself and your world if you allow the pain to be there so that you can heal it. Go with it instead of fighting it. “The cure for pain is in the pain." 

– Rumi

Be

I am a leaf
Be a Branch
nourish me

I am grass
Be Earth
hold me maternally

I am a mermaid
Be the Ocean
channel me safely

I am a wave
Be the wind
caress me afar

I am a bee
Be nectar
rejuvenate me

I am me
Simply Be you
we can Be Free.

~ Dr.Deena Sadik on FB

Joy, unadulerated

priceless ...

Do good and forget

Millions of trees in the world are accidentally planted by squirrels who bury the nuts and then forgot where they hid them.

"Do good and forget".

Source : FB

Love is Being

by Native American poet Janet Marie Rogers

I would not pretend
to be someone I’m not
to make you love me
for fear
you may love
the illusion
more than me.

Love is BEING
listening to silence
content in our skin
knowing we are
the very thing
that Created us
in love.

Unsaid

So much of what we live goes on inside–
The diaries of grief, the tongue-tied aches
Of unacknowledged love are no less real
For having passed unsaid. What we conceal
Is always more than what we dare confide.
Think of the letters that we write our dead. 

~ Dana Gioia

Words

The world does not need words. It articulates itself
in sunlight, leaves, and shadows. The stones on the path
are no less real for lying uncatalogued and uncounted.
The fluent leaves speak only the dialect of pure being.
The kiss is still fully itself though no words were spoken.

And one word transforms it into something less or other--
illicit, chaste, perfunctory, conjugal, covert.
Even calling it a kiss betrays the fluster of hands
glancing the skin or gripping a shoulder, the slow
arching of neck or knee, the silent touching of tongues.

Yet the stones remain less real to those who cannot
name them, or read the mute syllables graven in silica.
To see a red stone is less than seeing it as jasper--
metamorphic quartz, cousin to the flint the Kiowa
carved as arrowheads. To name is to know and remember.

The sunlight needs no praise piercing the rainclouds,
painting the rocks and leaves with light, then dissolving
each lucent droplet back into the clouds that engendered it.
The daylight needs no praise, and so we praise it always--
greater than ourselves and all the airy words we summon.   

~ Dana Gioia

Emptiness

Emptiness is a mode of perception, a way of looking at experience. It adds nothing to and takes nothing away from the raw data of physical and mental events. You look at events in the mind and the senses with no thought of whether there's anything lying behind them.

This mode is called emptiness because it's empty of the presuppositions we usually add to experience to make sense of it: the stories and world-views we fashion to explain who we are and the world we live in.

Although these stories and views have their uses, the Buddha found that some of the more abstract questions they raise — of our true identity and the reality of the world outside — pull attention away from a direct experience of how events influence one another in the immediate present. Thus they get in the way when we try to understand and solve the problem of suffering.

Say for instance, that you're meditating, and a feeling of anger toward your mother appears. Immediately, the mind's reaction is to identify the anger as "my" anger, or to say that "I'm" angry.

It then elaborates on the feeling, either working it into the story of your relationship to your mother, or to your general views about when and where anger toward one's mother can be justified.

The problem with all this, from the Buddha's perspective, is that these stories and views entail a lot of suffering. The more you get involved in them, the more you get distracted from seeing the actual cause of the suffering: the labels of "I" and "mine" that set the whole process in motion. As a result, you can't find the way to unravel that cause and bring the suffering to an end.

If, however, you can adopt the emptiness mode — by not acting on or reacting to the anger, but simply watching it as a series of events, in and of themselves — you can see that the anger is empty of anything worth identifying with or possessing.

As you master the emptiness mode more consistently, you see that this truth holds not only for such gross emotions as anger, but also for even the most subtle events in the realm of experience.

This is the sense in which all things are empty. When you see this, you realize that labels of "I" and "mine" are inappropriate, unnecessary, and cause nothing but stress and pain. You can then drop them. When you drop them totally, you discover a mode of experience that lies deeper still, one that's totally free.

To master the emptiness mode of perception requires training in firm virtue, concentration, and discernment. Without this training, the mind tends to stay in the mode that keeps creating stories and world views. And from the perspective of that mode, the teaching of emptiness sounds simply like another story or world view with new ground rules.

In terms of the story of your relationship with your mother, it seems to be saying that there's really no mother, no you. In terms of your views about the world, it seems to be saying either that the world doesn't really exist, or else that emptiness is the great undifferentiated ground of being from which we all came to which someday we'll all return.

These interpretations not only miss the meaning of emptiness but also keep the mind from getting into the proper mode. If the world and the people in the story of your life don't really exist, then all the actions and reactions in that story seem like a mathematics of zeros, and you wonder why there's any point in practicing virtue at all.

If, on the other hand, you see emptiness as the ground of being to which we're all going to return, then what need is there to train the mind in concentration and discernment, since we're all going to get there anyway?

And even if we need training to get back to our ground of being, what's to keep us from coming out of it and suffering all over again?

So in all these scenarios, the whole idea of training the mind seems futile and pointless. By focusing on the question of whether or not there really is something behind experience, they entangle the mind in issues that keep it from getting into the present mode.

Now, stories and world views do serve a purpose.

The Buddha employed them when teaching people, but he never used the word emptiness when speaking in these modes. He recounted the stories of people's lives to show how suffering comes from the unskillful perceptions behind their actions, and how freedom from suffering can come from being more perceptive. And he described the basic principles that underlie the round of rebirth to show how bad intentional actions lead to pain within that round, good ones lead to pleasure, while really skillful actions can take you beyond the round altogether.

In all these cases, these teachings were aimed at getting people to focus on the quality of the perceptions and intentions in their minds in the present — in other words, to get them into the emptiness mode. Once there, they can use the teachings on emptiness for their intended purpose: to loosen all attachments to views, stories, and assumptions, leaving the mind empty of all greed, anger, and delusion, and thus empty of suffering and stress. And when you come right down to it, that's the emptiness that really counts.

By Thanissaro Bhikkhu. Access to Insight

Coming from within

We are often encouraged to turn our backs on those who do not "resonate".

May I suggest "they" are rejecting some aspect of you, perhaps a new belief or recent change, and you are simply returning the favor and perpetuating the cycle of rejection, not creating a new cycle of love. 

We only ever feel compelled to reject that which we feel is rejecting us (our ideas, our beliefs, our confidence) and we are only sensing rejection to begin with because we are rejecting ourselves on some level. We are not holding our power. We are not secure with our beliefs, and feel fragile. 

When you can hold steady in your convictions without needing to have all agree with you or share them, you are on the path to Unconditional Love - for self first - then all others. Rejection is an energy that will self perpetuate, continue to attract itself and its justification until we learn to accept and love it all.

All begins and ends within.

~ Kristal McVicar on FB

The Noble Eightfold Path

The Noble Eightfold Path describes the way to the end of suffering, as it was laid out by Siddhartha Gautama. It is a practical guideline to ethical and mental development with the goal of freeing the individual from attachments and delusions; and it finally leads to understanding the truth about all things.
Together with the Four Noble Truths it constitutes the gist of Buddhism. Great emphasis is put on the practical aspect, because it is only through practice that one can attain a higher level of existence and finally reach Nirvana. The eight aspects of the path are not to be understood as a sequence of single steps, instead they are highly interdependent principles that have to be seen in relationship with each other.


1. Right View

Right view is the beginning and the end of the path, it simply means to see and to understand things as they really are and to realise the Four Noble Truth. As such, right view is the cognitive aspect of wisdom. It means to see things through, to grasp the impermanent and imperfect nature of worldly objects and ideas, and to understand the law of karma and karmic conditioning.
Right view is not necessarily an intellectual capacity, just as wisdom is not just a matter of intelligence. Instead, right view is attained, sustained, and enhanced through all capacities of mind. It begins with the intuitive insight that all beings are subject to suffering and it ends with complete understanding of the true nature of all things. Since our view of the world forms our thoughts and our actions, right view yields right thoughts and right actions.


2. Right Intention

While right view refers to the cognitive aspect of wisdom, right intention refers to the volitional aspect, i.e. the kind of mental energy that controls our actions. Right intention can be described best as commitment to ethical and mental self-improvement. Buddha distinguishes three types of right intentions:
1. the intention of renunciation, which means resistance to the pull of desire, 2. the intention of good will, meaning resistance to feelings of anger and aversion, and 3. the intention of harmlessness, meaning not to think or act cruelly, violently, or aggressively, and to develop compassion.


3. Right Speech

Right speech is the first principle of ethical conduct in the eightfold path. Ethical conduct is viewed as a guideline to moral discipline, which supports the other principles of the path. This aspect is not self-sufficient, however, essential, because mental purification can only be achieved through the cultivation of ethical conduct.
The importance of speech in the context of Buddhist ethics is obvious: words can break or save lives, make enemies or friends, start war or create peace. Buddha explained right speech as follows: 1. to abstain from false speech, especially not to tell deliberate lies and not to speak deceitfully, 2. to abstain from slanderous speech and not to use words maliciously against others, 3. to abstain from harsh words that offend or hurt others, and 4. to abstain from idle chatter that lacks purpose or depth. Positively phrased, this means to tell the truth, to speak friendly, warm, and gently and to talk only when necessary.


4. Right Action

The second ethical principle, right action, involves the body as natural means of expression, as it refers to deeds that involve bodily actions. Unwholesome actions lead to unsound states of mind, while wholesome actions lead to sound states of mind.
Again, the principle is explained in terms of abstinence: right action means 1. to abstain from harming sentient beings, especially to abstain from taking life (including suicide) and doing harm intentionally or delinquently, 2. to abstain from taking what is not given, which includes stealing, robbery, fraud, deceitfulness, and dishonesty, and 3. to abstain from sexual misconduct. Positively formulated, right action means to act kindly and compassionately, to be honest, to respect the belongings of others, and to keep sexual relationships harmless to others. Further details regarding the concrete meaning of right action can be found in the Precepts.


5. Right Livelihood

Right livelihood means that one should earn one's living in a righteous way and that wealth should be gained legally and peacefully. The Buddha mentions four specific activities that harm other beings and that one should avoid for this reason: 1. dealing in weapons, 2. dealing in living beings (including raising animals for slaughter as well as slave trade and prostitution), 3. working in meat production and butchery, and 4. selling intoxicants and poisons, such as alcohol and drugs. Furthermore any other occupation that would violate the principles of right speech and right action should be avoided.


6. Right Effort

Right effort can be seen as a prerequisite for the other principles of the path. Without effort, which is in itself an act of will, nothing can be achieved, whereas misguided effort distracts the mind from its task, and confusion will be the consequence. Mental energy is the force behind right effort; it can occur in either wholesome or unwholesome states. The same type of energy that fuels desire, envy, aggression, and violence can on the other side fuel self-discipline, honesty, benevolence, and kindness. Right effort is detailed in four types of endeavours that rank in ascending order of perfection: 1. to prevent the arising of unarisen unwholesome states, 2. to abandon unwholesome states that have already arisen, 3. to arouse wholesome states that have not yet arisen, and 4. to maintain and perfect wholesome states already arisen.


7. Right Mindfulness

Right mindfulness is the controlled and perfected faculty of cognition. It is the mental ability to see things as they are, with clear consciousness. Usually, the cognitive process begins with an impression induced by perception, or by a thought, but then it does not stay with the mere impression. Instead, we almost always conceptualise sense impressions and thoughts immediately. We interpret them and set them in relation to other thoughts and experiences, which naturally go beyond the facticity of the original impression.
The mind then posits concepts, joins concepts into constructs, and weaves those constructs into complex interpretative schemes. All this happens only half consciously, and as a result we often see things obscured. Right mindfulness is anchored in clear perception and it penetrates impressions without getting carried away. Right mindfulness enables us to be aware of the process of conceptualisation in a way that we actively observe and control the way our thoughts go. Buddha accounted for this as the four foundations of mindfulness: 1. contemplation of the body, 2. contemplation of feeling (repulsive, attractive, or neutral), 3. contemplation of the state of mind, and 4. contemplation of the phenomena.


8. Right Concentration

The eighth principle of the path, right concentration, refers to the development of a mental force that occurs in natural consciousness, although at a relatively low level of intensity, namely concentration. Concentration in this context is described as one-pointedness of mind, meaning a state where all mental faculties are unified and directed onto one particular object.
Right concentration for the purpose of the eightfold path means wholesome concentration, i.e. concentration on wholesome thoughts and actions. The Buddhist method of choice to develop right concentration is through the practice of meditation. The meditating mind focuses on a selected object. It first directs itself onto it, then sustains concentration, and finally intensifies concentration step by step. Through this practice it becomes natural to apply elevated levels concentration also in everyday situations.

~ Gilles Chamboraire on FB

To Be Read In the Interrogative

A great poem by Julio Cortazar.

Have you seen
Have you truly seen
the snow the stars the felt steps of the breeze
Have you touched
really have you touched
the plate the bread the face of that woman you love
so much
Have you lived
like a blow to the head
the flash the gasp the fall the flight
Have you known
known in every pore of your skin
how your eyes your hands your sex your soft heart
must be thrown away
must be wept away
must be invented all over again

Keep me away from ....

“Keep me away from the wisdom which does not cry, the philosophy which does not laugh and the greatness which does not bow before children.”

~ Gibran

Silence becomes us

I rested, gently,
against your presence,
as sunlight would against stone
or wind-whispers against water,
silently.

Into that fragrant space,
we dropped our unsaid words,
as the moon would its beams,
or the gul-mohur its flowers,
soundlessly.

With the silence, they merged
like the river and the sea.
Where were you, where was I?
into the silence we had melted,
willingly.

I found, then,
that the sky had entered me
and stretched for eternity,
and yours was the music that danced,
joyously.

ambar ki ek paak suraahi ...

ambar ki ek paak suraahi
baadal kaa ek jaam uthaa kar
ghut chaadani pi hai humne
baat kufr ki ki hai humne

kaise iss kaa karz chukaaye
maang ke apni maut ke haathon
umr ki suni si hai hamane
baat kufr ki ki hai humne

apnaa iss mein kuchh bhi nahi hai
do dil jalte uski amaanat
usko wahi toh di hai hamane
baat kufr ki ki hai humne

~ Amrita Pritam

Living beyond limits

A most inspiring video talk that will make us rethink our limits. Proves once again that the boundaries that we set for ourselves exist only in our minds.

Living beyond limits

Being still

The western mind is obsessed by doing more and more

restless and constantly on the run

just cannot sit still into being

the grace that descends…

just by being…still

being leads to being

- Swami Rajneesh

Seek not love

“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.” 

~ Rumi

Hidden slavery

"Many a Man thinks he is buying Pleasure, when he is really selling himself a Slave to it".

~ Benjamin Franklin

Are you willing?

What you can do and what you cannot do outside is always a question of capability. 

But when it comes to the inside it is just a question of willingness. 

~ Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev

The Voice of the Rain

by Walt Whitman
(1819-1892)

And who art thou? said I to the soft-falling shower,
Which, strange to tell, gave me an answer, as here translated:
I am the Poem of Earth, said the voice of the rain,
Eternal I rise impalpable out of the land and the bottomless sea,
Upward to heaven, whence, vaguely form'd, altogether changed, and yet the same,
I descend to lave the drouths, atomies, dust-layers of the globe,
And all that in them without me were seeds only, latent, unborn;
And forever, by day and night, I give back life to my own origin,
and make pure and beautify it;
(For song, issuing from its birth-place, after fulfilment, wandering,
Reck'd or unreck'd, duly with love returns.)

Inner light

Let us not waste the precious meditation time thinking over intricacies of the universe.
Instead, we can use that time to keep the mind still so that the soul can come in contact with the inner Light.
By absorption in that Light, the soul will awaken to the truths lying within us.
Then there would be no need for questions, for we will experience for ourselves the truths within.

- Sant Rajinder Singh

Clarity

A mind that sees very clearly does not choose, there is only action
- the lack of clarity comes into being when there is division between the `observer' and the observed.

- Jiddu Krishnamurti

The glass bottle of our ego

When we get out of the glass bottles of our ego, 

and when we escape 

like squirrels turning in the cages of our personality 

and get into the forests again, 

we shall shiver with cold and fright 

but things will happen to us 

so that we don’t know ourselves. 

Cool, unlying life will rush in, 

and passion will make our bodies taut with power,

we shall stamp our feet with new power 

and old things will fall down, 

We shall laugh, and 

institutions will curl up 

like burnt paper.

~ D H Lawrence (1885-1930)

Dealing with criticism

Never allow anyone to rain on your parade. Remember that no talent, no self-denial, no brains, no character, are required to set up in the fault-finding business. Nothing external can have any power over you unless you permit it. Your time is too precious to be sacrificed in combating the menial forces of hate, jealously, and envy. Only God can shape a flower, but any foolish child can pull it to pieces.

~ Og Mandino

Eradicating the delusion of 'I am'

A questioner asked the Buddha:

"I would like to know about the state of peace, the state of solitude and of quiet detachment. How does a person become calm, independent, and not wanting to grasp at anything?"

"A person does this," replied the Buddha, "by eradicating the delusion of 'I am'.

By being alert and attentive, he begins to let go of cravings as they arise.

But whatever he begins to accomplish, he should beware of inner pride.

He must avoid thinking of himself as better than another, or worse or equal, for that is all comparison and emphasizes the self.

The person should look for peace within and not depend on it in any other place.

For when a person is quiet within, the self cannot be found.

There are no waves in the depths of the ocean, it is still and unbroken.

It is the same with the peaceful person.

He is still, without any longing to grasp.

He has let go the foundations of self and no longer build up pride and desire."

-Sutta Nipata

We

You and I
Beloved Being
Fish of One Sea
Birds of One Sky
Souls of One Love
Leaves of One Tree
Drops of One Ocean
Pieces of One Puzzle
Grains of One Desert
Siblings of One Family
Cells of One Organism
Pearls of One Necklace
Beauty of One Divine God
Breathes of One Consciousness.


—Dr. Dheena Sadik 2011

When Death Comes

by Mary Oliver

When death comes

like the hungry bear in autumn;

when death comes and takes all the bright coins from his purse

to buy me, and snaps the purse shut;

when death comes

like the measle-pox

when death comes

like an iceberg between the shoulder blades,

I want to step through the door full of curiosity, wondering:

what is it going to be like, that cottage of darkness?

And therefore I look upon everything

as a brotherhood and a sisterhood,

and I look upon time as no more than an idea,

and I consider eternity as another possibility,

and I think of each life as a flower, as common

as a field daisy, and as singular,

and each name a comfortable music in the mouth,

tending, as all music does, toward silence,

and each body a lion of courage, and something

precious to the earth.

When it's over, I want to say all my life

I was a bride married to amazement.

I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.

When it's over, I don't want to wonder

if I have made of my life something particular, and real.

I don't want to find myself sighing and frightened,

or full of argument.

I don't want to end up simply having visited this world.

~ Mary Oliver

Are you fleeing from Love ...

Are you fleeing from Love because of a single humiliation?
What do you know of Love except the name? 

~ Rumi

Gurudev says ...

The hand that’s all logic is like a knife that’s all blade. it makes the hand bleed that uses it.

~~~

All men and women have poetry in their hearts, and it is necessary for them, as much as possible, to express their feelings.

~~~

Death is not extinguishing the light; it is putting aside the lamp because the dawn has come.

~~~

Do not say “it is morning” and dismiss it with a name of yesterday. See it for the first time as a new-born child that has no name.

~~~

He who wants to do good knocks at the gate, he who loves finds the gate open.

~~~

I have spent my days stringing and unstringing my instrument while the song I came to sing remains unsung.

~~~

I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.

~ Rabindranath Tagore

Saturday stunners

The lion who breaks the enemy's ranks is a minor hero compared to the lion who overcomes himself.

~ Rumi

"God has denied you nothing. Only you can deny yourself."

~ Alan Cohen

In any situation, ask yourself, "What is the gift -- and have I given thanks for it?"
And, "What is the lesson -- and am I learning it?"

~ Marianne Williamson

Inner power

You are innately designed to use your personal power. When you don't, you experience a sense of helplessness, paralysis, and depression-which is your clue that something is not working as it could. As you begin to understand the immense power and love you hold inside, you will find an unending surge of joy, light and love that will nourish and support you all the days of your life.

~ Susan Jeffers

Unrecoverables!

There are 5 things in life you cannot recover: A stone... after it's thrown. A word... after it is said. An occasion... after it's missed. The time... after it's gone. A person... after they die.

Life is short. Break the rules. Forgive quickly. Kiss slowly. Love truly. Laugh uncontrollably and never regret anything that made you smile.

Enjoy Life!

Try this ...

A five-word sentence that could change the world..

"What would love do now...?"

~ Neale Donald Walsch

Hu

(by Sri Aurobindo)

In the blue of the sky, in the green of the forest,

Whose is the hand that has painted the glow?

When the winds were asleep in the womb of the ether,

Who was it roused them and bade them to blow?

He is lost in the heart, in the cavern of Nature,

He is found in the brain where He builds up the thought:

In the pattern and bloom of the flowers He is woven,

In the luminous net of the stars He is caught.

In the strength of a man, in the beauty of woman,

In the laugh of a boy, in the blush of a girl;

The hand that sent Jupiter spinning through heaven,

Spends all its cunning to fashion a curl.

These are His works and His veils and His shadows;

But where is He then? by what name is He known?

Is He Brahma or Vishnu? a man or a woman?

Bodied or bodiless? twin or alone?

We have love for a boy who is dark and resplendent,

A woman is lord of us, naked and fierce.

We have seen Him a-muse on the snow of the mountains,

We have watched Him at work in the heart of the spheres.

We will tell the whole world of His ways and His cunning:

He has rapture of torture and passion and pain;

He delights in our sorrow and drives us to weeping,

Then lures with His joy and His beauty again.

All music is only the sound of His laughter,

All beauty the smile of His passionate bliss;

Our lives are His heart-beats, our rapture the bridal

Of Radha and Krishna, our love is their kiss.

He is strength that is loud in the blare of the trumpets,

And He rides in the car and He strikes in the spears;

He slays without stint and is full of compassion;

He wars for the world and its ultimate years.

In the sweep of the worlds, in the surge of the ages,

Ineffable, mighty, majestic and pure,

Beyond the last pinnacle seized by the thinker

He is throned in His seats that for ever endure.

The Master of man and his infinite Lover,

He is close to our hearts, had we vision to see;

We are blind with our pride and the pomp of our passions,

We are bound in our thoughts where we hold ourselves free.

It is He in the sun who is ageless and deathless,

And into the midnight His shadow is thrown;

When darkness was blind and engulfed within darkness,

He was seated within it immense and alone.

('HU' is the name by which the Sufis call the Divine Presence!)

Gem of the day

What we have once enjoyed we can never lose.
All that we love deeply becomes a part of us.

- Helen Keller 

 

Unforgettable Elephants

Elephant emotions and why they are such wonderful creations

Embracing otherness, embracing myself

Thandie Newton explores the 'self' and how its annihilation can lead to oneness.

Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara Poems

Written by Javed Akhtar. Read slowly and savour, for each is a gem -

Poem 1

Ik baat honton tak hai jo aayi nahin
Bas ankhon say hai jhaankti
Tumse kabhi, mujhse kabhi
Kuch lafz hain woh maangti
Jinko pehanke honton tak aa jaaye woh
Aawaaz ki baahon mein baahein daalke ithlaye woh
Lekin jo yeh ik baat hai
Ahsas hi ahsas hai
Khushboo si hai jaise hawa mein tairti
Khushboo jo be-aawaaz hai
Jiska pata tumko bhi hai
Jiski khabar mujhko bhi hai
Duniya se bhi chupta nahin
Yeh jaane kaisa raaz hai.


Poem 2

Jab jab dard ka baadal chaya
Jab ghum ka saya lehraya
Jab aansoo palkon tak aya
Jab yeh tanha dil ghabraya
Humne dil ko yeh samjhaya
Dil aakhir tu kyun rota hai
Duniya mein yunhi hota hai
Yeh jo gehre sannate hain
Waqt ne sabko hi baante hain
Thoda ghum hai sabka qissa
Thodi dhoop hai sabka hissa
Aankh teri bekaar hi nam hai
Har pal ek naya mausam hai
Kyun tu aise pal khota hai
Dil aakhir tu kyun rota hai


Poem 3

Pighle neelam sa behta ye sama,
neeli neeli si khamoshiyan,
na kahin hai zameen na kahin aasmaan,
sarsaraati hui tehniyaan pattiyaan,
keh raheen hai bas ek tum ho yahan,
bas main hoon,
meri saansein hain aur meri dhadkanein,
aisi gehraiyaan, aisi tanhaiyaan,
aur main… sirf main.
Apne hone par mujhko yakeen aa gaya.


Poem 4

Dilon me tum apni betabiyan leke chal rahe ho, toh zinda ho tum
Nazar me khwaabon ki bijliyan leke chal rahe ho, toh zinda ho tum
Hawa ke jhokon ke jaise aazad rehna sekho
Tum ek dariya ke jaise lehron mein behna sekho
Har ek lamhe se tum milo khole apni baahein
Har ek pal ek naya sama dekhe nigahein
Jo apni ankhon mein hairaniyan leke chal rahe ho, toh zinda ho tum
Dilon mein tum apni betabiyan leke chal rahe ho, toh zinda ho tum

Innocent, doomed and dying

They too deserve a life ......

Maybe we can help by spreading the word, by giving them a voice ......

KISS

Keep it Simple and Spiritual!

Always come from the Loving Field of your Heart! Simplicity rises in Authenticity.

~ Ray Ash on FB

Saturday sparklers :)

Will Rogers, who died in a 1935 plane crash, was one of the greatest political sages America has ever known. Here's an example of his western wit -

- Never slap a man who's chewing tobacco.

- Never kick a cow chip on a hot day.

- There are two theories to arguing with a woman. Neither works.

- Always drink upstream from the herd.

- If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.

- The quickest way to double your money is to fold it and put it back into your pocket.

- There are three kinds of men: The ones that learn by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence and find out for themselves.

- Good judgment comes from experience and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.

- If you're riding ahead of the herd, take a look back every now and then to make sure it's still there.

- Lettin' the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier'n puttin it back.

- Long ago, when men cursed and beat the ground with sticks, it was called witchcraft. Today it's called golf.

And finally,
- After eating an entire bull, a mountain lion felt so good he started roaring. He kept it up until a hunter came along and shot him. The moral is . . . . . When you're full of bull, keep your mouth shut.

:)

Transformation

The giving up of personality traits, well-established patterns of behavior, ideologies, and even whole life styles...these are major forms of giving up that are required if one is to travel very far on the journey of life.

Self-Observation is itself the Beginning of Transformation

(source - FB)

Being here, now ...

There is nothing like finality to bring one into awareness and bring the present into focus. Ever since I decided to leave India and go back Down Under, I have found that the present has come into startling focus. So far, all the sights and sounds around me which to my ordered mind seemed like so much crazy chaos, now feels like glorious chaos. I go outside and revel in the variety, the multiplicity, the aliveness of life being lived out in a large disorganized city.

When I am driving, the guy who cuts into my path does not bother me anymore, I let him get his way. I wait for pedestrians to cross, cyclists to take their time and I desist from trying to teach insouciant auto-drivers lessons in safe-driving. I no longer expect courtesy from bus and lorry drivers and wait at traffic signals patiently, happily watching the swirling mass of human and vehicular (and sometimes animal) traffic dancing a gay dance of bedlam, before plunging into said bedlam with gay abandon when the lights change. Even in matters of relating to others on the personal front, things that used to disappoint or bother me before, I now view with fond acceptance. I make lists of things I must do before I leave, things I must relish one last time.

I believe, this change has come about due to the often sub-conscious and occasionally conscious thought that very soon this will not be a part of my life anymore. This single thought has changed my responses from suffering (non-acceptance) and indifference to acceptance and enjoyment.  

I guess, death too has the same effect. If we were to be told that we only have a few months to live, then we too would live life in the present, vicariously and thoroughly enjoying and relishing every moment, not sweating the small stuff, not holding on to anything, and accepting every which thing that comes our way, in full knowledge that the human experience we are going through is going to end soon and we have no clue what is going to happen thereafter.

Isn’t this how life should be lived anyway? For who knows which moment will be our last? Does any of us know our expiry date? Shouldn’t we be living as if today is the last day that has been given to us to experience human life? Immensely grateful for each moment, for the chance to express our uniqueness and humaneness in this very moment, in every moment. To live in loving acceptance of ourselves and every other self that crosses our path. To accept and embrace every human foible and flaw, every thought, no matter how dark, every emotion, no matter how painful. To live as though there was no yesterday and no tomorrow, for in reality, there isn’t.

For, the Now is too gloriously alive to be ignored and passed over. As Thoreau put it so well in ‘Walden’, “ In any weather, at any hour of the day or night, I have been anxious to improve the nick of time, and notch it on my stick too; to stand on the meeting of two eternities, the past and future, which is precisely the present moment; to toe that line.” Amen.

INSTALLING SANITY

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44% DONE. Installation failed. 404 error: Sanity not found. The piece of mind you are looking for might have been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable. Please try again...

Footnote : So please beware, I am only partially sane ...

Inception

You can have what you want, do what you dream, and brave what you fear, if you first see it done in your mind.

- Mike Dooley

People

"There are three types of people in the world. Those that can count and those that can't." :)

And, even better -


"There are 10 types of people in the world. The ones who understand binary and the ones who don't."

(pinched from FB :)))

Belief testing ...

A candid look at religions of the world

(I know you will like this one, Genie ..... :)

Rebirth

In the dark cradle of the night
when impish dream sprites play
outrageous, outlandish movies
on mind-screens of men, sleeping.

And a pearly moon hangs there, coy
and serene, allowing herself
to be unclothed and reclothed
by merry, mercurial clouds.

And the day is a germ of a seed
in the womb of the horizon
and is a long way from gestating
into a full-blossomed dawn.

Into my heart, open, unguarded,
you slip in, silent, unbidden.
Would it be pain, that ensuing pang,
or the joy of meeting you anew,

I never could tell. As memories
tumble, tinkling, into that cavern
still raw from the whiplash of parting,
and lit with glowworms of longing.

The music that rises from heartstrings
now troubled into trembling aliveness,
with the searing ecstasy of pain, must
surely awaken the gods from slumber.

But what could they do, those sleeping,
disinclined designers of destiny,
taciturn, tight-lipped, tongue-tied,
who refuse to emerge from mute forms.

As we, unmindful of our power,
flounder through life, with each
stumbling step, seemingly seeking
joy, while fatally courting sorrow.

Until, learn we must, with each
fateful whip-stroke of fate, that
a joyous soul lies waiting, to be
uncovered, owned, embraced.

And so, in the womb of the night,
pain transforms and sprouts wings
and births itself as a splendorous
being, of rapturous, dazzling joy. 

~~~

Breaking surface

Let no one keep you from your journey,

no rabbi or priest, no mother

who wants you to dig for treasures

she misplaced, no father

who won't let one life be enough,

no lover who measures their worth

by what you might give up,

no voice that tells you in the night

it can't be done.

Let nothing dissuade you

from seeing what you see

or feeling the winds that make you

want to dance alone

or go where no one

has yet to go.

You are the only explorer.

Your heart, the unreadable compass.

Your soul, the shore of a promise

too great to be ignored.

~ Mark Nepo

The flight between trapezes

Now that I am faced with yet another change, it has become very clear to me, that my life is not meant to be lived in the comfort zone. I notice that every time I settle down into comfort, circumstances change or events happen that pitchfork me from comfort into chaos. Then for a large period of time, I stumble and curse. I kick and scream and tread water, trying hard not to drown, just simply to remain afloat. Needless to say, over time all this abates and I settle down comfortably into aforesaid and previously markedly uncomfortable circumstances. Then, guess what happens next!

This chain of change and settling in and then change again, I began to find a bit bothersome, until recently I came across a reference to a trapeze jumper. And I thought about how, when a trapeze jumper lets go of the bars that his legs were hitched to and reaches for the hands or bars that will hitch him again, there are a few seconds when he is not supported by anything. This is the time when he is actually flying, in the air, on his own. The little gap when he is greatest at risk of falling and also the time when he is most alive. When he is supported by nothing but grace.

When I apply this analogy to my life, I find that it applies to me too.  For me, one of the stimuli that gives me the experience of feeling alive is change, of facing the unknown, of pitting myself against challenges not certain if I can meet them and yet certain that everything is going to be alright. Risk-taking releases adrenalin, that gives a high, and from time to time, I crave that high.

Change also brings out various hidden facets of my personality or adds new ones by forcing me to acquire skills that I previously didn’t have. Even though the change may sometimes not be to my liking, I like to think that I am evolving with change, growing roots, branches and wings, that it is taking me closer to fulfilling my limitless potential. 

A poem by Mark Nepo

Having loved enough and lost enough,

I'm no longer searching

just opening,

no longer trying to make sense of pain

but trying to be a soft and sturdy home

in which real things can land.

These are the irritations

that rub into a pearl.

So we can talk for a while

but then we must listen,

the way rocks listen to the sea.

And we can churn at all that goes wrong

but then we must lay all distractions

down and water every living seed.

And yes, on nights like tonight

I too feel alone. But seldom do I

face it squarely enough

to see that it's a door

into the endless breath

that has no breather,

into the surf that human

shells call God.

~ Mark Nepo

Accepting this

Yes, it is true. I confess,
I have thought great thoughts,
and sung great songs—all of it
rehearsal for the majesty
of being held.

The dream is awakened
when thinking I love you
and life begins
when saying I love you
and joy moves like blood
when embracing others with love.

My efforts now turn
from trying to outrun suffering
to accepting love wherever
I can find it.

Stripped of causes and plans
and things to strive for,
I have discovered everything
I could need or ask for
is right here —
in flawed abundance.

We cannot eliminate hunger,
but we can feed each other.
We cannot eliminate loneliness,
but we can hold each other.
We cannot eliminate pain,
but we can live a life
of compassion.

Ultimately,
we are small living things
awakened in the stream,
not gods who carve out rivers.

Like human fish,
we are asked to experience
meaning in the life that moves
through the gill of our heart.

There is nothing to do
and nowhere to go.
Accepting this,
we can do everything
and go anywhere.

~ Mark Nepo

Speech

Before you speak, ask yourself,

is it kind,

is it necessary,

is it true,

does it improve on the silence?

~ Sai Baba.

Portrait, unmasked

Come, paint of me, a picture,
devoid of colour and unsmiling,
lest I be known by my smile.

Paint of the butterfly joys
that get crushed by the feet
of soldiers marching to death.

Etch a heart pierced by cries
of children abused, forsaken,
of the unborn, killed in wombs.

Into eyes hollow, fill hopelessness,
ashen lips with the colour of fear,
bruise the face with domestic violence.

Add you must, black, for despair,
white, for searing, blinding pain,
and grey, for crushing loneliness.

Forget not twisted lines of rage,
scavenging ravages of greed,
charred vitriolic holes for hate.

Paint me thus, unmasked,
as I am, naked, a mirror
of the world in all of us.

~~~~~~

The human mind

The human mind is the last great unexplored continent on earth. It contains riches beyond our wildest dreams. It will return anything we want to plant in it.

The human mind is far more fertile, far more incredible and mysterious than land, but it works the same way. It doesn't care what we plant...success...or failure, doubt or faith, trust or mistrust, a concrete, worthwhile goal...or confusion, misunderstanding, fear and anxiety But what we plant must return to us.

~ Earl Nightingale

Genesis

The greatest achievement was at first and for a time a thought.
The oak sleeps in the acorn, the bird waits in the egg,
and in the highest vision of the soul a waking angel stirs.
Thoughts are the seedlings of realities.

~ James Allen

Presence

The most precious gift we can offer others is our presence.
When mindfulness embraces those we love, they will bloom like flowers.

~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Loosely strung

Gulmohars ablaze
in May’s fiery heart,
until rain puts out the fire.

Kohl smudged,
bindi askew,
stolen joy on a drab afternoon.

Anguished agony
through blackest night,
morning bright on golden chariot.

Sparkling dewdrop,
glorious paean,
sung by night to approaching day.

Your last goodbye
was the hardest,
did you have to take hope with you?

If gold was crass,
and silver was brass,
how would we adorn the gods?

The first raindrops
on earth’s parched lips
can you hear the seeds sing?

The first raindrops
on my soul athirst,
is that why I smell of wet earth?

EGO

"Ego is the basic problem, the most basic. And unless you solve it, nothing is solved. Unless ego disappears, the Ultimate cannot penetrate you.

The ego is like a closed door. The guest is standing outside. The guest has been knocking, but the door is closed. Not only is the door closed, but the ego goes on interpreting. It says: ...There is nobody outside, no guest has come, nobody has knocked, just a strong wind is knocking at the door. It goes on interpreting from the inside. without looking at the fact. And the door remains closed. By interpretations, even the possibility of its opening becomes less and less. And a moment comes when you are completely closed in your own ego. Then all sensitivity is lost. Then you are not an opening, and you cannot have a meeting with existence. Then you are almost dead. The ego becomes your grave.

This is the most basic problem. If you solve it, everything is solved. There is no need to seek God. There is no need to seek Truth. If the ego is not there, suddenly everything is found. If the ego is not there you simply come to know that Truth has always been around you, without and within. It was the ego which wouldn’t allow you to see it. It was the ego that was closing your eyes and your being. So the first thing to be understood is what this ego is.

A child is born. A child is born without any knowledge, any consciousness of his own self. And when a child is born the first thing he becomes aware of is not himself. The first thing he becomes aware of is the other. It is natural, because the eyes open outwards; the hands touch others, the ears listen to others, the tongue tastes food and the nose smells the outside. All these senses open outwards.

That is what birth means. Birth means coming into this world, the world of the outside. So when a child is born, he is born into this world. He opens his eyes, sees others. ’Other’ means the thou.

He becomes aware of the mother first. Then, by and by, he becomes aware of his own body. That too is the other, that too belongs to the world. He is hungry and he feels the body; his need is satisfied, he forgets the body. This is how a child grows. First he becomes aware of you, thou, the other, and then by and by, in contrast to you, thou, he becomes aware of himself. This awareness is a reflected awareness. He is not aware of who he is. He is simply aware of the mother and what she thinks about him. If she smiles, if she appreciates the child, if she says: You are beautiful; if she hugs and kisses him, the child feels good about himself.

Now an ego is born. Through appreciation, love, care, he feels he is good, he feels he is valuable, he feels he has some significance. A center is born. But this center is a reflected center. It is not his real being. He does not know who he is. He simply knows what others think about him. And this is the ego: the reflection, what others think. If nobody thinks that he is of any use, nobody appreciates him, nobody smiles, then too an ego is born — an ill ego: sad, rejected, like a wound; feeling inferior, worthless. This too is the ego. This too is a reflection. First the mother — and mother means the world in the beginning — then others will join the mother, and the world goes on growing. And the more the world grows, the more complex the ego becomes, because many others’ opinions are reflected.

The ego is an accumulated phenomenon, a by-product of living with others. If a child lives totally alone, he will never come to grow an ego. But that is not going to help. He will remain like an animal.
That doesn’t mean that he will come to know the real Self, no. The real can be known only through the false, so ego is a must. One has to pass through it. It is a discipline. The real can be known only through the illusion. You cannot know the Truth directly. First you have to know that which is not true. First you have to encounter the untrue. Through that encounter you become capable of knowing the Truth. If you know the false as the false, Truth will dawn upon you.

Ego is a need; it is a social need, it is a social by-product. The society means all that is around you — not you, but all that is around you. All, minus you, is the society, and everybody reflects. You will go to school and the teacher will reflect who you are. You will be in friendship with other children and they will reflect who you are. By and by, everybody is adding to your ego, and everybody is trying to modify it in such a way that you don’t become a problem to the society.

They are not concerned with you. They are concerned with the society. Society is concerned with itself, and that’s how it should be. They are not concerned that you should become a self-knower. They are concerned that you should become an efficient part in the mechanism of the society. You should fit into the pattern. So they are trying to give you an ego that fits with the society. They teach you morality. Morality means giving you an ego which will fit with the society. If you are immoral, you will always be a misfit somewhere or other.

That’s why we put criminals in the prisons — not that they have done something wrong — not that by putting them in the prisons we are going to improve them, no. They simply don’t fit. They are troublemakers. They have certain types of egos of which the society doesn’t approve. If the society approves, everything is good.

One man kills somebody — he is a murderer. And the same man in wartime kills thousands — he becomes a great hero. The society is not bothered by a murder, but the murder should be committed for the society — then it is okay. The society doesn’t bother about morality. Morality means only that you should fit with the society. If the society is at war, then the morality changes. If the society is at peace, then there is a different morality.

Morality is a social politics. It is diplomacy. And each child has to be brought up in such a way that he fits into the society, that’s all. Because society is interested in efficient members. Society is not interested that you should attain to self-knowledge. Society is always against religion. Hence, the crucifixion of Jesus. the murder of Socrates — because they also didn’t fit.

Two types of people don’t fit. One: someone who has developed an anti-social ego; he will never fit. But he can be put on trial. There is that possibility. You can torture that man, you can punish him, and he may come to his senses. The torture may be too much, and he may be converted. Then there is another type of man who is impossible for the society – a Jesus. He is not a criminal, but he has no ego. How can you make a man who has no ego fit? He looks absolutely irresponsible, but he is not. He has a greater commitment to God. He has no commitment to the society.

One who is committed to God doesn’t bother. He has a different depth of morality. It doesn’t come from codes – it comes from his self-knowledge.

But then a problem arises because societies have created their moral codes. Those moral codes are man-made. Whenever a Jesus or a Buddha happens, he doesn’t bother about the man-made conventions. He has a greater commitment; he is involved with the Whole. Each moment he decides his response through his awareness, not through conditioning; so nobody knows about him, about what he will do. He is unpredictable.

Societies can forgive criminals, but they cannot forgive Jesus and Socrates — that’s impossible. And these people are almost impossible. You cannot do anything:about them because they are not wrong. And if you try to understand then, they will convert you — you cannot convert them. So it is better to kill them immediately. The moment the society becomes aware, it kills them immediately because if you listen to them there is danger. If you listen to them, you will be converted.  And there is no possibility of converting them, so it is better to be completely finished, to have no relationship with them. You cannot put them in prisons, because there also they will remain in relationship with the society. They will exist. Just their existence is too much — they have to be murdered."

- Osho