Thought for the day

Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.

- Howard Truman (clergy, civil rights activist and mystic)

A prayer for jnyan

This world intrudes, oh Lord
on my joyous contemplation of you.
Our ecstatic love-making it interrupts,
our blissful union it desecrates.

Wipe it away, oh Lord
with one swipe of your mighty hand.
Obliterate, blot it out,
this quivering chimera of dust.

Or else, even better, oh Lord
take me forthright out of it,
this needy body, this wily mind
this maddening beckoning of desire.

Even so, I know, oh Lord
liberation lies in realising that;
rise I must, like a lotus, clean
above the tainting dust, and the dream.

The dawning of truth, oh Lord
I await, when you and I shall be one.
The world will lose its grip on me,
the soul as free as a soul should be.

Thought for the day

"Once mighty waters hurled themselves against rock. And from these two harsh strengths came this most gentle sand." - Anon

Can't say more :) What I will say will just be words. Let the wisdom speak to the wisdom of your soul.

Thought for the day

"Time changes all things: there is no reason why language should escape this universal law.

-Ferdinand de Saussure, linguist (1857-1913)"

The challenge

When I meditate or when I am in a meditative state of mind when not meditating I find that I become silence itself, fearless, unmoved, infinite. Like the calm inside the eye of a storm. It’s almost like I’m a different person. The real me emerges. When I move out of that silence, I become subject to desires, fears, wayward thoughts and emotions, like a leaf tossed about in the storm. The challenge, the moment-by-moment challenge is to stay in that silence, to stay faithful to my true self.

A Banquet of Concise Wisdom

from Vernon Howard

The Dynamic Power of Awareness

The most trivial act becomes dynamic when you attempt it with self-awareness. Whether you are washing the dishes, or painting a table, or simply walking from one room to another, try to be aware of yourself doing just that. Don’t just paint or walk, but be conscious of yourself painting or walking. This detaches you from the dream state in which most people live, it puts you in touch with your energetic centre self. Any action performed with self-awareness becomes inspired.


The Natural Life Is True

A cheery relaxation is man’s natural state, just as nature itself is relaxed. A waterfall is concerned only with being itself, not with doing something it considers waterfall-like. It does not force us to think about it; it does not demand our attention and energy; it does not lean on us for gifts; it asks nothing of us. It simply gives what it is, and lets go at that. And that is why we enjoy its magnificence.

The usual phrase is, “Be yourself.” We are not following this counsel if we are strained and unsure. These are the sour fruits of the carelessly adopted synthetic self.


How To Be One With Life

When a stream approaches a series of rocks, it has no preconceived plans for passing them. It does not see the rocks as opponents or as threats to its own existence. The very fluid nature of water tells it how to rightly meet everything in its path. Let this natural wisdom also be in you. Meet everything with a free and flexible mind which is not tied to past experiences. You will then meet all events without alarm, with quiet progress.


Be True To Yourself

Behave the way you really are, even if it ends a relationship! Never suppress yourself in an effort to influence, hold, or win someone. When we are unreal, so are our rewards. To say this in another way, never behave the way you think the other person wants you to behave, but in the manner you must. Nothing you really need to do or have ever requires a yielding to person or custom.


The Secret To True Happiness

Do not deny yourself the normally nice pleasantries of the world in the belief that they are anti-spiritual. People who do this merely repress themselves, which results in secret bitterness and neurosis. Participate freely in your business and social activities, but do not form attachments to them in an effort to find security.

Also, never try to be more spiritually advanced than you are. That is a painful trap. When you do this, change occurs. However, YOU don’t change anything, it just changes.

Buddha found this secret to true happiness. In the early years of his search he practiced severe self-denial, including fasting. On one occasion he so weakened himself that his friends could hardly pull him out of a raging river. Seeing the folly of exterior exercise, he turned in the right direction - inner insight.


Fascinating Facts About the Richer Life

One of the most persistent of errors is the belief that the spiritual life is separate from our daily life in the home or office. The truly spiritual mind sees no difference in the two. Differences in geography seem to make them different in psychology, but the wise mind sees them as one world. A businessman is doing spiritual work when he refuses to waste his energy in feeling disappointed. At the same time that Ralph Waldo Emerson was writing his victorious philosophies, he was also raising the best commercial apples in his home town of Concord, Massachusetts.


Don’t Be Afraid to Play Through Life

Don;t be afraid to play through life. Retire from heavy thoughts. Take everything with lighthearted wisdom. We are heavy because we think we must make an impression, gain something, be somebody. In spite of what society tells you, you need not be anybody at all in the eyes of men. The only genuine need you have is to be a real human being. Try to see this, try to feel it with all your heart. Then you will know what it means to make the world your plaything.


How Love Creates New Energy

Remember that all energy is a single, unified force. The energy which lifts your left hand is the same energy which makes a carrot grow. The power which whirls through space is the same power by which you observe the mood you are in today. This vast energy is ready to renew whoever makes himself ready of it. We make ourselves ready by refusing to take pleasure in negative emotions, by wanting to know more about life than what we see on the surface.

Love is the full, free and uninterrupted flow of life-energy through your psychic system. It is the river with no dams or whirlpools or broken banks or dividing islands. Love is oneness, wholeness, mental health. This free flow starts by first becoming aware of self-division, and then by dissolving it through spiritual insight.

Copyright SuperWisdom Foundation

The Warrior's Prayer

Beautiful video with soulful music and stirring words!

I especially like the words "In love, I unconditionally accept the evolution of others"

The Warrior's Prayer video

The gentle art of blessing

A lovely video with some beautiful visuals and warm, touching words ...

The gentle art of blessing

in retrospect

there was an avalanche
of feelings
of things that defied words
or labels
behind the facade.

if you would have knocked
just a bit
I would have let it cascade
but you didn’t
so I stood mute behind the door.

what stayed your hand
I wonder
what brewed in the silence
so heavy
how do I calm this avalanche now?

teaching kids to take charge

A truly inspiring, life-changing idea. Be the change.

Teaching kids to take charge

Asia's rise - how and when

Very interesting !!!

Asia's rise - how and when...

a new way to fight corruption

Lots of potential in this one :)))

A new way to fight corruption

a warm embrace that saves lives

A novel idea to save the lives of premature babies in developing countries -

A warm embrace that saves lives

Very inspiring!

Abida sings Kabir

Abida Praveen sings the beautiful poetry of Kabir in her fabulous voice in the album 'Abida sings Kabir' with introduction by Gulzar in his magnetic voice.

Souun toh sapne miloon

Bhala hua meri matki toot re

Saahib mera ek hai


The following are from the album 'Kabir by Abida'

Introduction and Mann Laago (Part 1)

Mann Laago (Part 2)

My skydive at Lake Taupo

Finally, I found the time to upload my skydive video onto YouTube :)))

Click here to watch the video

I loved it so much that I've decided to jump at every turn of the decade, my life decade that is. So the next jump will be when I turn 50. :)))

Vivekananda says ......

There is something behind this world of senses, this world of eternal eating and drinking and talking nonsense, this world of false shadows and selfishness. There is something beyond all books, beyond all creeds, beyond the vanities of the world--and that something is the realization of God within yourself.

- Swami Vivekananda

Talk given at Unity Hall, Hartford (Connecticut), USA, on March 8, 1895

An insight into stillness

When you are in stillness, you’ll observe that the mind is ever ready to launch into turbulence, to analyse, opine, judge, conclude, segregate, fear, hate etc. There is nothing wrong with this. This is the nature of the mind. The mistake we make as divine beings is to forget who we are and to identify with this turbulence mistaking it to be the real thing.

However, if you remain in stillness, it is possible to watch this mental activity without identifying with it. Then a tremendous compassion opens up and we accept the mind with its incessant activity and the body with its needs. Then when we extend this to everyone else we realise that just as in ourselves, the mind is creating turbulence in everyone else and then we feel the same compassion and acceptance towards all.

Waking from the dream

We are just a dream in the consciousness of the Great Spirit. When the Spirit wants to manifest, we are born. From then on until we die we acquire things, a personality, opinions, concepts, knowledge, a sense of ‘I’ as being separate (ego), possessions which we think belong to us. All of which arises in the mind. But we are so immersed in the dream, everything has a sense of solidity, of reality, but which, however, is not the real thing. All this gets wiped out when the form dies, when the spirit consciousness departs from the manifested form.

In short, we are all dreamers, in a dream world we have dreamt up.

But who is doing the dreaming? That who we really are. Divinity. But whilst we are caught up in the dream we cannot realise that. We need to step back from the dream and realise the deceptiveness of it. But we cannot do that with the mind because the mind is where the dream is taking place. Happiness and misery, loss and gain, success and failure etc are all happening in the dream. In order to awaken, the mystics say, we must drop the mind and in the space that opens up, truth is revealed.

Mind you, all of the above are approximations because words are approximations and cannot adequately convey anything approaching truth. I guess we have to find out for ourselves. In silence.

Day 11 - National Park to Wellington

Well, my holiday has almost come to an end. When I wake up I lie in bed thinking about the past 10 days and how much fun it has been. So many firsts in just one trip, that thought itself is enough to make me feel alive and enthusiastic :) I guess the feeling comes from the novelty of it all, going to places you’ve never been to, doing things you’ve always wanted to do, each moment is new and a surprise, your senses are alert to all the new experiences. When we come back to our normal routine life, that sense of novelty is lost, things are routine, habit reigns and we feel ennui. Therefore, holidays are good for us, they recharge our batteries, clearing our minds of junk and injecting fresh thought.

A 320 kms drive lies ahead of me and I decide to take it slowly. I want to savour these last hours on the road, these last moments of my wonderful trip. After I leave the desert like landscape of the environs around Mt.Ruapehu, the scenery becomes green again, and as I turn around corners I suddenly glimpse the white-streaked slopes of Mt. Ruapehu rising in the distance. I decide to stop next to a meadow to take some pictures and when I get out of the car I realise it’s one of the most beautiful scenes I’ve seen so far. The whole scene is lit up with light. The sunlight lies sparkling on the grass, the rounded undulating mounds are speckled with yellow wild flowers nodding merrily in the breeze. Sheep graze placidly behind the fences and wild grass wave their bushy heads at the wind. In the far distance, a dark green swathe of pine trees grow tall and above it all Mt. Ruapehu rises, imposing and silent. After I’ve taken my fill of pictures, I just stand there and drink in the scene allowing the serenity to settle into my bones.


I stop wherever I can, at Waioru, at the Rations café, for a cup of tea and a slice of lemon cake. Waioru has an army outpost, hence maybe the café is called Rations Cafe. There is an army tank outside and little boys are having a great time climbing onto it and pretending to be soldiers. With their dads keeping a watchful eye. A nice father-son bonding moment. I watch the kiddos for a while, it’s very interesting watching kid dynamics at play. How the emerging personalities develop and how they interact. Then it’s time to take to the road again.

After the hills and valleys and winding roads, I’m now driving in flat country. The horizon disappears in a haze on all sides and the road lies straight and flat. Hence this area is called the Horizons Region. I am tempted to take a detour to Whanganui town, where the Wanganui river meets with the sea. Plying on the river is the popular paddle-boat steamer Waimarie which was established in 1900 and is the last remaining boat of a fleet that used to ply the river carrying stuff up and down back in the old days. This river cruise is one of the main attractions for this area. But I decide to give it a miss and carry on straight ahead.

Driving solo on these roads gives me plenty of opportunity to ponder and contemplate. There have been so many firsts on this incredible journey it amazes me to think that what started as a whim turned out into this fantastic experience. I realise it’s never too late to do stuff. Age is just a barrier in the mind, in fact all barriers are in the mind. The spirit is free and willing. Always. After my sky-dive, I learnt that the oldest person to sky-dive was 91 and the youngest was 5. What must have the 91-year old been thinking? That why not do it, he’s got one foot in the grave anyway? But don’t we all have a foot in the grave? Do we know our expiry date? What then prevents us from living life to the fullest?

I realise that all our actions are motivated by just two things. Either Love or Fear. We do things out of love or out of fear. Even a simple, mundane act as brushing our teeth even though done out of habit is being done because we love our body and don’t want out teeth to rot and fall off. Look closely at every one of your actions and you’ll find that either one of these is the main motivator. So why not do everything with love, after all that is the highest energy vibration in the universe. Why do anything out of fear, why not banish fear entirely from our lives, and live as if everything is possible. Because, everything IS possible.

I also think of all the people who helped me during this trip, most of them total strangers. I think if we approach people with innocence and trust, most of the time you get trust and kindness in return. But growing up in a tough city like Bombay, I was forced to learn to watch my back and to distrust people. Obviously, mistrust comes from fear and trust from love. It takes a whole heap of courage to keep trusting even after you’ve been let down.

I also learnt that having faith in the universe works. After all, if the Universe can hurtle the planets around and create the galaxies, it can be trusted to make a few dolphins appear near a boat or to bring up good weather for driving. You only have to ask and trust. And hey and presto, it happens.

I stop next at Levin, where there is a rest area. A playground sits in a largish area and sometimes a toy train runs through it. There is also a dining area with a microwave oven and hot water for tea/coffee. I heat the food I’m carrying, take it outside and eat while watching the kids playing. The weather has been pleasant, warm with a nice breeze blowing.

Wellington is not too far now and shortly I reach the Kapiti coast, just north of Wellington. Kapiti has a few beaches along the coast and is a popular weekend destination for Wellingtonians. There is a little stretch where the road is close to the sea and inclines downwards. So you get a good view of the beach from a height and then after a while, you’re driving alongside the coast, the breakers smashing against the rocks.

And after a short while I’m home after a memorable vacation. The odometer says the car travelled 2820 kms. Gosh! That sounds huge! Maybe I even stretched the car’s limits. :) In so many ways it was awesome, fulfilling and a journey of self-discovery. I feel as if I am cradled in the safe, loving hands of the Universe. In the last 11 days I’ve learnt so much, grown so much, enjoyed so much, for which all I feel an immense gratitude towards the Universe.

Day 10 - Waitomo to National Park

I wake up to the dawn chorus. In the perfect silence the birdsong rises loud and clear. I cannot lie in bed today because the lodge is a bed and breakfast place and Janet had informed me that breakfast is from 7.45 to 8.45. So I make myself a cup of tea and go outside. Being summer, the sun has risen early and sunlight is swathed over everything, the hills, the rooftops, the road. Trees sparkle and the cows in the hills are silhouetted perfectly in the bright light. One cow says ‘mooo...’ and another replies ‘mooooo...’ I’m sure they understand each other even though I do not. Somewhere close at hand a sheep goes ‘baaah, baaaaah’. My city-dweller heart goes rapt with delight. I feel rested but alive. This is how one should begin one’s day, I think, at peace and living every minute keenly, deeply. I wonder how to keep this aliveness alive always. It could be that living among nature brings down our barriers, our masks, and connects us with the source that lies within all.

The other guests are having breakfast already and Janet and Colin go from table to table chatting. They are such a nice couple, no airs, very helpful and friendly. I compliment Colin for his cookies that he has left in the room. And Janet helps me to find things-to-do at the National Park, which is my next stopover. On my way out I discover that they have a little lily pond with orange fishes in it and around this a veggie garden. Broccoli, brussels sprouts, onions, berries, growing cheerily in the sun, looking healthy and delicious :)


Then I start a 2 hour drive to the National Park. On the way I stop at a small town for a break and see a restaurant that has been built into a railway carriage. I wonder how it would be inside. I should have gone inside and had a look.


As I get closer Mt.Raupehu rises majestically in the distance. This is the highest peak in the North Island and in winter is covered in snow. There is a twin peak called and both mountains are popular ski-fields. After I check in at the YHA hostel I enquire about the activities I can do. This is the only place where I hadn’t thought beforehand about what to do, so I’m a bit at a loose end. Ann, the lady at the counter suggests the I take the ski-lifts up to almost the top because it’s too late to start climbing. Little does she know that I have absolutely no intention to climb :)

So I have lunch and drive the 9 kms to the foothills of the mountain, to take the ski-lifts. The ski-lifts are mainly used during the skiing season to take skiers up to the top so that they can come skiing down the icy slopes. Non-skiers like me, however, go up and come down in the ski-lifts itself :) Most of the snow on Mt. Raupehu has melted away in the summer and only small streaks still cling to the top reaches of the mountain. The mountain looks so much different without the snow. During winter it is a white fairyland, snow on everything including the housetops and bushes and even the foothills and it all looks like a picture postcard. Now, it is all rocks and gravel, in various shades of brown and grey. This transformation is amazing and hard to take in at first. Even the houses look drab and dark.


I take the ski-lift which is really an open chair suspended on a metal rope attached to the supporting ropes being rotated by a pulley system. As it takes off and my feet lose their contact with the ground, I must admit that I feel little bouts of fright. But once you get used to being suspended in mid-air by a flimsy looking rope it starts to become fun. As I climb higher the air gets colder and Mt.Raupehu gets closer. Somewhere along the way a waterfall hangs, singing spritely among the silent rocks, splashing down all the melted ice.


I reach the end of the lift system and get off. Getting off is tricky because the lift doesn’t actually stop, just slows down, so you have to hop off and move to the side else, it’ll come and hit you. There are only a few people around as most are either climbing up or down using their muscle power. My muscles are still complaining after yesterday’s cave adventure so I feel no temptation to join them. :) But I climb a few rocks to where the snow line begins. The snow lies in patches against the rock face and when I take up a handful I find they are actually tiny ice crystals. They feels crunchy and start melting due to the warmth of my hand and forms a ball when I press them together. Nice feeling! I then settle down on a rock and just gaze at the half-snowy landscape.

The silence of the mountains are of a different quality. Since there are not much living things around, the silence actually emanates from the rocks, the snow and hangs in the air. It is not a pulsating kind of silence but a deep brooding one. I breathe it in, into my inner spaces. It is no wonder that the Maori consider Mt.Raupehu to be sacred, there is a sacredness in the inscrutable rocky face, the impenetrability, the awesomeness of its size that makes man seem so fragile and so puny.

The rock formation where I’m sitting is crater like with a huge bowl like depression in the mountain surface and people have make tracks for slides, for sliding down on their backsides. Shortly after, a family arrives who discovers these and proceed to whoopee down the tracks on their bottoms. It seems like fun but I feel in the least inclined to get my bottom cold and by pants wet. So I watch as more and more people arrive and take to the slides. It is interesting watching people’s reactions during this their little adventure. The young enjoy it thoroughly, taking the bumps and the excitement in their stride, the older ones look a bit self-conscious and a little apprehensive and do not do as many repeats as the young ones.

Having lost the silence in the air and growing tired of the human activity I take the ski-lifts back down. The view while coming down in panoramic. The plains are spread out on all sides parts of it simmering green in the distance. For the main part, however, it is brown, especially the foothills and the desert around the mountains. The desert here is not made of sand but of dwarf bushes and dry grass which looks sparse but still has a strange stark beauty to it.

Back at my room which is on the first floor I find on looking out of the window, a couple of young people sunbathing on the grass. They have put up a little tent on the grass and I wonder if they are going to spend the night in it. I am amazed at the Europeans. They leave behind comfortable homes, with cosy beds and heating and spend days living in tents with hardly any basic amenities, while most of the people in the Third World are trying to acquire just the conditions these folks have left behind. Hmmmmm....

When I look out of the other window I see much to my surprise Mt.Raupehu looking serene far in the distance. I had not realised that I had such a good view of the mountain from my window. If only all surprises in life are pleasant ones like this :)))


Bath and dinner over, I’m ready to rest for the day. This has been a quiet day spent in much reflection and contemplation.