Friday, July 20, 2018

All that I see


Walking through crowded city streets, amidst the hubbub and the noise,
Monsoon winds caress me, clouds sail across grey skies.

Despite the sound of traffic, I can hear trees rustle and sigh and birds calling;
The scent of jasmine and diesel smoke commingle with great equanimity.

People pass me in a never-ending stream:
Young and old, rich and poor, sad and happy, whole and crippled,
So many different faces, but everyone so human, so being!
Each a unique mystery, a special, particular story, a hero on a quest:
Thus am I shown the thousand faces of God!

Everywhere the Divine reveals itself, in sound and sight and smell,
Like a shy maiden who lets her veil drop briefly
To reveal a glimpse of pure, incandescent beauty.

I bow with great reverence in my heart
Awestruck before the magic of the formless One
Dancing in and out of reality in so many different ways,
Weaving this wondrous, complex tapestry of life from a single invisible thread!

In such Light,

when my eye is single and devout,

All that I see is sacred!





Saturday, July 7, 2018

Who?


Who speaks with my tongue, who sees through my eyes,

Who weeps with my sorrow, who is born, who dies?

Who wakes every morning and acts out my life,

Who worries, who ponders, in my struggles and strife?

Who celebrates my triumphs, who is sad and alone,

Who lives in this body of flesh, blood and bone?

Who rests when I slumber, who dreams all my dreams,

Who knows what I know, is this world what it seems?

Who feels through my heart, who thinks with my mind,

Who is this me that I am supposed to find?

Who understands the twinship of pleasure and pain?

Who knows how much bliss this human heart can contain?

Who is the Sun  that dispels all the mists?

Who sees the Divine permeating all that exists?

Who understands this mystery of the All in the One?

Who does nothing at all, yet leaves nothing undone?

Who is formless and timeless, yet the very source of being,

Who is nothing and everything, betwixt and between?

Who shines in my heart and grants me joyous release,

Who fills me with comfort and this deep, ecstatic peace?

Who swallows me whole, who dissolves me in joy,

Who is this “I “ who am I?


Thursday, July 5, 2018

The McMamama Clan


A giant banyan tree grows from a tiny seed. So too, from the seed of one amazing life, a diverse, global, affectionate clan was born. Bonded by blood and love and memories, sharing with and caring for each other, living fully and joyously, this ever-growing family is the McMamama Clan.

Born in 1910, Ramani Mallya, a woman of the Gowd Saraswat Brahmin community, was married at the age of 15 and lived in Mangalore, India, where she had ten children: five boys and five girls. In the eighty nine years of her life, this beautiful, small-built, slender woman proved to be an indomitable but compassionate matriarch who did her very best to take good care of her family. Her ten children in turn had children of their own, so she was grandmother to a large brood of rambunctious grandchildren, who called her Mamama or Bappamma.

Today, her grand children have children, and grandchildren, of their own, and, like shoots of the ever-spreading banyan tree, her descendants have spread all over the globe. This giant family tree, now over a hundred members strong, is a close-knit, loving group of individuals who continue to bond together over four generations. The oldest clan member is over 90 years old and the youngest are barely a few months old while the rest of the clan span the ages in between. Representing diverse cultures, races and nationalities, the current-day Clan is truly a multi-cultural global entity and a shining example of the essential oneness of the human race. From USA to Dubai to Indonesia and Australia and, of course, India, the tendrils of affection and connection form an invisible but strong network as beautiful and interdependent as the canopy of a dense tropical forest.

Family is more than just blood-relations or shared DNA. It is a complex, organic, mysterious field that is constantly developing, growing, interacting, changing and evolving. Ramani Mallya was just one individual, but she also was a node in the flow of evolution, a crucial vortex in the flux of ancestors to descendants, an important key-note in the unfolding harmony of the Clan.

Every one of her children and grandchildren were consciously and unconsciously influenced by her and are transmitters of her unique message, her soul vibration of faith and devotion, love and sympathy, simple joy and compassion.

 Like unnoticed daylight and fresh air in an inner courtyard, the essence of Ramani Mallya  lives on; in the children and grandchildren of her grandchildren, her gentle being achieves a kind of immortality, which is shared with every member of the ever-growing clan..

Delighting in life, enjoying good food and drink, good conversation and company, providing affection and support to each other, feeling part of a greater whole, the members of the McMamama clan naturally carry on the tradition of Ramani Mallya : to be good human beings.

There is no better way to honour her.