Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Life around the city streets......

Toronto like the other, many wonderful cities around the world, offers its own stories.  I have lived here for over thirty years, felt the changing of many seasons, and welcomed every season with great enthusiasm.  Sometimes we forget the uniqueness of the change `and begin to complain about the snow, the wind, the sleet, the heat etc......
 
Warm summer evenings are a great time to stroll through the downtown streets.  One night at 11 pm the craving for a hot dog, reached its peak and we walked on Front Street, in search of our favorite vendor.  Life happens in the hustle bustle; we shared a joke with the Blue Jays fan with the blue hair/hat.  He managed to keep his sense of humor, in spite of his disappointment at watching an uninteresting ball game. between  the Jays and the Boston Red Sox.
 
On Adelaide Street I notice this guy with orange hair, and I wonder, maybe this is a new fashion, we celebrate the warmth of summer with wild colour hair/hair hats...........
 
The human race with its outlook and conditioning was evident on Spadina Avenue.  One warm afternoon,  as I waited at the traffic light, I noticed a man walking towards me, this man was eating a pomegranate.  He had opened the fruit and was biting into the seeds.......I thought to myself, what a healthy snack/food.  About then I noticed a car slowing at the light, the woman in the passenger seat gave this man a "look".....one word to describe that look could be "condescending". it was both a look of surprise and disgust.  The man caught her look and fired some unfriendly words to her.  He sensed that I had seen the look as well, and his comment to me was "people, think that I am a bum and inferior to them, and by looking down on me, they make themselves feel superior".......what we feel and think, does impact others, sometimes by our word or by a look.......

published in OYE! Times on July 12th.

Monday, July 26, 2010

Sara and Zeb got married - July 17

a marriage happens.........
 
When two people meet and find that the meeting is really an extension of their spirit and soul an inner knowing happens........a connection that happens at the soul level, when given the right space and time is transformed in to the outer form.  The union of the forms is a celebration. 
 
We live amongst friends, family, community and society, and any celebration includes all the near and dear ones.............such was a celebration that happened this weekend, of July 2010.  The union of two souls, two families and the reunion of many friends.  Amongst much  laughter, dancing, and joy we all participated in a fun filled week.  The preparation was as much fun as the ceremonies.  Clothes were brought out of the closets, many outfits were tried on and a few selected  for each occasion.  Henna adorned the hands and body, and jewelery completed the attires.  Camera in hand, we all posed for each other ............capturing each moment, to be shared as beautiful memories.........some memories were let go, to make space for new ones.


Friday, July 23, 2010

Warm summer evening.............

Walking down the Toronto waterfront, near Queens Quay, I heard chanting.  My attention had been fixed on the  reflection of lights and the ripples in lake Ontario.  It took me a few seconds to locate the origin of the chants.  I saw someone sitting with a harmonium, .......magnetized I sat beside him and joined his chant.  It was so magical, an impromptu kirtan, no planning no organizing, just discovering and being.  I walked away and by the edge of the water did my meditation and yoga..........i feel the gratitude, to be there.   In that moment it reaffirmed to me that "life is and i am"........

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

each one of us is the world.....

The concept of who is a human person and how each person is tied to the well being of this world is becoming more transparent.  We have become more and more aware of the destruction of the earth, the soil and the ocean.  The grass root movements for the awakening of the human conciousness, the discussions around the end of the Mayan calendar in 2012, the effect of climate change, population, and the list continues.......sometime it seems that with each breath some new evidence in the health and well being of the human race is being raised and discussed........

What happens to an individual............a human is born with its blue print.  From a yogic philosophy, we can explain that the first root chakra is the grounding and security of the individual.  This is where the loyalties, to the family and tribe are secured.  From the grounding and security we move towards the second chakra.  This chakra is the source of power, sex and creativity.  The third chakra, is the area around the solar plexus, where we honour ourselves and our relationships.  We move up to the fourth or the heart chakra, the seat of compassion.  The fifth chakra is the throat chakra, which is the source of our communication.  The sixth chakra, is the area in the mid brain, also known as the third eye, the command center of the higher intelligence.  This is where our intuition resides.  From the sixth chakra, we open into the divine wisdom, our seventh chakra. 

The chakras weave  around the central nadi, or energy field, which is also known as the universal energy.  The chakras signify, the area of concentration of the energy, which results from our thoughts and our actions.  When the chakra energy is balanced, with no blockage, we feel centred, calm and in a state of Being.  In this state the duality of doing and being unites, as the observer, observed and the object of observation becomes one. 

Each chakra is signified by an element.  The first chakra is the grounding, the earth and the soil, where the seed of creation is implanted.  The second chakra is the water element.  Third chakra is the sun, the fire.  The fourth chakra element is air.   The fifth chakra is the communication, the sixth is the conection to our intuition, away from the logic and knowledge of the egoic brain.

When we look at the human body system and turn our vision outward in to the world, we can begin to connect the dots and see the pattern of blockages, happening in the world.  The scale is exponentially the six billion plus people in the world.

The soil has been erroded, we search for the "pesticide" free organic soil.  The evidence of land slides, is an indication of this erosion and destruction, can we consider this the blockage of the first chakra field of our world.

The second chakra, destruction is happening in the oceans, with the pollution, the oil spills and the erosion of the coral reef.  The gloom of lack of fresh water is being raised.

The global warming, can be associated with the third chakra destruction, as temperatures rise.   Will we see more forest fires?

The air we breathe, is polluted, as the heart of this world becomes constricted.  As the lack of oxygen, and the ability to breathe deepy causes toxins in the mind and body, such is the happening in the world.

The means of communication, is widespread, yet the energy is blocked. people don't talk with each other.  Relationship breakdown occurs when the communication breaks down.  Are we speaking the truth, or we say what is self-serving. 

We have lost the trust, we don't trust ourselves and our instincts, we don't trust the other, and the universe continues to deliver the distrust we spread.   

With all the chakras of this world blocked, where are we headed.  The universal energy of the world is blocked.  Each individual is feeling this within, and in the outer world, we live in the inner and outer world where nothing flows.  Toxins accumulate in our mind, body and spirit and in the world we live in.  What happens when the body is full of toxins? 

Will we be able to find the divine wisdom by connecitng with the seventh chakra?   We have to have the hope, to find the divine wisdom, to heal ourselves, and this world, as both are one.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Osho's "Ten Commandments"


Osho's "Ten Commandments"

In his early days as Acharya Rajneesh, a correspondent once asked Osho for his "Ten Commandments". In his letter of reply, Osho noted that it was a difficult matter, because he was against any kind of commandment, but "just for fun" agreed to set out the following:
  1. Never obey anyone's command unless it is coming from within you also.
  2. There is no God other than life itself.
  3. Truth is within you, do not search for it elsewhere.
  4. Love is prayer.
  5. To become a nothingness is the door to truth. Nothingness itself is the means, the goal and attainment.
  6. Life is now and here.
  7. Live wakefully.
  8. Do not swim – float.
  9. Die each moment so that you can be new each moment.
  10. Do not search. That which is, is. Stop and see.
He underlined numbers 3, 7, 9 and 10.[183] The ideas expressed in these Commandments have remained a constant leitmotif in his movement.[183]