Patsy My #Doll #FridayReflections

I was about 2.5 years old when my dad brought me Patsy from his trip to England.  She became my favourite doll and companion.

Patsy traveled with me wherever we went. She has seen the Himalayas in the North of India and  Kanyakumari which is the southern most tip of India and many other places in between.

I learned to stitch because of Patsy as I stitched all her clothes. I celebrated her birthday with a party for all the other dolls. My cousins were invited and they all arrived with their dolls.

Patsy has even been to my primary school for a show and tell session.

Patsy has blue eyes and closes them when placed vertically.

I still have my Patsy though she now lives in a box on a shelf.  Perhaps I will bring her out again.

Here is a picture of a doll that resembles Patsy though I think my Patsy was so much sweeter and her original dress was with white and red checks.

image source http://img.bidorbuy.co.za/image/upload/user_images/193/1702193/1702193_151118072958_20151117_153442.jpg

Written for:
 #Friday Reflections at the Write Tribe  prompt A well loved toy from my childhood.


Warm Regards


Tweet

Follow me on
My facebook page Suzy's Ilation
Bloglovin
Pinterest Suzy Que
Google+ Suzy Que

Make No Promises #BarAThon

Make no promises. Promises keep you focused on what your mind wants you to do.

But it is the soul that knows the path you must take and that may not be the path you promised yourself or others.

When your mind is in alignment with your soul, you are in what sports people describe as "being in the zone".

How do you bring your mind in alignment with your soul - it is only with total surrender. It is what I call going with the Universal flow.

The way I exist is to simply live each day as it comes with total surrender to my Lord Rama / Lord Krishna  knowing without a shadow of doubt that He exists with me every moment of every day. And that he guides my path and takes me where I am meant to be.

I make no promises. I just know that I am in the zone when I feel the joy and bliss.

If you must make a promise, make the promise that you will do what brings your soul joy and then surrender to it.

Two years ago I wrote a post on "Paddling Downstream" as part of the AtoZ challenge. This post gives a more detailed perspective of surrender.

“The peace of God is with them whose mind and soul are in harmony, who are free from desire and wrath, who know their own soul.” 

― The Bhagavad Gita

The senses are higher than the body, the mind higher than the senses; 

above the mind is the intellect, and above the intellect is the Atman (soul). 

Thus, knowing that which is supreme, let the Atman rule the ego.

~ Lord Krishna to Prince Arjuna, Bhagavad Gita

image source http://www.widehdwallpapers.in/lord-krishna/krishna-arjuna-bhagwat-gita.html

I am participating in the Blog-a-rhythm Blogathon. A 7 day blogging festival. 
I am with Team #CrimsonRush
Day 7 prompt is Promise



Warm Regards


Tweet

Follow me on
My facebook page Suzy's Ilation
Bloglovin
Pinterest Suzy Que
Google+ Suzy Que

Wishful Thinking #BarAThon

As soon as I saw this prompt the song Wishful Thinking by Jim Reeves came to mind:

Wishful thinking daydreams fly

Happy visions fill the night

Untold memories fade to blue

While my heart aches just for you

Oh I would walk a thousand miles

I'd walk the seven seas

I'd come to stars in the Milky Way

Or leaves upon the trees

To see the twinkle in your eye

The devil in your smile

Hold your had touch your lips

For just a little while
(sung by Jim Reeves)

And that reminds me of Meerabai.

Meerabai sat in front of her beloved Krishna and sang the poems she composed about Him: "Mere to Giridhar Gopal dusro na koi" (For me it's only Lord Krishna and no one else).

She had dedicated her life to him. And singing to Him brought her the greatest joy and bliss. 

There was this knowing within her that her beloved Krishna was always by her side and that she shared a unique, special and eternal bond with Him. She knew that someday He would come for her.

The people thought her fanciful ideas were simply wishful thinking. The Lord doesn't just come because you call. But Meerabai steadfastly sang her devotion to her Lord.

It is said that one day Meerabai walked into the temple and vanished. It is believed that in the end her beloved Krishna came to take her to His Spiritual Abode.

source https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mirabai_and_Krishna.jpg

I believe that when we wish sincerely with a pure heart, with true devotion and love and if our wish benefits many, our prayers are always answered.

Lord Krishna says that the way to reach Him is only through love and devotion.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMtPn6-fjq0


I am participating in the Blog-a-rhythm Blogathon. A 7 day blogging festival. 
I am with Team #CrimsonRush
Day 6 prompt is Wishful Thinking



Warm Regards


Tweet

Follow me on
My facebook page Suzy's Ilation
Bloglovin
Pinterest Suzy Que
Google+ Suzy Que

Tiny Shoes #BarAThon

Indra the King of the demi Gods was irate. "How dare they not worship me" he thundered.

Indra's thunderbolts created the fiercest storm Vrindavan had ever seen.

Little Krishna called the people to shelter under Goverdhan Mountain which he lifted with his little finger.

The storm raged for 6 days and all the while Krishna held the mountain aloft and played his flute.

Eventually Indra gave up. The storm ceased and the waters receded.

There are many lessons in this story but the one that matches today's prompt is:

Never judge anyone by the size of their shoes. Sometimes tiny shoes are extremely large shoes to fill.


Watch this little Krishna story for more details on Krishna and Govardhan Mountain.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzOhVnUA5eE


The Krishna Govardhan Mountain story is one of my favourite Krishna stories. Do you have a favourite story?


I am participating in the Blog-a-rhythm Blogathon. A 7 day blogging festival. 
I am with Team #CrimsonRush
Day 5 prompt is Tiny Shoes

Warm Regards


Tweet

Follow me on
My facebook page Suzy's Ilation
Bloglovin
Pinterest Suzy Que
Google+ Suzy Que

Caught Red Handed #BarAThon

Young Kanha (Lord Krishna) and his friends looked around for the pot of butter. Krishna loved butter. But today they could not find any pots.

Yashoda maiya (mother) had cleverly tied them together suspended from the ceiling.

As Krishna and his friends contemplated their next move, a little bit of butter slipped from one of the pots. The treasure had been found.

The young boys climbed on each other's shoulders and reached those elusive pots of butter. Then followed a butter feast.

Yashoda maiya was returning on home and on hearing her footsteps the young lads ran. The door opened and maiya gazed in anguish at the pots of butter and at young Krishna.

Caught red handed the young Kanha cautiously licked the last of the butter off his face.

"Did you eat the butter?" demanded an annoyed maiya.

"Mein nahi makhan khayo" (I did not eat the butter) said young Krishna with the most innocent of faces and the most endearing of eyes.

"Open your mouth" demanded maiya. Lord Krishna opened his mouth and showed her the entire Universe.

Janmashtami is the festival to celebrate Lord Krishna's birth.

When I was young, the residents of the lane where I lived would tie a pot of yoghurt with some  money. People would simulate Lord Krishna and his friends to get at the pot.

They heralded their arrival with the song "Govinda Ala Re Ala" (Govinda = Lord Krishna, has come)

I really enjoyed watching them but I believe this is now banned in Mumbai.  Such a pity. This is one childhood memory that is etched in my mind.

Here is a video of a Bollywood movie depicting the festival.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z60TE_JDsJE


Share a memory of a festival you really enjoy.


I am participating in the Blog-a-rhythm Blogathon. A 7 day blogging festival. 
I am with Team #CrimsonRush
Day 4 prompt is Caught Red Handed

Warm Regards


Tweet

Follow me on
My facebook page Suzy's Ilation
Bloglovin
Pinterest Suzy Que
Google+ Suzy Que

Fragile Lives #BarAThon

I'm really struggling with the prompts on this BarAThon.

This prompt somehow brings negative thoughts into my mind, but I want to write a positive spin on this. So again  I'm going to just let my fingers fly across the keyboard and let them take me where this post is meant to be.

I've written about this story before but for some reason I am compelled to write again so here it is again.

25 years ago one afternoon while we driving down to do our grocery shopping, the song "My Sweet Lord" by George Harrison was playing on the radio and I was singing along. 

Just as the song ended, the car had a complete mechanical meltdown. The steering wheel locked, the accelerator jammed, the brakes failed and we were on a curve on the motorway. There was nothing we could do but to let the car go. It kept veering fast, crossed 2 lanes, crashed into a high bank and flipped over 3 times. 

As we were racing towards that bank, I heard this voice, loud and clear, that we should relax and roll with the car not resist the roll, and that all will be well. I remember saying calmly to my daughter "We're having an accident, roll with the car. We'll be ok".

The car was completely smashed and if you had seen it you never would've believed we came out of it alive let alone without a scratch on us. And it amazes me to this day how calm I was through the whole thing. I actually counted the rolls.

Life can be so unpredictable and change in an instant. But though life can be so fragile, I do believe that we are never alone.  

I have always believed that My Sweet Lord was with me that day who saved us, held us in His arms, protected us, reassured us and comforted us and kept me calm in what were the most terrifying moments of my life.

My sweet Lord

I really want to see you

Really want to be with you

Really want to see you Lord

But it takes so long, my Lord

My sweet Lord

I really want to know you ...

Here's a link to my earlier post that describes my moment of realization of My Sweet Lord.


Share a moment when life felt so fragile and yet something good came of it.


I am participating in the Blog-a-rhythm Blogathon. A 7 day blogging festival. 
I am with Team #CrimsonRush
Day 3 prompt is Fragile Lives

Warm Regards


Tweet

Follow me on
My facebook page Suzy's Ilation
Bloglovin
Pinterest Suzy Que
Google+ Suzy Que

What You Don't Know #BarAThon

This prompt had me scratching my head for ideas but I just turned up with blanks. So as always I thought I would do a free write and see where my thoughts take me.

I really wanted to write on a spiritual theme but perhaps today I'm not supposed to. Instead the thought of the things that you perhaps don't know about me keeps going around in my head So here are some things that you don't know about me.

I was 2 years old when I took my first trip overseas to Singapore from Bombay. The flights back then took almost 12 hours and the propeller jets made the most awful noise. I screamed my head off for most of the flight and broke my mother's watch. Having heard this story from my mother, I now have a great tolerance for kids on planes.

I was about 6 years old when my dad bought me a puzzle book. Quite similar to the logic puzzles you get today I absolutely loved the book and it began my love affair with puzzles, one of the many things I had in common with my dad  When Sudoku came into existence, both my dad and I took to it like a duck to water. My dad had a routine of solving sudoku and word puzzles everyday. I try and solve one sudoku puzzle everyday usually on the bus home from work.

I was about 8 years old when at a movie (can't remember which one), they were handing out a  picture for a colouring competition held by Eagle flasks. My dad sent my colouring in and I won the 3rd prize - you guessed it, an Eagle flask.  Don't remember what the picture was but I do remember I coloured it in various shades of green and blue. And I don't know why that sticks so much in my memory.

Do share some of your What You Don't Know things.


I am participating in the Blog-a-rhythm Blogathon. A 7 day blogging festival. 
I am with Team #CrimsonRush
Day 2 prompt is What You Don't Know.

Warm Regards


Tweet

Follow me on
My facebook page Suzy's Ilation
Bloglovin
Pinterest Suzy Que
Google+ Suzy Que

Stranger Than Fiction #BarAThon

My mother was in hospital about 2 weeks ago. She suddenly took ill. I thought she was having a stroke but thank goodness it was ruled out.

She had just entered the house and suddenly became incoherent and was unable to stand. Just the thought that this could have happened while she was driving scares me. But I am sure Universal forces brought her home safely.

And ever since then my youtube recommendations have come up with kirtan music.  Perhaps the Universe is beckoning me as well.

Do the worlds outside our world, that vast cosmos fascinate you? Do you feel those Universal forces?

I have been meditating for years and now and then I connect with Divine forces. Sometimes I get a glimpse of something that is beyond human comprehension.  Sometimes I feel loving energies around me. And lately having taken to kirtan I am able to reach that moment of peaceful ecstasy more often than not.

I am certain that the Great Spirit, the Divine calls us to reach that place of bliss. How that occurs is a mystery but when it does it is a feeling sublime. He and His ways are truly stranger than fiction and yet we follow Him with unwavering faith and devotion.

Hare Rama Hare Krishna.

By whatever name you call Him, may you all feel that bliss when He calls.

If you haven't tried kirtan before I highly recommend it. Check these out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VP623hMbAIA 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LdNrXaoT24


I am participating in the Blog-a-rhythm Blogathon. A 7 day blogging festival.

I am with Team #CrimsonRush

Day 1 prompt is Stranger Than Fiction.

Warm Regards


Tweet

Follow me on
My facebook page Suzy's Ilation
Bloglovin
Pinterest Suzy Que
Google+ Suzy Que