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January 14, 2005
Love and Mindfulness
From this week onwards, the summary of the session will be given under four headings: 1) Stories, Quotes etc 2) Insights 3) Questions 4) Dilemmas. This is to move a little closer to find which parts of a dialogue directly helps bridging the gap between theory and practice that we all suffer from. Hope we not only achieve more clarity in our thoughts but also get sufficiently motivated and equipped to act out of that clarity.
General Theme: Love, Mindfulness
Stories, Quotes...
"Faith is a withholding of conclusion, so you allow what is to arise."
--Adyashanti
Arvind shared a beautiful poem by Shankara that has the refrain "Whatever mistakes I have made..." Arvind will post the orginal poem and its English translation in the comments.
Satya talked about her attempt to find devine qualities in herself only to be gently reminded by a verse in Gita that says - Once you develop the quality of love and compassion, all the other qualities will flourish without effort. She said that if one becomes a container of compassion and pour the water of love in it, all good things will manifest. She also said, "I cannot transalate Gita. To communicate it, I have to become a Walking Gita."
Insights:
- To be mindful, it is important to realize that most of the time we are full of our mind!
-Along with being mindful, one should also be heartful.
-We do not appreciate someone being mindful as much as we appreciate someone being thoughtful.
-While a wheel moves and changes direction, the axle remains in the center like an observer.
Questions:
-What is Mindfulness?
-Is being present different from being mindful?
-How can one deal with the chaos that comes with change of place, job etc?
-Is chaos always a negative thing or could we make something positive out of a chaos?
Dilemmas:
- No amount of understanding the need for a change automatically results in practice. Why do we resist change even if we fully understand it is required? How can we bring more practice in our lives?
- Is �being busy� a choice? Is it as much an attitude as it is a result of time constraints?
Posted by pkaipa at January 14, 2005 03:50 PM
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Posted by: Sally at May 29, 2006 01:31 PM
Prasad, those are some very intersting questions. But before I can even think about them, I want to understand your meaning of love. To this end, let me ask you a few questions: Do you think 'unconditional love' is a practical concept? If it is conditional, is it really love?
One thing I do want to mention though, is that, I can very much identify with your observation of paralysis by analysis. But we can't really help it, can we :-)
Doing analysis is what we seem to love :-) unconditionally!!
Posted by: Sunil at February 3, 2005 11:54 PM
I continue to reflect on this week's Practical Vedanta session. In addition to thoughtfulness and mindfulness, the key topic that has been on my mind is power of love. After hearing Satyaji's perspective that she meditates on Om and love, I have been thinking why it is so easy for me to stay in the mind or the heart but not in both at the same time. Here are some questions that continue to stay with me.
What does it take for one to not just fall in love with small children, flowers and family but stay in love after the initial fascination wears off?
Is love, at a later time, more mental than emotional?
Because I am more of an intellectual, is it difficult for me to stay in love though it is easy to fall in love?
Do I experience compassion differently than love?
How does love show up beyond gentleness, kindness, empathy and compassion in action?
Finally, is it this analysis that makes me have difficulty in exploring love :-)?
What are you experiencing after the session? How does love, being mindful, being thoughtful strike you?
As I mentioned, we discussed this topic in the sessions before. Any reflections or thoughts? Should I say feelings?
Posted by: Prasad at January 16, 2005 01:22 AM