Touched My Heart

Earlier this week, a friend sent me this video. I was VERY touched by it and sent it on to family and friends. Days later, I’m still thinking and talking about it so I’ve decided to share it on my blog. I will let the video speak for itself.

The Absence of Plastic

Towards the end of January in 2017, I cleaned out the three birdhouses in my back yard. They all had nests inside but I noticed that none of them had been used; one was barely begun and another I judged to be abnormal.

the 3 bird nests

The one I considered abnormal had practically filled the whole bird house. The top of it was flat and solid, there was no place for a mother bird to lay or sit on her eggs. Like the others, that birdhouse was made of many natural materials, but it also included many small pieces of plastic.

I ended up taking that bird nest apart. I soon discovered it contained a tremendous amount of plastic. Below you will see a photo of the plastic that I found in that one nest.

I wondered if the bird’s brain had been poisoned by the plastic and if that was why the top was flat. My heart ached when I thought about the many ways humans contaminate nature.

This experience occurred soon after we started working on restoring the Greenbelt property that is adjacent to my house. The land at that time was full of trash, big and small, and there were a lot of small plastic pieces in and on top of the ground.

It was near nesting season, so we decided to invite the Bala Kendra group from our Amma satsang to do a Greenbelt litter pickup work party. It was amazing to see how much trash the children gathered in an hour’s time.

In the years since then, numerous truckloads of garbage have been removed from the property.

This year, when I cleaned out the bird houses in preparation for nesting season, I found that two of the houses were practically empty. Only one contained a complete nest. It didn’t look like it had been used, but at least it had been built normally; there was a cup indentation on top, a place for the mother bird to lay her eggs.

I didn’t take apart the nest this time but the absence of plastic was very noticeable. I only saw one small piece on the outside of the nest and another small piece at the bottom of the cup.

***

You can read the full story about my 2017 experience in a three part series. It includes many more photos, some of them microscopic. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Beauty During the Pandemic

I have essentially remained in my house since the stay at home order went into effect; but I have gone to the grocery store occasionally and have also walked up and down my street or around the block from time to time.

Yesterday, I took photos of some of the plants I’ve been seeing on those short ventures.

Click on any of the photos below to enlarge them.

FOTD

Stay at Home Photos

Like most of us, I imagine, I’m spending most days in my house. While over the years, I have developed the habit of leaving the blinds on the front window down since they help keep the house warm in the winter and cool in the summer, now that I’m indoors so much, I often find myself pulling the blinds up during daytime hours.  

Still my eyes may not see what’s in front of my face. One morning in May, I gazed towards the front window and really “saw” the view. I had known this rhododendron shrub had buds, but I hadn’t noticed it had come into full bloom. The sight was stunning. 

FOTD

Day 38 and 39 Sanskrit Writing

In a recent post, I wrote about having decided to use a beautiful chant consisting of 108 characteristics of Amma as a spiritual practice and an opportunity to start writing in Sanskrit again. My plan was to start at the beginning of the chant and write each line 10 times in Devanagari (Sanskrit script) … completing one line per day.

Today is the 40th day of that practice. I decided to share my journal pages from Days 38 and 39 with you. (I choose to write using a pen so you will see numerous corrections.)

Many of the lines in the chant are about events that happened during Amma’s early life. That is true of these two lines.

Day 38
वियोग शोक सम्मूर्व्व्हा मुहु: पतित वर्ष्मने नम:
om viyoga shoka sammurccha muhurpatita varshmane namah
… who often fell down unconscious due to the grief of non-union with Krishna

Day 39
सारमेयादि विहित शुश्रूषा लब्ध बुद्धाये नमः
sarameyadi vihita shushrusha labdha buddhaye namah
… who regained consciousness by the proper nursing given by dogs and other animals

Spirit Lifters-Day 62 of being “grounded” 5/6/2020

My friend Kathie posted quite a variety of inspirational pieces on May 6. The two poems I’d read before but it was good to read them again. I was particularly moved by the last video, which was completely new to me. (You will have to click on view original post in order to see the last one.)

chosenperspectives

Here’s a new collection for you, of feel good, feel deeply, and feel connected things to watch, read and listen to!!!

And if that didn’t delight you and make you laugh, just look up almost anything by Jeanne Roberston…

And I keep this on in the back ground sometimes or check it out all day long. These baby eagles are hysterical to watch at this age. What a miracle it is that we even can.

Skip ahead to about 55 on the counter. Then if you want, skip ahead to 10:48.

Or this one is amazing also!

If you need to get up and move, watch this standing. You’ll be bopping around before you know it!

To connect with deeper meaning and the bigger picture, read this lovely contribution

https://www.irishcentral.com/culture/irish-american-teachers-poem-covid19-outbreak

The poem reads…

And the people stayed home. And read books, and listened, and rested, and exercised, and made…

View original post 126 more words

Writing Sanskrit as Spiritual Practice

During the previous decade, I attended Sanskrit classes for about five years. For a while I even attended two classes a week. My goal was to be able to converse in Sanskrit.

I became discouraged, however, when class after class of Indian students zoomed past me. I may have known more Sanskrit when each class began, but many of the Indian students’ native languages were rooted in Sanskrit so they were able to easily able to develop a Sanskrit vocabulary. I couldn’t do that. I progressed in my studies, but the time came when I was no longer willing to dedicate the hours it would take to reach my goal; besides, I was no longer convinced my goal was even possible.

One day during the current pandemic, it occurred to me that I could write in Sanskrit as a form of spiritual practice. It had been a long time since I’d written the Devanagari letters and I knew I would enjoy doing that once again.

Many years ago, a devotee of my spiritual teacher, Amma (Mata Amritanandamayi), wrote a beautiful chant consisting of 108 characteristics of Amma. I realized I could focus on one line of that chant each day by writing it in Devanagari script ten times. I have been doing that exercise for the last 28 days!

In the past, I often wrote about my Sanskrit studies on this blog. I decided a few days ago that I would do that again. But each day, I determined that my writing wasn’t good enough or the line of the chant wasn’t the right one. Today, I decided that since my purpose was to share the process, nothing about it had to be perfect.

I picked the 24th and 25th lines of the chant to share:

om nissabda janani garbha nirgamadbhuta karmane namah (Salutations to Amma who did the miraculous deed of keeping silence when she came out of her mother’s womb.)

om kali sri krishna sangkasha komala shyamala tvishe namah (Salutations to Amma who has the beautiful dark complexion reminiscent of Kali and Krishna.)

I hope the pandemic ends before I reach the 108th day, but even if it does, I may continue this practice until I have finished the last line.

I will end my post with the following prayer:

Om Lokah Samastha Sukhino Bhavantu
Lokah Samastha Sukhino Bhavantu
Lokah Samastha Sukhino Bhavantu
May all beings in the world live in peace

Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti
Peace, Peace, Peace