Gaia Community: Meenakshi's Blog

The writer in the flow of reiki

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 14:43:47 GMT

I was speaking today to another who is a Reiki Master. She is writing a book that she would like to see published. And I realized how a writer uses - or can use - the principles of Usui Shiki Ryoho, the healing method that uses reiki, the universal energy:

To call in our guides and masters into the situation of writing and getting a book published
See that this is an action that helps to bring into wholeness the writer, reader, and all who come into contact with the words in the book.

That just as the flow of reiki does not originate from one person or end there, the flow of the words does not originate or end with the writer; that just as the reiki healer is a facilitator, so is the writer a receiver of ideas from wherever they originate, a crafter of them into words, a midwife who is actively involved in all aspects of the writing, organizing, thinking, editing, rethinking, reorganizing, sending to publishers, interacting with the pre-publication readers and later perhaps with the post publication ones.....

And in this process, the writer fully lives the ideas in her book, as does the healer. Receives the blessings of the ideas, as does the healer who channels reiki.

The healer stays detached from the outcome of the session - or strives to - knowing that in its true intelligence, the reiki energy brings about the highest good of all concerned. And perhaps, so can the writer.

In this way, just as a healer feels refreshed and blessed after giving or receving reiki, knowing both to be in the flow; so can the writer take the blessings of the flow of creation in which she has played an amazing part.

How blessed I am to be in such close touch with one who is writing....!

[Cross-posted in Reiki Tree]

Tags: writer, book, published, reiki, universal, healer, receiver, flow

How Feels the Boddhisattva..

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 21:53:38 GMT

How feels the boddhisattva,

When s/he finally moves into the light
What does s/he feel when s/he passes through the portal
That s/he held open for many a night
Not opening nor closing,
Just holding it open

For the traveler ready to transit
The one who just needs to know light exists
For the one who senses it from within the deepest darkness
And most of all for the other boddhisattva
Who is now ready to move

How feels the healer
When all s/he senses have healed
When no action is required to be taken
Only growing into awareness
When all around there are only healers
How feels the healer then?

How feels the lightworker
When it is finally time to be light
To let go of caring, way-showing, lightening
When the ultimate sacrifice is revealed not as leaving the world of desire
But for desire to let go of the world

Perhaps then the boddhisattva who has been in all these spaces and selves
Can pass through that threshold whence once s/he allowed the world to pass

Posted on Sep 5th, 2007 by Expanding into Reiki]

Tags: boddhisattva, light, lightworker, healer, awareness, traveler, transition, darkness

Michael Jackson ~ Gone Too Soon

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 14:56:47 GMT

When I was driving back from work on Thursday, I heard on the radio that Michael Jackson was in a coma. I could feel healing light flowing towards him. On another channel, I heard one of his songs, followed by another and another.

I rediscovered Michael Jackson on the day that he died. His music, that I had so enjoyed in childhood, laid dormant in my life as I switched first to songs for babies and then children as they grew. By the time they had grown, I had begun to hear other music.

When I reached home, my son came out of the house and said, with an undefinable look in his eyes :"Michael Jackson and Farah Fawcett have died."

Sad. Deep sadness.

For one day, several thoughts and feelings raced as I heard his songs and saw many of his song videos for the first time, playing on BET. The irony did not escape me, that his videos came to my life as he departed his.

I felt I needed to write something, but there were too many mixed thoughts whirling around to get a clear idea of what words could emerge. I've learned through healing, not to get swept away by the feelings passing through as many are picked up empathically from those around us. The more we expand, the more the thoughts that we pick up, and if we can stay away from ego separateness, we know that not all thoughts are "my thoughts". But this is an alive process, as I kept getting swayed and coming back to center.

As usual, clarity came as I drove, this time to my exercise class. You have to write about Michael as you experienced him. Not as you heard about him, but as you yourself experienced him.

So, getting grounded, I thought:
"What was Michael to me? How did I experience one who was alive but I saw and heard only on waves of air? Who I heard of, from those who've personally met him and whose assessment I trust? About whom I heard much that upset me, but which was not something I knew of personally? When there's this and that, isn't it best for me to stay in the center, sending light to accusing and accused but not playing into a drama that I can do nothing about?"

And it dawned on me:
For me, Michael is as alive now, as he was when he walked on earth.
For me, Michael is more accessible now as I am more aware of him than when he was alive. I don't think I would have actually seen him as I am doing now: laughing, singing, playing to the audience, doing strange things, showing his vulnerability and pain, being spontaneous and then realizing when he's going too far, singing, leaping, dancing, swirling, moving in unimaginable ways.

And I am really sad that he has passed away, because it seemed that he was sad, he was on the verge of a concert tour in which I could perhaps have seen him, that he was trying to provide for his children and doubtless many others who depended on him, and it was not possible.

Perhaps his life was an unfinished symphony and he is Gone Too Soon [video]
Or perhaps he gave all his messages, this Michael whom we're remembering in The Power of Light group and doubtless many venues around the world, we can rise with him and see the symphony that he so passionately brought to us, and marshall the energy of our tears, deep feelings, confusion, mixed emotions, and inner knowing into a symphony of hope, to heal the world in which we are still living.

Perhaps he died so we could see him as the truth of what he was. If we can see it, he lives as he always did, but no longer hiding the light under a bushel.

I look around me, and see the pillars of light that surround me, as I had seen in the equinox ceremony in March.

And as the tears flowed today, I dedicated them to healing the world as Michael and others sought to do:

May the waters flowing as tears begin to heal the world as his songs sought to do, with gentleness and controlled passion.
May eyes cleared by tears begin to see those who stood by him, who supported and loved him, and who are now caring for his children
May the suppressed anger, grief, guilt that arises around his life, be turned to daily acts of loving kindness

In that moment that dawns when it is time.
Let the moment not be gone too soon.

Tags: michael jackson, gone too soon, pillars of light, heal the world, personal experience

What do you like most about your life right now?

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 12:00:47 GMT

That my husband works from home and I go out only twice a week, the kids are on varying levels of summer break, so we are all together much of the time. We can work and live together as a family.

It's a more balanced life then the frenetic pace of husband traveling and working long hours all over the world and me holding the home fort.

Such a change from our early years together!

And as I wrote on Ted's blog right now -"what you said, Ted, with that sense of playfulness.
And what your readers said..hi friends! That's what I like about my life right now.
This."

Friends online who sometimes spill over into etheric meditations and at other times, into face to face meetings.

Tags: QaR, life, appreciation, wonderful

Cafe Discussions: This Modern Life~ a perspective

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 03:32:46 GMT

In the Gaia Lounge,one of our lovely Gaia Team members, Jessica, has started a discussion in which she asks:

Is modern life too stressful? If so, how can we create simplicity and strengthen supportive connections and community?

Take a look at the different responses. They all led me to this realization:

Hi all! [waving to all the friends I see gathered here].

Jessica, If by modern life you mean “in general”, then I can know by seeing people around me that it is so. I am quite sure that it is something that people have always felt in every generation when they use the words 'modern life'. In one way, the pace of life has accelerated.

However, if as I think you mean, you'd like us to talk from experience, then I would say that in my life- in the midst of one of the most hectic and difficult times of parents in India, kids growing up, economic crisis, physical aging and extra work - the inner stillness is ever more present. In this, I am with Siona. I remember reading in youth about a sage's ability in being alone in a crowd and connected when alone. I find many people with that same still quality.

However, I do see people internalizing the outer pace as stress. So

“how can we create simplicity and strengthen supportive connections and community?”

Perhaps by accepting all ways to connect : technology connecting us to people in this thread whom I may never meet, but have already bonded with; the same technology perhaps helping us fly towards each other when, like you said, Mamakat, we can look into each other's eyes, bringing the warmth and loneliness of our offline lives to spread warmth and assuage loneliness online - and vice versa.

Just let it be, and focus on what is real…

Thank you for the thought -provoking questions and the responses that further led to other thoughts.

Seems simple and warm community to me!

Tags: gaia lounge, cafe discussion, modern life, stressful, stillness, technology, supportive, connections, community

Father's Day

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 02:06:32 GMT

On the occasion of Father's Day, my heart is a little heavy, as my father is not in good health. He is being seen my doctors, my sister will be with him soon, a brother in law is there, along with caring nephews, but...

Since we're three daughters,my father has taken pride in us and given us all opportunity to study and work as usually fathers of his time would do for their sons. Instead of limiting us to school education, he has opened up a world of spiritual and earth studies for us.

Indra kratum na aa bhara pitaa putrebhyo yathaa

O Indra, give us wisdom as a father gives wisdom to his sons. -RV.VII.32.26

June 21st, summer solstice and Fathers' Day, has dawned in India. In a little while, I'll call my father.

Tags: father's day, father, dada

Live H2O- concert for the living water - June 19-21

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 18:49:05 GMT

As I was meditating today, in virtual and etheric space with a group of amazing ones, I felt guided to share images of rain in forests, and started a thread in The Power of Light group. Just then, one of the participants mentioned this concert. So, it all came together for me and here's a blog on this. I'm not going physically, but will tune in through the remarkable web.
How about you?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Concert for the Living Water

live h20

Join the world in this history making "EXPERIMENT". . . . The new concept in harmony . . . Connecting all through the water that sustains the planet and makes up most of your body. . . .
New research proves different types of water hold unique capabilities that can free humanity from every urgency. Learn more about water and the new way to hear music . . . in 528Hz.

The EXPERIMENT will gather millions of people on Summer Solstice weekend, June19- 21. Participants at nearly 40 venues worldwide adjacent important bodies of Water are poised to make this first LIVE H2O Internet broadcast a historic success. Best of all, it’s all done by volunteers, and no large commercial sponsors.

People everywhere will unite musically to celebrate the healing harmony in Water and LOVE. This unprecedented interactive Internet broadcast over LIVEH2O.tv will engage an estimated 10 million or more viewers in this first ever experiment in awareness and understanding. Music played at 528 Hz, with heart-felt loving intention for peace, health, and more, will resonate the oceans, rivers, lakes, and streams, including your blood stream, for the LOVE of it!

Co-creating Peace, Health & Abundance

Everything is possible with LOVE, faith, and people united in prayer! This 72-hour global event is designed to bring humanity back to unity and security in the name of LOVE, by celebrating Water.

There are three ways for you to participate: 1) Go to the nearest venue; 2) Create your own gathering with friends interacting using LIVEH2O.tv and this "FREE PASS" to the LIVEH2O.tv "Control Room" that links you to streaming video broadcasts from around the world; and 3) Produce your own experience by "surfing" the streaming video, singing, praying, and chanting with multitudes of warm hearts connected online.

That's right! Even if you are home alone, everyone is invited to celebrate LIVE H2O, especially during the global prayer on Sunday, June 21st, at 6PM Pacific Standard Time. So mark your calendar now, and tell everyone you know to do the same. Let‘s co-create a "Global Baptism" during the greatest spiritual concert in history--all for the LOVE of Water!

DRUM, PRAY and CHANT with the World, . . .

See the website for the musicians who're gathering

Playing For Change: Song Around the World "Stand By Me"

Tags: h20, live, water, living water, canada, solstice, june 19-21, concert, musicians

Friday Five ~Star Gazing

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 11:02:13 GMT

1) Do you wish on shooting stars?

I haven't seen one for ages, but when I did, I'd be so wonderstruck, that no words would emerge! But perhaps a silent wish went out from the child heart!

2) Would you like to travel to outer space?

I wanted to be an astronomer so that I could. But it was like a dream and not an intention. An armchair astronomer! I read all the sci-fi that I could lay my hands on, and virtually visited space. Then, I began to meditate.
And space travel took on a new meaning.
So- that's a yes.

3) Do you like astrology?

Ummm--like? Perhaps not really. I feel the stars speak to us, but I'm not sure if that always comes through clearly through the words of others.

4) If you could name a new planet, what would you call it?

Estara
That's what came through without a moment's hesitation.

5) Do you enjoy star-gazing?

'Enjoy' is putting it mildly! Looking at them hungrily isn't quite so attractive, but sometimes that's how it seems! Each night, I've to orient myself with my 'favorite' constellations [yes, Orion, Sapt-rishi and the Pleiades cluster when we can see them!] and stars. Whenever I travel, I look for Orion, and when I see it, I know I'm home.
http://is.gd/ZHxr Orion Constellation Sapt Rishi / Great Bear constellation http://is.gd/ZHAr Pleiades Cluster http://is.gd/ZHF3

[Questions from the Team Blog]

Tags: Friday Five, stars, team blog, orion, sapt rishi, pleiades, home

It's for the Boids

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 00:29:41 GMT

While looking for a quote on a flock of birds today, I came across articles on how Craig Reynolds studied the flocking behavior to design computer models that have been used in movies such as Batman Returns, and who knows what else! [I hope some of my friends will point me to other applications]

And I thought only Bugs Bunny called birds - 'boids'!

As I read Craig's article, it seems to me that boids can easily be used to describe online communities. Well, not easy for me, but perhaps for the scientists attracted to Dale Husband's Universal Science Forum ? I'm heading there now.

Excerpts
The basic flocking model consists of three simple steering behaviors which describe how an individual boid maneuvers based on the positions and velocities its nearby flockmates:

		Separation: steer to avoid crowding local flockmates
		Alignment: steer towards the average heading of local flockmates
		Cohesion: steer to move toward the average position of local flockmates

:
"Each boid has direct access to the whole scene's geometric description, but flocking requires that it reacts only to flockmates within a certain small neighborhood around itself....Flockmates outside this local neighborhood are ignored.

The boids model is an example of an individual-based model, a class of simulation used to capture the global behavior of a large number of interacting autonomous agents. Individual-based models are being used in biology, ecology, economics and other fields of study.

Note that the straightforward implementation of the boids algorithm has an asymptotic complexity of O(n²). Each boid needs to consider each other boid, if only to determine if it is not a nearby flockmate. However it is possible to reduce this cost down to nearly O(n) by the use of a suitable spatial data structure which allows the boids to be kept sorted by their location. Finding the nearby flockmates of a given boid then requires examining only the portion of the flock which is within the general vicinity. "

Video based on his work:

The Original Minds Eye - Breaking The Ice (Love Found) (Stanley &

Tags: boids, birds, online community, craig reynolds, flock of birds, flocking, computers

Knowing Me Knowing You

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Tue, 26 May 2009 11:02:57 GMT

Like Maslow's heirarchy, another model useful in understanding ourselves, and becoming aware is the Johari window.

As we encounter another person, a window opens: into the other person and also into ourselves. This happens whether the encounter is face-to-face, or through other media. Whether or not we are conscious of it, through each interaction, we learn something about ourselves and the other.

KNOWN TO ME

NOT KNOWN TO ME

KNOWN TO YOU

1.OPEN:easily seen, known, factual, 'in the light'

What you know about me, and I know about myself

2.BLIND /shadow

What you know about me, but I don’t know about myself

NOT KNOWN TO YOU

3.HIDDEN: suppressed, un-expressed

What you don’t know about me but I know about myself

4.UNKNOWN: unconscious, potential, 'in the dark'

What neither you nor I know about me

Many years ago, two psychologists JOseph Luft and HARry Ingham described this metaphorical window. The JOHARI Window, as it is called after its founders, is a model that helps us to put a framework on our understanding of ourselves better, in relation to people that we meet and who know us. Though it is commonly used for interactions between people, we can choose to extend it as deep as we would like to.

The interesting aspect is, that as one quadrant grows, the others become smaller. In this, it is a closed system.

1. The “open” quadrant represents things that are known to both – people who know me, and I know - my name, and other facts about me. If we get to know each other better, the window shade will move, making this first quadrant bigger. As it becomes bigger, quadrant 2 or 3 may become smaller.

How much of this openness do I enjoy? What do I like in my relationships with people? Whom am I open with? What do I like to share with people in general? What am I generous about expressing? .

2. The “blind” quadrant represents things that you know about me, but that I am unaware of. For example those around me can see my body language when we’re face to face, and I do not. Whether or not you have met me, based on my behavior, and my writing, you have made inferences about me.

Why is it important for this quadrant to be smaller? Because this is the part of me that influences other people’s behavior towards me, but I am unaware of it.

3. The “hidden” quadrant represents things that I know about me that you do not know: ones that I may be unable or unwilling to share. This is typically the area of motives,private thoughts, stream of consciousness, communication skills.

What did I do today? What do I plan to do? What am I reading? What do I think about you? What is my opinion about the world today? As soon as I tell you any of this, I move the information in my hidden quadrant and enlarge the open quadrant. We decide what to share and keep hidden about ourselves from others. Sometimes, some things that we hide may actually harm us or others [e.g. a child hiding an abusive person from his parents as we are now reading so much about in the news]; but at other times, we are probably wise in not boring the other with details about ourselves!

How can I know what to hide and what to disclose to another?

4. The “unknown” quadrant represents things that neither I know about myself, nor you know about me. Our dreams, repressed memories, forgotten events, fall into this category. Why is it important? Because it comes up in surprising ways- dreams, inexplicable emotions, gut-feels, intuition, visions. Opening up this quadrant is a matter for each of us to decide for ourselves. But it is something to keep in mind: that we don’t know everything about ourselves.

How do I view the parts of me that are unknown? A Pandora’s Box of memories and painful incidents that I am scared to open? Something unimportant best left unknown? Or a mystery worth unveiling?

Some events in our lives cause parts of the unknown to become known: it could be a major event like marriage or becoming a parent or a death of a close person; or an unusual one like talking in public for the first time, being forced to do something we’ve never wanted to try before; it could be meditation, or sometimes feedback from a wise one. We discover hidden strengths, surprising weaknesses, and unimagined qualities in ourselves. And if were really lucky, we begin to discover the dimensions within ourselves and our connections with each other.

This intriguing quadrant is like a black hole in the universe- who knows what it contains and where it leads!

Each person we meet, is different from the other. In our dealing with each person, we uncover things we didn’t know about them and what we didn’t know about ourselves: there may be a tenderness we discover only if we have a child; or a nasty temper that is uncovered only when we meet someone who lives with rules completely different from ours.

No one is static- so we not only uncover, we also change as we meet people.

Something to think about, is the role that emotions play in each of these quadrants. That defines our feeling about light and dark.

[Cross-posted ]

Tags: johari window, know, self knowledge, blind, shadow, awareness, light, dark, emotion

The Great Indian Election Tamasha

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Sat, 16 May 2009 15:44:42 GMT

We have just had general elections in India for the Lok Sabha [general assembly]. A slightly personal touch for me, is that Shashi Tharoor, one of those who won, was at the University of Delhi when I attended it too; and many a time we'd go to university debates to hear him and other contemporaries! [that's the extent of my name dropping for this one!]

india-elections-2009-5-7-9-22-16

Children wait for their parents to vote;

The wonder that is India's election-With a continent-sized 714 million voters,India has learned to pull off virtually flawlessly the biggest, eye-poppingdemocratic exercise with the kind of ease that is a part of our new brandequity. …”How do you preventelectoral fraud?” “How do you ensure that the voting machines are not hijacked?”These are questions to which Indian electoral juggernaut has now answers to.But, for the outside world, how a poor country puts up such a complicated andmammoth show of democracy remains a wonder.

http://im.rediff.com/election/2004/apr/01tamasha.jpg

Congress Coalition Set to Return to Power The India National Congress party and its allies sailed tovictory Saturday, securing a strong mandate for the designated primeminister, Manmohan Singh.

Viewpoint in the Wall Street Journal about the issues a new government should address: I ndia Journal: Let's Get Going

Two winners who may make a difference:

Indian Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi, greets supporters at anelection rally in Baliguda, in the eastern Indian state of Orissa. Forhundreds of thousands of people in this largely rural swathe of northIndia, Rahul Gandhi is their prince. The boyish looking 38-year-old isthe latest political incarnation of the fabled Nehru-Gandhi dynastythat stretches back over 60 years

http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40081000/jpg/_40081839_rahul_g

Shashi Tharoor creates history -Shashi Tharoor has created history by winning the Lok Sabha seat from the Kerala [Images]capital, Thiruvanathapuram, by an unprecedented margin. Never beforehas any one not born in Kerala or not educated here or not proficientin Malayalam registered an electoral victory in the state.
[Yes, he's the same person who was being considered for UN Secretary General ]

http://shashitharoor.in/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/shashi-tharoor

Indian voters

http://is.gd/Ars6 Voters in Hyderabad

http://is.gd/AruI Voters in Varanasi

[cross-posted from World Heritage Society]

Tags: india, elections, shashi tharoor, rahul gandhi, 2009

Who do you want to be when you grow up?

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Thu, 14 May 2009 05:13:19 GMT

More me

Or perhaps

Maxi -me

Img srce

Tags: QaR, adult, maturity, development, future, self

Do you use relationships as your mirror?

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Mon, 11 May 2009 03:25:30 GMT

I wrote a while back: Reflections -The company we keep~ everyone is a mirror

Posted on Mar 16th, 2007

~~~~~

But then one day, when no one and even no-all seem to be a reflection of you,
it's probably because everyone is now ONE, and there is nothing to reflect against.

Then we begin to really live from within.

Tags: QaR, relationships, mirror, self, reflections

Loving light to Mother Earth and all beings -Gaia

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Mon, 11 May 2009 00:01:27 GMT

Loving light going out to our earth mother, in this special time of the Vaishakh full moon on May 8th-9th and Mother's Day on May 10th

From the heart of the universe into the loving embrace of a mother
From the Creator energy ~ birthings on Gaia
From unconditional love ~nurturing, compassion
From the One that we are ~ feelings of connection

Bleaming loving energy from the compassionate heart of all beings to bring a healing balance in our earth mother's energy.

May all beings be blessed by material wealth, emotional health,loving relationships, intuitive willfulness, truthful expression, connected intelligence,

May despair cease
May hatred decrease
May peace peace peace

-crossposted from The Power of Light

Tags: gaia, earth, mother earth, peace, healing, light, wealth, dimensions

The Mind is a Metaphor

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Sun, 10 May 2009 02:04:53 GMT

The Mind is a Metaphor, is an evolving work of reference, an ever more interactive, more solidly constructed collection of mental metaphorics. This collection of eighteenth-century metaphors of mind serves as the basis for a scholarly study of the metaphors and root-images appealed to by the novelists, poets, dramatists, essayists, philosophers, belle-lettrists, preachers, and pamphleteers of the long eighteenth century. While the database does include metaphors from classical sources, from Shakespeare and Milton, from the King James Bible, and from more recent texts, it does not pretend to any depth or density of coverage in literature other than that of the British eighteenth century.

The database was assembled and taxonomized and is maintained by Brad Pasanek. He writes:

"I haven't completed all of my planned searches, and my protocol may be classified as "hunt-and-peck." But for the past two years I've been collaborating with D. Sculley, formerly of Tufts University's Department of Computer Science, now a credit to Google Pittsburgh. Employing on machine-learning methods, we have trained a computer to correctly label metaphors and non-metaphors. Our experiments suggest we may be able to automate much of the drudgery by using a classifier trained on a seed set of 100-200 labeled metaphors and non-metaphors. The hand-curated database of metaphors would then be put to work in bootstrapping efforts, repurposed as training data for automated classifiers sent forward and backward in history, departing from the eighteenth century in order to collect Renaissance and Victorian metaphors."

Tags: The Mind is a Metaphor

Mother's Day - Friday Five

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Fri, 08 May 2009 21:42:24 GMT

1) How do you celebrate Mother's Day?

Usually, we go out with family and friends for lunch. I'm far away from my mother, so I can just wish her on the phone; and she'll be happy but bemused because there was no Mother's Day when we were growing up.

2) Pick three words that describe your mother or an inspiring woman in your life.

Wit, wisdom, warmth. [See my blogs on my mother : Mother's Day~ Ma's wit; Happy Birthday Ma!]

3) What qualities do you think are important for a mother? (pick 2 or 3)

Being able to convey to her children that she will always listen to them without reacting; being able to raise children with a light touch so they don't even know they're being guided; and being able to show them how precious they are to her.

4) Do you have children?

Yes! Two jewels.

5) What is one thing you admire about your mother?

Her outer calm and inner strength that enabled her to face difficult people without losing her grace but equally without losing her independence or her will power. And the way she showed us that she has so much faith in us that she never lectured us on morality or good behavior and thus raised children who would never do anything to betray that trust.

As I am reaching the stage when the kids will begin to leave home; I marvel at the way my mother let us travel and move so far away from her, without ever making us feel that we need to think of her or look after her or even be near her - thus of course,making us rush to our parents whenever we can!

I don't know if I'll be able to do what she did; as she saw me off to university far away from home: she saw me off with a warm smile, saying :"In our family, we don't cry."

Tags: friday five, mother's day, memories, ma, wit, wisdom, warmth

When did you do the most growing up?

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Wed, 06 May 2009 14:28:46 GMT

Around the time when I did something I hadn't planned on doing- get married. Conversely, coming together with another person made me even more alone for that limbo period just before the wedding; and I had to quickly grow up to take a place in society from a space when, as a middle daughter among 3, I had the luxury of being largely invisible.

Our marriage forced our families of different cultures and values [theirs traditional,mine not], to require interaction in ways that the other would not easily accept. To keep the balance between them, and internally with myself, forced me to grow up....fast!

And then the wedding day dawned, everyone was happy and smiling, and we were all on time. Unusual in India, two families who keep the time as if by a Swiss clock, and who were marrying off their children for the first time; managed to be joyfully united by marriage. And those preliminary days all were worth it.

I grew into the roles of first married child in the family and only daughter-in-law; and a friend turned wife-housewife.

And that's another growing up that, 26 years on, I've still not done fully!

Tags: QaR, growing up, maturity, marriage, housewife, family, friend, wife

Honoring Bharatanatyam in the International Day of Dance

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 02:05:23 GMT

Today is International Day of Dance.

On this day, I received an email from Explore Films showing Bharatanatyam, the Dance [natyam] of India [Bharat].

It is a classical dance form, from far-off times, when it was danced by temple dancers. Over time, it got corrupted by degenerate priests, till Rukmini Devi Arundale brought it into the classrooms of pure dance.

http://www.culturalindia.net/gifs/rukmini-devi.jpg

I am blessed to have met Attai [Aunt], as she was fondly called, in her later years. She knew my parents well, and had been instrumental in taking my mother, a young, shy girl form an over-protected, gentle childhood all the way south from Dehradun to Madras [now Chennai] where my mother took care of the weaving center at Kalakshetra - the Center of the Arts established by Attai.

My mother did not learn Bharatanatyam, but was friends with those dance students, one from Sri Lanka; and also designed and oversaw the weaving of the highly prized Kalakshetra sarees for the dancers.

Half a century later, a few years ago; my mother visited us in Miami. She took her 11 year old grand-daughter, my daughter, to a Bharatnatyam teacher's home to begin learning the dance. The teacher is from Sri Lanka, and learned Bharatanatyam from Attai. She and my mother relived memories of that special space created by a special person in faraway India.

And for a moment, a circle was closed and an upward spiral started.

Tags: bharatnatyam, rukmini devi, ma, miami, madras, kalakshetra, bharatanatyam

Banyan tree or oak tree?

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 18:39:07 GMT

There is a seed of the time that we will not be here, that lies dormant
within us. It may be in the form of a definite plans or intentions; or
hidden deep within the psyche. Emotions, thoughts, energy of different
layers overlies this seed.

What will this seed sprout into?

Will it be as an oak tree, standing tall and straight, providing shade,
sustenance and support to its surroundings, providing acorns that grow
into separate trees; till one day it falls and sustains the earth and
trees around it, while merging into memory of things past?

Or a banyan tree, that spreads around a vast area, creating its own
ecosystem: sending down aerial roots from its branches, that root in
Mother Earth and grow into strong trees, connected to the main trunk;
but that can survive even when the main trunk is gone?

Which image appeals to you? As we seek to grow into universal light, are we
sending out oak energy or banyan energy? [And are we seeking something
better or worse? Nothing is better or worse!]
==

[cross-posted from The Power of Light]

Tags: oak, banyan, tree, grow, dying, family, independent, circle of life

Cooking basmati the right way: moist but not sticky

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 10:51:02 GMT

After a recent transition period, when I felt Gaia was expanding, perhaps deepening silently, there's a stage of rumblings around Gaia, about what needs to change and what has changed.

Some of these rumblings are on Facebook where Gaians have made a space to chat about Gaia; some around groups here where members are calling out that something's wrong with Gaia as they're feeling lost in space or perhaps have cabin fever. I move around the outreaches and centers of Gaia and find it as always, vibrant in places, sleepy at others, so I think all one has to do when uncomfortable is move around a bit, reach out to a newcomer, read a friend's blog....or go for a walk and clear out the cobwebs from the mind!

In another place, group cultivators and moderators are discussing ideas and wondering if we are too heavy-handed or serious or doing something wrong because a newcomer mentioned that she had felt unwelcomed in some groups. This is a healthy exercise, as we can always improve. It also shows the earnestness with which Gaians take feedback.

But as we are going through that discussion, a story comes to mind.

A few months back, a friend invited me to tell her my secret of making rice that is fluffy, moist, but not sticky. That's how basmati rice is meant to look . I told her how I do it; and she requested that I go to her house to cook it for a party.

As I was washing the rice, she told me I was doing it wrong

I wash with plenty of water till the water runs clear

As I was choosing a vessel to cook in, she suggested I use another one.

I use a large stainless steel vessel with copper bottom, so that the rice has plenty of space in which to expand, and gentle heat in which to fluff

As I was adding water, she told me the correct way to measure it.

I use my great-grandmother's style of filling water a little above the first phalanx of the index finger!

When I placed it on the cooking range, she told me how to use the heat judiciously

I use high heat at first, and very slow heat once the water has boiled

When it was made, she looked at me accusingly: You make it better at home.

=========Rice cooked.=======

Tags: rice, cook, gaia, space, stage, rumbling, friend, change