Before i sleep, i do the curtains on my windowsTo have enough darkness To rest my eyes and browsYet i make sure, the curtains leave A little place for the moonlight to cleaveSo that when moon light gives way To the light which originally it does obeyIt enters my half darkened room without being shyAnd [...]
Absorption, assimilation, rejection and fasting
It is very interesting to see how nature gives us all the hints and cues for the spiritual path. We eat things, and a part of it gets assimilated in the body, becomes energy, and a part of it is rejected, eliminated. And then we all also know the importance of empty space, fasting, which [...]
The floor of ordinary consciousness
Scene: There were many doctor like people around, seemed like a hospital like structure, and she was there with lots of papers in her hand, and many unresolved questions, seeking answers. At first she found herself asking around those doctors for resolutions, but there was something in those scenes that told her that they really [...]
Direct path to the Divine
There are some things in our lives where we can pull our hands out, once we see that it is becoming a source of unease & pain... We can choose, not to indulge or get involved in those things, people, situations.. And then, there are those situations in our lives, where we cannot pull ourselves [...]
The spear of Divine name that pierces through the walls
It was disturbing. As if she was in the middle of a dark dark cloud. Dense, thick, overburdening. There must be some old patterns at work, she didn't know really. Some thick thick resistance emerging in the being. A lot of physical unease owing to the resistance showing up. One thing she knew. She did [...]
Making good use of moments of disturbance
Many a times we are swayed by an intense emotion of anger, aggression, violence, pride, and only after a while one may realise that one got swayed. That realisation itself is a very beautiful step. And then one can come to the mindfulness of breath again, and stay with the body, with the pain, with [...]
Wound and salt
The same salt water pains and hurts the wounded tooth, but does nothing to the other healthy teeth. Have you wondered? So when it hurts me, when the warm salt water touches my bad tooth, shall i blame the salt water? Or shall i say - thank you, for letting me know that one of [...]
Disenchantment & Joy
Usually, the word DISENCHANTMENT (in hindi - Udaaseen) is looked at in a negative sense, like being disappointed, or sad, or dull. It seems like this is not a negative word at all. In fact, understanding it takes us to true joy it seems. The ordinary way that we humans live is, getting enchanted, with [...]
Remembrance/Sumiran – antidote to forgetfulness
काह भरोसा देह का, बिनसी जाय छिन मांहि।सांस सांस सुमिरन करो, और जतन कछु नाहिं॥ This body that you have got, is fragile, is impermanent, we don't know how long we have in the body, The only effort required of you is to remember at every breath. ---- कबीर सुमिरन सार है, और सकल जंजाल।आदि [...]
Rope walking and true refuge
Imagine yourself - walking on a Tight Rope, put up by two high poles apart. Thrilling, No? And requiring Alertness, Vigilance, Skill, Interest in the art, love for the perfection of the art. This is what can be a little way of looking at perfecting the art of being in the here and now. I [...]
The default switched on machine..
With all the experiences in day to day life, images are being created, by default. This is how i am, this is how the other is, this is what the storyline is, this is what the future is, this is what happened in the past, etc etc. If we do not look at these images, [...]
The only effort required of us
जतन बिन बावरा रे, मिरगा ने खेत उजाड़ा - Kabir ji warns - Oh fool, without effort the deers will graze away your growing crops. Be careful, guard your farmland well, else the deers of the senses will spoil all that you are nurturing. What is the effort required on our part? What are the [...]
This is how you tame the mind – Kabir ji
Jo paanihari paani chaale’, baedo bhari ne ghar laave’ Hale' dole' baat banaave’, par surat bevada mein laave’ Sun saayar gyani, tu kayi man samjhave’. The way a water-bearer walks to the well, Fills her pot and brings it home, She swings along, chatting on her way, Her awareness fixed on the pot. Listen O well read [...]
Faqiri & the anchor of eternal Now
If we become conscious of our mind, we will see that at most of the moments, the mind is either in the past or ruminating about the future. Past and future, as if two poles apart in the illusion of time. One suffers, and gets grinded in between these illusory poles, past and future. All [...]
मन तू समझ के लाद लदनियापीना हो तो इहां पीले, आगे देस निपनिया।
_This marvelous silence manifests Thee despite the mad human agitation- the immutable and constant silence so living in all things that one has but to listen to hear it, in contrast, with all that is futile noise, vain agitation, useless dispersion of energies. Let it flower in our being as a source of light and [...]
मन को मृतक जान कर, मत कीजे विश्वाससाधू तब तक भय करे, जब तक पिंजर में सांस।
Shantideva , in Bodhicharyavatara says to the ego - A hundred harms you have done me, Wandering in cycles of existence,Now your malice I remember, And will crush your selfish schemes. –That time when you could beat me down, Is in the past, it is no more here..Now I see you, Where will you escape?I [...]
माला फेरत जुग भया, मिटा न मन का फेरकर का मनका छाड़ कर मन का मनका फेर।
माला फेरत जुग भया, मिटा न मन का फेरकर का मनका छाड़ कर मन का मनका फेर।--Kabir ji is saying, you did your rounds of beads, mala, manka, japa, and so many rounds you did. Yet, the clinginess of the mind, the vicious running of your own mind into fixated loops, fixated people, fixated opinions, [...]
Seeing things as they really are
I don't see the things they really are. I see just distorted reality, my version of reality, which is just based on my past experiences, and my notions and ideas, and beliefs, which I never challenge. What does it mean to see the things as they really are? What does it mean to see the [...]
Mind training
Lord Atisha gave 3 pith instructions for training the mind: 1. Examine the mind constantly 2. Tame the mind with mindfulness and alertness 3. By constantly doing so, generate Bodhichitta in the mind stream. ---_In short, wherever I am, whatever I do__To be continually mindful and alert__Asking- "what is the state of my mind?"__And accomplishing [...]
दौड़त दौड़त दौड़िया, जहां लग मन की दौड़,दौड़ थके, मन स्थिर भया, तो वस्तु ठौर की ठौर।
_...in any case, the point is not to try to get rid of thoughts, but rather to see their true nature. Thoughts will run us around in circles if we buy into them, but really they are like dream images. They are like an illusion - not really all that solid. They are, as we [...]
The mala of breath
*माला है निज स्वास की, और फेरेगा कोई दास,**चौरासी भर में नहीं, फिर मिटे काल की फांस।*(संत कबीर)__Kaal is time. Also called as death. Or impermanence. Time is past, future, happenings. We are always thinking about past, repeatedly, we are always thinking of present happenings - regurgitations, and always worried or concerned of future happenings. [...]
Leave your homeland
_Attached to your loved ones, you are stirred up like water,__Hating your enemies, you burn like fire,__In the darkness of confusion, you forget what to adopt and discard,__Give up your homeland._ _This is the practice of Bodhisattvas_-----_कबीरा खड़ा बाजार में, लिए लुकाठी हाथ जो घर फूंके आपनौ, चले हमारे साथ।_Kabir stands in the middle of [...]
सुखिया सब संसार है, खाए अरु सोवै।दुखिया दास कबीर है, जागै अरु रोवै॥
*सुखिया सब संसार है, खाए अरु सोवै।**दुखिया दास कबीर है, जागै अरु रोवै॥*The whole of humanity is indulged in consuming and sleeping (we consume our thoughts, our beliefs, opinions, feelings, emotions, sense perceptions - this is our feed)While, being awake, Kabir, feels the pain in compassion of all of us kings, living like empty beggars._______What [...]
Practicing mindfulness
The basic idea in mindfulness is to know what situation we are going through, while we are going through it. When I am sitting, i am aware i am sitting. When I am breathing, i am aware i am breathing.When I am getting angry, i know i am getting angry. When I am drifting to [...]
Eight worldly concerns – poles of duality
_चलती चक्की देख के दिया कबीरा रोए।__दुई पाटन के बीच में साबुत बचा न कोई।।_Kabir ji drops tears of compassion, when he looks at the wheel of a mill running, the two pieces of heavy stones (of duality), in the middle of which whoever comes, gets crushed.We as human beings, are getting crushed all the [...]
We can never be apart..
For as long as I have known you, I have been afraid of losing you Oh precious one! Today, when I see my insecurity, my fear, of losing you, I wonder! To where can I lose you? I wonder, can we ever be apart? And I get my answer when I look deep enough, I [...]
Rest
All my thoughts, my reasonings, my conclusions, Are absolutely hollow. They are like empty bags full of air, they just burst anytime... I cannot lay myself on them, I cannot trust them, And hence, I stop defending my stance, I stop arguing about my wishes and wants. I know I should not defend them, I [...]
A prayer.. for every today..
Let us leave behind our stubbornness, Our stubbornness to twist the things in ways we feel is right, Our stubbornness to not let go of past and its regrets, Our stubbornness to keep regurgitating the past, Our stubbornness to want happiness "this" way only, Our stubbornness to not live a simpler, lighter life, Our stubbornness [...]
What am I oozing out today?
How people may treat you, doesn't tell much about you, but reveals a lot about their state of being, whatever one may be going through.. And vice versa. How I treat others, tells just about my state of being. We have many examples of masters and mystics, like Jesus Christ, how he was nailed, mistreated, [...]
Divine warrior
The closer you get to yourself, You will be able to see all the so called ugly movements in you, Jealousy, hate, blame, anger, pride, vanity, greed, all of it... They show up to your vision because now you are ready to embrace and transform them, They were present earlier too, But you were still [...]
I now rest
I now rest. Having ran much, Trying to walk together But failing always. I now rest. Knowing that we can walk alone, That we don't have to be together, Just because we are alive. I now rest. Knowing that you will be happy wherever you will be, It doesn't matter really if I too am a [...]
When they met again..
When they met again after a break of non communication, of course, a lot could be said about the past, a lot could be discussed. Why had this happened, and why that did not happen? Why one had behaved in this way and not that way? Why things did not work out in a better [...]
Invocation
We are all priests.. of our temples, at times known, at times in oblivion. We are the ones, responsible to keep the inner temples clean, pure, immaculate, neat, sorted, organised, sacred. So that we can invoke the Divine Presence there. But the task is not easy, it is a challenging one... For we don't usually [...]
This, is a gift
What I have now is a gift, a prasad,It may be painful, Or at times not, As it's not what I wished for,But the exact situation I am in,Is a gift. To grow deeper,To grow stronger,To be ok, even when things are not what I would like them to be. All this right now,Is a [...]
Over to ‘you’
I know you are chiseling me out of this dead inert matter, ignorance. And it hurts, and ouch! it pains, And in my weakness and limping strength, I cry out, I complain, I try at times to run away, hide, But I find no other place, and in you once more I abide, I say [...]
Rebirthing oneself
She had done her gamut of errors, a lot of them. She continued as long as it would take.. in running circles, she repeated her old selves again and again. And then one day, she asked, can we start afresh, anew. As if there is no past at all. She couldn't have kept waiting for [...]
How our tendencies leave us…
Whenever a tendency or a pattern or a deep limiting belief, is ready to leave us, it tightens its grip/hold. It causes a lot of misery and strangulation. It's gotten attached, it's become a part of us, and now as we soar high, in order to move on, it clutches, it clings, it's like a [...]
The magnet inside us
It is very interesting to note, how unknowingly we have something in us which clings on to sad, negative memories, and also keeps itself alive through the catching of negative associations. Have you heard of that story? X revealed love for Y umpteen number of times, Y thought it was all just hallucinations. X rebuked [...]
She told me..
She told me she likes to be with pain, It keeps her collected, in-gathered, a bit lost.. It keeps her soft, gentle, kind, It keeps her molten.. She told me, she is not waiting for the pain to go, She didn’t invite it either.. It just is. Like I am. She told me, Its nice [...]
If I am awareness, shall I allow abuse to happen?
If I know myself as awareness, shall I allow abuse/ suffering to happen/to continue? (we are awareness. Not dumb-ness) If I know myself as awareness, and my hand goes into fire, shall I not take it away from fire, once I become aware of the pain? Obviously we must!!!That's the use of us being aware [...]
A different perspective on – all difficulties lie within you.
The Mother says, all difficulties lie within you. Often we interpret it as - if I consider myself as a limited person, defined by this limited body, then it appears that the other person, limited in his body, if he shows a weakness, his weakness is my weakness. If I see an obstacle at my [...]
Me & my story to relief & silent glory
So long I am not thinking of me & my storySuffering is not & I can bask in the glory,The day goes by well,I enjoy the things I do, the stories I tell. The moment I am unkind to myself, (unknowingly)& Allow the fuel to my thinking, (effortlessly) The me and my story returns with [...]
What do we desire for?
We seek a gratification through our desires. A kind of fulfilment, a kind of loss of this sense of separate self, even if for a moment. A kind of self-forgetfulness, even for a moment. It is another thing that once I am with the object of desire, even then, my hunger, my thirst seems unquenchable. [...]
Settled and unsettled..
We see in our life, that there are phases when we feel we have GOT IT, (whatever that IT is) 🙂 And then, there come phases in life where we are thrown again, dispersed, and unsettled again, and we think we have lost IT (whatever that IT is.) Both are there for a reason it [...]
Man laagyo mero yaar fakiri mein
Kabir ji's song - My mind has found solace and contentment in emptiness, in being content with what IS. It has stopped craving for more and more, it has stopped resisting what IS. And then he says, in contentment, I found the Divine. (Saahib milega saburi mein) Very effortlessly, in simple words, Kabir ji communicates [...]
सुख में सुमिरन न किया , बस दुःख में किया जो याद , कहत कबीर ता दास की , कौन सुने फ़रियाद !
सुख में सुमिरन न किया , बस दुःख में किया जो याद , कहत कबीर ता दास की , कौन सुने फ़रियाद ! What do we mean by this couplet by Kabir ji? If you do not have a remembrance of your Truth in seeming okay/seeming pleasurable/ neutral times, then when the suffering strikes, who [...]
And suddenly, all was quiet..
You started moulding me, And it hurt. From all the angles, I cried out loud. You picked up the hammer, the chisel, the tools that are sharp, pointy, And started chipping off the unnecessary, Which for me felt very important. In my ignorance, I cried, I complained... In my ignorance, I wondered, I got hurt, [...]
जिन खोजा तिन पाइया, गहरे पानी पैठ, मैं बपुरा बूडन डरा, रहा किनारे बैठ
A few people standing next to the ocean. They see one or two people diving deep and surfing, and plunged deep in the waters.. person 1 to person 2 - (looking at the ocean) - have you been there? how does it feel? person 2 - It was horrible for the first time I was [...]
When the stories become painful..
We are very happy, living in our stories, and playing the roles that we play in them, so long as they are bearable. It is only when the stories becomes extremely painful, they begin to eat you up, they eat up your mind, they eat up your inside, they eat up the body, that there [...]
Going through it all..
Sometimes in life, we invest too much in one particular relationship, one particular person. That one person becomes our centre of the world. Not only the centre, but the world itself. We begin to see ourselves through the eyes of that one. We begin to think I am ugly, if the other person feels so, [...]
Hammering the nail
Many times, pain in our lives becomes unbearable. All of us want ease and sanity, but at times it is not possible, owing to the overwhelming effect of thoughts and emotions. And then, something beautiful can happen...... Just like the pain a nail receives on its head through the hammer, it allows the nail to [...]
Life: a field of experiences
On the path of life, we keep on forming judgements. These judgements are happening by default, unconscious patterns of thinking are making them happen. They just keep on building, and constitute our inner dialogue. Most of the times we are not aware of it. We judge. We judge people who go through weak times, people [...]
Microbe and host body
Louis Pasteur (Microbiologist) insisted all his life that the virulence (infection causing capacity) of a micro-organism (a germ) decided the course of illness. Claude Barnard (Pasteur's contemporary Physiologist) said that the vulnerability of host body (the person attacked by germ) was more responsible. And on his death bed, Pasteur said - Barnard was right. Microbe [...]
This is our chance
This life, this birth, is our chance. I may have attachments, I may have ill will, hate, jealousy, anger, resentments, blame, repulsion, revenge....etc towards a few in my life. This is my chance, to work with all that raw material and transcend, and to go beyond all these affairs. I may continue to churn myself [...]
Thriving grounds for ego
Ego is the helper. Ego is the bar. On the path of life, slowly first a healthy Ego has to be developed, and then it has to be offered up, given up, surrendered to the Divine. Ego is a transitional personality, a mask, needed as long as the true individuality does not shine forth, or [...]
I rise..
I have fallen too low, too little I had become.. Too limited, narrow and constricted, That made me suffer, go through hell. But that is not my Reality, no thats not all. The little little experiences of life, don't define me, I stand up, dust my pants, Rise. I rise, newly born. I don't let [...]
Unkindness leads to compassion & kindness
When someone is knowingly or unknowingly unkind to us. It has a potential of taking us towards kindness and compassion. How? Let's explore - When someone is unkind, maybe not wantingly... It doesn't feel nice.. we don't feel nice when treated like that. And suddenly, if you are lucky this time, it vibrates certain strings [...]
Being ripped apart & fearlessness..
The way we usually live life, we are afraid to lose our loved things, possessions, people in our life, money, etc etc. And then, something happens. Unexpected, or so called chance events in life. Which take away what we think we loved the most, what we think was most precious. A ripping apart happens. The [...]
Understanding Betrayal..
There are times in our life, we feel betrayed. Now, it is another thing that it may have happened for real or not. But let us stay with 'I feel betrayed.' Now how to find a resolution and peace in the middle of something like this. Now, if I am feeling betrayed, I will not [...]
Rocket propulsion
A rocket needs to be lit at its butt, so that it can push itself forward. The pain in the ass of the rocket is very much needed, and an essential part for it to move from the inertia of being stationary. That's what pain does to us in life. Or at least has the [...]
Play dead
Drink the poison life gives you, Drink it, keep it in the throat. Complain not. Keep the Lord in your heart. Complain not. All seeming atrocities life gives you, Take them with head bowed down, With open hands, Complain not. & Whenever you are ready, And have reacted enough no. Of times, Exploded enough no.of [...]
Heaven and Hell
I have been to hell. Yes. I think I now can say that I have tasted Hell. Dark, chaotic, painful, full of misery and suffering. Yes, I have tasted that. It seems familiar. But that's not all of it. There is light too. At each step of the ladder to hell, there is light. It [...]
Sri Aurobindo’s-The Life Divine #2
...Continued excerpts from Book 2, Chapter XII - The Origin of Ignorance (Here, Sri A talks about the dynamic/active aspect of the Divine and the passive/immobile aspect of the Divine - and clarifies for us that they may appear to be two separate things, but are not really) .......But for us there are two objects [...]
The sunlit path & the path of suffering
A child has gotten addicted to lollies. The Mother sees that this has happened. The Mother wants the best for her child. She knows very well that any kind of addiction is not good for the health of the child. She now has to get the child deaddicted, for the child's own good. It is [...]
Sri Aurobindo’s ‘The Life Divine’ – #1
Starting a new series of posts to reflect upon in our silences- sharing excerpts from chapters of The Life Divine, by Sri Aurobindo. Book-2, Chapter XII - The Origin of Ignorance How could this manifold ignorance of this narrowly self limiting and separative knowledge arise and come into action or maintain itself in action in [...]
You choose..
One day, those who you trusted the most, will mock at you, laugh at you, will tell you .. "you are imperfect, you are ugly, unworthy of grace. How dare you touch something pious, sacred, beautiful and worthy?" They will tell you, directly or indirectly, And say "you are not worthy of grace, you are [...]
In me- two live.
I have something in me, which is little, very petty, very sticky, does not die, is always alive, always ready to be triggered at the least provocation. And I have something in me, which does not really love all the stickiness, the pettiness, it does not like to be triggered, it aspires, it gets inspired, [...]
Listening to the body’s signals
Have you ever felt a burning in the chest, A constriction in the heart or somewhere... When anger comes, when hate, ill-will .. or desire, jealousy, or resentment comes, it irritates the body, it burns the body too.. The irritation is a signal, the body doesn't like it much. It would not want to follow [...]
Chhoooo-mantar !!!
Something was on her mind, A bit on her heart.. Things unresolved, can make any one fart. That dard of the heart went into her head, Caused a creepy crawly migraine there.. Hmm... What to do? She wondered, had no clue! She pushed herself out of the head, and a bit out of the bed. [...]
TheGiftOfCancer 