The Isha Upanishad (ईशोपनिषद्, ‘īśopaniṣad’) is one of the shortest of the Upanishads, in form more like a brief poem than a philosophical treatise, consisting of 17 or 18 verses in total. The Upanishad constitutes the final chapter (adhyāya) of the Shukla Yajurveda and survives in two versions, called Kanva (VSK) and Madhyandina (VSM).
The Isha Upanishad is significant for its description of the nature of the “Supreme Being”, exhibiting monism or a form of monotheism, referred to as Isha “Lord”. It describes this being as “unembodied, omniscient, beyond reproach, without veins, pure and uncontaminated” (verse 8), one who “moves and does not move’, who is ‘far away, but very near as well'” and who “although fixed in abode is swifter than the mind” (verses 4 & 5).
The first verse of the text has been cited as of particular importance to Vedanta or to Hinduism as a whole.
Have you seen the whales breach
In such confidence they soar upward
They even maneuver a twirl
And fall back in complete trust
In the support of the water below.
How beautiful an example can mother nature give
Of unfolding grace in trust and confidence
Much of our lifes story can be just as beautiful.
When it is in a flow like that
When we rise in success with faith
Being completely confident of our purpose
When we surrender in complete unflinching trust
Knowing there is support and love flowing in the roots.
Why are humans rising and touching the stars?
Why are we progressing phenomenally
Yet why are we crash landing at times?
Why are we failing?
While it is the faith in ourselves that may take us upwards
Bu the lack of trust and support for one another brings us down.
Perhaps we need to learn from water
How to be flexible in its fluidity.
To be adaptable in its buoyancy
And then we too can rise again with every fall.
For inspite of every ability we have …
Support from our family and friends
Matter more than we know!
Wouldn’t you agree?
When you have faith in your roots then every leap of faith is of a trustful knowing
That no matter how far you reach you have a home to come back to!
Choose well You are way better way more, Than what you think & understand of you. There is much that only you can choose to do. Choose to live your life lovingly! Choose to be purposeful! Choose empathy than criticism. Choose self respect and freedom to be.
The faster you understand yourself And accept being who you truly are, And choose to better yourself to be the best version of yourself… The closer you are to being truly happy!
Your true voice is not only the one you speak Your true voice is the one you may hear If and when you care to listen It may be just a whisper It may be heard just by you But it says all that you need to hear And it may be worth listening to!
The voice within us Speaks the truth of the being It expresses what you may need But do not know yet. It guides the way It is a heartfelt reminder Of all things beyond the surface. It may be wise, listening to!
The picture above was shared by a dear friend on social media. It speaks the truth of life today.
Helplessly surviving the carelessness of mankind,
These birds are seen flying after their own once lived homes.
Totally shattered and in deep despair.
Isnt this world theirs too?
As logs of wood are transported
It’s hard to see them fly this way
Searching for their lost homes.
Desperate to find their babies in the woods.
Wooded forests are fast disappearing
Birds are losing their safe havens
They are clueless where to nest
They have no place to roost and rest
Why is the human being so monstrous
It is nothing short of disastrous
It is wrong of us to tamper the ecosystem
And be without any guilt or remorse.
Cutting and felling the trees
Burning the world’s forest cover
Where would we go without the oxygen
How can we survive without clean air?
Why are we playing with fire?
Can we each undo the damage?
In adopting sustainable ways of living.
Every bit will make a difference…
If we only understand
Every element has a purpose
Every matter exists for a reason
Every life is strengthened in the interconnects.
Let’s care and nurture trees
Let’s plant and grow more trees
Let’s help the birds live on trees
Let us learn to coexist, so every life will breathe easy.
In continuation to my earlier post on Holistic education. I came across this poignant post and I heartfully share this wonderful initiative and reflections.
ATTENTION ALL TEACHERS AND PARENTS
Every Friday afternoon Chase’s teacher asks her students to take out a piece of paper and write down the names of four children with whom they’d like to sit the following week. The children know that these requests may or may not be honored. She also asks the students to nominate one student whom they believe has been an exceptional classroom citizen that week. All ballots are privately submitted to her.
And every single Friday afternoon, after the students go home, Chase’s teacher takes out those slips of paper, places them in front of her and studies them. She looks for patterns.
Who is not getting requested by anyone else? Who doesn’t even know who to request? Who never gets noticed enough to be nominated? Who had a million friends last week and none this week?
You see, Chase’s teacher is not looking for a new seating chart or “exceptional citizens.” Chase’s teacher is looking for lonely children. She’s looking for children who are struggling to connect with other children. She’s identifying the little ones who are falling through the cracks of the class’s social life. She is discovering whose gifts are going unnoticed by their peers. And she’s pinning down- right away- who’s being bullied and who is doing the bullying.
As a teacher, parent, and lover of all children – I think that this is the most brilliant Love Ninja strategy I have ever encountered. It’s like taking an X-ray of a classroom to see beneath the surface of things and into the hearts of students. It is like mining for gold – the gold being those little ones who need a little help – who need adults to step in and TEACH them how to make friends, how to ask others to play, how to join a group, or how to share their gifts with others. And it’s a bully deterrent because every teacher knows that bullying usually happens outside of her eyeshot – and that often kids being bullied are too intimidated to share. But as she said – the truth comes out on those safe, private, little sheets of paper.
As Chase’s teacher explained this simple, ingenious idea – I stared at her with my mouth hanging open. “How long have you been using this system?” I said. Ever since Columbine, she said. Every single Friday afternoon since Columbine.
Good Lord.
This brilliant woman watched Columbine knowing that ALL VIOLENCE BEGINS WITH DISCONNECTION. All outward violence begins as inner loneliness. She watched that tragedy KNOWING that children who aren’t being noticed will eventually resort to being noticed by any means necessary.
And so she decided to start fighting violence early and often, and with the world within her reach. What Chase’s teacher is doing when she sits in her empty classroom studying those lists written with shaky 11 year old hands – is SAVING LIVES. I am convinced of it. She is saving lives.
And what this mathematician has learned while using this system is something she really already knew: that everything – even love, even belonging – has a pattern to it. And she finds those patterns through those lists – she breaks the codes of disconnection. And then she gets lonely kids the help they need. It’s math to her. It’s MATH.
All is love- even math. Amazing.
Chase’s teacher retires this year – after decades of saving lives. What a way to spend a life: looking for patterns of love and loneliness. Stepping in, every single day- and altering the trajectory of our world.
TEACH ON, WARRIORS. You are the first responders, the front line, the disconnection detectives, and the best and ONLY hope we’ve got for a better world. What you do in those classrooms when no one is watching- it’s our best hope. http://momastery.com/blog/2014/01/30/share-schools/
“Before you speak, let your words pass through three gates: Is it true? Is it necessary? Is it kind?”
Truth
Words of truth when spoken
Nourishes the speaker and the world
Cleansing the toxic facades of lies
Creating a trustful disposition
Let truth prevail.
Need
Every word matters
Words are priceless
They are worth their weight in gold
Waste not words unnecessarily
For they will lose their value
Speak when words need to be said.
Kindness
Let the words you speak
Flow from the heart
Let it emanate kindness
Let it open the gates of love
And embalm the lives it touches.
When life pans out
All the colours of the spirit and soul
Just as much as the joy’s in the hues and tints.
There are many shades and tones that challenge…
The path is interspersed with light and dark
Reflections of light
Dance and disappear
Like the passing clouds…
At times an incessant downpour of density
Like unrelenting thunderstorms
Even flashing lights through without respite
Excesses have a way of wearing itself out.
Like the colours of nature
Are known to balance themselves out…
Accept to blend and flow
In the seasons that change
And yet stay clearly distinguished
Maintaining the beauty in their vividity
Know the night moves on to the day
All is in flow in the circle of life.
Our universe is full of waves of energy. And all life is energy in varied forms .
In the subatomic level all is vibrational and moving .We are all pulsating oceans of energy fields. This very waves of energy is what makes us unique as we are in ourselves and in the way we interact with one another.
Sometimes these waves of energy are seemingly stagnant and at times moving in momentous speed.
Life is full of vibrations. Sometimes you sense its brilliance and at other times it is so subtle and subjective to our level of understanding at that point in life. Yet there are reasons for why you emit the vibrations that you do. And it’s all interconnected.
From the food, you eat your choices have a way of influencing your body and your body affects the way you feel and think.
Our thoughts have much to do with our emotions and thus the behaviour of every cell is affected in a relational way to another.
Some simple ways to raise your positive vibrations…
Many times in our lives, many of us are at times challenged and confounded by these moments, that I would prefer to call ‘ What if ‘moments. Like for instance ‘if only I had done this , if only I had said that, if only I had the sense to think this way and so on and so forth!!!
The main reason I feel these feelings occur is that when we are faced with a trying situation for e.g. sometimes some of us buckle under the pressure, maybe to conform with the norm or worry about what is the ideal way to behave that we don’t focus on what is necessary for the moment and fail to capitalize on our strengths.
A few of us feel threatened enough to attack the offender or be brutal enough verbally or physically and regret later about our lack of discretion and control.
Still others who are so numbed by what is happening end up being dumbfounded that they don’t know what struck them… And there are those who are quite indifferent to the situation so much that you wonder if they are human at all only to realise later that there is an emotionally charged outburst long after the stressful event.
Basically when one is feeling pressured or during extreme stress of a new situation with a feeling of being pushed to a wall , we need to be aware of it , but the force of what is coming must be cleverly deflected from our path and neutralised.
If only this learning is valued, taught and applied many of us will be much happier souls. This means we must learn to be present in the moment, for which we first need to develop a keen sense of balance and control in all areas of our life. In thoughts words and deeds. This in itself is a powerful tool to calm a person enough to handle any so called crisis. When we are in a state of balance we are clearer in what we want and our existing resources.
This opens up possibilities of channelling the strengths of our resources positively to the common good of all.
Daily we could simply strive to imbibe at least some of these in our lives…..
To reduce our impulsive reactions
To balance our needs and expectations
To conquer our ego but value ourselves.
To focus on the present moment
To cleanse the mind by thought awareness
To cleanse the body by healing movements
To learn to be patient and develop perseverance
To understand the importance of
equanimity and composure
To control anger and other sensory indulgences
To be kind, generous, open minded and tolerant
To believe in equality
To conquer our unnecessary fears and inhibitions
To live our lives lovingly, completely being in every moment of it without passing it up for another time!
To develop a sense of respect for self and equally respect another.
Finally to be grateful for all that we have at this moment…
When we have the grace of gratefulness we will possibly be more balanced and composed to deal with situations wisely and life’s moments will turn to be positively enriching experiences.
The voice within us.
