I looked up at the sky, and saw Venus brightly rivaling the crescent moon.

I drove a few miles today, and through a telescope, saw the Comet Lulin. It looked greyish rather than green and really fuzzy. If we hadn't heard how rare a visitor it is, we wouldn't have understood the significance of seeing it.

Comet Lulin has traveled unmeasurable miles to be seen by us, and it is said it will never come again. Actually it will. In 49 million years. Not in our lifetime. Perhaps not even in Earth's lifetime?



 Perhaps at that time, I'll be a speck of dust on it, visiting Gaia that has morphed into a community of outer space! Ah the tales my body can tell then!

We're moving into vernal equinox, and somehow it may've been the green of Comet Lulin, or a comment by Tai or my second Gaia anniversary, or the fact that I saw with a start that I had 493 friends on Gaia, but I got into a frenzy of spring cleaning.

First, I began to look at friends on Gaia. For some reason, I didn't want that number to go to 500. I thought it'd be impersonal, and  I wouldn't really  know everyone. This despite the fact that I have friends with far more than 500 friends and they seem to know many of us!

Phase I: I looked at my friends' list and was surprised to see that I too knew many of them. Most, I could think of an interaction we'd had. That was amazing. But some hadn't been on Gaia for ages, and if we hadn't had much of an interaction anyway, I left them a grapevine or email message, and un-friended them. I feel if they wanted to leave, perhaps they wouldn't want strings attached.

Others, I felt I had friended for wrong reasons, like "must" and "should"; and as the Urdu song goes :"Ishq par zor nahin" : "Don't force love." Though an on-line friendship needn't be about love, it does have to be about a smile.

Phase II: I did the smile vs heart-sinking test. If my heart and lips lift on seeing someone, they are a friend, even if we have barely communicated in words. And if my heart sank on seeing someone, I decided I had to expand my heart or un-friend them. It's not fair on them or on me, to stay friends. Long ago, in my off-line life, I realized that to try to deal with difficult situations beyond a point, is a kind of arrogance, not respecting the other's inner strength as much as one's own.

This was really difficult for me, as I felt that un-friending someone is a failure of mine. An acknowledgment that I could not make things work. But then I realized that friendship is a two-way street and one can keep trying to make things work even without it. I recall those who had silently un-friended me; and I realized that I had understood why they did that, and did not take them up on it. I had to understand their silence. We've to give space to each other, for each of us to grow.

I wrote, they answered, and graciously, the un-friending took place. Yes, unconditional love is not easy at this level.

I also thought of those that I respect greatly on Gaia, but we are not in Friends status. It is the special privilige of a maturing community that we can choose the level of closeness, and in doing so, see even more clearly the layers of our authentic self.

Phase III: I wrote a blog that is meant to be a paean to my friendships on Gaia. To give each person a place, I began with the first friendships I'd made. [Thanks, archived posts!] How surprising!  Many of them, though still friends, hadn't really developed into a deeper connection. Yet for me, Gaia wouldn't be the same without them. Our interests are different but that is the value of it for me. They are a potential into what I may grow--or not. But something I could learn from, or even know that it exists.

Phase IV: Realizing that the anniversary-paean-to-friends- blog would become 400+ comments long if I continued with my 1 comment per friend, I began to grapevine or message them, respond if they commented, and so on. This is still continuing.

I have revived some friendships to a more active state, found newer activities of some others, and been able to connect friends to groups or to each other. Yes, connection is what it's about.

The upshot of all this is, that I am no longer shying away from that 500 number. Friends, non-friends un-friends and Gaians I've never met. I am thankful to you all for being here. Gaia would not be what it is without you.

A world where hearts spring eternally.

Source

As Sanmugan pointed out to me, it's not spring yet. But somehow I've begun to spring -clean different areas of my life. The feng shui gods are driving me!

When I was first introduced to feng shui and saw what it can accomplish, I was blown away. A little change in the placement of a plant as suggested by a feng-shui practitioner friend, and immediately a block got cleared. I began to read it up and realized that it is all about clearing the mind. If your heart lifts at the sight or thought of your physical environment, it is feng-shui'd. Just as simple and difficult as that.

So I'm begin driven to ensure that each member of my family keeps the house clean. It's a job I don't do well: teach others their responsibility. But as my mom reminded me, it is my job. "Just tell them, when you leave a room, glance back [murh kay daykho] and see: have I left it in a way that I'd like to come back to?" Right now, I've told the kids to ask themselves if they'd like me to come to that room [dangerous thing to ask a teen, of course! But mine are too kind and polite to say what they'd really like to! ;p [Of course, I've to read their silence in this regard--and then disregard what I hear!]

Growing up in homes with a household staff --normal in India--we would still tidy and clean our immediate environment. It was not all left to the staff. My mother-in-law also trained her family in this way. Keep your own surroundings clean. I wasn't living up to this particular tradition [so much easier to do things yourself than to get them done], but when I got overwhelmed after all, I've roped them all in. Showing them how to do it, and how important it is to keep our surroundings clean at all times.

See how tough the simplest things can be?
Comet Lulin had to come to get me going!
Green, it said, think green.
Clean, I heard, think clean.

Here's a delightful spiraling drama around the much talked about Oscar-winning Movie 'Slumdog Millionaire' -

It starts with a hole in the wall in India, travels out of Asia into Europe and North America, goes back to India, the U.K. and then there's a bridge between India and the U.K.

Main protagonists:

Professor Sugata Mitra
Vikas Swarup, a diplomat turned writer
Simon Beaufoy, scriptwriter


Phase I  India and holes in the wall
It started with a hole in the wall at a slum in Delhi
The hole was filled in with a computer by Newcastle University's Professor Sugata Mitra.
Within a month, the slum kids had taught themselves English and Math
Inspired by this event, the book Q & A was written by diplomat Vikas Swarup


Phase III India and those holes

"The pair engaged in an email exchange, culminating in Mitra telling
Swarup that the film's name was inappropriate. But it was not the
"slumdog" adjective that Mitra objected to - he believed the film
should have been called Slumdog Nobel Laureate, rather than
millionaire. "That kind of plot would have been more in the spirit of
my Hole in the Wall project, which had been aimed at encouraging kids
to think beyond monetary gain, to aim to change the world, not obsess
about riches," says Mitra.Like the film, Mitra's educational initiatives have also beaten all expectations. Delhi now has 48 computer "holes","

Phase IV India's holes are  U.K.'s gain!
Mitra - who has taught educational technology on master's courses at
Newcastle University for the past two years - is expanding his project
to UK primary schools, using the same techniques to help children in
Gateshead as he used in Hyderabad, India.

"Although aspirations aren't such a problem in India because the gap between rich
and poor is so large, in some places of the UK and India there are the
same problems with uninspiring teaching - or kids so disengaged that
they are not being taught at all," he says.

"Holes are not being smashed in walls in northern England, but Mitra does believe that
technology can best be used in "remote" situations in the UK - not just
settings geographically apart like the Indian slums, but failing
schools that aren't attracting the best teachers.

"There will always be places in the world where good schools don't exist and good
teachers don't want to go, not just in the developing world but in
places of socioeconomic hardship," he says. "If the teacher is sitting
there wishing they were somewhere else, children sense these things and
it has a knock-on effect on how they learn. So I look at how technology
can improve primary children's education, particularly through
independent learning. I'm encouraging kids to use computers at their
own pace to build aspirations.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Summative titles
Holes--->Slumdog--->More Holes in the Wall

OR A story of 3 continents

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sources:
Slumdog's success is Q & A's gain: Arthur J Pais, rediff news, March 03, 2009 17:34 IST
Slumdog professor:Lucy Tobin,The Guardian,
Tuesday 3 March 2009
When Slumdog got a makeover, rediff India Abroad

I have an impatient relationship to dreams.[as to sleep!]..Off and on I’ve journaled, but after a point, given it up.

My dreams have become increasingly lucid, however. Two nights ago, I had a dream that I remembered well, but was focusing on the humans rather than the dog who was playing Fetch with me.

The next morning I called a friend as it was her birthday and she’d suggested lunch one day to exchange news about our journeys. Though I avoid many gatherings, I wanted to meet her on her birthday. She agreed at my offering of “my food your place.” Mentioned she’s tired because she’s got a dog guest who keeps wanting to play Fetch!

I jumped! Immediately recalled my dream; as the side-story came centerstage. Sure enough, when I visited her, this lovely border collie, who’d visited me astrally in dreamtime, kept giving me her ball so I could throw it to her. I can palpably remember the feeling of my arm throwing the ball in my dream. I could describe the color of the balls, and even that one was broken. The house though, was reversed left-right. And I realized that I dream in sepia but the green tennis balls had glowed!

Ahhh I’m seeing now; perhaps I was seeing the green again from Comet Lulin that has obsessed me as he [who’s morphing into a “she” for me] is balancing my energies to another level… So this is what dreams mean to me.

Astral connections that can turn delightful!

And shall I tell you about the glistening in this story? The dog is called Lyle. She is a dog-ess with the name of a boy. And she's come from New Zealand. perhaps something to explore there. On to the labyrinth!

[cross-posted from HummingBird's group Walking the Labyrinth, which I thought of  immediately, when this happened.]

Through I.

There's a theme in my life nowadays:
turning your head to look back

[Note- the links in this blog are to other blogs of mine unless mentioned otherwise]

Usually, the mantra nowadays seems to be:
Don't look back..or perhaps, don't turn back
Perhaps because of what happened to Lot's wife when she did.
There's even an old song about it in HIndi-Mudh Mudh Ke Na Dekh 

Sometimes, though, what we move away from without resolving can bite us in the rear!

The other day, while watching the Oscars, I saw Frieda Pinto looking back during a photo shoot. It was remarkably poised; and suddenly clicked on a half-forgotten memory.

On a call when I was describing to my mother how I sometimes feel overwhelmed by housework; my mother reminded me of what she'd taught us as kids that helped us to be self-sufficient:"When you leave a room, look back and see if you have left it as you would like to find it. It was a lesson I needed to teach the kids. It was time. And I did. I've told them before, but somehow this time, with more conviction.

Asteri's blog today weaves in the other theme: dogs. And Lyle who came to me in my dream and then in "real life".

I love how these little subtleties connect to each other. Wonder what's coming up now?




Gosh! Finding this cartoon reminds me:

The owl!

A long time ago...okay that's another blog.

Continuing from my earlier blog today: [ironically  titled Don't Look Back--but do! and the first look at the themes in my life today ]

A long time ago, when I was actually 16 [not just 52 who sometimes feels 16!], I saw an owl.

It was broad daylight, and I was studying in the corridor of my school. Perhaps late afternoon, actually. In Amritsar, but that's neither here nor there.

Actually, it is.

It's there. The north of India. And more to the point, not my home when I saw the owl. I was at a hostel [boarding/ dorm] for the exams. It's not really relevant, but since I am looking back, let me do that all the way. In the 11th year of high school--which for us was the final school year, my father was transfered from Amritsar where we were attending school, to Delhi. He was in the Indian Railways but was sent off for a stint with another branch of government.

That was quite a shock as no one wants to change schools from grades 8-11. The curriculum for these 3 classes was linked, and there was a major board exam at the end of it all. That determined the college you went to, not a sneeze in India's highly competitive higher education. So I immediately said I was willing to move to teh school hostel. The Irish nun who was the principal of the school, suggested that I should go with the family and not stay tehre. "She's delicate", she told my father, and wouldn't be able to take the rigors of a school hostel! "let her go to a school there. She's a good student and will be able to do well."

usually compliant, i put my foot down. Changing schools at that time; with new literature books [each school chose from a defined set of Shakespeare and other literature that h ekids studied for 3 years] and so on would set me back completely. So I was allowed to stay home and study. A teacher or student would mail me the weekly schoolwork -it was snail mail days but India's postal service was very efficient and it wouldn't take more than 1-2 days - and I'd do it myself. So, I taught myself 'As you like it' with the help of guide books [am wondering why I'm giving details, but going with what's coming; ther'es probably a point in there somewhere. or not]. Basically everything else was revising what the efficient teachers had already taught us.

For the last 1 month before the exams, I went to the school and was therefore in the hostel.

Immediately, I asked for special privileges. yes, I now realize i was spoiled and assertive about my studies. i was 1 of the 3 the best students in the school and they didn't want to spoil my chances of getting a good grade.

So, my rules for myself that they agreed to, were
I would not study after dinner: "my father says that after eating, blood rushes to the stomach for digestion and if we read, the eyes will get spoiled. "
I would not study sitting In room wit other students :"I have to walk about as I study. I can't study with other people in the room."
I need a locked cabinet for my books -- my notes had been "lost" stolen earlier.

Two things happened in a certain spot now that I think about it. I wish I remembered what happened first.

One day, looking around, I saw the owl on top of the sloped roof, across the open courtyard from me.  It was looking at me, was whitish, and began to bob and dance as I guess owls do. At first I thought s/he was trying to see me clearly. Then I began to enjoy I her dance so much that I began to bob and dance with her. We must've kept it up for about 10 minutes. For quite a few days, I saw the owl as I studied. In Hindi, calling someone "ulloo" [owl] is calling them stupid. Completely the opposite as in English. I think that for me, ulloo is stupid but an owl is wise. We studied in the English system, after all, and even my parents and grandparents used English a lot, to speak to us.

So my beautiful owl, I wonder if you gave me the courage for what was to come.

One day, while deep in studies in the same spot- I really loved studying! - I was shocked by a loud sound. Looking up, I saw a fifth class [grade ]  girl being hit by a teacher! I was stunned and angered. I asked a child later, whom I knew in that class, about the teacher and was told that she was really bad tempered, disrespected students and would throw their copies on the floor if she thought they'd done badly. That did it for me.

Summoning up courage which came often to me in that school - I went to the principal and to cut a long story short; had to confront the angry teacher with the principal, and she was asked to leave. Students and teachers had complained, but this time, there was an uninvolved witness.

Hmmm...the owl. Eyes. Focusing. It's getting clearer now.

I thought of the story often; and always love to see owls. Love the owls that come into Hogwarts carrying messages or howlers. And bought a large stuffed owl toy in the early Harry Potter days, for my child.

But one day, on Gaia, I saw an owl on Centria's shoulder on her Gaia icon. Intrigued, I clicked on her icon. On the larger picture that came up,  I saw it wasn't really there - it was an illusion. Still, I felt I needed to tell her that. She was surprised because she couldn't see it, but further surprised because of the inner history with it [she's described it here- will  link in a moment].

The other day, Centria drew my attention to her blog where she's mentioned the owl and my seeing it. She's linked it with the heyoka path that I hadn't heard of but one that I've been on, for a while.

Perhaps that is why I saw that owl on Centria's right shoulder. Hers, she was told, was on her left. Maybe this one is reviving something in me.

LInks: Centria's blog: Following the upside down backwards over-your-head spiritual path
When we talked about the time I  first saw that owl on her shoulder. Re: Getting blasé

What I need to do now: read up more about owl, heyoka, and blog about my looking at life upside down/inside out/downwards and upwards....after feeding the kids!

It was a comment from my sister-in-law that first brought this to my attention. "You look at things in such a ulta [upside down] way," she said.

I hadn't thought I did; but I know I have my own way of looking at things. I started a mailer called Focus and Perspective to share what can be uncovered if we change/shift/move our point of focus. Paradoxes abound in the level of awareness just above the ego level.

~~~~~

Then, cleanliness and status.

In society, as I wrote in another blog, " those who dirty the world are called the masters, and those who clean it, the untouchables", the lower classes.
And yet, we value cleanliness.
~~~~~~~~~

It is considered right to teach children to disobey their own natural leanings, and obey the rules and mores of sick societies. "Make my mistakes, not yours" is what we are telling the children. Then we provide them with exhausted doctors, imbalanced therapists and overpriced drugs to make it through their adulthood, when we expect them to pass on their twisted learnings to the next generation.

How much I had to struggle with older family members and teachers to ensure that my children's own inner voices were not drowned out by their loudly spoken comments!  My children did not learn the word "obey" till they were past 5-7 years, and when I told them what adults will expect of them; I can still see their stunned faces. Yet even now that they are teens, each an individual and completely independent, we can exchange a glance, and they will choose to listen to a request I make silently. Or I will hear their unspoken thought.
Those relatives have noticed! Yes!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We expect children not only to accept what the world throws at them, but also to do so graciously. Who is really more mature here?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When we call ourselves healers, we look at the world as "needing" to be healed. It is the one who asks who starts a cycle of healing. When something we do, helps another person to feel better, is it just the receiver who receives? Just the other who is healed? When healing is wholeness, isn't it just a rebalancing that took place? There really needs to be no getting caught in ego-land when called to healing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A satisfied need is not a motivator of behavior. If I overeat, it is because what I am eating does not satisfy me. One day I will find that which does, and then, there will be no further need of eating. When you really like something, just a whiff of it is fulfilling.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Is a person mad when the world around them is twisted out of normalcy? And the only way they can stay true, is by reflecting that back to the world?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In space, no side is up. Yet we have all bought into the early map-makers definitions of North, South, up and down as truth. Fortunately, others have seen that!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When we are satisfied with life, we detach, and there is no more of it. We come back because we are unsatisfied.
~~~~~~~~~~
Everything that is truth here is a lie there and is then again a truth. The moon when dark here is always light there.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Those who have troubled me are the ones who have helped me become as clear as I can be. The wildness in an animal can smell that fear in you!
The only way to deal with them is to be completely clear. Who then is a friend: one who agrees with you, or one who disagrees?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If I'm really communing with a person, there is silence. When I am not, there are words.

If I feel I am speaking to those who cannot see paradox, I write and write. When I see I am upside down with you in this ulta-pulta universe.....
Source


Thank you Centria/Kathy, for your blog that reminded me of this one that's been writing itself. I have never heard of heyoka.
Actually knowing of your experience helps.

Today and tomorrow, Indians all over the world celebrate Holi. It's a festival of color, water, fire, myth, legend, gaiety, tomfoolery, tiny terrors, destroyed dresses, song, dance, food, bhang and....

As you can see, many layers.

And where else to converse about it than Gaia?

On The Power of Light group, I shared the aspects of it that are related to the full moon, cosmic cycles and how we celebrate not only the coming of spring but also the destruction of powerful negative energies [demoness Holika] and prevailing of pure-hearted devotion [Prahlad].

On the World Heritage group, I delved into the more cultural aspects --and will go back to do some more.

Perhaps on the Global Peace Pod I can share the continuing distress about the terrorist attacks in Mumbai; which is why people don't feel like  celebrating this year.

I plan to hit the Dreams of Artists with colored water next!


Watch out!

You know, I didn't really enjoy Holi in childhood [we were too serious and there's too much of forcibly dunking people in mud or pools and so on]; I preferred the bonfire and eating roasted green chana


Source


Now we can't forget about the little flirtations of Krishna and the gopis on Holi! [Hmmm...I must've been that serious gopi. Really needed to grow down!]




I'll go upload a youtube video of holi in the Videos on Gaia.
And the songs? You'll love this one:

And then I guess I'll go out and play.

The labyrinth has fascinated me since the time it came as a meditation tool. I began to see it as a flattened schema of our energy systems [chakras] http://is.gd/nDYN
If it opens out, it can be conical in shape, http://is.gd/nDYm

In our meditative journeying, we found the light string that helped us to make our way through the labyrinth.

Unilke a maze, in which one can get lost, a labyrinth has one clear start and one clear center. It is the journey itself, to be undertaken as one is ready to move on, overcoming fears of dark or being lost, that can make it terrifying.

Once you reach the center, the labyrinth displays its secret.
It opens up, becoming a multi-dimensional spiral.http://is.gd/nE23
The journey begins again, as one can get lost in time and space, till we find our center, expand into multiple time -space combinations, see the parallel universes in which we exist, and the choice we make of the one we play outhttp://is.gd/nE2N.

Journeying virtually through labyrinth ingeniously created by HummingBird [that delightful being that can take you with ight into the shadows of a new moon], one realizes that a labyrinth frees you up, helps you to be rid of your fears, confront your challenges, your shadows, dreams and inspirations.

Till you merge with the labyrinth.
And there is light.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
Links: a meditative journey The Labyrinth of Light
Walking the Labyrinth group on Gaia
That delightful dream ~ a thread in the labyrinth

Today there was an epiphany at sunrise. I am so blessed and wanted to share this with you.

After dropping my daughter to school today, I saw the skies turning pink and gold and realized the sun was about to rise. Now I'm a star stalker - when I see the moon or sun or stars doing amazing things, I'll go to any bylane to photograph them. This time, I was near a park that is near the Atlantic ocean. Did I mention that I live in paradise?
 As the rays streamed forth from that one source of
light, the gayatri mantra burst forth from my heart. I repeated it til the sun had risen, and then ran back to the car. I had realized at the March equinox that I need to run or walk daily and this time, it will not be a matter of my will power.

And so it happened.

One light, rays, the dark ocean gradually becoming light. God speaks to us every moment.

And as I glanced down, I saw that a bird  who'd been watching the sunrise with me hovering in mid-air before wheeling overhead and blessed me. And I laughed.

Nature speaks to us every moment!

From a discussion in the  Living Metaphysics group where Aliya mentioned a piece called The Ego, The Separation, The Illusion By Christine Hoeflich
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Aliya, in that space whence thoughts originate, I've been wanting a discussion on ego for a while now; so your bringing it up shows me two things:
at the level of ego or separateness- that there is synchronicity and coincidence and more than one person with the same thought!
at the level of non-ego connection or unity -that we are facets of the one, facing different directions and together representing unity.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'd like to share some thoughts that came as I read Christine Hoeflich's article

1. Yes, it's very necessary to know what each person means by ego before trying to lump together all articles on ego by "New age writers" or "philosophers throughout history."

I see ego as a level of functioning where the One Self is broken down into its constituents. The beauty is that here each constituent feels separate and individual. I feel it is beauty because it's a miracle if you think that a little finger can actually feel it is an individual entity whole and separate from the hair on my head! However different and functional they are, they are functioning as part of the whole body.

Each constituent is self-aware and has the possibility of Self awareness. That is another magical property!The metaphors commonly used of drops of water or grain of sand or hologram show that this is  not a new or even original thought. Yet, using the word 'I', I will say that I am aware that 'ego' is defined as 'a part of personality' - and each definition that Christine has described, is a valid use of the word.
~~~~~~~~~~~

"In other words, the collective higher self designed the “illusion” (part of which included forgetting its divine nature) and ever since then the ego has been trying to do the best it could, given the soul agreements made beforehand and the circumstances in which it found itself."

yes, completely agree!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
"So why would anyone blame the ego?"

That is the irony. Who blames? Blaming is something that happens in the dimension of ego. Feeling in disharmony, dis-ease, imbalance, the struggling memory of self, an energy arises that seeks to pull the self out of a morass. We call those energies blame and anger and shame and guilt. They are needed at first to help the self remember that there is something beyond this illusion of separateness.

Once the collective memory of the human being has been ignited through those energies, we are receiving this information from many sources: don't blame the ego. So Christine is right, there is no need to do so, and certainly not to get focused on it. But this was a partial message given to the sleeping self to enable us to awake. Once it's done the trick, it's departing. We're seeing the back of these energies [but we've to know that some of us are still not there yet].
~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
"When you begin to view life from the perspective of the higher self you will begin to see the perfection in the divine design, including the perfection in your own life. By reconnecting within and viewing life from this higher-level perspective, you can achieve all these goals most quickly and easily. Then your life can't help but soar."

Yes! And we look with compassion, mirth, joy and connection at the aspects of us that are still playing this game.Including the game of 'I thought of this first' or 'Only I'...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One last thought [for now] - when we drive on a highway, we can see many road signs. Some are meant for us and others we can see, but are placed for those exiting or entering the highway. Just because we can see those other signs does not mean they are meant for us.

When we're confused by conflicting messages it helps to go within and see: Which one is meant for me? It's the one that makes the heart sing.
~~~~~
so this aspect of the one thanks that aspect of the One for allowing this game of discussing to go on.
It couldn't have been done if we weren't in this illusionary ego world!