Wednesday, October 20, 2010

The Chance of Humming

A
man
standing on two logs in a river
might do all right floating with the current
while humming in the
now.



Though
if one log is tied to a camel,
who is also heading south along the bank –at the same pace-
all could still be well
with the
world


unless the camel
thinks he forgot something, and
abruptly turns upstream,
then


uh-oh.



Most minds
do not live in the present
and can stick to a reasonable plan; most minds abruptly turn
and undermine the

chance

of

humming.

- J.Rumi

A Stone I died

A stone I died and rose again a plant;
A plant I died and rose an animal;
I died an animal and was born a man.
Why should I fear? What have I lost by death?
- J.Rumi

Friday, August 6, 2010

true love

where there is no 'l' and 'you'.
when we say I love you, there is still there I and you. a sense of seperation

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Monday, August 2, 2010

two teachings that i could connect

1.there is no enlightened being. There are only enlighntening moments and enlightening experiences. No one at an individual level can be enlightened.
2. I read this quote recently - "Life ultimately comes down to few moments" we will ultimately remember few moments that have changed us.

was the author refering to "those" enlightening moments. if not i do think thats the case.

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Tuesday, July 27, 2010

laboratory

Life is laboratory. body is the multi purpose instrument that executes. Mind designs and plans. But let consciousness be the Supervisor.

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Sunday, July 4, 2010

Messages from the Masters

since many months I am feeling a push and pull situation within myself...Something that is pushing and pulling me and it has two ends definitely..It is at a very subtle level and one cant see in my behavior..

In Guru Granth Sahib, Gur parsad comes on the first sentence..what exactly is gods grace..
Today I got a glimpse of what my problem was when I read on Ramana Maharshi's quotes..

"Liberation is not anywhere outside you. It is only within. If a man is anxious and desperate for liberation, the internal Guru (Master) pulls him in and the external Guru pushes him into the Self. This is the grace of the Guru."

Saturday, July 3, 2010

True teachings of Islam same as other religions

In every religion and its followers, there is one missing link, huge disconnect between "What is taught" and "what is followed".
So if u see people doing weird things, things that are exactly opposite of what is your belief is, on the name of any religion..thats because they are ignorant, foolish and that dosent mean that the teachings of that religion were wrong.

Islam is such a wonderful religion. It tries to remove all blind folds from people in those times. Spiritual essence of islam is never highlighted by many people. Spirituality is reality and Islam makes every attempt to teach reality.

All religions teach same thing, in different languages. Teachings from Gita, Koran, Bible and Guru Granth are exactly same in differnt languages and changed according to the time they came into existence. But Islam is the most misunderstood amongst its contemporaries.
Here we go

Only One God:The cornerstone of Islam is "Tauhid", i.e. Monotheism. "Tauhid" means belief in only one God and that existence in general-- among other things the order of nature--is a manifestation of His grand design, as well as turning to God in prayer and glorification, away from worshipping any other.

The first article of faith is: "La ilaha, illa-llah"
-- "There is not but one God- Allah."
(Does this not sound simillar to Swayambhu in Gita, Lord in bible, Ek Onkar in Guru Granth ?)

Correct Knowledge of God: Islam has attached importance, more than anything else, to the proper knowledge of God, free from any aberration. It is chiefly here that Islam is outstanding.

The Invisible God: The only God to whom Islam invites everyone is inaccessible to the senses. He is beyond the reach of eyesight nor is He open to touch.
Koran says in this respect:

"No vision can grasp Him but His grasp is over all vision.
He is above all comprehension yet Omniscient." (6:103)

Vision does not penetrate beyond colour and figure but God has neither one nor the other . His glory is beyond the reach of vision and other senses in general.

(This is simillar to Hindu belief of Nirakar and Nirvikar, one creator. The Gods and goddesses that we see as a pointers to that 'God' are also created by the same creator)

God exists in everything but at the same time it cannot be experienced by senses and mind.Something that exists everywhere but cant be seen ! Yes thats how it is ...See how Quran gives beautiful explanation.

God Unlike Anything Else

We generally have a mental picture of things we know, for example: flowers and fruits, hills and dales, sun , moon and stars and human being as well. But what about God? Can we also form an image of Him?
Never!

Because our notions are a result of our experiences, or constructions out of our experiences or of analysis carried on by our restless mind, yet having their roots in things we have come to know through our senses.
In this respect Koran says:

"The Creator of the heavens and of the earth. He has created pairs of yourselves as well as pairs of the animals-thereby He multiplies you.
Nothing is like onto Him and He is the All-hearing, the All -seeing." (42:11)

Yes , God can be represented neither in form of a painting nor a statue. He can also not be conceived.


(In Gita, 'Lord' Krishna mentions that Gods an Godessess were made by "ME" that one universal god to give pointers and reminders of 'ME')
Since childhood e are programmed to see god in statues. We are so strongly programmed and conditioned that we cannot conceive or even think of God anything other than statues..

God, The Omniscient, The Mighty:

On various occasions, Koran mentions different and absolute attributes for God:

"He is the Creator, the Omniscient, the All-hearing , the All-seeing, the All-guiding, the Supporter, the Forbearer, the Amiable, the Always-forgiving, the Self-sufficient...
a God who knows our most secret thoughts, Listens to the prayers of all His servants, grants each and everyone his due; a God who is nearer and more gracious to us than any other being."

ince man's mind has more to do with relative ideas, that is to say his ideas are of relative things, even in the understanding of those of His attributes which the Koran mentions, man is liable to go astray and fall into error. It is owing to this shortcoming of the human mind that there are many verses in the Koran which attribute to God purity from imperfections which have their seat in the native deficiency of our thoughts.
Koran teaches -
"Whoever knows himself knows His Lord."
This is same as Jesus teachings on -Matthew 6:21 "Your heart will be where your treasure is" and "Thy know yourself"

Chapter 6 of Gita extensively teaches Science of self realization. When individual consciousness unites to universal consciousness.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Reason

There is Reason for everything. Perhaps at the moment that an event occurs we have neither the insight nor the foresight to comprehend the reason. But with time, patience and efforts it comes to light.

Bible teachings from Paulo's book

page 161
Petrus: "Pity even more thos who fast , an who censure and prohibit, and who thereby see themselves as saints, preaching your name in the streets. For neither of these types of people know thy law that says "If I bear the witness of myself, my witness is not true'

................."Except that one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of god"


page- 162

................."Whoever does not receive the kingdom of god as a little child will by no means enter it"




Page 214:

Petrus: What do you hear
paulo: Nothing, the silence
Petrus; We are not smart enough to be able to listen to the silence. We are human beings and we dont even know to listen to our ramblings.


Page: 233:
Petrus is leaving Paulo and shares a secet.

"you can only learn through teaching. We have been together on the road to santiago, but while you were learning the practices, I learned the meaning of them. In teaching you, I truly learned. By taking the role of a guide, I was able to find my own true path.


page 213:
Petrus: Life teaches us more than the road to Santiago does. But we don't have much faith in what life teaches us' And those who do dont need a special pilgrimage.

Friday, June 25, 2010

true name

On Mon, Jun 21, 2010 at 12:34 AM, Vishal Pendharkar wrote:
Every copy of Guru Granth Sahib consists of 1430 Aangs (pages). It contains the Banis (the sacred compositions. Its bani bcoz..it has com from gurus mukh---gurbani) of the first five Gurus and the ninth Guru as well as a number of passages of verses written by several saints from Muslims, Hindus and even so called "untouchable". This was done to demonstrate the Sikh respect for other saints, tolerance for all faiths and consider all humans equal. Not to forget, Guru Granth has many Doha's of my favorite saint Kabir and I think Meera too.

Guru Granth begins with these opening lines, that form the basis of Sikhism

ik onkar satnam karata purakh nirabhau nirvair akal murat ajuni saibhang gur parsad

Simple meaning of this verse is

ik onkar -One universal God.

satnam - The Name Is Truth.

karata purakh - creative being (personified). Being Immanent in his creation or u can say he is omnipresent. Creator is not different from Creation ! makes sense ? not yet you... can read this more on Osho's discourse later..

nirbhau- One without any fear

nirvair- One Without any hatred

akal murat- One Beyond Time and Space. (time as we know existed when universe begun 4.6 billion years. what was there before that? is GOD)

ajuni - One that cannot be born and so cannot die.

saibhang- Self-Existent. (In sanskrit - Swayambhu)

gur parsad - By Guru's Grace.
The teacher who is gods conciousness. Let me try an example...Imagine a water poured on floor. It doesn't know where to go..If you draw a line from it, then water starts flowing through that line..Guru's role is to draw that line. Guru's role is to make water aware of its property, that is, to flow...Only Guru can do it. Guru makes you realize your potential, your true nature, who you actually are, who you can become. So it is called Grace.. Believe me, I was too adamant once to believe this until recently when contemplation made me realize.
You can also relate this to Guru's role in our professional life too..

God created everything at the same time he manifests, reverberates, resonates, vibrates in his creation. He is the One-in-all and the All-in-one. He is the Eternal Reality
(its like a continous 'naad'........we can feeling it. Dont you feel a continous rhythm in everything around us and within us? for ex. day-night cycle, music, dance, eating, walking, running, nature around us...deeper in ourself heart beat, pulse, breathing, and still deeper in more scientific process like signal trasduction, opening and closing of ion channels, peristalsis. Even deeper - electromagnetic waves, sound waves, photons - travel in rhythm- what we call frequency, Molecules, atoms, electrons are in rhythm...electrons rotating around themselves is in rhythm and we measure it in the form of NMR !) Isn't it fascinating !

For many centuries physicists believed that universe is made of matter. Recently in a museum I came to know that only 4% of universe is matter rest 96% is mixture of dark matter and dark energy..both unknown to us. Whatever 4% matter we believed is also not matter but energy that resonates at a frequency that we can 'feel' !..We ourselves are energy too....Now physicists believe that there is "No Matter"...everything is made of Energy....every where there is only one energy but that it vibrates at different frequencies ! Experiments have proved this...Fission/fusion creates new elements becoz structure of neutrons and electrons from one element start vibrating at different frequency!

Some more stuff.....

These are some of the excerpts from Osho's understanding of sikkhism. Osho gave a discourse on Sikhism in 1984 and was considered as best rendition of sikhism....


Ek Omkar Satnam - The Essence of Sikh Religion

The first words uttered by Nanak after samadhi were: "Ek Omkar Satnam." Now the fact is that the entire Sikh religion is contained in those three words. Everything else is merely an effort to teach you, to help you understand.

Nanak's message was complete in these three words. Because it was not possible for ordinary people to understand the message directly, an effort had to be made to expand on it. Explanations are given out of your inability to understand; otherwise Nanak had said all he wanted to convey: "Ek Omkar Satnam." The mantra was complete. But for you it has no meaning yet. These three words alone cannot solve the mystery for you; then language must be used.

God is the creator. But realize that he does not stand apart from his creation. He is absorbed and one with all that he has created. This is why Nanak never separated the sannyasin from the householder. If the creator was separate from his creation, then you would drop all worldly activities in order to seek Him, abandoning the shop, the office, the marketplace. Nanak did not give up his worldly duties till the very end. As soon as he returned from his travels he would go to work in the fields. All his life he ploughed the fields. He named the village in which he settled, Kartarpur, which means the village of the creator.

God is the creator, but do not think he is separated form his creation. When man sculpts an idol and the idol is completed, the sculptor and the sculpture are no longer one; they are separate. And the sculpture will remain long after the sculptor is dead. If the image fractures, the sculptor is not also broken, because the two are separate. But there is no such distance between God and his creation.

What kind of relationship exists between God and his creation? It is like a dancer with his dance. When man dances can you separate him from his dance? Can he return home leaving the dance behind? If the dancer dies, the dance dies with him. When the dance stops, he is no longer the dancer. They are united. This is why since ancient times, Hindus have looked upon God as the dancer, "Nataraj." In this symbol the dancer and the dance are one.


The creator is nothing but creativity >>

The poet is no longer related to his poem, once it is finished. The sculptor is separated from his sculpture as soon as it is completed. A mother gives birth to a child, and they are separate; the father is always distinct from the child. But God is not distinct from His creation; He is contained in it. It would be more accurate to say: the creator is the creation, or the creator is nothing but creativity.

Discarding all idea of separateness Nanak says there is no need to renounce or run away from the world. Wherever you are, He is. Nanak has given birth to a unique religion in which householder and sannyasin are one. He alone is entitled to call himself a Sikh who, being a householder is yet a sannyasin; who, being a sannyasin is still a householder.

You cannot become a Sikh merely by growing your hair or wearing a turban. It is difficult to be a Sikh. It is easy to be a householder or to be a sannyasin, but to be a Sikh you have to be both. You have to remain in the house -- but as if you are not there, as if you are in the Himalayas. Keep running the shop, but maintain the remembrance of His name ever throbbing within; you can count your cash but take His name along with it.

Before attaining samadhi, Nanak had many small glimpses of God -- what we call satori. The first occurred when Nanak was working in a grain shop where his job was to weigh wheat and other grains for the customers. One day as he measured, "One, two, three..." he reached the number thirteen. Now the number thirteen is tera in the Punjabi language. "Tera" also means "yours." When Nanak reached thirteen, tera, he lost all consciousness of the outside world because he was reminded of his beloved lord.

He would fill a measure and repeat "tera, thine, thou." Again and again he filled it..."tera" -- as if all numbers ended at tera. Tera became his mantra. The destination was reached; everything ended at tera for Nanak. People thought him mad and tried to stop him, but Nanak was in a different world altogether: "Tera! Tera! Tera!" He could not move past tera. There was nothing beyond it.


You start with I and finish at you>>

There are really only two halting places; one is I and the other is you. You start with I and finish at you.
Nanak is not against the mundane world. In fact he is in love with it, because to him the world and its creator are one. Love the world and through the world, love God; see Him through His own creation.

When Nanak came of age, his parents told him to get married. Nanak did not refuse, though people feared he would because his ways were so different from others since his childhood. His father was very much troubled on his account. He could never understand Nanak -- all these devotional songs and always in the company of holy men.

Once he sent him on a business trip to the adjoining village with twenty rupees to buy some goods for resale at a profit. Since the way of business is to buy cheaply and sell at a higher price, his father told him to buy something which would be profitable. Nanak made a few purchases. On the way back he came across a band of holy men who had not eaten for five days. Nanak pleaded with them to come to his village instead of sitting there expecting food to come to them.

"But that is the vow we have taken," they replied. "God will provide when He pleases. We are happy to abide by His will. Hunger is no problem to us."

Now Nanak thought to himself, "What can be more profitable and worthwhile than feeding these great holy men? I should distribute among them my food I have bought. Didn't my father say to do something profitable and worthwhile?"

So he gave away to the sadhus whatever he had brought from the village, though his companion, Bala, tried to stop him, and said, "Are you mad that you do that?"

Nanak insisted: "I am doing something worthwhile, as my father wished," and returned home very pleased with himself.

His ways were strange and his father was very angry. "What a fool you are. Is this how you make a profit? You will ruin me!"

Nanak answered, "What could be more profitable than this?"


Nanak’s marriage >>

But nobody else could see the profit either, much less Kale Mehta, Nanak's father. He could not see any good in this act. He was certain the boy had gone astray in the company of these holy men and lost his senses. He hoped marriage would make him more reasonable. People generally think that since the sannyasin renounces women and runs away, the way to keep a man in the world is to tie him to a woman. This trick did not work on him because Nanak was not against anything.

When his father told him to get married Nanak readily agreed. He married and had children, but this did not change his ways at all. There was no way to spoil this man, because he saw no difference between God and the world. How can such a person be defiled? If a man leaves wealth behind to become a sannyasin, you can tempt him just by giving him riches. If another has left a wife behind, give him a woman and in no time he falls. But how can you spoil a man who has left nothing? There is no way to bring about his downfall. Nanak cannot be corrupted.

My view of the sannyasin is similar to Nanak's, because he is a formidable sannyasin who cannot be corrupted. He who sits right in your world and yet is not of it can in no way be tempted.

This God Nanak refers to as the creator, the fearless, because fear is when the other is. An expression of Jean Paul Sartre has become famous: "The other is hell." It describes your experience. How often do you want to escape from the other, as if he is the source of all your trouble? When the other is closer to you, the turbulence is less than when the other is more remote, stranger. But the other is always troublesome.

What is fear? Fear always involves the other: if someone can take something away from you it destroys your security. Then there is death and there is illness -- both are the other. Hell is being surrounded by the other; hell is the other.

But how can you escape the other? Should you run away to the Himalayas you will still not be alone. Sit under a tree; a crow's dropping falls on your head, and you are filled with anger towards the crow. There are the rains and the sun -- irritations everywhere. How will you escape the other who is present everywhere?

The only way to escape the other is to seek the one; then no other remains. Then all fear fades away. There is no death, no illness; there are no inconveniences, because there is no other. Finally you are alone. Fear persists as long as the other remains the other for you.

Ek Omkar Satnam. Once this mantra has penetrated your being, where is fear? God has no fear. Whom should he fear? He is the only one, there is no one besides him.

( Excerpted from The True Name/Courtesy Osho International )


If you have read till here...make sure you don't get entangled in words ignore the message..Words are just medium to deliver the message..Appreciate the helplessness and limitations of words/languages..

Monday, May 31, 2010

How mind deceives

If a disease is asked to choose a medicine, it will never choose one that endangers its existence. Our mind often makes such choices !

Monday, May 24, 2010

two gates

A soldier named Nobushige came to Hakuin and asked: "Is there really a paradise and a hell?"
"Who are you?" inquired Hakuin.
"I am a samurai", the warrior replied.
"You, a soldier!" sneered Hakuin, "What kind of ruler would have you as his guard? You look like a beggar".
Nobushige became so angry that he began to draw his sword.
Hakuin continued: "So you have a sword! Your weapon is probably to dull to cut off my head."
Nobushige drew his sword.
Hakuin remarked: "Here open the gates of hell!"
At these words the samurai, perceiving the master's discipline, put away his sword and bowed.
"Here open the gates of paradise", said Hakuin.

Are we carrying the lantern

In early times in Japan, bamboo-and-paper lanterns were used with candles inside. A blind man, visiting a friend one night, was offered a lantern to carry home with him.
"I do not need a lantern," he said. "Darkness or light is all the same to me."
"I know you do not need a lantern to find your way," his friend replied, "but if you don’t have one, someone else may run into you. So you must take it."
The blind man started off with the lantern and before he had walked very far someone ran squarely into him. "Look out where you are going!" he exclaimed to the stranger. "Can’t you see this lantern?"
"Your candle has burned out, brother," replied the stranger.

Are we still carrying the lantern that is burned out?

Contemplate

"A piece of truth forms belief", Truth is what elephant is to blind man

One day Mara, the Evil One, was travelling through the villages of India with his attendants. he saw a man who had just discovered something on the ground in front of him.
Mara’s attendant asked what that was and Mara replied, "A piece of truth."

"Doesn’t this bother you when someone finds a piece of truth, O Evil One?" his attendant asked.
"No," Mara replied.
"Right after this, they usually make a belief out of it."

Truth is like an elephant to four blind man

To answer the questions on God and truth, Buddha asked his disciples to get a large magnificent elephant and four blind men. He then brought the four blind to the elephant and told them to find out what the elephant would "look" like.
The first blind men touched the elephant leg and reported that it "looked" like a pillar. The second blind man touched the elephant tummy and said that an elephant was a wall. The third blind man touched the elephant ear and said that it was a piece of cloth. The fourth blind man hold on to the tail and described the elephant as a piece of rope. And all of them ran into a hot argument about the "appearance" of an elephant.

we are not only touching the elephant but in fact we are constantly in touch with truth so imagine ho many versions of truth have been said so far !

Advaitic and Dvaitic school of thoughts

Ek Kahun To Hai Nahin, Do Kahun To Gaari
Hai Jaisa Taisa Rahe, Kahe Kabir Bichari

Literal Translation

If I say one, It is not
If I say two, it will be a violation
Let 'It' be what 'It' is
says Kabir upon contemplation

Explanation

This Doha is an illustration of Kabir mysticism that parallels the Zen Koans.

Kabir here is alluding to the futility of describing the cosmic experience. In that vein, he underscores the limited vision of both the Advaitic (one God) and Dvaitic (God is separate from the devotee) schools of thought. He says that the final experience is what it is and cannot be cast into any thought, words or description. A first-hand direct experience is the only way of knowing. And when that happens all else becomes literally irrelevant.

from

Understanding behind giving

Understanding behind GIVING

I come across many people who want to help "Others", do good things to "others", want to donate or GIVE to others (tell you later why this term "Others" is so important. They have genuine intention to help, do good for others, in fact many go ahead execute their thoughts. however they start saying that the person they helped did not reciprocate or did not oblige. Somewhere in the corner of their mind, they have an expectation that their work will be recognised, appreciated or reciprocated in some way. If this doesn't happen then, they get hurt and then things that were done with good intentions also makes them sad and with lot of grief.
This happened because there was no understanding behind GIVING.

This feeling of grief and sadness has arise to the giver because he thought he is giving to "Other". Actually there is no "other". The consciousness within the giver and the taker is same.
if you give with right understanding it will give immense happiness and never ever you will get hurt. You will fell free from whatever is the outcome.

Kabir in one of his doha has said
"Whatever I am giving belongs to HIM (almighty GOD)"
"To whom I am giving, he/she belongs HIM"
"One Who is giving, also belongs to HIM"

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Dream

Dreaming

The great Taoist master Chuang Tzu once dreamt that he was a butterfly fluttering here and there. In the dream he had no awareness of his individuality as a person. He was only a butterfly. Suddenly, he awoke and found himself laying there, a person once again.

But then he thought to himself,

"Was I before a man who dreamt about being a butterfly, or am I now a butterfly who dreams about being a man?"

Its my nature

The Nature of Things

Two monks were washing their bowls in the river when they noticed a scorpion that was drowning. One monk immediately scooped it up and set it upon the bank. In the process he was stung. He went back to washing his bowl and again the scorpion fell in. The monk saved the scorpion and was again stung.

The other monk asked him, "Friend, why do you continue to save the scorpion when you know it's nature is to sting?"

"Because," the monk replied, "to save it is my nature."

We'll see

We'll See...

There is a Taoist story of an old farmer who had worked his crops for many years. One day his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit.

"Such bad luck," they said sympathetically.

"We'll see," the farmer replied.

The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it three other wild horses.

"How wonderful," the neighbors exclaimed.

"We'll see," replied the old man.

The following day, his son tried to ride one of the untamed horses, was thrown, and broke his leg. The neighbors again came to offer their sympathy on his misfortune.

"We'll see," answered the farmer.

The day after, military officials came to the village to draft young men into the army. Seeing that the son's leg was broken, they passed him by. The neighbors congratulated the farmer on how well things had turned out.

"We'll see" said the farmer.
A student once asked his teacher,

"Master, what is enlightenment?"

The master replied,

"When hungry, eat. When tired, sleep."

A cup of tea

A CUP OF TEA
Nan-in, a Japanese master during the Meiji era (1868-1912), received a university professor who came to inquire about Zen.

Nan-in served tea. He poured his visitor's cup full, and then kept on pouring.

The professor watched the overflow until he no longer could restrain himself. "It is overfull. No more will go in!"

"Like this cup," Nan-in said, "you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?"

Courtesy of
http://101-zen-stories.blogspot.com/9999/12/cup-of-tea.html