JASMINE * TREE

Crazy Love

2011-01-08T11:39:00.000-08:00

You are from the beginning
The original
Creator of all things I see on earth
Maker of the solar system and the galaxies and the vast universe
Who are you?
You are more awesome, more holy and more wonderful than I can imagine or understand
And you fully see and fully know the real me
And yet you love me ....!
Why do you love a worm like me?
I cannot understand
But, I am so glad you do
Else there was no hope for me ..
- all trapped and enslaved by sin
- utterly incapable of meeting your standard
- unable to pay the debt of sin
- unable to fix the natural sinful predisposition

This is a great mystery
That the Lord God, the Creator, loves me
Loves me enough to exchange His life to ransom me
The King found the way to be just and merciful
The King paid off the debt of a common sinner
Then took the common sinner and made him His friend

I worship you
I worship you
I humble myself
you are holy, holy God
There is no one like you

Have your way with my life
I gladly give it to you.

Diya (oil-wick lamp)

2010-11-06T12:32:00.000-07:00

Lightning lamps is a daily ritual is many Hindu households, even a regulation in some. Curious about reasons, researching the internet I found the reason why Hindus light lamps (oil-wick) everyday:

"The wick in the traditional oil lamp symbolizes ego and the oil or ghee used symbolizes our negative tendencies, sins, vasannas (carnal desires). When we are lit by true knowledge, the negative tendencies, sins, vasanaas (oil) melt away and finally the ego (wick) perishes. The flame always burns upwards (towards God). When the oil (negative tendencies, sins, carnal desires) burn out and the wick (ego) dies we can meet God."

What a beautiful symbolic depiction of the most basic universal religious/spiritual principles! All religions/spiritual paths agree that there is a disconnect between God and humans caused by negative tendencies, sins, vasannas and ego.

The oil wick lamp symbolizes that humans need to seek knowledge (truth) that can illuminate their true state of being and motivate them to seek the way from their sinful state (negative tendencies) to the sinless state, from pride (ego) to humility, from darkness to light, from separation from God to union with God.

As a thousand lamps are lit, I wonder how many people who light the lamps are motivated to seek the truth and discover the way to burn sins, vasanaas, negative tendencies in the Light? Lighting a lamp does not automatically start burning the sins, vasanaas, ego of the one who lights the lamp - rather the symbolic action is meant to remind the person to start acting upon it.
In the vast majority I observe that the focus seems to be on the symbolism. In fact, the one who lights a lamp in the household holy place (external symbolic action) is considered pious over another who might not light a lamp literally but rather seek the way to burn the sins, vasannas and ego in the light of God (acting upon the meaning of the symbolic action).

I humbly pray: May the light (knowledge) dispel the darkness (ignorance) and propel us from symbolism to life application, from doers of rituals to doers of the essence of the ritual.

Purpose of God's Law

2010-10-09T13:50:00.000-07:00

What is the law? Why is the law?

The yellow light says slow down and the red light says halt. The law of driving on the street regulates traffic, provides a safety framework to avoid accidents and tells us the perfect way to conduct ourselves while driving on the street.

In other words, the law shows the standard of perfect driving conduct. If you keep all the rules of the law all the time, you are a blameless driver - a driver who does not miss the mark even once.
If you break the rules of law even once or break a few rules sometimes but mostly keep the major ones, you have still not met the standard. You have missed the mark and are in violation of the law of driving on the street. If you are caught you have have to pay the price in proportion to the size of the offense.

The law of God, his commandments, spells out the standard for perfect living conduct. Even if one has never read the law of God, it is written in one's heart because our conscience now accuses us and now defends us. There is an unwritten law in our hearts - which we can choose to ignore or tune out over time.

The wonderful discovery meets those souls who observe and realize that they miss the mark and can never meet the standard of God. They seek God with this issue that troubles them: "I cannot meet your standard, oh God, on my own effort, no matter how hard I try". To those who thus seek in earnest they discover the way, the truth and the life - they discover the grace of God by which God himself paid the price for our violation and find a new life in his Grace.

Those that try to meet the standard on their own and believe in their own effort and their own work only get trapped in a never ending search for justification through works and deeds.

Those that make a show of keeping a religious standard outwardly become hypocrites.

Others dismiss the standard of God and make their own north and work on keeping their inner compass aligned to the north they themselves created.

Yet others dismiss God entirely.

But, the purpose of the law is to help us recognize that we fall short of it, and thus propel us into a search for the righteousness that comes from God.

Life Song

2010-01-24T11:29:00.000-08:00

When I am down, He lifts me up
When I feel like giving up, He encourages me
When I feel unjustly treated, He reminds me to forebear
and so teaches me to stretch my patience

When I am lonely, He understands
and reminds me that He will never leave me nor forsake me

When I am insulted, He reminds me to not retort in anger
not that I am always able to hold back
but bit by bit, He shows me to reply with gentleness and real love
not with spite or retaliation
and so He gently guides my soul to grow

When I realize I am unworthy, spiritually poor
He reminds that He will not break a bent reed
He will not snuff out a flickering candle
He shows me that He loves me
not because I earned it or deserve it
But because He delights in me
and because I am His

When I am overwhelmed at work
and realize my tasks are beyond my capacity
I turn to Him
I tell Him my confidence is in Him all the day long
And not in my ability
He walks with me showing me
that I can do all things through Him who strengthens me

When the most unexpected terrible thing happened
I gave it up to Him
And instantly what could have been a long,deep,depressing grief
was lifted up
He gave me the ability to rise above the grief
And trust Him
Now I know, what to do if the next unexpected terrible thing should happen
I will surrender to Him

In prayer I hide nothing from Him
I am an open book and agree with Him
about the ways in which my heart was not in the right place with Him
I discuss with Him my work or the day
He provides insight
I share with Him my heartaches
He weeps with me
I speak to Him about my burdens
He tells me to wait, to trust, to obey

When I sing to Him
He listens
although the the tune is wanting,
and the words don't rhyme,
and my worship does not fit
a religious structure
I think He likes my heartsong
For when I sing, He floods me with peace
peace beyond my human understanding

All I want is for Him to like my life's song

A conversation with God - Part II

2009-08-15T09:52:00.000-07:00

I was dwelling upon what God spoke to my heart, see Conversation with God Part I, it occurred to me that the biggest impediment personally is fear.
That I am afraid to take a step, afraid of the consequences and so end up doing nothing.
So again, I decided to ask God, being completely honest with Him, transparent about my timidity - how to overcome and get off my comfortable couch and do something with Him?

Very simply God said - you cannot do anything apart from me. That does not mean you sit on your couch forever, defeated before you ever start. When you recognize you are not able, ask for My help then go and act.
When you start in your own capacity, believing that I will be there, I will come in my strength to aid you at the right time. You go in your weakness, I will be there in My strength.
If you ever begin to feel self sufficient, I will not be there anymore.

The secret is that in your weakness, My strength is made perfect.

A conversation with God - Part I

2009-04-12T10:41:00.000-07:00

At a traffic signal as I awaited the signal to turn green, I was distracted by loud and incoherent screams from the direction of the side walk. I glanced out of my car's window, an old lady was shouting random insults to strangers as she walked along the sidewalk. "Oh poor lady", I thought, and quickly whispered a prayer, "Lord be with her and help her". The signal turned green, my thoughts turned to the upcoming morning meeting at work and I drove on into the parking garage in front on of my office.

Later that evening, on my drive back home, I remembered the words of a remarkable 90-year old lady from a TV interview, an inventor, who revealed her secret of productivity and wisdom - "Praise, then shut up and listen and then obey". I decided to put that advice to test and as I drove home, sang true praises to God and asked God to speak to me for something that I needed correction in as I promised to shut up and listen to His voice.

He did speak into my heart ..

The mad, old, screaming lady from the morning came into my heart. The Lord said to me in the quietness of the car, "... that prayer you said in the morning about the old lady, that is exactly how you want to participate in My work in the world". He went on to say, "You just want to utter a 'help them' prayer and want me to magically go ahead and change things. Oh and I do, I do intervene supernaturally whenever needed. But have you considered that I want to work with you to 'help them'?"

The Lord taught me a simple lesson about myself. Stop being distant and cold to the suffering you see around you. Stop offering token prayers or even money without your heart invested in it. Pray with your heart, give with your heart and most importantly work with Me to help those who are suffering around you. When you do something don't even think "I did this for the Lord". I do not need anything from you. You don't have to do anything for me, I own the universe. But you can get off your couch and comfortable car and do something with Me.

If I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

The audacity of reincarnation

2008-07-05T08:45:00.000-07:00

Being born in a privileged condition, to me, means having necessary food, water, sanitation, shelter, clothing, education, safety, security and health care.

This is a point to ponder for the privileged:
Were you born in privileged conditions? Or perhaps in much better conditions than the fulfillment of basic needs? Have you ever wondered why? Why were you not born in abject poverty, in a land of famine and disease or no access to education or health care? Have you found an explanation and are you satisfied with why you were not under privileged?

One explanation that annoys me most is that of reincarnation - of the audacity to presume that you were a good person in your past life and hence are privileged or over-privileged in your current life. All this when you have no proof of the concept nor any idea of your past good deeds. What a self-righteous and selfish idea, no wonder it appeals to so many. As smooth as butter on the conscience, so easy, so convenient.

As a 'privileged' person, inequality by birth without explanation disturbs the conscience, no doubt. Instead of putting on it the salve of borrowed self-righteousness from an alleged past life, one can actually do something about it in their present and only known life.

In my view, the only reason you are blessed is so that you can be a blessing to someone else who needs it. The only real privilege of the 'haves' is to better, in some way, the lives of the 'have-nots' within their sphere of influence at least.
If it has been given to you undeserved, it is so that you may give in turn, undeserved.

To whom more is given, of them more is asked.

Religion: a barrier between human and God

2008-01-03T20:31:00.000-08:00

Genuine religion should be one that provokes you to see yourself as you really are. Then enables you to understand your need for God and causes you to seek after God. Religion should create in you an intense hunger and thirst for righteousness, not self-righteousness.

Throughout various cultures and religions, many instruments have been devised by humans to aid this upward reach of the soul: rituals, meditation, ascetic discipline, festivals, holy days, memorized prayers, visits to religious buildings, pilgrimages and so on. Yet there remains a vast gulf between who one is, the religious activities one does and a disconnect between individual and God. You maybe an ardent follower and doer of the methods prescribed by your religion and in your heart truly desire to please God, but the religious activities themselves do little to actually connect you to the true and living God. This happens because religion elevates the activities themselves to the status of God. For most folks, doing the religious activity becomes all - leaving them with no real desire to seek after God and no real intimacy with God.

The distinction then is between the heart that focuses on doing religious things and the heart that truly seeks God.

How many ritualistic folk actually take the time and effort to find the meaning of each and every part of the ritual they perform? How many dig deeper into the meaning of all the symbolism? If they did they would find knowledge that would cause them to seek after the truth. They would realize that most rituals are a shadow and a copy of what is truly intended - man being able to meet God by bridging the chasm caused by sin.

Or the person who prays five times a day in a language he does not understand? If only the person decided to communicate to God with his heart and mind in a language he knows, he might draw closer to God. But religion gives us ready-made prayers, sometimes in a language we do not understand. How is that true communication with God?

My point is that the religion in the world engages the human in rote and ritual and dulls true spiritual desire. Ritual and rote maybe good for discipline to some extent but they have little effect in uprooting the deep roots of sin. Does the soul get over addictions, perversions or lose its sinful inclination by performing rituals or repeating chants? The only place where the impurities of the human soul are burnt are at God's feet. If time and energies are spent on man-made religiosity then there is no time or desire left to seek God - which is the intent of all religious motivation. One Sanskrit scripture translates as "Cleansing of sins is not possible by baths, pilgrimages, giving dana (charity) or by following dharma (religion)". Rather these actions were meant to help man realize that he is sinful and that he needs God. Yet religion makes these actions the focus and leaves out what is most needed - fellowship with God. The religious activity makes one feel somehow "approved" or "purified" when in reality it has done nothing to change one's sinful nature.

Religion is supposed to cause one to pursue a relation with God and instead it obscures God behind the veil of religious activity.

To quote an Indian ascetic : Religiosity might help, on occasion, with cleaning the cobwebs of sin but relationship with God alone will reveal the key that eliminates the spider that weaves these cobwebs.

Religion then is the biggest barrier between human and God. It keeps man occupied and pseudo satisfied in the horizontal plane of religiosity and prevents man from looking up vertically and directly to God.

Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.

Who are you, Mr. Artist?

2007-10-02T23:52:00.000-07:00

Last week, riding the bus to work, I did what I enjoy most on bus rides - admiring the breath-taking beauty of nature, enjoying the work of the Supreme Artist. Each day the bus route is the same, but the sky, the trees, the sun, the fog and the wind weave themselves into a new pattern and each day my eyes soak up a new display in nature's art gallery. My heart is thrilled, my soul refreshed and the Lord knows how much I love the work of His Hands. It is fall and up here in Seattle and it gets quite pretty - reds, browns, golden-orange colors are a new treat to my eyes. As I was engrossed in admiring the new strokes on the world's canvas that morning a wonderful thought began to take shape in my mind. I realized that all artistic inspiration takes its root from God's creation. A painter, a sculptor, a music composer, a poet, a writer, a photographer all create art based on some inspiration that ultimately finds its root in creation. A fall leaf can be painted, sculpted, written about in poem or prose, woven or painted on fabric, etched on glass, can be the inspiration for a melody or simply be a source of delight for an onlooker, a spark of hope for a tired soul. Why I wondered is nature and creation such a source of inspiration, an urge for pro-creation -- because it has the essence of the Creator in it. Because God put His thought, His mind, His creativity into creation is why we are inspired in various ways by it. Because the source is God.
Perhaps God created the vast abundance of nature and its awesome beauty in order to draw our attention to Himself. Perhaps creation was a means to provoke man's curiosity to know the Creator just as fascination with a piece of art creates a fascination and a desire to know the artist.
Corollary: Do I really, truly desire to know who God is? Do you?

"Seek after me and you will find me, if you seek after me with all your heart"

Words

2007-07-24T22:34:00.000-07:00

Words can build
And words can kill
It is words that poison be
Searing hearts to injury
deepened in haunting memory
Aye, it is words that poison be.

A righteous tongue is choice silver
A wicked heart will grief deliver
For the tongue speaks
What the heart is full of
Yea, what the heart is full of
Don't blame another
For your words bitter
That which IS in your heart
Comes forth - in peace or anger.
Reckless words pierce like swords.
Your heart, what it hoards,
is the source of your words.

The righteous mouth is a fountain of life
The wicked mouth is violence and strife
The lips of the righteous nourish
Those of the self-righteous accuse and perish.

A heart humble before God -
Means a tongue that brings forth wisdom
and wise words bring healing
and a tongue that brings healing
is a tree life-giving.
But a tongue of deceit
Crushes the spirit.

A heart governed by God -
Means lips that know what is fitting
that know the right word for the occasion:
A pleasant word promotes instruction,
A gentle answer turns away wrath and prevents destruction.
But harsh words are an anger provocation.

Too many words and sin IS done!
Wise is he who can hold his tongue.

The tongue - such a little thing
Yet such mischief it can bring
You may think you are religious
But you are only fooling yourself
If you cannot control your tongue
- all your religiousness is useless.

My LORD, come work in me
to bring true humility
Come LORD, rule my heart
that my words may build up, not tear apart
I yield to You, O God above
that my tongue is bridled in Your love.

Inspired by the proverbs of King Solomon, the words of Jesus and the writings of Paul

Of Hurts & Hurting

2007-06-03T20:30:00.000-07:00

Hurtful Words
They wound
But remember
the one whose words hurt
must have been hurting too
And pause
And be considerate
And understand
Before you utter a response
that your words in return
do not wound
Perhaps then sometime hence
The one who hurt you will realize
and love you more
For your kind consideration
For your loving silence
And perhaps when someone else
hurts the one who hurt you
They will remember your patience
And hold back a retort
And forgive the other heart
that might be hurting too.

Lend me your ear

2007-05-12T11:26:00.000-07:00

Do you want to pilgrimage to a holy destination
Or make your life a holy journey?
Utter a daily, repetitive monologue to God
Or have a heartfelt conversation?
Confine God to latitude and longitude
Or seek God beyond worldly jurisdiction?
Pick a God from your nation
Perhaps within a convenient radius from home ?
Or seek the true and living God
not confined to steeple or dome?

Do you want to carry God everywhere
Or let him hold you in His Hand?
Keep holy images clean
Or let God wash your heart?

Do you want to adorn yourself and home
with holy representation?
Or invite God to dwell in your heart
And be cognizant of His presence in every situation?

Are you satisfied with your religious activity
And think that you are basically good?
Could you stand it if God inspected you really
And looked under the hood?
What if ALL your thoughts were projected in a cinema hall
Would you still say you are basically good?
You're smart - make the call.

Do you want to settle for holy imagination
Or seek after the true revelation?
Do you prefer God packaged in a religion
Or would you like to be with God in a true relation?

Hey, I'm not trying to mock you
I am certainly not wiser or "holier than thou"!
These questions lead me to an honest introspection
To seek GOD without external decoration.
To be free of the shackles that bind,
To be free of the lies that destroy.
I hope you will pause to think and make a wise decision.

The Gardner

2007-04-30T16:16:00.000-07:00

Bent on his knees
Sickle in hand
He dreams of trees
Tilling the land.
Nothing bothers him -
Neither sun nor heat nor toil
Jaw set grim
He works at the soil.
Fertile and ready
Sows he seeds in a row
Untiring, steady
Then awaits the green show.
Gives them water, minerals, love
Rejoices, as they begin to grow
Fending them - uprooting the weed
Many an hour, sweat on his brow
To the trouble he pays no heed.
Remembers the hour when they were but seed ...
On he labors, bent on his knees,
And dreams of trees.

For it is God who works in you to make you willing and able to act according to his good purpose.

Be it unto me

2007-04-28T14:29:00.000-07:00

Be it unto me, O God
As is your will
I will try not to ask You 'Why'
But because I am human, I may end up asking You anyway ..

Remind me at that time of who You are
and help me see
You are far bigger than me

Mightier than any situation
Stronger than any mountain
More powerful than any opposition

So be it unto me
As is your will

Interrupted

2007-03-23T10:46:00.000-07:00

One day I was sitting near the window and praying early in the morning. In the middle of my prayer, the heavy blinds clinging to the top of the window, suddenly fell with a bang on my head. I was stunned, my sentence halted midway and wondered what happened? Then I asked God why He allowed these blinds to fall on my head when I was going on so smoothly with my prayer? Why did He not hold them up and prevent my prayer from being interrupted? As I was saying this my eyes fell on the beautiful scene outside my window. In many days I had not seen how beautiful the trees, mountains and skies looked outside that window. I was filled with awe once again for God's creation and resumed my prayer without stopping to fix the blinds. After my prayer was over, I felt as if God was saying this...
Many times in life when you are doing your work or duty faithfully, smoothly; suddenly out of nowhere something crashes in. Maybe something happens that interrupts your life, your faith and you begin to ask God why it happened? Why could He not hold up the problem from crashing in on you? After all, you did nothing to invite the problem. At such a time if you stop and look at the thing that crashed in, you will be interrupted forever. But if at such a time you look at Me (God) you will be able to go on.
If you stop to fix the problem without completing that precious dialog between us, you will lack the strength, wisdom and endurance that I can give you. If you look at Me (God) instead of at the problem, I will take you through it.
A small revelation, yes? But maybe it will encourage someone today.

Knowing You

2007-03-22T09:30:00.000-07:00

Knowing just a little of you, O God
Is such a pleasure, such a pleasure
You fill my heart with joy
In abundant measure, abundant measure

Not a wise, learned person am I
No scholar of great scripture or book
A simple, ordinary girl am I. Yet I,
when I need You, know where to look

Because You stoop down to my simple level
Great mysteries You so simply unravel

And fill my heart with such pleasure,
Such pleasure,
As words cannot describe
You are the greatest treasure.

"My heart is not proud, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too lofty for me. But I have calmed myself and quieted my ambitions. Like a child with its mother; my soul is quiet within me, I am content."

My Prayer

2007-03-21T09:32:00.000-07:00

Yes I will praise you
because you show me the places I fall
You melt my ego and pride
And show me the dark things I want to hide
You shine your light on them
and expose the sinful part
And graciously forgive
a contrite and broken heart
As such you can take
mold and make
whatsoever that pleases You
I will not ask why
by faith I believe You
And know that Your plans are always for the good
no matter how unsure the paths look
I will trust the unknown future
in the Hands of a known God ..
And how I really love you above all
that I long to really meet YOU
and at your feet fall.