...On the riverbank, sitting cross-legged, Shyamsunder rocked slowly back and forth."It was in Haight-Ashbury, San Francisco, January 1967. My friends and I had put together this big rock and roll dance at the Avalon Ballroom. We called it Mantra Rock Dance. Everyone was there to welcome 'The Swami' to the West Coast - the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, Canned Heat, Quicksilver and Moby Grape, they all played. Even Allen Ginsberg, Timothy Leary and Ken Kesey were there. All the hippie heroes came." Shyamsunder became excited and his body rocked faster. "Picture this scene. The whole place is pulsating with strobe lights and rock and roll, packed with wild, long-haired kids, most of them on acid. Then, about midnight, Srila Prabhupada walks quietly onto the dark stage and sits down cross-legged on an elevated seat. The place falls silent. Srila Prabhupada begins humbly chanting the Hare Krishna mantra. A spotlight finally locates him, and gradu...
As Robert Adams reveals it:
ReplyDeleteDO NOT LET CALAMITY RULE YOU
"You have to begin to identify with the Real Self. You have to begin to let go
of all the false beliefs, conceptions, dogmas and be yourself. Be the Self
you've always been. Be the Buddha. Be Krishna. You have that quality deep within
you. Wake up. Do not let calamity rule you any longer. Know yourself. Do not use
the mind to react to conditions. Learn to be the observer."
There is no controlling life.
ReplyDeleteTry corralling a lightning bolt,
containing a tornado. Dam a
stream and it will create a new
channel. Resist, and the tide
will sweep you off your feet.
Allow, and grace will carry
you to higher ground. The only
safety lies in letting it all in -
the wild and the weak; fear,
fantasies, failures and success.
When loss rips off the doors of
the heart, or sadness veils your
vision with despair, practice
becomes simply bearing the truth.
In the choice to let go of your
known way of being, the whole
world is revealed to your new eyes.
- Danna Faulds
Let go of what has passed.
ReplyDeleteLet go of what may come.
Let go of what is happening now.
Don't try to figure anything out.
Don't try to make anything happen.
Relax, right now, and rest.
Tilopa,
The armor we erect around our hearts causes a lot of misery. But don't be
ReplyDeletedeceived, it's very transparent. The more vivid it gets, the more clearly you
see it, the more you realize that this shield - this cocoon - is just made up of
thoughts that we churn out and regard as solid. It's not made of iron. The
armor is not made out of metal. In fact, it's made out of passing memory.
Pema Chodron
People are very misguided if think that meditation is only a psychological matter.
ReplyDeleteA very good analogy: As a fish when pulled out of water and cast on land throbs and quivers,
ReplyDeleteeven so is this mind agitated.