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June 08, 2005
Expanding Boundary and Identity by Letting It Go
This week’s session started with a provoking quote of Osho by Manju: "To not live dangerously is to not live at all." Prasad defined danger as that which lies outside the boundaries we create around ourselves. He said that what lies within the boundaries we create becomes our identity. And hence, whatever lies outside the boundary seem like a threat to our identity, that is, danger. So how do we go beyond our boundaries and expand our identity? From an Indian spiritual perspective, Prasad introduced three words to explore the answer: Yantra, Tantra and Mantra. Yantra literally means "support" and...Posted by Ragu at 04:19 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 15, 2005
Thoughtless Mindfulness
The session started with two Shanti Mantras: The first one is for contemplating the wholeness of existence: Oum purnamadah purnamidam purnat purnamudachyate purnasya purnamadaya purnamevavashishyate Oum shanti shanti shanti hi Translation*: purnam-adah – That is complete. Here, ‘that’ could refer to everything that is not part of one’s perceived identity. purnam-idam – This is complete. Here, ‘this’ could refer to everything that is part of one’s perceived identitiy. purnat-purnam-udachyate – From one complete entity, another complete entity is born. The first entity refers to ‘that’ and the second entity refers to ‘this’. purnasya purnamadaya – When a complete entity is...Posted by Ragu at 02:20 PM | Comments (401) | TrackBack
June 21, 2005
Me & Not Me, Now & Not Now
This week’s check-in was quite colorful. Majnu talked about Rishikesa and Gudakesa. Rishikesa is Lord Krishna, the master of all senses and Gudakesa is Arjuna, the conqueror of sleep and ignorance. Sruti Indiresan, the 5 year old who won the Most Philosophical Kindergartner in America title with the essay she composed for the third Kids Philosophy Slam was mentioned. Several thousand students across the country in kindergarten through 12th grade submitted essays on which is more important in their lives: truth or beauty. "I feel happy when I am telling the truth," Shruti wrote in her essay. "I become beautiful...Posted by Ragu at 12:58 PM | Comments (192) | TrackBack
June 27, 2005
8 step purification
1. Passing by the water cooler, I notice that the can is empty Time to fill up... 2. Off I go to the water store, Place the can and open the tap, And let the can fill. 3. A quick thought comes up - I need a splash protector. 4. The storeman finds one, And tries it on without success. Ahh, this can is old, he says It's also getting dirty Wanna buy a new one? 5. It's not much, and I say ok. I buy the new can and hear, The water overflowing from my old can. 6. Hey!...Posted by Ragu at 10:13 AM | Comments (178) | TrackBack
June 30, 2005
Women, Unlimited
This week’s session was quite unexpected (not that we know what to expect every week :) One of the regular attendee, Srikanth came back from a vacation-turned-engagement – he got engaged to a girl in the typical “arranged marriage” style. I was teasing him and making fun of how the “girl seeing” ritual would have been. Something got triggered in Manju and she made some serious points about how we look at traditions and especially women’s role in it. I have been a fierce enabler (in action) of women’s rights and sentiments for a long time. But I had chosen...Posted by Ragu at 11:33 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack