My poem ~ to Spirit of Yoga's beautiful music

Intoxicating beauty to the heart and soul,
it creeps like mist in a field of snow.

The haunting ethereal sounds,
strums like a river
like tears in my heart
in joy,
in peace,
and in sorrow.

A deep sense of a familiar homeland,
A depth so deep, a million lives that lived.

All this is, but resonance of Everything in all.

Oh how blissful when she strums and she sings.
Oh, how beautiful it is, when she dances with us.
Oh how beautiful it is when we weep with her.

and hereforth we share this everlasting essence of our earth.

The everflowing, the essence of peace. Recharged, renew, revisited
once more.

The famous 10 Actors Studio's Questions

1. What is your favorite word?
2. What is your least favorite word?
3. What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
4. What turns you off?
5. What is your favorite curse word?
6. What sound or noise do you love?
7. What sound or noise do you hate?
8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
9. What profession would you not like to do?
10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?


here's my list ;) whats yours?
1. love
2. kill
3. divine love & nature (grace, reverence, selflessness, compassion etc) & sensitive observers
4. whiners
5. HOLY 'anything'
6. total deep silence
7. mental noise
8. philanthropist with entrepreneur skills
9. the one who orders to kill
10. love has arrived.

little things in life...

...makes a big difference

magnetic smiles
lovely memories
kind gestures
hot coffee & tea
animated conversations
a friend who listens and shares
someone who truly cheers me up

Loosing myself

"Why are we so full of restraint? Why do we not give in all directions?
Is it fear of losing ourselves? Until we do lose ourselves there is no
hope of finding ourselves." -- Henry Miller


"The impulses that make a fool or worse of us in certain circumstances
may be necessary for our happiness." -- Gertrude Atherton

We were born to shine! Andrea Bocelli!

"Let me arise and open the gate, To breathe the wild warm air...." --
Violet Fane

Sukhi Love

A puppy I met who was full of joy and grace.

My Poem - Symphony in the Sky

Last night at Fort Canning Hill,
I lay on someones sarong throw.

Over the prickly grass,
stretching feet wide,
hands by my side.

My ears perks wistfully,
To melancholy tunes,
Unplugged, with vocalists in duets,
audiences abreast.

I lay face up watching the sky
And this is what I see ...

A wonderful glimpse it was,
Of a yearned craving met,
of a merged oneness,
with the night sky above.

Darkness has fallen but
Sky looks daylight blue,
Stars’ abundant,
winking back at me.
Air high high above,
Fresh, clear and crisp.

White Clouds floating by,
in different shapes and sizes,
In very slow motion,
waving and chuckling at me.
In different layers,
sequenced unplanned,
unfazed by each other's
type of dance.

Floating by like a symphony,
orchestrated beautifully
in this very musical night.

Yet in this sequence,
There is a special quietness
A stillness in his gaze.
A stillnes in her gestures.

In this stillness
Lies a peaceful grace,
In this thoughtless moment,
lies complete silence.

O’ Blue Sky, O’ White Clouds, O’ Starry Night,
My symphony in the sky.
In this stillness, in this silence,
How I fell in love with thee.

Maya Angelou

Sharing another inspiration to me..

Maya Angelou, shares some thoughts about the important virtue of courage, growing into the seventies and defining our principles.


Oprah and Maya AngelouListen in on Oprah's one-on-one conversation with Maya Angelou in link below.

She is hailed as a remarkable Renaissance woman, a beloved poet and best-selling author and an actress. She has moved generations with her talent and passion for social change and is recognized around the world as a leading civil rights activist.


http://www.oprah.com/omagazine/200012/omag_200012_maya.jhtml

Awesome Songs/Artists

MICHAEL JACKSON - Earth Song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rch7ey-v7ks

What about sunrise
What about rain
What about all the things
That you said we were to gain.. .
What about killing fields
Is there a time
What about all the things
The That you said was yours and mine...
Did you ever stop to notice
All the blood we've shed before
Did you ever stop to notice
The crying Earth the weeping shores?

What have we done to the world
Look what we've done
What about all the peace
That you pledge your only son...
What about flowering fields
Is there a time
What about all the dreams
That you said was yours and mine...
Did you ever stop to notice
All the children dead from war
Did you ever stop to notice
The crying Earth the weeping shores

Aaaaaaaaaaah

I used to dream
I used to glance beyond the stars
Now I don't know where we are
Although I know we've drifted far


INDIA.ARIE

Hear: I am not my Hair Remix Feat. Akon, Little Things, God is Real
http://www.indiaarie.com/ (under Media)
Lyrics: http://www.treehouse.cz/india/lyrics/


Julia Fordham

Hear: Love moves in mysterious ways
http://www.juliafordham.com/looklistenbuy.php

MY other favs:
Ben Leinbach - The Spirit of Yoga
Sting
Seal
Andrea Bocelli
Queen

Movies in my books:
Splash
Phenomenon
Always
Big Blue
I dreamed of Africa
Motorcylce Diaries
5th Element
Girl on the Bridge (Fille sur le pont, La)
Powder
Shawshank Redemption
Million Dollar Baby
Elephant Man
My Left Foot
Le Papillon
Braveheeart
Schindlers List
A Beautiful Mind
Lord of the Rings
Wedding CRashes **
THe Pianist
The World's Fastest Indian
Ocean's 11/12
City of Joy
The Last Samurai
The Untouchables
The Notebook
Shine
Letters from Iwo Jima
Too Hot to Handle
Forest Gump
Babel
Once Upon a Time in CHina series
Hero


etc etc etc

and all others with Richard Gere of course

Remembering Your Spirit

The Nurture of Nature

"My spirit is honored when I think of my connectedness to the Universe."
Sidney Poitier


When Sidney Poitier remembers his spirit, his mind wanders back to the Bahamas where he grew up..

"The sounds that came to me as a boy were sounds of the environment, the sounds of insects, the sounds of water against the shore," Sidney says of walking the beach for hours by himself. "There was a purity. There was a closeness to nature. I know that it was a most powerful influence on the rest of my life."
Sidney honors his spirit when he thinks of the core values his parents instilled in him as he grew up. "My father didn't define himself by material things. He loved us. And he cared for us. And he talked to us. And he nurtured us. My mother's spirit is always around me. Always there, guiding me almost. I first felt that sense on Cat Island. I never lost that."

The virtues of simplicity and the values he learned from his parents have kept him connected to the powerful inner spirit that continues to guide him.

"I feel that I am a part of everything. I am a part of nature."

AUM

Aum (also Om, Devanagari, Chinese: 唵) is a mystical or sacred syllable in the Dharmic religions. It is placed at the beginning of most Hindu texts as a sacred exclamation to be uttered at the beginning and end of a reading of the Vedas or previously to any prayer or mantra. The Mandukya Upanishad is entirely devoted to the explanation of the syllable.

Origin, name and written symbols

With preceding a or ā, the o of om in Sanskrit grammar in sandhi (Sanskrit: संधि, "joining") does not form vriddhi (au) but guna (o) per Pāṇini 6.1.95.

The Sanskrit name for the syllable is praṇava, from a root nu "to shout, sound, praise", verbal pra-nu- being attested as "to make a humming or droning sound" in the Brahmanas, and taking the specific meaning of "to utter the syllable om" in the Chandogya Upanishad and the Shrauta Sutras. More rarely used terms are akṣara or ekākṣara, and in later times omkāra becomes prevalent.

The Aum symbol is a ligature of Devanagari ओ+ँ (oṃ, encoded in Unicode at U+0950 ॐ, the Tibetan script variant ༀ at U+0F00, and the Chinese 唵 at U+5535 or 吽 at U+543D) it is said to represent the vibration of the universe.

In Hinduism

is first described as all-encompassing mystical entity in the Upanishads. Today, in all Hindu art and all over India and Nepal, 'Aum' can be seen virtually everywhere, a standard sign[citation needed] for Hinduism and its philosophy and mythology.

Upanishads and Sutra literature

Further information: Mandukya Upanishad

The syllable is mentioned in all the Upanishads, specially elaborated upon in the Taittiriya, Chandogya and Mundaka Upanishads. set forth as the object of profound religious meditation, the highest spiritual efficacy being attributed not only to the whole word but also to the three sounds a (a-kāra), u (u-kāra), m (ma-kāra), of which it consists.

The Katha Upanishad has:

"The goal, which all Vedas declare, which all austerities aim at, and which humans desire when they live a life of continence, I will tell you briefly it is Aum"
"The one syllable [evākṣara, viz. Aum] is indeed Brahma. This one syllable is the highest. Whosoever knows this one syllable obtains all that he desires.
"This is the best support; this is the highest support. Whosoever knows this support is adored in the world of Brahma." (1.2.15-17)[1]

The Chandogya Upanishad (1.1.1-1) states:

om ity etad akṣaram udgītham upāsīta / om iti hy udgāyati / tasyopavyākhyānam
"The udgitha ["the chanting", that is, the syllable om] is the best of all essences, the highest, deserving the highest place, the eighth."

The Bhagavad Gita (8.13) has:

Uttering the monosyllable Aum, the eternal world of Brahman, One who departs leaving the body (at death), he attains the superior goal.

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali states in verse (1:27):

"tasya vacakah pranavah" which translates as, "God's voice is Aum."

In the following sutra it emphasizes, "The repetition of Om should be made with an understanding of its meaning".

Taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aum

Om Mani Padme Hum

"Hail the Jewel in the Lotus"

Here's His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama's definition






"It is very good to recite the mantra Om mani padme hum, but while you are doing it, you should be thinking on its meaning, for the meaning of the six syllables is great and vast... The first, Om [...] symbolize the practitioner's impure body, speech, and mind; they also symbolize the pure exalted body, speech, and mind of a Buddha[...]"

"The path is indicated by the next four syllables. Mani, meaning jewel, symbolizes the factors of method-the altruistic intention to become enlightened, compassion, and love.[...]"

"The two syllables, padme, meaning lotus, symbolize wisdom[...]"

"Purity must be achieved by an indivisible unity of method and wisdom, symbolized by the final syllable hum, which indicates indivisibility[...]"

"Thus the six syllables, om mani padme hum, mean that in dependence on the practice of a path which is an indivisible union of method and wisdom, you can transform your impure body, speech, and mind into the pure exalted body, speech, and mind of a Buddha[...]"

-- H.H. Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama, "Om Mani Padme Hum"

Symphony in the sky

Last night as i lay down on sarong on the grass, strecthing out my feet, with my hands on my side, to enjoy the unplugged performances of some vocal artists, i found a peaceful thoughtless moment, high up above.

Just a glimpse of this: it's like a merge of oneness with the night blue sky above me. Although darkness has fallen, Sky almost looks daylight blue, so clear and clean the air above. Momentarily covering it is White Clouds. In many shapes and sizes, of many types and formations, White Clouds float by in very slow motion. They are waving, smiling. They are playing and laughing.

They are enjoying, happy.

Everything was Still. Although White Clouds floating by. Still in his gaze. Still in her gestures.

In different layers, sequenced unplanned, yet remaining unfazed by each other's type of dance. They float by like a symphony orchestrated in a beautiful starry night.

How i fell in love with thee.
O' Blue Sky, O' White Clouds, O' Starry Lights,

How I fell in love with thee.

Eknath Easwaran

I was given a book Words To Live By from my doted bro in 2007.

Eknath Easwaran (1910-1999) is known as a spiritual teacher and the author of books on meditation and how to lead a fulfilling life, as well as a translator and interpreter of Indian literature.

In 1961 Easwaran founded the Blue Mountain Center of Meditation ( http://www.easwaran.org/ ), Passage Meditation and Nilgiri Press, based in northern California. Nilgiri Press publishes over two dozen books he authored. The centre is represented by a simple beautiful logo, and located at what it seems - beautiful california, hopefully one day i get to visit!

Words to Live By has a quote & sharing. Below, two excerpts by Easwaran:

Life consists in what a man is thinking of all day.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Joy of attaining perfect concentration and attention

To give full attention to whatever we are doing isn't easy when we have a job we dislike, or must work with people who are difficult. Then our attention wanders like a child's - looking at this glass for a moment, then at this table, then out the window. If we could attend a little more to the work, even when we dislike it, it would become quite interesting. When we can give it our full attention, anything becomes interesting. And anything, when we do not give it our full attention, becomes uninteresting.


We need men who can dream of things that never were, and ask why not.
George Bernard Shaw

In an indian movie I saw recently, a villager leaves home for the first time to travel to the city of Bombay. When he returns, his family and friends crowd around him, asking what it was like in the big city. His laconic reply sums up our era: "Such tall buildlings ... and such small people."

If we were asked to give an accounting of our society's achievements, we could claim many great technological developments and scientific discoveries, plenty of skycrappers, and the amasement of huge sums of money, but few truly secure, truly wise, truly great men and women. It is not for lack of ability of energy, though; it is because we lack a noble goal.

To grow to our full height, we need to be challenged with tasks that draw out our deeper resources, the talents and capacities we did not know we had. We need to be faced with obstacles that cannot be surmounted unless we summon up our daring and creativity. This kind of challenge is familiar to any great athlete or scientist or artist. No worthwhile accomplishment comes easily.

-------

“By virtue of being human, each of us has the capacity to choose, to change, to grow.”
EKNATH EASWARAN