Blissful Sunday!

I wrote about Vedanta philosophy/religion last week, I was intrigued by what I read about their belief system. So this last Sunday, I decided to attend their Sunday services(after attending my own Church) and check it out in person. The temple was nestled in a woodsy area surrounded by oak tress, it had an intimate building. The inside of the temple was surrounded by many pictures of spiritual leaders from different religions. When I entered in, the smell of incense was calming and the teacher's voice was so soothing, so I fell right into his comforting sermon. The thought of the Day was;

"One who wants nothing gets everything"

It was about giving up self-limitation; and no longer yielding to a lower order of things. He said; "so many people want happiness with a passionate longing, but the fever of self keeps them from attaining it. Change your outlook and all the narrowness of the little self and you will shine."

With the following prayer they ended their Sunday service:

May God, The Absolute, One without a second, the One in Whom we live and move and have our being...the One God who is called by many names.........
Christ of the Christians,
Hashem of the Jewish People,
Ahura Mazda of the Zoroastrians,
Allah of the Muslims,
Buddha of the Buddhists,
Shang Di of the Chinese,
The Great Spirit of the Native Americans,
Shaki, Ishwara, Brahman, The Divine Mother....
the Infinite and All-Abiding spirit of the Hindus.......
May You Who are Mother, Father, Friend, Companion, Beloved and Guide.....
Grant unto us all peace and blessing.
Peace! Peace! Be unto us and Unto all living beings!

Needless to say, it was a blissful Sunday!

Suffering occurs when we want
other people to love us in the way
that we imagine we want to be loved,
and not in the way that love should manifest itself - free and untrammeled,
guiding us with its force and driving us on.

~excerpt from The Zahir by Paulo Coelho

It took me many years to really get this, but I finally got it. I accept love anyway it comes my way without trying to "control" the love I receive. Love shows up, when you allow it to enter!

Meaning of Life

Paulo Coelho has been an inspirational writer and many regard him as the alchemist of words. His writings are very simply written but provokes many social and cultural debates. If you have not read any of his book, pick any of them and you won't be disappointed. Here is a portion of his acceptance speech delivered to the Brazilian Academy of Letters:

"What is this force that drives us far form the comfort of the familiar and makes us take up challenges instead, even though we know that the glory of this world is only transitory? I believe this impulse is called the search for the meaning of life. Over many years of seeking a definitive answer to this question in books, art and science, and in both the dangerous and easy paths I have followed, I have found many answers. I am convinced now that a definitive answer will never be given to us in this life, but that, at the last, at the moment when we stand once more before the Creator, we will understand each opportunity that was offered to us. "

For my Persian and Arab readers you can also check his site in Farsi, Arabic, and many other languages. And do also check his blog, it's great!

I come back from my "Internet fasting" and was delighted to see many emails and great quotes sent by many good friends. Well the following quote is a great way to start the day:

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is
that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

~Marianne Williamson

Sorry, I have not posted anything new lately. I was having Internet "fasting"... I needed to be completely without Internet for a week and since I don't watch TV much, I was literally shut off from the world around me. Happy to report, I did survive and I did not have a withdraw symptoms ! Thanks for all your emails asking about my whereabouts.

Are you a vicitm of your own mind?

My little sister, just last week, introduced me to Vedanta philosophy/religion and handed me a book to read titled introduction to Vedanta. It was absolutely a great little book to read about a group that I had no idea it existed. So, here is a excerpts about how your mind can be your enemy or your friend?

Most of the time we remain unaware of the mind's erratic movements because we are habituated to giving our minds free reign: we've never seriously attempted to observe , let alone train the mind. Like parents whose indiscipline has created children that everyone dreads, our lack of mental discipline has created the turbulent, ill-behaved minds that have given us endless difficulty. Without psychological discipline, the mind becomes the mental equivalent of the house ape. And all of us, sadly enough, have suffered mental agony because of it.
While we may have grown accustomed to living with an uncontrolled min, we should never assume that it's an acceptable, if not inevitable, state of affairs. Vedanta says that we can master the mind and, through repeated practice, we can make the mind our servant rather than being its victim. The mind, when trained, is our truest friend, when left untrained and reckless, it is an enemy that won't leave the premises."

Then it goes on the emphasis the value of meditation and the need for cleansing your mind by repeated practice of mediation and through the practice of moral virtues.

Oh! how I wish I could follow this advise consistantly! I find all the excuses in the world not to do it!

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Throw a party, make a difference

An inspirationl parent at my sons' school is an active member of the Machao Orphanage Foundtaion. The Machao Orphanage Foundation is dedicated to assisting the orphaned and impoverished children of Makueni, Kenya by providing shelter, food, clothing and an education through the support of well wishers all over the world.
I just found that they have a program that is called popular Circle of Friends program that assists groups and individuals in holding fundraising or informational events to support the work of the Machao Orphanage Foundation.

So, why not throw a party and make a difference. Call them up if you like!

Know Thy Secret

I am still reading Gary Kasparov's book and here is an excerpts that you may like:

" Such decisive moments are tuning points- every time you select a fork in the road knowing you won't be able to backtrack. WE live for these moments and in turn they define our lives. We learn who we are and what truly matters to us. The "secret" then is to actively, consciously pursue these challenges instead of avoiding them. This is the only way to discover and to exploit all your gifts. Developing your personal blueprint allows you to make better decisions, to have the confidence to trust your instincts, and to know that no matter the result, you will come out stronger. There, inside each of us, is our unique secret success"

Pick up this book if you can, there are a lot of good and interesting insights.

Live for 100 Years

Would you like to live to be 100? Well you can, according to, John Robbins, author of “Healthy at 100: How You Can — At Any Age — Dramatically Increase Your Life Span and Your Health Span”. Here’s what else he tells:

1. Loneliness kills. Yep, faster than cigarettes, he maintains. Strive for healthy relationships.

2. Attitude counts. Poeple with positive outlook live longer than negative oriented people.

3. Go forth and conquer. A century ago in the United States, 1 in 500 people lived to be 100. Now, the U.S. Census Bureau expects 1 in 26 baby boomers to reach that age.

It's seems we are back again talking about how how are mind controls our lives, change you mind and you will change your life for better. It's basically what Buddha has said and Jesus Christ has told us thousands years ago. There is nothing new, but it's good to be reminded again again.

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The Year of Rumi : 2007

UNESCO has declared 2007 to be the year of Rumi. This year was 800th anniversary of the birth of Mawlana Jalal-ud-Din Balkhi-Rumi (1207-1273), one of the greatest poets, philosophers and scholars of the Islamic civilization.
Rumi was a Sufi saint who was born in Afghanistan, lived in Turkey (most of his life) and wrote in Persian (Farsi). The people of Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey consider him to be their own poet. There is always discussions among these groups as to what nationality was he really from? Amongst his numerous disciples were Arabs, Armenians and Greeks. Rumi belongs to the whole world because his words did not have national boundary. He addressed humanity as a whole: “I do not distinguish between the relative and the stranger.”

It's so inspiring to see, 800 years after he was born, Rumi is so popular in the Western world, specially here in America. But it's too sad to see, the region that he was from, has forgotten the spirit of Rumi and has become the center of a lot of turmoil. It's hard to believe that Rumi's Afghanistan can be controlled by Talibans, or Rumi's Iran can have a cruel and inhumane regime like Iranian regime. Too bad the wisdom of Rumi is dead among these groups, but it's inspiring to see others are celebrating his soul, his words and his love of Creator after 800 years.
Rumi's poems are about the highest state of a human being, and he believed a complete human is not bound by cultural limitations. Rumi had this to say about ideal man of God:
He is drunk without wine,
He is full without roast meat.
He is all confused, distraught,
He needs neither food nor sleep.
He is a king in a dervish frock,
He is a treasure in the dust.
He is not of air nor earth,
He is not of water, nor fire.
He is a boundless sea,
He rains pearls without cloud…

Let's hope that the Rumi's birth region will wake up someday and they will follow Rumi's wisdom and spirit and make him proud!




H/T to dear Serendip

How life imitates chess

I just ordered a book written by Gary Kasprov, greatest chess player of all time , called How Life Imitates Chess: Making the Right Moves, from the Board to the Boardroom.

He is an inspiring figure! I have been reading his articles with great interest lately. You may know by now that Garry Kasparov is now running for President in Russia. In 2005, he left the chess world for politics. He formed the United Civil Front to "work to preserve electoral democracy in Russia. He he one of the few heroic politicians, so if you get a chance read his book and the book has nothing to do with his politics.

Here is an excerpt from his book regarding managing stress:

Usually when you are under stress there is a good reason for it. Learning not to get anxious about things beyond your control is a separate issue. So don’t fight stress, use it! Channel that nervous energy into solving the problems. Sitting around worrying isn't going to achieve anything and the loss of time will often make the problem worse. Even in the worst case, mistakes of action teach you much more than inaction

.