Palindrome - U@50

Today's Little Pearl is a video on youtube! It is less that 2 minutes long and won second place in a competition entitled "U@50"

Pure and simple

The pure and simple is rarely pure and simple.

Oscar Wilde

Each event is unique

Each event is quite unique;

Nothing ever happens twice.

What occurs will not recur;

There can be no second time.

Even gear teeth will have changes

By the time they mesh again;

Though they seem to stay the same,

Hard things slowly wear away.

As for softer things, they move,

Varying in shape and place,

And in memory and hope,

Twenty-seven thousand days.

Still I keep a single name,

Labelling a twinkling sea,

Though it is ten billion waves

that are constituting me.

Theodore Melnechuk

Will power covers up inability

In the systems of teaching generally accepted today emphasis is placed on achieving a certain aim at any price, without regard for the amount of disorganized and diffused effort that has gone into it. So long as organs of thought, feeling, and control are not organized for action that is coordinated, continuous, smooth and efficient - and therefore also pleasant - we are involving parts of the body indiscriminately, even if they are in no way required for this action or even interfere with it. One result is that we quite often perform an action and its opposite at the same time. Only mental effort can then make the part that is directed toward the goal overcome the other parts of the body operating to frustrate it. In this way, unfortunately, will power may tend to cover up an inability to carry out the action properly. The right way is to learn to eliminate the efforts opposing the goal and to employ will power only when a superhuman effort is required.

Moshe Feldenkrais in "Awareness through movement" page 61

Cure all except...

Yoga will cure everything except injuries caused by improper yoga practice!

David Williams

Humans are credulous animals

Humans are the animals that believe the stories they tell about themselves. Humans are credulous animals.

Mark Rowlands in "The Philosopher and the Wolf" page 2

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.

Eleanor Roosevelt

Listen and find out

We do not listen. There are too many noises about us; inside us, there is too much talk, too much questioning, too much demanding, too many urges, compulsions. We have so many things and we never listen to any one of them completely, totally, to the very end. And if you would kindly so listen, you will see that, in spite of yourself, the mutation, that emptiness, that transformation, the perception of what is true, comes into being. You don't have to do a thing, because what you do will interfere, because you are greedy, you are envious, you are full of hate, ambition, and all the mischief that thought can make. So if you can listen happily, effortlessly, then perhaps in the quiet, deep, silence you will know what is truth. And it is only that truth that liberates, and nothing else. That is why you must stand completely alone. You cannot listen through another; you cannot see with the eyes of another; you cannot think with the thoughts of others. But yet you listen through others, see through the activities, through the saints, through the dictum of others. So if you can put away all these secondary things, the activities of others, and be simple, quiet, and listen, then you will find out.

J. Krishnamurti, Bombay, 1st March 1964

Living your life is not selfish

To say no to people - that's wonderful; that's part of waking up. Part of waking up is that you live your life as you see fit. And understand: That is not selfish. The selfish thing is to demand that someone else live their life as YOU see fit. That's selfish. It is not selfish to live your life as you see fit. The selfishness lies in demanding that someone else live their life to suit your tastes, or your pride, or your profit, or your pleasure. That is truly selfish.

Anthony de Mello in "Awareness" page 93

Wherever you are is heaven

Do not meditate only hidden in a dark corner, but meditate always - standing, sitting, moving, resting. When your meditation continues through waking and sleeping, wherever you are is heaven itself.

Hakuin

Show the unlearned man the truth

A guide, on finding a man who has lost his way, brings him back to the right path. He does not jeer at him. You must show the unlearned man the truth, and you willl see that he will follow. But, so long as you do not show it to him, you should not mock - but rather feel your own incapacity.

Author unknown

Jail and jailer

I am caught in a cage I built myself;

Caught by cops I create each day;

Condemned by judges who preside in me;

Dragged to my cell by my own two arms -

Jail and jailer all in one;

Imprisoned by myself alone

In the circle of self I call my own,

Encircled by circles all my own.

Author unknown

Charity

Charity is never so lovely as when one has lost consciousness that one is practicing charity. "You mean I helped you? I was enjoying myself. I was just doing my dance. It helped you, that's wonderful. Congratulations to you. No credit to me."

Anthony de Mello in "Awareness" page 146

right exercise, good sleep

What is important is to have the right kind of exercise, good sleep, and a day that has significance.

J. Krishnamurti in "Letters to a Young Friend" page 54

Words

Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.

Rudyard Kipling

Nothing is permanent

Nothing in life is permanent, not even one's troubles.

Charlie Chaplin

Perception

The dictionary meaning of the word 'perception' is to become aware of, to apprehend. That is, you see the cupboard, you have a preconception of it; that is not perception. Is there seeing without preconception? Only the mind that has no conclusion, such a mind can see. The other cannot. If I have previous knowledge of that cupboard, the mind identifies it as cupboard. To look at that cupboard without the previous accumulation of prejudices or hurts, is to look. If I have previous hurts, memories, pain, pleasure, displeasure, I have not looked.

J. Krishnamurti in Tradition and Revolution

Evil comes from that part of yourself which acts as assessor

For you, evil comes not from the mind of another; nor yet from any of the phases and changes of your own bodily frame. Then whence? From that part of yourself which acts as your assessor of what is evil. Refuse its assessment, and all is well.

Marcus Aurelius translation by Maxwell Staniforth

Wisdom is understanding yourself

From 33rd verse of the Tao Te Ching:

One who understands others has knowledge;

One who understands himself has wisdom.

Mastering others requires force;

Mastering the self needs strength.

A Tao-orientated life focuses on understanding yourself, rather than on the thinking and behaviours of others. You shift from the acquisition of information and the pursuit of status symbols to understanding and mastering yourself in any and all situations.

Wayne Dyer in "Change Your Thoughts Change Your Life" page 160-161

You are your own teacher, your own pupil

If you are with the body, you don't become, you are. Slowly the body adjusts and it comes to you. You centre yourself, you follow your breath. Following is an act of attention or of interest. If you are interested in the breathing, in the body, you discover many things. There is no teacher, no pupil, you are your own teacher, your own pupil.

Vanda Scaravelli in Yoga Journal article 1996

Difference between concentration and attention

There is a difference between concentration and attention. Concentration is to bring all your energy to focus on a particular point. In attention there is no point of focus. We are very familiar with one and not with the other. When you pay attention to your body, the body becomes quiet, which has its own discipline; it is relaxed but not slack and it has the energy of harmony. When there is attention, there is no contradiction and therefore no conflict. When you read this pay attention to the way you are sitting, the way you are listening, how you are receiving what the letter is saying to you, how you are reacting to what is being said and why you are finding it difficult to attend. You are not learning how to attend. If you are learning the how of attending, then it becomes a system, which is what the brain is accustomed to, and so you make attention something mechanical and repetitive, whereas attention is not mechanical or repetitive. It is the way of looking at your whole life without the centre of self-interest.

J. Krishnamurti

Listening

When I'm listening to you, it's infinitely more important for me to listen to me than to listen to you. Of course, it's important for me to listen to you, but it's more important that I listen to me. Otherwise I won't be hearing you. Or I'll be distorting everything you say. I'll be coming at you from my own conditioning. I'll be reacting to you in all kinds of ways from my insecurities, from my need to manipulate you, from my desire to succeed, from irritations and feelings that I might not be aware of. So it's frightfully important that I listen to me when I'm listening to you.

Anthony de Mello in "Awareness" page 71

Yoga is a living process

Yoga is a living process. The heart of Yoga does not lie in visible attainments; it lies in learning and exploring. Learning is a process, a movement, while attainments are static. One is internally learning about the whole field of life using the energy systems of one's mind and body to find out how universal patterns express theselves through individuals. Yoga also involves the process of freeing one's energy, moving out of the blocks and binds that limit one both physically and mentally. Freeing oneself is part of the process of self-knowledge for one's binds limit the nature of exploration, just as releasing them permits learning to occur.

Joel Kramer in "A New Look at Yoga"

unutterable peace

It is so beautiful when all is still within and life is felt, quietly pulsating to the eternal rhythm; no separate identity - no shape - no thought - nothing but oneness and unutterable peace.

Anonymous

Yoga for Self-Transformation

For thousands of years, yoga has been a tool to open the mind and body, bringing transformation. At its core, yoga is a process that involves confronting your limits and transcending them. It is a psychophysical approach to life and to self-understanding that can be creatively adapted to the needs of the times.

Joel Kramer in "Yoga as Self-Transformation"

Freedom has a terrifying aspect

A hidden tendency of the human mind is to escape from freedom. Freedom has a terrifying aspect. It wears the mask of dread. For those who are not emotionally mature, it arouses unbearable feelings of anxiety and insecurity. It produces a kind of vertigo.
So people are usually eager to settle down with a set of fixed ideas. They seek security in some well-established castle of philosophical thinking, or religious creed or political ideology. They yearn to hand over the burden of life to some authority figure - to a prophet, messiah, avatara (a god coming to earth in human disguise) or benevolent dictator - so that they may live happily ever after.
This brings, no doubt, some peace of mind. But it is the peace of spiritual stagnation. It blocks further growth  of personality. It sets in motion the process of decay and stagnation.

Haridas Chaudhuri quoted in "A selection of conscious and unconscious yoga"

Be silent about great things

Be silent about great things - let them grow inside you. Never discuss them. Discussion is so limiting and distracting. It makes things grow smaller. You think you swallow things but they ought to swallow you. Before all greatness, be silent - in art, in music, in religion... silence.

Von Hugel

Look not back in anger, nor forward in fear, but all around in awareness.

James Thurber

Come home to yourself

Come home to yourself. Observe yourself. That's why I said earlier that self-observation is such a delightful and extraordinary thing. After a while you don't have to make any effort, because, as illusions begin to crumble, you begin to know things that cannot be described. It's called happiness. Everything changes and you become addicted to awareness...

That's what it is to watch yourself. No one can show you how to do it, because he would be giving you a technique, he would be programming you. But watch yourself.

Anthony de Mello in "Awareness" page 54

Change your life today

No description can ever describe the origin. The origin is nameless; the origin is absolutely quiet, it is not whirring about making noise. Creation is something that is most holy, that is the most sacred thing in life, and if you have made a mess of your life, change it. Change it today, not tomorrow. If you are uncertain, find out why and be certain. If your thinking is not straight, think straight, logically. Unless all that is prepared, all that is settled, you cannot enter into this world, into the world of creation.

J Krishnamurti in "The Last Talks" page 100

Focus on the big picture

If you're still thinking about a block you're experiencing, then you're only making it more powerful. Whatever the problem you think you have, working on it directly only diverts more of your energy into it. Try, instead, to focus on the big picture, and to establish yourself in a more productive pattern of living. If you pay attention to this pattern - the big picture - eventually all the blocks will fall away on their own.

Swami Chetanananda in "The Breath of God" page 201