Meditation Gems Greetings / Namaskar The development of human personality means an evolution in all three spheres -- physical, mental and spiritual. Some objective materialist thinkers have maintained that spiritualism is a utopian philosophy which does not pertain to the actual problems of life. Other thinkers have considered it a shrewd device to enslave the toiling masses. Of course, stretching one's body and sitting in lotus do not necessarily indicate progress in yoga. Yoga means union with Cosmic Consciousness and for that the meditation practices are vital. Spirituality is not a utopian ideal but a practical philosophy which can be practiced and realized in everyday life. Spirituality stands for evolution and elevation, not for superstition or pessimism. That which leads to broadness of vision is what is accepted. Spiritual philosophy does not recognize any unnatural distinctions and differentiations made between human being and human being; it stands for universal fraternity. Spirituality must foster a natural affinity among people, to unite all humanity. The approach to spirituality should be psychological and rational and should appeal to the deepest psychic sentiments of humanity. That ultimate and absolute ideal is the Cosmic Ideal -- an ideal beyond the scope of time, place and person. It is the Absolute, without and beyond relativity. It stands with Its own radiance for all time and for every entity of the cosmos, whether human being or less evolved soul. It requires spiritual practices. Gladly many have chosen to practice meditation as taught to them. Please continue and progress. Remember, before you meditate, listen to the mantra being sung. This is called "kiirtan" in yoga. It gives a general feeling of happiness and lightness to the mind, and prepares you for meditation by helping you to relax and concentrate. If you haven't already done so, now it's really time to learn your personal meditation technique. Your own mantra will be given to you according to your personal mental vibration, and that mantra will be the optimal one for your progress. Contact: initiation@ways-ahead.net --- Last time we looked at some literature. This time something a bit more recent is worth a look into. The below piece is interesting. Despite its colloquial manner it has some quite deep aspects and is from a rock song back in 1976 from Ian Hunter's "All-American Alien Boy" album. He has written other social consciousness songs. God (Take 1) (Ian Hunter) God said to me "Gonna kick your ass - 'cos all you do is ask ask ask All that energy looking for me when I'm sitting here inside you - plain to see How I built you cell for cell gave you sights to see - gave you tales to tell Even let you help yourself for a while - to take some weight off this busy child" I said to God "I found you out - I know what this world is all about!" God said "Stop - don't scramble your brain - my opponent's been messing you around again See him and me are enemies and we play little games for galaxies And he's inside you - 'n I am too - so here we are - just the three of you" "Oh we made mistakes - too many cards - but making human beings can be hard A God gets tired of playing so much chess - he wishes his God would get him out of his mess" I said to God "What's it like to die" He said "It's as plain as the sea and sky Conception was him and me and you - when your batteries fade we all just move on" I said to God "Who's winning this game - is the devil in front" He said "Is that his name You know I've been so busy I never asked - I never looked up from this awesome task" I said to God "What's good 'n bad" He said "It's just something you've got to have It don't mean nothing to us up here - but your primitive people - you gotta have fear" I said to God "Do I think for myself" He said I told you once you just help yourself Don't forget you're composed of three, your thinking comes from him and me" I said to God "How big are you, is there a religion - is it true How big's the universe - is time - the same for you as my life is to mine" God said "If all the things that made worlds float - were all to part - then you would note The size of him and the size of me - and that's how big we both shall be" He said "The universe is small - just like some fortune-teller's ball And we both sit down - and we play the game - when somebody wins it all starts again" "There's no religion - you did that - it helps to keep your little leaders fat Like faith 'n superstition stay - to help you pass the time away But when you talk of time and life - it makes me think of circles, heights Expansion is the clue - your dreams - are nearer than you've ever been" "You see my little toy to think - is from two bowls of wine to drink Don't take too much or you may drown - behave yourself - see you around..." --- Another piece worth listening to is "Heartland" from the Crosby Stills Nash and Young album of 1999 (a special reunion of them all) called "Looking Forward". These lyrics have socio-spiritual element. Heartland (Graham Nash) People come and go Living other lives Running everywhere at such a speed Never taking time To open up their eyes Never knowing where life leads In the Heartland people everywhere Try to share their hopes and dreams In the Heartland on any given day You can find your way back home Take another breath And take another chance Take another look at who you are And get ready for your life 'Cos it's such a crazy dance So open up and you'll go far Into the Heartland people everywhere Try to share their hopes and dreams In the Heartland on any given day You can find your way back home We've been running so far away From where our lives belong Will we ever get back to the rhythm of the heartbeat Do you ever feel sad For those whose hearts have turned to stone You are not alone It's time to take it slow Time to take a rest Time to leave the fast lane far behind Life is hard enough, I know But you can only do your best To get it in your hearts and minds That in the heartland people everywhere Try to share their hopes and dreams In the Heartland on any given day You can find your way back home In the Heartland people everywhere Try to share their hopes and dreams In the Heartland on any given day ... --- Lastly a piece from Jackson Browne, showing a strong social outlook and conscience. The development of conscience is also important in spiritual practices. Lives In The Balance (Jackson Browne) I've been waiting for something to happen For a week or a month or a year With the blood in the ink of the headlines And the sound of the crowd in my ear You might ask what it takes to remember When you know that you've seen it before Where a government lies to a people And a country is drifting to war And there's a shadow on the faces Of the men who send the guns To the wars that are fought in places Where their business interest runs On the radio talk shows and the T.V. You hear one thing again and again How the U.S.A. stands for freedom And we come to the aid of a friend But who are the ones that we call our friends-- These governments killing their own? Or the people who finally can't take any more And they pick up a gun or a brick or a stone There are lives in the balance There are people under fire There are children at the cannons And there is blood on the wire There's a shadow on the faces Of the men who fan the flames Of the wars that are fought in places Where we can't even say the names They sell us the President the same way They sell us our clothes and our cars They sell us every thing from youth to religion The same time they sell us our wars I want to know who the men in the shadows are I want to hear somebody asking them why They can be counted on to tell us who our enemies are But they're never the ones to fight or to die And there are lives in the balance There are people under fire There are children at the cannons And there is blood on the wire --- Some anonymous poetry. Universal Nucleus As the Creator you were the first, the first to witness a thousand galaxies opening, releasing tunes in lotus melodies, you were the first, the first to watch this multiplicity of individualities. Years, years, countless years ... and now they disappear. Pure is the macrocosmic wind enveloping all that is limited our minds, sense of time, circumstances. And its centripetal force draws us nearer, closer to a nucleus beyond description. Like definitions defying dictionaries, like tangential points intersecting, like a place without direction (where love is not composed of factions), here mind throws itself into the graceful lustre of Spirit ... Flowing into final wisdom, release, release me to Eternity. --- Visitation From a distant place, your unknown face sends a vision into virtual space. Your presence carries a sense of fusion, on a shoreline where sand and water cross movements come into reality and I am tossed into a close place, next to a known face. Flowing into your caress I feel my inner consciousness reach beyond space, beyond any place, beyond form and shape where time stands still, where I am immersed in the love of your blissful eminence. In a mellow-like trance my mind is filled with your sonic ambience, tender sounds that capture the universe. At your mystical smile even a demon would cry and a desert of a heart would fall apart. Revealing all its inner feelings the symphony of my mind vibrates with your harmony. The journey of my soul has a destiny and I can see that You believe in me. --- The following story by Didi Ananda Japasiddha is a good example and is another therapeutic instance: WHY I AM ALWAYS BROKE IN JOHANNESBURG. This is an old story from when we Didis (sisters) used to live in a tiny flat in Lenasia, the Indian township to the south of Johannesburg. In the old days of apartheid, when South Africans lived in neatly contained compartments, Indians would be found living in such a neighbourhood. Though the laws have changed, it still remains much the same. Our little flat was up a white spiral staircase which gave it a kind of magical atmosphere. We were very close to what everyone calls the "top shops", the main shopping area of Lens. I remember once when a new Didi arrived from Uganda. It was freezing winter and she noticed the lady of the evening who used to park her body across the street in our neighbour's driveway. "She must be cold! We should invite her to wait inside!" she said in her naivete. "No, Didi. She doesn't want to come inside," we told her. Fifteen minutes later Didi was back at the window. "But she'll catch a cold! If she's waiting for someone she can call and tell them she's inside with us." "No, Didi. It's okay. Don't worry." And again later. "No! I'm going to call her to come in!" she said opening the door. Finally, we explained that freezing was part of the lady's profession and Didi need not bother herself. "My God! You're kidding!" she exclaimed. "Don't they know about AIDS in this country?" Oh yes! Uganda! AIDS was endemic there. Whole villages had been wiped out in Uganda and Tanzania. That was when I realized that Uganda was a different country, that Uganda had been through something terrible that South Africa had not yet discovered, that even abominable plagues can be beneficial in some ways by changing people's thinking and behaviour patterns. So prostitution was nearly extinct in that country! It was hard to imagine. I looked out at the woman in the road, stomping her leather booted feet to keep warm in her short skirt. Unfortunately, South Africa was still far away from that, then. Discussing it with the neighbour the next day we were all surprised to find out that in fact the lady was a man! -- Eish! Oh well, live and learn! But this is not a story about prostitution. This is a story about street boys - or something like that. There are a lot of African street boys in Lenasia. They tend to flock where people give them handouts and food. Indians like to give food. Muslims especially support beggars. Unfortunately, this sometimes seems to create more of them. They beg from houses. They beg from shops and restaurants. They get by, more or less. They sleep in doorways or vacant lots. Every last one of them is hooked on sniffing glue and you will never see them without their flattened plastic juice bottles with that creamy substance inside. It will be stuffed into a grimy pocket, up a dirty sleeve, inside a torn shirt or clasped in their filthy hands as they inhale deeply. I have long dreamed of starting a program for these boys. I can see they are not bad at heart. In fact, they are children. Who knows what home life they might have escaped from. It makes you wonder. Especially the smallest ones. Cheap glue is a substitute for body heat, food, or a life. They figured me out quite early on. Knew I was a soft touch. Had me pegged right away. We used to put aside food for them for when they showed up at our door. But with me it was different. With me they would follow me around in the streets. They knew my number. "Sister Didi, give us bread." "Didi! Milk!" And I did. In fact, if I was going to give, I would try to make it a full meal - or as full a meal as one could have in the road. Bread and milk. A tin of beans. Peanut butter sandwiches and bananas! Our Ugandan Didi was also generous. In fact, she would cook meals for them. Spaghetti! But she was better at imposing rules than I was. "Don't come after dark." "Wash your hands first." With me it was anywhere, any time. They knew I was a pushover. Lucky I didn't actually live there. I'd have died. One evening I had to make a very important phone call and our phone had been cut due to non payment. Bad news. It wasn't so late but no one goes out after dark in Johannesburg. Especially on foot. Especially female. Well what to do? It was an emergency. So I took Baba's name and left. I went to the nearest shop. The phone was broken. Of course. Another one. Same story. Walking and walking and walking. Well sooner or later they were bound to spot me. "Didi!" said a voice. "The people are hungry!" "Not today!" I dodged to the other sidewalk. "Maybe tomorrow." "Didi!" called another voice from the opposite corner. "Didi!" another from up ahead. Oops! Surrounded. A lot of people would have had a heart attack by then. After all, these boys are part of the reason why people in South Africa have mace in their gloveboxes, car alarms with secret disabling switches, steering locks, gear locks, brake locks and then take out their battery and distributor coil at night as well - for peace of mind. (Don't talk about the helicopter squad!) These boys are part of the reason that people have grills on their house windows, metal gates on their doors, rolls of razor wire strewn across the top of their ten foot stone walls, electric fencing, automatic alarms linked to armed guard patrols, signs on the gate with pictures of ugly dogs with big teeth dripping blood, stating: "Qaphela! Pasop! Beware!" or "Never mind the dog! Beware of owner!" or other such pleasantries. These boys are part of the reason some people don't answer their door when you ring the bell, or if they do answer they do so from a safe distance, like the upstairs balcony or through a window 100 meters away. These boys are part of the reason why some people, on hearing rustling noises in their bushes at night might open the window and fire a few shots (at the neighbour's cat) - just in case. These boys, or similar boys, or former boys just a little older than them. In South Africa, things do go bump in the night -- or even in broad daylight, for that matter. But I knew them. Not that I would entirely trust them. You don't trust glue people. Even children. But I kind of knew how far they might go if desperate. Theft maybe. Murder no. In fact, in a pinch I knew that some of them would help me if I was ever really in trouble. I wasn't walking amongst strangers like other people. And they were only calling to me because they knew me. Because they really needed something. The restaurants must not be giving that day. Usually they aren't begging any more at this time of day. So what to do? Why hadn't I planned ahead? Bought a case of beans to carry in my handbag? "I'm really broke," I told them truthfully. A little disappointed, they let me pass without further ado. They are used to accepting empty stomachs as part of life. Maybe tomorrow would be a better day. I bought some milk and went to the next phone which was also broken. Oh no! Now I would have to go to the library where all of them hung out and maybe some real crooks or other funny people, too. But I had to make this call. "Didi! Milk!" Feeling guilty I looked down at the parcel I was carrying. My own dinner. Darn! Now I'd never get it home! My heart wouldn't let me. Oh heck! I could always go back to the shop. I hoped I had some coins left. Finally I surrendered it and felt relieved. I finished the call and started back to the shop to buy a smaller container. A very small boy came right up behind me, sticking quite close. This was odd behaviour and I turned to see what he was up to. Another slightly larger boy came in front of me and I worried for a moment that this was a new robbery technique. But then, the smaller boy started whimpering and I understood that he had come to me for protection from the other one. I looked at the larger boy. He knew he couldn't beat the little one right there in front of me, but he was very angry. "This one he is steal my blanket!" he growled. "He speaking lies!" responded the little guy from his safety zone. "He doesn't have it now," I said, trying to get him to see that beating the child was useless. At that moment I wanted to cry. I wished I had some spare cash and could just say. "Come tomorrow. I'll buy you a blanket." But I didn't and I couldn't. I looked at him, trying to implore him with my eyes to try to forgive the boy. Then another even larger boy came with a long piece of wood and the medium sized one spoke to him in Sotho. I'm from Zulu-speaking Natal. I don't do Sotho. But I understood it to mean something like, "I found the little scoundrel!" The largest boy said something in reply which I didn't understand. "Don't beat him, please!" It was all I could say. The big one told the little one to scram and he sped away in the dark. The medium-sized one did nothing, obviously regarding this other boy as an authority. Relieved that he had come to break up the fight and not worsen it, I smiled with real gratitude and even admiration for people who live hand to mouth in the road and are ill treated by all, but who still maintain some character. "Thank you," I breathed. Then I saw something else. Something important. Just my smile and the respect he felt from me lifted him up SO MUCH! He also smiled broadly and said, "Thank you!" in return. And we merrily parted ways. Thank you for what? I was thinking about it on the way home. For what? For treating you like a human being? For giving you a tiny bit of respect? Ha! I may have been broke, but there was still something left to give. Just that little thing. That mental greeting (namaskar - to greet and see the divinity within). Even the smallest thing that Baba (my Guru) has taught me is so valuable, is so much what people need. In fact, that's almost worth more than food. ---