Heart

A poem by Edgar A.Guest

2009-12-16T07:47:13Z

WHEN YOU KNOW A FELLOW

When you get to know a fellow, know his joys
and know his cares,
When you've come to understand him and the
burdens that he bears,
When you've learned the fight he's making and
the troubles in his way,
Then you find that he is different than you
thought him yesterday.
You find his faults are trivial and there's not so
much to blame
In the brother that you jeered at when you only
knew his name.

You are quick to see the blemish in the distant
neighbor's style,
You can point to all his errors and may sneer
at him the while,
And your prejudices fatten and your hates
more violent grow
As you talk about the failures of the man you
do not know,
But when drawn a little closer, and your hands
and shoulders touch,
You find the traits you hated really don't
amount to much.

When you get to know a fellow, know his every
mood and whim,
You begin to find the texture of the splendid
side of him;
You begin to understand him, and you cease to
scoff and sneer,
For with understanding always prejudices dis-
appear.
You begin to find his virtues and his faults you
cease to tell,
For you seldom hate a fellow when you know
him very well.

When next you start in sneering and your
phrases turn to blame,
Know more of him you censure than his business
and his name;
For it's likely that acquaintance would your
prejudice dispel
And you'd really come to like him if you
knew him very well.
When you get to know a fellow and you under-
stand his ways,
Then his faults won't really matter, for you'll
find a lot to praise.
Ref: http://emotional-literacy-education.com/classic-books-online-a/olivn10.htm

Rumi

2009-12-09T11:29:56Z

Credit: dailyrumi

The world is full of remedies,
but you have no remedies until God
opens a window for you.
Though you are unaware of that remedy now,
God will make it clear
in the hour of need.

Indian Classical music - Annamacharya

2009-10-07T08:55:55Z

Mugugare Yashoda - A Keerthana(song) by Annamacharya(15th century Saint from South India) - song resung by Priya Sisters

Translation I found from someone's text in U tube:

Lord Venkateshwara is compared with precious gems in the form of Krishn avatar Leelas(actions) .Mother Yasoda is kissing the child Krishna (muDugare yasODa) and he is submerged in her kisses like in a tub of pearls (mungidi muTyamu). Like a ruby (mAnikyam) he is shining and for kamsa the demon he is strong as a diamond(Vajram). His consort Rugmini's lips are like Coral (pagadam). When he is Govarda Giridhari(lifting the mountain Govardhana), he is like gOdEDiga (a brown stone).

He is wearing vaidUryam (another precious stone) in between his sanku(conch) and chakra(wheel). When he is dancing on the head of kAlinga, the serpant king, he glows like pushyaraga (yellow sapphire) and when he is Lord Venkateshwara, he is like indra nIlam (blue sapphire). On the whole he is like all the precious gem stones, always helping the devotees.

Famous

2009-09-27T15:02:17Z

A poem I came across on a new group I am watching lightyourcourse

Famous

The river is famous to the fish.

The loud voice is famous to silence,
which knew it would inherit the earth
before anybody said so.

The cat sleeping on the fence is famous to the birds
watching him from the birdhouse.

The tear is famous, briefly, to the cheek.

The idea you carry close your bosom
is famous to your bosom.

The boot is famous to the earth,
more famous than the dress shoe,
which is famous only to floors.

The bent photograph is famous to the one who carries it
and is not at all famous to the one who is pictured.

I want to be famous to shuffling men
who smile while crossing streets,
sticky children in grocery lines,
famous as the one who smiled back.

I want to be famous in the way a pulley is famous,
or a buttonhole, not because it did anything spectacular,
but because it never forgot what it could do.

By Naomi Shibab Nye

Being beauty

2009-09-16T06:16:28Z

Oh, my heart is choking with such fullness of beauty today...

The other day I read this beautiful passage of commentary when I was reading Tao Te Ching. Usually I dont read commentary at all but my eyes fell on it and I want to share:

"If beauty will no longer be separable from life, then we may expect that, eventually, there will no longer be concert halls and museums, since the music and art of life will be inherent in all the sounds, movements and patterns of ordinary life, and will be expressed by everyone of us, not just a specialist who creates beauty for us such as the professional musician and artist. We can imagine that some day every mode of communication with each other might be spontaneously musical and poetic, every object we create - a visual delight, all expressing the integral and actualizing character of life.

Similarly, in the distant future, we may not have need for churches, temples, and mosques since life itself may become spiritual in all its forms, activities and expressions. Compensatory religion may become as anachronistic as making our home in a cave. Clearly, when spirituality universally permeates life, the separate expression of particular secatrian religions may become only historical relics from an unholy past."

- Page 168, Tao Te Ching, Commentary by Ralph Alan Dale

Amen to that.