Appreciation

Judging seeks a target, a victim. If it is denied some one out there then it turns on oneself with vengeance
Better to give up judging altogether.
In stead let us try appreciation.
There must be something worth appreciating in God's creation.
If we can't find anything at all, then we are really lost.
Only a miracle (or God's grace ) can save us then.
Ganoba in praise

Path of love

When I walk with you or someone like you,
 on the path of love
 and they agree to hold hands,
then my own journey becomes very beautiful
 and enjoyable.
All worries, about results and difficulties
 along the way, are extinguished.
Ganoba in Love

In Love

How did you know that I am now into the practice of Pranayam?
It is gradually but surely cleaning the body of all the accumulated stiffness. Pran (life force) is flowing more freely through the system now.
All kinds of conditionalities are leaving the mind, which is now relatively empty. I can see a time, not far away, when there will be no mind, just pure I (the self, atman).
I am in love. Someday I will be able to say "I am love."
Ganoba

Purpose of Life

The purpose of our life is definitely not physical pleasure,
or mental happiness,
not even spiritual bliss.
These are all by products that we receive along the way.
The purpose is seva and sadhana.
Seva refers to the service we do in performing our alloted roles
and sadhana is study, largely practical,
to understand God's scheme of creation (called bramha gyan in sanskrit).
Ganoba

Forgiveness

Tears are not a prerequisite for seeking forgiveness.
Seek forgiveness from the heart, wooden or stony. The seeking will begin to soften the heart and tears will eventually flow. But before that you may experience goose pimples on the skin or a shiver running down your spine or the cracking of the voice and the moistening of the eyes.
Say it to the sea or the stars (any natural object, may be a grand old tree) and say it loudly with gay abandon
And do remember that I am standing by your side doing the same.
ganoba in love.

A hymn in praise of God

I have never seen a lotus
rising from the mud
nor smelled the fragrance
of its perfect bloom
but I have felt your presence
in the silence of the night
reaching down to raise me
from the tomb

A wonderful hymn in praise of God.
Who knows whether he has lotus feet and whether He rose out of mud. Who knows whether she smells like the lotus or like cow dung.
No one can describe with any claim to certainty his attributes.
We only describe our limited experience and then set it to music and dance in celebration.
You do it so beautifully. May be God works through you.
lots of love
Ganoba


"A sacred language, is one which guides us to our own true nature, and
every time we derail ourselves, reminds us in some way that we're
missing out on its real nourishment."

many gods as stepping stones

In the Hindu pantheon there are thousands of gods. This recognizes the fact that humans are evolved to varying degrees intellectually and emotionally. Not all can comprehend God in the abstract, Nirgun, Niraakaar state of being. Therefore sages have presented God in forms that humans at different stages of evolution can identify with. They can devote themselves to the service of their chosen god and use him/her as the guide for further evolution to the spiritual pinnacle of complete oneness. They are like stepping stones that help us cross a turbulent river.
We all need our own nectar/wine to get drunk so we can rise above our mundane worldly concerns.
with much love and admiration.
ganoba

About Kisses

Kiss means bringing two lovers together. There are many ways in which it is done. Each way has its own idiosyncrasies, some nice and some not so nice.
You are free to choose any way. Better to be open to many ways.

Yes, a kiss that ends all desire. a kiss of complete fulfillment.

"the kiss of life is different from any other kiss
it is more compassion than passion
it is warm, gentle and lingering
it starts with the ego surrendered
and dissolves separateness
for ever.
Ganoba

Pratyaksh Darshan

It is better to rely on ones own experience (pratyaksh Darshan) rather than impersonal expertise coming from a newsletter or even the Shastras. These are after all just commentaries.
Ramkrishna Paramhansa was called a mad monk by many. Even swami Vivekanand said so before he had met Ramkrishna.
Ganoba, the mad monk

Falling from Ladders

Falling from physical ladders one may break bones,
from social or professional ladders one may LOSE FACE.
But if we fall from spiritual ladders (the tao, the way etc)
We may be lost for a long time, may be life times.
You choose.
Ganoba

Only Awareness

Yes awareness is all that we can achieve and hold on to. What we are aware of represents the content. Spirituality is not concerned with the content. It can be anything. It amounts to nothing anyway.
Spirituality is concerned with the container which is the great void, like the ocean. It will sometimes be cold and at other times warm. Its mood will change. Our love for the ocean does not depend on its moods.
Now imagine an ocean which holds all the galaxies and more. It expands and shrinks ( so the scientists say). Does our awe and wonder change with the spectacle?
No, it is a constant.
Let us go beyond this too, to the creator. Now it is just love, pure and simple, no fear, no awe, not even wonder. Joy comes from being open to the creator.
Lots of love.
Ganoba

The Creator's children

I am happy.
I am in love.
These are complete statements of how I am.
There is no need to add any thing else.
I understand it fully.
If someone has difficulty understanding this, I will leave it at that. I can offer no explanations or commentaries or supplementaries.
I will just wait for understanding to dawn. It will happen at the right time, not a moment before or after.
We are the creator's children, aren't we?
Ganoba

Being in debt

Can the thumb be indebted to the toe?
can the river do more than simply flow?
let me leave small self to stand out in the rain
and simply forget to bring it back again.

Yes when being indebted is the same thing as being in love, then anything is possible.
We have many rivers which frequently change course, almost vanish in summer and become like the ocean in the rainy season. in the winter the become sluggish masses of rocks and snow or freeze altogether. Then we have the river Saraswati, which has gone underground for ages. It is still believed to emerge to meet the Ganga and Yamuna at the triveni in Allahabad particularly during the Kumbh. It is happening now.
The idea about the small self is very endearing. What a nice way of dealing with it.

Ganoba

Ocean of Love

One of the problems with the modern world, dominated by rationality and science as it is, is that it is human centric, meaning it sees reality from the human point of view. Only those things that we can perceive with the human senses are considered real and of any practical value. This severely limits our perception and understanding.
That is why we give so much importance to the body and that too, the young body. Consciousness, which has no physical form, is considered to be non existent. The truth is that consciousness is the vast ocean ( I prefer emptiness or the void or shoonya) in which and from which, millions of bodies take birth, live out their meager lives and then die ( that is dissolve into it)
It is really so simple. having realised this I live in bliss, in love, in abundance, call what you will.
I am so pleased that you have chosen to join me to enjoy the boundless possibilities that life offers.
Lots of dunks in the ocean of love. May you never recover from this.
Ganoba

From the well of silence

When words pour out
from the well of silence
they seep in, effortlessly
into the cracks and crevices
of a loving heart
to spill over into nothingness.
Ganoba

Cleaning up

today I am cleaning for other people
what a change!!

love and silent poems today
breathing with you and cleaning up.

Just say, I am cleaning, and notice the difference.
What comes after the verb (the action) are conditionalities that reduce the impact of the action.
Also pay greater attention to the consequences of the action on your self (character) than on the world out there.
silent love reaches across space and time and can go through all kinds of walls.
ganoba


today i am cleaning for other people
what a change!!

love and silent poems today
breathing with you and cleaning up

The wonderful Creator

If I truly believe in God, the wonderful creator,
who creates out of nothing,
has no blue prints to copy and to fall back on,
whose work is so effortless that it is like no work,
who creates every thing with total love
and having created lays no claim on it,
then I have to try and imbibe these and many other such wonderful qualities.
Is there any other option?
None for me.
You have lit a spark in me that makes every thing crystal clear.
How do I acknowledge it? Saying thanks seems to trivialise it.
Ganoba

Stupidity

When I call you stupid, it is in recognition of our shared ancestry and with deep love.
Yes stupidity is our most consistent quality and the height of stupidity is to believe that we are very wise.
Let us laugh to that.
Ganoba

Let us fly

this morning I watched a bird riding a thermal updraft above a cliff
and found a hint of the 'how to' of effortlessness.

Aren't the birds wiser than us, at least in this respect?
I realised this long ago and from then stopped claiming that I am close to God simply because I am a human being or that I am at the peak of evolution.
I am a little humble now at it allows me to appreciate the wonderful artist that God is. I now receive God's blessing all the time.
Is this what you mean by joining the updraft and experiencing weightlessness?
come let us fly.
Ganoba in love

Being Present

how would one act out being in the present?
an eternal querry.

There are many ways.
one example:
Introduce yourself without any reference to the past or future.
Ganoba

Meditations in Nothingness

In our hurry to get somewhere, we forget to enjoy the beauty along the way.
Some of us have experimented with slowing down the pace.
From time to time we take a pause, stand still and keep quiet.
These moments of doing nothing, being nothing have brought wonderful insights.
We have called these meditations in nothingness.
We now open this space to all who are seeking peace and love.
Come to pause, to reflect, to relax and to leave your foot prints behind.
Ganoba in love

The book of life

For many years now I have read only one book, the book of life. Of and on I sit still doing nothing. Gradually the mind is emptied of the accumulated muck and in time into the empty and clear mind beautiful ideas appear. They represent both science and scripture. They are easy to understand and to apply.
That is all.
Ganoba

Feminine and Masculine

What is feminine and what masculine?
If we go beyond the stereotypes then we would find that all of us are a combination of the two. The Chinese called it Yin and Yang, In Sankhya philosophy, it is called Purush and Prakriti. I call it Ishwar and Maya. In bhakti it is Radha and Krishna.
You are as much feminine as I am, otherwise how could we love each other so much?
Ganoba

Celestial Sleep

When we sit still
and hold our silence
then the lord plays the flute.
It rings in the cozy chambers
of the heart, whispering us
into celestial sleep.
Ganoba in love

I am only the Messenger

I am only the messenger,
the postman.
the song comes from
the source.
Written in words
soaked with the aroma
of mother earth,
Kissed by morning dew
shinning with the touch
of the rising sun.
Blessed am I who carries the message
Blessed are you who receives it.
Ganoba

The Messenger

All our experiences are messengers from our maker and master. How do we receive them?

The messenger is loved
just as much as the source
from whom it comes
and whom it represents.

The messenger is loved
irrespective of the form
in which it comes,
irrespective of the time of day
when it calls.

We offer the best that we can,
nourishment, shelter and solace
for it has traveled
a long and arduous way
to deliver the message
just in time.

Ganoba,
the messenger

Opposites at Play

Silence is not the absence of sound
emptiness is not the absence of ground
Darkness is not the absence of light
stillness is not the absence of flight
an empty stomach is not hunger
an empty mind is not a blunder
to find the true import of these
let the opposites play with ease
as they please
as they please.
ganoba the clown

The Moment

A day has 24 hrs.
and an hour has 60 minutes
and a minute has 60 seconds
and so on.
But the moment is indivisible
and the mysteries of the moment
are endless and unfathomable.
Ganoba, the bottomless

Independence

She can live independently, which means she will take or give no help to/from anyone human or animal or even nature and that she will not interact with any one.

Ascetics try to do this by withdrawing into caves deep inside jungles. Buddha did this too and he finally realised that there is no escape into independence.
We all have to take on responsibilities and play our part in the scheme of God. There is no choice. Call it by any name.
Ganoba

Looking Within

Looking Within
Looking Within is going beyond interactions, transactions, confrontations, mere behaviour of any kind, to the source of it all.
It is going away from our usual preoccupation with worldly results, to discovering our roots, our cultural and spiritual moorings.
It is an attempt to discover our true nature and our mission in life.
Ganoba

The divine moment

the nest is empty
but warmth remains
may spirit carry you in comfort
and bring you safely home.

the nest is empty and warm

the seed waits for the divine moment

to germinate

and to bring forth life

with all its grandeur.

ganoba

the nest is empty
but warmth remains
may spirit carry you in comfort
and bring you safely home

The Divine

the makers hand creates

the grand and the gorgeous

as lovingly and meticulously

as the lowly and mundane.

These classifications

of course are only in the human mind

more cultured the mind

cruder are the classifications

for simple folks, as I see around me now

it is all divine and all beautiful.

ganoba

Love

I am love
You are love
God is love
truly love is everywhere
Ganoba in love

Creation

Once we stop the process of classification,
which in reality is a process of fragmenting the universe into tiny bits,
we begin to see the universe as one whole.

We can then see the creator at work, deeply engrossed in love, in an expansive mood, creating effortlessly and playfully. His creation keeps surprising him, so marvelous it is. He is thrilled with his work and its beauty.

The created universe is imbued with all these qualities; love, expansiveness,effortlessness, playfulness, wonder, beauty and joy.

The most wonderful aspect is that it is an ongoing process.
Let us dissolve the myth of a separate identity into this mahasagar and mahayagna
Ganoba

Spiritual Heritage

An article I recently read exhorted us to be loyal to those who are absent.
Presence here clearly refers to the physical presence of the person. This is the first error we make in dealing with people and situations that ties us down to the physical/material plane. To draw upon our spiritual heritage and wisdom we need to realize that we are much more than our bodies.
Then we would realize that honesty, loyalty and such other qualities are universal and are not bound by a particular time and space or culture.
Our behaviour then would be the same whether a person is physically present or not.
Ganoba in love

Virtual space

The virtual space whether of the technological or celestial kind is a wonderful phenomenon.
To receive its blessings we have to play our part, sincerely and regularly.
With regular practice it becomes graceful, exciting and enjoyable.
I am still learning the tricks.
Ganoba

Mahasagar

Once we stop the process of classification, which in reality is a process of fragmenting the universe into tiny bits, we begin to see the universe as one whole.
Then we can see the creator at work, deeply engrossed in love, in an expansive mood, creating effortlessly and playfully. His creation keeps surprising him, so marvelous it is. He is thrilled with his work and its beauty. The created universe is imbued with all these qualities; love, expansiveness,effortlessness, playfulness, wonder, beauty and joy.
The most wonderful aspect is that it is an ongoing process.
Let us dissolve the myth of a separate identity into this mahasagar.
Ganoba