There’s definitely not enough poetry on this blog recently.

This morning, while walking back from the village, I heard something scuttle across the road and turned to look, only to find it was just a dry leaf blown by the wind, not an interesting small creature that would inspire me to write something new.

Then again, the scampering noise and the slight incongruity reminded me of the white mice in this piece, which dates all the way back to the year 2000:

Our memories work in a funny way that we mostly remember the things that stand out, the odd things…

Have you ever met someone who spoke to animals in the most natural way as if animals understood every word they said? I have.

This boy in this 15 year old film scan was the camel herder during a sunrise trip we took to the pyramids at Giza. It was a very early morning hour exactly at sunrise and I heard him going on and on carrying a conversation that sounded to me like he was speaking to another person. He spoke of things that in my mind a camel could not understand and would have absolutely no interest in, but nevertheless the boy went on and on. And this made me think that if I were to spend hours everyday in the desert and in the company of very few…

Every year around this time, everyone with roots in Utah will notice that his or her Facebook page is full of photos of people covered in colored dust and having a great time.

Though crowds, noise, and dancing aren’t usually my thing, this year I decided to go to the Festival of Colors, a Hindu festival celebrated

in the spring. Here we are at the Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork, Utah:

My good friends Destinee and Kyle, all colorful.

I went with some friends who are seasoned festival attendees. That was the first time I’d actually been to that temple, and it was beautiful, especially speckled with bright colors. The temple was surrounded with peacocks and lamas and these little yak-like things called zebos. As soon as I stepped in the gates, somebody pelted me with bright yellow cornstarch. I bought three bags of neon-bright powder in hot pink, green…

A grieving mother approached Buddha, carrying the body of her dead child in her arms. She begged him, “I know you can bring him back to life.”

 Buddha replied, “Death is inevitable; I cannot restore his life.” The woman was devastated, and was not prepared to accept this answer. Seeing her pain, Buddha said, “I can bring your child back to life, but only if you bring me mustard seeds from a person who has never had a death in his family.”

Hearing these words, a hope was awakened within the grieving mother’s heart. Immediately she rushed out to beg. She knocked at the first door and asked for some mustard seeds. The middle-aged lady answering the door was very kind and asked her to wait a moment. The woman asked, “There has not been a death in your family, has there?”

The lady started crying and said, “Six months…

everything is within you.
all of this world.
the next.
& the next.
it’s all within.
each world is peeled away the deeper you go within.
go ahead.
peel these worlds away.
strip off every single layer.
till you discover your own consciousness.
in its natural state of being.
just being.
your consciousness does NOTHING.
it just is.
existence.
with no want.
with no desire.
with no goal.
just existence.
pure.
in its truest form.
knowing it can create.
knowing it has rediscovered itself.
are you ready to take that trip?
that long journey.
within.
you are at the threshold.
the first step.
to the true realization of your own divinity.
the rest of the journey, though long, is but a step away.
a thought, a simple thought, away.
are you ready?
this is your time to go within.
where you are.
just are.
nothing else.
you are, we all…

Sharmishtha Basu
1.3.12

Rules of Haibun: A combination of prose and haikus, great importance is given to sensory side, an attempt to create a picture full of colours and fragrance through prose and haikus. (Syllable count of haiku, three line poetry is 5-7-5) I WILL SUGGEST YOU TO CHECK OUT THE RULES YOURSELF.

listen to the silence.
listen to the peace.
that resides within.
it speaks.
unbiased.
it speaks.
God’s language.
hear.
listen.
heed.
it will guide.
it will heal.
it will lead.
it will help others.
listen to the silence inside.
it is pure.
it is your SELF.
waiting to be heard.
flowering words.
spoken to all.
spoken through you.
it waits.
to be set free.
to cover all the earth.
your silence.
speaks louder than you think.
let it out.
let it run free.
it will find a way.
to reach whom it’s supposed to.
your silence.
is God’s word.
hear it carefully.
it is for you & me.
together as one.
unspoken words.
but powerful thoughts.
planted by a loving gardener.
for you to reap.
for you to spread.
for you to lovingly tend.
let God’s words merge with your silence.
all powerful.
all knowing.
all ONE.
as we truly…

“For some of us, it’s time to own up, step up and do what success requires. It’s that complex and that simple. We’ve read enough. Thought enough. Talked enough. Planned enough. Avoided enough. Hoped enough. Intended enough. Waited enough.

Now it’s time to do enough.”

~ Craig Harper

Image Credit: Making Things Happen

This morning I am going to answer questions only.

Question: Do you believe in the efficacy of prayer, and the value of prayer that is directed out of whole-hearted sympathy to the misfortune and suffering of others? Cannot prayer, in the right sense, ever bring about the freedom of which you speak?

Krishnamurti: When we use the word “prayer”, I think we use it with a very definite meaning. As it is generally understood, it means praying to someone outside of ourselves to give us strength, understanding, and so on. That is, we are looking for help from an external source. When you are suffering and you look to another to relieve you from that suffering, you are but creating in your mind, and therefore in your action, incompleteness, duality. So from my point of view, prayer, as it is commonly understood, has no value. You may forget your suffering…

Can we be a friend
who listens without judgement,
offers understanding when we
do not understand ourselves, a
friend who does not try to solve
the problem, but rather allows
the other to grow through their experience?

Can we be a friend to one who
is being unlovable at the
moment? Can we sit quietly
with another in an hour of grief?
Can we love enough to just
allow whatever is unfolding
to manifest as it is intended?

THE uplifting adage “attitude is altitude” aptly pinpoints how the power of positive thought and intention affects every aspect of our lives.

“For decades, scientists have tried to test the power of prayer and positive thinking, with mixed results,” writes NPR National Desk religion correspondent Barbara Bradley Hagerty about a study on the science of spirituality.

“Now some scientists,” she writes, “are fording new, and controversial territory.” In an area of esoteric inquiry which is sometimes called Mental Alchemy and/or Metaphysics, a lot of thinkers over the ages have stated the idea in various ways.

The conviction that the thoughts one thinks are the great determiners of the content of one’s life, inspires  many to forge on despite difficult life circumstances.

If you are a small-business owner who provides a service, you may recognise the following scenario: it’s Monday morning and there is one meeting in the diary from 9 to 10.30. And then another one from 2-3 and maybe some client calls in between. You know you will have plenty of emails coming in, and then there is the travelling and preparation time for the meetings. In the end, you may find yourself thinking about and planning your work for the week on Sunday evenings.

Come Monday, you are also squeezing in the writing of invoices, presentations or articles. Then Tuesday seems like a repeat of Monday with a networking meeting thrown in for good measure.

Is it really all in a day’s work? Or can your workload be handled differently?

I suggest that it can. For a start, try to limit your availability for meetings; although this can…

“Read to learn, write to understand, teach to master.” – Yogi Tea

I am passionate about teaching – whatever we know, whatever we practice, whatever we preach, I believe we should teach it so we can pass it on. Some of the people I’m most grateful for in my life have been my teachers. As of late, I’ve begun to expand my definition of teacher.

Someone doesn’t need to be standing in front of a classroom of any kind to be a teacher. We teach in the moments that we’re on the subway, as we’re picking up our morning coffee, as we’re grocery shopping. In the quiet moments of every day life, at those times when we aren’t aware that anyone is looking to us, we teach our most authentic lessons. How we act in each moment has the potential to teach someone something. It’s a gift we always have…