Two Horses

Two Horses  Author Unknown Just up the road from my home is a field, with two horses in it.   From a distance, each horse looks like any other horse. But if you stop your car, or are walking by, you will notice something quite amazing.... Looking into the eyes of one horse will disclose that he is blind. His owner has chosen not to have him put down, but has made a good home for him.     This alone is amazing. If you stand nearby and listen, you will hear the sound of a bell. Looking around for the source of the sound, you will see that it comes from the smaller horse in the field. Attached to the horse's halter is a small bell.  It lets the blind friend know where the other horse is,  so he can follow.  As you stand and watch these two friends, You'll see that the horse with the bell  is always checking on the blind horse, And that the blind horse will listen for the bell  and then slowly walk To where the other horse is, Trusting that he will not be led astray. When the horse with the bell returns To the shelter of the barn each evening, It stops occasionally and looks back, Making sure that the blind friend  isn't too far behind to hear the bell.  Like the owner of these two horses, God does not throw us away just because we are not perfect Or because we have problems or challenges. He watches over us and even brings others into our lives To help us when we are in need.. Sometimes we are the blind horse Being guided by the little ringing bell  of those who God places in our lives. Other times we are the guide horse,  helping others to find their way.... Good friends are like that... You may not always see them,  but you know they are always there. Please listen for my bell and I'll listen for yours. And remember... Be kinder than necessary- Everyone you meet is fighting Some kind of battle.   Live simply, Love generously, Care deeply, Speak kindly.......                                                 And leave the rest to God! ©2014 Google - Terms & Privacy Last account activity: 1.5 hours ago Details

Avinash B Karnik Show details

A Rather Long Short Story Continued up to Chapter 7. but not completed

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Song of the Courtesan Translation of the lyric in the dance sequence of the Royal Court-dancer

The Song of the Courtesan

Translation of the lyric in the Dance sequence of the Royal Court-Dancer

When under the expanse of the deep blue sky

The night overwhelms the day

In her wild embrace, here where I stay,

The little bird nestling in my heart

Leaves its shelter and soars high.

I am lost to myself all these days.

Whenever a flower smiles in the breeze

The fragrance of love comes wafted to me on the wings of the wind

And I pine sweetly in the languid flame of love.

With every wild beat of the heart I whirl,

 and sink deep in the vortex of this fateful passion.

Memories flood and the deluge sweeps me off my feet .

It’s a river out of bounds and my moorings are gone.

But now I have begun to feel

Something stirring in the air.

The fading light of the day whispers its message to me.

It whispers and says, “ A strange new moon is going to come; hold your breath and wait.

His eyes have the light which will seek you out.”

Ever since I heard the message in the wind, I’ve been listening for the sign of my moon.

The single leaf that trembles in the wind

Sends a shiver, down all my being.

 Startled, I look up and search down the path that may bring him to me,

That may bring him to me.

Translation of the lyrics in the two classical dance-sequences The Melody of Rocks

The Melody of Rocks

It's me who lives in your heart

It's me who you hold in your arms

Here on this earth and there in heaven--

I know, none dwells there but you and I.

Let's we too vanish; and let there be none.

The light of the dawn and the light in your eyes

Is none but me. 

Open your eyes and  the little image shining  in the iris will be me.

I am the language of all that is true.

Your chisel knows how to translate me

  into a sculpted image in stone.

This evening wavering between twilight and dark

is drunk with love . Listen, it's calling you, my love.

These are the rocks you see before your eyes

standing abandoned in the wilderness  of hills.

Bring them to life with the chisel in your hand. 

Let the sculptor's. hand touch them and make them speak, 

and write his lyrics 

on the dark surfaces of their stony hearts,.

seek out their language,

and then, the wilderness will wake up and sing to the forest 

the melody of rocks.

Desert Storm

Desert Storm

My heart, listen,

listen to the voices of the desert  storm;

listen to me when you hear

nothing but the voice of discord and noise all around

You will hear then

the voice of our soul speaking to you.

It will have something to say.

Restless and anguished,

when you search the hours of sleep

and the heart is tired,

I bring you the message of the mountain breeze:

and when I do, I want you to listen.

When you sink in sadness

and know not from which dark forest the pain comes,

in that dark hour of night I am there

like the bright ray

of the light of dawn 

to your sky

with the blossoms of the new season.

Where the flame of the desert sears the sky

and the little bird thirsts 

for a drop of water

I bring rains

to the barren plains.

When the life is humbled 

by the hot desert storms

and a day comes when

the whole cosmos seems to burn

remember on that day that I will surely come

as the flower of that night..

Paart 2 of Patanjala Yogadarshana Sadhana Pada Foreword

Part 2 of Patanjala Yogadarshan

Sadhana Pada

Foreword

The part 1 of Yogadarshana showed us the progressively deeper attainments of meditative states starting from the practice of overcoming distractions and dwelling on the object of concentration with unwavering attention, and finally culminating in a state of union of the individual soul with the divine consciousness. In part 1, we were taken over the whole expanse of the terrain of the meditative states. Part 2, which is called Sadhana pada, is about the intensive study of the methods to be learnt and followed in the pursuit of the Yogic practices. This part is intended to put the theoretical knowledge which you gained in part1 to the test of actual practice. That is why, you should not be surprised if you find the crucial points of part 1 revisited in part 2. But the purpose of going over them again is not to gain any deeper understanding of those points, but to give you time to take each aspect of Yoga into your hands, master it both theoretically and practically, and finally make Yoga an integral part of your personality and life. The emphasis in this process was on overcoming distractions, and it was brought to our notice again and again that distractions cannot be eliminated; they have to be overcome with a disciplined effort.

Life is taken up by three kinds of actions: survival, understanding, and doing. Survival, when it is dissociated from action based on knowledge, turns into blind reactions to the hostile forces which govern our life. In the absence of vision or perspective, our living is fragmented and wasted in devising strategies of conquests and defenses, and in doing this we encounter enemies, both in the world of nature and in the world of fellow humans. The greater the process of narrowing down, the greater is the fragmentation and alienation of individual life from its source. The result is that we think and feel in terms of differences, divisions and discords.

The first point of emphasis in Sadhana Pada is the need for achieving integration of the act of survival with the acts of understanding and doing the things in an enlightened way and not in a blindfolded way. When our actions are derived from the right understanding, we truly begin to live, not just for our own self, but for all. The Sutras 1 and 2 of Sadhana Pada define this new way of life as Kriya Yoga, i.e. actions which derive from the integration of the yogic insight into life. This is going to be a whole new process, not only of revolutionizing the individual consciousness, but of transforming the very way of life in us and consequently in others. This change is bound to take place because the intensive practice of Yoga has a deeply transformative effect on the individual and his or her environment. This transformation is natural, not induced by arguments, persuasion or proselytizing.

The first Samadhi Pada introduced the concept of Yoga as the practice of bringing the mind under the control of the higher Self. The second section, Samadhi Pada, describes the nature of the actions which spring from the mind which is self-disciplined, and names it as Kriya Yoga. When life is lived in this integrated way, all our actions manifest the right action, the right understanding and the right living, all in a spontaneous and naturally unified way. We shall take up the Sutras from the next chapter onward.    

ARather Long Short Story 4. 6 October 2013.

I was still wondering about how the tragedy struck this angelic pair of brother and sister when I noticed Emma fidgeting with a rather heavy-looking watch on her slender wrist. It looked very odd on her wrist because it was the kind of watch I generally noticed on the wrists of army—personnel.

 To be contd.

6 0ct0ber 2013

4.

I was extremely tired on that day, but I realized that for Emma and Charles, this chance meeting of ours was something like an oasis. They seemed to cherish these moments of contact. My being a stranger did not hinder the closeness they had begun to feel for me by now. Charles had finished his coffee, but unlike in our last meeting, he was not fidgety and troublesome now. He was not eager to go home. I saw him prodding his sister about something. Emma understood it and looked at him and me in amusement. “He wants to share something with you. It is something we are not allowed to look at when we are at home. So he carries it secretly in his schoolbag.” I was a bit alarmed as I heard her say this. I saw Charles looking at me eagerly and Emma looking at him and smiling indulgently. I was wary. I said haltingly, “Umm, well, I hope it’s nothing out of the way.” Emma’s expression changed rapidly from amusement and indulgence to a deep hurt. There were tears in her eyes. I was afraid she might just get up and leave. I ignored her tears and covered up my lack of tact by leaning across the table and reaching out to Charles with a great display of joviality and said, “Oh yeah! Charles, what is the secret you want to share with me?” Charles, who was blissfully unaware of the tense moment between me and his sister, fished out something from the deep pocket of his schoolbag and spread it out before me. It was a black and white photograph of a man in the army uniform. The man was full of health and energy and smiled across to the camera with the joy of life shining in every feature of his remarkably handsome face.  When I looked at Charles leaning across the table, watching me proudly, there was no need for me to guess further. I looked at Emma remorsefully. She had mastered the tears, but she was in no mood to talk to me now.

I said, “Is this your father?” She just nodded. I obviously could not expect her to say more than this. I could not show any further curiosity than what was proper at that moment.

After some moments of silence I ventured to say, “But you should be proud of this photo you have of your father. Why do you have to hide it in Charles’s schoolbag? Is this the only photo you have of your father?”

Emma said, “No, we have an album full of photos. But our aunt has taken it away from us. This we had found left behind in my mother’s drawer. My aunt says that children like us should not get stuck in the past, we have a long way to go, she says, and we must look ahead.”

I failed to understand this piece of wisdom on the part of her aunt, but Emma seemed to have no problem with that.

To be contd.