Advent Calendar:Sat 5 and Sun 6 Dec 09-Trees and Elephants for Christmas!

This week on Meady's Musings Production's Advent Calendar we gave the gift of trees and elephants. So as we relax on the weekend let's have some music! Join us dancing and singing to some of our odes to trees and elephants for our Christmas fun! :)

Advent Calendar: 4 Dec 09-The Gift that are Elephants!

Copyright Meady's Musings Production

Today on the Advent calendar we will be celebrating (yes, you got that right)…elephants! Of course my purple elephant has been calling up his elephant friends world wide to come read the story on The Purple Elephant’s Advent calendar here so the elephant world is all abuzz! You see my purple elephant is a dear friend and a few lunches ago earlier this week I was aghast to hear someone say that at some resort they had elephant meat!

I felt a big blow in the stomach for my purple elephant …I have to tell you….I explained about how elephants have feelings…they are very sentient beings (I mean just look at my purple elephant if you don’t believe me) and I had read once in National Geographic that they have funeral rites and rituals and stuff and scientist believe they mourn and grieve for their dead. The individual more went on about how elephants are attacking! Well of course they are wouldn’t you defend your home and family if people came to kill you!? My purple elephant has had many a pink, green and grey elephant cousin killed!

Why if it’s OK to eat elephants well what’s the biggy with eating people too…I mean elephants are really sensitive creatures…I was pretty irritated that the individual then went on to claim elephants have small brains compared to their size when well they had no scientific evidence to back it up…in fact I understand elephants are quite smart...but apart from my personal relationship with my lovely purple elephant here are some scientific facts out there…

Read what Marc Bekoff, a professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado in Boulder has to say in his commentary Do Elephants Cry? By clicking on this link here.

Now I know this is an Advent calendar and my objective of it is to bring fun, comfort and joy. So I’m not going to go on about the gory details of the pain that my purple elephant and his relatives can be subjected to…instead I’m going to celebrate the purple elephant and his kind…it is what the purple elephant wants too…he really just wants to live in peace and harmony with other beings in the universe…and for his family it’s Christmas time too…so here is how we are going to celebrate the Purple Elephant and Elephants at large and their gifts today on the Advent Calendar.

- Meady’s Musings-Some scientific facts that show the loveliness of the nature of the elephant…their ability to show love and compassion for each other and even for species other than their own!
- UCP-Elephants have long been revered in Hinduism and Buddhism…and we will explore that…
- Books and Films Corner-Many movies and books have been made about elephants we will talk about one of my favourite elephantine characters!

CELEBRATION OF THE ELEPHANT IN ASIAN RELIGIONS AND CULTURES

By now it is well known on UCP how I feel about my ishq devata Ganapati. He is of course very elephantine in nature. However here are some other interesting facts about the celebration of the elephant in Asian Religions and Cultures as described on Wikipedia:

The following elephants or elephant-like figures occur in mythology and religion.
• Ganesh, an elephant-headed Hindu deity
• Airavata, an elephant ridden by the Hindu god Indra.
• Erawan, the Thai version of Airavata.

Gaja (a Sanskrit word for elephant) is one of the significant animals finding references in Hindu scriptures and Buddhist and Jain texts. In general, a gaja personifies a number of positive attributes including abundance, fertility and richness; boldness and strength; and wisdom and royalty.

In the context of the history of Ancient India, the earliest depiction of gaja is found on the seals discovered at sites (like Harappa and Mohenjo Daro) of the Indus Valley Civilization (3000 BC – 1700 BC). Some scholars believe that by that time elephants had been tamed and domesticated, and used for peaceful and possibly for other purposes. In the Vedas, there is no direct reference to elephants. Megasthenes, the Greek ambassador to the court of Chandragupta Maurya reports use of war elephants during warfare.

Over a period of time encompassing several centuries, elephants became an important part of Indian life and society, particularly of religious tradition, the royalty, and the aristocratic segment of the society. Capturing, taming and training of elephants developed into a specialized skill. In Ancient India, a number of treatises were written about caring and management of elephants, which included the following:
• Palakapya’s Hastayurvea dealing with the management of good health of elephants.
• Matangalila by Nilakantha
The legend states that Airavata, the first elephant, emerged from the churning of the ocean. There is another mythological account, which states that Brahma created elephants.

The Buddhist tradition states that Buddha came into the womb of his mother in the form of an elephant having six tusks. According to Jaina tradition, each of the mother of the twenty-four thirthankars dreamt of fourteen auspicious objects, which included an elephant. In Hinduism, Ganesh, a god with the elephant’s head has been an object of reverence and worship for more than two millennia. He is therefore called as Gajanan(Gaj=elephant, aanan= faced). Several deities and mythological figures have elephants as their conveyance (vahan) including Balarama, Skanda and aiyanar.

An elephant is also one of several attributes of a Chakravartin, which he is expected to own to be bestowed with the title of Chakravatin, that is, the supreme and universal ruler.

Advent Calendar: Wed 3 Dec 09-The Gift of Trees!

Meady’s Musings Production is always celebrating the trees and you can expect to see many references to them as this year’s Advent calendar progresses. Today on the calendar we’d like to feature trees on each of the blogs in this manner:

- Meady’s Musings-The beauty of trees
- UCP-The spirit that can be found in trees
- Books and Films Corner-Yes we kill trees to make books but hopefully it is a willing or worthy sacrifice and may blogs, kindle downloads and e-books be the books of the future so we can save them trees! But for now we will celebrate some poetry about trees!

THE SPIRIT OF TREES

Many trees are considered divine in Hinduism. Perhaps the one held on highest of high is the Peepal tree or the Sacred Fig or Banyan Fig also known in Buddhism to be the tree under which Buddha became enlightened…the Bodhi tree. Over the years UCP has celebrated this tree as in this blogpost:


UCP loves many stories associated with spirituality and trees and believes that many a divine spirit resides in them. Also a tree can be seen to carry out the ultimate seva…service. It provides shelter, fun, joy, food and so much more and doesn’t ask for much in return. Many trees are centuries and centuries old and UCP believes that within them lies many a divine being and spirit that sits observing the Universe as it unfolds. Many religions agree and can join with UCP in celebrating the tree. Read this site to learn more about how various religions celebrate the gifts of THE TREE!

Advent Calendar 2nd Dec 09-Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol: The Ghosts of Past, Present and Future.

Since the beginning of the Meady’s Musings blog we’ve been exploring themes like reincarnation and parallel worlds…things metaphysical as a whole. Today as part of the Advent calendar I felt it would be interesting and exciting to explore the concept of the ghost of Christmas Past, Present and Future as featured in the Dickensian classic- ‘A Christmas Carol’ with a Meady’s Musings slant! As a result I will discuss it as follows:

- On Meady’s Musings- the metaphysics of it.
- On UCP- a certain metaphysical being whom I’ve been a big fan of since the inception of that blog whom I believe has the whole past-present-future concept down pat!
- On Books and Films Corner- I will keep true to the name of the blog and just celebrate some of the potent quotes said by the ghosts in the Classic itself.

THE UCP WAY TO CONQUERING THE GHOST OF CHRISTMASES PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

Here on UCP you must all know by now how much we adore Sada Shiv…Super Shiv! We believe that he is indeed the one metaphysical being out there that has truly conquered the space-time continuum discussed on Meady’s Musings today. We also believe that if we strive to be more like him…more Shiv like we will all one day conquer it too. He conquers and lives in the all present and powerful now through his great powers of meditation but when he is awake in his dances he transcends all worlds and all time…he conquers the space-time continuum.

So today on this 2nd day of our Advent calendar sit back and enjoy our ever popular and featured image of Super Shiv in perfect meditation in Rishikesh followed by that world famous image of his dance of destruction…Nataraj position...so famous that CERN of large hadron collider fame asked the government of India for one to display outside it’s headquarters! Please note while I hold the rights to use the Rishkesh image as readers of this blog will know from this story. I don't hold the rights for the CERN pic and burrowed it from another blogger's site as follows: http://dustysojourner.wordpress.com/2009/06/26/siva-nataraja-one-leg-zhanzhuang-and-quantum-mechanics/

The Grand Opening of Meady's Musings Production's Advent Calendar 2009!

It gives me much glee to kick off Meady’s Musings Production's Advent calendar today on all three blogs…yes indeed I’m resurrecting the Books and Films Corner blog too…although I’ve not posted on it since Feb of this year…thought it would be a good thing to do…and it might leave the year in good cheer! So here it is! The Purple Elephant plans to put on a Santa suit or some sort of Christmasy wear and he is such a gracious and giving elephant has even sprung some gold coins to get an outfit for his little mouse too! However he is still waiting on the seamstress you see as she has never sown for an elephant before and it’s taking cloth beyond compare! Also a nativity scene is being created for the UCP blog but again carpenters are so hard to find even in this economy but hopefully it will be created soon! Who knows it might even be created by the magic carpenter overnight perhaps the same one who worked on that miraculous staircase UCP visited earlier this year in New Mexico!

But Here ye! Here ye! Let’s call it to order in prayer! And for that I have asked my brother in UCP-Universal Collective Prayer Bro Greg as I call him but in his official capacity a Deacon. So here it is the lovely opening words of prayer by Deacon Greg Kirk:
“Divine One:

The dawning of Advent beckons people everywhere to enter into the Silence, the Silence you inhabit and pervade. In the Silence, we rediscover the gift of Your Love, enfolding us and emboldening us to live with gratitude for your Spirit, expressed in all we have been, all we are and all we will become.

Christ consciousness is the core of our being. The Light of Christ Consciousness is wisdom, love and peace. They permeate the deepest part of who we are. Journey with us during these coming Advent days. Be our Light, guide us to a deeper and richer experience of the lasting peace that lives within us and support us as we grow from seeds to trees, reflecting your Essence and offering shelter to all.

In the midst of the darkness and challenges of these times, something new is emerging, something new is being born: the possibility of community, unity and divinity. One will come to bring the fulfillment of this promise. This One includes your people everywhere. May we become one, together, in the wonder and Oneness of You.

Amen”

AND MAY WE ALL BE GUIDED TO THAT PERFECT LIGHT! Sung of course by those Three Wise Men that I’ve been waiting all year long to dance with!

Eid-Ul -Adha and Thanksgiving:I found an Islamic Point of Light!

This year the Islamic festival of Eid-Ul-Adha and the American one of Thanksgiving fall on almost the same day...just a day apart I believe. I've never understood or embraced either festival...and Eid-Ul-Adha being a religious festival it has always been a toughie for me on UCP because I want to understand...I want to explore it...but each time I tried so far...my heart grew heavy, the lights grew dim and when I looked down and I saw my dancing feet were bloodied!

But I went trying to open my heart and doing some research on the web...I found this Islamic point of light on the topic! :) So I won't say much on the topic here just point my readers to that blog's thorough discussion on the topic here:

http://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2009/11/eid-al-adha-what-is-sacrifice.html

I had so wanted to say something positive about Islam that I had even planned to talk about Islamic banking and insurance for Eid-ul Adha instead! :) Because I feel there is some real positive points of light to be found there...and I really want to explore more about that here on UCP as well...but I was glad I found the Islamic point of light on the topic of Eid-Ul-Adha as well! :) And more so one year into UCP I've been able to move forward to a better place in my appreciation of Islamic point of view on this topic...click here to see my point of view on it last year to see how far I've come...

Well while I found my Islamic point of light I was saddened to read on the same blog about Hindus in Nepal doing mass animal sacrifices too...and always recall about how the Dalai Lama is not himself vegetarian...reminded of it in Tibetan culture when recently watching the film '2012' and the Tibetan Grannie lady just chopped off the chicken's neck! I guess in those climates and topography not much room to grow veggies so maybe one must eat meat for survival?

But I don't understand how if your religion is love and compassion for all beings you can do that...and I think vegetarians and aspiring vegans like myself mean sentient beings when we say beings...and so is why we draw the line and don't eat animals although yes vegetables are living too...and of course we may find out they are sentient soon as well I know this...and yes for sure I see it in trees as well...but as much as possible I try to eat with what I perceive to be the lowest possible karmic debt and also to try to engage in things that will make me less violent I guess.I guess on the whole daily I try to minimise my karmic debt and I think it is something all of us should consider. Check out my sister blog Meady's Musings for my recent fast/diet.

HDGSE2KUCCC2

A Pilgrimage in the Month of Kartik...

On UCP readers may recall ‘my thing’ with Shiv making me a Shiv Bhakt although his cute elephantine son is really my Ishq Devata! I guess ‘the thing’ is not some love affair by the way but a relationship of serious awe and deep divine respect. As you may have read in my previous posts I consider him to be like the supreme yogi! The super one…Super Shiv!...and over a year ago I took to being his disciple using this picture of a murti of him at Rishikesh as my tutor…my guru…I studied the picture of the murti mimicking his art of meditation and although most of the time I was not able to sit in the perfect yogi position as my guru I have been in meditation of sorts in and out (in my own metaphorical or metaphysical way) of the meditation cave for over a year now. I’m sure some of the effects of those retreats would have been the energy that prompted me to do the candle4tibet thing as I saw it as gurus bowing to each other by helping out a Lama on behalf of Shiv. I'm just the doer but he is the Shiv and the Shakti...the seed and the energy! And it was the candle4tibet experience that among other things led to me create this blog and really it has been quite a journey to cover this UCP...my and your Universal Collective Prayer! :)

But really it has been such an act of joy...a bhakti yogic dance that I’ve never once thought of it as a task or an accomplishment…or even a goal set to achieve…perhaps instead like how all true students, disciples or chelas should be I was just in it for the learning and it being bhakti yoga in a way well I was just in it for the dancing! For the dance itself and the fun, love, light and joy it brings! Picture me brimming with glee! Like a big, fat Santa Claus if you’ll have it! And good ole Santa must be a big bhakti yogi himself no doubt (be)cause really just look at his glee! And I will be ‘believing in him’ soon…can’t wait to dance forth on my Advent calendar next month! With the three wise men!:)

But for now back to Shiv…it’s the Hindu month of Kartik...which brings the Hindu calendar to a close so I can go on to dance forth in the Christian one and celebrate Advent! And today, 2 Nov Hindus through out the world bring the Hindu calendar of events to a close with the celebration of Kartik Nahan…Snan…Snaan or Purnima either way an Ode to Water! I noticed over the last week or so many have been coming to UCP to check out this blog that I did last year for the same event and so I’m not going to go on much about my Ode to Water again! But for sure I have to bow to her-Ganga Mai as I’m surrounded by loads and loads of it living on an island! And today local Hindu groups are celebrating it in many a place but in particular I like this spot- The Mosquito Creek because it’s where I sometimes ‘almost see and feel’ Shiv and I pass it everyday on my way back and forth for work. Many a time I visualise Shiv at the side of the creek doing full yogi stretches pretty much like I feel he must do them on the banks of the river Ganga and on the sands of a Kerala beach! :)See if you can picture it too! :)


Kartik Jandhis, Mosquito Creek- TRINIDAD

The Water!, Mosquito Creek-TRINIDAD

Copyright- Meady's Musings Production 2009

Now many may see Kartik Nahan to be a celebration of Ganga Mata…an ode to the great Indian river worshipped as a Goddess and Mother (as it is where Hinduism originated) and then later on as a worship of all bodies of water wherever Hinduism spread like here in Trinidad. Others celebrate it as a time of praise to Lord Vishnu for incarnating as Lord Matsya- a fish type incarnation to conquer evil in one of the ages. But to me Kartik has to also be about Shiv! I mean how can you say Ganga and not say Shiv…hey didn’t he wrap her up in his hair? Didn’t he save us from her full force and so tamed her before she landed on earth? I mean he is always out there... putting himself out-drinking poison…taming raging female rivers and Goddesses. So you have to hail Shiv here too!

So today on Kartik Nahan I mark my devotion to Shiv with this personal story…I’ve been meaning to blog it…but been unsure…also if you really follow UCP you will know that I’m always at odds as if to share certain profound spiritual experiences or not…if to take that picture or not…sometimes I find it too personal at other times too cheesy…sometimes I share them sometimes I don’t…after much to and fro in my mind and without any divine revelation I’ve decided to share the story…it involves another person who feels her story should be personal in that it can be shared but not her identity so she will only be referenced here in anonymity. So here’s the katha (story)…

Said person of anonymity and non-fame had a dream a few weeks ago prior to Diwali I believe…in the dream she heard a voice saying to her… “If you want to see Shiv…Sada Shiv then go to El Dorado Shiv Mandir" Now person of anonymity and no real claim to fame is very close to me and I was charged with her desire to take her there! However she had to first of all be ready to go! So eventually she was and so finally we went! Off on a pilgrimage on Sat 24 Oct 2009 which, according to my research would all be within the month of Kartik as this year it is 5 Oct to 2 Nov 2009. So after some looking and getting lost then looking again then finally finding we were at the gate of the El Dorado Shiv Mandir. Now both me and person of anonymity but filled with much nagging refrain...sorry I know this is UCP...but nagging it was! No not naagin as in the snakes although I feel it is where that term came from... had to be! But nagging! Well you know how it is... picture how the three wise men behaved on their journey and remove one person and make them female and remove some wisdom and well you had us! :)

But finally we were there! Before the gates of El Dorado Shiv Mandir looking not for Spanish Gold but for Shiv no doubt! Now both of us had been to the temple before and it was person of anonymity who had the dream not I! But neither of us could recall details of the temple...just that we may have come to this temple before for a wedding or something...no doubt was why we couldnt even find it in the first place! However as we veered a bit from the temple's gate...we saw the back of a Shiv murti that seemed to be in a type of gazebo like structure annexed to the mandir itself...and we both at the same time knew...it was the Shiv that was meant to be...the one we came here to see! :) Now person of anonymity, well she has this long going thing with Shiv...beyond me! She got so excited I thought I would have to leave the lady there to stay with Shiv you see! She went quickly up to some mandir workers who seemed to be in a committee meeting and got the permission in case they would mind and had already spotted flowers even giving some to me! :) Before I could be aware I saw her up there by the murti now that was seriously a love affair beyond compare! But seriously this is no joke it was actually pretty intense...and I don't know what these numbers mean for sure again but as I looked at my blackberry considering which shot to take or not...well there it was 4:44 PM the time she met her Shiv! Some say this is when the angels are fully with us! And when I had this dream about Shiv the time well it was 3:33 AM when I awoke from the dream...so could it be? 333 when the gurus are with us and now 444 the angels were rejoicing with us? :)

Now I went before Shiv too you see...but I had not a thought in mind...it was the calmest I have ever been...thoughtless...how could I be!:) But I was...and so it is only after person of anonymity explained to me...that this Shiv was an awakened Shiv or a Shiv that was awake...that I realised! I then thought...it was definitely a rarer Shiv to find about on the island...and yes...white...only with the neck painted blue where he drank the poison and so became known as Neel Kanth or Blue Throat. So then it dawned on me...could it be?

So since then it has had me wondering especially based on how it felt...yes person of anonymity for sure had her own story here...she has long had her love affair and for sure the dream came through her for her purposes too...but was it that I had to be part of it too?...well but like in Mission Impossible though...your task Babita should you choose to accept it...because if I hadn't chosen to take her well I would also not have seen...perhaps that was the final task you see? And for instance had I not taken her she would have gone on her own or some other way but I would not have seen...But yes...I think so...as she had said he was in awaken pose...and giving his Dharshan (blessings) with his hand raised and all...these things are not seen and only felt but I think it could have been...

After more than a year of sitting at my guru's feet here:


He said to me Ayushmati Bhava (may you live long)here! Not literally but in a dream and through iconography could it be? As he showered his blessings on me! I didn't ask for anything I had no thoughts you see and perhaps is what made me a good yogini! I humbly sit at your feet Oh Great One for I know I've only just begun...but I graciously accept whatever blessings you so desire to shower on me for one needs to know how to accept as well as how to give! Especially when the blessings come from a guru such as you! May I continue to please you! :) Also I give thanks to those who maintain the beautiful Shiv Mandir which I understand is one of the oldest on the island. Check out that katha (story) here

OM NAMAH SHIVAY!