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Writings and Readings Blog

Madhu Bazaz Wangu

The Fourth Teaching

Posted on March 12, 2010
in Meditation, Reading
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Knowledge in Action 1-3 Krishna I taught this undying discipline to the shining sun, first of mortals, who told it to Manu, the progenitor to man; Manu told it to the solar kings. Royal sages knew this discipline, which the tradition handed down; but over the course of time it has decayed, Arjuna. This is the ancient discipline that I have taught to you today; you are my devotee and my friend, and this is the deepest mystery. 4 Arjuna But you were born countless years later than the birth of the sun god; how is it possible that you taught this doctrine to him? 5-42 Krishna I have passed through many births and so have you; I recall all those lives, but you recall only this one, Arjuna. I am unborn, deathless, the infinite lord of all beings,...

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Writing as a Spiritual Journey

Posted on March 12, 2010
in Being in Nature
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Writing as a Spiritual Journey: A Workshop The Northland Public Library is sponsoring my twelve-session workshop "Writing as a Spiritual Journey." Through personal experience I know that the process of turning traumatic events and intense emotions into words and sentences has healing power. In this workshop you will turn your thoughts and feelings into words that would have beneficial affects. For the first few sessions you will write down your experiences. You'll jot and you'll scribble and you will dig deeper within yourselves. From your heart-minds you will drag onto a notebook emotions that are difficult to talk about or too painful to discuss and are dormant in the basement of your mind. This technique will lighten your heart and clarify you mind. For the next six sessions or so during the...

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The Day my Heart Blossomed into a Nani Heart

Posted on February 26, 2010
in Journaling
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It took me a while before I got used to my new appellation "Nani"-maternal grandmother. Nani was just a respectful title my grandson, Mokhta, was going to address me with. I began to think myself to be a Nani but it was very slowly but surely that I began to feel like one. Another new term of endearment that took me a while to get used to was my daughter as Mokhta's "Mommy." My baby was now herself a mother. At the hospital, the day she gave birth to our grandson, I was not quite sure how the young couple was going to ease into routine after a major transition in their lives. Before we had left their home she had said not to worry and assured us that they...

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Sanskrit Terms in the Gita

Posted on February 26, 2010
in Meditation, Reading
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Sanskrit Terms in the Bhagavad Gita Atman lies at the core of every human personality. The purpose of life is to experience this inner reality. Hindus believe that each human being feels this reality. It is same from person to person. In the climax of meditation, when consciousness is focused and withdrawn from the body and mind, the sense of a separate ego disappears. During these moments one may discover a core of consciousness that is atman. Brahman is the utterly transcendent God. It is changeless, infinite, indivisible reality. In humans it resides as Atman. The Self within each human being is not different from Brahman. It is a changeless reality beneath the world of "name and form." Dharma is that law or duty that maintains the cosmic unity and...

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The Third Teaching

Posted on February 26, 2010
in Meditation, Reading
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Selfless Action 1-2 Arjuna: If you think understanding is superior to action, Why, Krishna, do you urge me to engage in this horrific action? You confuse me with inconsistent words. Tell me, what I must do to achieve the highest good? 3-35 Krishna: In this world there are two main paths to do good: for philosophers, the yoga of understanding (jnana); for active people, the yoga of action (karma). A man cannot avoid action by abstaining from action; Neither does he attain success by renunciation. No one exists for even an instant without acting; However unwilling, every being is compelled to act by the three qualities of nature, gunas. He who controls his actions but cannot control sense-objects is deluded. His search for the deepest truth is bound to be unsuccessful. But the superior man is he whose mind can control the senses....

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A Few Words of Counsel

Posted on February 12, 2010
in Being in Nature
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The venue of the Bhagavad Gita jolts its reader into wakefulness by making its site the field of blood, devastation and death. The horrific setting demonstrates that even under the most horrible circumstances the one with sharp mind, pure intentions and willingness to understand can cross to the other shore. One of the "hidden" teachings of the Gita that has affected me deeply is that the "Great Man" (God) without is, what Carl G. Jung calls, the Self within-the organizing source of our psychic system. And I realize that with pure intention I too would be able to make link with my "inner companion" and ultimately with the God within, (Atman). In the beginning chapters of the Gita, Arjuna is a virtuous man and an intellectual. He is well versed...

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A Letter to My Grandson

Posted on January 29, 2010
in Journaling
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My Mokhta, My Pearl, With your birth on September 16, 2006 you raised my status in the family by making me your, Nani, maternal grandmother. Thank you for that! Nine months prior to that date when your mother told me that I was going to become a Nani I understood it but didn't know what to feel. How to feel? I had heard a grandmother's love for her grandchildren is overwhelming. Why didn't I feel it right away? My grandparents had passed away before I was born so I had not experienced this love. I had some knowledge of what I, now a Nani, was supposed to feel for you but I didn't feel it yet. I was more worried for your mother's health during the pregnancy and delivery. Being a painter, I...

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The First Teaching: The War Within

Posted on January 29, 2010
in Meditation, Reading
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1-10 Dhritarashtra, Kaurava's blind father, asks Sanjaya to tell him about the battle that is about to begin. Sanjaya says: Your son Duryodhana tells his teacher, Drona, to look at his other pupils, Pandavas, the mighty archers and many other brave kings, all commanding great chariots. He tells Drona of the superb men and mighty leaders on their side that include Drona's son and many others who are risking their lives for prince's sake. All brave warriors bear weapons and all are skilled in the ways of the war. Duryodhana boasts that his army is limitless and says that the army of Pandavas is limited. 11. At this moment the great sire Bhishma roars his lion's roar and blows his conch horn. Upon hearing the sound Duryodhana is delighted. 12. At once conches and...

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The Bhagavad Gita: An Introduction

Posted on January 29, 2010
in Being in Nature, Reading
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The Bhagavad-Gita, the "Song of the Lord," is a poem in the form of a dialogue. Although considered an independent sacred text it is part of the sixth book of the Hindu epic Mahabharata. The dialogue is between the warrior prince Arjuna and Krishna. Krishna is an incarnation of the cosmic power that has descended to the earth to restore order in times of chaos. He is Arjuna's charioteer, friend and teacher. At the beginning of the text Arjuna, the warrior prince, is endowed with physical prowess and intellectual tenacity. By the end, Krishna makes him aware of his Self, a spiritual heart. The dialogue takes place on a battlefield. The war that is about to begin is between two sets of cousins: five sons of Pandu, Pandavas and one...

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Lessons Learnt II: Dhammapada

Posted on January 8, 2010
in Being in Nature, Reading
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Lessons Learnt II: Dhammapada What we think, say or do have consequences. Sooner or later they come back to us. It may take years before we see the results of our thoughts, words and actions but they do come back--both good and bad. What we are today is the result of the choices we have made. 1. Observing Life's Impermanence The First Noble Truth, as taught by the Buddha, is that life is suffering, it is impermanent. Happiness and sorrow follow one another like shadow follows the body. The aim of human life is not so much the worldly happiness but the end of all suffering. We suffer because we thirst (in Sanskrit, trishna) for possessions, people and places. We constantly try to satisfy our cravings. It is fine to...

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