The Quest [Song]

"The Impossible Dream (The Quest)" Performed by Brian Stokes Mitchell | Uploaded by utpadelp
Dedicated to Dr. Wayne Kublalsingh and all true patriots. ..............................................................................................................................
"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare

We ALL Have a Nation to Run.

...a profound silence.
As I am seeing Dr. Wayne Kublalsingh everywhere, while watching the birds recently it occurred to me that the Blue Jay would never in its wildest dreams deny itself the bare necessities of eating and drinking and even less, the supreme, triumphant pleasure of hogging what ought to be shared with others. This bird is a startlingly beautiful, burly, noisy, rambunctious creature that will eat and/or carry away every single nut that I put out on mornings. This bird does not share, does not seem to have the slightest awareness of the concept. It demonstrates a selfish, scorched earth approach to the bounty made available to all. 

Am I being unreasonable to expect a creature living in nature to adopt the nobler of our values? And why do we human beings hold ourselves to a higher standard and expect to be different from the creatures in the wild? Is it thanks only to nurture that we have been socialized to be saddled with the sometimes hopeless pursuit of a "humanity" that includes selflessness? Is the difference as simple as that? Are we in fact much less than we think we are? Is that why surrender to our baser instincts is often the preferred option?

What, I ask myself, makes Dr. Wayne Kublalsingh unlike you and me and and the rabid Blue Jays of this world? Could it be that contrary to our PM's assessment, this man's family, more than many families in Trinidad and Tobago, actually owned their parental responsibility and took it extremely seriously? Can we consider and admit that what we are seeing in his action is the culmination, not of neglect, but of an extraordinary spiritual nurturing on their part?

The days flash by for me as I anxiously follow the news from home. I imagine that the hours pass more slowly for Dr. Kublalsingh, surrounded by many yet deeply alone in so many ways and especially in the inner struggle between nature and nurture. I still urge him to guard his health and life but I want to assure him that even if he were to walk away today, those of us who are still teachable have already learnt valuable lessons.

Today I want to speak from my heart to thank teacher Wayne Kublalsingh for the things he has been showing me. For the past week and more as I have sat unwillingly and often distressed to tears before the chalkboard of his increasingly emaciated chest, I have been forced to trace and retrace with growing dismay the things which I already knew but which have been manifested in his flesh.

I was among those who, valuing Dr. Kublalsingh's life more than this country, more than this cause, more than we Pawi, more than my beautiful and sometimes ugly countrymen, more than this government, urged him to let this cup pass from him. But perhaps being more optimistic, more hopeful and more generous than even those who love him and certainly more than those who continue to deride and dismiss him, he put our concerns aside and persevered patiently with his lesson.

He has reminded me that although this is what we have come to accept as normal, it is unnatural, if not calamitous for any man to believe that he has an existence separate from his country, from just causes, from the fate of the Pawi, from his countrymen and from his government. In this "eat ah food" world, he has done the unthinkable and little wonder then that the shock of it all has thrown many into disarray and has caused some of us in high and low places to retreat to the usual refuges of cynicism, disrespect, vitriole, puerile humour and callousness.

In turning his back on the opiate of the ubiquitous pot of pelau, he has threatened to drag us also from the warm comfort of that prison of belly full and asked us to reflect upon other forms of nourishment of which we have been starved. Another human child of God comes to mind and it was He who reminded us that "Man cannot live by bread alone."

Thank you, Dr. Kublalsingh for allowing the nation once again to witness that the truth means NOTHING to many. Not only will they avoid it to save their skins and that of their cohorts but they will avoid it even when a fellow citizen's life is on the line. They will avoid it in the quiet of their own consciences and they will ineluctably avoid it even when the whole interested world's gaze is upon them.

Dr. Kublalsingh, you have become for me the soul of a Trinidad and Tobago that has been struggling to ascend - not any furtive or touted ascendancy being arranged for a particular race, class or creed, but a lifting for ALL - for this country, for all just causes, for the Pawi, for all countrymen and for a leadership yet to blossom that will be a reflection of the best in us.

Despite the efforts of the revisionists, history cannot be repealed and regardless of whether or not the distorted written or remembered record of this matter is amended, the history of this struggle has already been written in the psyche. I will not qualify psyche with 'national' or 'individual' because if I had learnt nothing else from Patriot Wayne Kublalsingh's struggle, this is the one lesson that will lie glowing in the ruins of his camp/health/life:

Everything and everyone is connected and if you can destroy one man, you can destroy a nation.

People, we ALL have a government to run.

..............................................................................................................................
"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare
 

A Country To Die For?

...Falling Back and Supporting From Behind.

The reason for my long silences? - The sound of my mother's voice in my head pleading, "If you have nothing nice to say, say nothing."  Reading our news online I often find myself dismayed and to be very honest it is with some reluctance that I now make my daily pilgrimage to T&T's newspapers. This dread, by the way, does not apply to anything written by Sunity Maharaj and Raffique Shah.

Recently I read something that brought mixed feelings of agreement and sadness. The words of Dr. Wayne Kublalsingh:

"The leader of the group said he will not be as vocal about the Point Fortin Highway issue in the future and encouraged the members to be persistent. He said:

"It is up to you to put pressure on the Prime Minister and if she refuses take up your bed and revolt. They (citizens) cannot be looking at Kublalsingh and a minority of people to do their work for them."

The strength residents used to build the 13 communities in the Debe to Mon Desir area should be the same strength they should use to preserve them, Kublalsingh said."

What is there to add? I do not believe in top down revolutions. Yes, a revolution can be inspired by the example of a leader but a revolution that is masterminded and executed mainly by those above often will have to continuously enforced thereafter because it did not spring spontaneously from the grassroots.

I once referred to Dr. Wayne Kublalsingh as a patriot and reading his words I mused that there are times when Patriotism involves falling back and supporting from behind. Even the migratory birds understand that the individual flying point in the V formation cannot fly there forever. That lead bird will eventually tire and must fall back to allow another to lead. Tire...not die. Although I admire Dr. Wayne Kublalsingh's passion and I am particularly moved by his father's comments about his son, I do not want Dr. Wayne Kublalsingh to leave us now, and certainly not for citizens who are not sufficiently compelled to take care of their own business and judging by the online comments, many others who intend not to remember his ultimate sacrifice past this Christmas season. I want Dr. Kublalsingh to continue to live and fight for his country. This world is overrun by the ignorant, the crass and the ignoble and I seriously doubt that his death will have any impact on the jaded and spiritually dead. I am ashamed to have concluded that in this valley of death where life is cheap another person's demise will not provide the much needed tipping point.

Dr. Kublalsingh, I dedicate the song below to you. Life is the battle and you can only see it to its natural end by continuing to LIVE.


Uploaded by Adamfulgence ..............................................................................................................................
"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare
 

Atma Shatakam [Chant]

Uploaded by astityaroy
ATMA SHATAKAM / NIRVANA SHATAKAM
The Song of the Self
By Adi Shankar [788-820 CE]

Mano Buddhi Ahankara Chitta Ninaham
Nacha Shrotra Jihve Na Cha Ghrana Netre
Nacha Vyoma Bhoomir Na Tejo Na Vayu
Chidananda Rupa Shivoham Shivoham
Chidananda Rupa Shivoham Shivoham

I am not mind, nor intellect, nor ego, nor the reflections of inner self (chitta).
I am not the five senses.
I am beyond that.
I am not the ether, nor the earth, nor the fire, nor the wind (the five elements).
I am indeed, That eternal knowing and bliss, Shiva, love and pure consciousness.

Na Cha Prana Samjno Na Vai Pancha Vayu
Na Va Saptadhatur Na Va Pancha Koshah
Na Vak Pani Padau Na Chopastha Payu
Chidananda Rupa Shivoham Shivoham
Chidananda Rupa Shivoham Shivoham

Neither can I be termed as energy (prana), nor five types of breath (vayus),
Nor the seven material essences, nor the five coverings (pancha-kosha).
Neither am I the five instruments of elimination, procreation, motion, grasping, or speaking.
I am indeed, That eternal knowing and bliss, Shiva, love and pure consciousness.

Na Me Dvesha Ragau Na Me Lobha Mohau
Mado Naiva Me Naiva Matsarya Bhavah
Na Dharmo Na Chartho Na Kamo Na Mokshah
Chidananda Rupa Shivoham Shivoham
Chidananda Rupa Shivoham Shivoham

I have no hatred or dislike, nor affiliation or liking, nor greed, nor delusion, nor pride or haughtiness, nor feelings of envy or jealousy.
I have no duty (dharma), nor any money, nor any desire (kama), nor even liberation (moksha).
I am indeed, That eternal knowing and bliss, Shiva, love and pure consciousness.

Na Punyam Na Papam Na Saukhyam Na Dukham
Na Mantro Na Teertham Na Veda Na Yajnaha
Aham Bhojanam Naiva Bhojyam Na Bhokta
Chidananda Rupa Shivoham Shivoham
Chidananda Rupa Shivoham Shivoham

I have neither merit (virtue), nor demerit (vice).
I do not commit sins or good deeds, nor have happiness or sorrow, pain or pleasure.
I do not need mantras, holy places, scriptures (Vedas), rituals or sacrifices (yagnas).
I am none of the triad of the observer or one who experiences, the process of observing or experiencing, or any object being observed or experienced.
I am indeed, That eternal knowing and bliss, Shiva, love and pure consciousness.

Na Me Mrityu Na Shanka Na Me Jati Bhedah
Pita Naiva Me Naiva Mata Na Janma
Na Bandhur Na Mitram Gurur Naiva Shishyah
Chidananda Rupa Shivoham Shivoham
Chidananda Rupa Shivoham Shivoham

I do not have fear of death, as I do not have death.
I have no separation from my true self, no doubt about my existence, nor have I discrimination on the basis of birth.
I have no father or mother, nor did I have a birth.
I am not the relative, nor the friend, nor the guru, nor the disciple.
I am indeed, That eternal knowing and bliss, Shiva, love and pure consciousness.

Aham Nirvikalpo Nirakara Roopaha
Vibhur Vyapya Sarvatra Sarvendriyanam
Na Cha Sangatham Naiva Muktir Na Bandhah
Chidananda Rupa Shivoham Shivoham
Chidananda Rupa Shivoham Shivoham
Shivoham Shivoham
Shivoham Shivoham

I am all pervasive.
I am without any attributes, and without any form.
I have neither attachment to the world, nor to liberation (mukti)
I have no wishes for anything because I am everything, everywhere, every time, always in equilibrium.
I am indeed, That eternal knowing and bliss, Shiva, love and pure consciousness.
I am Shiva
I am Shiva.

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A  Note From The Gull

Let Divali, and everything that it stands for, throw a cleansing and epiphanic light on the confusion that has us in its grip. The bull of Dharma has only one leg and earthly ramparts will not stand against this trouble that we are now facing.

Seek clarity.

Let the leaders in all spheres work towards a lifting of the darkness of vindictiveness, anger, greed, dishonesty, racism, envy and selfishness in their own hearts so that they can begin to show others by their example what is the meaning of the nobility of humility.

Happy Divali to my country and to the world.

"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare