Gaia Community: Meenakshi's Blog

What is your wish for the New Year?

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 11:21:27 GMT

That each being on Gaia deeply find their own space in this vast universe, and their light connection with all else.

For within each word in that sentence above, are universes of meaning and infinitudes of connection.

Tags: Q&R, year, wish, 2010, 2009, gaia, space, universe, light, connection

Online communication- what is your PERSPECTIVE?

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 12:35:32 GMT

There are two ways to read this perspective:

Substitute 'I' for 'you' and read it as if you wrote it. See what resonates, and what does not; and what you choose to respond to

Realize that it is only 'my' perspective, even when it seems didactic.
For I will not write if I am not certain, but I will not mistake certainty for the ultimate truth!

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

I woke this morning, with some thoughts; and those I always share in writing. That is my discipline. In the past few days, they have often been of the Gaia community.

That in itself, if I think of the perspective of my life today, is amazing and shocking; because there is so much I will not be writing that is of real importance in my life; and so much that I will be writing that is not really important. What I will be doing, in each case, is sharing - to anyone who can connect fully to listen. In the end, only those who can sense all, will be able to know 'me'.

But that takes a leap of listening - both to what is written and what is not. What is felt and what is not.

I have found that communication between two people is often on the surface, and uni -or two-dimensional. We stop at the surface of words. Not the ones we hear or read. The ones we listen to or understand.

Will I remember when I am writing, that the other has limited time or talents as well? That there are those who are seeking, and those who are giving? That I can choose what is for the benefit of my life and leave aside what is not? Each requires courage, because we're answerable to that inner voice.

I am often told, both online and offline, that I have a peaceful presence. That causes people to either be drawn to me or stay away. When drawn to me, some forge a heart connection and I sense easily the peace radiating from their inner self.

Others feel they can 'take' that peace by interacting with me. I see that there is a waiting for words, for a gesture, for a tone of voice. I usually connect to people in a way that I have learned with light-work, both offline and online. Heart to heart, and intuition to intuition. Keeping the energy clear, with breath, and removing hooks when I see them. Hooks do not help anyone - the one who needs or the one who is giving. It prevents each from being whole, healed. And this is an ongoing exercise in the human life. With detachment that comes from deep connection, with the heart-mind, we not only hear each others' words, we also sense that inner essence. To the extent that we can go inward within ourselves, we can go inward within the other.

From this perspective, we look into the other, and keep looking till we find only what we are seeking - light, or dark.

Please know, inherently, there is nothing that the human mind thinks of as 'bad' that is in either - light or dark. If we see just what is, and not what is meant to be; everything is just what it is meant to be. Or not.

How high, how deep, how whole a perspective can I bring into my daily conversation; into every minute of awareness, while asleep or awake? That is what I watch.

But there is another step, and that is where the incredible colors of communication come in. How does the other see themselves? For this to be seen, we need to connect, not attach, to each other's energy. That is the love connection - not the feeling of love that is attachment, but the being of love, in which there is just - connection, so deep that the boundaries of you and I are lost. From the heady hum of that connection, the mind sees- ah! one aspect is not yet seeing the essence; and we are brought out of that connection.

This is the region where conflict arises. Between the forces seeking to be filled and the force seeking to be. How does one interact in this situation? From the conflict to the conflict, or from peace into the conflict?

I have done both. The path of the conflict- to -conflict is one of the primal forces of the universe, and it is ever in evidence. Planets disintegrate, meteorites dash into each other, there is fighting. Destruction and creation, once again neither inherently 'bad' or 'good'. Just what is.

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

I am taking a break from this, because after all, there is only so much time I have to write on the internet; there are the parents to enjoy and serve; the office to go to; family matters, other groups and places on Gaia.

Do I always remember, when seeking something that not only I - but others - have a choice? Do we always exercise it mindfully? Each moment, we can choose - do we go outward from peace or outward from conflict? Do we seek balance or imbalance? Do I seek to destroy what I admire, or to learn from it? Do I choose conflict so that I am seen to engage, or do I respond to the whispers of those who are silent in distress, in beauty, or in unanswered words?

These are the rhetorical questions within us, where the real conflicts take place, the real courage to face them, and the real source of peace.

Internally.

I choose to speak from a space of peace to that peace within you.

I choose to connect the light within me, to the light within you.

Today, I am choosing harmony. And I see, that you are too.

Internally.
Namaste.

What is your perspective?

[cross-posted from Gaia Networking]

Tags: perspective, gaia, community, internal, light, dark, choice, namaste

Go And Involve All - it is time

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 07:23:49 GMT

Earth:
I am Gaia
Love me as I love you

Forgive me as I forgive you
Care for me as I care for you
Delight in me as I delight in you
Honor each other so I may be honored
Enjoy my gifts so I may enjoy yours
See me in you as I see you in me
Care for all brothers and sisters
Love my children as I love you
Go And Involve All
It is time

~Meenakshi
Inspired by The Gaia Minute

Tags: Q&R, earth love, gaia, time, care, children, minute, delight

What is true friendship?

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 03:31:09 GMT

I was thinking about this today, and am delighted to see, while going through friends' blogs, that the question was asked a few days back!

I've changed it a little --I don't think we have true or untrue friends; I do feel we have friendships that are true or not. In other words, I don't think we can 'try' to be a good friend. It is just more natural than that. If we can try to be true to our own self, then sometimes the friendship we offer to another will be true, and sometimes it will not.

in each case, I feel it is so important to follow that inclination.

If I see that my friendship towards another is not true, which to me, means not naturally able to accept the other, as Elke wrote on her blog on friendship, then it's important to see if one can change one's inclination, but if not - to move away as graiously as possible.

As they say, there are friendships for a reason, some for a season and some for a lifetime. I value a friendship as true regardless of its length, if the time that we spend together, is spent in each of us truly reflecting who we are, deeply able to do so, and naturally able to accept the other. That is the beauty of friendship, that is the gift of friendship and that is what makes life worth living.

Tags: Q&R, friends, friendship, true, reason, season, lifetime

Let good deeds flow into the river

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 17:09:12 GMT

"neki kar, dariya mein dal" is a saying in India, in HIndi or perhaps in Urdu. The literal meaning is ' Do a good deed, then thow it in the river'.

In other words, forget it. But perhaps it has another meaning as well. Perhaps it means, let it flow, let it do the good that it can to whoever drinks from the river, but let it leave your energy, for it has done within you, what needed to get done. If the thougth of what we have done stays with us, it can lead us to expect thankfulness, gratitude, perhaps even a good deed back at us. All ways to spoil relationships, not ways to enhance them.

Easier said than done; but then that alternative is enough to make it do-able!

While looking for somethingelse in The Power of Light group, I came across a post I'd made last year, that brings another perspective into this thought:

"Ebb and flow: step up then step back
Meenakshi said May 20, 2008, 8:31 AM:

Light moves constantly but within it there are ebbs and flows. That is the inteligence and belance of divine order.

We plant a seed, provide its nourishment, then step back to allow it to sprout.
When it rains, even the desert blooms.

Plant an idea, or give advice and allow the other needed space and privacy to choose it or let it go.

Set an intent, send healing energies, then step back, for healing energy will continue to flow when ego ebbs.

Give help when asked, then move on, feeling the thankfulness in the giving and receiving.

Let go and let God
Flow then ebb
Let light."

What blessings pour into the river of light as it passes by us! We drink of them, perhaps offer a cup to a thirsty companion, and then let it go....

Image

Tags: river, deeds, neki kar dariya mein dal, god, let go, blessings, light, ebb, flow

LIght-ly devoted to you! The Gaia Minute, you and me

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 02:14:06 GMT

I've rarely felt devoted to an idea, but the Gaia Minute completely has me in its spell. It's something deeply tied for me to ...love, laughter, and light.

[ See my earlier blog for details : 9:09 - the Gaia minute - it starts now ]

When Eli used the word 'prayer', I realized that it is a strong one, and it would cause fears to arise as in - So what is going to happen now, that we need to pray? What do we need to pray for?

Words can have so many meanings, connotations, reactions.

That is why the Gaia Minute videos were made - to show that for him, the word at its highest level is akin to meditation, or the deepest connection in which there are no words, nothing to ask, just ...receiving, being.

The message came to him, so he gave it as it came. It takes courage to do so, but sometimes it is as easy as lifting your palms up to receive water when you're thirsty.

Words to put Eli's message into my 'perspective came to me, and I voiced them and that is how the 9:09 The Gaia Minute first came to be. Just before it went out from my fingers, I paused - Do I really want to give you away? Yes, and it was off. Did it even come FROM me? They came through me, but were they ever 'mine' more than that I had been aware of them?

I feel deep devotion to Eli, whom I cannot classify. "I am NOTHING", he told me as only one who has transcended the bounds of separateness, and yet is responsive to its demands, can say. Some call him Guru, others Swami; I have called him both. I am not devoted to any of the words used to call him. I am deeply devoted to the message that resonated with me, to have 1000 or more people together pray at the same time. If you are the 1001st, one who doesn't want to join, I value you just as greatly.

Devotion is so difficult for people to take. It can make them feel 'left out', uncomfortable.

I am deeply devoted to The Gaia Minute, but not attached to the whens or whyfores of its practice; and no longer even attached to its words for it is what it is. As a friend and I messaged each other recently - she said that meditation is not for her; and went LOL. And we went back and forth with how Lots of Love, or Lots of Laughter or...whichever way you can get into your highest vibration...works for you. We value each other greatly; we have a completely different view on life.

I feel deep devotion to the Gaia community, and to all its members. To those who are in groups with me and those who are not; those who respond to my blogs and those who don't; those who write to me and those who don't. It is the variety of Gaia that is its greatest joy. To share the ways in which we can enhance that, I started the Gaia Networking group a couple of years back, and it is a place where we can talk about how to co-exist.

I am deeply devoted to my dearest team members of One Light Many Windows . As we 'work' together, fussing about details or seeing a vision, chatting or sharing experiences, it is not the outward group, the threads so methodically laid out, the procedures for discussion or not, that are important - though they are growing to be a gift without parallel -- but the sense of togetherness that we feel, that is one of my greatest joys. That is prayer, that is devotion, that is meditation, that is connection.

I am deeply devoted to you, even if I have never seen you or you have never seen me - not as a personality, butas a possibility of all that can be, of the immense potentiality of life, of the myriad probabilities all expressed in the choices you make ...and yet for me, the one certainty - that only the right thing can happen. I'm silly that way, and can't see that anything happens for the bad, however uncomfortable, traumatic or even painful it has been for me. That one light shone from many windows; and those that were shut, were handling their own issues, to open when they could....

The devotion to one does not drown the devotion to the other....for I am deeply devoted to Gaia: Mother Earth with all beings: sentient and insentient.

Gifted to me by ~KES

Perhaps I will leave this outpouring here; and allow you to complete this blog....

Tags: gaia minute, eli, swami, one light many windows, choice, prayer, meditation

Surprises and Holiday Love ~KES

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 07:34:50 GMT

To Kathy / aka ~KES

No words can do justice to the incredible gifts you share on Gaia, with such grace, generosity, humility and persistence.

I am blessed to have you as friend, co-moderator, and artistic guide.

Kathy Smith

Being in a Team with you all around Gaia, is just a joy.

Thank you for all that you do.

I don't know how much of a memorable surpise this is for you, but it certainly comes with a lot of holiday love.

[thanks to Memorable Surprises and Holiday Love Posted on Dec 4th, 2009 by Gaia Team ]

[Now to message Kathy with this!]

Adding this in :
I'm asking –can I post excerpts of all those who have written on this thread on Featured Member ~KES at Gaia Networking?

Tags: ~KES, Kathy, holiday love, surprise, friend, thank you.

I see the beloved everywhere

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 14:50:00 GMT

On my way down that delightful road I drive by, a thought that came to me - when I fell in love with the one who is now my husband, I remember seeing him everywhere. I would see him disappearing into a bus, or the dining hall, or in that group of friends laughing outside the classroom, and also in the ones walking towards me.

I thought I was going crazy. I was of course! There is no more delightful craziness as love, and no easier way for divine forces to ease us into a relationship that we are meant to have.

I also thought I was being non-discerning. He was so unique; how did I feel that he was like everyone else? It was only later that I realized - when love comes to us, the beloved is within all that we see. Even more, we can see nothing else. He infuses evey pore of our very being. Love is the greatest gift of God.

When the One we love is the very oneness, that is all that we can see.

Whenever I see the beauty of a sunrise, these words of Kabirdas come to my mind:
Laali mere laal ki, jin dekhon tith laal.
Laali dekhan mai gayi, mai bhi go gayi laal.

The essence of my beloved is everwhere
When I went to look for that essence, I too became red with it.

[with apologies for my translation]

The word 'laal' has so many meanings and connotations [red, beloved child, beloved, essence]; and Kabirdas wrote in the simplest of languages, showing the most profound truths.

I rushed to post this in the Meeting Love group

Tags: beloved, love, kabir, laali, praveen

Thought for today- the feet and the hair

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 15:36:53 GMT

"when you walk, the feet move on the ground, not the hair, yet the hair will go where the feet do. the legs and hips are powering the feet, yet they never touch the ground while walking. the eyes move around, helping the brain to navigate, yet their connection at that moment with mother earth seems tenuous at best."

-excerpt from a book being written, Chasing Gaia, by GenieInABottle

Thoughts?

Tags: chasing gaia, humans, gaia, body, brain, connection, earth

There's a Novel in there Somewhere

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 13:39:17 GMT

Many years ago, when I was in the 8th standard [sort-of like 8th grade in the US], I moved to a new school. I was seated at the last row of the class. One of the teachers asked me a question . "I can write but I can't say it," I mumbled, mortified at all those eyes looking back at me.

No one who knows me today can believe how painfully shy I was, how lacking in confidence, quick to withdraw into my shell. That shell is still my home, but not one to withdraw into - it's one that helps me to be 'at home' and at ease wherever I may be, but also, not only where I am physically.

Now of course, I can say it and write it - and it was never more evident than this past month. Back in October at DIVING DEEPER: A Writing Workshop we were reminded that NaNoWriMo was approaching - the National Novel Writing Month [Don't you believe it. It's not National…it's INTERnational!]. Basically it's a movement to write madly for one month in November each year —just write and write and write up to 50000 words and then in December and later, edit and fashion it into a novel. Quantity, they say - not quality. Now here's the first challenge: here I am, always trying : Can you say it in one sentence? Rarely have problems finding words to speak or write, carving spaces with black upon white, but that many in this time? It would be a rush against time.

This month, I have my beloved parents visiting from India. This was certainly not the time to take on more commitments! Then one morning, at the edge of sleep, Blip came. He was rushing through cyberspace, looking for reasons to show [how?] humans that their life on planet Earth had NOT destroyed it. One thing that he did, was to get me out of bed as qigong had done once, Suddenly seeing all the directions this was taking the novel, I also mentioned it to our beloved Eli who was leaving online communicating.

Signing on to NaNoWriMo, there was another surprise - suddenly, GenieInABottle appeared! Never a name I had used or even thought of. And as it wrote, all the story lines remembered in childhood dissolved into the story, new characters appeared, showing me that the story was moving from Sci-Fi to ....mainstream fiction, perhaps. I shared some excerpts at Diving Deeper, seeking help with determining the genre. Labeling as genre - an interesting twist to what I'd once written here about labelling.

How liberating was writing - just me and that novel. 'Just me ' expands into all that was happening - time carved out of Gaia activities; co-moderators taking any slack my distraction caused, without complaint; still managing to cook and clean and even participate in meditation and teaching sessions at my daughter's school as volunteer mom. The family adapting at seeing their mom and wife and daughter enthusiasticaly typing at various times, gently supportive. The look-in whenever possible to the NaNoWriMo room at DD for ideas, suggestions, support given and received.

As I wrote, watching that NaNo Stats graph go up, stay static or inch its way onward, I knew that it would just take place. Somehow, those words that swirled around me, sensed that it was their time to emerge. The initiations, meditations, healing and connection work that I had done, helped everything to morph into each other, time to expand, visions to unfurl, apprehensions to be allayed, guilt to be removed.

“Action rightly renounced brings freedom: action rightly performed brings freedom: both are better than mere shunning of action.” says the Bhagavad Gita.

And so while writing, some actions needed to be not performed so that others could be.

The wrists ached but once; I felt overwhelmed once, with home and office and writing. All grist for the mill!

Yin-Yang

For a while, I stopped posting about the Gaia Minute, but as friends from different parts of the world helped me to translate its message, and the Gaia Minute Calls continued, with the daily practice of connecting to Gaia as she is, and the satsang that is Gaia Community, Chasing Humans morphed into Chasing Gaia.

Writing this novel has been a deeply connecting experience. The words and spaces fitting in neatly as that yin-yang that lies at the base of the story. I had once wanted to write about the mapping of the yin-yang: those regions of light and dark. This theme subsumes the stories.

Thank you to all who have helped in this story getting written. It has been you, and him and her and it and them.

When I was a child [hmmm…a story's coming through now!] I used to love writing. One of my earliest memories ...hmmm, better read that one at There's a Novel in there Somewhere- NaNoWriMo

What now?...Now to continue those stories that are still to play out, edit and organize and then give it all another look. Stay tuned! What are you writing?

NanoWriMo 2009

Tags: edge of sleep, nanowrimo, blip, parents, novel, writing, chasing gaia, gaia minute

How or when did you learn about other faiths?

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 01:18:53 GMT

How- from going to the International Headquarters at Adyar, of the Theosophical Society. There are places of worship from different religions; but what is really amazing, is that they are all inclusive and not exactly what you find elsewhere [I THINK!]

So- there are three shrines - the Bharat Samaj temple, with no deities but a sense of space. It is the temple where my parents were married.

There is an 'All Saints Church' where my parents attended Midnight mass on the eve before their marriage on Christmas Day.

There is a Buddhist shrine where we played as children. I seem to remember an old bell there.

We were taught that there was truth in all religions and sciences, and that to seek it is the way to truth. That there is no religion higher than truth. I was perhaps five years old? Not sure really. All I know is, that we grew up knowing there are many faiths; and even more, that we each have our own individual path to tread.

Even if it is at the point where the Adyar river meet the Indian Ocean for a sacred sunrise.

Tags: Q&R, religion, faith, spirituality, TS, Adyar, parents, marriage

Giving thanks for my mother's birthday

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 03:29:16 GMT

This is a very special Nov. 26 for me:

It's Thanksgiving and :
My mother, who is in her 80s, is with me for the first time in over 25 years. I don't think I have ever been with her on her birthday, after I got married, and perhaps even before that when I was away, studying.

We're gave her a surprise birthday party this evening, as my sister had baked her a cake and mailed to us [the wonders of US post!] and then there'll be celebrations of different sort tomorrow - whatever suits her, nothing huge, just small things that she will enjoy. She is frail of body but strong in spirit. Gentle and loving and strong.

The French Bakery is open, so perhaps we'll pick up some delicacies for breakfast.

Ma was born at a time when there were no birth certificates, and no birthday celebrations, I think. I didn't even think to ask my mother the year in which she was born - I think it would have seemed cheeky!

Here are some blogs about my mother:
Mother's Day~ Ma's wit
Ma's witty wisdom for Mother's Day~ dedicated to Myanmar mothers
Human Rights Day is 60 years old: The News Today
Honoring Bharatanatyam in the International Day of Dance
Mother's Day - Friday Five
Sparrows and bees: Electronic Smog 'Is Disrupting Nature …
and from last year
Happy Birthday Ma!

You are all invited to this very special celebration, the blessing of Ma who has given wonderful meals to many people in her lifetime of cooking and keeping a home that was always open to all guests - anyone who dropped in or was invited stayed on for a meal!

DSC00783

[cross-posted from the 50+stars* group:Ma's birthday-Nov 26]

Tags: ma, mother, birthday, thanks, thanksgiving, surprise, party

Churning of Primeval Oceans

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:01:34 GMT

Before the world began, the gods and demons fought for the nectar of priceless value.

It was amrit.

Churning the primeval ocean, they helped it to rise, and it and it was given to the gods by divine will.

As the ocean churns today, what are we seeking to uncover? What is the nectar that will emerge?

[Excerpted from Chasing Humans, a novel being uncovered during the churning of NaNoWriMo]

Tags: nectar, ocean, churns, primeval, sagar manthan, amrit

Compassion -for weakness or strength...or both?

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:10:57 GMT

Who have I compassion for

Those who are weak or those who are strong
or both?

The weakness you express or the strength you display
or both?

Your sadness hiding your joy, or your joy that hides the sadness
or both?

For you, for me or for them?
or all?

Where there is compassion for all, is it possible to be just strong or just weak
or both?

When I express compassion, do I seek to strengthen the weak, weaken the strong
or both?
or neither, accepting as is?

Tags: compassion, strong, weak, joy, sadness

Healing Party!

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 16:28:53 GMT

I've been having physical health issues, and naturally they're related to re-balancing in all the other energy centers: emotions, personal will, heart connection, communication, intuition and always, those connections in oneness at the indescribable dimensions.

I've come to realize it's not an issue of causation as it is an issue of awareness. When I'm aware at the intuitive level, I am aware of what is about to happen, and of the choices I'm making, or not, at that time....

It's not about the illness; for it is known that before an illness appears, the healing energies are present in our aura. So, I had seen it.

It's not about 'me', because our boundaries are not as rigid as we imagine, and healing, being about wholeness, involves all who are near and dear to us.

Anyway, what's it all to do with the healing party? I wasn't sending out for healing and seeing why in that area as well, when suddenly in one of my healing groups, a call was sent out for another. As we got together, there was a miraculous event, and so I sent out mine.

Shall I ask another, she asked me, "the more the merrier"

That really hit me! Nicely.

We celebrate birthdays in physical and cyber space, and room launches- over at the 50+stars group today - and weddings and I've even heard of divorce parties.

So - why not a healing party? Why not be merry? For the healing started with the asking. Actually, before it.

So- we celebrate. And I'm going on a drive with my husband to pick up my mother from my sister's place..

And that's healing in itself.

Tags: Q&R, health, spirituality, life, ma, drive, healing party

Journey into the Himalayas~Haridwar:gateway to the abode of Gods

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:55:36 GMT

As our beloved friend on Gaia, Eli, Swami Shraddhashudhasharananda, makes his way to the Himalaya mountains, I am reminded of my own visits to its foothills and hill stations.

I got some facts from my father who's visiting us :

Dada, is it Hardwar or Haridwar?

Both, he said - it can be called etiher Hardwar or Haridwar. Har after Lord Shiva and Hari is Lord Vishnu. But it is more appropriate to call it Haridwar, because it is on the path to Badrinath, which is the abode of Lord Vishnu.

And what about Dehradun?

That is about 3,000 feet above sea level. It is on the foothills.

And Rishikesh....even higher.

And Kulu Manali?

So now I am reminded of my journeys to the Himalayas. For indians they're not just mountains, they're places where rishi- munis live; the sages who are sometimes even more revered than the Gods; the ones who are in samadhi, deep meditation, in constant awareness of what is happening in the world and worlds.

There is that inner journey in which I have visited the HImalayas and felt the sages who live there, yearned even in childhood to be around the miracle of their living, and then there are the travels in childhood.

So for now: Haridwar.

There is an old family photo of three sisters: there is the oldest holding her littlest sister in her lap, almost bent over with her weight, as she was but three years younger, and the middle one on the side. In those days, when we posed for pictures, we would fan out our frocks. I seem to remember doing that.... Of course, it's a black and white photo.

Even then the marvel of the Ganga flowing swiftly by, was a huge draw. We stayed in a rest-house on its bank, and played in its icy waters each morning. The current is so swift, but my father said that in childhood they'd swim on it.

When I was first told that Christ walked on water, I pictured him walking on the Ganga at Haridwar.

I don't remember much more than the fresh breeze that I feel still, and that refreshes me.

We were told that the Ganga has pure water that can never be polluted. Human beings habitation and industries on the banks have put that myth to rest. But in our hearts, the Ganga too is not just a river; it is a symbol of purity that flows within.

I remember my great-grandfather, the huge bear-like man who was the kindest, gentlest grown-up I knew, who accompanied us. And Naniji, great-grandmother, the wisest person I have ever met- smallest in height, a delight to children, and largest in influence, a source of continuing wisdom.

And the blessed presence of my dearest parents, who are visiting us now.

In the way that space and time come together, we are all together here - accompanying Swamiji as he makes his way back to his beloved mountains, with Nanaji and Nanima who are now revered ancestors, with my childhood self , always serious, whose hand I hold, and whom I embrace lovingly - ah yes, there is now a smile on the face.

And all my friends on Gaia, whose presence has caused this one to smile, and be sustained and happy --are there with me.

Thank you all.

Tags: Dada, Eli, Himalayas, space, time, hardwar

Being human, there is hurt

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:52:10 GMT

Being alive, we inflict hurt without awareness
Being emotional, we feel hurt in many ways
Being social, we learn ways of showing in public
Being loving, we know that hurt HURTS
Being intelligent, we know the processes of hurt and its removal
Being empathic, we feel the hurt of some or all
Being spiritual, we transcend hurt feelings
Being healers we transmute the hurt
Being still, we are aware of the hurt and what is within and around it
Being human, we have the choice of all of these.

[inspired by the discussion Open Windows. How do I handle my hurt feelings - 2 ]

Tags: hurt, human, awareness, emotion, love, inteligence, spiritual, healer, feeling, connection

Friday Five ~ Me and The True Heart

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:24:43 GMT

1) Do you talk to your own "heart" (conscience, inner voice, true self)?

We speak. On occasion when we're silent, we are in communion.

2) Name one thing that helps clear your mind and heart.

Breathing in ight, breathing out light

3) Pick three words that describe how you feel when in sync with your heart.

Joyful, knowing, clear

4) Do you think you have strong intuition?
(a simple yes or no is okay, or elaborate as you like ;)

Yes

5) Do you feel peaceful while cleanimg dishes like Santiago in the book, or annoyed or just wet?

Peaceful, inspired, expanded. And when Whiskers jumps up the ledge outside to look in, and taps at the window wonderingly, trying to grasp this concept of clear glass, we travere time and space to a civilization long ago, when we were together perhaps and he was sacred...or perhaps, I think, as his head follows the movements of my hands - he is learning how to wash dishes for his next lifetime,as a human!

Whiskers

Whiskers learning to wash dishes

No wonder I love washing dishes. It's so...grounding!!! LOL!!!!

[inspired by Friday Five of the True Heart Posted on Oct 30th, 2009 by Gaia Team]

Tags: dishes, whiskers, egypt, lifetime, friday five, true, heart

Juice from raw fruit

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:03:56 GMT

As a child, I loved raw fruit. The opportunity to bite into a freshly plucked grown but hard guava vied for favor with the crisp sweetness of the ripening fruit. A 'ripe' guava - no, I could not eat it. Too soft for me.

When you bite into a fully grown unripe fruit, your biting draws out its juice and its sweetness. It doesn't just yield its flavor, but keeps it ready for the strength of your jaws, the sharpness of your teeth.

I was content to do the same with relationships. It wouldn't be easy. Words would be misunderstood, intentions misconstrued, contemplative silence perceived as a threat. So I rose to the surface of the ocean. I spoke, I communicated, I learned some of the ways of the world, made friends, went for lunches.

The silence of the deep ocean calls to me again.

I wonder if aging teeth will convince the tongue to be satisfied with the easy sweetness of ripe guava.

amrood

Perhaps if I call it amrood, as my mother first called it when she described how she likes only raw fruit. She grew up in gardens with fruit trees, and which child can wait for fruit to ripen before eating it?

Tags: guava, fruit, raw, juice, teeth

Namaste

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:16:57 GMT

Change yourself, they said
For I cannot see your light
Don't feel your love or your caring
Can only see your might

Don't speak! they said
Just listen to my cry
For my needs drum in my ears
And your words distract

Be different, they said
For you are hiding what you feel
You do not show what you are
And your actions surprise

So I changed and I changed
turning and turning
Their anger and their fear
Made me go deeper within

And when I went within
I found that it was light
The light within shone clear
Their eyes were dimmed in fear

They could not see their light
So they struck out in fright
Distraught, confused, in fear
Not going deeper within

Buffeted by ocean waves
I dove into the depths
Whipped by winds of rage
Turned to the still within

From within the ocean depths arose a fountain of such might
That some who saw it, cried --no! That's too much light!
Stay at the ocean waves, don't leave the chaos just yet
For we need you, but we do not see your light

Namaste, said the soft voice
I see the light within you
Light within me reaches the ilght within you
And bathes the chaos in bliss

Tags: light, might, change, namaste, rage, fear, anger, ocean, waves