nomadman108

[nomadman108]

Who? Just One of Many Questions

In November last year I published a post on this blog that sought to answer the question, Why do I pray?In that post I said that this question is one of the big ‘Who am I’, Self-Enquiry questions. I also claimed in that post that it was (is) a core aspiration of mine that I make prayer a ‘whole of life activity’. To quote me from that post: You see, I want to pray, and make my whole life a…

[nomadman108]

Even a Leaf: A Poetic Offering

Namaste and greetings my friends Today, a poem for your reading and contemplative pleasure. The title of the poem comes references a verse from the Bhagavad Gita in which Lord Krishna talks about what are acceptable offerings: He tells Arjuna that God, or the Divine will accept even a leaf as an offering of devotion. So, when I returned to the Hermitage one day recently to find two leaves on…

[nomadman108]

And in Conclusion: According to the Text Message

Welcome to the continuation and conclusion of the topic we were discussing in our last post. We are spending some time reflecting on a text message I received some days ago. A multi layered text and one full of treasures on leading a purposeful and satisfying spiritual or inner life. If you missed it, please feel free to visit that post here. In that previous post I included an image of the…

[nomadman108]

It wouldn’t be quite correct to say that I never get calls or texts on my phone. What would be correct is to say is that the vast majority are to do with what I might call The Bureaucracy: Reminders of Doctor and dentist appointments, notices from various government bodies, library notices; all that kind of thing. And there is another emerging category that’s actually a lot more welcome: while…

[nomadman108]

Less Desires, Less Entanglements Equals More Freedom

Along with many other spiritual seekers across many world cultures and over time as well, I have a more or less daily practice of opening a spiritual book, scripture, or other text ‘at random’ (as if there is such a thing) to receive a message, a lesson, or a little bit of guidance for the day. In my case, that text has for ages now been the Bhagavad Gita. And over I think the last two or three…

[nomadman108]

Are the Hermit Pilgrims Settling Down?

Stand by for an announcement: The Hermit Pilgrims have signed a lease for the rent of a house for a year. Not only have we signed a lease, we have, in fact as of yesterday, been residing in the said leased property. Admittedly, it’s exactly the sort of small house which we had in fact been longing for for some time. It’s got many characteristics that make it for us, the ideal site for a…

[nomadman108]

Japa in the Dunes

Japa, or the chanting of the names of God or the Divine, is a central spiritual practice for me. In fact, as time goes by, it becomes even more important for me as I try to spend more time chanting than not! With Japa in mind I climbed yesterday to the crest of the sand dune on which our current hermitage is situated, to spend a while with the sea and the dunefield flowers, the birds, and as I…

[nomadman108]

Why do I Pray?

‘Why do you pray?’ I ask myself. It’s not a rhetorical question: I really do want to know; it’s one of those big ‘Who am I?’ kind of questions. ‘I pray because I pray,’ I hear myself answer, sounding as if I am indeed responding to a rhetorical question. ‘So’, one might think (as I well might and sometimes do) ‘you pray without any ulterior motive at all? You don’t pray to get things? You don’t…

[nomadman108]

DAYS OF AMSTERDAM CHANTING: A POEM FROM A CHANT SHARED

Reading the other day about the deeper meanings of the word Amen, a memory surfaced. A memory from the summer of 1971. I was seventeen years old; young yes. I was hitchhiking around Europe, and as for this memory in particular, I was sitting day by day in the Dam Square in Amsterdam. The memory of which we are speaking involves chanting. One day (or it could have been more), chanting, along…

[nomadman108]

The Q&A in the Scripture Part 4

A sooner rather than later return to our supposedly occasional series on the Q&A between Uddhava and his cousin Krishna on the eve of their departure from their soon to be engulfed in the nightmare of war hometown. So, why sooner? After all it’s not been that long since our last installment. Well, I was just reading through my notes and the questions and answers we’re looking at today just sort…

[nomadman108]

Another Poetic Offering: Birds in the Bushes

‘I like writing reverent things,’ I said to my partner Hermit. I’d just shown her a poem I had written about a walk earlier in the day on the track on the crest of the sand dune near the hermitage. Yes, it’s true I thought later. I do write around themes of solemn respect, deep praise, of love, of appreciation of beauty, of devotional things. About my devotion to all that is Divine – which of…

[nomadman108]

Poetics & Photographs: Shared Note

Namaste and greetings Another poetic and photographic note to share with you today. In the last month or so I’ve written two poems which are about angels. And both connected in some way with rain, or at least impending rain in one and actual rain in the other. Initially I thought to just include the most recent of the two, but as I put my fingers on the keyboard it just seems to be emerging…

[nomadman108]

The Q&A in the Scripture Part 3

Welcome to another installment in our occasional series (see links to all previous installments at the end of this post) looking at some of the answers given by Krishna to his cousin Uddhava during a kind of Q&A session that takes place as both are about to leave their hometown which is on the brink of war. Krishna’s returning to Heaven, while Uddhava is heading for parts – and a future –…

[nomadman108]

With the current hermitage located not so much on the side of the road, as right on the side of a large sand dune system, you might imagine that I am at and on the beach every day. While almost every day, I walk the track that follows the crest of the dunes in this particular area, I’ve only actually gone down to the beach itself a handful of times. So, yesterday as start to my resolve to make…

[nomadman108]

When One Word is Actually Two & Becomes One Again

‘It’s good practis/ce sitting out here.’ So said my partner hermit as we sat sipping post evening meal tea on our little front porch that happens to face exactly due west. It was on the tip of my tongue to ask: ‘Do you mean it’s a good thing (practice) to be doing regularly as in Sadhana,  a spiritual practice? In other words is it a good habit to cultivate? ‘Or do you mean it’s good as a kind…

[nomadman108]

The Q&A in the Scripture: Part 2

Namaste And welcome to Part 2 of The Q&A in the Scripture series in which we are looking at the answers given by Krishna to a list of questions asked by his cousin Uddhava in a scripture called the Uddhava Gita. Remember the scene? Uddhava has asked Krishna a pile of questions about how to live a good life, how to live in the world with discernment. These questions have become urgent because…

[nomadman108]

Bright Lights on the Dunefields

Namaste and Welcome friends. A poem for your reading pleasure today. Written in response to an expereience while out walking on the dunes next to the hermitage. I’m including a photo I made a few weeks ago of the exact place where the poem was written, And many loving thanks to my partner hermit for the sketch made in the same area today (synchronistically it was made unknown to me and vica…