Footprints

Many people have various passions. I too have many passions in my life. But today my utmost passion has become to “learn”. Yes to become a student of life. I have taken a full circle and come back to the same place. We may call it a zero or a circle. Sometimes we go around looking for things everywhere when it lies so close to us.

Life is a beautiful school. It is how we look at it. All these years I struggled trying to catch the elusive. But when I recognize Grace and when I am able to trust, I find that I am carried in the arms of this compassionate power.

This reminds me of the story of a person walking along a beach. He saw two pairs of footprints embedded on the sands of the beach and after a while there was only one pair of footprints along the beach. He looked at God and said, “Look, when I was fine and happy, you walked alongside me but when I needed you the most, you abandoned me and I had to walk all alone”.

God looked at him and said, “You have misunderstood the truth”. “When you were doing well and were fine, I walked with you”. “There can you see those two pairs of footprints? And when you needed me the most, I carried you in my arms and those footprints are not yours but mine”.

Sometimes we have the tendency to forget the reality and everything becomes a struggle. Somehow when I can learn how to flow with the river and not against the current, I enjoy the journey. This journey of mine has been long and windy. I have had good times and bad times. But when the good times come, it overshadows all the pain and suffering and fills the heart that one can feel the heart dancing. Yes dancing because such joy is possible in this life.

I have to thank my teacher for helping me to see this joy and to feel the dance of life.

“The Beauty of Life is Life itself”. - Prem Rawat

Magic of Being Alive

Spending a few days listening to Prem Rawat also known as Maharaji renewed my energy. Most of the time we seem to get lost in the day to day happenings of life, forgetting the simple beauty of life. To feel the magic of being alive and recognizing the breath is such an amazing experience.


Sometimes we need a reminder of how beautiful and simple this life is. For me this was what I felt when I had this opportunity to listen to Prem Rawat last week. Yes his message is simple and listening to him speak made me feel as though I had been washed by the fresh waters of the waterfall. Cleansed of the luggage I have been accumulating for some time. I feel lighter, happier and feel grateful for all that I have. Paused complaining about things and started to appreciate the wonderful gifts of Life.

This reminds me of the words of the Master, Swami Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. He said that when the ground is dry we notice all the potholes on the path. But when a heavy rain falls and there is water all over, it covers all the potholes and makes everything even. In the same way, when our hearts are filled with happiness, joy and contentment, we will stop seeing all the inadequacies and defects of things around us. We start to see the fulfillment and feel gratitude for all that we have.

"Raga Saga"

About "Raga Saga" -

Electric Violin I, II and Violia - V.S. Narasimhan

Electric Cello - V.R. Sekar

Raga Saga is a widely hailed, ground-breaking work which captures V.S. Narasimhan's original integration of the Indian and Western classical music systems. A pioneer in this entirely new musical form of using the western quartet format for Indian music, Mr. Narasimhan uses a delicate, intricate, thoughtful approach in his artistic touch replete with an enduring blend of Western harmonies, counterpoint, and pulsating rhythmic structures.

Mr. Narasimhan is well known throughout India as a violinist who has worked with legendary Indian film music directors such as A.R. Rahman and Ilaiyaraja. In recent times however, his passion for classical music has led him down a different path culminating in the development of this new musical art form. He is uniquely equipped to produce a work of this kind because of his knowledge of and ability to play, perform, and compose in both Western classical and in Indian classical music styles.

He has melded together Indian tradition and Western form to create something beautiful. The added flair in the recording comes from his use of electric instruments. By using this approach, he was able to record all the parts (Violin I, Violin II & Viola) himself except for cello (played by the highly talented V.R. Sekar).

Hailed by numerous diverse, world-renowned musicians for his dynamic musicality, seamless improvisation and thoughtful artistry, V.S. Narasimhan has permanently altered the way in which we think about the Carnatic and Western music systems.

Most recently, David Balakrishnan of the Grammy award-winning Turtle Island String Quartet, had this to say regarding VSN's newest work, Raga Saga:

In speaking to the quality of this evocative and brilliant new recording . . . I will say that when I listen to this music, my heart erupts with joyous elation, then my professional curiosity kicks in, and I am filled with wonder and deep respect for the level of craft that went into producing this excellent CD. What I hear in these tracks is a voice on the other side of the world, seemingly entirely divergent yet at the same time oddly familiar, using the same classic instrumentation to provide yet another compelling new musical paradigm in the continuing evolution of the string quartet form.


www.stringtemple.com

"PEACE IS THE PERFUME OF GOD"

"PEACE IS THE PERFUME OF GOD"

A beautiful video of wisdom and clarity from Prem Rawat's Message of Peace.




Prem Rawat (Maharaji) speaking at an event in Tel-Aviv, Israel, on February 12, 2009.

Duration: 13 minutes.

Buddha – The Radiant One

All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become.

-- Buddha


I am unable to remove the picture of this “Buddha”. Somehow I find myself irresistibly drawn towards this picture. The Radiant Buddha as I would like to address him, exudes such peace and tranquility.

This portrait does not belong to me but to cyberspace. Knowing this reality, I still feel that I want to hold on to it. The portrait of the young Budha, sitting under a tree and meditating , makes me feel the serenity, radiance, peace and calmness.

This want to possess also reminds me of how everything I try to hold on to my life, truly does not really belong to me but to this Universe. Just as all these words, the pictures and whatever I write on the blog does not really belong to me, this whole thing that I call mine too does not belong to me. I am given a chance, an opportunity to enjoy and to embrace them for a period of time.

You may call me silly or sentimental, but I decided to maintain the portrait of the Radiant Buddha for remembrance on my home page. He inspires me to be tranquil, contented and radiant. A reminder to me that I need to feel contentment in my life too ………….

Kindness

"Kindness in words creates confidence.
Kindness in thinking creates profoundness.
Kindness in giving creates love."
Tao Te Ching

Budha On Believe

Buddha:

"Believe nothing just because a so-called wise person said it.

Believe nothing just because a belief is generally held.

Believe nothing just because it is said in ancient books.

Believe nothing just because it is said to be of divine origin.

Believe nothing just because someone else believes it.

Believe only what you yourself test and judge to be true."

Following Your Passion

Last Night my daughter had the opportunity to perform her first solo number in front of an audience.She has never been on stage and it was quite nerve-wrecking and exciting at the same time. Music and singing has been her passion since childhood and she used to practice singing at home, whenever she was free.

But as mothers are, or as I am too domineering as she says, I kept telling her not to focus on singing so much since her studies were more important. I remember her telling me once, “Ma – you have killed my dreams.” Yes. I was always telling her to concentrate on her studies and not to get distracted. Now that she is in College, an opportunity came to her to take part in a cultural night event.

Being selected to sing was as exciting for me as for her. I wanted to set the feeling right this time since she was crestfallen with my discouragement regarding her passion.

This was the first time my baby, my little princess, was going to go on stage and do her maiden performance! The feeling was exhilarating and I was as nervous as her. The only sad thing was that I was not able to be there to watch her live, singing her first number to an audience on stage!

Waiting for her to call me to tell me how she performed was restless for me too. I could not sleep the whole night imagining how she would have performed. After a number of calls she told me that she was not nervous and did pretty well. I am waiting anxiously to see the recording which she has promised to send me today.

So much for dreams and the possibilities of attaining them. It may be a small start but I know that this is the stepping stone for her. It has given her the confidence and elation that anything you love to do would give. I wish her all the best for bright future following her passion.

An inspiring quote by Sharon Cook & Graciela Sholander, I found which I feel that if any one of us follows, we will be able to feel total joy and satisfation.

"If you have ever felt such tremendous enthusiasm and desire for something that you would gladly spend all your waking hours working on it, that you would happily do without pay, then you have found your passion".

The Most Beautiful Word

I have been trying to figure out which is THE most important, beautiful and inspiring word in the world. I know this may sound strange but I suppose these are things people with nothing else to do try to do!

Well many words come up and conjure many different images in the mind. Lets take the word "Love". Love is such a sweet word and feelings of happiness and joy immediately comes to the mind. But there is also sorrow and pain attached to this word when
loveis rejected.

"God"- This is the most misunderstood word I suppose. We have so many different interpretations of this word, that the world has come to such a state of hatred because of the misunderstanding of this word.

"Beauty" - This is also a very beautiful word. But not everything or everyone is beautiful. Words like Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder rushes in. So beauty can be a controversial word too.

Many words hold many meanings and bring about many different types of images to the mind. Most words bring about various emotions attached to them. The moment a word is articulated we come up with different types of images .

I think that the word "HOPE" is the sweetest and most beautiful word we can come up with. With Hope comes Love, God, Beauty, Success, Happiness and everything else. One may ask how can that be possible. Well I feel that when hope comes Love becomes a reality. Against all odds we will be able to experience this feeling of Love and know that there is this possibility.

Hope also makes God more tangible. Without Hope - God becomes someone, who is unreachable. God becomes someone who is unmerciful and without compassion. But with Hope, God is the most wonderful being who is all embracing and understanding.

Beauty is added on to the word Hope. Yes, hope gives us the inspiration to feel the beauty within us and around us. Hope puts a silver lining to the dark clouds. Hope brings a vision to the desperate. Hope gives a new meaning to life. Hope gives us a reason to go on in this life. Hope is a splendid thing. Hope makes everything and anything possible.

Therefore I consider that the most beautiful word in any language and any culture is HOPE.