Monthly Archives: June 2015

2015
06/16

Category:
Kabir
Philosophy

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Find real energy in being calm and grounded. Flight, though enticing, is exhausting!

“Whenever the cloud of ego threatens to engulf me, I remind myself of my roots. It helps keeping my feet on the ground.”
– Faraaz Kazi
 
Kabir – The couplet
ऊंचे पानी न टिके, नीचे ही ठहराय ।
नीचे हो सो भरी पिए, ऊंचे प्यास जाय ॥
 
Transliterated:
Oonche Paani Naa Tike, Neeche Hi Thahraay |
Neeche Ho So Bhari Piye, Unchhe Pyaasa Jaay ||
 
Translation:
Water never floats, but rather flow to the lowest space|
He who is on the ground can slake his thirst fully, he who flies stays thirsty||
 
My understanding:
Be grounded in a stable understanding of self and circumstance, and stress will not be able to faze or change you. Develop this understanding in moments of calm so that you can change even troubled times into peaceful moments, rather than let the trouble change you into its nature.

When we are calm, we can channel our energies to modify our environment to match our demeanor – when agitated, we absorb the energy of the environment, meaning we transform to reflect the environment.

The choice is always ours to make – mold the world to reflect us, or mold our self to be a slave to the whims of the moment.

The grounded one can drink from the fountain of peace, and enjoy all the presented bounty in peace. The agitated one, though seemingly in glorious flight, is not able to spend more than a fleeting moment to perceive each presented gift – far less truly explore and enjoy its full potential. Because of this, the one in flight will forever be chasing what seems like an ephemeral dream of peace and bliss. To receive, we have to be ready to receive. Which means to allow the gift to reveal itself to us, rather than being in a rush to get it all and then move on. For once we truly receive this gift, we will need nothing else and no more!

2015
06/15

Category:
Kabir
Philosophy

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When we find God’s presence, we find that we have found all that needs finding!

“In our stillness, we acknowledge God’s greatness and we are at peace in our life. Stillness saturates us in the Presence of God.”
– E’yen A. Gardner, Humbly Submitting to Change – The Wilderness Experience
 
Kabir – The couplet
हरि संगत शीतल भया, मिटी मोह की ताप।
निशिवसर सुख निधि, लहा अन्न प्रगत आप॥
 
Transliterated:
Hari Sangat Sheetal Bhaya, Miti Moh Ki Aag |
Nishiwasar Sukh Nidhi, Laha Ann Pragata Aap ||
 
Translation:
The company of God is calming, it frees you from the flames of desire|
Eternal bliss will surround you, all you need will be made available||
 
My understanding:
So here is a different way to look at life. When we submit to the presence man commonly refers to as God, truly submit, we give up our tenuous hold on ego, desire, craving and the like. For in the presence of the One everything is already there – and there can be no want.

Only after arriving in a room with no light, where even the deepest peering provides no input to the eyes, do we really learn to use our other sensory organs, and then we discover the magic we always had access to but chose to blithely ignore. Similarly, when we finally relax enough to allow God to take our hand, we suddenly realize that all the effort we had been putting out to do/be/think was for naught – in this space, everything happens without effort.

Having realized that, we then become aware of the true bounty that life really is – the gift that continues to teach and reward without end. This gift in reality has no peer, for it teaches us positively even through failure and absence of our response or our lack of knowledge and understanding!

And all this while taking care of our every need!

2015
06/09

Category:
Kabir
Philosophy

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Ego is the flame that consumes all – and then destroys the self.

“Don’t let your ego consumes you so that in the race of getting ahead from every one you don’t lose those who truly cared for you.”
– Unknown
 
“…the human being to lack that second skin we call egoism has not yet been born, it lasts much longer than the other one, that bleeds so readily.”
– José Saramago, Blindness
 
Kabir – The couplet
मै मै बड़ी बलै है, सकै तो निक्सो भाजी ।
कब लग राखौ हे सखि, रुई लपेटी आगि ॥
 
Transliterated:
Mai Mai Badi Balai Hai, Sakai To Nikso Bhaji |
Kab Lag Rakhau He Sakhi, Rui Lapeti Aagi ||
 
Translation:
“I“ is an overpowering word (thought) – though entrancing, get rid of it if possible|
As cotton wrapped around a fire cannot contain it (it succumbs), so also ego will consume you||
 
My understanding:
Ego – everything seems to be visible only through this lens, and all input seems to end up at the table that ego serves itself.

So then, all action finds direction from the ephemeral construct that we call ego, instead of from the true self. Hence, nothing we do seems to be able to satisfy us or satiate a need – for how can something done under the direction of an opinioned entity that is not me truly help, satisfy or serve me?

When we understand this, we can begin the battle that starts with identifying ego through its various manifestations, and whose end goal needs to be understanding and learning to ignore ego – for we can never truly destroy or overpower it. Ego never dies – it only re-manifests itself under a new cloak!