30. FRIENDS

My young friend marries

Soul brudder and I at his vegetarian food stall raising funds for charity.

This soul brudder on the floor has no backbone. Our next get-together will be at his place on Christmas Eve. As he lives like a sadhu, we will have to throw our carcasses on the floor. He has just 3 chairs, 3 plates, 1 teaspoon and we are a group of about 10! I can't wait.

At another Indian friend's house - with our French friend who chants in Tamil. He has lost count of the number of times he's been to India. Most of these friends I made as members of The Theosophical Society.

Soul Brudders - one from the North, the other, South - get together in one of their homes for a favourite Singapore pastime - meet, greet and eat. The Chinese lad is one of my several computer consultants when my dinosaur of a PC stutters and collapses. These young fellas are on broadband, literally, figuratively, I'm on dial-up, figuratively....but heck, we get along like a house on fire.

Friends are like my new family. My clique get together every few months at home where we kick off our shoes, put our feet up, eat and chat the evening away.

Food is always vegetarian - no eggs, no liquor, at one home - no tea or coffee. Too tame for most folks - no booze? no sex for afters? no way!

I enjoy the company of this clique. All the non-Indians have spent time in India. We are fellow pilgrims on this journey call 'Life.' We came from different paths and met at a common intersection - The Theosophical Society.

We have our personal experiences to share regarding our different Masters. Our meditation techniques may differ. Not all are vegetarians, not all are into community service. We may not meet or talk for months but when we get together, there's much warmth, goodwill and love.

As I watch my friends chatting, our carcasses sprawled all over the place, I visualise us as travelers of old, who at dusk, would break journey at a country inn or farmhouse. They would have hot soup with bread, sit around a fire and talk about their travels. What brought them to these parts? Have they been drawn to the country in search of their Master?

In days when there were no borders nor checkpoints, people moved freely, traded barter trade, slept in barns or stables along the way. I imagined the country folks to be kind and compassionate towards weary travelers, gave them some bread and soup and a place to sleep in the back. In return, the travelers may have shovelled the horse's poo and worked in the fields.

When I traveled across Egypt, the landscape was like something out of biblical times. Folks traveled across sandy stretches of desert land on donkeys and camels, people lived in tents and sailed in small boats with woven white cloth sails. I felt like a time traveler.

On another trip, in Phnom Peng, Cambodia, there was a performing dance troupe and musicians comprising elderly but spritely folks, who performed at a buddhist ceremony to honour the Singaporean who built a school, orphanage and clinic. The troupe had traveled 2 days to get to where we were.

At the end of the ceremony, they were invited to eat with us. When it was time for bed, they pulled out their woven hammocks, strung it here and there in the school canteen and spent the night there. Just before lights out, the troupe, suspended in their hammocks and fanning themselves, chatted the evening away with the staff. When people are homogenous, they connect right away.

Watching my friends, my mind took me back to those times and how, essentially, the human mammal is a nomadic creature - a traveller. From his/her travels, the pilgrim may come to the realisation that the ultimate trip is made by journeying within.

29. NO.1 DAUGHTER

As a kid, I was a comics buff. There's this stereotypical Chinaman detective, Charlie Chan, whose assistant was his ABC son, whom he addressed as No.1 Son.
I thought that hilarious for the old Chinese did refer and address their offsprings by order of birth. These days, I enjoy Calvin & Hobbes and The Simpsons.

 

I have kids all over the place...

I have Indian kids in the Home in North India where I've spent some time in the last 2 years.

I have Malay kids in the tuition center where I tutor English every Saturday as a volunteer.
 
I have my foreign kids in the international school where I work, who are a far cry from those disadvantaged ones above.

I have my neighbourhood kids - all girls - whom I shall call The Jack Russell Fan Club. They fell in love with my dog whilst I was walking him. They call me often to arrange to meet in the playground, with my doggie of  course - I've become one of their buddies - Cool!
 

 

My kids keep me grounded. They keep me in the loop of things. All are smart, calculative at times - as they grow and mature will they have the right human values?

Only Time will tell......
 

Link: post 41 - The Jack Russell Fan Club

28. THE BIG O

O is for Osho

Osho's wisdom resonates with me.
He was a prolific speaker. His books are transcripts of his numerous satsangs over a period of 35 years.
As I watch Osho and Master Yogananda on tape, their wisdom flows out of them, they seem to be on another plane.

O is Organic
'The whole existence is one organic unity. You are holding hands with the trees, the whole Universe is breathing together, along with you. The Universe is in deep harmony, only man has forgotten the language of harmony. Harmony is your reality.'

O is be Oceanic
'You are a part of an infinite energy, a wave in an infinite ocean. Be aware of this and you will never lose energy because an infinite source is always available. You are just a wave, deep down, the ocean is hidden. When the source becomes available to you, you become the vehicle.' 

O is Orgasmic
'Love is a rare flowering - it happens only sometimes. It is rare because it can happen only when there's no fear. Sex is possible for all. Acquaintance is possible for all. Not Love. When you are not afraid, there is nothing to hide, then you can be open, then you can withdraw all boundaries, then you can invite the other to penetrate you to the very core. Unless centres meet, sex is just a meeting of 2 bodies - peripheral - you can allow somebody to enter to your centre only when you are not fearful.'

 




O is the circle of life, for everything comes in cycles......... 
 
Sunrise, Sunset.....Day and Night.
 
High Tide, Low Tide........Ebb and Flow.

The 4 Seasons.....Renewal, Regrowth, Rebirth.

Birth and Death.....Reincarnation.

Every Cause, an Effect....every Action a Reaction.....every Sequence a Consequence

There is only One - The Vedas

All is One - Baba

O has no beginning and no end.

Link: Post 5 - MY MASTERS

BLOGRANKERS

Namaste!





























Wah! can't believe I've another birthday this month..... I've certainly traveled a long way. I ask for 2 gifts...wisdom and insight.
A woman, like a good wine, improves with age....such women are for confident men, with self-esteem, with nothing to prove, with brains in the head, not between the legs for that head has no brains.
I shall drink to that. With red wine of course......vintage too, as befits my age. Cheers Dahlink! .....for having travelled this far and looking none the worse for wear.

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Talk about narcissistic trip - this is addictive!

One can tell the editing and uploading etc. is done by an amateur - Yours Truly. I do have a small team of young people whom I consult with when I'm stuck - they are on broadband literally, figuratively, while I'm on dail-up, figuratively.

I'm proud of my blog. It's written from the heart, infused with good energy, not pompous bombast.

Sometimes, I sit at the PC, unsure of the topic.......before long, it comes and I can't stop, it just flows.