tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66151808899917817492024-02-19T11:12:20.474+07:00Sacral WebWTF?! Free style ramblings of a 76 year old mystic. Truths, some lies and a lot of experience for when we realise we're piloting our Life without a manual
N.B.
Experiences include (random order)
Catholicism, dysfunctional family, Zen, New Age, Mysticism, Yoga, Vedanta, Quakers, Drug & Alcohol rehab, AlAnon, Hippie, M.B.A., Healthcare, Military, 2 Children 1 Trans Female, Polyamory, Swinging, Minister, Activist, Long term Love relationships.Rit Dayanandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10829510271196892633noreply@blogger.comBlogger39125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615180889991781749.post-79593956157156123142023-03-09T09:41:00.000+07:002023-03-09T09:41:13.143+07:00Contra-Para-Is<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHZgYwE0y2OMnMksMtdgxeU9IMYVTUkXX0_lpG2de_y7b4MDNod2E9gR3B7v52dM4PifNlkcK_hkqpWnq9FdMRf6uh8NmFsfJa-bhp_JY8JzBzTfKyxlp7oyr7J9eXWeVNQVpPaLxPgF4DM67WNMk1G7YaAM9Z_aY7COU-HU-IyLXroPi0Jtsf5LNiWA/s4096/IMG_20201215_120011487.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3072" data-original-width="4096" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHZgYwE0y2OMnMksMtdgxeU9IMYVTUkXX0_lpG2de_y7b4MDNod2E9gR3B7v52dM4PifNlkcK_hkqpWnq9FdMRf6uh8NmFsfJa-bhp_JY8JzBzTfKyxlp7oyr7J9eXWeVNQVpPaLxPgF4DM67WNMk1G7YaAM9Z_aY7COU-HU-IyLXroPi0Jtsf5LNiWA/w200-h150/IMG_20201215_120011487.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br />The search for an inner life is frustrating. Two helpful guidelines: don't expect fairness and don't hold on to old ideas.<p></p><p>Most of us begin this search because of a painful experience or sense of 'is that all</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQx1RbeMJo2m72HS1iqe5HvdZvxd7eBUQJNTfONsuZFsb5ZWPTh6Ef6wufy7qryf5_iJEshzN9FndlSUKfyRRmD8TdVg-ooSkXF6VSuJYewHrb4dir9YQeohcszEtQBK66dKPME8JGyhlQFxWCuLBLpe5O-9ds0Ihxiqahd10ncW_rIY4M1koGttcBIQ/s4096/IMG_20201215_120011487.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;">O</a></div>there is'. The lives we lead are based on years of learned behaviour, thoughts and memory complexes. In the end they are not lasting, ever changing.<p></p><p>We also possess a sense of awareness that goes deeper and illuminates. Consistent trust in this can guide us out of dependence on the external, world. </p><p>The effort is not to attain something rather eliminating all that hinders resting inwardly.</p><p>What appears as contradiction softens to paradox and eventually reveals itself as simply what is.</p>Rit Dayanandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10829510271196892633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615180889991781749.post-36804628965869262122023-03-01T09:28:00.003+07:002023-03-01T10:01:52.247+07:00Moving on - holding on<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgKl9VIrJ2myS6D22RgLwS3_VUty15471V8AkkbBZUkF_FEhTHbg-B9DwB0vbBd-lQ_CitQ7wv0fXe_BRLCbgLGXWAP2qFWUna0PBUkCpS9ZnwTgVgbR_dSEVkUiRtHCaAZ_7VWLv6eenuL1DmNJSJMuOfAGCVhTP-Yfh7rA4PWbYsXj1Aab2KkRegsA/s275/holding%20on.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="183" data-original-width="275" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgKl9VIrJ2myS6D22RgLwS3_VUty15471V8AkkbBZUkF_FEhTHbg-B9DwB0vbBd-lQ_CitQ7wv0fXe_BRLCbgLGXWAP2qFWUna0PBUkCpS9ZnwTgVgbR_dSEVkUiRtHCaAZ_7VWLv6eenuL1DmNJSJMuOfAGCVhTP-Yfh7rA4PWbYsXj1Aab2KkRegsA/w200-h133/holding%20on.jpeg" width="200" /></a></div>What is it that keeps is from this moving on? Maybe it's what we are holding on to. But if that's simply memories and thoughts what are we doing?<p></p><p>In relationships I hold on too much to thoughts and expectations. No matter how clear the communication we tend to hold on too these thoughts, impressions and interpretations. Seldom so our take aways align perfectly with others take aways. I'm not possessive or obsessive what I'm saying is that when we form a mental map we tend to want to follow it. No matter if it's flawed. Of no one noticed the flaws then no discussion!</p><p>On top of this we heap a flawed interpretation of what we want to move on from. Big problem. We didn't get the whole picture then and have less chance of accuracy when we try to move on. It sucks.</p><p>It seems that letting go of all that useless crap is a big part of moving on. And there are many giving advice on how to do that. Isn't it a matter of stopping. Just stop? Minute to minute whenever the old thoughts and memories arise.</p><p>One of those simple but not easy things 😉☺️</p><p><br /></p>Rit Dayanandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10829510271196892633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615180889991781749.post-15636389805616175112023-02-17T13:13:00.002+07:002023-02-17T13:14:14.694+07:00Moving On - from what<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPuDLOH5BpzD6RWKZ0QSv-pisQiwNSsD9l3fq7OL4rh9zTt6RuBf2FWYstFp2w805KGri-Aev_tGGw_zwE3j97JhzbtWFcFTfjqrVQIdU_YDnFj9HznZfqcDAD0h4iGS97IZ75pbTSmVH_tHBvyzvX3-M9Ot5w37ps7tVEh7o5Z-M3j6OaWriNczD-4Q/s3264/IMG_20230217_081026362.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2448" data-original-width="3264" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPuDLOH5BpzD6RWKZ0QSv-pisQiwNSsD9l3fq7OL4rh9zTt6RuBf2FWYstFp2w805KGri-Aev_tGGw_zwE3j97JhzbtWFcFTfjqrVQIdU_YDnFj9HznZfqcDAD0h4iGS97IZ75pbTSmVH_tHBvyzvX3-M9Ot5w37ps7tVEh7o5Z-M3j6OaWriNczD-4Q/w200-h150/IMG_20230217_081026362.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Moving on in the physical realm is made easier by a map. Go from here to there. Simple. Two dimensions. Get out and start walking it's a different matter entirely. Shit happens. Obstacles appear.<p></p><p>Moving on in the matter of relationship begins in multiple dimensions and gets more difficult! No map. A cluster of hopes, fantasies, memories, thoughts and interpretations. </p><p>So we want to move on from this construct that we think is real, or thought was real. Does anyone ever question this ❓ Part of the breaking up is realizing we didn't know what we thought we knew, right?</p>Rit Dayanandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10829510271196892633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615180889991781749.post-45773647536615547672023-02-12T13:55:00.004+07:002023-02-17T12:49:56.120+07:00Moving on - prep<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuFpIhx4ewPZE2WFbwQWmv_pDzTT__GkgVAk7fzlZcwOpDseQepzvILSIG8LhhyW_ioslPRrvQ01d6sP01ZRJRQsa5TKHxTnO5hrPfyTGutp8wH0_Rlwv8KALhFa_w-lE9SI18YiRHEBi7psYfa4IkC-bvrf11tS79rT473ZaWuXqilQs3HpReBs-9rQ/s3264/IMG_20230203_103820727.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2448" data-original-width="3264" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuFpIhx4ewPZE2WFbwQWmv_pDzTT__GkgVAk7fzlZcwOpDseQepzvILSIG8LhhyW_ioslPRrvQ01d6sP01ZRJRQsa5TKHxTnO5hrPfyTGutp8wH0_Rlwv8KALhFa_w-lE9SI18YiRHEBi7psYfa4IkC-bvrf11tS79rT473ZaWuXqilQs3HpReBs-9rQ/w200-h150/IMG_20230203_103820727.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br /> I hear that a lot. In film, in print, online. What does moving on mean to you? Here are a couple choices:<p></p><p> Moving on means not thinking of your ex with anger, resentment or hatred. It means not spending hours looking at their social media activity, or trying to find who they're with now. It means not making it your life's mission to avoid them, or to “accidentally” bump into them.</p><p> Let's put that issue aside and move on. We should move on to the next item on the list. After 10 years working for one company, she felt it was time to move on to a new job.</p><p>Both sound pretty good right. To me the first is going around and the second jumping over the 'object' moved on from.</p><p>The object in these cases is a mental construct of thoughts, memories and projections. So we want to move on from what we think is real, or thought was real.</p><p>Maybe that's where we should start.</p>Rit Dayanandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10829510271196892633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615180889991781749.post-42928101576641463252023-01-29T19:46:00.002+07:002023-01-29T19:46:39.098+07:00Monks and MortalityA monk I met recently gave me a book to read that was on the NYT best sellers list. Doesn't sound like much right? The meeting of this man, our conversation and th implications definitely are a big deal for me.
He is caretaker and former monk at a once active Buddhist Temple where I go to often. <div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhme52usMW9ZuM9FM30YL_1HZCnVVuUJ7TuPVrjiyeZpgIpQh4NKdsWkW2GzZ-xCYNuuW2Eg1aI_cLKcVpp6xfO8pKy3lN7XLbCaWi2pNhXbz21GCA9_dE8tAQ4RCNcD_Xvgyo3FzzcKuVV6Sp9PAtTHbCEBShJ4WbIlmNtZ_qgkvKErx3xUvzkkx9-xg/s300/drunkmonk.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="drunkmonk" border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhme52usMW9ZuM9FM30YL_1HZCnVVuUJ7TuPVrjiyeZpgIpQh4NKdsWkW2GzZ-xCYNuuW2Eg1aI_cLKcVpp6xfO8pKy3lN7XLbCaWi2pNhXbz21GCA9_dE8tAQ4RCNcD_Xvgyo3FzzcKuVV6Sp9PAtTHbCEBShJ4WbIlmNtZ_qgkvKErx3xUvzkkx9-xg/w200-h112/drunkmonk.jpeg" title="Drunk Monk" width="200" /></a></div>I met him one day when he and a couple friends were drinking in a corner of the yard behind the ordination hall. They had the standard Thai street set up; small bottle of moonshine, large bottle of water and bowl of limes.
Somewhere in the conversation about why he isn't a monk anymore he told me that he wants to be in paradise. I heard the longing and frustration in that and the implication for daily drinking. Definitely lost his way. </div><div><br /></div><div>The book he gave me, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Being-Mortal-Medicine-What-Matters-ebook/dp/B00JCW0BCY/ref=sr_1_1?adgrpid=80389602894&gclid=Cj0KCQiAz9ieBhCIARIsACB0oGLXTLIK7BBeMOMLDSez08QRQ-vjwo9NwA9DNQNaPQwK3csKBI_iKBUaAsthEALw_wcB&hvadid=585479351948&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9073366&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=b&hvrand=1004236911516228619&hvtargid=kwd-299732054768&hydadcr=28018_14525557&keywords=being+mortal+atul+gawande&qid=1674995714&sr=8-1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Being Mortal</a>, is about mortality and how modern medicine transformed many dangers in life but when it comes to aging and death what medicine can do often runs contrary to what it should do. My career as in healthcare taught me that as well.</div><div><br /></div><div>I want to find out how these threads connect for this intelligent being who has moved away from a life of faith to one of addiction.</div>Rit Dayanandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10829510271196892633noreply@blogger.comChiang Mai, Mueang Chiang Mai District, Chiang Mai, Thailand18.7883439 98.98530079999999-9.5218899361788445 63.82905079999999 47.098577736178846 134.1415508tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615180889991781749.post-78537461509402227212023-01-29T12:22:00.000+07:002023-01-29T12:22:36.440+07:00The Time is Now<p> It has been 4 years since the last entry here. Maybe 5 years. Of course there is a reason.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHD9q7M3rKWhd2_eJwEc73zJfJYEzhDbDtYpckoA80rYn_Bettkg6AVycgpVUEwGSKQ8SQmAIyqEN1QQ3p6lLojaTTzfmkgmgaoUpDJ1wmi1tcIqTq7cPgSDDI7HTF4C_MdnyoRKuhpsHOcsAUyLsQ1jGgMIYk4A_hb-Sz_9gHtZmjhb7HOl4HsptLiA/s1080/IMG_20230126_140933_979.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="ChiangMai" border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHD9q7M3rKWhd2_eJwEc73zJfJYEzhDbDtYpckoA80rYn_Bettkg6AVycgpVUEwGSKQ8SQmAIyqEN1QQ3p6lLojaTTzfmkgmgaoUpDJ1wmi1tcIqTq7cPgSDDI7HTF4C_MdnyoRKuhpsHOcsAUyLsQ1jGgMIYk4A_hb-Sz_9gHtZmjhb7HOl4HsptLiA/w200-h200/IMG_20230126_140933_979.jpg" title="76mystic" width="200" /></a></div>I returned from my 3 month trip to Tiruvannamali, India in January of 2017. Don't really care exactly because it was the end of the life I had been living for almost 20 years. I guess at 76 the years aren't milestones any more.<p></p><p>Anyway, the people I love decided, independently I hope, to say goodbye to me and asked me to leave them. Says a lot about me, for certain. I have always had ass-hat tendencies and I guess it all caught up with me at that time. No pity, maybe some judgement and overall a sense of relief.</p><p>Perhaps they sensed the longing in me to be quit of the drama, frequent and copious IMHO, that came with these relationships. I certainly didn't have the courage or power to leave them. Probably still don't. So there is a sense of gratitude that they took the final step for me. I have been free to travel the world since then and pursue my spiritual, intellectual and wanderer interests wihtout trying to fit them into my "life."</p><p>So, the time is now to begin writing again. What's going on, what do I see and experience and how does this world of 2023 look to someone born Mid Last Century?<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p></p>Rit Dayanandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10829510271196892633noreply@blogger.comChiang Mai, Mueang Chiang Mai District, Chiang Mai, Thailand18.7883439 98.98530079999999-9.5218899361788445 63.82905079999999 47.098577736178846 134.1415508tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615180889991781749.post-69822895041857399422019-01-01T13:58:00.001+07:002019-01-06T16:17:51.626+07:00Shhushing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKsDhom4M1reEVDsOdd40VN8erLd9IPSNrWfD62sfaNgNKAy7VmPM1OYYZz8UPIt-CDrL4AzqQ6VnAULgKEKDjc1XFlbCQDQcVUNCyAhlaE-z3avnYBLVyWpasJs60b1aFzHFjVnRLixDT/s1600/Shh.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="163" data-original-width="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKsDhom4M1reEVDsOdd40VN8erLd9IPSNrWfD62sfaNgNKAy7VmPM1OYYZz8UPIt-CDrL4AzqQ6VnAULgKEKDjc1XFlbCQDQcVUNCyAhlaE-z3avnYBLVyWpasJs60b1aFzHFjVnRLixDT/s1600/Shh.jpeg" /></a><span data-offset-key="3ddip-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>“Speak only if it improves upon the silence.”</i></b></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="epnt5-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>― Mahatma Gandhi </i></b></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="fil33-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Nothing improves Silence</b>; the unmoving, silent, peaceful state of the Self that is beyond and prior to the antonyms of noise and physical quietness. It is near perfect.</span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="6id5p-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">"<b>The Guru (the Source) is quiet and peace prevails </b>in all. His silence is vaster and more emphatic than all the scriptures put together. </span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="fcrve-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Initiation by silence is the most perfect; it comprises looking, touching and teaching. It will purify the individual in every way and establish him in the Reality." <i>Sri Ramana Maharishi</i></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="53aet-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">So it is the Guru, the Teacher, who must be silent but not to improve silence! Depending on the students' perspective it is contradiction, paradox or said to quiet un-quietness. It is often misused by those who want to still voices that aren't appreciated. </span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="84hkp-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Better to be more direct and truthful. Or simply enter into Silence and establish Awareness.</span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="84hkp-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">I recently attended a Satsang and this quote was paraphrased. "Dayanand, will your speaking now improve the silence?" My immediate response was, "Never."</span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="84hkp-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">I realize that speaking is imperfect and there is no substitute for inward looking.</span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="84hkp-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">The curious nature of the exchange was that the person was soliciting ideas from the group. <b>Obviously not everyone in the group!</b></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="84hkp-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">But teaching is teaching even by the power of negative example. </span><br />
<span data-offset-key="84hkp-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">So on 1 January, 2019, in the same place Yogi Ramsuratkumar directed me to stop speaking and enter deeper into silence. </span></div>
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Rit Dayanandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10829510271196892633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615180889991781749.post-55016084084011201282018-12-31T09:39:00.002+07:002023-01-29T12:34:29.122+07:00Yogi Ramsuratkumar changed my life<div style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">One year ago on 27 December, 2017, I was invited to the 4 am Pradakshina in the </span></div><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Yogi Ramsuratkumar Pradhan Mandir. The one hour Nama chanting and circumambulation </span></div><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">of the large hall was a profound experience. Following the lead of Ma Devaki, </span></div><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">beloved disciple of Yogi Ramsuratkumar, the rounds went quickly and were full of energy </span></div><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">and grace.</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/tFdWTdm-sQfal_BrqTJ5RHQpnOb9AvdEDg_7azFQo6ST67Ks5GCobmCvZwmzIZgHRjvs7pV0XTfAFuVUmRqzJ-zAme_3k64dMSzKTNBw25U0jwKXJQNFs2ZyyE74sy4569Uk3204" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="fromGrace Hall" border="0" height="200" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/tFdWTdm-sQfal_BrqTJ5RHQpnOb9AvdEDg_7azFQo6ST67Ks5GCobmCvZwmzIZgHRjvs7pV0XTfAFuVUmRqzJ-zAme_3k64dMSzKTNBw25U0jwKXJQNFs2ZyyE74sy4569Uk3204=w168-h200" style="border: none; transform: rotate(0rad);" title="YRSK" width="168" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">This was followed by Ma Devaki’s Satsang in the Grace dining hall with tea, coffee and biscuits. </span></div><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">A welcome refreshment in the still early morning hours.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">With a subtle blend of stories and insightful teachings Ma drew me into the world </span></div><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">of Yogi Ramsuratkumar. Sitting among 20 or so Westerners I felt a little less the outsider </span></div><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">and more connected to Guruji. I imagined he himself would have done the same were </span></div><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">he still in his body. There are many stories about how he had welcomed and comforted </span></div><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Westerners with his presence and teaching.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">It wasn’t long before I experienced a tremendous attraction emanating from this place. </span></div><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">After several days the energy was clearly focused on the quote on the wall of the Grace </span></div><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">dining hall and the nearby photograph of Yogi Ramsuratkumar. Suddenly I became</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre;"> lost in a transcendent grace that pervaded my entire being. As I read the words repeatedly, </span></div><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre;">hypnotically, a shift in perspective opened up a world where everything was God.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">If you want God alone</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Why do you accept</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">The existence of</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Anything else? </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Yogi Ramsuratkumar</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">The wording challenged the last defences of my resistant ego; </span></div><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">the ‘you’ that separated itself from God. That ‘you’ once released melted and God alone </span></div><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">shone everywhere.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">From that moment onward a clear direction was set to the magnetic north of Truth. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">“Father alone exists. Nothing else. Nobody else.”</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Yogi Ramsuratkumar</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">In fact, what was formerly seen as other, people, places, and objects, became animated </span></div><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">by the same magnetic energy. Everything is God. Including the ‘me’ I thought I was.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">I returned to my country and former life in January 2018. </span></div><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Rapidly all the responsibilities and emotional attachments of my former life </span></div><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">resolved themselves. I did very little. Business holdings, family relationships, </span></div><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">financial and other obligations clearly and decisively ended. </span></div><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">The effortlessness itself was exhilarating. Within a month of leaving I found myself </span></div><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">back in Tiruvannamalai appreciating that heaven on earth had admitted me. </span></div><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">An outsider no more. I was Home.</span></div>
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Rit Dayanandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10829510271196892633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615180889991781749.post-76790299582610076212018-12-17T11:38:00.000+07:002018-12-17T11:50:04.579+07:00Ways To Leave Your Lover<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyj7R1KXxH1HC4xet81hHwX_OPa8P7PL2ZXMQlo3Iv-hB_dLvZd4T329AJBO0hzqpbgtYbuJqhetIZELCo9NgnoMuHcXGbvc9y0cvAJt0146prF7Z5LoKVWTKxE03z910WVkWs1Ac_1-VW/s1600/kali.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="308" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyj7R1KXxH1HC4xet81hHwX_OPa8P7PL2ZXMQlo3Iv-hB_dLvZd4T329AJBO0hzqpbgtYbuJqhetIZELCo9NgnoMuHcXGbvc9y0cvAJt0146prF7Z5LoKVWTKxE03z910WVkWs1Ac_1-VW/s320/kali.jpg" width="246" /></a></div>
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<span data-offset-key="c7vv9-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">A very powerful image of Kali that I have experienced. Laying down for the <i>Love of Your Life </i>in the form of Kali is what Shiva does. No argument, no fighting, no deal making. </span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="apjpe-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Om Mata, Om Kali, Durga Devi Namo Namaha </span><span class="_3gl1 _5zz4" data-offset-key="apjpe-1-0" style="background-image: url("https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/td9/1.5/16/1f64f.png"); background-position: center center; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: 16px 16px; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; height: 16px; margin: 0px 1px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; width: 16px;"><span class="_ncl" style="color: transparent; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; transform: translatey(-3px); z-index: -1;">🙏</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="8cbod-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">The pose shows Dakshinakali at the conclusion of an episode in which Kali was rampaging out of control after destroying many demons. Shiva, fearing that Kali would not stop until she destroyed the world, he could only think of one way to pacify her. He lay down on the battlefield so that she would have to step on him. Seeing her consort under her foot, Kali realized that she had gone too far, or maybe just far enough, and calmed down. </span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="8cbod-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><span jsname="YS01Ge" style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small; white-space: normal;">The problem is all inside your head she said to me</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; white-space: normal;" /><span jsname="YS01Ge" style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small; white-space: normal;">The answer is easy if you take it logically</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; white-space: normal;" /><span jsname="YS01Ge" style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small; white-space: normal;">I'd like to help you in your struggle to be free</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; white-space: normal;" /><span jsname="YS01Ge" style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small; white-space: normal;">There must be fifty ways to leave your lover</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="8cbod-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><span jsname="YS01Ge" style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small; white-space: normal;"> Paul Simon - 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover</span></span></div>
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Rit Dayanandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10829510271196892633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615180889991781749.post-33518300241735253822018-12-16T12:52:00.001+07:002018-12-16T12:55:42.333+07:00No Do-Overs<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: "lucida grande" , "tahoma" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">After Learning all scientific theories and becoming highly educated persons in the world, then if the people do not destroy their pride and ego through Self-Inquiry, there is no use of their illusionary achievements.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR1cFIZnSgh3hpEeNOFiBFWpGF7iug74CnU43ZQigkVT-0eoONkrd4TU-INHdIh7Zc87qV5z2cl3GnSW7Lkm_UxJS3eBRxkD7hoIhRklrqNbsYR9Z5rgp9x9R3HigkQAsXkIOTDgPS6cmc/s1600/compassQ.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR1cFIZnSgh3hpEeNOFiBFWpGF7iug74CnU43ZQigkVT-0eoONkrd4TU-INHdIh7Zc87qV5z2cl3GnSW7Lkm_UxJS3eBRxkD7hoIhRklrqNbsYR9Z5rgp9x9R3HigkQAsXkIOTDgPS6cmc/s200/compassQ.jpg" width="150" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: "lucida grande" , "tahoma" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br />
The uneducated people are better than them.<br />
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The pride of acquiring Education, the desire for appreciation and fame are subject matters for discouragement.<br />
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That Education is not at all education and real knowledge.<br />
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The Education which paves the way for searching the Truth, the education which inculcates obedience in them is the superior education. It will make them humble and honest people to behave with a sense of equality towards all in the World.</span></div>
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Sri Ramana Maharshi</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">If you've made it this far you must be fascinated by the above quote. Personally, I was attracted and repulsed by it. Now, a year later, I am attracted to the direction it indicates.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Let me explain.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I am very aware from personal experience of the pride, ego and desire that Sri Ramana introduces here. My education carried me through an MBA in a very conservative school that basically taught that greed was good. At the same time I was studying Zen Buddhism at the Rochester Zen Center, so was somewhat balanced, or confused, in turns.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Self-Inquiry can help destroy pride and ego. The suffering that comes with relationships based on self-will makes made me receptive.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">It's the obedience that I always have a hard time with! I, for various reasons, have not trusted many teachers and superiors very much. So this came with difficulty to me.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Then I realized that I was an iconoclast, <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif;">challenging cherished beliefs or venerated institutions on the grounds that they are erroneous or pernicious. It was a reflexive action, not a conscious choice.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif;">I mentioned that suffering makes one receptive. That made all the difference and tipped the scales for me towards Self-Inquiry. It became evident that the more I pushed, tried to understand and came up with fixes and solutions, the more personal suffering followed. Not to mention the suffering my efforts brought to others. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif;">Quite a shock to realize that all the evaluation, analysis and problem solving I spent my waking hours doing was not helping, and in many cases really doing harm to the ones I loved.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif;">This didn't happen overnight. Unfortunately. My grip on coming to terms with all of this involved a lot of ''trying to understand" which, according to my oldest child, turned out to be a weird way of controlling others behavior through relentless questioning.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif;">A client of mine then told me something that made sense. In difficult relationships don't Question, Suggest, or Advise. Unfortunately for me it was too little too late. They took my quiescence in a different way.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif;">Now I'm quietly working on becoming a humble and honest person behaving with a sense of equality towards all in the world. Who Am I? is the question I ask to guide me.</span></span></span></div>
Rit Dayanandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10829510271196892633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615180889991781749.post-23739718281514052952011-09-16T04:33:00.000+07:002011-09-16T04:33:13.265+07:00Wealth and responsibility<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaC_SV-QlRJi8B95-ybG-Scm5hpbLfTj2BJARssvZvOkUWUvdm7U26-JJvZxtmyFsc0-ajCgCnJGV_spx8eITwyPT1HAaUogQ7RTFUarJiw7a3FJLmXXcvNSH-xxLfI6VPwHTsDyHVn5Ts/s1600/ar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaC_SV-QlRJi8B95-ybG-Scm5hpbLfTj2BJARssvZvOkUWUvdm7U26-JJvZxtmyFsc0-ajCgCnJGV_spx8eITwyPT1HAaUogQ7RTFUarJiw7a3FJLmXXcvNSH-xxLfI6VPwHTsDyHVn5Ts/s1600/ar.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Who is John Galt?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
Americans are undergoing a rough transition from the politics of the New Deal to one of No Deal. We have been transforming our social mores for the past 40 or 50 years beginning with the rise of Ayn Rand novels and the teachings of economist Milton Freidman. I have read, studied and followed these teachings to the point of outgrowing them. Much like Alan Greenspan, I had come to a point where the failings of these philosophies in everyday life were too blatant to ignore.<br />
<br />
With Ayn Rand, it was the late 1960's and I was sold on the idea of 'Atlas Shrugged .' I came to understand, I was in my 20's, that this was ego-centered, selfish behavior that was unsustainable in a life that included loved ones, family and an extended social circle. Being sold on the idea that I am the center of the universe and anyone that opposed my interpretation of events was a threat to my rugged individualism only lasted so long. Too many people had helped, and continued to help, me achieve my goals. That was an easy one to figure out.<br />
<br />
A little more challenging was my experience in Graduate school in the late 1970's. I enrolled in the University of Rochester M.B.A. program to continue my career in health care administration. I enjoyed working with others in the hospital field to deliver quality health care in my community. Of course, I was young and on the rise in my organization and feeling great that they were giving me a recommendation and Fridays, with pay, to attend classes. The UofR program was staffed mostly with "monetarists" trained in Chicago by Mr. Freidman. It wasn't long before I was up against the same principles that Ayn Rand espoused, but with statistical and economic twists. It took me until my second year to figure it out but then my challenges to their teaching became somewhat disruptive; I wrote poems, made statements and left classes in a flurry of disbelief at the blatant propagandizing going on in the name of education. We were the elite and expected to swallow everything whole in order to advance in the corporate line-up. I declined.<br />
<br />
The root of it all came into focus over the following years. In order to be successful at business one needed to concentrate on the details and ignore the bigger picture of life, not pay attention to anything that Ayn Rand wouldn't approve of. Developing a faith in the ability of the profit driven system to regulate itself was both a belief and a rationalization. By giving oneself to this mechanism one never had to question the outcome of ones actions nor come up with another justification for ones actions. This is what Mr. Greenspan held dearly to for so many years until the debacle of the banking collapse when he realized that greed trumped rational self interest.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxBHaE51cgtXNGmz-aCMV6W0xSlZ3A-wTwoqNRMfn2bSGvyHVJGDDsCPPx34qxGhGyRGi2ZRtA2IuNIk0LVxt9Qiz_ysfR1UXltaVExC6pixDYRc1kAdAqPSyUt13cy_77Mq3OiQtyrcwL/s1600/tp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxBHaE51cgtXNGmz-aCMV6W0xSlZ3A-wTwoqNRMfn2bSGvyHVJGDDsCPPx34qxGhGyRGi2ZRtA2IuNIk0LVxt9Qiz_ysfR1UXltaVExC6pixDYRc1kAdAqPSyUt13cy_77Mq3OiQtyrcwL/s1600/tp.jpg" /></a></div>
Now we have a political movement overtaking the country based on these basic ideas, philosophies and economic theories with a large dose of anti-science and scapegoating thrown in. It isn't pretty and it isn't moral, or healthy, or good for the long-term good of the country.<br />
<br />
<blockquote>
I met a man who spent his health to gain his wealth, and then with might and pain, spent his wealth to gain his health, again.</blockquote>
<br />
When you collect your wealth using whatever means possible, one should endeavor to preserve it by being good to others. Keep some portion of it in reserve for charitable purposes. You might say that this is a process of atonement to maintain one's riches; a way to launder and atone for the actions taken to gain wealth with the exclusion of all else. This is more the way of the world, in fact.<br />
<br />
In the pursuit of wealth most people neglect their eating habits, social interactions and family life; you have to follow a pretty strict regimentation if you want to stay rich. Then you have to spend it all to become whole again. Such is life.<br />
<br />
Anger on either side of this transitional struggle will only deepen our divide. If you have an understanding of the shape of the problem facing us, then you are the one to begin building the bridge to the other side. It's those that have the tools that have to do the building.<br />
<br />
So those with wealth in wisdom must share with those in the poverty of ignorance just as they expect those with wealth in riches to share with those in financial poverty. A way will be found... it always is, to come back into balance.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_Umn0pPjd71vZUUXQgfuxtXkbIFkhrtWHpJgdDFXx341mld9mFP0ZA3DFgqeA166kX0lPM9v42nPlj-l8pTY7_7Ze4j2sim1-G9xa1xPwQGH8lIrMPYm-CiovaT8bG8lSAhS5Y1ewyWNL/s1600/lakshmi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_Umn0pPjd71vZUUXQgfuxtXkbIFkhrtWHpJgdDFXx341mld9mFP0ZA3DFgqeA166kX0lPM9v42nPlj-l8pTY7_7Ze4j2sim1-G9xa1xPwQGH8lIrMPYm-CiovaT8bG8lSAhS5Y1ewyWNL/s1600/lakshmi.jpg" /></a></div>
Many wisdom traditions of the East and West offer a different way of life that includes charitable giving of wealth and heart. It is by balancing out work life with our spiritual life that the puzzle is often solved.<br />
<br />
"Money is a good servant but a bad master." F. Bacon<br />
"Money is the means of exchanging love." W. Wilson<br />
<br /></div>
Rit Dayanandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10829510271196892633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615180889991781749.post-87581854540618073432011-06-17T07:17:00.000+07:002011-06-17T07:20:36.518+07:00How Libby, Montana, gets Medicare for All<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYgXUZAK2R1Lz_Qcrj5R9dEb4E355zd0BSA9VEKfY914hF9WK5pjiXdDGg7fPhZ-wyiJ9R7b6l0CcgEYJHOd5i6_ynhB1f-b8zh6zd02hReopnfGOyNjdaGIweTkD6AkonZrSmrkbQziU_/s1600/thief.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYgXUZAK2R1Lz_Qcrj5R9dEb4E355zd0BSA9VEKfY914hF9WK5pjiXdDGg7fPhZ-wyiJ9R7b6l0CcgEYJHOd5i6_ynhB1f-b8zh6zd02hReopnfGOyNjdaGIweTkD6AkonZrSmrkbQziU_/s200/thief.jpg" width="200" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">By Kay Tillow</span></div><pre style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">In 2009 when the Washington beltway was tied up with the health care
reform tussle, Montana Democratic Senator Max Baucus, chairman of the all
powerful Senate Finance Committee, said everything was on the
table--except for single payer. When doctors, nurses and others rose in
his hearing to insist that single payer be included in the debate, Baucus
had them arrested. As more stood up, Baucus could be heard on his open
microphone saying, "We need more police."
Yet when Senator Baucus needed a solution to a catastrophic health
disaster in Libby, Montana, and surrounding Lincoln County, he turned to
the nation's single payer healthcare system, Medicare, to solve the
problem.
Baucus' problem was caused by a vermiculite mine that had spread deadly
airborne asbestos killing hundreds and sickening thousands in Libby and
northwest Montana. The W. R. Grace Company that owned the mine denied its
connection to the massive levels of mesothelioma and asbestosis and dodged
responsibility for this environmental and health disaster. When all law
suits and legal avenues failed, Baucus turned to our country's single
payer plan, Medicare.
The single payer plan that Baucus kept off the table is now very much on
the table in Libby. Unknown to most of the public, Baucus inserted a
section into the health reform bill that covers the suffering people of
Libby, Montana, not just the former miners but the whole community-all
covered by Medicare.
They don't have to be 65 years old or more.
They don't have to wait until 2014 for the state exchanges.
No ten year roll out-it's immediate.
They don't have to purchase a plan-this is not a buy-in to Medicare-it's
free.
They don't have to be disabled for two years before they apply.
They don't have to go without care for three years until Medicaid expands.
They don't have to meet income tests.
They don't have to apply for a subsidy.
They don't have to pay a fine for failure to buy insurance.
They don't have to hope that the market will make a plan affordable.
They don't have to hide their pre-existing conditions.
They don't have to find a job that provides coverage.
Baucus inserted a clause in the Affordable Care Act to make special
arrangements for them in Medicare, and he didn't wait for any
Congressional Budget Office scoring to do it.
Less than two months after the passage of the health reform bill on March
23, 2010, Nancy Berryhill of the Social Security Administration in Denver
joined personally in
setting up an office in Libby to sign up these newly eligible people.
"This is a new thing," Berryhill told the Missoulian. "No other group
like this has ever been selected to receive Medicare." Berryhill issued a
nationwide alert to inform anyone who had lived or stayed in Lincoln
County of their eligibility. She opened a storefront in Libby at the old
downtown city hall where she signed up 60 people on the first day. She
plastered the towns of Whitefish and Eureka with pamphlets explaining the
program and added three new staffers to the office in Kalispell.
Berryhill said she did not know how much the care would cost. That kind
of analysis was beyond her directive to sign the people up. There have
been no reports of competition from the private for-profit Medicare
Advantage plans. The sick are not profitable.
No one should begrudge the people of Lincoln County. The mine wastes were
used as soil additives, home insulation, and even spread on the running
tracks at local schools. Miners brought the carcinogens home on their
clothes. The W. R. Grace Company dumped much of the clean up costs onto
the federal government. A June 17, 2009, order by the Environmental
Protection Agency, the first of its kind, declared Lincoln County a public
health disaster. The Libby Medicare provision in the health reform law is
based on the area covered by that EPA order.
Baucus gave his reasons to the New York Times for its only story on this
unique benefit: "The People of Libby have been poisoned and have been
dying for a decade. New residents continue to get sick all the time.
Public health tragedies like this could happen in any town in America. We
need this type of mechanism to help people when they need it most."
Health tragedies are happening in every town. Over 51 million have no
insurance. Over 45,000 uninsured people die needlessly each year.
Employers are cutting coverage and dropping plans. States in economic
crisis are slashing both Medicaid and their employees' plans. Nothing in
last year's reform law will mitigate the skyrocketing costs. Most
insurance is threadbare and doesn't cover. More than 50% of us now go
without necessary care. As Baucus said of Medicare, "We need this
mechanism to help people when they need it most." We all need it now.
Bill Clinton recently stated that the U. S. could give coverage to all for
one trillion dollars a year less than we now pay if we adopted the system
of any other advanced nation. (Unfortunately, he did not say this when it
would have mattered most during the 1993 and 2009 health care reform
debates.)
Other industrialized countries have found that to cover everyone for less
they must remove the profit-making insurance companies. Congressman John
Conyers has reintroduced HR 676, the Expanded and Improved Medicare for
All Act, which does exactly that. There are 60 cosponsors. It would
cover all medically necessary care for everyone including dental and drugs
by cutting out the 30% waste and profits caused by the private insurers.
So as the Ryan Republicans try to destroy Medicare and far too many
Democrats use the deficit excuse to suggest cuts in its benefits, let us
counter with the Libby prescription to clean up the whole mess. Only a
single payer, improved Medicare for All, can save and protect Medicare,
rein in the costs, and give us universal coverage.
Medicare will celebrate its 46th birthday on July 30, 2011, and all are
invited to join in the festivities. Medicare was passed in 1965 and
implemented within less than a year. When we pass HR 676, this single
payer bill, we can all be enrolled in the twinkling of an eye.
Distributed by:
All Unions Committee For Single Payer Health Care--HR 676
c/o Nurses Professional Organization (NPO)
1169 Eastern Parkway, Suite 2218
Louisville, KY 40217
<a href="tel:%28502%29%20636%201551" style="color: #114170;" target="_blank" value="+15026361551">(502) 636 1551</a>
Email: <a href="mailto:nursenpo@aol.com" style="color: #114170;" target="_blank">nursenpo@aol.com</a>
<a href="http://unionsforsinglepayerhr676.org/" style="color: #114170;" target="_blank">http://<wbr></wbr>unionsforsinglepayerHR676.org</a></span></pre></div>Rit Dayanandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10829510271196892633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615180889991781749.post-32810894439605851712011-05-07T00:34:00.000+07:002011-05-09T19:47:32.980+07:00The 'Donut hole'<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtpkoi7occ1ByL9y_Bv84N69wjI7VeKy4G99bXm2nFl3IadZ2jzp4ENuSiebcjY0wIbPGFhQvcixATM5nEWkspe0IU_8HHi61JjPa9NIjLL8cN9WvOJI-bSPiXiZKLERc8aejNKwCd3bHf/s1600/uddiana.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtpkoi7occ1ByL9y_Bv84N69wjI7VeKy4G99bXm2nFl3IadZ2jzp4ENuSiebcjY0wIbPGFhQvcixATM5nEWkspe0IU_8HHi61JjPa9NIjLL8cN9WvOJI-bSPiXiZKLERc8aejNKwCd3bHf/s200/uddiana.jpg" width="142" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;">Things you won't see in an Iyengar Yoga class...<br />
I've just asked another Senior Iyengar teacher why detailed points are given to strengthen the back body and virtually no details, and few asanas, are given about this 'donut hole' of the body. After throwing a rolled up belt at my mid-section, declaring 'would you do that to a 6 year old', </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">the explanation was given that the core, or abdominal, area contains vital organs that shouldn't be stressed. But many of us are not like 6 yr olds in yoga and strength from practicing for over 10 yrs and still no specific instructions... even at some higher 'levels' of training. The answers are vague even with Junior Intermediate practitioners I've talked with.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">I hasten(ed) to add that this is a searching question for me, a 64 yr old 30 yr practitioner of yoga, not a macho oriented quest for firmer abs at any cost. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">One person asked, "what about Ardhanavasana? Paripornanavasana? Do you not feel abs get their necessary attention with correct alignment in sirsasana variations? I query you with sincere desire t<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">o read your response. I agree that Iyengar discipline spends no time addressing the "donught hole" but if the abs benefit structurally from asana practiced thoughtfully and in correct alignment is that not adequate?"</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">Think about the amount of time, effort and detail of instruction devoted to the back body. Think about the instruction in the poses of navasana. The sheer number of poses developing, in minute detail, the attention to the back body is stagg<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">ering yet we have very little about the 'donut hole'. When asking questions about this I find the answers opaque, only focusing on the seeming fragility or un-disturb-ability of this area of the body. In many of the 'abdominal' poses, urdhva prasarita padasana and navasana, much of the instruction is on the back body, ribs, side body, and the legs. What is said about the abdominals? </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">I don't pretend to know how this has come about, but do know that other traditions have stronger emphasis, and therefore instructions, on the 'donut hole.' I simply, and continually, wonder why? And the answers I get only answer indirectly at best. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">As to the question, "if the abs benefit structurally from asana practiced thoughtfully and in correct alignment is that not adequate?" The answer in many cases is no. Incorrect alignment abounds because of lack of attention to the area from ribs to pelvis in my direct experience. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">By the way, my questions and comments are focused on non-acute back pain. I totally understand work done to rehab the back in the traditional Iyengar manner as well as<a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez/19701112"> recent studies on back pain and rehab</a>. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">I had years of back problems until Iyengar Yoga. There is no doubt that it helped. That isn't the real question here. What prompts my question is my personal and teaching experience once I began more detailed work in asana <span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">WITH more detailed and intelligent action on and in the 'donut hole.' The combination was beyond what I experienced with what may be the limitations of the current method. I have a suspicion it may have been different in the past, like many things. Much of the reaction to my questions seem to stem from a defensiveness of the method, and rote learning of the "don't do abdominals" from somewhere. It doesn't seem to be an either/or situation to me. This seems to be a Both/And situation that can work effectively to 1. reduce back problems with intelligent strengthening of the torso support muscles wrapping the area from the ribs to the pelvis, and 2. integrate more intelligently those same muscles that are uncoordinated and out of touch for many people to more fully perform Vira III, A. Chandrasana, inversions and the posses you mention. Once again, it is not adding a system of crunches; it is working as intelligently with this area of the body as any other and not leaving one to work with a vague notion of drawing strength from the work of other areas, arms, legs, etc.</span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBpC_QIdpQKzzV4Mqtw0zuKecbGCzMufx723DbJNUL0Qo5fPggoe-qGlbRrxcTjYCEtUnvd5lyebMUr05pWQV4NHfrzT1QWp5DxZSrvj9t-RkwFvuaDXWuU_-cnZ5VvDbST6PACc4MUEUB/s1600/navasana.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="136" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBpC_QIdpQKzzV4Mqtw0zuKecbGCzMufx723DbJNUL0Qo5fPggoe-qGlbRrxcTjYCEtUnvd5lyebMUr05pWQV4NHfrzT1QWp5DxZSrvj9t-RkwFvuaDXWuU_-cnZ5VvDbST6PACc4MUEUB/s200/navasana.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">Be sure to let me know if someone comes up with answers that don't have the tinge of 'Taboo' area on them. I'd really like to know.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">Some time has passed since I wrote this and I've had some insights:</span></span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #333333; display: inline; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">Okay, I think I've answered my own questions. Despite the notion in Iyengar Yoga of the taboo abdominal area, due to vital organs being there, we do have something else that gives insight here. In Iyengar yoga we tend to give actions from the muscles to align the bones. Instructions are honed to move a certain area of the body in a specific way that leads to alignment (of the bones). We don't use anatomical terms for muscles, but that's much of what's contained in the instruction set. The abdominals can only move towards the spine and tend to tighten and grip the vital organs. That has been clearly understood. However, the breath can be used to gently and intelligently move the abdominal muscles, thereby preventing 'crunches' from taking over. The slow or rapid exhalation can bring the important muscle, tranversus abdominus, into the field of perception and thus begin to close the 'donut hole.' Unfortunately, we would need to amend the Iyengar Constitution that says we don't teach breath in that way, only in pranayama or when we use breath to initiate action. So I advocate amending the method, as I have described it above, to include a special case for using breath to teach the connectivity to these muscles. Because it works; because we can gain so much from having intelligent action in students; because without it students flounder needlessly waiting for the "benefit to come from asana practiced thoughtfully and in correct alignment." That is, peripherally. Once the 'donut hole' begins being filled in by proper use in this way more can be done to support the body in challenging poses without gripping or crunching. </span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #333333; display: inline; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">This works well in Navasana. The 'aware breath' could be taught prior to introducing this pose, or earlier, and used to instruct correct action in the pose. The proof is that in order to maintain the stability and balance of this pose, the breath must be very restrained and focused. Or, to demonstrate the opposite effect, try doing Navasana while doing so-called "deep belly breaths." Not pretty.</span></div>Rit Dayanandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10829510271196892633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615180889991781749.post-62028333610000894112011-05-07T00:25:00.000+07:002011-05-07T00:25:16.152+07:00Certification: income guarantee not guarantee of competency in the long run<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizJSG0aHWV4OqfQTAGTeyvfmE8XhB_GeqkpkkqAzLsgdED4n-8Pgun_vVuOfDHSVaSBmJta3rOqYHuKRdbCY46Kwx7AaI4qXhyphenhyphenrsJm6JncG3Z-a4ge4HJzuIbL5apiZj1RpwzzoK28l4IT/s1600/certified.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizJSG0aHWV4OqfQTAGTeyvfmE8XhB_GeqkpkkqAzLsgdED4n-8Pgun_vVuOfDHSVaSBmJta3rOqYHuKRdbCY46Kwx7AaI4qXhyphenhyphenrsJm6JncG3Z-a4ge4HJzuIbL5apiZj1RpwzzoK28l4IT/s200/certified.jpg" width="154" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;">Teacher training conveys a vast amount of information in hopes some of it will stick to the student. Over time, Certification is more a guarantee of income than of competence as individuals forget, modify and improvise. To counter that trend, organizations demand continuing education which tends to make the practice rigid, formulaic and without insight. Such is life in the big city...</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: normal;">In some cases, continuing education creates a two-tiered system: 1. pass the exams by telling them what they expect to hear, and 2. teach in a more intuitive style when not being examined. Now that's a stressful life.</span></span></div>Rit Dayanandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10829510271196892633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615180889991781749.post-32096294076042521962011-05-07T00:21:00.000+07:002011-05-07T01:03:38.899+07:00Yoga-nomics - Let them eat cake!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi089BEk0NBhNSD_ZKhNIW8eq31y2wxpEQMfZr_KS8Om_sb_STLUXev3ZRekewjAyuPWVuqWVz7Y-VyhyphenhyphenHkTi4KlJl8ybJQRSBRPtxWPa8Dhyphenhyphenn7eac8wbH0b3if9nqk5bZ3qqViay16ACoe/s1600/eat+cake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi089BEk0NBhNSD_ZKhNIW8eq31y2wxpEQMfZr_KS8Om_sb_STLUXev3ZRekewjAyuPWVuqWVz7Y-VyhyphenhyphenHkTi4KlJl8ybJQRSBRPtxWPa8Dhyphenhyphenn7eac8wbH0b3if9nqk5bZ3qqViay16ACoe/s1600/eat+cake.jpg" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What is astonishing to the writer of the article </span></span><a href="http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2011/01/21/treasurys-astonishing-statement-on-us-default/">http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2011/01/21/treasurys-astonishing-statement-on-us-default/</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;"> is the idea that payments to Social Security recipients should come before payments to US bond holders. But that's what should be done, I think! Some hold the wealthy lenders as having a prior right over the poor and elderly and will cause untold suffering, if they have their way. To their way of thinking, if we don't pay Senior Citizens the consequences are not nearly as catastrophic.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Their policy is "Let them Eat Cake!" </span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: normal;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;">A more complex and less obvious set of circumstances occasionally occurred in the 1980s, when the advance tax transfer could not be invested in certificates of indebtedness because the limit on Federal debt had been reached and the Treasury was prevented from issuing new debt. Longer-term obligations then had to be redeemed in order to pay benefits. When the Treasury's cash balances became extremely low, these obligations were redeemed prior to the payment of benefits in order to create borrowing authority and use it to borrow from the public the cash needed to make the benefit payments. This practice also enabled the Federal government to continue other, non-Social-Security financial transactions for a longer period than otherwise could have occurred. As a result, the Treasury action was viewed by some as an inappropriate use of Social Security funds and was the source of considerable controversy. In retrospect, however, it was agreed by most knowledgeable observers that Treasury had few options and had taken the best course of action during a very difficult period. </span></span></span><a href="http://www.ssa.gov/oact/NOTES/note142.html">http://www.ssa.gov/oact/NOTES/note142.html</a></blockquote>We have a situation of sustained low interest rates for Treasuries. This, it seems to me, is a guaranteed way to deplete Social Security faster. If this is so, isn't this the wealthy exploiting the elderly in a form of class warfare?<br />
<br />
What is really going on here?<br />
Oh, and the government has<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Security_debate_(United_States)"> borrowed money from Social Security</a> for decades leaving behind approximately $2.5 trillion in IOU's. I'm not sure how much interest is charged on these IOU's...<br />
I've only found one reference to the interest rate that the Social Security Trust fund get's from IOU's at <a href="http://www.tscl.org/NewContent/101188.asp">http://www.tscl.org/NewContent/101188.asp</a><br />
<br />
More background at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Security_debate_(United_States)">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Security_debate_(United_States)</a></div>Rit Dayanandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10829510271196892633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615180889991781749.post-49323836737789998952011-05-03T21:52:00.000+07:002011-05-03T21:55:51.518+07:00The Tao of Enron - excerpt from the book Dead Boys<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUclhgl0j9RFefKcVsUCsfMIeaaNX6YqPQ_vymNPyyvV2-gs02ch8eJvXtYL4OsSV00Yng4nl5XGF9NJGHFo1HrZa0Hs8zuNOm3QuFUHfgSFGAEsEk8dhr0NZLTpA7kdReecDk5ahsn9NS/s1600/test+kid.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUclhgl0j9RFefKcVsUCsfMIeaaNX6YqPQ_vymNPyyvV2-gs02ch8eJvXtYL4OsSV00Yng4nl5XGF9NJGHFo1HrZa0Hs8zuNOm3QuFUHfgSFGAEsEk8dhr0NZLTpA7kdReecDk5ahsn9NS/s200/test+kid.jpg" width="157" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Dead Boys</i> by Gabriel Squailia</td></tr>
</tbody></table><blockquote>"<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;">Our Goddess isn’t gracious, nor loving, nor any of the other fine words we impute to her in our prayers; she’s fickle, fickle as a kitten, and yet we think the same old blessings repeated for eternity can win her affections. Not so!” He cupped his hands above his brow. “We have to shake her up to keep her close! And feeling that truth in my bones, I placed what little time remained to me on the tabletop, and cursed the Lady with all my might,...-- and lo, when I stood up again, I was richer..." From the preaching of Brother Griswold</span></blockquote><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;">When I read this excerpt from <i>Dead Boys</i> by Gabriel Squailia, I thought, "Maybe blasphemy really can bring luck to some people if the ruling gods' attention is gained by spitting right in their eye." This is a dangerous path, for sure. But greed brings people to perform strange acts. It has the tinge of the 'left-handed' paths in various spiritual traditions; going so far in the 'wrong' direction.</span></span><br />
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</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">One of the curses further on in this chapter is very contemporary: </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;"> </span></b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">“May all statistical improbabilities impact thee unfavorably!”</span></b> This was the downfall of the stock market in 2008 when all the mortgages went South as a result of banks poorly assessing the statistical risks of sub-prime loans. The improbability (black swan) manifested itself but only after making tons of money for the blasphemers!!! Of course, few were punished.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9KtfuTDG4X_eqYlnQEq0bLkj2i_nHB8bOFQ9hs5CZprJ1JiJx-3UvkTEvYx5aVs3BLtFf6Oycr0SDPzQ2YEj-Tr7SNOzDDbD6K_2fLdyRgm2NcZJVrDaixyZqd4c1QfMu1gkIgYSNGBas/s1600/enron.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9KtfuTDG4X_eqYlnQEq0bLkj2i_nHB8bOFQ9hs5CZprJ1JiJx-3UvkTEvYx5aVs3BLtFf6Oycr0SDPzQ2YEj-Tr7SNOzDDbD6K_2fLdyRgm2NcZJVrDaixyZqd4c1QfMu1gkIgYSNGBas/s200/enron.jpg" width="135" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">So, how did the author come up with the Tao of Enron?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="kl" dir="ltr" id=":tu" style="margin-bottom: 0.2em; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">Perceptive, but the perversity of attracting god's attention through misbehaving is twisted.</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">"T<span dir="ltr" id=":15">here's a scene in the documentary, "Smartest Guys in the Room" where these two traders are talking while they're forcing power blackouts in California during the forest fires, and it's really obvious that they equate the grandmothers they're killing with the money they're making on some cosmic level," answered Gabriel.</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span dir="ltr" id=":15"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span dir="ltr" id=":15"><i>Dead Boys</i> is a novel chock full of such insight as well as entertaining banter, inspired characters.</span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span dir="ltr" id=":15"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><i></i></span></span></span></span><br />
<div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Light-hearted and macabre, </span>Dead Boys’<span style="font-style: normal;"> comic-book flash illuminates a framework of Buddhist philosophy and classical allusions that give it an appeal far beyond the boundaries of generic fantasy. </span></span></i><a href="http://squailia.blogspot.com/">http://squailia.blogspot.com/</a></div></div></div>Rit Dayanandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10829510271196892633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615180889991781749.post-60494149524722500082011-05-03T19:13:00.000+07:002011-05-03T23:28:53.828+07:00Strong Reactions<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyjLw6tkhvCP8IRs0-vkGFAh5mY8jlPLdWg4Pkb8Y5gffL0MHGzUsBo1FKepTpj1guyTvH1XR3_mF-H0-5iDpFehGffhJ50sq8He36fbHJMjQF4G8KPOwvt2uWYBDkIFhIf3cba_t32wrQ/s1600/crying-baby11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyjLw6tkhvCP8IRs0-vkGFAh5mY8jlPLdWg4Pkb8Y5gffL0MHGzUsBo1FKepTpj1guyTvH1XR3_mF-H0-5iDpFehGffhJ50sq8He36fbHJMjQF4G8KPOwvt2uWYBDkIFhIf3cba_t32wrQ/s320/crying-baby11.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;">In all my hate-ful relationships I've always found the way out is through understanding the pain and suffering of the oppressor, or hated one. This is different from pity, forgiveness, or condescension. Often, I find that I can trace the very qualities I revile in others to my own behaviors, thus understanding the root of the aversion.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"><br />
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<div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">When I react strongly to some external object, person and/or occurrence, there lies the bed of karma. Usually it is rich with insight. If I do a little work, the true self is revealed!</div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">This applies to my reaction to the killing of Ossama bin Laden as well as the woman who condescended to me over the weekend. It is in my perception of the offenses that freedom lies. The stronger the reaction that arises in me, the more I am dealing with something from my past, out of touch from my conscious mind. Fear arises and one strikes out.</div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">In Yoga, we are led to not dwell on these occurences of the fructification of karma, but rather see our true Self more clearly through the acting out. This way we can see out habitual patterns more clearly and perhaps free ourselves from aversion and attrachment.<br />
<br />
For really difficult personalities, where denial and avoidance are strongest, other techniques are required. In cases of drug and alcohol addiction, for example, denial is strong and consciousness of the implications of our actions is weak. Then the only course of action is to look at the behaviors in detail and set out the exact nature of the wrongs done. In this way karma is revealed; through seeing, finally, the repitition of similar behavior. Also, it is necessary to make amends as a way of rejoining the flow of the community, be it family or society.<br />
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Knowing where to start is often the biggest step on any journey.</div></div>Rit Dayanandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10829510271196892633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615180889991781749.post-72489411836054282772011-01-27T00:44:00.000+07:002011-01-27T00:46:50.694+07:00Yoga or Yoga-esque?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSAXvpDLylfT3k5G4zROeksoOhwhG0z4bReiHKR0Dr16POnBHNqC1YkKFqIFAyf-75GUR3YguptFiHaer5jfzTlERUPDaqGV16Y3nLARTgR82YVBoXZPzrh5mJnD6bdUxg1MLAFhrwTayX/s1600/yoga-sex-cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSAXvpDLylfT3k5G4zROeksoOhwhG0z4bReiHKR0Dr16POnBHNqC1YkKFqIFAyf-75GUR3YguptFiHaer5jfzTlERUPDaqGV16Y3nLARTgR82YVBoXZPzrh5mJnD6bdUxg1MLAFhrwTayX/s200/yoga-sex-cover.jpg" width="161" /></a></div>Okay, so I believe that Yoga improves many things in life but does that mean I have to be led by the effects, like better sex, rather than focus on the practice? And, by the way, what do I believe are the <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">effects of Yoga</span>?<br />
<br />
When people begin Yoga, as I did years ago, it is their <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">expectation</span></span> that will dominate what the perceived effects are for a long time. That is, if they continue. Oh, and for most it means to practice postures, or asana, which is Yoga to most of us in the West.<br />
<br />
Our perception of Yoga is pretty much set from outside influences like media, friends or authorities we listen to. Once we are convinced to try Yoga it is against that set of values that we judge '<a href="http://www.yogasite.com/yogastyles.html">Yoga Styles</a>.' It's human. We simply try something based on what we think it will do and see if it does it.<br />
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Except that Yoga is vast and has no coordinating authority to say what it is and how it shall be taught. Oh, there are some <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga">guide books</a> that have been written over the last two thousand years, but nothing everyone agrees on.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV-ti1DOQ-vPbEkAbVdq3dGABO7Tl1rCXHV5vCmoXT7CAYkaepkTxXbzpW5BhCAe6Cn6GuOwe1NyrqiR6HZMQcz-OBKP5JGyW0i5Bc7Jr_VvpksMnwDj78BIJFwgw3fsT8bg2IYwBPrbE_/s1600/yogi-annelies-rigter1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV-ti1DOQ-vPbEkAbVdq3dGABO7Tl1rCXHV5vCmoXT7CAYkaepkTxXbzpW5BhCAe6Cn6GuOwe1NyrqiR6HZMQcz-OBKP5JGyW0i5Bc7Jr_VvpksMnwDj78BIJFwgw3fsT8bg2IYwBPrbE_/s200/yogi-annelies-rigter1.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>And so we have what we've seen in movie fiction for years: True believers and rebels. In Yoga, this is always going on. Yogis are notorious for not conforming - mostly because they tend to be <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mysticism">mystics</a>. And mystics are True-believers having found a direct and un-mediated connection with Life, the Universe and Everything!<br />
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The rebels today are practicing 'in the style of' yoga, hence yoga<a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-esque">-esque</a>. Being non True-believers, of written word or authorities, they are experimenting and finding new ways and variations on the established theme.<br />
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In point of fact, to most other humans on Earth they are doing the same things! From a distance, most non-yoga humans don't see much difference.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Indian philosophy talks about actions that appease the pleasure in the body/mind, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">bhogakala</span>, and actions that appease the spiritual heart/soul, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">yogakala</span>.</span> The True-believers tend to get angry at Bhogi's because they believe they are missing a great opportunity to use their talents to reach Enlightenment. Bhogi's don't seem to mind looking good, feeling good, but not <b><i>doing 'good' Yoga</i></b>!!! But that seems to be the nature of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tara_Stiles">rebel yoga</a> practitioners.<br />
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Recently, it has come to light that Yoga as we know it today may really be <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Yoga-Body-Origins-Posture-Practice/dp/0195395344">physical yoga based on european exercise</a> regimes. This would seem to throw a kink in those in the US especially who thought they were True-believers but now may be marginally self-aware rebels because the True True-believers are <a href="http://www.arshavidya.org/">Vedantic</a> or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raja_Yoga">Raja</a> Yogi's.<br />
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What a predicament you've gotten us into now. But this has been the way of Yoga for millennia and we, the practitioners of today, are not exempt from this quandary.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>So what's the deal?</b></span> The deal is to keep doing while awake. The deal is to observe how our expectations sort out our experiences into value groups and how that has an effect on our lives. The deal is to develop a sense of discrimination over time that will help us see all of this clearly. The deal is to do without judgement but with a clear mind and see where it takes us.<br />
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And that's all I got because that's all I expect... to see clearly.</div>Rit Dayanandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10829510271196892633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615180889991781749.post-8108128782537906032011-01-13T22:41:00.000+07:002011-01-13T22:41:04.379+07:00Yoga-nomics: Recirculating Wealth<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDAZsaFifFmgL4GAcUr0XanOdYyYwZP-CM3-GIJJR39LKyvub0Mrzm5zlAKoxHwEzuEkbfkrxPDVPZe83vvFYnxriPIuRaYqG2dIKTpsxeb2VygowWlJWK8PTrHPx6MgD8vun9eSMagDKz/s1600/ap101025151289.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDAZsaFifFmgL4GAcUr0XanOdYyYwZP-CM3-GIJJR39LKyvub0Mrzm5zlAKoxHwEzuEkbfkrxPDVPZe83vvFYnxriPIuRaYqG2dIKTpsxeb2VygowWlJWK8PTrHPx6MgD8vun9eSMagDKz/s320/ap101025151289.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;">We are all interconnected in so many ways. Unfortunately, <a href="http://www.npr.org/2011/01/13/132878264/demand-for-quinoa-a-boon-for-bolivian-farmers">in cases like this</a>, large corporations act as middle-men and take profit out of areas where they are needed. Trendiness has consequences.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;">Buy local has a lot of impact in supporting your neighbors as well as recycling profits. Profits stay locally and growers then spend their m</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">oney in local stores, banks and yoga studios.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: normal;">Buying from Trader Joe's of Whole Foods takes the profits out of an area for good and only marginal income is recirculated in the form of very low wages to hourly employees. {i started calling it Whole Fools after the elitist<a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204251404574342170072865070.html"> Health Care statements of owner John Mackey</a> were made.}</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: normal;"><br />
</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: normal;">Trickle-down economist types have a lot of information about the wealth effects of all this, but the decimation of local economies is not their concern. Efficient markets usually mask the devastation of local economies and individual lives. Theirs is a view from 50,000 feet saying the weather is sunny while it's very different here on Earth.</span></span></span>Rit Dayanandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10829510271196892633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615180889991781749.post-14024894643443261072010-10-27T00:48:00.000+07:002010-10-27T00:48:23.640+07:00Education: what direction does it take?<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"></span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1L6-XEK9JZyZdJviJFQzPV0BoGv_MDxOI8siIkrJn-7nt2vqT6PomaJlviinzUN69bCpxjV3bRZOFKC87ek6azY-a_ARxCZOrU_kqDH8sd1PruuVhWBu7SPAYUeWEE72rzPFKtLEotFf1/s1600/RamanaMaharshi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1L6-XEK9JZyZdJviJFQzPV0BoGv_MDxOI8siIkrJn-7nt2vqT6PomaJlviinzUN69bCpxjV3bRZOFKC87ek6azY-a_ARxCZOrU_kqDH8sd1PruuVhWBu7SPAYUeWEE72rzPFKtLEotFf1/s200/RamanaMaharshi.jpg" width="159" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharishi</td></tr>
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</span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"> <style type="text/css">
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<div class="p1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><span class="s1"><i><b>After Learning all scientific theories and becoming highly educated persons in the world, then if the people do not destroy their pride and ego through Self-Inquiry, there is no use of their illusionary achievements.</b></i></span></span></span></span></span></div><div class="p1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><span class="s1"><i><b><br />
The uneducated people are better than them.<br />
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The pride of acquiring Education, the desire for appreciation and fame are subject matters for discouragement.<br />
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That Education is not at all education and real knowledge.<br />
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The Education which paves the way for searching the Truth, The education which inculcates obedience in them is the superior education. It will make them humble and honest people to behave with a sense of equality towards all in the World.</b></i></span></span></span></span></span></div><div class="p2"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><span class="s1">Sri Ramana Maharshi</span></span></span></span></span></div></div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><br />
</span></span></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">If you've made it this far you must be fascinated by the above quote. Personally, I am mostly attracted by it. Overall, I am attracted to the direction it indicates.</span></span><br />
<div class="p2" style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Times; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div><div class="p1" style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Times; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0px;">I am very aware from personal experience of the pride, ego and desire that Sri Ramana introduces here. My education carried me through an MBA in a very conservative school that basically taught that greed was good. At the same time I was studying Zen Buddhism at the Rochester Zen Center, so was somewhat balanced, or confused, in turns.</span></span></span></div><div class="p2" style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Times; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div><div class="p2" style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Times; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">So, I understand that Self-Inquiry can help destroy pride and ego.<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div><div class="p2" style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Times; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div><div class="p1" style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Times; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0px;">It's the obedience that I always have a hard time with! I, for various reasons, have not trusted my teachers and superiors very much. So this comes with difficulty to me. I realized that I'm more an iconoclast: one who facilitates the destruction of religious symbols, or, by extension, established dogma or conventions.</span></span></span></div><div class="p2" style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Times; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div><div class="p3" style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Times; line-height: 27px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0px;">This somehow works well with Self-Inquiry. The turn is that the symbols, dogma and conventions that get destroyed are the ones I've wrongly accepted and live by. No easy task that. However, by turning my attention inward, I have found a teacher over the years that I can trust. </span></span></span></div><div class="p2" style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Times; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div><div class="p4" style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Times; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Quakers call it the 'still small voice' and in Yoga it's the inner Guru. <span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div><div class="p3" style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Times; line-height: 27px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0px;">The Obedience, I've discovered, is to this voice.</span></span></span></div><div style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"></div><div style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"></div>Rit Dayanandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10829510271196892633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615180889991781749.post-37790368445609551742010-10-14T21:51:00.000+07:002010-10-15T20:12:01.305+07:00True face of Yoga in America<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs2Yj6HVgYK_JSfiAnV51laFIk2Fv04hMUdtnPg1FGfjXLzs2iGxQcbcQduwUELs7epapImMwYoA5X8aQtcEisZC7HkkVJWM0rVmoX-ql6J-w2Xa3UPwJETw5OX7xnUnAGYIojrgkbTDiU/s1600/Lalitha.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs2Yj6HVgYK_JSfiAnV51laFIk2Fv04hMUdtnPg1FGfjXLzs2iGxQcbcQduwUELs7epapImMwYoA5X8aQtcEisZC7HkkVJWM0rVmoX-ql6J-w2Xa3UPwJETw5OX7xnUnAGYIojrgkbTDiU/s320/Lalitha.gif" width="243" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;">During a two week stay at <a href="http://www.arshavidya.org/">Arsha Vidya</a> Gurukulum (residential center for the study of Vedanta) I was surprised to hear the usage Yoga Shastra. It meant the science of yoga. In Raja Yoga, yoga is designed to calm the mind and make it receptive. It is a<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">n analgesic, not an end. </span></span><br />
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The skill set for teachers of yoga in America today must keep pace with distractions that are always around, including mobile devices. The mind doesn't function differently today; it seeks out the novel and changeable as is its nature.</span></span><br />
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Yoga shastra is about finding the permanent among the impermanent in any age, in any place.</span></span><br />
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The major problem in calming students minds seems to be teachers who are themselves overly attached to Asana as a vehicle for teaching Yoga. Asana is meant to illuminate<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> the changeable and cultivate the sense of the permanent through vichar, focused a</span>ttention, and more importantly through developing Viveka, discerning awareness. The first, vichar, is a process where an individual differentiates the real from the unreal (impermanent). Viveka, called the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vivekachudamani">crown-jewel of awareness</a>, is a state of mind wherein one can operate without distraction.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">It is in this state of mind that awareness of the beyond, Brahman</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;">, can be present. Brahma Vidya is what can be accessed when Yoga Shastra has done it's </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">work.</span></span><br />
<blockquote>"To be born as a (hu)man, to have longing for release (from bondage) and the association with great souls - these three are difficult to obtain."</blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;">The challenge we face is to overcome, through Yoga effort, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanskara">sanskaras</a>. It is the process of illumination of our habitual patterns that is the goal of Yoga. To see clearly, past our likes and dislikes, in order to be prepared for the depth of our true nature.</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;">As teachers of asana, we have our own sanskaras to contend with. And these show up in our teaching. Not only in our physical but in our conveying of values and concepts.</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;">It takes great effort and time of practice to strip ourselves bare of habitual patterns. Until that time, we should be clear to define them. Otherwise we stand the chance that our students will replicate them.</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;">Of course, this is beyond a 200 or 500 hour, or even two year, certification program. That's why today we have a system developing of propagating sanskaras. Where people are teaching their own habituated likes and dislikes (raga and dvesa) without proper insight.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;">This seems to be the true face of Yoga in America.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;">(for another rendition of this view by <a href="http://www.elephantjournal.com/2010/10/yoga-body-vs-yoga-spirit-can-we-have-both--ramesh-bjonnes/">Ramesh Bjonnes click here</a>)</span>Rit Dayanandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10829510271196892633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615180889991781749.post-79492093165112523512010-10-06T20:47:00.000+07:002010-10-06T20:47:47.465+07:00The game of being somebody or nobody<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Recently a friend posted the following quote on Facebook, which began an exchange. D and S are the other people involved in the exchange.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">"The game is not about becoming somebody, it's about becoming nobody."<br />
— Ram Dass</span></span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Me: </span><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">... and after the game is over comes the real work.</span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">D: love this thread. i was philosophy major in college along with spanish...its totally my thing!</span></span></span> </span></span> </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Me: Ah, but that's the game, D! In Yoga, and other mystical pursuits, the real work is not entertainment, a bauble of mind or projection or 'undigested introjects', but experiential. Once the somebody realizes the limitations of mind and moves towards nobody, then the opportunity arises for one to experience directly, without mediation of habitual patterns. Work.</span></span></span> </span></span> </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">D: ur right i still like it tho...cant lie</span></span></span> </span></span> </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Me: ... not to go on and on, but that's one of the tel-tales between the game and the real work: likes and dislikes, raga and dvesa, attachment and aversion. Observing how they operate one crosses the horizon. And that's cool :)</span></span></span> </span></span> </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">S: I'm confused about where the "work" comes in? It seems to me that when I stop trying so hard/work and just surrender to what is, then "it" all becomes clear to me. When i relinquish my illusion of control and my effort to be "somebody", I discover I am like everything:nothing</span></span></span> </span></span> </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">D: right! makes sense and hard to attain. it would def take work. and wouldnt the work itself be "it? "as it shouldnt be work it should just be but be nothing. mu. idk its difficult to grasp as thats exactly what were not supposed to do -grasp. were a part of the whole and therefore nothing idk its hard....</span></span></span> </span></span> </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Me: </span></span><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Relative terms:Work and Entertainment. One can let go and be lost in habitual patterning, like daydreaming, only performing actions still on autopilot. In this thread, it's the end of the 'game' of the independent somebody. However, what is it that's aware that it's a 'nobody?' Tricky bit here.<br />
By following the trail of likes and dislikes one is building the process of Vichar, which is a complex meditative process that leads to another aha moment. Viveka is the state of mind that, hopefully, lasts as a result.<br />
These are experiential states and slippery. That's why 'work' seems to come in, returning repeatedly over time to discern what is real.<br />
All of this is laid out in various Yoga texts, but each one, each person, has to do the... 'Work!" :)</span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span> </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">S: ahh thanks for your explanation. i'm not familiar with all these terms. i always thought of meditation as, well meditative and relaxing-this is all sounding a bit ....something other than meditative to me, always more to learn. i feel like i want to come back out of my head right now and just experience...and breathe</span></span></span> </span></span> </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In closing this out, I'd like to point out that meditation is not a single practice. As S pointed out one can practice a form of meditation and be amazed that what someone else does can be called meditation!</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Also, the beginning forms of meditation practice involve reducing stress of the practitioner. No practices can be helpful without a calm mind. So S, return to breathing and relax. The rest comes with practice!</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div>Rit Dayanandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10829510271196892633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615180889991781749.post-6145571227300063722010-08-23T21:41:00.000+07:002010-08-23T21:41:39.983+07:00Labor Day 2010<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0HP3B2ZzdQA3s-O3P2fx_Ap1w96AjftL7E7rWNane2D6FbZTNwhGsQ0IUx7eziSVb7XLApQdHlksrshPkt669xT7dKeW5Y_AAA8E6YrHvxDWuAq6ffqlltStOCXIGcPXkViVT9KOl5KG0/s1600/laborday.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0HP3B2ZzdQA3s-O3P2fx_Ap1w96AjftL7E7rWNane2D6FbZTNwhGsQ0IUx7eziSVb7XLApQdHlksrshPkt669xT7dKeW5Y_AAA8E6YrHvxDWuAq6ffqlltStOCXIGcPXkViVT9KOl5KG0/s320/laborday.jpeg" /></a><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 23px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 23px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm warming up to Labor Day this year on my bicycle, crossing New York State. I'll be camping and hopefully enjoying the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erie_Canal">Erie Canal</a> route that took so much money, sweat and commitment to build. </span></div><div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 23px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;">Labor Day in our time is the end of Summer, the last weekend to go out and swim, boat or do whatever.</span> </span></span></div><div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 23px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 23px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here are a few things to tuck away for a quiet moment when you can think about how this day came to be celebrated.</span></span></div><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.4em;">The first Labor Day in the United States was celebrated on September 5, 1882 in New York City.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px;"> </span></span>In the aftermath of the deaths of a number of workers at the hands of <a href="http://www.blogger.com/wiki/United_States_Army" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; text-decoration: none;" title="United States Army"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">the US military</span></a> and <a href="http://www.blogger.com/wiki/United_States_Marshals_Service" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; text-decoration: none;" title="United States Marshals Service"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">US Marshals</span></a> during the 1894<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pullman_Strike"> Pullman Strike</a>, President <a href="http://www.blogger.com/wiki/Grover_Cleveland" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; text-decoration: none;" title="Grover Cleveland"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">Grover Cleveland</span></a> put reconciliation with Labor as a top political priority. Fearing further conflict, legislation making Labor Day a national holiday was rushed through <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/wiki/United_States_Congress" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; text-decoration: none;" title="United States Congress"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">Congress</span></a> </span>unanimously and signed into law a mere six days after the end of the strike. Cleveland was also concerned that aligning a US labor holiday with existing <a href="http://www.blogger.com/wiki/International_Workers%27_Day" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; text-decoration: none;" title="International Workers' Day"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">international May Day celebrations</span></a> would stir up negative emotions linked to the <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://www.blogger.com/wiki/Haymarket_Affair" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; text-decoration: none;" title="Haymarket Affair"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">Haymarket Affair</span></a>.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Slate_2-0" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1em;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=6615180889991781749#cite_note-Slate-2" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">[</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">3</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">]</span></span></a></sup> All 50 <a href="http://www.blogger.com/wiki/U.S._state" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; text-decoration: none;" title="U.S. state"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">U.S. states</span></a> have made Labor Day a <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://www.blogger.com/wiki/U.S._state_holiday" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; text-decoration: none;" title="U.S. state holiday"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">state holiday</span></a>.</div><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.4em;">The form for the celebration of Labor Day was outlined in the first proposal of the holiday: A street parade to exhibit to the public "the strength and esprit corps of the trade and labor organizations," followed by a festival for the workers and their families. This became the pattern for Labor Day celebrations. Speeches by prominent men and women were introduced later, as more emphasis was placed upon the economic and civil significance of the holiday. Still later, by a resolution of the American Federation of Labor convention of 1909, the Sunday preceding Labor Day was adopted as Labor Sunday and dedicated to the spiritual and educational aspects of the <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://www.blogger.com/wiki/Labor_movement" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; text-decoration: none;" title="Labor movement"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">labor movement</span></a>.</div></span></blockquote><div>American labor is not strong these days. In fact, this is one of the worst times for workers to get any respect or recognition in our country. Over the past 50 years, wealth-holders and management has undercut the credibility and legal rights of workers to bargain for anything. </div><div><br />
</div><div>However, in the 1950's through 1970's, when labor was strong, we had the most vibrant economy in our history. This is not a contradiction or a fluke, although it takes some thinking to see the reason clearly.</div><div><br />
</div><div>When the wealth holders gain from productive activities is <b><i>balanced </i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">with the gains of workers the economy as a whole prospers. The reason is the less-well-off workers </span>spend more</b> of their share on buying more goods and the wealthy spend less. This drives the economy in a healthy way to more prosperity. The balance is the key and it is what has been lost.</div></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px;"><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.4em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 23px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;"><br />
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</span>Rit Dayanandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10829510271196892633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615180889991781749.post-4543801321504740332010-08-19T22:33:00.000+07:002010-08-21T04:31:19.172+07:00Yoga-nomics: What's going on? Yoga is arguably about integration. Aside from a misunderstanding in America about what exactly is integrated, we also have a lack of understanding about the way our monetary system is integrated into the fabric of our lives. We can do so much good with an intelligent awareness of how things actually are and operate.<br />
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Hopefully, you will be interested in learning more.<br />
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I've been working on a large scale article on money but as things unfold have decided to simply write about the situation. Having just read <b><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=JxSU5I58L-wC&dq=secrets+of+the+temple&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=en&ei=aUltTKWuD4X7lweRurEO&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CCcQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q&f=false">Secrets of the Temple</a>, </b>the politics of money are more in my mind. By politics of money I mean who benefits and who looses by the actions of government agencies.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVIAw6Zpb2Y4NvHTHU7MwjSSfbnH3gwJw4y4i0tX-YToECpnSUnkTATFYJX4xLc_dEjpoRE6pDR-qQXc0O18DKt4RibEfvjMLHApM2u0e8thWs67fV5zFHpiWOufxvFbh5AE_EoN_sqVGu/s1600/public-enemies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVIAw6Zpb2Y4NvHTHU7MwjSSfbnH3gwJw4y4i0tX-YToECpnSUnkTATFYJX4xLc_dEjpoRE6pDR-qQXc0O18DKt4RibEfvjMLHApM2u0e8thWs67fV5zFHpiWOufxvFbh5AE_EoN_sqVGu/s320/public-enemies.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Banksters work without guns but take wealth from borrowers</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
Here's one view, that I think accurate, of the current situation: <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px;">the policy has been to create a “workout” time line for large banks to “earn” their way out of balance sheet problems.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px;"><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 7px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 7px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The problem with this approach is, of course, that the Federal deficit basically funds the “earnings” of the banks. The FED provides new money that the banks can borrow at near 0% and the banks then buy Treasuries that pay higher interest rates. The “earnings” that the banks get from this “carry trade” process is achieved by the further indebtedness of the citizenry through the increased national debt.<a href="http://seekingalpha.com/article/221249-further-thoughts-on-my-treasury-meeting?source=email">click here for full article</a></span></div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 7px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 7px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">So, the banks are sitting on piles of borrowed money and buying financial paper (treasuries) to increase their wealth as a way to get out of the massive bad loans they have. But it's our money that they are borrowing and re-investing! In this way they take from the poorer tax filers and keep the interest income. Oh, and they do keep any money that comes in on old loans to boot.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 7px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 7px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">My hope is that enough people will start to learn about how all this works. We are in the midst of a horrible situation: "... <span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;">even when we adjust for inflation and normalize to population, this crisis is orders of magnitude larger than anything else in the past in financial terms, including the Great Depression. As much as we criticize actions taken, there are lots of worse conditions we could be in right now. The size of the financial system catastrophe is of historic proportions and we are still alive." <a href="http://www.thestreet.com/story/10589081/1/banking-crisis-dwarfs-depression.html">here for details</a> and <a href="http://seekingalpha.com/article/158088-comparing-today-s-bank-crisis-to-the-past">here</a></span><br />
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I'll be posting more on this topic in the near future.<br />
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</div></span>Rit Dayanandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10829510271196892633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615180889991781749.post-59052434156908500442010-06-23T01:26:00.000+07:002010-06-23T01:38:33.682+07:00Yoga-nomics: Where are we headed?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://plus.cnbc.com/rssvideosearch/action/player/id/1526836676/code/cnbcplayershare"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh01oByuxL30L4wp3-rKhUer0WueKHoJZS2XI8PI_GliXQr6j5wQ95FOzBiVG2hvzemEHQ7rgK6YMzY44fpv3G8Ako89kH7FRefUPJkcuhqWm77k8DX5ASdDW3ZgfnVg6lshWbGHqIhzFje/s200/meredith_whitney.jpg" width="126" /></a>Yoga is about seeking truth... about stilling the illusive aspects of mind to see clearly what is. In this video, Meredith Whitney describes what is going on in the economy and let's us see a picture of the next 6-12 months. From all I have been reading, this is an accurate appraisal. Municipal and State governments are cutting back and housing prices continue to be under significant downward pressure.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://plus.cnbc.com/rssvideosearch/action/player/id/1526836676/code/cnbcplayershare">Click to see video</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Additionally, the effects of the Financial Regulations now being put together in Congress will slow the velocity of money, slow down the mania that led to the financial crisis, and be a short term negative for the poor and middle-class. Again, those who can ill-afford it will be making large sacrifices to put the financial system back into shape.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">With this pessimistic outlook I have re-shaped all of my finances. It's time.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Specifically for the Yoga teachers and businesses, be ready to mark down your fees, hope your resources will hold out and be ready to re-negotiate rent and lease agreements. It's time.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Of course, nothing of long term value is at stake here. It is our spiritual practice that will sustain us all. I am studying Vivekachudamani and the Bhagavad Gita this summer. Really looking forward to a new teacher and some time in silence.</div>Rit Dayanandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10829510271196892633noreply@blogger.com