Being Indian

(As politics and media become more and more stridently divisive and discordant, its time to remember who we really are.)

“You are the Truth, the Life of life, the Light that shines as “ I AM” in each living heart!” Sri Ramana Maharishi

India is not just a country.

It is a magical kaleidoscope of paradox and contrast, of horrific ugliness and transcendent beauty in perfect coexistence, of outer poverty and inner wealth.

It is a power, a living energy field, a source of infinite blessings fuelled by gods and oceans and serpents, sages and rivers and tigers, saints and murshids and elephants, people and mountains and birds and trees, angels and genies and the spirits of trillions of living beings distilled together over a million years.

The divine spirit of this ancient land lives forever in the very cells and blood and marrow of its people.
Every Indian, in his DNA, inherits infinite wisdom and joy and strength.
To be Indian is to feel connected to the earth, the air, the water, the fire and the ether of this land.
To be Indian is to be truly universal, to be one with all that exists.
To be Indian is to love all beings and hate none.
To be Indian is to be India.

Pity the hatemongers, the ones who try to spread division and fear and discord among the people of India, for they shall experience the worst hells of their own creation.

Pity the lost souls who have succumbed to the fatal temptations of wealth and power and become rakshasas who take and take and take; their greed is a bottomless pit in which they sow the seeds of their own destruction.

Pity the robots, who got so caught up in the machines of existence that they became brainwashed zombies who are tools in the hands of evil: they pay a terrible price by wasting their precious lives.

We greet every fellow-Indian with great love and respect.

Regardless of our social status, our caste or colour or creed, our language or culture, we are ONE.

We remember : 
We are Indian.

We are forever cherished and protected by the spirit of this ancient land.
And we are not afraid!

Love

The Lord of Lords, the Guru who is the Self, the One, said: Be still!

If you would know Him, be quiet:
desire nothing, fear nothing, think nothing, do nothing.

With single-minded devotion, turn inwards and surrender unconditionally at His feet.

Like a heavy anchor, sunk deep in the bedrock, holds the ship safe even in the fiercest of storms, so Grace holds you in the Heart.

Here in this chamber of boundless space, the divine Dancer shines eternally as the Self.

Just take your stance in stillness, stay rooted always in pure existence, abide forever merged in the Divine.

Here the sacred flame dissolves you and distils the ambrosial bliss of the Self; who is left to taste this, when you have disappeared?

Listen, my friend!
This stillness swallows all the worlds and rests unperturbed in its own perfection.

All that exists
Is

Love.

Only This

“You were made to be yourselves. You were made to enrich the world with a sound, a tone, a shadow. In each one of you there is a hidden being, still in the deep sleep of childhood. Bring it to life! In each one of you there is a call, a will, an impulse of nature, an impulse toward the future, the new, the higher. Let it mature, let it resound, nurture it! Your future is not this or that; it is not money or power, it is not wisdom or success at your trade — your future, your hard, dangerous path is this: to mature and to find God in yourselves.” Herman Hesse

The snake sheds its skin, the bird moults its feathers.
The fruit on the bough ripens slowly in the sun.
When you seek, you will find, if you seek in the right place;
Where all seeking ends, you become the One.

Be the eye of the eye, the ear of the ear;
Find the root from which the whole world grows.
Cut through the knot that imprisons you in illusion-
When the heart-lotus blossoms, the one Love glows!

Boundless as space, you have no beginning or end;
O child of infinity discover who you are.
Dive deep into the bottomless depths of yourself-
Where your true Being rests radiant, a shining star!

Grace is the mother, the great Goddess:
With humility and devotion, at Her feet just be;
Melt like wax in the flame of Her embrace,

Dissolve in Her ocean like a drop in the sea.

In that  heart of contentment, all desires disappear:

No craving, no fear, only endless, peaceful bliss.
Where the Light of Love shines, no darkness can persist;
If there be divinity, it is only this, only this!

Now I'm 64

Everyone knows the famous Beatles song...When I'm 64. Here is the original classic version. When I first sang this I was maybe 14 years old.....64 seemed a lifetime away. Suddenly, now I'm 64! So here's my version of the song...same tune, slightly different lyrics....with apologies and thanks to Paul McCartney.

Now I am older, lost most of my hair,
In this here and now:
Body creaks a bit but I don’t mind,
Am at peace and mellow like a bottle of wine.
I’m sometimes up at a quarter to three cause I just can’t sleep no more;
Seems this earth still needs me, so Heaven still feeds me
Now that I’m sixty four.

Dear ones, you’re older too -
I give you my solemn word:
I truly love you.

The years passed so quickly, the decades flowed by,
Somehow we survived;
After bumps and lumps and miracles-
For the rest of our lives, lets enjoy the ride.
No chips on my shoulder, nothing left to prove,
Who could ask for more?
Life still surprises me, Nature still delights me,
It’s grand to be sixty four!

Every day is a gift and I’m just so glad to be alive,
(If it’s not raining)
We shall breathe and thrive………
Still no grandchildren on my knee –
At least my heart’s still fine!

Send me an email, drop me a text,
Telling me how you are.
Say anything that you want to say,
Yours sincerely, shining away!
Always on stand by, just give me a shout:
I'll sing forevermore.
If you can still hear me, raise a glass to cheer me,

Now that I’m sixty four!

Ho.

………………
( Special Thanks to Edwin for the lumps and bumps and miracles line :)…………………………………………………………………

Here's another great a capella version by the Barbershop Quartet

How it feels to come Home

“That which is treasured by the great ones as the matchless rapture of Brahman is the bliss of peace, the limitless contentment. The kaivalya (oneness) that the jnanis experience and exult in as the bliss of the supreme state is peace alone.”
Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharishi

There is one treasure, one truth, one source and one goal.

Perfection, contentment, enlightenment – all in this one.

Infinite love, eternal peace, ecstatic bliss - all in this one.

Why seek anywhere else?

Look in the place where you begin, look for the one who looks.

Dive deep into yourself, down into the core of being, deeper and deeper into the silence, the stillness that is experienced in sleep.

Like the pearl-diver searching the ocean bed, look for the bedrock of your own existence.

Suddenly, something awakens, something stirs -who is it that rises to meet you like a long-lost lover?

Embrace that One like the river embraces the ocean.

This is where you end and He begins.

This is perfect comfort, perfect rest, perfect joy.

This is how it feels to come home.