old glory?

remembering...


Boston: School Busing Protest - April 5, 1976

---

NYC: Mosque Building Protest - August 22, 2010

(hmm.. can't quite put my finger on it, but something seems similar..)

beyond boundaries..

so today arising after very little sleep, I began contemplating anahata nada & sanatana dharma, my favorite subjects. :)

interesting how in my life I happened upon, and was drawn to these principles.. I don't even know when it began. seems they have always been there, but the blessing of sanskrit has given them a name.. giving form to the formless..

anahata nada is soundless (or unstruck) sound.. the sound of the silence from which all sounds (forms) arise..

sanatana dharma is the eternal supporting principle of existence, or literally, eternal supporting mother (natural law).. it is often used in reference to hinduism and indeed hinduism falls into that definition, but sanatana dharma is even more inclusive than what is generally thought of as hinduism..

it is this very inclusiveness that make these principles so beautiful. to me they represent that from which everything emerges, that in which everything exists, and that to which all things return..

when, for brief moments, one allows one'e ego (attachment to form) to dissolve, these principles represent what remains..

it is blissful to return & return again to this boundless state before reincarnating into this thought-form, or that one. that is the dance of life from formlessness into form, and the music that plays is anahata nada..

so many people seem to think that one state is preferable over another. constantly chasing eternal bliss, one never catches it. we believe that formlessness is better than form, or vice-versa.. and it is the impossible moment between the two, the dance itself where joy abounds.

impermanence

so I woke up today thinking about impermanence.. and this put in my mind images evoked by a friend's mention of the aghories who frequent cremation grounds in india. I happened upon a couple of videos documenting the aghories incorporating human remains into their worship rituals..


I thought about the stark contrast of this open embrace of impermanence as compared with western culture's denial of death and the impermanent nature of all forms. In the west, death is mostly hidden from view, but in the world of the aghories it is accepted and incorporated into life.. even to the point of sometimes consuming the bodies of the dead, or adorning yourself with their remains. I suppose the closest we get in the west to an acknowledgement of impermanence is the mass bombardment of CSI-type tv dramas.

Not to romanticize this infatuation with holiness anymore than to glorify an infatuation with worldliness. both represent attachment of the ego to some ideal. both exist in time. any path that is separate from its destination may be just another obstacle to the always immediate realization truth.

At some point there is no desire to overcome fears nor habits; no desire for trinkets, nor to distinguish oneself with costume, nor colors, nor letters, nor words.. no desire to go beyond the present moment, nor to dwell within it.

I don't know what is the point of writing this other than perhaps to say I find the aghories comforting in that they provide a kind of counter-balance to the vast materialism that consumes us much the same as the aghories consume the bodies of the dead. perhaps oddly, i'm not offended by their consumption. I suppose in this world where I am still frustrated by desire, it's comforting to know that eventually, I & everything I covet will disintegrate into dust & fly away on the wind.