The Face of God
I wonder:
«If I ever meet God, I say flesh and blood, dressed like an ordinary person with an ordinary face, with any work, I’d never be able to recognize who is?
Because if a person begins to perform miracles, to gather people around him promising Heaven and teaching how to get it, then one might think that this is a holy person … until proven otherwise. But to say that it’s God is a whole other thing!
God, the Almighty, the Perfect, the Creator, One who wakes up and the world appears, falls asleep and the world disappears. And maybe you see Him before your eyes and you do not know.
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Dharma and maryadas
Dharma is a Sanskrit term that covers many meanigns in the Southern Asian cultures. It can be translated with “Duty”, “Law”, “Cosmic Law”, “Natural Law”, or “the way things are”; it is also translated with “religion”.
The term Dharma acquires a different sense depending on it is applied. It corresponds to a series of behaviours that a living being should adopt in accordance with its species.
For example, a tiger has its own natural way to behave that will never be the same as that of a rabbit.
In the same way, a human being has his own specific dharma to follow, that is not like that of a tiger and not even of a rabbit. Human beings are more evolved with respect to animals and in the course of evolution has developed the capacity to think and make choices that go beyond his istinct.
Surely, human being mantains some legacies from the animal world from which he comes, but, not being at the same evolutive level of an animal, has to follow a different dharma though.
Socrates and the immortality of the soul
One of the biggest mysteries of all the times is the recognizing of the existence of the soul. The soul intended not simply as a vital breath, but as an eternal aware entity that consists in the essence of our being.
We think that the conception of reincarnation is only typical of an oriental tradition and that is well away from our culture. Well, it’s not exactly like this.
In the age of the ancient Greece, many people dedicated to philosophy and investigated the mysteries of nature and life and, amongst them, the one who went deep in this matter was Socrates.
The Sun is back
Rise your head, stretch your petals,
dear sunflower, your sorrow is over.
The sky is open, the light is bright
the warm rays have returned to kiss this delighted land.
“The sun is back! The sun is back!”
are singing little birds
“Oh no, I’ve never left”
replied the sun
“it’s the clouds, your doubts
to blur me and hide,
but the blessed wind came
and swept them away
and this’s why you can see me again”.
See the flowers are all open now
they are a symphony of colors,
elating me with their fragrance.
See two butterflies flying
in their spiral dance to the sky,
their flickering wings are like the eyes,
the eyes of our twirling souls smile.
Bug’s life: winning uncounscious fears
It’s really unbelievable as some conditionings are so subtle to make our life difficult without even realizing.
They stick to us, maybe from our early childhood, and we carry them on our shoulders until then, if God wants, a fortunate accident occurs and helps us to get rid of them!
One of these episodes is just what I want to tell here…
Soul Mate
Shri Radha & Shri Krishna
One of the most controversial subject in the world is about the relationship between women and men.
It can easily happen that one moment two people completely fall in love and the next moment they do not even want to talk each other. We know that the rate of divorces is very high.
Why does this happen?
Well, we could say that this is due to changes in traditions. That before marriage was considered sacred and that there were other values that now are no more respected, etc.
But I feel like that we can go much deeper.
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MahaShivaratri: the celebration of our Spirit
“After creation was complete, Parvati asked Lord Shiva which rituals pleased him the most. The Lord replied that the 13th night of the new moon, during the month of Maagha, is his most favourite day. Parvati repeated these words to her friends, from whom the word spread over all creation.”
The Deities's dance reminds the armony of enlightened Chakras at Kundalini's passage
In accord with the tradition, just today 12th of February falls the favourite day of Shri Shiva and celebrated as Mahashivaratri. We saw in a previous article that the Shiva Tattwa (the principle of Shiva) corresponds to the universal Sel that is reflected within us in our Self, i.e. our Spirit (in Sanskrit Atma).
When we talk of self realization, we refer to the awakening of our Spirit and to the manifestation of it and of its beautiful qualities. We rediscover inside ourselves the pure and unconditioned love, the everlasting joy, the security and the courage, the self confidence and trust in others, the serenity and the deep knowledge of our being.
In our heart resides our serenity and comforting silence.
Let’s try to look for this silence now, in this auspicious day, let’s try to deliver ourselves for a few minutes from the confusion created by a myriad of thoughts that tosses our attention around, restlessly.
It is only question to consider for moment what the most important thing of our life is just simply within us, in our heart; let’s put our hand on our heart and let’s listen to our heartbeats with full attention and, when our attention is freed by the burden of the mind, let’s lapse into our inner silence.
We can keep our eyes closed or let our eyes dwell upon the picture of mount Kailash, where they say Lord Shiva is residing. The peaks, eternally covered with snow, suggest us the candor of our heart and the silent and allpervading joy of our Self: let’s dwell in it!
Mount Kailash: the abode of Shri Shiva
Atma (or Nirvana) Shatakam is one of the rare stotras composed by the Indian saint Adi Shankaracharya. In this beautiful stotra, Adi Shankara (note that Shakara is one of the names of Lord Shiva and means “the bestower of benevolence, auspiciuosness and peace) identify himself with the Lord Shiva, saying that he is not the mind, nor the body, intellect or none of the component of his life, but only the eternal and unchanging Shivo (Self).
It says:
Neither mind, nor intellect, ego, nor thought;
Not hearing, taste, smelling or sight; Not ether or earth, fire or air.
Eternal bliss and awareness am I, I am Shiva, I am Shiva.
Nor the energy of life, nor the five vital winds;
Not the seven components of the body
Nor the five sheaths; nor the five organs of action.
Eternal bliss and awareness am I, I am Shiva, I am Shiva.
Neither loathing, nor liking, greed nor delusion;
No envy or pride, duty or purpose; No desire, no freedom.
Eternal bliss and awareness am I, I am Shiva, I am Shiva.
Neither virtue or vice, not pleasure or pain;
Not sacred chant or pilgrimage, not Veda or sacrifice
I am not enjoying, enjoyable, or enjoyer.
Eternal bliss and awareness am I, I am Shiva, I am Shiva.
Neither fear of death, no distinction of caste;
No father, no mother, no birth;
No friend or relation, no master or disciple.
Eternal bliss and awareness am I, I am Shiva, I am Shiva.
I am without doubt, I exist without form;
All-pervading am I, I give life to the senses;
Eternal, unchanging, neither free nor attached.
Eternal bliss and awareness am I, I am Shiva, I am Shiva.
Merry Shivaratri to All!
Benevolence: expression of our love
Shri Ram Hugs Shri Hanuman
In a previous article (see Shiva Tattwa), we have seen the principle corresponding to our Spirit, to our Self. We have seen that when our Spirit is completely manifested we are drenched with an everlasting joy. The power that allows us to be in such a state is love, pure love. With pure love it is meant love that is unconditioned and that pour out from our heart when our heart is clear. So this is a state that we can enjoy within ourself.
Another important and wonderful aspect of our personality is that we can give joy and love to other other people. In the sense that if other people are not blessed by this capacity to feel joy and love in their heart, then we can, as it is commonly said, open their heart.
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How purity can even win death
Savitri faces Yama
This beautiful story shows how purity of heart allows us to win all fears and even, as in this case, to face and win the illusion of death.
I want to remind you that in Indian tradition, it is common to believe in “reincarnation“, i.e. the soul, after death of the body, comes back to earth in another body. In other words, we can say that our existence spans over many lives and not only one.
The oldest known version of the story of Savitri and Satyavan is found in “The Book of the Forest” of the Mahabharata. The story occurs as a multiple embedded narrative in the Mahabharata told by the saint Markandeya. When the king Yudhisthira asks Markandeya whether there has ever been a woman whose devotion matched Draupadi’s (Yudhisthira’s wife) Markandeya replies by relating this story:
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To my dear Sun
I am fed up with talking.
I know nothing and nothing I want to know.
I am clear and trasparent like water. I am soft and movable like wind.
No colors no sounds, just being light and auspicious.
I want nothing for myself except for freedom. And you are part of it.
You exist and by your existence everything makes sense.
There is no dot, no vowel, no wonder… without you everything is uncomplete.
Where is my sun? my petals are bound to an eternal bow, because nothing more move from the east to the west of the horizon.
I were a sunflower, but now, without my sun, I am nothing.
I cannot think, I cannot desire, I cannot even hope. I can just watch at the horizon, in silence.
I want to blow into my hands and let my message reach the ears of the silence.
I wanted to dwell in his heart, but it is a fortress without gates. It is open towards the sky, but I was too small and heavy and I could not climb that height.
But now I am the water and I can become light and rise in the sky as a cloud.
I am the wind and I can blow the cloud over the fortess and pour all my benevolent and warm raindrops.
And while falling, my drops will be happily singing:
“Oh, may this fortress become a beautiful garden rich with sunflowers,
may the sun return and smile to them,
so that harmony will return and blissfully spread all over”
