So many roles to play (1 of 2)

Good morning friends.  Many said that there are so many roles to play.  Do you believe in that?  I do.

Among the fundamental questions we tend to ask ourselves at some point in our lives is: “Who Am I?” Ramana Maharshi asked the seeker to constantly question himself as a way of exploring deeper truths and to come to a better understanding of them.

Who are you? Jiddu Krishnamurti answered thus: “When you call yourself an Indian, a Muslim, a Christian, a European, or anything else, you are being violent. Do you see why it is violent? Because you are separating yourself from the rest. When you separate yourself by belief, by nationality, by tradition, it breeds violence. So a man who is seeking to understand violence does not belong to any country, religion, political party or partial system; he is concerned with the total understanding of mankind.”

While discussing what J Krishnamurti had to say on the subject of identities, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar at a satsang held recently in Rishikesh, offered the following insight: The process of evolution is moving from somebody to nobody and from nobody to everybody, realising one’s true identity, Brahmn, the all-inclusive and all-pervasive. Masters all along, even after achieving the highest, have chosen to play limited identities well. Rama was called Maryada Purushottam, Krishna was Yogeshwar, and Dwarkadheesh , and Buddha as a bhikshu meticulously followed the sanyas dharma.

An individual cares for his immediate family and as part of society shares love and affection with neighbours. For a master, the family is the whole world. An avatar, a sadhguru, skillfully fulfills individual as well as universal roles, without any conflict. Playing a limited role is in no way in conflict with the universal role.

 

God is a great concept man has found to cope with life (2 of 6)

You said it’s first a local quest which can then become universal?

It can be very local and grassroots. You could be in a village, applying yourself to certain problems and factors within that little society. And at the same time you can see the bigger picture.

Seeing the bigger picture is actually an important aspect of spirituality. Prophets are those who have no personal agenda. They have a larger human agenda.

Are there prophets today?

If you are weightless, you are prophetic. If you have no demand from the world, and have only to give to the world, then you can be prophetic.

Of course, who knows who is the ultimate prophet… but at least there are some pure people.

Have you met some?

Every day you meet them in the form of carpenters, crafts people, people who work with their hands. When you work with your hands, you are using a different soul. Or rather, you are using your soul for something devoid of any immediate gain. You are applying sensitivity to a medium.  Spirituality could mean empowering them, protecting their vulnerability. Because in fact some of them are very vulnerable. We have the intelligence so we can protect them.

This is one of the reasons you got involved into fashion, isn’t it?

Definitely. Though as very often, your original motivation gets defeated. You get involved into something with a particular objective and something very different happens. We started with the idea of empowering those people and enabling them to stay in their villages without having to come to the big cities. Because I feel that they lose everything when they move. They lose more than what they gain. I thought craft was a way of empowering them, so they can stay where they are.

But sometimes you feel you are fighting a lost cause. And so many of them ended up in Delhi, doing their work here. The whole purpose was defeated.

Regardless, there is a lot of spirituality in art, crafts, painting, poetry. Poetry to me is the mother art. Because when you write poetry you do not need anything. Just a paper and a pencil. Your flow from yourself to the world is unlimited. It doesn’t need anything but a state of mind.

 

Explore the path of spiritual living (1 of 2)

Good morning everyone.  There are some people who has materialistic living.  They found happiness on that.  But did you know that you will have the best part of your living spiritually?  Just explore the path to your spiritual living and you will see the best meaning in your life.  There is one article I have read and it shows the way on how to discover or see the sights of spiritual living. 

Is spiritual practice a must for everyone? 

You have to insulate yourself from the effects of worldly living. The environment has its strong impact. The external world is in a rat race for greed, glamour and respectability. It does not bother about real joy and purity. Naturally, external influence affects an individual. In this rat race even if one wins one continues to be a rat. Glamour gives you an illusory joy but your soul needs to grow.

‘Why does a fish in an ocean try to jump out?’ asked a Zen student.

‘The fish is trying to explore a world beyond the ocean,’ answered the Master.

Consciousness in each one of us is like a fish that wants to explore the unknown, to evolve and grow. If you do not insulate yourself from negative forces, there will be a leakage of energies and that would hamper your growth. So it is necessary not to struggle in life and not allow negativity to control your life. One has to learn to float in life, to let go, let in the essentials and negate unessential feelings.

How can I insulate myself from negative influences?

People live life in fear. It is out of fear that they worship; out of fear they get married; out of fear of insecurity they beget children. Whenever fear emerges, there is a leakage of energy. Fear creates a hurt body and it then tries to survive by quoting philosophy and logic.

Why You Deserve a Break Today—If Not Sooner (1)

Good morning friends. This is a little kind of tips coming from Phillip C. McGraw, PhD.  It is most applicable to those people who work hard or let us just say a workaholic person.  It’s good that we love our work but there will always be a time for everything.  As we have to work, we should have to take a break.  I’d like to share it with you. 

It’s not selfish.  It’s not irresponsible.  It’ll send you back to your friends and family calmer, happier, and nicer.  Grab a little private time for yourself. 

Whenever he talk to a women about making alone time a priority, it’s clear to him that even the thought of it makes them feel guilty.  Women have been socialized to be the nurturers, the loving mothers, wives, and domestic engineers.  Between working, running a household, and raising over scheduled kids, there’s no time left for “self”.  Unfortunately, women got the message that they were being negligent if they abandoned their posts and invested in themselves.  This couldn’t be more wrong. 

The idea that it’s selfish to take care of yourself is shortsighted and prevents you from being your best.  If you’re rolling your eyes because you  believe private time is a luxury you can’t afford, think of it this way:  you can’t give away what you don’t have.  Without a peaceful, well-rested, loving, tender spirit, you’re in no position to be nurturing to your family or friends.  We’re like bank accounts:  If we make only withdrawals (Carpooling, working late, helping out a friend), we wind up emotionally and physically bankrupt.  We all must make regular deposits to our minds, souls and bodies.  You must take a time for you. 

At Home with the Sacred – 2

The simplest thins can, with consciousness, bring a sense of sacredness.  Display a small vase with a single flower of your choice to brighten a room with life.  Ligth a number of white candles, each representing one of your family members, to illuminate a corner with your loved one’s energy.  Arrange a few stones, tumbled and smoothed for years in the ocean, along the center of your dining room table or stack them on your bedside table to remind you of the sea’s vast dept and timelessness.  Display a beautiful piece of fabric found in a far-away shop on a favorite table to help you wander back to that stressless retreat.  Even lighting Indian incense in a room where you work can rouse  your spirit and inspire your senses.

 

Sacredness, like style, is a state of mind.  What is sacred to you is a reflections of your relationship with our soul.  It transcends color, form, shape, texture, and scale, and celebrates your humanity and spirit.  For some, sacred is defined by gods, temples, and divinity.  But to others, sacredness can be as simple and earthly as a sunset—something that is every being’s right to share every evening, regardless of religious affiliation or financial status.  The sunset belongs to anyone who has the consciousness to take notice.  The sacred is where you find it and what you bring to it.

 

ref:  Laurel House and JagatJoti Singh Khalsa

Love as Absolute

Love with a capital L: That’s the Great Love, love as the source of everything, love as radical unity.  At this level, love is another name for Absolute Reality.  Supreme Consciousness, Brahman, God the Tao, the Source—that vast presence the Shaivite tradition sometimes calls the Heat.  The yoga tradition often describes Absolute Reality as satchidamanda—meaning that it is pure beingness, present everywhere and in everything (sat), that is innately conscious (chit), and that it the essence of joy and love (ananda).

 

As ananda, the Great Love is woven into the fabric of the universe, which of course also puts it at the center of our own being.  Most of us get glimpses of the Great Love at some time in our lives—perhaps in  nature, or with an intimate partner, or in the moment of bonding with our children.  We remember these experiences for year afterward, often for the rest of our lives.

 

It happened like that for me one November evening in 1970.  He was sitting  with a friend in the living room, listening to a Grateful Dead Album, when without warning, an overwhelming experience of joy welled up in him.  The state sprang up seemingly out of nowhere, a sensation of tenderness and ecstasy that seemed to ooze out of the walls and the air, carrying with it a sense that everything was a part of him.

 

This experience inspired a burning desire to get back to it and ultimately became the motive for my spiritual practice.  At the time, however, I did what most of us do when we get a glimpse of unconditional tenderness:  I projected my inner experience onto the person I happened to be with and decided (rather disastrously; as it turned out)  that he was the love of my life and the mate of my soul.

Vision Quest – 5

The Ability to Hear

 

“I think an essential step [in this progression is developing sensitivity to the subtle promptings of one’s soul,” says Dubitsky.  “Sometimes, the promptings can be felt viscerally in the form of illnesses of one kind or another.  Everything from tension headaches to backaches to stomachaches, to stress and colds or accidents can be signals that something is saying stop!  Getting sick allows for rest—and rest allows for reflection.”

 

The quest, says Andrews, is really no more that a search to re-establish our own connection with spirit—a return to the spiritual presence out of which we are born and to which we eventually return.  This connection, he adds, is one that may feel extremely distant within the context of daily life and the intricacies of responsibilities and relationships.  Approaching this search by setting an intention, suggest Rann and Arrott, can aid in the process.

 

“Intention is the first harbinger of our acceptance of a change in our lives or the expression of a new dream,”  explain Rann and Arrott.  “It is the wisp of the idea that we say ‘yes’ to.  The wisdom and power of the universe is always prepared to fully support and provide everything necessary for the unfoldment of the dream, and intention is the key that calls forth this universal wisdom and power.   Next, we make the decision to accept this dream or goal in our lives, and this decision sets the action.  Our commitment to the dream while it is unfolding—whether we see it happening or not—releases the full wisdom and power of spirit into action to bring this manifestation into existence for the greatest and highest good for all concerned.  And, so often, this manifestation will turn out to be so much better than we ever could have thought.”

 

In the beginning of any spiritual search, I think it’s important to have a support group or a guide or teacher.  Embracing spiritual truth in a way is like traveling to a new country.  Old coping mechanism will no longer work, so being with people who’ve traveled the same road is very helpful, as is reading books or listening to CDs that are both inspirational and instructional.

 

Ref: fityoga

Ways to Lift Your Spirits – 1

Good morning friends.  Here’s a story whose message I like:  A pet store delivery truck was making its rounds.  At every traffic light the driver would stop, leap out of the truck with a two-by-four and bang on the side of the vehicle.  The curious driver of a car behind the truck called out.  “What are you doing?”  The truck driver replied. “Well, I’ve got two tons of canaries inside this one-ton truck, so I have to keep half of them in the air at all times!”

Most people can relate to that truck driver.  Overloaded, stressed, frantic, yet weary-and headed for emotional burnout unless things change.  But you know what?  They can.  The answer is learning how to lighten up, and here are three stps you can take to make that happen.

Read your Soul.  Many of us overlook the need for rest-not for out bodies but for our souls, which is a much deeper kind of relaxation.  Spiritual fatigue is the result of trying to live without God.  The resentment and guilt.  Neither sleep, nor working out, nor a day off from work will rid you of these draining emotions.  Such fatigue requires a spiritual recharging.  The Bible says, “He energizes those who get tired.”  Only God can restore your soul.

Give Up Control.  People get over loaded because they try to control the uncontrollable.  The greater your need to micromanage things, the more stressed you’re going to be.  Jesus said, “Take my yoke upon you.”  Jesus was talking about a wooden frame that joins two cattle in their task.  Every farmer knows the purpose of a yoke is to lighten the load by sharing it between two animals.  When you yoke up with God.  He lightens your load by sharing it with you.  By the way, God’s back is stronger than yours!