An Apology for Missing the Prayers for So Long!

As published on our sister blog Meady's Musings


We've come in the company of the Purple Elephant and Little Mouse to let you know that we're sorry, sorry and more sorry for not blogging for weeks and weeks...not a single Maniac Mondays or Tumultuous Tuesdays, Funtastic Fridays or even Slumbering Saturdays blog have we posted...and not a single word of prayer was said on our sister blog UCP-Universal Collective Prayer...so now here's the thing...

We've been caught up in the Hustings here on the islands of...Trinidad and Tobago...the place of our birth and citizenship...you see we've been working for something we believe in here...CHANGE! So we've been rallying changemakers across the land to vote for it...so got caught up in volunteering...you see we believe that the party that has evolved the People's Partnership echoes some of the things we talk about on these here blogs...or at least they represent hope for it in the land where the ruling party does not show a window for it and even the manifesto that the ruling party has put forward shows they have no interest in change but in just going full steam ahead as is! So we hope for...

-sustainable development
-unity in diversity

And we here at Meady's Musings Production are always about being the change you want to see! So it was easy for Meady's Musings Production to want to blog for them as they to us represent the change we want to be and see!

We don't know what the outcome will be at the general elections tomorrow on Mon 24 May 2010 but we wish for it to be free, fair and peaceful and of course we hope that change will win! :)However no matter who wins the elections on the islands tomorrow Meady's Musings Production will be willing to work with them as a citizen interested in being the change they wish to see in their homes, their community , the islands, the region, the world and quite frankly the Universe and beyond! :) Purple Elephant and Little Mouse always at our side! :)

However right after the election results we will be heading off on vacation to China via London and so we felt it necessary to drop in and apologise and leave you with a farewell Maniac Mondays post we were preparing before we got drawn into the hustings. We also wish to let you know that we will be back around the end of June and our normal Monday, Thursday and Friday installations will return more frequently then. On UCP we will be starting something called the 'God' series where we will be discussing different perceptions of God in various religions, minds and hearts! Of course we will be sure when back from China to share notes on our adventures there both from the Meady's Musings point of view and UCP as we plan to visit the world fair on in Shanghai and some Buddhist temples while there! And for fans of animal muses like us we more than likely will be dropping in on Winnie the Pooh land while in the UK. So look for it!:)

And look for the Maniac Mondays posting tomorrow on Meady's Musings it's about finding 'That Elusive Happy Place' and see you at the end of June! Until then keep being the change you wish to see!:) And if you want you can always ask our Purple Elephant and the Little Mouse to help you out...you know they are always willing!:)

The Holy Week:Easter Sunday-The Resurrection!

Happy Easter Sunday to All! As Mary Magdalene leads the pack as the first to see The Christ resurrect...what joy...and what good enough acting for a TV special level, from Debra Messing of Grace Adler fame!:) Oh those doubting Thomases!:)

The Holy Week: Holy Saturday 2010

As the Holy Virgin Mary continues to display her leadership skills as she shows her patience as she waits...waits like us for the resurrection...we here at UCP can't find much words and will instead only show this video now instead of another word put out!

The Holy Week: Good Friday-The Ultimate Surrender?

Good Friday is usually too sad for us to post many words here on UCP in fact last year we said nothing but put up two potent segments from the movie "The Passion of the Christ". But this year we will painfully try...

From our Hindu centric eyes we see it as "The Ultimate Surrender" and this year around we still can't see it any other which way...for us when Jesus says:


"Father, into your hands...I commend...my spirit."

Really we see it that he has reached the point of Ultimate Surrender onto the Universe and thus merges and becomes one with it...i.e. Bodhisattva is he! However we've been reading that Christians see this in a different way tough but we can't even explain it...it's like looking at one of those images that has two pictures in them but we only see the one picture...so for us here on UCP, Jesus the Christ is a Bodhisattva...an enlightened one...and so really it means from the eastern perspective he is God so don't we then all agree? It is just that we believe that others can follow to become Bodhisattva too a lone Bodhisattva is not he! But on such a sad day why argue? Of course it is not entirely sad in that a Bodhisattva is born and this is usually a very rare occurrence...but as one such enlightened being is born so many others revel in sin...and that is just sad...very sad when you recollect on this day the sinful things that were done...sad!

So it is why we normally try not to speak much but mark silence on such a day so we've said enough really but will talk on only because our dharam or duty calls and we had promised to explore the leadership role of women here too...And really to be a mother is to be a leader...you are the ultimate leader then as you mold a child...but like all leaders know there comes a time when you must let go...however in Christianity the Holy Virgin Mary had to let go big time...as she let her son go to the wider community...and then to the Universe by the time he was in his thirties...and she never abandoned his side despite all of this...And before Jesus the Christ made the Ultimate Surrender he made one last act perhaps this last act was required to fulfill all his karam and dharma on the material plane...and this was it as he said:


". . . Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple,
Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her
unto his own home."
John 19:26b-27, KJV

And in doing so he gave his material plane mother someone to call son and to to be called mother by and treated as such while she remained on the material plane and he moved on...

So now we will put up the videos again but not ourselves watch them...as just too sad...sad! And profound!

The Holy Week: Holy Thursday...

All images in this blog post re-published from this site.

We've arrived to Holy Thursday and so stand on the threshold of the three day period of Easter in the Holy Week. It's a nervy kinda day for true devotees of Jesus the Christ...I guess in Hinduism they would be called Christ Bhakts! :) Here on the island Catholic churches all over are holding Mass in his honour. Me, I've bought my traditional 'hot cross buns' as really there is no church for a UCPer like me...however perhaps one day in the future who knows there will be! But for sure usually most Easters ever since I was in my early teens I've wondered about what was done to Jesus the Christ over the period that is celebrated as Easter! What a thing really! As I've perhaps written in my 2009 Easter blogs...I recall at 14 getting so wrapped up into the thing that I almost felt the pain or loss of Jesus as if he was an actual living relative or something...can't say that I experienced the pain of the crucifixion though as that was something else! Especially after seeing that 'The Passion of Christ'...YIKES!

So tonight is the night that the famous 'Last Supper' occurs according to modern day recollection of the events that happened (based on the gospels that were put together by Christ Bhakts post his crucifixion and in summary are called the New Testament part of the Holy Bible) The Christian site where I got the photos from says this about the events that happened on Holy Thursday night:
"On Thursday afternoon, Jesus and his disciples walked out of Bethany together, and over the Mount of Olives, and into the city. Only Jesus, who could read the thoughts of men, knew that one of these disciples, Judas, had made a promise to the chief priests to lead them and their servants to Jesus, when the hour should come to seize him: and Judas was watching for the best time to do this dreadful deed. They came into the house, and went upstairs to the large room, where they found the supper all ready. The meal was spread upon a table; and around the table were couches for the company, where' each one lay down with his head toward the table, so near that he could help himself to the food, while' his feet were at the foot of the couch, toward the wall of the room. Their feet were bare, for they had all taken off their sandals as they came in.

Jesus was leaning at the head of the table, and John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was lying next to him. While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and gave thanks. Then he broke it, and passed a piece to each one of the twelve, saying, "Take, and eat; this is my body which is broken for you; do this and remember me." Afterward, he took the cup of wine, and passed it to each one, with the words, "This cup is my blood, shed for you, and for many, that their sins may be taken away; as often as you drink this, remember me." Jesus then rose, and tied a towel around his waist in preparation to wash His disciples' feet.

Jesus was with the twelve in the upper room of the house in Bethany in what we now refer call the Last Supper. After dinner, while they were still leaning on the couches around the table, Jesus rose up, and took off his outer robe, and then tied around his waist a long towel. He poured water into a basin, and while all the disciples were wondering, he carried the water to the feet of one of the disciples, and began to wash them, just as though he himself were a servant.

Then he washed the feet of another disciple, and then of still another. When he came to Simon Peter, Peter said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?"

Jesus said to him, "What I do, you cannot understand now; but you will understand it after a time."
"Lord, thou shall never wash my feet," said Peter. "If I do not wash you," said Jesus, "then you are none of mine." Then Peter said, "O Lord, wash not only my feet, but my hands and my head too!"
But Jesus said to him, "No, Peter; one who has already bathed needs only to wash his feet, and then he is clean. And you are clean, but not all of you."

For he knew that among those whose feet he was washing was one, the traitor, who would soon give him up to his enemies. After he had washed their feet, he put on his garments again, and leaned once more on his couch, and looked around, and said, "Do you know what I have done to you? "You call me 'Master' and 'Lord,' and you speak rightly, for so I am. If I, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash each other's feet; for I have given you an example that you should do to each other as I have done to you." By this Jesus meant that all who follow him should help and serve each other, instead of seeking great things for themselves.

Jesus saw that his disciples were full of sorrow at his words, and he said, "Let not your hearts be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many houses; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I am going to make ready a place for you. And when it is ready, I will come again, and take you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also."

Then Jesus talked with the disciples a long time, and prayed for them. And about midnight they left the upper-room together, and came to the Mount of Olives."

To be honest after reading this excerpt all I can say is..."Isn't it lovely how Jesus washed their feet?!" :) I guess this in Hinduism is what would be called seva...service to fellow man...and I cringe a bit...as tonight I recall the ultimate seva that Jesus is about to undertake...

Hanuman Jayanti 2010!

All pictures copyright of Meady's Musings Production 2010

It's that time of year again for us at UCP to wish our favourite little yet sometimes big yet sometimes human size monkey friend Happy Birthday again! Yep it's Hanuman Jayanti 2010...perhaps it's why over on Meady's Musings not too long ago we were thinking about him and wishing to have a prehensile tail like him. Who knows it must have been a premonitionary feeling visualization thing in the air hinting at us to remember his bday!? :)

I can say I have also had another lovely moment with him not too long ago as well when my niece who says to my mother that he, Hanuman Baba is her fav of the Hindu deities gave her necklace with a Hanuman amulet to me! :) It was the sweetest thing for my niece to do by the way and truly UCP at its finest! :) But I was having the creepies one night driving home and I called up my niece to say so...that it was just the weirdest creepy thing feeling...and when I drove into the garage she was waiting there for me and told me something to the effect that you see I, unlike most other relatives etc. continue to not have a mala, a pendant, or necklace or amulet of some sort hung up in my car...this would protect me and make me braver you see! I'd go with God full speed ahead! :) And then without me asking she proceeded to go into the house and bring out this amulet of Hanuman Baba on a necklace she owns and hangs it up in my car! HOW SWEET!:) And so very kind of her as if Hanuman Baba is her fav form it must also be one of her fav amulets and necklace too and she just gave it away to me!:)

So now here he hangs looking out my car windscreen...but I find the shadow it casts even more profound see pic above at start of the blog!:)



So Happy Birthday Hanuman Baba! And thank you my niece! :) According to Hindu stories you were asked by Ram to stay here on earth to protect us all through this age of Kalyug and I must say I'm surely glad he asked you to and you so humbly and willing agreed! As you are often a needed friend indeed! And on your bday I must cue your fav salute the Hanuman chalisa and re-show the clip from Ramanand Sagar's Ramayan where we see you are asked by Vishnu himself on earth to stay!:)

The Holy Week: Palm Sunday!

Image re-published from this site

Before we continue with today's posting, we here at UCP would like to apologize for the abrupt end to the Divine Mother Leadership Series. However at the end of the Hindu festival of Nav Raatri we felt it best to leave off on the series since we decided we would cover the Catholic Divine Mother Leadership roles during the Catholic Holy Week instead. Also truth be told is we got pulled into a wormhole over on our Meady’s Musings blog and was in some parallel world since last week Wednesday night! Check that blog for more details of what really happened there!

But now on to our Grand Opening of the Catholic Holy Week here on UCP! And as this is UCP-Universal Collective Prayer we begin with yes…a prayer by Deacon Greg Kirk:

"Brother Jesus, as you enter Jerusalem, I lift my palm branch high. I recognize in you, a heart of love, one of peace. In you, I see who we are called to become. How fleeting is recognition and praise - in a few days, the ones who line the avenue with me will not stand with you, at the cross. I wonder if I will stand there? Can I dare to drink in the horror of the suffering - and somehow continue to believe in the mercy, compassion, love and goodness of the One God who is One? This is a question that can't be anwered in a few days or even a week. It is a question that will have to be lived out over the course of a lifetime. I only know this - in this day, in this moment, I trust in you, to show me who I am, who I can become - if I dare to trust, if I can find it within me to share and to love. Love, it never fades, never dies. Love is eternal. May this Love always live itself out in me, and may I always live myself out in love.
Love. Eternal Love. You in me. Me in you.
Amen"

Now to my understanding Palm Sunday marks the kick off of the Catholic Holy Week as it is the day that Jesus would have come into Jerusalem riding on the back of a donkey some say. Now I mean no disrespect here on the prayers when I say this but for me all the time long since I’ve been preparing this blog I’ve been wondering what of this donkey? You see this isn’t a blog of any particular religion it is UCP-Universal Collective Prayer and here on the prayers we want to look at things from a new perspective…break down old boundaries…so tonight I want to look at this Palm Sunday entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem through a different lens…through my lens…it is UCP in itself as I’ve often said on this blog I am Hindu centric in my views as I was born and raised Hindu and continue to be but UCP isn’t a Hindu blog. Here I explore my journey into Universal Collective Prayer and as I’ve said in the past, what I try to do is show others how I explore this…the commonalities, the differences and how they can come together or take out what can’t be reconciled and so forth. As I often say too…“This is my journey… this is my prayer!” But then I also say and offer to all my readers and onlookers… “Welcome! And please come join me in this dance I call Universal Collective Prayer!”

So now as a Hindu it must be quite normal for me to ask… “What of the donkey?” To me as a Hindu all through the stories I hear of Jesus the Christ’s life I wonder about the animals that surround him…to me these stories are filled with animals from cradle to crave! I mean there were camels, sheep, cows and donkeys at his birth, fishing expeditions, snakes (I think?) as he made his way in life and now here he was about to be crucified and he is riding in to it on a donkey. And as a Hindu looking on at this I can’t help wondering about the connection to the animals and how they feel about all of this. You see from my Hindu perspective I see it that all the animals are also with soul and part of the Universal spirit…so to me I keep thinking of how they would have felt to be surrounded by such an enlightened spirit that was embodied in the flesh of Jesus the Christ while he was on planet earth. However I’m sure Christians must see it differently and so it must be noted this is just my point of view being shared with…no malice…no spite…and certainly no disrespect but just plain enquiry from where I stand in the journey!

So for the intent of my story I shall proceed to name this donkey upon which Jesus rides into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. I shall name him Sam…don’t ask me why but it is just what pops into my head as I keep seeing him before me…I don't perceive him as a talking donkey a la 'Donkey' from 'Shrek' but more that his spirit can communicate on a more subtle level with the spirit of Jesus...So as Sam walks into Jerusalem's gate with Jesus on his back he feels it...he knows this is the week it will all end...but at the same time his donkey hairs stand on end to know that is part of something bigger than him...something on a grand scale Universally!:)

In terms of Jesus' interaction with the donkey, Sam as they had travelled to Jerusalem I feel it would have been a very loving one...he would have been gently stroking him and stopping frequently on the journey for Sam to rest, drink and eat...he would have recalled too how another donkey took his mother, the Holy Virgin Mary to the manger for him to be born some more than thirty years before...and at that moment he would have perhaps recalled how he was about to go beyond his earthly maternal ties and make a sacrifice on a bigger Universal scale...although it would no doubt hurt his mother on the material plane very much!

And now as he sat upon Sam the donkey at the gates of Jerusalem he again touched the animal's mane lovingly and in that moment connecting with the animals spirit feeling both his fear and awe...He would have alighted from the donkey Sam and come before his face...caressing his snout in both his arms and explaining to him through divine connection that...Sam, the donkey should fear not for he would one day be liberated from the earthly plane and he would a greater spirit be for accompanying him on this journey!:)