Can a man be dead who is mentioned as a hero by people all over the world?
Can he be killed, who has inspired world leaders in far off lands?
Can his memory be that of a historical figure or one who is relevant in our lives today; who is quoted by an American school principal to his Indian student?



Today, Gandhiji is139 years old.

On Gaia:
There are 793 blogs results for “gandhi”
336 quotes for “gandhi”
140 books for “gandhi”
16 pod results for “gandhi”
2101  have listed  Gandhi as one of their heroes and 1524 Gains as Ghandi

For me, Gandhiji, Bapu [an affectionate form of 'Father' in Hindi], Mahatma Gandhi is hte quintessential greatness that has a simplicity of one who has knitted together the paradoxes of life. 

I remember the twinkle in his eye, his brisk pace, the laughter I heard in his voice on the radio. He was killed before I was born; yet his presence permeates my years on earth. The closest I have got to him is perhaps the knowledge that my mother was about to meet him that day that she heard he was shot.

Or perhaps when I visit the dusty home in Mani Bhavan, on a quiet street in Mumbai, where he would stay. I took children aged 5-16 there, and they did not want to leave the sight of that simple room with a pair of glasses, a book, some few possessions.



  


Gandhiji makes me feel like he could be a friend as well as a father. What a combination!  Yes, there are many controversies surrounding his life; and in India, often you find people who tell you that he ruined life politically but...the Gandhi who lives on is the one who taught us that the way to social justice is to actively and peacefully and persistently settle for nothing less.



The messages that stick in my mind:
"Bapu nay kaha thaa such bolo" [Bapu said, speak the truth]
Awakening the masses in creative ways to demand freedom- the Salt march
One world
Peace
Non-violence
Truth
He Ram! his words as he died.

**Why can't kids just read what they like?
Some books are so serious, so honorably HORRID
In them kids are violent or violently treated
Suffer great tragedies or inflict them on others
Have language that we'd bleep if it was on T.V.
[yes, you'd be surprised what schools ask kids to read]



But I remember devouring books in our childhood
Which were not 'meaningful', 'politically necessary' or winners of medals
The authors became our gods and the characters friends or heroes
They had adventures, mean teachers or hostile hostels
Seemingly real yet headily exciting


When we were young, we read books to escape into adventure
My kids who're young, are asked to read books that propel them to escape into reality
Is it any wonder that so many have to be pushed to read?

**sung to the tune of "Why can't a woman be more like a man?"

It's not possible to be brought up in India and not have heard of sat-chit-ananda. There are people who're named Satchidananda. Most HIndus would have heard the vedic chant sometimes called the mool mantra [root or source sound]. I discovered a wonderful mp3 rendering online. Enjoy as you read on [or get lost in it!]

Wikipedia informs us that the (Sanskrit: सच्चिदानंद) is a compound of three Sanskrit words, Sat (सत्), Cit (चित्), and Ānanda (आनंद). 

But somehow today, I finally feel free. I've been plodding through [on the Living Metaphysics pod] the Tattva-Bodhah, Awakening to Reality, written by Sri Adi Sankaracharya for students of the Upanishads. There's a commentary by Swami Tejomayananda. Plodding, because I didn't want to read a Cliff Notes version [as I thought] of the Upanishads, but was guided internally into doing so...

In short, to awaken to reality, we have to know what Self is.
We started by exploring what Self is not.

And today, as we come into the light of the special Full Moon, we reached the topic of what Self is: the nature of Existence- Consciousness- Bliss.  And while listening to a mantra on this, I discovered wonderful lights playing on the Windows Media player. Can this be read without being experienced? I think not. I feel not. I know not.

Went on a journey and discovered this:

Yoga describe it thus:

When the Kundalini reaches the sixth centre or the Ajna Chakra, the Yogi gets the vision of Personal God or Saguna Brahman, and when the serpent-power reaches the last, the top centre, or Sahasrara Chakra, or the Thousand-petalled lotus, the Yogi loses his individuality in the ocean of Sat-Chit-Ananda or the Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute and becomes one with the Lord or Supreme Soul. He is no longer an ordinary man, not even a simple Yogi, but a fully illumined sage, having conquered the eternal and unlimited divine kingdom, a hero having won the battle against illusion, a Mukta or liberated one having crossed the ocean of ignorance or the transmigratory existence, and a superman having the authority and capacity to save the other struggling souls of the relative world.

He becomes Jivanmukta, liberated, awakened, beyond life itself and yet all of life.

When Ramana Maharishi was still observing total silence, Sivaprekasam Pillai, a very learned gentleman, asked, "What is the nature of consciousness?" Ramana wrote on his slate, "It is sat chit ananda (being, consciousness, bliss) in which there is not even the trace of the 'I' thought. This is also called mauna (silence) or atma (Self). That is the only thing that is. If the trinity of world, ego and God are considered as separate entities, they are mere illusions, like the appearance of silver in the mother of pearl. God, ego and world are really Sivasvarupa (the form of Siva) or Atmasvarupa (the form of spirit)."

In an enlightened person, Ramana once explained, "the existence of the ego is only apparent. He enjoys unbroken transcendental experience. This ego is harmless; it is like the skeleton of a burnt rope--though it has a form, it is of no use to tie anything with."

Self is Sat chit ananda. Brahman is  Sat chit ananda. Self is Brahman is infinite is.

All those who serve others - doctors, nurses, social workers, activists, community volunteers, even parents and teachers -- can be so wonderful at helping others through crises, but themselves get exhausted or even ill, emotionally and physically.

This is when lightwork is so useful.

One of the basic benefits that drew me into light/energy healng is that it helps us to access universal energy for all the work that we do on earth. Rather than using our small store of easily- used energy, we learn to use the inexhaustible supply of universal energy.

To do that,
Why not use the energy of emotion? After all, the words 'emotion' and 'motive' both emerge from 'emovere'-:to move. Emotion can move us to action, motivate behavior and give meaning to situations. Help us get involved and stay engaged.

On the other hand, emotions attach us to a situation and we may be unable or unwilling or ignorant of the time to detach. Emotions can be the hooked cord that causes us to be dragged in the water if the fish we're trying to catch is too large, or there are others' hooks reeling it in. The fish also can get injured rather than helped or caught.

Many words can be written; but in the end, the simplest explanation is a metaphor.

Water is a metaphor for emotion. Light is a metaphor for wholeness, clarity, higher vibration, speed, positivity.

When light moves through water, it bends.



And this refraction causes us to see everything a little off-center.

How does the I-vs-you me experience the I-am-you oneness? and the i-you-we-they oneness?

I am in a car, driving to work. When the light turns red, I need to stop. When it is green and I am ready to go, I can't, till the car in front of me moves on; or the car cutting to the left stops me. All this seems to be an I-vs-you experience, where I am in a place where you could be; and you are in a place where I could be.

When I want to merge into traffic, I have to rely on the cars in the stream of traffic. On the mood of the drivers of cars driving by, their attention to me, attitude towards merging cars, awareness that I'm requesting to merge, or reading my mind, or seeing a hand signal, on their perception of whether the car behind him is at a safe distance, maybe even of the car I am driving. We are already in the communication and interaction phase of the experience, where there is much more than meets the eye. The I-and-you are in a dance. Where, in this dragon dance, will I fit in?

When I allow someone to merge into traffic in front of me, I prevent someone at the previous intersection from making the green light. I force everyone behind me to stop so that one person can merge in. Once again, I see the separateness that dances in the stream.

I also begin to be aware of the stream of traffic. I am now not a driver in a car but a driver-in-a-car in a stream of traffic. I am a driver-in-a-car-in-a-stream-of-traffic facing another stream-of-traffic-with-cars-driven-by-drivers. I become aware of how we are going one way and so many are going the other. I may wave at the drivers in oncoming cars that I recognize, or admire a car, or see what the lady behind me doing her make-up. My awareness shifts from stream to separation.

When I see an oncoming car that is stopped for no apparent reason, I slow down and see that someone on the other side of the road wants to cross. Following an unwritten rule, I stop, and the pedestrian can cross. When I see a car on a side street wanting to cross over and merge into the opposite lane, I stop and hope that someone in the oncoming traffic can see why I have stopped and do the same. The dance can get really intricate!

To someone trying to cross the road, both streams of traffic are as two halves of one. Unless a car on each side stops, the pedestrian cannot cross the road. A subtle communication is required between any two drivers in the oncoming streams of traffic, and the pedestrian, to agree to stop for a finite amount of time, and allow the pedestrian on their own side or the other side of the road, to cross.

While driving, I need to have full attention on the road but my awareness can expand. As it begins to rise, I am aware of the flows of traffic, the energy that moves and swirls around the city. Awareness can play a game of expanding and contracting --outwards towards the hundreds of people, intentions and ideas that are also moving with traffic, those who have been involved in making my car and me move and be in that place in time, and inward to my own inner world of memories, messages, ideas, anxieties, worries, hopes, dreams, intentions, confusions, feelings.

I can place my awareness on the need to shift gears, shift my posture to become more comfortable, shift in thougths to solve a problem, or sense the shift in weather, in the clouds, in the political climate of a nation.  I can tune in to the thoughts and feelings of those around me or those far from me. I can move outwards from the street I am in, to the city, state, country, continent, planet and find myself in a whoosh! back into the present moment. Whether awareness expands into the universe outward or contracts into the universe within...it meets in One.

This is how I focus on driving within the perspective of the flow.

This is how me-you-we-they> I experience Oneness.
 
Oneness experiences oneness.

I never knew this!

The Nilgiri mountains are the home to 18 tribal groups, among whom the Todas are the most remarkable. A pastoral community, the Todas are fair-skinned and curly haired, and are strict vegetarians. Their language through of dravidan origin, has no script. According to their creations myth, goddess Teikirshy and her brother on first created the baffalo by waving a magic wand, and then created the Toda man. The first Toda women was created from the right rib of the man. The todas first contact with civilization occured when the East India Company annexed the Nilgiris in 1779. In 1823, John Sullivan, the then collector of Coimbatore, built the first stone house in Ooty on land purchased from the Todas. Today, there are only about 1,100 Todas left.

Alan asked a great question on the Global Peace Pod.
"Grassroots....
"That's how it'll be… anyone agree?  Bottom up.  Not top-down.   global peace can only happen this way.But how does a global grass-roots movement happen?  This is the question… "

My take[cross-posted from the pod]:

I agree.

Some thoughts:

**
• By gaining as much knowledge and information about the situations around us. Not only through emotion, but also through knowing, so we don't make things worse. This means a lot of work on oneself to make sure we can be free of prejudice, bias, self-centeredness, lack of self awareness or lack of self-esteem. To be sure that we are not seeking from others what we can't find within. The peaceful warrior is not needy, but giving.
  

**
• By each person bringing peace into their daily life–which is the hardest thing to do, as it involves thought, action, compromise that strengthens all involved, and staying sensitive [aware and caring] to the needs and motives behind our own and others' behaviors.

**
• By acting where we can act: when we see areas of discord around us, bringing about an awareness to the parties concerned, of the fact that discord doesn't solve problems long-term, mediating if asked by them to do so, providing tools for them to solve their problem, or calling for help by other parties if we can't help. This is where a grassroots movement can be created. If one is called to be a leader, so be it. If a follower, so be it.
  

**
• By staying one-pointed focus on peace, and bending only to the need for peace, above any other need. This is difficult, because sometimes, while pursuing social justice, which is what we are seeking when acting, we act in non-peaceful ways.
  

**
• I think to be sure that what we are seeking is peace, and not social justice or an end to violence. They seem to be the same, but may not seem so in action. e.g., an activist often has to shake things up that seemed calm on the surface, but had underlying injustice. It seems therefore, that they are bringing about non-peace; and bothering everyone–sometimes even those they are fighting FOR, and who are too scared to fight for themselves.

**
• Where one can't act, using other methods for bringing about harmony: writing letters, group meditations, intentions, prayer, or whatever can be done from a distance.
  

I believe that peaceful means of getting social justice –which I see as healing balance–are what is required if we are seeking global peace.

Gr8 question. Took me on different paths….I'd be interested in knowing your take on this.

     

Oct. 27th this  year is Chhoti Diwali in North India [small Diwali] and Deepavali in South India.

Oct. 28th is Diwali-- a celebration when I miss being with my family in India! Usually everyone visits each other, giving sweets; offering prayers and enjoying each day of the celebration.

[The words Diwali and Deepavali are used interchangeably in India.]

I'll never forget traveling with my family by train from North to South India one Diwali season and seeing the beautiful earthen lights flickering in villages and towns and cities that we passed by.


Now, people often pollute the atmosphere by too many firecrackers, but the fun of phooljharies [sparklers] is infectious! Not those noise "bombs"-firecrackers, though!


But we've celebrated it in the U.S. with friends and new-found family of friends. Everyone likes to dress up in Indian clothes and jewelery, get henna designs on their hands, and dance the dandiya raas. It's bringing in the light of our own lives on earth, along with the light of the gods into the dark night of the new moon.

If we have people over at our home, the kids enact one of the stories of Diwali.

My favorite memory here; is of dancing the dandiya raas with a Muslim friend [Diwali is a Hindu festival] from Pakistan [which is supposed to be our enemy country]. An outward dance, an inner celebration. Our friends from Ecuador, Uruguay, Greece, Portugal, and other U.S. states, joined in.

And when we lived in Singapore, another friend, also Muslim, who sat down with the invited kids in our house– from China, Singapore, Malaysia, Europe, Australia and India– encouraged them to pick up the folk musical instruments, and involved them in the impromptu telling of the story of Diwali.

It is truly a festival that all enjoy. Light indeed.
__________

Information on Denise/flowerchild's  post on the Living Metaphysics pod and Eli's blog.