One of several mantras that guide me through my day and life....

Now it's been something seeing you again

And in this time we've had to spend

You've been so good to be around

I thank you for that special thrill

Keep me going on until

The next time I'm in town

Though I won't be back here for a while

Or hear your laughter, see you smile

And I'll remember what went down

I can't tell you how or when

But I'll be seeing you again

The next time I'm in town

Now the places and the faces range

'Cross the bridge of time and change

Once again I'm homeward bound

There's one thing I promise you

That's another rendezvous

The next time I'm in town

Now it's been something seeing you again

And in this time we've had to spend

You've been so good to be around

And I thank you for that special thrill

Keep me goin' on until

The next time I'm in town

'Til the next time I'm in town

'Til the next time I'm in town

Mark Knopfler,

The Next Time I'm in Town

There Must Be More

Bright but hidden, the Self dwells in the heart. Everything that moves, breathes, opens, and closes Lives in the Self. He is the source of love And may be known through love but not through thought. He is the goal of life. Attain this goal!   The shining Self dwells hidden in the heart. Everything in the cosmos, great and small, Lives in the Self. He is the source of life, Truth beyond the transcience of this world. He is the goal of life. Attain this goal!   Take the great bow of the sacred scriptures. Place on it the arrow of devotion; Then draw the bowstring of meditation And aim at the target, the Lord of Love. The mantram is the bow, the aspirant Is the arrow, and the Lord the target. Now draw the bowstring of meditation, And hitting the target be one with Him. The Mundaka Upanishad, translated by Eknath Easwaren Being human is not a simple thing. We come into these bodies, into this world, with no skills whatsoever. Anything we may have picked up in past lives are of necessity forgotten. Many of us end up with parents who know next to nothing about child-rearing, and whose own life skills may be lacking, who parent by trial and error, or simply by expediency and happenstance (for when you're struggling to figure it out yourself while making enough money to support a family and building a career and "working on" your marriage/relationship, much subtlety can fall by the wayside).    Then we go to school, to be taught and socialized, and what they teach us is not how to be in the moment, how to be present to each other and to the world; rather they teach us, mainly, to memorize, to speculate, to break things down into their constituent parts and leave our understanding of the movement and operation of the whole to someone or something else. We are taught to follow orders, often without knowing the "why" of things; we are taught to conform, all of us saying the pledge of allegiance together (do they still do that?), often dressing alike, being asked to "behave" alike; we are taught to see what's wrong with things: remember those puzzlers? "What's wrong with this picture?" and there'd be someone riding a bicycle that is upside down, and someone with three hands, and you'd go through and circle all the "wrong" things?   Then we're sent out into the world and told to thrive.   It's no one's fault. We can teach only what we know, and what most know is only what they were taught by others who didn't know.   Eventually, though, we realize there must be more. We begin to seek. And eventually that seeking leads us back to ourselves and we must find the way to transcend this relative world, transcend our limited thinking, transcend our narrow experience of life; somehow finding our way to experience the wholeness of life and our place in it, rather than our felt separation from it..   Our meditation is one way. One way to have an actual experience of Being. An experience of our true Self. It is not the only way, but it is a way that works, consistently, and that consistently leads us in the direction of the joy and bliss of Being that is our birthright. And as we embrace this practice and the world view from which it comes, we become able to pass on to our own children some ideas and some tools--of wholeness and peace, joy and compassion, endless possibility--the sum of which will grow in them the ability to find for themselves a meaningful life, a joyful existence. And that makes the first part of all this worth going through.   Today I will have compassion for myself, and others like me, for those learned beliefs and behaviors that have ceased to work, and that have kept me separate from the world and from my fellows. I will dedicate myself at least once today to knowing what I am beyond these beliefs and behaviors.   All original material copyright © 2015 Jeff Kober

Celebrated Thanksgiving a day early with my daughter, grandson (he's taller than me at age fourteen!) and granddaughter at my tiny home. Good times had by all!!

One thing [Jesus] said was 'Blessed are the peacemakers for they are called the children of God'. He did not say a Christian, Hindu, Muslim, a Jew or a Sikh. If he or she is a peacemaker, he is a child of God. He also said 'Bless those that curse you, do good to those who hate you'. This is the complete opposite of what we usually want to do when someone curses us.

He also said, 'Lay treasures in your heart where no thieves will break in and steal'. This is what we were just talking about. This treasure is the spark of the Supreme Being that resides in the heart of each and every one of us. 'Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you.' It is a Vedantic statement. Its very nature is peace, bliss and happiness. If you hold on to that, you will need nothing.

Can you imagine someone saying, 'Bless them that curse you'? This can come only from a person who has a pure heart.The way of the world is to bless those that bless you and catch those that curse you and beat them up.

Our religions may be different, our ideologies may be different, we may come from different places, but we should remember one thing - we are all human beings and we all seek peace and happiness. When the Jew says Shalom he means peace. When the Muslim says Salaamhe means peace. And, what do they do? Sometimes, in this world, people do exactly the opposite of what their religion says.

And for us, in the ancient Hindu system of thought, everything starts with 'Om Shaanti, Shaanti, Shaanti.' When you go to a temple and you get prasaad - it means may you have peace. If you look up the meaning of the word prasaad in Sanskrit, this is what it means - peace.

There is nobody who does not seek it. In this, we are all the same - we all desire peace and happiness. As human beings with the same desires and same yearnings, we are One and are not different from each other.

Sri M, in a talk at the Nirahaar Satyagraha against Terrorism and Violence in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India, October 20, 2015

Q: I must begin with some absolute truth. Is there any?

M: Yes, there is, the feeling: 'I am'. Begin with that

Q: Nothing else is true?

M: All else is neither true nor false. It seems real when it appears, it disappears when it is denied. A transient thing is a mystery.

Q: I thought the real is the mystery.

M: How can it be? The real is simple, open, clear and kind, beautiful and joyous. It is completely free of contradictions. It is ever-new, ever-fresh, endlessly creative. Being and no-being, life and death, all distinctions merge in it.

from I Am That,

Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, pp. 324-25

There is a Universal Wholeness seeking expression through everything. We are calling it simply Life. The religionist calls it God. The philosopher calls it Reality. Life is infinite energy coupled with limitless creative imagination. 

...[Life] is the invisible essence and substance of every visible form. Its nature is goodness, truth, wisdom and beauty, as well as energy and imagination. Our highest satisfaction comes from a sense of conscious union with this invisible Life. 

All human endeavor is an attempt to get back to first principles, to find such an inward wholeness that all sense of fear, doubt and uncertainty vanishes.

All quotes from Ernest Holmes,

This Thing Called You

Don't

Surrender

Your loneliness so quickly.

Let it cut more

Deep.

 

Let it ferment and season you

As few human

Or even divine ingredients can.

 

Something missing in my heart tonight

Has made my eyes so soft,

My voice so

Tender,

 

My need of God

Absolutely

Clear.

Hafiz,

My Eyes So Soft