This & That…

(1). My heart, my fellow traveller

It has been decreed again

That you and I be exiled

Go calling out in every street

Turn to every town

To search for a clue of a messenger from our Beloved.

—- Faiz Ahmed Faiz. 

(2) GENIUS lies in all of us ———— JUST WAITING TO BE RELEASED —— Adam Piore.

(3)  What you seek is seeking you.  We are all looking for something —— Rumi.

(4) I like the concept of a “Masculine Divine Energy” and the “Feminine Devotee”.  To me, it is the duality, the idea that one cannot exist without the other.

(5) Every year, Louis Vuitton burns all their leftover bags and accessories to “preserve the high-class nature of the brand, its exclusivity and its value

(6) R. K. Laxman’s “Common Man” cartoons were used by gamblers, who looked at “how many fingers the character was holding up” to decide their wager for the day.

(7) We want something that we can put our faith I.  We put our love into our children or into an important relationship, into someone who helped us when nobody else did, or even a career  We are all in constant pursuit of that “something” —- the reason we give ourselves for getting out of bed every morning.—– Meghna Das.

(8) What washes up on “tiny beaches” ? ————- MICRO-WAVES.

(9) A wise school teacher sent this note to all parents on the 1st day of school :  “If you promise not to believe everything your child says “happens in school”, I’ll promise not to believe everything he says “happens at home”.

(10) To truly laugh, you must be able to take your pain and play with it.  I always like walking in the rain, so no one can see me crying.

(11) There is no “abstract art”.  You must always start with something.  Afterwards, “you can remove all traces of reality”. —-Picasso

(12) What do you get if you put a radio in the fridge ?  —- COOL MUSIC.

(13) Language is a funny thing, and English is even funnier than most.  HORSERADISH is another strange beast.  Is it a particular favourite sauce amongst our equine friends ?  Is it made up of bits of horse-meat cunningly disguised ?  Perhaps we are better off not knowing.—– Geraldine Evans.

(14) POWER POSES :  Get into the habit of “sitting up” & “looking up”.  Be mindful of your body positions and give yourself an advantage.  The next time you need some support or extra power to get through a difficult situation, try changing your body position.  Make yourself BIG for 2mins.  Use the changes in your brain to help you face your situation.

(15) HAIKU is never possible other than in Japanese.  It may never be understood unless read in the Japanese original.  5-7-5 is a rhythm.

(16) With life as short as a half-taken breath, DON’T PLANT ANYTHING BUT LOVE. —Rumi.

(17) Finding it tough to cope with modern life ?  You need 5 friends : (a) An AGONY AUNT (b) An EMOTIONAL SUPPORT (c) A PRACTICAL PERSON (d) SOMEONE GOOD —— WITH MONEY (e) A COLLEAGUE YOU CAN SEEK ADVICE FROM.

 (18) What do you call a South American girl who is always in a hurry ?  —– URGENT — TINA.

(19) It is a myth that dogs only see in Black & White.  They can actually see primarily in blue, greenish-yellow and various shades of grey.

(20) If people knew how hard I work to gain my mastery, it wouldn’t seem so wonderful at all. —–Michelangelo.  .

Haikus – Paintings in words

“Sitting silently, doing nothing, the spring comes and the grass grows by itself”.  This is one of the most popular Haikus of Zen.

HAIKU is an unrhymed verse form of Japanese origin, having three or four lines, containing, usually, five and seven syllables respectively.  HAIKU is not poetry in the sense it is understood by intellectuals.  Its format is poetic, but what it contains is an expression of reality.  They are often inspired by an element of nature, a moment of beauty or a poignant experience.

The Zen Monks have a remarkable talent at expressing nature perceived through the five senses in a meditative state.  While meditating they open their eyes and what is mirrored in their heart is expressed aesthetically.  Osho calls these Haikus “paintings in words”.  You can visualize the landscape described in the poetry.  Coming from a silent heart, the silence in these words transport you to the mountain or the forest wherever these monks are sitting.

HAIKUS have to be decoded to understand the deeper meaning of the words.  “SITTING SILENTLY”. It starts with body.  If the body can sit restfully, relaxed, it helps the mind to become silent.  So, the HAIKU is starting from the very foundation : SITTING.  Try sitting silently, doing nothing, and you will find it is very difficult to do so.  “DOING NOTHING”, means having no thoughts.  Even the idea that, you are meditating, is a disturbance, because every ‘DOING’ makes the mind active.  Only when you are in a state of “DOING NOTHING”, you are enjoying the peace that comes on its own.

You have to wait for the spring to come, you cannot manufacture it.  Just as the ‘outside spring’ comes, the ‘inner spring’ also comes.  There are ‘inner seasons’ of life, and when they come, thousands of flowers open up.  The ‘inner world’ becomes a music unto itself, and then the GRASS GROWS BY ITSELF.  The ‘GRASS’ indicates your life, your LIFE FORCE.  When spring comes, everything turns green.  There are things that you cannot do, but can only allow to happen.  This is the essence of meditation.

—Amrit Sadhana.