Monthly Archives: July 2009

2009
07/12

Category:
Kabir
Philosophy

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The fragility and strength of love

The fragility of love:

“Human relationships are too frail, those who build their world around it , those who consider their lovelife as the center of their life, were among those deeply hurt by it.

Even the most beautiful and most affluent people are not exempted from the heartaches brought by an earthly romance.”

– ‘The World’s Wealthiest Losers’ by Margaret Nicholas

Rahim – The couplet transliterated:

‘Rahiman’ paida prem ko, nipat silsila gail |
Bilchhat paanv pipeeliko, log ladaavat bail ||
Translation:
The path of love if slippery and troubles even the cautious, all the learning from history has not made it any easier. Even the tiny ant slips here.
Yet we proudly fight and race big bulls, in our pride forgetting how vulnerable we are when faced with love.
Kabir – the couplet transliterated:

Teen sanehi bahu milai, chautha mila na koi |
Sabahu piyare ram ke, baithe parbas hoi ||

Translation:
Many long for honor, wealth and lust, none for salvation |
Those who do, they remain lost in His love and devotion ||
My understanding:
Love is a tender thread that twines human lives into the most wondrous of quilts, the story there is one that will survive all ages. Even if history forgot a war amidst the pages, it did not lose a single love story.
When love lives so close to us, why do we nurture hatred? Love – the self, life, and all around you. When we do this , all of a sudden, life becomes worth living and even death is not a danger or tragedy, but just another step in a journey.
So love, live, and nurture this world – for it is all we have!

2009
07/11

Category:
Kabir
Philosophy

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The true value of what is perceived as worthless:

“…what one seeks in reading autobiography is not a date, a name, or a place, but a characteristic way of perceiving, of organizing, and of understanding, an individual way of feeling and expressing that one can somehow relate to oneself.”
James Olney, quoted in ‘The Value of Worthless Lives’ by Ilaria Serra

On the deaths of Princess Diana and Anna Nicole Smith
I recall an evening in the early summer of August 1997, when I was strolling towards a movie theatre in Santa Monica, California to take in some of Hollywood’s cinematographic delights. A friend of mine, who was, at the time, residing in Paris, rang in with the terrible news that 36-year old Princess Diana had died. As I entered the theatre, with news that had yet to break in most of America, I could not help but wonder how the people who were watching the movie with me would be affected by this death once they found out. While I was uncertain how people would react, I was somehow quite certain that most would likely have some form of reaction, be it grief, surprise, chock, or sadness.

This was not the case when I heard of the death of 39-year old Anna Nicole Smith (Thursday 02/09/07). In fact, I only just furrowed my brows a bit, turned off the news channel, and thought: ”Oh well…who cares”?! It was not until this morning I started pondering why I could possibly care so little about another human being.

This woman was after all a human, a being of flesh and blood, a real person lost. This was the death not only of a woman, but also a mother, daughter, lover, and a friend. Much like Princess Diana, Anna Nicole Smith was famous to the point of obscurity. She had suffered, gained, and lost. So why could it be that I cared so little about the state of her life and eventually the end of it, when I recall having strong feelings about the death of Diana?

Valuable or Worthless? – A Human Life Considered – by Linda Harris

Dohas today – Day 01:

Rahim – The couplet transliterated:

Amarbeli binu mool ki, pratipaalat hai taahi |
‘Rahiman’ aise prabhuhi taji, khojat phiriye kahi ||
Translation:
The ‘amarbeli’ bush is without root, and without any visible use. Yet The Lord loves it too.
Ignoring such a Loving Lord, why do you wander and who do you search for?
Kabir – the couplet:
Sab ghat mera saiyan, khali ghat nahi koi |
Balihari va ghat ki, ja ghat parghat hoi ||
Translation:
The Lord dwells in everyone, no one is bereft of Him |
Praise to him in whom he does manifest His beam ||
My understanding:
A wonderful look at the corruption of true innocence. The little child does not classify anyone as good, bad, useful or worthless. They know to love, and love with all their being.
This is the true form of God – Love without cause, love without consequence or condition.
As we grow up, grow older, we acquire these glasses that color and classify, and muddy our vision.
Here is a clarion call from across the ages to give up those meaningless qualifications to our thinking and understanding – should we not pay attention?
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