At the Thillai Kali temple in Chidambaram, and at other temples I am sure, but that was where I particularly noticed this aspect, there is a mirror on the altar, so that one also sees one’s reflection when watching the abhisheka puja.
One is there, too, along with the priests and the gods—watching and a part.
“Practical Sanskrit” just did a post on its Facebook page that discusses the nyaya (maxim) of watering the mango tree. When we water a tree with the intention to honor our ancestors and the earth for its gracious offering, we are simultaneously taking care of the tree and honoring our ancestors, the earth, and the tree. The post continues by inviting us to be more conscious of trees, especially in the city, and to be more engaged in caring for them.
Practical Sanskrit’s post reminded me of a comment on this blog a couple of weeks ago. A commenter on stated that most of the things that I write about doing to live more lightly on the planet require substantial financial means and education. That is true in certain cases–obviously, if I wasn’t blogging, I would not have any need to try and go “carbon neutral” with the blog (although it is no more expensive to have a carbon-neutral web host than one that is not). And as I explained yesterday when chatting with a cabinet-maker who was at the Amicus Green stand at the Green Festival yesterday, with the grant programs, tax credits, and loans available, we can now put solar on our houses with virtually no cash outlay in Maryland and the District (other states may not make it so easy). In that case, one still needs to be a homeowner, but can still do it without significant money to burn.
But most of the things I do to try and live more lightly, while still being comfortable, I learned in the years when I was truly poor (and I didn’t much like having always to worry about how I was going to pay the bills): not having a car; not having cable tv; turning off the water while I soap the dishes and brush my teeth; taking short showers and turning the water off while lathering; keeping the thermostat between 59-63 in the winter and dressing warmly; keeping the thermostat between 78-82 in the summer and dressing and eating lightly; shopping for clothes at the consignment shop; furnishing my house from flea markets, auctions, and neighborhood sales; doing my own sprouts on the kitchen counter; having much of my diet be dried grains and pulses bought in bulk; turning off all the lights in the house except for the one I am using at the moment; bringing my own lunch to work as a regular activity and saving eating out for special occasions; avoiding buying and wearing clothes that require regular dry cleaning.
What is nice about being financially comfortable is I now can do all those things with loving intention, rather than feeling constrained by my lack of material well-being. I am not forced to do them. Tantric yoga, with its emphasis on being in the world, invites us always to act with intention, to make all of living an offering and a recognition of spirit. It is easier to do when we are educated, aware, and yearning for spirit, than when we are forced to do something out of material poverty. It is also easier to do when we do it for love rather than a sense of guilt or obligation. Being able to live with intention, picking and choosing how we live and what we consume, can truly enhance grace in our lives. I am sure there are those who grumble about having to go out and water the mango tree to make sure it fruits when they would rather be watching tv. How much more life-enhancing to water with love for the tree.
I am delighted to be going on a short trip to a warm place (Tucson) to do nothing but yoga and visit with friends and acquaintances.
My work life is such for the next several months that I cannot take a long vacation. I can find a few days here and there, though, and it is critical to my working well. I find if I work with too much effort or for too many hours or days in a row, I lose my sense of humor and my creativity. These are truly essential components of doing a good job.
If you cannot get away for a day or two or five, take five minutes to just breathe without following your thoughts. It is not a vacation. It is meditation. It will not serve in the way of a vacation, but it will provide a needed break from attachment (perhaps to the point of misalignment) with the mindstuff (citta) and will enable you to continue with your efforts more at peace with both the efforts and yourself.
This night’s summer heat
Makes me think of Tennessee
Williams and Faulkner.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
Bhagavan — another name for Shiva — literally means “possessing fortune, blessed, prosperous.”
What does it mean in this context to be possessed of fortune, to be blessed, to be prosperous?
What does it mean in the context of balancing individual and societal needs, hungers, and wants? What could it mean the current conversation about taxes, government spending, and healthcare? In the discussion of budget, war, etc?
We live at one level in a paradigm in which communal wealth is finite and is fought over to obtain individual wealth. How do we live within that paradigm and still find a sense of inner prosperity with what we have been given?
The other day was very windy–steady winds of 20-25 miles per hour and gusts of up to 30-40 miles per hour. I needed to go to work, so I had no choice about which direction to walk. That direction was, unfortunately, straight into the wind. It made the already cold day feel much colder, and I felt like I needed brute strength just to move forward. Knowing that I did not have the option of turning the other way to feel warmer and have the wind push me along, I instead consciously softened and leaned into the wind so that I was fighting it less and able to ride it a little.
I was moved by facing the wind to think about the various yoga practices and how they help us understand and be with the force that connects and moves around and between things, without and within us–prana.
When we meditate, the intention is to be in either absolute fullness (purna) or absolute emptiness (sunyata). (I don’t think it matters which one). In the absolute stillness of meditation, prana does not flow, and we experience being in a state where we are not tugged at or blown by the forces of change and relationship between object and beings. Being able to tap into that state is essential, I think, to be able to weather the times when the energies around us are too much of a whirl for whatever reason.
When we practice pranayama (breathing practices), we learn about the many ways prana flows. Although pranayama is often translated as breath control, I think it is more about learning to control our physical and mental relationship to the breath than it is about controlling the breath–the breath serving as the best proxy for us to experience the flow of the life force, prana itself. Learning how to be more intimate with the subtle energies helps make us more humble, more aware, and more skillful in relationship to the world around us.
When we practice asana (postures), we practice dancing with and riding the prana so that we do not have to do everything by rigid physical and mental effort. With steady, educated and discerning practice of asana, we can move with more power and grace and less effort and risk of injury, just as a skilled sailor knows how to align her or his sails both to be able to move when there is just a bit of wind and also to ride out a gale, harnessing the wind instead of being torn up by it.
To those of you facing the blizzard, may you find time to be still and warm and at peace and use skill in alignment to stay safe when clearing out from the snow and moving from place to place.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
