A repost from 2012:
This past week, I reread the Bhagavad Gita (translated by Eknath Easwaran) and The Upanishads (translated by Swami Prabhavananda). I first read these important works in 1963. These classic spiritual texts from India, written down in Sanskrit between 1200 and 400 BCE, are essential reading for Yogis.
In many ways, realizing Brahman depends upon good actions and selfless service (Karma yoga), concentration and meditation, study of scriptures (Jhana yoga), heartfelt love and devotion (Bhakti yoga), guidance from a worthy and wise teacher (Guru), the healthy development of the body and calmness and evenness of mind (Hatha yoga), worship and rituals, faith, and to some extent, and a bit of luck or Grace.
"Now the secret is that the other eventually turns out to be you. The element of surprise in life is when suddenly you find the thing most alien turns out to be yourself. Go out at night and look at the stars and realize that they are millions and billions of miles away, vast conflagrations far out in space. You can lie back and look at that and say, "Well, surely I hardly matter. I am just a tiny little speck aboard this weird spotted bit of dust called earth, and all that was going on out there billions of years before I was born and will still be going on out there billions of years after I die." Nothing seems stranger to you that that, or more different from you, yet there comes a point, if you watch long enough, when you will say, "Why that's me!" It is the other that is the condition of your being yourself, as the back is the condition of being the front, and when you know that, you know you never die."
- Alan Watts, Swimming Headless, 1966
I first heard Alan Watts speak at California State University at Los Angeles in 1966. I had read The Way of Zen and Beat Zen and Square Zen while in high school in 1962. I was also well versed in the books on Zen, Buddhism, and Japanese culture by Professor D. T. Suzuki. Mr. Watts was a charming and engaging public speaker. He made us laugh and he made us think.
In 1966, I was then an undergraduate majoring in Philosophy at CSULA, and working 30 hours per week at the City of Commerce Public Library. Since then, I've read all of the books by Alan Watts, and have listened to audiotapes of his lectures and radio broadcasts. He was definitely an intellectual and lifestyle influence in my life.
- Alan Watts, Swimming Headless, 1966
I first heard Alan Watts speak at California State University at Los Angeles in 1966. I had read The Way of Zen and Beat Zen and Square Zen while in high school in 1962. I was also well versed in the books on Zen, Buddhism, and Japanese culture by Professor D. T. Suzuki. Mr. Watts was a charming and engaging public speaker. He made us laugh and he made us think.
In 1966, I was then an undergraduate majoring in Philosophy at CSULA, and working 30 hours per week at the City of Commerce Public Library. Since then, I've read all of the books by Alan Watts, and have listened to audiotapes of his lectures and radio broadcasts. He was definitely an intellectual and lifestyle influence in my life.
For me, the "realization" or "surprise" comes while gazing at our garden, working and tending our garden, thinking about gardening, and eating from our garden. Within these experiences are myriad levels of meaning and complexity: ordinary human level, metaphorical, imaginative, microscopic, molecular, atomic, subatomic ... This spot of earth where I live has been here for millions of years and will continue long after I die. We animals and plants come and go, interdependent, interrelated, inter-being, a changing manifestation of the Here-Now, a snapshot of the divine realm.
This peach, these peppers,
These grapes, these tomatoes
Will all soon become me.
Such a tasty fact.
I am That and That is Me.
Bless the gardens!
Bless the gardeners!
Bless the kitchens!
Bless the cooks!
Bless the food!
- Mike Garofalo, Pulling Onions
These grapes, these tomatoes
Will all soon become me.
Such a tasty fact.
I am That and That is Me.
Bless the gardens!
Bless the gardeners!
Bless the kitchens!
Bless the cooks!
Bless the food!
- Mike Garofalo, Pulling Onions
"Out of Brahman, who is the Self, came ether; out of ether, air; out of air, fire; out of fire, water; out of water, earth; out of earth, vegetation; out of vegetation, food; out of food, the body of man. The body of man, composed of the essence of food, is the physical sheath of the Self. From food are born all creatures, which live upon food and after death return to food. Food is the chief of all things. It is therefore said to be the medicine of all diseases of the the body. Those who worship food as Brahman gain all material objects. From food are born all beings which, being born, grow by food. All beings feed upon foot, and, when they die, food feeds upon them."
- Taittiriya Upanishad, p.59
"The sages of the Upanishads teach that Brahman is the ultimate essence of material phenomena (including the original identity of the human self) that cannot be seen or heard but whose nature can be known through the development of self-knowledge (atma jana). According to Advaita, a liberated human being (jivanmukta) has realised Brahman as his or her own true self (see atman)." - Brahman
- Taittiriya Upanishad, p.59
"The sages of the Upanishads teach that Brahman is the ultimate essence of material phenomena (including the original identity of the human self) that cannot be seen or heard but whose nature can be known through the development of self-knowledge (atma jana). According to Advaita, a liberated human being (jivanmukta) has realised Brahman as his or her own true self (see atman)." - Brahman
Peach trees and peaches have a special place in my heart. I carefully tend the peach trees in our orchard, but a bountiful crop is often just a gift, grace, luck.
"In China, the peach was said to be consumed by the immortals due to its mystic virtue of conferring longevity on all who ate them. The divinity Yu Huang, also called the Jade Emperor, and his mother called Xi Wangmu also known as Queen Mother of the West, ensured the gods' everlasting existence by feeding them the peaches of immortality. The immortals residing in the palace of Xi Wangmu were said to celebrate an extravagant banquet called the Pantao Hui or "The Feast of Peaches". The immortals waited six thousand years before gathering for this magnificent feast; the peach tree put forth leaves once every thousand years and it required another three thousand years for the fruit to ripen. Ivory statues depicting Xi Wangmu's attendants often held three peaches. The peach often plays an important part in Chinese tradition and is symbolic of long life. One example is in the peach-gathering story of Zhang Daoling, who many say is the true founder of Taoism. Elder Zhang Guo, one of the Chinese Eight Immortals, is often depicted carrying a Peach of Immortality." - Wikipedia
Peaches are native to China and introduced to Persia via the Silk Road before Christian times.
Xi Wang Mu, Queen Mother of the West, keeps the Immortals fed with the Sacred Peaches. "No one knows Her beginning, no one knows Her end."
Ripening Peaches: Taoist Studies and Practices
Peaches are native to China and introduced to Persia via the Silk Road before Christian times.
Xi Wang Mu, Queen Mother of the West, keeps the Immortals fed with the Sacred Peaches. "No one knows Her beginning, no one knows Her end."
Ripening Peaches: Taoist Studies and Practices
Xi Wangmu, Braham, the Divine, the Supreme Universal Spirit, the Unmanifested and Manifested, the Absolute, the Everlasting, the Shining, Everything, Food for Life, God ...
AUM, OM ... Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.
Such a tasty peach!!
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