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Brighter side of web - Spirituality
I have to admit I struggled through my first year of philosophy. I found Descartes dreary and logic perfectly illogical. I was rather pleased when I could drop (Western) philosophy for Politics and Economics.
I appreciate very few Western philosophers, but, I do have great admiration for Socrates. Socrates was unlike many philosophers because for him the aim of philosophy was not to write down great works of intellectual magnificence. Socrates was primarily interested in searching for and living the real meaning of life.
I wrote an article at Pick the Brian about Socrates and the lessons we can learn from his life.
Some Quotes from Socrates
The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.
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Be slow to fall into friendship; but when thou art in, continue firm and constant.
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By all means, marry. If you get a good wife, you'll become happy; if you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher.
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I decided that it was not wisdom that enabled poets to write their poetry, but a kind of instinct or inspiration, such as you find in seers and prophets who deliver all their sublime messages without knowing in the least what they mean.
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If thou continuest to take delight in idle argumentation thou mayest be qualified to combat with the sophists, but will never know how to live with men.
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Serenity, regularity, absence of vanity, Sincerity, simplicity, veracity, equanimity, Fixity, non-irritability, adaptability, Humility, tenacity, integrity, nobility, magnanimity, charity, generosity, purity.Practise daily these eighteen "ities" You will soon attain immortality.
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The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be.
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The unexamined life is not worth living.
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Table in the Green
I'm interested in Zen simplicity at the moment. My room, alas, is far from meeting my aspirations of simplicity and tidiness. I wrote an article "How to Clear Out Your Clutter" at Sri Chinmoy Inspiration no.9 is "Ask Your Mother To Help" - Not so sure about this one, but, they can be very useful for cleaning...
Photo by Kedar Misani, Sri Chinmoy Centre Galleries.
Kedar has an extensive gallery of photos, which are worth checking out. I am, of course, very grateful for his permission in using his photos on my different websites.
True, the mind-sky
Has dark clouds,
But what prevents me
From rising above them
With the help of my soul?
Photo from: Sri Chinmoy Centre Galleries
By: Sri Chinmoy
There are several things we can do to reduce the stress and anxiety in our lives.
Taj Mahal
Beautiful Sitar Music by Dr. Madan Shankar Mishra
- Listen Now m4a format
Ganesha Song by Sri Chinmoy - requires real player
- Free Indian Music Downloads at Poetseers. This is a page I compiled a while back with some of my favourite Indian music selections. I try to update it every now and then.
Photo credit by: Unmesh Swanson Sri Chinmoy Centre galleries
When practising meditation we can learn how to develop greater equanimity and forbearance of difficult situations. Emotions like anger, hate and depression are very much polar opposites to the experience of meditation. When we allow anger to take over our mind it can be very destructive often leading to depression. My spiritual teacher Sri Chinmoy says:
“Anger is a great obstacle. The after-effect of anger is frustration and depression. We should take anger as a thief. Its very nature is to steal. We have love inside us and it is our treasure. If we allow anger, the thief, to enter into us, then it will immediately steal our inner treasure.”
However if we sincerely wish to stop anger then it is possible. We can try to implement steps such as these.
"Death is not the end. Death can never be the end."
"Death is the road. Life is the traveller. The soul is the guide."
"When the traveller is tired and exhausted, the guide instructs the traveller to take either a short or a long rest, and then again the traveller's journey begins."
13 is my favourite number so when I saw this blog about compiling list of best 13. Thurday Thirteen I thought I would contribute by offering 13 Best Speeches. I'm sure there are a few deserving ones I am unaware of, or have forgotten, but these talks and speeches each add something most signficant. Also it is hard to place them by order:
13 Illumining Speeches
- I Have a dream – Martin Luther King; Washington August 28, 1963
- Opening Address to the World Parliament of Religions by Swami Vivekananda, September 11th, 1893
- Declaration of Independence by Thomas Jefferson July 4, 1776
- Sermon on the Mount – Jesus Christ AD 33
I have put 2 great speeches ono my Write Spirit Blog.
The first was delivered by Swami Vivekananda at the World Parliament of Religions in 1893. Swami Vivekanananda was representing the Hindu religion but he spoke very eloquently on underlying unity of the world religions. He didn't wish to convert people to Hinduism but wanted people to follow their own religion more faithfully. He also made a powerful call for an end to fanaticism
I Have a Dream - Martin Luther King
The second speech is by Martin Luther King. The words are very powerful but to hear a live audio recording is even better. He had tremendous passion for his beliefs in a fairer society.
Miracle of our Lady of Fatima at Amazon.co.uk
Miracle of our Lady of Fatima at Amazon.com
Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima DVD review
3 children of Fatima
The Miracle of our Lady of Fatima is closely based (some liberties were taken) on the real events that took place in Portugal during 1917.
In 1917 Portugese society was facing many strains. The new Communist government was hostile to the Catholic Church creating a divide in the country between the more secular urban populations and the traditional Catholic rural populations. Furthermore Portugal had recently been drawn into the Great War, many young men were away fighting on the Western Front. It was admist this backdrop that 3 simple children reported seeing a vision of the Virgin Mary in pasture called the Cova da Iria ("Irene's Cove") near the village of Aljustrel, about a mile from Fátima. You felt the film presented a rather simplistic version of the political events, some reporters suggest it was portrayed through the eyes of a McCarthyite filter. However this isn’t a significant distraction, because the film is primarily about the religious and spiritual experience of the Virgin Mary’s appearance.
Top 20 Ways to Well Being in Independent list 20 things to improve well being. First is cycling Also glad to see drink coffee, tea and dark chocolate in their. Another interesting one is singing and not sleeping in at the weekend. The most obvious one is to be happy. This is a poem by Sri Chinmoy on happiness.
I am happy because I always choose the right moment.
I am happy because I am a good listener.
I am happy because I keep my voice down.
I am happy because I do not try to convince others.
I am happy because I do not complain.
I am happy because I do not do two things at the same time.
I am happy because I never think of two objects at the same time.
I am happy because I have realised the truth that the most important thing in my life is self-improvement.
I am happy because I unreservedly accentuate the good in others.
Akbar
Akbar was a great Moghul Emperor. He succeeded in uniting a large part of India into a great Moghul Emperor. He was a great military strategist, immensely rich and very powerful. However he did not misuse his power. He sought to honour the religious diversity of India. Although a Muslim he took a great interest in Hinduism and Buddhism.
Sri Chinmoy has written many stories about Akbar. This is one of my favourite when Akbar went to visit the Hindu princess Mirabai.
Recently I saw a very good play performed whilst in Turkey about Mirabai and Akbar. It was written by Sumangali Morhall. "Music and Religion" - A rhyming play based on Sri Chinmoy's writings
Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper
The Last Supper was painted onto the walls of the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie near Milan. Leonardo spent three years painting the work, and much of that time was spent searching the streets of Milan for models of Christ and Judas. It is said that only Leonardo's threats to paint the Prior of the convent as Judas bought him the time he needed to finish.
The Last supper and other paintings of Leonardo.
I wrote a biography of Leonardo da Vinci at Biography online
"One who is injured ought not to return the injury, for on no account can it be right to do an injustice; and it is not right to return an injury, or to do evil to any man, however much we have suffered from him."
"I am not an Athenian, or a Greek, but a citizen of the world."
- Socrates
Socrates was one of the greatest philosophers of the ancient world. He never wrote anything down but his discourses were recorded by his students.
There is a “new age” joke which runs along the lines of.
“My son used to sit around doing nothing, but now he has taken up meditation.
I think this joke is funny. Well at least its better than the joke about the meditator who told his dentist that he didn’t want any painkillers because he wished to “transcend dental medication” (*) Real meditation though is quite different from just sitting quietly for 5-10 minutes.
Often people have a nostalgic view of the past. Just talk to an old person and they will say how much better things were in "my day". It is true some problems are more pronounced, but it is also the case that perhaps things are not getting as bad as we may imagine. In some regards things are getting better.
Nevertheless I'll know I'm old when I starting talking like this:
"Well when I were a lad, of course things were much better..." - or maybe I will become like one of the 4 yorkshire men.
Anyway this is a question and answer from Sri Chinmoy Library
Question: Why are people getting worse instead of better?
Sri Chinmoy: I hear this question often from elderly people, but I have to be very frank. Has there been any time on earth when there was no conflict, no fighting, no war? From the very beginning of civilisation there has been fighting. At the start of the Mahabharata period they were fighting and later, in the time of the Greek and Roman civilisations, there was also constant fighting. Conflict has always existed on earth.
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Very often when giving meditation classes for Sri Chinmoy Centre people remark that meditation is quite difficult. Meditating in a group often gives a good experience but when meditating on their own they find it difficult to maintain this standard of meditation.. It is important to remember that spiritual practise is not like drinking instant coffee. If somebody told you could master playing the piano in one week, you would be suspicious. It is the same with meditation. We should feel that to be proficient in meditation it takes time and regular practice. It is like developing muscles it will get stronger with regular practise.
Soul Bird
Sri Chinmoy has painted several million Soul Birds. This year he passed the 15 million mark. Often when signing his name he will also draw a "Soul-bird". He can draw them very quickly with a few strokes of the pen. He says Soul-birds symbolise both freedom and the aspirations of our soul.
3 times a year in Oxford we offer free meditation classes to the general public. Usually we get about 20-40 people coming to learn how to meditate. In the first class I talk a little about meditation and give a few exercises for people to try. Meditation is a fairly simple exercise but it does require perseverance and patience.
Thought of the Day at Radio Sri Chinmoy
Sanjaya Spettigue is a friend from the Ipswich Sri Chinmoy Centre. He regularly offers a "Thought of the Day" for a local radio programme. You can listen to it here:
- Thought of the Day (m4a format)
In this short extract amongst other things he discusses the role concentration can play in helping sports players to do better.
See video at Sri Chinmoy TV
Last weekend was Sri Chinmoy's 20th anniversary for weightlifting.
Sri Chinmoy lifted some very heavy weights and honored some well known body builders and weighlifters. Always looking for new ways to lift Sri Chinmoy lifted some unusual objects. One of these lifts involved lifting a huge home grown 882 lb pumpkin with a standing calf raise machine. This huge vegetable, one of the largest ever recorded was grown by a Philadelphia farmer for competition rather than nourishment.
More on Sri Chinmoy Weightlifting
