Two things were told to us: one was to be thankful, so we built nations around it, and you can do that. And the other thing was enjoy life. That’s a rule, a law. Enjoy life. You’re supposed to. You can only do as much as you can do and then when you do that, you’re supposed to get outside and enjoy life.
…And an extract of his speech at UN in New York in 1993
Our societies are based upon great democratic principles of the authority of the people and equal responsibilities for the men and the women. This was a great way of life across this Great Turtle Island and freedom with respect was everywhere. Our leaders were instructed to be men of vision and to make every decision on behalf of the seventh generation to come; to have compassion and love for those generations yet unborn. We were instructed to give thanks for All That Sustains Us.
Thus, we created great ceremonies of thanksgiving for the life-giving forces of the Natural World, as long as we carried out our ceremonies, life would continue. We were told that `The Seed is the Law.’ Indeed, it is The Law of Life. It is The Law of Regeneration. Within the seed is the mysterious force of life and creation. Our mothers nurture and guard that seed and we respect and love them for that. Just as we love I hi do’ hah, our Mother Earth, for the same spiritual work and mystery.
We were instructed to be generous and to share equally with our brothers and sisters so that all may be content. We were instructed to respect and love our Elders, to serve them in their declining years, to cherish one another. We were instructed to love our children, indeed, to love ALL children. We were told that there would come a time when parents would fail this obligation and we could judge the decline of humanity by how we treat our children.
We were told that there would come a time when the world would be covered with smoke, and that it would take our elders and our children. It was difficult to comprehend at the time, but now all we have to do is but to walk outside to experience that statement. We were told that there would come a time when we could not find clean water to wash ourselves, to cook our foods, to make our medicines, and to drink. And there would be disease and great suffering. Today we can see this and we peer into the future with great apprehension. We were told there would come a time when, tending our gardens, we would pull up our plants and the vines would be empty. Our precious seed would begin to disappear. We were instructed that we would see a time when young men would pace back and forth in front of their chiefs and leaders in defiance and confusion.
There are some specific issues I must bring forward on behalf of our Nations and Peoples.
Mostly a tribute to flickr either because i am writing this post between home (where my pics are stored) and office and because soft copies of the pictures are only available from the last five years. I didnt follow a meaningful order, just browsing in my memory:
1. Aragonese Castle, Italy
A unique place with an awsome history connected also to Michelangelo Buonarroti’s life. It shall deserve a rich post asap. (image by me)
Even though Hong Kong and Genoa Italy aquariums are two of the biggest and most beautiful, i still loved Frisco one. why? Because you walk under real tunnels of the Bay Area!
3. Pan de Azucar in Rio de Janeiro, Brazilby flickr
A combination of spirituality and cable car is the most thrilling experience for me!
4. Big Buddha, Lantau Island
This other combination of spirtuality&cable-car is really close to my home and I could potentially get the experience every weekend. Last month with a friend from Vancouver we went up for two consecutive days just for tasting the feeling to fly higher and higher into the mountains and have the majestic Buddha waiting for us on the other side! You may also want to enjoy a more accurate post about it soon. (image by me)
5. Jamaican beach
It was a lovely family tour during my stay in US. Bathing in the warm Caribbean waters every morning and chatting with the locals on the beach all day long until evening. We also met a direct friend of Bob Marley living upon discographic projects and hand making palm leaves hats for tourists. Most hospitable place. (photo flickr – my dad keeps all the real pics)
6. Havana de Cuba downtown
Harmony of colors and extreme relaxation and freedom in the streets. On our fly-route back from India e Moscow with my friend Maneesha, we took loads of pictures and then… lost the camera. Ahahahh. I just remember we were in ecstasy for the whole day spent there. A most welcoming taxi driver strolled us everywhere and gave us contact number in case we’ll be back. If anybody interested. (photo flickr)
7. Parque Chicaque, Colombia
The most vivid nature, the real “selva Colombiana”. An amazing day trekking in thejungle, few of us, completely absorbed by beauty and silence in the country Garden of the world. There is an Indian story about Shri Vishnu, He had to leave India because in trouble and went seeking refuge with Garuda precisely in Colombia, chosen because it was the only place on Earth so much rich in plants and fruits.
8. Faraglioni, Italy
Did you know it’s the Zen Garden of Italy? Have a look, it’s my home. Really.
9. Beihai park in Beijin, China
A remarkable park to understand the lifestyle of old emperors. Many of them have written lovely poems to their own mothers, whose words are often engraved on marble pillars around.
10. Elephanta caves, India
I was speechless here I was totally stunned by the grandness of majestic Lords Brahma, Shiva, Vishnu.
I just realized there are more than 10 spectacular places i’ve seen but for now i will just confine into the maryadas of this TAG. And yes you have been tagged too!Which one are your most spectacular visits… 5, 10, 15 you number them. And leave me a message below when you have done the post, and please tag more people. Let’s travel all together! Do you know something shocking about travelling? I know it cause my sis is a travel agent in Italy. Last week she spoke over the phone that Italians are so crazy about traveling and holiday that despite of the economy struggle they are paying rates for their vacation even if it’s just for few days!
It is not just a joke that we are born wherever are born. There are millions of things about our origins we still are unaware of , about the corner of the world where we took birth. It is really complicated yet fascinating, misterious and worth to explore. It gives complete satisfaction to know the truth about a land, its geographical and subtle meanings, the rule it is playing in the fast pacing world today. We cannot still imagine where we are going to be projected ad expanded with just our being. Many of us move to other countries for different reasons but they take it for granted, they cannot see the real truth of their movement. Some other will complain having lived all their life in the hometown and dream to change, without being able to grasp the why they are placed there. A long quote from 7 years ago:
“People say it is Kaliyuga. Why has this Kaliyuga set-in? What is its meaning? Mostly the people do not know. They know about it from different people and talk about it. It has an important myth behind it of the time of King Parikshit. No one knows about it, no one reads it. People read only stupid books. At the most they read Ramayana but they have no knowledge of its message or its philosophy. No one knows about it. But we Sahaja Yogis must acquire this knowledge. We must know from where the culture of our country dawned and how it reached at this level. Without the knowledge of all these our approach will also become like the ignorant foreigners and eventually the ego and other negativities will have an effect on us. So it is better that we understand them from its roots from where these qualities have originated and what is their significance? Why do we do certain things? Or we do it because other people also do it. It is not proper. We must have thorough knowledge of it”. (H.H. Shri Mataji, Gudi Padwa Puja (Translated from Hindi) Palam Vihar, Gurgaon , India , 13.04.2002)
We are definitely getting closer now and do not need to sit down together for a dinner to feel this closeness. It is just happening, some people may still not be aware but this beautiful & colorful train is spinning to such a velocity where even the stars are collaborating. We are now able to feel the universe with all its problems and all its wonders! One of the most excellent training to this ability was certainly given by Mahatma Gandhi and the creation of the Sevagram Ashram during his lifetime. “People, he felt, should not tolerate each other and their differences, but learn to respect, understand, accept and appreciate each other.” – writes Arun Gandhi grandson.
It is exactly what it is in town for example where people are no more tolerating each other because they now want to connect and embibe the goodness of other cultures: it is a different process which can transform oneself into a new personality sometimes very different from before.
The mother of our songs, the mother of our seed, bore us in the begining of things and so she is the mother of all types of men, the mother of all nations.
She is mother of the thunder, the mother of the streams, the mother of the trees and of all things. She is the mother of the world and of the older brothers, the stone-people. She is the mother of the fruits of the earth and of all things. She is the mother of our youngest brothers, the French and the strangers. She is the mother of our dance paraphernalia, of all temples and she is the only mother we possess. She alone is mother of the fire and the Sun and the Milky Way. . . . She is the mother of the rain and the only mother we possess. And she has left us a token in all the temples . . . a token in the form of songs and dances.
She has no cult, and no prayers are really directed to her, but when the fields are sown and the priests chant their incantations the Kagaba say, ‘And then we think of the one and only mother of the growing things, of the mother of all things.’
One prayer was recorded: ‘Our mother of the growing fields, our mother of the streams, will have pity upon us. For whom do we belong? Whose seeds are we? To our mother alone do we belong.’
Isnt it? With all the things we are reading and hearing about economy & co now now now it is definitely arrived the call for sobriety.
Communication is becoming simpler and if you are smart at heart you will know whether you are crossing or staying inside the boundary of the most pleasant conversation which is the one which turn sparkes of the joy on within the person in front of you, leaving her/him different from before the same conversation happened.
Giving present for celebrating core values and festivities is becoming such an easygoing act! People accept everything with open mind and focus on the mood of giving & receiving which is vibrating the material gift itself.
In these days here in the South of Europe, almost in Africa!, i am listening amazing conversations between common people who are showing a terrific common sense filled with enlightenment and understanding of the world we now live in. i am totally all ears and my brain is reacting with positive waves of bubbling coolness everytime. Just awsome!
People are focusing so much on education and children. They found out thru long experience that relationships drenched in innocence and trust put each child on the right path and that this is the only way for him to make a real difference later on.
But sobriety is not animated by emptiness or lack of pure knowledge and it is not referred to save money or go for the simplest and easiest solutions or ideas. Sobriety is the attitude of the ones who understand the root of the things and in a second are able to scan with their heart=brain the story of a life or of a full population in a determined environment. It is also to choose right gifts when we want to give, even fully worth the people we are treating, expensive gifts are so cool when we can afford them! They make people around sober and emotional, wrapped in pure emotions of Joy.
There are testimonials about childhood I have been collecting in these almost three years of living here. With all the Italian brothers and siss from the Seventies we believe that this is the strongest (iron made, we laugh about it) generation that the CenterSouth of Europe gave birth to. Infact future will give excellent results. But just to be in the present, my favourite game, while getting along with these Chinese born in the Seventies like me, will tell you what was special about their childhood in the ex hubbub of the city. A majority of them where living in collective housesor better collective floors made of several rooms (one for each family) and one bathroom for the sharing. Kitchen usually included into the room. Eating snacks in the street was fun and there were no shops: the vendors used to have a wheeled cart and sell red bean sweet congee, pineapple dessert, sugar jelly especially for the kids. The best was the possibility to playwith a ball in the open spaces. A friend said she used to play ping pong with the mates living next door in this way: sitting on the floor and using the edge of the main door as the net, so one kid was sittend inside home and the other one outside in the corridor of the main floor. How fun! Playgrounds were simply funrnished and they loved to run and jump all around. Thekindergarden was usually prepared in the ground floor of their home building where all the children spent several hours in the daytime while somebody watched them. At the school they all received basic knowledge of music, playing an instruments that today has often not gone forgotten. Some girlfriends one time were complaining about the educational support they received in the school. Gymnastic was not so playful and organized with attention as today.
Today is my mother’s birthday and i cant miss this opportunity to celebrate Her because she deserves this small gift and much much more. I will tell for the occasion why it is cool to have a mother who is not even 19 years difference from you. A young mother who had grown up during the Sixties in Italy is quite a blast to have.
She knows everything about womanhood, how to dress up, how to take care of the skin, how to speak, how to wait and be patient, how to tease, how to make friends, how to keep good relationships with all the relatives.
She is the fortress of the chastity and the charme simultaneously. Her life is my inspiring example. She knows that simplicity and practical attitude, when combined, make best results in the collective and family. Her alertness always amazes me because she always knows what the core of a problem is and how to solve it quickly and with descrition.
She is loving and caring, always giving good patient advices and understanding around. She cooks for anybody comes home which is very often filled with friends and relatives every week. She is comfortable to get along with and extremely funny and positive. She loves jokes and has the ability to see the positive sides of everything.
She loves traveling and discovering new places and new cultures. We are parallel and currently she is keeping an high interest into Chinese developments and customes because her elder daughter is living in HK. She is not really adventurous and well grounded into true choices. Infact she is quite of a realistic person who does not get convinced about things that often. She likes to experiment changes and happenings by herself without relying too much on what people say.
She is definitely spiritually oriented and with an high level of emotional intelligence well estabilished and developed. I’ve tried too often to compare her with other women of her age and i had to realize that her brain is beautifully advanced. One of the proof is that she gave birth for the first time at 18 and was always a responsible and confident girl. She is not religious but she cle aarly believes in god and His plans all the times. We have a subtle communication on a nice level. We also talk about it without showing too much surprise because we are both aware of the strong connection between us. We can communicate well without speaking and she knows immediately how i am and what is going on with me even without talking.
She is a lion, brave and courageous, a great guide and a leader at the essence. People seek for her suggestions and feel protected and supported by her way of being.
At Salone del Mobile in Milan, Italy, they just concluded few days of new meetings, conferences, workshops and so on…all about designing. To greet the plethora of young designers coming from all over a new idea of “staying together” has been planned and realized. La Casa del designer – The designer’s home: 130 beds, services to share, relax zone, wi-fi connection, internet point and little newspaper/magazine area. All for 30 euro per day. It was said “a new concept of hospitality” this one of the sharing. It also helps the creativity to boost up and get new nourishment while mixing with other people as much as possible.
New concept?
Do you remember the beautiful and progressive ashrams of the ancient time born in India to protect the meditative attitudes of the ones who wanted to live surrounded by peace and nature only? Well i was having this experience translated in these modern beautiful times few years ago for quite a long time either in Europe and in Southamerica …and it s a blast! I think living collectively is some kind of an attraction and attitude located deep down in our roots. Not just an habit or a decision. It’s natural. There is so much to gain when you are living in a group and nothing to loose. Either you meditate or you dont meditate. As far as there is concern for the others it s a totally nurturing experience where we humans develop
ability to support each other
desire to love and “feel” others and ourselves
If we know few crucial things about relationships, mind and spirit the game becomes even more interesting and we start to enjoy it at maximum levels. When i was living collectively in Italy for example i understood that even without talking about our problems they get dissolved into some kind of force derivated by the spirit of union of the group; afterwords the problems start to disappear litterally and a sort of protective aura develops around your phisical and mental person. It is an amazing process which is the essence, the key of the power of the collective work.
There is not even need to talk about it, it just acts and clearly, with the neatest evidence. It is to be experienced only. When i was at the Uni was also used to shift from an house to another with my friends. Great times. Very little meditation but yes the desire to understand each other was always present whomever the time was shared with. And the time spent together was not few weeks but months, years… My friends were my sisters, my brothers, my family. This is my world, i have been always living in extended family, groups, collectives, always constantly measuring myself with the connection to the others. Thing that grew more and more when I arrived to a more consistent connection with myself thru meditation after a while.
Maybe this is one of the reason I landed in a small stripe of land swarming with 8 millions people…
[artwork picture: Lotus flower, symbol of collectivity, made out of 2100 petals by sahaja yoga collective living in Italy - emancipated innovative designers...]
Asked to circum-travel the world, in his lovely wisdom, Ganesha decides to travel in circle around his parents. A cute story and a cute animation too. To refresh the feeling towards the parents.
I spent more than an hour skyping with Clara and Vicky from England yesterday at my office. These two young girls, we were living together in Italy few years ago when I was nanny and their mother was pregnant of the third child. At office I did not have the microphone so could only write down everything and listening to all they were speaking from the other side. The most beautiful chat: little things: stories, laughs, sending funny emoticons, chewing candies and so on. Just in the middle of the busiest time of my schedule at work. Just at the perfect moment for inundating the heart with something strong and sane.
Now the attention towards how the children do spend their time is growing more and more everywhere. They are becoming the centre of our mind. There are plenty of books talking that we have to keep our kids engaged as much as possible to learn, to grow, to absorb in order to develop their skills and talents. This is false actually. I think that orientatively if they can be busy for half of their time with homework and activities they can also do nothing for the other half of the time. I grew up at this way: School, home works and dance class three times a week were all on a fixed schedule for about ten years from 6 to 19. All the left free time was spent to create things with the help of parents or friends. Painting, reading, listening to music, playing an instrument without any instructor, just alone, toys, journals, swimming in the summertime, going for mushrooms, asparaguses or cyclamens and mimosas during spring time, pic-nics, tons of free walks around the town and so on. The love surrounding was soft and spontaneous, just enough to guide explorations and personal growth.
My birthday parties were memorable, sometimes at the central park among rocks and small animals sometimes at the beach, and aunties, mommies and friends were all enjoying at the same time. It has been going for years like that. There were no scheduled activities and we used to run free in the nature or making a volcano or a castle with the sand. Everything was really simple and familiar, the environment comfy and the people smiling. Love was developing on its own natural way… and still is.
Here in Hong Kong my friends-mothers tell that the schools are putting a lot of pressure on the little ones. They have to pass examinations and study hard even at night several times during the week. Plus at least three courses-activities in afternons and/or weekends. I am sure this is not the right path to educate children. I am sure both teachers and educators, parents are lovely and careful. But love and pressure do not combine nicely most of the times, do they? If a child feels he is too often forced to do something, that means he is not comfortable with this rhythm and this situation will be translated sooner or later in another problem. It is obvious. There are other ways to educate which are safer and more adapting to a child inner self. And it is in the inner self where all the talents and the skills already reside!
I don’t know if all the people can totally confirm it: the fact that they are one with the place where they were born. In my case there was always a special link between my island and myself. I always felt that she was like my mother, that she made me born on her land and also throughout her soil. I was the girl who used to talk to the water of the sea and to the trees in the forest, who felt a solid presence and protection by the surrounding nature thru the years. There was not even a picture from the imagination that I could have ended up in big cities where environmental confusion and nagging noises are regular institution.
But the peaceful paradise which Ischia is still accompanies me inside. It’s so true. It is just like thinking of your mother and all is beautiful and smooth. Somebody told me last year that when Nirmala Srivastava, who is actually the highest spiritual human being the world gets the fortune to hold today, came to Ischia in 1991 She said that the people born there must have a lot of punyas from the past lives. How can I contraddict that? Growing in this island never gets you down.
Everything is there, the landscape swarms with parks, squares, shops, schools, cultural centers, theatres, beaches, trekking tracks, thermal gardens, villas and houses. International events about cinema and jounalism are held each year since decades. It has been many times the perfect scenario for movies too. There is a strong dynamism which animates many different activities. Probably it comes from the power of the sea.
I am realizing this value just now. This is an habit i am carrying since ever, probably since when I started reading poetries aloud to listen to my voice speaking languages different from Italian. It is a practice i enjoy a lot everyweek at home: I grab a book of poetry and start reading few aloud in Italian, in English, in Spanish, in French, only the sections of language i am more familiar with.
The realization is that I include improvisations of poetries (invented) in my daily speaking communication. Whatever we are talking about you may hear a line or two told with the solemnity or the smile of a poet. Last night for example we were talking about the weather in Australia with a friend and suddently i went:
but then we can reach the sun and catch it
and carry it all the way to Australia
to make you smiling
And she smiled of course by noticing my imagination. Yes, that is the point: I make a clear use of my imagination. i cant escape from that. This is the reason why in my family they often refer to me like “she’s coming down from the clouds – eccola che scende dalle nuvole”. I sing a new stanza of a song for my husband almost everyday while we chat and he smiles punctually. You see? Poetry makes people feel good, never unhappy or angry.
Poetry does stick to the tunes in your heart
to the joy you can feel
to the smiling child you still are
to the desire to go higher in some other place
to the reality of the beauty you are made of
So please be engulfed by poetic notes everytime is possible
There was no question in my family that my sister and I would be given the same opportunities in my life as my brothers. Nor was there in Islam. We learned at an early age that it was men’s interpretation of our religion that restricted women’s opportunities, not our religion itself. Islam infact had been quite progressive towards women from its inception: the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH)* had forbidden the killing of female infants common among the Arabs of the time, and called for education for women and their right to inherit long before these privileges were granted to them in the West.
Bipi Khadijah, the first to convert to Islam, was a widow who ran her own business, employed the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH)* when he was a young boy and later married him. Umm e-Umara fought alongside the men in the Muslims’early battles against their enemies, her powerful sword-arm saving the life of the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH)). Chand Bibi, the female ruler of the South Indian state of Ahmadnagar, defeated the Mogul Emperor Akbar and forced him to enter into a peace treaty with her. Noor-Jehan, the wife of Emperor Jehangir and the virtual ruler of India, was famous for her skill in the field of administration. Muslim history was full of women who had taken a public role and performed every bit as successfully as men. Nothing in Islam discouraged them, or me, from pursuing that course.
(image by me)
