I Love the Handsome One. He has no death, decay, nor form; no place or side, no end, or birthmarks. I love Him, O Mother. Listen. I love the beautiful One with no bond, nor fear, no clan, no land, no landmarks for His beauty.  (Allama Prabhu. Speaking of Shiva. P. 166)

I offer light to the holy supreme guru, Lord of mercy.
Abode of truth, consciousness and eternal bliss.
Thou art without all but always residing in the heart.
Thy image is full of compassion and so beautiful.

Thy Form is of extreme beauty and gentleness, beyond form and formless
At the same time, filling the mind with bliss on seeing it. (Om Shri Sadagurave Namaha)

Thou art easily pleased Shiva, and this manner of being pleased is wonderful.
All beauty beautifies you, your form is worthy of being worshipped.
You are a storehouse of energy. You are great and powerful.
You are knowledge and beauty. You are always liberating us. (Prayer to Lord Shiva)

Today’s Questions

How does Beauty feel? What is the energy or vibration of Beauty? How do I bring Beauty to all my movements? How do I breathe in Beauty? What is the mental attitude of doing with Beauty? How to exist as Beauty–how to be Beauty?

Reflection

I am really thinking about what it means to act beautifully. That is: to make every movement an act of Beauty, to be aware, with every breath, of the beauty of life, of love, of being in this world.

That’s no small task.

I prepared my garden today with this in mind. How do I bring Beauty to turning dirt? How do I bring Beauty to pulling weeds? And especially: how do I bring beauty, when I need to eliminate “pests” (ants)?

Beauty implies reverence for all life, and respect for any and all of God’s creations (animal, vegetable, mineral, everything). I once read about a Buddhist community, where they were breaking ground to build a new temple. The workers, and monks labored side by side. With every shovel-full, the monks sieved out the worms and carried them with blessings to a new location, where they could live in peace, and not be killed by the building-process.

I keep that in mind when I make my garden each year. But, no. I don’t go to the extreme that the monks did. I do, however, do my best to be respectful to the lives I am disrupting as I am turning dirt. I opened my composter and pulled out several shovels full of rich, black dirt before I saw a little mouse in my composter. He scurried into a corner, and curled up into a ball, as though he was scared to death of being bashed. I decided I had enough dirt for today, and I said to him, “you are safe little one, live your life”, as I put the cover back on the composter.

Despite having reverence and peace for life and creatures in my mind, I did not do as well as I would have liked. There is a feeling I want to capture–the feeling  of Beauty. I don’t know what it is, to feel it. I don’t know how to ask for it, how to invoke it, or even how to imagine it. What does Beauty feel like?

I am not angry with myself, or disappointed; I don’t feel “bad” or guilty. I know that I am just at the beginning of something I have never really learned before, never even really explored. So I am happy just to have begun the process. All is well. What I am doing is fine. I am accomplishing something, simply through being aware, and remembering each day to connect with Beauty.

Reminders/Commitment: Looking for Beauty. Intentionally creating something Beautiful. Connecting with my Beautiful Self.