On Slowing Down

According to United Nations statistics on birth and death, approximately 58 million human beings died globally in 2019 from a variety of causes. Converted to a daily average, that’s about 159,000 people per day. The latest Covid 19 statistics show a global death rate of about 7000 people per day.That’s about 4 % of the total deaths that happen anyway. But, suddenly, the human race is afraid…..and, for the first time since World War 2, the world has come to a stop. The frantic global activity that is “normal” has slowed down to almost a stand still. Why is all this happening? What does it all mean? There are so many theories: conspiracies by evil cabals, Nature’s revenge, end of the world , etc. etc.
I don’t know the answers. I do believe in the wisdom of the universe and that “ This, too,shall pass!” An old friend sent me a poem, supposedly by a Spanish lady, that made a lot of sense. So this post is to share that poem.

Wonderful poem by a lady from Spain: ( Gracias Senora!)

The earth whispered but you did not hear.
The earth spoke but you did not listen
The earth screamed but you turned her off.
And so I was born...
I was not born to punish you..
I was born to awaken you..

The earth cried out for help...
Massive flooding. But you didn't listen.
Burning fires. But you didn't listen.
Strong hurricanes. But you didn't listen.
Terrifying Tornadoes. But you didn't listen.
You still don't listen to the earth when
Ocean animals are dying due to pollutants in the waters,
Glaciers melting at an alarming rate,
Severe drought.

You didn't listen to how much negativity the earth is receiving.
Non-stop wars.
Non-stop greed.
You just kept going on with your life..
No matter how much hate there was..
No matter how many killings daily..
It was more important to get that latest iPhone than worry about what the earth was trying to tell you..
But now I am here.
And I've made the world stop in its tracks.
I've made YOU finally listen.
I've made you take refuge.
I've made you stop thinking about materialistic things.
Now you are like the earth...
You are only worried about YOUR survival.
How does that feel?

I give you fever.. as the fires burn on earth.
I give you respiratory issues.. as pollution filled the earth’s air.
I give you weakness as the earth weakens every day.
I took away your comforts..
Your outings.
The things you would use to forget about the planet and its pain.
And I made the world stop...
And now...
Earth has better air quality.. Skys are clear blue because factories and vehicles are not spewing pollution into the earth's air. The water in Venice is clean because the gondola boats that pollute the water are not being used.
YOU are having to take time to reflect on what is important in your life.
Again I am not here to punish you.. I am here to Awaken you...
When all this is over and I am gone...
Please remember these moments..
Listen to the earth.
Listen to your soul.
Stop Polluting the earth.
Stop Fighting amongst each other.
Stop caring about materialistic things.
And start loving your neighbors.
Start caring about the earth and all its creatures.
Start believing in a Creator.
Because next time I may come back even stronger....
Signed,
Coronavirus.

We are all part of a cosmic story that has no beginning or end. This planet and all life-forms that live on it are also part of the story. Woven out of loving, intelligent consciousness, this story has tears and laughter, suffering and joy, pain and bliss, everything and nothing. Enacted through the dance of the opposites, this story is powerful, beautiful, magical and awe-inspiring while it is equally terrifying and monstrous and tragic.
Who is the author? Who is the audience ? What does it all mean? How can we know anything else without first knowing ourselves?
You and I are an integral part of this story. To answer these questions, we must examine our own roles in this story. Deeply and purposefully, we must delve into the source of our own being; what wonders we may find !

“ When you have not understood yourself, what is the point of understanding other things?
When you have understood yourself, what else is there to understand?” Atma Vidya, Bhagawan Sri Ramana Maharishi.

My Little Boat

( to celebrate my favourite Kabir poem and Ramanavami.)

Tossed on life’s tempestuous ocean, fortunately, my little boat is unsinkable.

Its timbers are prayers, faith is its sail, filled with the guiding wind of grace.

Peace is a force-field protecting it from deluge and gust and lightning.

Stillness is its rudder and the Guru’s compassionate hand is steady upon its tiller.

How fortunate, how blessed, how favoured am I - gratitude springs like a fountain from my heart!

My little boat is God : in it, I rest so peacefully and joyously like a babe in his mother’s arms.


The Guest:
“The Guest is inside you, and also inside me;
you know the sprout is hidden inside the seed.
We are all struggling; none of us has gone far.
Let your arrogance go, and look around inside.

The blue sky opens out further and farther,
the daily sense of failure goes away,
the damage I have done to myself fades,
a million suns come forward with light,
when I sit firmly in that world.

I hear bells ringing that no one has shaken,
inside 'love' there is more joy than we know of,
rain pours down, although the sky is clear of clouds,
there are whole rivers of light.
The universe is shot through in all parts by a single sort of love.
How hard it is to feel that joy in all our four bodies!

Those who hope to be reasonable about it fail.
The arrogance of reason has separated us from that love.
With the word 'reason' you already feel miles away.

How lucky Kabir is, that surrounded by all this joy
he sings inside his own little boat.
His poems amount to one soul meeting another.
These songs are about forgetting dying and loss.
They rise above both coming in and going out."
Kabir, Translation by Robert Bly

Being Human

“The more laws and restrictions there are, the poorer people become.
The sharper men's weapons, the more trouble in the land.
The more ingenious and clever men are, the more strange things happen.
The more rules and regulations, the more thieves and robbers.
Therefore the sage says:
I take no action and people are reformed.
I enjoy peace and people become honest.
I do nothing and people become rich.
I have no desires and people return to the good and simple life.” Lao Tsu, Tao Te Ching, 600 BC

All the signs are here- a major paradigm shift is coming.
In these times of disruption, chaos and the enforced slowing down of all human activity, long-standing patterns of behaviour are drastically altered.
Things suddenly become more fluid, more amenable to change.
At such times, an individual or a small group of people can alter the course of history, perhaps even transform the very consciousness of the human race.

In solitude, we can introspect deeply, see things more clearly than ever before.
Suddenly, priorities change- what was important or coveted before now seems trifling.
Faced with uncertainty and the fear of premature death, re-appraise those things you value the most.
What does it really mean to be human?

The Upanishads exhort “ O ye children of immortal bliss, awaken to the glory of your true nature.”
Humanity -seize this opportunity to reflect deeply, to find the true power and grace and beauty that is at the core of the human spirit!
Break the blind, brainwashed adherence to a global socio-economic system that is destroying the race and its only home, this green and good Earth.

Stop being possessed by the demonic ego-mind complex!

Break through the matrix and be free!

Give up time and live in the Now. Give up compulsive thinking and find the joy of pure being.

Give up greed and embrace compassion, give up hatred and champion love, give up anger and cultivate joy, give up fear and celebrate divine bliss.
Slow down. Be content with less. Share freely with others.

Live gently upon the land. 

Do no harm.

Be one with Nature and the divine.

Surely our intuition, our creativity, our inventiveness and courage can show us far nobler, kinder and more wholesome ways to live in harmony with each other and with all other living species on this planet ?

A simple life is a good, peaceful and happy life. Isn’t that enough?

Reclaim your birth-right : be extra-ordinary, be human! 

All Will Be Well

“When a man knows God, he is free: his sorrows have an end, and birth and death are no more. When in inner union he is beyond the world of the body, then the third world, the world of the Spirit, is found, where the power of the All shines, and man has all—for he is one with the One.”

Krishna Yajur Veda, Shvetasvatara Upanishad 

In a world going mad with fear and uncertainty, have faith, stay calm, stay strong.
Do not give in to panic and despair; just do what you can each day to help yourself and others.
Live fully in the present : alert, aware, conscious, anchored firmly in Being.

Remember -everything will pass.
For this human body, life is short and death is certain, anyway,
So every moment is a gift to be fully honoured.
Use your time wisely to discover the divine nature that is your own most precious treasure.

An immortal, conscious, intelligent and omnipotent power is the source and substance of all that exists.
You are one with that power.
Discover this in stillness, in silence, in the depths of your own being.

Once you experience this, there is no more fear or doubt -just perfect, tranquil bliss.

Stay anchored in this state and let love and compassion radiate from you like warm spring sunshine to bless and support all around you.

Whatever needs to happen will happen; what needs to be done will be done.

All will be well.

“As rivers, flowing down, become indistinguishable on reaching the sea by giving up their names and forms, so also the illumined soul, having become freed from name and form, reaches the self-effulgent supreme Self.” – Mundaka Upanishad.

This Too Shall Pass

“How swiftly the strained honey
of afternoon light
flows into darkness
and the closed bud shrugs off
its special mystery
in order to break into blossom:
as if what exists, exists
so that it can be lost
and become precious.” In Passing, by Lisel Mueller

Life is both ephemeral and eternal,

Tiny and infinite,

nothing and everything.

Stop and be still.

Let the mind turn inwards to the center.

Listen to the silence.

Feel deeply.

Be.

Beneath all the noise and the fear and the drama,
There is only love and light

And a deep, immovable peace.

"There's no such thing as enlightenment. To realize conclusively that the Buddha Mind you have from your parents innately is unborn and marvellously illuminating—that's enlightenment. Not realizing this makes you deluded. Because the Buddha Mind is unborn, it has no thoughts at all. Thoughts are the source of delusion. When thoughts are gone, delusion vanishes too. And once you've stopped being deluded, talking about wanting to attain 'enlightenment' certainly is useless, don't you agree?"
Bankei (1622-1693)

Divine Instinct

“ Attention to Self is supreme devotion to God because God exists as Self.” Bhagavan Ramana Maharishi, Guru Vachaka Kovai.

Since the first man looked up in awe at the stars,
a profound instinct has existed in the human race.
This is the instinct which bids man look up,
which grants him the gift of hope and sustains him when life has darkened,
which gives him courage even when all seems lost.

As an unfathomable and ever-present yearning,
this instinct to discover the Divine has never faded from the human soul.
Since the dawn of Time,
this instinct has persisted in its belief
that the esssence of life is good and joyful and true.

If you would live anchored in unshakable peace
and die with fearless dignity,
look deep into yourself and discover
that this instinct burns ever-bright within you.

Look deeper still and you will know
that the source of this instinct
is the immortal divine Self

that is your true being.

“ Know the Self and the truth will blossom within your heart like sunshine. The mind will become untroubled and flooded with real happiness, for happiness and the true Self are identical. Once you attain this Self- awareness, you will have no more doubts or fears.” Bhagavan Ramana Maharishi to Paul Brunton, from A Search in Secret India.

Nothing More, Nothing Less.

“Empty yourself of everything. Let the mind become still.
The ten thousand things rise and fall while the Self watches their return.
They grow and flourish and then return to the source.
Returning to the source is stillness, which is the way of nature.
The way of nature is unchanging.
Knowing constancy is insight.Not knowing constancy leads to disaster.
Knowing constancy, the mind is open.

With an open mind, you will be openhearted.

Being openhearted, you will act royally.

Being royal, you will attain the divine.

Being divine, you will be at one with the Tao.

Being at one with the Tao is eternal.
And though the body dies, the Tao will never pass away.” Lao Tsu, Tao Te Ching

Let the quiet mind sink deep into its source.
Like the grass grows and the fruit ripens,
What must happen will happen, in its own way, in its own time.
In stillness and silence, divine wisdom shines forth.

Awaken from the dream of individuality into the infinite Light of the Self!
This timeless benediction of Grace is your true birthday.
The rising sun that is the Guru makes the heart-lotus blossom in ecstatic surrender.
In pure delight, a fountain of nectar shoots up into the thousand-petalled sahasrara.

Acting without doing, teaching without words, 

the river flows, the mountain stands tall against the sky.

This is the thought-free, spontaneous, exquisite elegance of Nature.
This is the bliss of wu-wei, of just being in effortless perfection.
This is how it feels to be one with the immortal Tao.

Living thus is true harmony.
Nothing more, nothing less.