Set Course for God

"Mother! Mother! My boat is sinking, here in the ocean of this world;
Fiercely the hurricane of delusion rages on every side!

Clumsy is my helmsman, the mind; stubborn my six oarsmen, the passions;
Into a pitiless wind I sailed my boat, and now it is sinking!
Split is the rudder of devotion; tattered is the sail of faith;

Into my boat the waters are pouring! Tell me, what shall I do?
For with my failing eyes, alas! Nothing but darkness do I see.
Here in the waves I will swim O Mother, and cling to the raft of Thy name!”.

- Sri Ramakrishna

Of Yachts and Rowboats

Lecture by Swami Chidbrahmananda

Set sail on spiritual life 
For a coarse of sincerity and earnestness, 
Pure love and devotion for God. 
Grab hold to the hem of his skirt 
As he spins the truth of eternal peace. 
Sail on the ocean of bliss, 
Past vain helpless ego, 
Towards strong currants of abiding truth. 
On meaningful logs of love let me cross 
This turbulent storm of impermanence 
Spun in turbulent eddies thrown ashore, 
Let the moment that is be the present pure 
Newness reborn afresh as divine truth.

The winds of God's grace are always blowing, 

it is for us to raise our sails. 

-Sri Ramakrishna

The Dreamboat

by Sri Aurobindo

Who was it that came to me in a boat made of dream-fire,

With his flame brow and his sun-gold body?

Melted was the silence into a sweet secret murmur,

'Do you come now? Is the heart's fire ready?'

Hidden in the recesses of the heart something shuddered,

It recalled all that the life's joy cherished,

Imaged the felicity it must leave lost forever,

And the boat passed and the gold god vanished.

Now within the hollowness of the world's breast inhabits -

For the love died and the old joy ended -

Void of a felicity that has fled, gone for ever,

And the gold god and the dream boat come not.

Sacred Art

This week the Gomang Monks have been visiting Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria, CA. They are busy working on a world peace sand mandala which they will sweep away just hours after completion. My son and I have gone three times to watch their progress and sit with their peaceful focused energy. Not surprising front row access to this event has been easy to get as Buddhist are few and far between in this neck of the woods. To me this mandala crafting process was a reminder of life's inevitable changes and the impermanence of our daily sufferings. Even beautiful, time consuming, hard earned, endeavors pass away. Whoosh!!!... they are gone... blown away by the wind! 

The Paradox of Our Age

We have bigger houses but smaller families

More conveniences but less time

We have more degrees but less sense

More knowledge but less judgement

More experts but more problems

More medicines but less healthiness

We've been all the way to the moon and back

But have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbor

We built more computers to hold more information

To produce more copies than ever, but have less communication

We have become long on quantity, but short on quality

These are times of fast foods, but slow digestion

Tall man but short character

Steep profits but shallow relationships

It's a time when there is much in the window

But nothing in the room.

-- His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama --

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