Meditation, Music and Social Vision
This week one of the icons of folk music passed away. Mary Travers was a member of Peter, Paul and Mary and throughout her life she worked for various social causes. Her music many people and she will be sorely missed. However, the music lives on in recordings and in video. Here is one of her inspiring performances:
For the last few weeks I have been playing at “open microphone” sessions at various places in Brooklyn and Manhattan. One thing I am struck with as I travel around New York City is how much it has changed since I was last living there forty years ago.
In those days New York was a dangerous place and you couldn’t ride the subways late at night. I’ve been coming back from the open mic sessions at 12:00 midnight without problems and lots of people are out late enjoying themselves. The East Village (on Manhattan’s Lower East Side) is now a pleasant residential area and I enjoyed playing Banjo Jim’s on Avenue C and 9th Street this past Saturday. Avenue C and D just near the river used to be quite dangerous areas but now they are nice streets.
New York was always aninteresting place, but it is a lot more fun now and a pleasant place to be.
Another landmark that has changed for the better is Tomkins Square Park in the East Village. This is the park where the Hare Krishna movement began, but in the late 1960s it was a scruffy place. Once I met Abbie Hoffman (the revolutionary) in Tomkins Square Park. He was a visionary in a sense. He looked around at the park and insisted to me “This place is beautiful.” Well, in November 1968, it was definitely not beautiful. It was kind of bare and there was dog excrement everywhere, but he just closed his eyes and insisted that it was beautiful. I guess he was trying to be very positive and to bring about a new reality just by the power of his thought.
Well, if he were still living he would be happy to know that Tomkins Square Park is indeed a beautiful place these days with a great playground for kids and good landscaping. It looked beautiful in the snow this past Saturday and in the summer a lot of people like to sit in the sun.
I hope that all the other troubled spots on this planet will be healed in a similar way.
By Dada Vedaprajinananda
Someone who was practically unknown a few weeks ago has now become one of the most important political figures in the United States. That “someone” is of course Sarah Palin, the Governor of Alaska, who is now the Republican candidate for vice president. Palin’s candidacy has energized the Republican Party, especially heartening those on the right wing who adore her small-town lifestyle and social views, particularly her anti-abortion stand which is called “pro-life” in the U.S. But is Governor Palin truly pro-life, in the wider sense of the term. In my personal opinion, she fails to live up to this ideal. Continue reading
Today I was riding in one of New Delhi’s famous three wheeled autorickshaws.
The driver was a very good young man and said that he was working in this job due to family circumstances, but he had originally intended to study more and get a better job. He said that if he had a better job and more money then he could help society with social service.
Actually we can all do something regardless of our capacity. The charity of a beggar is in fact worth more than the charity of a rich person, because the beggar is making a greater sacrifice.
There is an incident in India’s epic tale, The Ramayana that illustrates this point well. In that story, the hero Rama had to build a bridge spanning a huge distance of ocean. Helping him were strong apes who carried boulders for the bridge’s construction. There was also a small squirrel who carried pebbles, out of love for Rama. The monkeys taunted the squirrel saying that his pebbles were useless. Rama intervened and said that the squirrel was working to his capacity and that his contribution was equally valuable.
Here is what my Guru, Shrii Shrii Anandamurti said about this:
“You know the story of the Rámáyańa. During construction of a bridge, the big monkeys carried large stones while the small squirrels brought only tiny grains of sand. Is there any difference between the carrying of tiny grains of sand by the squirrels on the one hand and the carrying of a whole mountain by Hanumán on the other? Both are equally valuable. You may be a small entity like a squirrel, but your existence is in no way insignificant.”
So help others according to your capacity and don’t worry if you are not rich enough to be a famous philanthropist. Your heartfelt help made according to your own capacity is as good as a gift of one billion dollars.
The essence of “social yoga” is to create a society in which all people share the bounty of the universe together and live like brothers and sisters. This is what the ancient Rg Veda hymn, Samgachadvam, says.
My guru, Shrii Shrii Anandamurti once said:
“What is society like? It is like a group of people going on a pilgrimage. Try to imagine the scene! Suppose one of the pilgrims is struck down by cholera. Will the rest of them continue on their way, leaving the sick man behind? No, that would be inconceivable for them. Rather, they will break their journey for a day or two, and cure him of his disease. If he is still too weak to walk they will carry him on their shoulders. If some people run short of food, others share what they have with them. Together they share their possessions, and together they march ahead, singing in unison.”
Recently someone sent me an email with a story that captures the essence of a society moving together, with no one neglected. Here it is
Eight Children were standing on the track to participate in the running event.
* Ready! * Steady! * Bang !!!
With the sound of the Toy pistol, all eight girls started running.
Hardly had they covered ten to fifteen steps, when one of the smaller girls slipped and fell down, and she started crying.
When the other seven girls heard this sound, they stopped running, stood for awhile and turned back, they all ran back to the spot where the girl had fallenl down.
One among them bent, picked and kissed the girl gently and said – `Now the pain must have reduced’ . All seven girls lifted the fallen girl, pacified her, two of them held the girl firmly and all seven joined hands and walked together to the winning post.
Officials were shocked . Applause of thousands of spectators filled the stadium.
Many eyes were filled with tears!
YES.
This happened in Hyderabad [INDIA], recently!
The meet was conducted by National Institute of Mental Health. All these special girls had come to participate in this event and they are spastic children.
Yes, they were supposed to be mentally Challenged.
What did they teach this world?
Teamwork??
Humanity??
Equality among all ??
Most of all – LOVE and COMPASSION
Successful people help others who are slow in learning so that they are not left far behind. This is really a great message…spread it!
We can’t do this ever because we are not mentally challenged and claim to teach and help the mentally so called challenged.!
HAVE YOU NOTICED HOW BLIND PEOPLE SMILE ALL THE TIME?
STOP ANY SORT OF MARGINALISATION IN SOCIETY.
Love and Compassion FOR ALL !!!
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