South Brooklyn

 

A day so perfect that I feel an immense sense of lightness, a flow fills all the spaces in and around me. 

The yoga this morning felt the same. I moved with energy that allowed the breathing to become slower, deeper and quieter.  The breath accessing each cell.   The energy of the new moon so fresh.  

Standing in Samastiti.  I wondered, how physical movement allows the mental and emotional energy to get "unstuck" the perspective shifts.  

Thoughts become a little more clear. A space is found, a sense of freedom prevails. 

As I write these words and look up a butterfly flutters on the plants.  It hovers over the lavender, flys towards me, teases me with its proximity and flys away. 

I am sitting outside Smith Canteen.  At the corner of Carroll and Smith.  The train stop is Carroll station accessible by F train.   This is referred to as South Brooklyn.  

Somewhere behind me, probably from the speakers of the coffee shop, soft music plays on.  I look at my freshly pedicured feet.  The color I bought from Whole Foods "glint of mint", is free of formaldehyde and other chemicals which I am thinking other brands of nail polish have.  

Freedom...Flight...Found...Feelings

Impromptu late evening walk in the city

This is my city, with much pride, I call it my city-Toronto. 

This evening was a lazy one.  At 6 pm no one could have gotten me out of bed.  Yet at 9:30, I pulled my pants on took my keys and phone and headed out. 

Secure and aware of attachments I decided to take no money not even a change and no tokens.   Normally I would not be found leaving home without some change a bill in my pocket and a transport token, "just in case".  

Jupiter aligns with Saturn

Jupiter is optimism, Saturn the practical.  

Jupiter is the celestial body associated with the Ajna chakra, our third eye where intuition resides.  The pineal gland, and where we tune into our seat of meditation. A space where we find Dhyana.  

Optimism for me is also to see life, situations as they are happening.  Without associated fear or drama to them we are in the moment to do what needs to be done.  To accept and go past the obstacles caused by our thoughts.  Maybe to begin to see another perspective.  Maybe to change our view of life, change our reality.  

Saturn the celestial body rules the root chakra, the Muladhara.  Makes us feel safe and grounded.  Knowing we have food, shelter, the ability for self preservation, to pro-create or co-create our life.   Our fight or flight response begins to calm down, we feel safe. In the home within, where we are is reassuring. 

Thinking of this alignment of the two celestial bodies, where the practical aligns with the optimist.   Feeling reassured that the planets are reflecting me and vice versa. 

Prayer Is The Cry Of A Soul ~Sri Ravi Shankar~

"We often hear people say that behind every successful man is a woman. I will modify this by saying, behind every success, there is the Divine, saying, "I am behind you". The Divine dawns in you when you pray for Grace; when you cry for it.

Prayer is a vital tool to improve your life. What you can do, do it. What you cannot do, pray for it! When you feel the obstacle is too much to handle, deep prayer can work miracles. Whatever you do, know that a higher power has the final say and you can tap that power through your prayers.

You don't need any special qualifications or abilities to pray. Whether a fool or a wise person, rich or poor, anybody can pray. Prayer doesn't mean just sitting and chanting some words. It's about being in that serene, calm, meditative state. That is why, in vedic tradition, dhyana, meditation, is done before prayer as well as afterwards. When the mind is focused, prayer becomes far more powerful.

Prayer is the cry of a soul. To whom you pray is not so important. Whereas religion puts words to the prayer, and adds symbols and rituals to it, prayer itself transcends them. It happens at the subtle level of feelings; feelings transcend words and religion. The act of praying itself has the power to bring transformation.

When you pray there should be total involvement. If the mind is preoccupied elsewhere then that is no prayer at all. When there is pain, there is more involvement. That's why people turn to prayer when they are in pain. Prayer happens when you feel grateful or when you feel utterly helpless. In either case your prayers will be answered. When you feel helpless, prayer happens by itself. That's why in Hindi we say 'Nirbal toh Balram'. If you are weak, God is with you. Prayer is that moment when you get in touch with your limitations, your boundaries.

Usually when you love something, you want to possess it and you pray for it. True prayer, however, is just the opposite of wanting to possess. It's about honouring and offering everything to the Divine. Honouring brings devotion and leads to surrender. Devotion heals.

True prayer can't happen without devotion and faith. Having faith is to realise that God's protection is there for you. Devotion is inner flowering; it starts from where you are. Unless you are lit in devotion to the Divine, your life will remain restless. In devotion, longing will arise in you and true prayer happens by itself.

Be sincere in your prayers. Do not try to outsmart the Divine. What type of time do you give the Divine? Usually you give time that is leftover; when you have nothing else to do, no guests to attend to, no parties to go to, then you go to the Divine. This is not quality time. Give prime time to the Divine. You will definitely be rewarded. If your prayers are not answered, it is because you have never given quality time.

There are four types of people who go to God -- first, those who seek the truth (knowledge and freedom); second, the wise ones (gyanis); third, the ones who seek material comforts (wealth) and fourth, ones who are in misery. The wise one does not pray for something. His life itself is a prayer.

If at all you have to pray for something, pray for happiness of all the people in the world. 

"Loka Samastha Sukhinou Bhavantu"-- May everybody be happy."

I write my story...

Before writing, which is through living that story called life, where does one begin.

For me it seems to be by seeing, with honesty, without any mask of right or wrong, what each interaction, comment and encounter brings up.

In that seeing many layers of "old" stories emerge.  It emerges by my noticing that it is after all a story created by parents, families, societies, cultures, nations and so on.  

Its not about discarding the lives and thoughts passed down through traditions, it is just seeing it.

As myself, as others, souls live in third dimension bodies of time and space, or do they?

What happens after, this is the logical mind grasping.  Each question is not followed by an answer, the answer can be unto itself.

How many lifetimes and how many "lessons" from life does it take to see those stories, once again is not where I dwell.

The seeing is in the present, its what i am doing or being in any moment.  Those moments and that present begins to live and weave its own story.

A fabric of life, each sutra or thread is the moments.  And I wonder can each sutra become the one light, seeing beyond the spectrum of the rainbow.