DRINK IT IN

Our problems will always grow bigger. If we think that we’ve had it up to here, rest assured that worse will come, without warning or planning. We may plan about and cater for a thousand things, but the next test will come in a completely unimagined form. Smooth sailing is a dream.

So where does that lead us? Are we here just for the torture planned by some sadistic power? Is that the aim, the be-all and the end-all of this world? Whither lies redemption?

Till the time I think that I have solutions and plans that will protect me from the adversities, I am going astray; simply because the focus is on myself, I, I, I and I. Did I plan on every day of health and fun and smiles that came my way? No, I just took them on without heed, without thanks, without questioning their being or happening.

We are blessed with senses to pick up external stimuli. How are we reacting to the information they send us? If my senses tell me mountain, do I immediately feel climb, or exhaustion, or landslide? If I am told water, do I feel flood, drowning, danger? If it says tree, do I react obstruction, or plywood? If it says breeze, do I react cold, sick, indoors? If I see flame, do I jump to fire, destruction, scorching, burning? If I am told desert, do I feel thirst, exhaustion, death, buzzards?

If I see buzzard, do I see clawing and scavenging or do I see graceful flight over uplifting thermals!

Am I open to the awesome beauty of the mountain? The power, the strength, the majesty? Can I look up in awe at the Maker’s creation, The Composition of the Lord, Hari ki kirat, Harkirat? Do I have any idea of my relative size strength and importance?

Do I see the force of life in water? Do I feel its heavenly coolness? Do I appreciate the capacity of water alone to douse the inferno inside me, the gifts of fun and force and adventure and rejuvenation that it is all about? Do I see how just the promise of water pours life into any living being, and gentleness into the stones that we think don’t live?

Have I ever gazed into the green and near-green of the trees, and actually drunk it in? It is a life force! It calms it soothes it unruffles. It unfetters, it relaxes, it enlivens. It holds the promise of heaven, of the Garden of Eden (Jannat).

Have I ever let the breeze play with my hair as no lover can, have I ever felt its touch in the unknown reaches of my soul as it plays over my mind and body? Have I allowed it to pull and push me against my will? Oh, it is Divine!

When was the last time I faced the sun and drank it in with closed eyelids and felt the life flow all through me and smiled at the warmth of its touch as it filled my inner being?

I can teach myself languages and maths and tricks and discipline. I can school my mind to explore, analyze, learn and accept. Let me now guide it to appreciate and wonder and rejoice. Let my mind discern and appreciate and compose love, truth and beauty, and all the wonders of God’s world will be mine. Man Kirat, Mankirat.

If my comprehension of the forces of life, love and beauty grows, then my problems pale into insignificance. When I am in tune with all the forces that sustain my life and energy, then I do not wilt in anticipation of imminent problems. I draw strength from these friends who are always willing to replenish and rejuvenate. I live, I bloom. I celebrate the love and beauty and oneness and care and energy and prana. I live to celebrate life. Jashan. My problems come, but I know that they too will pass, either by retreating physically, or by leading me towards different perspectives.

The life forces are God’s arms reaching out to me to help me, to support me, to hold me up. They are nectar; I need to drink them in.

“Zeina Glo brings you the radiant glow of inner peace, good health and attendant beauty.

Zeina Glo helps you strip off layers of inhibitions, hesitation, and cynicism, allowing your thoughts and emotions to flow freely.

Zeina Glo helps to douse the flames of insecurity and guilt, to open the windows of mind and body to the cool fresh breeze of love.

Zeina Glo encourages you to spread inner peace good health, radiance, exuberance, warmth, joy and the glow from your inner being.

Zeina Glo brings the beauty of your own thoughts back to you!!”

For, questions, criticism or advice, please post comments here, or write to zeinaglo@rediffmail.com or zeinaglow@gmail.com

PROSPER AND BLOOM - 2

This post is a supplement to the previous post, ‘Prosper and Bloom – 1’. It comprises thoughts triggered by Anand Dua’s comment at the end of the previous post. Zeina Glo invites all readers to participate and share their thoughts through comments and emails.

ANAND DUA wrote:

“Dear blogger,
what if unfortunate conditions and situations have affected the person's perspective towards money being the basic necessity of life. Then wouldn't the person teach his offspring what he learnt from life? Would you still say it is the generation gap?”

I have nothing against the basic necessities of life. And every generation passes through similar motions of living, learning and teaching.

We are all children, sheep, cows, disciples, parts of a Benevolence called God. This ‘God’ is the Is in every grain of sand, every drop of water, every breath of air, every ray of light, every leaf and bud and insect and thought; Existence itself.

For one, a few morsels of simply cooked food may satisfy ‘basic need’. For another, the most exotic and expensive may not suffice. One may be thrilled to be able to afford a bus or train ride, another may be unhappy in a private luxury flight.

One may be a veritable Adonis, another a deformed decrepit cripple. Remember the line that is quoted in every school, ‘I cried when I had no shoes till I saw a man who had no feet’?

Money, wealth, influence, power are all means. Sometimes we get so involved with acquiring the means, that we forget the end.

The end, in its basest sense, is comfort. Comfort in the thought that we have enough provision for food, shelter, security and health, first for ourselves, then for those we ‘care’ for.

The marketeers play on our need to feel secure to gather money, power, territory, armies and followings. They are in turn cursed with the craving for more and more themselves, again a need to feel secure and fulfilled.

The obsession with comfort or security becomes so intense that gathering wealth and its attendant ‘power’ becomes an end in itself.

All religions and spiritual teachings guide us towards satisfaction. None denies our right to basic needs. But all advocate sharing, caring and feeling for others. My great big Ego convinces me of the need to overdo it, to grab, to cheat, to be blind to another’s need or discomfort. My mind with its logical thinking is convinced that if I have enough ‘means’, the end shall be mine.

But God has other plans. Nature is His tool. Time is His arena. The minuscule speck that the Great Big I actually is, lives and breathes to His command. We go through the motions till the day of realization that He is the provider, that The Plan is bigger than this fleeting lifetime, that this time round we are here just to let a few lessons sink in, and move to the next level of learning.

We are taught, with infinite patience, the value, the power, the wonder, the joy, the thrill of satisfaction. When we step out of the blinding glare of craving for more, our eyes gradually get used to the world outside that little spot of dazzling light that illuminates Me. The pupils dilate, the heart blossoms, the taut nerves of the mind relax, and we start appreciating the beauty of this panorama called Creation. We learn that even if one has lesser than us, we have more than we need, and sharing fulfils more than grabbing.

The course runs till we realize Truth, Beauty, Love. Absolutes. Till the day we stop holding on, and give away everything. The I.

Where the I is, He is not. Where the I is not, He is.

Till I am, He is not. When I am not, He is.

“Zeina Glo brings you the radiant glow of inner peace, good health and attendant beauty.

Zeina Glo helps you strip off layers of inhibitions, hesitation, and cynicism, allowing your thoughts and emotions to flow freely.

Zeina Glo helps to douse the flames of insecurity and guilt, to open the windows of mind and body to the cool fresh breeze of love.

Zeina Glo encourages you to spread inner peace good health, radiance, exuberance, warmth, joy and the glow from your inner being.

Zeina Glo brings the beauty of your own thoughts back to you!!”

For, questions, criticism or advice, please post comments here, or write to zeinaglo@rediffmail.com or zeinaglow@gmail.com

PROSPER AND BLOOM - 1

One sometimes wonders at the time spent on yearning, reaching, craving for the illusory wealth of money. Lifetimes go by in the chase. An elusive prize, indeed; one that makes superhuman demands of time and effort. And appears and vanishes at will.

Why has this money benumbed our senses? Why do we direct our children into an ‘education’ with the lure that it will earn them more and more money? If a child paints well, he is encouraged by spinning dreams of how well his pictures will sell and how rich they will make him. Doesn't the richness of his passion, the satisfaction of the picture he creates make him wealthy already in a way no amount of money can? 

If a child talks about studying to be a doctor, we talk to her about how much money doctors earn, not about how many ailments they cure and how much succour they bring. Is it not a misconception that all work is aimed at monetary gain, and that after having earned 'enough', one may sometimes take some ‘quality time’ out for what one enjoys being or doing?

I profess confidence that a benevolent God looks out for me, then why do I go overboard in trying to 'provide' for ‘my’ children?

Were my elders crazy when they let me ride a horse or row a boat or swim in a river or climb a mountain or study what I wished as I liked and follow any profession that came my way? No! They were all heart. Their faith did not need to rest on me or my abilities. They knew that God would take care of me.

Money is happenstance. So is passion. Why do I let one be clouded over by the other?

The time spent on brooding on money, on ways to get it, save it, hold it, spend it; can I spend those innumerable hours on life and living and playing and laughing and loving and reaching out and touching and breathing and walking and jumping and smiling and feeling? Could I forego the feel of owning thousands, for the feeling of giving or having hours and days? Could I spend the same time and effort on prayers, thanks, gratitude, love, cheerfulness and sympathy? 

So many centuries of humans have lived by toil and courage, prayer and fortitude. Toil gave them strength, forbearance, endurance. Now we hear that toil gives fatigue. Cleaning the rug was fun, but now the rug remains dirty till a paid cleaner does it. Painting a door or wall. Feeding the cow. The sly and sharp demeanour that was reserved for bankers, card sharps and loan sharks seems to have become the wise and wanted look. ‘Ferret faced’, one old writer used to call them.

Is that what the generation gap is, that we are children of a benevolent god and they are children of anxious parents!

This unthinking and blind race for money preys so heavily on ties of family and friendship, of love and camaraderie. Everything is measured in money. It brings families and governments and nations to their knees.

Love and caring and services and blessings and time and effort and prayers, can they ever have an equivalent in money? Let us work to go forward, or backwards, to days when 'payments' are made in prayers and blessings, 'dua' and 'ashirvaad'! 

There is so much Barkat in that; so much thriving and flourishing, blossoming and prospering, blooming and fragrance. And Love.

Let us live in Love, and its inner glow.

“Zeina Glo brings you the radiant glow of inner peace, good health and attendant beauty.

Zeina Glo helps you strip off layers of inhibitions, hesitation, and cynicism, allowing your thoughts and emotions to flow freely.

Zeina Glo helps to douse the flames of insecurity and guilt, to open the windows of mind and body to the cool fresh breeze of love.

Zeina Glo encourages you to spread inner peace good health, radiance, exuberance, warmth, joy and the glow from your inner being.

Zeina Glo brings the beauty of your own thoughts back to you!!”

For, questions, criticism or advice, please post comments here, or write to zeinaglo@rediffmail.com or zeinaglow@gmail.com