So did we say a prayer today ?

shekhar

For who ? For ourselves. Did we do something, some ritual that affirmed our faith today ? In what ? In ourselves. Our ability to connect with our inner selves. For if we do not, who is this person that is working, loving, talking etc. It’s certainly not you.


It’s an everyday search for me. For that something that can put me in touch with myself. My connection to consciousness. My connection to loving nature.
Of course many people have faith. Which is a wonderful ability. I don’t have blind faith. I am more of a searcher. Questioner. Good, bad ? I don’t know. No value judgements on any faith or the question of faith. Or on myself.
Some people do it with meditation first thing in the morning. I have never been able to do that. I have to connect to something, however small, however little, to loose my sense of individuality. That’s the daily struggle. Against my own exaggarated sense of myself. I am so used to it. I have relied on it for so many years. So tough to let go now. Not that I have never questioned it before. But now, it is really important for me to be truly ‘active’ rather than ‘reactive’, which is what I have done most of my life. And how do I know what that ‘true’ action is ? Unless I am constantly in touch with something larger, more immense, more universal than myself ?
Yes I know. By letting go. By allowing yourself not to be addicted to the result of your action. By allowing chaos to invade your life. Yes, I agree. All of that. I do allow chaos to prevade in my life. I am impeteous (spelling). But then the individual in me fights back hard.
It’s an everyday battle. This battle to let go of one’s addiction to one’s sense of individuality.
Yet, the smallest of things can provoke the sensing of my flowing into something much much larger. Something infinite.
This morning it was my 5 year old daughter waking me up with a loud ‘Peekaboo’ and the tinkling of an early morning laugh.
Sometimes it;s just getting up early enough to watch the first shades of dark blue brush across the sky. Something deeply stirring about that.
Sometimes it’s unexpected gestures of affection that were not sought. Or given so instinctually that you were not aware of them.
Sometimes, it’s writing a poem. But only if the words are coming from somewhere else. As if something is flowing through you, a river of emotion you can physically feel that flows through your being.
But it is always so unexpected. So much that I am constantly aware now. My senses hightened. Waiting for that unexpected moment.
When something deeper will reach out and engulf me, and give my life, and all my actions, however small, a deeper and all encompassing context. On a daily basis.
So say a prayer for me. And for yourself.
Shekhar

1,527 thoughts on “So did we say a prayer today ?”

  1. being swollowed up by the abyss…

    how do i get out?

    what is this control i am allowing myself to be entwined with?

    why is it happening?

    when am i going to realise the lesson is having faith

    and wisdom to let this ride itself out

    and

    trust in that process?

    Aum?

  4. Since everything that ever was, is now, and ever will be, IS NOW, the act of pure creation is impossible. What we call “creation” is really an act of awareness. It is the act of becoming aware of a particular portion of What Is So.

    Awareness is achieved by putting your attention on something. You are seeing that something is there, but if you are recognizing that it is there for what seems like the first time, the seeing of it produces the impression that you have placed it there.

    This is the illusion called “creation.”

    As I have endeavored to point out here now multiple times, there are two kinds of Events in our experience on this planet. There are Exterior Events, which are Physical, and there Interior Events, which are Metaphysical. Put simply, there is what is happening, and there is what we think about what is happening.

    Most people don’t contextualize their movement through the moments of their life in this way. Yet this is precisely the way we are getting through our days.

    First, something happens. Either we do something, or something is done to or around us. Second, we have a thought about what is happening. Our thought follows the occurrence so quickly that we often meld the two into one. We imagine that the Exterior Event and the Interior Event are the Same Event.

    They are not. And this is one of the greatest secrets ever withheld from humankind. We are not told this in school. We are not informed of this by our society. We are not brought in on this secret by our common culture. No one wants us to know this. Why? Because if we know this, we suddenly have complete control over our Reality. And that is the last thing that our society wants us to have.

    How can a society as a group be controlled if every member of that society has complete individual control over his or her own Reality? The aim of every totalitarian society, then, is to get you to stop thinking for yourself by doing your thinking for you, and to convince you to adopt its thinking rather than embracing your own.

    The First Freedom is not “freedom of speech.” The First Freedom is Freedom of Thought.

    Always remember that.

    And this is the one Freedom that no one can ever take away from you. That is what makes you a Divine Being. That is what makes you the Sovereign in your own Kingdom. That is what makes you “God.” For you do, indeed, have the power to “create your own reality,” interiorly, of any Exterior Event.

    You can think anything you want to think about what is going on around you; about what has happened in your life; even about a future that you imagine might occur.

    Your Thoughts are your powerful tools, and no one can stop you from using them. Nelson Mandela proved that during 26 years of incarceration by the rogue minority white regime that had for so long controlled South Africa. St. Joan (also known as Joan of Arc) proved that during the French persecutions. And Jesus proved that during the entire second half of his life.

    Others have proved it as well. Winston Churchill proved it when the Exterior Events produced by Hiter’s Nazi air force would have had him believe that England was doomed.

    Jonas Salk proved it when medical science would have had him believe that there was just no cure for polio.

    Martin Luther King Jr., Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem, and Harvey Milk proved it when American society said that blacks, women, and gays were not equal to white male heterosexuals, and should therefore not be given equal opportunity, equal pay, or equal rights.

    And you prove it every time you decide that Conventional Wisdom about anything just may be wrong—or at the very least, incomplete—and that you and you alone get to decide what is Real and True for you.

    You do this by using the Mechanics of the Mind. This is how your Interior Reality is created. It is far too sophisticated a machinery for me to describe it to you here. I strongly, strongly advise you to find a copy of When Everything Changes, Change Everything and read it from top to bottom. Take notes in the margins. Underline or highlight in yellow its many incredibly powerful and pertinent passages.

    Get the book and read it now. It is changing lives all over the place.

    (Am I trying to sell one more copy of a book I have written? No. More than 7.5 million copies of books I have written have already been sold. I don’t need to sell any more. What I am hoping to do is help change your life. I am hoping to offer you something that could open a doorway to that.)

    We’ll explore Point #2 above in this space next week. Until then, I wish you well on your journey.

    Hugs and love,
    Neale D. W.

  7. Dear Shekhar,

    I was watching your TEDTalk and made a particular observation I would like to mention.

    Your left thumb extends away from your palm noticably less than the right thumb, when you are speaking

    with gestures.

    I have taken into account, perhaps this is an accustomed motion, an injured thumb (at the time), and or, there is a reflection of some specific brain development/function that relates to this diverted movement of keeping the thumb close to the palm.

    Just wondering…

  8. Doing an English Course, at 49, gives me new perspective.

    Didn’t know we could start a sentence with “Because”

    The language is as moving and changing as inconsistent as …

    This brings me to the notion that

    silence and gesturing of expressions

    can be more powerful than any words put together.

    Aum

  9. Had a beaautiful time with my kids, spending time having conversation, sharing thoughts, feelings, ideas,

    and love of each other….ahhhhh

    Aum

  10. The very purpose of spirituality is self-discipline. Rather than criticizing others, we should evaluate and criticize ourselves

    ~Dalai Lama

  14. Dear Kavitha,
    Yes.
    When I was a little girl, I danced.
    When I was not so little I danced,
    …now
    I still dance, even if it’s in my silly head.

    Blessings,
    Cinda

  18. “In the words of the child:
    I hear and I forget,
    I see and I remember,
    I do and I understand.”

    Maria Montessori
    (1879-1952)

  20. hmmm…wonder if the same hold’s true for humans:-)…

    “The name Palo Santo means “Holy Wood”, and what a fitting name that is. The magic of Palo Santo is in the alchemical process that happens after the death of a limb or a tree. You see, in order for the Palo Santo to gain its magical and medicinal properties it must die, but not just any death – only a natural death of a wise old limb or tree. The Palo Santo trees live for 80 to 90 years. After this death the tree must remain in its natural habitat for 4 to 10 years to complete its metamorphosis. Only then do its sacred, medicinal and mystical properties come alive.”

    ~ http://www.shamansmarket.com

  23. Eid Mubarak 2 all. Its a time for embracing those u love n those u may have forgotten u love since d last Eid…Shekhar Kapur

  31. Friends are moving away…

    silence is moving in

    How are we to exchange the sounds of laughter

    over the oceans?

    This is pushing the emotions to a place

    where life has not been experienced before

    Looking to the sky for some relief

    Some comfort

    in knowing,

    you also look to the same sky

    the same moon

    the same sun and stars…

    but,

    there is something

    something

    something, even those things…cannot take the place

    of what is is in your eyes

  33. It was yesterday, when I found out Yash Raj Chopra passed on.

    Ever feel like you were asleep in a time capsule and

    someone opened it, only to reveal BIG news.

    Well, this Being, whom I never met in person, but

    visited many times on screen, was a significant part of my

    everyday, personal life.

    The films that reached through to the depths of my soul…

    held it in a place of comfort, pain, mystery, yearning, longing…

    laughter, tears, endless joy and most of all, the SOUNDS of

    all those instruments and artisits that held the threads of

    love together.

    Time travel?
    So busy, that I could not even take notice of such an unfolding?
    So exhausted, that I can vomit and still go back to sleep, leaving the vomit in my bed
    until next morning?

    What ever has happened….it lifted today.
    Today, I feel again.

    Yashji, I have never met you before, in person, but
    in the heart and soul, yes.

    There is a trust, that I am coming to know of this now, for all
    the reasons that connect us all.

    You live on
    YOU LIVE ON…

    In the wind, on the mountain tops, as the trees wait and lean to
    the ever patient lovingness,
    YOU LIVE ON…
    In the eyes of all whom you’ve touched,
    through your tender touch with God,
    with this universe…
    YOU LIVE ON…
    In all the stories that pass our way

    Namaste
    I love the spirit of you, that is all of us
    TOGETHER WE LIVE ON…

    Aum

  34. Dear Shekhar,
    Thank you for this space
    this place
    a shelter that provided warmth and love through the years,
    and still moving, changing, filling up with
    what the moment calls for…
    Seven years ago, this space was born here…for that purpose
    and more…
    Aum

    “So, did we say a prayer today?

    For who ? For ourselves. Did we do something, some ritual that affirmed our faith today ? In what ? In ourselves. Our ability to connect with our inner selves. For if we do not, who is this person that is working, loving, talking etc. It’s certainly not you.

    It’s an everyday search for me. For that something that can put me in touch with myself. My connection to consciousness. My connection to loving nature.
    Of course many people have faith. Which is a wonderful ability. I don’t have blind faith. I am more of a searcher. Questioner. Good, bad ? I don’t know. No value judgements on any faith or the question of faith. Or on myself.
    Some people do it with meditation first thing in the morning. I have never been able to do that. I have to connect to something, however small, however little, to loose my sense of individuality. That’s the daily struggle. Against my own exaggarated sense of myself. I am so used to it. I have relied on it for so many years. So tough to let go now. Not that I have never questioned it before. But now, it is really important for me to be truly ‘active’ rather than ‘reactive’, which is what I have done most of my life. And how do I know what that ‘true’ action is ? Unless I am constantly in touch with something larger, more immense, more universal than myself ?
    Yes I know. By letting go. By allowing yourself not to be addicted to the result of your action. By allowing chaos to invade your life. Yes, I agree. All of that. I do allow chaos to prevade in my life. I am impeteous (spelling). But then the individual in me fights back hard.
    It’s an everyday battle. This battle to let go of one’s addiction to one’s sense of individuality.
    Yet, the smallest of things can provoke the sensing of my flowing into something much much larger. Something infinite.
    This morning it was my 5 year old daughter waking me up with a loud ‘Peekaboo’ and the tinkling of an early morning laugh.
    Sometimes it;s just getting up early enough to watch the first shades of dark blue brush across the sky. Something deeply stirring about that.
    Sometimes it’s unexpected gestures of affection that were not sought. Or given so instinctually that you were not aware of them.
    Sometimes, it’s writing a poem. But only if the words are coming from somewhere else. As if something is flowing through you, a river of emotion you can physically feel that flows through your being.
    But it is always so unexpected. So much that I am constantly aware now. My senses hightened. Waiting for that unexpected moment.
    When something deeper will reach out and engulf me, and give my life, and all my actions, however small, a deeper and all encompassing context. On a daily basis.
    So say a prayer for me. And for yourself.
    Shekhar”

  35. Peaceful, adventurous, creative loving vibes to you, Shekhar

    on your Birthday…this world and it’s Beings are fortunate

    to experience what YOU share, so amazingly lightful !

    Blessings,

    Love to you,
    Cinda

  37. O ye Mighty the Himalayas, The Mansarovar, The Ganga, The Sacred, Plains, The Dusty Ravines, The Muddy Creeks, The Majestic Jungles, The Bursting Oceans…. The Empty Space in the Cosmos, The Sparkle & Play of that Emptiness …. From here to Nothingness… From Nothingness to Emptiness…From Emptiness to Our Core, From There to No Mind, From No Mind to Formlessness, May we all encompass the Glory that has always Sought to Beckon Me in You or is it You in Me ?
    jus..b !!

  38. Ode to bringing awareness to the

    community of “childlikeness”,

    seeing the importance of

    play,

    appreciating nature…and connecting with it,

    with ourselves,

    more than anything else.

    Aum

  43. Brother Phap Luu, a monastic at Plum Village, grew up in Newtown, Connecticut. He has written an amazing, heartfelt letter to shooter Adam Lanza, that you can read here:

    Saturday, 15th of December, 2012
    Dharma Cloud Temple
    Plum Village
    …
    Dear Adam,

    Let me start by saying that I wish for you to find peace. It would be easy just to call you a monster and condemn you for evermore, but I don’t think that would help either of us. Given what you have done, I realize that peace may not be easy to find. In a fit of rage, delusion and fear—yes, above all else, I think, fear—you thought that killing was a way out. It was clearly a powerful emotion that drove you from your mother’s dead body to massacre children and staff of Sandy Hook School and to turn the gun in the end on yourself. You decided that the game was over.

    But the game is not over, though you are dead. You didn’t find a way out of your anger and loneliness. You live on in other forms, in the torn families and their despair, in the violation of their trust, in the gaping wound in a community, and in the countless articles and news reports spilling across the country and the world—yes, you live on even in me. I was also a young boy who grew up in Newtown. Now I am a Zen Buddhist monk. I see you quite clearly in me now, continued in the legacy of your actions, and I see that in death you have not become free.

    You know, I used to play soccer on the school field outside the room where you died, when I was the age of the children you killed. Our team was the Eagles, and we won our division that year. My mom still keeps the trophy stashed in a box. To be honest, I was and am not much of a soccer player. I’ve known winning, but I’ve also known losing, and being picked last for a spot on the team. I think you’ve known this too—the pain of rejection, isolation and loneliness. Loneliness too strong to bear.

    You are not alone in feeling this. When loneliness comes up it is so easy to seek refuge in a virtual world of computers and films, but do these really help or only increase our isolation? In our drive to be more connected, have we lost our true connection?

    I want to know what you did with your loneliness. Did you ever, like me, cope by walking in the forests that cover our town? I know well the slope that cuts from that school to the stream, shrouded by beech and white pine. It makes up the landscape of my mind. I remember well the thrill of heading out alone on a path winding its way—to Treadwell Park! At that time it felt like a magical path, one of many secrets I discovered throughout those forests, some still hidden. Did you ever lean your face on the rough furrows of an oak’s bark, feeling its solid heartwood and tranquil vibrancy? Did you ever play in the course of a stream, making pools with the stones as if of this stretch you were king? Did you ever experience the healing, connection and peace that comes with such moments, like I often did?

    Or did your loneliness know only screens, with dancing figures of light at the bid of your will? How many false lives have you lived, how many shots fired, bombs exploded and lives lost in video games and movies?

    By killing yourself at the age of 20, you never gave yourself the chance to grow up and experience a sense of how life’s wonders can bring happiness. I know at your age I hadn’t yet seen how to do this.

    I am 37 now, about the age my teacher, the Buddha, realized there was a way out of suffering. I am not enlightened. This morning, when I heard the news, and read the words of my shocked classmates, within minutes a wave of sorrow arose, and I wept. Then I walked a bit further, into the woods skirting our monastery, and in the wet, winter cold of France, beside the laurel, I cried again. I cried for the children, for the teachers, for their families. But I also cried for you, Adam, because I think that I know you, though I know we have never met. I think that I know the landscape of your mind, because it is the landscape of my mind.

    I don’t think you hated those children, or that you even hated your mother. I think you hated your loneliness.

    I cried because I have failed you. I have failed to show you how to cry. I have failed to sit and listen to you without judging or reacting. Like many of my peers, I left Newtown at seventeen, brimming with confidence and purpose, with the congratulations of friends and the approbation of my elders. I was one of the many young people who left, and in leaving we left others, including you, just born, behind. In that sense I am a part of the culture that failed you. I didn’t know yet what a community was, or that I was a part of one, until I no longer had it, and so desperately needed it.

    I have failed to be one of the ones who could have been there to sit and listen to you. I was not there to help you to breathe and become aware of your strong emotions, to help you to see that you are more than just an emotion.

    But I am also certain that others in the community cared for you, loved you. Did you know it?

    In eighth grade I lived in terror of a classmate and his anger. It was the first time I knew aggression. No computer screen or television gave a way out, but my imagination and books. I dreamt myself a great wizard, blasting fireballs down the school corridor, so he would fear and respect me. Did you dream like this too?

    The way out of being a victim is not to become the destroyer. No matter how great your loneliness, how heavy your despair, you, like each one of us, still have the capacity to be awake, to be free, to be happy, without being the cause of anyone’s sorrow. You didn’t know that, or couldn’t see that, and so you chose to destroy. We were not skillful enough to help you see a way out.

    With this terrible act you have let us know. Now I am listening, we are all listening, to you crying out from the hell of your misunderstanding. You are not alone, and you are not gone. And you may not be at peace until we can stop all our busyness, our quest for power, money or sex, our lives of fear and worry, and really listen to you, Adam, to be a friend, a brother, to you. With a good friend like that your loneliness might not have overwhelmed you.

    But we needed your help too, Adam. You needed to let us know that you were suffering, and that is not easy to do. It means overcoming pride, and that takes courage and humility. Because you were unable to do this, you have left a heavy legacy for generations to come. If we cannot learn how to connect with you and understand the loneliness, rage and despair you felt—which also lie deep and sometimes hidden within each one of us—not by connecting through Facebook or Twitter or email or telephone, but by really sitting with you and opening our hearts to you, your rage will manifest again in yet unforeseen forms.

    Now we know you are there. You are not random, or an aberration. Let your action move us to find a path out of the loneliness within each one of us. I have learned to use awareness of my breath to recognize and transform these overwhelming emotions, but I hope that every man, woman or child does not need to go halfway across the world to become a monk to learn how to do this. As a community we need to sit down and learn how to cherish life, not with gun-checks and security, but by being fully present for one another, by being truly there for one another. For me, this is the way to restore harmony to our communion.

    Douglas Bachman (Br. Phap Luu)
    who grew up at 22 Lake Rd. in Newtown, CT., is a Buddhist monk and student of the Vietnamese Zen Master and monk Thich Nhat Hanh. As part of an international community, he teaches Applied Ethics and the art of mindful living to students and school teachers. He lives in Plum Village Monastery, in Thenac, France.

  45. Dear Independence,
    Seems like you have your own agenda.
    Every time you show up, others are coming with you, uninvited, but necessary.
    Your face feels smooth and looks shiny, yet you gleam and glitter, because others put on the sparkles and others helped to sand down the bumps to help you get the smooth face.
    How do you carry this title and still feel it is worthy of its meaning?
    There are so many countless others, who help you to get to this moment…
    Where is the independence?

    I see you, when I look mindfully…, I read

    IN “DEPENDENCE”

    Looks like you reside in dependence. So where is the “independence”?

    What does this boil down to?

    We all need each other, so we can be INdependant.

    Aum

  46. Transformational NLP, The spiritual approach to harnessing the power of Neuro-Linguistic Programming, by Cissi Williams

    Aum

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