Monthly Archives: October 2010

I believe that love cannot be bought except with love.
– John Steinbeck

Love cannot triumph unless it becomes the one passion of our life. Until we have a passionate love for Our Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament, we shall accomplish nothing.
– St. Peter Eymard

Kabir – The couplet
????? ? ???? ????, ????? ? ??? ???? |
??? ????? ???? ????, ??? ??? ?? ??? ||

transliterated:
Prem na badi upjai, prem na haat bikaay |
Raja praja johi ruche, sheesh dehi le jaay ||

Translation:
Love is not a field crop to harvest, nor is it sold in the marketplace |
And yet king or citizen, when they desire it, willingly sacrifice life in exchange ||

My understanding:
Some amongst us claim not to believe in that which cannot be perceived, and hence their lack of faith in God.

Yet the same person happily professes undying love for the passion of their life.

We, as humans, tend to contradict ourselves depending on the situation. Since love makes us feel good, we ‘go for it’, as the saying goes. And yet we refuse, steadfastly, to put in the little effort towards introspection that will help us realize the eternal bliss and perfect peace that ‘God-realization’ will give us.

This is not a call to gain religion (or maybe it is, at least partly). God is not just a luminiscient being up there who can solve everything and has all the answers. ‘God’ is the reference we use for the construct that allows us to center our focus and concentrate our own innate energies to finding thise simple yet elusive answers to questions that consume our daily living.

So, back to the original topic – love. Love is the pathway to finding both satisfaction and peace – again, non-transient and yet all-powerful entities. When we love, we learn to look over and beyond the small imperfections that our other negative instincts (jealousy, desire) magnify into insurmountable obstacles. Love is the lubricant that makes the journey of life a comfortable ride, and the discovery of the self a simpler quest.

Love is something latent within all, not something that can be traded for or bought with currency. Love is as omniscient and intangible as life itself, for it is the other true face of the coin of life. So instead of looking for it, use it, and it will allow us to bloom!

But have you ever tried to get your mind to wander? It’s about as easy as getting a cat to stay where you tell it to, or telling a toddler not to cry, or willing the heavy clouds not to rain on your picnic.
– by Kristin on May 5, 2010 (http://www.halfwaytonormal.com/?p=1058)

Kabir – The couplet
?? ????? ?? ?? ??, ??? ???? ??? ?? |
???? ????? ??? ???, ???? ??? ????||

transliterated:
Tan bohit man kag hai, lakh yojan udi jai |
Kabahu dariya agam bahi, kabahi gagan samai||

Translation:
The body is bound (to earth) but the mind can fly, many leagues at once |
Sometimes to distant lands, other times into the sky, unlimited in reach||

My understanding:
Each human being is a wonderful mixture of opposites, of different faces of the same coin, an admixture or reality and fantasy all bound into a single composite existent presentation.

The body is our host, our physical manifestation, and our presentation of the self to the physical world. This is bound by physical laws, and is slave to physical forces like gravity and ambient temperature. The mind, on the other hand is the free bird, untouched by either the pains or the pleasures of the physical flesh.

However, we often confuse one for the other, and therein is our undoing.

Desire makes us blur the distinction between the mind and body, and jealousy and craving make us believe the body can achieve the effortless aimless wandering of the mind.

Peace and satisfaction help center the mind in the body, so that both can be at the same place at the same time – which is the first step on the path to salvation, mukti, moksha, heaven or whatever other name we call our real goal by.

A clear understanding of this dichotomy and the need to center the mind in the body before doing anything else needs to be the first procedure in the attainment of the step to peace and satisfaction.

“When an ordinary man attains knowledge he is a sage; when a sage attains understanding he is an ordinary man.”
–Zen Buddhism

Kabir – The couplet
????? ???? ??????, ?? ?? ??? ???? |
????? ??????? ?? ?? ???, ???? ???? ? ??? ||

transliterated:
Sahib teri saahibi, sab ghat rahi samai |
Jyon mehendi ke pat me, lali lakhi na jai||

Translation:
O Lord, your Greatness exists and manifests everywhere|
Just as the dye in the Mehendi leaves, though red – shows not in the leaves that are green evne when ground to paste ||

My understanding:
We often tend to ask questions, and then expect the answer to find its way back to us. More often than not, the answer is right there, and the question is only a step in the path to the answer (goal).

Our concept and structure of God uses a construct that says He is all powerful, and holds all powers and answers.

In reality, man is a representative of that same construct – The Supreme Being. We have all of the solutions, all of the methods, all of the inventions locked away deep inside the folds of the brain. Every invention known to us, realized by us, every benefit, every glory, every achievement, came from the work of man.

And yet we lament that God has not given us what we need? He has bestowed us with the ability, it is now our duty to visualize and realize the wealth that is inside of us.

Perhaps the undoing of this quandary is in our current definition of God. If we were look on Him as the Supreme Teacher, instead of the Supreme Being, perhaps we would look to learn from him, instead of just waiting for his Blessings to shower on us (in reality, the showers never ceased – we are still able to read this letter and comprehend – right? If I can do this, then all my faculties are intact, which means God is right here with me, now and for ever.).

All of this is is my own learning from the ocean of knowledge, at whose edge I sip – perhaps I do not comprehend this right? If so, all elders and teachers who are reading this, please correct my thinking.

“The soul of religion is one, but it is encased in a multitude of forms.”
–Mahatma Gandhi

Kabir – The couplet
??? ????? ????, ?? ?? ??? ???? |
?????? ?? ?? ??? ???, ??? ??? ???? ||

transliterated:
Pachha pachhi ke karane, sab jag raha bhulan |
Nirpachh ho ke hari bhaje, soi sant sujan ||

Translation:
Divied into groups with differing agendas, humanity has lost sense of direction|
He who prays to God, impervios to religion, is the true Believer, the Teacher ||

My understanding:
Religion, over the ages, has been transformed from the path to inner peace to a doctrine meant to control groups.

When a follower disagrees, he searches (as we do with all our arguments, debates and disagreements) for other like-minded individuals. IF there are enough, this is the new group, and sometimes becomes “new religion”.

What we need is less talk, and more introspection. All of humanity is essentially good and kind. Groups, doctrine and dogma take us away from this inner truism and make us behave in ways we (sometimes intensely) disagree with, just to ‘keep up with the Joneses’.

If we were to return to basics, the sun, while still just as warm and bright, would look truly brilliant, and the birdsong around us would be heard as the true song of real freedom that it really is.

Well-meaning individuals trying to solve specific problems created all borders, religion, politics and beaurocracy. We forgot the problems, but hung on to the resultant processes as the Absolute Truth.

We need to go back into the mists of time, re-discover the problem, and document it along with the solution – it is only then that we will realize the childishness of our excesses.

Religion is not the God we pray to, or the faith we profess to follow. Spend time in introspection, and we will all learn to love all around us. That is true religion.

Agree?

As an unperfect actor on the stage,
Who with his fear is put beside his part,
Or some fierce thing replete with too much rage,
Whose strength’s abundance weakens his own heart;
So I, for fear of trust, forget to say
The perfect ceremony of love’s rite,
And in mine own love’s strength seem to decay,
O’ercharg’d with burthen of mine own love’s might.
O! let my books be then the eloquence
And dumb presagers of my speaking breast,
Who plead for love, and look for recompense,
More than that tongue that more hath more express’d.
O! learn to read what silent love hath writ:
To hear with eyes belongs to love’s fine wit.
–William Shakespeare

Kabir – The couplet
??? ????? ????? ??, ??? ??? ? ???? |
????? ???? ?????, ???? ??????? ||

transliterated:
Akath Kahani Prem Ki, Kuch Kahi Na Jaaye |
Goonge Keri Sarkara, Baithea Muskaae ||

Translation:
Love is a story expressed, not told, speech does not describe it well|
Just at the dumb man eating sweets, his face describes the taste the best ||

My understanding:
We often lose sight of the goal in our attemt to describe a situation in language – forgetting that language is not the only mode of expression we have.

Our faces, our expression, our actions, even our inaction, all speak louder than words.

The beautific expression on the face of a child enjoying a cake cannot be expressed in words – and words do not convey the satiation or exquisite taste the face does.

Similarly, we often get too involved in our rituals, losing sight of the reason we observe them – prayers are meant to take us closer to God, not distance me from my fellow man. Religion is a bonding experience, not a separatist movement.

However, our attempt to put in words that which we experience allows ego to insert itself into the playbook, and then all bets are off.

So maybe we have to relearn the art of using all our faculties for expression – both the expression of what we feel and the reading of that which is expressed to and around us?

And maybe the written word will once again find its rightful place as a team member, rather than the lone voice?

For we are all created from love, for the purpose of love, to extend the reach of love, and are meant to spend this life bathed in the glorious light of love.

So let us ignore that which does not express or intend lvoe, and instead focus on love as the only reason for existense. Love God, love yourself, and love all that is all around us as well as that which we cannot perceive, but perhaps can imagine?

For love is the one salve that can put the world’s unrest to bed, and suffuse us with the true glory of existense.

“The glories of our birth and state
Are shadows, not substantial things;
There is no armour against fate:
Death lays his icy hands on kings;
Sceptre and crown
Must tumble down,
And in the dust be equal made
With the poor crooked scythe and spade.”
–       James Shirley (Death’s Final Conquest)

Kabir – The couplet
????? ???? ? ??????, ??? ??? ?? ??? |
? ???? ??? ???? ??, ???? ??? ???? ????? ||

transliterated:
Kabira Garv Na Keejiye, Kaal Gahe Kar Kes |
Na Jaane Kit Mare Hai, Kya Des Kya Pardesh ||

Translation:
Says Kabir be not proud or vain, for Time is dark and mysterious |
We know not when we run out of time, or even if it is in a place of our choice (home/abroad) ||

My understanding:
Continuing from the past couple of days….

Since time immemorial, we have been fascinated by the concept of death, and what lays beyond.

However, this, on deeper reflection, turns out to be but another distraction from the purpose of life, and a big boost to ego. For what can be more pleasant to the ego than to wonder on the grandness of my legacy, my “footprints in the sands of time”, what I bequeth to those who will come after me?

In the pursuit of this grandeur, I will waste much and misuse the time I have to plan for what comes after, giving up that which I could receive now – simple peace, an understanding of the need of this moment, the ability to provide light for my soul now.

This is the maya of creation – we have all we need, and yet, we are loaded with desire for that which always stays elusive: and the pursuit of the desire leaves us with neither – no satisfied desire, and no ability to receive and appreciate that which is already ours.

And it is this maya that Kabir, James Shirley, and every enlightened individual since the time of Creation have warned us to watch out for.