Mira Prabhu's Blog, page 16
August 11, 2017
BLISS JUNKIE
[image error]One result of discovering the amazing teachings of Eastern philosophy was that I began to closely study my own relative nature. Over time I came to the conclusion that it was composed of two almost equal but opposing sides: yes, I was half hedonist and half ascetic. Not surprising since we are enmeshed in a dualistic structure and are inclined to strong likes and dislikes. The stronger the personality, the more intense are these likes and dislikes, so, someone like me, for instance, would seek all sorts of sensory pleasure while suffering from an abysmally low tolerance for pain.
Now a wise human would gravitate to pleasures that are meaningful and that last, but the confused adolescent that I was sought enjoyment in fleeting things that left me dissatisfied and hungry for more. It was only when I heard the phrase: “insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results” that I woke up with a start and realized that I had been frittering away my precious life in repeating the same old nonsense and foolishly expecting the results to be gratifying.
It took humility combined with years of study and practice to discover that there was nothing intrinsically wrong with my compulsion to seek bliss. In fact, the mystics tell us authoritatively that bliss is the substratum of our nature and that our birthright is a state of unending peace and happiness. And yet everywhere I looked, I saw even intelligent humans that the world respected engaged in activities that brought them inevitably to frustration and sadness. I knew I already had the answers, but I had not made the right effort to make use of them. First I had to clear the wreckage of the past, which meant taking inventory of all the stupid and ignorant things I had done, then I had to focus on making amends wherever I could so I could move on, free of the horrible baggage of guilt and shame that burdens so many of us.
[image error]Simply following the yamas and niyamas, the rules of good living set down by the yogis, was more than enough to accomplish this feat, though the actual execution was both painful and difficult. When this was done (it is ongoing exercise, of course, and one must continually monitor oneself on the inner path), the teachings began to come alive to me in a new way. As the petals of the cosmic lotus unfolded, I realized with mounting excitement that everything the mystics and sages had promised was no less than the truth. Yes, when we follow the example of those who have walked the highway to liberation before us, and who have succeeded in this awesome task, we begin to experience a new lightness of being and a deep unchanging happiness.
Greetings from Arunachala, Shiva in the form of a hill of fire and light, who whips us until we unlearn our destructive habits of thought, speech and action so that we can rejoice in the bliss of our true nature!
NEW!!! My latest book – COPPER MOON OVER PATALIPUTRA – just went live on Jun 30th. Read all about it and on how to get your own copy here.
If you’ve enjoyed reading my posts, please also check out my BOOKS and LINKS.
Follow Blog via Email
Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.
Click the buttons below to SHARE if you liked this post.
Note: The REBLOG option is available only when viewing the post in full. Click on the post-title above if don’t see the REBLOG button below.
August 9, 2017
Are You Ready To Retire? Learn From History: By Dr. Harsh K. Luthar
A tiny percentage of us want to retire only so that we can dive deep into the Self, our immortal and blissful nature…I have seen many who think that this decision is enough for the cosmos to support them, but I agree with the old saw: God helps those who help themselves. It is much easier for most of us (a few are made of steel!) to have no material worries when we begin our inner work, and this means being careful before we leap into retirement….a necessary piece of advice, Harsh! Thanks!
I recall a discussion with a colleague in late 2007 about retirement. He was preparing to make that transition in a couple of years. Unfortunately, the stock market started to slide when he was about a year away from retirement.
The market crashed on September 29, 2008. The decline continued and, by the end of 2008, Dow was down to 8,776. Naturally this dramatic decline in the market created serious challenges for people who were close to retirement and had most of their pension in stocks.
We have now entered August of 2017. August and September have historically been the worst months for stocks. This year, increasing international tensions and the potential for a serious conflict between U.S. and North Korea will add further uncertainties to the financial markets.
Although no one can predict the future, it is important that businesses educate their employees on the basics of risk management…
View original post 45 more words
August 8, 2017
Impossible
Impossible…
IMPOSSIBLE
by Atul Ranchod
Spiky thorns
Green vicious horns
Arid, dry, torn.
No beauty to beckon
Presumed to be barren
Discarded no attention given.
Lessons lay
In Natures’s play
Amidst the hopeless
Unwanted and thrown away
Miraculously it finds a way
Such delicate wings
Granted to feel
Even for a moment
The blossoming.
Pains held that have shaped
The hardened edges
Where sharp tongued sarcasm
Ready and armed
At a world that has lost
Its charm.
In this microsecond
Where no excuses
Have time to formulate
The impossible takes shape,
A breath
Breathing life
For beauty’s sake.
So many moments
Lost in eternity’s pond
But there lies a land
Far away from
The clutches
Of right and wrong.
It isn’t for the weak
Or the strong,
Where you alone belong.
Tears fill my parched heart
At last the blossoming
May now start.
August 4, 2017
DENIAL IS NOT A RIVER IN EGYPT.
[image error]A woman introduced to me by a friend visited me the other day. We had a nice chat and I offered her something to eat. She came into the kitchen as I got her meal ready and hovered over me, eyes wide with anxiety, asking me questions about ingredients, process, et cetera, until I got a little snippy and asked her to sit at the dining table. My irritation was due to the fact that she does this every single time she visits; you see, because she is far from home (California) and misses home-cooked meals, I always offer her something I hope she will enjoy.
Please note that her attitude is not normal: her eyes go wide with strain when the subject of food comes up, and she tells me she cannot eat most things (being veg or vegan is wonderful, but her behavior goes way beyond these humane rules for good living). My own attitude, I said, is to accept what is given to me as long as 1) food is offered from the heart 2) is hygienically prepared and tasty 3) and that it does not violate my principles of general eating. I told her that my favorite breakfast when I leave the house early to walk up the mountain is two dosais with mouth-watering chutney and sambhar, relished at a roadside stall. I don’t watch the cook carefully to monitor everything she does—no, for me, that would be disrespectful to this lovely local woman who wakes up before dawn to do what she does in order to feed her own family. On the contrary, I am genuinely grateful that she is so willing to please me, always giving me a little more of the red chutney, another ladle of hot sambhar, and a big smile. When I tip her extra, her smile grows and her eyes are full of light.
Now what would happen, I asked, if I looked terribly anxious as this local woman prepared my meal, as if I didn’t trust her, and if I grilled her on matters that are really not my concern? After all, no one is forcing me to eat there, are they?
She was silent for a while. Then she said: what I do fits in with the ancient teaching on cleanliness. No, I said gently, all you are doing is turning into a full-scale neurotic. The inner path involves a deep acceptance of all things. And I told her the story of Gopi Krishna, the great yogi whose kundalini awakened with a blazing roar, and who even ate a meal into which little flies had dropped (by accident) because he did not want to hurt the woman who had lovingly prepared it especially for him.
I am not suggesting we all do what Gopi Krishna did; I for one could not have eaten that meal. But certainly we can stretch our own personal likes and dislikes to honor the generosity of a friend who offers us a healthy and clean meal.
[image error]She mulled over what I said then shook her head again, and I could see the problem went deep. I knew she had been severely abused as a child and had so turned to the inner path. And yet, for me, the healing process involves getting to the root of our dysfunction and destroying it so we can then chart our own unique path to peace and joy. It involves accepting that suffering is the state of the entire world and all beings have to go through trials and tribulations, although to varying degrees. It involves accepting that nothing happens by accident, that our own past thought, speech and action has projected a certain relative reality which we are forced to experience—and that by transforming our own behavior, we can dissolve that bad karma and create a happier world for ourselves. Certainly we do not come to this life in order to create yet another mental and emotional prison for ourselves!
Over the years I’ve heard so many genuine seekers defend their neuroses and crazy patterns of behavior, and I must confess that I too am neurotic in certain ways. However, unless its just a quirky habit that doesn’t negatively impact me or others, I focus my searchlight on it until I get to the root and then uproot it to the best of my ability. The rest of the work is done via Ramana Maharshi’s powerful teaching on Self-Investigation, when vasanas or trace impressions left by our karma on consciousness, burn down into the substratum of our being, never to plague us again.
[image error]For me, the inner path begins and hinges on two forms of investigation—Relative and Absolute; both are important and reinforce the other. If we do not figure out what is driving our behavior in this shifting world, we cannot progress into knowing who we truly are beyond name and form. Denial, as my friends in Manhattan used to say, is not a river in Egypt!!!
Greetings from Arunachala, Shiva in the form of a hill of fire and light who vows to destroy all that blocks us from knowing the peace and bliss of our true immortal Self!
NEW!!! My latest book – COPPER MOON OVER PATALIPUTRA – just went live on Jun 30th. Read all about it and on how to get your own copy here.
If you’ve enjoyed reading my posts, please also check out my BOOKS and LINKS.
Follow Blog via Email
Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.
Click the buttons below to SHARE if you liked this post.
Note: The REBLOG option is available only when viewing the post in full. Click on the post-title above if don’t see the REBLOG button below.
August 1, 2017
Psychedelic Photographs of Flowers
Mind-blowing! Pyschedelic pics of flowers…
Los Angeles-based photographer Maggie West likes to experiment with lightnings in order to create surreal and captivating atmospheres.
View original post 29 more words
July 29, 2017
Whip of the Wild God – Audiobook released – Free promo-codes available
CLICK TO LISTEN SAMPLE Audible, the planet’s top audiobook seller, has just accepted my narration of Whip, the first novel in the Moksha Trilogy. Hurray!!! Getting this done was a lengthy and complex operation, especially since I had just had dental surgery and a vital nerve in my mouth was affected, and there is no way on earth that I could have done it without the excellent support of three good friends. Advaita is Not Two!!!
What’s more, ACX has sent me complimentary Audible.com PROMO-CODES to start spreading the word. If you would like a FREE COPY (please respond quickly as there are not that many codes), use the CONTACT option of the blog to let me know. Or, if you have my address, send me an email. You can also contact me via Facebook. FYI, my fave way of communicating is email, since I tend to miss messages on other media. Please be aware that in samsara there is no free lunch, or free anything for that matter! In this case, I would like you to be genuinely interested in hearing me read Whip out loud and get to the job quickly, and then be equally willing to post a great review on Audible.com or Amazon.com. If not, you can buy it later and enjoy it at your own convenience, but now we need those reviews!
These are the instructions ACX sent me which I think you should read before making a decision:
These promotional codes work only on Audible.com.
Go to my book’s page on Audible.com: www.audible.com/pd/Fiction/Whip-of-the-Wild-God-A-Novel-of-Tantra-in-Ancient-India-Audiobook/B0747TF61Z
Add the audiobook to your cart.
If you are prompted to sign in, please create a new Audible.com account or log in. Otherwise, proceed by clicking “Do you have a promotional code?” beneath the cover artwork of the audiobook.
Enter the promo code, and click “Apply Code.”
A credit for the audiobook will be added to your account. Click the box next to “1 Credit” and click the “Update” button to apply the credit to the purchase.
After you select “1 Credit” and click “Update” to modify your shopping cart, the price for the audiobook will change to $0.00. You may proceed through the checkout by clicking “Next Step” and “Complete Purchase” on the subsequent page.
Greetings from Arunachala. Shiva the Destroyer in the form of a hill of fire and light, who destroys all that blocks us to realizing our highest spiritual and creative potential even as he leads us to merge with the glorious Self!
If You Enjoyed Reading “Whip of the Wild God: A Novel of Tantra In Ancient India,” please know that it is now available as an audiobook….
[image error]Audible, the planet’s top audiobook seller, has just accepted my narration of Whip, the first novel in the Moksha Trilogy. Hurray!!! Getting this done was a lengthy and complex operation, especially since I had just had dental surgery and a vital nerve in my mouth was affected, and there is no way on earth that I could have done it without the excellent support of three good friends. Advaita is Not Two!!!
What’s more, ACX has sent me complimentary Audible.com codes to start spreading the word. If you would like a FREE copy (please respond quickly as there are not that many codes), use the Contact option of the blog to let me know. Or, if you have my address, send me an email. You can also contact me via Facebook, Messenger, etc. FYI, my fave way of communicating is email, since I tend to miss messages on other media. Please be aware that in samsara there is no free lunch, or free anything for that matter! In this case, I would like you to be genuinely interested in hearing me read Whip out loud and get to the job quickly, and then be equally willing to post a great review on Audible.com or Amazon.com. If not, you can buy it later and enjoy it at your own convenience, but now we need those reviews!
These are the instructions ACX sent me which I think you should read before making a decision:
These promotional codes work only on Audible.com.
Go to my book’s page on Audible.com: www.audible.com/pd/Fiction/Whip-of-the-Wild-God-A-Novel-of-Tantra-in-Ancient-India-Audiobook/B0747TF61Z
Add the audiobook to your cart.
If you are prompted to sign in, please create a new Audible.com account or log in. Otherwise, proceed by clicking “Do you have a promotional code?” beneath the cover artwork of the audiobook.
Enter the promo code, and click “Apply Code.”
A credit for the audiobook will be added to your account. Click the box next to “1 Credit” and click the “Update” button to apply the credit to the purchase.
After you select “1 Credit” and click “Update” to modify your shopping cart, the price for the audiobook will change to $0.00. You may proceed through the checkout by clicking “Next Step” and “Complete Purchase” on the subsequent page.
Greetings from Arunachala. Shiva the Destroyer in the form of a hill of fire and light, who destroys all that blocks us to realizing our highest spiritual and creative potential even as he leads us to merge with the glorious Self!
The Self Cannot Be Found In Books
“The Self cannot be found in books. You have to find it for yourself in yourself.” Bhagavan Ramana. How true!!! Thanks for sharing, Harsh!
“You may go on reading any number of books on Vedanta. They can only tell you ‘Realize the Self’. The Self cannot be found in books. You have to find it for yourself in yourself.” Bhagavan Ramana in Gems ~ Chapter 8.
Sri Ramana here states the truth directly and unmistakably. No matter how many books one reads, one cannot gain Self-Realization.
Reading, thinking, and conceptualizing involve mental activity. Yet, it is this mental activity that distracts us and covers up the pure essence of being.
It is the mind itself that has to subside into the Heart and dissolve in it. Upon the merging of the mind in the Heart, the Self, recognition of our true nature is instantaneous. With the mind absent as the intermediary, the wordless Realization is immediate. One recognizes and says that “It has been Me all along. I am the Self.”
This recognition is beyond…
View original post 89 more words
July 28, 2017
The Way Sperm Whales Sleep
If I could sleep vertically, I would be most grateful!
Swiss wildlife photographer Franco Banfi and a team of scuba divers were following a pod of sperm whales off the coast of Dominica Island in the Caribbean Sea, when suddenly the large creatures became motionless and fell into vertical slumber. Thanks, Alk3r!
Swiss wildlife photographer Franco Banfi and a team of scuba divers were following a pod of sperm whales off the coast of Dominica Island in the Caribbean Sea, when suddenly the large creatures became motionless and fell into vertical slumber.
View original post 203 more words
July 27, 2017
DID I TELL YOU NOT TO HISS?
[image error]The great sage Ramakrishna told this old tale to his disciples: an angry snake terrified the village boys so greatly that they dared not venture near his territory. One day a yogi was walking through the village when a boy warned him not to venture near the abode of the vicious serpent. The yogi told the boy not to worry, for he knew a mantra that would calm the serpent. He was speaking the truth: when the snake slithered forward to attack him, the yogi intoned the mantra and the snake became still and peaceful. Then the yogi gave the snake another mantra to chant and told him not to trouble the boys but instead to seek a higher peace. The snake obeyed. But when the village boys discovered the snake was now peaceful, they began to torment him. One bully even picked him up and slammed him repeatedly against a sharp rock until he was broken and bleeding, then left him for dead.
Somehow the snake survived. When the yogi returned some months later, he was shocked at his dismal state and demanded an explanation. The snake was surprised—but you told me to be peaceful! he said. So I did, said the sage in exasperation, I asked you not to bite, but did I tell you not to hiss?
[image error]I love this story perhaps because I am a hisser. If you were to see me tackle a traffic bully, or any other bully for that matter, and you (erroneously) believed that all seekers of truth and peace had to be constantly suffused with sweetness and light, you might be shocked at how tough I can be. Unfortunately not everyone has the kind of rapier-like intellect that cares to penetrate below the spoken word, which means that we should not take any advice literally but use our discrimination and good sense in order to evolve to our highest potential. The sad truth is that there are many in the world who cannot help but hurt and harass others since they themselves are wounded. Knowing this to be true, do we then subject ourselves to their attacks willingly? No, we do not. We defend ourselves, and those who are dependent on us, because we are not here to be harmed in body and mind; no, our purpose is to be free, and happiness is our birthright. At the same time, when we defend ourselves against evil, we also take care not to do harm. A good action is one that might appear to be harsh or cruel, but in fact brings benefit to all involved. A mother might speak harshly to a son who has stolen money out of her purse, for instance, but she does this not to hurt him but to prevent him from becoming a full-fledged thief. And so on and so forth. So go ahead and hiss!
Greetings from Arunachala, Shiva the Destroyer in the form of a hill of fire and light who himself is a great paradox, for he can inflict the greatest suffering on a soul who has gone astray but only to transmute his or her being into pure gold.
NEW!!! My latest book – COPPER MOON OVER PATALIPUTRA – just went live on Jun 30th. Read all about it and on how to get your own copy here.
If you’ve enjoyed reading my posts, please also check out my BOOKS and LINKS.
Follow Blog via Email
Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.
Click the buttons below to SHARE if you liked this post.
Note: The REBLOG option is available only when viewing the post in full. Click on the post-title above if don’t see the REBLOG button below.
