I've been working on a translation of Guru Stotram.
You can find my latest attempt here. It's given as a straight-through English language 'poem', and also with each Romanised Sanskrit verse.
I left the term bindunada (point-sound, essential sound, root of space/time and motion?) untranslated, because yoga bods will know what it means, and I couldn't get a decent translation to fit...
Also in that file are translations of the other mantras we usually chant on our Saturday evenings.
Don't worry about the use of 'He' and 'Him'. It's just impossibly to write anything approaching readable using he/she, his/her, they/them. Change it all to she if you like, Guru is genderless anyway.
Thursday 10 March 2011
Sunday 6 March 2011
Bhagavad Gita 2.9-18
2.9 When Arjuna the great warrior had thus unburdened his heart, 'I will not fight, Krishna,' he said, and then fell silent.
2.10 Krishna smiled and spoke to Arjuna - there between the two armies the voice of God spoke these words:
2.11 Thy tears are for those beyond tears; and are thy words words of wisdom? The wise grieve not for those who live; and they grieve not for those who die - for life and death shall pass away.
2.12 Because we all have been for all time: I, and thou, and those kings of men. And we all shall be for all time, we all for ever and ever.
2.13 As the spirit of our mortal body wanders on in childhood, and youth, and old age, the Spirit wanders on to a new body: of this the sage has no doubts.
2.14 From the world of the senses, Arjuna, comes heat and cold, and pleasure and pain. They come and they go: they are transient. Arise above them, strong soul.
2.15 The person whom these cannot move, whose soul is one, beyond pleasure and pain, is worthy of life in Eternity.
2.16 The unreal never is: the Real never is not. This truth indeed has been seen by those who can see the true.
2.17 Interwoven in his creation, the Spirit is beyond destruction. No one can bring to an end the Spirit which is is everlasting.
2.18 For beyond time he dwells in these bodies, though these bodies have an end in their time: but he remains immeasurable, immortal. Therefore, great warrior, carry on thy fight.Mascaro.
February Meeting
Well, I've bee a little remis in providing this update.
We had eleven people at our February gathering, which is really great. There were four other people who in the end couldn't make it on the night. With 15 we would have been pushed for space!
It's nice to keep things intimate, though. We have thought that if we get many people, we might need to look for a venue outside our home. In the sumer months, course that's exactly were we can do it: outside our home, in the garden!
If we do decide we need more space during times of inclement weather, I think we'l l have to be very careful about selecting a place. It felt so relaxed and easy to talk in informality of a kitchen and living room! Or maybe that was just me, because it was my living room!
The discussion of the Gita verses was interesting. My views were not popular, but I think they provoked some thought!
Unfortunately, Poornamurti and I are away at the end of March. Also, the last weekend in April is Easter.
For this reason, we are going to break the 'last Saturday of the Month' ideal, and the next meeting will be on the 9th April, and will count as the meetings for March and April combined.
As nobody else has volunteered, I shall be choosing some more verses for contemplation very soon...
Poornamurti and I would again like to extend our sincerest love and thanks to everyone who attended.
We had eleven people at our February gathering, which is really great. There were four other people who in the end couldn't make it on the night. With 15 we would have been pushed for space!
It's nice to keep things intimate, though. We have thought that if we get many people, we might need to look for a venue outside our home. In the sumer months, course that's exactly were we can do it: outside our home, in the garden!
If we do decide we need more space during times of inclement weather, I think we'l l have to be very careful about selecting a place. It felt so relaxed and easy to talk in informality of a kitchen and living room! Or maybe that was just me, because it was my living room!
The discussion of the Gita verses was interesting. My views were not popular, but I think they provoked some thought!
Unfortunately, Poornamurti and I are away at the end of March. Also, the last weekend in April is Easter.
For this reason, we are going to break the 'last Saturday of the Month' ideal, and the next meeting will be on the 9th April, and will count as the meetings for March and April combined.
As nobody else has volunteered, I shall be choosing some more verses for contemplation very soon...
Poornamurti and I would again like to extend our sincerest love and thanks to everyone who attended.
The Theory of Emergence
Continuing with my theme of pointing out where great scientists with PhD's coming out of their ears are going wrong...
One of the most accepted theories of consciousness in science at the moment is that it is simply an 'emergent feature'.
The idea is that the brain is simply so complex, that the illusion of consciousness simply emerges from the complexity. Again, a bit like the idea of a whirlpool emerging from a flowing river. The whirlpool isn't real in a great sense, it just 'emerges' from the complexity of the forces of the flowing water.
So this idea of emergent consciousness says that there really is no 'I'. There is no self at all, and the fact that we think we exist is just a complex activity of the brain that simply springs forth from its inherent nature. Consciousness, even beingness, is simply an illusion brought forth by the nature of the way matter behaves.
Well, yet again, they have it nearly right.
In fact, the brain is an emergent feature of consciousness.
The universe is an emergent feature of consciousness.
One of the most accepted theories of consciousness in science at the moment is that it is simply an 'emergent feature'.
The idea is that the brain is simply so complex, that the illusion of consciousness simply emerges from the complexity. Again, a bit like the idea of a whirlpool emerging from a flowing river. The whirlpool isn't real in a great sense, it just 'emerges' from the complexity of the forces of the flowing water.
So this idea of emergent consciousness says that there really is no 'I'. There is no self at all, and the fact that we think we exist is just a complex activity of the brain that simply springs forth from its inherent nature. Consciousness, even beingness, is simply an illusion brought forth by the nature of the way matter behaves.
Well, yet again, they have it nearly right.
In fact, the brain is an emergent feature of consciousness.
The universe is an emergent feature of consciousness.
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