Thursday, April 16, 2020

#Day16 NaPoWriMo Prabhupada Swami…towards Universal Consciousness

Image result for lord krishna iskcon paintings (With images ...

Prabhupada Swami, in you we find


The divine consciousness of my Krsna
As you helped us understand
That there is nothing like a feeling of being alone
When the God is always within us
Vibrations of chanting 'Hare Krishna'
reverberates the senses of consciousness
beyond sensual, mental and intellectual
with the lips, we should be chanting HIM
and with ears, we should be hearing
with hearts, crying out for the Lord
like a baby does for its Mother
Swami Prabhupada..You are a great leader
who had spread the authority with devotion
The success of your great preaching will be
is what drives us to the 'Universal Consciousness!'

Wednesday, April 15, 2020

#Day15 NaPoWriMo - Osho- When Love breaths into words!

Osho Quotes That Will Help to Guide In Your Life or Love {Solved}

Osho-   a unique preacher of his kind


Who rose beyond the normal fences of life
Teachings that inspire to live life of our choices
Who charges you to feel still, feel loved and feel life
In his world, nothing is wrong, nothing is right
The way you understand life and live is only might
There is only one thing of life…the soul embodying truth
No body, no form, no language, no restriction
Life is just the way you live truthful to your thoughts
The only love is not to harm fellow human beings
Ocean of life, filled with every drop it sure strings
What else can you offer, than the only real wealth
Wealth of love for those who surround you in dearth
The only final unison of the mind, body and soul
Can be of you with the larger universe as cosmic will
Go deep inside you awakening the real inner you
Fill life with love, music, beauty, peace and poetry
With dreams of happiness, the pain and suffering ceases
When life is filled with the eternal songs, pain descends
Raise in silence,  the beauty of the calmness of mind
To rejoice life, to celebrate love, in unison with the cosmos
Surrendering to the Supreme is the only destination
In vacuum and absolute stillness and silence
Is when you will truly find Him in horizons

Know Meditation...Know Life...Osho!  Pic: Umasree in Nagalapuram



Tuesday, April 14, 2020

#Day14 NaPoWriMo 14 April 20 Nature of Life - inspiration to poetry



What else can inspire you
To pour out of your heart
Life…the eternal source of love
The very nature of life
Way things unfold
Push you to pursue dreams
Raise up through the tears
Chase away endless fears
Life… the eternal quest
To continue, to pursue
The very nature of life
With all its lovely drives
Can we raise or die
As Life teaches you things
People who touch you
Moments that made new
Charging to experiences
Of life that endanger too
Emotions that overdrive
The days in paradise
People who you recognize
For having loved you deep
Or giving you lessons to keep
Incidents that you apologize
happenings that you prioritize
dreams that come to materialize
everything that made you survive
Celebrating the fact of being alive
What else can inspire you to write
Then the very Nature of Life and its Might!


Monday, April 13, 2020

Book Review : 'Fall Like a Rose Petal' by AVIS Viswanathan - A book that will take you to realities of life!

Rose Petals
Does not leave the fragrance of the hands 
that have once held them
even after they have fallen to the ground!
Fall Like A Rose Petal by AVIS Viswanathan
Author - AVIS Viswanathan

Exactly, this is the similar impact and feeling as I finished reading AVIS's book 'Fall Like a Rose Petal'.    Its been few days since I finished reading and did not actually get time to pour out to the lessons that book had reminded me rather.  Given all the hectic and erratic work schedules I have, reading a book at a stretch is most of the times not possible.   However, this experience was different.  For almost a week, my every day ended with couple of chapters read, and few re-read as they were so close to me.....and after completing the final page....I sent AVIS, the below given whats-app message

"Hi AVIS...Namaste.  Just finished reading 'Fall like a Rose Petal' book last night.  It was such an amazing journey.  Beautiful narration n valuable lessons of life.  Plenty of takeaways.  Though our situations are different in terms of pain, the way we faced them, reacted n responded can be related.  For few sentences, I kept underlining in the book, is because, they were part of our lives too.   

Life is a beautiful journey and each experience enriches us and going by the flow of it is what makes us live today.   Honestly my respect n love for Vaani grew multi-fold after reading the book...I know you both for long, but few instances where she showed great decision making and resilience n trusting in her love, faith and inner strength is what made me salute her this moment.  Trust me, our children are lucky. One that they have parents who learn from lives,. Yet we let them dream n chase their own passions and we don't burden them with our ups n downs.    Our mothers were no different too.  Only thing is my sisters stood by me all times.  

Next thing is how we don't understand the benevolence of universe. The minute we do, I think, everything becomes bearable, manageable n life livable with happiness n focus on health both physically n mentally.   You and Vaani will always remain in my prayers.  And I will hold you closely as my good friends as well forever.  I will write a detailed review in my blog as time permits.  Just wanted to pour out my thoughts as I kept the book down last night around 1 am....thank you for the book...I want to forgive my brother in law who had similar situations but pushed us to pain n grave situations without acknowledging his mistakes.  I will gift this book to him for he may find few lessons helpful and he lives a better and non worrisome n not hurting life going forward.   Thank you Avis and Vaani.  Sending you loads of love and best wishes.   Life is beautiful. Let's celebrate"

Then you may ask me?  Why this specific review post now?  It is not for AVIS, or for the book, but for me !  How can I not document the key takeaways!

  • The very introduction of how being human beings is itself a spiritual journey takes you one step above the nomenclature of the routine lives.  
  • The assurances of a wife that ' I am there with you, however long this takes.  We have to win!'  - resonated to my own personal experience when life ravaged us with the shadows of Schizophrenia.....This particular assurance among-st spouses or any people in relationship is what makes or breaks a relationship!
  • Why we are going through all this?  Would we live to tell our tale?   -  Again, each one of us will ask during the dire situations that threaten our own existence.    Answering to ourselves affirmatively is the only way out!
  • Faith has replaced fear and we have developed boundless patience.  No longer scared of LIFE.   -   Trust me this is not a spiritual book, but a story of unfortunate circumstances of the writer.   But the inbuilt faith and patience built over several instances is what makes them fearless.   The minute you are fearless...your mind become stronger and agile to face anything
  • If we trust Life's master plan and celebrate living our Life exactly the way it is unfolding, without resisting anything, we will be in bliss, irrespective of our circumstances.  -  It sums it up all...!
  • You live Life, one day at a time, one moment at a time, making each one count!   PRESENT MOMENT!   The only one that you can call your own! 
  • Mouna works brilliantly   -    Yes, it is in those depths of silence, you will get to hear your soul!   Very lately I personally started experiencing this myself and it is absolute bliss
  • The more you hold on, cling to something, the more you suffer.   Nothingness is what you and I are all about.  Live Letting Go!    Powerful words, especially those in love, acquiring wealth, attention,  holding on to past suffer most when we cling on to it for longer than needed.   End of the day what started in dust, ends in it so...so whats the use of holding it !
  • Don't Interpret, Understand -   90% of the time we assume, we interpret in the way it is convenient to us or we are able to understand without properly listening or understanding in the right sense.   So assuming or interpreting leads to misunderstanding of any situations and its better we stop doing this!
  • Shirdi Baba's two point doctrine of Faith and Patience  -  This is the faith and Sai Baba chapter that moved me.   All my childhood, the only places of vacation/travel/pilgrimage..what ever you call it were to Tirupati, Shirdi and Madras and Sabarimala !   Fakir Baba always took prominence at home and when tragedies kept shaking us like hell, I fought with him saying I will never visit his temple again!   Just few months back in Nov 2019, my best friend pulled me to Sai Baba temple and that day I felt sad at my ignorance and cried to myself so much.   Sai Baba's life teaches us a way of life.   Faith or no faith..doesn't matter.  He will protect you once you trust in him.   Feeding those in need, trusting in him and being perseverance brings in the much needed serenity in your life.   Period!   Once he is part of you..He is in you!  Guiding you!
  • Treat someone's need as higher than yours.  Your want may be someone's need.  Giving is the most beautiful part of being human.  Live, Love, Give!     Having been doing this with what ever little I had,  life kept giving me in abundance without asking, the more I started to give.   Giving in any form -   money, time, energy, love, acceptance, care, friendship, without expectation actually gives you back in multi-fold.   
  • Intelligence lies in knowing which parts of your Life you can fix and which parts you can't.    -   This is a way of finding bliss !   This echo with the story time and again shared by Masters like Osho, Sadguru,  Assanji-   saying, if you can change something, why worry!  If you cannot change something, then why worry!   Knowing what you can have and what you cant have and in accepting both is the very crux of the Serenity Prayer 
  • Life will Always go on!     Kalachakram does not stop for anyone or anything.   I thought our lives are all done, the day my dad fell dead in my hands...we survived.   I felt the ground shaking the day I ended up in a bad marriage....we survived.   Heart broken the day I had to let go my second child...I survived the pain..    The song of life doesn't stop for anyone or anything..It just goes on!
  • All Right -  Celebrate Life -   its OK to fail, its ok to lose , its ok to be heart broken, its ok to go penniless....its all part of Life.   As long as we don't let any of the down streams affect our morale or self-esteem and break our confidence,  its all right!   The only sentence that is true is 'This too shall pass!'.  Yes AVIS, you are right when you said -  Humbling experiences are romantic and inspiring to hear, but extremely painful to go through -  Yes, but this too shall pass!
  • Learn to separate ourselves from the situations that haunt, agonize and worry us the most-  and experience Peace.  And the rare state called bliss.    What lies between you and inner peace are layers of worry, guilt, hatred, grief and anger about situations...!  
  • Do not invite suffering by letting the past haunt you and the future worry you -   Neither prejudiced by the past, not in the fear of the future, just live the moment..The Moment!
  • Be the happiness you seek!   Live with what has been ordained.  Magic and miracle of life showering you with abundance!   Celebrate life -   Celebrate Life!
  • Being an emotional fool myself, I could pretty much relate to AVIS words -  Life got me addicted to emotions that as I was soon to discover, were ruinous.   It's ok to be emotional as long as we are in control of the same.  And don't let the emotions override us being practical in any situation
  • Quality of Life -   determined by being loving, caring, laughing, watching nature and being compassionate  .  Right thinking comes from good heath
  • Seek Within and Ye Shall Find!
  • 'To awaken people to the right way of thinking, living, working and winning!'-  Thanks to these words from Philip Sir
  • We are merely executors of a Cosmic Will.   Never claim any of the success as your own.  You are only an instrument
  • A soul-mate is always understanding, demanding,  forgiving, compassionate, teaching and uplifting!    A soul-mate can be your spouse, best friend,  guru, mentor or someone who can match your thoughts and passions and understanding and will be a long lasting relationship.  Glad AVIS and Vaani found this in each other.  Grateful to have learned to Rise in Love!
  • Truth will inspire you.   Life never ceases to surprise you and amaze you.  In every moment you will find beauty, often in completely unexpected places. -   Whereas AVIS found this bliss in a courtroom,  I have found such miracles in hospital ICUs,  office lift, classroom,  one time during the long drive in the car in a blissful evening!  Life could have be lost in nano-seconds, but found miracles raising Life all over again.    See beauty even in pain and in the most unlikely of places.   Treat everything in Life as just another event!  Preconceived notions and expectations ruin our peace. 
  • Forgiveness is freedom.  It is liberating.  -  Forgiveness is not for those forgiven but who has given it without any baggage.  It makes you peaceful,  free from the haunted grudge and pain of the rotten past.  
  • All is fair in love, war and business.  Unable to concentrate on anything else but that, when you are stung by betrayal, are hurt by someone's senseless guile, you feel used,  abused and discarded  -    When you are faced with this situation, the only way to heal faster is to forgive and move on....As AVIS said,  separate the perpetrator and the action.   Also learn to forgive myself!  Give yourself the gift of forgiveness, to yourself and others, you will find peace, love and bliss.
  • Remember Everything and Everyone with Gratitude.
  • Profundity that only the inscrutable ways of life can imbue in a person.   Wanting Inner peace and wanting to be useful rather than wanting to rid ourselves of our problems or wanting to be more successful!    'Be Useful'   - This life for sure has a purpose.  Many a times, our lives goes off in this earnest search.  It is better we be useful to our fellow human beings in the smallest ways possible rather than trying to be behind the endless search.  In each instance of help you give others, when you can find the opportunity of giving,  it makes you rediscover yourself as a human being as AVIS says
  • Bottom line -   Be Happy despite your circumstances

Life is beautiful, like a rose.    However, it does not come without its share of thorns.  Those who know to deal with the thorns and embrace the rose petals to enrich the life with its fragrance....will feel liberated, rejoiced and rejuvenated in every moment that life throws at us.      AVIS and Vaani's life is a reflection of the beauty amidst adversities.   This book does not have a beginning nor an end...just like the human suffering.   As long as we know to rejoice the journey,  life goes on!     It is very easy to judge people from outside.   To be resilient, to be honest, to be in love, to celebrate life despite all its tantrums is never easy.   But those who know to embrace life with all its magic, miracles and mysteries and mountains of pain, love, happiness, sorrows can alone celebrate life and become Happynesswalas - truly like AVIS and Vaani.   God bless you AVIS and family.

Raghunath, Umasree, Vaani, AVIS





#Day13 NaPoWriMo - M - My heart is stolen...in Universal Love! Prompt : Unapologetic stealing

If I stole your heart and you stole mine, wouldn't that be the ...
Pic taken from Internet pinterest!

He stole my heart


Loved me like a splendid art
He stole my time
All through my life’s prime
He stole my thoughts
Became my lovely songs
He stole my days
Life is what I faced
He stole my blood
To seed for a bud
He stole my food
To feed the awful hunger
He stole my wisdom
To make me become
He stole my sense
To cross every fence
He stole me on a whole
The minute he cajoled
He stole me all my life
Making me in him drive!
I love this unapologetic stealing
is the only feeling!
For I belong, 
Truly to him, all along!

He can be anyone!
Who touched me with Love!
My husband, my friend!
My guru, my teacher!
My fear, my book!
My God!
Anyone!
Who just know to Love!

The essence of Spirituality is Universal Love ⊰♡⊱



Sunday, April 12, 2020

#Day12 NaPoWriMo L for Li Wenliang- Hero from Wuhan who wanted to warn the world on Covid19 ...A Triolet tribute



Li Wenliang  -  Dr…You were the light
Guiding the human race even before they woke up
That you saw in the sky shining bright
Li Wenliang  -  Dr…You were the light
Having the sight of grief, pain and might
Ignored did the people around, till you went up!
Li Wenliang  -  Dr…You were the light
Guiding the human race even before they woke up

As long as the year 2020 is remembered in the history of mankind,
Your sacrifice, your dedication of being a medico, will always remain

People attend a vigil to mourn for doctor Li Wenliang in Hong Kong on Feb. 7, 2020. (Anthony Kwan/Getty Images)
Pic Courtesy: https://www.theepochtimes.com/

With the prompt of the season:


Triolet

Triolet is a poetic form consisting of only 8 lines. Within a Triolet, the 1st, 4th, and 7th lines repeat, and the 2nd and 8th lines do as well. The rhyme scheme is simple: ABaAabAB, capital letters representing the repeated lines.

Saturday, April 11, 2020

#Day11 NaPoWriMo2020 - Krshna - My Eternal Friend!

O Krshna,


Come to me my Lord
You are my love, my eternal friend
who knows me in and till my end
You are not the God I adore
But the divinity within me
You are not the man I love
But the humanity inside me


No photo description available.
Art by Sri Keshav Venkataraghavan


O Krshna

In this sea of life
I want to ride your boat
Boat of consciousness
Far away from the brutal history
Towards an unrivaled spirituality
I try to read the Gita
Yet, I understand nothing but you!

O Krshna

My eyes are tired with tears
Sing me the songs from your flute
In your songs of comfort
Let me go to much needed sleep
This body seems be nothing but dust
When I feel your love,
Its ultimate plenitude

O Krshna
As the humans hurt around
In your love, I found
A shore less ocean of bliss
What else I can do
Then dedicate me to you
My forever love!
To you, as I surrender
I find life more merrier!

O Krshna
My eternal love
Forever Bliss












Friday, April 10, 2020

#Day10 Napowrimo2020 - Queen of JHANSI- Rani Laxmi Bai- A poetic tribute to the fighter of all times


Jhansi Ki Rani….Symbol of strength, resilience and woman’s will

Unseen Story Of Jhansi Ki Rani Rani Laxmi Bai Martyr Day ...



1

As the India was ravaged by war and loss of freedom
Royal thrones been captured and tension eating them
A new wave of freedom struggle started to spread
The thoughts of independence emerged to fed
There appeared the courage of Queen of Jhansi
On a horse, with the child in her tow and will in the heart

2

Swords and spears started to glitter in her hands
Laxmibai was talented in knifes and axes weapons too
Influenced by the valorous stories of Chatrapathi Sivaji
Queen of Jhansi was equally a terror to the British intruders
Her people believed that she was Durga Devi’s incarnation
With her fearless attitude, inbuilt attitude and power to fight evil

3

Laxmi had the great wisdom to draft the war strategy
And made her army strong and powerful to attack the prey
She fought like a man,  fierce through like a tornado
When the time demanded her raise to be a queen
Not just showering the spirit of joy and celebration
But the only hope that her people had against devastation

4

Queen of Jhansi, stood the test of time
Decorated the Palaces with the candles to light
To chase away the darkness and dispel the evil eyes
Dark clouds of misfortune engulfed the Royal Palace
With the death of her husband, the king and forbearing threat
She let her bangles go, to take up the sword for the battles to fight

5

Despite the fate being cruel and freedom being expensive
It was just the time to raise above the destiny that was unkind
To her goddess Durga, she cried grief stricken and at loss
But the next morning, she took up the life on her sleeves
Courage in her blood and gallantry in her skill
She was ready to go to the battle and enemy to kill

6

The lights of the royal palace were lit again bright
Chasing Dalhousie and his plans to usurp the kingdom
She was ready to defend the throne and bring down the enemy flag
British took over the rule of Jhansi self-proclaiming as guardians of orphan land
Rani could not hold back her tears, but raised above the fears
Took up the courage on herself to battle it out to death to save her land

7

The enemy intruders who came in disguise of poor merchants
Queen could not take up the insults of her National leaders
She did not mind the disguise of the maid servant
To poison the enemy mind and confuse them fervent
It was the moment, that India was losing the Capital
And rheostat of each state and territory from its control

8

A piece of troubled history as Peshwa imprisoned
And the tragedy of Nagpur, Udaipur, Tanjore and Satara
The enemy started to capture Sindh, Punjab and Assam
The tale of fall of Bengal, Madras shook the Nation strong
Rani let go her royal clothes and ornaments and wept on disaster
Yet, the next dawn, she raised above her fear to fight the battle strong

9

Royal houses insulted and cottages filled with grief
Women and children royally maltreated and abused
Atrocities of the British took its heads all over and over
The titles of great warriors and weapons have all been lost
Palaces captured, kingdoms broken, and royal treasures stolen
Giving way for the new beginning of the holy war of Freedom

10


The sight of Queen of Jhansi awoke the divine spirit of people of India
The sleeping courage and spirit of freedom took its new bold head
Fire of revolt started and started to get hot like a burning sun
Spread from royal palaces to the houses of poor or common folk
Sparks of freedom started from inner soul of India’s beloved
Laxmi Bai, became the symbol of hope, fearlessness and proved

11

Freedom struggle that started with Sipoy Mutiny and Jhansi
Spread its wings to Delhi, Lucknow, Meerut, Kanpur and Patna
Many brave lives were lost and laid to rest from Jabalpur
As the fire of freedom spread all through India spiking in Kolhapur
Names that were known and known as the lives kept being lost
But the hopes of Free India were growing wide and fast

12

Shunned as rebels of those times with their fight for freedom
The heavens took them with prides as ancient history to come
Greatest sacrifices called as crimes against the British Ruled India
The tales of bravery of those great men is forever captured in history
As the battlefields of Jhansi shined with the glitters of Jhansi’s swords
And the sounds of victory and faith emerged from the blood poured

13

Queen of Jhansi stood boldly with other brave men in the battlefield
With the people’s army, Rani drew her sword, with drums beating from heavens
Wounded the enemy making them astonish with her agility
Rani’s horse raced hard journey of hundreds of miles
Reaching Kalpi and fell to the ground, leaving her alone
Rani sprang ahead defeating the enemy in Gwalior and Yamuna

14

British had to fear the courage of the Rani of Jhansi
After the initial win of the freedom fighters who battled it out
Fighting furiously and moving ahead with the only hope
Of Mother India, emerging ahead with the Purna Swaraj
Then came the inevitable with new British strategy and tactic
Conquering and surrounding Queen of Jhansi from all sides

15

Wounded deeply but not giving up, she continued to fight
Managed to get through the mighty British army
But in the end, a drain made her horse stuck and struggle
Giving room for enemies to surround and attack the Queen
Rani, fought like a Lioness till the end, succumbed to the woods
Attaining the glorious martyrdom in the war for her motherland

16

Queen of Rani, martyred in the freedom struggle and battlefield
The light of her divine soul transcended as light in the heavens above
Died young, laid to rest for her divine spirit to fight for her land
She was called the Devi Durga by her people respecting her life
As she was the spirit of light, freedom, courage and inner strength
Yes, this is the tale of courage of the Queen of Jhansi...Rani Laxmi Bai!

17

We the People of India, will be ever indebted to your sacrifice
The sacrifice that awakened the indestructible soul of freedom
History will regard the greatest gallantry of war that you fought
You are the symbol of motherhood, victory and eternal token of courage
Queen of Rani, blessed is this country to have given birth to you
For you are the tale of courage,  forever Queen of Jhansi, Rani Laxmi Bai

Jai Hind!