The Value of Time

"Know the value of time.
Time is most precious.
Utilize every second profitably.
Live every moment of your life for the realization of your ideal and goal.
Do not procrastinate. That "tomorrow" will never come.
Now or never.
Abandon idle gossiping.
Kill egoism, laziness, and inertia.
Forget the past.
A glorious and brilliant future is awaiting you.
Be in tune with the Infinite. "

Master Sivananda

I especially love "abandon idle gossiping", and "forget the past" !

Namaste!

The River of Life

The river is the esoteric symbol of life's force. As our life force flows, it shows us how our attachments keep us hung up on the bank, or a boulder, or a tree branch along the way. When we look within, we see what stops that river from flowing, from becoming one with life's ocean and eternal bliss. All of the personalities we know and material objects we are clinging to keep us holding tightly to the banks of life's river. The river still flows on, but we do not flow with it. We are fighting against life's currents when we allow ourselves to become attached. When we take time to think of how our experiences in life show us how often we cling to the banks of life's river by attaching ourself to people and possessions, we may even notice that some of our attachments are things we don't even like! We are attached to objects, values, schedules, habits, memories, even likes and dislikes. We become caught up because we do not stop to realize that those experiences are just our conception of a boulder or a tree branch, and that we can let go at any time, and flow in the river of life to merge with the ocean of eternal bliss. Namaste

The Shadow Of The Buddha

I have a Buddha statue on my windowsill, that when the morning sun shines in casts its shadow upon the wooden floor in front of me. Its image is beautiful, serene, as I breathe deeply and receive peace from it.

When the sunshine is dimmed by a passing cloud, the image of the Buddha fades, but I know the statue remains, strong and real.

Much like the living Buddha who once cast his shadow on the Earth, we know he is still there in all his realness. Even though we can't see his image in front of us, we know he is there.
As is Jesus.
As are we.

God's shadows are everywhere.

Happy 11-11-11!

It was a beautiful day! I hope everyone was able to take a spiritual moment, in prayer, in meditation, in a group or in solitude, in a city or in the wilderness.

I guess I can say I did all of the above...I practiced my morning meditation/prayer ritual, and yoga.

I attended the Psychotherapy and Faith Conference, which included a very inspiring talk on Spirituality and healing, by Dr. Kenneth Pargament, who was wonderful! I made the wise choice to leave before the talk on Jeffrey Dahmer, since I don't want to know about that sort of evil, and I chose to focus on enlightenment today.

I prayed in the Byzantine Fresco Chapel. Beautiful! Then I visited the Rothko Chapel, just across the street. If you are in Houston, I highly recommend both of these serene chapels.

And even though I was in the fourth largest city in America, I found a place of solitude, surrounded by bamboo hedges, where I could imagine being in a bamboo forest. Bliss!