She lives on

My mother Swaran Kaur ji passed on in life last year.  It seems that mothers may leave us physically but never leave us spiritually.

After the funeral and the departure all the friends and relatives, I walked alone through the rooms of her house. Even with the Mistress gone the home seemed to exude an energy, as if she was still there. I rationalised that, when disturbed or excited the human mind can conjure up anything the heart desires. So I let the feeling pass. 

Mom had cultivated and nurtured many plants in her home and on the terrace. Well I was the only one there so I took care of the many plants.  

 After a few days I took the plants to my own home. It was then, when my terrace garden came alive that I realised that the very same energy I had sensed at her home were also present in these very plants. 

Spiritual by Eduardo Rodríguez Calzado

I suddenly experienced that Mother lives on in our lives. Her love and energy had permeated into our lives, and influences my thoughts, words and deeds, and now through these plants.  The energy and love she poured into me and many others was the same that these plants had also received. The flowers, the herbs and the aroma fills not only my senses but also my being.

Everything we think, feel, say or do has consequences, because it is manifested in this universe. 

Energy cannot be created nor destroyed, just its form gets transformed. 

If we are lucky we find our life mostly spent in the company of people with energy that makes us better, stronger, and yet more spiritual. 

I know not what happens to people when they pass on and I am comfortable with that. All I know is mother left a lovely trail within me to journey on. What more can one ask from the divine?

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I rarely attend social events, birthday or anniversary parties, etc. but when I do, I never present a bouquet of flowers, for they will wither and die in a couple of days. I  like to present my hosts with something with meaning and life. A small potted plant is perfect. Something that will grow, and enrich their lives.

'Ubuntu' - I am, because we are

An  anthropologist who had been studying the Xhosa people of Africa, was leaving to return home when he had a revealing experience, which he narrated.

While waiting for his ride, he decided to play a game with the little children who milled around him.  He placed some sweets in a basket, and tied the basket under a tree a small distance away. He asked the children to play a game and run a race. Upon his signal the children were to run to the tree and collect the sweets. Winner was to take all.

When he said “Go!” the kids ran towards each other and held hands, and together they ran off towards the tree. The untied the basket and happily shared the sweets amongst themselves. 

The Anthropologist was pleasantly surprised. He asked the children to explain what they did and why?
A young girl simply replied: “How can one of us be happy if all the others are sad?”

The anthropologist was dumbfounded! For months and months he’d been studying the tribe, yet it was only now that he really understood their true essence…

“Africans have a belief called Ubuntu (oo-boon-too, n.) which means, “I am because we are." The individual is a part of the whole universe, a part of other people and all living things, and they cannot be treated separately.

For centuries, many people have considered the people of Africa backward. When one witnesses such great wisdom and humanity, it makes one wonder who really is backward?

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” ~ African Proverb

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Source:  “This is the Age of Ubuntu” from The noble Sikh Hari Singh. I am deeply grateful to my friend Bobby Basu for introducing me to the concept of Ubuntu.

What benefits the Body and Mind?

           

           

The body benefits from movement, and the mind benefits from stillness.

~ Sakyong Mipham

                                                              ________________________________________

Sakyong Mipham (1962 -) is the head of Shambhala International, a worldwide network of urban Buddhist meditation centers, retreat centers, monasteries, a university etc. Sakyong Mipham is a high lama in the Nyingma lineage of Tibetan Buddhism.

My God versus your God

The highest state of Love.

"The highest state of Love is not a relationship at all, it is simply a state of your Being." 

                                   ~ Osho

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"Just as trees are green, a lover is loving. They are not green for particular persons, it is not that when you come they become green. The flower goes on spreading it’s fragrance whether anybody comes or not, whether anybody appreciates or not. 

The flower does not start releasing its fragrance when it sees that a great poet is coming by - ‘Now this man will appreciate, now this man will be able to understand who I am.’ And it does not close its doors when it sees that a stupid, idiotic person is passing there - insensitive, dull, or something like that. It does not close itself - 

The flower goes on spreading its fragrance. It is a state of being."

                                   ~ Osho

This too shall pass

Moonlit Seascape, 1902 -Thomas Moran

One evening there was a storm on Lake Galilee. All the people on the boat caught in this storm feared for their lives as the howling winds tore the sails and rigging  and the waves mercilessly lashed against the sides threatening to wreck the creaking and helpless boat. All but one sleeping man were terrified. 

The man awoke and asked the terrified people to have faith and calm themselves. When they refused to be calmed he rose and walked to the side of the boat and spoke to the waves and the winds. "Peace. Be still" and miraculously the storm subsided.  The bad time had passed.
That man was Jesus Christ and he had been heard.  Though legend has it that this particular incident occurred more than 2000 years ago in the lives of those people, it happens even today in the lives of each one of us.

The boat is our being and the storm is what happens in our minds. We tremble and worry as some genuine and mostly imaginary concerns lash and threaten our very sanity and life.

Have faith, in yourself, and in creation and you will be alright. Let the great power sleeping within you awaken, address the storm and command it to be still. Almost always the storm listens, for we are the creators of the storm.

If the time to die has come then embrace death with peace and joy. If death it is not, then remember that whatever challenges we face and overcome that does not kill us only makes us stronger.  If you have gone through difficult times in the past and persevered, you know that this too shall pass. 

Some of us have gone through very difficult times and now laugh at the uselessness of our worry. Tough times never last but people with faith always do.

Pain, Pleasure, Death and Life

To avoid Pain, they avoid Pleasure, 
To avoid Death, they avoid Life.

               

                       ~ Osho

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