Sanskrit Prayer to Mother Earth

Last May, my Sanskrit Class and our GreenFriends group put on a Sanskrit skit for Amma when she held a retreat in the Seattle area.

We started the performance with a prayer to Mother Earth. I love the words of the chant and thought I would share the translation with you. Many Indian children chant this prayer before they get out of bed each morning, i.e. before their feet touch the floor.

May we all learn to develop such respect for Mother Earth.

Quote of the Week: Hafiz

Photo from Wikipedia: Doublures inside a 19th-century copy of the Divān of Hafez. The front doublure shows Hafez offering his work to a patron.

A Divine Invitation

You have been invited to meet
The Friend.

No one can resist a Divine Invitation.

That narrows down all of our choices
To just two:

We can come to God
Dressed for Dancing.

Be carried on a stretcher
To God’s Ward.

Muhammad Hāfez-e Shīrāzī (also known as Hafiz, was a fourteenth century Persian poet.

Poem from I Heard God Laughing: Renderings of Hafiz by Daniel Ladinsky

Negotiating the Supermarket of the Mind

Question from someone at Amma’s 2014 San Ramon Retreat:

I have a question about negative thoughts and emotions. I find myself wondering what the right attitude is and how to prevent negative thoughts and emotions from affecting my life and affecting others. Continue reading “Negotiating the Supermarket of the Mind” →

Quote of the Week: Wayne Muller

Allow yourself to play with the freedom that comes from being ordinary and nobody special. The pressure is off. You can relax. Nothing special is expected of you. Nobody is watching. Why should they? You are just an ordinary child of the earth. Perfectly unexceptional, perfect just as you are.

from Legacy of the Heart: The Spiritual Advantages of a Painful Childhood by Wayne Muller, Simon and Schuster, 1992, page 84.

Making a Difference- Jadav Payeng

In May, I wrote a post called They Touched My Heart. One of the videos in that post was the story of Jadav Payeng, who at 17 started planting trees on a barren sandbar in India. Since that time a documentary about him was produced by Will McMaster. It is both beautiful and inspiring. To me, Jadav’s work is a good example of the difference one person can make. Continue reading “Making a Difference- Jadav Payeng” →

Quote of the Week: Mahatma Gandhi

Mohandas_K._Gandhi,_portrait — Photo Credit: Wikimedia

Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed.

— Mahatma Gandhi

Source: Pyarelal, Mahatma Gandhi, Volume X: The Last Phase, Part II (Ahmedabad: Navajivan, 1958), page 552

Dungeon Prompts: What is Your Concept of God?

Sreejit started his third season of Dungeon Prompts with quite a challenge! He wrote:

There are so many different concepts of what God is that we are forced to philosophically dissect and explain our own notion of the word before we can even talk about it. Often the westerner is not conceptualizing the easterner’s view and vice versa and though one may be devout and faithful in their own religion they would be considered crazy by another’s standards. So what is your concept of God and what is His/Her/Its impact on or necessity in your life.

My beliefs about God have changed numerous times in my life. During childhood and into my college years, I was involved in the Christian church in various forms. My mother’s church was very liberal, but during the 10^th grade I went to a Billy Graham crusade in Hawaii and became “born again.” During those years when I considered God, I probably thought of his love and also of the need for me to be free from sin. Continue reading “Dungeon Prompts: What is Your Concept of God?” →

Feeding a Fledging

I saw this video at Amma’s Toronto programs last month. It touched my heart so much then. When I received a copy of it a few minutes ago, I knew I wanted to share it with all of you.

The video came with this introduction:

Recently, a baby bird that had fallen out of its nest was brought to Amma during darshan. After feeding the bird, Amma said that its pathetic condition and heartfelt cries reminded her of all the suffering being experienced throughout the world and how the only way to rid the world of such suffering is through the awakening of compassion: “Children, the tears of those suffering from extreme poverty and other misfortunes, as well as of those who have more than enough materially but are still crying out deep within, can only be dried by pure love and compassion. May that compassion awaken in everyone, everywhere.

Amma feeding a fledgling

Quote of the Week: Hafiz

Manic Screaming

We should make all spiritual talk
Simple today:

God is trying to sell you something,
But you don’t want to buy.

That is what your suffering is:
Your fantastic haggling,
Your manic screaming over the price!

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Khwāja Shams-ud-Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Shīrāzī (also known as Hafiz, was a fourteenth century Persian poet.

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Poem from I Heard God Laughing: Renderings of Hafiz by Daniel Ladinsky

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The Beginning of a New Passion

During the last week of June 2011, I had a series of eye-opening experiences. As the week came to a close, I realized I also had a new direction in my life, the beginning of a new service project. How this project came about seemed almost mystical to me.

Some background first. Amma* has asked us for years to chant the Sri Lalitha Sahasranama** (also called archana) daily. While I have not been consistent in my chanting, I have had numerous powerful experiences when I have followed her direction to chant it daily. This was one of those times.

My normal practice is to read/chant the text while walking. I generally take one of four routes so that I know the terrain and can be focusing on the chant rather than my feet! This is what unfolded during those seven days in June 2011:

Day 1

I chanted the archana while walking the perimeter of the play yard in a grade school that is a block from my house. After reciting the first 850 lines, I started walking back home. A minute or two after leaving the school yard, I looked down at my feet and saw I was walking through an area of the sidewalk that was full of dog poop. I felt very irritated that the dog owner hadn’t cleaned it up and worried that I had stepped in the poop either coming or going from the play yard. Scowling, I continued on with the archana. Continue reading “The Beginning of a New Passion” →