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

2,085 thoughts on “So did we say a prayer today ?”

  2. …to all those suffering around the world, for many different reasons and situations, may resolve and support come soon…om shanti shanti shanti

  3. Resistance does not mean walls and fences, nonresistance does not mean open space. If you can understand in this way, mind and matter are fundamentally the same.
    Tsu-hsin

  4. Cheers to “The Golden Age” making its Gala Presentation in Toronto, Canada on September 9 at 6:30pm.

  5. “Almost anything you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it.”
    -Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869-1948)
    If you look at the universe from the beginning of time – (and yet was there a beginning?) until as far as we can imagine into the future – each little action we take may be considered insignificant. And yet, it’s not. Every action we take has some impact on our spiritual growth. It might seem like little tiny baby steps when we’re wanting to take great leaps and bounds- but each step, large or small, is significant nonetheless. We’ve got to keep going.
    -Lissa Coffey

  6. Smaller than a grain of rice, smaller than a grain of barley, smaller than a mustard seed, smaller than a grain of millet, smaller even than the kernel of a grain of millet is the Self. This is the Self dwelling in my heart, greater than the earth, greater than the sky, greater than all the worlds.
    -Chandogya Upanishad

  8. …for others to access the new “Creative Adda”, especially those who have been here since the beginning…

  9. Neither from itself nor from another,
    Nor from both,
    Nor without a cause,
    Does anything whatever, anywhere arise.
    -Nagarjuna, Mulamadhyamaka-Karika

  11. The problem isn’t materialism as such. Rather it is the underlying assumption that full satisfaction can arise from gratifying the senses alone. Unlike animals whose quest for happiness is restricted to survival and to the immediate gratification of sensory desires, we human beings have the capacity to experience happiness at a deeper level which, when achieved, can overwhelm unhappy experiences.
    -His Holiness the Dalai Lama

  13. fall approaches
    the leaves get ready to leave
    the sun seldom comes in the frosty sky
    these changes are constant
    changes are constant
    and
    can be trusted
    to
    change

  14. Nothing lasts.
    Nothing is real.
    It is all suffering,
    Threefold affliction!
    It is all beneath contempt.
    Know this.
    Give it up.
    Be still.
    -Ashtavakra Gita 9:3

  18. It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.”
    –Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

  19. Since the seed does not contain anything other than the seed, even the flowers and the fruits are of the same nature as the seed: the substance of the seed is the substance of subsequent effects, too. Even so, the homogenous mass of cosmic consciousness does not give rise to anything other than what it is in essence. When this truth is realized, duality ceases.
    -Yoga Vasishtha

  20. There is only one Self in all creatures.
    The One appears many, just as the moon
    Appears many, reflected in water.
    The Self appears to change its location
    But does not, just as the air in a jar
    Changes not when the jar is moved about.
    When the jar is broken, the air knows not;
    But the Self knows well when the body is shed.
    -Amritabindu Upanishad

  22. Every time a problem arises, the essential thing is to immediately become aware that the problem comes from our selfish mind, that it is created by self-cherishing thoughts. As long as you put the blame outside yourself, there can be no happiness.
    -Lama Zopa Rinpoche, “Transforming Problems into Happiness”

  23. Know you are one,
    Pure awareness.
    With the fire of this conviction
    Burn down the forest of ignorance.
    Free yourself from sorrow,
    And be happy.
    -Ashtavakra Gita 1:9

  24. I see all the different religious traditions as paths for the development of inner peace, which is the true foundation of world peace. These ancient traditions come to us as a gift from our common past. Will we continue to cherish it as a gift and hand it over the the future generations as a legacy of our shared desire for peace?
    -His Holiness the Dalai Lama

  29. Welcome to the kabbalistic new year of 5768!
    I hope you are filled with the anticipation, excitement and fuel to make this your best year yet.
    Wherever you were during Rosh Hashanah, whatever consciousness you maintained, the real value begins now. The infusion of Light our souls received on the birthday of humanity is only as powerful as we make them. We must keep our eyes on the goals:
    • no more blaming – ourselves or others
    • being a channel and praying for others
    • not allowing our previous failures
    to prevent us from taking risks
    and committing to better ourselves.
    Cosmically speaking, we are still in a process of setting up our New Year. If we can all commit to staying proactive for this week, there is no telling what kind of Light we will reveal in our lives and for the entire world. Our destinies have not yet been sealed for the coming year, and the energy of the coming days is there to support us in our quest for starting over.
    Be happy. Be kind to others. Be honest with yourself. Only you know your limits and only you can know how hard you are working. Stay as far away as possible from your reactive nature and plant a seed that will bear fruits for the entire year, on personal and global levels.
    And take a moment before you move on from this email to define what proactive behavior is for YOU.
    All the best,
    Yehuda

  32. For the peace of mind we all crave for…
    For the blessed heard we desire…
    For the pure soul we want to leave as….
    For that small patch of green grass I leave…
    I say my prayer..for all and for me.

  35. When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it–always.
    -Mahatma Gandhi

  38. Do you want to know what my body is? My body is the same as the whole earth.
    Do you want to know what my mind is? My mind is the same as space itself.
    Do you want to know what my vision is? I see there is nothing to see.
    Do you want to know what I hear? I hear the unheard.
    Since I have been seeing and hearing, why then do I speak of the unheard? “If you listen with your ears, after all you cannot understand; when you hear through your eyes, only then will you know.”
    -Ssu-hsin

  43. The all-knowing Self was never born,
    Nor will it die. Beyond cause and effect,
    This Self is eternal and immutable.
    When the body dies, the Self does not die.
    If the slayer believes that he can slay
    Or the slain believes that he can be slain,
    Neither knows the truth. The eternal Self
    Slays not, nor is ever slain.
    -Katha Upanishad

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