#bhagavat gita quotes

[writer-dipsundarkanjilal]

Who am I?

There is no doubt that human beings are the best creation in the world amongst all natural creations I know.

But who I am?

I had this question from the time I was in school. Hopefully many students today have the same curiosity. I didn’t get the answer then but there are answers of all questions in the ancient literatures. With my minor research I found that there are 8,400,000 types of species in the Earth and human species are only 400,000 out of the whole.

According to Vishnu Purana:

“jalaja nava-laksani sthavara laksa-vimsati krmayo rudra-sankhyakah paksinam dasa-laksanam trimsal-laksani pasavah catur-laksani manusah”.

This means, there are:

900,000 species of aquatics; 2,000,000 species of plants (sthavara); 1,100,000 species of insects/worms/reptiles; 1,000,000 species of birds; 3,000,000 species of animals and 400,000 species of humans.

But is it enough to believe that I am just a species in this world?

What happened when we look at the stars or the Moon. Who are they?

Just think, what would happen if someone sees our Earth from the Moon? Imagine what would happen if someone sees our Earth from other planets farthest from the Moon?

In this whole cosmos, we don’t know what we don’t know. Hence, I trusted the ancient literatures which tells us:  

There is another nature, which is eternal and is transcendental. This nature is supreme and never be annihilated. We cannot calculate the expansion of this spiritual nature which is above the material universe. In Vedas, we get to know that there are millions of universes and beyond the material universe, there is the spiritual sky,

In the spiritual sky, all the planets are eternal along with the lives there. Beyond that spiritual nature there is Superior nature which is completely spiritual. It is not possible to understand that through our experimental knowledge.

“Paras tasmat tu bhavo 'nyo, 'vyakto 'vyaktat sanatanah yah sa sarvesu bhutesu, nasyatsu na vinasyati” – Bhagavat Gita Chapter 8.20

Meaning - There is another nature, which is eternal and is transcendental to this manifested and unmanifested matter. It is supreme and is never annihilated. When all in this world is annihilated, that part remains as it is.

@Quote from the book “Beyond Birth and Death” – by His Devine Grace A.C Bhaktivendata Swami Prabhupada.

So far, I realized that Humans are the best species because through humans’ intelligence, they at least can sense their existence in this magnificent cosmos where other species cannot. But that is not enough!

Who am I?

I AM AWARENESS. I AM AWARE THAT I BELONG TO THIS COSMOS. I AM AWARE THAT I AM NOT JUST A MATERIAL BEING, BUT I HAVE SPIRITUAL EXISTENCE.

I HAVE MENTAL ENERGY, PHYSICAL EMERGY AND SPIRITUAL ENERGY TO SUSTAIN AND HELP OTHERS TO SUSTAIN.

Keep reading...

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Mahabharat, Mahabharath, Gita Tera Gyan Amrit, Bhagavad gita, gita, bhagavat gita, Krishna consciousness, hare krishna, mahabharatham tamil, kurukshetra, gita quotes, Tatvadarshi Sant, Gyan Ganga, krishna, sanatan dharma, vishnu, radhe krishna, srila prabhupada, daily quotes, haribol, hindu, chanting, bhakti yoga, meditation, Mantra

[hunterartemis]

Harry Potter and Mahabharat Crossover: Gryffindor

From the Top: Pandav Bheemsen, Veer Abhimanyu, Empress Draupadi and Maharathi Arjun

 Quote:

परित्राणाय साधूनां विनाशाय च दुष्कृताम् । धर्मसंस्थापनार्थाय सम्भवामि युगे युगे

Translit:  Paritranaya sadhunang vinashay cha dushkritam. Dharmasang sthapanarthay sambhabami yuge yuge. -- Bhagavat Geeta (Chapter 4: verse 8)

Meaning:  For the protection of the good, for the destruction of evil-doers, For the sake of firmly establishing righteousness, I am possible in every age.

This Shlok is a part of Mahabharat OST. Listen to it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oS3u9wUu8vY

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[blabbershere]

People will always speak of your infamy, and for a respectable person, dishonor is worse than death.

- Bhagavat Gita

[belacqui-pro-quo]

The Same, the Same: friend and foe are of one stuff; the ploughman, the plough and the furrow are of one stuff; and the stuff is such and so much that the variations of form are unimportant. "You are fit" (says the supreme Krishna to a sage) "to apprehend that you are not distinct from me. That which I am, thou art, and that also is this world, with its gods and heroes and mankind. Men contemplate distinctions, because they are stupefied with ignorance." "The words *I* and *mine* constitute ignorance. What is the great end of all, you shall now learn from me. It is soul,—one in all bodies, pervading, uniform, perfect, preeminent over nature, exempt from birth, growth and decay, omnipresent, made up of true knowledge, independent, unconnected with unrealities, with name, species and the rest, in time past, present and to come. The knowledge that this spirit, which is essentially one, is in one's own and in all other bodies, is the wisdom of one who knows the unity of things. As one diffusive air, passing through the perforations of a flute, is distinguished as the notes of a scale, so the nature of the Great Spirit is single, though its forms be manifold, arising from the consequences of acts. When the difference of the investing form, as that of god or the rest, is destroyed, there is no distinction." "The whole world is but a manifestation of Vishnu, who is identical with all things, and is to be regarded by the wise as not differing from, but as the same as themselves. I neither am going nor coming; nor is my dwelling in any one place; nor art thou, thou; nor are others, others; nor am I, I." As if he had said, 'All is for the soul, and the soul is Vishnu; and animals and stars are transient paintings; and light is whitewash; and durations are deceptive; and form is imprisonment; and heaven itself a decoy.' That which the soul seeks is resolution into being above form, out of Tartarus and out of heaven,—liberation from nature.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, Plato; or, the Philosopher

[templepurohit]

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 4 Verse 9 janma karma ca me divyam evaḿ yo vetti tattvataḥ tyaktvā dehaḿ punar janma naiti mām eti sah O'arjuna Word Meanings: janma — birth; karma — work; ca — also; me — of Mine; divyam — transcendental; evam — like this; yaḥ — anyone who; vetti — knows; tattvataḥ — in reality; tyaktvā — leaving aside; deham — this body; punaḥ — again; janma — birth; na — never; eti — does attain; mām — unto Me; eti — does attain; saḥ — he; arjuna — O Arjuna. Explanation: You will be successful just by knowing in truth about my birth which was previously described, and after my birth, my activities. That is expressed in this verse. Ramanujacarya and Madhusudana SarasvatI say that divya means “non material, spiritual.” Sridhara Svami says divya means “uncommon.” As this means that it is not related to this material world, it also means “spiritual.” Being spiritual, beyond the gunas, means that the Lord’s birth and activities are eternal. Jiva Gosvami also explains, quoting from Bhagavatam in the Bhagavat Sandarbha that the Lord has no birth or activities: na vidyate yasya ca janma karma va na nama-rupe guna-dosa eva va tathapi lokapyaya-sambhavaya yah sva-mayaya tany anukalam rcchati The Supreme Personality of Godhead has no material birth, activities, name, form, qualities or faults. To fulfill the purpose for which this material world is created and destroyed, He comes in the form of a human being like Lord Rama or Lord Krishna by His original internal potency. He has immense potency, and in various forms, all free from material contamination, He acts wonderfully. He is therefore the Supreme Brahman. I offer my respects to Him. SB 8.3.8 Or the word divya can mean not approachable by logic, or inconceivable, on the strength of the words of sruti and smrti. The Purusa Bodhini Sruti (4.3) of the Pippaladi branch of the Vedas says: eko devo nitya-lilanurakto bhakta-vyapi bhakta-hrdayantaratma This one, who is inconceivable (deva), engaged in eternal pastimes, is spread in the devotees and resides in the devotee’s heart. The eternal nature of the Lord’s birth and activities is mentioned frequently in the Bhagavatam as well. Yo vetti tattvatah means “he who knows my birth and activitie are truly eternal,” based on my statements that I am unborn anc with indestructible body (ajo ‘pi san avyayatma) and that my birth and activities are non material (janma karma ca me divyam), and not just an appearance of being eternal, dependent on some sort of trick. Yo vetti tattvatah can also mean “one who knows me as the ver form of Brahman.” This is because later Krishna will say: om tat sad iti nirdeso brahmanas trividhah smrtah: the three words om tat sat all indicate brahman. (Gita 17.18) Therefore tattva means the state of being brahman (tat). Yo vetti tattvatah means “one who know me as the form of brahman.” That person does not take birth again, but rather attains me. The words tyaktva deham only indicate the last condition, for, not only on giving up the body one does not take birth again, but even not giving up the body, before that, one attains me. Ramanujacarya says, “Destroying all sins which are unfavorable for surrender to me by true knowledge of my spiritual birth and activities, taking shelter of me in this life in the prescribed way, that person who holds me alone as dear, constantly thinking of me, attains me.” https://ift.tt/3mdirPZ

[themoongoddessss]

I always believed that whatever happens, happens from a good reason.

Never knew that this something Holy Bhagavad Gita also has to know.

To read about more such quotes tap the link given below.

[nomadman108]

Reflections on Spirit and Matter

I'd looked forward to meeting up with my Bhagavat Gita this morning. Today I would be reading Chapter 14: The Three Gunas, one of my favourites.

As I thought about this - in anticipation as it were - I thought how these days I seemed to be deep into and under the influence of Tamas: the inclination to want to sleep; the inability to concentrate for long (and even short) periods; the 'can't be bothered' attitude to writing (and to everything else for that matter). This all strongly suggested to me that my life at this time was what you might call Tamasic.

Sloth, ignorance, madness, delusion. At the risk of belaboring the point, I will just say that yes, all these and more seem to define my state - my condition - at this time.

So, I got to do my daily Bhagavat Gita reading, and I did indeed read about the Three Gunas. As always it struck me as a clear, succinct, concise, and accurate description of how life works as an embodied entity in the material world.

Later, as I returned to Hinduism for Dummies (which I am reading to increase my knowledge and understanding of the culture from which the Bhagavat Gita sprung), I was surprised (pleasantly) to see that I was at the point in the book where the author describes The School of Matter and Spirit: Samkya. This is the notion that we live in a dualistic universe comprised of matter (Prakriti) and spirit (Purusha).

And Prakriti is in fact consisting of the three Gunas, the three elements or modes, that make up material nature. It is the balance of these three Gunas that, interacting with purusha (soul), determine the condition of each individual living entity.

Rajas is the Guna, or mode of nature that holds the qualities of activity, energy, desire, passion; it is actually the force that 'makes things happen'. As such it isn't of itself a bad thing or any kind of negative force.

However, it can become a negative when the three Gunas are out of balance in such a way that Rajas takes control, leading the living entity in the direction of desire, pain, suffering, sense gratification, and misery.

Which leads us to the conclusion already noted that it is combination of these three Gunas, and, we can say, the mix of the quantities of each, that dictate the nature of the living entity. Or to be more precise, it is the Guna that dominates at any given time that defines that nature.

There are a couple of sentences in Hinduism for Dummies describing this process that I like:

Perusha's (soul's) presence causes excitation in Prakrita (matter) leading to an imbalance in the three qualities (Sattva, Tamas, and Rajas), which in turn leads to the production of a great variety of entities (beings, things). The level of imbalance depends on any experience present in the particular purusha (soul).

This, the author says, applies from one life to the next. Equally, I think, the balances of the Gunas changes on a continual basis moment to moment, day to day, never sitting still. Flowing from a state in which one or other of the Gunas dominate to a greater or lesser degree.

And, as I mentioned at the opening of this post, I feel at this particular time that Tamas is ruling my nature. But, I've been thinking: is this true? I mean to say, what led to this current and unpleasant state of my nature?

The mere presence of soul, as I quoted above, excites the Gunas and gets them struggling for dominance. At the moment, Tamas is on top. But how did Tamas achieve this dominance? The simple answer is this: Rajas. The nature of my activity, my attachment to the senses and their gratification; my identification with the world, or to be exact, my body and its pains, pleasure, its ups and downs.

Of course without some kind of dynamic interaction between spirit and matter, body and soul, there is no life. No physical life that is. In the Bhagavat Gita Krishna tells Arjuna that the Gunas - the modes of material nature - can and must be transcended if one is to achieve realisation of the Self and thus find liberation.

In the meantime, as we in mortal existence strive for this liberation, we need to find ways to balance the three Gunas.

Sattva. The mode of goodness, light, awareness (knowledge), happiness, joy, love, is the mode we want in control. I do think, though, that by definition, living as a material being in a material universe makes it impossible for any of us keep Sattva on top all the time.

However, the key is to try. It is the striving for those desirable qualities - love, compassion, awareness, calmness, gentleness - that will lead eventually to our lives becoming balanced and harmonized with Sattvic qualities and action.

At least, that's the plan. At least in making the effort we can look forward to even at the very least some fleeting moments of Sattvic existence. After that? Never mind about what happens next. For the great and vast majority of us living entities achieving this balance in any kind of long-term sustained manner will be the work of too many lifetimes to count.

The bottom line: do good, be good. And as Ram Dass wrote: Be here now

Peace

[strings2book]

👉𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐊:- 📚ⓉⒾⓉⓁⒺ:- Diamonds are forever so are morals 🖋️ⒶⓊⓉⒽⓄⓇ:- Arun Tiwari 🗞️ⓅⓊⒷⓁⒾⓈⒽⒺⓇ:- Penguin Publication 🔤ⓁⒶⓃⒼⓊⒶⒼⒺ:- English 📖ⒻⓄⓇⓂⒶⓉ:- Hardcover 👉𝐒𝐘𝐍𝐎𝐏𝐒𝐈𝐒:- Nothing can be impossible in life when there is dedication & hardwork. . Govind Dholakia is the owner of the largest diamond factory of the world but he is an unknown name for everyone not even Indians know about him like me. When I first saw the book I am in a Hessel to know who is he? But after reading the book it just gives a new shape to my life. . His whole life revolved around two things one is diamond & other one is Sri Krishna. He in this book shared how with the ethics & morals keeping values in life with spirituality can achieve success in life. . To know more about it grab the book & give it a try. 👉𝐏𝐎𝐒𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐒 :- 🙂 Cover of the book is nice. It is designed in a preety well with a portrait of satisfying smile on Mr.Dholakia's face. 🙂 Writing style of the book good. Author tried share all the details about his life in every possible way. 🙂 Language used in the book is simple & easily understandable. You can read it without any sort of difficulties. 🙂 Author not only share about him but also he shared about his steps to success his hardwork & how he able to achieve success after starting from scratches. 🙂 Author brilliantly shared about his devotion towards shree krishna in the book. I also while reading marked some minute things like starting the book with "Shree jii" that quite spiritual to read. 🙂 The images used in between the chapters gives a visual representation to the book. 🙂 The use of quotes from bhagavat Gita are quite helpful & adds some extra values in life. 🙂 Book is nicely paced. Author synchronised each scene in a quite perfect manner keeping an eye to the reader's experience. 𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑:-🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 (at Bhubaneswar, India) https://www.instagram.com/p/CdkOC7Ur2lw/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[monkmart]

YOUTH AND THE BOOKS

Introduction:

“History is always shaped by the power of youth”

–Daisaku ideka , author of “the human revolution”.

The “National Youth Day” is observed on Jan 12 in India, the youngest country in the world. It is observed as a mark of respect for Swami Vivekananda, the profound scholar who hailed from our country and left timeless effective fruits of wisdom not just for India, but for the whole world.

“National Youth Day” is something where we take an opportunity to recognize it.

It fills the hearts of the youths across the nation with a sense of nationalism and patriotism, with a feeling of responsibility. .Monkmart

Reason of youth day

A quick look back at history, Swami Vivekananda was born on January 12, 1863. He is an extensive philanthropist, scholar, saint, etc., One of his famous quotes says:

This quote shows the faith he had in the youth of the country. He had been an icon for the youth and shown an ideal pathway how the youth should be, through his lifestyle.

He had drawn inspiration from reading books such as Bhagavat Gita, Ramayana, Mahabharata. He explored all the knowledge that was accessible to him.

He took effective measures to spread what he learned, which changed the way of thinking of the country’s youth, and the course of development of the country thereon. .Monkmart

How is youth development an investment?

The best thing about time is, “it changes”. The concentration in developing the youth of a country for a period of 20 years, will change the fate of the country forever.

The youth must be educated about the errors to avoid them happening again. They must be educated about their heroes to draw inspiration and must be shown the vicissitudes of the past to realize the value of the victory that is expected. .Monkmart

Qualities of youths that are expected:

The youth of the country should never give up their feelings on nationalism and patriotism. They should be proud of their heritage and should have an open mind to accept the change that is brought along with the time, without giving up on their traditions.

In short, national interest should be the top priority. The inspiration to those is always fueled by the history, historic figures, the accomplishments achieved by the country, and the desire to develop than it was previously. All these qualities can be easily developed with help of some right books. Hence book also indirectly plays a role in increasing the economy of the country..Monkmart

How exactly does the books help?

There is no other alternative to the books, in order to look back at the pages of history. They record, provide an insight on what happened, and what should be done.

It allows witnessing what’s experienced by the author of any book. It gives us an opportunity to be empathetic, and to explore the perspectives which were unknown to us till then.

Time taught us the one timeless truth “History always repeats itself” – Will Durant.

The only way to break the cycle is to avoid the mistakes that has been done previously, which paves the way to encounter them in the first place.

How do we do that? By learning the history. This is where the books come in and help us around. The Youths can never be effective avoiding this fact

The core purpose of knowledge is to “pass it on”. Books play the key role in fulfilling this purpose..Monkmart

Conclusion:

The fate of the nation’s future is always made prosperous and great by the works of the youths of today. They are designed by the investment that has been made upon them in the past.

The investment that we are talking about is making the youth to be spirited and providing them opportunities to grow by exploring. This decides the value they bring to the country and the whole world.

We believe, books in any form are going to be the best investment for the youth to decide the course of the development of the country.

So, we at Monkmart are taking the small steps in getting the books to the youth of the country for good. We take immense pride in being a part of it and take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy “National Youth Day “.

Visit Monkmart and buy self-development books to empower yourself and get guided to travel on the right path in life

[kidsstorybook-blog]

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[pinsquotes]

Quotes from Bhagavat Gita

Quotes from Bhagavat Gita

If you are not excited in your praise, you will be calm in criticism.Stay away from Anger. It hurts… only you.If you are right then there is no need to get angry.And if you are wrong then you don’t have any right to get angry.Patience with family is love.Patience with others is respect.Patience with self is confidence.Never think hard about the past, it brings tears.Never think hard about the…

[janhavie]

Tortoise Power

Kurma in Sanskrit means turtle/ tortoise. This amazing creature enjoys a special status in Hinduism for reasons below -

Lord Vishnu (The preserver deity) incarnated on earth as tortoise to save the drink of Immortality (Amrit) from falling into the hands of demons(Asuras) and restored the divine balance in universe. The event is churning of ocean and the story is called Sagar Manthan. 

In Bhagavat Gita, chapter 2, V-58 Shloka, Lord Krishna says -  “Whenever it encounters danger, the turtle protects itself by drawing its limbs and head inside its shell. After the danger passes, the turtle again extracts its limbs and head and continues on its way. The enlightened soul possesses similar control over the mind and senses and can retract and extract them according to the needs of the situation”.

Tortoise is yogic symbol of pratyahara and spiritual symbol of being antarmukhi (Inward bound with deeper sense of self).

Tortoise is placed in hindu temples. They appear at the entrance as a reminder to devotees and visitors to go inwards(symbolic).

Tortoise is capable of withstanding extreme danger / disturbances, and is  slow(To the level of annoyance), cautious, and focused. They protect themselves by withdrawing / pulling in. It’s practically impossible to knock the tortoise off centre.

Ancient yogis have aptly named asanas after the shapes and the qualities they observed in other lives and nature. Kurmasan/Tortoise pose in any variation is an opportunity to withdraw senses from external distractions, and attain the equilibrium physically, mentally and emotionally by going deep within.  The foundation to the practice of yoga is control of 5 senses(Sight, sound, taste, touch and smell).  Kurmasana is considered base to pratyahara practice, the place of contentment/surrender/acceptance. Pratyahara becomes our very own impenetrable tortoise shell. It brings forward more opportunities to tune into the guru within and take a journey into self discovery. Self-doubt evaporates as it restores divine balance and inner stability within. It helps to master both the body and the mind. By withdrawing senses, the intuitive mind awakens. Like a tortoise (Kurma) - 

Be patient, face the chaos yet be wise to know when to withdraw in order to survive. Find centre , bring balance into life regardless of external drama and circumstances.  Be with true Self, stay in eternal peace. Unperturbed. When required go slow - Nature does not hurry, it follows its own clock.

Ashtang yoga founder Pattabhi Jois says  Body is not stiff, mind is stiff. It took me relentless practice of nearly 2 years to fall comfortably into Kurmasana and now a firm believer in the quote that body follows the mind. 

Words of caution - 

The pose demands high level of flexibility of hips, shoulders and spine. Be gentle. Go slow. Lot of samskaras get wiped off on the way(Heavy heavy detox). Be mindful. Surrender.

Slow, steady tortoise wins the race. 

[templepurohit]

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 4 Verse 9 - TemplePurohit.com janma karma ca me divyam evaḿ yo vetti tattvataḥ tyaktvā dehaḿ punar janma naiti mām eti sah O'arjuna Word Meanings: janma — birth; karma — work; ca — also; me — of Mine; divyam — transcendental; evam — like this; yaḥ — anyone who; vetti — knows; tattvataḥ — in reality; tyaktvā — leaving aside; deham — this body; punaḥ — again; janma — birth; na — never; eti — does attain; mām — unto Me; eti — does attain; saḥ — he; arjuna — O Arjuna. Explanation: You will be successful just by knowing in truth about my birth which was previously described, and after my birth, my activities. That is expressed in this verse. Ramanujacarya and Madhusudana SarasvatI say that divya means “non material, spiritual.” Sridhara Svami says divya means “uncommon.” As this means that it is not related to this material world, it also means “spiritual.” Being spiritual, beyond the gunas, means that the Lord’s birth and activities are eternal. Jiva Gosvami also explains, quoting from Bhagavatam in the Bhagavat Sandarbha that the Lord has no birth or activities: na vidyate yasya ca janma karma va na nama-rupe guna-dosa eva va tathapi lokapyaya-sambhavaya yah sva-mayaya tany anukalam rcchati The Supreme Personality of Godhead has no material birth, activities, name, form, qualities or faults. To fulfill the purpose for which this material world is created and destroyed, He comes in the form of a human being like Lord Rama or Lord Krishna by His original internal potency. He has immense potency, and in various forms, all free from material contamination, He acts wonderfully. He is therefore the Supreme Brahman. I offer my respects to Him. SB 8.3.8 Or the word divya can mean not approachable by logic, or inconceivable, on the strength of the words of sruti and smrti. The Purusa Bodhini Sruti (4.3) of the Pippaladi branch of the Vedas says: eko devo nitya-lilanurakto bhakta-vyapi bhakta-hrdayantaratma This one, who is inconceivable (deva), engaged in eternal pastimes, is spread in the devotees and resides in the devotee’s heart. The eternal nature of the Lord’s birth and activities is mentioned frequently in the Bhagavatam as well. Yo vetti tattvatah means “he who knows my birth and activitie are truly eternal,” based on my statements that I am unborn anc with indestructible body (ajo ‘pi san avyayatma) and that my birth and activities are non material (janma karma ca me divyam), and not just an appearance of being eternal, dependent on some sort of trick. Yo vetti tattvatah can also mean “one who knows me as the ver form of Brahman.” This is because later Krishna will say: om tat sad iti nirdeso brahmanas trividhah smrtah: the three words om tat sat all indicate brahman. (Gita 17.18) Therefore tattva means the state of being brahman (tat). Yo vetti tattvatah means “one who know me as the form of brahman.” That person does not take birth again, but rather attains me. The words tyaktva deham only indicate the last condition, for, not only on giving up the body one does not take birth again, but even not giving up the body, before that, one attains me. Ramanujacarya says, “Destroying all sins which are unfavorable for surrender to me by true knowledge of my spiritual birth and activities, taking shelter of me in this life in the prescribed way, that person who holds me alone as dear, constantly thinking of me, attains me.” http://bit.ly/2IabXk1

[themoongoddessss]

[nomadman108]

Big Lessons from Little Blossoms

This is a photo of my partner Pauline. Well, not her exactly: as you can see it is her hand. And in the photo she is posing said hand as a kind of measuring guide for me as I make the photo of the flowers.

We made this one in Thailand recenltty and it's for a friend who is a mad gardener. We've gotten into the habit of sending her pictures of flowers and plants from wherever we go.

Anyway, when I was making this photo I really only wanted to let our friend see the size of the flowers by having something to measure them against. Other than that I didn't really notice much of anything else about the photo at the time.

I came across the photo again the other day as I trawled through my entire collection culling, simplifiying, and reacquainting myself with the many thousands of images I've made in recent years.

This was one that just seemed to grab me. I've come back to it several times since that initial rediscovery, and I have to say I really do like it. The version you see here is ever so slightly enhanced but essentially what you see here is what I saw, what I recorded on that day.

Or I should say, this is what my camera recorded; as already noted above, I was only interested in photographing the flowers and having a measure for them. Thanks to my decision to record the scene, it's now possible for us to see what else is there.

Do you see there is a blossom of another flower in the palm of Pauline's hand? I've a rather nice habit (if I do say so myself) of picking up stray floweres, leaves, twigs, seads, you name it, and presenting them to Pauline as little gifts.

It's a nice little habit, it's true, but Pauline has a very special way of amplifying the magic of these small gestures. Very often she will hold onto the items in question for a little while then say something to the effect of: 'I'll give it back to the Earth', and proceed to place it on the ground, in a bush or somewhere else appropriate that's presented itself.

Other times she will keep said items and bring them home where she will offer them on our little alter to our family dieties. Krishna, in the Bhagavat Gita says:

If anyone with love and devotion offers Me a leaf, a flower, a fruit, or water I will accept it.

Meaning, of course that it's the love and devotion bit that counts, not the size or 'value' of the offering.

Usually all such offerings end up being returned to nature in one way or another: We move around a lot (nomads you see. It's what we do) and packing up involves a kind of refresh when it comes to perishables.

I was going to write about what else I see in this photo: the vibe of gentleness that reaches out to me in the way Pauline is holding her hand; the tinyness of the flowers and their resilience as expressions of life; the luxurience of the shrub; those blossoms on the ground that seem to make a nice impression like clouds I saw this morning in the sky over this coastal town we now find ourselves in (this last actually is what got me actually seeking out this photo once again today).

But, I don't think I will. I want to leave this with the quote from Krishna. No, that's not where I'm leaving it is it? Where I am ending this is with the acknowledgement that one person at least lives by that little verse from the Gita. And for me it truly is a fine illustration of the truth of the concept I first heard in the lyrics of a song (wel it's a treasure really in the form of a song):

From little things big things grow