So, this post is actually inspired by kj, who did the random 13 post using images and then the more recent post. I also got brave enough to post pictures.
Random ones.
Cutglass chandeliers. One doesnt get them any more and i love them
This looks like a grandfather clock at first, but look closely and you will notice something special. From the Lalitha Mahal Palace, Mysuru
Wall paper in our room at a recent holiday. Yeah, i love simple things like that.
Details of a shield from Rajasthan
Tiny marble statue of Devi Saraswati at a Jain temple in Rajasthan
Random, Arbit
This work is done on voile at Patiala. I quite love it.
Indian miniature art
Sunset in the mountains
Indian crafts always take my breath away. So, this.
That is the mighty Kanchenjunga
5 comments:
What a blessing to be able to appreciate the small details that the world offers us.
Thanks for sharing some beautiful parts of your world.
Hi 8thday: Thank you so much! :)
So are you a Hindu? I'm now reading the Bhagavad Gita, and wondering what your impressions of it are.
Hi Snowbrush: sorry I just saw this comment. I am actually a Sikh - a religion closely related to Hinduism. The Geeta, however, is the spiritual guiding light of all Indic religions. Everyone takes from the book whatever they are ready for at that time. And every time we read it, we learn or realise something new. The most profound thing I took away from the Geeta was - Those who seek me in idols will find me in idols. Those who seek me in rituals will find me in rituals. Those who seek me in light will find me in light. Those who seek me in their heart will find that I am there.
The Geeta, like many other spiritual texts, encourages self - inquiry and asking difficult questions to self. Not - "This is God", but "What does God mean to you?" Not - "This is how you should seek salvation." But - "What path would you like to take, and to what end?"
As you can see, a text one loves to talk about! :)
"The most profound thing I took away from the Geeta was - Those who seek me in idols will find me in idols. Those who seek me in rituals will find me in rituals. Those who seek me in light will find me in light. Those who seek me in their heart will find that I am there."
I can but hope that I don't cause offense but because I am genuinely puzzled, I must either say how this quotation strikes me, or I must say nothing. If it is true that God is to be found in diverse places and activities, in what places or activities is God not to be found? For instance, does God also exist in greed, cruelty, hatred, and alcohol, or does God only exist in generosity, kindness, love, and moderation?
I also have other thoughts and questions pertaining to your quotation. If God is wherever we seek God, does this mean that the pantheists are right, and God is the sum total of all thoughts, feelings, and things? Or does it mean that the pantheists don't go far enough, so while God is the sum total of all thoughts, feelings, and things, God has a reality that extends beyond all thoughts, feelings, and things? In either case, can it be said that God is characterized by some values and not characterized by others--that is, does God embrace virtue and reject wickedness, or is God equally definable by both? Finally, as I read it, the quotation does not necessarily mean that God even exists outside of our own heads.
Three days ago, I wrote a post about my own religious upbringing, which taught me that we should seek God in the Bible and nowhere but in the Bible. Religion in America nearly always means Christianity, and the Christianity it means is nearly always bigoted and exclusionary. Such has been my experience of religion.
I live in a city called Eugene, which is in the state of Oregon, which is one state north of California. Being a liberal city, Sikhs exist here.
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