Ash Wednesday Meditation: Dust in the Wind.

"...you are dust, and to dust you shall return." --Genesis 3:19

Performed by Jesse and Lulu | Uploaded by Jesse Reeks

DUST IN THE WIND
By Kansas

I close my eyes, only for a moment, and the moment's gone
All my dreams pass before my eyes, a curiosity
Dust in the wind
All they are is dust in the wind.

Same old song, just a drop of water in an endless sea
All we do crumbles to the ground though we refuse to see
Dust in the wind
All we are is dust in the wind. Oh-oh-oh

Now, don't hang on,
Nothing lasts forever but the earth and sky
It slips away
And all your money won't another minute buy
Dust in the wind
All we are is dust in the wind
[All we are is dust in the wind]
Dust in the wind
[Everything is dust in the wind]
Everything is dust in the wind, the wind.

Carnaval est passé.

..............................................................................................................................
"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

Ash Wednesday Meditation: Moko Kahan Dhundhere Bande [Song]

  Uploaded by sgtalageri
MOKO KAHAN DHUNDHERE BANDE
Sung by Bhupendra

Moko Kahan Dhundhere Bande. Mein To Tere Paas Mein  
Man, where do you seek me? I am within you
Moko Kahan Dhundhere Bande. Mein To Tere Paas Mein
Man, where do you seek me? I am within you
Moko Kahan Dhundhere Bande. Man, where do you seek me?

Na Teerath Mein, Na Moorat Mein, Na Ekant Niwas Mein
Not in pilgrimage, nor in icons, neither in solitudes
Na Mandir Mein, Na Masjid Mein, Na Kabe Kailas Mein  
Not in temples, nor in mosques, neither in Kaba nor in Kailash
Moko Kahan Dhundhere Bande. Man, where do you seek me?

Na Mein Jap Mein, Na Mein Tap Mein, Na Mein Barat Upaas Mein  
Not in prayers, nor in meditation, neither in fasting
Na Mein Kiriya Karm Mein Rehta Nahin Jog Sanyas Mein  
Not in yogic exercises, neither in renunciation
Moko Kahan Dhundhere Bande.   Man, where do you seek me?

Khoji Hoye Turat Mil Jaoon Ik Pal Ki Talas Mein  
When sought I am available instantly within a moment
Kahet Kabir Suno Bhai Sadho Mein To Hun Viswas Mein  
Says Kabir, Listen O Sadhu, I am in your faith within.
Moko Kahan Dhundhere Bande. Mein To Tere Paas Mein  
Man, where do you seek me? I am within you
Moko Kahan Dhundhere Bande. Man, where do you seek me? ..............................................................................................................................      
A Note From The Gull

Thank you, Bhupendra for this stunningly beautiful and haunting interpretation of the poem by Kabir.

Today is Ash Wednesday. It is the start of the Lenten season and many of my Roman Catholic brothers and sisters in the faith will be making their way to the churches to have the ash placed on their foreheads. This ash is produced from the burning of palm fronds saved from last year's Palm Sunday. This ash symbolises the rejection of sin.

Priest: "Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel." -Mark 1:15

Kabir: "Man, where do you seek me? I am within you."

I know that the ash being placed on our foreheads is as divine and as earthly as the soot from the canne brûlée, as the residue of our cremated dead, as the cinders of Sodom and Gomorrah and every holocaust whether natural or man made, and the dust of every extinguished dream/hope/life.

Priest: "Remember, O man, that you are dust, and unto dust you shall return." -Genesis 3:19

Kabir: "Man, where do you seek me? I am within you."

Spiritual materialism is not a higher form of materialism. It is materialism plain and simple and we should guard against it because it can be as addictive as the pursuit of worldly gain. We can find ourselves accumulating prayers, or putting notches in our belts every time we meditate or fast or enter the doors of a church or seven churches in succession. We do even worse when we pity or imagine ourselves somehow above those who do not appear to be consuming the spiritual as voraciously or as publicly as we are.

Priest: "Repent, and hear the good news!"
Kabir: "Man, where do you seek me? I am within you."

Who was Kabir?

"Born in Benares around 1440 to Muslim parents, Kabir became a disciple of Ramananda, a Hindu ascetic. His poetry depicts the influence of both religions on him. He was a weaver by profession, but in the eyes of his followers he was both a Sufi and a Brahman saint. The following translation is from Songs of Kabir translated from the Hindi by Rabindranath Tagore, the Indian poet and philosopher who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1913. In 1915 Tagore’s translation of the Songs of Kabir was published and introduced these mystical poems to the world outside of India.

O servant, where dost thou seek Me? Lo! I am beside thee. I am neither in temple nor in mosque: I am neither in Kaaba nor in Kailash: Neither am I in rites and ceremonies, nor in Yoga and renunciation. If thou art a true seeker, thou shalt at once see Me: thou shalt meet Me in a moment of time. Kabir says, "O Sadhu! God is the breath of all breath."

These lines are quite similar to Jesus' words in the gospel of Luke 17:20-21 And when He was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, He answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. From the Gospel of Thomas: His disciples said to Him, "When will the kingdom come?" "It will not come by watching for it. It will not be said, ’Look, here!’ or ’Look, there!’ Rather, the Father’s kingdom is spread out upon the earth, and people don’t see it." SOURCE

"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