Jon Kabat-Zinn’s book, ’Coming To Our Senses’, seems a little heavy in the beginning, and I was wondering where had the author gone, when the writing started to unfold like a lotus in bloom. I had thoroughly enjoyed the previous book ‘Wherever You Go There You Are’, his engaging handbook on Mindfulness.
To quote: “Thirty years ago it was virtually inconceivable that Meditation and Yoga would find a legitimate role, no less widespread acceptance, in academic medical centers and hospitals. Now it is considered normal…. Mindfulness meditation has come to be taught in law firms and is currently taught to law students at Yale, Columbia, Harvard, Missouri and elsewhere.
What on earth is going on? You might say that we are in the early stages of waking up as a culture to the potential of interiority, to the power of cultivating awareness and the intimacy of silence and stillness. We are beginning to realize the power of the present moment to bring us greater clarity and insight, greater emotional stability, and wisdom. In a word, meditation is no longer something foreign and exotic to our culture. It is now as American as anything else. It has arrived. and none too soon either, giving the state of the world and huge forces impinging on our lives”
The beauty of this book is that every chapter is just a couple of pages so there is a sense of having studied a topic very quickly. His writing his very poetic and the rhythm feels like a walk in the woods.
You can check it out at Amazon at
http://www.amazon.com/Coming-Our-Senses-Ourselves-Mindfulness/dp/0786867566
Love Rathi Raja
It is ironic that in last week’s class we talked about Sama Buddhi, a sameness towards different types of relationship in the study of Ch. 6, verse 9 – this included enemies, friends, benefactors and acquaintances. As I read and hear the sweep of information on the Virginia Tech tragedy I am struck by the range of emotions expressed by people. The words ‘Massacre’, ‘Mad Killer’, ‘Psychotic Murderer’ are some of the frequently used words on television. And I wonder how is one to recover from this. Innocent students, who could easily be our very own children, had an abrupt ending to their lives. I feel we have to summon from the depths of our heart a compassion for the mentally ill, who behave in ways so counter to dharma. We have to forgive this madness in our society that prevents us from knowing who our neighbour is. Is continued fear and anxiety the answer to this?? I do not think so. We still have to look for the answer in our capacity for compassion and love. That cannot be legislated by any amendment to the constitution. And no law can help us discover that.
Let us talk about our children, and how they suddenly face being called adults when they have not travelled the path of childhood.
Let us talk about the real problems of isolation and the pressures on immigrant families in a multicultural, competitive cauldron. It is not a pretty picture.
Let us talk and maybe we will find a path together to create a new vocabulary of compassion and love.
From Ian McFarlane ( VT Student) after the shooting:
“
While I was hesitant at first to release these plays (because I didn’t know if there are laws against it), I had to put myself in the shoes of the average person researching this situation. I’d want to know everything I could about the killer to figure out what could drive a person to do something like this and hopefully prevent it in the future. Also, I hope this might help people start caring about others more no matter how weird they might seem, because if this was some kind of cry for attention, then he should have gotten it a long time ago.”
Love
Rathi Raja
Filed under: Personal
When a person contemplates celebrating the birthday of the family dog, it is a sure sign of some deep personal crisis. Do we not celebrate enough?? All kinds of anniversaries and birthdays and significant dates. So I thought about why I wanted to celebrate Nila’s birthday, on March 31, 2007. The two year point was significant, having crossed many rounds of eye infections, and surviving the constant first thought every morning of how her eye will look. It was a routine of grabbing my glasses and holding her head straight so I could take a close look at her eyes and inspect them for any suspicious squint. I have a feeling I held my breath too. And then I would go to brush my teeth. If the eyes looked good I had a lightness in my step, ready to face the day with ‘Equanimity’.
It is not surprising that I had the urge to celebrate her birthday, very like the crazy parties for our children. That she has made it to this point in time is cause to pause, marking the moment with fun and laughter. And with seriousness that comes with any party planning, food, cake and guests. That last part was my daughter’s responsibility, gladly taken as a great excuse to get together with her friends. Nila even got some unique gifts, including a nose ring for her very shapely nose.
I hope I get to celebrate her third birthday. A great vegan chocolate cake from Whole Foods -the absolute best in the world!!!
I remember this magazine growing up. It used to have a standard yellow cover, always brimming with stimulating articles. They have had a complete makeover, over the last five years. I find the article quality quite superior. Also the sponsoring organization, The Sringeri Matha, has released a five part series on ‘Sakti Darsana’, covering each goddess in depth. I am think ing of doing a series on them during our Navaratri festival season. We could include a workshop that involves storytelling, mantra and yantra, to cover the many aspects of our spiritual heritage.
Do visit www.tattvaloka.com.
A sampling of the June 2006 issue – Maneesha Panchakam, Bhagavatam, Famous Shrines, Puranas, Abodes of Kartikeya, Book Review and a Special Feature on ‘The Upanishads and the Gita”.
An excerpt from the last article:’What is Dharma? Dharma comes from the root dhr, that which supports. In the final analysis, what is it that supports human consciousness? It is not wealth, it is not position, it is not political power. Ultimately it is the divine consciousness that suports our very existence. So Bhagavan Krishna urges us to give up all support and come to him. Speaking as the Divine, he says ‘I free you from all sins. Do not fear – ma suchah. How much love there is in those two words ‘Fear not‘ “.
Rathi Raja
