Every morning, our first thoughts should be

a wish to devote the day to the good of all beings.

 

                                                                        Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

 

 

  

 

Compassion is the hearts' response to sorrow.

We share in the beauty of life and in the ocean of tears.

The sorrow of this life is part of each of our hearts and part of what

connects us with one another.  It brings with it tenderness, mercy,

and an all embracing kindness that can touch every being.

 

                                                                               Jack Kornfield

 

 

 

 

 

Listening is an art.  When we listen

with a still and concentrated mind,

it's possible to actually be responsive to

what the words are saying.  Sometimes

deep insights come in a flash, unexpectedly.

 

                                                              Joseph Goldstein

 

 

 

 

 

 

~ * ` ~ * `

 

 

...a wood chip

 falls from the shelf.

 

 

 

 

A Memoir

 

The morning we walked

through darkness

holding hands

towards a distant sound,

 

Sound

 

through

atmosphere

 

in

Total darkness ~

 

hours,

Before

the hour of

dawn

 

guided off road

by

luminaries

on pathways

leading to

invisible Brahmins

chanting,

smoke

and

fire.

 

 

Concentric rings

of pilgrimage

to the

heart.

 

 

 

 

I picked a wood chip off the ground.

 

 

 

~ * ` ~ * `

9  2010    Wood Chip ~  for Deanna

*

 

"Again and again,

it's time to say goodbye ~"

 

                   ~ Gurumayi

 

 

 

 

Shambhavi Mudra

 

Shambhavi to Mudra:

 

"I have not been to my Guru's house

for such a long, long time;

I've had to carry it

inside me. " 

 

 

Re: Mudra to Shambhavi:

 

At the end of this morning's

meditation.

I said to our Guru's, with my face in the carpet,

"I really want to be an ashram

when I grow up."

Not a teacher,

Not an artist,

but, an ashram.

"I want to be a constant place

of refuge.

A place of refuge on two feet".

 

 

 

 ~ * ` ~ * `

 

 

 

Ashes at My Guru's Feet ~

A Thousand Mirrors

A thousand mirrors were neatly placed
On the table of my life.
Since life itself was an enigma,
I looked for meanings in the reflections.

Each mirror had its own width and depth
And also its own distortions.
Some reflections were smaller, and others larger;
Still others were totally out of proportion,
Yet they seemed to speak about life
And shed meaning on existence.
I watched the myriad reflections
Of feelings, thoughts and actions.

In the beginning it was all fun,
Like a child's game -
But the game was not distant from reality.
A thousand mirrors became my dwelling.
Time passed, watching.
It seemed a comfortable way of living.

Then the Guru's grace struck my life.
One by one, each mirror was shattered to pieces.
The reality of my existence was at stake.
The table of my life was shaking.

As grace continued to strike,
Each mirror was broken into thousands of fragments,
The reflections became innumerable.
But now they no longer made sense.
Each single, clear reflection had become multifaceted.
One reflection of sadness became many.
One reflection of joy was also multiplied.
Yet nothing held true meaning anymore.

The Guru's grace continued to strike.
Ultimately, this last mirror, so dear to my heart,
The mirror which maintained the difference
Between the individual soul and the Supreme Soul,
Was about to be destroyed.

My whole being wept.
My senses abandoned me.
My world crumbled.

Destruction took its time.
While grace was penetrating deeply,

I said to myself, "People say grace is a shelter.
Why then, am I loosing all I have?"

The last mirror,
Which gave me hope,
which gave me support,
Which held my entire universe together,
My dearest friend for lifetime after lifetime,
Was about to become the prey of grace.

The sword of light shone brilliantly.
Reflections melted in this mirror.
Finally, when the strongest mirror exploded,
Not even a trace remained
Of that existence which had once
Found meaning in reflections.

A wondrous thing had happened:
All the reflections had become grace.
Grace had revealed that everything is grace.

The Guru smiled as my non-existent life
Merged into one truth - the love of my Guru.

The table of my life had vanished;
My life had become the life of my Guru.

 ~ * ` ~ * `

Gurumayi Chidvilasananda

 

 

 

 

 

*

 

Wind moves through night

oceanic steady

in its turning waves ~

 

The atmosphere

tropical.

 

Monsoon-like rain falls.

 

Season of remembrance,

Pitru Paksha,

Say prayers

for those who have passed;

 

Lineage of saints.

 

My heart steeped

the moment my mind

turns inward.

 

  

 ~ * ` ~ * `

10   1  2010   October One

 

 

 

I have no idea

why I had the

great good fortune

to bathe in

the magnitude

of these Guru's

energetic spheres...

 

but to remember

standing on a hill side

over a lake

 

Brahmins chanting

 

while being taught

experientially

the significance

of Pitru Paksha

 

Praying

and offering back

to those who have

come

before us...

 

The fact

that I was standing

where I was

at that time

had me putting

on garments

of untold grace.

 

Chanting mantras

with  Brahmins,

while making offerings

of ghee wicks

lit,

rice, and flower pedals

which were provided

to us...

into the waters of Nityananda's lake

in NY state.

 

To be given everything:

The prayer,

The experience of

a state in my heart,

an uneraseable state

of a timeless grace,

 

for this

I am wordless.

 

~ * ` ~ * `

10  5  2010     Pitru Paksha

 

 

 

 

 

// Prayer is the Breath of the Heart. //

 

                                                                                        ~  Gurumayi  Chidvilasananda

 

 

 

Pitru Paksha

September 24 – October 7, 2010

One of the Vedic traditions observed on the Siddha Yoga path is the observance of Pitru Paksha, which is designated as an especially powerful time to honor our ancestors.

According to the Vedas, our ancestors include not only members of our own family lineage but also those who have contributed to our welfare in this or in previous lives. These ancestors can be our teachers, mentors, role models, friends, and those who have walked the spiritual path before us.

So, in observing Pitru Paksha, we offer our gratitude to the countless souls who have brought grace, wisdom, protection, and love to our lives. Many people also offer gratitude to nature for the perpetual inspiration and nourishment it provides for us all.

Recommended Observances

It is traditional during Pitru Paksha to dedicate spiritual practices such as meditation, chanting, mantra repetition, and prayer to our ancestors. It is also traditional to perform actions on the ancestors’ behalf that sustain the natural rhythm of giving and receiving.

Recommended Abstentions

During this 15-day period, it is recommended that people refrain from beginning new projects or scheduling events that celebrate new beginnings such as weddings. While long journeys such as cross-continental or international travel are not recommended, short-distance air and car travel are fine. If you find that you must travel during this time, it is good to be especially vigilant and alert, and to offer prayers for protection. Travel that is considered auspicious during Pitru Paksha is that which is undertaken as a pilgrimage or to initiate spiritual practice.

 

 ~ * ` ~ * `

 

 

Perfect Landing

 

 

maybe,

 

The best days

take us from

routine

 

take us away

from

familial

pattern...

we consider

to

be

our charge.

 

 

A focusing

of sight ~

 

 

Observation

of 'the goings on'

all around us

 

Open

to what each

instance

is here

to teach.

 

 

Harvest moon

shows

us,

LIGHT.

 

  

How seamlessly

harmonious

the

present

folds out

before us...

 

Each story,

 

Unique characters

 

elemental

as Autumn leaves

decorating

a

pond of lily pads ~

 

[aerial view

from the 4th floor

hospital cafeteria

picture window pane] 

 

Wind streams

through tree limbs

over a cup of steaming tea, 

 

Monarchs sail past ~

 

A duck

teeters

in mid air

descending

to water

for

a perfect

landing...

 

 

If,

we are lucky

enough,

to

"Attend".

 

 

 

 

 

~ * ` ~ * `

9   22   2010     Perfect Landing

 

 

 

Baba's Day

 

 

Where does this love

divide?

 

 

The day

fused

mindless sky

Vivid

with

awareness

 

to

a last

anchor

traveling

Awake

through

night-like

void

 

no scape

to trace

or adhere

storyline to...

 

Silent

blessing

 

your

divine

invisibility 

 

 

 

 

scape: the shaft of a feather 
~ * ` ~ * `

10   2   2010     Baba's Day

 

 

 

 

 

The following excerpt is from Buddhist Connect:

Opening into Spaciousness  

 

It's best not to invite a pleasant thought when you are training to rest your awareness in

meditation. Another thought will come and what you need to cultivate is equanimity

so that you do not mind what content the thought has, just as you don't mind what shape a wave 

on the ocean has....it comes and goes and it really doesn't matter what shape or flavor it brought 

with it.....the ocean remains the same - deep and full of living qualities that do not come and go.

You are coming back to the breath in order to learn to trust the ocean and be less fascinated by the waves....

 

 

Lama Shenpen's advice on resting awareness in meditation and opening out into a sense of spaciousness.  

 

 

~ * ` ~ * `

 

 

 

 

 

//the glue of our shortcomings carrying us to shore . . .//

 

                                                                        ~ Deanna Nikaido           

 

 

 

wave after wave                                                                                                                                 

continually returning  us

wave after wave     

to God's shore...

 

~ * ` ~ * `

Without One,  Everything

is just a string of Zeros.

 

          A story told by Gurumayi   (As I remember it)

 

 

 

There once was a group of 10 pilgrims traveling together.

They always kept an eye out for one another.

They came to a river.

Knowing they needed to get to the other side,

they waded into the current.

 

When on the other side, one of the pilgrims

started to take count... accounting for each member, 

making sure all had made it safely across.

 

He counted:

One, two, three, four...through to  nine, And became distraught.

One was missing!

Each pilgrim then took a turn counting the members of the group,

each discovered in their counting,

One was missing!

The pilgrims began to weep and wail their loss, "One of us is missing!"

A farmer walking by heard

their cries and went to see if there was anything he could offer.

 

They relayed their plight.

"We were traveling together and in crossing the river

lost one of our comrades."

 

The Farmer asked, "How many of you were there to begin with?"

"10" replied the pilgrims.

 

The Farmer said, "Let me count".

 

"One, two, three, four, five, six,

 seven, eight, nine, ten.

 

You are all here!"

 

 

 

 

[Moral:  Never forget to include yourself in the picture!] 

~ * ` ~ * `

Tribute

 

 

Recollection

takes up

little space

in the memory

of my heart...

 

but

for the

ways

life teaches ~

unrelentingly,

 

 

     Detachment.

 

 

A searing

clarity of grace

and

the importance

of

bowing.

 

An immeasurable

equation

that

takes you

from here

to god.

 

 

 

Gratitude

for

difficulty,

highlighting

things

oblivious

to sight.

 

Grateful

pain

through which

I

see...

  

the offhanded

way

color

never

really

exists...

 

 

 

The

way I

surprise

myself

in reflective

discovery...

  

that "I AM"

the only

part

not

looking

at myself.

 

 

 

 

~ * ` ~ * `

9   14   2010    Tribute

 

 

 

I was left with an impression

after sitting through my Mother's

memorial service,

 

hearing people stand

and share their memories of

my mother,

That I had no idea who she was.

 

More largely...

 

My Mother was something different

to every single person who

encountered her.

Much like

a hologram of projections.

 

We hear from multiple

sources

that this world is

illusory.

This experience

revealed something

of

the nature

of human nature to me.

 

Each person

believes what

they

perceive

to

be

true.

 

Is it any

wonder

God

is shaking

up the box

and spilling

out

the contents. 

 

 

~ * ` ~ * `

9  14  2010

 

  

 

 

I remember Baba saying

in an Intensive when I was in my twenties:

 

 

'If someone invented a machine

that could record people's thoughts,

and everyone sitting here was asked the question, 

 

"What is going on in this Hall?"

 

No one's experience would be duplicated.'

 

~ * ` ~ * `

 

Shift

in atmosphere

dropped in

 

stripping

maples

 

blowing spiritual

moon lit

bodies

across night skies

 

as earth bound 

marigolds

fell

in

night

frost...

  

Thankful

driving thru

this man-made

grid map

(and mood of mind),

that illumined

moon,

drew my

senses

upward.

 

* 

            *   *

 

patterns shift

and colder heavens

alert

first snow:

Vermont,

New Hampshire,

and northern New York

 

Changing garments

of season's turning cannot

be

denied.

 

 * 

            *   *

Certainly...

 

of all devious

desires, Is,

how we dream.

 

 

"daydreaming drugs the pain of living'

                                                   ~ Joni Mitchell

 

Exactly,

how is it?

that we

march,

 

keeping

loves

alive

simultaneously...

 

as vast awakening prowess,

cantors 

through

our most sacred held

secret

recesses

 

unseen

messengers

everywhere

 

clanging,

 

'we're only here

for a matter of time'...

 

little things

human species cling to

to preserve

meaning,

in the perverse

illusory

shifting landscapes

of mind.

 

Like

daytime stories

recorded

and replayed

in the night.

 

 

As a crowded

global face

fills cyberspace

and beyond

with

a gripping

vibration...

 

Surrender

to

interior beacons

Now required;

same as a hammerhead

ringing through

a nail

driven to

completion.

 

 

 

 

 

~ * ` ~ * `

10   17   2010

One minute of sitting, one inch of Buddha.

Like lightning all thoughts come and pass.

Just once look into your mind-depths:

Nothing else has ever been.

                                   - Manzan (1649-1709)

* 

            *   *

"In the darkest part of the night

  blue shadows conjure you ~"

 

 

                                        ~ Joni Mitchell

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

~ * ` ~ * `~ * ` ~ * `Om Namah Shivaya. ~ * ` ~ * `~ * ` ~ * `

 

 

What is

this day...

 

What is

this hour?

 

What is

this 

striking

hammer cord?

 

The quiver,

its continual vibration

on 

air  

condensing

pressure

to

resolute

still

point.

 

OM ceaseless

sea

of

sound

 

Indivisible

source

expanding

as sphere ~

 

Motion

surrounds.

 

Swelling

and spinning

torrent ~

each

clamoring voice

for individual

expression

drowns.

 

Choice

stripped.

 

Shear

force;

factor.

 

In grace

bestowed  
I

stand

 

This day,

 

This hour,

 

and move

Only

with

this center

as it

moves.

 

 

7    21  2010      Guru Purnima

 

 

 

~ * ` ~ * `

 

Love Poems From God  

12 Sacred Voices From East and West

Collection by Daniel Ladinsky

pg. 187

 

 

My Sweet, Crushed Angel

 

                                                          ~ Hafiz

 

You have

not danced so badly, my dear,

trying to hold hands with the Beautiful One.

 

You have waltzed with great style, my sweet, crushed angel,

to have ever neared God's heart at all.

 

Our partner is notoriously difficult to follow, and even His

best musicians are not always easy to hear.

 

So what if the music has stopped for awhile.

So what, if the price of admission to the Divine is out of reach tonight.

So what, my sweetheart, if you lack the ante to gamble for real love.

 

The mind and the body are famous for holding the heart ransom,

but Hafiz knows the Beloved's eternal habits.  have patience,

for He will not be able to resist your longings

and charms for long.

 

You have not danced so badly, my dear,

trying to kiss the magnificent

One.

 

You have actually  waltzed with tremendous style

my sweet, O my Sweet

crushed

angel. 

 

~ * ` ~ * `

 

Dear Sweet Ani Satyarupa,

 

Satsang into the night hours

curled on your porch couch

listening to your voice

Reading to me

my first experience of Hafiz's exquisite poem.

 Fodder for a gathering of ecstatic hearts to drown in ecstatic poetry!

 

                                    *

 

Thank you for sacred time shared dear Heart under a Gurupurnima moon rising All week!

 

                                                                                   *

 

 ~ * ` ~ * `

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 ~ * ` ~ * `

 

 

 ~ * ` ~ * `

 

Live Simply

Love Generously

Care Deeply

And leave the rest to God!

 

(Tom, who said this?)

 

                               ~ * ` ~ * `

 

On sensitive days such as these,

it's best to just open the window and see what flies in.

Don't initiate anything on these days,

but rather respond to what comes up.

 

                                                  Horoscope                                                                                                                                                     

                             *

May I Become An Island

 

To the Buddhas residing in all directions,

With my palms pressed together I make this request:

Please continue to shine the lamp of Dharma

For living beings lost and suffering in the darkness of ignorance.

 

May I become an island for those seeking dry land,

A lamp for those needing light,

A place of rest for those who desire one,

And a servant for those needing service.

 

 

from Guide to Bodhisattva's Way of Life by Shantideva,

2002 by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso and New kadampa Tradition.

Reprinted with permission of Tharpa Publications, www.tharpa.com

 

 

 

~ * ` ~ * `

 

 

 

 

 

"When you love, you see that the other person is a part

of you.  In that realization there is already non-self."

 

                                                                Thich  Nhat Hanh

 

 ~ * ` ~ * `

 

 

If you touch the phenomena deeper and deeper, you touch the ultimate.

The ultimate is not something separated from phenomena.

 

                                                                  Thich Nhat Hanh

 

 

~ * ` ~ * `

 

 

 

The everyday practice is simply to develop
a complete acceptance and openness
to all situations and emotions,
and to all people,
experiencing everything totally
without mental reservations and blockages,
so that one never withdraws or centralizes into oneself.

                                                         ~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

~ * ` ~ * `~ * ` ~ * `Om Namah Shivaya. ~ * ` ~ * `~ * ` ~ * `

By GRACE alone

All this,

By Grace alone!

 

  

 

Meditation of

Saints

And Seers

encouraging

hearts

of those

sensitive

to service,

to

Make space

within

for light;

 

Tend to

its

flame.

 

Surly,

Baba's Birthday

Rising!

 

Work.

Seva,

ever present

everywhere

through our

aging

bodies...

 

Surly the Power & Inspiration

of a LOVE filled

incarnation.

 

Surly,

Baba's Birthday

rising!

 

Stories and

Scriptures

of shifting sands,

of time,

 

un rhythmic

rhyme

of the purificatory

fire...

 

Surly,

Baba's Birthday

Rising!

 

Unseasonable

flurries

the cottonwood trees

 

rounding the bend

of Belmont

on to Roosevelt Ave.

through a shower

of falling blossoms

in a boat, which helps me

cross the endless ocean of life,

 

(228,000 miles on my Honda Odyssey Now -

ferry me across!)

 

Surly,

Baba's Birthday

Rising!

 

"So much time

has passed,

So little time

remains...

Don't slacken now!"

 

Surly,

Baba's Birthday

Rising!

 

 

As chapters now

turn

to those

preparing for transition

from this plane of

existence...

 

and to those

who have

passed

before us

 

Salutations

earth,

Salutations

people

 

without which

experience

of being

would not

exist...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 ~ * ` ~ * `

5  16  2010   HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABA MUKTANANDA with  love & remembrance

 

 

~ * ` ~ * `~

 

 

 

Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself you have built against it.

   ~ Rumi

~ * ` ~ * `

 

With the realization of one's own potential and

self-confidence in one's ability,

one can build a better world.

According to my own experience, self-confidence is very important.

That sort of confidence is not a blind one;

it is an awareness of one's own potential.

On that basis, human beings can transform themselves by increasing the good qualities

and reducing the negative qualities.

 

 

 

 - H.H. Dalai Lama

 

 

~ * ` ~ * `

 

Music

 

Sing it Amma!

paste this in your browser bar

and sway!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBWXZSPsvgE&feature=fvw

 

Always has to be some music!

 

 

Sadgurunath Maharaj Ki Jay!

 

Jaya Guru!

 

 

~ * ` ~ * `~ * ` ~ * `Om Namah Shivaya. ~ * ` ~ * `~ * ` ~ * `