In English, it sounds just the same:
a senseless string of words
embued with some sense of mystique
used to convince and tame you;
to teach you follow and not lead;
that first impulse is evil.
If what you seek you have right now,
then why the mad gyrations,
austerities, and endless rules
to curb now's inclinations?

What higher purpose would you serve
that others claim is worthy?
A thousand saints are born and die
each day, and yet it makes no difference:
if an altered state of mind
could change the world,
it would be changed by now.

Who has convinced you that the truth
is out there for the finding?
If they possessed an ounce or two,
what good is that to you?
They are no different, save for this:
when someone gave them manna
they asked after the recipe
and did not stay for dinner.

What meal can satisfy your urge
that has no form or substance?
What is the point of starving, then,
to merely birth a vision?

The gods, if they exist at all,
have no need of your mantras;
they will enlighten who they will.
Your efforts make no difference.
In that case, why expect reward?
Instead, just go on living
as if this one was all you had;
and nothing will be missing.

31 JUL 2006

Oh, to express in simple words
My fervent wish and prayer:

Mankind, to find its center space
And seek beyond rebirth and death;
Not worry that it leaves behind
Infinite unfinished possibilities.

Peace: that is what we lose
Amidst this daily upmanship,
Denying that with win or lose, what's
Mine is fleeting, as is yours.
Each treasures their illusions best.

Harm another, harm yourself.
Understanding this, transcend and let
Mankind evolve and learn to live.

31 JUL 2006

Imagine a person made completely out of salt.

If that person chooses to be immersed in the ocean, their very being is absorbed by the sea. Once their head is beneath the waves, no distinction can be made between their now dissolved form and the depths into which they have sojourned. Not even the ocean can separate itself again, saying "this minute portion of me is of that small salt doll, and the remainder is not".

Such is the case, too, when a person approaches and begins to comprehend the infinite energy of the universe. Once an individual recognizes the eternal within themselves, the external sack of temporal cloth in which that eternal has been stored melts away, and only the infinite remains.

In either case, who is left to report, to return some answer to the question they originally set out seeking? And in what language could that answer be expressed, that those on the shore, whose toes scarcely dare to dip into the surf's foam, would be able to understand?

Even the cleverest of parables fails. And to speak with the voice of the ocean itself is to be misunderstood as a overwhelming roar.

From Swami Satchidananda's translation and commentary on the Bhagavad Gita:

Cherished by your spirit of sacrifice, the gods give you everything you want. (But remember) whoever receives gifts from the gods without offering anything back is a thief.

To take one hundred percent and give nothing in return is to be a thief.
To take one hundred percent and give only fifty percent is to be a debtor.
To take one hundred percent and give one hundred percent is to be a good business person.
To give one hundred percent and take only fifty percent is to be a righteous person.
To give one hundred percent and take nothing in return is to be a saint or a yogi.

We should always examine our transactions and discover in which category we put ourselves.

-- Bhagavad Gita, Chapter Three, Verse Twelve

With the replacement of two books in my post-Katrina library, one classic (BKS Iyengar's Light on Yoga) and a modern interpretation and condensation of that classic, with great illustrations and "work in the posture" tips (Iyengar students Silva, Mira and Shyam Mehta's Yoga: The Iyengar Way), I have again begun practicing yoga. It's been a long time since I was able to comfortably do padmasana (the lotus position), let alone matsyasana (the fish), and it's definitely been at least 75 pounds since my last sirsasana (shoulder stand)! I must admit, my previous practice never made it all that far - years of sitting at a desk had even then seriously reduced my leg flexibility - but let me tell you, it's not EXACTLY like riding a bike. Very difficult to pick up where you leave off, particularly when the "leaving off" can be measured in dog (or tree) years.

But I'm back at it; working in the garden lately has reminded me of just how stiff, unlimber and soft I've become - and trying to get back into the swing of regular meditation with a body that unprepared for stillness is no picnic.

I can't say enough positive things about Iyengar's book: his discussion of breathing and the philosophy and art of exercise dovetails quite beautifully with my other current re-reading of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras (the Swami Satchidananda translation and commentaries). And the Mehta's book, although missing a number of key poses and definitely reduced in scope for a less comprehensive audience, particularly on the spiritual aspects, is very good with respect to step-by-step written and photographic instructions. Both works inspirational, and highly recommended for all.

I only managed about 10 minutes worth today; but already I can tell the difference.

Om namah shivaya, ya'll :-)

Paraphrased from The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Sutra 33:

If someone is happy, offer them friendship (share their happiness) If someone is unhappy, offer them compassion (lighten their suffering) If someone is virtuous, offer them delight (celebrate their goodness) If someone is wicked, offer them disregard (give them no reward)

In this way, you can yourself be calm and untroubled.

Or something like that ...

With one word aloud,
the illusion is broken
as the echo fades.

So deep, this still well,
that a small sound is strengthened
and seems so much more.

But echoes will fade;
and in the gaping silence
words do not survive.

The illusion is
that there is one who listens.
Without sound, who knows?

What use is speaking
in such an empty cavern?
My ego needs this?

21 JUL 2006

for Ramakrishna

Who cries for the gods, who watch
as their intelligent design
is torn and sundered into pieces,
reviled and maligned?

Who cries for the gods, who listen
to the clamour of our voices,
each using free will as excuse
for all our selfish choices?

Who cries for the gods, who linger
in our churches, isolated
from the whole of our daily lives,
their message denigrated?

Who cries for the gods, forgotten
in our rush for selfish glory,
reduced to simple figureheads
and stuff of childrens' stories?

Who cries for the gods, who hears
the sob of divine separation:
creatrix from created split
for profit and sensation?

Who cries for the gods, who wait
for us to listen once again,
and have all of eternity
to miss what might have been?

21 JUL 2006

While reading the latest biography of George Harrison, Here Comes the Sun: The Spiritual and Musical Journey of George Harrison, by Joshua M. Greene -- which I first read excerpted in Yoga + Joyful Living magazine [formerly Yoga International -- I came across the following bit of inspirational thinking that made me thankful to be a musician, or at least to have enough musical sensibility and talent to be able to take advantage, if I were so inclined and felt suffiently worthy to do so. Apparently, it's an old Indian formula that was brought to the west via the Hare Krishna movement as a saying of Lord Chaitanya:

If you read the Vedas a million times
that is the equal of one recitation of japa.

Nothing is higher.

Link to the book, which was quite wonderful to read, is in the Now Reading column to the right on my blog.

Hare Krishna Hare Rama

but the World doesn't want to change.

And so, you insist upon changing it, by doing whatever you think the world needs (but it doesn't, because if it thought it needed it, it WOULD change - because everyone and everything is where it is because that's the only place it actually CAN be. Everything is evolved to the level of its own realization, and gets to the next level when it is ready to do so, not because YOU think it's timetable is too slow).

So now you've done it. Changed the world, that is. Haven't you interfered with the World's Free Will (by doing something against its will, which was to change out of accordance with its enlightenment timetable)?

Does Free Will matter? That's a Catch-22. Because if you say it does, then you have no business changing the World (against its will). And if you say it doesn't matter, then why is what you think (or your freedom to decide what to think or what you think is best to do) important anyway?

Call this Philosophical Dilemma 47A(ii).

Just a random question ...

If you're not living in the "Heartland," what body part exactly is your home located in? Does that part have no "heart"? Does the "Heartland" have no brain, hands, feet, stomach, mouth, genitals?

Or is that just TOO EASY?

but (and there's always a BUT - depending on whose diatribe you're reading at the time, it might be [and I'm making these up as absurd examples, they're not real quotes]) ...

nobody wants to change their underwear.
nobody wants to make change for a dollar.
nobody wants to change their OWN life.
nobody wants to be hated for it.
nobody wants to do it for nothing.
nobody wants to start with their own backyard.
nobody wants to give up their life to do it.
nobody knows how.

There are tons of organizations out there (http://www.zaadz.com and http://www.one.org, to just name two) whose tag line incorporates something about "changing the world".

And there are hundreds of thousands of bright-eyed, bushy-tailed enthusiasts that flock to these kinds of organizations with big ideas and high hopes. And they spout things like "how about getting children enthusiastic about global change" or "why don't we win over the 'Heartland'" or "let's think globally, and act locally". I'll admit, I am one of those people who look for organizations and people with big ideas. But I wonder ... as I've often wondered when I see the Jehovah's Witnesses somberly traipsing up the block, or see the clean scrubbed Mormon bicycle evangelists or street corner Nation of Islam boys hawking their particular brand of enlightenment. What I wonder is this: when you say "save the children," whose children are you talking about? The children of famine-ravaged Ethopia or war-torn Bosnia or overpopulated India? Why is it that so many "missionaries" tend to look elsewhere for somebody to save? There are probably kids in your own neighborhood that are under- or mis-educated, malnourished, disenfranchised. Hell, they might even be relatives. What about them? Why are there so few missions to the trailer parks, to the coal mines, to the squatter villages right here in town "on the wrong side of the tracks"? What about those "black sheep" cousins, or your own parents? Try convincing a set-in-their-ways, old-fashioned, conservative, Bible-thumping auntie that Buddhism is a viable option for some. That'll keep you busy for a spell.

In other words, if you can't convince people who KNOW you, because you're worried they'll resent you, or cut you out of their wills, or not let their children play with yours, or whatever --- why do you expect a different reaction from someone whose space you've invaded without the courtesy of LIVING among them?

And check your information. Figure out that it's not fossil fuel dependency to run our cars that's the problem. It's the dependence on CORN that's the problem. It takes less petroleum to fill all our tanks than to produce the synthetic nitrogren required to fertilize the corn crop that produces not only ethanol, but 45% of what fills the supermarket shelves (and in some cases, is used to construct the shelves themselves). There's not enough naturally occurring free nitrogen on root bulbs and produced by lightning to fertilize the food for my FAMILY for a year. Without synthetic nitrogen, there would need to be a significant population reduction. EVERYWHERE. At the very least, there would need to be an elimination of 95% of all candy and soft drinks (most of which rely upon corn syrup and corn sweetener). To get that nitrogen requires burning fossil fuels. So biofuels are a double-edged sword, aren't they?

How to change the world, then? It isn't by teaching, or educating, or spending, or practicing random kindnesses, or sending healing energy around the globe. It's not conversion by the sword by any other name (and that sword need not be made of steel). It's not, as I used to glibly jibe, changing the way people think by making sure they are thinking to begin with.

What is it, then? Some humungous collaboration of do-gooding, glad-handing, happy-shiny smiling know-it-alls changing the lives of those underprivileged and unwashed masses surrounding them?

No. I think it starts a little differently. I think it starts by doing what you think is right and ethical for those whose lives you already touch. And by remembering that every system of ethics has as its root principle "Thou before I". In other words, to be ethical, you have to consider the other person's situation as equally valid and important as your own. And you have to think about the impact of your actions on others before counting the benefit to yourself.

Such small things. Things that don't get mentioned on the Philanthropic Channel. Or get you plaques or medals or knighthoods. Certainly not things that anybody is going to thank you for.

At least, not yet. Until you've changed the world.