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Spirit News Blog - October 2006
Modern life with all its distractions and features seems particularly unsuited to silence. Even if we have actual outer silence our mind is rarely silent. If we analyse our thoughts there seem to be a never ending stream of worries, anxieties, and regrets.
In meditation we try to do a very difficult thing - silence our thoughts completely. It is difficult only because we are so unused to this idea. The mind is so used to thinking that it is easy to think our existence is defined by our thoughts and this must be our only existence. To quote the famous saying of Descartes “I think therefore I am” However meditation teaches that what we are is unencumbered by thoughts. The real “I” is our self which is beyond thought.
Time
Is everywhere
Precious.
Do not waste time
Thinking of a better future
The futures is here –
In the heart of
Here and Now.
Poems By: Sri Chinmoy
Photo by Kamalika Sri Chinmoy Centre Galleries
Danny Goldfield has set out to photograph a child from every country in the world (194 countries) However they must all live in New York city. Danny Goldfield says the project seeks to celebrate the universality of people from different countries.
Directed by Bristol Baughan, Reason Pictures. Editing by Lindsay Utz, Public Media Works. Director of Photography, Evan Savit...
See also NY Children The project is currently about 70% complete. See some of the pictures on this site.
Oh God
Let all lovers be content
Give them happy endings
Let their lives be celebrations
Let their hearts dance in the fire of your love.
From: Love poems of Rumi - Deepak Chopra
To celebrate the 800th birth anniversary of mystic poet Jelalludin Rumi UNESCO has announced that the year 2007 will be the International Year of Rumi Year. During the next year there will be special ceremonies and programs held all over the world to commemorate this great Persian poet. In particular celebrations will focus on Rumi’s place of birth and Turkey where he lived for many years.
Researchers led by Prashant Kaul of the University of Kentucky, investigated whether meditation could help people become less tired in the afternoon.
The students were asked to undergo a series of tests and then have their responses measured. The study found that alertness was the highest after meditation, followed by caffeine and then exercise. Napping had the worst results.
The findings of Prashant Kaul were recently submitted to a conference for the Society for Neuroscience.
Previous studies have shown that when meditating although people are awake their are similar brain patterns to sleeping.
Some adepts in meditation are known to need very little sleep having become able to draw in cosmic energy.
See: NY Times for more information
Ashrita Furman breaking a new Guiness record for crawling .
Ashrita crawled on his hands and knees as fast as he could to cover a mile in 24 minutes and 32 seconds, beating the previous Guinness record of 29 minutes and 27 seconds. Ashrita's latest record was watched by some enthusiastic children who were pleased to see someone crawling as fast as they could. Ashrita is a meditation student of Sri Chinmoy. He says his meditation training enables him to be flexible in taking on new challenges. He sets records to show others that we all have unlimited potential if we can harness the power of the spirit.
Photo by Jowan Sri Chinmoy Centre Galleries
More on record
"Patience is a tree that grows within us and produces not one fruit, but four fruits: wisdom, joy, peace and victory. Patience requires energy as well as the co-operation of the body, the vital and the mind. Without patience, the mind works automatically, like a machine. It moves by compulsion, not by choice. It is restless; it darts here and there. The body may be inert, but the mind is constantly roaming. There can be no peace without patience."
By: Sri Chinmoy
From: Illumination Fruits
Photo by Richard Sri Chinmoy Centre Galleries
Tiger, tiger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
By: William Blake
From Songs of Experience
Photo by Ranji Sri Chinmoy Centre Galleries
Full poem "The Tyger" by Blake
Four monks decided to meditate silently without speaking for two weeks. By nightfall on the first day, the candle began to flicker and then went out. The first monk said, "Oh, no! The candle is out." The second monk said, "Aren't we not suppose to talk?" The third monk said, "Why must you two break the silence?" The fourth monk laughed and said, "Ha! I'm the only one who didn't speak."
- Zen Buddhism
- Photo by Pranlobha Sri Chinmoy Centre galleries
The Northern Lights The Northern Lights, or 'Aurora Borealis', are a natural light show that can be seen at the North Pole. They also occurs at the South Pole, where they are called the 'Southern Lights' or 'Aurora Australis'. They are a spectacular display of different shades and colours of light rapidly moving in the night sky.
Northern Lights
India Dream
India Dream
Brindavan,
I'm in Brindavan.
India again.
my feet upon the
dark earth of India,
I breathe her.
a master in bright orange
walks toward me;
we sit on the earth of India.
he tells me,
"I am with you,"
his smile as big as
Brindavan skies,
centuries, and
ten thousand hearts.
the earth,
the shining earth of India.
my hands touch down.
Photo by Unmesh Swanson
Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank today emerged as the winners of the prestigious Nobel peace prize for their pioneering work in lending to the poor.
Mr Yunus, 66, from Bangladesh, started the Grameen Bank over 30 years ago, to provide small loans - micro-credit - for the poor. In announcing the award, the Norwegian Nobel committee said the prize - worth 10m Swedish kronor (£728,971) - was going jointly to Mr Yunus and Grameen Bank for "their efforts to create economic and social development from below".
"Meditation and music cannot be separated. When we cry from the inmost recesses of our heart for peace, light and bliss, that is the best type of meditation. Next to meditation is music, soulful music, the music that stirs and elevates our aspiring consciousness. "
- Listen To Esraj playing of Sri Chinmoy (m4a format)
- Listen To Flute Music and Conch by Sri Chinmoy (m4 a Format)
- Selected Meditation Music with a variety of audio formats
- Spiritual Music with Indian Flavour
The fish in the water is silent,
the animals on the earth is noisy,
the bird in the air is singing.
But man has in him the silence of the sea,
the noise of the earth
and the music of the air.
From Stray Birds by Rabindranath Tagore
[translated from Bengali to English by the author]
New York: The Macmillan Company, 1916
Photo by Abedan Sri Chinmoy Centre Galleries
Currently at British Museum there is an exhibition of Tagore's entitled "The Art of Peace: Paintings by the poet Tagore"
I COBBLED THEIR BOOTS
How could I love my fellow men who tortured me?
One night I was dragged into a room
And beaten near death with
their shoes
striking me hundreds of times
in the face, scarring me
forever.
I cried out for God to help, until I fainted.
That night in a dream, in a dream more real than this world,
a strap from the Christ’s sandal
fell from my bleeding
mouth,
and I looked at Him and He
was weeping, and
spoke,
“I cobbled their boots;
how sorry
I am.
What moves all things
is God.”
Translation by: Daniel Ladinsky
From Poetry of St John of the Cross
The poem is from “Love Poems From God” and are translated by Daniel Ladinsky, well known for his poetic versions of Hafiz.
On this day October 6th 1862 Abraham Lincoln delivered one of the defining speeches in American's history.
It was a speech announcing the unconditional end of slavery
"And by virtue of the power, and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free; and that the Executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons. And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free to abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self-defence; and I recommend to them that, in all cases when allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable wages."
Drink Your Tea
by Thich Nhat Hahn
Drink your tea slowly and reverently,
as if it is the axis
on which the world earth revolves
- slowly, evenly, without
rushing toward the future;
Live the actual moment.
Only this moment is life.
Thich Nhat Hanh is a vietnamese Buddhist monk who has written many poems and teaches a form of engaged Buddhism.
Photo by: Bipin: Sri Chinmoy Centre Galleries
"A young aspirant was sitting at the foot of a tree in the summer heat. Fortunately or unfortunately, the tree he happened to be sitting under was the Kalpataru tree, the tree that fulfils all desires, but he did not know this...."
.....
Read complete story: "The Wish Fulfilling Tree" from Gopal's Eternal Brother And Other Stories for Children by Sri Chinmoy
" So, as George Bernard Shaw said, "There are two tragedies in life. One is not to get your heart's desire, the other is to get it." In this story, the young aspirant got it!"
Photo by: Pavitrata: Sri Chinmoy Centre Galleries
Sri Aurobindo was a poet, philosopher and Spiritual Master.
In Sri Aurobindo’s early life he threw himself heart and soul into politics and the Indian independence Movement.
However at various times and particularly during a spell in prison, very powerful spiritual experiences came to Sri Aurobindo. These spiritual illuminations encouraged him to leave the political struggle to others and concentrate only on his future spiritual mission.
Extract from Play on Sri Aurobindo
(Bombay. After his address at a meeting of the Bombay National Union, Aurobindo returns to the residence of a friend. Standing on a balcony he looks out on the city.)
Aurobindo: “I see the whole busy movement of Bombay as a picture in a cinema-show, all unreal and shadowy. The entire material world is quite unsubstantial, void. Ever since I had the experience of the vacant state of Nirvana the silent Infinite alone has become real to me.”
enter Lele
- From “Descent of the Blue” – A Play by Sri Chinmoy on the life of Sri Aurobindo
See Bande Mataram translated by Sri Aurobindo.
See: Biography of Sri Aurobindo