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Sitaram · Site Admin Joined: 14 Sep 2005 Posts: 1079

(8-6-2001)

"A Blue Beyond the Rainy Hyacinth"

(more Thoughts on "A Desire for Sharing")

This post seems to have struck a note or chord in the hearts of several
readers who are in mid-life.

I realize that the things I am about to say will seem obscure. I apologize
for the fact that I can be little more than "a finger pointing at the moon".

The word "Sharing" naturally brings notions of
"Sangha/Fellowship/Association" to mind. One thought which came to
mind was the familiar Christian theme of "Faith, Hope, and Charity (or
Agape, Love).

1 Corinthians 13:13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but
the greatest of these is charity.

Another thought which came to mind was the Eastern notion of "Sangha",
which is called "Fellowship" in the West.

Whenever we speak of religion or spirituality, we are always dealing with
two sharply divided, separate realms. One is the DAILY realm, of how we
think and feel and act from hour to hour.

My website speaks of this in pages such as "Laundromat Spirituality".

Laundrama t Spirituality

http://www.geocities.com/tulsidas_ramayan/page216.htm

The OTHER realm, which SEEMS widely separated and remote from the
daily, is that Universal, Eternal, Cosmic realm of thought/inquiry, dealing
with the origins of consciousness and the universe, the nature of the
Godhead, and the ultimate purpose or goal of existence, which is
discussed at the website in such pages as "Tohu Bohu": Tohu Bohu

http://www.geocities.com/tulsidas_ramayan/page241.htm

In Tulsidas' Ramayan, when the old woman/devotee, the "out of caste"
Shabari, finally meets her Lord Ram (Avatar/Incarnation of God), she
asks Ram to cite for her the nine excellences of devotional practice. It is
MOST interesting that the FIRST listed is SANGHA, or association with
other devotees. "Hearing" the Katah, or Divine Story of the Lord's
Pastimes is listed SECOND. It is also noteworthy, in Tulsidas' Ramayan,
that one of the highest spiritual beings, the eagle-mount of Lord Vishnu,
Garuda, has lost his faith in Ram after seeing him in bondage. Garuda
must seek "association" or Sangha with the humble crow, Bushundi, and
listen to him sing the Ramayan, in order to restore Garuda's faith.

If we look at "A Survey of Hinduism", by Klaus Klostermaier, page 230,
Figure 15.1, we see a listing of the "Nine Devotinal Excellences", or "nine
steps of Bhakti", from the Bhagavata Purana.

1. Sravana: Listening
2. Kirtana: Singing
3. Smarana: Remembering
4. Arcana: Worshipping
5. Padasevana: Serving
6. Vandana: Praising
7. Dasya: Servitude
8. Sakhya: Companionship
9. Atmanivedana: Self-Surrender

The Buddhists BECOME Buddhists by reciting the
"Buddha/Dharma/Sangha Shelter (Saranam)" three times, so we see the
importance of Fellowship/Sangha in Buddhism as well.

The Judeo-Christian Bible ALSO speaks of "hearing" as being FIRST, as a
vehicle for faith:

"Hear O Israel, the Lord thy God, the Lord is One".

Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word
of God.

Psalms 51:8 Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which
thou hast broken may rejoice.

Psalms 143:8 Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in
thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift
up my soul unto thee.

Aristotle once said 'A FRIEND is another I (or self)". This though is echoed
in the Old Testament "Love thy neighbor as thy self, and God with all thy
mind, heart, and soul".

Though our friendships, and family, and associations and love, we attempt
in some sense to "re-create" our "self" in another (or an "other"). This is
particularly true whenever we bring a child into the world. We also
attempt to "persuade" or "convert" others to our way of seeing things, our
culture, our values.

Even such words as "synagogue" (lead together, or called together), and
"ecclesia" suggest community, fellowship, sangha, hearing, listening.

We have our "selves" in this life, but we feel empty, as though somehow
our mere "self" is not enough. Nor is it sufficient to surround our "selves"
with the selves of others, even though we strive to convert and transform
them into "trueborn" sons and daughters, countrymen, disciples.

We seek a SELF that is beyond "self". And ironically, we seek a "selfless"
SELF, inspite of our own selfishness. I am reminded of these lines from a
poem by Wallace Stevens, entitled "Sea Surface Full of Clouds": "A blue
beyond the rainy hyacinth".

Sea Surface Full of Clouds

http://intranet.usc.edu.au/turner/presentation/poem1.htm

So deeply sunken were they that the shrouds,
The shrouding shadows, made the petals black
Until the rolling heaven made them blue,
A blue beyond the rainy hyacinth,
And smiting the crevasses of the leaves
Deluged the ocean with a sapphire blue.
It is most fitting that a rainbow be chosen as symbol of the covenant between God and man: no two people see the same rainbow, and one can never arrive at its source, no matter how long one journeys.

If we study the motif of "blue" in Wallace Steven's poem, we realize that Steven's may have had in mind some of the things we now discuss. The poem ends:

Then the sea
And heaven rolled as one and from the two
Came fresh transfigurings of freshest blue.

Of course, the very word "Vishnu" connotes "space", "blue" and "that which is everywhere pervasive". The Torah also uses the word "Makom" (space/place) as a word for God.

I have tried to touch on some of these issues of Shabari/Ram, Self/God,
Sangha/Katah/Lila in the following page:

The Undistorted Image of the Lord's Pastimes

http://www.geocities.com/tulsidas_ramayan/page093.htm

I hope this old "finger pointing at the moon" has shed some light for a few
on this moonless, sleepless night in which we seek each other's
association.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(recap of original post):

One reader writes: I do have to respond to this e-mail because it 'fits my
time'. I feel that at this point in my life, I'm middle aged, I live the four
points that you have listed. But the 'feeling' of life has lost 'energy' and
'excitement'. Are we to live without a feeling of 'looking forward'. I know I
am talking about earthly life and I am comparing my existence now with
what I felt when I was young a looking forward to the future. I know
God/myself, but I desire a 'stimulus', a feeling, 'sharing' something with
someone who feels the same way.

My reply:

Life is difficult for anyone at any stage. Some of us seem blessed with
quick minds, or "personal magnetism", or "good luck", or family wealth,
and so seem to have more enviable lives. Others seem to enter life with
the worst of luck and circumstances: poverty, learning disabilities, chronic
illnesses, deformities, etc. But when we examine closely the lives even of
those who seem very blessed, we see that there is suffering, yearning, a
sense of frustration and lack of fulfillment. It almost seems that the
ATTITUDE which we adopt towards ourselves and our circumstances and
our expectations is MORE instrumental in determining our happiness than
the actual circumstances and fortunes of our lives.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(a reply posted at

Sitaram ji, Namasthey

I recollect reading an article from Sanathan Sarathi(a magazine
published, by Sri Sathya Sai baba, Puttaparthi, AP, India), which talks
about the same issue.

According to it, Rama(god) is blue and so is the sky. Sky/blue denotes
Infinity(anantha/all pervasive). Thereby implying that God is infinite.

Now, krishna(God) is dark(black)....nothingness(sunya) is dark(black).
Implication being that God is both anantha and sunya.

Jai Sri Krishna

Rudrakaal

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