Love Has No Other Desire But To Fulfill Itself.

I Am here right now, right in this place and right in this space. There is no other place I would rather be. No matter what's happening in my life. No matter what's happening in my country. No matter what's happening in the world. I Am here right now and there is no other place I would rather be. 

The whole world stands on the threshold of major changes which are taking place right now. Impurity in every form be it greed, anger, lust, war, etc.etc. are becoming transparent.  The whole world is affected. The whole world is getting a makeover. What affects one, affects all. I am reminded of one of my most favored poems by Khalil Gibran that perfectly expresses in such magnificent poetry how Love encapsulates the Soul and what Love does when one responds to the call of Love. Unconsciously, at the Soul level, we have each beckoned Love to come and heal us. And that is what is happening right now. We are each being healed by a Love that is beyond our human understanding.  I Am here very present in this moment of great healing.

Kahlil Gibran on Love

When love beckons to you, follow him,

Though his ways are hard and steep.

And when his wings enfold you yield to him,

Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.

And when he speaks to you believe in him,

Though his voice may shatter your dreams

as the north wind lays waste the garden.

For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.

Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,

So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.

Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.

He threshes you to make you naked.

He sifts you to free you from your husks.

He grinds you to whiteness.

He kneads you until you are pliant;

And then he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God's sacred feast.

All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life's heart.

But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure,

Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing-floor,

Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.

Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.

Love possesses not nor would it be possessed;

For love is sufficient unto love.

When you love you should not say, "God is in my heart," but rather, "I am in the heart of God."

And think not you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.

Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself.

But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:

To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.

To know the pain of too much tenderness.

To be wounded by your own understanding of love;

And to bleed willingly and joyfully.

To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;

To rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy;

To return home at eventide with gratitude;

And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.

In Love!

 L♥

The Gift

To live in the moment is not as easy as the New Agers proclaim it to be. If it were that easy, I am quite sure this world would be a completely different place. Its a skill that has to be developed with vast amounts of patience and love. It is a Practice.

To live in the present moment is to be so completely present that you actually begin to take on the role of a deep listener. You begin to listen very deeply to what is being presented to you in this very moment. And in that listening, you begin to See Reality for what It IS presenting Itself right now, right this moment. This is an extremely difficult exercise for me. I try often. I try everyday. I try and I fail often and everyday. 

Last evening a very Sweet Soul called Poonam visited me. She's "Good People". She also had very limited time to hang out with me and we were both trying to catch up as quickly as possible with all that was happening presently in our lives. I exhausted myself talking so fast and trying to pack in everything. By the end of the evening I felt totally spent - happy 'spent' ofcourse! 

This morning as I journaled, I realized something very significant that created an instant shift. As I recalled the moments of that time spent with Poonam, I realized that at all times it is extremely iumportant to honor the present moment with deep listening even if it is with a long time and very familiar friend. Infact it is even more necessary because as people, we tend to take family and friends completely for granted and we do this very unconsciously. I will take it a step further and say we take them so much for granted that we fail to see the newness of the moment's connection. Most often we see only the aspects of them that we are familiar with. We don't 'see' anything new about them. We love that precious familiarity. They are as familiar as our favourite warm blanket which becomes so much a part of our memory. That's it - a memory! Our awareness is not completely conscious of any newness and freshness that might have arisen in them since we last communicated with them. Is it not possible that they might perhaps be growing a secret garden within them which has started flowering .... and we have not even noticed???!!! We take so much for granted that we stop "SEEING" the rainbow colours in their Light. Oh! how much we miss out on the grandeur and splendor of those moments with them when we don't awake each day as if it was the first day of our lives on the planet!!

"The Present Moment Is A Gift" is that famous saying I fell in love with years ago. Simply honoring that precious gift creates a vortex of beautiful energy within.

May I remember to cherish The Gift always.

With Love & Oneness,

L♥

Dedicated to a very Kind and Generous Soul called POONAM. Thank you for being "Good People" always.

Choosing My Raft

Everyone needs a Book of Wisdom to act as a Raft in this great, mysterious and wonderful journey called Life. When you meet your Book of Wisdom, you will intuitively know - and I mean really, really know. You definitely won't be going for something that has'nt touched every cell in your body as Truth. When you find that Book that acts as a Raft across this great cosmic ocean (of suffering), you will stop everything and follow the call.

Most of humanity do not know who they are, leave alone who God is. We are each struggling to stay balanced and righteous and committed to Truth - Truth with a Capital "T" but invariably get caught up with our own small, little insignificant truths with a small 't'.  I was also one of these small truth seekers till I began to see the futility of chasing the small stuff. I figured if I want to begin to comprehend, experience, know and understand a fraction of Life, my seeking must take me completely off the beaten track. While doing this I have used many small rafts along the way by spending a lot of time studying and reading numerous philosophies, scriptures and books. None of those efforts ever went to waste. I found little gems every where and they served as rafts along the Ocean of Life.

My Raft presently is the "THE ULTIMATE MEDICINE" by Shri Nisargadatta Maharaj. It is the most potent and profound Wisdom Medicine Teaching that has come to me. His is a teaching that leads you straight to The Ultimate in YOU. Its a solo journey. You don't need no guru, teacher or any other being. And you definitely do not need to be intellectual. No body can interpret this Truth for you. Its your job and yours alone. He just guides you skillfully and with deepest compassion right into your Self. Those who have ears will hear. My heart feels really full of love for this Being who lived and died during my lifetime. He had no ashram or big wealthy establishment. He was a man who came from very humble and poverty stricken conditions. He was very fearless and courageous and called a spade a spade. He did'nt mince words and he needed no one to prop him, market him, sell his teachings or be popular. In my book that really counts for everything. He was uneducated and his only great desire was to find God. He found his guru, he listened to his guru and in time he reached that Consciousness of Perfect Peace and Deep Silence and expounded brilliant and deep Medicine Truths many of which are now being understood scientifically. I have been guided by Maharaj's teachings for many years and kept always going back to them for deeper understanding "between rafts".  "The Ultimate Medicine" has come to me in exactly the right time, the right place and the right condition.

Very early on in my spiritual journey, I found The Buddha's guidance on how to choose a religion or philosophy. It has served me very well over the years. It is good to keep going back to them every once in a while as a reminder.

How to choose a religion*

• Do not accept anything based on mere reports.

• Do not accept anything based on traditions.

• Do not accept anything based upon hearsay.

• Do not believe anything based upon the authority of religious texts

• Do not depend upon logic and argument alone.

• Do not accept anything upon one's own influence.

• Do not rely upon one's own speculative experience.

• Do not change your views simply because you are impressed by another's seeming ability.

May You find your Wisdom Medicine Raft.
In Love, Peace and Oneness

L♥

*http://www.dhammatalks.net/Books6/Bhante_Dhammananda_How_to_Choose_a_Religion.pdf

My Life is My Message

"When you say you sit for meditation, the first thing to be done is understand that it is not this body identification that is sitting for meditation, but this knowledge ‘I am’, this consciousness, which is sitting in meditation and is meditating on itself. When this is finally understood, then it becomes easy. When this consciousness, this conscious presence, merges in itself, the state of ‘samadhi’ ensues. It is the conceptual feeling that I exist that disappears and merges into the beingness itself. So this conscious presence also gets merged into that knowledge, that beingness – that is ‘samadhi’." ~ Nisargadatta Maharaj ~

My Life is my message. And everyday Life unfolds itself in rather mystical and surprising ways. 2015 is opening up like a flower. Surrender and just BEING is making the flowering beautiful. To BE is to not struggle against events and happenings but to just allow and flow. I've discovered resistance is just a habit - a habit that makes no sense and has no meaning. I've stopped struggling and trying to change or influence people and situations to favour me. For me now everyone is 'Good People'.  There are 'People' and 'Good People'. There are no family and friends and special people. Everyone is "Good People". This completely removes attachments and expectations. This brings inner peace. It's a complete game changer for me. Meditation and contemplation help me gain new visions each day.

How may I be of service?

Love & Peace!

"I Forgive Myself"

When I say: "I forgive myself".
Who is the "I" who has the authority to tell 'me' that "I" can forgive myself?
And who is 'me'?
This is a good "I AM" question.
Eventually Self Inquiry is the Way.

Miraculous Moments

Everyday I learn something new and every day I wonder: "wow! why did I not think of that before??!!"  

I think the reason I get surprised daily is because Life appears miraculous mostly in the most mundane moments. When I look at professional photography, the pictures that make my heart skip a beat are of the seemingly most ordinary ones yet the expressions on a face - human and otherwise - can tell a whole new story - the kind that goes beyond the ordinariness of the moment.

May such moments increase.

From Head to Heart

There is a light that shines beyond all things on Earth, beyond us all, beyond the heavens, beyond the highest, the very highest heavens. This is the light that shines in our heart. ~ Chandogya Upanishad

When I first started my spiritual journey some nineteen years ago, there were many shocking revelations for me, one of them being that I am responsible for everything I see in my world. I would say that was painfully shocking because now I am being told I cannot blame anyone or anything. It has taken this many years to finally understand what this really means.

It means briefly, in my personal understanding and experience, that there is the Law of God and then there is the Love of God. The Law of God is a guiding light showing us the way to live in Truth and in oneness with all of Life. The Love of God is the only thing that exists that permeates and governs all of Life. Its the Source of everything that moves, lives and exists. Its our food, our nourishment and our lifeline. Life has been given to me by God alongwith free will to make choices that would enhance my evolution as a Soul. I am equipped in this world with a mind and a heart to help me live the most creative life possible. Everything I do, think and speak has a consequence, an effect. I am an active contributor towards the welfare and happiness of not only myself, but all of humanity as well, since all my thoughts and deeds have a ripple effect on the world. So, having said that, the question I need to ask myself very often is: "how is that going for me now?"

Well, the world I am witnessing is one of deep contradiction, pain and struggle. On the one hand there are all these philosophies and on the other there are all these happenings that appear to be real and true. What is true and right? What is wrong and incorrect? The answer to this cannot be given to me by anybody else. It is an answer I have to experience deeply that comes from The Source.

Having said the above though, I am sure of a few things so far that have made perfect sense to me.

I am sure that aggression is not an answer.

I am sure that throwing blame is not an answer.

I am sure that expecting the government and people in authority to take care of bad situations is not answer.

I am sure name calling and criticism is not answer.

I am very very sure too, that all that we are doing now to effect change on a global level, the tactics we are employing are not necessarily the right way either, if they do not turn you inwards to begin your own inner transformation and to take responsibility for everything that is going on around in the world.

What if we can each take a step back and examine our own core values? What if we can see everything that is happening in our world as something that needs to come out and into the Light for healing to take place? After all every seed planted in the earth needs the sun to grow beautiful and healthy. Would that not make perfect sense in the case of the human being? Do we not need The Light to grow us into the Beings we are meant to be? What if we can use every opportunity that appears dark and unforgivable to find our way back to The Source? We are all Seeds of God. Every Seed comes from God, The Source of all Life. We are meant to grow from God. Does it therefore not make sense to heal and deal with every single situation in our life just like a God would do?

How we do it is upto us.  It is a personal discovery and an inner journey to be taken on by every Soul individually.

Some of the spiritual and inspirational messages that have influenced me deeply are :

• Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take  or sit in the company of mockers,  but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,  and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither  —  whatever they do prospers. ~ Psalm 1:1-3

• Is humanity ready for a transformation of consciousness, an inner flowering so radical and profound that compared to it the flowering of plants, no matter how beautiful, is only a pale reflection? Can human beings lose the density of their conditioned mind structures and become like crystals or precious stones, so to speak, transparent to the light of consciousness? Can they defy the gravitational pull of materialism and materiality and rise above identification with form that keeps the ego in place and condemns them to imprisonment within their own personality? ~ Eckhart Tolle, Author of "A New Earth"

• There is a light that shines beyond all things on Earth, beyond us all, beyond the heavens, beyond the highest, the very highest heavens. This is the light that shines in our heart. ~ Chandogya Upanishad

An exercise that I have found particularly helpful is to stop and ask: "Am I thinking from my head or my heart?" It is very easy to know in a jiffy. If you are not feeling joy, you are using your head only. When you feel with your heart, you feel ease and joy. Its a good test for me.

May all who visit here, today, to read this, be blessed with Peace.

Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.