The London 2012 Olympics was a special time. There was so much good energy and positive feeling across the country. I attended the mens Olympic road race and felt a unique atmosphere amongst the crowds watching by the side of the road. After watching the road race, I went to this ceremony at University College London. The ceremony involved unveiling a bronze sculpture of Sri Chinmoy holding an Olympic style peace torch. Tegla Laroupe said:

“This statue embodies the same spirit of oneness, brotherhood and friendship which has infused the origins and traditions of the Olympics, both ancient and modern, and which to this day gives the Games their unique appeal,”

I have written an article on the inner significance of the Olympics at Sri Chinmoy Races.

• The inner significance of the Olympics – at Sri Chinmoy Races

Related

• One night in 2012 – review of BBC documentary on Olympic opening ceremony of 2012.

A Moments Peace

• Photos of a Moment’s Peace by Ashish Zubaty at the Sri Chinmoy Centre Gallery
• World Peace Dreamer Statue unveiled at AIPS
• A Moments Peace at Sri Chinmoy Centre News
• A Moments Peace at Sumangali.org

For me the ideal political climate is one where there is calm, and respect for people of different nationalities, race and political views. I also hope the nation will aspire to the ideal of unity in diversity. The UK is melting pot of different nations, cultures and nationalities. Understanding that, despite these differences, there is more that unites than separates is very important for creating a society where everyone feels welcomed.

The nature of a yes / no political referendum is that it can polarise opinion. Families can find themselves on opposing sides, minority groups feel less welcome, even threatened. There is a split along the grounds of age, region and education. In a period of turmoil, there is always a fear of what may happen and it becomes easier to be very pessimistic and start blaming someone else.

Whatever happens, it is important to remember these universal values of calm, dignity, tolerance and remember we need to treat others how we would like to be treated ourselves. Pessimism and blaming others for our woes only takes us so far. A more constructive approach is to feel what we can do to live and promote the basic values of human goodness, tolerance and empathy.

I work as an economist so I have certain viewpoints on the EU referendum, but I try to avoid projecting motives and negative assumptions on those who take a different view.

If all else fails, avoid the topic. I think it’s still safe to talk to anyone about the weather…

Of course, what the UK really needs amid this chaos and potential disintegration is some sporting achievement to unite the nation in a feel good sporting triumph – like going all the way to the finals of the European football Championships.

Failing that, we should take comfort from that reassuring familiarity of another humiliating failure and under-perfomance at a major championships – if that sense of shared suffering, despondency and gallows humour cannot unite the nation, I don’t know what will.

• Iceland 2 – Poundland 1

No matter what happens, it’s always worth remembering things have been a lot worse in the past, and they could be a lot worse now. The human spirit is generally resourceful and difficult times come and go.

—

A quote from Sri Chinmoy

“Everything in life is a choice.”

– Sri Chinmoy

For a few reasons, I’ve moved my ‘self-improvement‘ blog to a new address. It a blog based on the personal experience of moving through life and trying to work out a slightly better ways of living. The latest post is dealing with personal difficulties or more accurately ‘how to deal with that annoying work colleague’.

Photo top: Bolton Abbey Bridge April 30, 2016.

Last week, I got back to the car park to find a notice on my windscreen. “Sorry I might have hit your car, if there is any problem, let us know. It included someone’s name and phone number”. I didn’t worry too much; over the years, my car has picked up quite a few scratches and dents. It has been a great car – 120,000 miles and is well loved, but these days, I’m not overly attached to perfect paintwork.

I appreciated the honesty and thought about texting the person back, but I was too busy. This week I arrived and a young women in Buddhist robes was sitting in her car, as if meditating. I parked, and meditated myself for a minute before getting the stuff out of the car. When she saw me, she got out of her car and mentioned she was worried she had hit my car the previous week. I smiled and told her not to worry! I already have enough dents, a few more won’t make any difference! She looked relieved to see a fellow person had non-attachment to their car paintwork.

I really appreciated her sincerity and honesty to, even a week later, enquire whether she had caused any damage. I also got a lot of joy from non-attachment, I was happy to be able to say – “Don’t worry” and put the theory of non-attachment into practise. In one sense it was a brief, perhaps insignificant moment, but it was interesting to see the joy from non-attachment – rather than attachment to perfection in paintwork. I didn’t say outwardly, but I aspire to the Lord Buddha’s supreme philosophy of non-attachment, and in this case I did get a practical joy from non-attachment to perfection in my car paintwork.

Admittedly, it was easy to do with my old battered car, perhaps I would have worried more about a bicycle.

Perhaps more importantly, it also nice to know there are honest, sincere people in this world.

Karma

The other thing I am aware of is that a few years ago, I was parking my car for a meditation class. I was a bit late and as a consequence rushing a bit (I needed a meditation probably). When parking, I scrapped the car of a fellow friend in the Oxford Sri Chinmoy Centre. Despite a bit of a scrape, they were completely detached and forgiving about this unfortunate experience, which was a relief. So a few years later, and it is good to complete the karmic circle!

New car

Soon I will be getting a new car, I will try my best to take care when driving and avoid any dents. But, also I hope I never become overly attached to material objects. I prefer the philosophy of Lord Buddha.

“The root of suffering is attachment”

– Lord Buddha

“When we have peace of mind,
Attachment after attachment
Disappears from us.”

Sri Chinmoy (source)

Related

• Article on non-attachment and happiness

Sometimes you go through life and at a certain point – you start to notice something, that had always been there, but for some reason you never paid any attention to.

There are many things all around us, that can easily pass us by – but then something subtly changes, and we start to appreciate it. There have been many things, from classical music to  meditation and aspects of nature, that for a long time I didn’t recognise, but at a certain point, you develop an appreciation for, and then you wonder why you never noticed before.

Winter

Winter is always that quiet cold few months, where you impatiently wait for flowers to bloom and trees to come into leaf. Winter in the UK can be on the dismal side – grey skies, wet and windy. There is always part of you wishing the winter away.

However, there is a different kind of beauty in winter. Usually, when I’m cycling, I have my head down, training hard – trying to keep the average speed up. But, sometimes I take it easier and have the relaxation to look at the scenery. In winter it can be quite bleak, but this winter, I have become fascinated at the simple beauty of bare trees illuminated against the sky. It is not the abundance of spring or summer, but it has its own beauty of nature’s contrasts.

Rather than wishing away winter, when cycling around, I’ve taken a keen interest in looking for the bare shadows of trees. Rather than complaining at the barrenness of a Cotswolds winter, I have enjoyed ‘tree spotting’ – looking for the variation of shadows, shapes and complexities of the twisting branches, which, despite all nature’s twists and turns, still manage to come together to create that wonderful dome. A silhouette of avant-garde branches, creating the perfect geometry of the trees shape and crown.

Other photos of trees in winter

Oxford Botanic Gardens, March 1, 2016

Oxford Botanic Gardens, March 1, 2016.

Christ Church Meadow, March 1, 2016

Christ Church Meadow.

Christ Church Meadow, March 1, 2016

Christ Church Meadow, 2015.

Magdalen, Jan, 2016

Christ Church Meadow, 2014.

Christ Church

Yorkshire Dales.

A frosty garden.

Related

• Tall trees

The first day, I went back, as soon as I entered the church, a lady brought her grandchild in and showed her around the church. It was sweet to hear the lady explain about the church with this simplicity of speaking to a child. “That is Jesus and Mary in the window”. It felt as perfect a sermon as I ever remember hearing. I could have been disappointed that the magical silence of the previous day was not recreated, but this was a different type of newness. Also, when I think of the Christ, it is hard not to forget his message – “Be like a child to enter the Kingdom of Heaven”. The innocence of a child can be a good counterpoint to the seriousness of adults.

Expectation is always a problem in spirituality. If the glass is full with expectation, those new experiences can’t come. You can never know what comes next. If you can avoid expectation, you keep the glass empty, ready to be filled.

The second day I tried again, three minutes after entering, a man who had been smoking cannabis outside came into ask if there were any facilities he could use.

I guess, no mystical experience today.

It reminds me of a Zen proverb – “Enlightenment, then sweep the floor”. Or as Sri Chinmoy might say, you can eat the tastiest food everyday! [1]

***
New writing inspiration

The other thing is whilst meditating in the church I felt a new writing inspiration; it felt like a different writing voice – a rather unexpected discovery. That evening I felt compelled to write on paper (for the first time in years); it flowed very easily and naturally. Encouraged by this I became inspired to buy a new pen and paper. But, recreating this writing inspiration has been much more difficult than just buying a fancy pen. The same spontaneous inspiration has not re-visited, instead I have been slipping into bad poetry, trying to force something new – caught between two worlds and two writing voices – not entirely sure which track to take. In the end it was a relief to go back to writing on the problems of the UK economy – slipping into that metronomic, monotonous style of an economist, that I could almost manage in my sleep.
Still it is definitely an interesting experience, and as a friend said, you may get the odd ‘easy’ experience, but then you have to work hard to keep the inspiration coming. You can’t always expect a spontaneous flow. It is an analogy for meditation; sometimes, you have a good meditation with seeming little effort, but that good meditation may require many days of patient effort, without any obvious results at all.

As an aspiring writer you need to find a ‘voice’ that is genuine and authentic – you can’t try to be someone else that you are not. But, equally, you can’t expect to get better without some discipline and hard work.

This below is a piece of writing I tried, but don’t really like. There are a few good lines,  but it would require endless revision to make more palatable. I wouldn’t post in a publication where there are more than seven readers. But, still I’m going to post it here for personal interest. Hopefully, in ten years time I will look back and be embarrassed at the standard of my own writing.

The bird of inspiration

I like to write. Mostly it feels like my effort, but under my control – rational, logical – the economist in full flow. But I admire the poets – effortlessly subtle, nuanced glimpses of the Beyond. I can grow tired of a reasoned clarity, and yearn for a new freedom of expression.

This new bird of inspiration can strike at unexpected times – no logic to her grace, no will can summon her down. Sitting at my shrine, I wait to be swept away. But the body falls asleep. Stark reality amidst dreams of the Beyond.

What is the magic touch which puts you in tune?

Losing focus, I stare at the wall; by chance my eyes fall on the soul-birds of a supreme artist. These birds are inspiration-manifested and free – what need is there to create, when the heart tingles with delight?

But it is not for vanity I wish to write, it is the excitement of the chase – the barriers between worlds as thin as an iota of grace.

It is all there, it is all done, claim the yogi’s and seers. Open your heart and Eye to see the world within, they say.

Frustratingly close, though, this world of inspiration; tantalising and elusive, I wish it was so near.

How to express the inexpressible? How to capture the joy of the spirit? The little “I” cannot achieve. It is by necessity a voyage into the unknown, relying on faith. No longer my ability, but someone else’s rhythm, someone else’s game. God’s Vision, God’s toy, but will He wish to use me?

Footnotes

Soul-birds by Sri Chinmoy

The chill bites through a thin winter’s jacket, so I walk at a quicker pace up the hill. Still, a rather aimless march – just a break for blurry eyes and cramped legs.

I contemplate the local church on the hill. The sombre graveyard, the memories of a young child – sitting in a service I didn’t understand, counting off hymns, thinking of football. I’m not so comfortable with the glare of gravestones, but the church still pulls me in. What do you find in a church these days?

Tentatively, I push on the door; it is unlocked, rare faith in a modern world of distrust and security concern. Squeezing into the nearest pew, I feel energised by the silence and peace. I dare not turn on the electric lights, but a solitary candle illuminates the darkening church, only the setting winter sun squinting through stained glass windows adding to the flickering light.

I’m not used to the dark, but the flickering candle burns brighter in the void. An object of focus, an unplanned meditation on the light. I remember a wise saying “The galaxy of stars and the darkest night are inseparably one.”

A few thoughts strive for attention. Am I really alone? It is very nice, but please don’t lock me in all night. Any thoughts of past boredom soon flicker away. Since 30 years past, I have learned devotion to the Christ – the Son of God, the Light of the World. This is His House waiting to be called.

I silently invoke my Guru and the Christ. To me, two brothers of the Spirit. I know they will listen to our prayers.

The silence of the stones is solid, immovable and vast. Distant visions of a monastery and endless hours of prayer. Yet, the silence pushes me to sing. I stumble through half-remembered songs my Guru composed about the Christ. Alone and isolate, I’m half worried of being caught in the act – praying, meditating and singing the tongue of Bengal.

But, from a quiet whisper, I gain a confidence and joy. The acoustics of the church magnifying my own voice. I was never good enough to be in a choir, but now I  imagine I’m singing to invisible angels.

I can hardly believe my luck. A sacred space, free and open. Today, all to myself.

So many years have passed, but now I appreciate my village church like never before.

Thank you God and the person who lit the candle in the dark.

I slip out as quietly as I came in. That was good for the soul.

~

Tejvan 9 December, 2015

Audio recording

• A visit to a local church (click to listen)

Footnotes

• St John’s Parish Church Menston – website

• Songs about Christ – at Radio Sri Chinmoy

There is only one sentence
In God’s entire Autobiography:
“The galaxy of stars
And the darkest night
Are inseparably one.”

– Sri Chinmoy [1]

How long could he continue his abuse? After a while he stopped and was about to leave the place. But the Buddha said, “Just wait, please. I have something to ask you. Tell me, when you offer gifts to a person, if he does not accept your gifts, what do you do?

“I just take them back.”

The Buddha said, “Well, you have been trying to offer me the gifts that you brought with you. Since I have not accepted your gifts, you are taking them back with you.”

The man felt sad and ashamed of his conduct. He begged forgiveness of the Buddha. The Buddha forgave him and eventually he became a close disciple of the Buddha.

– Story from AUM Magazine, January 1974. Originally written by Mano Ranjan Ghose. Translated from the original Bengali by his younger brother, Sri Chinmoy.

Comment

There is a saying kindness is its own reward. Hatred is its own punishment. Also, whatever you give out, comes back to you like a boomerang. In this story, the Buddha’s silence illumines the person filled with anger.

Vivekananda would give lectures on spirituality to spread his message of Vedanta. At the end of one particular lecture, Vivekananda went up to a stranger in the audience and politely asked if he could stay with him.

The audience member (M. Jules Bois) was both honoured and surprised. He replied to Swamiji that he would be greatly honoured, but he was a poor writer , and he could offer him only very basic accommodation. Vivekananda replied I am a renunciant, and am ready to sleep on the floor – which reminds me of this story of Vivekananda at Sri Chinmoy Library “The Sannyasin in America“.

This French writer had the joy of two weeks with Vivekananda staying in his apartment. He was in Heaven – being able to talk in the evenings and see Vivekananda meditate. Vivekananda later told him, he recognised him in the audience as being an old friend from a previous incarnation, and knew they would get on very well – which was very true.

A letter from Vivekananda whilst in Paris

6 PLACE DES ETATS UNIS, PARIS,
October, 1900.
MY DEAR MADEMOISELLE,
“I have been very happy and content here. I am having the best of times after many years. I find life here with Mr. Bois very satisfactory — the books, the calm, and the absence of everything that usually troubles me.” (1)

***

Sometimes, we feel affinity with certain people, but I can’t say I would have the confidence to go alone to a foreign city and hope to meet someone in the audience that I would have full confidence to invite myself into their home.

They say in some parts of Tibet, you can borrow money from incarnation to incarnation. I’ll borrow from you and pay it back in a future life. So you might get people coming up to you to ask – “Do you remember that £2,000 I lent you in a previous incarnation?

I tried this once with a friend, but funnily enough he seemed to remember it the other way around!

***

This was inspired by a post Mahirhua mentioned about Sri Chinmoy competing at the Master’s Games in Puerto Rico, where he competed and met different athletes.

Many years ago I watched a film ‘The Song of Bernadette’ – it was a captivating story, which made me research a little more. Reading first hand accounts, and the words of Bernadette Soubirous herself gave a much deeper insight into the events that took place over 150 years ago.The film was somewhat liberal with the truth, and (in my view) overly sentimental. Still it was interesting to see a spiritual story told in a certain way, but later realise there is a  greater spiritual depth to be discovered.

I’m not quite sure why I was so captivated by the image of a 14 year old peasant girl receiving an apparition of a ‘beautiful lady’ To the rational mind, it is the stuff of fanciful visions. Needless to say, when it fist happened, the dignitaries of the day were rather aghast that their town Lourdes was suddenly over-run with ‘miracle-mongers’, hoping to see something out of this world in their small provincial back-water. The authorities were very confident they would be able to expose the uneducated and rather simple peasant girl as a fraud. Yet, under cross-examination, deliberately designed to trip her up, Bernadette retained a directness, simplicity and radiated honesty. Because of her dignity and humility, doubters began to consider the possibility she really was telling the truth and perhaps there was a divine touch to these unusual happenings. News of these happenings spread far and wide, and within a very short time, the town of Lourdes had been transformed into the one of the world’s most visited holy sites.

Inspired by the life of a modern day saint, I had a desire to visit Lourdes; not so much for the supposed healing qualities of the Lourdes water, but because of this inspiring story of a divine vision by the grotto of Massabielle. Another thing which gave confidence to my own understanding, was to come across a book by Sri Chinmoy where he writes briefly about Christian saints. Sri Chinmoy wrote of Bernadette Soubirous [1].

“When she grew up, the young girl became a nun. She was humility incarnate. Simplicity, sincerity and humility everybody appreciated in her.”

But I never got round to visiting Lourdes, I was too busy elsewhere.

Still, every now and then Lourdes would come back into my mind – not least when the Tour de France sped through the city of Lourdes on the way to the giant Pyrenean climbs like the Col du Tourmalet – this was a part of the world, I had double reason to visit.

***

When a French joy weekend was organised for this part of the world, I was happy to have three reasons to visit for the price of one.

Firstly, we visited Lourdes on Friday in the pouring rain. I didn’t think too much what to expect of the town. But, I felt an inner peace, and an empathy with many spiritual pilgrims who, although following different religions, still share many spiritual aspirations. It was quite moving to see so many people come for some form of spiritual sustenance. Also, such a giant outer church and people from all over the world – all inspired by the visions and humility of a 14 year old peasant girl.

***

Lourdes was good, but I have to confess cycling up the Col du Tourmalet was even better! I spend a lot of time cycling up hills. But, in the UK we have nothing like this – 20km roads of constant uphill. At the bottom of the Pyrenees, I was like an excited child, looking forward to Christmas. Finally, after 38 years, I had the the chance to cycle up the Tour de France mountains I’ve seen and read about so often.

My enthusiasm was slightly diminished by the fact that it had snowed the previous day and the road was closed – so only the lower slopes would be open.

To coincide with the joy weekend, the Sri Chinmoy Oneness-Home Peace Run were also there and they had decided to run up the Tourmalet too. I didn’t really plan it, but 5km from the summit I met this group of intrepid runners, climbing through the foggy peaks. To be honest, in this kind of weather, I was rather relieved to meet some fellow travellers – on a bad day, the weather in the Pyrenees is variable, menacing and challenging in equal measure.

By fortuitous timing, we arrived near the peak, just as some special French gendarmes opened the road. It was an unexpected boost allowing us to climb all the way to the top of the 2,100m summit. See also Col du Tormalet at Sri Chinmoy Races.

It just happened to be one of those magic moments, where the sun broke through the menacing dark clouds. It felt like you could be in heaven, with clouds sitting beneath your feet. It was a joyous moment of good fortune – with all the planets aligning. It really meant a lot to climb the Col du Tourmalet and to be able to share it with the spirit of the Peace Run, and a British French joy weekend too.