The Yogi of Harmony

When the mind of the Yogi is in harmony and finds rest in the Spirit within, 

all restless desires gone, then he is a Yukta, one with God.

Then his soul is a lamp whose light is steady, 

for it burns in a shelter where no winds come.  ...

He sees himself in the heart of all beings and he sees all beings in his heart.  

This is the vision of the Yogi of harmony, 

a vision which is ever one.

~Bhagavad Gita

All These Forms

The following song, by the Tibetan teacher Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, advises us - in the face of the arising and dissolving of myriad forms - to "just let go, and go where no mind goes."

All These Forms 

All these forms - appearance emptiness

Like a rainbow with its shining glow

In the reaches of appearance emptiness

Just let go and go where no mind goes

Every sound is sound and emptiness

Like the sound of an echo's roll

In the reaches of sound and emptiness

Just let go and go where no mind goes

Every feeling is bliss and emptiness

Way beyond what words can show

In the reaches of bliss and emptiness

Just let go and go where no mind goes

All awareness - awareness emptiness

Way beyond what thought can know

In the reaches of appearance emptiness

Let awareness go - oh, where no mind goes

There is no need to run outside
for better seeing,
Not to peer from a window. Rather abide
at the center of your being;
for the more you leave it, the less you learn.

~Lao Tze

Sit Silently and Wait

A meditative awareness comes like a whisper, not a shout, with noiseless footsteps. If you are full of occupations, busyness and noise it might come and wait, but then it will leave.

Set aside some time -- 3, 5, 10, 15 minutes or longer -- preferably every day, for sitting in silence. It doesn’t matter where you are, just sit, close your eyes, and wait. Don’t do anything, just sit in great waiting with an open, trusting heart. Then if something is to “happen” you will be ready to receive it. If nothing happens, at least you’ve had this “down time” to do nothing. No matter what, after sitting silently for a while you will feel more in touch with yourself, more peaceful.

When and Where:
Most people find that it works best to do this at the same time every day. It doesn’t matter what time you choose, but setting aside a set time, say as a mid-morning break or during your lunch hour, helps make it part of your daily routine. When the inner consciousness knows that the outer consciousness is waiting for it, there is a greater possibility of a meeting.

Benefits:
As you practice doing nothing, by and by an understanding will start to arise between you and the meditative state. As this understanding grows you will start to feel a subtle quality of relaxation, of serenity woven into the textureof your whole day.

From: Discover Meditation Training Inc.

I said to the wanting-creature inside me:
What is this river you want to cross?
There are no travelers on the river-road, and no road.
Do you see anyone moving about on that bank, or

nesting?
There is no river at all, and no boat, and no boatman.
There is no tow rope either, and no one to pull it.
There is no ground, no sky, no time, no bank, no

ford!
And there is no body, and no mind!
Do you believe there is some place that will make the

soul less thirsty?
In that great absence you will find nothing.
Be strong then, and enter into your own body;
there you have a solid place for your feet.
Think about it carefully!
Don't go off somewhere else!
Kabir says this: just throw away all thoughts of

imaginary things,
and stand firm in that which you are.

~Kabir

The Secret

This is the secret of your failure - you are moving upstream. You are worried, tense, in anguish, in anxiety, almost going mad - anybody will go mad if they are constantly going upstream because the fight is so hard and so meaningless.

One day you will feel tired and then it will look like a frustration, a failure. The wise man leaves this upstream nonsense; he simply allows the river to take him wherever it is going. If it is going anywhere, good; if it is not going anywhere, good.

Suddenly you are still, silent. Only then, never before, does real meditation happen and all effort is dropped. But you have to make the effort first, otherwise you will never understand that it has to be dropped.

~Osho

Listen to the silence inside the illusion of the world,
and you will remember the lesson you forgot.

~Jack Kerouac

Often we do not know

Often we do not know what is really going on. Our perspective can barely accommodate another person’s point of view, no less the forward march of evolution or the eternal mind of God. Better to admit not knowing and to relax in the mystery of life than to try to force our minds where they can’t go.

~Elizabeth Lesser

Remembering Who You Are

Sit in an upright position in a chair, with your back straight, feet flat on the floor, and hands comfortably in your lap. If you wish, play soft inspirational or sacred music in the background.

Slowly take three deep breaths. On each exhalation, release all tension or negative thoughts from your mind and body.

Keeping your heart open and receptive, close your eyes. Imagine a ball of rainbow-colored light at the top of your head. Visualize it descending into the center of your brain.

Concentrate on that glowing energy, and direct it down through your neck and into your heart, feeling warmth and love. Continue directing it downward into your stomach and the rest of your organs and finally down through your legs to the soles of your feet and into the ground.

Now visualize this healing and centering energy and light coming back up from the ground and up the back of your legs. Slowly direct it up through the core of your spine and back into your head.

Imagine yourself being lifted gently into the universe. Keeping a sense of your meditative posture, see and feel yourself floating gently in outer space, surrounded by the stars and planets.

Realize that your body and the manifest universe are an inseparable cosmic creation of vibrating atomic polarities.

Realize that all the atoms in your physical body are billions of years old - composed from the exploding light of ancient stars and other electromagnetic energies.

Imagine yourself being pulled into a black hole of radiation, going past time and space into the dark womb of the universe. The silence of this black hole is beyond description - it is intelligence, as yet unthinking. Experience the peace and bliss of this all-pervasive intelligence.

Imagine this intelligence beginning to think and creatively to dream. Suddenly you experience a roaring sound and a spark of visible light spreads. Somehow originating in the sound, the light begins to radiate throughout the darkness. Creation has begun. You perceive vast clouds of many-colored lights that are the formation of galaxies and all the other creations of Earth, including your physical body.

Imagine yourself as the soul within the human body and that the sun's rainbow-colored light is entering into your physical body. Now imagine streams of electromagnetic energy and waves of visible light pouring out of your body and creatively interweaving with the streams of energy that compost the universe.

Meditate for a momentum this web of light streams that connects your soul, mind, and physical body to the universe. Realize that through the divine inner light of your consciousness you are participating in the creation of this tapestry of light and life.

Gently bring your focus back to the planet Earth and the spot you occupy physical. See with new eyes.


~from Mandala by Judith Cornell
art by Shirley Gibson

Stillness

Be still and know

-oOo-

A lovely desktop wallpaper to bring some peace into your day.
Blessings!

This image is hosted at Slide. When you download this wallpaper, the word "slide" is not going to be anywhere on it. To download, click the image. A window will open to the photo page at Slide. Right click the picture and choose "save target as". Save the picture to your "My Pictures" folder. To set it as wallpaper, open your "My Pictures" folder, right click on the mandala image and choose "set as background". It's really easy, but if you have any problems, let me know, and I'll do what I can to help. Enjoy!

Desktop wallpaper by Shirley Gibson

Communion

Stop using words around me
I can’t hear you when you are always talking
Be still and listen with your skin,
like when there is a monster under your bed
I love it when we talk like this…

~Grace Gibson