By Reza Ganjavi
Walking in the evening with the guitar by the magnificent river – full of water, motion, eruptions, uncertainty, and ever-changing – suddenly a fragrant tree grabbed the entire being and punched it with an incredible perfume. A stunning surprise that there are still fragrant trees despite what humanity has done to nature! The sweetness made one naturally drunk and blessed every cell with joy and beauty.
CRAZY WORLD
I have no interest in reading catastrophic news stories, or those that portray human stupidity which is the bulk of so-called news items. There is abundance of stupidity in the world, and a desperate shortage of love in those beings who are over-dominated by things of the mind, divisive thinking, impure heart, hatred, fanaticism, viciousness, complexes, cravings, greed, and so on and on.
NEWS: BRITAIN; NATURE
Today, news stories are dominated by two subjects: Britain exiting the EU, which ruined world markets, the resignation of Cameron whom I never liked or trusted but I don’t trust any British politician. And the other story is about Mother Nature being sick. It’s indeed sickening how some people in power, and their blind followers, deny Climate Change. It’s all around us – extremes like never before. A new study shows a large number of people will die in New York due to warming in the decades to come. It’s no joke. There’s been several out-of-control fires in California. Many people died in New Delhi this week due to climate effect. People died in Europe a couple of weeks ago from unusual storms. It hailed in Zurich as though it’s Johannesburg – never seen such huge pieces of hail here. Tehran used to get meters of snow – these years it hardly even snows. And money-worshipping cunning animals have their propaganda machine convincing ignorant people that climate change is a hoax.
LOVE
As Persians say, the world is two days. The body itself is a gift, a blessing, and extremely temporary in the grand scope of things: like a blink. It is to be cherished and cared after. Goodness and gifts should not be forsaken.
Love embraces everything, it’s the essence of everything. The girl with one eye to the side made the heart soften – treating her like her eye was not an issue was compassion, and love ruled. Had deep talks at lunch with a friend who is stuck on her ex-boyfriend. Very Germanic way of looking at the world: wanting it to be your way, and if it’s not, getting stuck on it. 23, he doesn’t want to have a baby – she’s 32 and wants his baby and is depressed. Lots got revealed. Freedom is a blink away. Can only cover so much in course of an hour but it had its effect.
Mantra singing in general is boring for me when the same phrase goes on and on – it’s supposed to mesmerize the mind, give it some kind of a spiritual orgasm -- but it doesn’t bring fundamental change, freedom. I find repetition boring; it’s dulling in the long term, the quietness it brings is artificial, and it does not solve any problem.
Some do yoga to try to open the heart. I don’t get it. If the heart is not open you seek to understand and it liberates from obstacles. Look at a small child and there’s love. A man was fanning his baby while the baby was under the sun instead of moving to a shady area. A woman on the bus loved it when I chatted with her tiny baby. Babies always respond – they’re not so stuffed and complicated as some adults. It was the first time the baby was riding the bus in her life!
Love embraces everything. The brain is naturally quiet. Music had washed it clean, and art of seeing, art of meditation throughout the day when everything is seen – not just the outer but also the inner, as one goes through the day.
She meditates every morning but is caught in psychological image-making.
In the Kirtan the lady said chanting the name of Ram brings courage. Courage comes from removing fear by seeing it. Chanting Ram or anything brings no more courage than brushing one’s teeth makes the hair grow!
Roots of fear need to be seen and understood and it gets uprooted.
There’s severe shortage of love in the world. Without love, technological advances do us no good. Love cannot be defined – we can try – but we can define what love is not, and by removing the hindrances the gem shines.
A quiet mind, approaching the train, everything, and everyone was a part of that love, embraced by it, the wise and the fool, the drunk and the businessman. Love is the essence, the source, and a mind-heart which is naturally in a background of quietness, is aware of it.