Gaia Community: Meenakshi's Blog

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

A voice from the mountains - the Gaia Minute video on prayer

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:36:04 GMT

~~A magical conversation~~

When I first heard the words "Pray...pray...pray....Gaia is calling" by one who I knew progressively as Eli ,Swami Shraddhasudhasharananda, Guruji to some and Swami Eli to others--and all these and more to me! - I was aware of different layers of interpretation, each thought with its opposite, all chaotic

Something's wrong with Earth, and our prayers will help --But why should we interfere with what's going on?
We are being asked to connect ~ Aren't we already connected?
We're being asked to pray - isn't the heart always at prayer?

Layers through chaos...the way a star begins to shine.

Those powerful words kept ringing in my ears, till like a mantra that begins to flow into our energy field, they went beyond words into the essence.

When Siona began the Gaia Minute Call meditations, I realized that I would need to do something in order to listen to Eli's voice on that call. I call [ring up ] my parents in India very often, so we had a wonderful calling plan for India. As it turns out, my parents are miraculously visiting us here now, so I decided to use those minutes to call Swamiji instead. He agreed to be on a conference for the second Gaia minute call, where we heard him just prior to the meditation. What a strong, vibrant, loving voice!

As we moved into the message of the Gaia Minute, interpreting what it seemed to mean, I sensed that there would be questions about prayer; the layers I had experienced were not only 'mine', and I wanted to be able to record them as well, in his voice. In his humility, Eli kept asking me why I thought those words have such importance, but agreed. What he had told me about prayer was important to share widely.

And then on one magical day, when the breeze cooled a warm Florida morning, the sun shone through the clouds, and birds visiting for the winter filled the garden with song, the conversation took place. As I asked questions, the voice from the mountains answered and spoke and shared.

Now picture this: there I am, with completely amateur equipment - a cordless phone and a digital camcorder, not wanting to film the fence or the home so much as the Earth home, walking about the garden, with phone in one hand and camera in other, holding them close so that the voice gets recorded at the right stages in the conversation, but pointing the camera to the sky. Mosquitoes are happy at my presence but usually they don't feast too much - I guess my blood isn't sweet enough for them! Bees are going about their activity, an occasional dragonfly flits by and as my heart is lifting with the blue sky and clouds and filming the spider webs framed crazily by the sky and the hawks watching overhead. Aging muscles got their message across as a need to film the sky, and I connecedt with Mother Earth as I haven't in a long while, by lying on that Florida grass.

Mother Earth, Father Sky, Grandfather Sun, and even Grandmother Moon! Animal guides, breeze and flowers.

It was heaven.

A voice from the mountains with a message connecting the dots of space and time, coming through apparatus that has been sent to earth as technology, to show us that the voice is always in our ear, the touch even closer than the heartbeat, the message coded into our DNA.

Brahmand is there in every moment, in the ordinary and the extraordinary.

And as I saw the parijat flower blossoming in the garden, I knew that just like the fable that talks of this tree being brought down from heaven to earth, so has Swamiji come to us from the mountains, as Eli, and the wonder is that they could come as one and actually be a physical voice coming through the phone lines to be recorded and shared!

All of Gaia was there.

I am not one who easily bows to ones who come as teacher or guru or swami. But one who came this way, like a whisper filled with love, simplicity and purpose, with a message that he could deliver clearly and in our language and medium, profound and powerful in its delivery, and encouraged us to receive and give in our own words, shining a light on those around him rather than on himself, but also graciously allowing himself to be recorded - to him, and to all who are around him, I bow most joyfully.

As I wrote on HummingBird's blog, I am not one who prays to ask as I never know what to ask for, never feel that what I could want would be better than what the more expanded self wills for me, but I was aware that prayers go out from the heart and those are the ones that are constantly being answered. When others spoke of praying for something, I used to wonder why I don't pray, not in others' words or my own; except when a mantra or bhajan make their way out through me…and yet feel so close to the Unnameable One.

I could not therefore understand why we were being asked to pray in this direct, focused, conscious way.

I realized that when being asked to pray, a vague sense of fear comes into being. And that is not what is being conveyed here. That is why the inspiring message of the Gaia Minute came through: to send your highest vibration into Gaia. Fear will not do that. Knowledge will not do that. Thinking will not do that. Prayer with an attitude of devotion will do that.

These words of Swamiji's connected it all for me. They helped me to realize that prayer is a state of being in our highest vibration while going about our daily or special activities. It helps us to access and use our energy in a way that staying in other states of emotion or disconnect cannot, for actions that are not only for ourselves but also for those we call others.

As the next step, I wanted to make the movie and post it on YouTube, but as things turned out, my aging computer equipment would not allow that. That is the way the Oneness reminds us to reach out and connect! My son uploaded the snippets and then I reached out to Kathy. A flurry of emails later, in which I saw an artist, a being of great beauty and sensitivity at work, a video has been made.

I realized that watching Kathy bring this to life is watching prayer.

Then Anna did what the heavenly messenger HummingBird does...spread the nectar around and from Gaia.

And now people are responding with different layers of response. It is as it is meant to be. The cycles repeat, and in the hands of all, is the 9:09---the pattern that seems to repeat but actually takes us one step up, each time, raising the energy.

From seeing the wonder manifesting around me I know the prayer that went out from my heart. To see a true swami, one not attached even to this as a title. To the loving connection underlying different facets of Gaia.

It is not we who pray. It is not we who ask. It is what is to be, the connection, that comes to us as a prayer. We just flow with it.

Om Namo Narayanaya

Links:The Gaia Minute Call - Week 2 with Swami Eli's voice
9:09 The Gaia Minute ~ a call to light
A Guide To Prayer Prepared For The Gaia Minute Oct 28th, 2009 by HummingBird
How ~KES made the video

~A Guide To Prayer Prepared For The Gaia Minute~

Tags: Gaia Minute, 9:09, Eli, Swami, video, layers, prayer

Parenting the whole child

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 18:41:22 GMT

[Pardon the links that will stop functioning after Oct 26 when geocities goes offline. The info is all in this blog and I'll update as soon as possible]

PARENTING THE WHOLE CHILD

Who is a child?
What needs do you try to parent?
What chakras do you parent?
Do you parent the whole child?
If not, then where is your focus?

WHO IS A CHILD?

Developmental psychologists tell us that the child is a developing human being : one who develops biologically, neurologically, cognitively, emotionally, and socially through defined phases of growth.
These phases of growth are infancy, childhood and adolescence.
At all these stages, the parent[s] or primary caregiver[s] plays a crucial role in development. Their very presence or absence influence the child. The values they teach, the opportunities they give their children, and the manner in which they discipline the child - all affect the relative maturity of the person as an adult.
People need their parents at adulthood, too; but it is not with the same intensity or urgency as when they are growing so dramatically, as they do till adolescence.
Parents change the style of their caregiving as a baby grows into a toddler, a child, and finally a teenager.
The style also differs with each child. Child and parent thus influence the other; and as one grows, so does the other. The difference is, that the child's growth is easier to notice than the parent's!

According to ancient wisdom in India, children have a deep inner wisdom. However, they have to spend their childhood in gaining knowledge from a teacher, or guru. They are in the first of four stages of life, which is called Brahmacharya-ashram. This is the time to gain intellectual and physical strength, "learn correct behavior, self- control, art of developing a pure mind, and the duties of man and the proper relationship between you, your family, your society and the world", said Swami Vivekananda.
TOP

WHAT NEEDS DO YOU TRY TO PARENT?

What are the Child's Needs?

Abraham Maslow, the famous psychologist, gave a structure to various human needs . The wonder of his theory is that he described the order in which humans try to satisfy these needs. Lower level needs dominate in the urgency with which they motivate a person to take action to satisfy them. Once satisfied, the need subsides, and a higher-level need takes over.
Maslow's Pyramid of Needs
It seems common-sense to believe that a hungry person [lowest-level biological need] would first try to assuage hunger before, say looking for shelter [safety/security] or making friends.
Or that we would try to realize our potential [self-actualization] if we first have self-esteem.
How well does the heirarchy hold for people who are mystics or yogis?
What about a starving mother who feeds her child first?
What about children who are picky eaters? Who are very social but have low self-esteem? Or those who over-eat and are loners?
We need to see the importance of knowing the needs of our children and ourselves.
How well do we know these needs and energies inside us?
How well do we know them in our children?
Which level of the needs does the parent control?
TOP

THE CHAKRAS

Chakras, or wheels, are like energy fields within our consciousness. They are not physical, but are located around physical parts of the body, and influence our physical, mental, emotional and psychological state.
It is interesting to see how the chakras correspond to the widely-used Maslow's pyramid of needs.
Chakras Maslow's Pyramid of Needs
As we can see, the chakras extend to levels beyond Maslow's heirarchy.
TOP

DO YOU PARENT THE WHOLE CHILD?
Where is your main focus as a parent? How do you assess that your child
is “growing well?” If s/he is happy? Tall? Intelligent?
Getting good grades at school? Popular? Good at sports? Helpful? Kind?
TOP

Old links, brought over from my GEocities page which will soon be extinct

[Holistic Parenting] [Holistic Living Home] [Site Map] [Sign Guestbook] [View Guestbook]

Tags: chakras, parenting, focus, perspective, maslow, need, heirarchy, whole, holistic

What has your response been to climate change?

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:25:06 GMT

I posted a little before the question came up- so - this is my response to climate change

In short:
Climate changes
Perhaps we can influence it
It starts with internal change
Internal change can influence the way we treat our Gaia
And that is always a good thing.

In long: Trees and climate change - a deeply personal tale

Posted on Oct 15th, 2009

Tags: Q&R, right, correct, knowledge, clarity, climate change, BAD, internal change

Trees and climate change - a deeply personal tale

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 04:47:36 GMT

When I think of the confusion surrounding the where's whyfore's what's and even whether's of climate change, I take refuge under the beautiful trees that have been friends, companions, heroes and joys of my life.

These are a few of my favorite trees.
The acacia I detour to pass by, to feast on its explosion of color
Reflected in the silk floss tree with its thorny bark that attracts hummingbirds

Silk Floss Tree http://is.gd/4kiNh

Next to royal poincianas- the gul mohur - that blaze orange at the point where three roads meet

Gul Mohur / Royal Poinciana http://is.gd/4kirO

And the solid oak trees whose branches support children on swings
I know the paths in my life as defined by the trees that grace them
What will happen to the trees as earth's climate changes?

Climate Change Tree Atlas

I think of the events of my life as reflected in the trees that I have loved
The ancient gingko in a round-about in Paris where I walked with friends one day.

Gingko http://is.gd/4khNX

The fragrant blossoming harsinghar, which I found in America after searching for three years.

Harsinghar / Parijat http://is.gd/4r5ft

The banyan in Madras that shaded us as we attended talks by J Krishnamurti, or listened to the Dalai Lama. It had a majesty, as it spread freely, whose memory sustained me when I looked, shocked, at the ones uprooted by hurricanes in Miami.

Banyan Tree Madras http://is.gd/4khWk

A fig tree we call peepal has suddenly appeared on the roof in Miami, a blessing sent by Buddha through the birds. Will it grow as ancient as the bodhi tree under which Gautama became the Buddha? Or even as large as the one I knew in childhood? I saw my first large snake there. Will the air around it be as pure, the water it soaks, as plentiful, the nutrients in the soil, as rich? I cannot find space to grow it in, and it makes me wonder. Perhaps it's time to move away from cities, to spaces where trees can grow freely. Where banyans do not need to be cut to fit into the parameters of road and power cables, leaving them helpless under the onslaught of hurricanes.

Peepal /Bodhi tree http://is.gd/4kil9

An article tells me that Trees Are Not The Answer To Climate Change

I think of the petrified forests that appear to be closer to stone than organic matter; diamonds made of deeply compressed organic matter. the trees that sprouted thousands of years ago. They adapted to tremendous changes - why won't we?

Petrified wood http://is.gd/4r5ox

What will happen to the trees that still line the paths where my loved one and I wandered?
The ones that I was searching for, and helped us find this house that has become a home in a faraway land?
The aam, lychee, amrood, anaar, chikoo fruit trees that show us the changing seasons even in tropical climates?
What do they portend about how we will react to the coming climate change?

Trees seems so stable; so able to withstand the myriad changes the world has gone through. Will they be able to withstand the predicted climate change?

List of oldest trees

Our earth is not something that is out there. Its state is woven into our memories and our present. Our visions of the future are interlaced with the visions of what happens to everything on earth. What are we doing to help it to be radiant?

Perhaps the tree might help. The cosmic tree that reveals the inter-relationship of all on earth;
The metaphor of the tree that helps us ground, expand, center, clear, nourish, nurture, breathe.
The story of the brave little tree that bent in the storm to spring back when it was calm.

A little voice tells me - climate change isn't out there. It's in here. It's not only about external climate, but also about internal climate. It's about how we use our emotions to influence our actions, what we choose to care for, how we apply the collective wisdom that we have gained. Do we need to worry about climate change? Assign blame? Get angry? I think what we need to do, is to be deeply grounded into our earth, sense her feelings. Expand into the atmosphere, and sense its moods. Keep clear the toxins within our personal and earth body, and make each moment one in which we are mindful of earth as Gaia - all sentient and insentient beings on this planet.

The Gaia Minute

If today seems dark, remember: when the seed first begins to grow, it is in darkness. Slowly but surely, it makes its way towards light.

Earth already survived climate change ..why can't we?

http://is.gd/4kdEd

As my memories propel me onward, I am inspired by Eli who came from the sacred mountains:

"Pray, pray, pray....Gaia is calling you."

-----------------------------
Written in response to Blog Action Day 2009 on Climate Change

Tags: trees, climate change, blog action day, 2009, gaia minute, 909, peepal, internal climate, BAD

One of those timeless moments

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 19:37:57 GMT

This morning, I was again blessed to speak to Eli, Swami Sraddhasudhasharananda, who came down last year from the HImalaya mountains with a message.

It's simple, it's one phrase:

"Pray, pray, pray....Gaia is calling you."

At my urging, he agreed to allow me to record him expanding on these words. I will do the tech stuff and upload it as soon as possible. I was recording while walking in the garden ["backyard"], looking at birds, the sky, bees, a dragonfly, spiders and their webs, the treetops.. while he gave his message.

Talking to Swami Sraddhasudhasharananda is like talking to Eli: there's no difference. Or rather, there is that vastness in which the conversation can be at one moment about depths and at another about heights...but of course, always in the awareness that there is no up or down in space!

It is a blessing beyond compareto meet one who knows so much, yet who does not preach or teach or sermonize, who can quote from ancient books or tell a parable to illustrate a point or with equal ease, shed it in a moment in utter humility. Who has a clear presence, but is not stuck to a personality.

Who is not afraid to connect in light.

After the conversation, in which we had talked about how anything and anyone can give us a message, I got a clear one.

My husband called out to me as a little bird had hurt himself on the glass and lay injured on the floor outside. For a moment I stood near him, letting him be calm at the closeness of my presence. As my husband brought a camera at my bidding, I raised my hands to beam healing. He's so sensitive to Reiki that the moment I put up my hands 5 feet up from him, he looked up fully, turned around, did a pose for a hurried photo shoot, his mate called…and he was off!

He was a Black And White Warbler, google tells me as I look for a professional photo to offset my amateurish before and afters…

And according to Animal Spirit Guides:

Warbler's Wisdom Includes:
Diversity
Beauty of all soul songs
Invisibility
Frail endurance
Survival

Black white warbler, stunned /injured wing

Black white warbler, pause for photo shoot

I think the message is given. Now it's up to us to do what needs to be done.

"We need 1000 people to pray at the same time"

Swami Sraddhasudhasharanandawho came to us as Eli

Tags: Eli, Swami Sraddhasudhasharananda, warbler, pray, gaia, gaia minute

Where I would choose to live out my life

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 19:57:23 GMT

Siona asked:

If you had to live out your life in one village or town or city, which would you choose, and why?

I haven't found it yet, but it is real in my mind's eye.

There's a cold mountain stream whose water sings as it moves along the crystal stones in its path, off to the side a little lake where fish swim amongst lotus flowers. A fresh crisp mountain breeze brings my attention to a view of mountains. Aged trees as guardians below which to be in contemplation. Deer graze nearby, and birds sing as the mountain tops glow with the golden sunlight of the sun's early rays. Distant snow-covered peaks glisten in the silvery light of the moon.

Fruit and almonds grow in a grove of trees bordering the vegetable patch e at the back of the little cottage, powered by the sun.

I'm not really looking for it; perhaps because in my mind's eye, I'm already living there.

Tags: Q&R, life, place, home. mountain, stream, trees, birds, lotus, deer, solar power

The Moon and I ~ another 9:09

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 09:03:32 GMT

I see the moon,
And the moon sees me.
God bless the moon,
And God bless me.

I woke up early this morning, before dawn, having felt very uncomfortable last night, for unknown causes, and went to sleep early. I've no idea if it's because of the news that the moon will be bombed today. it came to my attention a few days ago, when Phoenix posted a blog about it. I didn't say anything; because I was still processing my responses to learning that Chandrayaan, an Indian spacecraft - the name means, Moon Vehicle - had discovered water on the moon.

I had mixed emotions. On one hand, a very deep sense of pride in India's scientists,; and with that feeling that we are once again, as in ancient times, coming to the fore in the world in something other than poverty. On the other hand, there was a sense of just what it meant to be finding water in our beautiful satellte. Of having paved the way for moon colonization!

So, although I wanted to publicize this on the Universal Science Forum on Gaia, I didn't.

On waking today, I saw the two videos posted by Starseed on her blog; and then got into a flurry of activity.

To wit:
Posted on my Status, that also gets ~~Twittered~~ Tweeted and Facebooked: "The Moon is going to be bombed today--I'm speechless. Sending light to the moon and all concerned for healing"

posted on Phoenix's Grapevine: I'm confused too, Claudia. Have been processing internally. While in doubt, sending light to the situation
and on her blog : ".. something I read today, seems to be close to how I feel.
“To bomb the Moon is felt as an attack on the collective emotional body. Logic won’t be able to make sense of it, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a factor to be considered. That’s my biased and emotional opinion.””

Phoenix Wolf-Ray-"

and on Starseed's blog, referring to the way Gaia asks us to leave a 'wise and insightful comment' on blogs: "I have no wise and insightful comment for this, Starseed. All I can think of is, when in doubt - send light."

I felt I needed to start a new conversation - Moon being bombed today- what's your reaction? in 50+stars:half a century & more on earth

And THEN called all friends to - Light to the situation - bombing moon in The Power of Light while sharing that "When we're confused, I step back, and in for a deeper and wider perspective...Today, all I can do is, bring in light from the heart of the universe, allow it to pass through, healing the energy fields, and then send it with as little of my own ideas, intentions, feelings as possible."

And then I thought that this is an important issue, and Gaia members 'should' discuss it, so I started a new conversation - Moon being bombed today- what's your reaction? in Gaia Lounge

Then I went outside to take photos of the waning harvest moon and connect with her, who has been causing all these tides in my physical and emotional body, disturbed the sleeping cat...

And because in each group, we discuss differently, started a new conversation - Seeing the moon in a new light in Now I Can See the Moon , posting one of those pictures.

I saw an invitation that is auspicious as I added starlight as a friend!

I've still been shaken, but as Taikunping has been posting beautiful responses at The Power of Light, I posted on her grapevine -"Thanks dear Tai; I really got shaken!"

And then I wrote my blog. I see that the photos I posted in the activities above also got uploaded into my Photos section; so I added the web source to the description, to maintain their copyright - see this kind of activity is grounding.

Sigh!

I see the moon,
And the moon sees me.
God bless the moon,
And God bless me.

Finally started a new conversation on - Moon Water explorations in Universal Science Forum

And I just realized, as I'm tagging this blog with "october 9 09"--another kind of 9:09. Now shall I or shall I not add that to the title? DIVING DEEPER: A Writing Workshop- help!

[Made you follow! Me around Gaia, I mean. I hope!]

Tags: follow me, Gaia, moon, october 9 09, bomb water, groups, 909

Can Medea turn into Gaia?

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 05:26:26 GMT

I've come across some articles on the idea of earth not only as Gaia, a nurturing, benevolent mother; or perhaps a Medea, one who ultimately destroys her children.

Certainly, the history of earth, in which she has endured while species have been born and died through the eons - much before humans came to the planet, gives credence to both ideas.

When talking about death, I've been known to say : "There's one cause of death:life!"
Oxygen helps us to grow and then to decay. Yes, of course, it's the cycle.
So perhaps that's what it is : not a Medea vs Gaia; but Medea turning to Gaia turning to Medea turning to....

Where are we in all this? As children of Mother Earth, we sense her processes, and do what needs to be done. When we needed to build and grow and 'fight' the forces of nature, we did so. Now we realize we've overshot the mark, become seduced by our own actions, and forgotten to listen to her heart.

So now, we're listening again.

The spiral numbers rise again! Just to take us one step up...or down [there is no up or down in space!]
For now, we use the pattern of 9:09 as a reminder: send your highest vibration into Gaia. Perhaps this time, Medea will breathe as Gaia.

909

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Gaia Minute and 9:09 - the Gaia minute - it starts now
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Links:Gaia's evil twin: Is life its own worst enemy?
Based on "The Medea Hypothesis: Is life on Earth ultimately self-destructive?": by Philip Ward

Throughout its history, life on Earth has been beset by mass extinctions - and almost all of them were triggered by life itself. [interactive timeline at New Scientist]

~~~~~

An article by Michael Ruse..

JIM Lovelock and Nobel prize-winning novelist William Golding, gave the name Gaia, referring to the Greek goddess of the earth, to the living organism of earth.

Tags: gaia, medea. earth, nature, humans, gaia minute.

Breathing out....and breathing in

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 01:40:38 GMT

In the past few days, I've been thinking about how our conversations with others can be like breathing out and breathing in…

When we're nervous, or trying to fill in the gap, or push something on the listener, it is as if we keep breathing out, without taking a breath in….

And sometimes we're so busy breathing in - listening —that we seem to forget that we can also breathe out, and speak.

And then that wonder when we are in synchronized breathing : when I breathe in when you breathe out and vice versa.
I listen, you speak, you listen I speak…

I have used synchronized breathing with people who need to learn to get along with each other. It's something that came naturally to me as a mother helping a child calm down and sleep, for instance. And recently I learned that it is a technique used by some management consultants to build strong teams!

Breathing in….so you can breathe out.

How do we synchronize with the breath of Gaia?

[Cross-posted from Breathing out....and breathing in at the 50+stars group]

Tags: breathe, breath, Gaia, listen, hear, synchronize

Lotus buds blossom

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 23:51:20 GMT

When we are separate, we are like unopened buds on a stalk. We may grow tall - 'ascend' but not see the light.

Feeling the aloneness, we move to the next step, to expand by seeing the light within all, to connect without attachment.

And then the flower blooms. Wonder of wonders! When the lotus blossoms, we are not a pond of lotuses, but petals on one lotus!

In the mindfulness of the Gaia Minute that we are in, in the connections with those who participate, the awareness is increasing that so many people on earth today, are living lives of a deeply sacred vibration, that what is hidden is not something to fear but the brilliance of the light within, and as we see the light in each other, we are able to let our own out of the windows that hid it from view.

There is a new world dawning. Our feet may still be separate, but in intention, heart and crown, the fulness of the day has come.

http://is.gd/416cI Artist FU-DING CHENG Permission requested

Tags: lotus, petals, vision, gaia minute, connect, light, expand, ascend, new world

Spider, dragonfly and watchers in the web of Gaia

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 01:56:07 GMT

A moment in time is all it takes to bring a watcher, a spider and a dragonfly all in a web of connection.

The spider had spun her web between the house and a tree. It looked like concentric circles rather than the usual hexagonal shape, and I was photographing it. Suddenly, I saw a dragonfly swoop in, and get caught in the web.

Dragonfly caught in spider's web

Its struggles alerted the spider who began to make its way towards the dragonfly. For me, the watcher, time stood still in a paralyzing moment of racing thoughts.
Shall I save the dragonfly? What if I hurt her while plucking her from the web?
Am I meant to take sides? Who am I to interfere in this struggle for survival of two creatures?
What kind of person am I who even thinks this way rather than helping the victim?

And then the decision was taken from me. It never was mine to make. The dragonfly struggled free, the shutter finger clicked, and spider came back to center.

free

There are so many webs woven here.
The web of un-forgiveness that we are caught in, as we see struggle and pain daily and are unable to 'stop' it
The web of ignorance in not understanding the place of spider, dragonfly and watcher in the web of life
The web of pain that causes us to label victims, perpetrators, enablers, in situations which are perhaps to be dealt with in other ways.
The web of defensiveness in which we project our own feelings and understanding into what is happening
The web of wonder as the one who is watching, allows what is to be.

Hmm...in all this, I didn't really get the photos I was looking for. Of that perfectly circular web.
But I watched a spider, without hesitation, go for the kill, and without hesitation, come back from it, to its center.
And a dragonfly without ceasing, struggle, and when free, fly off.

And that is a lesson to be learned, from Grandmother Spider, brother Dragonfly and the amazing web of Gaia.
I asked a friend - What did you see about dragonflies today? I 'knew' she would have. At first, she said - Nothing really. And then - "Oh! I was looking at my old magazines, and came across one that was on dragonflies."

From Ted Andrews' Animal Speak:
"Dragonfly can help you to see through your illusions and thus allow your own light to shine forth....To some Native Americans, they represent the souls of the dead."
"Often the webs [of spider] will take a spiral shape, the traditional form of creativity and development. The spider found within the web reminds us that we are the center of our own world. The ancient mystery schools had one precept inscribed above their portals:'Know Thyself and Thou Shall Know the Universe'."

Time to meditate on the meaning of all this...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today, nion had a close encounter recorded in Dragonfly diaries
And Alluvja told us about HeartBeat's encounter How blessed and her own
dreamtime dragonfly

Tags: dragonfly, spider, watcher, web, Gaia, victim, concentric circle, ignorance, pain, wonder

In this moment I am most grateful for the blessing of Gaia

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 10:57:12 GMT

The connection to Gaia that I experience at the edge of waking.
I am waking up nowadays within a meditation.
We are standing in a circle, in the melting embrace of the Mother, looking at each other with a gaze of compassion, beaming healing light into her.
I am grateful for this immense blessing.

Tags: Q&R, gratitude, appreciation, thanks, gaia, earth, mother, compassion, meditation, edge of waking

9:09 Once...twice...three times the Gaia Minute!

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 05:19:10 GMT

First: 9:09 EST in Virtual Space

Today, the 9:09 was my grounding and clearing experience. I was looking for the moment that Eli and I became friends. The moment of sending a friend's invite is such a sacred one, if one but realizes it. And we did. It was a knowing that the invitation was one between those who had always been 'friends'. I'm sure we'll all sent those out.

And tears welled up in my eyes as the moment approached. I had been connecting at 'higher layers' while I drove, and realizing that 9:09 is a clarion call –it's not about the time; but about the call to connect.

A post about meditating was writing itself but I wasn't ready to write it down yet.
So, when the time approached, the grounding needed to take place. The tears flowed freely, as I realized that I had to face the pain of losing a friend who has been at the edges of the finger; it spread to the pain that each of us feels, that was told to me by a friend yesterday who has recovered from physical cancer, but not from its fear; and spread out into the pain of Gaia.

The scene shifted to the sacred heart in the mountains, whence Eli came to us and where he returns. And I found the heart of Mother Earth there –radiating outward and inward to the cave within. I feel that the mountains came 'down' to us, that they resonated with the ones in our heart. From Mother EArth to the mother within us.
[From The Power of Light group]

Eli said 9:56 AM:

Meenakshi, you sensed Devi Sureshawari. Suradevi is the heavenly abode of DIVINE Mother.
Holding you tight in my arms for a HUG(e) HUG …

I feel blessed beyond measure.

~~~~~~~~~
Second, 9:09 MST in the Airwaves -on the first Gaia Minute call with Siona

Gaia Minute Meditation - 9/21/09 [audio recording]

I was in the phone-in call that Siona hosted at 9:09 MST- walking in the garden, seeing a native tree that the birds had planted around the jasmine, and that is shading out the non-native jasmine bushes. Its bright red flowers attracted a host of the proverbial birds, bees, butterflies and a dragonfly. The cat came and sat at my feet, placing a little white paw on my toe, and high overhead, in the blue skies dotted with white clouds, a hawk circled.

Speaking to other members of Gaia - Siona, Deb, Alluvja, Tracy, OM, Dawn…was a delight. There is the feeling of something that has started. A nucleus of all of us here on the call and around the call it did not matter; a fern unfurling, fibonacci sequence and now another one. The spiral-pattern numbers of which 9:09 is one.

We missed all who did not speak, in the call today, but sensed the strong presence of all.
[From the Gaia Networking group]

Bhatta said 10:55 PM:

We meditated during the phone-in call here in India alongwith you all. We also later meditated our 9:09.
I have downloaded the recording, it is wonderful to SEE everyone through our ears. The expressions of love, joy, feeling of ONENESS ….

WE ARE ONE

I can only say this :
“Above us only sky, all the people living for today, there's no countries….”
Thank you Siona for making a dream come true.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Third: 9:09 IST in etheric space with Eli, Bhatta, and others in India, Anna in South Africa, and others

A blue hummingbird came to light. As its colors deepened, it flew towards each of us, touching, flitting about. I felt an intense tingling of a chakra I hadn't known of --at the hairline, where head meets forehead.

The presence of each was palpable.

As I came to the front, there were a couple of peacocks on the left of the garden, and a couple of brown ibises on the right. Am I on earth or in heaven? So I'm seeing the messages today from the bees, butterflies, black vulture overhead, wheeling about, dragonflies, Whiskers placing his paw on my foot...will follow that in the Love of Animals group.

Later, this came through for the One Light Many Windows group:
Basic Meditation Techniques - Expanding into Mother Earth

[About The Gaia Minute]

Tags: gaia minute, 9:09, Eli, Siona, Bhatta, mother earth, call, meditation, Sureshawari, Suradevi

Am I what I have or what I let go?

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 10:45:41 GMT

Why are your jeans blue?
Because when light with its infinite vibrations passes through them, the material absorbs some, and lets some through. That, to our human eyes, seems blue.
It seems different to an insect, to one who has 'color blindness', to a dog or a bird.

What am I? What I absorb, retain, know- or what I allow to pass through?
What I see? Or you? Or him? Or she? Or they?

Am I what I have, or what I let go freely?

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

The tao that can be told
is not the eternal Tao.
The name that can be named
is not the eternal Name.

The unnamable is the eternally real.
Naming is the origin
of all particular things.

Free from desire, you realize the mystery.
Caught in desire, you see only the manifestations.

Yet mystery and manifestations
arise from the same source.
This source is called darkness.

Darkness within darkness.
The gateway to all understanding.
FromTao Te Ching by Lao -tzu
translated by Stephen Mitchell

Why is my heart so light?
Why are the stars so bright?
Why is the sky so blue
Since the hour I met you?

Flowers are smiling bright,
Smiling for our delight,
Smiling so tenderly
For all the world, you and me
~from Petula Clark: This is My Song

Petula Clark ' This Is My Song' in Stereo

Tags: tao, petula clark, light, jeans, i am, allow