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Spirit News Blog - March 2007
Filmed in Somnathpur, about an hour from Mysore, India
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What should we pray for?
People pray for many different things. Pray can be a form of desire. We pray for material comforts or release from physical pain. However prayer can be more than just praying for the satisfaction of our material needs. The highest prayer is merely to become one with the highest spiritual realisation.
There is a story of two great Spiritual figures, Sri Ramakrishna and his beloved disciple Swami Vivekananda. Due to the death of his father Swami Vivekananda’s family were living in extreme poverty; his mother started to criticise Vivekananda, saying why did he spend his time praying to God when God could not even provide for the family’s basic needs. Vivekananda felt cut to the bone, so he went to his Spiritual Master Sri Ramakrishna and explained his family’s dire financial predicaments. Sri Ramakrishna compassionately replied to Vivekananda and said if he went to the Temple of Mother Kali and prayed for the boon of financial wealth all his family’s financial problems would be solved.
Born to wealthy parents in the Italian town of Assisi the young Francesco enjoyed all the privileges of a prosperous upbringing. Franscesco was bright and intelligent; helping his father in business he proved to be an able and capable man. He was also a soldier who took part in the crusades of the time.
However the material prosperity and worldly success lost all attraction for St Francis. After coming back from war he became seriously ill and felt the futility of seeking happiness through the accumulation of material wealth and social prestige. Francesco instead felt an intense yearning to live the life of a simple disciple of Christ. Following a literal interpretation of the Gospel St Francis sought to take vows of poverty and chastity.
"Announce the kingdom! Possess no gold or silver or copper in your purses, no travelling bag, no sandals, no staff" (see Luke 9:1-3)"
Whilst stumbling upon the ruins of a broken chapel in Assisi, he felt the voice of Christ ask him to rebuild the derelict chapel.
"Francis, go out and build up my house, for it is nearly falling down."
In the beginning he worked alone to rebuild the chapel, but over time his purity of spirit and single-minded devotion attracted other like minded young men from the city. This was to be the nucleus of a new religious order.
The love of one's country is a splendid thing. But why should love stop at the border?
~ Pablo Casals
”Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism - how passionately I hate them!”
~Albert Einstein
"To him in whom love dwells, the whole world is but one family. "
~ Buddha
Shaker Barn
"Heaven on Earth: Shaker Aesthetic Philosophy" by Sumangali Morhall
"Hands to work and hearts to God" so the Shaker work ethic went. The term 'Shaker' is best known as a style of furniture, but how did it evolve? Where did the Shakers come from, and why did they start to disappear after 100 years?
In modern Europe and America, craftspeople are still reviving not just the Shaker style, but in some cases the Shaker dedication to integrity. A form of aesthetic Chinese Whispers has inevitably crept in over the years, and one may now even buy such anomalies as Shaker jewellery boxes. The simple and beautiful style can arguably be applied to anything, but the philosophy behind the style makes it all the more interesting as an art form.
The first Shakers came from Manchester, England, in the late 18th Century. They began as a small group of Quakers, but developed their own doctrines, based largely on a strong sense of community and self-sufficiency. Community tasks were clearly defined and rotated so that anyone could be replaced on any job if unable to work on a particular day. The day started early and ended late, and was punctuated by regular prayer sessions.
Looking at my life
I see that only Love
Has been my soul’s companion
From deep inside
My soul cries out:
Do not wait, surrender
For the sake of Love.
- Rumi
Sufism is the mystical branch of Islam. It has its roots in the Qu’ran and the Islamic tradition, but at the same times encompasses the universal mysticism that we see in other spiritual traditions
Despite the difficulties of describing their experiences, the words of the Sufi Seers still tease, cajole and inspire us to look beyond the page and into our own hearts. For those who love words, it is necessary to have poetry, which can take us beyond the domain of the intellect. Hafiz beautifully describes the purpose of a poet.
“A poet is someone who can pour light into a cup, then raise it to nourish your beautiful parched, holy heart.”
The Ecstatic Poetry of the Sufi's at Poetseers.org
Photo by Unmesh Swanson Sri Chinmoy Centre galleries
You are in Me
Brightest being
In sun-surprised February
Flower out of season
You illuminate the night
A falling star
Shower after shower
My sky is empty now.
You are in me
Artwork: Angelee Deodhar (India)
New poem of Gabriel Rosenstock - lines written in Bangaram Lakshadweep Islands
See also: Haiku Poem
The Secrets of Happiness by Jogyata Dallas
The quest for lasting happiness lies at the very heart of all human purpose and experience, though this much desired attainment is sought in many different ways. Among the ways that have proven successful a number of recurring themes are evident.
The perennial philosophies of our spiritual teachers urge self-perfecting, the inner way, while most of mankind is searching in the outer world – right person, right possessions, right place.
Here are a few pointers that work:
Start Within
A huge wealth of highly credible literature and teachings concur that happiness is first of all an inner accomplishment, not just a series of circumstances. Prayer, contemplation, quiet time, simply sitting with peaceful music, the practice of inner stillness, all help in developing understanding, balance, an inner harmony and poise. Happiness arises out of these practices like the fragrance of a flower.
Visualise Your Day
Take five minutes at the start of each day to visualize what you intend to accomplish – prepare the mind, your life energy, and burst into your day with vigour, intensity, calm resolve and joy. Every day we create our world with our mind – our moods, emotions, attitudes and consciousness. Train the mind and fill it with inspiration and positive energies, self-faith, the bright colours of your heart and soul.
What Happens
What happens when your soul
Begins to awaken
Your eyes
And your heart
And the cells of your body
To the great Journey of Love?
First there is wonderful laughter
And probably precious tears
And a hundred sweet promises
And those heroic vows
No one can ever keep.
But still God is delighted and amused
You once tried to be a saint.
What happens when your soul
Begins to awake in this world
To our deep need to love
And serve the Friend?
O the Beloved
Will send you
One of His wonderful, wild companions –
Like Hafiz.
From: “I Heard God Laughing": Renderings of Hafiz: by Daniel Ladinsky.
Copyright © 1999 by Daniel Ladinsky. Reprinted by permission of the author.
We are the Flute
We are the flute, our music is all Thine;
We are the mountains echoing only Thee;
And movest to defeat or victory;
Lions emblazoned high on flags unfurled-
They wind invisible sweeps us through the world.
By: Rumi
R. A. Nicholson
'Persian Poems', an Anthology of verse translations
edited by A.J.Arberry, Everyman's Library, 1972
Photo by Ranjit Sri Chinmoy Centre Galleries
Spring
by William Blake
Sound the Flute! Now it's mute.
Birds delight Day and Night;
Nightingale In the dale,
Lark in Sky,
Merrily, Merrily, Merrily, to welcome in the Year.
Little Boy, Full of joy;
Little Girl, Sweet and small;
Cock does crow, So do you;
Merry voice, Infant noise,
Merrily, Merrily, to welcome in the Year.
Little Lamb, Here I am;
Come and lick My white neck;
Let me pull Your soft Wool;
Let me kiss Your soft face:
Merrily, Merrily, we welcome in the Year.
By: William Blake
Photo by Richard Sri Chinmoy Centre Gallerie
Poems about Spring at Poetseers.org
By: Vidagdha Bennett
"Ultimately everything becomes boring," begins philosopher Sri Chinmoy in a poem from 1973. And who can deny it? The tedium of a long plane flight, of waiting in a queue, of following the same routine day after day, of seeing the same faces, all bring home to us the fact that we easily become bored not only with what we are doing but, essentially, with our own company. The solution, argues Sri Chinmoy, is not necessarily to change our outer circumstances but to radically change our inner attitude. He explains further:
"Every day the sun rises. Every morning we can look at the sun, if we are lucky enough to have a clear day. Although it is the same sun that is rising, every day we can see a new beauty inside the sun. Our mind is telling us that it is the same sun that we saw yesterday and the day before yesterday. But when the heart sees this same sun, there is tremendous joy, tremendous thrill, tremendous ecstasy.