Shadow Dancing with Mind - The monday Morning Edition 17th May, 2010

Hi Friends....This week we are going to have the following ... in the individual sections as listed below.

Just to shortcut the message for the friends that are coming from Monday Poetry Potluck - Beaches and mountains I have posted one Haiku some time back that I am submitting here below under the section "Whispers" Hope you like it.
I am sorry you need to scroll back as this one post is all together hence no separate link for the post.
I also thank for the Poetry Potluck award that I recieved from Jingle.
Click here to submit your own poetry at Poetry Potluck and also read some great poet's works there.

THE READER: Concluding part of "From Mind To Super Mind" by Rohit Mehta written around 1966.

And another book "The Secret Path" by Paul Brunton (One of the greatest Spiritual Explorers of the 20th Centaury) and his way of attuning one self to Meditation. Its a classic first published in 1934.

And a sneak peak at the books that I am reading now.

DESIGN STREET: A new section is added called "Design Street" where we are going to visit one designer, artist, painter or any one creative enough to capture our imaginations. This time, its Charles and Ray Eames; The Iconic Furniture designers and avid Photographer and the brain behind the setting up of the Top Indian Design Institute "National Institute of Design" at Ahmadabad.

DANCING WITH WORDS: Some haiku's (Haiku is a form of Japanese poetry, consisting of 17 moras in three phrases of 5, 7, and 5 moras respectively, which mainly deals with weathers, but I am more comfortable using the term haiku which basically deals with painting pictures with words) and please let me know if you see picture after reading these very short verses, haiku's.

VISUAL IMPRESSIONS: Exotic and some times considered erotic sculpture at the Konark Temple in Orissa, only Sun Temple.

A STORY UNTOLD: The starting paragraph of chapter THREE of a story in the making - "Yogi Baba" being written by a friend.

Hope you like this monday morning edition of Shadow Dancing with Mind; look forward to seeing your comment this week too. I really appreciate when you write to me or leave comments. I gets me going, week by week. Please feel free to ask your friends to join in to have something creative and spiritual to look forward to every week.

Om Namah Shivaya
(Note: please do register yourself as the follower so that I dont have to send this again and again and be accused of spamming)

THE READER

As promised that we will continue to discuss the book "From Mind to Super Mind" by Rohit Mehta but then as one of the readers pointed out that this book is available in full at the following link, so I thought of posting that instead of dicussing more about it. So here is the link of the book which one can read online if one wants to. http://books.google.co.in/books?id=wgiDwZS3rUwC&printsec=frontcover&dq=mind+to+supermind+rohit+mehta&source=bl&ots=0d-UkEoQMw&sig=Jj9DdCAzDT7KW1BqV7tNrls_Rds&hl=en&ei=42LoS9CAOc6TkAX0quHaBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false

The Secret Path - Paul Brunton

Now coming over to one of the very interesting books from yester years that I have come across is "The Secret Path" by Paul Brunton (October 21, 1898 - July 2, 1981) who was a British philosopher, mystic, traveler, and guru and the book I am dicussing here was first published in 1934. Its an interesting book which gives a simple path of attaining many pwerful things through the power of Meditations. So here it is for the readers to see for themselves if it leads to Nirvana or an empty High.

INTRO

Paul Brunton (October 21, 1898 - July 2, 1981) was a British philosopher, mystic, traveler, and guru. He left a journalistic career to live among yogis, mystics, and holy men, and studied Eastern and Western esoteric teachings. Dedicating his life to an inward and spiritual quest, Brunton felt charged to communicate his experiences about what he learned in the east to others. His works had a major influence on the spread of Eastern mysticism to the West. Taking pains to express his thoughts in layperson's terms, Brunton was able to present what he learned from the Orient and from ancient tradition as a living wisdom. His writings express his view that meditation and the inward quest are not exclusively for monks and hermits, but will also support those living normal, active lives in the Western world.

He served in First World War, and later devoted himself to mysticism and came into contact with Theosophists. In the early 1930s, Brunton embarked on a voyage to India, which brought him into contact with such luminaries as Meher Baba, Sri Shankaracharya of Kancheepuram and Sri Ramana Maharshi. Brunton's first visit to Sri Ramanasramam R. took place in 1931.

Brunton has been credited with introducing Ramana Maharshi to the West through his books "A Search in Secret India" and "The Secret Path".[2]

The following thoughts that I have had got me thinking from the book which I thought is the right time to share with you and I want to share with you….

• Kant said “there were two outstanding wonders of God’s creation. The starry heaven above and the mind of man within.

• The solar system turns without thine aid,
Live, Die! The universe is not afraid.
- By Zangwill

• Why is that the thing which interests every man most is – himself?

Because self is the only reality of which we are certain. All facts of the world around us and all thoughts in the world within us exist for us only when our own self becomes aware of them. Self see the earth and the earth exists. Self is conscious of an idea and the idea exists. (Thoughts of Descartes)

• Berkeley, by the process of acute thinking arrived at the same position. He showed that the material world would be non-existent apart from some mind to conceive it,

• Self is the ultimate – the first things we know as babies; it will be the last thing we shall know as sages.

• First seers, watching the wanderings of thought within their own minds, discovered that there was something which came into action when thinking momentarily stopped. That something was the first faint intimation of the soul

• Eckhart – God is center of the man
• Thomas A Edison – The hours that I have spent with Mr. Edison have brought me the real big returns of my life; to it I attribute all I have accomplished.

• The morning thinking (meditation) creates a current of spiritual wisdom and strength which will flow beneath the whole of the day’s activities and thoughts. Those who think it folly to attend to our spiritual attitude before we have attended our worldly concerns put second things first and first things second.

• Meditation will produce most results by being regular every day, rather than in fits and starts, because its something that gradually soaks in by repeated. Daily effort.

• The next point to observe is that certain physiological and psychological conditions are advisable if success to be attained with les difficulty. An easy body posture put the mind at ease. A body in discomfort tends to make the mind uneasy.

• There is mysterious quality in twilight which links it with the great spiritual currents that nature releases in regular rhythm.

• Thought control is hard to attain. Its difficulty will astonish you. The brain will rise in mutiny. Like the sea the human mind is ceaselessly active. But it can be done.

• The senses fight and try to cling on to the material world as it’s the nature of senses to be attached to the physical world. The power to hold on to a train of thought with great tenacity, to grasp it with scorpion-ic claws and not let go, is the power to concentrate and makes MEN. Masters of thought are true masters of Men.

• When the moral weakness and emotional unbalances are conjoined with mystical practices, the result is not elevation of mind into spirituality but degeneration of mind into mediumship. The practice of meditation without the cultivation of ethical and intellectual safe guards can lead to self deception, inflated egoism, hallucination and even insanity.

A Technique for self analysis - A great adventure of self-enquiry

A key to success in practice of self analysis is “think very slowly” Second is to formulate your words mentally. First watch your own intellect in its working. Note how thoughts follow one another in endless sequence. Then try to realize that there is someone wo thinks. Now ask: Who is this thinker?

Therefore, to know oneself is to find that point of consciousness from which observation of these changing moods may take place.

This was the celebrated attitude of Descartes.
He maintained that there mere act of thinking involved the existence of a thinker, of the one who carries on this reflective activity. “Je pense, done je suis”(I think there fore I am), was his famous philosophical proposition. It was a tremendous claim and found its powerful opponents. And its logical result was compelled to infer that this thinking, this “I” was intrinsically immaterial and there fore independent enough to have its own existence apart from the fleshly body with which its nevertheless so intimately bonded. T

Mind is like a restless monkey, but chain it to the post of a single object, tether it to the stake of one line of thought; then only will the monkey recognize you as its master, and be more ready to obey your orders.

Though the man is with the higher power which may be called God, the fact remains that he has lost the consciousness of this unity. And unless he makes observation, or in true prayer, to detach himself increasingly from his external existence, it is unlikely that he will recover this divine consciousness.

Thinking is power which may bind us or set us free. The average man unconsciously uses it for the former purpose; the meditator of self inquiry uses it to gain freedom.

Intuition: Immediate understanding.

• Rational thought provides us with a splendid instrument wherewith to comprehend life and the world up to a point, but it is a mistake to imagine that it is there for the only instrument available to us. Intuition is one such instrument and many times it works with out any conscious effort on our part.

• When the reasoning, thinking intellect subsides its activity, the intuition has a clear field in which to manifest itself. It’s therefore necessary to find some means to reduce the constant agitation of the intellect. This can be done by a two fold process.

1. The first consists of an effort to direct thoughts along a single channel of certain kind i.e. concentration upon an exalted abstract idea (Meditation)

2. Control of breathing. The reason is there exists a profound connection between breath and thought. The movements of breath beat time, in a most remarkable fashion, with the movements of thought. Most people undervalue the powers of the breath but the early Jesuits in the west and the early yogis in India knew better, for they embodied the breathing exercise in their system of training.

The breathing exercise mentioned here by Paul Brunton is similar to the one as in pranayam, so here I am giving a link of pranayam technique for you all, if interested to follow.

Awakening to the Intuition

Humility is the first step on the secret path – and it will also be the last. For before the divinity can begin to teach him through its own self-revelation he must first became teachable, i.e. humble.

Intellectual ability and learning are admirable things and adorn a man, but intellectual pride puts up a strong barrier between him and that higher life which is ever calling to him, albeit silently.

Hitherto, the entire student’s effort at finding the true self have been positively directed, personally willed, conscious and voluntary. He is now almost at the point where there should be a complete reversal of procedure, where the personality must cease making any further efforts because it has reached the end of its tether.

The whole process of mediation is simply to select this one higher topic of self enquiry out of the multitude of ideas, to think firmly up that alone and of nothing else. Then when the attitude and the quality of concentration are thus strongly developed, the student drops even this special line of thinking withdraws inward and a question who it is that is thinking.

One inevitable result of all these practices will be that your attitude towards things, people and events will gradually change. You will begin to express the qualities which are natural to the over self, the qualities of noble outlook, perfect justice, the treatment of one’s neighbor as oneself.

SOMETHING THAT I AM READING NOW
Meluha by Amish - The top selling fiction as of now in India, although I did not like the premise that Lord Shiva is a mortal Human being, but as Amish told me in our discussions, to read the book and then let him know if he has done justice to Lord Shiva or not, so I am reading it now.
Dreaming in Hindi - By katherine Russell Rich / As per the book print, its on the Oprah Magazine's list of 10 Terrific reads of 2009, I am just not sure of how one defines terrific for the masses as well as does Oprah Magazine's list are typical of Oprah's opinions or we are just being mislead by the name.
And finally
The black Swan - By Nassim Nicholas Taleb - this is the most promising book of the all. I have read it before but reading it again as the times that are around the corner demands it.

DESIGN STREET

Charles and Ray Eames

Eames (pronounced /ˈiːmz/) were American designers, who worked and made major contributions to modern architecture and furniture. They also worked in the fields of industrial design, fine art, graphic design and film. And here is the link that you can read through leisurely at your convenience http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_and_Ray_Eames

But here at this blog I am going to show you this legendary genius less known creative side which is his passion for photography. But before you get on with reading more about his photography and his pictures, here is something I would like you to have a look at it to understand the genius of Eames.

First, and in my opinion very interesting, is the movie called “Powers of 10”. You need to see it to believe it, that the whole movie was shot in studio of Eames and this one movie gave Hollywood a new camera shooting technique which is still used in the industry. http://www.powersof10.com/

Second is his iconic piece of furniture like Lounge Chair, The mesh chair and the ottomans etc. The person on the lounge chair here is Charles Gradson Eames Demetrios.

Third, which had more to do directly with India, he was also the idea behind creating the National Institute of Design at Ahemdabad as at that point of time, the then prime minister of India Pt Jawaharlal Lal Nehru called him to prepare a report on creating a world class design university. After visiting several places and knowing India by travelling around, Charles Eames came up with the report called “India report” which formed the basis of NID Ahemdabad. In this report, Charles Eames presented a very interesting discussion on the design conceptualization based on the design of our very own small water carrying vessel known as LOTA. Please have a look at it in the report.
http://www.designobserver.com/observatory/entry.html?entry=12692

But one of the things that is not very well known of this creative genius is his fascination and passion for Photography. Here I am introducing you to the exhibition of 100 selected photos that Charles Eames took over a period of many decades, which is called “The Gifted Eye of Charles Eames”. I travelled with Charles Eames Grand Son Eames Demetrius to Mumbai and Ahemdabad to give a presentation, discuss and generally show the 100 pics at display. There are few of the images from the same and his many interesting pictures that were on the display in the Exhibition.

(Eames Demetrios and me)

And there are many more.. if you are interested in knowing or having a look at more pics, then please get back to me and I will try to send you some more images from this collections.

WHISPERS

_______________________________________________________

As the sun rushes into the night

The sea reaches out hold him

In depths of her love

______________________

Shashi
Submitted for Poetry Potluck - Beaches and mountains
Click here to read some of other posts and post your own

 The image above, I took in Mumbai, India at the Bandra Sea Face in May 2010

 

This one poem by Pablo Neruda I came across on the net which I liked so much that I could not hold myself from posting it here...

 

Sonnet XVII

I do not love you as if you were the salt-rose, or topaz,

or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.

I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,

in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms

but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;

thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,

risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.

I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;

so I love you because I know no other way

than this: where I does not exist, nor you,

so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,

so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.

__________________________________

Pablo Neruda

 

 

VISUAL IMPRESSIONS

Some interesting visuals from one of the most famoous temples in India of Sun, known as Konark temple.

 

  The early morning view of the Konark Temple from one of the sides.

  Sensous and so engrossed

The morning sunrise on the way to Konark Temple

I wanted to end this visual story of a visit to Konark Temple with the smile of this beautiful tribal woman at the sea beach because any visually delightful thing can not be more than the smile on a face. This lady personify the contentment of being with the nature elements and be contented with it.

I hope you all have enjoyed this visit to the temple as I have.

OM NAMAH SHIVAYA

A STORY UNTOLD

Chapter Three

Vashudha was waiting for Baba to come. The temple and the ashram slowly surrendered to the calming effect of setting sun and the approach of the night through evening. The silence hung upon the flowing evening breeze so heavily that it has to slow down on the steps up hill and take rest on the footsteps of the falling deodar leaves. The thoughts of Vashudha though were not stilled yet, they were moving from one branch of thought to another like monkeys in the first snow fall. Enjoying the fall of white winter with each shake of branch and below, the dry leaves groaned in the cold pain of falling snow. But then Rishikesh never had the snow fall. Is it her thoughts that are so cold making her environments drip icicles or is it her fear of the answer what Yogi Baba will bring to her. Whatever it was, she was not comfortable. She knew in her heart that she is not doing the right thing and she fears her discomfort with her consciousness. Its not even six months she has been here and she is ashamed of herself every day. The feeling that every one of the days, she had cheated herself and loving people around her, does not leave her to sleep peacefully in the night or be awake in herself in the day. Why did she do it? Was it her ego or it’s her hurt? Why is she even here? Why she even got to know that she is supposed to be here some time, some life time? And who told her all these confusing things? She never believed in God, or spiritual world or religious sentiments or come to think of it, never even on a Guru and here she is trying to force her questions, her thoughts on her chosen Guru and asking what she knows, Yogi Baba will have difficulty in answering. She was never like this, living alone in a jungle where the only sound of music she hears comes from the temple bell, conch or the Jhaal that devotees strike in rhythm while chanting Hare Krishna. She was contented in her life of jet set, the page three groupies, the passion and allure of power, money and lust. Her father, one of the top business houses in India, Vaibhav Group, was the most devoted of her movements in the celestial sky of earthly stars. Her mother, if not pushed her into the arms of the Casanova’s at least never raised an eyebrow with the people she was moving about or living with in various beds…. Vashudha’s wonder is not about why she is even here at this point of time, when she was most talked about, most successful and most vibrant society girl, but she wondered how she reached here and what is the purpose. Some times in her previous life, when the cobwebs or her drunken stupor used to lift, she used to wonder what she is doing in this place, this floor or this bed, but now here in Rishikesh, she wakes up with cobwebs every day and still wonder what she is doing in this bed every day. What is it she is waiting for? For Yogi Baba to answer or for his answer or his non-answer so that she can leave every thing again and move on with her life or her non-life. She is not sure anymore just like those stars, in the twilight, are not sure whether to come out or not, whether its dark enough to show themselves or hang around in their backstage a little more before flaring up in the dark sky over the serenity of Rishikesh.

She could now hear the bells earnestly calling her to reach out to her inner self, to find her answers whether Yogi Baba gives it or not. It’s almost Aarti time and Yogi Baba is still not here, so again she will have to walk, in 15 minutes of solitude, with her silent questioning, the path from her room to the temple again. She some times fears this path, this path throws up so many questions to her that she started avoiding walking along this path alone. Some times she picks up those new visitors from Europe, so wide eyed, soaking up everything from a foot fall to the drops of chanting mantras and talk to them about how important it is to use the Japa Mala to focus on one thought, one mantra where she has not picked hers for almost a month now. Lately she realized that Yogi Baba is not there on this path most of the times, to accompany her to the temple with his clear thoughts on what to do and what not to do, when practicing Dhyan, Meditation or chanting. And most of the times, now she is walking alone as even the visitors too have walked away in the winters to be with their families and warmth of love. The aarti in the temple this winter is going to be very cold; she can feel this in her heart. Her heart now is cold and when she is walking towards the temple for Aarti, she gathers her cold shawl around her, just to keep this coldness inside her heart. Why Yogi Baba is not here, when she needs his warmth of his soul, his insights and his love. Is he purposely doing this? Is he a weak person? Does the love she has, for his heart, will hurt him? She does not think so but then there is always a vicarious pleasure in thinking things that can not be and enjoy it. She is such a weak person. Or is she a strong person to meet her demons head on and win… May be she is right or may be not. Only Yogi Baba’s answer will tell. Why I have so many questions, when there are only one answer to all…. Why even I question all this around me and not needing even any answer…. Why?

To be continued next week...