The Universe speaks its own language. Those with the ability to hear it as well as understand it are the truly knowledgeable ones. Yet most of us are not privy to this knowledge. There is a long list of reasons that we state as for why we are unable to hear the Cosmos, yet we fail to realise that there is, and can be, only one reason for the ignorance. That is, the inability, or rather, the unwillingness to LISTEN.
Have you ever tried speaking or breathing while swallowing water? You end up taking water down the wrong passage and get a nasty coughing fit. This is the body's defence mechanism kicking in, expelling the liquid from where it does not belong, and worse yet, where it can cause considerable damage if left unchecked. This is just one of numerous examples which illustrate that, without our even realising it, Nature has put protective measures in place that serve and nurture her children, i.e. the Creation of God. Just as certain bodily functions may not be multitasked similar limitations apply to what our soul may or may not do simultaneously. In context, we should understand that while the soul is speaking, it cannot listen and vice versa.
This brings us back to the reason for our ignorance. No one is spiritually incapable of hearing the language and secrets of the Universe. However, it is because we are so busy speaking and expressing our opinions and ideas, that we are left with hardly any moments in which we can listen. Even when we do convince ourselves to take time out and be quiet for a while, it is with such scepticism that we try it, that it leads us nowhere, leaving us feeling even more bereft and disappointed.
Half-Knowledge is a dangerous thing and causes more mischief than benefit. If two people talk at the same time, they will both walk away with only a small percentage of the others' words retained in memory. Spiritual knowledge is even more important and encompassing therefore Nature safeguards it more strictly than it does other physical bounties.
Take the example of a swimming pool. The deeper the water is, the more stringent measures are placed to ensure that those who are unable to swim do not venture near and end up endangering their lives. Spiritual Secrets are hidden due to the same reason, so as to protect those who are unfit (and therefore undeserving) to hear them. For listening alone is not enough to make us fit to receive these secrets. One must also be strong-willed and discrete enough to ensure that the secrets are not revealed at the wrong time, and indeed, some are to be hidden away forever.
To understand this, take the example of a man who buys grapes and then produces wine from them. To the layman, it is a black box, grapes going in, wine coming out. But those with knowledge and understanding know that the maker of wine must not only have the capacity to process, ferment and store large quantities of wine, but also have the understanding of how to age the wine to various degrees, each degree catering to the taste of a different class of consumers. For it is in the dark, cool cellars that the wine is aged, hidden far away from the eyes of the public and guarded from the mischief maker until it is ready to be revealed at the right time, to the right people, and of course, at the right price. Enough said.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
The Need For Silence
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Give it away
True happiness is possible only when life is taken away for a brief moment and we touch that reality that we cannot speak about.
Everything that we think will make us happy, all that they tell us to accomplish, to be ambitious about, and to compete for, never does so for long. If none of this makes any sense to you, then you must continue seeking happiness in the things of the world.
If for some reason seeking happiness in the world does not work for you, in the long run, then there are things that you can do to ease yourself into a reality where happiness is assured. By easing yourself into this reality, you are not required to give things up in a violent fashion; they fall away by themselves.
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(Excerpt from the newspaper article today)
Looking For Your Face
by Rumi
From the beginning of my life I have been looking for your face, but today I have seen it. Today I have seen the charm, the beauty, the unfathomable grace of the face that I was looking for.
Today I have found you, and those who laughed and scorned me yesterday are sorry that they were not looking as I did. I am bewildered by the magnificence of your beauty, and wish to see you with a hundred eyes.
My heart has burned with passion and has searched forever for this wondrous beauty that I now behold. I am ashamed to call this love human, and afraid of God to call it divine. Your fragrant breath, like the morning breeze, has come to the stillness of the garden. You have breathed new life into me.
I have become your sunshine, and also your shadow. My soul is screaming in ecstasy. Every fiber of my being is in love with you. Your effulgence has lit a fire in my heart, and you have made radiant for me the earth and sky.
My arrow of love has arrived at the target. I am in the house of mercy, and my heart is a place of prayer.
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Desiderata
by Max Erhmann (1927)
Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant, they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let not this blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass. Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore, be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be. And whatever your labors and aspirations in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams; it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
The Seeker and The Sought
The pain washes away our sins,
Allowing our soul to breathe
Like rain washes away the filth
Revealing what lies beneath
We let the world and its traps
Distract us from our goal
Uniting our self with God
And truly becoming whole
Not realising the basic truth
That we are the intended
We look to others for answers
Thinking ourselves indebted
With fear and hesitation
We take a small and timid dose
Of this elixir of eternal life
And accept what we secretly oppose
Look in all the sanctuaries
Mosque, churche and temple
In your own heart you'll find
That which makes all tremble
The Creator of all realms
The Architect of the world
The Forgiver of our sins
In His hands, everything He holds
Let us remember our place
Let us accept our fate
Enter God's loving embrace
No matter how far, how late
Let Him see for us
Let Him be the One
In our humble lives
Let His Will be done
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Types of personalities
I did an analysis on the fly while talking to a friend over the phone today. There are three types of people in this world:
1- People who have opportunity and desire to explore everything in their life. They will keep raring for opportunity and when they get it, they will make the most of it and live their life to the fullest.
2- People who are living a nice, comfortable life. They don't want much fun from it. They are happy living in the same routine. They hate anything that needs them to make even a speck of effort more than the ordinary. They aren't really living their life to the fullest but do not care. They are happy and that is all they want.
3- People who want to be like type 1 but do not have an opportunity. They keep looking for opportunities but become increasingly frustrated and detached when they can't end up with any.
I would say type 3 would be very happy with a type 1, provided they have at least a few common recreational interests. In my opinion, type 2 and type 3 aren't compatible. It would always be a tug of war between these two.
Which type are you?
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
When Love Calls
By Khalil Jibran
When love beckons to you follow him,
Though his ways are hard and steep.
And when his wings enfold you yield to him,
Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
And when he speaks to you believe in him,
Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden.
For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you.
Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.
Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,
So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.
Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.
He threshes you to make you naked.
He sifts you to free you from your husks.
He grinds you to whiteness.He kneads you until you are pliant;
And then he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God's sacred feast.
All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart,
and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life's heart.
But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure,
Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing-floor,
Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
On Being Twenty - Something
They call it the "Quarter-life Crisis."
It is when you stop going along with the crowd and start realizing that there are many things about yourself that you didn't know and may not like.
You start feeling insecure and wonder where you will be in a year or two, but then get scared because you barely know where you are now.
You start realizing that people are selfish and that, maybe, those friends that you thought you were so close to aren't exactly the greatest people you have ever met, and the people you have lost touch with are some of the most important ones. What you don't recognize is that they are realizing that too, and aren't really cold, catty, mean or insincere, but that they are as confused as you.
You look at your job... and it is not even close to what you thought you would be doing, or maybe you are looking for a job and realizing that you are going to have to start at the bottom and that scares you.
Your opinions have gotten stronger. You see what others are doing and find yourself judging more than usual because suddenly you realize that you have certain boundaries in your life and are constantly adding things to your list of what is acceptable and what isn't.
One minute, you are insecure and then the next, secure. You laugh and cry with the greatest force of your life.You feel alone and scared and confused.
Suddenly, change is the enemy and you try and cling on to the past with dear life, but soon realize that the past is drifting further and further away, and there is nothing to do but stay where you are or move forward.
You get your heart broken and wonder how someone you loved could do such damage to you. Or you lie in bed and wonder why you can't meet anyone decent enough that you want to get to know better. Or maybe you love someone but love someone else too and cannot figure out why you are doing this because you know that you aren't a bad person.
One night stands and random hook ups start to look cheap. Getting wasted and acting like an idiot starts to look pathetic. You go through the same emotions and questions over and over, and talk with your friends about the same topics because you cannot seem to make a decision.
You worry about loans, money, the future and making a life for yourself... and while winning the race would be great, right now you'd just like to be a contender!
What you may not realize is that everyone reading this relates to it. We are in our best of times and our worst of times, trying as hard as we can to figure this whole thing out.
(Source Unknown)
Saturday, June 9, 2007
Self Love
Ego And Love Cannot Co-exist
They are like light and darkness; when light comes, darkness disappears. If you love yourself you will be surprised: self-love means the self disappears. In self-love there is no self ever found. That is the paradox: self-love is utterly selfless. It is not selfish because whenever there is light there is no darkness, and whenever there is love there is no self.
Love melts the frozen self. The self is like an ice cube, love is like the morning sun. The warmth of love...and the self starts melting. The more you love yourself the less you will find of the self in you, and then it becomes a great meditation, a great leap into godliness. And you know it!
You may not know it as far as self-love is concerned because you have not loved yourself, but you have loved other people; glimpses of it must have happened to you. There must have been rare moments when for a moment, suddenly you were not there and only love was there, only love energy flowing, from no center, from nowhere to nowhere. When two lovers are sitting together there are two nothingnesses sitting together, two zeros sitting together – and that is the beauty of love, that it makes you utterly empty of the self.
Remember again: Empty yourself! Pour yourself into love so that in your inner world space is created. Godliness can enter only when there is space in you to contain it. And great space will be needed because you are inviting the greatest guest. You are inviting the whole existence into you. You will need infinite nothingness in you.
Love is the best way to become nothing.
(Source Unknown)
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