The virtue of this month...

This is the month of punctuality, or of being on time. I would like to think of it, also, as the month of doing things in their appointed time. And by that I mean that while this season is, of all seasons, the season to give, there are others times that aren't overtly celebrated as such. But an hour of need for one person, must be the season of giving for another, no? Perhaps, these quotes then will express both succinctly and beautifully what I wish to convey, and so I share...

--

From the Thirukkural, verse 102:

காலத்தி நாற்செய்த நன்றி சிறிதெனினும்,

ஞாலத்தின் மாணப்பெரிது.

(Help rendered in an hour of need, be it however small, is greater than all the earth in its value.- Thiruvalluvar)

--

Liberality consists rather in giving seasonably than much.

- Jean de La Bruyère

--

A Time for Everything

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace...

--

And finally 'tis the season to be jolly, my dears! Fa la la la la...la la la la! :)

For December...

I am determined to speak truthfully, with words that inspire self-confidence, joy and hope.
--
A very apt note to self I think for the end of the year; to introspect truthfully and to guide all goals and actions to flow from that truth.

For November

With deep faith, we light up the incense of our heart.

For October

'Cherish this very moment. Let go of the stream of distress and embrace life fully in your arms.'

I love this message for living in the present moment and living it to the fullest :) Happy October my dears!

The National Parks-PBS Video
I urge you to watch it. It is a very nicely made video on the breathtakingly beautiful natural wonders in America. Personally, I found the words of John Muir's in finding his spiritual conviction from nature moving and articulated in a way that I might never be able to. Truly, God expresses himself through the mysteries and beauties of nature. To be blessed to see even a bit of it, is to be humbled by the vastness and bounty of it in comparison to our very, very smallness...
I urge you also to spend time deeply communing with nature. :) The experience is unparalleled in bliss and is true communion with God.

For September

Vow to offer joy to one person in the morning, and to help relieve the grief of one person in the afternoon.

For August

With the light of wisdom that we leave behind the forest of confusion.
With determination we learn, reflect and practice.

You've no idea how hard I've looked for a gift to bring You.
Nothing seemed right.
What's the point of bringing gold to the gold mine, or water to the Ocean.
Everything I came up with was like taking spices to the Orient.
It's no good giving my heart and my soul because you already have these.
So- I've brought you a mirror.
Look at yourself and remember me.

- Jalaluddin Rumi

The virtue of each VOTM

Our little VOTM sangha has tried every month to pick a virtue that would help each of us grow in some way, practice a noble quality, take a step closer to a higher reality and learn new ways of giving and loving. Some virtues have been easier to assimilate than have others, for sure. The very process of picking a virtue has been educative- for instance, sometimes, I have wondered if something is even a virtue. For instance, happiness. Or decisiveness (which is the VOTM of July :) btw).
Just struggling with conflicting urges of wanting to express that thought while also wanting to do my best to see how a thing of real value lies buried in applying that month's virtue has been a useful exercise for me. Along the way, understanding what makes a friend resonate deeply with a chosen virtue has helped me understand my friends better too. After all, life's lessons come in many different shapes and forms and this intentional process of picking a virtue has brought with it a new surprise lesson every time!
And this is what I have realized, especially for the selections I've had to make an effort to get my head around.
(Now this might be VOTM 101 for many of you, but for me it was an important realization and hence share I shall.)

What makes a virtue a virtue then? Let me take the example of happiness. At first I had thought to myself surely, this can't be a virtue! I mean, what's to practice?...
It took me a while to recognize that it is what brings forth happiness and indeed, where the true source of it lies- in divine grace- is what imbues happiness with virtue. Digging deep within to identify what brings happiness, what is ephemeral and what is truly lasting, what is a result of our conditioning from a material perspective and what is necessary for our spiritual growth- indeed, that is the virtue of happiness.

Is it not true that the sunlight streaming in through the window every morning makes me sing with utter joy? Indeed, every breath I take is an act of mercy of that Supreme being; the very flowers and birds that bring a smile upon my face, His gift to mankind; the love of family and friends, a blessing most precious, the source of greatest joy. To know happiness then is to know gratitude; it is to know contentment.

Is it not equally true that the things I cherish most cannot be measured or quantified by the sum total of all my worldly possessions? To know happiness then is to know what is material and dispensable and what is of far greater value than that.

Can I deny that in my moments of weakness and fear, it is only prayer that brings me strength and inner peace? Should I not know then that there can be no room for grief when I submit entirely to His will? No room for misery if I recognize courage and acceptance, detachment and wisdom, come from the same eternal being, and from whose love arises true joy and bliss. To know happiness then is to know the most essential truth.

--

You might wonder why I have waxed eloquent on happiness six months after the fact. Well, it is because despite the light bulb going off in my head then, I was seized by the same confusion when it came the turn of decisiveness! God knows, I need to practice it more than anybody. But the virtue part of it still bothered me. Until I remembered what S always said to me about decision analysis and Vedanta being one and the same. And truly it is. A decision cannot be judged based on its outcome but only on how it was made, given the information one had at the time. In some ways, this really brings a very important facet of detachment home. Not just that, efficient decision-making process demands objective reasoning, setting priorities and accepting unknowns. From a spiritual standpoint, if one always remembered to go through, say, a goodness checklist, one should never have an ethical dilemma, yeah? :) In other words, checking for 'good, kind and necessary' is not only a worthwhile gating process for speech, but for every decision that we make. Understanding what makes something good and why there is no exception to being kind at all times and doing this consciously at every turn, can only give greater clarity and conviction and before you know it a decision must emerge! And therein lies the virtue of decisiveness.

For July

"Our appointment with life is in the present moment.'

For June

Thich Nhat Hanh says from my desktop calendar:
'With kind spiritual friends, I am on the path of goodness.'

And so I give thanks to all of you, my dear friends for just being you :)

Change and Trust

The message of trusting that, no matter what, greater good lies ahead was reiterated to me last week in surprising and novel ways. One of them came in the form a book that was being passed around our lab in response to some rapid re-structuring within our business division at work- 'Who moved my cheese'. An incredibly short & simple read, it could easily be included under the category of children's classics. The crux of the book is that change happens, inveitably. The healthy way to deal with it knowing that it will happen, is to anticipate it, trust that it will lead to something better, and gather the skills to deal with whatever that change leads to. At first, I found the comic style story-telling too simplistic, almost dismissing further thinking. Thankfully, I caught that very impulse to dismiss arise and decided to do some further thinking. I am glad I did (and it helps to have wonderful friends who ask that I do no less :), thank you my dears!).

What I came away with after all the ruminating is:

To trust in God means to trust that He would not send any test our way if He did not know that we could overcome them. Trusting is thus an act of supplication to His wisdom and care.

To trust that things will only turn out better is committing to find lessons in every change and test to make ourselves the better for it.

To trust is to remember that we are never lacking for His constant support and guidance.

To trust in God, is to trust one another; to know that He reveals Himself through ordinary miracles and to be open to His signs.

And to trust one another, means to love one another unconditionally and fearlessly.

Appa's words of wisdom for his girls:
Good things happen to us,
Just not in the same dimension we imagined.
So, have faith and give a prayer of thanks!

Faith

Life is no straight and easy corridor along which we travel free and unhampered,

but a maze of passages,

through which we must seek our way,

lost and confused,

now and again checked in a blind alley.

But always, if we have faith,

God will open a door for us,

not perhaps one that we ourselves would have thought of,

but one that will ultimately prove good for us.

- A. J. Cronin

A short story a friend shared today that I found simply wonderful, so here it is for you.

--

An old farmer lived on a farm in the mountains with his young grandson. Each morning, Grandpa was up early sitting at the kitchen table reading his Bhagavat Geeta. His grandson wanted to be just like him and tried to imitate him in every way he could. One day the grandson asked, "Grandpa! I try to read the Bhagawat Geeta just like you but I don't understand it, and what I do understand, I forget as soon as I close the book. What good does reading the Bhagawat Geeta do?"
The Grandfather quietly turned from putting coal in the stove and replied, "Take this coal basket down to the river and bring me back a basket of water."
The boy did as he was told, but all the water leaked out before he got back to the house.
The grandfather laughed and said, "You'll have to move a little faster next time," and sent him back to the river with the basket to try again.
This time the boy ran faster, but again the basket was empty before he returned home. Out of breath, he told his grandfather that it was impossible to carry water in a basket, and he went to get a bucket instead.
The old man said, "I don't want a bucket of water; I want a basket of water. You're just not trying hard enough," and he went out the door to watch the boy try again.
At this point, the boy knew it was impossible, but he wanted to show his grandfather that even if he ran as fast as he could, the water would leak out before he got back to the house. The boy again dipped the basket into river and ran hard, but when he reached his grandfather the basket was again empty.
Out of breath, he said, "SEE.... it is useless!"
"So you think it is useless?" The old man said, "Look at the basket."
The boy looked at the basket and for the first time realized that the basket was different. It had been transformed from a dirty old coal basket and was now clean, inside and out.
"Son, that's what happens when you read the Bhagavat Geeta. You might not understand or remember everything, but when you read it, you will be changed, inside and out. That is the work of Lord Krishna in our lives."

For this, the month of trust, in God, in you,

in all things good and all things true...

http://aftertheafterthought.blogspot.com/2008/07/father-i-place-into-your-hands.html

I had an epiphany in the shower from having shampoo sting my eyes tonight. As my eyes burned unbearably, I only shut it tighter until I realized the cool water finding its way through the tiny openings on the side was only serving to heal it and dilute the irritant out of my eyes. It took me a few seconds to realize I was actually better off letting the water in rather than shutting my eyes shut. Duh! Strange somehow, that in theory I've known this all along, but everytime something falls in my eye, my first instinct is to shut it tight. And make things worse for myself.

And how true that is of learning and growing in general. Tough situations make us, or me, at first want to crawl inside and retreat and wish the problem away. Being open to fresh insight and accepting wisdom, be that from any source, is the the real solution and true cure. And as I reap of that understanding, my willingness to open up and receive the knowledge being shared all around increases rapidly. Well, not really an epiphany, but a reiteration of a basic tenet I suppose, but I thought I'd share. With it, an adage in Tamil that sums this up nicely.

'பாட பாடத்தான் ராகம்; மூட மூடத்தான் ரோகம்.'

(pAda pAdatthAn rAgam; mUda mUdatthAn rOgam)

It roughly translates to, practice makes perfect and denial impedes healing; it is only by repeatedly singing and elaborating on a raag does one appreciate its nuances, and a melody born of it. Conversely, it is by concealing a problem and pretending it doesn't exist that an illness grows and worsens irreversibly.

My learning from yesterday's Satsang:

'Who is an atheist?

One who does not recognize the divine spirit permeating every being, and does not act with kindness towards one and all.'

For May

May we all ponder these lovely words of Thich Nhat Hanh and strive to apply it in our lives:

'May the hearers awaken from forgetfulness and transcend all anxiety and sorrow.'

I cannot think of two beings more aligned in their inner purpose, more joyous in their recognition of the divine spirit that unites them and more giving of that wisdom, joy and peace to everyone who comes their way. To two of my dearest, here's a wish that they may, forever, remain in glorious union, in constant celebration of the spirit that is at the center of their lives. May these words of Rumi echo in every moment of their togetherness...

This Marriage

May these vows and this marriage be blessed.

May it be sweet milk, this marriage, like wine and halvah.

May this marriage offer fruit and shade like the date palm.

May this marriage be full of laughter, our every day a day in paradise.

May this marriage be a sign of compassion,

a seal of happiness here and hereafter.

May this marriage have a fair face and a good name,

an omen as welcomes the moon in a clear blue sky.

I am out of words to describe how spirit mingles in this marriage.

-- Rumi

'The garden of love is green without limit

and yields many fruits other than sorrow or joy.

Love is beyond either condition:

without spring, without autumn, it is always fresh.'

- Rumi

Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections, but instantly set about remedying them - every day begin the task anew.

- Saint Francis De Sales

God Eavesdrops

What an opportunity two hearts have whenever they talk.

For when our words are loving, playful and encouraging,

God cannot help but eavesdrop even more than usual.

And then, of course, the odds increase on the divine being felt.

- Hafiz

IshAvAsyam idam sarvam

Divine interventions

And miracle coincidences seem to abound; I am only stunned by how many I might have missed by simply not opening myself out to receive them. Some, however, require no such effort; they are truly and explicitly just that and are handed to you on a golden platter. Many months ago, sometime last year, I had heard a lecture by a monk and had been struck by the ordinary circumstances and some not so ordinary, but extremely disturbing and saddening situations in his life through which he had realized the underlying truth of love and unity. At the time I inspired by the sense of peace that pervaded his being and the aura he seemed to radiate; an aura that brought some of that peace to permeate my being...
Last week as I struggled to embrace peace, I searched online for his lectures to find one that might speak specifically to this inner process of transforming angst to peace and acceptance. I found many inspiring talks on unconditional love of all and devotion to truth, yet not exactly the thing I was looking for. This afternoon, I find, two friends who remembered how moved I was by the Swamiji's presence, saved a copy of his autobiography he recently completed, for me. I am moved beyond words by this act of kindness and the divinity behind it.

Know, son, that everything in the universe

is a pitcher brimming with wisdom and beauty.

The universe is a drop of the Tigris of His Beauty,

this Beauty not contained by any skin.

His beauty was a Hidden Trasure so full

it burst open and made the earth

more radiant than the heavens.

- Rumi

My Dear Ones,

I would like you to know how grateful I am for the multitude of ways in which so many of you have, sometimes even unbeknownst to you, shown me much kindness and have given me great strength, which during these last few days, has delivered me from pain and confusion to clarity and peace. I must now reassure you that, as a result, I am not sad or grieving; I do not mourn any loss, as I have seen something larger that has been gained, for which I am only thankful. Know that I am as joyful and peaceful as I can possibly be.

I am however, also mindful of a beautiful facet of this adage (that a friend has repeated many many times over to me, and that I only recently realized) 'Make hay while the sun shines.' It is not very often that circumstances, which provide the space to question and understand what it truly means to accept peace and let go of mortal attachment, present themselves. Even less often have I found myself receptive to such opportunities to delve deep into my inner- most fears and attachments. Now that I have chosen peace, I would like to harvest it to its fullest potential. And so if it seems that I have, over the course of this last week, chosen silence over speech, seclusion over company, calm over excitement, it has only been to dig deeper into the wellspring of true joy. It shall soon brim over in ways familiar to many. But in the meantime, know that I am well. And I trust that you are too, as you are in my prayers.

With much love and thanks,

Yours, sincerely.

I journeyed too

I must confess that a deeply fulfilling evening a few days ago left me at an utter loss for words. I was simply moved beyond putting into words what I experienced. (The knowledge that my dear SG would do poetic justice in describing the same kept the words convniently out of reach :). At any rate, knowing now that she did in fact do just that-here, I shall add only that I was stunned by the vision and scale of the very random act of kindness that offering that space, enabling an evening of experiencing unified purpose and giving of oneself freely to utter strangers, that the hosts performed, so very inspiringly, lovingly and most humbly. In doing so, they helped me also take one step forward in realizing just how limitless the opportunities are to serve and discover the love and beauty in every being.

I was touched, and tagged by that act. And now, so are you! As one gentleman said using the phrase made famous by Nike, 'Just Do It'.

Finding God

He is to be found everywhere, and as N rightly said today, he acts through each of us, drawing us ever nearer to one another and thereby to Him.

I am usually cautious about reading prayers in public, or more specifically in the midst of groups of people whom I don't know well. While I might read material bordering on the spiritual quite comfortably, I would not read something overtly so, or expressing any fervent religious sentiment, for fear of putting my neighbor, especially such as on my Caltrain rides, in a position of awkwardness or discomfort. Perhaps this too stems from a deep-seated fear of being branded an irrational fanatic. This evening, however, I felt no qualms and was completely at peace in opening the book of Baha'i prayers that V and N had been kind enough to gift me last year. As I flipped through the pages, not quite finding the right one, my fingers stopped at the one entitled 'Nearness to God'. The seat that had been vacant next to me until that instant, was occupied by a kindly lady, who sat down just as my eyes rested upon the title. And turning to me with a wide smile she said, 'You know what? I had the exact same idea!' And with that she set down her bags and opened her evening read- a pocket Book of Pslams.

Peace.

For the month of Sacrifice that was...

For the lesson it reiterated for me on its last day, for the ideal of striving to let go of attachment it reinforced, for the test of loving spiritually that it brought, I am grateful. I am grateful to the joy that loved ones bring in life and leave in memory, for the blessing it is to have love around us. I pray that we may all live such lives that take us ever closer to the Eternal Light. I pray that we may all live by the ideal of this gentle prayer of the Saint Francis of Assisi.

"O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life."

For April

The thought to meditate upon and imbibe:

My actions are the ground on which I stand

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,
Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.
Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell;
And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well
And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.

- John Donne

Aspire...

This last Friday evening was spent most beautifully, the arrival of spring in the bay area being only the start of a blissful arrangement of events this entire weekend. A beautiful walk at the foothills around campus was folloowed by a most enlivening disussion with my SG. One of the many insightful threads we followed, I shall touch upon here.

What we wish to become requires some knowledge as to what is worth becoming. That presents a loopy problem. Take heart, there is a solution. A sincere desire to elevate oneself from whatever state one is in presently is the most important step in the process of elevation itself. That desire is what allows one to see opportunities for growth and seek them fervently in every step forward. It is the desire that brings courage to to set fear aside and face every new trial. It is the desire that allows the mind to soak in the knowledge that each new trial contains, hidden beneath its wrappers. And so, you see, the desire to learn brings knowledge to the desirous. Indeed, the goal enables the process. And the world conspires in it.

In this the month of sacrifice, of shedding our lower selves for the higher, in dissolving our attachment to identity for unity, of firmly choosing the right path at forks where the choice is clear, the ascent steep and road unpaved...may we set ourselves only the most lofty of ideals, may we only aspire to give more than we receive, may we desire most fervently to be tested by fire and strengthened thereby.

And, so I share these words of Rumi that struck a chord deep within.

--

Make real the sublime words of the Prophet:

"We are the last and the foremost."

The fresh and perfect fruit is the last thing to come into existence

For although the fruit is the last thing to come into existence,

It is, in fact, the first, for it was the goal.

--

An excerpt from 'Heroes'

Anyone, to the degree of his enlightenment,

sees as much as he has polished himself.

The more he polishes, the more he sees,

the more visible do the forms become.

If you say purity is by the grace of God,

this success in polishing is also through that Generosity.

That work and prayer is in proportion to the yearning:

People have nothing but what they have striven for.

--

With will, fire becomes sweet water;

and without will, even water becomes fire.

One, One, One

The lamps are different.

But the Light is the same.

So many garish lamps in the dying brain's lamp shop,

Forget about them.

Concentrate on essence, concentrate on Light.

In lucid bliss, calmly smoking off its own hold fire,

The Light streams toward you from all things,

All people, all possible permutations of good,evil, thought, passion.

The lamps are different,

But the Light is the same.

One matter, one energy, one Light, one Light-mind,

Endlessly emanating all things.

One turning and burning diamond,

One, one, one.

Ground yourself, strip yourself down,

To blind loving silence.

Stay there, until you see

You are gazing at the Light

With its own ageless eyes.

- Rumi

(translated by Andrew Harvey)

A gem from Rumi...

quite literally :)
In this the month of sacrifice, of putting others above ourselves, in letting dharma win over pettiness, in elevating our spirits from its lower self to the higher, in suffering for good, in enduring for wisdom and understanding....this poem teaches a most beautiful lesson on what it means to be selfless and detached.
In light of tonight's Ruhi section on kindness, on achieveing unity, in understanding what it means to let one's heart burn with loving-kindness for everyone that might pass one's way, I share this Ruby with you, so you may drink in its beauty as I do and savor the full potence of its meaning as it sinks in word by word....

--

The Ruby

At breakfast tea a beloved asked her lover,

"Who do you love more, yourself or me?"

"From my head to my foot I have become you.

Nothing remains of me but my name.

You have your wish. Only you exist.

I've disappeared like a drop of vinegar in the ocean of honey."

A stone has become a ruby,

is filled with the qualities of the sun.

No stoniness remains in it.

If it loves itself, it is loving the sun.

And if it loves the sun, it loves itself.

There is no difference between these two loves.

Before the stone becomes the ruby it is its own enemy.

Not one but two exist.

The stone is dark and blind to daylight.

If it loves itself, it is unfaithful: it intensely resists the sun.

If it says "I," it is all darkness.

A pharaoh claims divinity and is brought down.

Hallaj says the same and is saved.

One I is cursed, another I is blessed.

One I is a stone, another a crystal.

One an enemy of the light, the other a reflector of it.

In its inmost consciousness, not through a doctrine,

it is one with the light.

Work on your stony qualities

and become resplendent like the ruby.

Practice self-denial and accept difficulty.

Always see infinite life in letting the self die.

Your stoniness will decrease; your ruby nature will grow.

The signs of self-existence will leave your body,

and ecstasy will take you over.

Become all hearing like an ear and gain a ruby earring.

Dig a well in the earth of this body,

or even before the well is dug,

let God draw the water up.

Be always at work scraping the dirt from the well.

To everyone who suffers,

perseverance brings good fortune.

The Prophet has said that each prostration of prayer

is a knock on heaven's door.

When anyone continues to knock,

felicity shows its smiling face.

The light which shines in the eye

is really the light of the heart.

The light which fills the heart

is the light of God, which is pure

and separate from the light of intellect and sense.

- Rumi

(translated by Kabir Helminski)

--

Beannacht
("Blessing")

On the day when

the weight deadens

on your shoulders

and you stumble,

may the clay dance

to balance you.

And when your eyes

freeze behindthe grey window

and the ghost of loss

gets in to you,

may a flock of colours,

indigo, red, green,

and azure blue

come to awaken in you

a meadow of delight.

When the canvas frays

in the currach of thought

and a stain of ocean

blackens beneath you,

may there come across the waters

a path of yellow moonlight

to bring you safely home.

May the nourishment of the earth be yours,

may the clarity of light be yours,

may the fluency of the ocean be yours,

may the protection of the ancestors be yours.

And so may a slow

wind work these words

of love around you,

an invisible cloak

to mind your life.

-John O'Donohue

Kurai Ondrum Illai

rAgam: rAgamAlikA
tALam: Adi
Composer: Rajaji
Language: Tamil

Pallavi
Shiva Ranjani
22 KharaharapriyA janya
Aa: S R2 G2 P D2 S
Av: S D2 P G2 R2 S

kuRai onRum illai maRaiMoorththi kaNNA
kuRai onRum illai kaNNA
kuRai onRum illai GOvinthA

Anupallavi
Shiva Ranjani

kaNNukku theriyAmal niRkinRAy kaNNA
kaNNukku TheriyAmal ninRAlum enakku
kuRai onRum illai maRaiMoorththi kaNNA

CharaNam 1
Shiva Ranjani

VEndiyathai thanNthida VEnkaTEsan enRirukka

VEndiyathu VERillai maRaiMoorththi kaNNA
maNivaNNA malaiappA GOvinthA GOvinthA

CharaNam 2
KApi
22 KharaharapriyA janya
Aa: S R2 M1 P N3 S
Av: S N2 D2 N2 P M1 G2 R2 S

thiraiyin pin niRkinRAy kaNNA - unnai
maRai Othum NYAniyar mattuME kANpArenRAlum
kuRai onRum enakkillai kaNNA

CharaNam 3
KApi

kunRin MEl kallAki niRkinRa varathA
kuRai onRum illai maRaiMoorththi kaNNA
maNivaNNA malaiappA GOvinthA GOvinthA

CharaNam 4
Sindhu Bhairavi
10 nATakapriyA janya
Aa: S R2 G2 M1 G2 P D1 N2 S
Av: N2 D1 P M1 G2 R1 S N2 S

kalinNALukkiranNgi kallilE iRangi
nilaiyAga KOvilil niRkinRAy KEsavA

CharaNam 5
Sindhu Bhairavi

yAthum maRukkAtha malaiyappA - un mArbil
Ethum thara niRkum karuNai kadal annai
enRum irunthida Ethu kuRai enakku
onRum kuRai illai maRaiMoorththi kaNNA
maNivaNNA malaiappA GOvinthA GOvinthA

For March

The thought for the month is:

'May I be able to recognize and touch the seeds of joy and happiness in myself.'

Beautiful words, meaninful words...

Praise and blame, gain and loss, pleasure and sorrow come and go like the wind. To be happy, rest like a giant tree, in the midst of them all.
--

Quoted in Joseph Goldstein, The Experience of Insight
One of his students asked Buddha, "Are you the messiah?" "No", answered Buddha. "Then are you a healer?" "No", Buddha replied. "Then are you a teacher?" the student persisted. "No, I am not a teacher." "Then what are you?" asked the student, exasperated. "I am awake", Buddha replied.

As the Buddha was dying, Ananda asked who would be their teacher after death. He replied to his disciple "Be lamps unto yourselves ."

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And more treasures here, as I stumbled upon Incredible !ndia...:)

My favorite Oscar 2008 quotes

'I expect to pass through life but once. If therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again.'- Jerry Lewis quoted William Penn in his acceptance speech upon receiving the Jean Herscholt Humanitarian award.

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எல்லாம் புகழும் இறைவனிர்க்கே

(May all praise be to God)

- A R Rahman

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Incredible !ndia

Buddhism, the Four Noble Truths & the Eight-fold Path...

At the Indian consulate in SFO last week, I found Indian tourism board's Incredible !ndia posters proudly displaying its many beautiful facets. Among them, the majestic Himalayan peaks, the Golden temple in Amritsar, an aerial view of Jaipur, the Madurai Meenakshi temple, and in one corner a poster on Buddhism. The least magnificent of all in terms of its visual appeal, it was, I must say the most beautiful in what if fed the mind and spirit. In describing Sarnath (it was in the Deer Park at Sarnath that the Buddha gave his first significant sermons on the Middle Way, the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path to his five fellow seekers who became the first monks of the order), it went on to enumerate each of the Four Noble Truths and The Eight-Fold Path. N remarked that I had managed to remove myself from the incredibly Indian experience, that was, as always, rich in visual and aural stimuli, a little mela playing itself out in the CGI premises. Absolutely endearing to watch and a fabulous dose of being on Indian soil for a precious few minutes, it was this poster that grounded me. :) And so here it is, the essential truth about existence and our intended path to a higher one:

1. Dukkha- The Nature of Suffering

2. Samudaya- The Cause of Suffering

3. Nirodha- The Cessation of Suffering

4. Marga- The Path to Cessation of Suffering

Dukkha: The Noble Truth of the Nature of Suffering

Birth is suffering, aging is suffering, sickness is suffering, sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair are suffering; union with what is displeasing is suffering; separation from what is pleasing is suffering; not to get what one wants is suffering; in brief, the five categories affected by 'clinging' are suffering. Fittingly, the Pali word 'Dukkha' means incapable of satisfying and unable to withstand. In one word, it summarizes impermanence of the sensory realm.

(The poster called impermanence and the dissatifaction arising from it as 'unsatisfactoriness'. I spent a few seconds trying that word on my tongue; a most intersting variation of what exists in the dictionary, but, importantly, it makes the point quite clearly.)

Samudaya- The Noble Truth of the Cause of Suffering
The origin of suffering is attachment. Attachment is of three kinds, specifically, attachment to three kinds of desire: desire for sense pleasure (kama tanha), desire to become (bhava tanha) and desire to get rid of (vibhava tanha). In other words, attachment leads to constant craving in one form or another. The craving for sensory fulfilment is inherently incapable of being satisfied and lies at the root of suffering.

Nirodha- The Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering

Yes, suffering can in fact cease to exist. What is that state of non-suffering?

It is the remainderless fading away and cessation of that same craving; the giving up and relinquishing of it, freedom from it, non-reliance on it.

Powerful words and they need unpacking. The cessation of suffering has to come mentally; it requires understanding that dukkha arises from a reliance or a belief that reliance on sensory objects of fulfilment could lead to satisfaction. Knowing that such sources of fulfilment are inherently impermanent, leads to a non-reliance on them, and hence to an end to craving for them. That is the cessation of suffering.

Marga- The Noble Truth of the Path to Cessation of Suffering

How can one attain a state of non-suffering?

Cessation of Suffering can be achieved by following the eight-fold path.

I shall end this post at this point and enumerate the eight-fold path in a separate one, so that, dear reader, you may meditate upon the four noble truths before taking up the prescribed path to exit the loop of desire- dissatisfaction and more desire.

Thought-provoking status messages

One such posted by a friend today...
'One often meets his destiny on the road to avoid it.'

A's words of wisdom for the day:

Prayer is not a medium for sealing contracts, asking for favors, weeping in sorrow, but really for expressing the joy of being and thankfulness for everything God-given.

12 Vows to cultivate a spirit of Avalokita Buddhishava

After nearly a year, I visited the Kim Son Monastery again today with some dear friends. And I wanted to share with you, dear reader, these beautiful vows we were introduced to, to cultivate a harmonious existence from within and without and to live in mindfulness. The monastery is a Vietnamese Sangha in the Buddhist tradition. (Avalokita Buddhishava or Avolikiteshvara Bodhisattva)

1. I vow to cultivate loving kindness and compassion, and to protect lives, happiness for all living beings.

2. I vow to understand all living beings and their sufferings, in order to offer joy and bring happiness to everyone.

3. I vow to let go of all angers, worries, anxieties, and complaints, so I can live freely and happily with everyone.

4. I vow to live in harmony, peacefully with friends, families, and all beings.

5. I vow to listen with all my attention and open heartedness in order to understand what the other person is saying. I shall listen without any prejudice. I shall sit and listen without judging or reacting. And I shall not say things which are unwholesome and hurtful.

6. I vow to practice mindful breathing to transform my deep habit energy of forgetfulness, I shall learn to breath mindfully every time I hear the sound of the bell, or other wonderful sounds around me. If I practice listen deeply, I will see that all sound carries a message of love and wisdom.

7. May the sick people be healed, the old be well taken care of, and those who has passed away will all be reborn in the Pure Land.

8. May the poor be fed, all wrong doings be repented, all in captivity be free, all disable be healed, all drug addict be awaken from their illusion, and all murderers be free of arms.

9. May all the beings cultivate boundless love. Let no one do harm to anyone. Let no one put the life of anyone in danger, and let no one, out of anger or ill will, wish anyone harm.

10. I vow to protect this planet and keep it beautiful. I vow to do work of transforming garbage into flowers and fruits, protecting life and the environment, and building a Pure Land on earth.

11. May all beings end all afflictions so that wisdom can arise, and the fruit of awakening be fully realized for everyone.

12. May I and all living beings act with the wonderful power of thousand arms and eyes of compassion, to come and go freely in the three worlds. We aspire to practice with a boddhisatva’s vow to be an instrument of the Buddha to help alleviate pain and sufferings in the Ten Directions of the Cosmos.

This month...

The theme on my Thich Nhat Hanh desktop calendar is:

In each precious moment I am filled with deep gratitude.

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I was going to italicize only the key words and realized this simple thought was packed with meaning, in every single word...

A thought-provoking sermon...

http://www.swedenborg.org/odb/sermon_detail.cfm?sermonID=2549

Realizing Unity...

In the month of December (of 2008). Yes, a little late VOTM-ers, but better than never :), I must share with you, dear reader, just how beautiful it was to realize the power of coming together, in purpose, in spirit and in love, to serve the needy. The two weeks spent in India over the holidays working with people of different ages, nationalities, languages, aptitudes, capabilities and limitations but with one common desire, to serve and learn thereby, was truly a most joyful experience. (For a more detailed account visit http://delivering-hope.blogspot.com/).