Dear Bellows Falls, Vermont, My Home Town

I had just talked with my Mom, Blanche Reis, on the phone one morning.  She told me that things in Bellows Falls are about the same, but that her cousin Amelia Belzac, God rest her bountiful soul, had passed away and that the burial took place at Sacred Heart Cemetery Grounds with snow on the ground.

When I arrived home to my little house in India, after three months in New England, I had to take my shoes off and walk barefoot in the garden just to get myself readjusted.  It is so warm here right now with chickens pecking at worms in the soft soil and the parrots flying through the coconut trees screeching with glee.

I hoped that Amelia, who I loved dearly, and who I had spent many happy childhood days with might pass over my speck of the Universe on her Grand Journey to her resting place.  Would I feel her presence if she did?  I wondered.

Here in the spiritual India I inhabit, the emphasis is on the Soul.  People regard each lifetime as an increment in the Soul's journey towards final mergence with God, by whatever name they choose to call that Power.

 When I was back in Vermont and studying about the indigenous Abenaki peoples who used to fish and camp alongside the falls in our sweet town I learned that the Abenaki  believe in the God spark in all living things, that part of the Great Spirit that is immortal….just like India.

It's such a beautiful world when we focus on the good and the positive around us.  For instance, I really enjoyed being in the snow back home in Bellows Falls and walking through the slushy streets, thinking of how everything would be so green come spring.  After all, that's how our state got its name, the Green Mountain State.

There is lots of snow here too, up in the north, especially in the Himalayas.  In fact, the northern state of Himachal Pradesh is named after the words Hima Challa which mean, Ice Heart.  It is said by the spiritual elders here that the person who develops a heart that is pure and cool as ice is someone who can best serve humanity.  In so many indigenous cultures, it is the heart that is regarded as more important than the head.  In other words, the feeling one has for life is genuine, while the head, the mind, the thoughts, can deceive.

I worship the Himalayas; they remind me in a colossal way of the Green Mountains of my heartland, covered in snow, the Soul of my native place.

It is often during the coldest parts of winter that I get my best insights, that I can go deeply within and commune with God.  This is why so many pilgrims flock to the Himalayas.  It is there, at the top of the world, that they feel close to the Great Spirit.  So many places of worship are there.

The town of Puttaparthi, where I live,  is waking up right now and people are hurrying off to the market to get the best of the fruits and vegetables that the local farmers have brought in from their planting fields.  Today I will buy bananas, three for a penny, some mandarin oranges, one for a penny, and a pound of potatoes.... a whopping 10 cents.  Later I will take my shirt to the tailor to be mended for less than a quarter.

I wish I could send all that is good about India home to you so that your lives would be more comfortable. And I wish that the special strength of character that resides especially in the hearts of the folks of Bellows Falls could be spread like maple syrup over some weary hearts here.

For now, I send heaps of sunshine and truckloads of my love.

Catch you later!

Terry Reis Kennedy

Do It - Terry’s Signboard

Do It…

(Terry’s Signboard)

Be so brave you scare the meek

into action.

Be so loving you shock the hateful

into remorse.

Be so happy you intoxicate the miserable

into compassion.

Dalai Lama on solutions to mental problems

By Terry Reis Kennedy

Why is it that sometimes we are able to avoid expressing violent emotions, though we may feel them?  Why are some capable of paying attention to what is occurring around them, while others cannot—even suffering from what is now a recognized as: Attention Deficit Disorder?

His Holiness the 14^th Dalai Lama has said that the mind can be trained to improve anti-social behavior.  In 2005 speaking to neuroscientists in the USA, he said,   “One area where Buddhist contemplative tradition may have important contribution to make is the practical techniques it has developed for training in compassion. With regard to mental training both in attention and emotional regulation it also becomes crucial to raise the question of whether any specific techniques have time-sensitivity in terms of their effectiveness, so that new methods can be tailored to suit the needs of age, health, and other variable factors.”

In schools both private and public in the US, for instance, it has been discovered that students who practice non-denominational “Silent Sitting” for as little as five minutes per day, become better focused, emotionally grounded, and more receptive to learning.

His Holiness added, “A note of caution is called for, however. It is inevitable that when two radically different investigative traditions like Buddhism and neuroscience are brought together in an interdisciplinary dialogue, this will involve problems that are normally attendant to exchanges across boundaries of cultures and disciplines. 

Recently a close family member, age nine, began to experience severe anxiety and panic attacks when it was time to go to school.  After much investigation into the matter, the condition was determined to be “Separation Disorder”…..the fact of leaving mother and attending school was suddenly overwhelming, whereas previously it was not. My prayers were offered and I had a Tibetan Buddhist Divination done. Good advice, in my view, was given: to coddle the child and assure that this too would pass; a morning sweet could be enjoyed and a brief protection mantra said before leaving the home. My report was treated with amusement and dismissed.  Today’s children are almost not allowed to be children.  Hugging, reassuring, are often regarded as “babying” and counterproductive to the achievement of the goal: Almighty Success.

 Meantime, the Embodiment of Compassion, explained, “… in its traditional context, the term for meditation is bhavana (in Sanskrit) or gom (in Tibetan). The Sanskrit term connotes the idea of cultivation, such as cultivating a particular habit or a way of being, while the Tibetan term gom has the connotation of cultivating familiarity. So, briefly stated, meditation in the traditional Buddhist context refers to a deliberate mental activity that involves cultivating familiarity, be it with a chosen object, a fact, a theme, habit, an outlook, or a way of being.”

We can relate to the nine-year-old.   Finding out that life is a school with constant tests and examinations is frightening. But having a quiet time, enjoying a sweet, and realizing that  we have support is necessary.

Maybe if the habit of cultivating compassion for all is developed violent emotions will evaporate. Maybe if the subject is interesting enough, the attention will be efficient, not deficient. 

Sai Baba on Meditation

By Terry Reis Kennedy

I first started meditating at the age of 38.  I was instructed to get into any comfortable position, seated, either in a chair or on the ground.  I was taught that the purpose of meditation is to become one with God.  However, I had no idea how to merge with the formless God I believed in—a faraway, faceless force that ruled my life.  It was not until I became of devotee of Sai Baba in 1990 that I began to understand that a person needs an object to focus on in order to meditate.  That can be a symbol of God, a deity, or even a flame.

According to Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, meditation is a process of Self discovery.  He has said, “All accomplished spiritual aspirants, yogis, and renunciates have acquired knowledge of the Absolute through meditation.  When higher knowledge is established, there is no sense of past or future; all is present-time.”

And it is precisely in this meditation moment, that there is the experience of the living God and nothing else.  It is in synchronicity with the beats of one’s own heart.  Such a moment leads to the discovery that the Absolute and you are one.

For me, meditation produces refreshment, like water when I’m thirsty, sleep when I’m tired.  Puttaparthi Sai taught, “Through meditation, the weakness of the body can be overcome, the restless nature of the mind can be controlled, and progress towards the Seat of Grace made easy. One can then attain the experience of Primordial Powers.”

And what might these powers be?  For me, they are peace, sense control, love towards all, patience, spontaneity, and joy.  Without worry, anger, fear, jealousy, and hatred I feel free!  So, meditation brings liberation—at least for segments of time.  With more practice, “nirvana” lasts longer.

But meditation is much more.  Parthi Sai, in his own down-to-earth way of teaching said that meditation is a way of life. “One should have Daiva Preethi, Papa Bheethi and Sangha Neethi (Love for God, fear of sin, and morality in society). That is true Nirvana.” 

He prescribed, “Be away from sin. Understand that Daiva Sannidhi (proximity to the Divine) is true Pennidhi (wealth principle)… While you are walking on the road or driving a car, if your vision is not focused on the road, you may meet with an accident. Concentration is necessary in all aspects of life. But concentration does not become meditation. One should go beyond concentration which means the mind should become still. You should be free from thoughts. That is true meditation.”

There is a step-by-step process for new and seasoned meditators.  According to Bhagawan, “When in meditation, concentrate on the form chosen by you, then pass into contemplation and then into meditation.  Only by the three states will you get there…When there is complete attention on the form chosen that will lead to meditation.  The attention of the mind is totally removed from the body and totally concentrated on the form chosen as the object of your meditation.”