Take A Crocus – Rumi Inspirational Poems

 

The beauty of the heart
is the lasting beauty:
its lips give to drink
of the water of life.

Truly it is the water,
that which pours,
and the one who drinks.

All three become one when
your talisman is shattered.
That oneness you can’t know
by reasoning.

 

– Rumi, From: Mathnawi II, 716-718

 

Photos taken today with a lumix Camera on Macro setting – please click to enlarge for details. I am having a lot of difficulty with Word Press technology and especially with photos. I hope whatever you are using, ipad or iphone, lap-top or  desk-top, this is okay. 🙂

 

 

 

 

from the top of the fridge

The Guest House – Rumi

Vinca Major – found it growing at the very back of the garden

 

 

The Guest House

 

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they are a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice.
meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.

Be grateful for whatever comes.
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

— Jellaludin Rumi, translation by Coleman Barks

 

All photos are my own and taken today while out in the garden. The top photo is of spirea buds, the rest are of crocuses under the Weeping Ash Tree, and along the garden path. Eve

 

 

Under the Weeping Ash Tree

 

Crocus

 

 

 

 

My New Handbag – Inspirational Quotes and Poems

My new handbag

 

 

I’ve just made my best purchase of the year, a new handbag. Mine though is not shiny, bright with a famous logo or designer label. My handbag is gorgeous  but it’s second hand. I love it. I love the way it looks so elegant but only cost me a tenner. (10 pounds) – I know i shall treasure it along with all my other handbags. Talking about my other handbags, I have just decorated several with  French crochet motifs with bright shiny buttons. The handbags look chic and instead of the once  “that little out of date look,”  now they  look brand new. What do I carry in my handbag, well the usual but sheesh! I am not telling all. I have posted a really snazzy little poem on woman’s handbags.  enjoy

 

 

boho bag with pink button. This idea is so easy to copy on to any handbag. 🙂

 

 

The handbag is a rare delight, it’s like Aladdin’s cave,
All sorts of things are hidden there, that females like to save,
It’s black and big and heavy, with a nice long shoulder strap,
Its weighted down with odds and sods and other stuff like that.

But the lady finds just what she wants deep down amongst her treasure,
Of keys and pins and leg hair wax and a metric rule for measure,
The remnants of forgotten ills with aspirins held so dear,
Birth control and other pills with labels quite unclear.

Calorie counters, cotton buds, old lottery tickets too,
Handkerchiefs and white tissues for visiting the loo,
A book of stamps, a tube of glue, letters from I don’t know who,
Horoscopes with personal star, petrol vouchers for the car.

Perfume loaded by the box, knitting needles, pairs of socks,
Bank statements and counterfoils, sachet samples, body oils,
Cassette tapes and eye mascara, postcards from old Connamara
Itineraries for keep-fit classes, lipstick and a pair of glasses,

Emery boards, a pot of Vic, silver tweezers, half a brick,
Screwdriver, spanners, ball of wool, ancient notebook partly full,
Bristle brush for long tresses, photographs and addresses,
Polo mints and a mobile phone just in case they stray from home.

Cheque book stubs, leather gloves, insect spray for the shrubs,
Driving licence, bingo card, cuttings from the paper,
Favourite verse, loaded purse and a windscreen scraper,
Credit cards, safety razor, golden buttons off a blazer.

But best of all it is a friend, that’s with them every day,
Slung upon the shoulder in a casual way,
And don’t forget it is a club – not of the member kind,
But the bag itself when wielded right could change a mugger’s mind. ~Bridget Patrick

 

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There’s a new book out called In How to Tell a Woman by Her Handbag, a former swimwear model called Kathryn Eisman makes her pitch for the Pulitzer with her tome on what she calls “purse-onality” (titter): “A woman’s handbag is an extension of who she is and it helps her facilitate the roles she plays – be it files for her career, shopping lists for her domestic responsibilities or make-up to be aesthetically pleasing. A woman’s handbag is her grown-up ‘security blanket’ – carrying items to navigate the world.

  http://cosmo.intoday.in/story/how-to-tell-a-women-by-her-handbag/1/109402.html

Say I Am You – Inspirational Quotations and Poem

threading flowers for garlands, she is lost in contemplation

 

Here is the second in the photography series, Say I am you.  I don’t know how many of you read Rumi, I find his poems irresistible and this one in particular.   Rumi’s poems elegantly and consistently touch our inner being and inspire us to go beyond our limitations towards the Divine.  He is expressing once more in this  poem how he is in everything, and everything is in him. He ends with these few words,  “Jelaluddin, You the one in all, say who I am. Say I am You.”

 

The Hari Krishna ladies, Bangalore

 

 

the street vender – I wonder what she is thinking?

SAY I AM YOU

I am dust particles in sunlight.
I am the round sun.

To the bits of dust I say, Stay.
To the sun, Keep moving.

I am morning mist,
and the breathing of evening.

I am wind in the top of a grove,
and surf on the cliff.

 

Getting Ready for xmas-Bangalore

Mast, rudder, helmsman, and keel,
I am also the coral reef they founder on.

I am a tree with a trained parrot in its branches.
Silence, thought, and voice.

The musical air coming through a flute,
a spark of a stone, a flickering

in metal. Both candle,
and the moth crazy around it.

Rose, and the nightingale
lost in the fragrance.

I am all orders of being, the circling galaxy,
the evolutionary intelligence, the lift,

and the falling away. What is,
and what isn’t. You who know

 

little boy in Andra Pradesh village. He is stepping into his home, away from me and the camera –

Jelaluddin, You the one
in all, say who

I am. Say I
am You.

 

~rumi

 

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The poem “I am You” to soothing but apt music. Heavenly!

 

The photographs here are from my Indian Collection.  

Visits 2012 and 2013. thank you!

 

 

Sad And Deep As You – You Tube

WORKING WITH SADNESS

“As you arouse your heart
by facing your inclination toward evil
you may find yourself
engulfed in a deep and troubling sadness.
If so, do not be alarmed.

Such sadness arises from
and operates from within
the shell of self,
yet it draws energy from
your innate yet hidden desire
for God and godliness
and thus kindles your
passion for self-transformation.

To work with sadness, say to yourself:
‘I feel utterly removed from God,
yet within me is the light of God
desiring only to return to God.’

‘Let me return this spark
to her father’s house.
where she is united with God as God.
Therefore I will cry out to God,
and God will end this captivity
and reunite her with Himself.’

This is the practise known as
returning through kindness.
It should occupy you all your life.”

– Rabbi Schneur Zalman, ‘The Tanya’.

As Sad and As Deep As You

A change of direction in this post. ~  A post about sadness just isn’t easy, is it?  “How do we cure sadness” ~ is something that has always bothered us as human beings. We humans are not good at looking at the harm we do to ourselves and to each other. We often refuse to see the real core of our sadness,  refusing to acknowledge it. Being sad is associated with having failed. Yet, often it is not a case of failing.  What do I do when I am sad ? Probably the same as you. I cry. Not just about the bad stuff, and there is plenty of bad stuff.. I cry because I simply cannot stop the deep sadness arising in me.   Still, it’s worth remembering that WE ARE never really ALONE or ever devoid of love. By combining our tears of deep sadness, with our feelings of being unloved, can actually obliterate our negative emotions. Don’t be afraid to do this. 

Aha! and this: In our  sadness we all need to be made “special.” When we mature enough to become conscious and kind human beings, then everything we do is special and everyone is special.. ~ Namaste

One Vast Garden, Ananadamayi Ma – Inspirational Quotations

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It’s raining again so i decided it was time to create a video of my garden. I can’t sit in my garden this summer, it’s far too wet, but I can look at my photos. Actually, i spent the morning weeding and cutting back tree branches, until the skies opened and drenching rain poured down, putting an end to the weeding work. I am sure my 1/3rd of an acre garden has been the biggest joy and sense of achievement in my life, although it is hard work.

I don’t expect to live here  for too many more years.  But I have such fond memories of sweet summers and dazzling golden falls, through my collection of digital photos. Now with you tubes on line, we ‘all’ can capture our pleasant moments and keep them forever. We’re Really blessed that way.

This you tube, should you decide to watch is better seen on LARGE screen.

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THANK~YOU……….
(¯`v´¯) .
`*.¸.*.♥.✿´´¯`
☼•*❤*•°•❥beautiful reflections.☆ . ƸӜƷ¸.☆.

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“I find one vast garden spread out all over the universe.

All plants, all human beings, all higher mind bodies

are about in this garden in various ways ,

each has his own uniqueness and beauty.

Their presence and variety give me great delight.

Every one of you adds with his special feature to the glory of the garden.”

~ Anandamayi Ma

 

Rumi – A Poem – Inspirational Quotations

Once a man came and knocked at the door of his friend.
His friend said, “Who art thou, O faithful one?”
He said, “‘Tis I.” He answered, “There is no admittance.
There is no room for the ‘raw’ at my well-cooked feast.
Naught but fire of separation and absence
Can cook the raw one and free him from hypocrisy!
Since thy ‘self’ has not yet left thee,
Thou must be burned in fiery flames.”
The poor man went away, and for one whole year
Journeyed burning with grief for his friend’s absence.
His heart burned till it was cooked; then he went again
And drew near to the house of his friend.
He knocked at the door in fear and trepidation
Lest some careless word might fall from his lips.
His friend shouted, “Who is that at the door?”
He answered, “‘Tis Thou who art at the door, O Beloved!”
The friend said, “Since ’tis I, let me come in,
There is not room for two ‘I’s in one house.”

~♥Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī♥~

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Persian lawyer-divine and Sufi, widely considered literature’s greatest mystical poet, understood very well the uncontrollable and idiosyncratic impact of poetry. Yet one wonders if even he, for all his intuitive grasp of language, humanity and the cosmos foresaw the deep and diverse influence his own work would have on readers throughout the world seven centuries after his death-or the myriad meanings enthusiasts would draw from his sprawling and contradictory poems. In the Islamic world today, Rumi is read for much the same reasons he was revered during his life: for his excellence as a poet; for his rare ability to empathize with humans, animals and plants; for his personal refinement; and, above all else, for his flawless moral center and ability to direct others towards good conduct and union with Allah.

Excerpt kindly provided by Eileen judd

Unending Love, A Poem by R. Tagore, Inspirational Quotations

Just another beautiful poem from R.Tagore. 🙂 Here again he reminds us that life is eternal, that life is a journey through love and pain, from lifetime to lifetime.

Unending Love

I seem to have loved you in numberless forms, numberless times… In life after life, in age after age, forever. My spellbound heart has made and remade the necklace of songs, That you take as a gift, wear round your neck in your many forms, In life after life, in age after age, forever. Whenever I hear old chronicles of love, it’s age old pain, It’s ancient tale of being apart or together. As I stare on and on into the past, in the end you emerge, Clad in the light of a pole-star, piercing the darkness of time. You become an image of what is remembered forever. You and I have floated here on the stream that brings from the fount. At the heart of time, love of one for another. We have played along side millions of lovers, Shared in the same shy sweetness of meeting, the distressful tears of farewell, Old love but in shapes that renew and renew forever. Today it is heaped at your feet, it has found its end in you The love of all man’s days both past and forever: Universal joy, universal sorrow, universal life. The memories of all loves merging with this one love of ours – And the songs of every poet past and forever. ~Rabindranath Tagore

From Selected Poems, Translated by William Radice

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