Spirituality

Essence of Karma Yoga

/ onetusk / Leave a comment

There are two aspects to any action. The first is to perform the action efficiently, perfectly. However perfectly an action may be performed there is always room for improvement. Hence the saying, ‘The largest room in the world is the room for improvement!’ The second aspect is the attitude with which the action is performed. Perfection in action is rather difficult but perfection in attitude is possible. If we perform actions with the right attitude, then however small or big the action, it will become great.  This is beautifully illustrated by the famous squirrel in the Ramayana, who out of love for Sri Rama tried to help the monkeys build the bridge across the ocean. The squirrel first wet itself in the water, then rolled in the sand and shook off the grains of sand on the bridge. This irritated the monkeys but Sri Rama understood the squirrel’s desire to assist in this great endeavour.

So only right actions (performing one’s obligatory duties) performed with the right attitude can be termed as karma yoga; otherwise it is merely karma, action.

-Swami Chinmayananda

This is Water

/ onetusk / Leave a comment

……There are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says “Morning, boys. How’s the water?” And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes “What the hell is water?”………

……Here’s another didactic little story. There are these two guys sitting together in a bar in the remote Alaskan wilderness. One of the guys is religious, the other is an atheist, and the two are arguing about the existence of God with that special intensity that comes after about the fourth beer. And the atheist says: “Look, it’s not like I don’t have actual reasons for not believing in God. It’s not like I haven’t ever experimented with the whole God and prayer thing. Just last month I got caught away from the camp in that terrible blizzard, and I was totally lost and I couldn’t see a thing, and it was 50 below, and so I tried it: I fell to my knees in the snow and cried out ‘Oh, God, if there is a God, I’m lost in this blizzard, and I’m gonna die if you don’t help me.’” And now, in the bar, the religious guy looks at the atheist all puzzled. “Well then you must believe now,” he says, “After all, here you are, alive.” The atheist just rolls his eyes. “No, man, all that was was a couple Eskimos happened to come wandering by and showed me the way back to camp.”…..

Continue reading →

Alan Watts’s philosophy and collected letters by Anne Watts

/ onetusk / Leave a comment
“The Collected Letters of Alan Watts” is edited by his daughters, Joan Watts and Anne Watts, add rich, behind-the scenes biographical commentary that reveal the remarkable arc of Watts’s colourful and controversial life – from his school days in England to his priesthood in the Anglican Church to his alternative lifestyle and experimentation with LSD in the heyday of the late sixties. His engaging letters cover a vast range of subject matter, with recipients that include C.G. Jung, Henry Miller, Gary Snyder, Aldous Huxley, Reinhold Niebuhr, Timothy Leary, Joseph Campbell, and James Hillman. Anne Watts is a certified hypnotherapist and an educator and counsellor in the areas of human sexuality, sexual abuse, family stress, self-esteem, healing the inner child, and financial and ageing issues.”

Book of the Month – February 2021 : The Book of Love and Creation by Paul Selig

/ onetusk / Leave a comment
13585777
“We want you each now to take a moment to decide that what you bring forth in your life has been created by you, with no excuses. “I can no longer blame my mother for the terrible things she told me,” or “I can no longer blame my boss because of his temper,” or “I can no longer blame my schooling, or my lack of schooling, or my body. I have created what I see before me.” Now to the extent you accept this as a truth, you become empowered to change that which you see before you. “I am Word through all that I see before me” is your command to be in demonstration of your power in dominion. We say “dominion” because your fear of being in dominion, in your power, is what is keeping you small and unaware of how powerful you truly are and allowing you, then, to relegate the creations of your life to someone else’s authority.” – Paul Selig

The Book of Love and Creation simultaneously helps readers develop as spiritual beings within, while growing into increasingly capable, resilient, and confident individuals amid the demands of outer life.  Filled with meditations, exercises, psychological insights, and affirmations, The Book of Love and Creation immediately produces change in the life of every dedicated person who approaches it. Perfect for returning readers and newcomers alike, the book is an extraordinary experience in a new body of channeled wisdom that is attracting readers across the world.

If you have never been to the ocean so how can you conceive of it?

/ onetusk / Leave a comment

Once a frog from the ocean came and jumped into a well. He got acquainted with the frog in the well and the well frog asked, ‘From where do you come?’ He said, ‘I have come from the ocean.’ The well frog asked, ‘Is it bigger than this well?’ Of course suspicion was in his eyes, doubt in his mind, ‘How can anything be bigger than this well where I live?’ The ocean frog laughed and said, ‘It is very difficult to say anything because there is no measure.’ The well frog said, ‘Then I will give you some measure so that you can.’ He jumped one quarter of the well, one fourth of the way across, and said, ‘Is it that big?’ The ocean frog laughed and said, ‘No.’ So he jumped half of the well, and said, ‘Is it that big?’ Again the ocean frog laughed and said, ‘No.’ Then he jumped three quarters and said, ‘Is it that big?’ Again the ocean frog said, ‘No.’ Then he jumped the whole well, the whole length, and said, ‘Now – now you cannot say no.’ The ocean frog said, ‘You may feel hurt, and I don’t want to be offensive, but still the answer is no.’ Then the well frog said, ‘Get out from here, you liar. Nothing can be bigger than this well!’

Continue reading →

The One Power that illumines everything and everyone is indivisible

/ onetusk / Leave a comment

Not that which the eye can see, but that whereby the eye can see: know that to be Brahman the eternal, and not what people here adore;

Not that which the ear can hear, but that whereby the ear can hear: know that to be Brahman the eternal, and not what people here adore;

Not that which speech can illuminate, but that by which speech can be illuminated: know that to be Brahman the eternal, and not what people here adore;

Not that which the mind can think, but that whereby the mind can think: know that to be Brahman the eternal, and not what people here adore.

Kena Upanishad
Continue reading →