Remember, Heart!

Poem by Pattinathar (or Thiruvenkadar), a prominent shaivite Tamil saint.

Remember, heart! Remember!

Remember Lord Shiva of the hall of reddish gold.

Remember, heart! Remember!

Cherish not the false chariot and the whirl wind
that is false life on this earth.

Cherish not the body.
Those that are born will die,
the dead will be born again;

What appeared will disappear,
and that which disappeared will reappear;

That which enlarged will shrink,
and the shrunk will enlarge;

That which is felt will be forgotten,
and the ones that forgotten will be perceived

That which mated will separate,
and the separated will mate again.

What is eaten turns to shit,
what is worn turns dirty;

What delighted turns disgusting,
and the disgusting turns delightful;

All these you realised;

Yet You were born birth after birth:
Killed all, and all that were slain slew you.

You ate all, and all that ate you;
You bore all and all that bore you;

Cherished everything,
and everything cherished you;

Exulted during prosperity, wept in poverty;

Rejoiced pleasure and pain on this vast land;

Experienced not leaving out a single thing;

Despite that you considered the water bubble as a bird's nest;

This mean retreat as stronger than stone.

 ---translated by A.Rajaram Brammarajan

OM NAMAH SHIVAYA

Why Was Adam Driven from the Garden?

"Adam and Eve expelled from Paradise" by Marc Chagall

 'Why was Adam driven from the garden?'
The pupil asked his master. 'His heart was hardened
With images, a hundred bonds that clutter the earth
Chained Adam to the cycle of death following birth.
He was blind to this equation, living for something other
Than God and so out of paradise he was driven
With his mortal body's cover his soul was shriven.
Noblest of God's creatures, Adam fell with blame,
Like a moth shriveled by the candle's flame,
Into history which taught mankind shame.
Since Adam had not given up his heart
To God's attachment, there was no part
For Adam in paradise where the only friend
Is God; His will is not for Adam to imagine and bend.'

---By Farid ud-Din Attar

traslation by Raficq Abdulla

Two in the Temple

The Biblical Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector from the Gospel of Luke (18:9-14).

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable:
Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: "God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get."

But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, "God, have mercy on me, a sinner."

I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

13 Unanswered Questions

13 unanswered questions of the Buddha:

Are the self and the universe eternal?

Are the self and the universe transient?

Are the self and the universe both eternal and transient?

Are the self and the universe neither eternal nor transient?

Do the self and the universe have a beginning?

Do the self and the universe have no beginning?

Do the self and the universe have both beginning and no beginning?

Do the self and the universe have neither beginning nor no beginning?

Does the Blessed One exist after death?

Does the Blessed One not exist after death?

Does the Blessed One neither exist nor not exist after death?

Is the mind the same as the body?

Are the mind and body two separate entities?

Breathing In Breathing Out

Breathing in, I know that anger is here.

Breathing out, I know that the anger is in me.

Breathing in, I know that anger is unpleasant.

Breathing out, I know this feeling will pass.

Breathing in, I am calm. Breathing out.

I am strong enough to take care of this anger.

 By Thich Nhat Hanh, Zen Buddhist monk

Enter the Door - 7

Let's return again to my Door's theme (others posts - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6). This parable is from "The Conference of the Birds", written by one of my favourite authors -  Farid al-Din 'Attar. As a part of "The Valley of Bewilderment", it is a little sad in its uncertainty. Because there was a Door to which somebody found no Key. So, this story is called - "The Lost Key".

A Sufi once heard a man saying, “I have lost a key. Has any one found it anywhere? The door of my house is shut and I am without shelter in the street. If the door remains closed, what shall I do? I shall be for ever miserable. What shall I do?”
“Who wishes you to be miserable?” asked the Sufi. “Since you know where the door is, go and stay near it, even though it be closed. If you sit near it for a long time, there is no doubt that some one will open it for you. Your condition is not so bad as mine. My soul is consumed in stupefaction. Of the enigma that bewilders me there is no solution. There is neither a door nor a key for me.”
Would to God the Sufi could set out in all haste and find the door either open or closed! None can know, none can even imagine, the real state of things. To the man who asks, “What shall I do?”, reply “Do not do what you have done. Do not behave as you have behaved up to this moment.”

Open the Window

There is some kiss we want
with our whole lives,
the touch of spirit on the body.

Seawater begs the pearl
to break its shell.

And the lily, how passionately
it needs some wild darling.

At night, I open the window
and ask the moon to come
and press its face against mine.

Breathe into me.

Close the language-door
and open the love-window.

The moon won't use the door,
only the window.

By Rumi,

translated by Coleman Barks

Sri Dattatreya Ashtottara Sata Namavali

108 names of Sri Dattaatreya

shree dattaatreya ashTottara shatanaamaavali

om shree dattaaya namaha
om deva dattaaya namaha
om brahma dattaaya namaha
om vishNu dattaaya namaha
om shiva dattaaya namaha
om atri dattaaya namaha
om aatreyaaya namaha
om atri varadaaya namaha
om anasooyane namaha
om anasooyaa soonave namaha ||10||
om avadhootaaya namaha
om dharmaaya namaha
om dharma paraayaNaaya namaha
om dharma pataye namaha
om siddhaaya namaha
om siddhidaaya namaha
om siddhi pataye namaha
om siddha sevitaaya namaha
om gurave namaha
om guru gamyaaya namaha ||20||
om guror gurutaraaya namaha
om garishThaaya namaha
om varishThaaya namaha
om maheshThaaya namaha
om mahaatmane namaha
om yogaaya namaha
om yoga gamyaaya namaha
om yogaadeshakaraaya namaha
om yogapataye namaha
om yogeeshaaya namaha ||30||
om yogaadheeshaaya namaha
om yoga paraayaNaaya namaha
om yogadhyeyaanghri pankajaaya namaha
om digambaraaya namaha
om divyambaraaya namaha
om peeta ambaraaya namaha
om shveta ambaraaya namaha
om chitra ambaraaya namaha
om baalaaya namaha
om baala veeryaaya namaha ||40||
om kumaaraaya namaha
om kishoraaya namaha
om kandarpa mohanaaya namaha
om adthaangaalingita anganaaya namaha
om suraagaaya namaha
om viraagaaya namaha
om veeta raagaaya namaha
om amruta varshinee namaha
om ugraaya namaha
om anugraha roopaaya namaha ||50||
om sthaviraaya namaha
om sthaveeyase namaha
om shaantaaya namaha
om aghoraaya namaha
om gooDhaaya namaha
om oordhvaretase namaha
om eka vartaaya namaha
om aneka vaktaaya namaha
om dvinetraaya namaha
om trinetraaya namaha ||60||
om dvibhujaaya namaha 
om shaDbhujaaya namaha
om akshamaaline namaha
om kamanDala dhaariNe namaha
om shooline namaha
om shankhine namaha
om gadine namaha
om damaru dhaariNe namaha
om munaye namaha
om mauline namaha ||70||
om shreeni roopaaya namaha
om svaroopaaya namaha
om sahasra shirase namaha
om sahasra akshaaya namaha
om sahasra baahave namaha
om sahasra aayudhaaya namaha
om sahasra paadaaya namaha
om sahasra padma architaaya namaha
om padma hastaaya namaha
om padma paadaaya namaha ||80||
om padma naabhaaya namaha
om padma maaline namaha
om padma garbha aruNa akshaaya namaha
om padma kinjalka varchase namaha
om gyaanine namaha
om gyaana gamyaaya namaha
om gyaana vigyaana moortaye namaha
om dhyaanine namaha
om dhyaana nishThaaya namaha
om dhyaanasimitamUrtaye namaha ||90||
om dhooli dhoosaritaangaaya namaha
om chandana lipta moortaye namaha
om bhasmoddhoolita dehaaya namaha
om divya gandhaanulepine namaha
om prasannaaya namaha
om pramattaaya namaha
om prakrushTaartha pradaaya namaha
om ashTa aishvarya pradaaya namaha
om varadaaya namaha
om vareeyase namaha ||100||
om brahmaNe namaha
om brahma roopaaya namaha
om vishNave namaha
om vishva roopiNye namaha
om shankaraaya namaha
om aatmane namaha
om antaraatmane namaha
om paramaatmane namaha ||108||

om shri dattatreyaya namo namah

Para, Apara and Parapara

Kashmir Shaivism has the beautiful concept of three Shaktis: Parā, Aparā and Parāpara.
In this symbolical image you can see three Goddesses who are enthroned on the lotuses on the prongs of Shiva's Trident.
Parā (the middle prong of the trishula) is depicted in a benevolent form, while Parāpara (the left prong) and Aparā (the right prong) are shown as wild and terrifying, wearing a garland of skulls, and brandishing the khatvanga, the skull-topped staff. The Three Goddesses are white, red and yellow-black. And we see Sadashiva at the base of the prongs of the trishula.
Parā, beautiful and brilliant white, considered Supreme Shakti. It means the highest form - transcendent, beyond and outside the ordinary range of human experience or understanding.  In a broad sense all Great Goddesses, such as Durga, Kali, Tripura can be considered to be Paraa. In order to manifest She loses her supremacy and becomes the mediocre level of supremacy. Parāparā, a medium shakti, is red as blazing fire, wearing a garland of skulls glowing with three eyes. She sits with trident and skull-staff in her hands on Sadashiva, the Great Transcended. She further loses her strength at the exact time of manifestation loses its supremacy and is manifested as Aparā, a lower shakti, the destroyer of the pains of the humble. She looks the same as Parāparā except that She is black. Her mouth yawns wide and has huge fangs. Ferocious, with her brows knitted in rage, wearing a sacred thread in the form of a huge snake, adorned with a string of human corpses round her neck, with the severed lotus hands of a human corpse as beautiful ear-rings, her voice like the thunder of the clouds at the world's end, she seems to swallow space itself. It leads us to a conclusion that the trika of Goddesses are Kali in her immanent form.
Certainly, all of this is full of deep symbolism, used for the convenience of philosophical thinking but we can depict just some general ideas.
All three forms are composed of the 3 Energies of Shiva-Bhairava in the Transcendant, Imminent and Transcendant-Imminent meaning.
They can represent, as their colours suggest, the three qualities-Gunas (Satvic, Rajas, and Tamas) of Nature (prakrti) which the one Goddess embodies.
Traditionally, it can be treated in Trika as three tattvas - Shiva (Absolute Unity), Shakti (link between unity and duality), and Nara (jiva or duality).
Vijnana Bhairava describe this differences as three stages. In the state of Shiva (para) both knowledge and action are blended in equal proportion. In the stage of Shakti only knowledge is predominant and in the stage a-para (human level) only action is predominant. This is known as trika-bhedam.
Also, the three vidyas refer to Parā which rests in the Absolute only as Will to manifest as only Iccha-Shakti; to Parāparā as Jnana-shakti and Kriya-shakti as Aparā.
And in internal personal level, we can see here three vidyas introverted towards inner self: Buddhi, Ahamkara and Manas.

Despite this Trika's triadic-tetradic schema of the three Goddesses, nobody can hide from us their fundamental, indestructible and transcendental unity.

OM NAMAH SHIVAYA