(not necessarily in that order)
Been feeling slightly “off” all day. All I really want to do at this point is go to bed — maybe even early!!
What I don’t have patience for is waiting for our suddenly really slow internet to function. Which means my wedding sari story has to wait yet another day (hope it still feels worth it once I finally get it written)!
Good night!
Well, looks like my wedding sari story will have to wait until tomorrow.
This afternoon I was running late for an appointment. I had stuck my feet in my sandals but didn’t actually pull them all the way on. Then I got distracted as I was rushing up to the Temple, my foot slipped or something, and…wham! down I went.
No serious damage done. A skinned knee that’s feeling rather bruised and sore, plus I wasn’t able to entirely avoid a bit of impact to The Shoulder.
Moral of the story? Allow more time. Put your shoes all the way on. And slow down, before Divine Mother makes you slow down.
While looking for something else entirely, I stumbled upon a bunch of photos from both of our wedding ceremonies: July 5 at Ananda Palo Alto and July 18 at Ananda Assisi, sixteen years ago!
I had forgotten just how vibrant and colorful our Palo Alto wedding altar was (thanks, Manisha!).
And I think in tomorrow’s blog post I’ll tell the story of my wedding sari and how it came to be (I don’t think I’ve shared the story in a previous blog post, have I???).
As I’m sure I’ve mentioned before, I spent a couple of years living in and touring Italy with the Ananda Singers — a group of eight singers (six Americans, one German, and one Italian). It was both wonderfully expansive and incredibly challenging, and I would do it again in a minute.
One of the fun experiences that I had almost completely forgotten about was our appearance on Italian TV. I couldn’t tell you anything about which station (it obviously wasn’t RAI1!), but we were in the town of Vasto on the beautiful Adriatic coast. Looking at photos of Vasto, this cathedral seemed familiar; I know we entered a church to reach the TV studio.
Anyways, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Bhaktan had uploaded this video of our performance. I can hardly believe this was almost twenty years ago! Finding it now feels particularly poignant because we had to cancel our trip to Europe this year and don’t know when we’ll be able to go. I really miss it.
I recently learned of the passing of Ed and Betty Bates, longtime friends of my family. Ed was superintendent of the Milpitas Unified School District at pretty much the same time that my father was President of the Board of Education, which was most of my growing up years (or so it seemed to me).
Ed and Betty were married for 70 years(!). He left his body just 47 days after she did. What an amazing couple they were.
My Dad and Ed were also UC Berkeley alumni, along with Nobby Nakamura (the school architect), and several school principals. Lasting friendships were forged, which eventually expanded into taking family vacations together at the Lair of the Golden Bear — the UC Berkeley alumni-owned summer camp.
Thinking about all this brought back many memories of the Lair. We stayed in tent cabins and ate all our meals in the big dining hall. There were activities for every age group, so parents could actually relax. I especially remember the evening campfires; the non-chlorinated pool; the grown-ups gathering for happy hour every afternoon; learning how to make copper enamel jewelry — some of which I still have to this day!
I must have been around eleven or twelve years old when we first started going to the Lair. Of course, all the staff members were Cal students. I was so impressed by them, and by how much fun they were having, that I made the decision to attend UC Berkeley myself, just so I could be staff at the Lair (I also planned to integrate the UC Berkeley marching band, which at that time had no blacks and no women)!
Of course, by the time I graduated from high school — poised to pursue a career in music — I understood that spending summers at the Lair and joining the marching band weren’t really the best criteria for determining where to go to college. But the wonderful memories remain.
So here’s the musical prayer appeal that we’ll be sharing tomorrow…
Dear friends,
Our hearts are breaking to see the devastation that California is enduring at this time. And it’s compounded by our awareness of so many other crises piling up, one on top of the other. It would be easy to give in to despair, to feel helpless in the face of so much destruction and negativity. But we feel called to do what we can!
That means praying, of course, and we hope to join with many others around the world in praying intensely for mitigation of these fires and healing of our planet. But something else we can do is to spread peace through music: namely, the soothing, healing vibration of Swami Kriyananda singing Peace — one of his most beautiful, powerful, and beloved songs.
We plan to share the video of this song with our Ananda Music mailing list; with all our Ananda singers, chanters, and musicians around the globe; and with our Ananda Sangha Worldwide.
We will also ask everyone who listens to this song and feels more calm and peaceful as a result to please share it with 5-10 of their friends…asking those friends to then share it as well. It is our belief that the healing vibration of this song can help to calm the winds and cool the flames, within ourselves and in our external environment.
We hope you’ll join us.
In divine peace,
Bhagavati & Ramesha
PEACE by Swami Kriyananda
Peace gave us the mountains.
Peace gave us the sky.
Nightly, when starlight enfolds us,
Peace is its lullaby.
Amen. Amen.
Peace gave us the morning.
Peace gave us the sun.
Bird songs that call us to welcome
Day, and fresh labors begun.
Amen. Amen.
Peace gave us the seasons.
Peace gave us the rain—
Cool clouds that gather to bless us,
Mist hands that soothe away pain.
Amen. Amen.
Peace gave us our hearts’ love.
Peace gave us our smiles:
Rays of God’s presence within us.
Light that all strife reconciles.
Amen. Amen.
…to California and around the globe.
I’m still developing my “plan”, but very much resonating with this image in the meantime. God bless all firefighters and first responders everywhere.
Feeling deeply impacted by fires everywhere and the heat and smoke and predictions of more lightning storms…and hearing deep within myself: BASTA! Enough!
Unfortunately, I don’t get to be the one to decide when it’s “enough.” Darn!
But it does seem like we need to take some concerted action to help bring it all back from the brink somehow. I found myself thinking that a major prayer vigil is perhaps in order. People of all faith traditions praying intensely for peace and calm and healing… Ahhhh, I just felt myself take a deep breath as I typed those words!
Of course, I don’t know how to get a bunch of different groups united in doing a prayer vigil; that’s not my area of connection and strength. But then I heard these words in my mind:
Cool clouds that gather to bless us. Mist hands that soothe away pain.
And I thought maybe we can flood the world with Peace, as sung by Swamiji, and help cool down, calm, and sooth our planet and everyone/everything on it.
This is something I can do my best to make happen!
I’ve been in a less than exciting process these days.
Gathering details and resources; embedding links; uploading files (which seems to take forever). It’s all for the worthiest of causes (a virtual choir video in honor of Swamiji’s discipleship anniversary). But it’s also just a wee bit tedious.
Work like this seems to drain away all my creative juices. I know it hasn’t really; that it’s just how it’s feeling in the moment. Not much fun, regardless…
The story below was posted by my friend, Kavita, in New Zealand. In these times of crisis on top of crisis, and crazy added to more crazy, it really struck a deep chord in me. So I’ve decided to share it in its entirety.
The Real Meaning Of Peace
Author Unknown
There once was a king who offered a prize to the artist who would paint the best picture of peace. The contest stirred the imagination of artists everywhere. Many artists wanted a chance at winning the prize. Paintings from far and wide began to arrive.
The king looked at all the pictures, uncovering one peaceful scene after another as the on-lookers clapped and cheered. The tensions grew as only two pictures remained veiled. As the king pulled the cover from one, a hush fell over the crowd.
It was a picture of a calm lake. The lake was a perfect mirror for peaceful towering mountains all around it. Overhead was a beautiful blue sky with fluffy white clouds. Along the grassy shore, a flock of sheep grazed undisturbed. All who saw this picture thought that it was a perfect picture of peace. Surely this was the winner.
The king uncovered the last painting, and the crowd gasped in surprise. Could this be peace? This picture had mountains like the previous painting but these were rugged and bare. Above was an angry sky, from which rain fell and in which lightning played. Down the side of the mountain tumbled a foaming waterfall; the crowd could almost feel its cold, penetrating spray. This did not look peaceful at all.
But when the king looked closely, he saw a little bird had built a nest on a branch of a tree. A tree that reached out in the direction of the tumultuous waterfall. Yet there, in the midst of the rush of angry water, undisturbed in her stormy surroundings, sat the mother bird on her nest – in perfect peace.
The king chose the last picture.
“Because,” explained the king, “peace does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work. Peace means to be in the midst of all those things and still be calm in your heart. That is the real meaning of peace.”
🙏 I’m grateful for this beautiful reminder to find my peace within. 🙏