The Black Dog

This is an ancient Mayan story.

An old woman sits at the mouth of a cave in which there is a fire and a huge boiling cauldron over the fire. Periodically the woman stirs the pot with all the things of life in it. This woman is the goddess who deals with the whole incarnations of beings. She has two tasks. She stirs the pot and you are in it, by the way. You have been stirred lately, right? I know you have. And you will be further.

Her second task is to knit a quilt to cover the earth. So she sits in her chair, rocks back and forth and knits the quilt. She weaves in porcupine quills, feathers from exotic birds, the fabric of silkworms and beautiful dreams and many more amazing things are used in this process. When she finishes this weaving, this knitting, and the whole earth will be covered by the cloak and the world will come to an end, as we know it.

Sitting next to her is an old black dog. We all know that black dog, don't we? It was here since the beginning of time. Every once in a while the old woman has to get up, stop knitting and go to stir the pot. When she is away the mischievous black dog grabs the cloak and undoes what she has woven so far, so she has to sit back and start all over again. That's why the world can't end.
-Jack Cornfield

Earthworms

Earthworms are interesting survivors. They pass through the soil as an open ended tube or the earth passes through them. They enrich the earth. The earth nourishes them back. They do not hold anything to themselves, no attachments. 'Let go' is their whole life. They just pass through. Probably the whole soil in this planet has already passed through numerous generations of earthworms. An earth worm can be called the mother of all. We too have been passing through the earth like earthworms for millions of years. We can also be called mothers of earth. But is't that the case with all animals, plants and the rest? So there is no point in dividing things in this planet, as the whole planet is an organism that grows, transforms and dissolves into a new being each moment, same with the universe. Amazing!

Rain in the night

A fast train of thoughts passes through the night rain

Foggy cloud of mixed emotions, which is the fuel

to trigger the next train of thoughts to follow

Heavy downpour continues...

Music of rain, a solo violin played underwater

white threads, water strings, tuned tension

Now the rain stops, trees continue to rain

Solo piano notes, drip, drip, drip…

Now everything stops. 
S i l e n c e.

Sun Worshippers

After seeing a post-impressionist show recently, I realize that all of their works are about light. Well, art is possible only with light and shade, after all. Impressionists were all about making light as a subject. A scene is just an agent for the depiction of this content. Monet is the best example of this with his almost ‘sun worshipping’ approach to painting. His colors in the reflections are a rare thing to experience in an original.



As proposed by Einstein, light is composed of photons, these very small packets of energy. The reason that photons are able to travel at light speed is due to the fact that they have no mass. So light travels and arrives somewhere. Darkness is just the absence of light. Darkness does not have any particles. So darkness does not have material existence. It seems like it does. But it disappears at the arrival of light. Simple law of physics. 


Thanks to the phenomena called light in this universe and the memory of impressionist works still brightens my mind with some hope. 

‘Ignorance is the cause for suffering. When the bright light of wisdom arrives, the darkness of ignorance disappears’ -Upanishad.

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Painting above:  ‎'The Cliffs at Etretat' by Monet. This is at the Normandy Beach in France. Monet wrote to his friend about this work saying that it was difficult to get this view from this particular spot as it was tough to climb down there to get the angle he wanted. It is always nice to know some anecdote related to a painting. For some reason this painting stood out in the show for me. The reflections of the golden light is magical in with his brush work. Colours he used for the sand are rare too.

Moving Mountain

Once a mountain got really bored with standing still for long periods of time. So he decided to move, closed his eyes and imagined that he was slowly moving sidewards. It was enjoyable for a while but the moment he opened his eyes it all went away. As his boredom grew he got obsessed with closing the eyes and imagining the moving. He then found another method by looking at the sky when the clouds were passing by. Thus he would have the illusionary feeling that he was slowly moving. Then he would also start looking around at the swaying trees and the flowing river to get the same feeling. He then expanded this practice by focusing on flying birds and shooting stars. Then he realized that he could move faster as the concentration and mindfulness got focused and more perfected. He was filled with the joy of moving life around him and always one with the movement that engulfed him. It was a dance for him then and by that time he had already become the dance.

T h e . b o t t l e

A bottle has a form like anything else. That's a specific bottle. But how about the idea of a bottle? Who came up with it? The whole history of a bottle. It is very much googlable! Empty bottles create an environmental problem of course when there is no system to recycle them. Some bottles are really good art forms, especially alcohol bottles. I have noticed if someone is obsessed with the looks of a bottle, probably he likes to drink often. Everything revolves around a bottle for him. Some people like talking about past alcohol experience which is as enjoyable as a drinking session. The space that contained by a bottle completes the meaning of the bottle, as in the analysis of the nature of reality goes. But what good will that exercise bring? If someone is suffering from the attraction of the bottles, it may be a good idea to stay away from them. The bottom line is the contained determines the functional quality of the container, right?

R o p e - b u r n

A tight fist will have rope burn

When one possesses and clings to someone

s/he also will feel the squeezing of your heart

So let it go and let it all go

If you lie through the teeth it will end up in root canal

Because lying is very stressful and stress decays the teeth

If you are addicted to something, you cannot enjoy it

because you are afraid of losing it while you're having it.

If you manipulate a situation for your desires

it will bring no joy because those desires are only yours

and the real joy is only in sharing of the fortunes

So, let it go let it go and let it all go

From morning till evening

From love to fights and wars

From childhood to old age

From birth to death

let it all go...

Grey area

"There is no need to tell someone who already knows; and there is no point in telling the one who does not know already. Thus silence is the best", the Zen saying goes. A senior friend once commented to that, "He must have been a lazy teacher!" Another one, "The most profound statements are often said in silence." or "usually talkers don't do much and doers don't talk much" We love these kinds of absolute conclusions. They have a profound appeal to them. But the truth is not a black and white phenomenon. It always hides in the details of the grey area. I think it can be only seen through the context in which it is applied on a case by case basis.

Back Again 2012!

2012! New Year! It's that time of the year when whole world says that another year has gone. But isn't it all just a perception? The moments we cherish and only the moments we lived fully, matter. Other times we just try to survive or strive to make some meaning out of all these. Anyway, when everybody says happy new year, it evokes a sense that the better days are ahead of us. This is a good feeling. So, to all of my FB friends, twitter buddies and the rest of my dear ones who 're not on any of the social or anti social networks, have a great year ahead of you! Keep your spirits high! It's all happening for good for sure.

the audience

If I have to prove all my thoughts and actions

to an imaginary audience in my mind

and I have picked up a habit of analyzing

everything comes across my way always,

I am missing out something really precious.

running commentary

We judge,

analyze, compare and comment on

people, objects, places and incidents

always, all the time...

If I say,

"I have no comment about this moment",

that too is a running commentary!

It has become 'about' something

rather than life as it is,

as a direct experience.

Hungry Ghosts

Is pleasure happiness?

or is it just a distraction

form unhappiness?

Doesn't pleasure have

the tendency to destroy

it's own host,

when it is pushed too much?

and how much is too much?

Is excitement happiness?

Once we are used to it

we expect that all the time.

We feel uneasy and lacking

when we are not exuberant.

At which point the passion

for something or someone,

an obsession, compulsion,

becomes an addiction?

Aren't we all in the realm

of Hungry Ghosts, in a way?

______________________

The Realm of Hungry Ghosts:

Hungry Ghosts have huge, empty stomachs, but their thin necks don't allow nourishment to pass. Food turns to fire and ash in their mouths. Psychologically, Hungry Ghosts are associated with addictions, compulsions and obsessions. People who have everything but always want more may be Hungry Ghosts. (Ref: The Tibetan Book of the Dead)

Obvious cycle

Earth takes this immense task of breathing life back into the vestige humans have generated. We kill, consume and trash. Soil breathes into it. Like fire, layers of earth burn the morbid and bring back new life. Ashes make it fertile. Monsoon nourishes it. When fire in every atom, every molecule and every bacteria takes care of the decay, we humans are still in the realm of hungry ghosts with our selective indifference and blind greed. We have this unending urge for indulgence; or we have fallen into that habit pattern. As the ego devours resources voraciously, whether unknowingly or not, slowly destroys itself during the process of over indulgence. The mechanism gets burned out. A sense of well being is lost. Thus this 'birth-habits-disease-aging-death'- an obvious cycle of misery is repeated endlessly.

It in that

I just saw it,

then it went away from that, in an instance.

Now this is just as mundane as before.

What happened?

Then again it came back before I know it.

Now it is still there.

I really don't want to lose it.

But I realize I can not insist.

I can not demand, can I?

May be it was there before.

I could not see it.

t h e . w h e e l

My perception is recreating my reality

moment by moment by moment.

I am reborn every split second.

This is the real reincarnation.

Thus life is an ongoing process

So does our mind or 'minding'.

Death is not the end of life.

It is just the end of this particular,

unique set of perception called 'me'

which is also changing always.

Am I feeling this 'theoretical eternity' at all?

Is this information helping to reduce my pain ?

Is this knowledge helping me to get rid of my suffering?

If it is not experiential on a daily basis,

what is the point of knowing this?

In the middle of all the life's chaos and craziness,

I should be able to let go of everything and be free,

stay still and calm like the midpoint of a spinning wheel.

f l i c k e r i n g . f l a m e s

A candle flame seems consistent,

but every moment it is a new one.

Present moment is the real thing,

past and future are just thoughts.

If consciousness is a candle flame,

the fuel to burn it must be our karma.

If the karma for a life time is burned out,

consciousness will still be there as bright as ever

for it is self luminous as the masters point out.

and I believe those enlightened are not the lying types.

But life is not a picnic, and there is no free lunch,

and the business of 'karma burning' will really kill us!

The body gets weather beaten, the face gets sun burned,

the mind gets tired of stimuli and the eyes lose focus.

The warning on the package starts to show up,

'Living fully is injurious to health,

and nobody leaves this planet alive!'

It is difficult for ordinary mortals like us,

to stay non reactive and dispassionate

through the ups and downs of the day

like a flame that's not flickering.

The smell of great cooking

and the passions of the senses

pull us back in to the clinging mode,

like the proverbial monkey that's trapped

with its tight fist in the jaggery pot.

It's always the flesh vs. the soul,

or the Animal over the Anima.

Then the pain follows the passion always,

like the shadow that follows a night rider.

But we become wiser eventually to feel that

the storm of the season shall also pass

and start looking at the small things closer.

We become skillful to do simple tasks better

and we learn to be with the new moment,

which is here and now already!

photo: 'inner sun'/sebastian©2009

j u s t . o n c e

.

Over the dry residue of an ancient fossil trail,



molten shadows of desert wind wails in a distance.

Mirages rise behind a group of departed souls,



breezing over the frozen waves of quicksand.

Grandma passed yesterday smiling,



she was full of love, the tough kind.



I still see her smile fading into the window glass,


like an old memory of a twilight rain.






Grandpa passed a while ago,




he did translate an ancient bible,




the 'real' one, he used to say.



He had time only to do it once.




There is time to write one book,



only to tell just one great story.



There is only time for one good song



if one wants to sing the best one of all.



One can almost complete a great painting,



just enough time for one original poem,



make one good friend, gamble once,



and bloom once, all through that spring,



fall in love one time and kiss good bye,



eat a good meal, a memorable one,



fall down once and hit the rock bottom,



regain strength, learn to get up,



go to the beach and smell the salt in the air,



take one fresh breath and that ’s it!



_____________________________________

On his deathbed artist Edgar Degas said,



“Damn…and just when I was starting to get the hang of it!”




photo: 'Frozen wind' /Texas plains /sebastian©2008

Tao . it-ting !

Everything is in motion,
transitory and transient,
passing and impermanent.
Then one has to accept that
everything is new
every day
each moment
always,
all the time!

It is not solid at all
and ultimately there is no it;
just an on going process of it-ting!
'Tao of it-ting !'

photo: 'morning fishing' /kochi, kerala /sebastian©2009

p r o j e c t i o n s

Most of the time it is not the outside reality that determines my experiences; what 's inside me matters more. It is as if I am projecting it outward. My responses to situations matter. The feedback of the world will depend on it. I am like a projector and a movie camera combined, observing and projecting at the same time. The imprints inside basically determine the story of the movie. My observation is also based on my bio-wiring as I have a certain learned way of seeing. Ultimately I am responsible for the feedback.

Destiny & free will

Destiny or free will?

Which is more prominent?

Which is really at play?

This the question of the day.

Most of us who believe in hard work think it is our free will that shapes up our destiny. We can not stay back and let the destiny take care of things; that 's fatalism. But even after all the toil, behind all the twists and turns in life, one feels a pattern of destiny inter-woven into our application of free will. No matter how hard we try, certain things happen in its own pace with its own outcome. In truth, nobody has the crystal ball to foresee the future.

In quantum theory there is the possibility of many universes existing at the same time. So when I think that there is free will at work, there is another me in another dimension making another choice and acting upon it! I feel it is weird to think that multiple copies of me running around at the same time! Then again, it is quantum physics.

The neurologist V. S. Ramachandran (UCLA, California) talks about an experiment. He asked a person to wiggle his finger at any time he wished. To wiggle the finger it takes two steps; first decide it and then wiggle. The study on the brain waves during this process showed that the sensation when you asked your finger to wiggle came after a second your brain kicked in. Even though you think that you are willing to wiggle, it is your brain that is willing you to will! So the brain is responding ahead of your will and yours is a post-rationalization! This shows that free will is a questionable concept. Rather biological hardwiring is more at work here!

Does this mean that the secret code of destiny is embedded in our brain already?

According to Ramana Maharshi, both are applicable only to the ego which is not our real self. As everything is manifestations of SELF, there is no relevance to the concepts of destiny or free will. The only purpose of life is to be one with the absolute by abiding in the self always. His suggestion is self inquiry and find out to whom destiny and free will are supposed to be relevant to. Thus the only question to ponder over is 'who am I?' Then both will get transcended.

A pretty radical position indeed.

graphics: "pathway" /sebastian©2009