"So imagine a rushing soundless spring, or the waves that crash on the shore of the ocean but make no sound"

Dear Jasjit,

I tried this...it was very scary. and then next moment i brought the sound in...it was beautiful.
thanks for making me do this...somethings are so apparent, we usually end not acknowledging them.

one of the best sounds i have ever heard is the rain drops in the forests of the western ghats...they are absolutley beautiful. the dull slappings of the water drops on the wide leaves is absolute music...more so during the monsoon...maybe somethings like these are truly what make life worth living.

about Bhakti...there is a saying amongst the bhakti cults...I dont want to be sugar (Advaita) but I want to taste sugar (bhakti)!

lots of love

and hey another music that is poetry to my ears is the sound the train makes in the night when it goes through some dark uninhabited vilages....i stick my head out and listen to the music it makes on the tracks...

and whenever i come across moments when i am exposed to such beautiful music...i do feel Gratitude.

you are right it is the ultimate poetry of the heart. U feel like u have wings when u xperience such.

gratitude is life-giving...tx for an awesome share..every breath is in gratitude for this process..which swirls. points, connects , separates, dissolves......awesome...the last couple of days have been very enriching...shared some beautiful moments with some friends who are in the sufi mould...and we jammed in song...was a lovely experience...for me , singing bhajans has been a very beautiful outflow...as one melts with one's beloved in aloneness even in a crowd...a wholesomeness in that connect to the source...
thanks to the gift of technology which enables a reading of this post...
God Bless...

Jasjit,

may your words flow constantly,
a river travelling to the sea, in its inimitable rhythm, reaching out in ebb and tide...
touching, healing, enriching lives,
for us who need it, on distant parallel banks,
and unite us in our journies to Oneness..

God bless.

A prayer a reminder I love, in gratitude, for allowing me into your spaces and blessing me with your words:

the Great Mystery reminds us that blessings are counted in the way that we choose to look at them.

Anything that has brought a smile to your lips, joy to your heart or a lightness to your step is a Blessing.

Anything that has made your life more comfortable, has lightened your burden or has brought warmth to your home is a Blessing.

Anything that has supported your body, has increased your endurance or has opened your heart is a Blessing.

Anything that has made you look deeper, has expanded your understanding or has increased your compassion is a Blessing.

Anything that has tested your strength, has fortified your commitment or has forced you to grow is a Blessing.

Anything that has reminded you of how precious life is and has taught you to treasure your Relations is a Blessing.

Thank you IFSHA, Spirit Peak, and all of you in this space- you bring so much love and beauty and blessings to my life..

in thoughts and prayers always

ananda anandam!

wow sukanya...
allowing me into your spaces...what words...sometimes we get magnetized into spaces...or gatecrash into them...uninvited...abuse doors which are open...seeing in them snapshots of the ocean...from our own platforms of vision...thanks for a compassionate view of our transgressions...enabling growth even as one stumbles through the lessons,falls , gets up , runs,walks, halts along the way...
the river gurgles noisily sometimes, in deep recesses of silence sometimes as it wends its way to the ocean...the meeting with the beloved, where all dissolves...waves still rise...as one observes them rising and ebbing, the very nature of thought...from the deepest realms of the ocean...

It is said that poets and musicians are souls born to capture the silence of the heavens, to instill peace in our beingness.

I came to love poetry very young. Though I could not name a fave few; Elizabeth Barrett Browning's poetry and verse, paved a path of joy for me...poetry is the Self's teacher. Leonard Cohen reached into depths of my soul with profound cleansings.

Jasjit; I feel exactly that way, with gratitude's placid appreciation when a poem finds me listening to the silence, to capture the fragrance of love, triumphancy, death and nature with my words or pictures.

Very nice read Jasjit; as always, you emmulate peace quite well.

North

Thank You All

Aachi

The thought reverberates in my being all day. Never have I tuned into the beauty all around me as totally as I have begun to in the last few years. For one who loved nature I was never able to lose my breath at the way a tiny bird (Durga Tuntuni its called I think) suckles at the bottle brush in my garden or the slant of the winter sun rays as they break into light and shadows through the leaves. The litle white butterflies which frequent my balcony or the different colours of a winter night sky. Now all mesmerizes me endlessly, to the exclusion of thought/anxiety and desire. I feel the stillness and the infinitude of the beauty around I hear the tiniest cricket and chuckle at the warring squirrels.
The days are halcyon and the nights overwhelming with the weight of their mystique. And this me who is so in love with existence feels like a floating cloud heavy with the waters of its gratitude for just being here, now, regaling.

Yesterday as I sat and watched the sun filter through a painted glass yantra on my office window the beauty of it all filled my heart into such an ache that I sat down to spill it into words. Only now I know that until the heart knows total gratitude it has not learnt to sing, to make music and to catch the subtle poetry of the greatest poet around- existence.

Sukanya

Blessings and prayers to you in abundance

Aiichi, to make your own rain-stick:

USE a long, christmas wrapping tube, or stronger the better.

Follow the path of the seam as it spirals up and down the tube.

IN spaces of about one inch, hammer in a one inch nail. Will take LOTS! do this, until seams are nailed like this, top to bottom.

USE masking tape, to tape up one end securely.

Pour about half a cup of long-grain rice into the tube.

Tape other end. Wrap tube with cloth, leather, etc... decorate with feathers and leather tongs at one end to make look authentic! Use leapard skin prints of cloth.

OK< it's made, now slowly turn the tube top to bottom.

Instant sound of rain!

I make these for people from time to time.

North

North

You little magician that sounds wonderful. Better still we can invite you to hear the sounds of the Indian monsoon when the rain Gods unleash their majesty in endless days and nights of storm filled skies, drumming rain and all is silent and dimunitive before the splendour of the gifting skies.

The Invitation is accepted with gratitude.

My opening poem of my poetry books(5):

"A poet must reach out
and blow winds of inspiration
and imagination;
into the echoed thoughts
of her reader's most secret
inner voice."

(6-17-2000)

North

good morning everybody!

Now how easy to understand Ramakrishna's famous answer to Vivekananda's question "do you see god as clearly as i see this and that?"

jasjit sees it clearly and through her all of us...

tapasya rang lai
anand anandam anandam!!

The Titles:
1) The Hands of Time
2) The Whispering Sky
3) Flight of the Butterfly
4) Under the Northern Moon
5) Masque of the Heart
6) The Magic Occupant(forthcoming)

NONE are great, all done post-college and mistakenly put in some pathetic stuff.

Used them to fundraise money for a literacy council which their building burned to the ground. All proceeds went to the council! : ) I made not one cent. I had sponsered book-signings and sales, including a book-signing at our distinguished museum!

I made, printed, punched and spined 120 books completely on my own; for this project to rebuild for the illiterate; and those suffering strokes; to have a new place and supplies. they paid the paper and ink for the books.

I was on the board of Directors. Jealous women made my position so uncomfortable, I resigned not in failure to handle it; but from disgust.

North

happy lohri sundar...and everybody! this is the main mela of my city muktsar of punjab...

Harb, good morning!

Jasjit...what can I say..."Gratitude is the same amniotic liquid waiting to shape us in the womb of time". Intense.

Sundar, Happy lohri to you too and thanks for explaining the other festivals.

North, what a lovely poem, thanks for sharing that.

love
anusheh

Good morning Harb and happy Lohri:-)

sex is the ultimate union of the TWO, love is a recognition that we are, in fact, never two.

anand anandam!!

Hi Anusheh, good morning.

Most of you just wake up; and I am making my way towards my slumber-time. Amazing world this inter-net!

North

good morning, north!

hi anusheh!

harb

Nice one Harb!

Bon nuit mon ami(goodnight my friends) in french

FOR our Spanish visitors, Desiderata in Spanish, translated for me years ago, by a friend whom knew it was my favorite of all favorites:

Desiderata
Author: Max Ehrmann-1927
Traducida al español por: Alberto Salinas.

Ve con placidez en medio del ruido y los apuros, y recuerda
la paz que puede albergarse en el silencio.

Tanto como posible, sin rendirte, vive en buenos términos con
los que te rodean. Expresa tu verdad, quietamente y con
claridad; y escucha a los demás, incluso a los insulsos e
ignorantes; ellos también tienen su historia.

Evita a las personas gritonas y agresivas, ellas son vejatorias
para el espíritu. Si te comparas con otros, puedes devenir
vano y agrio, porque siempre habrá personas mejores y
peores que tu. Goza tus logros, tanto como tus planes.

Agudamente interesado en tu propia carrera, sé sin embargo
humilde; esta es una posesión real en las fortunas
cambiantes de esta época. Ejercita precaución en tus
negocios, porque el mundo está lleno de trampas. Pero no
dejes que esto te impida ver las virtudes que allí residen;
muchos se esfuerzan por grandes ideales; y en todas partes
la vida está llena de heroísmos.

Sé tu mismo. Especialmente, no finjas afectación. Tampoco
seas cínico en el amor; porque la cara de todas las arideces,
es tan perenne como el césped.

Toma gentilmente el consejo de los años, graciosamente
entregando las cosas pasajeras de la juventud. Nutre la
fortaleza del espíritu como escudo contra repentinas
desgracias. Pero no te estreses con las imágenes. Muchos
temores nacen de la fatiga y la soledad. Más allá de una
disciplina totalizante, sé gentil contigo mismo.

Eres un niño del universo, no menos que los árboles y las
estrellas; tienes el derecho a estar aquí. Y, te sea o no claro,
el universo se está desenvolviendo tal como debiera.

Por lo tanto, mantén la paz con Dios, no importa como lo
concibas a Él; no importa cuáles sean tus trabajos y
aspiraciones, en la ruidosa confusión de la vida, mantiene la
paz en tu alma.

Con todas sus pretensiones, trabajos y sueños rotos, éste es
aun un bello mundo. Sé positivo y jovial. Esfuérzate por ser
feliz.

Max Ehrmann
1927

Perhaps someone has the time of a new day; to find the english translation as well to post? I have not read the english version in a long time! lol

North

Good morning Harb and a very happy Lohri to you. Indeed it is a time to be in Punjab, amidst the bonfires, the songs and the dance, celebrating as only Punjabis do. A true time for ananda anandam.

Happy lohri to all on the blog.

Mon Ami North.

Bon Soir. Je pence que vous etes tres fatigue et il lheure pour une bon nuit du reve dore.

Au Revoir

hello jasjit, it is going to be ananda anandam tonight...maghi mela is the main mela of my city of muktsar. bahar khoob ronkan saj rahia han.

ananda anandam!

Good Morning everyone,

Wish you all a very HAPPY LOHRI!

and Jasjit, just want to THANK YOU for everything :)

lots of love ...

"...the foetus whirling in the waters of the amniotic fluid of the womb. In its absence, the tiny, fragile burgeoning of limb/muscle and form would never happen."

The womb, isn't it a fascinating place. There is no 'I' or me in this place; no hate, no sadness. Just a bond of trust, unconditional love and the soothing and rhythmic sound of a heart beating near you.

Here it is North, in english. One of my favourites too.

Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble;it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.

Max Ehrmann, Desiderata, Copyright 1952.

Jasjit, think of me as a child; tonight I merely could not focus to sleep; I am filled with a joyfull anticipation; though of what is unknown to me; but OK, off to find my pillow then(best pouty smile.)and do my "meditations"

btw - you speak better french(wink!) I know like maybe 30 words! amazing woman you are Jasjit, that can speak in so many tongues; I am honoured to be of shared gender! lol

yes, I know I will fatigued in the morning(blush)

North

Dear Anusheh, my gratitude is yours for the finding! thankyou...

I will read this to appease my senses for a good slumber,

and as promised to Jasjit, find my pillow, before morning light finds me still here...

g'night, and I am so grateful!!

North

I just read it; and it's a wonderful reminder of it all - IN all.

Thanks again, Anusheh!

North

welcome north. Have a good nights rest...love anusheh

"Bulleh Shah, inimitable Sufi mystic used words like ‘kanjri’ (whore) for himself to express the wild passion he had to offer to his Master."

wow! thats cool! i m sorry but i have very little knowledge about this stuff. so it came as a pleasant surprise to learn that bulleh shah used the word "whore" in his songs. but wasnt he like totally banned for doing that? u know like looked down upon and stuff? specially in spiritual stuff, thats guts man!!!

i amybe wrong shrek, but puritanical morality concepts are more a victorian import in our culture...and very recent in our cultural history...even the devadasi system was a more dignified system than the current social treatment meted out to commercial sex workers...

Shubzee

Thank You too for everything.

Shrek

The wonder of the sufis and Bhakti movement saints was that tey stepped across the lines. Clearly wanting to be seen as outcasts inviting great ignominy to make a statement with their live. Truth was servant to none. Not to any society/morality/religious order/propriety or self-interest. Bulleh Shah was the rarest of rare for his words were like arrows cutting through and sparing none. His Master in frustration once threw him out of the order and it is said that the lines sung above were in pain of the separation from the Master. At the time Bulleh had written a poem called 'Kutte tainto uttey'(The Dogs are Superior to You) addressing the mullahs and their fake commitment to God. You can imagine the uproar.

Aachi

What lovely lines ...about Bhakti...there is a saying amongst the bhakti cults...I dont want to be sugar (Advaita) but I want to taste sugar (bhakti)!

This is one of the subtlest dilemmas on the Way and few have captured its essence so well.

Thank You

Hi jasjit,

indeed those lines represent the essenential difference in the moods of a monist and a dualist.

I discovered those lines in a book on Sri Ramakrishna, the saint of Dakshineshwar.

I love the similar sentiment echoed by Ramana maharshi when he sees the hill of Arunachala:

"When the mind melts in love for Him, the subtle eye of pure intellect opens and He reveals Himself as pure conciousness".

Thank you Jasjit for shedding some light on bulleh shah for me. what an incredible man indeed!