This week finds me traveling yet again to another city. I realize the sights and smells that greet me as I set alight also set the expectations.
Yet one thing has never changed in all my travels My inate ability to wake up at dawn no matter when I sleep. In the hotel room I am suddenly abound by precious time. I also enjoy the practice of having warm water with a just slight dip of a teabag for a second so its more flavored water than tea. I sense many moments of great connectedness in this unadulterated time of sipping tea. I love it best propped in bed with my feet all tucked in the warm sheets The warm concoction ever so gently bringing in the old familiar fuzzy feeling of being at ease, and accommodating my palate and me to the sensations of a new place. Over many such moments of serendipitousness & the familiar deju vus that wash over me, I have been privy to my musings in verses that flow effortlessly. Like I am doing in this now…
Moments matter and your movements in the moments matter a great deal. Hold this moment that is, in rapture and awe It’s precious for it will slip away Never to meet again in posterity. But in creating a ripple effect of positivity through the movements in the moment What is the future can manifest from this now Care to alter your life for the better. Alter your moves…
To all my Care giving friends the lightworkers , the mentors and spiritual guiders, the motivators and healers on their special journey stepping in tandem with their calling! Keep going… you are on track!
Om purnamadah purnamidam purnat purnamudacyate | purnasya purnamadaya purnamevavashishyate || Om Shantih Shantih Shantih hi||
This is One of the greatest gift to the humanity.
The concept of Zero comes from this very Shanti Mantra.
In linear mathematics, we will always find that when something is taken out from something, that something from which things are taken out lacks.
If we take some furniture out from a room then that room is minus those furniture.
That means this room is not what it had before.
This is a linear thinking.
But here the Rishis gave us a completely different outlook towards life.
The spherical thinking is :
That is full. And this is also full.
This fullness has come from that fullness. And in spite of this fullness having come from that fullness, that still remains full.
A mother gives birth to a baby.
A baby is also complete. The mother is also complete.
Just because the baby is born, the mother is not lacking something. In fact, it has added to her glory.
The concept of Zero, without which nothing could have happened in this planet.
No computer technology, no science could have progressed.
That has (its) origin here in this very Shanti Mantra.
From the fullness, comes out the fullness, and still the fullness remains fullness.
We can go on analyzing this very Shanti Mantra on various levels:
Spiritual level, Material level, level of Mathematics, level of Physics etc.
It is pregnant with huge information.
When we share our Peace with others, our peace will not be lost.
When we share our Knowledge with others, we won’t lose the knowledge.
It remains complete inside us.
Similarly, this Universe, in fact it is multi-verse, enormously huge, is dynamic. Many things are being born here everyday and dissolving back into it everyday.
Still both the manifest is complete and the unmanifest is also complete.
The Rishis say Shanti Shanti Shanti – three times.
When our environment is disturbed, we cannot sit there and think about or contemplate on Knowledge.
When the Knowledge is to flow and transfer, the environment needs to be Congenial.
Our body-mind complex needs to be fit on the third level, the level of the Self, the Being and Inner Peace.Hence Shanti-Peace is emphasised.
A Peaceful mind can probe into something beyond, can grasp that something which cannot be grasped by the little mind.
The intellect cannot access to things which our spirit can get access to.
A man, who regularly attended family & group meetings suddenly, without any notice, stopped participating. After a few weeks, one very cold night the leader of that group decided to visit him.
He found the man at home, alone, sitting in front of a fireplace where a bright fire burned.
The man welcomed the leader. There was great calm & silence.
The two men only watched the dancing flames around the logs that crackled in the fireplace.
After a few minutes the leader, without saying a word, examined the logs that formed the fire and selected one of them, glowing most brightly of all, and removed it to the side with a pair of tongs. Then he sat down again.
The host was paying attention to everything, fascinated. Before long, the lone log’s flame subsided, until there was only a momentary glow and the fire soon went out. In a short time what was previously bright light and heat had become nothing more than a black dead piece of wood. Very few words had been spoken since the greeting.
Before preparing to leave, the leader picked up the useless piece of wood with the tongs and placed it again in the middle of the fire. Immediately, the piece of wood was rekindled, fuelled by the light and heat of the burning logs around it.
When the leader was about to leave & had reached the door, the host said: ‘Thank you for your visit and for your beautiful lesson. I’ll return to the group soon.’
Why is a group important in our lives ?
Very simple: Because each member that withdraws takes fire and heat from the rest.
It’s worth reminding group members that they are a part of the flame.
It’s also good to remind us that we are all responsible for keeping each other’s flame burning. And we must promote the union among us so that the fire is really strong, effective and lasting. Keep the fire burning.
THEGROUPISALSOAFAMILY It doesn’t matter if sometimes we are bothered by so many messages, quarrels and misunderstandings.
What matters is to be connected. We are here to meet, message, learn, exchange ideas or simply to know that we are not alone
My friend Ali Anani from Jordan proposed an interesting question last evening.
“As a poet dear Savvy I just wonder how much do you trust planning?”
Here are my musings…
Poets and Planning
A poet has a lot of structuring to do… The poet steps out of the box Knowing only too well that thoughts needs to align in time. Without trust in the divine plan there is no way the poet can create. And without a plan that visualizes the bigger picture as much as the little details, the verse will not make sense. So poets and planning have much to do in trustfulness.
Now speaking personally, Spontaneity seems to surge In the throes of a thought wave. Yet much is happens in following the flow. Synergies are sensed In the amalgamation and associations. Of thoughts into verses.
As words then fill the void spaces Making meaning out of matter. Spontaneity too then is preordained in the divine plan And poets are simply messengers Enriching thoughts in a meter of sorts. To make the ordinary words come alive!
Life reflects itself through the things you do, the people you meet as well as in your passions and perseverances, in so many intriguing yet enthralling ways.
One such beautiful reflection I experienced in my travels earlier in France.
A sense of deja vu, a throwback to the fond memories of teaching dances to people in the different places, all thanks to the Dance & the magic of movements.
While visiting France I met my colleague from the world of dance, Celine Maheo who resides in Rennes Celine is a practicing clinical psychologist and an Argentine tango dancer. What’s beautiful is that she is a dedicated professional who uses the dance therapy for helping Parkinson’s patients with their movements through Tango dance sessions.
My interest was piqued, as earlier I had been conducting very similar dance sessions as well, especially remembered our Seniors Dance for Wellness workshops back in India.
So over a beautiful meet and greet sipping cups of hot herbal tea at the Les Grands Gamin at the heart of Rennes, ensued a free flowing conversation where we exchanged notes on each others life. Our passion for dancing was the visible to see as we hardly knew how moments passed by.
To dance is to sense connections beyond the dancing bodies.
To dance is to honour life and its unique expressions in the movements.
Savvy Raj
And when Celine invited me to her next Tango Therapy Workshop, it was an offer I could not refuse. I was actually keen to understand whether and how the cultural differences change the way of conducting and experiencing workshops here.
Dancing can improve the mobility and balance in senior adults. Adapting the dance to suit the requirements of the group, like simplifying the steps, the placement of the feet, improves their coordination, mobility and balance.
The dance session was deeply engrossing & truly inspiring to witness and participate as well. The music played that day stayed with me well after the session.
So the next step turned out to be me conducting a Chacha session for them. The challenges of language barriers were surrmounted easily as Celine offered to translate my teaching from English to French.
Everything fell in place beautifully and voila time flew again.We danced a bit of Chacha that day and also some more in the next few sessions as well. I was told later by the learners how much they enjoyed it!
It was an amazing experience sharing the joys of movements and I thank Celine for her inclusivity in requesting me to conduct the dance sessions as well. And I deeply appreciate all her beautiful learners that I met,connected and danced with. It was a truly warm and wonderful time spent with them all.
After the sessions we would gather together and discuss opening many facets of the learning and imbibing. It was a beautiful way of empathising and understanding each other.
Some of the beautiful souls I got to interact with in the few months I was there.
Dance has a way of soothing your entire being and bringing forth and connecting you with the depth of who you are. That is when dance begins to feel meaningful and transforms life. The dance connects established, in those sessions is a beautiful memory etched in my heart, that I will cherish forever.
I chanced on these beautiful moments again as I found the photos I clicked back then and I decided to give them a little artistic effect.
All across the world April 29th every year is celebrated as International Dance Day, although every day is a great day to dance!
I dedicate this post to all my dance friends and colleagues and all the dance educators in the world who are making the world a better place, with every step in time.
Savvy Raj 
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