Friday, February 24, 2012

where do you turn when you're in a tight place?



for much of 2011, i read the bhagavad-gita daily; i went back to it again today, and here are the verses that popped out at me, translated by barbara stoler miller:

(from "the fifth teaching:  renunciation of action")

he should not rejoice in what he loves
nor recoil from what disgusts him;
secure in understanding, undeluded, knowing
the infinite spirit, he abides in it.

detached from external contacts,
he discovers joy in himself;
joined by discipline to the infinite spirit,
the self attains inexhaustible joy.

delights from external objects
are wombs of suffering;
in their beginning is their end,
and no wise man delights in them.

i guess my two favorite lines are the "he abides in it" line and the "in their beginning is their end." line.  i take comfort and inspiration from both.  comfort that i don't need to, nor can i, control the external world, that my job is to live in it, abide in it, not design, create, or control it and inspiration in the idea of the infinite spirit--some sort of transcendence from the material world which, alas, i love too much.

legwear:  jeans
inspiration:  abiding
looking forward:  friday dinner date & darrell spencer's noon reading today

if you, too, alas, have not divested your self entirely from the material world, consider entering our end of winter tights give away.  commenting gets one entry, following gets you a second.  if you're already a follower, you've already got one entry!
 


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