Saturday, January 26, 2013

UBC Day 25 - 7x7x7x7

Day 25  of the Ultimate Blogging Challenge.

Corinne at Everyday Gyaan posted a really neat challenge so decided to take part in that.

The challenge is as follows:

Grab the 7th book from your bookshelf.
Open it up to page 7. 
Pinpoint the 7th sentence on the page. 
Begin a poem that begins with that sentence and limit it in length to 7 lines.

7th book on my kindle app that I am currently  reading - "Jedi in the Lotus"

7th page - simply doesn't exixt on the  kindle version so instead I went to the next "7" numbered page - page 17

7th line on that page - "This latter book includes an essay on how Star Wars relates to Eastern wisdom"


So here is my 7 line poem depicting the last 7 words of the 7th line. As the first 7 words are superfluous I will simply leave them out. (7x7x7x7 all in one line!).

A little twist to the instructions - Instead of starting,  I will end the poem in a way that summarises these words.

Also linking to The Thursday Writer's Post blog hop prompt "Masterpiece" - prompt hosted by Jenn at Wine-n-Chat

This is definitely not a masterpiece but I tried!


Jedi Master Yoda - is "yoddha", a warrior of the East

Qui-Gon Jinn with qi-gong - keeps his mind in Peace

Padawan Obe-Wan "can no be" a Jedi Master yet - and so he stills his restless mind to duly meditate

Anakin starts the Kali Yug with despair he could not face - false promise of the dark side but that he did embrace

Padme is the lotus,  the one he loves so dear - She was the jewel in the Jedi's heart, now Darth Vader who we fear

Luke Skywalker battles with Jedi in his soul  - with love he changes Vader, the great Jedi unfolds.

And so Vedantic Wisdom, the basis of it all - translated into Star Wars, the ancient force lives on.


Glossary - a view into the background of my poem -  my understanding only of the words and its use.

Jedi philosophy is based on Eastern (primarily Vendantic, Buddhist, Taoist) beliefs that - force or energy lives in all things, with control over the mind one has the ability to use the force, that the true path is in oneness with nature, that non attachment, selflessness and love is the way to Spirit, that good must and will triumph over evil.

yoddha - Sanskrit word meaning warrior, someone who is able to bring balance between or merge with the physical and spiritual worlds.

qi gong - Chinese practice of aligning breath, movement, and awareness for exercise, healing and meditation.

qi (or chi) is the force that lives in all things.

padawan - a Sanskrit word for life long learner

Kali Yug - kali denotes darkness, yug means age or era. According to the Vedas, we are currently in the age of Kali Yug - the age of darkness and destruction. The Vedas tell us that towards the end of Kali Yug, Lord Vishnu will appear in his 10th avatar to take us back to the Golden Age - Satya Yug, the age of truth (satya) and connection to Spirit, the age where peace, harmony, honour, goodness and spirituality will prevail. The Jedis will return.

Vedas - Ancient Sanskrit Hindu philosophical texts, considered to be one of the oldest sacred texts. Simply put, Veda means knowledge.

Padme - means lotus (Sanskrit mantra - Om Mani Padme Hum - the jewel is in the lotus). The lotus is considered a sacred flower , a divine symbol in Eastern traditions. It represents purity and non-attachment. The heart chakra is symbolised by the lotus, the jewel is the soul within.

Darth Vader - possibly a combination of dark and death to create the word "darth" and Vader possibly a dual meaning of father (Dutch) and Veda (knowledge). Hence Darth Vader = death of the real father or dark knowledge. (my view only).

Vedantic - of the Vedas or in the context of my poem, Eastern.


May the good force be with you.


Warm Regards
Photobucket


17 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Thanks Jessica. It's a very interesting book and I've learned a lot about Vedantic philosophy from it.

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  2. Suzy, How cool and fun is this! I love the idea. Maggie

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Maggie. It wasn't easy - the line from the book really threw me, but in the end it was fun. Thanks for visiting.

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  3. Wow so creative. I can never think of anything and here you are making blogging a game! Thank you
    Cheryl

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Cheryl. Joining into challenges and memes takes the pressure off finding a topic! Thanks so much for visiting.

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  4. What a fun post. I've been struggling with what to write for Silly Sunday. Maybe I should try this.

    http://joycelansky.blogspot.com/2013/01/music-rhythm-and-rap.html

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Joyce. It is fun. Look forward to your post.

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  5. Wow! You hit it out of the park, didn't you, Suzy? :)

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    Replies
    1. Oh gosh, Thanks Corinne. Once I got to the line my mind went into "OMG what have I got myself into".

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    2. My dad would've loved that comment!

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  6. This was most impressive Suzy. As Corinne so pithily puts it, you hit out of the park..!

    Dagny

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Dagny for your kind words and for visiting.

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  7. Replies
    1. Thanks Paula - the book is an eye opener.

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  8. Amazing! I am not a fan of Star Wars - though lately my knowledge about it has increased because of the character Eric in the 70s show who keeps spouting stuff about it - but even then, I had never imagined that someone would be able to do a poetry on Star Wars! Wasn't this a good exercise! :D
    Cheers
    Deepa
    The 7x7x7x7 Writing Prompt

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Deepa. It was a good exercise - quite hard though, particularly the books that came up for us. Thanks for visiting.

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