Be like the Lotus.

According to Buddhism every person has the potential to become perfect and enlightened, and it is just a matter of time until each human reaches the light. Its characteristics are a perfect analogy for the human condition : even when its roots are in the dirtiest water, the Lotus produces the most beautiful flower. The Lotus grows deep in the mud, far away from the sun, but sooner or later, the Lotus reaches the light becoming the most beautiful flower ever.

The Lotus flower closes and sinks in the water at night and rises and opens again at dawn, just like the sun. Like the sun, some believe that humans are born, they perform their tasks, die, and ultimately they are reborn again.

The seed of the Lotus flower contains perfectly formed leaves as miniatures of what they will become when the Lotus blooms. Every person is already perfect and the model of perfection is already formed inside each being, awaiting the opportunity to emerge when ones reaches the condition of being aware of his perfection.

Essentially, the lotus flower represents creative power and purity amid adverse surroundings. Here is a beautiful old Chinese poem :

"The leaves break the bandage of the green stem, stretch themselves and form a green pool with untidy edges.
Now the flower comes out of the vast surface of water,
just like a very beautiful woman
coming gracefully from her bath".

"When rain drops fill a lotus petal, the petal sways for a while together with each drop, and when the water has pooled to a certain extent, the petal pours the pure crystal - like water without any regret or attachment.

Then when the water falls again on to the lotus leaf below, there again it wells up and rolls  right on off again, emptying into the lotus pond.

                                                                                  The lotus petal takes on only as much weight as it
                                                                                   can hold; anything more and it empties everything
                                                                                   out completely!        
Here ones sees the wisdom of the lotus. Were the Lotus to instead take the water greedily, the petal would end up tearing or its stem would snap.

The principles of living in the world are exactly the same ....."  


So let us be like the Lotus flower, bringing beauty and light from the murky darkness at the bottom of the pond......    

Pleasure By Khalil Gibran

And now you ask in your heart, "How shall we distinguish that which is good in pleasure from that which is not good?"
Go to your fields and your gardens, and you shall learn that it is the pleasure of the bees to gather honey from the flower,
But it is also the pleasure of the flower to yield its honey to the bee.
For the bee a flower is a fountain of life
And to the flower a bee is a messenger of love,
to both the bee and the flower, the giving and the receiving of
pleasure is a need and an ecstasy.

People, be in your pleasures

like the flowers and the bee.

Father

A father is neither an anchor to hold us back
nor a sail to take us there,
but always a guiding light
whose love shows the way.

The warm light of your love
shines in my memories and in my heart
reminding me of your guidance
your care, and most of all, your love.

A father often times seems to be very strict, because, he has to be a teacher
and a guide, and also a source of strength
The one his family looks up to
With loving trust and pride
And thanks him for all he has done.

Happy Father's day !

A Love Poem By Rumi

A lifetime without Love is of no account
Love is the Water of Life

Drink it down with heart and soul.

.

Another favorite Persian Poet of mine : Mawlana Jalaluddin Rumi.

His name stands for love and ecstatic flight into infinite. Rumi is one of the greatest spiritual masters and poetical geniuses of mankind and was the founder of the Mawlawi Sufi order, a leading mystical brotherhood Of Islam.

On Marriage By Khalil Gibran

You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore
You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter
your days.
Ay, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.
But let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of  the heavens dance between you.

Love one another, but make not a bond of love :
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each others cup, but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you
be alone,
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver
with the same music.

Give your hearts not into each other's keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts
And stand together yet not too near together :
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,

And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's
shadow.



It is a beautiful poem, telling us that marriage can be meaningful only when couples give each other the space. I can somehow relate to this poem as, our marriage is based on this same principle.