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#1482 - Friday, July 4, 2003 - Editor: Jerry
Is this a
reflection
from your glowing
brew?
When night arrives on this side
there is a dawn for you.
Photo and poem by Al Larus
Dear SEER Al Larus,
I learnt more about God from these honey waves of
intoxicating
delight than from the books.
I am immensely grateful to you for these pictures?
Where did you get them,please?
Since you got white lotuses,could you also get red
lotuses,please.Please try in the name of that Almighty God who is
seen in every aspect of His creation.
I do not know whether you have been to the Himalayas. If not
please go there in the flowery season and the rainy season.By
your
pictures ,you will turn atheists into believers.
May I be permitted to use your photographs for my cover pages of
athe series SURYA (SUN ) KAMALAM (LOTUS)?
My heart is overwhelmed with joy to see your pictures.
Harsha Satsang has done a great service to the members by your
pics!!!
May the love of Sri BALA SANKARA BE ON YOU!
Yours in Sri Samkara Bhagavat pujyapada's love,
Chilukuri Bhuvaneswar
Harsha
Advaitin list
Mystics and
Philosphers
The portrait of Swami Vivekananda hung in the center of the
living room of my grandfather's house so I knew that this was an
important person and spent many years discovering him. It has
been many decades now since I read the Gospel of Ramakrishna and
how Swami Vivekananda met him.
I remember Naren asking the important people of his day regarding
whether they had seen God. No one could give him a satisfactory
answer. Only Ramakrishna had the confidence to say "Yes, I
have seen God..."
I went to the following website and selected certain paragraphs
about the early years of Narendra (Swami Vivekananda). These
illustrate the difference between scholars, philosophers, and
mystics. A genuine spiritual aspirant is not satisfied with words
and philosophy. His very being drives and compels him to engage
in spiritual practice and gain first hand knowledge of the Self
as the Self, His Own Being, the One without a Second, that the
ancient sages have called Sat-Chit-Ananda.
Here are some selected portions from http://www.btinternet.com/~vivekananda/
For a
time the congregational prayers and the devotional songs of the
Brahmo Samaj exhilarated Narendra's mind, but soon he found that
they did not give him any real spiritual experience. He wanted to
realize God, the goal of religion, and so felt the imperative
need of being instructed by a man who had seen God.
In his eagerness he went to Devendranath, the venerable leader of
the Brahmo Samaj, and asked him, even before the latter had
uttered a word, 'Sir, have you seen God?'
Devendranath was embarrassed and replied: 'My boy, you have the
eyes of a yogi. You should practise meditation.'
The youth was disappointed and felt that this teacher was not the
man to help him in his spiritual struggle. But he received no
better answer from the leaders of other religious sects. Then he
remembered having heard the name of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa from
Professor Hastie, who while lecturing his class on Wordsworth's
poem The Excursion, had spoken of trances, remarking that such
religious ecstasies were the result of purity and concentration.
He had said, further, that an exalted experience of this kind was
a rare phenomenon, especially in modern times. 'I have known,' he
had said, 'only one person who has realized that blessed state,
and he is Ramakrishna of Dakshineswar. You will understand
trances if you visit the saint.'
Narendra had also heard about Sri Ramakrishna from a relative,
Ramchandra Datta, who was one of the foremost householder
disciples of the Master. Learning of Narendra's unwillingness to
marry and ascribing it to his desire to lead a spiritual life,
Ramchandra had said to him, 'If you really want to cultivate
spirituality, then visit Ramakrishna at Dakshineswar.'
Narendra met Ramakrishna for the first time in November 1881 at
the house of the Master's devotee Surendranath Mitra, the young
man having been invited there to entertain the visitors with his
melodious music. The Paramahamsa was much impressed by his
sincerity and devotion, and after a few inquiries asked him to
visit him at Dakshineswar. Narendra accepted. He wished to learn
if Ramakrishna was the man to help him in his spiritual quest....
They returned to the room and Naren asked the Master, 'Sir, have
you seen God?' Without a moment's hesitation the reply was given:
'Yes, I have seen God. I see Him as I see you here, only more
clearly. God can be seen. One can talk to him. But who cares for
God? People shed torrents of tears for their wives, children,
wealth, and property, but who weeps for the vision of God? If one
cries sincerely for God, one can surely see Him.'
Sam Pasciencier
from
Amigo:
http://www.ods.nl/am1gos/am1gos4/index.html
Once upon a time
there was a restless soul who went looking for the infinite
to help it come to terms with all the sorrows and pleasures of
the finite..
It had found so much and lost so much it was literally at its
wit's end...
At such a moment it
couldn't stay all cooped up inside
and needed to go out into the world into the biggest places it
could find..
a mountain.. or even the sky.. or maybe the sea..
This day it chose
the sea, certain that the sea would have a message
that would calm its restless hunger... so off it went
(and by the way it packed a picnic because even
the infinite has to eat).
Many other
infinites, thinking themselves finite,
were standing on the same platforms,
riding the same trains, buses and street cars, or driving
and then walking, hurrying along the streets to
reach the same sea-light..
but they were all very busy being finite
and hiding the sea-light in their eyes...
Alone at last and
walking on the hard-packed sand
it hurried to the very edge where the water comes and goes..
the eyes already somewhat calmer under the shimmering sky
and gazing at that distant perfect line
where one seems to begin and the other end...
and then the sea
gave answer to
the question that it couldn't ask
and the sea said shhhhh... the sea said shhhhh...the sea....
Photo by Sam
"Nonacceptance
is always suffering,
no matter what you are not accepting.
Acceptance is always freedom,
no matter what you are accepting."
~Cheri Huber, Zen teacher
From the book, "There Is Nothing Wrong With You,"
published by Keep
It Simple Books.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0971030901/Angelinc
James Traverse
NDS
Yes. The emphasis
is on the accepting itself.
Dwelling on the 'I' that is accepting is the
whirl of the local
mind chasing its own tail (the spiral whirl).
*Seeing* that the 'I' is doing this is the
ending of the 'I'.
(the natural role of the 'I' is for it to arise functional as
necessary and then like an actor on a stage whose role has been
played
it relaxes (falls away). An example: "I am writing this
message" -
beyond this functional role the 'I' is a nuisance and the source
of
tremendous mischief).
In the absence of this 'I', 'what is' is seen
clearly and
intellent action naturally unfolds when there is this clarity in
Seeing - this is 'in-the-light' - or if you prefer
'Enlightenment'.
There is no entity that is enlightened. Seeing is natural
and does
not require an entity that identifies her/himself as the seer who
comments/reacts to 'what is' seen.
Seeing is Doing.
Love and Gratitude,
James
ps - Happy 4th
Jerry
Anyone trying their hand at writing fiction might take a look at the sample chapters in this book:
The Plot Thickens: 8 Ways to Bring Fiction to Life:
Contributed to Live Journal by Robertstheology
Mark Otter
NDS
I have a small
wooden Humpty Dumpty that I bought at the Taos
General Store to celebrate getting a job. It sits on the edge of
the
little window between my kitchen and living room. I just
dropped
the wok lid, which knocked it off, but it didn't break. Cheap
simulacrum!!!!!